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It was the homestretch of their pre-World Cup training, and the Blue Lock members had a jam-packed schedule that day.
As they change for morning practice, Bachira looks to his right and notices a patch of reddish-purplish skin on Hiori’s torso.
“Woah, Hiorin, are you okay!? That’s a pretty nasty bruise you got there!” He shouts. Bachira’s volume draws the attention of the other boys, who turn their heads to see for themselves.
“It’s fine, It’s just a surface bruise” Hiori gives the area a few pokes, not wincing at all. “See? doesn’t hurt.”
“But where did you get it from?”
Hiori laughs awkwardly. “It was just an accident. It wasn’t anythin’ major, though!”
Yukimiya turns to Karasu, who is changing next to him. “Karasu, you’re rooming with Hiori, right? That bruise wasn’t there last evening. Do you know what happened?”
“He just fell on somethin’, that’s all.” He replies, not looking at Yukimiya, and hurries along with changing. His voice was a bit hoarse.
Yukimiya furrows his brows. Some of the younger boys stare at each other with similar expressions.
The gossip kicked off during warmups. Nanase first brought it up when Hiori left to use the washroom. “Isagi-san, what happened in the locker room was kinda weird, wasn’t it?” He asks aloud to his little group of the first and second years. “Hiori and Karasu sounded so avoidant about what happened last night. Karasu-san’s voice was pretty hoarse too, like he was screamin’! Do you think they got in a fight?”
“I thought those two had a good relationship, considering how often they talk about each other.” Isagi replies, counting with his fingers the amount of times Hiori brought up Karasu. He runs out of fingers.
“maybe they had a fallin’ out? Karasu-san doesn’t seem like the type to get violent, though.”
“Karasu doesn’t talk about himself even when you ask.” Zantetsu says. “He’s a pretty good liar, too.”
“You know, I thought that that Hiori and Karasu were dating.” Chigiri adds.
“So it’s domesticated violence?”
“So close, Zantestu! It’s ‘domestic violence’. But now that you mention it, I can see the logic behind that…”
“Maybe they’re both into some kinky shit” Shidou jokes from the next group over.
“I cannot imagine Hiori to be a masochist.” Isagi quips.
“Do you think maybe Karasu’s forcing him to do weird things?”
“Being coerced by a senpai, huh…”
“Hiori’s pretty headstrong, but if it’s Karasu, then maybe…”
They continued bouncing off theories behind Hiori’s bruises. Theories eventually evolved into rumours, which soon spread among the team well before afternoon.
These rumors did not affect the quality of practice, surprisingly. Everyone’s priority right now was soccer, after all. However, when Karasu went to discuss something, the younger boys kept their replies more succinct than they usually would. During lunch and meetings, they avoided sitting beside him and surrounded around Hiori so he couldn’t sit next to him. Worst of all, Karasu couldn’t help but notice the wary stares directed towards him over the course of the day.
At dinner, Karasu sits down between Yukimiya and Otoya. Yukimiya stares at Karasu as he starts eating with a solemn expression on his face.
“What, do you believe the others too, Yuki…?” Karasu asks.
“I’m a little closer to Hiori now than I am to you, so if I were to take any side, it’d be his. I also don’t want to jump to conclusions.” Yukimiya replies.
“I get it though. If it were someone else, I’d avoid the guy, too. Hell, I’d want someone to kick his ass.” Karasu looks at Hiori sitting two tables over. He sighs. “Heard Hiori’s defendin’ me, but they don’t believe him, thinks he’s tryin’ to cover fer me. At least it didn’t affect practice today.”
“It doesn’t help that both of you two are so vague about it. It’s super suspicious.” Otoya comments.
“Yeah, what could’ve happened that you don’t want to tell anyone? Yukimiya asks.
Karasu whispers something in Yukimiya’s ear, followed by Otoya’s.
“Oh… my god….” Yukimiya mutters.
“Oh my god, dude. That’s amazing.” Otoya says and tries to dap up Karasu, who does not reciprocate.
“See? If Hiori wanted to tell the story, I wouldn’t mind, but I don’t wanna embarrass him like that.”
“W-well, it’s better than others thinking you’re some abuser...” Yukimiya says. “Or who knows, maybe the others will forget about it tomorrow.”
“Guess I’ll bet on that option.” Karasu said as he got up. He clears his space and then walks over to Hiori’s table
“Hiori, I’m goin’ to bed first. Keep the lights off when you get back, too.” He tells him.
Kurona grabs Hiori by the arm.
“Hiori’s sleeping in our room tonight!” He says.
“Yeah! Who knows what you’re gonna do with him!” Nanase grabs his other arm.
“What do you mean!? Im not gonna do anything!” He looked at Hiori. “Hiori, back me up here!”
Hiori shrugs and says. “I already tried.”
“Just tell us what happened last night!” Kurona and Nanase say in unison.
Karasu facepalms and sighs. He figured there was no choice but to tell the truth. “You wanna know what happened!? I can’t believe I’m gonna do this. Hiori, come here.”
Hiori looks at Nanase and Kurona and the two loosen their grip. He went up to Karasu, and the two were now standing in the middle of the cafeteria, in view of everyone.
“Hiori’s bruise was around here, right?” Karasu asks their audience.
A few of the boys nod.
Karasu gets onto his knees and hovers his hand between the point of his hair and Hiori’s bruise was supposed to be.
“Right here, right?” Karasu asked again.
Some boys nod again. Some stare blankly or raise their eyebrows.
“Alright, now take a look at this.”
Karasu opens his mouth as wide as he could, revealing bruises at the back of his throat. He points at the area to make sure his audience knew what they were supposed to be looking at.
Aiku immediately understood. “Oh. Oh!”. He laughs in surprise. Shidou follows, laughing hard enough to fall off his chair.
One by one, the other boys put the puzzle pieces together and the cafeteria was soon filled with commotion.
“That’s what happened! I was suckin’ his dick, and we just happened to not notice my hair gettin’ in the way! That’s the story! You guys happy now!?”
“Question!” Zantetsu shouts as he raises his hand. “Are you guys dating!?”
Hiori nods.
“I was right, guys!” Zantetsu says as he turns to the boys behind him. The boys cheer and the commotion continues over the next few minutes.
”I was the one who started the rumours, Karasu-san! I’m sorry!” Nanase yells, then bows in apology.
”That’s alright, Nanase! You were only looking out for a friend!” Karasu yells back.
“Jesus christ, Karasu, how hard is your hair!?”
“You know, I saw Hiori’s hog in the bath once. It’s like, 8 inches soft… “
“Seriously? I think we asked the wrong person if he was ok…”
“They both gotta be some kind of masochist, then… Good for them, I guess…?”
Karasu slumps onto a chair, head in his hands and completely red-faced.
Yukimiya chuckles and turns to Hiori. “You seem awfully unfazed for someone whose relationship was exposed in this way.”
Hiori smiles. “Karasu didn’t have to do the visuals, but I’m glad things got cleared up. I probably coulda done more to reassure the others, but I didn’t wanna say anythin’ more than Karasu was comfortable with.”
Yukimiya was glad to know that Karasu and Hiori were on the same wavelength, even if it caused a misunderstanding.
“but you know, you don’t see Karasu bein’ uneasy everyday. It’s kinda entertaining.” Hiori added, then chuckled.
Yukimiya’s smile disappeared.
Otoya rolls up to Hiori and cups a hand to his ear like he’s about to whisper something. “Hiorin, is Karasu good?” He asks, not whispering at all.
“At least wait fer me to leave, idiot! I’ll kill ya!” Karasu yells, getting up to chase Otoya around. Everyone laughs as they watch.
Suddenly, the cafeteria monitor comes to life.
Ego yells, “Alright, wrap it up, my little egoists, lights out in half an hour! You better be grateful that anything filmed outside of the field isn’t live!”
Everyone complies and starts cleaning up, then heading towards the baths and bedrooms.
“We still have a packed schedule tomorrow, you two!” Yukimiya hollers in the direction of Karasu and Hiori.
Others laugh. Karasu smacks him.