falling [asanoya/ennotana] 🌦

arguments can be clarifying

.tanaka.

i arrived at afternoon practice at the same time as always, trying to ignore the third years (mainly asahi) and just talk to the other second years during stretches instead.

however, since i had shown up so late as always, i barely had time to start a good conversation before it was time to start practice. and technically the official season had ended, but none of us were ready to say goodbye yet, so we continued to run our own, unofficial practices. and since they were unofficial, it wasn't required to show up, but most of us came to all of them anyway.

i was practicing spikes for others to receive, and when i went against asahi, i felt anger boiling inside me.

how dare he hurt my best friend like that?

barely even registering what i was doing, i spiked the ball as hard as i could. it must've gone a little off course, or maybe asahi was distracted, because it hit him square in the face, causing him to stumble, trip, and fall.

daichi and suga, who were practicing nearby, immediately noticed and rushed over.

they checked on asahi first, then turned on me.

"tanaka! that was totally unnecessary!" suga exclaimed.

"exactly! there was no reason to hit it that hard, so please apologize," daichi said.

normally i would be intimidated by mom and dad getting angry at me, but i was too angry at asahi to care.

i crossed my arms, glaring slightly.

"i won't apologize, he deserved that."

daichi glared back at me, with his standard scary face as suga helped asahi up.

"what could he have possibly done to deserve that?"

i pretended to think for a minute, even putting a finger on my chin in mock pondering.

"oh, let's see... how about-"

"that's enough! it's none of their business!" asahi cut me off. "and frankly it's none of yours either!"

"yeah?" i said softly before raising my voice. "WELL IT BECAME MY BUSINESS WHEN I WENT TO MY BEST FRIENDS HOUSE BECAUSE HE WAS CRYING HIS EYES OUT, AND WHEN I ASKED HIM WHAT WAS WRONG, THE ONLY THING HE COULD SAY WAS YOUR NAME!"

i felt like the anger was going to boil over inside me, and start pouring out of my ears and eyes.

asahi looked startled at first, but i could tell he was becoming angry as well, but this time it was a quieter, more dangerous kind of angry than my loud outburst.

"it was hard on me too, you know. that was one of the hardest decisions i've ever had to make."

his voice was low, and his gaze cast downwards, so his face was in shadow.

if anything, his quiet tone made me even angrier.

"THEN WHY THE HELL WOULD YOU DO IT? IF IT WAS SO HARD, WHY COULDN'T IT HAVE BEEN AVOIDED?"

he was quiet for a moment, clenching his fists, then finally, he yelled back at me.

"I CAN'T TELL YOU THAT."

"WELL MAYBE YOU CAN'T TELL ME, BUT YOU AT LEAST OWE HIM AN EXPLANATION AFTER WHAT YOU DID!"

he looked a little panicked.

"no! i can't tell him!"

"WHY NOT, COWARD?"

he'd better have a good reason for breaking noya's heart with a lack of communication.