"I have everything covered," Ryusei told me, a map of the school in between us as he sipped his coffee. "Here and here are the exits. I can have my men escort you places when you leave campus, otherwise you should be safe on campus."
"Um I'm not sure if I'm comfortable with that." I injected, making the yakuza leader purse his lips.
"Alright I suppose, but then I won't be able to guarantee your safety you know."
"I know that," I have him a smile, "you've already gone above and beyond, you don't need to do anything else for me."
"If you insist." Ryusei sighed, running a hand through his hair. "At least allow me to give you my number in case of an emergency."
"Sure!" I smiled, then handed my phone over to him. "Also, thank you for lunch, and for warning me."
"My pleasure." He smiled lazily, "speaking of which, we should probably head back now."
"Sounds good." I agreed.
"Last thing about this matter, you should refrain from trying to bring it up with the two." Ryusei advised, "it might cause them to act rashly and move up the plan."
"Oh, alright." I nodded, smiling. "Come on, let's go."
"Right." He nodded, glancing at his men who remained stoic as ever as they followed the two outside of the coffee shop.
Arriving back at school, the two first years walked back to class together as the yakuza men left. Ryusei listened calmly and attentively as I talked about my team and the boys team, about how awesome everyone was and how excited I was for nationals.
"Where are the nationals being held?" Ryusei asked as I mentioned it.
"Tokyo metro gym! It's really exciting!" I squealed, causing him to chuckle as we entered the classroom.
We were right on time, and he gave me a smile before I sat down. The rest of classes went well, I got a good mark on my pop quiz in sixth period.
After classes got out, I headed to practice. When I got to the club room to change, my eyes were immediately drawn to Kimura and Hana.
They noticed.
"Hey, how was your little trip? Have fun?" Kimura smiled.
"You gonna stare at us all day or are you gonna come in? Close the door while you're at it, it's cold." Hana glanced at me.
I couldn't see any malice in Kimura's smile, and Hana was acting as blunt and annoyed as always. Sighing, I apologized and closed the door behind me.
Changing into my practice gear, everyone else showed up and changed as well.
"Let's get a move on! Lap around the school first, then we got the rest of practice!" Azusa grinned, the rest of us cheering as we exited the club room.
Starting our run, I jogged beside Bushida, talking animatedly as we went.
We were near the entrance of campus when the boys came into view. They were also running around the campus, but it looked like they were just getting started.
Keeping my head down, Bushida and I ran past them. I could feel their eyes lingering on me, but I ignored it as we reentered the campus.
Practice started as soon as everyone got back and had a drink of water. We began with serve receive drills, then spike receives from coach.
After practice, I snuck into the boys' club room, putting a note in a particular boy's cubby, I made my way to the main school building and waited outside the front door.
Several minutes later, I saw a figure approaching from the distance. He paused as he saw me, but then continued until he was in front of me. "So it was you who asked me to come."
"Yes.." I twiddled my thumbs as I looked anywhere but him.
"So what is this about?" He asked. Taking a deep breath, I locked eyes with him.
"Um... I like you, a-and I'm not sure what your feelings are so c-can you please tell me before I get my hopes up?" I asked, glancing away as I bit my lip.
Suddenly, his hand was on my cheek, causing me to look at him. "I like you too." Ushiwaka murmured, looking me straight in the eye. "And I know I'm not exactly good with affection and expressing myself, but I will try for you." He gave me a slight smile, making me tear up slightly.
"That's all I can ask." I gave him a closed eye grin before quickly pecking his cheek and running away. "S-See you tomorrow!"
~•~
Slamming my dorm room door, I was panting hard as Tendou gave me a concerned look. "Was somebody chasing you or something?" He demanded, and I shook my head.
"I was running away from myself, more like." I panted, laughing slightly. The redhead looked even more confused, but shrugged it off.
"Sounds like quite the night, then. Where'd you go last night, anyway?"
"Uhhhh, the hang out."
"Seriously?! That was the first place I thought of but I thought it was too obvious so I didn't check there!" Tendou cried, covering his face with his hands, "I'm so stuuuupid!"
"It's alright, I'm okay now." I reassured him, smiling as I took his hands off his face. His eyes narrowed. "There is something we should talk about though."
"... Alright.." He nodded slowly, so we sat down on his bed. "What's up?"
"I don't want to lead you on," I explained, "I decided that I'd rather keep you as a best friend, because you've brought nothing but happiness to me since we met. I hope you can understand where I'm coming from."
"At least I'm not brother zoned." The redhead grumbled flopping onto his back. "That's cool with me, bestie."
"Thank you for understanding." I smiled happily, "I'll treat you to ice cream sometime."
"I'll cash in on that when we win the first round of nationals. And don't you already owe us ice cream?"
"Oh, right." I laughed. "Guess I owe you double."
"Bet." He smirked, before it softened into a frown as he sat up. "So, you go for Wakkun?"
"Yeah, he said he liked me too." I smiled softly, twiddling my thumbs as I thought about it.
"Ah, so that's why he left so fast." Tendou chuckled, smiling slightly. "Welp, you two have my full support~"
"Thanks Tendou." I kissed his cheek, "you're the best."
"I know~ you're lucky to have me~" He smirked, "Come on, we should finish the season." My eyes widened with his words.
"Oh my god! I forgot we haven't finished the show yet! Where's the computer?!"
So that's how my love life crisis ended, best friend zoning my best friend, and making Ushiwaka someone much more important to me than he had already been.
However, I couldn't have expected what happened soon after that. It all started at Nationals...