trans Yamaguchi!

Day after

Lunch was pretty quiet after that, and it made me uncomfortable. When the bell rang I was almost happy to go to class. 

I paid more attention to these lessons than I did the other ones, but I still thought them boring. 

I was a little nervous about practice, but tried my best to push the thought out of my head. I was going to have to get some notes from Tsukki after school for the lessons I missed or didn't pay attention to, but I was sure he wouldn't care. 

The bell rang again and I made my way down to the gym for practice. I noticed everyone crowding around Tsukki, his stoic expression on his face like always, but I noticed he seemed angry. 

"Just shut up! It's none of your business!" He finally yelled. 

"You and coach deemed it important, so tell us!" Kageyama shouted and I stopped in my tracks. Were they asking about why I wasn't here yesterday? Or why Tsukki and Coach were worried when I didn't show up? 

"If he wants to tell you, he'll tell you!" Tsukki glared, and I felt my chest tighten. He told them something was wrong. He confessed that there was something going on, but that it was personal to the point of him not being able to say anything. Now the team knows I'm hiding something! 

"What are you guys doing? Get to work!" someone shouted from behind me, making me flinch violently from where I was standing. 

I turned to see Coach Ukai watching me carefully. 

"Where were you yesterday? Are you ok?" He asked. 

"Yeah, my dad just took me out of school early for some housework," I smiled, but it didn't reach my eyes. I felt like crawling into a hole and dying, but I knew that wasn't an option. I ran to the changing rooms, Tsukki following behind. 

I pulled my shirt over my head and pulled off the binder, quickly putting my sports bra on in place of it. I heard Tsukki gasp from behind me. I turned to see what he was doing and noticed his eyes trained on my body. 

"Where the hell did you get those?" He asked, his voice dark. I followed his gaze to the bruises littering my arms. "You have a giant one on your back too! What the hell happened yesterday?" He asked, his voice dangerously low. 

"I said! Housework! I had an accident with a chair and ended up handing on my side wrong, and my back got hurt when a book fell off my shelf while I was cleaning up the floor, I'm fine, I promise!" I reassured, glad I came up with an excuse quickly. Tsukki gave me an unconvinced look before dropping the subject. In reality, I completely forgot that I might have bruises from my mom. I decided to wear a long sleeve shirt until the injuries heal. 

We were practicing our own thing today, and I decided I needed to work on the Jump Float serve while I was here considering I missed a training day with Shimada-san. I picked up the ball and rolled it in my hands before throwing it up into the air. I hit it exactly as Shimada-san taught me, but the net ended up catching it. I growled lightly at myself before trying again. 

I finally got one over the net, but it still wasn't as strong as I wanted it to be. 

"Good job, Yamaguchi! That serves getting pretty good!" Daichi yelled to me. He was in the middle of receiving a ball from one of Hinata's spikes. I didn't really believe him considering I spent 10 minutes just to get one barely over the net but decided to continue anyway. 

My mother popped into my head again, but this time I just felt angry. I couldn't believe she created such a scene in front of my Principal like that! Normally she tries to cover her mean attitude, but she really let it shine right there. I wonder what the Principal is thinking, or if he's reconsidering his words on being pro-trans. 

I threw the ball into the air, just like how Shimada-san said, and hit it as hard as I could, watching as the ball wobbled in the air before smacking down hard on the other side of the net. I smiled gently, feeling good that I finally accomplished a good Jump Serve. I would need to do it again if I wanted to show Shimada-san that I could do it. 

I picked up another ball and rolled it in my hands, getting ready to toss it up. I threw the ball and met it in the air, my hand propelling it forward and to land on the other side of the net with a loud slap. I was starting to get used to how a good Jump Serve was supposed to feel, and how the ball felt in my hands as I hit it. 

"That was great, Tadashi," someone said, but it wasn't my teammates or Coach Ukai. Standing in the doorway of the gym as the Principal, a light smile on his face. My eyes widened slightly as I walked over to him, my nerves all kinds of jumbled. 

"Is that the principal? What's he doing here?" I heard people whisper. 

"What's he want with Tadashi? Is this about that thing Tsukki isn't telling us?" Someone else asked. I lowered my head as I stood in front of him. 

"Hello Tadashi, I just wanted to make sure you were alright from Yesterday," The Principal said. I felt my anxiety spike as I realized he could easily share my lies to the whole group, and Tsukki would definitely know something was up if he mentioned anything about my mother. 

"Can we talk outside?" I asked softly. He looked at me for a second before nodding with a light smile.

We walked to the side of the building before I was comfortable enough to have this conversation. 

"Tell me, what happened after you left my office?" He asked and I looked down to the ground. 

"She was angry, but my dad was able to calm her down," I said, leaving out the parts where she bruised me or threw a book at me. 

"Is that it?" He asked expectantly. I nodded, not really knowing what else to tell him. 

"I apologize for what happened, but as I said before, I don't tolerate transphobia here," he said, and I nodded, glad he still stuck with that. 

"I should also apologize for making her angry, I'm sure there were better ways I could have gone about that conversation," The principal smiled, I just nodded, not really having a response to that. 

"I'm glad you're ok though, I'll see you around Tadashi," He said before walking away. I took a deep breath, trying to calm my nerves enough to face my teammates again. I turned on my heel and walked back into the gym. I caught Tsukki's eyes first and gave him a small smile and a little nod. 

I ignored everyone else's stares as I went back to serving. I threw the ball into the air, my hand meeting it, and shot it forward with more power than before. The ball slammed onto the ground on the other side of the court, creating a loud echo around the gym as I stared down at my now bright red hand. 

Everyone was silent for a minute before they slowly continued on with what they were doing before.