Star-crossed Lovers - Ushijima Wakatoshi Love Story

Chapter 14A

After that night, Yukina got yelled at by demon mom. So she decided to go into a routine with Ama.  Yukina and Ama would go to the benches in the gymnasium during volleyball practice and work for an hour. Yukina excused herself and walked home by herself. Wakatoshi still calls her every night to make sure she made it home safely. This continued for a week and she started hearing some rumors.

Hey, Takahashi is being walked back to the dorms by Tendo and Ushijima.
Maybe she's hooking up with both of them?
That'd suck for Yamamoto. She's in another cheating scandal.

Yukina was sitting in her seat, ignoring all the snickering behind her back. But was surprised when someone slammed their hands onto their desk. Everyone turned their attention to Ama. She furrowed her eyebrows as she frowned deeply.

"We just live in the same dorm, okay? Stop spreading baseless accusations!"

The students quickly dispersed to their seats. Yukina looked over her shoulder to see Ama waving and giving her a reassuring smile. Yukina smiled back as the teacher walked in.

—

"Please tell me those rumors aren't true?" Emma furrowed her brows.
"Ama told everyone that they just lived in the same dorm." Yukina took a bite of her lunch. "I mean it is dangerous to walk late at night."
"But you don't find it weird that she would stay that late for their practice?" Yumiko raised an eyebrow.
Yukina shrugged. "Maybe she's crushing on Tendo. I don't know."
"Yukina, there are rumors spreading around that you might be cheated on." Emma scolded.
"It can't be helped if they all live in the same dorm."
"She's literally sitting there next to Ushijima!" Emma pointed at the strawberry blonde girl laughing and talking with the boys volleyball team. Yukina looked up and saw where she was pointing and cocked her head to the side.
"She's sitting in between Wakatoshi and Tendo."
"Emma," Yumiko finished eating her meal and crossed her arms, "she's going to be in denial until she sees some proof. You know that."
"I just don't want her to get hurt!"
"We both don't want that. But we'll be with her in the end. Okay?"
"Guys..." Yukina watched nervously as Emma and Yumiko were holding hands, reassuring themselves that there's nothing they can do but wait. Yukina sighed and looked up casually to see Wakatoshi staring at her. She waved and smiled softly and Wakatoshi waved back. Ama came into her line of sight and waved back, as so did Tendo as well.

—

It was just two days before the project was due and the girls had finished it.

"Phew! It's great that we got to finish early. Now two free nights to do whatever we want!" Ama stretched happily. Yukina smiled as well, glad to be done with it. "Hey, are you going to their practice match on Saturday?"
"Hm? They have a practice match?"
"Yeah! They're playing against college students!" Ama beamed. "Though I thought Ushijima would at least let you know about it."
Yukina laughed nervously. "He only tells me that he has practice on Saturdays. And we usually meet up in the evening."
"Ah~ that must be nice though. I wished I had something like that."

—

Ring. Ring. Ring.

"Hello?" Yukina answered the phone when she saw the caller ID was Wakatoshi.
"What were you doing? You didn't answer my text."
"Sorry, I had to shower and eat dinner. My phone was dying so I left it in my room." Yukina sighed and plopped onto her bed. Her eyes were getting heavy but she had an important question to ask him. "Wakatoshi?" He hummed curiously on the other end. "How come you don't invite me to your practice games?"
"It never occurred to me."
"It never occurred to you?"
"Yes."
"You don't want to see your girlfriend cheer for you on the sidelines?"
"The one game we had, you went to the MMA tournament."
Yukina sighed. "Fair enough."
"Where is this coming from?"
"Ama was just asking me if I was going to your practice match on Saturday.  She said one of the guys invited her and she was surprised that I didn't get invited."
"...You can still come. It's not too late."
"I don't want to come if this wasn't the first thing on your mind though." Yukina pouted.
"I wouldn't know if you didn't tell me in the first place."
"Wouldn't it be the first thing that comes to mind, 'I should ask my girlfriend to come to a practice game and cheer me on?'"
"But that's why I asked you to come to practice after school everyday. I work harder during those practices than the ones on the weekends."
"What?"
"I'm trying to impress you with my skills in volleyball."
"Come again? You're trying to impress me?"
"Is that really hard to imagine?"
"Well, duh? I'm no one special."
"You are special, to me."

Yukina blushes furiously as she held the bottom of her nightie tightly. Curse him for being so blunt sometimes.

"I-I'm going to sleep!"
A low chuckle was heard on the other end. "Good night. See you on Saturday?"
"F-fine!"

—

Yukina was walking up to the school when she saw two jumping kids around the front of the gate. They were screeching about being lost and didn't know where Ushiwaka was.

"Ushiwaka?" Yukina tilted her head in confusion. The two boys froze in their spots and slowly turned around to look at the brunette. "Ushi... waka... Ah! You mean Ushijima Wakatoshi?" Yukina smiled brightly.
"Yeah! Do you know where he is?!" The short orange haired boy asked in delight. Yukina laughed nervously as he was really close to her.
"You dimwit! You're scaring her!" The black haired boy pulled his friend away.
"He just texted me that he finished his five mile run. Wanna follow me to the gymnasium?"

The two boys' eyes sparkled like it was a starry night. Yukina felt uncomfortable in this situation. Why are they so obsessed with Wakatoshi?

Yukina was leading the way while the two boys bickered. When she was a few feet away, she saw a dark olive colored boy standing outside while looking through his phone. He looked up  with his stoic expression, but Yukina can see a glimpse of anger in them.

"Um, they were looking for you?" Yukina pointed to the two boys with a soft smile. Wakatoshi nodded.
"Go inside. It'll only be a second."
"Okay~~"

As Yukina made her way into the gymnasium, she saw all the boys fawning over Ama. Yukina tilted her head. She wasn't used to not being in the spotlight so it was a change. But she smiled to herself.

I can get used to this.

"Ah! Yukina-chan! You came!" Tendo took his attention away from Ama and ran over to give Yukina a big hug. Yukina froze a bit but recovered and gave the hug back, which somehow sent him to the heavens. "Ah~ Yukina-chan isn't scared of me."
Yukina giggled at his little comment. "Well, you are Wakatoshi's best friend. I can't be scared of you much longer."
Tendo quickly pushed her back with widened eyes filled with excitement. "Is that what he said?!"
"Ah, I see Yamamoto-san decided to come to one of our matches." Yukina looked over and saw a familiar ash blonde haired boy. She raised an eyebrow as she continued the conversation.
"You can call me Yukina, I don't mind...?"
"Eita Semi. I'm assuming Ushijima never really told you our names?"
"Why would he talk about you? You're not his best friend, right Yukina-chan?!"
Yukina laughed nervously as the two of them went on a banter. Even though they were arguing, she could tell they were good friends.

"Stray!" A ball hit by one of the college students went out of the gymnasium. Yukina realizing that Wakatoshi was still outside got out of Tendo's grip.
"I need to see if Wakatoshi is alright."
"He probably caught the ball just fine. You don't need to worry that much Yukina-channn~"
"I just want to make sure." Yukina went off with an uneasy smile. She heard a teacher yelling at the boys for being intruders.

Oh. I didn't know they weren't from our school.

When she came out though, she smiled. She heard Wakatoshi muttered out names and saw that he was really excited. She tugged on his sleeve causing him to look down, still with excitement filled eyes. She smiled brightly.

"I think this is the first time I see you being excited about something."
Wakatoshi gave her a slight smile. "Those two are challenging me and I can't wait to crush their spirits."
"Isn't that a bit harsh?" Yukina had a slight frown on her face. "Oh that's right! Did you get hit by that stray?"
"Actually, it was that shortie that caught it."
"Like... far away?"
"No. He jumped in front of me to get it."
Yukina looked up beyond Wakatoshi's head and hummed in astonishment. "No wonder you're excited. I wonder if you get to play them. I want to watch it." Yukina smiled brightly.