Chapter 3 - Being the New Kid
Yuna's POV
As I stood behind the door that lead to Year 2 Class 5 of Karasuno High, I slightly regretted not doing worse on my entrance exam so I could be placed in the same class as Noya-kun. Being the new kid in class sucked and although this was the second time, I knew it wasn't going to be any easier. Just pretend you know what you're doing. But not too much; you don't want to seem arrogant, I reminded myself.
Taking a breath in and exhaling slowly, I slid the door open confidently walked inside. I was greeted by a view of the teacher, standing at the front of the room with the rest of the class sitting and listening attentively to what he was saying.
The teacher looked up from his papers when he heard me enter. "Ah, Miss Ku –"
"Yuna. Yuna's fine." I cut him off. I felt everyone's eyes on me. Shit, I thought, Why did I do that? "Uhm, I mean, I would prefer if you would call me Yuna."
"Oh, well of course, Miss Yuna." The teacher quickly amended. He gestured for me to come stand beside him at the front of the class. "Class, this is Yuna; she is a transfer student all the way from Tokyo. Please make her feel welcome." The class gave a reply in unison.
I gave a small smile and bowed, hoping that they would all forget that I had rudely interrupted the teacher on my first day. "Please take care of me."
"You can sit over there, beside our Class Representative. Miss Nagamo, please help Miss Yuna catch up with her work."
"Yes sir," came the reply.
I walked over towards the girl the teacher had pointed me in the direction of, and quickly sat down beside her. She gave me a cheerful smile as I settled into my seat and held out a hand.
"I'm Nagamo Ami. Call me Ami. Nice to meet you Yuna-san." A bit startled at her friendliness, I took her hand and shook it.
"You can just call me Yuna," I told her. I had always told everyone to call me by my first name.
My brother's friends had always called him by our last name, and so I had grown to associate it with him. Last year, while we were both attending the same school in Tokyo, all my teachers had referred to me by my first name in order to avoid confusion.
After the teacher had announced that it would be a self-study period and left, Ami turned towards me. "So Yuna-chan, why'd you come all the way here from such a big city like Tokyo?"
"Oh, I actually grew up here. I'm moving back from Tokyo after moving there with my mom for a few years."
She let out a gasp, "Why did you leave Miyagi? And why only for a few years? Do you –"
As she bombarded me with all these questions about my life, I couldn't help but think that she was really talkative. But instead of being annoyed like I thought I would be, I felt…happy. Happy that at least one person was interested in talking to me and happy that I, at the very least, hadn't screwed up my first day back in school.
Ami kept me busy throughout the rest of the day with her questions and when classes were over for the day, we exchanged phone numbers so that I could call her if I needed her help getting on track with the homework.
I gave her a wave as she exited the classroom, instantly relaxing when I no longer had to put up a cheerful front. Sure, I had enjoyed Ami's company, but it was definitely very exhausting to keep up with her at her energetic pace.
"Yuna-chan!" A loud voice echoed into the classroom, causing everyone to stop talking and stare at the source of the sound.
Noya-kun was standing at the door, waving vigorously at me. And yet, here's another person who is full of energy all the time, I thought. Grinning, I gathered my belongings and walked towards him.
"How was your first day?" He asked as we started walking out of the classroom to exit the school.
"It was good…I think."
"Did you make any friends?"
"Yeah…I think."
Noya turned towards me and gave me a weird look, "What do you mean 'I think'?"
I shrugged, "I'm still not sure. I'll tell you when I'm positive." Ignoring his confused expression, I asked, "What about you, Mr. Delinquent? Did you get into any fights?" I teased.
He pretended to be shocked, holding a hand up to his heart, "Who? Me? Never! Who do you think I am?"
"Yeah, okay." I replied sarcastically.
Ignoring me, he switched to another subject, "Hey, you wanna go get meat buns on the way home?"
"Only if you pay!"
Three Weeks Later
I had pretty much gotten re-adjusted to my life in Miyagi. I had caught up with all the schoolwork that I had missed thanks to Ami's well-written notes and had even aced my first test. Noya-kun walked me home once a week while he went to go to the local gym to keep up with his training during the remaining four days.
"Do you want to get taiyaki today?" I asked, while we were eating lunch together. I usually ate lunch with Ami, but today she had a meeting with the other Class Representatives.
"Sorry Yuna-chan, but I'm busy after school today." He said, pouting while taking a big bite of his sandwich.
"Hm? Doing what?"
"Yesterday was the last day of my extra-curricular activities suspension. So today I can go back to the club!" He shouted gleefully, giving me a full view of his half chewed food.
"Please don't shout with your mouth full," I responded. "Does that mean that you're never going to walk home with me anymore?" I pretended to cry.
"Well…actually, I was thinking. You should come with me!"
"Huh? To the boys' volleyball team?"
"Yeah!"
"Am I the only one seeing an issue with this? I'm pretty sure that's against the rules."
Noya rolled his eyes at me, "No, not as a player, you could be our manager!"
"…"
"Don't give me that look, it was just a suggestion! I know you miss playing."
I sighed, to be honest, it wasn't that bad of an idea. It wasn't like I had anything to do when I got home anyways. Although I had always said that I only played volleyball because I was forced to, I did miss that amazing sound of my spike slamming into the ground.
"Come on, Yuna-chan, it'll be fun!" Noya gave me a reassuring smile.
"Alright, fine. But this is only because I want to hang out with you and I have nothing better to do at home."
"Hurray!" He yelled, fist-pumping the air, much to my embarrassment when everyone in the cafeteria turned to look at us.
Noya told me to wait a day or two before coming to practice, saying that he still had unfinished business with Asahi (I vaguely remembered something about him being the guy who Noya got into a fight with). I warned him about getting into trouble again and while reassuring me that he wasn't going to, he pranced away gleefully at the thought of playing with his team again.
Two Days Later
After school, Noya had gone to volleyball practice as usual while I headed home. Seeing as he still hadn't told me to go join them, I guessed that the dispute between him and Asahi had yet to be resolved. I put down my book and let out a loud sigh, this is so boring.
The ringing of my phone jolted me from my slouched position instantly. Looking at the name on my phone before bringing it up to my ear, I pressed the answer button, "Noya-kun, what's up?"
"Are you at home?" Came his breathless voice, panting.
"Yup." I plopped myself on my bed, lying on my stomach.
"Okay, good. I left my elbow pads in my other bag that's in my room. Can you please bring it?"
Internally happy at having something to do but not wanting to show it too much, I tried to remain nonchalant as I replied, "You know, you're really lucky that we live like five minutes away."
"Come to Gym A!" he replied quickly before hanging up.
" 'Wow, thank you so much Yuna-chan. You're the best!' ", I said mockingly into the phone, imitating his voice.
I went next door to his house, where Mrs. Nishinoya happily opened the door for me and let me inside after I explained what I was there for. Quickly locating the bag Noya told me about and grabbing his elbow pads, I began the short trek to school.
It wasn't difficult finding Gym A, since all I had to do was follow the sounds of shouts of "Mine!", "Nice receive!" and the other things that could only be heard during a volleyball game. As I drew near the doors, I took out my phone to text Noya that I had arrived. While walking and texting, I ran into someone's back.
"Oof!" I took a few steps back, rubbing my sore nose.
"Oh, I'm so sorry!" A deep voice cried, which to me seemed way more distressed than was necessary. Looking up at the person I had bumped into, I observed a tall, bearded man with a man bun, peering down at me with a concerned expression.
I blinked, "…it's okay."
Before he had a chance to say anything else, a rambunctious cry sounded, "Hey, it's Asahi-san! Asahi-san!" Oh, I thought, so this is the infamous Asahi who Noya-kun was talking about.
A boy with bright orange hair was perched behind one of the windows of the gym, holding himself up with the bars. Asahi let out an exclamation of surprise and began stuttering.
"You're late! Who do you think you are?!" A man with yellow hair held back by a headband ran out through the door. Why does everyone here have such flashy hair colours?
After Asahi was forced to participate in their match and went to get changed, I went inside the gym to look for Noya. I found him silently doing stretches by himself and handed him his arm pads.
"Thanks, Yuna-chan. Sorry I made you come all the way here." He said without looking up at me.
I frowned, I had forgotten how intense Noya could be before games, whether it was a practice game or not.
"I'm just going to wait here until you finish." After hearing a grunt of acknowledgement, I walked back over to the side of the gym where some empty benches were and I sat down.
No one bothered to notice me since they all seemed preoccupied with figuring out how they would beat the "Neighbourhood Volleyball Association".
I sighed, and leaned back against the wall, preparing myself to stay for a while.
A whistle blew, signalling the start of the game.
Author's Note:
Still a bit boring since she hasn't actually met the team yet, but it's coming!
Thanks to all who followed and favourited! Love you all! (: