| {Takeru's P.O.V.} |
Why do I feel so uneasy?
Sitting in the club room along with everyone else, I held my head in my hands heavily.
It was like my stomach was being twisted into intricate knots every time thoughts of Kyouko flickered through my mind, and I had no idea what to do about it.
I miss her.
It had been a day since our match against Mihashi, and even though we had finally achieved our first victory, all of us were still stressing out over Kyouko's condition.
She had developed an extremely bad fever.
And by bad, I mean bad enough to be the cause of her collapsing after the handoff with Kohinata.
I was one of the few people who had witnessed it happen because I was jogging on the sidelines to cheer for her and Kohinata. I was also the first person to some to her side after she had fallen.
I couldn't remember a time where I had been so shaken up.
Even though it was fairly warm that day, I was trembling like a leaf, and I couldn't get my voice to call out for help.
Luckily, Kohinata and Heath came along and ushered for some assistance, but I still couldn't get over how powerless I was at the time where Kyouko probably needed me the most.
It was a very haunting memory, and I wished I could forget the image of her limp body strewn across the concrete, but it was like the moment had been permanently etched into my mind.
Watching her fall to the ground was like watching a delicate glass vase shatter into thousands of pieces.
The thought made me shiver, but I kept my face clear of negative emotions. I didn't want to add something to the club members' growing list of worries by appearing upset.
Everyone was in pretty bad shape, and I could sympathize with them on a very high level.
Miss Sakurai had bags beneath her eyes, so one could assume that she had a rough time sleeping the night before, and Kadowaki was silently playing a game of Shoji without his usual fighting spirit.
Kohinata was staring off into space, ignoring the presence of his favorite plushy while Riku was sitting in the corner of the room in a fetal position, slowly rocking himself back and forth.
Honestly, I wanted to join Riku in the corner, but I simply didn't have enough energy to get up and move.
Heath isn't here, but everyone knows the reason for that...
"I wonder how Kyouko is doing..." Miss Sakurai mumbled quietly, being the first one to break the cold silence of the club room. Her voice sounded rugged and tired, nothing like the usually bubbled tone she had whilst talking to Kyouko about her relationing.
That day, the sun was hidden behind dark-grey clouds, so not only was the club room missing Kyouko, but it was also missing it's usual feeling of 'home' that it always somehow managed to maintain after long treacherous days of school.
"She should be doing just fine with Heath's help," Kohinata reassured her softly, his facial expression contradicting what he was saying. His voice was calm and collected, but the look on his face suggested that he just ate something extremely sour.
After the incident at the race, we went along with Dan-sensei to the hospital to get Kyouko some proper care. The doctor told us she would be fine after taking some prescribed antibiotics along with some good rest.
We were glad she didn't have to stay at the hospital overnight, but the doctor said that it would be a very wise decision on Kyouko's part to not run until she was fully recovered. That was enough the break the girl's heart.
I remember how sad her pouty face was...
We all wanted to skip school and help ease her back into good health so she could run sooner, but Dan-sensei had to remind us that we would be having another race very soon.
So, we had to attend school and keep up on our training as always.
But there was also another problem.
We didn't want Kyouko to be home alone while she was recovering. We were fully aware that if we left Kyouko in that apartment all by herself, she would surely get lonely.
And we didn't want her getting bored with her own company, because we knew that if we left her all alone she would most likely try to do something crazy and possibly worsen her condition (which absolutely none of us wanted to happen).
She's the type of person that would try to run through her health problems.
Kyouko's determination was an admirable trait, but it was also one of her biggest flaws when it came to taking care of herself, so everyone was always fretting over keeping her healthy outside of club activities.
We all had specific roles for taking care of Kyouko.
I would always lend her some of my protein drinks in the morning so she could get her proper nutrients for the day, Riku would make sure she was drinking enough water to stay hydrated on hotter days, Kohinata would remind her to do the right stretches for our workouts, Heath would take her on a warmup run before the start of practice to avoid possible injury, and Nana would make sure she remembered her training clothes every morning by shooting her a text.
It was Kadowaki's job to keep her entertained with Shoji lessons so she wouldn't get bored and try to jump out the window like she had in the past.
We were like an oddly functioning family that revolved around keeping our little Kyouko taken care of, and it was something that I looked forward to doing every single day.
So at first, we weren't quite sure on how to go about the dilemma with keeping Kyouko company while we were at school, but Heath came up with the fool-proof plan to have her stay at his house for the time being.
I think that's the reason why I feel so uneasy.
Nearly everyone was against it, but Heath was very diligent in pursuing his plan of being Kyouko's temporary caretaker while all of us were imprisoned at school. So in the end, he got exactly what he wanted.
He went to all of his teachers and retrieved his assignments for the next week so missing school wouldn't be an issue, and he promised that he would do the workouts Dan-sensei had planned out for us whenever he could get Diane to look after Kyouko, so missing practices wouldn't be a problem either.
His plan was so frustratingly clever and flawless, so a lot of us were pissed off for not coming up with it sooner.
I would take care of Kyouko forever if I had to...
"Hey, what are we going to do about this upcoming race? We're not entirely sure if Kyouko will be fully recovered by then..." Riku inquired, causing Kadowaki to jump in his seat like a frightened cat.
We all looked over to him for a moment, almost concerned about his suddenly strange behavior. We were used to his craziness by then, but the way he was acting now was a bit off compared to times in the past.
"Well, if that were the case, wouldn't we just have Ayumu run?" Kohinata asked confusedly, squinting his eyes at the squirmy greenette who was sitting on the sofa next to him.
Kadowaki gulped nervously and tugged at his uniform collar, obviously not liking the conversation that was circling around himself.
He cleared his throat before fixing his posture.
"I should've told you guys this sooner, but I won't be in Tokyo on the day of the race," he confessed, bowing his head in apology.
We all froze for a moment, not feeling the full effect of his words until Riku leaped up from his fetal position, horrified by the news.
"What do you mean by that? Where are you going to be?" he question Kadowaki, his voice laced with intense worriment.
Kadowaki sighed and placed his hand on the back of his neck. His expression made his guilt clearly evident.
"W-well, my father is getting remarried, and I promised to attend to the wedding which is being held in Europe. I'm so sorry everyone, I didn't expect Kyouko to collapse like she did, and words can't express how terrible I feel for doing this to you all," he informed, only to earn a reassuring pat on the back from Kohinata.
"It's fine, Ayumu. Family comes first in a situation like this, so you shouldn't feel bad," the blonde comforted him, lightening up the mood a little bit.
But there was still one big question that was looming over everyone's heads, and Riku was the only one gusty enough to drop it into the mixture of conversation.
"So who's gonna run in Kyouko's place? From the looks of it right now, we won't be able to participate in this next race," Riku stressed as he tugged at his own slightly-curled hair, itching for some kind of resolve.
Off to the side, I could see the color slowly drain from Miss Sakurai's face as she realized this as well.
"There has to be somebody that could run in her place..." I muttered to myself, staring down at my blue running shoes with a distant look painted on my face.
Things always go wrong when Kyouko isn't around...
That was the first day Kyouko had ever missed a practice, and it was a hard reality for everyone to face.
We were so accustomed to her presence, that it was almost sickening to not have her by our sides.
I didn't know what it was like to not have Kyouko bouncing around the club room, asking everyone about how their day was going even if she was tired herself, and so far, I didn't like the feeling at all.
It was like a huge chunk of me was missing, and my usually burning passion for running had been broiled down to a mere candle flame.
Since when did I start getting so attached to people?
"Wait... I have an idea!" Kadowaki suddenly burst, rekindling everyone's attention and pulling me from my intense thoughts.
Hozumi laughed light-heartedly at his declaration, dubious to it's authenticity.
"An idea? Don't tell me you know someone crazy enough to try and replace someone as fast as Kyouko, 'cause that sounds damn near impossible," he mused, only to be put to shame by Kadowaki.
"Actually, yes I do," he crossed his arms over his chest, huffing dramatically.
"Who is it, Ayumu?" Miss Sakurai asked from the sidelines, anxious to hear his suggestion. I could tell she was really worried about the whole situation. She knew that if the team wouldn't be able to race, Kyouko would definitely feel responsible for not being present.
"Yeah, who is it?!" Riku added, piling on the suspense.
Kadowaki moved his head slightly, his glasses sharply reflecting the artificial light from above, before pitching his idea to us.
"Kuga Kyosuke."
Kyosuke?
The name definitely rang a bell, but not in a good way.
I remembered the name from a incident that had taken place at Hônan a year before, just around the time I had visited for a school tour.
"Who's that-?" Riku began to ask before being interrupted keenly by a now angered Kohinata.
"No one that you would like to know."
Kadowaki looked over to Kohinata sadly before speaking up once again, trying to defend his suggestion.
"Hozumi, he's the only person who could replace Kyouko successfully. I think you need to get over what happened last year-"
"No, I refuse to run with him!" Kohinata snapped, slamming his fist down on the coffee table in front of him.
The room became very silent at the sound of knuckle colliding with wood, and it seemed like time had stopped for a moment. The only person that wasn't confused about Kohinata's outburst was Kadowaki, and even he didn't have anything to say.
Why is this making me angry?
I trusted Kadowaki enough to know that his suggestion was a valid one, and from the looks of it, the only thing that was holding us back from accepting it was Kohinata because he was bearing some kind of grudge against the guy.
Lifting my gaze from the ground, I looked Kohinata right in the eye and told him exactly what was on my mind, not leaving a single word out.
"Kohinata, I understand if you had some problems with this person in the past, but I think you're being rather selfish right now. It would best for the team if you panned out your problems with this person, or just deal with them until Kyouko is fully recovered," I told him curtly.
A look of anger flickered through Hozumi's usually mellow eyes, and he was about to stand up to retaliate against my words, but Kadowaki held him back.
"Calm down, Hozumi-"
"What do you know?! You don't understand at all, none of you!" the blonde yelled at us, shocking everyone.
We had never heard Kohinata raise his voice at us like that before, and hearing it had woken us up in a very disturbing way.
"T-then explain, Hozumi. We can't understand anything if you don't explain to us what's wrong..." Miss Sakurai squeaked, trying to brave through the unusual situation.
Suddenly encouraged by Miss Sakurai's spirit, Riku spoke up as well.
"Miss Sakurai is right. We only want to help you, Hozumi. We're on your side."
Relaxing under Kadowaki's grasp, Kohinata stared blankly at the floor as his previously wild expression simmered down to a look of soft realization.
"Y-you're right..."
Slowly, he pulled away from Kadowaki to reclaim his seat on the couch. Kadowaki took a seat as well while giving Kohinata his needed space.
Kohinata quickly glanced in my direction before moving onto his explanation, secretly giving me a nod of thanks. I nodded to him as well as a sign of acknowledgment.
"The reason why I can't stand Kuga is because of something that happened last year... it was an incident titled KGB, also known as the 'KuGa Beating'" he began solemnly, drifting off into a dark story that none of us had expected to hear that day.
It's back again...
That uneasy feeling.
~ ~ ~ Around the same time // @ Heath's house...
| {Kyouko's P.O.V.} |
"Kyouko, just eat the frickin' soup. It's not poisonous."
Vigorously shaking my head, I gave the casually-dressed boy sitting in front of me a rather stubborn response.
"No! If you made it, it's definitely poisonous."
The brunette puffed his cheeks out in frustration. He wasn't in the mood for my sassy behavior.
"Quit being such a brat and just eat it! Your fever isn't going to go down if you don't get some proper nutrition in your system," he lectured me sternly as he stood from his chair and walked over to my drowzy self, his earthy eyes swimming with a strange mixture of emotions.
Not wanting to deal with his motherly ways, I pulled the pale-blue comforter that was resting on my legs over the top of my head to fully hide my body from his piercing view.
The sheets smelt like Heath, and I sighed at the sensation. It wasn't hard for me to enjoy the citrusy scent of lemon and spice.
It only makes sense that everything here smells like Heath. This is his bed after all.
That day, the club was forcing me to stay at Heath's house so he could properly take care of me, and I was a little flustered about their reasoning for not allowing me to stay at my place.
They were concerned that if I lounged around my apartment all by myself, I would eventually get bored and try to do something crazy.
It was only frustrating because it was completely true.
There had been multiple occasions back in America where I would get a fever from running in harsh weather conditions, and I did get bored while my family was out of the house for work or school, so I couldn't quite defend myself the way I wanted to.
Plus, I was too damn tired to fight back with those fools.
One time, my temperature wouldn't go down and my dad told me I wasn't allowed to resume my training unless it did, so I drove myself to a nearby ice rink and ended up crashing a whole entire hockey team's practice.
I laid in the middle of the rink because the ice felt nice on my skin, and the players couldn't move me because whenever they tried, I would instinctively go to punch them.
They were all boys from my school, so when I got better and returned to class, I was ridiculed.
I always made very brash and idiotic decisions whenever I was feverish, so that's why I was trying to be cautious around Heath and not do anything stupid in front of him.
I don't want him teasing me in front of the club, and I'm already in a bad mood because of what happened yesterday...
The sound of Heath's heavy footsteps walking towards the bed caused memories from the day before to flash through my mind, sending a wave of nausea straight to my core.
"Kyouko! Please wake up... This is all my fault!"
The sound of Heath's frantic voice from the previous day reverberated in my ears, and I cringed with discomfort.
"Nghn," I groaned, keeping the blanket over my head even though the heat from my fever was pretty much murdering me.
The sound of Heath's footsteps came to a stop, and I could feel his body hovering over the bed, waiting for me to emerge from my cave of despair.
"Kyouko, please just eat the soup."
I ignored his soft request, refusing to give in.
The soup he made had leeks in it, and I absolutely hated leeks.
The small ceramic bowl was sitting on the nightstand right next to me, and I could still smell the wretched stench of the vegetable from underneath the sheets.
It was quiet for a moment before the blanket was suddenly ripped away from me, exposing my body along with my look of pure disgust.
"I'm not gonna eat it- Nmph!" I began to decline before a spoonful of the undesirable substance was suddenly shoved into my mouth, temporarily silencing me. I wanted to spit it out, but Heath had lightly pinched my nose shut with his free hand so I couldn't.
"Yes, you are," Heath grinned, looking smug with his feat of force-feeding me.
Bastard.
Unwillingly, I swallowed the warm (and surprisingly flavorful) broth. The feeling of it traveling down my throat soothed the soreness I had been experiencing ever since the day before.
I opened my eyes moodily, not wanting to admit that it tasted good.
Since when could this guy cook?
Heath stifled a laugh at my expression before releasing my nose from his grasp.
"See? That wan't all that bad, was it?" he cooed at me cutely, causing my face to burn even more.
Heath looked very attractive in casual clothes, and I was having a hard time keeping my eyes off of him as he waltzed around the house to take care of me throughout the day.
So, you could say I was having a difficult time focusing on more important things like getting better before the upcoming race.
Why, out of all the people on planet Earth, did the club force me to stay at Heath's house?
Shaking my head back and forth angrily, I planted my face back into a nearby pillow. I didn't want to admit defeat to someone like Heath.
But then something clicked in the back of my head, turning on another side of me.
It's happening again, the personality flip.
"It was delicious, and I'm grateful to have such a good-looking guy taking care of me!" I shouted into the pillowcase, perplexing myself with my sudden honesty.
So this time it's brutal honesty.
Even though the soup tasted good, my intense hatred for leaks was probably enough to send my mental stability over the edge.
Heath, who was kneeling next to the bed, choked on his spit at my words, not expecting to get such a direct response.
I lifted my face from the pillow, unable to bear the uncomfortable heat that was suffocating me as Heath tried to overcome his coughing fit.
I looked over to the blushing brunette, openly finding his embarrassment absolutely adorable.
"Since when did you become so honest?" he asked shakily, wiping his mouth with the sleeve of his sweater. Involuntarily, words began to pass through my lips before I could even think of them.
"This is something I can't control right now. You could probably ask me anything and I would answer you truthfully," I blabbed, slapping a hand over my mouth soon afterwards.
What the hell am I doing? At this rate, he'll know all of my deepest darkest secrets!
Heath gave me a quizzical look before asking a simple question, reluctantly testing the waters.
"What's your favorite color?"
Not even thinking about it, I responded instantly.
"I wear lots of blue, but my favorite color is actually pale-green, sort of like Hozumi's eyes."
He raised an eyebrow at my words. Still feeling curious, Heath continued with the questions, making them more and more personal.
"How do you feel when you look into Hozumi's eyes?" he asked simply, resting his chin on his fist as he set his elbow on the blanket-clad mattress.
Unable to break away from his oddly enticing gaze, I stared back into his olive irises. Looking into them almost made me forget what Hozumi's looked like.
"I feel confused."
"Why?"
"He likes me, but I can't make myself return his feelings," I spilled, surprising myself.
Even if I had asked myself that question in my right mind, I still wouldn't have known the answer, so I was a little baffled.
This must be how I really feel.
Heath tried to conceal a grin at my answer, but failed miserably at doing so as he looked back to me, ready to ask another question.
My heart began to hammer in anticipation, not knowing what kind of other truths I would spill to Heath until my spell was somehow broken.
"How do you feel when you look into my eyes?" he asked sneakily, batting his eyelashes at me teasingly as he leaned even closer to my burning face, flustering me to a much further extent than before.
For some reason, even my brutally honest self had to hesitate before answering him, but once the answer was out, there was no going back from then on.
"I feel conflicted. I don't know if I want to kiss you, or smack the absolute shit out of you," I admitted before being hit with sudden stomach pains.
It had been a while since Heath had given me my antibiotics, so the intensity of my fever was beginning to increase with every passing moment. I was too distracted by my personality flip to mention anything about it.
"W-w-what kind of answer is that?" he stuttered, trying to hide his burning cheeks by covering his face with his long, slender fingers. He was too embarrassed to take note of my look of discomfort, so he continued to wallow in his shyness, leaving me to fend for myself.
I caught a glimpse of Heath's beat-red face before my vision doubled significantly, throwing me into a temporary darkness.
"Kyouko, are you okay?" Heath began to panic as he realized my condition, shaking my shoulders in an attempt to pull me from my funked out episode.
I groaned at the feeling, and then (just like it had in the beginning) the switch in the back of my head flipped off, returning me back to my normal state.
My icy-blue eyes snapped open at the sound of Heath fumbling with a pill bottle, trying to get the antibiotics into his right palm. When he saw that I was awake, he sighed in relief, allowing his shoulders to slump in relaxation.
"Ah~ Thank God you woke up. Here, take this. I'm sorry I forgot to give it to you sooner," he apologized, handing me the pills along with a small glass of water.
Silently, I downed the pills and sat up on the bed, still feeling sort of dizzy from what had just happened. Unlike previous times, I could vaguely remember what had taken place during my personality flip, and from all the words we exchanged, only one sentence truly stood out.
"I feel conflicted. I don't know if I want to kiss you, or smack the absolute shit out of you."
I almost choked on the pill, but I swallowed it diligently, not wanting to freak Heath out again. The sound of my struggling could be heard by the said boy, and he glanced over at my curiously before blushing, probably remembering something stupid that I had done while I was out of it.
What kind of crap was a spewing to Heath?
"Are you okay, Kyouko?" he asked softly, timidly placing his hand on my forehead to judge my temperature. I swatted his hand away, not wanting to be touched.
"I'm fine," I lied, eyeing the bowl that was sitting on the nightstand. I was starting to get hungry, and I low-key wanted to devour the soup.
He raised an eyebrow at this, probably seeing through my lie.
"You're lying," he accused.
"No I'm not," I denied, making my fibbing evident.
He paused in thought before asking me a question.
"Are you back to normal now?"
I was about to explain to him my weird personality problem, but the buzzing of Heath's phone cut me off. He put a finger up, putting me on hold as he stood up and walked over to the corner of the room to take the call.
"Hello? Oh hey, Ayumu," I heard him answer as he set his hand on his hip in an impatient manner. He obviously wanted to resume our previous conversation.
It must be something about the club...
Thinking about the club saddened me greatly, because I was missing out on practices. But I ignored the feeling. I knew that I would eventually get better after some good rest.
I spaced out for a moment, but I overheard something in Heath's conversation that sparked my interest.
"You need me to talk to Kuga? I-I mean, that's not a problem. I can do that, but you have some explaining to do..."
"Is that the same Kuga that Kaede was talking about?" I whispered to myself, intrigued by the thought.
Shortly after I asked this, Heath returned to my side, no longer on the phone with Ayumu.
"Sorry, that was just Ayumu. He needs me to do something really quick, so I'll need to head out for a bit-" he began to explain, only to be interrupted by my intense curiosity.
I didn't care about the embarrassment of my previous honesty anymore, I was just itching to finally know who this mysterious 'Kuga' was.
"Heath, who's Kuga, and how is he associated with the club?" I asked boldly, pushing all other thoughts aside.
I want to know everything.
Heath sighed before taking a seat on the bed, preparing himself for some story-telling.
"I'll tell you, but it's a long story," he warned.
"I don't care. Just tell me."
And with that, I learned who Kuga Kyosuke was, and discovered the dark misunderstanding that lingered between him and the Hônan Stride club.
I didn't know the guy at all, but for some odd reason I wanted to bring him back into the club.
I think I want to run with him.
- - -
Chapter 12~
I wrote a lot more than I originally planned to...
Oh well. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Updating on time is beginning to get a little tricky, but I'll make sure to keep chapters rolling out steadily for you guys since you're all so fricking great~
Thanks for reading and voting :)
All of your support makes me so unbelievably happy, and I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
~Bell