Chapter 43

                                    

                                          
"So you're really together?" asked Hanako, a girl who had also compared Miyu on her first day at school. Quite stupid, actually. Because, as she had learned from Oikawa, looks weren't important. Out of sheer habit, Miyu had simply looked at everything and everyone from the outside and judged the person. 
Hanako had never been unfriendly and had never said anything about anyone. A sweet girl who had a chubby face, but it had suited her figure. If Miyu had never compared her face with others, things would certainly have gone very differently.
"Yeah..." Miyu smiled a little and didn't really want to talk about it. "Not so shy." grinned Oikawa, who had put his arm around her shoulder and held her close. "Let... go..."
"Forget it." The boy grinned and only saw Iwaizumi shake her head. "We don't have training today. So let's do something."
"I actually wanted to...", Miyu started to say and went back to working on her scented candles. "Yes, and Iwaizumi is accompanying us." "I'm not..." he spoke up. "Come on, Iwa-chaan. We're not going to eat you."
Having allowed himself to be persuaded, Iwaizumi now sat with his best friend and Miyu in the café where Miyu had worked from time to time. The staff were very friendly and had already greeted Miyu cheerfully. They knew from the magazines that Miyu had undergone surgery, but had never said anything.
There were only a few rumors about an employee who had been fired because Miyu had shown up. Many believed that the owner of the cafe had only hired Miyu because of her looks and the other had lost his job because of that. Wrong. The former employee had left voluntarily because he had found a better job.
"It really took you almost four years?" Iwaizumi asked his counterpart. "Don't be so mean! It wasn't four years!" whined Oikawa. 
"Four years...what?" asked Miyu, who somehow didn't know what it was about. Was it about volleyball or something else?
"About talking to you and revealing his feelings." Iwaizumi announced. "Iwa-chan! You promised never to say anything!" Oikawa exclaimed in horror and looked for the first time embarrassingly moved at Miyu, who had to realize these words first. "H...Huh...?"
"You don't want to know how he cried my ears off when you yelled at him about the perfume. He thought you hated him, and you've hated him since freshman year of middle school." "Iwa-chaaan!"
Miyu smirked a little. It was probably all very embarrassing for Oikawa. Understandably so. She would feel the same way. "Now I feel like a stalker or something..."
"I'd rather say it now than have someone else tell her. And you were almost like a stalker. You even knew what time Miyu was at the bus stop." Iwaizumi continued, which is why Oikawa went after him to keep him silent.
Everything was more than new to Miyu. So Oikawa had been keeping an eye on her for years and had never said anything? Was it perhaps because of the girls who were always around him? It was possible.
"Don't behave so childishly!" scolded Iwaizumi, who quickly had Oikawa under control and the latter had sunk into his chair holding his head. This friendship was the complete opposite of the one with Shimizu.
Later that afternoon, the three of them left the cafe and decided to part ways at the crossroads. Miyu would get home better from there and wouldn't have too far to go, so Oikawa didn't have to accompany her.
He would go in the other direction with Iwaizumi, as they lived quite close to each other. They would probably talk about volleyball or other things that were none of Miyu's business. After all, she didn't interfere in their affairs.
"Thanks for paying." Miyu thanked the ace. "Not for that." he said simply and was really a very good friend. Actually, Miyu had always been able to observe that. He was the one who had always had Oikawa under control and had dared to hit him when something was wrong.
Just as Miyu had thanked him and bowed to leave, she heard a loud scream, whereupon a boy came running out of an alley and looked right in her direction. "What...?" Miyu asked herself when she realized who the scream had come from.