ONLY ME || Haikyuu x Male

CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE

The walk back to court was awkward, to say the least.

Ren followed behind Tobio, a decent distance between them. He had his hands shoved into the pockets of his jacket that he could only assume the setter had brought him when he was unconscious.

How sweet...

He quickly shook his head, clearing the thought from his brain. He couldn't be adding any more emotions into this hotpot. If the circumstances were any different, they would probably be walking side by side, but given what had just happened, there was this tension in the air that kept him at arm's length. Ren didn't want to be fueling that any more than he already had.

Hence why he was incredibly grateful that the walk back to the gym was short, feeling an immense wave of relief crashing over him when the sight of his team appeared in view. If there was one thing he hated, it was that sort of unsettling feeling of a strained relationship, and he was glad that it was over, at least for a little while.

"Ren! You're back!" Nishinoya's excited voice drew his attention, and before he could register what was happening, the libero was flying into him, wrapping him in a koala-type hug. Sugawara and Ennoshita quickly followed behind, the latter practically dragging Noya off of Ren.

"Release, Noya! Release! He's probably very fragile right now! You might hurt him with your ridiculous amount of energy!" Ren smiled gratefully at Ennoshita, indeed feeling a little sore from the impact of Nishinoya's embrace.

"Thanks, Enno. And hey, Tobio gave me a quick recap of the match and told me that you took over for Daichi! He said you did a great job, and I'm super proud of you." He walked over to Ennoshita, who had long since put Nishinoya down, giving the boy a quick hug and a pat on the back. "You'll make for a great captain next year, you know? I look forward to your reign."

That last bit was sort of a tease, but Ennoshita's jaw fell, and he stammered out a thank you, growing a little flustered at the praise. Ren raised a hand to his lips to cover his quiet laugh. It was clear that the guy didn't receive praise very often, and it felt rather pleasant to know that he'd made his friend light up like that.

Just then, Sugawara butt in, throwing an arm over Ennoshita's shoulder, a sly grin spread out on his face. "Oh~Tobio told you, did he? I guess he would've had the time to, considering that as soon as the match was over he was tripping over his feet, rushing to see you. He looked really worried, you know?"

"Oh, did he?" Ren glanced over his shoulder at Tobio, who was covering his lower face with a hand, though there was a little bit of red peeking out from beneath his fingers. Ren smiled, feeling his heart jump. It was nice that someone really cared for him like that, trying to visit as soon as they possibly could.

He really is soft at heart. I hope that whatever I end up choosing doesn't hurt him.

Then, in his peripheral vision, he spotted Daichi chatting it up with Yachi, snapping him out of his daze. He hurried over to his captain, skidding to a halt and dipping into a deep bow as soon as he was at a full stop. "Daichi! I'm so glad that you're okay, and I'm really, really sorry about hurting you like that and-"

"Stop, Hasegawa. And stand up, please. This is starting to feel very awkward." Ren blinked in surprise, instantly straightening to look his captain in the eye. There was an unexpected apologetic look on Daichi's face, and the sight of that expression rendered him speechless. "Please don't apologize to me. I should be the one saying sorry to you. I saw you going to cover, but I ran in instinctively anyway. So don't beat yourself up about it, okay?"

Those words made Ren sighed in relief, and he put a hand over his pounding heart, trying to force it to slow down. "Yes, captain! And don't apologize to me either! You were just trying to make sure that we got the point."