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After spending two years as the volleyball club manager, Yachi should really be used to tall boys by now. Yet, there's something strange and daunting about the way they loom over her, and Yachi sometimes wonders if tall people operate on a frequency completely different from her own. Regardless of how friendly her club members are, one fact remains:
Yachi Hitoka is short, and this makes it difficult for her to look intimidating as she tells the college boys on the train, "s-sorry! You must have the wrong person!"
The two boys just exchange a look of amusement before crowding around her. One of them grins. "That's fine. You should come hang out with us anyway."
"I-" Yachi opens her mouth and closes it. "No, I don't think-"
"Oh, come on!" The second boy adds, setting an arm across Yachi's back. "You're cute, we're cute. Let's all have fun together, huh?"
Yachi does her best to square her shoulders. They're only a minute away from the next station now. If she kicks them as hard as she can, Yachi can probably escape through the door in time to lose them. She's about to open her mouth when a familiar voice beats her to it.
"Hey, back off." Tsukishima appears out of nowhere, still clad in his practice clothes. Yachi thinks he must have come in from another car. Still, she has never been so happy for the way he towers over the other boys. When Yachi scoots closer to him, Tsukishima gives her a knowing look. "She said she's not interested."
"Who are you, her boyfriend?!" The boys ask in unison. Regardless, the over-friendly one gulps under the scrutiny of Tsukishima's glare.
Tsukishima shrugs. "Yeah. Sure."
"What?" Yachi meeps, then promptly covers her mouth with her hands. Still, this seems to do the trick, because the boys give Tsukishima an annoyed look before exiting at the station. Yachi waits three full minutes for the train to move again before saying, "thank you."
Tsukishima doesn't move away now that he's rescued her, and his body radiates unexpected warmth in the semi-empty train car. "Does this happen often?"
"No." Yachi frowns and regrets her inability to fend them off earlier. "I had a plan, um, to get rid of them."
"I'm sure," Tsukishima says. "Where were you going?"
"My mother's office. And you, Tsukishima-kun?"
"To see my brother. What station are you getting off at?" Tsukishima tucks his hands into his pockets as Yachi tells him. "I'm getting off there too. I'll walk you to the office."
Yachi should probably reject his offer, but the last ten minutes have proven that she’s not the best at defusing situations. So she accepts and they both exit at the next station to find the sun setting over the horizon. "Thank you again," Yachi says for the nth time as they walk past a Family Mart. "Sorry for making you late."
This just makes Tsukishima tsk. "Stop apologizing. Your safety is more important than my punctuality."
"Oh," Yachi says and looks ahead. "Um, what does your brother do?"
"University internship. We meet for dinner once a week."
"That's really nice. I always wished I had an older sibling," Yachi says.
Tsukishima gives her an appraising look. Up close, he's less intimidating and more calculating. Still, Tsukishima is probably the team member she knows the least from her year, and Yachi wishes this wasn't true. "Siblinghood has its pros and cons," he says at last.
"I always imagined it to be fun! It must be nice to have someone who understands your family situation, someone who can always be there for you. I don't have a lot of friends, but I wish I had someone at home to talk to and..." Yachi stops herself from babbling. It dawns on her that she has no clue about Tsukishima's relationship with his brother, outside of the games Akiteru-san came to. "Sorry for being presumptuous..."
"You can talk to me," Tsukishima says. His voice has gotten lower in the past year, and Yachi feels that it's almost fitting. "If you need help, I mean."
"Oh," Yachi says. "Thank you! Maybe we can take the train here together next time?"
"Maybe," Tsukishima agrees.The uplift of his lips is almost indistinguishable, but Yachi has watched Tsukishima enough to know what it means.
They arrive at the building soon after that, and Yachi is about to head in when Tsukishima calls her name.
"Next time someone bothers you, you can tell them I'm your boyfriend." Tsukishima gives her a small nod. He’s gone before she can respond.
Oh, Yachi thinks as she goes inside and takes the elevator to her mother's floor. When her mother asks about the silly smile on her face, Yachi realizes that tall boys may be her type after all.