The Desperate Tales of Oikawa and The Bus

| xxvi |

"Oikawa?" Iwaizumi attempted, but the setter didn't respond. The ace looked back at Maki and Matsun, shrugging, then turned his attention to his best friend again.

Oikawa had been in a terrible mood all day, and nobody knew why. He'd basically slept through all his morning classes, harshly brushed off his fangirls, and now he was sitting at their usual lunch table, head buried in his arms.

Only Iwaizumi had a vague suspicion about what was happening, but he couldn't confirm anything with Maki and Matsun in front of them.

As for Oikawa... his mind was blank.

His worst fear had come true; she hadn't shown up. To Oikawa, there was only one possible explanation. Her bike must have been repaired, which meant she had no reason to take the bus anymore.

He'd spent the whole night staring at his phone, wondering whether he should send a message or not, then had finally decided against it. There was no point, he didn't want to harass her or make her uncomfortable.

"Maki, Matsun, why don't you guys go buy Oikawa some milk?" Iwaizumi suggested.

Though the two were confused as to what was going on, they nonetheless nodded and complied to their friend's wish.

When the other two were finally gone, Iwaizumi lost no time in asking the question on the tip of his tongue. After all, he knew he only had a limited amount of time before they came back.

"Oikawa, did something happen with Kyoshi?" The ace asked, finally having learned the girl's name.

Oikawa grumbled in response.

"What happened?" He asked again, his hand placed on his shoulder to try and nudge him a bit.

"She didn't show up. Her bike's probably been repaired, so she's never going to show up again." Oikawa muttered, sighing sadly at the end of each sentence.

"You mean on the bus?"

Oikawa hummed in response.

"Don't you think you're jumping to conclusions?" Iwaizumi attempted as Oikawa's head shot up.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, it was only one day. Maybe she was busy at school, or had somebody pick her up or something. You can't know for sure that she's never going to show up again." Iwaizumi explained as Oikawa furrowed his brows.

"Well, what should I do?" Though Oikawa hadn't exactly regained hope, as he still believed the worst had happened, it had nonetheless lifted his spirits up just slightly.

"Take the bus as usual today. I'm sure she'll be there." Iwaizumi smiled as Oikawa nodded.

The setter couldn't add anything else as Maki and Matsun showed up with the small carton of milk, and Oikawa went back to being his usual cheery self.

Iwaizumi was, however, still worried. If he was wrong and Kyoshi didn't show up on the bus, Oikawa would be in an even worst mood the next day.

He just had to hope that the girl did like Tooru after all.

---------------------

Tooru had been boiling in the summer heat for 20 minutes when Koto's bus finally showed up. He'd been way too stressed to train some more, and had decided to be on time for once.

He couldn't afford to miss the bus.

He could feel his legs shaking as he got on the bus, handing Koto his bus pass and not inspecting the passengers.

He didn't have the courage to. He was too scared she wouldn't be there and he'd be back to square one.

"Hi, Tooru." Oikawa jumped at the sound of her voice.

Koto had just given him his bus pass back and closed the doors, the engine starting, as Oikawa stood frozen and stared at the girl.

She was holding a chess book in her hand, her eyes scanning the pages and glancing at him from time to time.

She was there.

That's all Oikawa could comprehend as he walked towards his usual seat, eyes still wide in shock.

He didn't sit down, just stood there staring at her like an idiot. After awhile, Kyoshi finally looked up.

"Everything ok?" She asked, eyebrows furrowing slightly.

Oikawa could barely get the words out of his throat. "What... what are you doing here?" He asked in a small, incredulous voice.

"What do you mean what am I doing here? I take the bus with you every day." She replied, starting to think the boy had perhaps gone completely stupid in barely a day of her absence.

"But... but you weren't here yesterday." He managed to let out as Kyoshi bit the inside of her cheek.

So he was worried about me then.

"Ah, sorry about that. I got stuck at school and had my brother bring me home." She looked up to him, her big glossy green eyes meeting his brown.

Though everything that Iwaizumi had predicted had turned out to be right, Oikawa still felt like passing out.

He'd been so scared at the thought of losing her, that even when she was here, it felt surreal.

"Tooru, is everything alright?" Kyoshi asked again, starting to get seriously worried about the setter.

"I just thought... oh, never mind." Oikawa finally gave her a sheepish smile, sitting down and grabbing the small chessboard from his bag.

Kyoshi stared at him some more, slightly biting her lip. It was clear Tooru had thought she wasn't going to show up anymore; his shocked expression said it all.

But past that moment of initial surprise, he'd gone back to being his usual cheery self. The part that Kyoshi liked so much.

Because Kyoshi had thought a lot about it. She'd poured tear after tear after tear yesterday, and despite all of her brain's objections, there was only one possible explanation; she had missed Tooru's company. Because she cared about him.

She wasn't too sure about anything; she seldom got close to people, so this feeling was all too new to her.

But what she knew was that she'd barely gone a day without Tooru and had felt the need to come back. See his face again, and the way he hung his head to the side when he was thinking.

So she'd decided. Tooru didn't need to know her bike had been repaired. She'd just keep taking the bus, because it was clearly the option that made her happy, and there was no reason not to make herself happy.

Those were her thoughts as she explained a chess problem to the brown eyed boy, moving her fingers delicately on the board.

Meanwhile, the setter had frozen again. Not because of Kyoshi's presence, but...

Because of the ring that was sitting on her finger.

He raised his head to look at the girl who still deep in her problem explaining.

He couldn't form coherent thoughts anymore; she'd actually opened the gift. And she was wearing it.

It almost felt impossible to him, yet that's what had happened.

He wasn't too sure what this meant in Kyoshi world, but he was sure it meant that she at least cared about him. Even just a tiny bit.

And the thought made his heart flutter in his chest.

"Tooru, are you sure you're alright?"

"Who, me? I'm fantastic."