Shy

Chapter 4

            Riiinng! 

It was finally the end of the day. It was time for Tsukiko to find Tanaka and apologize for her actions. Even though she had decided to right her wrongs, that didn't mean that she wasn't still nervous about confronting him. 

While worrying about what she should do, all the other students had already left for their homes or after school activities. Tsukiko gasped and rushed to gather her things into her bag. Hopefully, Tanaka would still be in his classroom.

She hurried over to the second-year section with a rapidly beating heart. She reached the classroom only to see that it was empty.

Tsukiko became crestfallen. She didn't know much about Tanaka, so she wouldn't know whether or not he went to any club activities and it wasn't like she knew anybody well enough to ask around for him. That would be much too embarrassing and nerve-racking for her.

Just as she was about to turn around, a voice was heard. "Oh! It's you!"

It was Matsumoto Hiroki. The same boy that Tsukiko embarrassed herself in front of when giving him papers from her teacher.

"Hi! I just came back because I forgot something. Are you looking for someone?" Matsumoto made sure not to be too loud since he knew how shy Tsukiko seemed to be.

"...I'm sorry. I-I'm looking for...Tanaka...Ryunosuke." She blushed a bit when she said his name.

"Oh, you mean that loud shaved-head-guy? Hmmm. I think he's in the volleyball club. Why don't you check the gym?" Matsumoto offered her a serene smile. It eased her nerves a little.

"T-Thank you!" Tsukiko started for the gym, but was stopped by Matsumoto's voice.

"By the way, you should look for the second gym! The boys' basketball team and girls' volleyball team use the other one. Also, one more thing. What's your name?"

"U-um. It's Kita. K-Kita Tsukiko." "Tsukiko, huh? That's a nice name."

Tsukiko's eyes widened and her face was immediately swarmed with red. "T-Thank you for your kindness!" With that, she dashed off.

Matsumoto blinked once. "Haha! What a funny girl, Kita Tsukiko."

Tanaka walked into the gym with one of his stupidly happy faces on. One could even see the pink background and sparkles surrounding him.

Tsukishima, like always, took the first chance to tease him. "Oh, look at that Yamaguchi. It must be nice to be an idiot. They can be so carefree all the time." Yamaguchi chuckled behind his hand.

Tanaka's face turned to Tsukishima. "It really is nice to be me." He then went back to getting ready for practice.

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"Hey! Kageyama! What's wrong with Tanaka-senpai!?!" Hinata asked, but only received shocked silence from Kageyama.

Even Tsukishima and Yamaguchi were shocked stiff.

"Hey, Daichi! What happened to Tanaka?" Sugawara worriedly asked the captain of the boys' volleyball team.

"I'm not even sure if that is Tanaka..." Daichi was truly astonished at the boy's response to Tsukishima's indirect insult.

All of the boys on the team now stayed some distance away from Tanaka. Hinata, being a brave soul, decided to go up to him. "S-Senpai? Are you okay?" Tanaka turned around and his close-eyed smile was still shining brightly. The sparkles around him blinded Hinata and caused him to shield his eyes with his hands. "Hmm? Why wouldn't I be okay?"

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"Who are you and what have you done with Tanaka?!" Surely, this wasn't the same boy who would jump at the chance to pummel Tsukishima for disrespecting him.

"Huh? What are you guys talking about?" Tanaka replied with confusion evident on his face.

"Somebody get a rag and a bucket of water!"

"What, you think he has a fever? He has to be sicker than that if he's like this!"

"No, wait! Somebody get him to the infirmary!"

"Get him a doctor!"

"No, somebody call an ambulance!"

"No, no, wait! Somebody call 119!!"

All of the boys were running around and shouting, trying to figure out what should be done. Some had their phones out, preparing to call the emergency number. Others actually got rags and bottles of water. They were running around like chickens with their heads cut off.

"Hey! I'm okay, you know?!" Tanaka's shouts only seemed to make things worse.

"Somebody pin him down! He's delusional! We've gotta get him some water!"

Tsukiko stood just outside the gym's doors. She was hesitant to go inside because of all the noise. Her face showed how worried she was. Was somebody actually severely hurt? Who are they talking about? Are their practices so harsh that someone could get really injured?

Tsukiko shivered at what kind of Spartan training they would need to endure. 

Just as she was thinking about their frightful practices, the door to the gym flew open. Hinata ended up ramming right into Tsukiko.

"Ow, ow, ow!" Hinata started rubbing his head. "I'm sorry! Are you okay?" He peered over at Tsukiko. She was sitting on the floor with one hand rubbing her head and the other leaning back to support her. "Hey! You're that new girl, right?!?"

He wasn't entirely wrong. Being sick the first few days of school and then coming back without having any cliques to join certainly made Tsukiko feel like she was a new kid.

"I'm Hinata Shoyo! Nice to meet you!" Instead of holding out his hand to wait for her to shake it herself, he just took it and started rapidly moving their conjoined hands up and down.

Tsukiko just stared at him, amazed and still slightly dazed from their collision. "What's your name? What are you doing here? It can't be that...you're thinking about joining the volleyball club!?!" Hinata's loudness was starting to attract the attention of some of the other volleyball team members.

"I-I'm Kita Tsukiko. N-Nice to m-meet you...I-Is Tanaka...Ryunosuke...here?"

Even though he was still being pinned down, Tanaka turned to the gym's entrance at the sound of his name.

His eyes widened when he saw Tsukiko.

It's her.