Silver Lining

Before Everything Else

Flashback

Two weeks since entering the school, the transferee had already been causing enough trouble. Or rather, some of his classmates had been causing trouble for her. He stopped on his tracks as he overheard some girls whispering by the umbrella rack. They took the new girl’s umbrella and ran away with it, faint giggles echoing through the hallway.

Midorima sighed. He really couldn’t understand girls. Why go through the trouble of making someone’s life miserable? It’s not like she ever did anything to earn their wrath. And it’s not as if it’s going to make them any better.

He frowned. Why was he troubling himself with these thoughts again?

He closed his locker with a huff after retrieving his tennis shoes. Before exiting the building, he stared up at the sky and figured the rain wasn’t strong enough yet. He finally grabbed his backpack and ventured out into the rain without bothering to open his umbrella.

Basketball practice was as intense as always, but since they started late and it had started raining once again, it was cut short by an hour. Midorima stood by the exit as people started shuffling out of the gym. He decided on going straight home, yet somehow, his thoughts were directed towards the school building. He rummaged through his brain for something that he must’ve forgotten in his locker, or some book in the library that he might’ve forgotten to return. Deep inside, however, he knew that that wasn’t what was troubling him.

He sighed. Without understanding why, his feet dragged him back to the main building.

Not surprisingly, he found a solitary figure sitting on the steps. Her head rested on her arms so he couldn’t see her face. She was in a position that made a person look like he or she was crying or sleeping.

For the first time in a long while, Midorima didn’t know what to do with his life. He probably couldn’t just leave her because that would be such an un-gentlemanly thing to do. If she were crying, he’d have to handle the task of comforting her and listening to her little problem. He didn’t want that. Girls are dramatic and as much as possible he wanted them to keep it to themselves. On the other hand, if she were sleeping... well, he didn’t want to wake her up.

Against his stubborn will, however, he finally spoke up:

 “What are you doing here?”

She flinched in surprise at his voice. When she looked up it took her a moment to realize it was him. She smiled but it didn’t reach her ears and bare her teeth.

“I’m waiting for the rain to stop.” It was too obvious what she was doing. For a moment, he mentally debated whether or not she normally would’ve given him a sarcastic response to such a stupid question.

Both of them turned towards the sky and he gave it a hard look. It’s as obvious that the rain isn’t stopping or slowing down anytime soon.

“I’ll just have to wait... a little longer...” she said more so to herself. Midorima gruffed and glanced at her in annoyance. She was staring blankly at the rain but he was sure her mind was somewhere else.

“Are you stupid?” he grumbled. It earned him her attention and she blinked in response. He sighed as he stared back into her eyes. “The rain isn’t stopping. You might as well sleep here.”

She lowered her gaze and continued staring outside. They were both quiet for almost a minute and silence grew between them. Midorima was calmly thinking about his next move.

Just as he was starting to get uncomfortable with the growing silence, she finally spoke.

“I guess you’re right.” He looked down at her and she was smiling meekly. He watched as she slowly gathered up her stuff and got up. She looked outside once again and seemed to calculate her odds. Surely, she wasn’t thinking of venturing into the storm, he thought.

Just as he had finished the thought, she put her left foot forward and was about to make a run when he instinctively stretched out his arm and grabbed on to her collar.

“Hey—“

“You’re crazy,” he scolded, frowning as he pulled her rudely out of the rain. He was inwardly debating on the next logical thing to do and he tried to keep his cheeks from getting warm. Hesitantly, he opened his umbrella and placed it between them. “Get in,” he mumbled without looking at her.

A few seconds had passed before she finally did so. Hesitantly, she tried stealing a glance to see his expression but he was looking the other way, seemingly uncaring.

As they started walking, he tried to look straight ahead to avoid looking at her, but for a person standing 6’4”, it was inevitable to loom over someone who’s almost a foot shorter. He gave her a sideway glance. She was clutching her bag tightly to her chest; eyes downcast and head hanging low.

Midorima didn’t want to feel bad, but somehow, he couldn’t make himself feel indifferent. He was sure she already knew that some of the girls had been isolating her. He racked his brain for something else to do aside from playing ignorant, but he couldn’t come up with anything natural to say or do.

Without even thinking, he opened his mouth and spoke up:

“Don’t be sad,” he let out involuntarily and bit his tongue. He meant to tell her to stop being sad about some girls in their class being mean to her, but that would’ve revealed the fact that he knew about it and it would surely open up the topic and he really didn’t want to discuss about some teenage (girly) melodrama that he ought to not care about. “... About the rain,” he quickly added.

“It’s about my umbrella,” she replied in a low voice.

Midorima thought she’d start telling on the girls in class who probably have done it. Frankly, he didn’t mind letting her share with his umbrella, but he found it boring when he listened to girls dissing each other. He waited for her to speak further but, to his surprise, she didn’t. Just as he was sure she had kept the conversation at that point, she said:

“My dad bought it on my first day in grade school...” she said in the same, deadpan voice.

Oh, he thought. It wasn’t what he expected, but it nevertheless sparked a question in his head. Perhaps she was a daddy’s girl or maybe her dad just didn’t buy her things much, whatever the reason for her being sad about an almost-decade-old umbrella, he didn’t want to question it.

 Only a few months later would he learn the significance of that statement.

It suddenly occurred to him that she was speaking as if he knew her umbrella was stolen, given that she didn’t seem to have provided enough context. In an effort to make it appear that he had been paying attention, he inquired:

“What happened to your umbrella?” he tried to appear not all that concerned, but really, he sounded all the more disinterested.

She probably managed to catch his tone, for she smiled a little and said: “I lost it at school. I don’t know, I must’ve left it somewhere, or someone could’ve stolen it. Who knows...”

He couldn’t decide if she was trying to evade the discussion, or if she really didn’t have a clue that some girls in their class stole it.  Nevertheless, he attempted make her feel less bad by appearing interested.

“That is sad,” he said in the same glassy tone, but he realized all he did was sound sarcastic.

She didn’t seem to notice or mind, however, for she laughed slightly and he gave her a questioning glance.

“I’m not sad anymore, though,” she said, smiling. He finally turned his head and looked into her bright eyes. Somehow, that particular smile seemed to be the first genuine one that he’d seen from her that day. He thought he felt something different—a sudden, electric shock. But he was convinced it was just surprise.

“It probably wasn’t in your intention, but thank you for making me happy today...”