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The sound of shoes squeaking echoed throughout the gym as the girls' volleyball team played yet another practise match. This year they were more determined than ever to win the championship, for various reasons.
"Sorry! Cover!" One of the middle blockers called out as they fumbled their move.
"Don't mind it!" Their libero called back as they caught the ball and sent it flying back up towards their setter.
Rio was on the other team for this practise match and watched every movement of the ball with the eyes of a predator. She had to be on the top of her game for the upcoming regionals. She had to help the team make it to the national level, she had to! She promised, after all! If she broke that promise…
She quickly shook her head to dispel such thoughts and focused back on the match as her team successfully blocked the attempted spike from the other side.
Their coach was watching the match carefully from her seat in the umpire chair and making notes on each member's strengths and weaknesses as she saw them. On the other side of the net sat Yuko and their faculty advisor, the two of them in charge of keeping track of the score.
So far, the match was pretty even, with the score at 4-3 in Rio's team's favour. Both the offense and defense of the teams were playing the best they'd played in a while. However Rio couldn't shake this horrible feeling that they still weren't good enough for the looming competitions.
God, what was with her lately?! She'd been so pessimistic… This wasn't like her at all… She couldn't even figure out what the cause of it was. Was she scared of losing? Was she frustrated from last year's results? Was she determined to win before graduating? Did she have something she wanted to prove? Or deep down… Was it because of… he-
"Ow! Sorry! Cover that!" One of their team's blockers hissed. She's successfully blocked the other team's attempted spike but the sheer force of the ball sent her arms flying backwards and the ball ricocheting into the air.
Rio snapped out of it and watched as the ball zoomed towards the back of the court. She immediately jumped into action, sprinting after the ball. After realising that she likely wouldn't catch up in time, Rio slammed her foot down and focused all of her strength into thigh muscles before launching herself into a last minute dive for the ball. She stretched her arm out as far as it could go and just barely…
The ball bounced off her hand.
Unfortunately her victory was short living as her body's current momentum just kept going. Her hand touched the ground for a second at most, twisting uncomfortably as the rest of her body tumbled past it. She could hear her teammates gasping in shock and pain while her body continued rolling for a few more rotations. Eventually she came to a halt, her body collapsing into an ungraceful pile with a loud 'thud!'.
'Well, that's gonna leave a few bruises…' She thought to herself as she slowly began to push herself up into a sitting position.
"Rio, you okay?!" One of her teammates called out as half the team came rushing over to check on her.
"Yeah! Yeah, I'm fine, don't worry about it!" Rio called back, stretching her leg to make her knee click.
"You sure? That was quite the tumble." The coach enquired as she too came to check on her.
"Yeah, I'm just gre- Ah!" Rio immediately cut herself off as she turned her body around to face her teammates. The instant she put pressure on her left hand, an intense pain shot through her hand and arm. She thought it was just a coincidence so she tried leaning on that hand again.
"Ow!" She discreetly hissed to herself as it felt like an electrical current was surging through her arm. This reaction didn't go unnoticed by her coach.
"Let me take a look at your hand." The adult woman requested as she bent down, holding her hand out in front of the team captain. Rio sighed, knowing there wasn't really a way out of this, and complied. She lifted her hand up towards the coach's hand, letting her gently cradle her hand within her palm as she inspected it for any potential injuries.
She didn't need to look for long, however, as a large section of Rio's wrist was already starting to turn purple. The coach gingerly poked the area, taking note of the way Rio tried her best not to wince when that happened. She carefully turned Rio's hand palm up to check the other side.
"Ow!" Rio couldn't hold back her reaction that time. The coach nodded seriously.
"You've probably twisted it." She turned to face the two sat by the scoreboard. "Hey, Nishiwaki! Can you get an ice pack for her please?"
Yuko immediately leapt into action, pulling an ice pack out of the first aid kit and jogging over to Rio.
"Should I take her to the Nurse's Office?" She asked as she carefully placed the ice pack against the injury.
"That would be for the best, yes." The coach immediately agreed.
"H-Hey, hold on! I'm okay, I don't need to go, I can keep playing!" Rio began to argue against this sudden development.
"Iwasaki, if you keep playing with your wrist like that, you're only going to damage it more and wind up unable to play in any of the tournaments. If you rest up now, you'll be back in time to practice more and play in the tournament… Which would you prefer?" The coach sighed, clearly used to dealing with overzealous students.
Rio looked between her coach's exasperated face and Yuko's stern scowl. Realising she had no way out of this, she let out a defeated sigh.
"Okay, fine…"
Yuko grinned triumphantly. "Good, then let's go!"
Rio didn't even get the chance to say anything before Yuko dragged her off to the Nurse's Office.
"C'mon, Yuko, it really isn't that bad! You believe me, right?"
Rio protested as Yuko checked her injury. They had entered the Nurse's Office only to discover that no one was there. Rio wasn't sure if she should be disappointed because that meant she'd be stuck waiting around, or thrilled because that meant she wouldn't have to drink one of Edogawa's concoctions. Sure he was very knowledgeable about folklore and the like but he still just really creeped her out…
Luckily for her though, she wouldn't have to wait around for Edogawa or any other teacher since Yuko had been relentlessly studying athletic biology and how to treat sporting injuries.
Yuko sighed at Rio's complaints while continuing to gently massage her wrist. "For the last time, no. It's exactly as Coach said: either keep exerting it and making it stick around for ages, or rest and let it heal quickly."
"But if I rest, that's time I could have spent practising!"
"Barely practising because you'd be in too much pain to focus."
"I'd be able to en-"
"Rio, I've already gone through this with Kaz. Do you think I have the patience to do it again?"
The irritation in Yuko's voice made Rio fall silent. She'd never heard such a disciplinary tone in Yuko's voice before. She was usually chill and joked around while being supportive, mostly becoming feisty when someone irritated her or messed with her friends… or when she thought one of her friends was making a terrible decision. Rio could still remember the way Yuko booked it across the entire gym in a matter of seconds after hearing her admit her crush on Kenji, just to admonish her for her terrible taste in men. That speed was honestly impressive; it made Rio wonder why Yuko insisted on being a manager instead taking up track and field herself.
Eventually Rio sighed, accepting that no one was going to let her off easy. "Fine… But there's gotta be something I can do, right? I don't wanna get rusty right before the tournament…"
Yuko clicked her tongue as she searched around for some bandages. "Really? That's a bit dramatic."
"It's not! We're third years now! I don't wanna lose this shot!"
Yuko fell silent as she retrieved a small roll of bandages from a cabinet and walked back over to Rio. "Then keep doing consistent stretches or leg exercises so you stay in shape. Hell, if you wanna help the team out, why not do some research on your opponents? Could help you all come up with strategies."
Rio stared down at Yuko gently holding her hand as she wrapped the bandages around her wrist. "Yeah… Yeah, I suppose that's a pretty good idea. Yeah, that'll help us win all the way up to nationals!"
Yuko looked up at Rio with a quizzical eyebrow raised. "Why are you so obsessed with winning lately? You never used to be so competitive."
"It's my final year! I wanna achieve something!"
"Mm-hm… I'm not buying that. You've never been interested in the whole 'leaving your mark' kinda thing… especially not to the point that you injure yourself."
"I mean, I'm the Captain this year! I have to lead the team to victory!"
"But no one seems to be too bothered about making it to the top. They just wanna get as far into the tournament as they can. Nothing wrong with that."
Rio fell silent, avoiding eye contact as Yuko continued tightly wrapping her wrist.
"C'mon, Rio. It's just us in here, I won't tell anyone anything. You know you can talk to me. Is something on your mind? Why are you stressing about winning so much?" The manager asked as she checked the bandages to make sure she gave a decent amount of leeway with the tightness.
Rio frowned down at her lap, giving it some serious thought. Had she pushing herself too far? She had been feeling a lot more tired than usual lately… Perhaps she should get this off her chest… and besides, she was sure Yuko would understand. She took a deep breath and let the truth fall from her lips.
"… I wanna win because I promised her."
"'Her'?"
"Minako."
Yuko froze upon cutting off the excess bandages. A pained smile spread across her face.
"… I had a feeling that was the case…"
"You did?"
"Mm-hm… You two were so close, after all. And besides, if there was anyone who could have stolen your position as Ace, it was her."
Rio scoffed out a quiet laugh. "I'd be offended by that but yeah… You're right. She was so good… and so much fun to play with."
"A real team player."
"Exactly… We'd talked about how much we enjoyed playing together and she'd said that she wanted to play for as long as possible… So I said 'Guess we'll have to make it all the way to the championship then, huh?'."
Yuko giggled. Yeah, that sounded like the type of hyperbolic joke she could imagine Minako taking seriously. "So what did she say?"
"What do you think? Ha… She said 'I'm gonna hold you to that then. Let's play till we get bored.'… That's why I gotta win; I promised Minako I would."
A stressed huff left Yuko's mouth as she pinched the bridge of her nose. "Look… I get it. I really get it, Rio, but this isn't the way to honour her."
"But what else am I supposed to do?! If she's not here, then-!"
"Do you think she'd be happy watching you wreck yourself for her?!"
Rio fell silent.
Yuko glared at her with red, glossy eyes.
"Do you think she'd be happy knowing that you broke your body just to win a trophy on her behalf? She wasn't competitive like that; she wouldn't be interested in anything like that."
"But then, what-?!"
"I think you're misremembering what she enjoyed about volleyball."
Rio tilted her head in confusion. "What do you mean?"
Yuko smiled softly. "Think about what you just recalled her saying."
"About playing together for as long as possible?"
Yuko nodded. "Mm-hm, think about her wording: she wanted to play for as long as possible because she enjoyed playing together… She said 'let's play until we get bored'… She never cared about the competition or any of that… She just wanted to have a good time with her friends. And considering who we're talking about? That doesn't surprise me in the slightest."
Rio looked out the window, staring at the orange hue enveloping the entire school building as the sunset reflected off the ocean's surface. She watched the trees billowing in the wind, countless friend groups laughing and walking home together, the monorail leaving the station in the distance… Everything was so mundane and yet… Now she could notice the beauty in it. She quickly averted her eyes from the life outside, finding it painful to think about why she now found such boring things lovely.
Minako really was such a character. She had one of the brightest smiles Rio had ever seen, although there was sometimes such a sad, empty look in her eyes. But that didn't change the fact that Minako was a bubbly person, very cheeky too. She was by far one of the most supportive members of the team, always lifting everyone's spirits and encouraging them to improve. Of course, she'd still laugh at their failures if they were funny - such as whenever someone got clocked in the face by the volleyball. But her laughter was never malicious; that was obvious by the way she'd always laugh the hardest at her own failures. Rio's favourite was always gonna be the time, Minako couldn't decide between diving for the ball or letting someone else grab it and then somehow ended up doing the splits in the middle of the court. She was still laughing about it when they were heading home from practice that day; granted her laughter was in between the small groans of pain from the multiple muscles she pulled but still… it was pretty damn funny.
But things like that weren't going to happen anymore.
"I just don't get it… Why'd she have to go?" Rio eventually spoke up with a whisper, her voice croaking as she tried to hold back tears.
Yuko looked down at her lap, still gently cradling Rio's hand. "I know… It still doesn't make any sense to me either…"
"It was so sudden…"
"I know…"
The two fell silent for a minute or so, giving each other's hand a comforting squeeze while they thought back to a few months ago. Even after all this time had passed, it didn't make it any less painful or confusing. Quite a few of Minato's friends - Yuko and Rio included - would often venture up to the roof where Kirijo had commissioned a flower bed in Minako's memory. It was comforting to go up there and tend to her flowers.
Yuko smiled as she thought about the flowers. It was over the last year that she learned how much she loved taking care of things. She loved taking care of the flowers and helping them bloom… and she loved taking care of friends and helping reach their potential.
"You're not the only one that misses her, y'know?" She spoke up, still smiling.
Rio looked over with a baffled expression. "What? Of course, I know that."
"Then why are being so rough on yourself?"
"… What do you mean?"
"I mean, if you know that everyone else on the team is reeling from losing a friend, why do you keep doing things that put your health at risk? Don't you think that's just gonna stress them all out?"
"They wouldn't get that freaked out by this…"
"Yes, they would. I would know, I'm one of them."
That confession left Rio speechless. She stared at Yuko with wide eyes. The team manager took that as permission to continue.
"I started taking my position as team manager seriously thanks to her… I love watching all of you improve, but I can't watch her improve anymore and I really, really don't want to lose anyone else if I can help it… So, please Rio-" Yuko held onto her bandaged hand with both of her own hands. "-Don't overdo it. Let us help you."
Rio chest felt warm from the sincerity in Yuko's words. She quickly looked down as she felt guilt wash through her. It genuinely hadn't occurred to her that could be worrying her teammates. She squeezed her shut and let out a long breath she didn't realise she's been holding in. Looking up at Yuko with an apologetic gaze, she spoke.
"Okay, I'll try… So, what would you recommend for this wrist, Doctor?"
Yuko giggled quietly. "Hey, I don't have those kindsa credentials-"
"Yet."
"Yet. But, uh… Yeah, I've just wrapped your wrist in bandages to hold it steady for the time being but a brace would work a lot better."
"Alright… I don't think I have anything like that…"
"Oh, they're easy enough to get. They sell them in the pharmacy in Paulownia Mall."
"Oh, okay, that's easy enough."
"Yep, so arm brace, keep icing it to reduce swelling and keep it raised while sleeping so like… just rest it on a pillow or something. And obviously just rest your arm."
"Alright, that sounds fine. Guess I should consider myself lucky that it's my non-dominant hand."
"Very, very true."
As Rio carefully twisted her wrist to make sure the bandages were secure, the final bell of the day rang. The two girls looked over at each other in surprise.
"Club activities are over already?!"
"I didn't think we'd been in here for that long!"
"And no one ever turned up…"
"Hey, that's true, where the hell was Edogawa?"
"I dunno if I wanna know…"
"Oh… Yeah, that's fair."
"Well, guess I should get changed, grab my stuff and go then." Sighed Rio, standing up from the uncomfortable stool she'd been sitting on.
"You want me to come with? We could go grab something eat afterwards?" Suggested Yuko, not really wanting to ditch her friend while she was injured.
"Oh, sure, that sounds great! Maybe we could head the pharmacy while we're out and you can help me find a good arm brace?"
"Good idea! So any thoughts of where you wanna go eat?"
"Mm… I should probably just get something kinda snackish… My mum'll be fuming if she made dinner only to find out I'd already eaten…"
"Yeah, that's a fair point… Then how about heading to the sweet shop? After hurting yourself, you could probably use a lil pick-me-up."
"Ooh, yeah, that sounds perfect!"
"Awesome, then let's get going."
Rio grinned excitedly before dashing off down the hallway. "Great, I'll race you to the station!"
Yuko let out an exasperated sigh as she jogged off after her friend, glad that she was in good spirits again but really wishing she wouldn't get dragged into these shenanigans.
"Didn't I just say not to overdo it?!"