𝐎𝐍𝐋𝐘 𝐄𝐗𝐂𝐄𝐏𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 ❦ 𝐌𝐢𝐲𝐚 𝐀𝐭𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐮

23

The hours of waiting later on became days.. then weeks. sooner, months. I didn't specifically know what I was waiting for, but somehow, it felt like I was longing for something. It's nearly a month and a half since Atsumu and I started ignoring each other. My feelings and my emotions were all sorted out now, and I don't get weird feelings anymore whenever he's around.

I felt glad that he respected my boundaries. But the thing is - whenever I would pass by him or maybe even look his way, he would always immediately divert his attention to something else and pretend like I didn't just catch him staring at me. Even more, he would send me good morning and goodnight messages. That's why I decided to put his messages on mute -

My lunch breaks no longer included visiting the volleyball court. My afternoons were quiet and I walk myself home alone now. Next week was scheduled for our school camp retreat, and I wasn't so sure myself If I could go. I decided to stop by my locker before heading back home as I had to get some books for my quiz review. I stacked them up my arms and closed the door of my locker. I looked to my right and there stood a waiting Shinsuke, leaning his back against the wall. He looked back at me and smiled. We later on started walking out of the school together,

"You coming next week?" He asked,

"I'm not sure, but I want to,"

He hummed in response. We walked to the school gates in silence after that,

"Can I ask you something?" I looked over to him and so did he, he raised an eyebrow at this, "Shoot,"

I fidgeted with my fingers and held on to them hem of my skirt, thinking of a better way on how I could ask my question without sounding to suspicious, "What did you mean when you said.."

"There's a different twinkle in my eyes?"

Our conversation from that night just kept eating me up, and I couldn't find the right time to ask him this as his schedule seemed like it was too occupied with school tasks,

"I figured you'd ask me that," He lightly smiled,

"I didn't know what I meant by that too," We both chuckled at this,

"But I guess.. that's how it seemed to me?"

"You always act like you hate him, but your eyes tell a different story,"

"You look at him.."

"Like all the worries of the world have been solved,"

I gulped, furrowing my eyebrows. All I could do was keep my head down to avoid his gaze. Shinsuke stopped in his tracks, and so I did the same as well. I looked back at him,

"I'm right aren't I?" He looked at me straight in the eyes with a genuine smile. I could only blink rapidly and breathe out. I gulped at the realization and turned my gaze back to the road,

"I see the way you look at him,"

"I know because I look at you the same way,"

I once again stopped in my tracks and turned to look at him.

Did I hear that correctly?..

He chuckled at my facial expression, walking towards me afterward and patting my head, "Don't worry,"

"I have no plans on pursuing you,"

"Well, at least not anymore,"

He removed his hand from my head and walked past me. My gaze followed his slowly vanishing figure.

I didn't know he felt that way..

But what worried me the most was the fact that I seemed too obvious -

What if Atsumu knows too?..

Wait, why am I even worried?

I don't even think of him that way!

-

Friday.

It was again time for us to play sports. Hinami, being the only girl friend I have in class, impatiently hummed while leaning against one of the cubicle's doors, "Jeez, what took you so long?"

I lightly smiled at her irritated expression before tying my hair up into a messy bun, I took one last look at myself in the mirror and twirled the remaining hair from the side around my index finger. I looked at Hinami and walked out of the ladies' room after her. I neatly folded my clothes before placing them inside my backpack when a sudden noise coming from one of the hallways made me flinch and drop my bag,

I looked over to that direction and spotted a large crowd of students circling around something, I picked up my bag and tiptoed to see what the commotion was all about,

In the middle of the hallway were Marina and Atsumu,

She leaned her head against Atsumu's arms but the male didn't seem to care at all. His expression was downcast, and it looked like he wasn't all mentally there. Marina, however, seemed to love the attention so much as she kept posing for pictures,

I looked over to Atsumu again and noticed that he was already looking at me. The side of his lips curled up into a smirk, later on widening into a bright smile. The rays of the sun reflected onto his brown gold irises, and his cheeks had a slight tint of redness on them. His eyes looked like they were brought back to life,

My feet felt like they wanted to walk towards him like his energy just kept sucking me in, but I knew I had to restrain myself from doing so,

I shrugged the thought of it off my shoulders and pulled Hinami along with me to the court.