Hello~!
Firstly thank you all for the love you've already shown for the fic!
It was great reading the reviews that were sent! :D
But on a side note, although I should've mentioned it in the chapter before, I will be updating this fic on a bi-weekly basis due to the nature of my schedule for school! Hopefully this won't hinder reading too much...
If possible I will try to upload more often or as fast as my fingers can type!
Anyways without further ado~ Hope you guys enjoy the new update! :D
Chapter 2: Probability
"What's that for…" Tsukishima muttered.
"F-for the cut!" Asahi bowed holding a big box of multi-flavoured mochi.
"Whoa~ what's happening? An offering to the Stingy-salt god?!" Hinata exclaimed catching everyone's attention in the gym.
You couldn't have said it any louder could you… Tsukishima thought with a bland expression.
He pushed the colorful package back. "It's alright Azumane-senpai, the apology yesterday was enough." He said with an invisible edge remembering the lengthily, stuttering, and slobbery mess of an apology that lasted more than 20 minutes and would've continued after practice if he didn't have his headphones on as soon as he finished speed-changing.
"Hey, hey Tsukishima don't be mean to Asahi." Daichi warned with a strained smile. "We've still got practice to do, no time for counselling."
"Yeah don't bully Asahi!" Nishinoya shouted from somewhere in the gym.
"Oooh but the mochi looks tasty. It would be a waste to return it to the store." Suguwara commented suddenly peering beside Asahi. The other party jumped.
"Ah… I think the last time I had mochi was during New Year's…" Hinata drooled.
"Me too..." Kageyama, coming out from Hinata's shadow, joined him in the reminiscent.
The team started to congregate more and more around them. Tsukishima frowned in discomfort.
"Why don't we just share it amongst the team since Tsukishima-san is too embarrassed to accept it?" Suguwara suggested, successfully solving the problem with everyone on his side while Tsukishima's eye twitched at the comment.
The nicely colored box (and Asahi that was still holding it) was instantly at the mercy of the volleyball team with Daichi sighing at the futility to remind everyone about practice but joining the joy anyways. Tsukishima avoided the commotion erupting to celebrate Suguwara's solution.
These idiots… He grumbled predicting the havoc for bathrooms later.
"Tsukki, there's a strawberry flavored one…" Yamaguchi whispered aside.
Tsukishima looked at him for a moment. But muttered a stubborn "So" and stalked off to continue with warm-up.
"Yamaguchi do you want one?" Daichi called over.
"No…Um…uh, actually can you give me the strawberry one!" He shouted stepping to the crowd in quick strides to retrieve the treat and instantly snapped back to Tsukki like an elastic.
XXX
Stumbling over her two left feet, Yachi stretched the backs of her outdoor shoes in order to yank them off as quickly as possible. Her mind was occupied with being late and wondering where she last put the air pump.
"Yachi-chan! Prep work can wait a little. Come have some sweets that Asahi brought!" Daichi called holding up one of the sweets.
"A-ah yes! Th-thank you!" Yachi replied and tripped over the edge of the step. Her shoe flew a couple meters behind without her knowing.
"Whoa there's a whole bunch to choose from!" Her eyes shined, joining the circle of figures huddled over the mochi held by a nervous Asahi.
"Here have the chocolate one!" Suga picked one for her.
"No try the green tea one!" Hinata blurted.
"Orange one is the way to go!" Nishinoya shouted.
"Strawberry!"
"Ttryf tha milf one!"
"Kageyama talking with your mouth full is dangerous…" Sugawara cautioned with a concerned expression.
"Excuse me." Yuzuki knocked again patiently on the door to the gym for the fourth time and jolted as eleven pairs of eyes finally noticed her. She held up first aid kit to show hr purpose.
Her brows furrowed watching her small blond friend cough out her guts and quickly run to retrieve the box from her.
"Sorry Yu-chan! I forgot to come by!" Yachi apologized still recovering from inhaling mochi powder.
"Its fine, the nurse's office isn't busy today anyways."
"You should come in! We're having just having a quick snack right now!" Yachi grinned.
Maybe the infirmary will get busy later… Yuzuki said to herself knowing the possible consequences.
The captain and vice-captain greeted Yuzuki with familiarity as she bowed a little to them. Tsukishima saw a similar glow on Yamaguchi's face. Small world isn't it... Tsukishima thought sarcastically.
"Now that I think about it Shimizu-senpai isn't here today." Hinata blurted munching on a strawberry sweet. There were visible stabs felt by Tanaka and Nishinoya.
"She has midterms to study for so she's skipping." Sugawara explained.
"Say Yu-chan are you good at looking for things?" Yachi asked as the two strolled to the storage room.
"Hmm? Why?" Yuzuki replied.
"I-it's nothing!" She waved off. "Um-ah! Ya-Yamaguchi-san, Tsukishima-san do you know where the air-pump is? It's not in the outside storage room!" Yachi stuttered seeing Tsukishima and Yamaguchi stretching on the side lines. She was always aware of the height difference between her and others, but standing next to two trees is another thing. Yuzuki looked up in awe seeing Tsukishima's towering height up close and the band-aid on the bridge of his nose. She wondered if it still hurt.
"I think it should be in the equipment room on the metal shelves, you know like the ones on the right side when you walk in." Yamaguchi gestured as he explained while holding his water bottle awkwardly.
"Ha? Are you sure you're fit to be a manager when you can't even remember the things you use the most." Tsukishima sneered.
"No it's just the new pump that I always forget! Because the other time I didn't put the previous one away properly and the metal tip broke off and Shimizu-san had to buy another one~!" Yachi explained speedily with her guilt spilling into the words.
Tsukishima's patronizing gaze just intensified.
"Ah, Yamaguchi-san I placed in the quick-cool packs you said you liked the other day." Yuzuki interrupted calmly.
"Really! Thanks!" Yamaguchi grinned happily. "The packs were always great to hold onto after practice."
"I also put in some bigger heat patches this time and extra mesh too although it's a little weird to go through so much ..." She glanced up at the band-aid peeking out from under Tsukishima's sport glasses.
"Tell that to the one who kept pushing non-absorbent mesh onto an open wound." Tsukishima retorted.
"Sorry~! I didn't know!" Yachi apologized immediately answering to the fault, bowing and shrinking herself even more.
"It's okay Yachi, I stuffed in an extra bag of cotton pads in case someone gets cut again. They're much better at soaking up blood than mesh and it's good for people who have sensitive skin." Tsukishima met her with an even glare. Yuzuki quickly looked away as far as she could.
"Thank you so much again Yu-chan~ You're definitely the best!" Yachi thanked
"It's no problem. I do this all the time anyways." She smiled blocking out Tsukishima's death glare.
"Ah, let's take it to the equipment room."
Yuzuki nodded eagerly to get away from holes being burned into her and the two girls began to walk away.
The girls were out of earshot.
"Yuzuki-san always adds in extra stuff for our club's first aid kit you know. Like last time she purposely brought some special shoulder heat patches and DHA* vitamin pills after I told her about how hard we were working to memorizing the plays. Although none us knew what the vitamins were for." Yamaguchi commented.
"Is that so…" Tsukishima mumbled, he was there when the team puzzled over the sudden appearance of the vitamins. Not really thoughtful when it's got connotations.
The two girls came out of the equipment room with Yachi holding the air pump looking embarrassed and Yuzuki half smirking behind a hand.
Tsukishima watched Daichi and Sugawara wave and spoke to the red-purple hair a little while it swayed its way to the exit. Pretty familiar with the captains isn't she… He noted. It was the first time he saw her come in during practice. But to not notice before—
"YOSSHHHAA!"
"Nice Spike Tanaka!"
"HORRRAAA!" He shouted again.
"Tanaka! Don't take your shirt off!"
"Tanaka-senpai you still have mochi powder stuck to your mouth!"
Tsukishima sighed at the unnecessary noises. There was his reason for not noticing.
"It's okay Tsukki." Yamaguchi consoled.
"Mhn." He nodded in monotone and returned back to practice.
The next time he saw her was in the hallways, he caught a glimpse of red in the corner of his eye and she saw his blond hair sticking out from the crowd a mile away. Tsukishima continued his usual steady saunter with his head phones on while Yuzuki had her phone to immerse in while her two loose pig tails tapped against her shoulders lightly as she drifted. They walked past each other without sparing a glance.
But Tsukishima paused when Yamaguchi's talking beside him disappeared. He always had his volume low enough to at least get a gist of what Yamaguchi's endless chatter just in case. Looking back Yamaguchi was caught up talking to the walking ball of red-purple hair. Tsukishima couldn't read lips but he could tell they were good friends by the amount of mutual chatter.
Is there that much to talk about for sports med. Tsukishima thought to himself.
Right before Yamaguchi apologized to her and ran back to him, Tsukishima quickly turned away and continued his walk again.
Yuzuki glanced back over her shoulder to see Yamaguchi run back to Tsukishima like a little puppy. He really is quite the best friend isn't he…
"Sorry Tsukki! Yuzuki was telling me that she also heard about the rumor that the principal's wig flying off during the volley practice too." Yamaguchi explained still snickering.
What's so good about seeing something that disturbing in real life... Tsukishima scowled.
"Ah! But going back to the broad casting club, they're the ones that also play the music during breaks and stuff too aside from doing announcements." Yamaguchi started not seeing his expression.
"Really." Tsukishima dished out his usual one word answer.
"Apparently they're all music junkies and pretty well rounded in genres they listen to." Yamaguchi laminated. "Oh! Also I heard that if you like the music you hear they have song lists that they prepare beforehand and play by during the day. You can also request songs too on normal basis although they can only take about 2 or 3 a day. If you really wanted to they can even promote your favorite band if you wanted as a part of afternoon announcements!"
Tsukishima just nodded. Yamaguchi peered over to Tsukishima's face.
"Sorry Tsukki..." He sighed seeing all the disinterest in the other's gold eyes.
"Hm?"
"Sorry… I just thought it would be a good club for you to join since you listen to music so much."
"No thanks. The volleyball club is taking more than enough of my time already." Tsukishima muttered with an edge.
"That's true, Tsukki does put a lot into practice now a days." Yamaguchi snickered.
"No I don't." Tsukishima lied with annoyance.
Yamaguchi just continued to grin.
"Yamaguchi, Yamaguchi Tadashi, please report to the student centre, please report to the student centre."
Tsukishima listened to the message announced by the familiar voice mixed with his music while Yamaguchi freaked a little remembering something forgotten. Yamaguchi faced Tsukishima and apologized lengthily before rushing off.
Tsukishima continued his usual stride without much thought. Passing through the hallways with a passive face listening to his music and ignoring the commotion around.
There was still a good 20 minutes until lunch ended but the murmuring classroom was the best out the places he could choose from. Tsukishima cracked opened some notes to discourage anyone from approaching him.
Tsukishima's long finger tapped against his cheekbone, absently following the tune. The electric guitar part was good and blended well with the beat. The singer was smart and chose a good song to cover but the lyrics were a bit too blurred (?). He took off his headphones to fix the left earpiece, the cord connecting to the headphones themselves was starting to experience some bad contact.
The steady droning of a base played in the background.
Tsukishima looked at one of the speakers built into the ceiling.
This is new... Tsukishima muttered knowing it wasn't the overplayed pop songs that was usually broadcasted and interfered with his own music.
The song was something slow, like a rock ballad. Tsukishima listened to it critically. It definitely wasn't one of those mainstream ones. It was band he hasn't heard of before either judging by the singer. The tune was, acceptable.
The broadcasting club was it? Tsukishima mused remembering Yamaguchi's words filled with the usual apologetic tone and expression. All the information told to him probably wasn't gathered in one day or from just a few questions. A few trips to the club would've occurred too.
Tsukishima got up from his desk while the white headphones hung daintily from his pale neck.
XXX
"Excuse the intrusion." Tsukishima uttered knocking on the open door to the broadcasting room.
Instantly he saw red hair jolt from the office chair and the feet on the control panel was quickly removed. The minute Yuzuki saw him at the door she slipped from the grip of the chair and fell hard to the ground.
Tsukishima watched without moving from the doorway as Yuzuki regained herself again slowly. She patted her uniform clean and then her red-purple hair in their usual loose pigtails draping over her shoulders.
No wonder Yamaguchi knew so much about the broadcasting club... Tsukishima frowned as Yuzuki crossed the room to him.
"Was there another complaint from the teachers?" Yuzuki inquired evenly, proud she could cover the nervousness in her tone perfectly and the distaste she had for his sudden entrance.
"You guys get a lot of complaints don't you?" Tsukishima sneered.
"No." She looked in the opposite direction of the cardboard box filled with angry red slips of paper.
Tsukishima made sure she saw him look over to the comments box.
"Is there something I can get you?" She asked him in an irritated tone.
"I'm here to get a song list for Yamaguchi." He told her.
"Ah right, he asked me to save one for him..." Yuzuki muttered without any suspicion and pulled out a folded sheet from her blazer. "Here."
Tsukishima took the list and tucked it in his gakuran.
"Is there anything else...?" She asked looking up.
"I'll come back with a complaint next time." Tsukishima promised before leaving.
"Please don't…" Yuzuki muttered quickly shutting the door after him.
Returning back to the comfy spinny chair, Yuzuki succumbed to her inner state of chaos and hid her face in the sleeves of her blazer. Coming over again to shock the living daylights out of her just like in the Infirmary when there should've been zero possibility. At least no one complained about the song she picked on her own accord and not from the set song list, right? The world was being really unfair.
XXX
"Shiori-chan! Have you seen Yu-chan?" Yachi asked running up to a laid back, hands in pocket Shiori strolling the halls.
"Keina has club activities today remember? Why though?"
"I have something I need to tell her-! I mean ask her! Yes, I have something I really want to ask her!" Yachi's eyes glittered eagerly.
"Does it happen to have something to do with the volleyball team?" She arched a brow.
"YES!" The blond girl radiated even more.
"Hm, since its Keina's day to be the broadcasting room… You should be able to find her if you go down the west hallways or the stairs near the music room. She should be coming up those hallways right now since she likes being early for classes." Shiori deduced.
The bell for after noon classes sounded above them.
A confused look spread over Shiori's features while Yachi was still too overwhelmed by excitement with the news she has yet to announce to comprehend the problem. Yanking her hands free from the blazer's pockets Shiori confirmed that class was starting in less than five minutes on her watch.
"Hold on Yachi-chan, I'll go drag Keina here for you instead." Shiori stated already starting to sprint away.
"O-Okay!" Yachi bounced.
She must've have fallen asleep in the broadcasting room again… Shiori thought to herself rounding a corner in the increasingly busy halls.
The doors to the broadcasting room were closed.
"Oy Keina! The lunch bell rang already! Yachi-chan's looking for you too!" Shiori shouted slamming the door open.
Yuzuki slowly spun around on the cushioned chair, sitting on it with her knees hugged tightly against herself.
"Whoa…I can't tell your face from your hair…" Shiori gaped.
End of chapter 2! Phew!
Just as a quick side-note*: About the DHA pills mentioned in the chapter, DHA is actually a really good supplement to take for infants for brain development and for adults to maintain good brain activity. I'll leave it at that. :)
For future reference~ I'll put a star* near things that I will elaborate on or explain a little at the end of the chapter!
And as per usual if you have anything you want note about the fic, something to suggest, or simply want to say a hello~ to me please do so! ^^
Oh and as I've iterated at the beginning I will be updating this fanfic on a bi-weekly basis~!
See you all next chapter!
~Vince