You are still surprised when your phone rings again and you see Atobe's name again. You pick up hesitantly.
"Where are you?" he asks immediately.
"Um," you glance around. "I'm at the end of the festival stalls – near the north entrance?"
You hear a pause on the other side and some shuffling. You stand up and look around and are surprised to see Atobe, on his phone, spot you from the other side of a small grassy patch. He turns as soon as he spots you and hangs up before heading over. You slowly lower the phone from your ear as well.
"Atobe," you furrow your eyebrows as you glance at him.
He's clearly come from some event – he's dressed in a nice dress shirt with his sleeves rolled up. He's not wearing a tie but you can imagine he probably had one and a jacket on earlier.
"Michi," he stops in front of you, glancing over you critically.
"What are you … doing here?" you ask tentatively.
He glances over you one more time before letting out a sigh and collapsing on the bench you were just at and closing his eyes. "You … you sounded like you were about to cry."
You swallow. You probably were earlier. "Sorry, I didn't mean to … interrupt your night," you mumble, and awkwardly sit down at the edge of the bench far away from him.
He waves away your apology dismissively. "It wasn't important," he opens one eye to watch you carefully. "You're not crying," he points out, a little sardonically.
You sit a little straighter. "I'm not," you tell him, trying to keep your voice steady. "I'm fine."
He sighs and rubs his temple. "I'm not here to play games, Michi," he tells you tiredly. "What did Tezuka do?"
You feel yourself get a little defensive at his tone. "It's none of your business," you tell him hotly and stand up. "I'm not talking about my problems with Tezuka with you."
"Well, god knows you're not talking about it with those Seigaku wimps obsessed with him," Atobe bites back, his gaze level on you. "They idolize the man."
"Hey!" your glare sharpens. "Back off, those are my friends, Atobe, and you don't get to badmouth them in front of me."
Atobe stands up as well. "Now you're redirecting that anger at me," he takes a breath and you take a second as well to pause. "Look at me," he slowly takes a step towards you. "Tell me what happened."
Now that Atobe's gotten you all riled up, you feel the tears start to gather again. "I… I'm not sure," you tell him truthfully. "I told Tezuka how I felt about him before he left, and he didn't … he didn't respond. And now we just beat Rikkaidai for the Prefectural championships, and he … he texted everyone but he didn't respond to mine and," you sniff and try to wipe away your tears as quickly as you can. You swallow. "It sounds so stupid to say out loud," you groan and turn around so Atobe isn't literally watching you crying about this.
"Hey," he grabs your wrist. "It's not stupid," he frowns when you turn back to him.
"Sorry," you mutter and again try to swipe away any remaining tears. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't be … talking to you about this."
"Why not?" Atobe raises an eyebrow.
You purse your lips. "It just …" you gesture between the two of you awkwardly, and Atobe's lips quirk in amusement. "I don't know. With us, you know," you gesture again awkwardly.
You feel yourself blushing as Atobe just keeps his gaze on you. "There's an 'us'?" he asks, amused.
"You know what I mean," you groan and he chuckles. "Anyways, I am sorry for dragging you out of …" you trail off, voice lilting up in question.
"Just a business event," he shrugs and reaches up to undo the top two buttons of his shirt collar. He sees you watching him and smirks, to which you roll your eyes. "And maybe I wanted to leave for…" he squints his eyes at the nearby temple sign. "this Matsuri festival," he reads.
You sniff and let out a watery giggle at his expression. "Have you even been to a Matsuri festival before?" you ask.
"Of course," he answers stiffly. "When I was younger."
"Okay," you laugh softly and grab his wrist. "Let's go to the festival then." He narrows his eyes at you. "You said you came for the Matsuri festival."
Atobe grunts but lets you lead him towards the festival stalls anyways.
You end up dragging him around to a few food stalls. Atobe insists he doesn't want anything but that he pays anyway. It makes you roll your eyes but you do end up sharing everything you get with him anyways. You do bring him to one of the classic festival games stations where you need to shoot a certain number of balloons for a prize.
"Arn?" Atobe raises his eyebrow, mostly unamused.
"Oh, shut up," you laugh and slam some money down. "You just don't want to be a sore loser."
"I'm not going to lose," he tells you flatly. The old man who runs the booth hands you both the toy guns.
"Oh," you mock his haughty tone. "Why don't we put something down on it then?"
Atobe smirks. "What are you ready to lose?"
"You get to pick our next date," you tease, and his eyebrow raises in interest.
He takes a step towards you until he's right in front of you and you have to look up to keep eye contact. "Is there another date?" he asks, voice dropping an octave.
Your heart skips a beat but you try to keep your expression cool. "I guess you'll have to win to find out," you grin.
He scowls when you take a step back. You gesture at him with an exaggerated bow and he raises the toy gun towards the moving balloon targets. He fires off the metal pellets and ends up hitting seven of the nine targets. The old man running the stand lets out an impressed whistle and Atobe lowers the gun, looking at you smugly.
You roll your eyes and bring the gun level with your eye. You take a deep breath and fire all your pellets in rapid succession as well.
You hit all nine targets.
The man running the booth lets out another impressed whistle and you turn smugly to Atobe, who's literally stunned.
You accept the stuffed animal the man behind the counter hands you and smirk at Atobe. "Better luck next time," you tell him airily. You grab the keychain that the man hands you as Atobe's prize as well when you realize Atobe isn't making a move to.
You take a few steps away from the stall before Atobe follows you. "Did you just hustle me?" he asks, eyes narrowed.
You laugh and hand him his keychain. "Don't be a sore loser," you remind him, smirking. "Now you owe me." Atobe looks completely nonplussed. "Here, I'll even give you mine," you hand him the large stuffed rabbit.
"I don't want the rabbit," he tells you flatly and you laugh again. "I want to know how you won."
You grin. "Don't think too hard about it," you tell him.
You don't mean to, but you do fall asleep in Atobe's car on the way back home. You wake up when he gently nudges you after you already arrive outside your house and you blink a couple times sleepily.
"Sorry," you yawn.
"It's fine," he responds.
You shuffle to get your items around you and see him watching you carefully. You pause and he meets your eyes. "Are you going to ask me?" you ask quietly.
He raises an eyebrow.
"On another date," you look at him expectantly.
He laughs and leans over. Your breath catches when his face nears and you feel your heart racing. He tucks some of your bangs behind your left ear and your eyes flutter closed. However, instead of kissing you, you feel his breath near your right ear.
"Next Friday evening," he whispers and you can tell he's amused when you shudder. "I'll pick you up."
Your eyes open slowly and you see him lean back, smirking. "Friday," you echo, a little breathless, and his smirk widens. You clear your throat and focus on gathering your things so he won't see the hot blush on your face. His driver opens the door for you politely and you quickly rush out.
You're putting all your stuff down in your room when you see a notification for a missed call on your phone. Your breath catches when you see Tezuka's name on the screen.
The call was over an hour ago – you probably missed it because of how loud the festival was. You call back and hold your breath while the phone rings, but it goes to voicemail on his end. You sigh and bring the phone back down to hang up.
"Sorry I missed your call," you text him. You think about adding more but are unsure if Fuji or Oishi mentioned your absence at the celebration and decide to hold off.
You stare at the phone a little longer, as if willing it to ring, but nothing happens. You sigh and instead get ready for bed. After you finish getting ready, you check your phone one last time, but there are still no further notifications.
You wake up the next morning to a text from Tezuka.
"I just wanted to thank you for helping lead the team. We could not have had this win without you," it reads.
It looks like it came through around 1AM, and you curse the time difference between Germany and Japan. It was probably the dead of night for them right now, and you've once again missed your chance to call him.
"Thank you," you respond back. "I hope your shoulder is getting better." You pause. "We missed you," you type out and hesitate. You hover over the send button but ultimately click it.
You close the chat and realize you have a missed message from Fuji. It came from earlier in the morning – the man had always been an earlier riser than you.
"Are you okay?"
You smile at his concern and instead decide to call him. Fuji picks up on the second ring.
"Hey," you greet.
"Hello," he responds and pauses. "You sound better than you did yesterday."
"Yeah," you think about mentioning Atobe but decide against it for now. You knew Fuji's feelings about the man. "Tezuka called me," you pause and feel the doubt creeping up. "Did you tell him to?" you ask quietly.
"I didn't," Fuji affirms, "but I'm glad to hear he did."
"I, uh, missed his call," you clear your throat. "We've been playing phone tag all night," you mumble, a little embarrassed.
"Hmm," Fuji hums, and you can tell he's curious.
"But we texted," you tell him instead. "Man, I really miss just seeing him in class every day," you laugh softly.
Fuji makes a general sound of acknowledgement.
"How was the rest of the celebration?" you ask quietly. "I'm sorry I left suddenly."
"It was fun," he responds. "Oishi was worried he made you cry."
You bite your lip. "He didn't," you tell Fuji. "I'll talk to him."
Fuji takes a deep breath. "I'm glad you're feeling better," he tells you quietly.
"Me too," you smile. "Thanks for checking though," you tell him.
Fuji hums for a second. "Actually, I was going to tell you. We're going to visit Tezuka in Germany next week – Ryuzaki-sensei just told us yesterday evening."
"Oh," you feel your heart speed up. "That's exciting for you all."
Fuji pauses. "I think you should call Tezuka back," he tells you. "You should come. I think Tezuka was going to ask you to come."
Your heart is pounding. "I- I'm not sure that's a good idea. It's a trip for the tennis team."
"You are a part of the team," Fuji insists. "Oishi and Tezuka would agree. At least … just call Tezuka back to talk to him about it."
Your throat feels dry but you manage to swallow. "Okay," you promise. "I'll call Tezuka later."
It feels like forever until Sunday afternoon arrives. As soon as it becomes a decent hour in Germany, you call Tezuka. This time, he does pick up.
"Hello," he answers quietly.
Your heart leaps into your throat. You haven't heard his voice in so long and suddenly it hurts how much you've missed him. "Hi," you clear your throat so your voice doesn't waver. "I'm sorry we've been playing phone tag all of yesterday."
"It's not your fault," he responds. "I'm sorry I called you so late."
"No no," you shake your head and let out a nervous giggle. "How are you?"
What were you even doing? You cringe a little at how you sound right now. Luckily, Tezuka takes over the conversation.
"I'm doing well. Congratulations on the Prefectural win," he tells you.
"Thank you," you let out a soft laugh. "I guess I should be saying the same for you. We have your medal. I, um, think they're bringing it to Germany with them next week."
There is a pause. "I'm looking forward to seeing them," Tezuka tells you. There is another short pause. "Will you be coming?"
You feel your throat tighten again. Your heart is beating so loudly you can't even hear very well over the sound in your ears. You search for the right response. "I … I don't think I should," you respond quietly. "It feels like a trip for you to see your team again. They've missed you."
"You are part of the team, Michi," Tezuka reminds you.
"I know," you tell him. "But that's not what I meant." You think back to your conversation with Oishi, where you realize you just simply need to take a step back from everything with Tezuka. Even now, just talking to him on the phone hurt. "I want to come to Germany," you tell him. "But I don't think it's the right thing for me to do."
Tezuka pauses. "Ah," he responds and you hear him take a deep breath. "I see."
There is a long pause where neither of you know what to say. "Are you coming back soon?" you ask instead.
"My shoulder isn't fully healed yet," he tells you.
"Okay," you swallow and now you really hear your voice waver. "I'll have the team say hi for me when they see you next week, and I'll see you when you're back."
"Of course," he responds and bids you goodbye.
You hang up and wonder if you've made the right decision.