Chapter 6: The Past Haunts Her

Because it was a rule that only one manager could be present on the bench, Takeshima looked on the second-floor balcony to see the manager-in-training, Yachi Hikota, cheering loudly from where she stood. Shimizu had explained that they had allowed Takeshima herself onto the floor because of her title as junior athletic trainer, although she was just a student herself.

The Karasuno boys were warming up on the court, running intricate plays and Nishinoya alone on the other side of the net trying to receive the boys' spikes. He successfully received most, but still missed many other balls, Takeshima noticed, but that wide grin never left the libero's face. Truth be told, Nishinoya was a bit distracted during warm-ups. Most of the balls he reached he had used his lightning fast reflexes to receive. But his huge brown eyes wandered over to the small first-year sitting next to Shimizu.

Nishinoya couldn't really pinpoint the time he had stopped looking at Shimizu and became entranced by Takeshima Kana. Meeting her and falling for her seemed like it had all happened at the same time to him. Her blue eyes and bell-chime laugh was still as much as a distraction to him from volleyball as it was from studying the night he confessed that he liked her. Although there were still many things that Nishinoya had yet to learn about her.

The shorter libero eyed the first-year setter on the other side of the net curiously. If there was anyone at Karasuno High who knew Takeshima Kana, Nishinoya hated to admit that that person was Kageyama Tobio. Even though both had denied any kind of romantic relationship in the past, it still felt like Takeshima belonged to someone else to Nishinoya, and it hurt him. He couldn't quite figure it out, but all he knew was that his best shot was enlisting Kageyama's help.

"Oi, it's time to line up!" Daichi called to the rest of the team. Twelve pairs of shoes stood across the end of the service line, facing their opponents with calm determination. On the opposite side, the Fukurodani Academy team lined up against them. Takeshima noticed that Nishinoya was dressed in a uniform with inverse colors from the rest of the team. Shimizu had explained that the libero dressed opposite of the team to stand out.

Her eyes wandered from Nishinoya to the other team's libero. He was taller than herself and Nishinoya with brown hair that was shaved on the sides and matching eyes that seemed to intensely stare down Nishinoya. Now that she could see it, Takeshima could recall the Fukurodani libero in a conversation with Aoba Johsai's setter earlier. Apparently, he had been having really bad shin splits and had asked Oikawa for ice. She brushed off the information as the teams scattered into their respective positions on the court.

Nishinoya had switched onto the court, and Tsukishima had taken a seat next to her on the bench. "Maybe it wasn't the brightest idea for you to tag along," the stoic middle blocker stated, "I've never seen Nishinoya-senpai so distracted during warm-ups before, and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that he was thinking about you the entire time." Takeshima blinked, but said nothing. If there was one thing that Tsukishima was particularly good at, it was making her revert back to her own stoic personality. Although looking at Oikawa made her think that the overbearing first-year was right— maybe it would've been easier if she just hadn't come. But the smile that spread across Nishinoya's face when she agreed was well worth it.

She snapped out of her trance just in time to see Nishinoya receive a really hard serve. It was a float serve that wiggled in its flight path, but it wasn't a problem with the hyperactive libero's super quick reflexes. Hinata immediately began to run across the net past Kageyama, and the Fukurodani blockers immediately began to follow him. The little hitter was already in the air when the ball contacted Kageyama's expert hands, but the ball began to fly in the direction opposite of Hinata. On the other side of the net, Asahi was virtually unopposed when he took his approach. The only obstacle before him was the libero, who was prepared to react to the third-year's hit.

When Asahi finally contacted the ball in midair, he sent it flying downwards just to the left of the opposing libero. Although he wasn't as quick as Nishinoya, the libero used all the strength in his right leg to push himself towards the ball, which landed decisively onto the floor. The Karasuno boys cheered loudly, giving Asahi high fives and slaps on the back. Nishinoya leapt to his height in excitement, but the smile on his face faded when he looked beyond the net.

The Fukurodani libero was still on his side on the floor where the ball had landed, but his body was curled into a defensive position and his right leg was pulled in protectively to his body. His teammates started to surround him, and the coaches called for Takeshima to come over to inspect the boy's leg. His brown eyes were stained red in pain and he was hesitant in uncoiling his leg.

"But the girl's just a first-year, not a doctor," the loud-mouthed Fukurodani ace remarked, watching as Takeshima stretched out the boy's leg and turned him over to lay on his back. The Karasuno libero's nerves were pinched hearing that statement. "Watch your mouth," he hissed, intently watching his crush pull on the guy's leg in different directions. Every time she moved his knee joint, he seemed to scream out in pain. Takeshima's expression dropped when she realized what the boy's true injury was, and stood up slowly with her hands to her side. "His ACL is injured," she lifelessly stated.

The boy's teammates helped carry him to the bench while on the managers called for medical assistance. Daichi had told the boys that the game would be postponed until medical help for the libero arrived, so he instructed the boys to not venture far from the court.

Takeshima found the atmosphere suffocating, and escaped out a nearby door that was propped open to help air the facility. Her hands that had touched the boy continued to shake, and the memories which had haunted her seemed to return again. She knew that she had seen her own face in place of that boys when she watched him writhe in pain. She knew from that start that he had injured himself in that specific way the moment he lunged for the ball. All that time she just wanted to deny that reality, hoping that denying it would help bring her peace about her own injury.

She felt a presence sit down on the stone stair next to her, and she looked to see Nishinoya's shirtless person join her. His cheerful expression never wavered, and she momentarily wondered if he fully grasped what had happened to that libero. "Bokuto told us that he had been having leg problems for a few weeks now, so he wasn't surprised that the injury happened," he began in a surprisingly calm tone. The girl next to him remained silent, so Nishinoya wrapped an arm around her shoulders and brought her closer into him. "He'll get better, so don't worry."

"Don't you worry that something like that will happen to you?" she finally asked, surrendering into the embraced he held her in. "Yeah," he spoke, "I'm not gonna lie, I sorta pictured myself when he got injured and it really scared me." She didn't want to meet his eyes quite yet, so she kept her gaze to the ground. She suddenly felt something warm press against her cheek, and Nishinoya's arm tightened around her. "But I know that you'll be here to take care of me if that were to happen to me, like you did for him, so I know that I'll be happy either way."

A smile stretched across the girl's face, and she found the libero's words oddly comforting. She finally turned to face him and saw the look of complete admiration on the second-year's face. She took his face in her hands and pressed her own lips to his cheek softly, then pulling away to smile back just as widely.

"Oi, the game's about to start back up!" Hinata called from inside the gym. The two giggled as Nishinoya captured her cheek again, this time for a bit longer. "Good luck, Yuu-kun," Takeshima smiled as the libero pulled her to her feet. She watched him jog back to his place on the court, but caught the pair of chocolate brown eyes that had been watching them the entire time.

Merci beaucoup for all of the reviews of encouragement and for the well wishes! It excites me that so many of you have fallen in love with the story as much as I have!

Update on my finger: It's in a splint, but I can still write with minor difficulties. My professors at university are still making me write notes for classes so I have gotten used to it. Thank you for your wishes of recovery, they mean so much!

~ Alixa