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“Semisemi, I have an idea ,”
The dorm room door was flung wide open and Semi looked up from his homework assignment. It was already after 10 pm and Tendou had characteristically been out all evening instead of doing what he needed to do.
“What’s this idea of yours?” Semi put down his pen and sighed. If Tendou had an idea, there wasn’t much he could do to keep his roommate quiet for the rest of the night. After almost three years of rooming together, Semi was very confident of this fact and he didn’t even try to fight it anymore.
Tendou raised his eyebrows high and grinned. “We’re starting a counseling office!”
“Who’s this ‘we’ you’re talking about?”
“You and me, silly!”
“Funny how I don’t remember agreeing to start this with you.” Semi crossed his legs and gave Tendou his best glare. A counseling office? Of all the weird ideas...
“Well, I started it for us. You can thank me later. I have with me here our first patient.”
As Tendou stepped into the room, he pulled Goshiki in with him, the younger boy’s eyes wide and maybe a little red around the edges. His posture wasn’t as proud as usual and he looked a little nervous to be there, the real indicator to Semi that maybe something was wrong.
Semi stood up from his desk immediately, the mood in the room shifting. “Tsutomu? Are you alright?”
The first-year nodded hastily. “My roommate and I got in an argument and I feel bad about it. I shouldn’t have yelled at him, but I’m fine!”
“It’s okay to talk about it if you want,” Semi assured, leading Tsutomu into the room and sitting next to him on the bed. “We all have to get our frustrations out sometimes.”
Goshiki looked at the floor, still a bit embarrassed. “Tendou-san found me in the hall after I rushed out of the room and I guess I was happy to have someone to talk to... It really wasn’t a big argument or anything. My roommate just has this habit of getting distracted while he’s studying? Like just now we were both doing homework and I was really in the zone and then he asked if I wanted to go with him the grab something from the vending machine. And this happens all the time and I get frustrated because then I lose focus too. I didn’t mean to yell at him, but it just kinda came out so I left... He probably hates me now...”
Tendou reached over to ruffle Goshiki’s hair. “No one could ever hate you, Tsutomu! Especially not over something little like that!”
Semi took some more time considering his words. “It really doesn’t seem like an issue to make or break a friendship. Have you tried just talking to him about how you get frustrated when he does that? He probably didn’t know it bothered you so never thought to stop.”
“But... But I yelled... I shouldn’t have yelled. I’m not mad at him but he’s going to think I am and I feel bad!”
“I think he’ll understand if you explain that you were just frustrated and reacted impulsively.” Semi reached over to place a hand on Goshiki’s knee. “But it’s also good to get some space every now and then. I’m glad you were up to coming here and talking about it.”
Goshiki brightened up. “Thank you for the advice and for letting me come here to talk about it.”
“Sure thing.” Semi leaned back against the wall. “Since you’re here, is everything else going alright? Volleyball is fun and you feel comfortable with everyone else?”
The contented smile on Goshiki’s face said it all. “Yeah! I love this team and it’s so much better than I ever could’ve imagined it to be! Some people are a little intimidating, but I think that’s okay because it’s all part of the game.”
Tendou patted Goshiki’s shoulder. “I think we’re both thinking of the same intimidating person here. Don’t mind Kenjirou, he’s just a brat and likes to look tough but he doesn’t actually mean any harm. You get used to it after a while and he’ll stop bothering you.”
Goshiki looked relieved to be understood. “I figured that’s just the way he is. I guess everyone else is kinda intimidating in their own ways too. I mean, this team is crazy good. It’s hard not to be intimidated.”
“You’re pretty fearsome yourself, Tsutomu.” Tendou winked. “To an outsider, you’re just as scary good as the rest of us.”
The look of shock on Goshiki’s face made Semi smile. “Yeah, don’t think of the rest of us as intimidating; just know that we’re all intimidating to everyone else and that includes you. You’re one of us, through and through.”
The first-year bounced to his feet, looking elated. “I don’t try to be scary but it is kinda cool that people think I’m good! I never saw it like that!”
As Goshiki made his way back to the door, shouting his thanks, Tendou raced after him to pat him on the head and shower him with praise about being a great spiker and a great roommate, capable of resolving this conflict.
When the door shut again, Semi sighted and smiled. “He’s so easy to cheer up. I love his attitude.”
Tendou laughed and jumped onto Semi’s bed, leaning on his roommate’s back. “Isn’t he great! We’re pretty good counselors though.”
Semi returned the high-five Tendou asked for, still smiling. “Well, I’m glad we’re good at this. It feels good to help people.”
“See? I told you it would be a great idea to open our room as a counseling office.No one likes the school counselor because that’s just boring. We can make this a fun and caring place to talk about feelings and everyone will love it! We should require everyone to come in here and talk about their feelings at least once because it’s probably super helpful! I mean, we might never have found out that Tsutomu felt intimidated by everyone except that he was already in here, right? What else could we find out about everyone if they all came and sat down to talk about life?”
Before Semi could answer, Tendou had leapt from the bed and pulled a sheet of paper from his desk, scrawling “Satori and Eita’s counseling office: a fun and caring place to talk about feelings.”
“I’m gonna go hang this on the door!!” Tendou yelled, doing so.
Semi relaxed on his bed. “Since when are you caring when it comes to feelings? You might need to change that slogan.”
Tendou didn’t seem to mind. “You’re the caring one. I’m the fun part of this duo. It’s accurate, trust me. Who should our next victim be? Wait! I got this!”
Semi only waited a moment before the door opened again and Tendou pulled Yamagata inside.
“Welcome to our counseling office!”
Yamagata looked around. “Wow. It looks like your bedroom. Impressive.”
Semi laughed and sat up again against the wall. “Hey, Hayato. Satori’s all amped up about feelings and making sure everyone on the team is comfortable and feels safe. Any concerns?”
Looking slightly confused, Yamagata leaned against the edge of a desk. “I don’t think so. Everything is going really well this season as you both already know... If anything, I’m just sad this has to be our last year together. I’m gonna miss you guys and your weird ideas... like starting a counseling office in your bedroom...”
“Hey, nothing has to end just because we’re going separate ways!” Tendou butted in. “No sadness! I’ll follow Eita to his college and stow away in his closet and we can start another counseling office there!”
Yamagata laughed and Semi rolled his eyes. “Please don’t follow me to college. I’m looking forward to escaping you finally after this year.”
“Semisemi how are we gonna keep in touch then? I’ll be your backpack; just carry me around everywhere.”
“No, none of that!” Semi pushed back as Tendou tried climbing on his shoulders while Yamagata laughed. “But what if we did something to make sure we all stayed in touch?” Semi took out his phone and opened up his calendar. “One year from today set a reminder. If we haven’t all seen each other by then, we’ll get together again like old times and grab dinner together, no matter how busy things get.”
Yamagata perked up at that and pulled out his phone as well, setting a reminder. “That’s actually a really good idea! If you guys are committed to staying in touch and so am I, we’ll definitely find a way to make it happen! Hey, you two are kinda good actually at this whole making-people-feel-better thing!”
A few high fives were exchanged again before Yamagata left.
“I’m gonna go find someone else to counsel!” Tendou sang, rushing to the door as well.
“How are you recruiting people for this?” Semi called out.
Tendou shrugged. “I just knock on our teammates’ doors until someone answers. I tried Kenjirou and Taichi’s room last time but they just yelled to go away but I’ll try again!”
Another minute passed before Tendou was back, this time with Reon, looking amused at the explanation of what was happening.
“No luck with the second years?” Semi asked, chuckling.
Tendou shook his head. “They’re getting angry about it now. Eventually, one of them will break and open the door and I’ll get to kidnap them. But for now, we have Reon!”
“But Reon is like the most put-together person in this school.” Semi grinned. He looked at the new arrival. “But if you have feelings to talk about, feel free to share.”
Reon chuckled and sat down in Semi’s desk chair. “I’m not that put-together, I promise. But I think this is really nice of you guys to do, even if not everyone is appreciative of it.”
“It was all Satori’s idea,” Semi said. “I was gonna sleep or something tonight but you learn to go without sleep for days when he has ideas.”
Tendou mussed Semi’s hair. “Aww, you like my ideas though. Your life would be boring without me and you know it.”
“It would be a lot calmer, that’s for sure.” Semi pushed him away.
“I can’t help it, you know!” Tendou pleaded. “If I have an idea, I just have to run with it! I don’t mean to interrupt what you’re doing!”
Reon inserted himself into the mild argument. “Maybe you guys could try finding some middle ground. Eita, set some boundaries on when Satori is allowed to bring people over and when you need time to sleep and take care of some of your other priorities. Satori, maybe otherwise you can hang out with people outside of the dorm room or you could join Eita in doing homework quietly sometimes since we all know you don’t like to work by yourself.”
“I thought we were the counselors here.” Semi rolled his eyes. “You saying this deal means I get time to myself sometimes but I also have to help Satori focus on homework... I can get down with that.”
Tendou looked serious for a moment. “I didn’t realize you were so annoyed with my plans... but I can try to keep out if you’re studying or sleeping I guess. But you gotta have fun with me sometimes!”
Smiling, Reon stood up again. “Sorry to take over your little counseling session in here but I’m glad you guys found an agreement. I really have to get back to my own dorm. Wakatoshi and I have an agreement of our own about curfew on school nights but I’ll catch you guys later.”
Before Semi could say anything, both had left the room again, Tendou probably on his way to terrorize more of their teammates.
It took longer than the first few times, but the door opened again and Tendou paraded back inside, leading Shirabu inside in front of him, both arms held behind his back uncomfortably, a look of thinly veiled rage on his expression. Kawanishi followed behind them, looking curious and vaguely amused.
Once inside, Shirabu broke away from Tendou and crossed his arms. “Okay, we’re here. What the fuck do you want.”
“Didn’t you see the sign on the door?” Tendou sang. “Eita and I have started a counseling office in here and it’s a fun and caring place to talk about your feelings if anything is bothering you!”
Kawanishi took a sip of the soda he’d brought with him. “Kenjirou doesn’t have feelings though. I knew it was a good idea to tag along for this.”
Semi offered a smile, doing his best to be the ‘caring’ part of this ‘fun and caring’ arrangement. “It’s not anything formal, don’t worry. Is there anything on your mind lately that’s bothering you in volleyball or school or anything?”
“No.” Shirabu stole a longing look at the blocked doorway.
“We’re not going anywhere until someone talks about emotions!” Tendou declared.
With a sigh, Kawanishi placed himself next to Semi on the bed. “I’m kinda worried about the end of the year and how that’s going to work out without you guys next year.”
Semi smiled. “You guys are going to be just fine without us. The only difference is—”
“It’ll be more relaxing,” Shirabu interrupted. “Just imagine, not being dragged out of my room at 10 pm for a counseling session.”
“Kenjirou, I feel like you’re holding onto a lot of resentment.” Tendou sat up on the desk and crossed his legs, a fake-professional look on his face. “Care to talk about it?”
Kawanishi cut in. “He’s saying he’ll miss you guys too. He just won’t actually say it out loud. Whether there’s a sign on the door or not, you guys are a good resource for stuff like this and we appreciate it.”
Shirabu shifted his weight from side to side and moved back toward the door. “Can we go now? Your counseling session was very helpful.”
Semi pushed on Kawanishi’s shoulder playfully. “Go on. Get him out of here. But we’ll grab you guys again for something like this I’m sure.”
Tendou chased both second-years into the hall, talking loudly and laughing before stepping back inside and shutting the door.
“Any more victims for the night?” Semi closed his eyes, hoping his roommate had finally worn himself out.
“Nah.” Tendou jumped onto his own bed. “We did a pretty good job with this though, right? I still think we should meet with everyone and just talk about whatever sometimes. Reflection is good for the soul!”
“Yeah, I think so too. Even if our second-years think they don’t have anything to talk about. We’ll get them next time and then it’ll be a sob fest.” Eita snickered at the mental image. “But maybe knowing that we’re open to talking about stuff like this, they’ll come to trust us more. Which was probably your intention with this from the beginning.”
Tendou smirked. “Yeah! And I think you and I are the best people for it! It’s like the sign says, we’re a fun and caring place to talk about feelings.”