School had been your escape lately—a place to distract yourself from the lingering pain of the many mishaps in your life. You often found a quiet spot by the gym to read, hoping the background noise of laughter and chatter would help ease the ache that constantly lingered heavily in your chest.

One afternoon, while you were lost in your book, a loud shout jolted you back to reality. "Heads up!" You barely had time to look up before a volleyball bounced right on top of your head before rolling away. You huffed, rubbing your head in pain just as someone jogged over, grinning sheepishly.

"Sorry about that!" he said, scratching the back of his neck. "Got a little…overenthusiastic.” His voice was energetic, booming even when he was apologizing. You simply shook your head, dismissing him. The last thing you needed was another thing to go wrong. However, instead of leaving you he returns. He tilted his head, studying you curiously.

"Hey, I’ve seen you here before, right? You’re always in that spot,” Without waiting for a response, he plopped down next to you. “I’m Ryunosuke, by the way. Mind if I hang out here for a minute? Practice is brutal.”

Your instinct was to retreat but you just sighed. He’ll leave.

“You don’t talk much, do you?” He speaks up bluntly, though you knew he meant no harm by it. He shrugs.

“That’s alright. I’m sure you’ll break someday,” He smiles. Before you knew it, he jumps up to his feet. “You better watch out because I mean it!” He laughs before running back towards the gymnasium as his name was being called by his teammates.

You had thought that would have been the last time he talked to you. It seemed like fate thought differently, though.

As the days went by, Ryunosuke continued to run over to you after practice with something in order to finally make you crack. His loud, bright presence was impossible to ignore and slowly, you found the ache in your chest start to slowly melt.

What was this feeling that was starting to replace the ache in your chest?