"Why do people say you're a monster?"
"I think people are a little afraid to be read like a book, ya know? I'm just too good."
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Exchange trips are scary. Being an exchange student in a giant school full of students that are much different than you...
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Seeing Tendou play changed your entire perspective on the boy from your art class.
Apparently you had entered after warm-ups, because you watched as the team's entrances led them straight onto the court. Their names were announced in the starting line-up and you realized that Tendou was, indeed, a starter.
You watched as he took control of the defense. You watched in fear as that big guy-- Ushijima, right?-- drove another ball into the ground with such force that you felt a pain in your arms as you watched the other side try to deal with it. You watched with intensity as Tendou seemed to know exactly where the ball was going all of the time.
Maybe you didn't know much about volleyball, but even you could recognize that the opposing side was getting destroyed. Athletics were good at your new school, but you hadn't quite figured out how good until now.
Tendou was becoming even more fascinating to you as time went on. He could do this and execute it so well that even an outsider to the game was fully impressed, and he could paint a landscape so well that you felt like you were transported to that exact place? What else was there to this boy?
Monster kept on ringing through your head as you watched. Maybe this was where he got his nickname-- he must seem like a monster to opposing teams when they could hardly even get the ball onto the other side of the court.
As the game ended in a landslide for Shiratorizawa, you got up and started to make your way towards the exit. Maybe if you left now you could avoid the main portion of the crowd that would be leaving soon. Yet, your feet stopped moving as the main doors came into your view. You looked back to the big doors that led to the gym and felt the need to go back in them.
The next time you would be able to actually talk to Tendou would be art class. Other than that, you had no idea where he would actually be. You wanted to tell him that you enjoyed watching him play. After all, he was the one that told you to come and watch him and you didn't even know if he had seen you sitting there in your more hidden spot in the upper rows.
You thought about how hurt you would be if you had asked someone to go to something you found important and they didn't actually show. Even though you had been there, you wanted him to know that you actually made the effort for him. Why it was so important to you was beyond you, but you still turned around to make your way back into the gym.
Just as you turned, though, the entire gym seemed to empty at once. The crowd you had been wanting to avoid before was draining into the hall that you were standing in. You backed up into the wall, figuring waiting it out was a better plan than pushing straight through.
After a good ten minutes of waiting, the crowd moved from a wall to just little groups here and there. You started to make your way back to the door that you had left through before.
