Shy

Chapter 11

          Th-thump! Th-thump!

Tanaka's heart was beating erratically while he was changing in the small locker room. Tsukiko would be watching him at practice again, and for the whole time this time. Last time, it was fine because she had only stayed for the last bit of practice. In that amount of time, there was no chance for her to see him mess up.

Not that he would, of course! He was one of the best spikers on the team!

However, having Tsukiko around to watch his every move for the entire practice might be a little too much for Tanaka. It wasn't just his spikes that she would be seeing anymore. What if she saw him miss receives? What if she saw him going for a spike and having the ball going to Hinata instead? Even worse, what if she saw hi-

Tanaka was suddenly hit with an immense amount of pain at his side. Ennoshita had used his hand to jab Tanaka. "Keep making a scrunched face like that and you'll have wrinkles on your face forever. Then you'll really never get a girlfriend. Also, you're being creepy."

Tanaka was still writhing at the unexpected pain to properly respond. "Aww, don't be so hard on him Ennoshita! I'm sure he's just excited and nervous about that cute first-year coming to watch, right Tanaka?" Narita tried defending him.

The problem was that Tanaka did not want anyone thinking that he could get this worried over a girl. He was a man after all! How could something as little as this faze him! Not even getting ignored by Kiyoko fazed him, but this seemed to be just the issue. Perhaps the fact that he had never really garnered that much female attention was the reason for his nervousness. His lack of experience was now getting to him.

"N-no! I was just...uhh...I was just...wondering what I'll be eating for dinner! Yeah, that's it!"

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"Riiight..." Ennoshita gave him that look that he always gave him when he completely didn't believe him and when he was also tired of his sh*t. "I-it's true!" "Uh-huh" They all just decided to leave it be and head off to practice.

Rather than the vibrant and almost "pink" mood that Tanaka had over the previous days, he now had a darker mood. While helping to set up the nets, Tanaka had a sort of gloomy atmosphere surrounding him and everyone could hear him muttering things of "What if..."

Sugawara looked on with worry. "T-Tanaka?" He started, testing the waters. "Is everything...okay?" Tanaka jumped at his voice, being to preoccupied with his own thoughts to notice his presence. "Suga-san! Everything is fine! No need to worry!" The rigidness in his voice proved otherwise.

Sugawara still had his brows furrowed in worry, but he decided not to press the issue. He decided, instead, to ask him about Tsukiko. "Well, alright then. Anyways, you got Tsukiko back home safely last night, right?" At the mention of the first-year, Tanaka's face flushed.

Noticing the obvious blush, Sugawara probed. "Say, is she going to come watch us practice again?" The blush deepened. Sugawara took that as a 'yes.' "That's not what you're worried about is it?" "N-no!!" He looked at him incredulously. "...Maybe a little..."

Sugawara chuckled. "I don't think you need to be worried. She looked pretty amazed just by your few spikes yesterday. If you're still worried though, I'll pass to you a few extra times just to make you a little cooler!" The third-year setter gave him his bona fide closed-eyes smile. Tanaka beamed. "Suga-san!"

The setter pat him on the shoulder. "Don't mention it! Although, I really can't say the same for your receives." He teased. The second-year stiffened at that, having his worries reawakened. His receives were certainly better than Hinata's, but they obviously were not at the level of Daichi's.

Just then, the gym door opened, revealing Kiyoko. "A-afternoon, Kiyoko-san!" Hinata spluttered out, but then noticed someone trailing behind. "Oooh! You're the girl from yesterday!" Tsukiko blushed and became very self-conscious about all of the eyes on her.

She did her signature ninety-degree bow. "P-pardon my intrusion! I-is it alright if I w-watch you all practice?" Daichi and Sugawara snuck peeks at Tanaka. Tsukiko said "you all" as if she didn't come here just to watch Tanaka, but most of them probably knew better.

Daichi responded first, "Of course! You can sit on the bench or you can go to the upper level to watch if you'd like." "T-thank you very much!" Tsukiko opted for the bench.

With that commotion having passed, everyone prepared to begin practice, starting with 3-on-3s. Tanaka began sweating profusely, not because of practice, however. His worries from earlier were slowly beginning to take shape. His receives were poorer than usual and his spikes were less than satisfactory. He looked over at Tsukiko.

She had a sort of sad look on her face with slightly furrowed eyebrows. Tanaka's heart dropped, for he took this look of hers to be disappointment. Perhaps she was thinking that she was mistaken for having thought of him as being amazing yesterday. Perhaps she was thinking that his fabulous spikes yesterday were just flukes or luck. Perhaps she was beginning to think that she shouldn't have expected so much from him.

He couldn't be further from the truth. The look she held was one of worry. Of course, with her physical capabilities, Tsukiko didn't know much about sports, including volleyball. Even so, she could clearly tell there was something off about Tanaka's playing. She had only seen a bit of what he could do yesterday, but she found him to be amazing. Using it as a comparison, there was definitely something wrong with Tanaka today.

Her head began to think of the negatives. Perhaps he was feeling ill. Or maybe he hurt himself yesterday. It couldn't be because he was too tired from walking her home and now it was affecting him, could it? The thoughts continued to swim in her head, worrying both her and Tanaka. Tsukiko's face contorted further with worry.

Noticing this, Tanaka became more disheartened, thinking her face was showing more disappointment than worry. All of a sudden, he felt a smack on the top of his head. "Ow! What the he—Eh? Suga-san?" He looked at his upperclassman questioningly.

"What's going on Tanaka? I thought I told you that you didn't need to worry. Look, now you've gotten Tsukiko-chan worried too!" Worried? Ah, so that's what her face was showing. Then Tanaka's heart sped up. She was worried about him? Really?

Sugawara sighed. "Okay, Tanaka. I'm going to set you the ball one more time. Do it right this time, got it?" The wing spiker beamed at this. "Yes!" Keeping to his word, Tanaka performed his best spike this practice and past Tsukishima, no less. The blonde clicked his tongue in annoyance, hoping to squander the boy's efforts.

"What's that Tsukishima? Don't think you can block me forever! You're plenty of years too early to beat your senpai!" Tanaka laughed in triumph. He proceeded to snatch a glance at Tsukiko and he was relieved to see a face of awe rather than worry or disappointment.

The girl gave a silent sigh of relief as well. There was no cause for concern after all. He was probably just warming up.

Tanaka's performance at practice was stellar for the remaining time and Tsukiko's eyes continued to follow him the whole way.