Tagalong
A Haikyuu! oneshot
by mew-tsubaki
Note: The Haikyuu! characters belong to Furudate Haruichi-sensei, not to me. Minor characters mean major ship for me. XD Read, review, and enjoy! *Done for hqdatekouweek on tumblr.*
- ^-^3
She recalls when she is seven and her younger sister is six, and a boy appears at their door.
Nametsu Mai thinks nothing of it for a second, and then she wonders from where he came. The park? Next door? Who knows? She hasn't seen anyone near her age in the neighborhood before.
The boy stands on his tiptoes, trying to see into their front yard. They don't know him, so Mai doesn't want to let him in, but Madoka does anyway and introduces herself. "And that's my big sis, Mai!" Madoka announces. She gives the boy a tomboyish grin. "Are you new around here?"
He nods his head in a way that makes it bobble, and Mai tries not to laugh.
Madoka, ever impatient, asks for his name. "If you wanna play, we've gotta know what to call you."
"Fukiage Jingo," he mumbles with a sniffle. Maybe he'd been crying before, but he seems calm now that he's discovered the sisters.
"Would you like to join us?" Mai asks him, and she unlocks the front gate.
Jingo nods again, his head bobbing up and down, and he becomes a familiar face around the Nametsu household.
- ^-^3
She remembers when she is ten and Madoka and Jingo are nine, and she begins to feel the separation.
She and Madoka have grown up with Jingo, but while Mai is close to both of them, she can't help but feel that her age makes a difference. She's a whole year older than them, and she's already hit double digits. The other kids in her class love it, but Mai doesn't.
Jingo has a bit of a sixth sense when it comes to others' feelings, contrary to how harsh and ignorant his face looks, so he asks after her, and she reveals her insecurities. "That's all, Mai-san?"
Not that she was expecting a lengthy pep talk from the taciturn kid, but Mai has to wonder if that sixth sense of his is more of a lucky streak than anything else.
But his small eyes bore into her, and she realizes he doesn't need to say anything more. She realizes it's not such a big deal.
From that day on, Mai takes her cue from reliable old Jingo and decides not to worry about the little things. After all, that seems to have worked out fine for him.
- ^-^3
She is thirteen and starting middle school. She's got her uniform and her schoolbag—already decorated with a Digimon keychain from Madoka and a flower one from Jingo—and her school shoes, so shiny and new.
She watches Madoka and Jingo go the opposite direction from her every morning, and she tries not to be sad about not going with them. She notes their elementary school bags and wishes to be a kid again…not a pre-teen.
She says nothing of it this time around to Jingo, but Madoka tells everyone at the dinner table one night that she and Jingo are going to attend the same middle school together.
"The same one as Sis!" she chatters happily.
The girls' parents aren't surprised. Jingo's been with them ever since he and his father moved in up the street, and he and Madoka are thick as thieves. It's only natural to expect that where Madoka leads, he will follow.
The notion strikes Mai as a little odd, and she envies Madoka—just a smidge. But the thought of them joining her next year is still comforting, though, so she lets things slide.
- ^-^3
She is fifteen and talking of going to Datekougyou Technical.
"Ehh? But why?" Madoka complains. She sits at Mai's window, twirling a short strand of hair around her pinky finger out of boredom. She's only half-participating in the conversation.
"Because it's a nice school," Mai supplies, sitting cross-legged on her bed and flipping through magazines. "I've been manager of our school's volleyball team for the past two years, and I figure I'd like to do that again. So Datekou it is."
"But it's not that close by."
Ah. Maybe Madoka is paying more attention than her sister gives her credit for. "No, so I'll have to get up early to catch the train." Mai furrows her brow. "I'm not going away, you know, Madoka."
Her sister pouts and shrugs. Then she's up like a light and sighing as she stretches. "C'mon. Let's go outside," she says to the silent figure who's been standing in Mai's open doorway the whole time.
Jingo lets Madoka pass, but he doesn't immediately follow after her. Instead, he faces into the room again and locks eyes with Mai. She knows that inquisitive expression of his, though, and waves him off. "It's fine, Jin-kun. The three of us can't be together forever."
She's not used to it on his face, so she almost misses the small frown that appears. "Maybe not the three of us," he mumbles. He clenches his fists at his sides. "But I could learn how to play volleyball. I can go to Datekou with you."
Her heart flutters, and she laughs. He really is a kind boy. "You don't have to, Jin-kun, but I appreciate the thought." She waves him off again. "Now go catch up with Madoka. You know she doesn't like to be kept waiting."
His frown deepens and his shoulders slacken, but he tips his head to her and leaves.
Only once he's well and gone does Mai kick herself for wishing that maybe he might follow her for once.
- ^-^3
She is seventeen and on the verge of a headache.
Datekou is fun, Mai confesses, and she enjoys being the manager for the boys' volleyball club. Definitely boys over girls—Mai's not sure she'd know how to handle the female players, having grown up really with two younger males (because her younger sister's more of a tomboy than Madoka might ever get the energy up to admit).
Moniwa-senpai is kind if a bit of a pushover. Kamasaki-senpai and Sasaya-senpai—they help to keep things amusing, albeit a little loud. And Mai's classmates, Aone, Futakuchi, Obara, and Onagawa, are all characters in their own right.
But these first years they've got…
"Whoaaa!" Koganegawa exclaims after pulling off a dump shot during practice. "Senpai!" he hollers at Futakuchi. "Did you see that, did you see that?"
"Koganegawa-kun, quiet down," Sakunami says, though he says it without much force. It's as though he's trying—and failing—to be Koganegawa's keeper.
"I guess you've got your hands full," Sasaya-senpai says to Mai when he and the other two third-year regulars stop by. They may have retired, but it doesn't really show when they check up on their kouhai like this.
Mai shrugs and grins exasperatedly, knowing she and Futakuchi are essentially running a daycare here. "We'll manage somehow," she tells them, and only with her most winning, convincing smile do the three boys leave the gym so practice resumes. Still…
Mai slides her eyes around the room, looking everywhere but at one corner. She passes out towels, she hands out water bottles, she counts to ten, twenty, and thirty…but, in the end, that corner of the room can't be avoided, so she finally glances over, resting her eyes on yet another first year.
Jingo senses her eyes on him and turns his head in her direction. He really is here, at Datekou, just as he said he'd be. She's not used to it on his face, so she almost misses the small smile that graces his features.
She quickly looks away, her headache becoming a reality even as her heart begins to flutter again…and she begins to wonder if Jingo might be slyer than he looks.
- ^-^3
X3 *dies* Sorry, yeah. I've just had thoughts about them since their character data was translated and we got their names…I just can't. 8333 Madoka's an OC, yeah, but I liked the arrangement of things here—and Jingo! XDDD SO CUTE WITH MAI. GAH. *dies again* Now I need to do some art for them…
Thanks for reading, and please review! And check out my other fics if you enjoyed this!
-mew-tsubaki :D