A Thousand Cranes for a Wish (USHIJIMA X OC)

Welcome Back

- ----TWO DAYS LATER-----

"Umeko! You're back in class!" Tendou rose from his seat and practically skipped over to Umeko.

Since Umeko arrived back on campus and met with Ushijima, she hadn't made contact with any other members of the team. She figured that she might as well wait till Monday when school was back in session. "Yeah, sorry for disappearing." Umeko fiddled with her fingers and looked down apologetically.

Tendou bent down so his face was eye level with hers. "We'll I'm glad you came back." He hummed in approval before he led Umeko to her seat. "Will you tell me what happened?" He tilted his head and gestured to Umeko's bandaged right hand.

Umeko self-consciously pulled her hand behind her back. "Oh, well can I do it after school? Like before you all have practice. That way I can just say the story once and not have to repeat it."

"Mkay!" He chirped, undeterred by her reluctance.

- ----AFTERSCHOOL-----

Umeko took a deep breath before she walked into the gym. For some reason the action seemed far more daunting that anything she had done all day. What if they are mad? I probably upset them. Is it still ok for me to be in here? What if I'm just intruding? Umeko's thoughts went a mile a minute which drowned out most other sounds.

"Ume." Ushijima tried to get Umeko's attention to no avail. "Umeko." He carefully tapped her cheek to bring her thoughts back down to earth. "You are overthinking for no reason."

"S-sorry" Umeko hastily looked forward towards the court and the other team members."

Shirabu's eyes widened as he ran towards the two entering students. Is that...? "Umeko!" As soon as he got to the pair, he collected himself trying to look like he hadn't just run towards them from across the gym. "Why didn't you let us know you were ok?" He pinched the bridge of his nose then sighed. "We were all worried, idiot." Shirabu was relieved that Umeko looked healthy enough -barring the injured hand- but he decided not to bring that up. If she wasn't ready to tell them then there was no point in prying it out of her.

The rest of the team were quick to notice Shirabu running towards the door and they too followed along once they identified who the people were. They -coach included- had grown fond of their 'honorary member' so they were excited to see her again, especially after she had ghosted them.

Much to Umeko's surprise she was welcomed back with open arms. To be honest she expected the team to be upset or angry even, she did cause a lot of stress and worry. "I'm sorry I didn't message you all sooner."

Oohira sighed and gently pet the top of her head. "Don't worry about it, I'm sure you had your own things going on. If there is a next time, we would like to know that you are ok though."

Semi nodded in agreement. "Just don't vanish without warning and we'll call it even." Semi gave her a reassuring smile.

"I promise." She gave the team a smile. Though it was just a wisp it was more than she had done in the past few days. I missed them.

Kawanishi was the next to speak. He decided to take the fall and ask the hard question. "So, what happened?" All the other team members had noticed the injury, but no one had made any indications that they were going to ask about it."

- ----ONE STORY LATER-----

"And that's it." Umeko had told the team the less tear jerking, abbreviated version of the story. "But it'll heal soon! So that's good." She purposely left out the part where she wouldn't be able to feel some of her fingers again. Umeko wanted to find a way to move on from that state of mind and to do that would mean not wallowing in self-pity or pity from others.

Oohira furrowed his eyebrows. "The competition, are you still going to compete?"

"Yes." There was no hesitation in her voice and there was determination in her eyes. Despite what happened and what the doctor had told her, Umeko still wanted to pursue something in the arts. Besides, if Beethoven could compose while being completely deaf, who's to say that she couldn't pursue art with a few numb fingers.

"It's just like you to cause trouble."

The entire team stiffened up when they heard the voice. "Coach!"

The elderly man huffed and glared at his team, "It's time to start. Go." Without hesitation the boys ran off and began their warm up routine, once all the players were out of earshot, the Coach's glare landed on Umeko. "And you, if you are going to cause trouble then warn us beforehand. We have all grown accustomed to your presence, so it'd be a distraction if you weren't seated in your usual spot." He shook his head then began to walk back to his seat. "Don't test your luck again."

Umeko stood stunned trying to unload what the Coach had just scolded her for. While there were some mixed signals it was clear that the Coach was just as pleased as the team was to find that Umeko had returned. Ah, I've met some very kind people.

"Well, are you coming?"

Umeko smiled broadly for the first time in over a week. "Yes, Coach!"