Shy

Chapter 1

Current concern: He tried calling out to a lost-looking first-year girl to tell her the way to her classroom, but she started to cry.

                                                                                                         -Haikyuu!! Wiki page

        It had been bothering him for quite a while now. After having morning volleyball practice, Tanaka travelled down an empty hallway leading to his classroom. The hallway that seemed to be empty actually contained a first-year girl in the middle of it. At the sight of her, Tanaka had stopped in his tracks. 

She was about Hinata’s height – maybe even a little taller. She had straight, jet-black hair that reached just below her shoulder blades. The girl was unique in the way that she dressed. It was very modest. Her outfit contained all the parts of the school uniform: a long-sleeved white dress shirt, cream-colored vest, black blazer, red bow tie, blue skirt, knee-high black socks, and white Uwabaki school shoes. She was dressed so immaculately, that it was certainly a sight to behold. There were no wrinkles in the fabric, her bow tie was done perfectly, and there wasn’t a speck of dust or lint on her. Unlike many of the girls her age, she wore her skirt a little below her knees. Her knee-high socks covered the rest of her legs. She showed minimal amounts of skin.

Tanaka thought that she was different, in a good way. It was unusual to find a girl so demure like her, but he found that it was a nice quality – much different from himself.

She was holding a paper. Her schedule perhaps? She gripped it tightly in both hands. Her eyes were focused solely on the paper. Brows furrowed slightly in confusion and biting her lips, she looked up, swaying her head side to side. She seemed to be lost. School did start only just recently and she is a first-year. Tanaka had a sudden resolve to help this lost girl. Anything to help a cute girl, right? That’s what a real man does! His eyes burned with determination and he called out to her.

“Hey, you!!” His voice was so loud that it almost echoed around the nearly empty hallway. The sudden noise in the quiet hallway made the girl jump. She turned around shyly to greet the boy, but she soon saw that to be a mistake. 

Tanaka had walked up to the girl. “You’re lost, right?!?” he asked, but the girl thought of it more as interrogated. She thought his face was scary. It was the same kind of face he used to intimidate and provoke his opponents when playing volleyball, although he wouldn’t know this. She immediately became frightened by him. This boy looked like a delinquent, and now he was shouting at her for a reason unknown to her. Tears started forming at the bottoms of her eyes. Had she done something wrong? Had she angered this boy somehow? Maybe she should apologize and run away before something bad happened.

That’s exactly what she did.

While bowing deeply and using a quiet voice, she said, “I’m so sorry!” By now, the tears in her eyes had fallen. She ran down the hallway and turned the corner before Tanaka could even react.

He simply stood there, shocked at what just occurred. He had just made a girl cry. The thought kept repeating itself in his head. Why did she cry? Had he done something wrong? Why did she apologize? She didn’t do anything wrong, right? The girl’s actions perplexed him to no end. Tanaka was thinking about this situation all throughout class. What had he done to make her cry and apologize? He tried answering this question, but was not able to. He became frustrated and angry with himself for making a girl cry while not even knowing how. What kind of a man and senpai was he?! He thought to himself, “Damn it! What did I do wrong?”

Actually, he said this out loud.

“Is there something you need help with Tanaka-san?” asked the teacher. He seemed to be a little peeved by Tanaka’s sudden outburst.

Tanaka soon realized his mistake. “Ah! Uh, no sir.” The teacher narrowed his eyes at the boy. “Then I would like it if you would keep quiet.” Tanaka blushed a deep shade of red as the rest of the class chuckled or giggled at him. “Yes, sir.” It would be good not to further anger the teacher. Tanaka was already disliked because of his poor grades and bad sleeping habits in class.

This first-year girl was really making him confused and worried. He really wanted to know what he had done wrong.

Oh, well. She does go to the same school. Maybe he’ll see her again sometime.