and he’s definitely looking at you like he’s trying to solve a puzzle you didn’t mean to start.
rec 00:00:01:02
i sit down in the chair and immediately regret all of my life choices.
the camera's already recording. the light is on. the room is stuffy and smells like whiteboard markers and old student council meetings. the door shuts behind me with a little click, and i stare directly into the lens like i'm about to give my final words before execution.
i don't even know why i agreed to this.
no, that's a lie—i do.
mai dared me.
"say something unhinged," she said.
"make it go viral," she said.
"it's anonymous anyway," she said, flipping her stupid pink phone case shut like she wasn't planning something.
the school's film club came up with this "year-end confession project" — a booth where students record one short video telling a secret, a joke, a personal truth. no names, no context. the best ones will be shown at the graduation showcase. apparently it's supposed to be "authentic." or "raw." or whatever fake-deep thing the president of the film club said with a beret on.
the rest will be deleted. allegedly.
so here i am, sitting in the middle of a room with one camera, one chair, and one truly spectacular lack of shame.
i lean forward.
breathe in.
and say something dumb.
"i think i have a crush on akaashi keiji."
i pause.
"not in, like, a cute way."
the air feels heavy.
not because it's true. but because i said it like it was.
"more like... he feels like a cursed forest spirit who'd judge you for your taste in literature."
i lean back, deadpan.
"like, he blinks and i feel like i've done something wrong. but it's kind of hot?"
"he moves like he's always mentally sighing. i want to fight him. in a parking lot. while holding his hand."
another pause.
i blink at the camera.
the little red "REC" in the corner keeps blinking back.
"obviously that's a joke. don't use this. delete it. thanks."
i hit stop.
stand up.
walk out of the room without a second thought, because it wasn't serious. not even close.
mai's waiting in the hallway with a smug little smirk.
"what'd you say?" she asks.
"you'll see if they play it," i shrug, brushing past her.
"so you said something unhinged."
i shrug again, because she's not wrong.
truth is, i barely even know akaashi. he's in the year below us. quiet. pale. vice captain of the volleyball team, which is weird because he looks like he spends more time in libraries judging fonts than spiking balls. i've seen him around maybe twice. we've never spoken.
he has this... presence.
not in a romantic way. more in a "guy who would haunt a mossy victorian mansion" way.
so i said what i said. for the bit. for the chaos. for the fleeting satisfaction of making mai laugh when she watches it later.
but a few days pass.
then a week.
and people start looking at me weird.
it starts small. harmless. someone giggles behind me in line at the vending machine. someone in chemistry class leans over and says "hey... do you like guys who play volleyball?" with a snort. bokuto from the volleyball team literally points at me one morning and yells, "PARKING LOT GIRL," like that means anything to anyone.
and that's when i start to realize:
they didn't delete it.
i replay the moment over and over in my head.
my voice. the tone. the exact wording.
i'm not even embarrassed. i just... didn't expect it to be used.
especially not with my voice.
my phrasing.
my entire sense of humor now broadcast like a crime scene.
what makes it worse is that akaashi doesn't say anything.
at all.
he walks by me in the hallway one day—calm, unreadable, slightly dead-eyed as usual—and glances at me. just for a second. but it's enough.
our eyes meet.
he doesn't flinch.
he doesn't smile.
he just looks. holds it. then walks away.
and it's awful.
because now i flinch.
now i can't walk past him without wondering if he's thinking about it.
about me.
about the words i said, wrapped in jokes, framed in sarcasm, that are now playing rent-free in his apparently cryptid-ass brain.
i try not to spiral.
but it's hard when bokuto keeps making weird noises every time he sees me.
and when mai keeps looking too pleased with herself.
and when the film club president stops me in the hallway and says "you're welcome."
eventually, i corner mai after lunch.
"did you know they were gonna use it?" i demand, dragging her behind the school building where the smokers go even though no one actually smokes.
she raises an eyebrow. "define 'know.'"
"mai."
"i maybe... encouraged it."
i stare.
she shrugs.
"it was good content."
"mai."
"you said it was a joke!"
"it was!"
"then it shouldn't matter."
and technically she's right.
but it's not about what i meant—it's about how it looks.
because now the entire school thinks i've got a raging crush on akaashi, and akaashi hasn't said a single word to me in his life. and worse than that?
i'm starting to think about it.
like... really think about it.
what if i did like him? i don't even know him.
what if saying it out loud made it real?
what if my brain is now self-sabotaging through attraction just to punish me for being annoying?
and then i get even more annoyed, because that would be exactly the kind of thing i'd do.
a few days later, i see him again.
after school. near the gym. volleyball practice is ending, and the sun's going down, casting long shadows across the court. bokuto's doing jumping squats and yelling about some energy drink. akaashi is tying his shoes on the bench like he's preparing for war.
and then he looks up.
straight at me.
i freeze.
we lock eyes.
he doesn't smile.
instead, he lifts one eyebrow—barely. subtle. barely perceptible to anyone else but me—and then says something to bokuto. bokuto looks over his shoulder at me, absolutely lights up like a christmas tree, and waves.
akaashi doesn't look back.
and that's when i realize:
he definitely knows.
and he's not forgetting it.
i go home and tell myself to move on.
to ignore it. to forget it. to just outlive the shame.
but late at night, lying in bed, i remember the way he looked at me.
not judgmental. not weird.
just... curious.
like he was thinking something he didn't plan on thinking.
and that scares me a little.
because i'm not supposed to be part of this story.
and now i don't know how to get out of it.
HHUUU it’s been a while since i’ve wrote so it might be a little rusty. i only have two chaps out rn (the prologue and chapter 1! you can find it on my wattpad @tsunaashi :)
Read prologue - #00 from the story caught on camera! || keiji akaashi x reader by tsunaashi (mei) with 4 reads. haikyu...
and he’s definitely looking at you like he’s trying to solve a puzzle you didn’t mean to start.
rec 00:00:01:02
i sit down in the chair and immediately regret all of my life choices.
the camera's already recording. the light is on. the room is stuffy and smells like whiteboard markers and old student council meetings. the door shuts behind me with a little click, and i stare directly into the lens like i'm about to give my final words before execution.
i don't even know why i agreed to this.
no, that's a lie—i do.
mai dared me.
"say something unhinged," she said.
"make it go viral," she said.
"it's anonymous anyway," she said, flipping her stupid pink phone case shut like she wasn't planning something.
the school's film club came up with this "year-end confession project" — a booth where students record one short video telling a secret, a joke, a personal truth. no names, no context. the best ones will be shown at the graduation showcase. apparently it's supposed to be "authentic." or "raw." or whatever fake-deep thing the president of the film club said with a beret on.
the rest will be deleted. allegedly.
so here i am, sitting in the middle of a room with one camera, one chair, and one truly spectacular lack of shame.
i lean forward.
breathe in.
and say something dumb.
"i think i have a crush on akaashi keiji."
i pause.
"not in, like, a cute way."
the air feels heavy.
not because it's true. but because i said it like it was.
"more like... he feels like a cursed forest spirit who'd judge you for your taste in literature."
i lean back, deadpan.
"like, he blinks and i feel like i've done something wrong. but it's kind of hot?"
"he moves like he's always mentally sighing. i want to fight him. in a parking lot. while holding his hand."
another pause.
i blink at the camera.
the little red "REC" in the corner keeps blinking back.
"obviously that's a joke. don't use this. delete it. thanks."
i hit stop.
stand up.
walk out of the room without a second thought, because it wasn't serious. not even close.
mai's waiting in the hallway with a smug little smirk.
"what'd you say?" she asks.
"you'll see if they play it," i shrug, brushing past her.
"so you said something unhinged."
i shrug again, because she's not wrong.
truth is, i barely even know akaashi. he's in the year below us. quiet. pale. vice captain of the volleyball team, which is weird because he looks like he spends more time in libraries judging fonts than spiking balls. i've seen him around maybe twice. we've never spoken.
he has this... presence.
not in a romantic way. more in a "guy who would haunt a mossy victorian mansion" way.
so i said what i said. for the bit. for the chaos. for the fleeting satisfaction of making mai laugh when she watches it later.
but a few days pass.
then a week.
and people start looking at me weird.
it starts small. harmless. someone giggles behind me in line at the vending machine. someone in chemistry class leans over and says "hey... do you like guys who play volleyball?" with a snort. bokuto from the volleyball team literally points at me one morning and yells, "PARKING LOT GIRL," like that means anything to anyone.
and that's when i start to realize:
they didn't delete it.
i replay the moment over and over in my head.
my voice. the tone. the exact wording.
i'm not even embarrassed. i just... didn't expect it to be used.
especially not with my voice.
my phrasing.
my entire sense of humor now broadcast like a crime scene.
what makes it worse is that akaashi doesn't say anything.
at all.
he walks by me in the hallway one day—calm, unreadable, slightly dead-eyed as usual—and glances at me. just for a second. but it's enough.
our eyes meet.
he doesn't flinch.
he doesn't smile.
he just looks. holds it. then walks away.
and it's awful.
because now i flinch.
now i can't walk past him without wondering if he's thinking about it.
about me.
about the words i said, wrapped in jokes, framed in sarcasm, that are now playing rent-free in his apparently cryptid-ass brain.
i try not to spiral.
but it's hard when bokuto keeps making weird noises every time he sees me.
and when mai keeps looking too pleased with herself.
and when the film club president stops me in the hallway and says "you're welcome."
eventually, i corner mai after lunch.
"did you know they were gonna use it?" i demand, dragging her behind the school building where the smokers go even though no one actually smokes.
she raises an eyebrow. "define 'know.'"
"mai."
"i maybe... encouraged it."
i stare.
she shrugs.
"it was good content."
"mai."
"you said it was a joke!"
"it was!"
"then it shouldn't matter."
and technically she's right.
but it's not about what i meant—it's about how it looks.
because now the entire school thinks i've got a raging crush on akaashi, and akaashi hasn't said a single word to me in his life. and worse than that?
i'm starting to think about it.
like... really think about it.
what if i did like him? i don't even know him.
what if saying it out loud made it real?
what if my brain is now self-sabotaging through attraction just to punish me for being annoying?
and then i get even more annoyed, because that would be exactly the kind of thing i'd do.
a few days later, i see him again.
after school. near the gym. volleyball practice is ending, and the sun's going down, casting long shadows across the court. bokuto's doing jumping squats and yelling about some energy drink. akaashi is tying his shoes on the bench like he's preparing for war.
and then he looks up.
straight at me.
i freeze.
we lock eyes.
he doesn't smile.
instead, he lifts one eyebrow—barely. subtle. barely perceptible to anyone else but me—and then says something to bokuto. bokuto looks over his shoulder at me, absolutely lights up like a christmas tree, and waves.
akaashi doesn't look back.
and that's when i realize:
he definitely knows.
and he's not forgetting it.
i go home and tell myself to move on.
to ignore it. to forget it. to just outlive the shame.
but late at night, lying in bed, i remember the way he looked at me.
not judgmental. not weird.
just... curious.
like he was thinking something he didn't plan on thinking.
and that scares me a little.
because i'm not supposed to be part of this story.
and now i don't know how to get out of it.
HHUUU it’s been a while since i’ve wrote so it might be a little rusty. i only have two chaps out rn (the prologue and chapter 1! you can find it on my wattpad @tsunaashi :)
Read prologue - #00 from the story caught on camera! || keiji akaashi x reader by tsunaashi (mei) with 4 reads. haikyu...
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