Aw, you chose one of my fave babes! Thanks for the request!
Riko stands momentarily frozen, her eyes wide open. Slowly
her hand covers her mouth, a delayed effort to hide the shock she feels.
“Say something Riko,” Hyuga pleads gruffly.
“I…Junpei…I’m sorry but…I can’t return your feelings,” she
whispers, eyes brimming with tears. She swallows once, taking a deep breath.
“Teppei and I…we’re giving it another try.” She reaches out as Hyuga turns to
leave, his face flushed in embarrassed frustration. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell
you sooner, it just…it happened after he got back from the hospital. We…I…I
didn’t know.”
“You have nothing to
be sorry for. It was…my own misunderstandings about what there is between us
that led to this,” he says, walking out before she can say anything further.
From down the hall, you see him exit the trainer’s room and
reach up your hand to wave but just before you call out a greeting you see his
face and stop cold; clearly things did not go well with Riko. Shouldering your
bag, you hastily cut through the crowd of students now making their way to the
cafeteria and their favorite eating spots for lunch. Hyuga jumps slightly as
you take his arm, leading him away from the crowds to your own secret spot
behind the groundskeeper’s shack.
“Ok, spill it,” you say looking up at him.
“_____-chan, I don’t really feel like talking,” he says
frown deeper than usual.
“Tough, I’m one of your besties, and you need to get this
out so do it,” you retort.
Hyuga looks at you with hard eyes but you don’t even flinch.
Sighing, he runs a hand through his hair, dropping his head and your gaze. It
will take more energy than he has to continue arguing with you so he snaps out,
“She rejected me, ok? I confessed and she rejected me! Happy?”
“Of course not Junpei,” you answer quietly.
He lets out a frustrated huff as he turns his head to look out over the expanse of the baseball field.
“Sorry,” he mumbles, “I…I didn’t mean to-“
“It’s fine, you’re hurt, I understand,” you interject
quickly. After a beat of silence, you ask, “Did…is she with Kiyoshi-san?”
Hyuga whips his head back to face you, eyes wide. “Did you
know about them?”
You shake your head fervently. “No! No, not at all but I do
know they have a history and, well, that’s the only reason I could think of for
her to reject you.”
“There’s probably a dozen other reasons too,” he grumbles
but is startled when you clamp your hands on his cheeks and make him look you
in the eye.
“Not true, you’re wonderful, Junpei, a girl would be lucky
to have you. Riko isn’t stupid, so if she said no, Kiyoshi is the only reason
why.” You pause, taking a deep breath. “Are you going to be ok?”
“Of course,” he says quickly.
“No, I mean, you already hold a ridiculous grudge against
him for some reason so I’m sure this is only going to add fuel to that fire.
The team needs their captain to be able to lead all of them, so I’ll ask you again; are you going to be ok with
this? With them?”
Hyuga doesn’t know what to say, everything is still so raw
but he does know he appreciates your concern as annoyed as he is by the whole
situation he now finds himself in. Closing his eyes, he places his hands over
your own and says, “I don’t know yet.”
“Fair enough,” you say removing your hands. Hyuga finds he
enjoys the lingering warmth they’ve left.
The bell rings signaling the end of lunch but before he can
walk away you ask with giddiness in your tone, “Hey, you wanna get outta here?”
Hyuga’s eyes go very large. “You want to skip the rest of the day? Are you
insane?”
“Maybe, but that’s beside the point. You need to get away
from here, take a break. Just…come on!” you insist, grabbing his hand and
tugging hard to lead him towards the school gates and because Hyuga would
rather not make a scene while playing
delinquent, he adheres to your insistence and follows you out. His apprehension
lasts all the way down the street, but your wide, bright smile and the shine in
your eyes quell it, if only slightly.
The two of you head to Maji Burger because it’s the closest
place to get food which both of you did not have during the lunch hour thanks
to your “talk”. Hyuga says, “Grab a seat, this is on me.”
“Absolutely not! The broken hearted do not buy their own
junk food. You sit down and I’ll treat!” you insist pushing him into
the nearest booth. He grumbles at your manhandling making you giggle before
your form moves away to the counter to order. You’re back quickly with to-go
bags.
“What’s this?” he asks cocking an eyebrow.
“You need a distraction, so we’re going to my place to watch
an absolutely fabulous and funny anime series I just started that I know you’re going to love! Come on!”
Groaning, Hyuga stands, shouldering his bag and your own
despite your protests. You walk quickly to the station, the stop for your house
not too far away and before long Hyuga finds himself collapsed on your couch
watching a surprisingly good show and inhaling his food because he’s starving
by this point. Your laughter rings out repeatedly, commentary pouring out
around your full mouth because you’ve already seen the first six episodes.
He watches you with a bemused face, appreciative that you’ve
taken the time and effort to make him feel better. And it’s then he realizes
that he actually does; he feels better. The cracks in his heart are less wide,
the tightness in his throat has been relieved and the ache in his head is
soothed; all because of you.
“Hello? Earth to Junpei, you in there?”
Your voice startles him out of his haze and he shakes his
head. “Sorry, guess I zoned out there for a minute,” he mumbles looking back at
the TV.
“It’s ok, I can only do so much to distract you. It will
take some time,” you say patting his knee, “but you’ll get over it.”
He nods absentmindedly before clearing his throat and
asking, “I, ehm, I’ve been so busy lately we haven’t had much time to talk. How’s
that guy from the baseball team?”
“What guy?” you ask stuffing a piece of chocolate in your
mouth.
“You know, the guy you’re dating or whatever,” he says
confused.
“I don’t know what rumor mill you subscribe to, Junpei, but
I’m not dating anyone from the baseball team. I’m not dating anyone at all,
actually,” you reply with a shrug.
This knowledge brings more comfort to Hyuga than he really
thinks it should. Now is most definitely not the time to say anything, but the
little flutter he feels when your hand brushes against his as you reach for the
popcorn bowl in his lap is reason enough for him to get his head together.
Tomorrow, he’s going to make amends properly with Riko and Kiyoshi. While he did have feelings for her, they were
apparently not as deep as he thought and he can only feel grateful that Kiyoshi
had already filled the spot he’d intended to take; how much worse would it have
been if she’d said yes and he only realized
afterwards how much he actually likes you?