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"Seiin's manager!" Subaru blurts out.
Ochi tugs his headphones down to rest around his neck and looks blankly up at him over the lid of his laptop. "What?"
"That's why I thought you looked familiar! I never made the connection because I'd thought Seiin had a girl manager."
"Oh," Ochi says awkwardly. It's been a week, but he still doesn't seem to quite know what to make of him, and he still hasn't dropped the '-kun' from his name. At least he does use his given name, though. "Not technically, no."
Subaru shakes his head a little, grinning to himself as he sets his bag by the table and plops down next to him. "Man, Kouhei was totally jealous for nothing."
"Kouhei… number four, wing spiker, Tokura Kouhei?"
As expected of a manager. "Yup," he says. "He wanted a girl manager and was jealous of every school that had one, yet he chose to go to a technical school, which pretty much may as well have been an all-boys' school. We actually haven't officially had a manager since first year, and no girl manager almost since Kantoku was a player. One of the guys who didn't make the regulars, usually a first-year, would act as one during games. Y'know, I'm surprised none of my fangirls stepped in to fill that spot."
"Of course you had to go to the one school in all of Fukui-ken where you don't have any fangirls," Ochi says, a smile quirking at the corner of his mouth, and—is he teasing him? Progress!
Feigning hurt, Subaru lays a scandalized hand over his heart. "I had plenty of fangirls at Fukuhou. I was just unlucky that they all liked other clubs better than me.
"Hey, can I tell him?" he asks excitedly. Kouhei's reaction if he found out Seiin never had a girl manager either would be great. He probably doesn't deserve like half the ribbing they put him through, but the poor kid's just so fun to tease, and he takes it all in good stride, anyway.
"I— Go ahead, I don't care."
"Cool," he says, pulling out his phone and leaning close to take a quick selfie of the two of them, Ochi still blinking in perplexity, caught off guard. He bears a passing resemblance to a deer caught in the headlights.
"Wait," Ochi says as Subaru navigates to the LINE group chat that still has all the regulars from last year in it. "You're using that? I look terrible!"
"You look fine," he assures him, though he swipes back to the camera again anyway, leaning back in and waiting for Ochi to situate himself before taking the photo. He finds himself admiring it for a moment before switching back to LINE and uploading it to the chat: Ochi's smiling almost shyly at the camera as he leans toward Subaru, their heads almost together, holding up a peace sign, endearingly dorky. He's kind of adorable.
[img]
Guess who's Keyakisha's new manager in training - Seiin's old manager!
Who btw is actually a guy
Also my roomie!
Yuuhi
Nice
Kouhei
Nooo don't do this to me!!
JunJun
lol
Yano
Kouhei 😆
Kouhei
Don't ruin my dreams!!
😭😭😭😭😭
Issei
Wasn't your dream to be on a team with a girl manager and date her?
Kouhei
That too
Tomoki
Sorry Kouhei, you're cursed never to have a girl manager or a girlfriend
Kouhei
Fuck you I'm gonna get a girlfriend this year!!
Yuuhi
Oooooooooh
5 yen in the swear jar!
Kouhei
I'm the captain now you can't do this to your captain!!
JunJun
Subaru's still MY captain
Issei
Same
Yuuhi
Same
Kouhei
Senpai you're not even on the team anymore!
Tomoki
Same
JunJun
Make that 50
Kouhei
Tomoki!!
JunJun
Also good luck finding one who isn't a Subaru fangirl lol
Kouhei
😭😭😭😭😭
Subaru chuckles and closes the app, Ochi leaning back from where he was watching over his shoulder. Almost immediately, a new notification pops up; he'll read through them later. Actually, aren't his kouhai in class right now? Whoops. He hopes it's a free-study period right now and they haven't just gotten in trouble.
"They seem lively," Ochi says. "I don't think we were ever that lively."
He shrugs. "That's what happens when you've got a big team. I'm sure Seiin will start getting more lively this year."
"Yeah," Ochi agrees, growing quiet. He slumps back into the couch cushions a little more, a gloomy aura settling around his shoulders.
You're part of the reason things will change, but you won't be there for it to happen. Things continue to change even when you're not there to see it. Ochi won't get to see the team Seiin will become. Subaru won't get to see the team Fukuhou will become. Kouhei's the ace now, and the captain. Does he still need someone to cheer him up, or is he the one doing the cheering?
"I'm making this my wallpaper," he announces suddenly.
Blinking, Ochi sits up and turns to him, heavy mood forgotten. "What, why?"
"I have a new team now, my wallpaper should be of them, yeah?"
He grins, and Ochi can only stare at him, wide-eyed. "Subaru… kun…"
Neither of them mention that Ochi isn't exactly "the team," but then, Subaru isn't exactly part of the Keyakisha men's volleyball team yet, either. Not for another two years. Two years that he's starting to think won't be quite as unbearable as he'd expected.