Chapter Text
Akaashi Keiji had always been someone with relatively good grades. He worked for those results though, spending his spare time studying when he could and asking for help when he didn't understand a topic. He wouldn't say he loved studying but it wasn't something he hated.
At the moment, he had a literature report he had to work on so he was spending his lunch time in the library. He soon took a seat by the window for some independent study. The weather outside hadn't gotten any better either. It was currently raining heavily and he wasn't sure how he was going to walk home if this weather continued. He didn't bring an umbrella today.
"[name]-chan! You can't take out ten books at a time! How many times do we have to tell you?!" Akaashi was brought out of his daydream to witness a two girls—one of them being the student librarian—fighting over a bag of books. "I can let you borrow five, but not ten!"
"Come on, Ito-chan!" The girl with [hair colour] hair reluctantly let go of the bag. He recognised her when she flicked her hair behind her shoulder. She was a first-year like himself but they weren't in the same class. He didn't know much about her but he knew she was well known to be the kindest student around. "Please?"
"I can't go bending the rules for you. How about we come to a compromise? I'll let you borrow half the amount of books you want. Five should keep you occupied. You can come back when you're done with them."
"But it's the weekend tomorrow, I'm going to finish all of them by Saturday morning." Akaashi blinked at that statement. How much time did you have? It was insane to even think that someone could finish five books all in one sitting unless they pulled an all-nighter. The boy then shook his head to clear his mind—he needed to focus back on his research. He then opened one of his books but noticed that a ray of sunlight had appeared on the first page. He guessed he no longer would have to worry about an umbrella now.
"Hey, [name]-chan! Look outside. Your rainy day charms worked!"
"Good! I don't own an umbrella. Now check me out!" Akaashi noticed that the librarian had allowed her to borrow all ten books she wanted. He was unsure why she went against her own words but he had a feeling it was just to see her friend smile.
This was the first time he noticed [last name] [name].
From that one day in the library, he then began to notice [last name] wandering through the halls more often than before. She was the only person to go against the school rules and wear sweatpants underneath her skirt, stand up to the upperclassman when they were wrong and even be on friendly terms with her teachers.
In all honestly, he was in awe of how courageous she was. He was the complete opposite of her—introverted, reserved and quiet. It wasn't like he wanted to be like her, he was happy with himself. He was just curious about [last name] [name]. Akaashi wanted to talk to her. There wasn't really a reason why, he just wanted to have a chat just 'cause.
That was why he had been trying to muster up the courage to make conversation with you. Every single Tuesday and Thursday at lunch, you'd be in the library either reading or talking to the librarian. There was no in between.
Sometimes he'd purposefully choose a seat near you when you were reading. Whether it be on the opposite side of the big collaboration table, across your booth when it got busy and his favourite spot by the window that happened to have a perfect view of you sitting in the corner. If someone happened to notice what he was doing, they would surely call him a creep for following you around—but he'd like to call it pure admiration and curiosity.
With every week that passed by, he came to notice something peculiar in the library books. No matter which books he chose, non-fiction, fiction or even the few picture books they had here at Fukurodani—they all the same thing in common. They had been checked out by [last name] [name] before.
It was the middle of October, meaning he was just over halfway done with his first-year of high school. That would be the same for [last name] though too. How could she have read almost all, if not most of the books in the library already? This peaked Akaashi's interest even more.
"Akaashi-san?" He looked up from his studies to see the student librarian beside him. "I know you come here pretty often so I wanted to tell you the library is gonna be closed for a few days because the maintenance staff have to fix a few things. I don't know the exact details, but that's what the teacher told me."
"For how long, Ito-san?"
"Uh, like a week maybe?" So he guessed he wasn't going to see you for a while. But he supposed that it would give him extra time to spend time with his upperclassmen from his volleyball club. After being designated as Bokuto Kotaro's setter, he had not stopped bothering Akaashi with random things.
It's not like Akaashi cared about being bothered. In fact, it was sort of endearing to have someone care about him that much to continually pester him every single day at school. He was really glad to have that kind of support.
He then packed up his belongings and headed out of the library. Just as he was about to enter his classroom, he noticed the same boy he was just thinking about talking to a familiar face. It didn't really surprise him though. His upperclassman and [last name] were very similar people so they were sure to exchange paths. But the reason why they were talking was the thing that stood out.
"Please, [last name]?" Bokuto pleaded with his hands clasped. "Can you check out those bathrooms? I swear there's a ghost in there! I heard creepy murmurs and everything. I heard you're in the occult club and I just wanted you to investigate it a little." The second-year nervously laughed as he watched confusion contort onto her face. "Is that too much to ask? I was too scared to bring it up to Imai-kun because well... he's kinda scary."
"I think he'd be more helpful. He's the one who started the occult club in the first place and he's also the club president. Also didn't you say the ghost is in the boys bathroom?" She replied, preoccupied with writing something in her journal. "But I can check it out tomorrow at lunch if you'd like, Bokuto. Meet me there five minutes after class finishes."
"Oh, perfect!" He was shocked that he could get this problem over and done with so quickly. "Um, you really don't mind, right? I don't wanna force you–"
"It's okay, I'm happy to help out. But I don't know how helpful I'll be. I only joined the occult club because Imai needed a third person to actually form the club. I'm too busy to actually join their club activities so I have no idea what I'll be doing tomorrow!" Akaashi was sort of shocked to know that she was involved in the occult club. He would've thought she was in a more brighter club. He didn't mean that in a bad way, it just didn't really suit her vibe.
"It's the thought that counts!" Bokuto slapped her back so hard she almost went flying across the hallway. But the impact of his smack caused her to drop her notebook. Before she could pick it up, Akaashi took this chance to swoop in.
Her eyes met his as they both stood back up from the floor. "This... is yours," he said.
"Thanks, Akaashi." His heart did a double backhand spring at the sound of his name. He didn't expect her to know who he was. His presence was at an all time low at school. He was sure his own classmates didn't know his name. She tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear as she turned back to Bokuto who was clearly excited about this whole thing.
"Akaashi!! I was looking for you before but I couldn't find you."
"Hello, Bokuto-san."
"I didn't realise you knew [last name]. If I had known, I would've asked you to ask her about this problem for me. It's kind of embarrassing... I'm a second-year asking a first-year for help." His white-streaked hair began to magically droop as he continued to speak. But as he trailed off, he noticed that your smile hadn't faltered despite talking about himself badly.
"You're fine the way you are, Bokuto. I think asking for help is a great way of improving yourself and learning about who you are. Well, in most cases at least. Maybe not this, but most cases! Don't you think, Akaashi?"
Akaashi was confused. Why were you speaking to him so casually? Had you two met before and he just forgot about it? Had he just been yearning to speak to you for no reason? Should he bring this up or leave it? He relied on his calm composure to make quick decisions but right now, he wasn't sure what to say.
[name] stared at her fellow first-year for a moment before turning to Bokuto. "Oh, wait. We're not really... friends, Akaashi and I. I'm sorry for being so casual, that's just how I speak to people."
"You know my name though?" That was the first question that came to his mind. Perhaps [name] was the first person to notice him instead of the opposite way around? But he was probably delusional for thinking that—she knew basically everyone at school from what he knew about her.
"You're the boy who sits by the window in the library. I asked Ito-chan for your name a couple weeks back because you're at the library as often as I am. You always seem so into your books so I never want to bother you." His intelligence was suddenly a curse. "Uh, anyways– Bokuto, I'll meet you in front of the bathrooms tomorrow."
"Got it, boss!" They were more similar than he realised. "Come on Akaashi, I'll take you back to class!"
"Bokuto-san, no need. My class is less than five metres away."
"Oh, then I'll walk [last name]-san back to class."
"My classroom is behind me."
"Then I guess I'll walk myself back to class."
Akaashi gave you a side glance as he watched you watch his upperclassman stroll through the first-year halls. He seemed to be reminiscing on the times he was a first-year—which wasn't too long ago. "I'm sorry for his behaviour, [last name]-san. He's always like this. You don't have to help him out with the bathroom thing, I can deal with it if you'd like."
"You're fine," she replied, an amused smile plastered on her face. Now that he was standing close to her, he was beginning to sweat. Didn't he want to talk to her all this time? Why was he suddenly backing out of this situation? Stay calm, cool and collected, he told himself. "I've already put it into my schedule so no need to worry. Besides, I think it's pretty fun that someone like Bokuto is afraid of ghosts."
"Why's that?"
"He gives off a strong can-do attitude. Like he'd be able to take anything on in the world." That sounded like him for sure. "If you're not doing anything tomorrow, come join us take on this ghost. I'm gonna have to do some research about exorcisms."
Unfortunately the bell for classes had rung shortly after so he wasn't able to talk to her any longer. On the bright side, he was able to fulfil his long-time desire of speaking to her. But that wasn't enough to kill his curiosity. He wanted to get to know her a bit better. Again, he wasn't one hundred percent sure why he was so fixated on his now-acquaintance.
[last name] [name] happened to catch his eye and with pure intentions, he just wanted to talk to her for a few more minutes. Just one talk was all he desired.