Yuki's appearance was a mess. His usually neat and tidy hair was now messy and unkempt, sticking up in every direction as if he had been running his hands through it in frustration. Hell, he still even wore the volleyball jersey he used earlier even though it wasn't his in the first place.
However, Yuki didn't care about that.
He kept walking fast in panic, his eyes were scanning the crowded waiting room, trying to see the sign of any kids from the orphanage.
It was the evening after the game, and never crossed his mind for Yuki to come back to the orphanage just to find out there was no sign of life there. He had a bad feeling when he found out the usually crowded and lively kitchen was quiet, and even the light was off there. His heart skipped for a second when he noticed a small note placed on the table.
'Aiko-obaasan passed out. Toshima Hospital, quick!'
There were just two simple sentences there, yet it was enough to let everything crumble inside him. His heart suddenly beat violently, his palm was sweaty. For a moment, Yuki lost himself as his breath was frantic and a massive headache suddenly hit his head. His mind was chaos, filled with every worst scenario possible to happen that he could think of. The panic attack happened for a while before he took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down.
'Don't panic, Yuki. Come on! Take a deep breath… Again…'
He tried to repeat those words like a charm, trying to loosen the tension inside his head. Once he was calm enough to re-process what happened, Yuki jumped from his spot immediately and rushed toward the Toshima Hospital.
The hospital was pretty close, only ten minutes away from the orphanage if Yuki ran at his full speed. However, the journey there was more exhausting for him than two hours of playing the volleyball game against Matsuyama Kita earlier. His heart was racing the moment he entered the tall building, his stomach was in turmoil at all the negative thoughts he had right now.
It had been a month since the last time Yuki entered this building, and honestly, if possible, he never wanted to go there again. This place reminded him of so many bad memories, especially when he was toldhis parents were lost in the disaster. There were even times when he associated the hospital with a police station, both were the bearer of bad news. However, right now, he hoped that the bad news wasn't that bad.
"Excuse me, Nurse-Oneesan, but do you know where is Akimura Aiko's room?" Yuki asked a nurse who was at the reception desk, inwardly cursing how shaky his voice was.
The woman raised her head for a moment to see him before smiling kindly and nodding. "She is in the room 403. Don't worry, kiddo. She is just too exhausted, but nothing bad happened."
The nurse's words of reassurance suddenly hit him like a ton of bricks. His knees buckled beneath him, and he felt his legs give way as he let out a sigh of relief. He slid down the wall, his messy appearance now forgotten in the face of relief. Tears of relief pricked at the corners of his eyes as he tried to process the news.
"Do you want me to show you the room?" The nurse asked kindly, snapping Yuki from his thought.
"Thank you so much, Oneesan!" He bowed deeply, full of gratitude.
Unlike the journey to the hospital, the walk to Aiko's room was light, as if a heavy burden suddenly lifted up from Yuki's shoulder. He kept asking the nurse what happened to his matron, yet unfortunately, the older woman next to him didn't know a lot about it. She just knew that Aiko was okay from her colleague's words.
"When nine children who are not even in their teenagers run in panic while the oldest one had a woman old enough to be their mother passed out on his back, it bounds to be a commotion. Everyone was curious about what happened, that's why the news of your matron's condition spread quickly among the nurses." The woman explained. "Still, why not call for an ambulance?" She asked, bemused.
"Only Aiko-obaasan has a phone in the orphanage, and I am sure no one knows how to operate it." Yuki furrowed his brows when answering the question, inwardly thinking, 'It seems I need to buy two phones later. One is for my private business, and the other is for everyone to use it together.'
The moment they arrived at the fourth floor, Yuki was greeted by the sight of two kids he was familiar with waiting outside of the room, taking a glance from the windows on the door that was slightly higher than their height. Even though their appearance was a mess, Yuki was glad their expression was as bright as ever.
"What are you doing here?" Yuki asked.
Those two kids were taken aback, turning their heads immediately from the windows. Their expressions lit up when they saw who was the person greeting them, a sign of relief could be found there.
"Yuki-nii, you are finally here." One of them, a girl with a ponytail hairstyle whispered lowly. "We have been waiting for you."
"Yeah." The other kid, a boy with bald hair nodded. "And we are just checking inside to see whether the other kids are bothering Aiko-obaasan's rest or not."
Yuki raised his eyebrows, taking a glance slightly at the room inside from the windows. There, he saw a heartwarming sight where Aiko was surrounded by six little children on her bed while one was in a wheelchair next to it, all of them fell asleep peacefully.
Are you both the ones who think of going to the hospital first without waiting for me?" He also whispered, didn't want to attract the children's attention inside. Seeing the nods from both kids in front of them, he nodded in appreciation. "Good job, you two. You did well in this situation."
Their face brightened up hearing the praise from Yuki. They both were Taro and Aina, the second and third oldest children in the orphanage after him. Those two were still freshmen in middle school, so for them to handle it clear-headedly like this was worth of praise.
"So, what happened?"
"Obaasan suddenly collapsed when cooking for dinner," Aina answered. "We didn't know what happened, but since she wasn't responding to our shout, we knew it was an emergency situation, so we ran here as quickly as we could."
"The doctor said she was okay, though," Taro added, a sign of relief was still there. "Just the accumulation of a lot of Obaasan's bad habits. He said she was too exhausted and her bad eating habit made things worse. Fortunately, nothing bad happened. But for precaution, she is needed here for one more night."
Yuki furrowed his brows at the explanation, somehow feeling guilty for not noticing that sign.
He knew his matron had three part-time jobs outside to keep the orphanage alive, so exhaustion was bound to happen. The bad eating habit, though? He had never noticed that. But when he thought about it, he couldn't even remember the last time Aiko ate together with them. In his mind, Yuki knew the matron didn't want the children to see her eating their leftovers, so he had never bothered her about that. Now, he regretted never addressing this matter before.
'Well, I guess, I need to be more caring toward the orphanage in the future. Should I consider my position on the volleyball team again?'
-0-
Riku yawned widely, trying his best to keep his eyes open. Currently, he is in the Japanese class, and the fatigue after the game yesterday finally hit his body. Fortunately, his seat was far behind, the place where all the delinquents sat, so no teacher cared enough to bother him.
He took a glance at the book in front of him once again, but his mind flew to the game against Matsukita yesterday, especially to Yuki's mocking retort toward the captain. While he was also dissatisfied with the team, Riku had never thought of antagonizing their senpai, knowing clearly even though he grew up in Italy how deeply rotten the seniority culture was in Japan.
'He sure had the ball of steel here.' He smiled wryly. 'Still, it should be me who said that. Unlike him, I still have Akira-jiisan to back me up. Now, there is no way the senpai would be willing to let him join the team again.'
Riku shook his head quickly, trying to banish the sleepiness that wanted to attack him again. His eyes wandered around the class for another few seconds before they landed on the seat where Yuki was usually there, only to find out it was empty.
'Is he still exhausted and couldn't wake up from his bed? It should be. Yesterday should be his first game ever, right? Maybe that is the case.' He mused, then shaking his head immediately, dismissing that idea far away. 'What the hell am I thinking? It is Kobayashi I am talking about, the volleyball genius who can learn anything in a night. There is no way exhaustion would hold him down like this. There must be something happening in his place. Should I check it later?'
-0-
"So, where are those two little bastards?" Yoshi asked, his expression was ugly. "They didn't even dare to come here after all that insults and mockeries they threw at us yesterday! Goddamnit!"
"Calm down, Yoshi." Yori tried to appease his friend's fiery temper. "I am sure there is a reason why they both didn't come today. And what we did would definitely make a huge commotion. Should we try to use… Milder method?"
It was after school, and other than Yuki and Riku, all the volleyball team members had already gathered there. Their eyes were full of hostility, ready to confront their kouhai. As expected, they didn't forget the offense they received yesterday and wanted to settle the score right now.
"Shut up, Yori!" Yoshi snarked indignantly. "Don't you forget their disrespect yesterday? Those brats need to be reminded who is in charge of the team! I will not let this slide without any consequence!"
Yori sighed, asking Noriyuki for help silently. However, the captain seemed to ignore him since after the game yesterday. It seemed Noriyuki also remembered suddenly that he was told Yori was more suitable as the captain of the team than him and he took offense at it somehow.
Honestly, in a normal condition, they wouldn't be so offended by this little thing. They would probably just call their kouhai privately and tell them to be more respectful. However, this time, they snapped. After receiving the worst scolding they had ever heard from Akira, their temper boiled silently, and it finally erupted, triggered by their kouhai.
Now, the only thing that could appease them was retribution, or maybe for Akira to come and calm them down.
'Speaking of which…' Yori mused. 'Where is Akira-sensei? It is not often he would come late for the after-the-game evaluation. Is there any trouble outside?'
-0-
True to Yori's thought, the one person he thought could appease the players was still in the middle of trouble. Currently, Akira was sitting in the headmaster's office, surrounded by six higher-ups of the school. The atmosphere there was tense as everyone was waiting for the headmaster to decide something.
"I am sorry, Akira-sensei." The headmaster sighed.
"So, what is the verdict?" Akira asked, trying to sound nonchalant even though a pang of sadness popped up in his heart.
"Due to the lack of achievements in the last five years you are here, we can only give you one more chance. If you couldn't bring the team to advance to the top four of the Tokyo Preliminary Tournament, we have no choice but to give up on you, and maybe on the volleyball team too."