Chapter Text
The first time I met Ushijima Wakatoshi, he had been strolling in the Shiratorizawa school gardens. Hearing the sudden shuffle of shoes on gravel made me perk up from the bench I laid on, curious to know who had stumbled upon my secret haven. My eyes followed the volleyball player as he moved towards a white camellia bush, seconds ticking by as he continued to study it. Eventually, my impatience led me to walk over.
"That's a white camellia," I remarked out of instinct. He turned around at the sound of my voice, accidentally plucking a flower from the bush. Tilting my head up to meet his eyes, Ushijima loomed over me, a whole head above despite my tall build. It didn't help that his shoulders were so broad as well. Combined with his apathetic look, I finally understood why people often described the volleyball player as intimidating.
"Sorry," He murmured as he faintly bowed to the flower and then to the bush. The interaction before my eyes shattered all previous thoughts, making me bite my lips to contain a giggle.
"You're adorable."
Ushijima glanced over at me, his olive green eyes betraying surprise despite his emotionless face. My eyes widened when I realised I had said that aloud and I raised my hand to awkwardly scratch the back of my neck.
"That's what the white camellia means, I meant."
"What do you mean?" He tilted his head a little, mimicking the actions of a confused puppy. Despite this being our first interaction, Ushijima and I shared a homeroom and most of our classes. All I could remember was how the volleyball player always seemed to be staring out the window; like a male lead from a shoujo manga.
Of course, he was also a star volleyball player with posters plastered around the school. With his popularity, many girls went crazy for his rugged looks and the 'strong and silent' type he seemed to embody. I remember the time when a few signed up to the girl's volleyball club in an attempt to get closer to him. They dropped out a few weeks later after they realised that what they hoped for was never going to happen.
I pointed a finger at the camellia Ushijima cradled in his hands, and he looked down at it before glancing back at me.
"Different flowers have different meanings. The white camellia you're holding is known as a flower of affection. If you ever give it to someone, you're basically implying they're adorable. Also, you can combine different flowers in a bouquet to say something, whereas different colours can have a completely different meaning! It's really interesting…" I blurted out in excitement, eventually pausing through my rambling in embarrassment and looked down at the ground. Shoot. I had probably weirded him out with my flower craze. "Ah, sorry Ushijima-san, I must bore you."
"It's like a language of flowers…" I perked up at that. Ushijima was still looking at me, with an unusual glimmer in his eyes. "You are Kageyama-san, right?"
I was surprised that he knew who I was. That being said, my face was also plastered everywhere around the school.
"Yeah, just call me Reina. Honorifics aren't the thing for me if we're about the same age," I grinned sheepishly, putting a hand out for him to shake. "I'm surprised you're not disturbed by my rambling."
He muttered something under his breath that I didn't hear properly, something about me being tolerable? Ushijima shook his head before gripping his hand around mine. It felt warm and calloused, probably from volleyball. "You can call me Wakatoshi then."
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Surprisingly, Wakatoshi had spent the entire lunch with me in the gardens, where we walked and talked. He would often interrupt my rambling to point at a flower next to us, asking what it was and what it meant. It was nice, having someone to just listen to you and be interested. Wakatoshi's eyes lit up as soon as I had mentioned my involvement in the girls' volleyball team, and we had struck up a pretty riveting conversation about volleyball. He seemed just as crazy about volleyball as me. As we had just finished a lap of the gardens, the striking sound of a bell signalled the end of lunch. The volleyball player looked towards the direction of the sound before returning his gaze back to mine.
"We should get going if we want to make it to class in time."
"I guess this is where we part ways, then." I pointed at Wakatoshi with a grin. "Make sure to say hi now that you know me!"
"Understood."
With a wave, I turned to leave, pausing to pull out my flip phone to check the time. Why were there five messages from— A tap on the shoulder made me turn back around, surprised to see Wakatoshi standing there. I thought he would have already left.
"Could you give me your hand?" It was a strange request, but I nonetheless obliged and presented my hand to him. Wakatoshi then placed a camellia in it, the same one that he had plucked from the bush at the start of our meeting. "I enjoyed our time together, Reina. Thank you."
His words didn't seem to match the stone-faced expression he wore. My mouth opened to speak, but I was thrown into disarray as his lips twisted into what could be described as a smile. A smile? If I told anyone they would probably not believe me. Still stunned, I watched as Wakatoshi gave me a curt nod and briskly departed from the gardens.
"W-wait!" I managed to yell out to his fading figure, but my voice didn't seem to reach his ears as he continued to walk away. Scrunching my eyebrows together in bewilderment, I looked down at the white camelia in my hand, heart racing as I recalled what I had said to him about the flower.
"If you ever give it to someone, you're implying they're adorable."
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The second time I met Ushijima Wakatoshi was when he walked into the girls' volleyball gym a few days later. Apart from the typical greetings when we passed another in classes, we haven't had a conversation since. The assistant coach had asked him to bring more volleyballs, but he paused mid-way to suggest a volleyball match with mixed genders. Our captain, Akira, almost jumped in excitement next to me as the words came out of Wakatoshi. She proclaimed how much she had wanted to show off the strength of our players.
Akira quickly pointed at me as an example, bragging about how I was a genius setter that made all the players bloom on the court. Like flowers, Wakatoshi had remarked, locking eyes with me.
Caught in the middle of their conversation while I had been pushing my hair back in a ponytail, all I could do was smile abashedly at the comments.
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"Wakatoshi! Get the last one!" I screamed out, forgetting about all formality as the thrill of the match got to me. Head thumping and blood pumping, I watched as the ball flew towards me while the olive-hair spiker continued to run towards the net. With a graceful push of my fingers, the ball was propelled straight into Wakatoshi's left hand which instantly slammed the ball down the opposite end of the court. There was a second of silence as the ball bounced straight back up and landed in the bleachers from the force of the spike, before our side of the court erupted in screams in realisation of our victory. Everybody congratulated the other as I stood there with a cheerful smile, cheeks blushed from exhaustion. Wakatoshi walked over and placed a hand on my head. With surprise at the sudden action, I looked up to see a softness in his rather emotionless face.
"Nice toss," He said, patting my head twice before removing his hand. I stood there shocked, not knowing how to react. The nerve of this boy this week; giving me a flower, complimenting me and then patting my head. "It was perfect."
Yeah, you're perfect, I wanted to say, but stuttered out a thank you, you did great, instead of that humiliating statement I was so close to blurting out. I saw a flash of pink as Hamamoto Meiko crashed into me, interrupting our little conversation. The enthusiastic libero of the girls' team was still jittery and full of energy as she glanced up at me with a toothy grin.
"Reina! You did amazing- especially that last toss." She beamed, giving me a tight hug that I quickly returned. Meiko then turned to Wakatoshi, not at all intimidated despite being at least a head and half shorter. "You did well too, Ushijima-san! Your spikes and serves got my heart racing, so you've got to let me receive one of those next time."
"Okay," He nodded, before glancing at the redhead blocker, Tendou Satori, who waved at him, urging him to come over. It was nearly time to go home, I noted as I glanced at the time on the clock. Wakatoshi looked back at us, unblinking. "Thank you for the match. I'll see you soon."
"See you!" Meiko grinned. Wakatoshi stops midway, turning back around to meet my eyes.
"Reina. I hope you can toss to me again one day." He stated, before heading back towards the group of guys awaiting him. I blinked furiously, my ears red from all the compliments he had given me today. Is Ushijima Wakatoshi supposed to be like this?
"You know, Ushijima-san is quite a pretty boy," The pink-haired libero remarked with a smile as we walked through the hallway that separated the two gyms. My heart jolted in surprise at Meiko's comment. Was she suddenly able to read my mind or something? I glanced warily at the girl who continued to stare back at the Shiratorizawa boys' team. "He's not really my type though. A bit too rugged for me. But he's already ticked off all the boxes on your list right, Reina?"
"W-What?" I stuttered as Meiko stuck her tongue out. This girl had to be reading my mind. Akira caught up to us and put an arm around my shoulder, a shit-eating grin plastered on her face.
"We all saw that little interaction of yours, Reina. Patting your head, that was adorable!" She cried out, causing all the members to laugh apart from two, Sakura and Hikari.
"I didn't see that!" Hikari huffed. "I wanted to see that!"
Akira just patted the middle blocker on the back. "Don't worry, Hikari. I will put money that there's going to be a next time for this."
It put a grin on Hikari's face, but in return, my cheeks burnt even more furiously than they already were. Akira was met with a flick on the forehead by Sakura, who chastised Akira on how she shouldn’t be teasing me about something like this. I smiled gratefully at the one reasonable person in our team. Or so I thought.
"But even I can't deny it, she and Ushijima-san do look cute together," Sakura muttered. While it might have just been for the now-beaming Akira's ears, the entire team was gathered way too close and had heard everything. The ace's admission cued even more teasing from the other members. I placed my hands over my face in embarrassment, groaning in fake annoyance at my teammates as we walked back into our gym.