A few years ago in Silangan High, Hinata was by his lonesome, his expression grim and his breathing labored. His face glistened with sweat as he looked at every single girl in the school building's hallway, at every nook and cranny of the area. But none of them matched the person he was looking for, nor was she hiding in all the blind spots.
"Hinata, what's the matter?" asked one of the two students who took notice of the young man.
Hinata hit his fellow student back with his own question. "Have you seen a girl with long brownish hair around here? Her name's Moka."
"Oh," the student's eyes met the other guy's beside him before they turned back to Hinata. "You mean the girl in the rumors—"
"Whatever rumors you heard about Moka, they're not true."
The way Hinata's tone shifted, low and almost threatening, made the two guys shiver in fear. He was looking at them like he normally would towards other people or his friends during a conversation, all friendly and kind. However, the two guys knew to be careful with their choice of words, or at least the one only speaking with Hinata.
"I-I see. I didn't see her though. Hey, did you?"
The other guy shook his head in decline. "But Mina did come here to ask the same question earlier."
The other guy pointed his hand up to the upper floors of the building. Hinata expressed his gratitude toward the two before heading to the stairs. Each time he would reach a floor, Hinata would check the hallway for Mina, only to not see her and go further up.
That was, until he found himself standing at the foot of the stairs leading to the top of the building. Hinata stared at the first tread next to his feet, his gaze slowly making its way to the top. Mina was most likely in there, and probably Moka as well.
They were probably talking, Mina encouraging Moka that her friends believed all the rumors circulating around the school about her were fake. And yet, even though he knew he should go up there to help, Hinata couldn't bring himself to raise a foot toward the stairs.
* * *
A few years later, while looking for someone once again, Hinata found himself at the foot of the stairs. Hinata had looked all around the school's premises and had asked some of his friends to look at other buildings as well. This rooftop of the 11th-grade building was the only place he had yet to check out.
It felt unlikely that Callisto would go and hide in the building of her seniors, knowing this was also the young man's building. However, Hinata had a reason for thinking Callisto could be up there right now. And unlike back then, he now had the resolve to move forward.
He wanted to see her.
Hinata climbed the stairs with a purpose. Then, as soon as he reached the upper surface, he held his breath and opened the door.
It was bright, the warm heat of the sun seeping through his skin. He looked around; an uncomfortable sigh escaped his lips. He had never felt this uneasy before in a long time, like he was afraid he was going to see something he didn't want to see.
Even so, Hinata held his gaze ahead as he looked at one side of the rooftop. There were a lot of grade 11 students hanging out. Some of them noticed him and called out to him but didn't pay them any mind. They weren't the reason they came up there.
Callisto was nowhere to be seen in that side of the roof, so he turned the other way.
"Ah."
"Hina..."
The sight stole the breath from Hinata's lungs as his eyes admired the silver of Callisto's long hair catching the sunlight, framing her small white face perfectly like a painting.
It was always a breathtaking sight no matter how many times he saw it.
There was someone else sitting beside Callisto, though Hinata barely registered their presence nor bothered to figure out who they were. Hell, there were a lot of students in the area, and yet they became nothing but unnecessary background noise to Hinata.
Right now, all that mattered to Hinata was Callisto. She was there like he suspected, looking surprised as the nickname everyone gave him came out of her lips, though it sounded very different coming from Callisto.
He wanted to hear her call him it as much as he wanted to spend time with Callisto. Though again, he knew he shouldn't be greedy and knew that Callisto had other friends beside him.
And so, Hinata kept that selfish thought for himself as he recomposed himself, the soles of his boots hitting the floor with a firm thud as he approached Callisto.
As he ate the distance between him and Callisto, he could see the young lady visibly growing flustered, her free hand reaching out for the hem of her PE t-shirt out of nervous habit.
"Of course she would," Hinata thought to himself, a tiny smirk playing across his lips. "She probably knows I'm not letting her get away this time as well."
In the end, all Callisto could do was to look up as Hinata now loomed over her sitting form. Hinata wasted no time and asked her.
"Can we talk for a second, Calli?"
However, Mina Minana, who was there the entire time, tried to pull the young man's attention towards her.
"What are you doing here, Hinata?"
Hinata exhaled, making it clear he wasn't there for anyone other than the silver-haired girl as he turned to look at Mina.
"Sorry, Mina. I need to talk to my friend for a bit."
Meanwhile, Callisto was looking around for an opportunity to get out. As soon as she found one, she tried to stand and walked out of there as though she was just a stranger passing by. But then, a hand reached out and grabbed her by the wrist, making Callisto gasp in surprise.
Of course, the hand was none other than Hinata's. In truth, he never let the young lady out of his sight even as he was talking to his classmate.
"Where do you think you're going?" he asked, his grip on her wrist tightening not to hurt her, but enough to make it clear he had no intention of letting go. "You haven't answered my question yet."