The Silence In The Dark (Prince of Tennis) ||REWRITE||

Chapter 12

Rei's head was still foggy when he was heading to practice, throat closed tightly and tongue heavy in his mouth, eye's still a tad bit puffy and hair ruffled up a little. But life went on, so he continued on his way to the changing rooms, going through the motions of getting changed before grabbing his racquet and walking out. Standing beside Sanada as the other regulars and non-regulars filtered out of the changing rooms. Sanada glanced down at their youngest regular, not wanting to leave him out of practice but Reichi also had an emotionally exhausting lunch period and looked tired already. Sanada kept quiet about the situation until after he gave the non-regulars orders for practice, and only once all of them left the regulars alone did he turn toward the youngest.

"Are you okay to practice today, Echizen?" And of course, his concern was instantly made into a slight joking matter by Yanagi. "Ahh, Gen'ichiro, are you getting soft on us?" He turned a glare toward the other third-year boy. Turning his attention back to Reichi, who started signing once he caught Sanada's eyes. 'I think I'll be fine. I think I need a few minutes to myself before I jump into practice though if that's fine?' Sanada gave him a nod, shooing the boy off and watching him grab his water bottle from the nearby bench before heading to the water fountain. Once the boy was out of his sight he turned toward his teammates, scowling heavily before barking out an order to go start laps.

Reichi took his time, taking deep breaths that felt just a bit too hard, blinking slowly as he splashed his face with water, pushing his hair back in one quick motion. Standing back up straight and grabbed for his towel. He started patting his face dry when he heard quiet footsteps, making him look over briefly, eyeing his vice-captain who walked toward him. 

"Echizen." He gruffly greeted, filling his water bottle up as Reichi nodded toward him. Sanada's eyes caught Reichi's, now exposed, right eye, staring briefly before looking away. "Our first match will be next week, Saturday, I'll be telling everyone else after practice today, figured you'd want to head home right after practice." Reichi nodded once, rolling his shoulders slowly as he hummed- just barely audible from the already strained vocal cords. 

"Echizen, I'm curious, and feel free not to answer, but what happened to your eye?" Rei stopped, looking up at his vice-captain before he started signing. 'During the accident, my retina was detached, when I got to the hospital they were more worried about my broken arm and visible injuries they didn't notice my eye till later. I'm pretty much blind in my right eye. I see vague shadows and differences in light, but no color or solid figures.' Gen'ichiro nodded, with a slight frown on his face. "Do you mind people coming up on that side of you?" 'I don't like it very much, especially if I can't hear them, and I'd prefer if people didn't, but it's whatever.'

Sanada took this information in stride, taking a sip from his water bottle before facing Reichi again. "I can tell the regulars about that, just how you don't like being approached on your right without warning if you'd like? They'd hate to make you uncomfortable, Echizen." His voice was casual, noncommital, giving him the chance to say yes or no if he wanted. And Reichi appreciated that, not feeling pressure for the guys to know about yet another thing that he felt vulnerable about. 'That'd be fine, I think, just maybe after I leave?' Once again, Sanada nodded, walking off, Reichi following after another moment, joining back up with the other regulars as he fixed his hair.

The practice was slow that afternoon.

A week passed, with two vocal therapy sessions and some immaculate progress on Reichi's part, with some visits to Seiichi later- their first official match was finally happening. Reichi sitting in the bleachers silently, arms crossed and one earbud in his right ear. He was their trump card, after all, he didn't need to play right now, and he wasn't going to play this match. Or the next one probably. He'd sit there, silently, and watch, prepared and ready with the water bottles and towels near him grouped together in a specific order. His eyes occasionally roamed over to look at the other team, making eye contact with, what Reichi presumed, was the captain, before looking away slowly. His regulars jersey draped over his shoulders, handing the two doubles teams their water bottles and towels once their matches ended, and just as Kirihara was stepping onto the court Reichi caught movement out of his peripheral. The vice-captain of the opposing team was taking strides toward Reichi.