Have a double chapter. And a wonderful day! I've been fifteen since April 7, and it feels great!
.
.
.
new beginnings
.
.
.
"So… this is where I'll be staying, huh?"
Tsukiko stares up at Kiyoko's house, grudgingly impressed, and adjusts the strap of her bag against her shoulder.
"I've already prepared the spare room for you," says the older girl, opening the gate. "We'll have to wake early tomorrow to prepare breakfast for everyone, but otherwise, please relax and enjoy yourself."
It's extremely hard to hate a person like Shimizu-senpai, Tsukiko thinks glumly to herself as she removes her shoes and straightens. It's also hard to like herself; ever since she ran into Karasuno's manager the year before, she's always had the slight dip of self-consciousness tickling the back of her mind whenever she's around Shimizu. Maybe it's how effortlessly beautiful the third year always seems, or how calmly she approaches situations, problems, and people. It makes Tsukiko a little more than envious to see that this is the kind of person Ryuu likes. Elegant, gracious, measured.
Exactly the opposite of herself.
Tsukiko shakes her head violently, and exhales. Recovering from a rejection, gentle or otherwise, will no doubt take a toll on her these three days, despite their friendship - coupled with the fact that she'd see Ryuu a lot as well - but she'll pull through it.
Or so she hopes.
She doesn't even know why she likes him sometimes. He's bald, easily excited, rude, and his temper flares up every so often - just like hers. Maybe that's why, she thinks to herself as she sets her bag down on the floor of her bedroom. They're so similar in the way they want to protect the people they love, so similar in their personalities and their judgements, so similar that she feels that they could be more. So close that they feel so far apart, despite their fiery camaraderie.
Maybe she just wants to be close to him.
Tsukiko grumbles incoherently under her breath, cursing Ryuu and his stupidly adorable face. His rough exterior and kind heart. His earnestness and willingness to move forward. His drive. His passion. His overall - self.
It's going to take a very long while to get used to the fact that he'll probably never direct that adoring, admiring, awed look at her. That despite the fact that they seem like brother and sister, there's no chance that they'll ever be more than that.
.
.
.
The steamy bath she takes eases the stress out of her limbs and she stretches in content, having eaten a good dinner. Both the meal and the bath, as well as the low thrum of music in her earbuds, has chased away most of her depressing thoughts, and now she slips on her slippers, humming tunelessly along to the song. Shimizu-senpai's mother is a wonderful cook - it's no wonder Shimizu-senpai herself can cook so well.
Tsukiko climbs on top of her bed and starts to rub the water out of her hair with the help of a towel, and she yawns softly.
She wonders distantly, as she gazes out the window, how Ryuu and the others are doing.
.
.
.
"GRAAGH," Hinata says as he squirms deeper into his blanket, trying to escape from the clutches of daylight and movement. The rebelling curls of orange sneaking out from beneath the covers stick up in amazingly wild angles, and drool has dried on one side of his mouth. He blinks himself awake - or tries to, anyway - only to be greeted by a pair of mischievous golden eyes mere millimetres away from his face.
"Argh!" He starts to scramble away, then realizes belatedly that the owner of those eyes is someone very familiar.
"HEY!" Tsukiko accidentally shouts, then claps a hand over her mouth. "Whoops. I mean, good morning!"
"E...n...anmi-senpai?" Hinata slurs, pushing himself up with his elbows. "That you?"
"The one and only!"
She's crouched over him, her short red hair neatly brushed and her fingers flashing him a cheerful peace sign.
"Whatcha doing here?" the short wing spiker manages to ask.
Tsukiko stands, putting her hands on her hips and grinning madly. Too late, Hinata sees that she's fully dressed: shorts, violently clashing orange T-shirt, flip-flops and all.
"It's breakfast time," she sings in a way of reply.
The sound of muted groans and rustling tells Hinata that their conversation has not gone unheard. In fact, it seems like most of the room's inhabitants are now roused from their previously peaceful slumber.
"TSUKIKO!" Noya and Ryuu yell, when they see her. Instantly awake, they jump to their feet and wave ecstatically.
Hinata nods to himself when Tsukiko high-fives the both of them without hesitation, bellowing back a bright reply. It's good that they've made up now, he thinks. Both Enami-senpai and Tanaka-senpai look way more relaxed now that they can communicate without awkwardness. In fact, they all look… happy. And that fact itself makes Hinata happy, as well.
But, well, there's a certain somebody who is decidedly not happy at that very moment, and that certain somebody has just been rudely awakened by the noise that four certain inconsiderate blockheads have been making in the very early hours of morning.
"ENAMI TSUKIKO," roars a very incensed Sawamura Daichi amidst the growing hubbub, the yawns, and the mumbled "good morning, Tsukiko, hey, wait, what are you doing in the boys' room"s, and with that, another hectic day of training has begun.