It had been 10 minutes since their agreed time yet, she still hadn't arrived at the library.
He wouldn't blame her if she had ditched him to hang out with her friends instead. Most people would, with the way he had acted.
Throughout the day he had purposely avoided her. From her friends' reactions, he surely would have stood out to the rest of the class if they were to interact with each other.
Like when it was break time, Kagome Higurashi and her friends had planned on going to the vending machine for a drink.
Perhaps, she had thought to ask if he wanted something for she walked towards his desk.
"Kozu-" She didn't get to finish before he bolted out the door muttering the word toilet as his excuse.
Or when it was lunch time. They clearly made eye contact with each other yet, he averted his gaze and acted like he hadn't noticed then left to go to Kuroo's class to eat.
When the bell rang to signal the end of class. He quickly grabbed his stuff and walked to their meet up point, the library.
He didn't wait for her to go there together.
"..."
He was currently passing time on a simple puzzle game.
Should he just leave?
"..."
But what if she did come?
"..."
...Why did he even care?
Well, there weren't any issues with staying at the library till practice started. Heck, the library had A/C and was quiet.
It was perfect for gaming!
He was about to grab his PSP from his bag when…
"!" Something was caught in his line of vision.
"...ah…" He unconsciously let out a soft yelp in surprise.
"Ah, sorry did I surprise you?"
There sitting across from him was Kagome Higurashi. She already had her textbook, workbook and a notebook opened. Off to the side was a pencil case with a bunch of highlighters spilling out.
Huh? She's really taking advantage of the large space of the table.
"You...only your notebook and workbook are enough."
"Eh?"
"The textbook overly explains everything. The notes...they're more condensed."
Nodding her head to his explanation she quickly put it away while he took out his own workbook.
Looking at her workbook, he could summarize that she had an overall poor understanding of the math concepts they were learning. He even had to several times go over again some of the basics they had learned in the beginning of the year, in order for her to fully understand what was going on.
It made him wonder how she was going to tackle it all on her own if he hadn't interfered.
However, he wouldn't say her chances of passing the test were low. Contrarily, she was picking things up rather quickly.
It must have been due to her seriousness in studying. Her eyebrows would scrunch up every now again when she was working on a difficult problem. There was also a certain spot on her forehead that would wrinkle whenever she grew frustrated.
He looked at the clock on the wall. '20 minutes left.'
The wrinkle in her forehead deepened.
"..."
"Let's...take a 5 minute break."
"But, I-"
"You shouldn't over exert yourself." Kuroo had always told him this whenever he looked worn out. Overdoing things would likely hurt one's progress by slowing it than helping it.
When she looked like she wouldn't back down he added, "We've already gone through a lot."
Her eyes then followed where his gaze trailed to till, it landed on the sheets of papers that held the practice problems Kenma had made.
The papers were marked with red all over.
It was a subtle way to tell her to review what they went over first before they tried different problems.
"If we're taking a break, might I suggest something."
Higurashi-san had proposed they take a brief walk outside.
He had rejected the idea at first at the possibility of any of their classmates seeing them until she reminded him it was Friday. Most students would have left to have an early start on the weekend.
Their walk itself was silent. He had no words to say and she hadn't felt the need to fill in the silence.
He himself usually felt comfortable with silence but would she? The thought of it made his gaze shift to ground.
He knew where to go from her footsteps. He had let her walk in front of him to allow her to roam wherever she wanted. It was her break after all.
Then her steps stopped. "We're here."
The vending machine? He should have known.
"Kozume-san, you were avoiding me all day, weren't you."
She knew!
"...no."
She pressed the button on the machine the same time he finished his reply.
A can of black milk tea popped out.
"Want one? I'm buying." She gestured to the machine. The action reminded him when she had earlier tried to ask if he wanted one.
She smiled and quietly took a sip of her drink while she waited for his answer.
"Apple...juice."
There was no reason to reject her this time.
"Here."
He couldn't help but look towards the ground again.
"Thank...you?" Her hand didn't let go of the drink.
"Kozume-san." Her voice soft and warm like a velvety blanket, she beckoned him to look at her.
Yet, he could stop the nagging thoughts in his head. His stomach started to churn in anticipation of what she was going to say to him.
Maybe his actions earlier were rude of him.
If only he hadn't..! But, he couldn't help it… He..!
He unknowingly looked up when she spoke again.
"I, should be the one to thank you. You are the one using your own time to help me study."
She then placed the drink in his hand, her eyes twinkled when she smiled.
'Ah…'
He did it again. He had wrongfully misjudged her.
How was he any different from her friends who had automatically assumed he was up to no good?
The answer?
He wasn't.
"Besides," She started to fumble with her can by drawing circles around the lid. "I also ended up being late to our meeting today. The girls wanted to go out and eat. It took a lot of convincing to persuade them to leave me behind."
Red darkened her features. "I'm sorry!"
With her actions he couldn't help but reciprocate with his own apology. "No, I am! I purposely avoided you today!"
"But, you shouldn't do that."
"But.."
Didn't her friends not approve of him? What about their classmates? Wouldn't they think it would be weird for them to suddenly be friends with each other?
"Kozume-san!" The wrinkle on her forehead deepened a little yet, the cute pout she made, told him otherwise that she wasn't that angry at him. It felt something less like nagging?
A wide smile graced her lips. "We're friends after all!"
She had said those words nonchalantly with an effortless smile.
The unpleasant feeling in his stomach, gone.
He felt lighter.
Friends?
"You said so too, remember? That means it's not unusual for us to interact."
"Besides, Yuka and Eri will think we lied about being friends if we're not friendly with each other."
She was pressuring him to no longer ignore her.
Kagome Higurashi really was interesting. Several times he felt an unpleasant feeling whenever he interacted with her. Yet, he continued to do so. Since, soon after she would dispel the feeling
She was like a white mage removing the status effect off of a party member. She'd check his condition then heal his HP.
He usually felt refreshed after talking to her.
In this chapter I wanted to talk about his insecurities again at befriending Kagome. As an introvert myself there are times when befriending others is hard. You may constantly worry about what the other person thinks about you.
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