Colors were starting to bleed into her world.
They appeared through the cracks on the ground, from the branches of the trees, and even the rain had started to take in the color of deep indigo. In her open palms sat that little crow. It stared at her with its big doe eyes as that dark and lonely forest continued take a different form, something less melancholic, something less tragic. The crow doesn't speak this time around but she found herself not minding the uncharacteristic silence. It was comforting, it was warm. It was nostalgic even, like that memory of that man who painted happily in that studio.
She watched as it spread its wings and readied itself to leave the comfort of her palms. It was truly a beautiful sight when each flap of its feathers produced small sparks of colors, like fireworks bursting into the night sky. The crow hovered above her, staring deep into her soul before turning around and flying into the deeper part of the forest, beckoning her to follow it.
The sparks created a path. They floated just above the ground, almost creating a replica of the milky way in the sky. She'd never something so beautiful before and a part of her wondered if the view beyond that dark forest was even more majestic.
Was it okay for her to see that? Was it okay for her to walk that path? To take a step and follow that little crow to wherever it was that it's leading her?
"Are you really going to leave me behind?" A voice suddenly spoke.
She turned around, only to be greeted by a sight she never expected. The same pair of eyes stared back at her, only it was younger, much, much younger. The little girl was wearing that sundress she owned long ago; a special gift from that person who she held in her heart so dearly. She wasn't crying. As a matter of fact, no emotions was displayed on her face. She was devoid of it, like how she was devoid of any colors that were not black and grey.
The girl watched in silence when the color that touched the little girl's feet turned black and died down. "Everything always disappear, don't they?" She said. "Even you. You'll leave me too." The resignation in her tone made her heart clench painfully. The little girl was already expecting her departure. She knew she was gonna end up alone and that was more painful than feeling an immense sadness over the idea.
"It's fine," the little girl continued. "I'll be fine..."
Oh, how familiar those words were. It brought back memories of her inside her dark room back in Tokyo. Her small frame curled up on the corner as she buried her face on her folded arms, in hope that it would quiet down her cries while two voices argued loudly just outside. The noise was unbearable. It felt like a nail on a chalkboard and she wished they would just stop.
The girl knows that if she takes a step forward then she would be leaving this part of her behind. Can she really do that? Can she truly be happy when she knows this younger version of her would forever stay in this forest, alone, and lonely?
"No, I can't." The girl thought as she longingly stared at the sea of colors leading her away from this little girl.
There was no way she could do that. She knows what it's like to be alone. To be trapped in that bubble of loneliness when she realized there was truly no one out there who would hear her out.
So she made up her mind. She turned her back from that pathway and started walking toward the little girl. "This is for the best," she thought. The moment that she touches her, these unnecessary colors will disappear. The deep indigo rain, the fiery red the leaves were changing in, the bright yellow form in which the ground beneath her had taken in, all of it will be gone. But if that meant this part of her would not be alone for the rest of eternity then so be it.
She simply don't want her to be lonely anymore.
Yet before she could take a step, she felt someone take hold of her hand. A jolt courses through her veins with the sudden contact and the girl gasped when she was pulled back. The touch was warm and familiar. It calmed the storm of resignation that was brewing in her heart.
She wanted to see who it was, see who the owner of the hand that suddenly intertwined with hers and made the colors burst brighter around her. But just as she looked back behind her shoulder, she saw nothing but blinding lights and she finally woke up to the sound of her alarm.
It took her a couple of moments to realize she was just dreaming, a couple more to finally have the strength to turn the alarm off. The girl took notice of the fact she forgot to close her blinds before going to sleep. The early morning sky greeted her with orange hues which was slowly melting in the blueness of the new day. The mixtures of colors reminded her of her dream.
She don't know what their purpose were. Frankly, she was at lost.
The girl could always blame it on the unhealthy amount of fantasy media her mother forces on her, but what doesn't make sense was for said dreams to always correlate. That's not how dreams work, right? Dreams were supposed to be just a series of unrelated scenarios created by the brain when the body was at rest. It's not supposed to be a full-blown story that always connected.
She contemplated talking to Usui about them again but then what good would that do? Maybe, she should just contact an exorcist or something.
"How annoying," she grumbled and buried herself back to the comfort of her blanket. It wouldn't be for long until her mother would come barging into her room to drag her out. Until then, she wish to get more sleep and hopefully not dream about that crow and that forest again.
Being friends with Nishinoya Yū was exactly how she expected it to be; a total chaos.
Not a day that passed where her peace and quiet did not get disrupted. The chaos always starts the first thing in the morning when she's barely awake and wish she was still snoring her life away on her bed. Since she doesn't have to avoid him anymore, she always opted to buy her morning strawberry milk from the vending machine near the gymnasium, which was the closet to the school building's entrance.
It always starts the same.
She inserts the coin into the slot, chooses her favorite out of the bunch, and only bends down to get her drink once she starts hearing a pair of heavy footsteps running her way. He screams her first name—the familiarity bothered her at first like among other things, now she doesn't care anymore—and for some bizarre reasons, he always jumps at her after he adds an enthusiastic "GOOD MORNING!"
She avoids him, of course. If Nishinoya was expecting she'd spread her arms and catch him while he barrels down at full speed, then he was gravely mistaken. Not only did she not have that kind of energy first thing in the morning, she was sure the boy was heavier than he look and she'd rather not break a bone so early.
He planted face first on the ground and the girl almost laughed, especially when he coughed up the dirt that entered his mouth. "Stop avoiding me!" Nishinoya angrily screamed.
"Sorry, my hands were full." She half-heartedly lied.
"You're not holding anything!" He screamed and pointed an accusing finger at her.
Again, she ignored him and opted to insert the straw into the milk box and takes one long sip of her drink. "I was," the girl replied after a satisfied hum. "See this? Would've been a waste if I dropped it, don't you think?" she continued and takes another sip.
"You can still catch me while holding that!" Nishinoya retaliated. (She's going to admit that he was kind of cute when he's fuming like this, with his cheeks puffed and a pout on his mouth. But she's not going to tell him that, not in a million years.)
"Oh? You're right. Never thought of that," the girl said in a tone that definitely conveyed the opposite of her words.
Nishinoya noticed this and was about to open his mouth to spew in more angry words when he suddenly goes quiet. He sits up straight, holds his chin with his hand, and eyes her from her head to her feet. Just one look at him and she could immediately tell what's running through that mind of his.
"You know," he started before she could say anything. "I've never pointed it out since we're busy preparing for the spring tournament but..." Nishinoya paused and then grinned wide. "You look really hot in summer uniform!" He said and flashed her a thumbs up.
"I will blind you," she threatened.
This only earned her a click of the tongue courtesy of the boy. "You're really not cute when you're like that." Nishinoya commented as he rise up from the ground.
The girl hummed and takes another sip. "I'm surprised you have time to do this every morning when you've been yapping non-stop about the spring tournament." She said as she watched him pat the dirt off his pants and shirt. "Shouldn't you be practicing right now?"
"Well, practice is important and all, yeah," Nishinoya started while he massaged his neck. "But greeting cute girls in the morning is equally as important!" He proudly stated with a huge grin on his face.
"You sound like a perverted old-man." She could only sigh.
Nishinoya Yu was a huge flirt. Sometimes his advances were deliberate, sometimes they weren't. And unfortunately she was always subjected to them. (Although at this point on she has grown some type of immunity towards said advances because of how much repetitive they get. But there were days where he still catches her off guard. She hated those days the most because it always ends up with her cheeks ablaze.)
Instead of getting offended, he merely laughed and patted her on the back with so much force that she nearly stumbled forward. "Thanks, thanks!"
"That wasn't a compliment," she clarified after coughing. Something of which he of course ignored.
"Anyway, are you up to watching us practice? I just improvised Rolling Thunder!" He proudly stated. The girl doesn't comment on his strange ways of naming his moves and instead finishes up her drink.
"Watching sweaty boys dive and grind into the floor is not really my thing." She said and immediately regretted saying it after realizing the sexual connotation in it. The way his grin morphed into his face was enough for her to do some quick damage control. "Don't say anything," she warned.
Once again, Nishinoya clicked his tongue. "Come on, I'm sure those boys will appreciate a cute girl cheering for them." He said to which she countered by saying they already have Shimizu-senpai to do that. "Yeah but imagine TWO cute girls! Not one but TWO! That'll give them energy to fight on until the end of time!"
Ah, she was tired already and it was only seven in the morning. She need to escape before he drag her to the gymnasium and give everyone the wrong idea for the second time.
The girl discreetly roamed her eyes around the vicinity in hope of finding something she could use as a scapegoat. Alas, said scapegoat came in the form of Shimizu Kiyoko herself. The upperclassman was carrying a box to the gymnasium and with his back facing her, Nishinoya did not notice the girl. Part of her feels guilty for what she was about to do but the part who'd rather not deal with Nishinoya Yu's boundless energy first thing in the morning whispered to her that this was for the best.
"Oh, it's Shimizu-senpai." Was all that she needed to say to have the boy's neck snap to where she was staring.
In the instance Nishinoya was off to greet his "darling Kiyoko-san," at full speed like how he'd done earlier. But of course he never learns because much like her—or any sane person, really—Shimizu avoided him. He quickly recovered, no surprise there, and immediately bombard the poor upperclassman with compliments to which she wholly ignored.
The girl gives Shimizu a quiet salute for her sacrifice, buys another box of strawberry milk, then starts her walk toward her classroom.
She meets him again during lunchtime (although there were days when she wouldn't because he'd be eating with his other friends), and on some occasions, even after classes. He's still that boundless ball of energy who lacked table manners and says whatever it was that's on his mind but things were a lot easier to take in now that she'd thrown her worries away. As a matter of fact she quickly found out that he's no different from Usui, or Kaito, or pretty much anyone else. She felt stupid making a huge deal of his eccentricities in the first place.
The girl was also quick to realize how easy it was to talk to him. Nishinoya treated nearly everyone like they'd been friends for the longest time and that air of awkwardness she was expecting to envelop them didn't even showed its shadow.
(She could even go as far and say that she actually likes his company. But she's never gonna tell him that knowing he'll never let it die down.)
Nishinoya just fits perfectly in their friend group. "He was almost like a missing puzzle piece that completed the picture," Was exactly what she's thinking as she watched said boy animatedly talk to Kaito about volleyball while Usui tuned her guitar in the background. It was one of rare instances when the volleyball team don't have any practice and the team was free to do whatever they wanted after class. She was expecting him to run to his other friends, so imagine her surprise when he comes barreling in their classroom and asked if they have places to go.
She don't have any (it was her day off), but Kaito, Seiko and Usui do. Which don't mean that much, really. The three of them was part of this one obscure club that stemmed from Usui's refusal to join the established music club, Kaito's weird obsession with sports, and some upperclassman's questionable hobbies they pass off as club activities (Seiko's only a member because Kaito was.)
It's basically just a clusterfuck of unrelated things of a club. To how it got approved was still a mystery.
The girl wasn't gonna complain though. Their clubroom gave her a place to lounged in when she don't feel like going home early.
It was just the five of them that afternoon and she was about to doze off from her spot on the couch when Nishinoya's loud voice brought her back to reality.
"So basically we're gonna be having a practice match in Tokyo!" He excitedly announced. "It's a series of matches so it's going to be held for a week! I'm burning up!"
"Oh, that's amazing!" Kaito whistled and then as if realizing something, he suddenly turned to her. "Aren't you originally from Tokyo? Maybe you can give him some advices so he doesn't get lost."
The girl thinks that for someone with good grades, there were times when Kaito failed to grasp the obvious. "I'm pretty sure they're not allowed to roam aro—"
"Yo! You were from Tokyo?!" Whatever else she was gonna say disappeared into the thin air when Nishinoya leapt up from his seat and jumped on the empty spot beside her. His eyes were beaming with curiosity, which was never a good thing as she'd noticed these past weeks.
Gulping, she had to look away because of how intensely he was staring at her. "y-yeah," she admitted. "we used to live in Nakameguro until my mom got offered a job here." At least that was the small summary of how things went but he don't need the full story, do he?
"So basically, you're 'that'" Nishinoya commented with a snap of his fingers. When asked whatever 'that' meant, she burst out laughing with the answer that she got. "A City Girl." He said in a serious tone and crossed his arms over his chest.
She didn't know why, it wasn't even that funny when she think about it, but she just couldn't stop. It came to the point where her stomach started to ache.
"What the hell?" She managed to say all the while snickering. "Who still use that term nowadays?" Nishinoya paused for a moment before pretending to look offended and tells her that Tanaka and him does and a city girl like her have no right to laugh at them. "Sure," She said with a grin.
His stare lingered even after Kaito brought back the topic of their away games in Tokyo. Nishinoya only stopped staring when he finally told the bespectacled boy who teams were also gonna be there. She found it odd every time he did so. He was always so easy to read until he stops and stares at her, his eyes swimming in thoughts he only knew.
Maybe it's the idea of not knowing what's going through that chaotic mind of his, but seeing him so serious gives her such a foreign feeling she couldn't put a name on.
"Just wait. After our practice games and other preparations, we're gonna make Aoba Johsai eat dirt." He proclaimed with nothing but unadulterated confidence.
If he'd said that around the time they were still in bad terms, she might've scoffed at him. It was just ridiculous to think that a puny team could take down a powerhouse like Aoba Johsai. The fact that Karasuno lost against them during the inter high was a silent statement in itself. But nobody could ever discredit how much they put up a fight. It was a battle where one misjudgment of their next move could result with the opposing team winning the game. Which pretty much what happened.
(She wasn't there this time around because she had to relieve one of her coworkers but she did saw the replays of the game on a local television channel. Everyone bugged her to watch it and so she did.)
The girl knows that if Nishinoya, or the entire team themselves, put their mind into it they could do the impossible. Kind of, she still have her doubts if she's being honest.
As if sensing this, the boy once again shifted his attention to her. "W-what?" She asked when he squinted his eyes in suspicion, as if saying 'I know what you're thinking.' If someone were to tell her Nishinoya Yu was an actual yokai, she might believe them. It would also go well with his whole "guardian deity" shtick about him that she learned just recently.
"A-anyway," Clearing her throat, she opted to change the topic before she gets put into a hot spot. "The final exams are nearing, aren't they? It'll be nice if—"
A pair of shriek cut her off and while Nishinoya didn't surprised her the slightest, Usui did. Kind of. The girl thought the redhead had completely lost herself in her own song composition to even listen to them ramble.
"Why would you remind me?!" The duo exclaimed in unison. The girl asked herself if this was what the internet meant when they say two people share the same braincells.
Nishinoya ruffled his hair and screamed while Usui started to rapidly bite her nails out of sheer nervousness. It was quite funny, the girl was going to admit that. Ridiculous, yes, but it was taking her all to keep a straight face and not burst out laughing because of their antics.
"I was hiding myself here because Chikara was gonna drag me and Ryu to his house to study, and I almost forgot about the entire thing!" Ah, so the cat's out of the bag. She stared at him with judging eyes. "I mean don't you think it's unfair to not let us join the practice game if we fail our test?! You don't need to know English when you're on the court, right?!"
"That's right! And why must the school involve our parents if we fail?! That's none of their business!" Usui added. It was Kaito who pointed out that their parents do have the right to know, only to be told to shut up and get called a "four eyed nerd" for his troubles. "I don't need good grades when I'm gonna be famous, goddammit!" she cried.
The question of why was she even friends with these idiots once again crossed her mind.
"Now, now, it's going to be alright!" Seiko, being the little angel that she was, decided to intervene. "If you need help with studying you can count on me!" she proclaimed. Both Nishinoya and Usui were in tears and the former went as far as pouncing on her out of sheer joy. Kaito was quick to move and grab his girlfriend out of his way, resulting to Nishinoya barreling on the wall behind them.
"I-if that's the case I'll help too!" he said and for some obscure reason he pointed at her. "We'll have a group study at her house this Saturday!"
"I don't remember agreeing to that." The girl scrunched up her nose at the possibility of spending her free time with these bunch. She love her friends, dearly, but sometimes she just gotta take an alone time for herself to not go crazy.
"Well we can't have it at mine cause it's being renovated." He said. Or rather, he lied because this was the first time she's hearing about this. The only reason she could think of to why he did so was his fear of Nishinoya finding that scrapbook he made about the best middle school players. "Seiko's having some relatives over and Usui's house is out of the picture."
"What about his?" She pertained at the boy who was quickly getting to his feet. Yet from the way his eyes were breaming with the familiar sparks of curiosity, she knows he was more than thrilled about having a group study at her house.
The bespectacled boy turned to the other boy and asked him if he mind having it at his house, to which he replied that he actually preferred doing it at hers. Kaito merely shrugged and pushed his glasses to the bridge of his nose, as if to make a point. "Your house also have extra books we could use for English and Literature," Kaito countered again. "And besides, it's not like your mom would mind, right?"
Of course, she wouldn't. The girl thought. They'd been there for god knows how many times that they're basically at first name basis with her mother at this point. Sighing, she reluctantly agreed knowing this was a battle she was going to lose.
It was going to be a long Saturday, she supposed.
hi. o-o )