Chapter Text
Chapter One Song: The Night We Met - Lord Huron
“Watch out!”
The warning barely registered as I jerked my head to the side, narrowly avoiding the volleyball that whizzed past my head at an inhumane speed.
“Satoru, you idiot!” A girl’s voice snapped as she smacked her white-haired lowerclassman on the head.
He whined in protest, rubbing the spot with a pout, “I didn’t mean to-”
“Go apologize!”
“Geez, so dramatic,” The boy muttered with a glare to his fuming senior.
I glanced around, watching the volleyball roll and hit the metal fence. My legs carried me over and I gently picked it up, “Here!” I called the group.
“Thanks!” A brown haired first-year shot her hand up in appreciation as she caught it.
The white-haired boy stalked over, “Hey, sorry about that. I naturally have a pretty hard spike,” He shrugged with a confident grin.
“Not a real apology,” The senior whispered to the brown-haired girl.
I raised an eyebrow, “It’s alright, at least it didn’t hit me,” I replied with a shrug.
“Do you want to join us?” He asked, blinking those gorgeous blue eyes.
I found myself absolutely mesmerized by them. I knew who he was, everyone at the school did. Gojo Satoru, the popular outside hitter and the bane of Principal Yaga’s existence. He flirted with just about any girl who would look his way. There were a lot who did.
The senior ran up with a welcoming smile, “You totally should. Have you played before?”
I glanced between the two of them, “Yeah, I was in a club about a year ago. I’ll join if you need another.”
Satoru clapped me hard on the back, “Great!” He led me over to the open area where they had been playing, hand still on my back. It sent shivers down my spine and through my body. “You know me, Satoru,” He smirked with a cocky smile.
I tilted my head, “Unfortunately,” I replied dryly.
The two girls snorted and hid their smiles behind their hands, “Oh, you're funny,” the brown-haired girl greeted with a nod. She took the lollipop out of her mouth briefly, “Shoko.”
The senior tossed me the volleyball, “Utahime.”
I smiled at them, “Suguru,” I replied.
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“Hello? Earth to Suguru? Ahhhhh! I'm going to eat your lunch. I'm going to kick you off the volleyball team. Damn, what the fuck? Satoru, he's not snapping out of it.”
“Suguru?”
At the sound of my best friend's voice I blinked and glanced around the classroom. Satoru and Shoko were staring at me with curiosity in their eyes.
“Hi, Sleeping Beauty,” Satoru teased with a grin.
I smiled nervously, “Hi?”
Shoko plopped herself down onto the chair in front of my desk, “You were staring off into space for like half an hour.”
I winced at that, reaching up and rubbing my black earring stud between my pointer and thumb. It was a habit I had developed after my second-year in junior high.
“My bad, didn't mean to,” I replied, picking my chopsticks up to finish my food.
Satoru sat down on his desk that was next to mine, swinging his long legs, “Dreaming about someone?” He flicked my forehead much to my chagrin.
I resisted the urge to say yes and spill all my thoughts and feelings at the moment. How could I tell him that I regularly thought of the moment that we had met a year ago as first-years in high school?
“You know love isn't for me,” I answered with an exasperated sigh.
Shoko shrugged, taking her finished lollipop and tossing it in the trash, “That's okay, Satoru can soak up all the adoration for the both of us.”
As if on cue...“OHMAHGOODNESS, IT'S SATORU AND SUGURU!” a third-year stage-whispered to her friend. Her friend turned around, made eye contact with me, flushed hard, and looked away.
“They're not even being subtle,” Shoko snorted in amusement.
“Who can ever be subtle when it comes to us?” Satoru replied, swinging an arm around my shoulders. “Looks like you're popular too, perks of being my best friend.”
I glanced sideways at him, “Thanks for the promotion,” I muttered with a smirk.
After joining the volleyball team as a setter at the beginning of our second year, I quickly found out how easily I actually got along with Satoru. He seemed to naturally gravitate to me and I didn't mind. In truth, we balanced each other out quite well. We also happened to rub off on each other during our time together. Whether it was for good or for bad was another matter. I sometimes found myself skipping class to go along with Satoru on his sightseeing adventures. Adventures that didn’t often last long due to Principal Yaga’s uncanny ability to find us.
Satoru glanced at me and I swallowed hard at the sight of his eyes. I could drown in them forever. Their watery depths continued to yank me towards a shoreline I never dared to cross.
“You're welcome, Suguru,” He said as I packed my lunch away. “Coming to practice tonight?”
“Of course I am,” I replied. “We’re facing Jujutsu High’s Kyoto location in two days. Heard they got a nice libero.”
Shoko smirked, “Utahime’s coming to watch,” she said, leaning forward on her chair.
I glanced at her, “What’s she coming for?”
“Mei Mei invited her,” Shoko shrugged.
I cringed at the name. Mei Mei was a known graduate who would often come back to supervise students and was someone I did NOT enjoy being around. Something about her gave me the creeps.
Satoru raised an eyebrow, “Oh? Utahime? Lovely,” He wore his signature mischievous grin that meant everything but anything good.
“Excited to see your girlfriend?” Shoko teased with an eyeroll.
“I’m not into older girls,” He deadpanned.
I raised an eyebrow, “Girlfriend? Since when did you settle?” I asked with a smirk. Deep down, my stomach hollowed sickeningly. Why the hell am I like this? He’s a fucking man. Your fucking best friend. Get your act together.
Satoru shot me an unamused expression, “I am capable of settling. I just enjoy the attention.”
“Yeah, we know,” I teased in return, clapping him on the shoulder. Fuck, he was so beautiful. I felt a sharp ache in my chest. I gently gripped the fabric of my uniform, inhaling sharply at the feeling.
What the hell is wrong with me?
“She’s not my girlfriend. Mei Mei was convinced that we were together. It’s merely because I get under Utahime’s skin,” Satoru shrugged, rolling his arms.
“You get under a lot of people’s skin. With that logic, you’d be with half the school teachers,” I replied dryly. A part of me felt defensive at the idea. He was my best friend. Utahime was an amazing person, but not the one for him. But of course, whoever is the “right one” for him doesn’t matter that much to me.
“Why, thank you.”
“Not a compliment.”
“Eh, sounded like one to me.”
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“Suguru! Get your act together!” Coach called from across the court.
I glanced back, feeling frustration and annoyance rise in my chest. He had been yelling the same damn thing for the past hour. Saying the same thing louder won’t do anything but annoy the hell out of me. I dropped my arms, rubbing my sore triceps.
“Oh please, stop being such a downer,” Satoru muttered with an eyeroll.
I glanced at my best friend who clapped my shoulder and leaned against me, “Perhaps you shouldn’t say that to our coach,” I replied with a smirk.
“He can try to kick me off. What’s he going to do? Get rid of his best spiker?”
I huffed, the confidence was astounding and Satoru sure had a lot of it. It wasn’t anything new, we were the best spiker-setter duo on the team. The school couldn’t get rid of us even if they tried. The amount of fans we had would riot and that alone would tip the school into extinction.
“Satoru, your arrogance is insane,” Coach fumed, clenching his jaw.
Haibara, our first-year libero, raised his hand, “He didn’t mean it,” He called with his signature heart-warming grin. “Let’s move on!”
The others nodded in agreement and Satoru tilted his head with a frown, “I meant it.”
Practice ended and we all headed out. I walked with Satoru to the convenience store, grabbing two popsicles to eat as we headed home.
“You good?” Satoru asked, arching an elegant white brow.
“Yeah, just thinking about what Coach said. I should probably practice some more,” I replied, biting into my snack. The coldness hit my teeth and my body shivered in retaliation. I ran my tongue over my teeth, internally cursing my stupidity.
Satoru sighed with a shake of his head, “He’s extremely negative. I’m sure you’ll be alright.”
I adjusted my bag, finding it slightly harder to breathe, “Yeah, I don’t doubt myself-” I definitely doubted myself, “We definitely need to beat Kyoto though.”
“We will, I have no doubt in us,” my best friend grinned, leaning against me. His body heat gently pressed against mine and I leaned into his touch with a laugh.
We walked to my place and said our goodbyes. I entered my house, taking my shoes off, and putting my things aside.
I grabbed a volleyball and began to practice in the backyard. After only a couple minutes I began to notice a soft tickle in my throat. I groaned at the feeling, grabbing water to attempt to drink it away. The water did nothing and I leaned over, coughing slightly. My hand rubbed my throat as I continued to cough. They weren’t violent, but they were certainly annoying. I grabbed the railing of our backyard deck and as I coughed one single white petal floated down and onto the wood. I froze before another one hit me and another one fell.
Fuck.