Ms. Side Character

Chapter 7 - First Names

As we finished playing the song, we took note of everything that needed to stay constant for our performing date. We then packed the instruments and headed back to the club room. 

We placed all the instruments in their rightful place and decided to have some afternoon snacks. 

"Oh no! I just remembered, did someone put some duct tape on our positions on the stage?" Emika looked at us with a worried expression.

The three of us shook our heads.

"I can do it Emika-senpai!" I volunteered.

"Thank you so much Akemi" she cried.

"Here is the duct tape!" Sakura chimed in.

"You can have some snacks first senpais! You dont really have to wait for me." I waved them goodbye and headed outside. My nervousness back then gradually dissipated when we perform, I guess that feeling was temporary.

I have now arrived at the gymnasium and is slowly opening the door. When my head popped inside, I saw all of them practicing their spikes. I went inside and stood there, filled with amazement. Hinata was now practicing with Kageyama, the best duo when it comes to volleyball, but not as friends.

As Hinata made a jump, he looks like a crow soaring to the sky. There really is a difference between watching it in anime and watching it in real life.

"Ah! Akemi!" someone called which cut me of my trance.

I looked at the direction where somebody was calling and saw Sugawara approaching me.

"What are you doing here?" he questioned.

"Well, my club assigned me to put some duct tape on the stage to mark our positions."

"Oh, I see! Then I'll help you."

"You didn't really have to, your busy aren't you?"

He shooked his head, "I'm going to help you and that is final" he said while pinching my nose.

"Ouch!" I just noticed that he always pinches my nose, was my nose always that pinchable?

As we headed to the stage, I felt that someone was watching me and it was never comfortable.

I searched the whole gym to find that certain person and saw Tsukishima staring at me with the most displeased eyes I have ever seen. It might be quite rude to just stare at him even when we talked back then, so I shoot him a genuine smile and continued climbing the small stairs to the stage.

.

.

.

"Now it is done!" Sugawara spoke.

Right now, we just finished installing duct tape on the stage and it was tiring, who knew it would take us 30 minutes?

"Thank you very much, Sugawara, I couldn't do this without you" 

"Your Welcome," he said while giggling.

We were now taking the stairs from the stage onto the ground of the gymnasium, then somebody approached us.

"Fukuda-san!" He exclaimed.

I was now on the wooden ground of the gymnasium when somebody called me. I looked at the direction where the voice was from and saw Hinata waving his hand.

"Your performance a while ago was so amazing Fukuda-san!" He bubbled while jumping high.

"Wait really?" 

"Mn! It was beautiful" 

Who knew Shoyo was this cute and pure when you meet him in real life?

I felt the familiar hot sensation up in my nostrils but this time I prevented it from making a nosebleed happen and embarrass myself again.

"Thank you so much Shoyo-kun" I blurted out without second thought.

I was expecting to hear him say some things, considering his bubbly personality, but as I looked at him, his face was beet red.

"S-Shoyo-kun? Is something wrong?" I asked panicking.

"S-Shoyo?" he mumbled.

Ah.....I said his first name even if we were not close!

"I AM...SO SORRY" I bowed plenty of times while saying the phrase...

"A-Akemi" Sugawara looked at me with a blank expression.

"I'm really sorry Hinata-Kun" I bowed again, this is humiliating.

"It's fine with me, I'm just shocked because a girl just called me by my first name." he started saying while scratching his cheek which was now tinted pink at this moment.

"Really?" I asked, I was now on the verge of crying.

"Please keep calling me Shoyo!" he exclaimed while grinning ear to ear, I returned it by smiling back.

"Then, can I call you Akemi?"

"Yup!" I gave him an okay sign with my hands.

"Akemi...Uwaah! Your name is so pretty!" he chattered with an expression of astonishment.

"Yours too Shoyo!" I laughed.

"Now Hinata, let me take Akemi back to her club room since her club members might be waiting for her," Sugawara spoke

"I hope I'll see you again Akemi!" He gave me a genuine smile and waved.

"See you tomorrow Shoyo!" I waved back.

I noticed that a lot of people were staring at me, and I just chose to ignore it by talking to Sugawara.

"Talking about which Sugawara---" he cut off my sentence.

"Akemi, call me Koushi" he crooned.

"Eh?"

"Call me by my first name too, since you called Hinata like that," he exclaimed with sparkles in his hazel-brown eyes...

"B-but you ar-" 

"Please" he bowed.

"Ahhh, Sugawara you dont have to do that!" I now felt what he felt back when I was bowing to him, "I'll call you by your first name if you stop bowing"

He stood up straight, I just noticed that he was at least 2-3 inches above me. 

"K-Ko-" I was now screaming internally, "K-Koushi..."

Why the heck is it so hard to say somebody's first name? Back when I was Ember Clarke, calling first names is just normal.

I was aware that Sugawara's cheek was now like Shoyo's, tinted pink. He then smiled.

We were now at the gymnasium's front door when I started speaking to him, "You dont have to walk me to my club room, I can do it on my own"

"Are you sure?" 

I nodded.

"Then see you tomorrow Akemi!" he waved.

"Bye Bye Koushi!" I grinned ear to ear, right now I'm pretending to be normal, since on the inside, I'm dying of embarrassment and shame. . . 

A/N: I'm sorry for the short chapter but I'm trying to post early since my agenda for the day is quite full... I'm also sorry if the story doesn't make sense, I'm just a beginner in writing NGL.

So I hope you all will be patient with me as I improve with my writing.

Total Word Count: 951