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Kohane's anxious.
It's not the first time, and it probably won't be the last; it's only been a little while since they formed Vivid BAD SQUAD, and practice still sends nervous jitters through her body. She's so far behind everyone else, it makes her scared to stand side by side with them; An-chan has immaculate energy and power, making her heart pound, Aoyagi-kun has incredible precision, while Shinonome-kun has boundless determination.
It's that drive that scares her.
As she's come to realize, Shinonome-kun’s attitude is very much do-or-die. So far, he's always been the first one to show up to their practice spot during the weekend, and she heard him talking about his daily runs. He often stays behind on his own to run through the set one more time, his eyes dead set on something far beyond.
When she looks at herself, she doesn't think she can ever measure up to that.
Shinonome-kun is relentless in his strive to surpass RAD WEEKEND, which translates to him being harsh during practice. He's blunt about his critiques, and even though he doesn't spare anyone – including himself – it still makes her shiver when his comments are directed at her. They're not out of malice, and they do help her improve; despite that, she still cowers like a small animal.
For once, Shinonome-kun is among the last to enter the café; he and Aoyagi-kun both got held up by committee matters. She got here only a few minutes ago, and she spent that time chatting with An-chan while playing with the edge of her sleeve.
“Yo. Why's this place closed?” Shinonome-kun points to the door, the sign flipped to say ‘closed’.
“Dad's on an emergency supply run. Today's delivery day, but the van was delayed, and in the end it never came. But we get the whole place to ourselves for practice!” An cheers, leaving her spot behind the counter. “Everything's set up, so let's get to it!”
Kohane gets up from her seat and heads towards the stage. They quickly begin practice, and even though she's still nervous, it's actually going good! Shinonome-kun recently told her that she's a fast learner. Maybe she can make it through without feeling inadequate for once.
Of course, things can't go well forever.
She skips across the stage as agreed; it's nowhere near a proper choreography, but when Shinonome-kun suggested that they move around the stage more to add visual interest and emphasis, no one saw a reason to decline. Her step is confident, as she rehearsed in her mirror time and time again, and—
her foot lands wrong on the floor.
She yelps as she loses balance, a pang of pain shooting up from her right ankle; she stumbles, and when trying to stay upright, she puts her weight on her right leg. It hurts even worse, and she cries out as she falls to the ground, mic falling out of her hand and clattering onto the floor. She tries to get her legs under her to get up, come on, it's the middle of practice that she so badly needs, but it's no use.
She just ruined practice.
The realization sends shivers through her body, a paralyzing fear that makes her want to hide; except she can't move, frozen to her spot on the floor. She's an injured prey animal surrounded by predators.
Voices float above her; she can't make out the words well, but she can hear Shinonome-kun's tone, harsh and annoyed as he barks out.
He's mad at her for ruining practice.
She hides her face in her hands, trying to contain a sob; crying would only make things worse.
Careful hands lift her right leg and place it on something soft.
She hears an exasperated sigh; it sounds like Shinonome-kun, and she curls a little more into herself.
He's mad at her for being in the team.
She bites her lip, hard; the incoming sob stops with a faint copper taste. She tries to subtly rub her eyes to chase away the tears welling up, both from pain and fear. She can't show even more weakness.
Those same hands untie her shoe and gently slide it off.
Something warm settles against her, carrying a familiar coffee-mint scent. That has to be An-chan. She relaxes a little, because it's An-chan, so it can't be all that bad if An-chan is hugging her.
She feels something wrap around the base of her foot, then slowly move up to her ankle. With a steadying breath, she peeks through her fingers.
She blinks a few times to make sure her eyes aren't failing her. She has a fresh pair of contact lenses in, so she can't fault the weird sight in front of her on them.
Her leg is in Shinonome-kun’s lap. The boy is wrapping her ankle in bandage, while Aoyagi-kun hovers above with a towel, a pack of ice and a worried frown on his face.
Shinonome-kun is helping her?
“Kohane! Everything alright?” She can finally hear An-chan's voice. She nods hesitantly in response, watching as Shinonome-kun finishes wrapping her ankle.
Why is he helping her?
“All done. The bandage should help stabilize your ankle and help reduce swellin’. Keep your leg up, it also helps with swellin’, same with ice,” Shinonome-kun explains, then lets Aoyagi-kun place the towel and ice over her ankle. She can't help but cast a confused glance between Shinonome-kun, An-chan and her injured ankle.
“I help out at the soccer club. These sorta injuries are common, and I asked the coach a while back about how to do first aid for ‘em, jus’ in case,” Shinonome-kun says, rubbing his neck, then points at An-chan with a sigh. “Though this dumbass totally panicked and refused to listen to what I told her.”
“Hey, it was a stressful situation! You can't blame me!” An-chan defends, squeezing her a little tighter.
“Oh, I absolutely can. You're the only one who knows where the first aid kit is, and you refused to fuckin’ budge from your spot,” Shinonome-kun fires back.
Kohane blinks, trying to process all the information.
Shinonome-kun's rough voice wasn't directed at her. It was directed at An-chan.
Now that she looks at him, the crease in his brows looks less like anger and more like concern. His lips are set in a thin line, and the burning fire in his eyes feels gentler than usual, less scorching and more warm.
That doesn't make much sense. She must've hit her head on the floor and is now imagining things, except she doesn't remember her head making contact with the stage.
She keeps her eyes on Shinonome-kun, gathering her measly courage to speak.
“Y-you're not mad?” she squeaks out, wincing at her trembling voice.
“Why the hell'd I be mad?” Shinonome-kun looks at her like she's crazy, and she can't help but flinch.
“B-but I ruined practice…” she mumbles out, curling up even more.
Shinonome-kun sighs, looking up before directing his gaze back at her. “Shit happens. This coulda been any one of us.”
She stays quiet. This isn't at all what she expected, and she's not sure what to do about it.
“Azusawa, is either of your parents free by now? It'd be best to bring you to a hospital,” Aoyagi-kun asks, helpfully diverting her thoughts to something less complicated.
She turns to the side to check the clock hung up on the wall. There's still about half an hour left until Dad finishes work.
“No, my Dad finishes work in half an hour. And at this time, it's about another half an hour to get to Vivid Street.”
“An, how ‘bout Ken-san?” Shinonome-kun asks.
“Wait, lemme call him.” An-chan pulls away to go get her phone. Kohane really misses the comforting warmth as soon as it's gone.
“Toya, do ya know where the nearest hospital is?” Shinonome-kun asks, and receives a raised eyebrow back from Aoyagi-kun.
“What are you planning?”
“I mean.” Shinonome-kun shrugs. “If Ken-san ain't available, we're gonna be sittin’ ducks. If there's a place nearby, we can carry her there.”
Carry her?
Would any of them even be able to lift her for so long? Aoyagi-kun certainly doesn't seem like he'd be able to, his lean build visible even under layers of clothing, and she's not sure if An-chan would have the stamina required for a longer walk with her in her arms.
That leaves one option.
“U-Um, we can just wait! It's okay!” she squeaks out. She doesn't want to bother them any more than she already is, especially not Shinonome-kun, even if her ankle throbs dully with pain.
“You have a possibly sprained ankle.” Shinonome-kun fixes her with a flat stare. Oddly enough, it doesn't feel as scary as it should. “We're gettin’ it checked out as fast as we can.”
“Guys!” An-chan barrels back in, quickly dropping back at her side. “Dad should be here in about fifteen minutes. Think you can wait that long?”
“Yes,” she assures before anyone else can say anything. Shinonome-kun rolls his eyes a little, but says nothing.
“Okay! Kohane, what do you wanna talk about while we wait?” An-chan calls out.
“Huh? W-why me?” she squeaks out, casting a nervous look at An-chan. She doesn't know what to talk about, what topics are going to be fun, how to make sure the conversation is smooth and comfortable. She doesn't like being thrust into the spotlight like that, not when the other three shine so much brighter.
“Well, we wanna make you feel better!” An-chan pokes her cheek. “Don't be shy.”
It's a very sweet thought.
Except she can't speak.
Her mind is blank, trying to come up with anything palatable, anything that can work as a decent conversation topic. It's a pointless search; she's never been very open, never been any good at making small talk. No matter how much she wants to say something, her mind stays empty and her mouth stays shut.
“Any songs ya wanna try singin’?” Shinonome-kun's question makes her flinch.
Songs she'd like to try singing?
She made a list of a few songs she was interested in, but what were their titles…?
“U-Um, I think ‘drop pop candy’ is one of the songs I'd like to sing,” she says after a moment. It's pretty popular, and she hopes this was a good answer.
“You're singing that with me, right?” An-chan headbutts her affectionately. Kohane nods in response.
“It'd be a good duet,” Shinonome-kun comments, “‘S not our style.” He gestures between himself and Toya.
“Yes. Your voices suit the song quite well, Shiraishi, Azusawa,” Aoyagi-kun adds on, nodding solemnly.
“Then we should divide it up now!” An-chan brandishes her phone, quickly unlocking it to play the song.
They listen to it twice, pointing out different lines and who should sing them. She looks into An-chan’s phone as she makes a separate file with the lyrics to mark them in different colors. It’s nice, though they don’t get much done. They only assign a few of the lines before Ken-san comes back. They keep discussing the song in Ken-san’s car; despite her insistence, everyone wanted to accompany her to the hospital. She hadn’t expected Shinonome-kun to want to waste time by sitting with her.
She briefly glances away from An-chan’s phone, eyes flickering to the passenger seat; An-chan insisted on sitting next to her at the back, so Shinonome-kun ended up in the front instead. She accidentally catches his gaze in the window’s reflection, olive eyes holding a surprising amount of concern. She quickly looks away.
It’s odd. She hadn’t expected Shinonome-kun to care about her like this. It almost gives her whiplash, especially when the memory of his harsh words is still fresh in her mind.
A small part of her is happy, though; if things keep going well, someday she might be able to stand next to him with her head held high.