#day06

But as he was standing in front of the tori gate you were supposed to meet your blind date in front of, anxiety began setting in. Worse even than when Daichi and Asahi had dragged him here half an hour ago.

What if Nakayama showed up before you did? What if you saw Suga and told him you weren’t interested in going on a date with him? Even worse, what if you did, and you had a good time? Then everything would have been built on a lie. No, no, he couldn’t do it. Couldn’t go through with it. As terrible as the idea was that you might go on a date with Nakayama and get together with him, Suga couldn’t lie to you. He never should have come. He had to leave, now.

Having decided his fate, he sighed, stuffed his hands in his pockets and turned to leave. It seemed to be a repeating pattern in his life that other people always got chosen over him. Both in middle and now high school he had never been in the starting line up for volleyball, and while he knew Kageyama was the better match for the team, it still made him a little sad sometimes. And now you, the one girl he had really fallen for, the only one who had been on his mind for years, would go on a date which he could have prevented. But only by lying and deceiving. And that wasn’t him.

He had just turned to hurry away, when suddenly you sweet voice called his name.

“Suga-kun, is that you?”

He froze. Oh no, oh no, oh no. He had been to slow. Now he had to make up a white lie as to why he was here. Not to meet you. But… what had he done here? The shrine in front of which he had waited was quite far away from his home, it wouldn’t make sense to claim he had come here to pray. Maybe on his way back from… a friend’s house? Or-

His thoughts got interrupted by you. “It is you, who I’m supposed to meet here, right? Miu-chan did say it was someone from our class!”

Hesitantly he looked up at you. The autumn air was warm and smelled of the wet leaves of the trees surrounding the shrine. Golden light fell through the branches, painting patterns of shadows on your face. On your brightly smiling, blushing face. Oh. You were actually happy at the idea that it had been him, who had met you here. Oh no.

“Actually-”

“I was really hoping it would be you,” you smiled, bashfully turning your eyes away. “I mean… really hoping. But I didn’t think… ahhh, I don’t know what I’m doing, don’t listen to me.”

Suga listened to you nervously blabbering on, wishing he could just lie to you, claim that yes, it had been him you had been set up with. But he couldn’t, he couldn’t. He couldn’t lie to you.

“So… did you have any plan on what we’re doing today? If not, we could just walk around a little. The maple trees are still green, but I think the air is really nice today. Or we could-”

“Wait,” Suga finally managed to interrupt you. Surprised at how strong his usually so gentle voice had been, you turned to look at him wide eyed. Seeing the excitement on your face broke his heart. He couldn’t go on that date with you. You were supposed to meet someone else, and he had to tell you. “I’m- I’m not the person you were supposed to meet here.”

The nervous smile on your face fell. It felt like a pit had opened up in Suga’s stomach.

“I’m… sorry,” you asked confused.

“I- I’m not even supposed to be here,” Suga tried to explain. “I overheard your friend’s wanting to set you up with Nakayama, and Daichi and Asahi dragged me here so I should meet you here in Nakayama’s stead, make you think I was supposed to take you on that date.”

“Why would you do that?” Oh god, you sounded so hurt.

Suga’s throat threatened to close up. “Because I don’t want you to go on a date with him.”

“Why not? Why shouldn’t I go on a date with him?” And now you sounded angry. Suga wasn’t sure which was worse. Hurt or anger.

“Because-” what should he tell you? He didn’t want you to be mad at him, but it felt like no matter what he said, you’d be mad at him either way. “Because I wanted to be the one who takes you on a date… Because I’ve liked you since the first day of hight school. But it was wrong of me to come here. I know that. I was about to leave, but you saw me and-”

The soft touch of your hand against his stopped his rambling.

“It’s okay,” you assured him, your anger dissipating as quickly as it had started. “I understand it now.”

“I couldn’t lie to you,” Suga confessed, marvelling at how your fingers were softly wrapped around his.

“And you didn’t. Thanks for being honest. But-” you hesitated for a moment, making Suga look up from your hands to your face. “I still want to go on that date. With you, not with Nakayama.”

Suga’s eyes widened at your confession. “Really,” he asked incredulously.

“Is that so weird to you,” you laughed, making him shake his head hastily.

“No, no, not at all. I’d love to! But… we should tell Nakayama about this first, that’s the right thing to do.”

You agreed with him on that matter, and when Nakayama arrived five minutes later, there was obvious disappointment painted on his face as he spotted you. At least until you explained the situation.

“I’m sorry, it’s such a mess,” you apologized.

“Not at all,” Nakayama disagreed, running a hand over his face.

“I’m sorry, too. You looked like you were really looking forward to this date and now you look disappointed,” Suga apologized.

“You’re right, I was looking forward to this,” Nakayama agreed, lifting his head to look between Suga and you. “But only because I thought it would be Ayaka-chan meeting me here.”

“Ayaka-chan,” Suga and you asked at the same time.

“From our class, yeah,” Nakayama confirmed. “I… kinda like her.”

“Oh…”

Suga bit his lip. “Actually… I think I might be able to get you that date with her,” he thought out loud.

“You think?”

“A while ago she told me she thinks you’re really cute,” Suga nodded, pulling his phone out and dialling Ayaka’s number. A few minutes later he had successfully arranged for Ayaka and Nakayama to meet the next day, this time both of them knowing who they would encounter. Nakayama’s face was glowing an excited, bright red, as he bid his goodbye and headed off, leaving Suga alone with you.

“That was a mess,” you laughed, visibly relaxing. “I’m glad he wasn’t disappointed.”

Suga smiled. “Yeah, that was lucky.”

“So… do you still want to go on that date with me,” you asked hesitantly as if you expected Suga might have changed his mind on the matter suddenly.

“Of course, I do,” he laughed, “I made a whole schedule!”

“We sound busy,” you joined his laughter. “Where are we going first?”