alice

It felt surreal at how easily you and Akaashi clicked.

You could tell that he was a good person even if you’ve only known each other for a day; he just gives off that vibe. You don’t believe in a lot of unexplainable things but meeting him was like fate, it’s like you were fated to meet Akaashi in your life somehow.

He loves reading, you love reading. It’s honestly the sole reason for your friendship. After knowing this information about himself, it felt easy to fall into a conversation with him. You’ve never felt like that for years; it just felt natural to be friends with Akaashi Keiji.

You shared a lot of hobbies, dislikes and opinions with him, it almost felt unreal. It’s almost like you found your other persona, the other you that somehow escaped another universe that took in the form of Akaashi.

Not only that you were already on a first-name basis with him, which definitely shocked you yourself, Hirugami, and Hoshiumi, but you also personally invited him to your little birthday bash this weekend. In one day! You were proud of yourself, to say the least.

And of course it made you happy when he instantly agreed and promised to attend this weekend. Plus your mother would be overjoyed to know that you made another friend.

You were a bit thankful for Hirugami for introducing you to Akaashi, since you really enjoyed his company yesterday, almost forgetting that the other two were there with you.

It’s safe to say that he makes you feel comfortable.

Hirugami keeps bothering you and Hoshiumi about his weird interaction with Akaashi yesterday in the cafe though, as you three went to school. Saying something along the lines of “he caught him and his friend group having some weird staring contest” but you paid no mind, because he was probably making it up.

“For real!” Hirugami insisted. “It feels like they were communicating with their minds. I thought Akaashi was alone until I felt the other stares on me!”

“You’re probably just hallucinating from tiredness, Sachiro.” You complained, tired of hearing his rambling about how weird and unusual his interaction with the others in the cafe yesterday.

“It’s really weird, though!” He pouted, disappointed that you two weren’t believing in him. “And I wasn’t hallucinating, excuse you.”

“How is that even possible?” Hoshiumi questioned, also not believing what nonsense Hirugami was spouting in his mouth.

“Believe me! I entered the cafe because I recognized Akaashi, and I really thought he was alone when I called him!” He explained, again, with little actions too. “Until he looked at me and then I blinked, then suddenly there were a bunch of other people with him!”

Giving up, “Fine. I believe you, okay? Just..” You fought the urge to say ‘just shut up’ because it will make him more whiny and just explain the whole thing again and again. Good thing that you were already in front of the building you’re having your class on, happy to finally escape Hirugami’s rambling. “Let’s talk about it later, ‘kay?”

You sent a “good luck” face and a smirk to Hoshiumi, knowing he needs to endure it for a little longer. After seeing his annoyed expression, you quickly parted ways with them and entered the room after letting out a laugh.

Without any word or unneeded glances around the room, you went up to your seat, giving a small smile to Sakusa. But of course, he just stared at you. The silence was a bit awkward, considering that both of you are not.. that much of approachable.

Thank the gods your literature professor entered shortly though, relieved that you won’t handle the awkward tension with Sakusa any longer. Certainly not after the whole Komori fiasco.

For the first thirty minutes, the professor discussed a new topic, before announcing that the remaining time will be used to discuss the project she gave out yesterday. You turned to Sakusa awkwardly, greeting him once more.

You figured that you should be direct with him, since he looked like the kind of person who’s easily displeased when one’s not straight-forward and keeps disarraying from the original topic.

The conversation between the two of you about the autobiography project surprisingly went easy though, he only agrees at everything you say and gives his opinion a little here and there.

“Oh, where do you live?” You asked, seeing him tensed a little bit after hearing your question made you raise an eyebrow. “We can do the project in your house, if you are okay with it, of course!”

One thing you both agreed on is that public place = no. Having a lot of people surround the both of you were not ideal. You were glad that he feels the same way though, so you decided to ask him about doing the project in his house.

“We should.. do it in another place. I live with a lot of.. irritating men.” Sakusa answered, you noticed his face darkened, as if he remembered something he didn’t want to remember. “How about yours?”

“Mine’s okay.” You answered. “But my family currently has a guest over, is that okay with you?” Inviting him to your little celebration this weekend suddenly crossed your mind just to give what Heiji wants, but you shook it off. You’re not that.. close with him yet.

“That’s fine with me.” Sakusa looked up at the ceiling, probably thinking of a good date to come over at your house. “I’m busy during weekdays. Is Saturday good for you?”

Oh. “Uh, I have a little birthday bash this Saturday..” You bashfully said, as there was no point in hiding the truth now. But since the project is already due on Monday, and it will do no good to push it back to Sunday, cramming is not healthy. “If you’re okay with coming over early, because it’s fine with me.”

He gave you a nod of approval. You took a deep breath and gathered courage to ask him to just attend your celebration. You were hesitating, since you two are just project-partners and not exactly on that level of friendship yet, but you know that your mother won’t let him go until the party is over. You just wanted to warn him beforehand.

“Oh, also are you okay with staying over and taking part in the celebration?” You asked him, a hopeful glint in your eyes. “My mother won’t probably let you leave early.” You ended it off with an awkward chuckle, anxiety bubbling up in your stomach.

“Okay.”

You were frankly taken aback at how he agreed without giving it much thought. You honestly take him in as the “if you approach me, i’ll kill you” kind of guy who obviously despises crowds, but oh well. First impressions are rarely come true.

“That’s great!” You said, a little too loud for your liking. “Let’s just do the parts we agreed on and update each other until Saturday.”

“Mhm.”

A man of few words, indeed. “If you need anything, just text me. I have to meet up with my friends so I’ll leave you to it.” Locking eyes with him, you saw the brief shocked expression on his face that contorted into confusion as his brows met.

Not giving it much thought, you waved him goodbye and left the room after seeking permission from your professor.

You were one of the first ones to exit the room, and as soon as you did, you took out your phone to text your friends and informed them that you had finished class. You sure do hope they did too, how ironic that you liked being alone but you were scared at the same time.

You peacefully started walking towards the meeting spot you’ve agreed beforehand after receiving the validation from Hirugami. Humming the tune of your favorite song, you thought back of what happened with Sakusa.

Lately, you’ve been receiving unwanted glances from a lot of people, and seeing their shocked expressions after interacting with you just confused the hell out of you. It never happened before in your life, but it just keeps happening after your birthday.

A coincidence, probably.

“Hey, you!”

As if it’s instinct, you looked back to wherever that source of voice came, you flinched after locking eyes with someone. But you being you, you immediately turned back and continued walking, not paying any more attention.

Besides, you were probably mistaken. Looking around, you saw a bunch of students in the grounds, and that somehow lessened your anxiety.

“Hey!”

But hearing another shout from the same man earlier made you walk faster, feeling that you’re really the one whose that person is calling. That isn’t possible though, or is it? You suppose it was one of Hirugami’s fans, and that’s more than enough to make you want to run away.

You’re in no mood to deal with annoying people right now.

Unfortunately for you, things didn’t go like you hoped for, as you were stopped by a hand on your shoulder. Heaving a sigh, you turned around only to be met by a guy with.. what is this? A particular guy with spiky black hair, which definitely left an impression on you.

“Can I help you?”

“You’re a goddess, aren’t you?” He asked, with so much confidence at that, and smirked at you.

Did he just approach you to ask this? Or is he hitting on you? Is this how people... flirt nowadays? You frowned, certainly not expecting that.. weird compliment. Are you supposed to thank him now or what?

“Uh... thank you, I guess?” You awkwardly responded, still receiving second-hand embarrassment from what he said. “But no.”

This is so cringey! Is this how Hirugami deals with these things? You gave him an unease bow, clearly showing your discomfort, as a sign that you were leaving. Honestly, you were expecting him to irk you more, but he stood there, stunned after hearing your reply to his… compliment.

“Hold on!”

Ah, there it is.

“I’m sure it’s you. Stop the act now.” He declared. “My name is Kuroo Tetsuro, the son of Zeus and Hera. I am sent here to bring you back to Mount Olympus.”

You were at a loss for words. Mouth agape, you looked around in hopes of finding someone filming and just laugh it off, assuming that this was some sort of prank going around the university. To your dismay, you found none. Ah! Maybe he’s drunk?

Just going on with the reason that the man in front of you was not in his right state of mind, “Okay.. Kuroo, the son of Zeus and Hera..” You let out an exhale, cringing at how you sound so crazy agreeing with a drunk person right now, but you hope it’ll catch them off guard and leave you alone. “I’m sorry but I have to meet up with my friends. You should sober up before a professor catches you.” After patting his shoulder, you fled the scene right away, not wanting to converse with a drunk person any more.

On your way to see your friends, you kept thinking about the man, namely Kuroo, who approached you out of the blue, still dazed at what his first words to you were. Seriously, out of all pick up lines he could use, he would choose to call you a goddess? And what was the whole Zeus and Hera thing?

Catching the sight of Hirugami and Akaashi waving to you after tirelessly looking for them, you sprinted towards them pronto, it was honestly a miracle that you didn’t trip in light of how fast you ran.

“Where’s Korai?” You asked, flopping beside Akaashi who gave you a water bottle after seeing you breathless. You looked at him gratefully, giving him a quiet ‘thanks’ and a smile, chugging the water bottle down.

“Volleyball practice.” Hirugami looked at you disgustingly, but was proud nonetheless at how you and Akaashi got along so well. He mentally praised himself for getting you a potential partner. He looked at his watch momentarily before glancing at you again, “He’ll probably finish and arrive in a few minutes.”

You just nodded. It’s best if you tell them at the same time, as there’s no need to repeat that embarrassing memory again and again. But you’ve got no choice, since it’s a habit to tell your two best friends everything.

“Oh, I’ve finished the book you recommended yesterday.” Akaashi spoke after minutes of silence, making you look at him with wide eyes. “I was hooked that I didn’t stop until I finished it.” He added while scratching his nape.

To say that you were surprised by his determination was an understatement, it even took you three days to finish that book! You observed his face to search for any evidence that he’s lacking sleep but you failed, only getting a glimpse of, you were not going to lie, his handsome face, “Did you even sleep?”

He chuckled. Your heart almost did a leap at how ethereal he looked. But you brushed it off and continued to listen to his reaction towards the book, occasionally dropping his favorite lines here and there.

Picking up someone screaming your name, the discussion between you and Akaashi stopped. You annoyingly looked at Hirugami’s side and caught sight of Hoshiumi sprinting towards the three of you. Finally reaching the table, he took no time in catching his breath and turned to you excitedly. “I want you to meet someone too!”

You looked at him with your eyebrow raised, these two unquestionably had a conversation regarding you and your social life without you knowing. “What for?”

“So you can have more friends, duh!” He took a seat next to Hirugami. “I met him during volleyball practice. He’s not from here but we played a match together. He’s good! He caught up with my gameplay almost immediately.”

“What position does he play?” It’s rare to see Hoshiumi praise someone like this before, he’s usually criticizing every volleyball player he plays with. So you were very interested in the person he’s thinking highly of.

“A setter!” He excitedly answered. “Attend my practice match tomorrow, I’ll introduce you to him.”

You nodded, giving a small smile to him.

“So, what were you going to tell us?” Hirugami asked almost immediately. It made you froze, the mortification creeping up on you again.

“I think I got hit on today.” You confessed. Hoshiumi let out a loud ‘what’ making you glare at him. He tends to overreact at everything. “By a possibly drunk guy at that.”

“What did he say?”

You sighed. How many times did you sigh today? If you were going to be honest, you didn’t want to tell them, because they would surely.. surely make fun of you. And knowing Hoshiumi and Hirugami, they would probably not let it go for years. Years.

This gave you war flashbacks of the teases you’ve got from them in the past. That one time you’ve accidentally bumped into a tree, and it took 4 years for them to get over it and give up teasing you about it. For four years, four years of witnessing them pretend to bump into a tree every time they encounter one, to re-enact what happened to you that one time.

Even if you weren’t with them, they always, always send you videos of them bumping into a tree to remind you how clumsy and dumb you were before. This made you honestly question every night about why on earth are you friends with these two.

“He asked if..” You shifted in your seat, looking away since you were afraid to make eye contact with any of them. Because if you do, you’ll just probably keep it to yourself due to shame. “He asked if I was a goddess or something, and he was sent here to bring me back to Mount Olympus.”

There was a pregnant silence after you let out those words, before you were met by Hirugami and Hoshiumi’s howling. You fiddled with your fingers, totally expecting these reactions but you were still beyond embarrassed.

You glanced at Akaashi, not expecting him to stay silent and how his expression dropped into an uncomfortable one, looking at you with wide eyes. He immediately regained his composition though, as you were about to ask him if he was fine.

But you were interrupted with his phone ringing, keeping your gaze at him as he scrambled to answer the call. Giving him privacy, you looked at the other two who were still dying of laughter, making you groan in both embarrassment and annoyance.

It’ll take a while before they calm down.

Feeling Akaashi’s tap on your shoulder, you looked at him apologetically. He smiled before motioning that he has to leave and continue the conversation elsewhere. You gave him a smile and a nod, muttering a “sorry” at how loud your friends are.

He only chuckled quietly, gathering up his things and leaving after giving a short wave to the other two. You almost thanked Akaashi for leaving, as the two took it as a sign to stop laughing and wave him goodbye.

Brushing away the tears in his eyes, Hoshiumi looked at you and then went back to cackling with laughter again. You glared at him, absolutely done with them and their non stop howling. “Stop laughing already! I know that it’s humiliating, okay?”

“What else did he say?” Hirugami asked, trying so hard to contain his laughs. “Did he say that he’s the son of Zeus or something?”

Seeing you pout and slowly nod in shame, the two bursted out laughing hysterically yet again. Hirugami continuously slammed the table and Hoshiumi almost fell down on his seat from laughing too much.

“If you two don’t stop laughing, I don’t know what I’ll do.” You threatened, victoriously making the two straighten up and stop. It was long due for them to stop, and you were getting more irritated, especially that you were on public grounds.

They whispered a “sorry” and decided to let it go.. for now.

What a long day. You entered the house after putting away your shoe, shouting “I’m home!” as you were accustomed to. What confuses you is that your mother didn’t answer back, she usually does and greets you with a hug as she asks you about your day.

Entering the living room, you saw Yuki, who probably didn’t hear you, watching a movie. Sensing another presence, he looks up to you, smiling, “Welcome home, sister.”

You took a seat beside him, sighing in exhaustion and looked at what movie he was watching. The two of you watched in silence, before you suddenly remembered that you’re going to ask him about the tension between your mother and Heiji.

“Oh, yeah, where’s mother and Heiji?” You asked, bringing up another question before going on to your real one.

“Mother said that she left to do grocery shopping for your birthday and some other errand.” He answered, eyes still locked on the screen. “I don’t know about Heiji, though. He left an hour after you went to school.”

You hummed in response, how detailed. “So,” You eyed your little brother knowingly. He finally looked at you, abandoning the movie playing. “Are you going to tell me what happened between the two of them or what?”

Yuki let out a nervous laugh, glancing around to make sure that your mother or Heiji weren’t there. “They got into a quarrel the other day.” He spilled, making you raise your eyebrows, urging for him to continue. “About you.”

Frowning, “About me?”

“Mom didn’t like how Heiji kept pushing you to expand your social group and make other friends.” He pouted, glancing down. “She called him out on how manipulating and pushy he’s getting when they already decided to let you do what you want to do.”

You had a feeling that his explanation was lacking and was hiding something more about their argument from you, because your mother isn’t someone who holds grudges about these things. But you didn’t pry any longer, seeing how restless Yuki looks.

The question about why were they fighting about you never left your mind though. It’s true that your freedom of choosing what you want was important for your mother, but you never expected her to get angry over Heiji’s little wish.

“Don’t worry about it, sister.” Yuki’s words snapped you out of your trance. Did you look so conflicted that he had to reassure you everything’s fine? “They’ll get over it, you know that.”

You know. You also know that this is no big deal, that a little argument is normal for them. But you can’t understand how you were so nervous, you can’t understand why you feel like you were being chased.

You’ve never felt anxious about this before. So you really don’t know how to figure out these feelings. You would talk it out with your mother, and even Yuki, but something inside you prevents you to. Maybe you just didn’t want them to worry about you.

“Yeah. They’ll get over it.”

“What the hell was that?” Akaashi entered the room, brimming with confusion and.. anger that made the other gods flinch. Hearing Kuroo whistle awkwardly, he glared at him. “Kuroo, are you dumb or are you stupid?”

“Woah, did something happen?” Oikawa asked, everyone can sense the little excitement in his tone. It’s not everyday Akaashi picks a fight, and with Kuroo at that.

“The son of Zeus and Hera just approached my friend earlier and revealed that he was here to send her back to Olympus.” Akaashi sighed, sitting down at the vacant seat next to Sugawara and massaged his temples in irritation. “Good thing she thought you were just weirdly hitting on her!”

Confused gazes went between Kuroo and Akaashi. “What in the underworld was that for, Kuroo?” Sugawara asked.

“What friend, Akaashi? Is she really the target?” Kita asked, giving a burning stare at Kuroo, who stayed completely silent and avoided everyone’s glances and questions, probably opting to stay quiet the whole conversation.

“You make it sound like we’ll kill someone, Kita.” Aran laughed, trying to lighten the mood of the room.

“But we will.” All eyes went to Suna, blaming him for worsening the situation. What irked everyone more is how nonchalant he looked. Suna shrugged off everyone’s threatening looks, “If she doesn’t come back with us, that is.”

“The girl Kuroo approached is hopefully the same one the others encountered, right?” Kageyama asked.

“Do you think she knows?” Kunimi spoke, surprising everyone since he doesn’t really partake in this kind of conversation. He’s taking the role of being the messenger between two worlds so seriously. “Maybe she’s just pretending to not know to toy with us.”

“That is possible.” Komori agreed. “Considering the fact that some of us already felt her inconsistent aura, the possibility of her knowing is at least fifty percent.”

“Well, no one else could do that but her, that is unless she’s got an Olympian by her side.” Oikawa half joked and chuckled afterwards, silencing the room. He tends to do that. Breaking the mood with a serious thought in a joking manner.

Handling a goddess on the same level as them is a piece of cake, but an Olympian on the other hand, was no joke. Olympians lived long before them, and every decade they just get stronger and stronger. No matter how many of them try to fight them off, they’ll just get killed in the end.

“Who is this friend you're talking about anyway, Akaashi?” Iwaizumi broke the silence, he can’t help but be curious about Akaashi’s friend.

Your name leaving Akaashi’s mouth made Sakusa freeze. So what he felt earlier was, not a doubt, real. Maybe you are really the one.

But, he decided to not say a word and just keep it to himself for the time being. Settling to the plan to keep an eye on you and not make any rash decisions. Because he’s assuming..

He’s assuming that you’re more powerful than they all think.