As promised, Ushijima passed by the next morning to return her bike. Daiki kept pestering Ushijima to play volleyball with him and got upset when he told the boy that he had to run with a friend, but Kanai was somehow happy with the politeness in the way he responded to her brother. Now that Ushijima was gone and probably for the entire morning, she opens all her unread text messages.
Tooru-kun(/☆ㅅ☆)/ :
Sami-chan, guess who's back in Miyagi??
(う*^*)う It's your break, right? Right? Let's hang out soon with Iwa-chan~~ He said he's coming by this time too. Hang soon! just message me*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧
Sami-chan(+3+)♡:
You're back in Japan??? Damn hang soon but when?? I missed hanging out with you!!
Tooru-kun(/☆ㅅ☆)/ :
Hehehe~ how bout now???? lets meet by the convenience store we always hang at!!!(งu-u)ง
Sami-chan(+3+)♡:
going in 5!\(ㅎㅅ ㅎ)/
Kanai immediately responded she missed her best buddies in high school! But then another message popped up from the screen of her phone and it was from Iwaizumi.
щ("Д"щ;)IWA-CHAN:
Trashikawa messaged me too, dont drag me into shit. Busy with life. see you soon though.
So she readies herself to the convenience store, it was still early anyway and it would be great to hang out with her best friend(too bad she could only see him as a friend). Putting on a hoodie over her plain white shirt and shorts, she runs out of the house and bids goodbye to her mother in the living room, who happened to watch a funny variety show. She jogged to the store and Oikawa was already there! Oikawa saw her from the windows and went out of the store to run up to her. They both ran into each other and ended up in a hug.
"Bitch I missed you!" She says while still in his arms.
"Bleh! I missed you too! The season is over in Argentina so I have like a 3-month break!"
"Did you win? You should've!" She said and they both started to roam around the prefecture.
"Nope but I got MVP! That's enough for me, but I want to win with my team. My next goal is to have my team win and get that MVP award." He said and they sat down by the nearby bench.
"That's cool, but I bet your Spanish sucks." She teases.
"Hey estoy aprendiendo." He says but the accent was a little thick.
"I only know English, but you've still got an accent on speaking that one."
Despite the rejection Oikawa received from the woman next to him, he still continues to smile and laugh. He knew better than to hold onto something he already knew was inevitable. They both knew that they could not go beyond the friendship that had been formed when they were still in middle school, especially when feelings weren't mutual.
Kanai rests her head on his shoulder like in the good old days and kept rambling about how they should've stayed in the store to buy food, particularly ice cream even if it was cold. Kanai tends to eat cold things like mochi and ice cream when the weather's windy.
As soon as he checked his message for Iwaizumi, Oikawa said, "Dumbass, Iwa-chan left me on read! I keep bugging him to come here because it's been so long and this is how he treats me?"
"Don't bother him. He's probably busy."
"Hey I know he replies to you but how about me? Does he leave me like this? He leaves me on seen all the time! I should've called."
"He told me he is busy with life." As if Oikawa had a switch button, he instantly changed the topic of their conversation.
"Speaking about life, how's yours?"
"Oh, just another year more and I am going to become an architect!"
"We both know that's not what I am talking about."
"Well. . . I don't?"
"I meant the people in your life Sami-chan."
"Oh. Uhm. . ."
Oikawa said along with a smile, "It's okay to talk about it. It's fine with me."
"There's this guy and uhm. . . I don't know. I feel like I'm over the moon every time I am with him."
"Man, there really is a guy!" He sighed, then continued. "But that's not the point right now. Are you guys close? Is he treating you right? I have permission to beat him up when he breaks your heart. Right?"
"Ugh I feel like a terrible friend! I like the guy you dislike. That's like rule number 1 of friendship."
"Uh, there's no such rule. If you like someone then you like someone, but be specific because I have a list of people I don't like and Iwa-cha— Iwaizumi is currently at top of that list."
"Ushijima."
"Ushiwaka?! Really the top 1 of my list?"
"I thought Iwa-chan currently holds that title?"
"Ushiwaka and Tobio are on the very top of the list. Below them is the ranked list, where Hajime tops. But you're the topic right now. Forget my shitty list. Is he treating you right?"
"He is, but we're only friends."
"Drink buddies."
"Huh?"
"Last time we facetimed each other, you said you always drink with the guy."
"Oh don't mind that."
Running along with Kageyama back to their starting point, Ushijima pauses to look at the familiar faces meters away from him. Both Oikawa and Kanai were seating rather comfortably with each other on the bench. He knew that they were only friends but he couldn't help to feel disappointed. Jealous rather? He doesn't know how he is feeling but he knows that he wants it to be him beside her instead of Oikawa.
"Huh, isn't that Kanai-san and Oikawa-san? Do we say hi?" Kageyama stops to ask the older man as he follows his line of sight.
"Let's just head back." He said and started to jog away from the scene.
"That's actually a good idea," Kageyama said so the two kept running, but Ushijima ran at a faster pace and Kageyama had to keep up.
"By the way, why do you bother taking runs here? Don't you live far?"
"Shut up."
____________________
(note that the text messages are from Ushijima's perspective, so the names would differ)
It was already evening, and Ushijima decides to send Kanai a message.
Ushijima:
Do you want to drink?
This kind of message wasn't a first, but to be asked out for drinks by him was rare. Kanai did the asking most of the time. She knew that he still had games to play and as much as she wanted to say yes(and pray that she kisses him again, they swore to each other that the first time they got drunk together was the last time they're kissing each other) she declines. She wants him to be at his best when he plays and she really feels bad when Ushijima has to take care of her drunken state, even if he's the one initiating to go out for drinks this time.
Kanai Asami:
Sorry(*╯-╰)ノ, but i wanna have u in tiptop shape when u spike volleyballs. Plus ur probably gonna hav to take care of me again because i drink way too mucj!!
Ushijima-kun:
You have a point, but regarding your drunken state, I don't really care about having to take care of you.
He didn't know what to say next. He wanted to see her, badly. Even if they just met that morning. Asking her for drinks sadly didn't work so he stared straight at the ceiling of his room, thinking about what to message her next.
Ushijima-kun:
Goodnight. Take care of yourself.
And he knows he is stupid. Why would he say that when he could've asked her to walk outside instead? The skies even gave them a clear view of the starry night. He could have opted to have late-night walks with her instead.
And as if she heard his thoughts, his phone rang.
Kanai Asami:
If you aren't gonna sleep yet, we could do something different like star gazing! .·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙ ✩ *̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ .*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧
Ushijima:
Alright, where do we meet each other?
_____________________
I wrote a long-ass note when I first published this so I am listing it with further clarifications and details.
1.) Kanai and Oikawa are just friends who encountered a rift in their relationship because one caught feelings and the other couldn't keep it mutual. Instead, they take this quandary as a turning point for their relationship's platonic growth.
2.) Writing characters from existing media is difficult, especially since as a fanfic writer, you would want characters to stay as true to the media you took them from while also making sure their character as a whole would fit your story. I do not know if writing Oikawa using kaomoji and emoticons is too OOC or not haha.
3.) I don't think I can keep the notes to a minimum, especially since there will be times I want to expound on the chapter or some details. You can just skip lol.