ALRIGHT, last flashback chapter!
LilweenGalatrass: I guess this is fast enough. Some fluff and the next chapter might be up today as well. Who knows.
tripmisses: Thanks, might be a bit cliche but it helps understand them more.
Chapter 16 - A Blossom (Flashback)
I hate this, Tamiko grumbled to herself as she coughed for the millionth time today. She had been bedridden for about two days now and she hated it. Izumi had already visited her with Semi but still, she was bored. A glimpse at the calendar. Friday. She should be working today but she already phoned in the day before, excusing herself for her illness. The children were probably very disappointed. She frowned and coughed again when her phone chimed. With a heavy arm she lazily reached for it.
From: Ushijima Wakatoshi
To: Kageyama Tamiko
You aren't here today.
That message surprised her. What surprised her even more was that this message was from Ushijima. Without thinking she wrote a reply.
From: Kageyama Tamiko
To: Ushijima Wakatoshi
I'm not feeling well.
A reply followed quickly.
From: Ushijima Wakatoshi
To: Tami
Get well soon.
That made her smile. Was that big guy really worried about her? A funny thought. In the library, Ushijima was looking at his phone as a message appeared.
From: Kageyama Tamiko
To: Ushijima Wakatoshi
Thank you. ε=o(´ロ`||)
He switched off his phone screen and returned his attention to his book. Another gardening book, this time about cactee. He sat there, by himself. The cry of a child disturbed him. He looked up to the source and saw a mother with her child at the reception. The little boy was crying.
"I'm sorry but Kageyama Tamiko is very ill." the old librarian explained. "She wouldn't be doing the reading today."
"What a shame." the mother sighed. "Ryota was looking forward to it ask week."
The boy continued to cry when a shadow feel on him. He froze as he looked up to the dark figure looming over him when Ushijima went down on his knees to be at the boy's eye level.
"I'm in Kageyama's class. Do you want me to deliver a message to her?" he asked.
The boy thought for a moment.
"Tell her to get well soon." the boy said and Ushijima nodded.
Then he grabbed his phone.
From: Ushijima Wakatoshi
To: Kageyama Tamiko
Ryota tells you to get well soon.
The boy looked at the phone when a new message appeared.
From: Kageyama Tamiko
To: Ushijima Wakatoshi
Tell him thank you and that I haven't forgotten his dinosaur story.
Ushijima told him the message and the boy grinned happily. The mother thanked him before she left and even librarian smiled to herself.
"Thank you, young man." she smiled.
Ushijima nodded. The weekend training passed slowly and Tamiko, who had started to visit the weekend training, was not present. The boys knew why. Still, it felt different without her watching. During break, Ushijima grabbed his phone.
From: Ushijima Wakatoshi
To: Kageyama Tamiko
How are you feeling?
He drank from his bottle and his phone chimed.
From: Kageyama Tamiko
To: Ushijima Wakatoshi
Still sickly. All alone as well. Bored.
Tamiko yawned and read Ushijima's message again. Was he really that worried about her? There was no instant reply. She was about to continue reading her book when her phone chimed.
From: Ushijima Wakatoshi
To: Tami
Tokyo channel. 13:00.
He really did send strange messages. Following the instructions she turned on the TV to watch the Tokyo channel. To her surprise it was a documentary about libraries over the centuries. It hooked her. The hour passed so quickly.
From: Tami
To: Ushijima Wakatoshi
That documentary was amazing! Thank you for pointing it out to me!
From: Ushijima Wakatoshi
To: Tami
No problem.
She didn't know why, but from this small act of kindness she felt a lot better. The following monday she was back in school and the boys all welcomed her back. Ushijima and Tamiko started to write more from then on. She usually asked how practice was going and he told her about the books he was reading. It seemed to surprise him that she knew so much about volleyball and when she explained what middle school she had gone to, it explained a lot.
"Then you must know, Oikawa." he noted when she handed out water bottles during their break.
"Don't remind me of him." she grumbled. "That guy is so annoying."
The third-years all laughed. They loved Tamiko's way of thinking and for her help. And winter was approaching; soon they would all graduate.
"But he is very skilled, you can't deny that." Masato, their captain grinned.
Tamiko nodded to herself and thought of her brother. Today was match and she couldn't watch. Tobio was probably angry because of this. He had been strangely snappy over the last few months, staying in school to train and hiding in his room when he was at home. Yesterday he was complaining about a short boy with orange hair, having wasted his talent by not going to his middle school. Tamiko hadn't said anything to that. He had been strangely bothered by it. When she got home that day she did the dishes without radio music, like she usually did. She wanted to hear when he got home. In all honesty, she could have turned on the radio because when he came home, he was loud. Throwing his bag against the wall and stomping up the stairs with heavy steps.
"Tobio-kun?" she called after him.
"Leave me alone!" he snapped and threw the door closed.
"Tobio, don't slam the door." she said when she walked into his room.
"Leave me alone." he grumbled.
"What's wrong? What happened?" she asked as softly as she could.
"Nothing happened."
Tamiko didn't say anything but just sat down on his bed. Then she waited. It was a gesture she had taught him when he was young. If he was upset, she would sit on her bed and wait, wait until he was ready to tell her what was bothering him and he would know that he wasn't alone and that she was ready to hear his trouble. It always worked. And so she waited. When Tobio finally explained what had happened, she didn't know what to say.
"I messed up." he muttered. "I had to sit on the bench."
"Sitting on the bench isn't punishment." she tried to tell him.
"No, this was punishment." he disclaimed.
She left him by himself and didn't go to school for the next week. Their mother wasn't home so she somehow had to get Tobio back to his innocent optimism that he had lost since she left junior high. It was a daunting task and it chipped away at her own heart. Everyday, she talked with him, tried to cheer him up, tried to make him pick up a volleyball again. When she got a message from Izumi to come back to school, she left Tobio by himself. Her mood had been dragged through the mud along with his. She didn't smile anymore, at least not as often as she used to. On one weekend, when she helped the boys with their training, she got a unnerving phone call from her mother. I got a new contract. I wouldn't be home this month. I'm sorry. Love you. Tamiko, who had gone to a private corner to make the call, dropped to her floor and began to quietly sob to herself. Only Ushijima was the one to notice her absence. He walked over to her and asked her what was wrong.
"Nothing." she sobbed. "My mother is the worst in the world."
She continued to cry when Ushijima sat down before her. No word was spoken until she had calmed a little and she looked him in the eye. That's when he started.
"My parents have been divorced since I was little." he started and Tamiko looked up. "They had many disagreements. My mother even wanted to get rid of my left-handedness but my father insisted that I kept it. He used to be a volleyball player and he was the one to show me the sport. He would always tell me stories about how great their ace was, how, no matter the situation, they could always count on him."
He paused for a moment, squeezing his left hand with his right before looking right into her glassy blue eyes. Her faintly freckled cheeks were tear stained and red, her nose was running and her hair a mess. Yet there was something that made him stay.
"That's the kind of volleyball player I want to be. Someone the others can always count on." he told her with dead seriousness.
Tamiko was speechless. She looked at him, her mouth slightly open. After a while of silence he stood and patted her head gently.
"You're strong. You can do it."
It dawned her how similar their family backgrounds were. She wiped away her tears and looked after him as he made his way back to the gym. Then she also stood.
"Ushiji….Toshi-kun." she said and he immediately turned around. "Thank you."
His eyes widened a little as he saw her smile but then nodded, slightly smiling himself. He continued his walk towards the gym while she roughly wiped away the rest of her tears and followed him. Since then she wasn't Kageyama anymore, now he called her Tamiko.
