A Thousand Cranes for a Wish (USHIJIMA X OC)

Welcome Back

After an additional thirty minutes of crying Umeko's tears finally ran out which left her eyes red and her nose runny. She sniffed a few times and stood still while she allowed the events of the day to sink in. Hold on. Ushijima is in the clubroom?! So that means... Umeko attempted a futile effort to wriggle out of Ushijima's embrace. It became apparent very soon that he had no intention to release her, Umeko settled for a compromise and shifted slightly so she could move her head out of his chest and turn to face him. "So, if you're in here, that means you're the fourth unofficial member?"

Ushijima locked eyes with her and spoke without hesitation. "Yes"

"Why didn't you tell me!?" Umeko huffed. "You have been coming to this clubroom since we were first years, you must have known what I look like at least."

"I thought you already knew it was me." He gave her a sly smile that looked more like a smirk, "Unless of course you didn't look up for three years."

Umeko blushed embarrassed. "W-well, I thought I'd be better if I respected your privacy." She lied through her teeth rather unconvincingly.

Ushijima hummed and nodded while he played along. "Sure, you did."

Umeko pouted and hid her face in Ushijima's chest again. She closed her sore eyes and listened to the sound of his heart beating. It was strangely comforting if anything. The smell of peaches, the rumble of his voice and the gentle thumps from his heart.

"You didn't seem surprised it was me."

Umeko smiled -not that Ushijima could see- and waited a second to compile her answer. "Once I was acquainted with you it was much easier. The timings of the games, the pitch of your voice and your shadow." Honestly at the beginning Umeko wasn't completely sure if her guess was right, but maybe just maybe if she was lucky, it would be exactly who she wanted it to be.

Ushijima loosened his grip on Umeko, he didn't want to crush her on accident. "What do you mean by my shadow?"

"Whenever anyone comes into this room, because of the lighting a long shadow is cast on the floor. Thanks to this I can roughly guess who is coming in without having to look at the person." Umeko huffed proudly then wiped up her mess of a face with her sleeves. "It just took me a while before I noticed it was your shadow, but even then, I was so scared of being wrong that I never looked up to confirm."

"Does that mean if I didn't make you look up you wouldn't have?" Ushijima moved his face closer to hers, so their noses touched. "That hurts my feelings" He teased playfully.

Umeko's face heated up till it was a bright shade of pink that reached all the way up to her ears, "W-well, I-I um...didn't" Her words tumbled out in a jumble as she attempted to find a response. In her flustered state there was no way she could think of anything other than how close they were.

I waited three years for you to look up towards me. Ushijima remembered the first time he saw her. At first, he was relieved that she didn't look up, they could keep their anonymity and sit in comfortable silence. As time passed, he grew curious, greedy almost, Ushijima wanted to know more about the girl who sat opposite him. Thanks to some deductive reasoning on his part, Ushijima was able to find out her name and class but much to his dismay nothing else. During his second year he wondered what color her eyes were, what she liked to do in her spare time and everything in between. It took three years but now I know those things. At this point there was no need to deny nor be ignorant of his own feelings, he had fallen hard for her. Ushijima smiled to himself then moved his face away and released her from his hug.

Umeko eyed him suspiciously once she got her blush under control. "What are you smiling about?"

"That's a secret. I'll tell you when it's time."