silent days,, bokuaka [rewriting]

[chapter eleven]; confusion

3rd Person POV

"Akaashi-san, Bokuto-senpai told me to hand this over to you," Kimura entered the room and took out a sliced cheesecake secured in a translucent box, handing it to Akaashi who had his attention on his work. "He said he prepared this for you but you couldn't come to the party."

Akaashi looked up from his desk, his under eyes clearly swollen from staying up all night long. 

"Ah.. thank you." he said, giving the ginger head a thankful yet half-hearted smile as he nestled the small gift onto his palms. 

Kimura took a raincheck on Akaashi, scanning his face thoroughly as if he grew another head. "Do you perhaps want coffee or tea?" she offered, her face visibly concerned. 

The boy thanked Kimura for the offer, but he insisted that he was fine without any help. It was thanks to his damned teacher that he barely got a wink of sleep-- the consultation that afternoon did not turn out exactly the way he expected it to be. 

So fucking hard to please,  he thought in vexation. 

--

That night, Akaashi tossed and turned on his bed, his mind bombarded with a squall of regret. If only he hadn't been such a clumsy ass twat, he would've ran away from all these responsibilities and had fun at the welcoming party instead. He saw the cheesecake laying idly on the desk from the corner of his eyes and instinctively thought of Bokuto.

Akaashi's POV

Ah fuck I really cannot stop thinking of Bokuto-san, what do I do? I'm so stressed out. 

If only I hadn't messed shit up just now, then I could've joined him in the party... I should apologise to him again tomorrow during volleyball club. Maybe buy him a drink on the way there? Who knows.

I woke up the next day feeling like I'm supposed to anticipate something. I dreamt of Bokuto-san last night and he has been stuck in my head, his stupid yet attractively cute smile lingering like a lost puppy. 

I did my usual routine-- waking up before Kimura-san, checking the placement of my wig to make sure it hadn't fallen off last night, and touching up on my makeup to make it look more believable that I'm a woman. Though I still look perfectly deceivable without-- I was born with a pretty face. 

--

I couldn't concentrate at all during class today. 

Why is that so? Bokuto-san. It's his fault. I can't help but look forward to seeing him during club practice today. 

My gaze continues to follow the ticking movement of the clock's second hand, patiently yet ardently waiting for the school bell to ring once the minute hand reaches 4 PM.

And the bell goes. The piercing screech of the school bell had never felt so pleasing to me before. Within a lift off the heel, I sped walk across the school campus, fleeting down the stairs to the gym on the ground floor. I pushed the heavy metal doors open with all my might, expecting to see the person I've been waiting to see all day long. 

But he wasn't there.

The room was full of boys tall and short, wearing a white jersey with black and gold highlights. Numbers-- 2, 3, 6, 7, 11. Yet when I scanned the room for the second time I couldn't find him. 4. It was the number stuck onto the back of Bokuto-san's jersey that he proudly wore.

I sighed in disappointment-- Bokuto-san was always the first one there, there hasn't been a day where he came later than usual. Maybe he got caught by the teacher again? 

The club members greeted me, and I was then introduced to the new coach, Takeyuki-san. It took me quite some balls to pluck up the courage and ask Konoha-san about Bokuto-san, who I'm pretty sure are classmates. 

I tapped him on the shoulder as he was taking a break at the bench, and that alone gave him quite a shock.  

"Ah... yes?" he reacted monotonously, though it was kinda obvious that he was startled by the sudden touch. 

I shifted my gaze, the question that I wanted to ask somehow stuck in my throat. A few seconds of awkward silence past until I eventually blurted out, "have you seen Bokuto-san?" 

Hearing this made the boy loosen up, almost as if he was expecting me to interrogate him earlier on that made him skittish. "Yeah, he said he needed to meet someone so he told me to go on." he replied, the corners of his mouth curling upwards in politeness.

I thanked him and carried on with my duties as a manager, taking attendance before reporting to coach Takeyuki that Bokuto-san was the only absentee. "Bokuto... can't believe that rascal is the captain!" coach made a remark sarcastically, shaking his head as if he was deeply disappointed in someone. "Could you give him a call, Akaashi?"

His sudden request took my heart on a trampoline, but I managed to regain my composure and did as I was told. I unzipped my bag and dug the rectangular device out, scrolling past my not-so-long list of contacts before stopping on Bokuto-san's. 

This felt like deja-vu. 

The ever-so familiar recurring ringtone rang again in my ears as I await for Bokuto-san's voice to reverberate through the speaker. 

The number you are calling is not available, plea-

"I'M SORRY I'M LATE!" a stentorian,  powerful voice roared within the building, followed by the creaking sound of the rusty metal hinge. 

He's here. And I've never felt more relieved. 

We locked eyes across the room, and I get up to my feet. I don't know why, but my instincts told me that I had to approach him-- to thank him for the cake, to apologise for missing the party last night. It just felt like I had a thousand words to say.

But as I walked towards him he jerked his head around, engaging himself with the other club members; apologising to coach Takeyuki for being late and whatnot. Why.. why does it seem that he was neglecting my presence? 

I shrugged it off-- perhaps I was overthinking it. 

--

Practice went as per normal for two hours straight, and the members started to leave one by one as timed slowly ticked to 7 PM. As a manager, it's quite the norm that I leave last-- for I had to make sure that all the gym equipments were in place and that the players did their weekly duties of cleaning up. 

Today on the duty roster was Sarukui, Konoha-san and Bokuto-san.  

They did as they were told, picking up any stray balls and ravelling the nets. But Bokuto-san was strangely quiet.

Both Konoha-san and Sarukui have made many attempts to start a small talk with him, but he simply pretended to occupy himself with his duty, obviously dodging questions posed by the two.  Throughout practice today he was slowly starting to lose his jovial self-- with repeated spike misses and out balls, he was definitely out of it. 

Eventually both Konoha-san and Sarukui gave up, leaving Bokuto alone in the gym lockers as they started to pack up their things and leave, giving me a silent nod that I assume said "please take care of Bokuto for us" or "thanks for patronising him".

I don't think Bokuto-san realised that he was the last one there-- asides from me, but I saw this as a chance to talk to him.

"Bokuto-san," I started, not wasting any moment for I was sure that he was going to run away any moment then.

And I was right.

As soon as he noticed my presence in the room he literally fled away from the scene, not even bothering to say goodbye to me or even take a look at me. 

What's wrong with him?

Or what's wrong with me?