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Iwaizumi Hajime wasn't a big fan of Mondays 'сause there was no training at Aoba Jousai’s volleyball club. By an unspoken rule he and his teammates didn't even meet on a lunch break so that the day would be free from any volleyball talking too. Iwaizumi could function outside of volleyball for a day every week but he would definitely prefer not to.
Iwaizumi didn't really like mornings. Why the hell would someone be excited for all the morning rush?!
The Monday mornings were a completely different matter though. Iwaizumi’s limbs had yet to start itching with all the unused energy and his heart had yet to start longing for a certain childhood friend of his. He was reluctant to change his morning routine and as a result could waste the time that would be normally spent in the gym on finishing his homework, talking to classmates or just walking to school in the most relaxed and serene mood alone once in a while.
So walking he was. The weird cheery pop song Hanamaki insisted he'd listen created a strange mix with the gray sky above quiet streets and its reflection in the wet asphalt of roads. Drowsy midges crushed into his face like the droplets of water that could start pouring from the sky any minute.
Oikawa must be trying to tame his fluffy nest of hair in some school toilet right now while Seijo was nearly empty. Humidity was one of a few things that could make him get out of bed earlier than absolutely necessary.
Iwaizumi breathed as deep as possible without stopping in his track and falling asleep.
A sudden touch to his shoulder made him jump a meter in the air. He might or might not squeak too... His face started heating up as he stopped the music, stuffed his phone and turned around.
— Iwaizumi Hajime.
— What the fuck.
Ushijima Wakatoshi wasn’t on a list of people Iwaizumi expected to see. He wasn’t on a list of people Iwaizumi would be happy to see too. Iwaizumi blinked a few times.
— You shouldn’t wear headphones in public. That lessens your surrounding awareness.
Iwaizumi gaped at him. Did Ushiwaka really pop out of nowhere merely to give him the words of wisdom? Was he daydreaming? What the actual fuck?!
— What are you even doing here? Are you unable to pass up an opportunity to lecture people?
— I got lost.
Iwaizumi took a moment to look at Ushiwaka from head to toe. His face was as unreadable as always but his breathing seemed to be a bit off. His Shiratorizawa jacket sticked to his skin uncomfortably and his skin was damp, but the weather might be partly at fault for that.
— How did you end up there? — Iwaizumi had some time to waste and couldn’t help but wonder. Shiratorizawa wasn’t exactly in a five-minute-walk range. As far as he could remember, it was more than half an hour bus ride that one time they invited Seijo for a practice game.
— I ran. — Whoa. Was he for real? Well, yes, he is the Ushiwaka after all. — Can you tell me how do I get back to Shiratorizawa?
No magic word, huh.
Iwaizumi wanted to think of himself as a decent man and he wasn’t in a hurry. Plus he didn’t really hate Ushiwaka. Yes, he was kinda salty after their (another) loss to Shiratorizawa. But that was three weeks ago, he should get a hold of himself! He took a deep breath.
— Sure. — His hand reached for his smartphone again, but he still wanted to pester Ushiwaka a little. — And how many turns do you hope to memorize?
Iwaizumi thought about all the passersby this stone-faced behemoth would scare on his way to ask for further directions.
Honestly, there was no way Ushiwaka could run all the way back there. Or walk, since he must have morning classes to attend too, right? Iwaizumi tried to google a regular bus for him to take instead.
A rustle made Iwaizumi look up again. The hand outstretched to him held a piece of paper:
— Can you just fix that map? I followed it but it didn’t help.
Iwaizumi inspected the so-called map. The streets depicted did not look familiar (the one they stood on now was one of a few exceptions). The handwriting sort of did. Iwaizumi wasn’t going to waste time on comparing the drawing with a proper map though.
— Nah. I’ll walk you, okay?
It turned out Ushiwaka should be on a regular run with his teammates but left them behind ‘cause he is just oh sooo good and fast and strong. Iwaizumi could accept the idea that a National Team athlete shouldn’t really correct his training regime to be on par with the other club members, but how could they call the guy their capitan if he wouldn’t even lead running laps? Well, that was not Iwaizumi’s business. And how does somebody go this far without noticing their surroundings? Chatting with Ushiwaka was amusing only as far as he didn’t mention other schools’ teams though.
— And what the fuck would he do if he had come to you? Shiratorizawa already has one setter with smart game and strong serves to warm benches, how would Oikawa be any different? — Iwaizumi overestimated himself when he thought he could pull this off. He did not want to walk in silence but... — You know what? Keep your opinion to yourself. — He took his eyes off Ushiwaka for a moment to think of another subject. — Are your clothes waterproof by any chance?
Iwaizumi looked him over once more — he wasn’t sweating buckets now, but his clothes didn’t look any better. Ushiwaka gave him a blank stare and then glanced at the sky too.
— Do I spare you money for a plastic umbrella too or do you want to send someone a text so they would meet you at your bus stop?
Ushiwaka hesitated. He wasn’t happy to take money from Iwaizumi to pay his transport but now he had a choice. Whoever would be there for him might end up being late for the classes along with him. Did he even have anyone to rely upon? He could be annoying as fuck but his communication with teammates seemed alright to Iwaizumi.
— Do you use the LINE app?
— Oh? Well, I think I have it installed...
— Would you have any problems with Tendo Satori knowing your id?
— You tell me.
He stopped in his track and handed his unlocked phone to Ushiwaka.
— I hope you would not. — That made Iwaizumi snort. Ushiwaka started typing.
As opposed to Ushiwaka, Tendo was a person Iwaizumi really disliked. He reminded him of Oikawa in the worst way possible (and didn’t have a whole life to grow on Iwaizumi like Oikawa did, but had enough time to block a ton of Iwaizumi’s spikes). What damage could the guy do to him via a mobile chat app though?
Ushiwaka kept composing his cry for help. Or maybe he didn’t. He should have created a detailed report by now. Was he the type to send messages so long that no smartphone display could fit them? One wouldn’t expect him to be active on social media but after all he was talkative in a way. Would he write an essay on Who Should Have Come Where through LINE if nudged? Iwaizumi snickered.
Ushiwaka finally shoved the phone to him:
— I will contact you by id to give your money back.
— Took you lo-- Wha?! No need for that! It’s not my last money.
— I insist.
— I’ll just get it back on prelims for nationals then.
— Too long.
— Top up my phone balance.
— It’s not the same. — Ushiwaka scrunched up his nose.
Maybe waiting till October is kind of long, okay. But how is this not the same?! Iwaizumi sighed. Ushiwaka was such a good kid when he let the Oikawa talk be dropped earlier, but looks like he could be stubborn too.
— Am I so irresistible that you’d pay to get here, use giving me money as an excuse to see me again and than pay to go back? — Ew, it sounded so out of character.
— I will ask my mother to drive me.
Huh. His dad drove a car too but he was always too busy to take Iwaizumi places.
— That’s still a waste of time… — Now he was the one acting childish. — But okay. So are you really going to tell your mom that you accidently ran through half a city? Aren’t you supposed to be a big boy who’ll graduate from high school in less than a year?
Another problem that was definitely not Iwaizumi’s. He couldn’t help but wonder though.
Ushiwaka reddened a bit but still looked… satisfied? Wow, you could actually tell some of his emotions from another if you watch him long enough. It was kinda fun.
— Admitting one’s mistakes is a part of being an adult.
That had Iwaizumi laughing out loud.
As Iwaizumi waved to the bus Ushiwaka boarded, he concluded that the week started nicely, even though now he had to take a bus too.
***
During morning classes Iwaizumi took his time to study the map he confiscated earlier. It was quite a delicate work and its designer definitely didn’t have helping Ushiwaka in mind. As far as Iwaizumi could follow, the path schemed was in fact an unfolded loop.
He sincerely hoped that Ushiwaka had only covered it once before stumbling into him.
Maybe Iwaizumi had to break their club’s little tradition.
Iwaizumi concluded that he better attack first instead of waiting for Oikawa to attack him over helping their archnemesis and hiding the fact.
— What the fuck is that. — He put the offensive paper on the desk with a loud thud.
— How would I know? And good morning you too, Iwa-cha~n! — Oikawa batted his eyelashes and gave him a fake smile. His smirk turned shit-eating as he took the paper for inspection.Was he so proud of what he did that he couldn’t even care to act more convincing? What a cutie. Iwaizumi crossed his arms.
— Couldn’t you at least think of a route that would not cross mine, Assikawa?
— And who would have helped poor Ushiwaka-chan then! What time did you meet him? How long had he suffered?
— Dunno. He didn’t bitch about it. — That was kind of surprising now that Iwaizumi thought about it. Maybe Ushiwaka wasn’t really eager to mention Oikawa ‘cause he was afraid Iwaizumi would ditch him too? — And it’s not funny, y’know? He could have catched cold or something when he has Interhigh to play.
— Not sorry~ Oh, come on! Idiots don't catch colds, you should have noticed that from your expe--
Oikawa’s ruined chevelure made a good revenge.
***
He received a message from an unknown LINE id at the nearest weekend. It was a photo of Sunmall Ichibancho followed by “Text back if you happen to be in the area.”
So Ushiwaka didn’t want to disappoint his mother after all. He probably couldn’t lie to safe his life too.
He sent back a photo of his textbooks piled up on his desk a few minutes later — the unanswered message just didn’t sit right with Iwaizumi. No text.
***
— …I wonder what he could possibly do in this place first of all. I mean he couldn’t be stalking me and Takeru, right?!
— I’m sure even Kageyama has better things to do. — A mental image was hilarious. — Who needs your sorry ass? He has senpais of his own now.
Two weeks passed and Oikawa had experienced yet another unexpected encounter. He’d gone easy on Kageyama with that lame blurry photo though and even gave him a really sensible advice. (Iwaizumi had to trust Oikawa’s own words with the last part but the guy could be serious if he wanted to.)
Children could grow up so fast nowadays.
And what about him?
***
Ushijima kept sending Iwaizumi fancy snapshots. While as of late Iwaizumi was cramming almost all the spare time this dude surely wasn’t pressured by the need to pass exams. Sometimes Oikawa came over to “study together” and Iwaizumi would secretly shoot him fooling around to send it as reply. No camera could catch the air of comfort and confidence Oikawa brought to his room merely by staying at his side, but at least it worked as a break from photos of new additions to Iwaizumi’s desk.
Well, maybe Iwaizumi wouldn’t be so busy if he made up his mind over what he wanted to do with his after-school life instead of trying to become an expert in math, english, physics, chemistry and biology simultaneously in his volleyball-free time. He'd always been a good student but it kicked his ass harder every year.
He could also quiet the volleyball club but honestly? That was never an option.
Cramming was easier than making life choices.
***
Nothing ever worked as planned when it was about Ushijima Wakatoshi. Either that or Iwaizumi just wasn’t the one doing the planning.
The tests were almost over and Iwaizumi could chill out a bit. The weather still wouldn't let him breath but he was a man on a mission determined to buy stuff for Oikawa’s birthday.
A downpour greeted him as he left yet another shop. Iwaizumi had an umbrella, but he also had two bags, one with a cake and a not-so-small alien plushie and another with a box hiding a pair of sneakers. (While giving plushies was merely a silly tradition, those ASICS with atomic blue details were something Iwaizumi hoped Oikawa would really like and something to remind him about the time they spent playing together too.) And the bags were not heavy, but he didn’t want them to collide too much and so Iwaizumi was scanning the street to find some cafe to wait out the rain.
Ushijima standing under another shop’s canopy a few meters away from him might have the same idea and could be busy studying the map on his phone for a place to crash. Or he might be waiting for someone and did whatever with the phone to pass the time. Smartphone aside, his hands were empty. Anyway, was this street not cool enough to send Iwaizumi a photo?
He plucked out a phone of his own and did his best to get a nice photo of Ushijima while still holding a bag with the shoebox, water be damned. As he sent it to the model, he watched Ushijima’s face closely and didn’t suppress his grin when he finally received the pic and started looking around frantically.
— Iwaizumi. I don’t have enough change right now. — Straight to the point, huh.
— Hello to you too. Well, and what if I do? I don’t need your money though, I wanted to ask you to help me. Do you have about 10 minutes of time?
Ushijima checked his phone one last time before putting it in his pocket and nodded.
— Could you take this and walk me to the bus stop nearby and we’ll be even?
— What is in the box? — Ushijima peeked into the bag Iwaizumi held out to him.
— A cake and a plushie. Try to keep it dry without kicking it.
Ushijima grabbed the bag and Iwaizumi opened his umbrella. Ushijima moved closer to him.
So that backpack of his didn't hide an umbrella or a raincoat and Ushijima must be waiting for someone to pick him up after all.
And then they set off. Ushijima did his best to keep the bag in front of himself and stay under the umbrella; so did Iwaizumi with another bag. It wasn’t long until he realised he better give Ushijima the umbrella too because of their height difference, but he was reluctant to admit it out loud.
— Do you have a younger brother? — That caught Iwaizumi off guard. Ushijima was staring at his umbrella. It was a very cute one, clear plastic but with small cartoony Godzilla print. So he never noticed Iwaizumi’s phone case or the badges on his duffel bag? He definitely had fanstuff somewhere on the photos he took in his room for Ushijima too.
— Nope, it’s mine. You are not really observant, are you? — Iwaizumi wanted to take the words back as soon as they slipped out of his mouth and felt his face going red. Why should Ushijima have payed attention to any of this? He merely tried to start a conversation. He was not the one staring at Iwaizumi so hard that his neck hurted a bit either a month ago or now. — Um. Sorry. Nevermind.
So now Ushijima was staring at him. Niiice. Now Iwaizumi had to keep the conversation alive somehow too.
— I own lots of stuff with Godzilla, that’s all. Oikawa keeps giving me Godzilla-related presents since childhood.
Ushijima’s shoulder was firmly pressed against his at this point, and the skin contact felt burning. His muscles were surely firm and nice to touch, but… Iwaizumi must have lowered the umbrella unconsciously as he hanged his head in shame; he yanked his hand up and it was over.
He could still feel Ushijima’s gaze on himself though. His ears must have reddened too by now.
— The two of you are very close.
Ushijima couldn’t care less about being looked at or being talked about. So what the fuck was wrong with him?! He didn’t mess up badly enough to dwell on it for so long! Iwaizumi took a deep breath and tried to straighten his shoulders.
— That’s what you get for being neighbours for all your lives, I guess. — If Ushijima would be the one carrying an umbrella, that talk would totally look like a scene straight out of some shojo. Ushijima looked kind of attractive up close. He must be even worse than Oikawa in romantics though. Okay, enough is enough. — Hey, were you waiting for your mother to pick you up?
— No. I was waiting for Tendo to finish shopping.
— And you ditched him for me? Thanks. — Wow. Iwaizumi was kind of flattered.
— I messaged him. He won’t mind spending more time there.
What was that place again, a bookshop?.. Maybe books could do that to a man.
— Wouldn’t peg him as someone who likes reading that much.
Ushijima gave small godzillas in front of him a pointed look. Oops.
— He reads manga.
— Oh. I enjoy reading it with Oikawa’s nephew too! It’s mostly Shonen Jump though, no tankobons. — Now, that was more fitting. The guy seemed a bit grotesque himself. — But how do you go back there?
They almost reached their destination and the rain didn’t show any signs of stopping.
— I’ll run. — Ushijima only hesitated for a moment.
— You surely do a lot of running.
***
— Hey, you guys watched Finals, right?
— Sure! I wonder who did not, haha. Even my parents did and I can’t remember the last time they watched a volleyball game.
— Well, that is what you’d expect when the national team goes for the Olympic medal!
— Yeah, the bronze medal is still a medal. It’s a shame that our male team sucks though.
— Way to kill the mood, Makki.
— Did you ever think why men’s and women’s national teams can be so different in terms of success? I mean, if you consider Japanese teams, than one could always say that Japaneses are not really impressive physically and women’s volleyball is not as physically oriented as men’s, but that happens in some European countries too?
— Iwa-chan, is that what kept you up till the early morning? You know I’m not the only one who needs to sleep?
— Well, we all know both of you are freaks. Iwaizumi just needs an excuse to boss you around, Captain-san.
— I was actually reading about high elbow and low elbow swings. Always wondered why so many professionals do not hold their elbows on a proper height but never tried searching.
— Uggh. And here I was, busy imagining what would happen if we suddenly told Kindaichi to play oppo in the heat of a game.
— Hey, bud, have some mercy on the kid!
— At least you won’t hurt your head.
Their boy’s junior national team wasn’t a star team too.
Had Ushijima taken at least one medal with either them or his school’s club other than on prefecture level championships? Probably no. Iwaizumi should search it up just to be sure.
Maybe that was why he was so keen on getting Oikawa to toss to him. Ushijima’s experience of volleyball was so much more than upsetting Seijo and winning preliminaries.
Iwaizumi still couldn’t imagine why a setter would be docile enough to go to Shiratorizawa but then would suddenly turn so wild that it would affect the team’s style.
***
— So what was it about swings?
— Ah, high elbow one is apparently more trauma inducing for shoulders. We’ll stop playing soon anyway and you only use this occasionally for serves, so who cares. But remind me to send you an article about back setting.
Iwaizumi watched his shadow dancing around as they passed streetlamps. He could physically feel Oikawa’s heavy look on him.
There was no escaping this, even if a college would give him a few more years. If Iwaizumi made it into some kind of semi-professional team somehow he would end up being the guy that goes out on the back row to help with receiving and maybe has one attempt at spiking a ball for a whole game if the situation got hazardous. Even Japanese volleyball wasn't too forgiving. He grew out of looking down at receiving, but it just was not the same.
Ushijima would probably tell him he might as well try playing libero.
Iwaizumi still had other things to try though.
***
The start of new semester brought yet another intruder to his routine; that one Iwaizumi should have expected but he did not.
Kyoutani Kentaro was even shorter than Iwaizumi. He wasn’t an outstanding jumper or mid-air battler, he lacked both precision and game sense. But this dude slammed balls down like his life depended on it and that alone was fascinating.
Iwaizumi hoped his hunger wouldn’t be satisfied too quickly.
If someone told Kyoutani he didn’t belong on the court at that point he’d probably beat the person down. And one could only hope he’d try to do so through all the small challenges he kept offering to iwaizumi.
Winning those was kind of refreshing.
***
Iwaizumi’s thoughts came back to Ushijima again and again somehow even though they didn’t interact since Jule.
Of course, he still watched Shiratorizawa’s games with his teammates, with Oikawa and on his own. He came across Ushijima’s photos and interviews in magazines. He stared at that one photo that was the end of their wordless exchange.
Volleyball court aside, the Ushijima from the former was someone who Iwaizumi could see in the spotlight, in some thriller/adventure/action movie or something, his eyes intense and burning, his pose and mouth getting a flashy message across. He could envision him modeling for artists and photographers. He could imagine him on his knees with Iwaizumi’s hand smearing his sperm over (undoubtedly) nice muscles of his lower back.
The latter photo felt different somehow. That was a guy Iwaizumi could picture eating an ice cream and doing other everyday stuff that Iwaizumi mostly did himself as well as saying annoying and amusing things without intending to. He still sort of could imagine the smearing thing, but it felt gross and why would someone remain in a stiffened pose without any kind of stimulation just to have their skin dirtied?
Iwaizumi was aware of the fact that both only existed in his head and had little to do with the real Ushijima since he barely knew him aside from the-guy-who-hits-balls. He hadn’t even received a smile from him.
He couldn’t help himself though. Those Ushijimas made good imaginary companions in entirely different ways.
***
— We will challenge all comers.
Of course you will. “The best of luck” yourself.
So Ushijima didn’t turn into a gentleman who keeps his trap shut when it comes to volleyball. Was Iwaizumi just lucky before? Or did Ushijima hold a sort-of-grudge for Iwaizumi silencing him?
And what was up with that whole talk? If he didn’t even see them as Shiratorizawa’s competitors then did he imagine them to be good friends oh his or something?
***
Iwaizumi never dared to imagine what would be an end of competitive volleyball for him. His spikes being received was nothing new. Losing a game was nothing new too.
He found what happened in their game with Karasuno to be frustratingly telling: Oikawa doing amazing and Iwaizumi always being here to support him, but never capable of doing enough to overcome the problem. It was such a waste.
Iwaizumi honestly thought that Seijo was the best place for Oikawa and that he was a partner Oikawa needed. And if he was considered to be the team’s ace and failed to score than no one else on Seijo would have better chances of success.
(And even if someone did score, the game wouldn’t be won yet.)
He merely wished Seijo had a decent ace, Ushijima or whoever. One good offensive player wouldn’t affect their game style too much.
Speaking of which…
“nah, we should have tried tuning kyoutani up little by little somewhere in previous games. it was stupid to just let him play and hope a miracle would happen”
That made his last attempt testing waters with Ushijima. He kept his eyes glued to the phone even after hitting the "Send" — he better not forget to send his sorry-wrong-chat message in a few minutes with all that self-deprecation and crying.
“I see.”
***
He overslept and he wasted some time to confirm Oikawa wasn't home so Iwaizumi missed the first set, but now Iwaizumi arrived at his destination.
There was no way Oikawa would ignore the Ushiwaka-chan vs Tobio-chan game too.
They didn’t text each other after they parted ways yesterday night and maybe it wasn’t nice of Iwaizumi to impose on him — but today he felt bold. As if he had turned into a harmless ghost and could do whatever since nothing he could possibly do would be noticed by those still alive anyway.
And he didn't enjoy being alone in the crowd of people looking very much alive.
It was easy to forget about that though. Iwaizumi watched Ushijima play countless times by now, both in live action and on records, but it was his first time actually seeing him without the lens of competition.
It was impossible to see his face clearly from Iwaizumi’s position, but the raw energy Ushijima emanated made goosebumps rize on his arms.
His jumping form was nothing short of breathtaking.
The hair at the base of Ushijima’s neck curled with all the sweat.
It was a revelation how close the real thing could be to his fantasies, dirty or not.
He’d need to change a thing or two about his communication with Ushijima if he wanted to feel those olive eyes’ gaze on himself.
Karasuno took the second set.
If Shiratorizawa lost this game, he would ask Ushijima out.
He didn’t expect something about Ushijima to change with the loss — quite the opposite. He just wanted Karasuno to win. He couldn’t even remember that one time that his team managed to rip off a set from Ushijima’s team. Plus Karasuno taking sets would prolong the time Iwaizumi could use to gape at him.
That was probably the last time they would have an opportunity to see each other. Ushijima didn’t outrightly ignore him for now, but Iwaizumi had nothing to lose. Ushiwaka would turn into one of tiny figures on screen for him very soon.
While the match wasn’t intense he was little by little scanning the tribunes of Kamei Arena.
As he finally noticed a familiar mop of hair he concluded that Oikawa wasn’t really comfortable staying alone too, sittung on the last row of seats, curled into a ball, eyes hidden behind some weird glasses he definitely didn’t need. Iwaizumi made a mental note to ask him about the latter afterwards.
A good thing about this pose was that it meant Oikawa didn’t traumatize his knees with that nasty fall at the end of their game. Iwaizumi knew he only wore different knee braces as a part of his style by now, but shit happened with the healthiest of people too.
He idly wondered if there were some glasses to help puffy eyes. It wasn’t exactly a biomechanical problem like bad eyesight but who knew nowadays.
At the edge of his seat for the show, Iwaizumi decided he could let Oikawa be for now. But he’d come to him when the set would end. So far it was just the… fourths one already? How the fuck the game flew by so quickly?!
***
Karasuno took the tiebreak further than 20 points somehow.
And won. They’ll get to go to the Spring High.
Lucky them. It would be surely harder for them to win a better-out-of-five-sets game against Seijo and a regular game against Shiratorizawa. Or so Iwaizumi wished to think.
— Where do ya think you are pulling me to, Crappykawa? You said you weren't gonna watch the game so I made plans, y’know?
— Oh c’mooon. Time to go home! You have no plans, Iwa-chan.
— Nah, I’m watching the award ceremony and you go home or go talk to some girls, whatever. I’m pretty sure some of those correspondents would gladly get an interview. Just remember to put the glasses off.
— Am I a kid bothering you or what?!
Of course Oikawa wouldn’t let him be now, but he had to try, right?
There was no stopping him today though. Girls kept asking Oikawa out in a broad daylight even though a chance of him accepting their offer was minuscule and there were other girls with the same idea around.
Well, Shiratorizawa volleyball team retiring through the doubled doors of the Arena’s main court had Oikawa creeping away anyway, his unwillingness to face Ushiwaka yet again stronger than the desire to gloat aloud at their loss.
— Iwaizumi.
— Good afternoon, guys. Ushijima, you go out with me. — Ushijima was the last one out. His teammates kept giving Iwaizumi curious looks.
Ushijima, bless his soul, really followed him. Iwaizumi could feel Oikawa staring at him in total disbelief out of the corner.
Iwaizumi didn’t have any special place in mind though, so they just went a few metres. The gymnasium was too noisy for someone to overhear them anyway.
— Ushijima, will you go out with me?
He watched in amusement how gears in Ushijima’s brain clicked. His face suddenly looked comically younger.
— Will you discuss volleyball with me?
— Sure thing!
He smiled so hard his face hurted.