Chapter 7:
At lunch time, Yachi and Yamaguchi helped Hinata and Kageyama with their studies after they finished eating their lunchboxes. Yachi frowned when she speaks up, "So close! You wrote receive wrong. You almost got it right except you switched i and e. It's such an easy mistake to make."
"Gah! If only I didn't get that wrong!" Hinata stressfully ruffled his hair in frustration.
Kageyama, who was sitting on the opposite of Yamaguchi, dissed. "It's no wonder why you suck at receiving because you can't spell it correctly."
"What was that?! Can you even spell it?!" Hinata growled back.
Kageyama pouted and looked aside, "Of course." He grumbled.
However, his answer didn't seem to convince Hinata that Kageyama was better than Hinata in English, so he asked Kageyama another question.
"Then what do you call 'delayed timing attack' in English?"
Kageyama stood straight up confidently as he answered Hinata. "Time…attack."
"Is this a quiz show?! You didn't even translate the wording right!"
"How the hell would I know! Do you even know what that is?!" Kageyama retorted back angrily.
Hinata turned to Yachi, "Yachi-san?"
Yachi was a little surprised at the swift of attention on to her. "Um…right so it could be literally translated as…delayed…time attack. Delayed time attack – eh? Is this the correct volleyball term in English though?" She finds herself question herself as well.
"Um. I'm pretty sure that this won't come out in the exam so let's not get too worried about that."
"That's true." Yachi agreed to Yamaguchi's wording before she turned to Hinata again. "But you're getting better at spellings so you have to keep it up. At this rate I'm sure you can score above 40."
Hinata and Kageyama faltered at Yachi's words.
"The thing is, we were told that we can't pass if we don't score at least above 80." Hinata drawled with a tone of sadness.
"I-is that so?" Yamaguchi didn't sound like he was confident again. Teaching Kageyama and Hinata was challenging because they couldn't catch up with the theories as much as they can. Yamaguchi looked to Kageyama and hummed, "Maybe it's an issue with comprehension?"
"Y-you both can do it!" Yachi exclaimed, "I know how much both of you are looking forward to going to Tokyo so you can't give up now."
"But at this rate…it doesn't seem like we can score any better than 40." Kageyama responded solemnly.
The rest of them faltered at Kageyama's words. No matter how painful it was, it was true. It seemed like all the extra work Yachi and Yamaguchi offered to help didn't put out better result even with the fact that Hinata and Kageyama were gradually getting better with their answers.
They only had a few days left until Saturday and the pace of their studying was still like this. It was getting worrisome.
But Yachi shook her head and looked to Hinata. "You said you wanted to become Little Giant, right? I'm sure Little Giant don't give up halfway through their fight."
"But this is studying. Isn't it different?" Hinata replied, feeling a little stumped by Yachi's words.
Yachi shook her head, "This is also another battle. The way to the top isn't going to be smooth and easy. You'll have some ups and downs along the way but the most important thing is that you can get through it. Looking at the goal is not enough because you also need a willpower."
"Willpower?" Both Hinata and Kageyama muttered. Slowly falling into Yachi's words.
Yachi nodded energetically. "You don't hear heroes reaching to the top without some fighting, right? This is what you both are doing exactly right now. You're training for your battle on Saturday. This is your willpower. To overcome the remedial and score 80 points."
Yachi spoke out in such dramatic tone that Hinata and Kageyama were awed by her words. With their eyes sparkling with imagination, igniting the fire inside of them as they continue their study even harder.
"I promise you that I will show you the top of the summit as the next Little Giant, Yachi-san!" Hinata exclaimed excitedly as he raised his arms in the air for this proclamation.
Kageyama merely smirked at Hinata's exclamation. "You can't reach the top without me tossing to you, dumbass."
Hinata glared back, "I was just saying!"
Yachi laughs, her voice sounded like twinkling summer bells that clears the uneasiness, not only in Hinata and Kageyama but Yamaguchi as well. She smiled brightly, eyes glimmering and her cheeks painted with lovely pink. The boys caught themselves off guard when they stared at her expression for a bit right then.
"I look forward to it, Hinata. And you too Kageyama, it wouldn't be a fun training without you in Tokyo."
Both boys grinned as they went back to bicker on their notes again. As Yachi follows along to their conversation, Yamaguchi watches Yachi with a soft expression on his face.
She really does spark people in the best way possible.
Yamaguchi thinks that Yachi is a never-ending-surprise human. She looked like a baby deer who was too uncomfortable in facing the volleyball team at first. Either because they were too tall or that she was too anxious to meet people. On the other hand, he couldn't help but keep feeling the warmth spreading through his chest whenever a new side of Yachi exposed to him.
At first Yamaguchi thought that it was an exaggeration that he might have a small crush on her. He admitted that he thought she was cute when he first saw her. How could he deny it?
Soft blonde hair, pouty pink lips and soft looking eyes. She was like a daisy flower that somehow gives you the impression of freshness. She was really cute.
Not to mention that every time he spends more time with her and he gets to know her better, Yamaguchi really liked the way she talks. Her voice kind of sings when she rambles on longer than she usually does or the way she sometimes tries to fix starry hair pins on her head that adds up to her lovely image.
Man, she is cute.
Okay so maybe it wasn't just a small crush but Yamaguchi didn't really want to address it soon. He knew how troublesome it could be if Tsukki were to hear of this and would endlessly make fun of him by teasing the heck out of him whenever Yachi is around. He is pretty sure Tsukishima notices the way he glances at her way too often but Yamaguchi didn't want to openly confess it yet.
That he really likes Yachi not because she was just cute.
So when the opportunity comes for him when he is alone with her, sometimes he really doesn't know what to do. Like at this moment he's facing right now.
He came to pick Yachi up so that they could go to Sakanoshita store together since Kageyama and Hinata already bolted out of school and on their way there to meet the second years, this time Yachi accepted his offer to go to the store with him.
But he was a little off guard to finds her dozing off on her desk in an empty classroom.
"Yachi-san?" He called out to her from the door before he stepped in.
Yachi still seemed like she was snoozing because he heard the soft breathing sound coming from her. He walked closer towards her and inspected that she really did fall asleep on her desk. The notes she has was still on her desk as well as her stationary. Yamaguchi softly chuckled at the drawings of small crows based on Hinata and Kageyama on her page.
Still, they need to go to Sakanoshita store to meet the others. But somehow at this moment he doesn't want to wake her up. So Yamaguchi pulled a chair in front of Yachi's desk and slowly sat down without making any loud noises. His inner gut tells him to let Yachi sleep for a few minutes longer, perhaps she was tired from helping the boys and also attending classes to study on her own.
"Tsukki was right. She does spoil them." Yamaguchi speaks softly as he stares at Yachi.
He knows how much she goes out of her way to help the volleyball club. The recent practices she did as both candidate and official manager was taxing on her because she was not as athletic as the rest of the members in the team yet she did everything to catch up to them.
Yachi's soft snoring could be heard in the classroom as they were only two of them. Yamaguchi can't really describe what he's feeling but as of right now, he feels content.
He stares at Yachi's golden locks, her sparkling star hair pins, the squished cheek on her left side of the face against the desk as her arms were crossed above her head. Yamaguchi sees how long Yachi's eyelashes were and how soft looking she seems when she snoozes off like this.
'She's pretty even when she's sleeping.' Yamaguchi mindlessly thinks as he gently pushed a falling stray of hair away from her face before he freezes. 'What am I doing? I'm like a creep looking over her while she's sleeping but she looks tired…but maybe it's best to wake her up and go to the store.'
"Yachi-san?" Yamaguchi gently shakes off Yachi's shoulder. The feeling of her shoulder against his hand felt warm and he tries to keep himself upright without crumbling.
Thankfully it didn't take too long for Yachi to recover and woke up from her short nap. She blinks the sleepiness away from her eyes before she lifted up her head and realized that the classroom was empty and Yamaguchi was in front of her.
"How long was I asleep?" Yachi asked numbly.
Yamaguchi smiles, seeing her sleepy expression. "I don't really know, Yachi-san. The school bell rang over over ten minutes ago."
"Oh." Yachi blinked before she rubs her eyes. "Oh no, are we late to Sakanoshita store?"
"It's fine, Yachi-san. Being late won't hurt besides you look like you needed that extra nap. Are you feeling alright?"
Seeing Yamaguchi all worried and concerned made Yachi flustered. "N-no, it's okay. I just felt a little sleepy from the previous lesson so I might have dozed off unintentionally back there. Ah – we should probably go."
Yamaguchi nodded as he watches Yachi packs up all her things before he added. "Don't push yourself, Yachi-san. Your health is also important."
"Right. Thank you, Yamaguchi-san."
"Yamaguchi is fine."
"T-then, you can call me Yachi too."
Yamaguchi nodded as he stood up from the seat, "Okay. Let's go to tutor the troublesome boys."
Yachi laughs lightly at his words making Yamaguchi feels giddy at the feeling of hearing her laugh again. It was soft and sweet. He really liked it.
