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Koushi had been walking to school and a biker hadn’t seen him and they had both gone crashing to the ground. Seconds after they hit the ground, Koushi’s right arm immediately lit up in pain. The biker had apologized and had offered to check the gray-haired boy over, but Koushi waved him off. The high-schooler sent a reassuring smile to the man and made his way to his feet. He held his arm to his chest, making sure he wasn’t moving it. Not once did it cross his mind to do anything but continue his school day.
Once Koushi made it to Karasuno, he slid into his seat. Luckily, neither Asahi nor Daichi had arrived yet. Koushi wasn’t sure if he could handle their gazes that seemed to scream when they knew something was up. The gray-haired setter gingerly pulled his sleeve up to get his first look at the damage. And it wasn’t as good as he had hoped. His arm and hand were deeply bruised and his wrist had definitive swelling. Koushi sighed. How was he supposed to go to volleyball practice like this? The sound of the door opening had Koushi hurriedly pulling his sleeve back down.
“Hey, Suga!”
“Good morning, Suga!”
Koushi raised his hand in greeting, “Hey, guys!”
Daichi and Asahi came to a stop by Koushi’s desk while all three boys waited for class to start. The three boys chatted while the rest of the room filled but Koushi couldn’t keep his mind off his arm.
“Hey, Suga, you okay?” Daichi asked.
Before Koushi could think of a lie, the teacher called that class was starting. If he could’ve, the setter would’ve thanked his teacher a hundred times over. That was until they set the whole class duration to a period of essay-writing. Suga carefully got out his notebook and pencil, trying not to show how much pain his arm was in. By habit, he went to grab his pencil in his right hand and stifled a groan at the flare of pain. Daichi whipped around to look at him in shock. Suga tried to give a smile, but he knew he failed when the other boy made to stand up.
“Daichi Sawamura!” the teacher called, “What reason do you have to leave your seat?”
The volleyball captain sank back into his seat, muttering an apology. Koushi let out a breath and went back to staring at his desk. He couldn’t move his dominant hand and therefore couldn’t write. All he could do was hope that no teacher called him out and that the other two third-years took decent notes. Suga spent the rest of the day in a semi-daze of pain and attempting to hide it. The haze cleared suddenly when the whole class shifted to their feet.
“C’mon, Suga! Volleyball time!”
The setter grimaced to himself. His wrist wasn’t feeling any better and he didn’t dare to risk another peek at it. He started putting his supplies back in his bag when Daichi came over to help him.
“You’re not looking too good, Suga. Did you not sleep last night?”
Koushi saw his chance and took it. He smiled sheepishly at his captain, “Yeah.. It’s embarrassing. I was up late working on homework.”
Daichi playfully elbowed Suga, “And you’re usually the best at staying on top of the homework! C’mon, we’re gonna be late for practice!”
And with that, all of Suga’s school supplies were put away. The two met Asahi right outside the door and the three made their way to the gym. Through the whole walk, Koushi’s arm throbbed but he didn’t dare hold it to his chest like he had done that morning. He didn’t need anyone worrying about him, especially with the circumstance surrounding how the clear injury happened. Once in the club room, Suga managed to make up an excuse to change in the bathroom, not wanting anyone to see his arm.
He locked the stall door and peeled his top off. He didn’t want to, but knew he needed to look at his arm. Luckily, it didn’t look too different compared to when he had looked earlier. It still looked bruised and it had swelled a bit more, but his sleeve seemed to have worked with compression a bit. Suga held up his short-sleeved practice shirt in front of him.
How the hell am I supposed to hide my arm? He thought, starting to panic a little.
Then the idea came to him. It wasn’t uncommon for the team to pre-wrap parts of their arms or legs if they felt like they had to. Suga would just do that and hoped the compression would get the swelling down. The third-year finished changing and made his way back to the club room. He cracked open the door to check if any of the team was still in there. To his luck, it was empty. That made the process of getting to the first aid kit easy. Suga opened it and found the wraps easily enough. He unrolled the bandages and gingerly started wrapping the material around his wrist. The setter wasn’t a stranger to wrapping himself or his teammates, but he had never done it to something that was hurting to this extent. By the time he had finished, Suga felt like he had done thirty laps around the gym. However, his arm looked well-hidden and he felt better about having it braced somewhat. With a newfound confidence for the first time in the day, he made his way to the volleyball court.
Once he entered, he was immediately greeted by the rest of the team.
“Oi, Suga, what happened?” Ukai questioned, glaring at Suga’s arm.
The third-year brought his left hand up to the back of his head, “Nothing, coach. Just slept on it wrong last night and it’s still complaining about it.”
Ukai nodded and went to round everyone up for the pre-practice huddle.
Daichi walked next to Suga, “I thought you said you didn’t sleep last night,” he whispered.
“I went to bed late last night,” Koushi said, the lie tasting bitter on his tongue.
“Sugawara! Sawamura! Practice time, not chit chat time!”
“Yes, coach!” Both boys called and they jogged toward the rest of the group.
Practice managed to go somewhat smoothly. The wraps helped buffer movement, leaving less pain overall. That was until Tanaka and Nishinoya had to try out a new move. It ended with Suga sprawled across the floor with Yu frantically apologizing. Ukai and Takeda appeared by his side.
“Suga, are you okay?”
The teen couldn’t respond through the pain. He merely held his arm to his chest and let the two men do what they wanted to do. And that apparently meant pulling his right arm from its protection. As layer after layer of bandages came off, the pain increased as the blood flow came back full force to the aching limb. He faintly heard gasps from around him.
“Suga, what happened?” Takeda asked.
Koushi took a deep breath in an attempt to quiet the pain, “Biker hit me on the way to school.”
“Why didn’t you let anyone know?” Ukai demanded.
Suga shrugged to the best of ability while still lying on the hard floor.
Ukai sighed and stood up, “Alright. I’m going to take Suga to the hospital. The rest of you are going to stay here with Specs and Kiyoko to keep practicing.”
Takeda helped Suga to his feet. It felt like since the reveal of his injury, the rest of the third-year’s body decided it wanted to be useless. Ukai put Koushi’s left arm over his shoulder and wrapped an arm around the boy’s waist. Shame flooded Suga’s body. He didn’t want to make any trouble for his coach!
He lowered his gaze to the floor as the two started their way outside, “Sorry, coach.”
“You don’t need to apologize. Let’s go get your arm checked out.”
Suga didn’t respond, and merely let the events unfold how they were going to unfold apparently.