CHAPTER TWENTY

      Misaki Katsuragi was in love with Tooru Oikawa.

      There. That was out there.

      Over the past one week, Misaki had analysed everything and come to an important conclusion. That she was, in fact, very much in love with Oikawa. Her best friend, Oikawa. Seijoh boy's volleyball team captain, Oikawa. Him. Of all the people, him. But then again, it couldn't have been someone else either. And what had even brought this on? His departure for Argentina right after they would graduate from high school.

      She couldn't say anything about her feelings to him either because that would change everything. And telling your best friend that you had feelings for them...it never ended well, no matter how many shojo mangas showed that it had a positive ending. Cliches don't really end happily sometimes.

      But these feelings. Damn these feelings. Misaki prided herself on being a person with great emotional control, but knowing that she was in love with Oikawa (it wasn't even a crush) was throwing her off. Thankfully, no one had recognized the signs of distress. Yet.

      'Is this what people feel when they have really bad crushes? This weird pain in my heart and the way it loves to race whenever I'm around Oikawa? This is all just so weird.'

      Misaki hadn't really had crushes before. She did go on a few dates with a guy back in first year, but he was not the right guy for her and later, after the dates had stopped, she had learnt that he was a cheating piece of shit (after Oikawa and Iwaizumi almost beat him up). Heck, she hadn't even had her first kiss yet.

      Well, technically she had one kiss with a random boy back at Kitagawa Daiichi, whose name she had forgotten completely. But she wouldn't call that a kiss. That had been pretty bad, for both of them.

     So Misaki's thoughts of this entire week could be summarised in one sentence. Romance was just not her thing.

      As Misaki sat down with Hanamaki and Matsukawa in the isolated lunch spot, which had somehow become the spot of this trio, she knew. She knew she was going to tell the two everything. Even if she had to deal with their teasing, she would say it all. She needed to.

      "I'm stupid," Misaki declared out loud. "I'm really stupid."

       Hanamaki and Matsukawa exchanged looks as the trio opened their bentos.

       "This is in relation to what exactly?" Hanamaki asked, sounding a little curious. "Because there are many situations where you could be classified as stupid."

      "Makki!" Misaki shot him a glare.

      Matsukawa snickered, covering his mouth with his one free hand. "That's certainly true."

      "Not you too, Mattsun," Misaki said, shaking her head with an exasperated smile. "Not you too."

      "So what's the sitch?" Hanamaki asked as he took in a bit of his potato cutlet.

      "Please don't say that," Matsukawa and Misaki said in unison.

      Misaki glanced at the two boys. Both of them looked understandably curious at her words. And out of all her friends, she knew Makki and Mattsun were the best at giving advice. "If I tell you what I'm about to tell you, you two better keep it to yourself. I don't want anyone to know."

      "Did you kill someone?" Matsukawa asked, with a teasing tone. "Do you want help hiding a body?"

      "I know a great spot," Hanamaki added with a grin.

      "No, of course not," Misaki replied, glaring at the two. "Just why do you guys think my biggest secret would be a murder of all things? If it were, I wouldn't say a word about it. But it's not."

      "Then what is it? Tell us," Hanamaki said, his attention now completely on Misaki.

      Okay. So she was about to do it. Misaki took in a deep breath. Once it was said out loud, it would be out there for real and more people besides her would know. As she released her breath, she said out loud, but in a low voice, "I think I am-no, I am in love with Oikawa. As more than a friend. As in romantic feelings."

      There. Now, it was really out there.

      Neither Hanamaki nor Matsukawa said a word. They had suddenly gone silent. One beat passed, then two, then three, then four, before Matsukawa finally spoke up.

      "I won't lie," He said. "I kind of thought you two were dating back in the first year, when we all first met."

      "What?!" Misaki's eyes immediately widened. "You thought -"

      "Well, you two were pretty affectionate around each other," Hanamaki added. "Half the team from back then thought you were a pretty nice couple. But turns out you two are just oblivious as fuck. And then you dated that piece of crap."

      "Can we not talk about him?" Misaki covered her face with her hands.

      "It was fun seeing Oikawa and Iwaizumi nearly beat him up though," Matsukawa said, snickering a little. "He definitely deserved it."

      "He sure did," Misaki answered with a slight glare. She would rather not talk about him; she'd actually just puke out her entire breakfast rather than talk about that guy. "Can we move to the situation at hand? What am I supposed to do with all of these feelings? Should I tell him? Should I just keep it hidden? Do you think he likes me like that? Or am I just a friend to him?"

      "You're panicking," Hanamaki grabbed her shoulder. "Stop. Take a deep breath."

      "Yeah, Misaki," Matsukawa said. "If you wanna tell him, tell him. And if you don't, then don't say a word."

      "Thank you. That's great advice, Mattsun," She said sarcastically. "What a great friend you are."

      "Sarcasm doesn't suit you," He flicked her forehead just as Hanamaki burst into laughter. "But thanks for the compliment."

      "It wasn't a compliment," Misaki replied, almost puffing her cheeks in irritation. 'Some friends these two are...' But, really, she considered herself lucky that she had them to talk to. With Makki and Mattsun, she could allow herself to relax a little.

      "And one more thing," Matsukawa added. "If you are too scared to tell him, we can do it for you."

      "Oh hell no," Misaki immediately shook her head. "Please don't do that. I'll tell him on my own. Maybe. Someday."

      "Someday soon?" Hanamaki asked cheekily.

      "Ha," She said plainly. "If soon means never, then sure. Soon."

      Telling your best friend that you love him...how could that not go wrong? But at the same time, how could Misaki not say a thing? If she acted differently, then Oikawa would immediately know. He was intuitive like that. Suddenly, Misaki thought, her life felt like it was becoming a shojo manga.

      'But shojo mangas mostly end happily. Does that mean I get a happy ending too?'

       Misaki Katsuragi was in love with Tooru Oikawa and that was making her think (and do) stupid things.

      She, Iwaizumi and Oikawa were on their way back home, having just left the ramen shop they frequented all the time. Oikawa had been strangely touchy today and even now, he was walking with one arm placed around Misaki's shoulder. She hadn't even pushed him off like she usually would. And why would she, now that every single piece of her soul wanted Oikawa to never stop doing this.

      All these feelings had turned Misaki into a complete sap. She was slowly beginning to think that she was becoming one of those lovesick girls. She wasn't lovesick, not really. She was just in love. And that was screwing up everything she was feeling. It was all starting to feel like a constant, never-ending stream of punches being slammed into her stomach.

      "I'm stupid. I'm really stupid," Misaki thought to herself. Or so she did. Because that sentence had slipped from her mouth, loud and clear and had been very much heard by Iwaizumi and Oikawa, both showing mild concern on their faces. A second later, she realised what she had just said.

      "Uh what is going on with you?" Iwaizumi asked, staring at her with a look of curiosity and concern.

      "Yeah, Misa-chan," Oikawa added, his fingers tapping Misaki's shoulder (which was not any help). "You've been acting pretty strange the whole day. I think you were pretty distracted during practice also."

      "I wasn't distracted!" Misaki immediately declared. Oh god. She sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. Of course, they would have noticed something was off. She really couldn't hide anything from them. "Nothing's going on with me. It's just..."

      "Just what?" Iwaizumi said.

      Misaki stopped in the middle of the road, as the sky above them turned into a mixture of golden, orange and red. 'I'm gonna say it. I can't keep it hidden. Iwa and Oikawa will know I'm hiding something. But I very well cannot say that in front of the very person that's causing me to feel that way. I have to keep it hidden.'

      She took in a deep breath and released it, and a second later, said exactly what she wanted to say. "I'm in love and it's making me feel stupid."

      Their reactions were immediate. While Iwaizumi spluttered out a surprised 'what', Oikawa's hand immediately dropped from her shoulders. Misaki felt a little ashamed, but it was the latter that affected her more. She wanted his hand to remain on her shoulders.

      "Aww," Oikawa's voice adopted a teasing tone, though there was a strange undertone to it. He playfully poked her arms. "Misa-chan, you finally have a crush? Who is it? Tell meee."

     (It's you.) Misaki covered her face with her hands, feeling very embarrassed. "As if I'm gonna say a single word about this to either of you. It's my crush and I wanna keep it a secret."

      "Come on," Oikawa kept on poking her. "You can tell us; don't be shy."

      "Oi, Trashykawa," Iwaizumi smacked Oikawa's arm, making him wince in pain. "If she doesn't want to tell us, don't force her to."

      "Aww, Iwa-chan, don't you want to know who Misa-chan likes?"

      "No, I don't."

      "Thank god, at least you're normal, Iwaizumi."

      "Hey! Misa-chan! That's not very nice. I'm normal too," Oikawa said, sounding rather haughty.

      "In what world?" Misaki and Iwaizumi spoke in unison. Oikawa harrumphed and started pouting, mumbling how he had really mean friends.

      Iwaizumi and Misaki smirked at each other, amused by his reaction. This was what she lived for though. More than romantic feelings, hanging out with her friends was what made her day. With a renewed resolve, she continued to tease Oikawa along with Iwaizumi, completely flipping the topic away from her.

      'Thank god Iwa stopped him. Otherwise, I might have actually said something,' Misaki thought. 'I'll have to be more careful now. I can't let anything accidentally slip out. And should I even let him know? Probably not. Maybe Iwa can know, but not Oikawa. I'm not ready to tell him. Not just yet.'

      And so, her feelings would remain a secret.

      (For now.)

      *

      Tooru Oikawa was in love with Misaki Katsuragi and it looked like he was now going to suffer a broken heart because of it. He hated that she actually had a crush and even if he had a very minor chance, that was now gone too. He really just wanted to know; who was the person that had managed to make Misaki fall for them? Just who had it been that met her ridiculously high standards?

      Oikawa would never admit it to anyone, but he was very protective of Misaki (not that she needed him to be). He hated seeing her hurt. A sad or a heartbroken look was not one he ever wanted to see on her face. It sounded cheesy, even in his head, but he just really liked her smile. It was annoying, really. He didn't even realise when he had become occupied with her smile. She was already pretty but that damn smile made her look even more so. Oikawa hated how confused he felt around her. Most of all, though, he selfishly wanted her to spend all her free-time with him.

      And she did. So many of his days off had been spent with Misaki. No wonder Himeko had broken up with him. Oikawa did think about Misaki a lot more than he should.

      And now, it all really didn't matter. Because, of course, Misaki would like some stupid idiot. Why would she even like him? He knew he was never going to be the person she fell for.

      But that hurt. That really hurt and Oikawa had no clue on how to deal with it.

Oikawa, honey 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

It's confirmed that both Misaki and Oikawa are pining idiots. And yes, Makki, Mattsun and Iwa are probably gonna end up doing something to push them together. 

I know this was a relatively shorter chapter than the previous ones, but consider this a filler for what will come next 😏😏. Till then, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Let me know your thoughts in the comments!