Tsukishima Kei's POV
When I stepped inside her room, Yamaguchi was already there beside her. I couldn't deny how I felt my chest hurt when I saw them laughing together. I didn't like the feeling.
"I have another one!" she said, swiping on her phone. "Wanna see it?"
"Sure, [Surname]-chan," Yamaguchi replied, smiling at her.
I wanted to step out the room and give them time for themselves. However, I was stopped by [Surname] who seemed to have noticed my presence.
"Tsukki? Where are you going?" she asked, looking confused.
"I was just heading out," I said.
"You're leaving?" she asked with a frown. "Don't leave~"
"Fine."
I walked towards her and sat on the empty space near her. Yamaguchi, on the other hand, was on the other side of the bed sitting on one of the stools provided by the hospital.
"I was just showing Yama-kun videos of me playing volleyball while I was little," [Surname] said, swiping through her gallery. "Oh here! This is the one where I was new to volleyball."
[Surname] clicked on one of the videos. It started off with a seven-year old [Surname] who was in a gym. It looked like they were being taught how to play.
"Toss this to Hamako-kun, okay [Surname]-chan?" their teacher said.
"Okay!" the young [Surname] said.
Their teacher threw the ball, expecting her to toss it up. But, the ball simply went past her fingertips and fell to the floor.
"Oh?" young [Surname] said while looking at the ball on the floor. "What the?! I thought I caught it!"
The video stopped while our laughing started— well, more of [Surname] and Yamaguchi were laughing while I was snickering. I glanced at [Surname] who was looking at me, probably wanting to check out my reaction. My eyes went to Yamaguchi— who looked like he was looking at her as well— before looking at [Surname] again.
When I did, she smiled at me, making me smile as well.
"One more!" She said, tapping on another video.
"We'll do receiving drills now!" their teacher said. "Line up!"
"Okay!"
Young [Surname] was third in line with a smile on her face. She was repeatedly shifting her weight from her heels to her tip toes while waiting.
"First! Yamato-chan!"
"Yes!"
"Takara-kun!"
"Yes!"
Finally, it was young [Surname]'s turn.
"[Surname]-chan!"
"Yes!"
The seven-year-old walked forward and bent her knees a little. Once the ball was spiked towards her, she adjusted her arms and tried to receive the ball.
"[Surname]-chan!" their teacher said as [Surname] received the ball.
Well, receive wouldn't be the right word to actually call it. When the ball hit her arms, it ended up bouncing to her face making her fall on her butt.
"[Name]!" someone said.
The video cut off at that moment. It was probably [Surname]'s mother calling out to her at the end of the video.
"Looks like your receives didn't really improve that much," I said, snickering.
"Hey!" [Surname] said with a pout and furrowed eyebrows. "I'm at least better than that now. In the works, sure, but once I'm out here I'm gonna train on getting killer receives as well!"
"Sure," I teased.
"I'm sure [Surname]-chan's gonna get better at receiving easily once she gets back to training," Yamaguchi said, smiling at [Surname].
"Only Yama-kun believes in me!" [Surname] said, looking at me with a pout still on her face.
"I'll believe you after you get better and leave this hospital," I said.
"That's easy!" she said, grinning at me.
"Then do it."
"I will!"
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I stood up from the hospital bed while supporting [Surname]'s head. She ended up falling asleep leaning against me while showing us videos of her first attempts on volleyball. It was entertaining, to say the least. Seeing her fail so many times reminded me of how she's been working so hard to improve herself.
"You two are really close, Tsukki," Yamaguchi said. I'm sure he didn't want to show it but I could see that he was a little sad. "If only I tried getting closer to her faster, maybe things would be different."
"Maybe," I said as I placed [Surname]'s head against the pillow. "If anything, you're still at an advantage."
"I don't think that's the case."
I didn't reply to that. Frankly because, I didn't know how to. She told me that she wasn't as sure with how she felt towards Yamaguchi but that could mean that she still liked him deep inside.
"Have you decided, Tsukki?"
"On what?" I asked.
"If you'll try to win her over."
I looked at Yamaguchi with a straight face before glancing at [Surname]. I couldn't stop the sigh from escaping my lips.
"I don't know."
"I see," Yamaguchi said. He looked at [Surname] as well before continuing. "You didn't see how she smiled when you weren't looking."
"Isn't that because you're here?" I asked, raising my eyebrow at him.
"I don't know, Tsukki. Honestly, I want to hope that's the case," he said, looking at me. "I'm going now. Goodbye!"
I watched Yamaguchi leave before glancing at [Surname] again. I did another sigh before looking out the window and watching the sky slowly turn orange.
"I should probably head out as well," I muttered to myself.
'I should probably also actually think about what I'll do next when things are finally okay.'
I looked at [Surname] and removed the glasses on her face, placing it on the table near her bed.
"Idiot. Falling asleep with her glasses on."
'Even if I decide to act on my feelings after you get better, who's to say you'll even consider me an option.'
I groaned as I tried to organize my thoughts.
'I don't know what to do about how I feel about you, [Surname]. I know I told myself I wouldn't worry about it until you're all better but I can't stop thinking about it. What do I do? I've never felt this way before.'
"What do I do, [Surname]?"
'I'm too scared to fall deeper than I already have but I'm afraid I can't stop that from happening when I can't even distance myself from you because I know it'll hurt you. For the first time in my life, I care about someone else more than myself.'