Chapter 2: Meeting Takeshima
Over the next couple days, the hyper energetic middle blocker began to notice that his best friend had been missing between classes and lunch breaks. After practices were finished, he would say goodbye to his teammates and 'walk home' in a completely different direction than his own home. Hinata attempted to confront the aloof setter about his whereabouts before practice once. "Mind your own business, dumbass," was the only response he received. If he pried any more, then Kageyama would get even more angry and Tanaka would have to get involved.
And no one wanted Tanaka to get involved.
After two days of Kageyama's mysterious disappearances, Hinata decided that he would take things into his own hands and find out where he goes every free moment of the day. As soon as the bell sounded through Karasuno High School to signify the lunch break, Hinata's loud footsteps tapped impatiently around the entire school building.
Hinata checked every spot on campus that was frequented by Kageyama, and then some that would be Kageyama-prone to his presence. Still, Hinata couldn't quite find the cold-hearted setter. Finally giving up, Hinata decided to retreat back to the cafeteria where the rest of the volleyball team was already sitting and talking.
"Why the long face, Hinata?" Asahi asked as the first-year sat down with a pout. "Kageyama's been running away somewhere for the past two days and I can't find him anywhere!" Numerous pairs of confused eyes fell on Hinata, and the first-year immediately felt like he missed something obvious. "What are you talking about?" Tanaka said between mouthfuls of rice, "Kageyama's right over there." Tanaka pointed with his fork straight behind Hinata.
Just a few tables over, Hinata recognized the back of Kageyama's head that was slouched over. There weren't many people around, but he didn't miss the beautiful blonde girl that sat nonchalantly across the table from him. Hinata's expression turned from one of shock to one of dumbfounded. "Why the hell is Kageyama sitting over there with the new girl?!" The third years shrugged and continued eating, but Tanaka chomped forcefully on his food. "As long as that brat king isn't sitting alone with Shimizu-senpai, then I'm okay with it!" he declared, forcing down another mouthful of rice. Hinata noticed the shorter libero sitting across from him, who didn't seem interested in eating at all. At first glance, Hinata thought that he was staring at him but he realized that Nishinoya was staring through him.
"He's been like that since Kageyama and Takeshima-san started eating lunch together," Tanaka nonchalantly commented, paying the other second-year no attention. It was weird that Nishinoya wouldn't second anything Tanaka said about protecting Shimizu-senpai, but having the normally energetic and bouncy libero completely silent and entranced was otherworldly. "I think he's in love with the new girl even more so than Shimizu-san," Sugawara chuckled, waving his hand in front of the libero's face. His gaze remained unchanged.
"She's the first human being I've seen who's actually shorter than Nishinoya," Asahi remarked, capturing everyone's attention, "and on top of that, she's just as attractive as Shimizu-san. It's a win-win situation for Noya." Hinata looked curiously between Nishinoya and the girl across the cafeteria. "But Noya's actually shy when he meets beautiful girls that he doesn't know," Daichi laughed, flicking a piece of meat onto Nishinoya's forehead. That seemed to bring him back to reality. "She…" Nishinoya began, gripping his fork tighter, "She's prettier than Shimizu-senpai!"
"Oi!" Tanaka shouted after him, "There's no one more beautiful than Shimizu-senpai!"
Nishinoya sat back down from his sudden declaration to Tanaka, but he seemed to be in a depressed daydream mood as he played mindlessly with his own rice. "But Asahi-san's right," Nishinoya muttered, "She's shorter than me and that combined with her blue eyes and long hair makes her look so innocent and adorable… I think she's perfect." The rest of the boys watched Nishinoya with hopeful and content gazes, finally happy to see their libero go for a girl more attainable than his obsession over Shimizu. Suddenly, his fork slammed against the table. "But it pisses me off that the bratty first-year is over there talking to her! What the hell do they have in common?!"
"I see," Kageyama muttered before he took another sip from his milk carton. There was something oddly comforting to Kageyama that someone from his old junior high school didn't judge him for his attitude on the volleyball court. "If I recall correctly, you were quite popular at Kitagawa Daiichi. You played for the girls' soccer club, right?" Takeshima's hand around her drink tightened considerably at the mention of soccer. "Yes," she forced through her teeth. Kageyama flinched back slightly at her negative reaction to the sport. Back in junior high, she was undoubtedly one of the best in the prefecture so she had to love soccer, right? So why would she react to the mention of her sport like that? Kageyama couldn't quite figure out Takeshima's feelings, but there was one thing he was concerned about.
"There was this one rumor going around Kitagawa Daiichi about you…" Kageyama suddenly mentioned. The setter leaned discreetly across the table and looked around to ensure that there were no eavesdroppers on their conversation. "Was it true that you dated Oikawa Toru-senpai?"
Takeshima seemed humored by his obsession with his upperclassman. "Yeah, for a while," she answered shyly, "But I broke up with him because…" her voice trailed off when she realized where the conversation would eventually lead if she had continued. Unfortunately, Kageyama still seemed interested in knowing the story behind it. "He was too obsessed with volleyball to care about me," she finished. She instantly regretted her words, knowing how obsessive Kageyama himself was with volleyball. Luckily, her words didn't seem to offend him in any way and he laid back in his chair again.
"I see, I suppose I could see that," he nodded. Kageyama peered at the clock behind Takeshima over the doors leading to the hallways and realized that lunch would soon be over. The first-year girl began to gather her things before he could capture her attention again. "Takeshima-san," he called. The girl stopped in her tracks, "You can just call me 'Kana'."
"Kana-san," Kageyama corrected, "would you like to come sit in on the boys' volleyball practice today after school? The dumb as shit kid you met the other day— Hinata— there's something you should see about him." Takeshima Kana raised a suspicious eyebrow at his words, but agreed to meet him after school anyway.
Interesting…
Eleven players surrounded coach Ukai, who seemed just as eager to practice as the rest of the team did. Only one player remained missing— Kageyama.
"Maybe he's making out with that new super hot first-year," Hinata irresponsibly blurted, sending Nishinoya into a silent rage and the coach into shock. "Kageyama… with a girl?" coach Ukai chuckled, rubbing the back of his head. The word "impossible" was written all over the coach's face at Hinata's comment. That was until the doors to the gym opened, and Kageyama slipped his volleyball shoes on. As he walked over to his team, the smaller figure behind him seemed to stand out a little more.
Hinata's jaw dropped.
Ukai's jaw dropped.
Nishinoya tightened his fists.
Takeshima's long hair was tied back into a high ponytail, which made her big blue eyes even more visible. She was still dressed in the Karasuno uniform, which was unusual given that Shimizu always changed into her official manager uniform. "Coach," Kageyama's voice redirected everyone's attention from Takeshima to him, "This is Takeshima Kana-san, a friend of mine from Kitagawa Daiichi. May she sit and watch one of our practices?"
Kageyama's request confused many of the boys. Why would he request to have a first-year female watch a boys practice? The rest of the team wondered if Takeshima played volleyball for the girls' club back at Kitagawa Daiichi and wanted to watch a volleyball practice since the girls didn't practice today.
However, Ukai seemed to notice an ulterior motive behind the setter's request. "I don't see a problem with it. Do you, sensei?" the coach moved to look over to the volleyball club's advisor, Takeda-sensei. His usual cheerful expression seemed to brighten at the thought of an onlooker to the boys' powerfully progressing team. "Not at all! We're happy to have you, Takeshima-san."
Soon enough, the boys gathered to their respective positions on the court and began practice. Takeshima found herself standing in the shadows, watching as every boy's face lit up with excitement every time they received the opportunity to touch the ball. She knew that face all too well. She absolutely missed that face. She was deep in her own thoughts until she realized that another person had come to join her on the sidelines. It was an older girl, and much taller, with medium-length black hair and piercing grey eyes that hid behind glasses. Everything about her screamed 'sexy'.
"Takeshima-san, right?" her voice was low and shy, and Takeshima realized that she was just as uncomfortable around new people as she was. She nodded assuringly. "I can tell that you don't play volleyball," she simply stated, which shocked Takeshima. The shorter first-year diverted her eyes back to the boys before her. "No, I don't."
"I never played volleyball either, but when I was a first-year, I had a career-ending injury and couldn't play the sport I was passionate about anymore…" the girl began. Takeshima's undivided attention was on her when she realized the similarity in her own story. "I found a team who was passionate about their sport the same way I used to be about mine, and I figured that I would help them succeed in the way I was never given a chance to. And now seeing the boys practice now, it makes me feel like all of my hard work is paying off."
Takeshima was so entranced by her story that she almost didn't see the 'weirdo quick' that Kageyama and Hinata managed just then. The entire team cried out in a victorious cheer even though only Hinata and Kageyama were the ones who scored the point. "Takeshima-san! Did you see that?!" Hinata called out excitedly. Even Kageyama seemed to have a hopeful smile on his face. "That makes it all worth it," the girl smiled back to the team.
Eventually, the boys cheered to signify the end of the practice and Takeshima found herself surrounded by a bunch of sweaty boys taking off their kneepads and shoes. Hinata competed with absolutely no one for her attention, but she wasn't quite listening anyway. "Anything's possible, Kana-san," Kageyama suddenly said from behind her, "I think that you should give soccer another chance."
"Do you play soccer, Kana-chan?" Hinata asked curiously. She wasn't sure when she evolved from -san to -chan, but she didn't quite mind it. She did mind, however, where this conversation was going.
"You look like you would be amazing at soccer, Takeshima-san!" Nishinoya chimed in cheerfully, giving her his best grin. The smile and positive energy radiating from the special libero felt like it brightened her spirits, but the memory of her last game against Chidoriyama kept replaying like a never-ending movie inside of her head. The cheers of Chidoriyama's fans… Oikawa's absences… The doctor's sorrowful tone when she finally awoke from surgery… It was too much to handle.
"I can't play soccer again…" was all that Takeshima could say, her hands clenched tightly into fists. "So don't say stupid, hopeful things like that."
Her statement seemed to change the entire atmosphere of the boys, and suddenly Hinata and the rest of them went onto the defensive. "But you're small and fast! You could totally outrun everyone in the prefecture!" If only you knew, Hinata-san. "I'm only asking that you give it another shot," Kageyama pushed Hinata out of the way to approach her, "Back at Kitagawa Daiichi, you were one of the best players in the entire prefecture. I even heard that you outran most of the prefecture's defense our third year. But that's not it— I know that you loved soccer like this dumbass loves volleyball. It was your passion, your life. It was what made you happy when Oikawa-senpai couldn't—"
"Shut up."
Takeshima's sudden outburst rang throughout the entire gym and silenced any noise that dared to present itself. "You're like everyone else back at Kitagawa Daiichi, Kageyama! You only know the rumors! That's all everyone ever knows! Why can't anyone just accept that soccer means nothing to me now?! Three years from now, when you've played your final game, you'll understand how a little how I feel! But it'll be different! You'll be happy that it's over, because you feel satisfied, but what happens to those of us who aren't?! You people who are capable of playing have an entire future ahead of you with your teammates, so you don't have to be a selfish asshole and rub in my face everything that I lost!"
"Kageyama's trying to help you," Nishinoya interjected, taking a careful step forward. Takeshima's anger didn't waver at the kindness he was trying to offer. "No one asked you."
"No one asked you to be selfish, either," he immediately retorted, "Just because you don't play volleyball doesn't mean that you have to talk bad about us who do! I don't know you like Kageyama does, but I can't like someone who bashes people who are passionate about something they love just because they aren't passionate about anything themselves."
Silence.
Absolute silence.
It seemed like time stopped when Nishinoya was finished speaking. None of the other boys wanted to speak for fear that anything they said, whether it had been positive or negative, would resolve the situation. Not even the coaches opened their mouths to try to ease the tension. Only coach Ukai's face grew more stern in a sudden realization that made him feel the utmost sympathy for the girl in front of him.
The only sound that emitted now was the single tear that fell from Takeshima's lowered face. She had desperately tried to hold them back, but those words that came from someone she thought so highly of hurt her more than any injury. She silently turned her back to the team…
And she was gone.
I didn't really mean for this chapter to be this long, but it's just all the more better for you guys! ^_^
I received A LOT of feedback from my Naruto story (Konoha Boarding Academy- check it out!) which was mostly positive, but I wanted to incorporate a lot of corrections from that series into this short story. So if there's anything I could work on, feel free to leave me some constructive criticism in the reviews!
Lastly, sorry for the cliffhanger ending, but everything gets faaaar more interesting from here on out (; Thank youu! -Alixa
