This chapter dedicated to : McD_Wifi because she helped me through my writers block 🫶.
Krystal - Matt Maltese
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you didn't get suspended, nor did akaashi.
still, everyone who heard of it knew something happened terrible enough to have the both of you sent to the principal's office.
Not many knew the details of what happened nor what caused it but akaashi offered some evidence as he paraded around the school daily with a bandaid on his lip. As if he had gotten jumped.
Keiji already had his suspicions that you wouldn't show for their first preliminary match, especially since the miniature brawl. It was even more evident as the start time drew nearer and he saw shūichi bringing out the water cooler and everything else for the game.
it was no surprise that you hadn't shown up since he had also heard murmurs that you missed your classes and you had a heavily graded assignment due that day.
yet you skipped.
the terrible weather that came about that day could easily be blamed but he knew that wasn't the only reason.
Whatever reason it was, was the same reason why everyone on the team now behaved so awkwardly near him and gave him more space than usual.
the same reason why he was not in the starting rotation, nor any rotation to begin with.
the coach benched him. akaashi almost thought he misheard but the murmurs from his teammates questioning the absence of his name ensured him that he was not mistaken.
"Takayuki-San...you didn't say my name" always freely speaking, he struggled to find the words. the silence that followed his question as his teammates eyes fell on him was unnerving. the tying up in his gut as for once in his life, keiji was being punished.
"Keiji, you're not playing" the words came after a sigh of disappointment.
"I'm not? That doesn't make any sense. I-" he recalled asking the coach in the changing room only to have the much senior man walk in front of him and look up in his face. shrunken with age but with a stare that made him look dozens of feet taller.
So blank and uninterested, it made the captain feel small.
"The girl hit it on tha head. The fact that ya thought this would never happen makes ya cocky enough. And frankly I don't feel like seeing ya on court until you seem even a bit remorseful. Go home"
the small confrontation seemed to merit no consequence, but of course...there was no such thing as no consequence. Just delayed consequence.
so as the ball thudded softly on the volleyball court while the team warmed up, Akashi keiji found himself walking towards the exit.
Passing all his cheering schoolmates heading to the match in the rain.
passing your ominous figure sitting alone under the bus stop in the rain.
it took him a minute to make out if it was you since you weren't dressed in uniform and unintentionally he stood there for a full minute just staring at you as you stared ahead at nothing at all.
at first he walked by, heading to his bus stop to go home. yet minutes after he found himself sat beside you in silence, offering you an umbrella he went to buy at a convenience store a few blocks down.
but you flinched. it was evident even more that you knew he was there since your chest rose and fell more often with anxious breaths.
yet his umbrella hung in the air in wait of your grasp, even as you got up and walked in the rain to the bus as soon as it came.
"I wasn't going to hit you" he tried to assure you but you only paused for a brief minute before leaving.
that single interaction rested on his mind the whole weekend, Akashi began to wonder if he went too far and if he truly should be remorseful.
the principal and the coach had informed you both to meet with him in his office again monday in the lunch period when everyone else rushed to the canteen and to meet up with their friends.
you remembered being buzzed in by the secretary, the faint chattering from the radio, the smell of a freshly brewed expresso shot high in the air and the somewhat strained small talk between the principal and coach takeyuki.
They had been sitting side by side in two chairs in front of the coffee table, leaving the couch on the opposite side for you and... the captain of the volleyball team.
you had walked in just as the principal was asking Akaashi about the current condition of his busted lip but akaashi had no time to answer as the coach argued that an busted lip should be nothing to someone who's athletic.
Akashi didn't speak nor did he acknowledge your presence as you sat beside him with your bento. After he brought up your past, the past few days felt as if you had been on autopilot.
you waited dreadfully to see if anyone else would mention the rumor but most were only concerned with your absence on Friday and asked questions about what happened between you and akaashi.
"Finally here" the principal said with a straight face as soon as you entered and you greeted them each as you sat.
"Sensei asked me to hand out test papers after class" you excused yourself.
"Don't ya be hard on her, it's been only six minutes... Ah the grubs here" the coach picked up for you before getting distracted as the secretary came in with staff lunches for both the principal and the coach. It made your curry look bland.
"Well, we're all here. let's get some food in" Takeyuki-san, the coach, spoke as he broke apart his chopsticks and you set your bento down. Akaashi broke apart his as well with a "Right, Thanks for the meal".
"Thanks for the meal" you said as well, the tension made the hairs on your arm stand. the only thing that was clearly shown to be similar between you and Akaashi was that you both did not want to be there.
at all.
"keiji! your bento is quite colourful. Karrage and onigiri...salad, tako sausages. You should join the culinary club!"
" kocho, I didn't prepare my lunch today. My apologies. My parents and I went out for dinner last night. This is just left overs" keiji admitted then the principal offered a laugh as he said "you should share the location of this restaurant"
ah. we are very different.
"And y/n" the principal said as if realising his partiality was too obvious then glanced to your bento as he said "that looks like some good curry. I can smell the spices from here! Did your mother cook this?".
Keiji seemed to tense beside you but you thought it was all in your head.
Maybe I could say my mom cooked this if I lived with my parents too.
she made good curry after all so she would definitely cook this.
if she was alive.
"uh...no sir. I live alone. I made it early this morning" you said as you set aside the lid and broke apart your chopsticks.
"Really?...you'll make a good wife" the principal passed the remark but for some reason it fell everything short of a compliment. Takeyuki-san seemed to notice how awkward it was as well and faked some coughs as he changed the topic.
"Anyways, while we're eating. I'm sure you'd both like to know your fate so that the food goes down easily" he said. the word 'fate' gave a bitter aftertaste to your lunch.
"the principal and I chatted for a bit. Think ya should both suffer consequences. Course, y'all both have to take responsibility. 'twas a riculuous spat, I'm embarrassed it ever happened in da first place. Should be the same for two a yas" sometimes Takeyuki-san's Kansai dialect came out very strong and left you in a swamp trying to figure out what exactly he meant.
Still, dialect aside, it was more than evident that he was just very disappointed in the both of you. without prejudice.
If anything it made the cloud of guilt feel heavier.
"But we can't suspend one without suspending the other" the principal chimed in. you could already tell who was "one" from who was "the other". He had no shame in showing whose side he was on.
still, a breathe of relief left you both when suspension was wiped off the table. Yet the solution, they came up with felt way worse that a simple suspension.
"Together?" you asked immediately, dreadfully, quietly; when you heard the actual punishment and at the same time akaashi said "principal, Takeyuki-san. I can assure you that I can complete this on my own. I'm more than capable. If you doubt my competence then me and y/n can both do it at separate intervals. This way we can complete it faste-"
"Enough boy. It's that mouth of yers that got ya in this in da first place" the coach spoke and keiji immediately stopped talking. Even you jolted a bit in your seat.
"Listen Keiji... y/n. Splitting this solves nothing. Yes you'll have what we asked for quicker but that won't stop this from reoccurring right after" the president offered in a more gentle tone.
followed by the coach's more blunt response "if ya don't squash the beef. forget scholarships and volleyball. we can talk about this more with your guardians if ya prefe-"
"i don't mind doing this." you said feeling your heart thumb against your ear drums after thinking of inconveniencing your aunt and uncle for school drama, again. "Right...Akaashi...san" you said and for the first time in days you both made eye contact again.
his confused blues and your panicked orbs; though it felt like it happened at gun point.
unsettled and uncomfortable, his eyes flickered between yours and your clearly forced smile. It was so strange to him how easily you and bokuto could fake smiles after the worst possible situations.
especially since the it was very evident you were distressed.
truth be told you could both barely hold the eye contact, without the flashbacks of the confrontation still rolling as reels in your minds.
you looked back to your plate and he focused his attention on the two older men.
"...right. Sorry for my outburst earlier. I agree coach" he glanced away to the coach, "could you explain it some more?"
Takayuki sighed tiredly before making a hand gesture to the principal as if to say 'take it away"
The punishment, of sorts, meant that you'd both be spending all your free times together. During breaks, after practise... even on weekends.
What for?
He put you both in charge of planning the Teacher's retreat that would be happening the weekend right after the final preliminaries match.
It meant surveying interests from the staff, it meant site visits to nearby villas and bathhouses that could be selected, it meant getting in contact with caterers before hand, it meant making sure that whichever place was picked had sites worth visiting nearby.
it meant, to have each part in complete correspondence, you'd be in contact with akaashi keiji for almost the entirety of the day. For an undisclosed number of days.
But you were both still expected to cover your daily roles and the only help they offered was a box of brochures, extra credits if the teachers were satisfied and a promise of travel allowance to visit these places.
He also made sure to make it known he expected absolute success since this was trivial compared to the roles of anyone in the student council and that having akaashi work with you was a leverage in itself.
This in all its entirety was nothing short of the principal giving you a task that he and the other teachers were too lazy to do themselves since the teacher in charge of Human Resources for staff was on maternity leave.
If anything you preferred the suspension to this horrible suggestion. than hearing what else he learned from your past.
Eventually you all finished lunch and you stood outside the door as you waited for akaashi since the coach wanted to speak with him alone. Then he came out holding the box of brochures and a very troubled expression as if he'd been cussed out.
you figured it might not have been easy on him as well since you saw him at the bus stop when the first preliminary match was going on.
but you were too troubled about your own situation to worry about him.
Escaping the torture chamber he let out a troubled sigh and you stared ahead with the folder of notes for budgeting and a contact book.
Anxiously you tried to keep your eyes away from anyone that passed by and watched you both curiously.
"We can keep them all in the student council room. I don't have a meeting until Thursday" akaashi spoke and though you never gave a verbal response, you followed behind the much taller ravenette reluctantly.
the walk there was a test of faith in itself. you could already hear the rumors blooming as stares tore holes into you both.
you brain replayed whispers you'd hear in the bathrooms when they didn't know you were inside.
by the time you actually got to the student council room, Akaashi had to help you inside as you broke down into tears and nervous breaths.
it felt like junior high all over again and the thoughts of everything that happened reoccurring made you so worried that you became nauseous.
the curry quickly came back up as you found refuge in the small bin in the room. barely a minute alone with Akaashi and he already wondered if it was possible for you two to work together.
"I'-" you tried to speak but between pants and gags, you found no room to talk.
"I'll get the nurse" Akaashi said once he set down the box then found himself walking briskly to the nurse's office.
his palms prickled with sweat and his guts with guilt.
not from seeing you throw up but because within his creative mind that could solve any problem, he could not find a solution that included empathy.
Akaashi keiji was incapable of displaying empathy.