bad habit - steve lacy
it was only the first week of school.
ace and captain, ushijima wakatoshi, walked through the corridors of shiritorizawa academy with unrequited friend tendou satori.
naturally, ushijima's class was at the end of the hallway, 3-a. dissimilarly, tendou's class was near the beginning of the hallway, 3-c. people knew that tendou and ushijima were both on the volleyball team, being two of the oldest, most experienced, and most talented players. they were the school's pride. that being said, nobody could understand why ushijima put up with tendou the way that he did.
ushijima could demand for tendou to leave him alone, but he never did. it didn't seem like tendou's sometimes bizarre behavior even slightly bothered him, and over time the two became the most recognized duo in all of shiritorizawa, breaking the stereotypes of "the ace and his setter."
"the tournament will be startin' soon, wakatoshi. you excited?" tendou asked, twisting his back and giving mischievous grins to all the people who watched them walk by.
"it'll be easy," ushijima replied. "we've beaten everybody in the area."
"not everybody." tendou chuckled. "i heard some interesting things about that old dead school, karasuno."
ushijima blankly glanced at tendou before staring straight ahead again. "nothing that i can't handle."
tendou cracked a large smile, eventually shifting to a loud laugh. "you're somethin' else, wakatoshi! never change... hey, have you seen her before?"
tendou not very discreetly pointed to a girl that passed them, walking much faster in the same direction.
ushijima saw the back of her head, not recognizing her at all.
"i don't know," ushijima answered honestly.
"y'know, i didn't see her face, but i bet you she's hot." tendou lewdly licked his lips. "you feel like putting in a good word for me?"
ushijima slightly grimaced. "why would i do that?"
"because she's in your class." just as he said so, ushijima saw the girl turn into class 3-a.
the olive-haired boy, lost for words, gazed at tendou one last time before walking ahead.
"i'll see you at lunch."
-
for the next two and a half hours, ushijima wakatoshi would find himself obsessively glancing at the familiar girl seated beside him. despite her feeling familiar, he couldn't remember seeing her anywhere in his memories.
she had dark and shaggy hair cut evenly in bangs that stopped right above her black rectangle-frame glasses. her makeup was crisp and clean, with not an eyelash out of place. her uniform was straight and untainted. it was snug on her rather erotic seeming body, with not a wrinkle as far as ushijima's eye could see. she wore the light blue short sleeved button up tucked into her maroon short skirt. the matching tie was tight and fit under her collar perfectly, almost enough to garner ushijima's envy. he always felt like his collar was just a bit too short, so it always stuck out awkwardly.
her white blazer was draped over the back of the chair. she impatiently tapped her foot on the floor, letting the sole of her brown school-issued shoe click against the tile while her tall white socks stuck just right to her legs.
ushijima's staring had gone unnoticed by him, but she could feel his dark gaze on her face from anywhere.
they both thought that the other was familiar, but there was nowhere in the hippocampus where they could assign a time to the face. the girl grew more and more uncomfortable as ushijima took every possible chance to observe her and her mannerisms. she felt like he was almost staring through her.
