Shy

Chapter 8

           Bang!

The doors to the gym slammed open and everybody immediately directed their attention to the entrance.

It was the same girl from yesterday who had asked to speak with Tanaka privately: Kita Tsukiko.

Tanaka's eyes widened at the sight of her. He had completely thought that she had ditched him and was pleasantly surprised to see her right here like they had promised, albeit quite late.

His happiness quickly turned into worry after realizing the state that she was in. Tsukiko was hunched over and leaning heavily on the gym door's edge. Her panting could be heard clearly and she looked to be in dire need of water.

Tanaka's worry mixed in with his happiness now. D-did she run all the way here...for me? He blushed slightly. He thought it was incredibly cute, to have a girl frantically running to find you like she was late for a date and scared that you had already left. W-what am I thinking?!? This isn't a date! More importantly, I need to help her!

Sugawara, however, had already beaten him to the punch. Being the worrywart that he was, Sugawara immediately went to help Tsukiko with a water bottle in his hand. He handed it to her and she gratefully took it. He then proceeded to help her into the gym and onto the bench.

By now, all the boys had stopped their practice and gathered around the girl to see if she was okay.

Tsukiko took big gulps from the water bottle. Physical activity certainly was not her strong suit. Kiyoko handed the girl a towel to wipe off her sweat.

Tsukiko noticed and accepted the towel. "T-thank you!" she said quietly. She quickly became aware that everybody was now huddled around her and staring at her. Many had looks of worry like Sugawara and Daichi while others had looks of curiosity like Hinata.

Then there were people like Tsukishima who couldn't look less interested at the matter at hand.

Tsukiko immediately became nervous at the weight of their stares and looked down, her hair covering her eyes.

She swiftly stood up, surprising many of the volleyball players, and bowed down at a perfect 90-degree angle. "I-I'm very sorry f-for interrupting y-your practice!"

"A-ah! That's all right, as long as you're okay now. We were just about to wrap up anyway." Daichi replied, still a little surprised at the girl's sudden actions.

"But you must need something important though since you came running here so frantically, right?" Sugawara asked.

Tsukiko looked up and blushed. "U-umm...I-I wanted to s-see the volleyball team p-practice!"

You mean you wanted to see Tanaka practice. The team thought, all while looking directly at Tanaka. He looked back and forth at all of them with furrowed eyebrows as if he was telepathically asking them, "What?!" in a defensive manner.

Tsukiko continued, "B-but it looks like I'm t-too late." She looked disappointed and the team mentally thought that it was cute. She looked like a child who had been denied some much-wanted candy. That kind of childish innocence was hard to come by at their age and it was just a nice sight to see in general.

The girl then realized something. How could she just barge in here without restraint? Not only did she interrupt their practice, she also caused them to worry about her. This wasn't something important like Sugawara suggested. It was just her acting inconsiderately. She shouldn't be disappointed when she just acted so rudely and selfishly! Tsukiko immediately looked down in shame, her hair covering her eyes again.

The team misinterpreted that as her getting extremely upset from her disappointment and thought she was about to cry. They became frantic about how to comfort a crying girl, but Tanaka came to the rescue.

"H-hey! It's okay! We're still in the middle of practice so you can still watch a little of it, right guys?" The boys agreed and smiled at the girl. She looked up again and blushed a bit. "O-okay!"

The boys returned to their positions and started practice again. Kiyoko sat with Tsukiko on the bench.

"T-thank you for the t-towel! M-my name is Kita Tsukiko!" She was very nervous at having to sit next to and speak to an upperclassman, especially such a beautiful one like Kiyoko.

"Shimizu Kiyoko." Kiyoko nodded to Tsukiko as a type of greeting and as a way of saying "You're welcome". Tsukiko realized that Kiyoko wasn't a person of many words, but she found that she had an unexpectedly large amount of comfort around the third-year.

The sound of a volleyball hitting somebody's palm in a serve brought Tsukiko's attention to the court.

Since it was still relatively close to the beginning of the year, their plays were still a little rough around the edges with the new first-years. Even so, their teamwork was incredible to Tsukiko. Especially the teamwork between two of the first-years, the tall one with a face that looked to be stuck in a frown and a shorter boy with orange hair who crashed into Tsukiko before.

After being faked out by Hinata as a decoy, Tsukishima tried to catch up and block Tanaka's incoming spike, but was unable to do so.

"OOOHH YEAAAAAHH!!! HOW'S THAT, PUNK!?!!" Unlike before, Tanaka got overly excited about his successful spike.

"Tch!" Tsukishima became irritated at the fact that he couldn't stop this idiot's spike and at Tanaka's incessant cheering.

Tanaka anxiously peered over at the bench to see if Tsukiko was watching.

Oh, she was watching.

Tsukiko was completely floored. She was in awe at Tanaka's playing as well as the volleyball team as a whole. She hadn't expected them to be so amazing that they made the sport look easy. Even though she didn't have much experience in the sport, she could tell that the players had much skill.

The orange haired boy could jump almost just as high as their tallest players. His speed and agility was also not something to laugh at. Also, is he hitting the ball with his eyes closed?? The frowny-faced boy set the ball with such speed and precision it scared Tsukiko. The man that looked to be the captain was receiving almost all of the balls with ease. Last, but not least, Tanaka spiked the ball with such power it made a loud slamming noise when it connected with the floor.

They all looked to be having so much fun.

Tsukiko smiled at this. "The team..." The first-year girl turned her attention to Kiyoko's voice.

"The team...is good." The team's manager smiled slightly in pride while continuing to watch them practice.

Tsukiko smiled as well and turned her head to the court again. She met Tanaka's gaze. Her face went from its normal pale color to a deep red in an instant. Tsukiko became flustered and nearly dropped the water bottle in her hands.

Tanaka was now blushing at how cute the girl was being. Before he could do anything, he was called back into the game.

His game was a complete 180 from before Tsukiko was here. Well, now Sugawara and Daichi knew what was wrong. They gave each other knowing smiles.

Their practice soon ended and all of them were drinking from their water bottles while using a towel to wipe off their sweat.

Tsukiko checked her phone for the time and was startled. She looked out the windows. It was almost pitch black outside. "Oh no! It's so late! Mother and father will be worried..." she muttered, but Sugawara still heard her.

"It is pretty late. It's dangerous for a girl to go home by herself at this time of night though..." Sugawara looked at Daichi with a sneaky smile.

Daichi caught on. "Yeah! One of us should walk you home. How about you, Tanaka?"

"W-walk me home?!?"/"W-walk her home?!?" both Tsukiko and Tanaka exclaimed at the same time.