Chapter 9

Lunchtime musings and coincidences

Hiyori Pov

Somehow, the rest of the week managed to pass very fast and incredibly slow at the same time until I finally managed to make it to Friday. Turns out that that both Kobe-chan and Mitsuko-chan were pretty mild when it came to the spicy pepper that was Oikawa Tooru. After they questioned me on Monday, I thought they would never want to be friends with me, but they were still nice to me the day after. However, word of my friendship with the volleyball captain spread fast and the second they became associated with me, they also fell victim to the harsh stares and childish pranks. When the two poor girls had their lockers mistaken for trashcans for the third day in a row, they stopped hanging out with me.

I just couldn't comprehend why people would go this far for one guy. Sure, a tall, handsome and very nice guy, but just one guy nonetheless. Most of the members of the volleyball team fit that bill, in my opinion at least.

'Earth to Hiyo-chan!'

I jumped in my seat a little and looked back up at Chi-chan, who was sitting on the other side of my desk, waving her hand in front of me. What was I doing again? Right, I was having lunch with Chi-chan, currently the only girl willing to spend time with me. She had already gone through all of this, being the manager of the volleyball club, and survived, so Oikawa-san's followers didn't really mind her that much. Probably also partly because she was so obviously in love with Iwaizumi-san.

'I'm sorry, you were saying?'

'Oh, nothing much,' She said nonchalantly, grabbing a cherry tomato out of her lunchbox and popping it into her mouth, 'just asking if you wanted to start a campaign with me to achieve world domination.'

'Girl, totally.' I answered just as casually.

We managed to look each other straight in the eye for maybe three seconds before we dropped the serious façade and dissolved into giggles.

'No but seriously, what were you talking about while I was zoning out?' I asked with a grin after the giggles had calmed down.

'Oh, right, I was just wondering if you wanted to come watch the practice game today. We're up against a college team.'

'Ah, yeah. Oikawa-san already spammed me with texts until I agreed, so yes, I'll be watching.'

'You've really just hit it off with Oikawa-san, haven't you? It's like you guys have known each other for forever.'

I hummed in agreement. 'It's kinda creeping me out too. Just a week ago he was a total stranger to me, but now he's fully part of my day to day life. I suppose that's why those girls don't like me.'

Chi-can looked at me worriedly. 'Don't let it get to you okay? They'll calm down in a week or two. Besides, you can always go and complain to Oikawa about it too, this is his fault too.'

I shook my head at that. 'Nah, there's nothing wrong with being nice to others. For some reason these fangirls are just putting him on a pedestal because of it.' After I said it, I grabbed the last bit of my rice ball and shoved it in my mouth.

'It's nothing I can't handle though.' I added, after I swallowed my food. 'I mean, I survived an epic showdown with hundreds of spiders, some trash and dirty glares are nothing to me!'

'I guess so.' She replied, smiling. Then, a slight frown overtook her features. 'I don't get why he is ditching you though. He hasn't hung out with you this whole week.'

'Oh, I asked him to do that. I didn't want to add fuel to the fire, so I asked him to steer clear of me outside of volleyball. I might get murdered if I'm seen having lunch with him right now. Also, this way I could hang out with my gorgeous, amazing best friend.' I said with a wink.

She laughed and reached over the desk to flick my forehead. 'Suck-up.'

I stuck out my tongue at her and then picked up my phone, which was lying face-down on the table. 'Besides, he texts me enough to make up for it.'

I unlocked my phone and showed her my chat with Oikawa-san.

'Wow, you weren't kidding.' She said incredulously.

'I know right, every time I check my phone, I'll have at least three texts waiting for me, either from him, or our group chat. It doesn't really bother me though. They're quite hilarious.'

'Woah, hold the phone, who's 'they'?' She reached over and snagged the device from my hands.

'Hey, rude!'

'Oh shush, let me see that chat history.' The brunette in front of me scrolled and tapped about on my phone for a few seconds before she looked up at me again, this time with a smirk.

'You haven't been sitting about, the top four slots in your chat history are all guys! First Oikawa-san, then Hanamaki-san, Matsukawa-san and-,' She paused for a second, 'Muramoto-san? Who's that?'

'What can I say?' I said suavely, gracing my friend with a hair flip. 'I'm a guy magnet. As for who the fourth guy is: remember last Friday, when I got lost? He's the barista at Starbooks I asked for help. He gave me his phone number, so we've been texting back and forth these past few days. He's a college student, second year.'

'Look at you go, where does he go to college?'

'You know what? I didn't even think to ask. I'd imagine a college close by, since he works at the Starbooks near school.'

Chi-chan was silent for a moment before she let out a chuckle.

'Maybe he's a member of the volleyball team we're up against this afternoon.'

I laughed as well.

'Could you imagine?'

'You're kidding.'

The words left my mouth before I realized it. At the sound of my voice, the one and only Muramoto-san turned around to face me. He was standing a few meters away from me, chatting with some of his teammates. Our own team stood on the other side of the gym.

'I see you've managed to make it to school yet again today, color me impressed.' He said with a grin, making his way over to me.

'Don't make it sound like some sort of a special achievement.' I replied indignantly. I then grinned as well. 'Good to see you again.'

'Likewise, I haven't seen you around at Starbooks at all, was the coffee that bad?'

'Oh, come on. Do I strike you as the kind of person that could successfully navigate to the same place twice? Like you said, it's a miracle I can find my way to school.'

'How about I walk you there then? We could go after the match is over to celebrate my imminent victory.' He replied smoothly with a flirty wink.

Now, don't get me wrong, while I really like talking to this guy, I have no intentions of dating him. We were three years apart. By the time I had graduated high school, Muramoto-san would almost be a functioning member of society. I'm just barely functioning in general, so I just did not see that happening. I racked my brain to find a nice way to turn him down, while not being rude.

'Sorry man, but she's got plans with me.' The familiar voice came from my left and Oikawa-san grabbed my wrist and tugged me over to his side.

Apparently he had come over when we were talking. When I looked behind him, I could also see Iwaizumi-san and the prankster duo walking over to us curiously.

Muramoto-san frowned at the tall brunette and then glanced down at me. 'You do?'

I had not expected any help, so I just looked up at oikawa-san and asked: 'I do?'

'Yes, you, me and the three idiots behind me are going to Starbooks to celebrate OUR imminent victory.' The trio nodded enthusiastically. Meanwhile, Oikawa-san narrowed his eyes at the raven haired student. He tightened his grip on my wrist and started dragging me towards the other side of the gym. Suddenly he halted and turned around once more.

'Oh, and by the way,' Oikawa-san glanced at the other's shirt, 'Muramoto-san: It's never 'your' victory in volleyball. It's the best team of six that wins.' He then rotated back and we continued our small expedition to the other side of the gym.

When we were back amongst the rest of the team, I gave the brunette a quick hug.

'Thanks for helping me out.' I said once I released him. 'I couldn't find the words to turn him down.'

'Of course.' He replied with a soft smile. The smile quickly widened and he roughly ruffled my hair. 'As if I'd let you date him, you're way too young for that young lady.'

I laughed and lightly punched his arm. 'What are you? My dad?'

I then turned to my other three friends that had come to rescue me. 'You guys too, thanks.'

A chorus of 'No problem' echoed back to me.

The sound of the gym door opening drew our attention and we looked up to see Chi-chan and the coaches of both teams enter. Chi-chan was hauling two large bags filled with water bottles with her.

Iwaizumi-san started walking in their direction. 'I'm gonna go help her with that.'

'You should probably go find a place to watch the game.' Matsukawa-san said.

'Yeah, coach will kick you off the court any second now anyway.' Hanamaki-san added, smiling apologetically.

'Alright, I'll go find a good spot. Good luck guys! I'll cheer extra hard, so score a point for me okay?' I said with a smile and a wink.

I then bounded off in the direction of the bleachers.

Hurrah, another chapter done! As always, thank you for reading! Things are finally picking up speed. I felt like I had to write the first few days in more detail to build up some backstory, but now I feel like I can start skipping some days. Otherwise we'll never reach the end of this book lol. Also, in case you haven't noticed yet, I'm not some suave, smooth person that just flirts left and right, so forgive my cringy attempts at flirting. I honestly don't know why I decided to write a fic centered around romance when I haven't dated a single day in my life. Oh well, too late to regret it now, I'm in too deep! Hope to see you again next week~