╰─▸ ❝ t-t-t-t-target

He was everywhere.

Mika just couldn't escape him and it was driving her insane.

It seems as if everywhere she turned he was there. Even if he wasn't physically there it was always something to do with him.

All of the things having to do with her school resembled him, which made no sense to Mika, but she just couldn't escape him.

Unlike most times, it wasn't Eita. This time it was Kōtarō Bokuto.

Monday:

"Isn't he so dreamy," Shun sighed, looking through the school's forum. It was filled with things about Bokuto. His face, his schedule, his current diet, his everything.

"I'm so glad we got his autograph- thank you again, Mika. We are forever indebted to you."

Mika refrained from rolling her eyes. She wanted to tell them that they could stop being indebted to her if they stopped talking about him.

She decided not to say that. Hopefully, it was a short-term thing and they'd get over him soon.

Tuesday:

Bokuto was featured on the volleyball magazine Mika would read, getting his picture on the cover.

"Bokuto Kōtarō: the talented high school volleyball player, now a college idol."

Mika was overseeing his face, which was hard since he was still consistently adding songs to their playlist, even though she thought he would stop with everyone talking about him.

"YKWIM?" Yot Club; "Notion" The Rare Occasions; "Something About You" Eyedress; "Sunrise" Kenny Elrod.

Mika never knew how many songs he would add, or what kind of song it would be, keeping her on her toes as she added her own songs like "Problems" by Mother Mother.

It still didn't change the fact that Mika now saw his face on the front of the gym.

He wasn't the star of the poster, as it was the team poster. Bokuto was still newer to the team so he didn't have a major position on the poster.

Even then, his face was on it, meaning Mika saw it every day when she walked past.

Wednesday:

Mika walked into her math class, finding the usually empty spots next to where she usually sat, now filled.

Sitting there happened to be Bokuto.

"Bokuto-kun?" Mika asked, raising an eyebrow, staring at her seat and then at him.

"Oh, Oyama-chan," he said. "You're in this class."

Mika sputtered out nonsense, not sure how to react.

There was no way he couldn't have known.

Though, Mika did have to admit she wasn't bothered seeing his face in person rather than on a poster.

Yet, even at that moment, girls were eyeing her seat. Mika knew the girls in her class; she knew that at least one girl would've asked to (or would've just sat) in Mika's seat.

So either, Bokuto assumed someone sat in that spot and kept saying no, or someone told him she sat there.

"You're sitting next to my seat..." she said finally.

Bokuto looked between her and the seat.

"Oh- do I need to move?" he asked. "Am I sitting too close?"

"No, no," she said, shaking her head. "I just wanted you to know. I didn't want to seem intrusive."

Bokuto nodded, seeming to wait for her to sit down.

Mika sat down in her usual spot, except this time, there was new pressure on her.

Mika felt as if she was being subbed in during a volleyball game, to turn the tide. All eyes were on her, if she messed up, it would be the end of her. She was a target now and she knew it.

Though, she didn't have time to think about it, as her professor started the lecture.

Nothing seemed out of place, besides the stares as the class started. It was all going well, until Bokuto turned to her, starting to ask her questions, reminding her of Arita.

"What does 'h' equal again?"

"How did you do that?"

"Please teach me, Oyama-sama!"

Mika would help him, yet she did have to admit it was starting to get on her nerves the more questions he would ask.

"Do you like the song 'Renee' by SALES?"

Mika went to write down what they were talking about until she registered what he was asking.

"Sorry- can you repeat the question?" Mika whispered, sliding him a piece of paper.

'Do you like the song "Renee" by SALES?" he wrote, sliding the paperback.

Mika thought about it, before writing an answer.

'Mmm I think so- but I can't remember how it goes at the moment lol'

Bokuto shook his head in fake disappointment, making Mika laugh quietly.

'I'm adding it to the playlist"

Mika smiled, drawing a smiley face on the page, handing it back to him.

Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday:

Mika was done with Bokuto.

Again.

His face was over everything, anything they could get his face onto, they did.

To make things worse, pictures of Bokuto and Mika were plastered all over the school's forums. When people saw her now, they would whisper about her.

Needless to say, Mika left her dorm even less. Unless it was for a class or to eat with her roommates, Mika was in her dorm.

That caused her to spiral into a full-on gender crisis. If she was thinking about it before, she was thinking about it even more then.

To carry Mika through it was "I / Me / Myself" by Will Wood which had gotten Mika to question everything in the first place.

Thankfully, her roommates were helpful about it, helping her figure things out. Other than that, they would grill Mika about the conversation she had with Bokuto.

Mika didn't mind it, as they didn't talk about much, mostly math. She knew they wanted to know why she had laughed during the class; she would get to that part eventually.

Monday:

Unlike the other days, Mika had gotten a very discrete, not so discrete message from Bokuto.

It was through a playlist called "To Oyamika" all the song titles writing out that he wanted to meet up with her that day to talk.

"Hi," Mika said, sliding into the booth Bokuto was sitting in.

She stifled a laugh, seeing that he was hearing a baseball cap, sunglasses, and a mask on.

"Nice disguise," she said.

"Thanks," Bokuto said, seemingly not aware that Mika was teasing him. "Order anything you want. I just wanted to check up on you with everything that's happening."

Mika nodded, taking a look at the menu he handed her.

"You have a big name since transferring here," she said, looking through the desserts.

"Yeah," Bokuto sighed, not sounding too happy about his situation. "I wanted a normal college experience to fit with my change of being a normal ace. Too bad I'm too good looking for that to come to light."

Mika snorted in laughter, causing Bokuto to smile, glad she caught onto his joke.

The waitress then walked over, meaning Mika had to quickly figure out what she wanted.

"Can I get a matcha tea?" Bokuto asked, surprising Mika, as it was what she was going to get.

"Can I get one too?" Mika said when the waitress looked over at her. "And a cheesecake."

The waitress nodded, double-checking their order, then going to put in their order.

"Well, I'm doing fine," Mika said, putting her hair up in a ponytail, as it was bothering her. "I didn't go out before, so I guess I get out a little less than before."

Bokuto frowned, his hair drooping.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I shouldn't have sat next to you in class or asked you so many questions. It's all my fault that people are talking badly about you."

"It's not your fault," Mika said. "Neither of us knew this was going to happen, so don't beat yourself up about it."

"Oh, well I'm planning on telling people to leave you alone. You haven't done anything to deserve this," Bokuto said. "I know Satori-kun and Wakatoshi-kun came over here to help you, and I've just ruined what they did."

Mika smiled, Bokuto saying that to her reminded her of how she felt when the sun came out after a somber rainy day. It was different, but she liked it.

"If you want to, I'm okay with it. But don't feel like you have to. I'll manage to ignore everyone else, they're just bystanders anyways." Mika smiled. "If everyone thinks I'm worth taking time out of their day just to talk about me, it's because they're jealous."

"I like how you think," Bokuto laughed.

The waitress came back with their things. Mika's mouth watered at the sight of the cheesecake.

She had been wanting cheesecake for a while. Yet, she decided she would let Bokuto have some, she felt bad as he was also having to deal with everything, so she pushed the plate into the middle of the table.

"You can half of it," Mika said, taking a bite, savoring the taste.

Bokuto perked up but quickly shook his head.

"I would- but I'm on a diet, especially with my game tonight," he sighed, looking longingly at the dessert. "Though... I don't think one bite would hurt."

Mika laughed, watching as Bokuto took one singular spoonful of the cheesecake. When he went back for more, Mika pulled the plate back towards her before he could get more.

"You can have more cheesecake after your game, my treat," she said, clicking her tongue. "But no more before then. I don't need another coach to not like me."

"Another?" Bokuto asked, taking a sip of his tea.

"Coach Tōma," Mika sighed. "He's the head coach at Shiratorizawa. I've met him only a couple of times. Every time I show up, he likes to make it obvious that he doesn't like me."

"How could someone not like you?" Bokuto asked, raising an eyebrow. Mika could tell he was serious. "I think you're a very likable person, Oyama-chan."

Mika could feel her face heat up, but she laughed.

"Thank you, Bokuto-kun," she said. "I appreciate it."

The two of them talked a bit more until Bokuto realized he had to get to practice.

"I wish we could talk more," he said.

"I do too," Mika said genuinely.

Even if seeing his face everywhere annoyed Mika, she enjoyed being with him, seeing him in person rather than a printed version of him. It was refreshing to talk to someone who had the same interests as her. Someone who didn't talk about the same things all of the time.

"So, did you want to go on a date?"

bee's corner !!

whenever kōtarō is put in an awkward situation, his instinctive reaction is to say a random fact

"uhuh ketchup was sold as a medicine at one point"

"you want your notes back? about that- penguinsflyunderwater."