Hinata and Yachi didn't talk much during their walk on the way back home. After they were near the bus stop, Yachi finally spoke. "I-I'm just going to the bus stop over there, so I'm fine here. Thank you."
Hinata looked back with a tired smile, "I'm sorry, Yachi-san."
"N-no worries!" Yachi waves her hands. "It's fine…I'm okay."
Yachi looked to Hinata worriedly. 'But you don't look like you're okay.'
Hinata suddenly spoke after a few seconds of silence. "In my first and final tournament in junior high school, we were destroyed by Kageyama. I vowed to get revenge on him in high school and of course I ran right into him."
Yachi perked up at his words. This was the first time Hinata spoke about Kageyama ever since the fight from earlier.
"He was even worse than I could have imaged and we went through a lot, but once we started playing our matches…I felt like we understood each other. It wasn't that he was the first friend I'd made…he was my partner." Hinata confessed.
Yachi's eyes started to tear up when she hears of this confession. What Hinata was going through must be so hard on him. To have you first ever trusted person to breaks off any sort of trust with you was excruciating. She couldn't imagine what it felt like for him.
"Hinata-kun…"
Hinata got on to his bike and bid his farewell. "See you later, Yachi-san."
The words were stuck in her throat and before she could say anything, Yachi watches Hinata pedaled his bicycle and left her. She was sure that she wasn't imagining it because he sounded like he was about to cry.
The heavy feeling didn't leave her chest. Yachi sniffs from her tears and wipes it away from her cheeks.
There was nothing else she could do right now.
There was nothing but numbness when she went back home. It was a bit unreal that she just witnessed a fight between Hinata and Kageyama earlier. It was bitterly painful for some reason. The whole time she wasn't able to do anything for them and just watch from the sidelines.
Yachi let out a long breath as she locked the door behind her and took off her shoes. Her eyes darted to the butsudan in the dark, seeing the picture of her father smiling brightly inside the frame, something inside Yachi stings of distress.
She walks towards the butsudan and places her hands together, sending her thoughts to her father. For a moment she merely looks at her father's picture in silence. The sound of the soft ticks of the clock from the living room echoes throughout the hallway and even so, the sound didn't interrupt Yachi's mind as she felt restless as she whispered to her father.
"I'm sorry for troubling you again, dad. It's…it's so confusing…I don't know what to do."
Even though Yachi starts her conversation, she receives no reply in return. Of course, it was the usual conversation she has with her father ever since she was young. Yachi suddenly recalls all the moments she talked to her father in front of the butsudan like this. She always come to him every time she encounters troubles.
"I know I make it sound like I only talk to you every time I face a trouble – I'm…I'm sorry that it always turns out like this. But dad…what would you do if you were me? What should I do when my friends fight and I…"
Yachi clamps her mouth as she felt the stinging sensation of her eyes starting to leak with tears. She sniffed before quickly wiping her tears from the corner of her eyes with her fingers.
"I'm scared, dad. I don't know what to do and it scares me…I feel so useless." Yachi's voice trembles once she felt the wave of emotions washes her entire body and the tears continued to drip down from her eyes. "Dad – I w-wish you were h-here to tell me what to do."
Yachi small sniffles slowly turned into quite sobs. Her shoulders shakes sorrowfully as she cries before her father's picture and at this moment she just wished for things to be easier.
When Yachi woke up to Saturday morning, she groggily walks to the kitchen to drink some water when she sees the sticky note from her mother on the fridge.
I'll be away for the whole day.
I left you a list of errands, please do them by today if you can.
Also, please deliver the goods to Mrs. Fujiwara. She'll need them by this afternoon.
I also cooked you some curry. Heat it up when you're hungry.
Love, Mom.
Yachi took the sticky note and placed it aside before grabbing milk and poured it into a glass. When she was about to drink her milk, she heard her phone's notifications rang off and Yachi reached out to her phone to see who had sent her a message.
She was a little surprised to see that Daichi and Kiyoko had messaged her. She quickly opens to her texts and reads them. They were asking whether she was alright and wanted to hear her side of the story of what happened to Hinata and Kageyama last night.
With a crestfallen expression, she recalls the events of last night and messaged to the third years of what happened. After sending the messages to both of her senpai, suddenly she received a reply from Daichi who texted her –
Yachi-san, can I call you?
Call? Yachi was a bit uncertain about this but she thought of how Daichi would need more information so she agreed.
Once her phone rings, Yachi answered the call and meekly places the phone on her ear. "Hello, Sawamura-senpai?"
"Hello. Sorry for the abrupt call, Yachi-san. I just want to talk it out with you about what happened last night in details, if it's okay with you."
"No, it's okay, senpai. W-what would you like to know?"
"You mentioned in the message previously that Hinata told Kageyama that he wanted to improve on his fast quick and that was when everything turns sour?"
"Yes, senpai. They exchanged some heated words afterwards. Ah – I'm sorry that I couldn't do much to de-escalate the situation."
"What? Of course, it's okay. I guess it started on from there." Daichi sighed heavily through his line and then asked again, "Were you okay, though? Did you get hurt?"
Yachi briefly glanced at her bandaged knees. She did get hurt but it wasn't a big deal, "N-no, senpai. I'm okay."
However, Daichi seems to be doubtful of her answer. "Yachi-san. It's okay." He spoke gently. With his voice full of comfort, he spoke again, "You can tell me honestly, I won't be mad at you. I promise."
Yachi's mouth opens and closes as she tries to find the right words to tell him that she was alright but she realizes that she can't really cover up everything from the captain. He has the right to know of what truly happened to everyone during the fight last night.
"I…I did get some scratches on my knees but it's okay – Hinata helped me patch up and I'm doing better now."
"Did he push you?" The chilling voice of the captain resonates in the call.
Anxiousness was bubbling through her chest, Yachi quickly tells him. "N-no, it's actually my fault, Sawamura-senpai. I tried to stop the fight by breaking the two of them but I ended up…well – "
"You tried to push yourself between the boys to separate them?"
"Y-yes." Yachi choked out before she felt the guilt filling her insides, "I'm – I'm sorry, senpai."
She hears the sigh from the other line as Daichi begins, "I know your intent was to help them, Yachi-san, but it's dangerous to get in the way of people fighting. Please don't do it next time if that happens again, okay?"
Yachi felt ashamed of what she did. "Y-yes, senpai. I'm sorry."
"It's okay, Yachi-san. I'm not mad at you. I'm worried about you." Daichi spoke gently through the line. "I'm glad you're doing fine now but please inform me if you have any problems. And don't worry about Hinata and Kageyama, they'll be okay again after sometime. They always fight so you don't have to worry too much."
"Yes, senpai." Yachi replied obediently.
"Take it easy, Yachi-san. I promise that I'm not mad at you." Daichi spoke again lightly with a soft chuckle at the end. "Just…it might be very shocking to you – everything that has happened with the team ever since you joined."
"O-oh, it's okay, senpai. I'm very happy to be part of the team!" Yachi replied back reassuringly.
Daichi chuckles at her response. "Thank you. It means a lot to me that you feel that way about the team."
Yachi's eyes widened at his words before she felt herself feeling a little embarrassed over this.
'He was just being nice and genuine, Hitoka. Get a hold of yourself!' She thought to herself.
Daichi voiced out, "Sorry for the time, Yachi-san. I just wanted to know how you were doing. I'm glad you're feeling better. Please take it easy and rest up. You deserve it."
"Y-yes, senpai." She replied.
"Good. I'll see you next week. Goodbye."
"G-goodbye, senpai."
Yachi lowers her phone and bit her lips. A mixed of emotions rummage through her chest after the call. She hoped that the captain has some ideas on how to help Hinata and Kageyama soon. She feels very uncomfortable at the thought that Hinata and Kageyama were not on speaking terms. Things like that can be very damaging to their friendship.
But it still didn't sit well with her that she was in this…very awkward situation with the boys too. She wondered how she can face them again when she gets back to school.
In the meantime, she needs to get herself ready and do some errands before her mom gets home.
Yachi walks out of the post office after sending some documents her mother had told her to do in part of her list of errands. The last thing she has to do was to send the goods to Mrs. Fujiwara who was living in a couple of blocks away.
Since the place was nearby, she'll just take her time to walk to the destination. It has been a while since she took her own to walk mindlessly through the streets and just enjoy the moment.
Yachi breathes in the air as she absorbs the good weather for the day and gaze at the peaceful surrounding. It was a very atmosphere and Yachi finds herself enjoying it.
However, as she was turning around the corner of the street – she suddenly bumped into something harshly before she felt her entire body falls sideways. Yachi felt the fear of falling on the hard concrete ground when she felt her feet slipped from the abrupt crash.
A frightened yell escaped from her lips. Fearing the pain, Yachi instinctively closes her eyes when she fell right on her sides and the bandages on her knees peeled off from the friction against the ground.
"A-ah…o-ouch…" Yachi hissed in pain when she trembled on the ground. She looked up and saw a blur of large figure from her vision. Yachi didn't realize that she was in so much pain that her eyes started tearing up as well.
"I'm very sorry, miss. Are you okay?" She heard a low toned voice called out to her gently as they kneeled near her.
"I'm…I'm o-ouch!" When Yachi tries to find her own voice and gets up from the ground, she hissed when she sees more scratches on her skin and the redness on her arms that stings painfully when she tries to sit up from the ground.
When Yachi tries to move her legs, she also felt another searing pain when she sees the bandages on her knees were peeled off from the friction and sees the patchy skin bleeding again.
"Can you stand up, miss?"
Yachi finally blinked her tears away and looked up to the person who was kneeling near her to check on her. Yachi sees his olive colored eyes stares at her with stressful concern as his eyebrows furrowed.
The second thing that she realized about him that he was huge. He was basically hovering her despite him kneeling lowly next to her in order to reach her better. Yachi tries to gulps down the nervousness from his height as she pulls herself back up and forced herself to get on back on her feet.
"I – I'll be f-fine – ah." Yachi stumbles back to the ground and the boy reached out to her gently and held her arms.
"You're injured. Please don't force yourself." He spoke again.
Yachi suddenly perked up and looked around, "Th-the goods! Oh no, I must have dropped it!"
The boy also began to look around the area and found the bag near them. He reached to it easily and placed it next to her. "Here. I'm sorry for crashing into you. But we have to treat your injuries quickly."
"Th-thank you b-but…could you give me a moment. I'll stand up back again in a bit –"
"Hey, Wakatoshi-kun! Oh – are you okay?"
"Tendou, don't start crowding them like that. Hey, are you both alright?"
Yachi looked up to see two newcomers coming towards them. She also sees their large figures towering over her and by now Yachi just became super nervous over these sudden giants coming towards her.
"I accidentally crashed her during my running. She seems to be injured." The boy who had crashed into her explained.
The messy ash blonde hair boy with dark tips suddenly kneeled near her and frowns when he sees Yachi's bleeding knees. "This doesn't look so good. We should treat her on the side of the street – what is your name, miss?"
"Y-Yachi Hitoka." She replied timidly.
"Yachi-san, I'm so sorry but we have to move you to the side. Can you stand up?" The ash blonde haired boy asked.
"I c-can." Yachi tries to push herself off from the ground but hissed when her wounds sting painfully again.
The boy with the olive eyes suddenly placed one of his arm on her back and another one below her legs and before she could react quickly, Yachi yelped when she felt her entire body being lifted off from the ground and finds herself in a princess carry.
"I'll help you. Don't worry." The boy says as he carried her to the side of the street where the boys managed to find a bench nearby.
Yachi felt her cheeks flushing but she finds herself curling herself up because she was extremely embarrassed by this situation. Her heart was beating rapidly inside her chest and she felt her entire body froze from the sudden lightness.
She holds both of her hands closely to her chest and bit her lips to drive her attention away from the pain as the boy slowly lowered down and placed her on the bench gently.
"Tendou, was there a convenient store nearby?" The messy ash blonde haired boy spoke towards the spiky red haired boy.
"I saw one nearby – I'll go buy some bandages and disinfectants. Be right back!" The red haired boy spoke quickly before he began to run.
Yachi suddenly felt really bad for burdening these strangers for helping her out. She was also the one at fault for not paying attention when she walked earlier.
"I'm very sorry for the trouble." She spoke as she lowered her head in apology.
"Please, don't mind, Yachi-san. It was also my fault for bumping into you." The boy with the olive colored eyes spoke.
"It's o-okay. Please don't mind about it too much, um…" Yachi trailed off as she realized that she didn't know how to address the boy.
"Ushijima Wakatoshi." He replied, introducing himself.
Yachi froze when she heard of that name. Her eyes slowly widened at the realization that she just bumped into the Ace of Shiratorizawa's volleyball team.
"Y-you're Ushijima-san…ace of Shiratorizawa?" Yachi asked in an amazed voice.
Ushijima blinked a few times at her reaction before he nods. "Yes."
Yachi wondered in that matter of seconds how she didn't end up fainting at that exact moment.
She just crashed horribly into the ace of Shiratorizawa during his run.
Author's Notes:
HAPPY VALENTINES!
I don't have a valentine this year but I got to eat chocolate cake which is good enough haha. Here is another updated chapter featuring a worried captain haha. Also this time the Shiratorizawa boys debuts in my story - some of you were waiting for the boys to appear. Only Ushiwaka, Semi-Semi and Tendou debuts first...just because lol.
This chapter was a bit sad for me to write because I had to envision the fact that Yachi lost her dad and she couldn't talk properly with him and it just made me - sad. However, Yachi met some Shiratorizawa boys haha finally.
Thank you for all the sweet comments and reviews from the previous chapters! I'm very sorry that I can't reply to them all but I'm so very grateful for all of your comments and reviews, seriously!
I'd also like to announce that I might be in a hiatus soon because I have midterm tests coming up soon and I need to study for it :((( but I promise I'll bounce back to update on this story once I'm done with my tests.
That's all for this week. Thank you for reading this chapter! Once again, Happy Valentines and stay safe everyone! :3
