Chapter 16 | Hate Getting into an Unexpected Situation

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CHAPTER 16 Hate Getting into an Unexpected Situation——————————

+81-907-2658-248Today 20:03

Come to the music room atthe 4th floor of this bldg.

Y?

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But that was it. Kuroo didn't reply anymore, and it made you even more confused while you got dressed after taking a shower. It wasn't like him not to reply, and the content of his message only made you nervous.

'Is he going to confess?' You mentally asked, shaking off the assuming thought.

But now that you thought about it, you wondered what would you do if he were ever to confess. The obvious answer was to date, since you like him as well, but then your anxiety made you think otherwise. If anything, you didn't want him to confess yet. You were content to what you two already had. But was it the same for him?

Anyways, it's not like you were really sure that he liked you too. Maybe he just had something important to say, or he just wanted to hang out.

Whichever it was, you walked towards the music room after dropping off your towel and toiletries in your room. Your long, wet hair left traces of droplets on the floor as you walked through the dark hallway of the fourth floor. Since all teams were in the second floor, the floors higher than that had their lights closed, so you had to use your phone's flashlight to see. You had accidentally left your glasses in the shower room, but decided to get it later on.

It was a good thing you weren't afraid of ghosts. If anything, you're the one who actually looked like one. A ghost story even circulated around Fukurodani Academy after the weekend training at their school, and it was because of you peeking in the rooms at the middle of the night when you were looking for your things.

Finally finding the music room, you sighed in relief and touched the knob, suddenly having a bad feeling about it. The lights were closed inside when you pushed the door open, but your phone's light allowed you to see that there were a number of people inside.

Even with the dark and your poor vision, you recognized who they were. And they were people you didn't want to see.

Your eyes widened, and you quickly turned around. But your attempt was blocked as Asahi stood by the doorway, giving you an apologetic look as he gently pushed you inside. "Sorry, (Y/N)-chan."

Your heart raced, and you refused to turn around. The long-haired third year entered afterwards, closing the door behind him with a lock.

"(Y/N)." A familiar voice called your name from beside you, and even without seeing him from your peripheral vision, you knew who that voice belonged to, and you can't help but notice how he didn't call you the way they used to.

You glanced at Tanaka for a second, lowering your head as you kept your back on the others. Glaring, you clenched your fists as you looked at Asahi. "Let me out." Your voice cracked.

"I'm sorry."

"Let me out!" You screamed, and just when you were about to step forward and forcefully find a way out, a soft hand pulled you back, forcing you to turn around.

And just when you did, a hand met your cheeks in a stinging, loud slap.

"Enough with this already, (Y/N)! Please, face us!" Kiyoko yelled frustratedly, the first time she ever did. She kept her grip on your wrist, while you could only stare at the floor with wide, surprised eyes.

'Did Kiyoko just... slap me?'

"How long are you going to keep doing this?! Quit acting like a child!"

"Shimizu!"

"Daichi-san, let her."

You remained quiet and frozen, the events still not fully registering in your mind. The black-haired girl stood in front of you, looking directly into your (E/C) eyes that started to shed tears unconsciously.

"Do you really think of us as nothing?" This time, Nishinoya spoke. He was frowning, an angry expression was on his face despite the tears that escaped his eyes. "Is it that easy for you to cast us away?"

'It's not like that!' You inwardly yelled, but remained silent. There was a lot of things you wanted to say, but none of them would come out. You just stood there, glaring at the floor as you realized Kuroo staged you into this.

"How could he..." You muttered, hatred lacing your voice as your thoughts clouded. You felt betrayed. You trusted him more than anyone, you told him how you felt towards this, but still... 'That bastard...!'

"Don't blame Kuroo-san on this. You know this was bound to happen." Sugawara stated seriously, surprising everyone present in the room. Of course, they would be. They knew how he still loved you despite everything, and hearing him defending the person you now seemed to be in love with was something they didn't expect.

You felt embarrassed under their glares, you felt so little and weak that the only thing you could do was cry. You covered your ears with your hands, lowering your head even more so your hair would fall over your face.

"Enough with running away, (Y/N)! Do you think we could just stop caring about you?!" Still, their voices penetrated your ears. It echoed in your brain. No matter how much you tried to shut them out, they kept on finding a way in more ways than one.

Sawamura walked towards you, grabbing both of your hands and pulling them away from your ears. "It's about time you face us, (Y/N)." He muttered.

Out of all of them, he's the one you knew the longest. You two went to the same junior high and lived in close neighborhoods. He was like an older brother to you despite being the same age. Whenever boys tried to pick on you, he'd come to the rescue. Daichi was the brother you never had, and he cared for you like a real sister.

"When you suddenly left... It broke all of us. Whatever you said to us before, that didn't even matter anymore. We just couldn't accept you leaving us like that." He uttered, pain evident on his voice as tears started to form at the corner of your eyes. "We understood you, (Y/N). But you kept on shutting us away."

'I'm sorry... I'm sorry...'

You clenched your fists, forcefully snatching them away from his weakend grip. Turning around, you ran to the other door of the room.

"(Y/N)!"

"You're going to keep running away like this?!"

You turned the knob and slid the door open, but then Ennoshita stood there and blocked the exit, looking at you with a serious expression. The other door which you came in from was also blocked from outside by Kinnoshita and Narita, so you wouldn't be able to escape even if you managed to open the door.

You dropped to the floor, covering your face with your hands as you sobbed. "I'm sorry..." You mumbled, your voice broken and almost inaudible.

"Stand up and face us!" Tanaka yelled. It wasn't like him to act like that on a lady, and he was always sweet and protective with you before, along with Nishinoya who both called you sis. But he was also broken, he was hurt. "If you're really sorry, that is."

"Because if you really hate us, then this is the last time... the last time we'll chase after you."

You started to become filled with remorse. The fact that they had to do this meant that until now, they were still affected. It may have been simple to the eyes of other people, but it was a huge scar to them. You were family to them, and they thought they were the same to you.

"Why did you move away instead of talking to us?" Kiyoko calmly asked, recomposing herself to her usual demeanor.

"I had to move." You sniffled.

"Then why didn't you tell us?! We could've done something! We would've understood!" The libero roared.

The room fell silent aside from the sobs and sniffles. You still refused to look at them as your mind filled with regret. Nishinoya and Tanaka both kept on trying to wipe their tears away as they sniffled the loudest. While both Kiyoko and Sugawara just remained silent and serious, the second years outside the door were just looking down with a sad expression as they listened in. They weren't very close to you since they used to skip practice often, but you were kind to them. Asahi forgave you a long ago because he tried to understand your decisions, but he was still broken by the fact that you just left them without a word days after fighting with them.

"If you really want us to stop and leave you alone, then tell us straight to the face. We're not giving up until then." Tanaka added after the silence. "You could call us masochists, but we love you, sis."

You were just filled with so much guilt.

Daichi had stopped crying, forcing himself to remain strong as he walked towards you. He kneeled in front of you and placed a hand on your shoulder. "I don't hate you, (Y/N)." He uttered, making you peek at him through the gaps of your fingers. "I could never hate you. I was just frustrated... that I couldn't be there for you knowing you were having a hard time."

"Honestly, we even thought you went to America with your parents..." The brown-haired other third year inserted from the side.

"Then... why... at the first training camp..." You thought back to the first time you saw them again, remembering their glares and when Daichi called Kōshi when he talked to you.

"Suga loved you, and I still don't understand why you broke up with him, but that's not something that personally concerns me. Still... He was so broken then, and he's my friend. I just wanted him to stop being an idiot." The captain sighed. "Even until now..."

You looked down, clenching your fists on your lap. Your heart ached continuously the whole time and you kept on crying, making it hard for you to speak. You bit on your lower lip, swallowing the thick lump that formed in your throat. "I'm sorry, Daichi."

Sobbing, you shakily turned around to finally face the others, tears streaming down from your eyes. "I-I'm... s-so... rry...!" Covering your face, you took deep breaths. "I just... don't know h-how... to..." You sniffled in between. "...d-deal... with every...thing going o-on. I was so weak."

"I'm sorry...!"

A warm pair of arms wrapped around you, and your nose was filled with a familiar vanilla scent of shampoo. Kiyoko hugged you tightly, combing your hair with one hand in a comforting manner. "In the end, we're still your friends." Her voice was now so soft and sweet.

"It still hurts, but we miss you more than that, sis." Nishinoya grinned despite his tears as he pointed at himself. "From now on, you could rely on me for anything!"

"Yeah, me too!" The second year wing spiker chirped in, also pointing at himself. "Honestly, I hated you a bit, but that's just my childishness speaking." He added.

"I... I thought I said something that broke you so much that made you leave us... I'm sorry." Asahi sheepishly confessed. "But I never really held a grudge. I just hoped you were feeling better after you moved."

"You could be harder on her just a little, you softie!" Sawamura joked.

"M-My parents already decided on moving me to Tokyo... it was inevitable, but I'm sorry for not telling you guys." You uttered, a regretful expression on your face. Kiyoko parted from you and smiled warmly.

Looking into her mesmerizing gray eyes, you continued, "And I'm sorry for running away all this time. I was a coward."

"This time, be sure to run to us."

Sugawara and Daichi exchanged a look, understanding each other before the captain spoke to the others. "Come on, let's let Suga and (Y/N) talk privately."

Your eyes widened, but after what just happened, you felt somewhat ready to talk to him now although it still felt awkward. They started to leave the room, leaving you still on the floor as you looked down again.

——————————To Be Continued——————————

The Sugawara Kōshi extra chapters will be published under a separate book titled Kōshi, you can find it under my profile if you'd like to check it out! (Previously I just inserted it in this fanfic but I thought it would be better to put it out separately)