Your POV
We're in PE class playing volleyball and it's actually going well. Despite not being super athletic, I've managed to get some points for my team, and my serves have (somehow) been getting over the net for the most part.
'Call me Wakatoshi Ushijima cause I'm smashing these serves, bitches,' I think while laughing to myself. After the festival, the weekend went by fast. Having worked both Saturday and Sunday, I didn't get to hang out with Sai- Kusuo. He came in when I was working Saturday but I couldn't really talk since it was pretty busy. He sat in his usual spot and I gave him his coffee jelly (for free) and then he went on his way. I honestly don't know how my manager hasn't caught on yet but I'm glad they haven't. Once I was done with my shift, I checked my phone to see he texted me thanks. I responded back with some funny memes but other than that (and some sassy replies from him), that was my weekend.
It's my turn to serve again so I hit another ball over the net (barely getting over but it made it) and quickly get back into my spot. I am on a roll as I bump the ball as it was sent back over. I am feeling very proud of myself, nothing is gonna stop me now-...
I feel hot as I groggily open my eyes. I look over to my left and see the school nurse with her back to me, fiddling with some papers. I'm in... the nurses' office?'
I look around the room in confusion, it seems I'm the only one in here besides the nurse. I sit up but quickly wish I didn't and put a hand to my throbbing head, a searing pain erupting from the movement. The nurse turns around, hearing the rustling of the sheets and makes her way over to me.
"Thank goodness, you're awake!" She says and pulls up a chair and sits down next to the bed. "Apparently you took quite a hit to the face." She places a hand on the side of my head and tilts my face in different directions. She does some more tests with me to make sure I don't have a concussion.
"The hit seemed to have knocked your equilibrium so at most you'll have a headache but I think you should take it easy for a few days just to be safe. If any of the symptoms I said start to pop up or your headaches gets worse, you should go get checked out again." She tells me, handing me a bag of ice.
"How did I end up here?" I question while putting the bag against the side of my head.
"Well, Mr. Saiki showed up here with you passed out in his arms. Said something about P.E. and volleyball. He was here for a while and I had to practically force him to leave since the bell rang for the next class. Normally I wouldn't care, but Kaido was here a while ago and your teacher didn't like that he was faking his fever just to avoid a test. I was the one who got in trouble and I was- oh dear, I'm just going on and on... anyways I just know I'd end up getting an earful from your teacher so I made him go back," she explains looking over my face again. "You know what, I'll call your boyfriend down, school is almost done anyways." She gets up and goes to the phone and I feel my face goes bright red at her statement.
'Boyfriend?!' I think over and over. She gets off the phone after talking on it for a few seconds and when she comes back over I say:
"He's not my boyfriend... actually."
"Oh! I'm sorry for assuming, dear," she apologizes. "He seemed pretty worried about you though. He was really dragging his feet getting back to class." This doesn't help my blush and now I just know my face is a tomato. The nurse laughs at my obvious embarrassment and stands up to go back to the papers she was messing with earlier. I control my stupid and unnecessary blush just as Kusuo shows up. His eyes land on mine and he walks the short ways to sit in the chair the nurse was just in.
"Saiki hun, you don't need to worry about going to class since school is almost over anyway. Just make sure L/n here gets home safely." She says and briskly walks out the room mumbling something about files and the main office, which leaves us two alone.
Kusuo looks at me, scanning my face, "are you okay? Your face looks red."
I was sure that my face had calmed down in color but I guess not. His comment doesn't help either and I feel that hot feeling creep up my neck again.
"Um... yeah I'm good, I'm good!" I say sounding like an idiot, "what even happened?"
"Hairo got too competitive and hit the volleyball right at you on accident. He hit you so hard that you went unconscious so I brought you here," he says with an annoyed tone, probably bothered that he had to carry me here. That thought hit me once I registered it, he had to carry me.
"Sorry you got stuck with that job. It probably gave you so much unwanted attention."
Kusuo quirks and eyebrow and a look of puzzlement appears on his face. "I mean... I guess but I wasn't focused on that. You were unconscious on the floor."
"Oh gosh, that's so embarrassing," I say and cover my face with my hands. "I probably looked so dumb, people are probably gonna laugh at me tomorrow. I'm literally Daichi, I mean Deadchi now! I will never be able to move on from this-" I get cut off by the loud and surprisingly dramatic sound of Kusuo's sigh.
"Good grief, he must not have hit you too hard since you still talk too much."
"Wh- hey!" I frown and repeatedly punch his arm, "that's not very nice of you to say, Kusuo." He stops my assault by grabbing my wrist, but softly. He pulls my arm down a little causing me to lurch forward leaving my face to be a few inches from his.
"I'm glad you're alright though," he says while looking into my eyes. My face heats up like an oven (did the hit to the face make me turn into a stuttering Wattpad girl?) and I look away from his intense gaze.
"Y-yeah me too," I nod. The bell rings, saving me from any further embarrassment, and Kusuo still holding my wrist gets up and helps me stand.
"We should get going," he says while grabbing my bag and heading towards the door, pulling me along. "I can catch you up on what you missed."
I nod he drops my wrist after making sure that I can in fact walk on my own. "Don't you have to go back to class? Your stuff is probably still in there." I say as Kusuo opens the door for me.
"Oh yeah..." he says but instead turns to head to walk towards the stairs. He doesn't continue so I stop and knit my eyebrows together.
"Then don't you want to go get your stuff?" He stops and turns around towards me.
"It's fine. I'm sure Nendou probably already took it."
"But don't you have homework and your notes?"
"I have everything I need at home already, it's not a big deal." He turns around quickly and continues to walk towards the stairs. I don't move for a few seconds trying to understand why he wouldn't even want to at least check to see if Nendou was still in class or if Nendou even DID grab his stuff but I don't feel like asking him so I follow him down the stairs.
As we walk towards our houses, Kusuo suggests that we go to his house this time for a little while, saying something about making sure I'm not gonna pass out and die. I agree but ultimately know he probably is using it as an excuse to hang out. I roll my eyes at his blatant lie but go along with it anyway.
We walk into his house, I greet Mrs. Saiki and these are the events that occur after:
She asks me how I am,
I tell her I am well,
Kusuo rolls his eyes and exposes me by saying I got hit in the head, going unconscious,
Mrs. Saiki freaks out,
I try to calm her panic and tell her that I am, in fact, okay,
She doesn't listen as she practically drags me to the kitchen,
I turn to look at Kusuo, who has a small smirk on his dumb ugly face,
Kusuo thinks it's funny that I am now being handed two ibuprofens and a glass of water,
I glare at him,
He shrugs his shoulders,
I thank Mrs. Saiki after she gives me a banana (that she cut into little pieces) and watermelon, saying it helps headaches,
We then head up to his room,
I scold him for worrying his poor mother.
"I'm not sorry." He says crossing him arms over his chest "the pills and fruit will help. Mom's know best."
I roll my eyes, "they do and she's very helpful but you can't DO it like that. She is too nice and it probably almost gave her a heart attack."
"Okay, next time you get hit unconscious, I'll make sure not to say anything about it."
"You're being a little shit again," I say, mimicking his stance, crossing my arms too.
He makes a face, "again?"
"yeah."
"Then I won't help you get caught up." This makes me pause. I do need to get caught up, who knows what I missed in class. It could've been essential review material for a test or something.
"I'll just get help from Chiyo... or Chisato."
Kusuo raises his eyebrows and is about to say a snarky comment back but my phone rings. I look down at it to see my dad's contact flash on the screen. My smile instantly falls and I clench my jaw.
"Uhhh... I need to take this." I say and press the accept call button. I turn away from Kusuo to give myself a little more privacy, not that it really does much since we're in the same room but whatever.
"Hello?" I question, putting the phone to my ear.
"Y/n, I got a call from your school, something about the nurse's office?" I can barely hear him, he sounds far away, almost like he is talking on speakerphone.
"Yeah but I'm fine. It was nothing."
"Are... are you back at the apartment?" He asks, more clearly, but I hear the rustling of papers and guess that he's still at work. He can't even take a second to make sure his daughter is okay.
"No, I'm at a friend's house. They're helping me catch up on what I missed."
"Good... good. Stay on top of those studies, that's important." He responds, probably not even listening to half of what I'm saying. After he decided not to come home to see me, the next morning I woke to several text messages from him apologizing and explaining that he'll make it up to me soon. He said he would send me more money but it really just felt like a slap to the face, trying to buy my happiness. I still took the money though, there were cute shoes that I had my eye on for a while.
"So are you going to try and visit soon-"
"Sorry sweetie, I gotta go, there's a lot going on right- you got it, Andrea- right now. I love you, I'll text you after I get out of work."
Before I can get a word in, I hear the phone click. At this point, why am I even surprised. I collect myself with a heavy sigh before turning back towards Kusuo, who is looking at the wall.
"Don't be like that, I know you heard." I toss my phone onto my bag and proceed to dramatically fall on to Kusuo's neatly made bed. I look over at Kusuo to see him eyeing me, probably wondering if I am in a sour mood after the phone call. I look over at his desk to see his book bag, the one that he said Nendou would have. I turn on to my side and rest my head in my hand. "You're book bag is right there," I say, point to his desk with my open hand.
He turns to his desk, and takes a second before responding. "Yeah, my mom said Nendou dropped it off before we got here. So she brought it up for me."
I don't really feel all that convinced but in the end, it doesn't really matter. I lay back on my back and stare up at the ceiling. I know my dad won't text me, maybe because he'll forget or because he genuinely doesn't care, at this point I don't know what to believe. That call was the first time I heard his voice in about 3 weeks. I understand that his job is demanding and his jobs have always been demanding, but after a while, it begins to feel like he is keeping himself busy on purpose. I know I'm being irrational thinking that he is trying to avoid me or something but he's always been a distant parent. He's doing the only thing he knows how to do for me, the bare minimum. My mom was the one who raised me, not him.
"If you keep glaring at the ceiling like that, it might just fly away."
"That doesn't make sense, ceilings can't fly away," I mumble.
"Well with that face it just might."
I turn my head towards Kusuo, who is still sitting in the same spot but his chair turned fully towards me instead of towards the wall. I reach my hand up and grab onto one of his pillows. With a swift flick of the wrist, I send the pillow hurtling towards him and it hits his chest before flopping to the ground.
"Don't mess up my bed."
"Don't mess up my bed," I respond with the same monotonous tone he used. He quirks an eyebrow and I glare back. I'm not mad at him or anything but I'm not happy with anything at the moment and I'm just taking it out on him. I sigh and rub my eyes with my hand.
"Here," Kusuo says scooting over to me and hands me my bag. "You didn't miss much, after we go over it we can play something."
I sit up and grab my bag from him. "Let's play Mario Kart. I think I can beat you in all races this time."
"Oh yeah?"
I look over at him as he starts pulling some papers from his bag. "Yeah."
"Don't be all pissy when you lose then." He pushes himself in his rolly chair so it uses the bed as a makeshift desk. He looks up at me and a ghost of a smirk is present on his face. I don't like that he thinks he's hot shit but I know it'll all be worth it when he discovers what utter defeat will feel like.
"The same can be said for you," I say, maneuvering around so I lay on my stomach.
He makes a face like he ate sour candy. Obviously peeved that I used his own words against him. He doesn't say anything after that and instead pulls out an English worksheet. I giggle knowing that I at least got this small victory and a smile settles on my face, already forgetting about my dad. I feel Kusuo eyes on me but ignore it, knowing that he probably thinks I was mocking him or something, which is fine with me.
+++++
It's the next day and as soon as I walk into class, Hairo is in front of me, bowing profusely and apologizing for the volleyball fiasco that occurred the day before.
"It's okay Hairo, I'm fine, I know it was an accident," I assure him, putting my hands out in an understanding way. Saiki moves around me and Hairo, completely unfazed by the large bump in our way. He sits down at his desk uninterested and I turn my attention back to Hairo who is rummaging through his backpack.
"Thank you, I felt completely awful when it happened. I got you this in hopes that I can make it up to you." I was about to say that he didn't need to give me anything but when I see the desert container, I realize it's my favorite dessert.
"Oh wow! Thanks Hairo, how'd you know that this is my favorite?" I say while taking the box and staring at the mouth-watering contents inside.
"I saw you eating it at the festival when I ran by. So I hoped that you would like it."
"I do like it. Thank you." I tell him and he blushes bashfully. Kusuo sits in his seat, watching the exchange farther away. A weird feeling settles in his stomach as he watches Hairo continue to talk to you. He looks away in annoyance when you laugh at something Hairo said, the feeling festering in his stomach. He decides to distract himself with getting his notes out, trying to ignore the feeling that he didn't like but he wasn't sure why.