"(F/N)!"
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approximately an hour and 29 minutes later
'Why am I here? Why am I concerned about her? Well, who wouldn't be? She was practically dying. But for what? She stopped dead in her tracks. What could she have possibly seen?'
'I couldn't believe I was stuck in this hospital-looking room when I could be playing volleyball. Not that I especially like volleyball. It is just a club.'
The sterile scent of medical equipment stung my nose.
'Ugh. Why do I have to be here? I perfectly remember what led up to this shit. Or I think I do.'
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(F/n) stopped dead in her tracks causing the rest of team to stop with her. Confused at her sudden action, Suga went to check up on her, but she wouldn't respond.
"SHE'S HYPERVENTILATING!" Suga realized wailing his hands in front of (f/n)'s face with no success at waking her up from her own little world.
"What the fuck's happening?" Coach Ukai demanded from the back of our group.
"(F/n)-chan!! Are you okay?" that annoying little brat whined after her.
'I don't possibly get what the big deal is. Oh no, she's hyperventilating. So what? I don't give a fuck about that perfect little goody two shoes.....
Then why am I the person who's stuck with (f/n) right now?! Why couldn't Ennoshita or Kinoshita or Kiyoko take her?!?'
In that moment, I realized it. Face palming myself in the face, I thought to myself...
'Shit, I remember now.'
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In mere seconds, she collapsed into my arms. A sudden wave of protectiveness sort of overcame me. Her whole body was trembling.
'Why was she trembling so violently? Why do I want her to stop shaking and be okay?'
"TSUKISHIMA, SHE NEEDS TO GET TO THE INFIRMARY NOW!" Suga ordered starting to outstretch his arms towards (f/n) making it clear to me that he was going to take her there.
Unexpectedly, I jolted the feeble girl away from probably the most trustworthy person on our team.
'Why would I do that?'
"No, I'll take her. I'll be quicker."
"Boke! You're the weakest runner of our ..." that stupid king called out to me but I was long gone running with (f/n) in my arms.
'She isn't waking up. Shit. Is she dead? No, she's breathing. She probably fainted. Right? Why would she faint? There's nothing even that scary in the vicinity. So what caused this?'
Out of breathe, I struggled telling the nurse what had happened. Laying the frail girl on the bed, I was told to wait here for the time being. I've been sitting for the past hour and a half in the same chair, facing the same girl.
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'They're probably already done with the first set. I wonder how they're holding up without me. Shouldn't (f/n) be waking up any time now?'
As some sort of physic, I saw minor movement in the small bed where the girl lay. Looking and standing up urgently, I suddenly realized what I was doing. I shook my head and returned to my normal state of uninterest.
"Ugh. Finally, you're fucking awake. Can we go back to the match now?" I say trying to hide my concern.
She jolted up frantically. Her eyes darting around the room as if she was searching for something.
"What is it?" I say unimpressed.
"WHERE IS HE? I KNOW HE'S HERE. I felt his presence. E-everything came flooding back. Where am I? Is he here? Please no. This the worst," (f/n) cried out desperately to the nurse and I.
"Who the fuck are you even talking about?"
"M-m-my d-dad," (f/n) whimpered.
"Wait, didn't you say that your dad was back in (country)?"
"Yeah."
"Then why would he be here dumbass?"
"I DON'T KNOW!" (f/n) shouted, tears starting to flow against her cheeks again.
'Shit.'
"What were you doing last night? You've been exhausted all day right? What were you possibly doing?"
"I-I was reviewing notes and strategies for t-the J-johnzeji match. I stayed up til 1 A.M. collecting data and doing research on them," she stammered.
"Why?"
"B-because it's my first match on the b-bench. I haven't been to an official match since l-last school year. Plus it was my first official match as a team manager. I-I wanted t-to p-prove that I was worthy of being a team manager," you stuttered with tears still streaming down your cheeks.
'Why is she doing this much? It's annoying how hard she works.'
"Well, you were probably hallucinating. It makes sense since you basically didn't get much fucking sleep last night. I mean how could your dad possibly be in this exact location you're at without you knowing. You have his contact right? And he has yours? He probably would've contacted you if he was going to visit." I tried to explain.
"WHY WOULD I HAVE HIS CONTACT! W-when he.."
"What?"
"HE'S ABUSED ME. OKAY. I didn't always have good grades like you probably think! I was nothing but a disappointment to him. Never good enough. Always humiliating him and his high status. For my punishment, I-I was beaten, slapped, thrashed, and kicked. I resorted to volleyball to distract myself from the pain. Volleyball was the only thing I was actually good at. But h-he said it was a 'distraction.' I was forced to quit. But I secretly played club volleyball for three years back in (country). My mom helped me cover it up. She always made up excuses, and she always drove me to practices and tournaments. When I was announced as the top libero in my region, my father heard about it in no time. He threatened t-to kill me if I didn't stop playing volleyball. H-he hurt my mother. S-she still has the scar. W-we barely escaped to Japan," (f/n) ranted, out of breath from all that talking.
Silence filled the room for a couple long seconds.
"You happy now? You finally got me to break.. Tsukishima. Aren't you so thri-,"
'I don't know what overtook me in this moment. I think it was my first time in a while where I genuinely felt pity for someone. Her story. It was heart-wrenching.'
Pulling (f/n) into my arms, I leaned down to be on her level as she was sitting up on a bed. I could feel her hesitate to lean into the hug. Her hot tears staining my jersey. Moments later, she hugged me back.
"I-I'm so sorry. I had no idea," I mumbled.
We stayed like this for a minute. Our hug interrupted by a soft tap on my shoulder. It was the nurse.
"A girl with glasses just stopped by to ask about you. She told me to tell you that your team stalled for about thirty minutes, and that they're currently in the first set," the nurse said in a monotone voice.
"TSUKISHIMA KEI! WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING HERE! You should be on the court!! Get out! Get out! Go!" (f/n) practically screamed at the top of her lungs.
"Okay fine, you sure you're gonna be okay?"
"Yeah, you little shit. I'm fine. Now goooo!"
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I hesitantly walk out of the room followed by the nurse.
"I need to calm her down and make her sleep. She is totally sleep deprived like you suspected. However, I think that she's been like this for a while. It kinda looks like a he hasn't gotten much sleep at all... I'm going to give her painkillers which should make her drowsy. There's a chance she might forget everything that's happened in the past five hours," the nurse sternly informed me.
"Wait, so she won't remember anything she just said to me moments ago?"
"Correct."
"Okay, I'll send someone to watch over her. Thank you again!" I politely state running as fast as I could towards the court.
'Good, she won't remember any of this. Good.'