WRONG TIMING || kunimi a.

ch. 09

————— kunimi's pov —————

shiho didn't show up to school again. she never missed more than a day of school, and even if she did, she would text me immediately after i finished to ask about any new work.

and to think that she wouldn't be here for the end of year exams? something was definitely off.

i sighed and walked over to the gym for practice.

as i entered the gym after changing, i walked into the middle of a debate between a whining oikawa and ticked off iwaizumi.

those two never seemed to shut up.

i sigh, knowing that if shiho was here, she would've broken up the two immediately. she was pretty much the only person that they listened to.

"akira, you seem down. is something wrong?" mia questioned, rubbing my back. i couldn't tell her that i was worried about shiho.

not after that scene i caused in the classroom and after she had.... punched mia.

"nah, just a little tired. i'll have to sleep early tonight."

i felt worse than ever, knowing there was a big possibility that our fight was the reason she's been absent. i didn't know what to do.

i tried going over to tsukishima's house a couple days earlier, but he had just slammed the door in my face and told me that shiho didn't want to talk to me.

she wouldn't answer my calls or texts either. i just really hope nothing bad's happened to her.

—————————————————————————

VOLLEY-TESTICLES
7:42pm

shittykawa
@better akira shiho-chan, are
you okay?

i know you said you weren't going to be
at school for a bit, but it's just really unlike you
to miss out on school for such a long time.
especially when we have our exams soon

you aren't responding to any of our texts either

turnip head
yeah, we're all really worried about you, shiho

if you're okay, at least let us know you are.

iwa-chan 💪
guys, maybe she has something going on
at home. we should give her space.

blueberry🫐
we've given her space for two months.

she just disappeared without saying anything.
and she won't answer our texts either

shittykawa
@lesser akira have you heard anything
from shiho-chan?

you guys are attached at the hip

if she's told anyone what's going on,
it has to be you

lesser akira [akira kunimi]
no, i haven't heard anything either. i'm starting to get a little worried. she usually texts me if anything is up.

shittykawa
have you tried visiting her in person? you guys spend
a lot of time at each other's houses, don't you?

lesser akira
about that.. tsukishima kind of just slammed the door in my face and told me that shiho didn't want to talk to me.

turnip head
who the hell is tsukishima

lesser akira
ah, he's shiho's cousin. they live next door
to each other

she's usually over at theirs because her house
is pretty empty most of the time

shittykawa
wait, something's not right

why would shiho-chan not want to talk to you?

did something happen?

lesser akira
oh. uh.

we kind of fought the week before she began missing school.

i've tried to apologise, but i just can't get a hold of her. i'm starting to think that this is all my fault...

what if something bad happened to her? what if i caused it?

shittykawa
i'm sure it isn't your fault, kunimi.

even if it is, i doubt she would miss the semester exams because of a fight. make sure to fix things with her as soon as you get in touch, okay?

let's just hope we hear back from shiho soon. i'm starting to really miss her.

lesser akira
yeah.

—————————————————————————

it's already been two months since shiho's been gone. i tried visiting her house to ask her dad, but he never answers the door.

tsukishima still refuses to talk to me. i don't know what's going on. i don't know what to do.

suddenly, someone tapped my shoulder, making me flinch. i turned around and saw kindaichi looking at me with concern.

"kunimi.. you've been acting really off lately. is it because of shiho?"

i stiffened. was it that obvious? i had been really stressed over the entire shiho incident, and had been staying up late calling her, staring at my phone, hoping for at least a 'read' icon to show up next to my string of texts. (ironic, isn't it?)

"do you miss shiho?" i suddenly asked kindaichi. shit, why did i do that?

he was silent for a few seconds, clearly confused by my sudden question.

"yeah. i guess so. we all do. she was our team's pride and joy, you know? i used to show off to my friends at other schools that we had such a cool manager. as cliche as it is, it's true," he laughed.

every one of us enjoyed her company, and she enjoyed ours. i definitely miss her."

i sighed.

"i miss her a lot." i hesitated. what was i doing?

"i miss her all the time. i miss her smile, her laugh, her constant joking and teasing. her affection, our stupid study sessions where we got absolutely no work done.

i miss her eyes, and the way they seemed to light up whenever she got excited. i miss practicing with her. i miss the conversations we used to have.

she trusted me with her life, and i trusted her with mine. it just came naturally. you can't dislike someone like her." i chuckled, a bittersweet feeling in my throat.

"i took her for granted. i took her love and care for granted. i was trying so hard to find the 'right person' to call the love of my life, that i missed what was right in front of me the whole time."

"i think i love her, kindaichi."

"and i think i realised it too late."

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