A few days had passed since the escape room challenge. As it turned out there was one more clock in the room that all the members missed, so unfortunately, they didn't clear the game. While it was disappointing it was a nice step back before the tournament training really began.
"Oi, Shittykawa, it's time to go home." Hajime crossed his arms and waited by the gym doors with Yana right beside him. It had been an entire month since the coach had given out the practice suggestions. Yana was pleasantly surprised to see the rest of her teammates had been following the rough timetable. There was only a little over a month left before the spring tournament and everyone was getting antsy, Oikawa most of all.
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"Just one more~" He called back without looking.
Both Yana and Hajime looked at each other, they had a feeling this would happen. For the last few weeks Oikawa had been continuously staying behind later than usual to practice.
"Tooru, please, it's been over an hour." Yana sighed and held up his bag.
Oikawa puffed up his cheek in protest but still continued to tidy up. The pattern of staying back late and spending more and more time practicing started off small then eventually reached a point where he was disregarding the resting periods on the practice sheet. Since the coach had pointed out that the tournament was getting closer, all the members had been working considerably harder. Yana herself included.
"You know there is such a thing as too much practice." She chose her words carefully as the three of them slowly walked home. Yana knew that Oikawa was working the hardest out of everyone. "It's starting to take a toll on your physical health and soon your mental state will be at risk too."
"Eh~ Yana-chan, you worry too much, right Iwa-chan?" When Hajime didn't agree with him Oikawa looked at the pair stunned. He knew it was bad when Hajime didn't take his side. "But I need to get better so we can beat everyone and go to nationals."
Yana bit her bottom lip. "When was the last time you even had a full night's rest?" She glared at her boyfriend. While she didn't mind staying late after practice or almost all his being time taken up by volleyball, everything must be in moderation. She knew that Oikawa was overworking himself.
Oikawa wafted away her statement. "I'll be fine!" He chirped, "Oh look, I'm home! See you later!" Oikawa gave Yana a quick kiss on the forehead and waved both Hajime and Yana goodbye.
Once Oikawa disappeared inside his house Yana and Hajime resumed their walk back home. "Do you think he'll actually rest?"
Hajime rubbed his forehead, "Oikawa is a very stubborn person" He could practically see the repeat of all the previous years he had to drag Oikawa out of the gym. Hajime had hoped that Yana could convince him otherwise, while it did help a little bit, it wasn't fully effective. Once Oikawa had zeroed in on his goal, he wouldn't stop till he reached it.
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Oikawa clenched his hands into fists testing them. His palms had angry red welts from the obsessive practice he had been doing for the past few weeks. He had to admit his body had started to feel the fatigue from all the hours he had put in. Despite his body telling him to rest he paid no mind to it. "I have to stay focused. I need to stay focused. We won't lose again." Oikawa practically dragged himself up the stairs and back to his room. The dull aching of his body was an annoyance, it wasn't enough to be called 'painful', but it was definitely enough to be categorized as 'sore'.
- ----THE NEXT DAY-----
During morning practice Oikawa felt like he had a foot in the grave. He hadn't slept well the night before and morning practice seemed to be more challenging than usual.
"Trashykawa! Are you listening?"
Oikawa perked up to the voice, "Yes Iwa-chan?"
"I said, don't stay late to practice. Everyone -including the coach- agrees that you need to rest. Have you taken a look in the mirror lately?"
Oikawa pouted. "I have actually, and I look absolutely glorious."
"You really don't." Yana joined in the conversation. "You look like an emaciated zombie."
"Yana-chan! You are supposed to say I look beautiful as always." Oikawa clutched his heart in faux heartbreak.
Yana just shook her head and sighed. She liked him; she really did. But sometimes he needed to take care of himself more. She raised an eyebrow. "And you are supposed to take a rest day."
Yana tensed as she noticed Oikawa's face turn even paler, as if he had been painted in white. "Hajime, get the coach!" Yana scrambled to grab Oikawa's body just as he crumpled like a puppet suddenly released from his strings. "Ah shit, you are heavier than I thought." Yana wobbled as she held him up.
"Tooru! Tooru! Hey! Wake up!"
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Oikawa's eyesight blurred, but not because tears were welling up. His vision became fuzzy; then not even a fraction of a second later he saw nothing at all. Oikawa felt like he was floating in an empty space filled with thick static as his senses left one by one. He could hear his heartbeat pound loudly in his own ears as he felt his body be drained away. Everything disappeared.
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The rest of the team hastily crowded around to assist her with the commotion. Matsukawa carefully took the unconscious boy from Yana and gently laid him down on the makeshift towel bed -courtesy of the other members. The Coach, Hajime and the school nurse came running to assess Oikawa's body. Thankfully, since Yana had caught him, Oikawa didn't have a concussion, but that wasn't the main cause for concern. It was the fainting that really gave everyone quite a scare.
- ----AFTERSCHOOL-----
To say that Yana and Hajime were worried was an understatement. Yana sighed as she walked beside Hajime, she pursed her lips and made a face like she had tasted something bitter. The school nurse had told them that it was just fatigue and that he will be completely fine and functioning after he wakes up. Though he would need to take time to rest properly. The only problem was, both Yana and Hajime knew that there was no way that Oikawa would give up practice time to relax.
"Ah crap." Yana stopped abruptly.
"What is it?"
Yana groaned and unzipped her bag looking through it. "I left my volleyball notebook in my club locker." After confirming that it wasn't in her bag, she waved to Hajime and made her way to the gym. "Don't wait up for me!"
Hajime was about to protest but Yana had already left.
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As Yana approached, she heard the sound of bouncing. Originally, she assumed it would be some other club using the court, but it certainly didn't sound like there was more than one person inside. Should I check it out?
To access the club lockers, she didn't have to go into the gym. Yana did consider leaving the sound alone but there was this churning feeling in her gut that she really didn't like. The bounces didn't sound like basketballs, or dodgeballs, heck there was far too little sound for it to even be multiple people. Yana's curiosity got the better of her. She crept closer to the large red doors and snuck a peek.
"Tooru!?" Yana played with the thought that he would be practicing but never really expected she would be right. No, Yana might have believed she was right, but she didn't want to be. Standing at the serve line of the court stood Oikawa.
"Ya-hoo~ Nice timing." He flashed a smile. While he did look considerably better than earlier, he still didn't look as healthy as usual. "Do you want to receive some serves for me?"
"What? No! Don't you 'ya-hoo~' me. Tooru, what are you doing here?! You should be at home resting!"
"But Yana-chan, we only have a month left to practice and we have a practice match in a few days! I can't just waste time doing nothing." Oikawa held the ball still in his hands, his playful tone no longer present.
Yana cursed the choices made by the 'Yana from a few minutes ago'. This would be a lot easier if she had brought along Hajime. "Look, I get that you really want to practice as much as you can, but you need to take care of yourself."
"I am."
"Tooru! You passed out this morning because you weren't taking care of yourself." Yana had tried so many times to get it through his head that rest was just as important as practice. But each time nothing she said had stuck.
Oikawa waved her away, completely unbothered by her words "That was just a one off. Besides, I have to work hard so I can stay ahead of the game and be better than Tobio-chan."
Yana was almost speechless. Is this what all this hard work was for? His pride as a Setter and as a player depended on one sole person's defeat. "Do you even enjoy volleyball anymore?"