D:867;T:18:55
"Welcome home Akashi-sama." greeted the servants, as Akashi walked by. He went straight to his room and sat in front of his shogi board.
Why did you do that? You could have just ignored her request. You didn't need to hurt her.
"She should learn her place."
So do you. Stop hurting my friends, our friends.
"You almost lost, that's why I am here, if only you were strong enough back then, I wouldn't have taken over. I am doing this to secure victory over anything, and everything. You don't need weaklings for friends. Begone."
"Whew, our doctor sure is scary." Kise muttered as they were walking out of the school gym. Yumi had woken up already, they needed to immediately leave the school grounds for it was already late and the gates might get locked up anytime.
"But you still haven't told us what happened, and we won't wait 'til tomorrow for that." Aomine protested while the others agreed. Yumi then confirmed that she doesn't plan to leave them without telling the whole story and asked if they could come over someone's house.
"I would like too, but my family's at home. Sorry Yu-chan."
"Same here." Aomine sighed.
"Definitely not on my house either." Midorima uttered
"Nah-ah" Murasakibara shook his head.
"Well, i have the house all to myself this week." Kise grinned. The group agreed go over Kise's house and talk things over. "But it will be quite a walk from here, will you be fine?", the model asked in concern.
"Not a problem." Yumi replied, walking towards a parked car a few meters away from the school gates. From it the doctor from earlier, now not wearing his labcoat, stepped out of the driver's seat and opened the door for Yumi, she then signaled the dumbfounded group to get in. Momoi, Kise, and Yumi went rode the doctor's car, while Murasakibara, Midorima, and Aomine boarded a cab. The sun has long set, and silence enveloped the group while inside the car. They all have something on their head but they all preferred to keep it to themselves, at the moment at least.
The black sedan stopped in front of a restaurant, Wateru stepped out again and went inside the restaurant without another word. Kise and Momoi remained silent, they never asked Yumi why they stopped, while the boys on the following cab patiently waited too. After a few minutes, the doctor followed by a couple of waiters got out of the restaurant and placed some huge paper bags in the trunk, the doctor then went in the car to drive. Kise gave the instructions to his house and in just a few moments, they arrived at his house.
"Hey, take these." the doctor handed the bags to Aomine and Murasakibara then left without saying anything else even to Yumi. They all wondered what's the doctor thinking driving them to Kise's house and even paying for the cab, and now leaving paper bags too.
"What the hell's wrong with that guy? And what the hell are these heavy bags?" Aomine whined.
"Smells yummy." Murasakibara said happily while sniffing out the bags.
"Dinner." Yumi said
The teenagers were at awe when they saw all the food on the table. They sat around a low table in the middle of the living area, they preferred to eat dinner there knowing that it's more comfortable to sit on the floor than the chair in the dining area. And they also took into account the time it will take to finish the story they wanted to hear from Yumi.
"Itadakimasu! Whoa! They all look delicious!." Aomine is more than ready to devour what's in front of him.
"Seriously, Yumi?" Midorima's eyes widened.
"Yu-chin, so many yummy food."
"Nee, Yumicchi i can share money for these food." Kise said leaning to Yumi.
"Ki-chan's right, Yu-chan you'll get broke if you go buying this much and shouldering the bill alone." Momoi said in concern.
"First, yes i'm serious Shin. Second, you don't need to pitch in Ryou, and lastly, i don't think so Sa-chan," Yumi said smiling. "well, not in the near future at least." she added.
"And what do you mean by that Yumi?" Midorima asked "You're saying something that you won't be broke."
"Ah, yes, I think so." Yumi replied.
"Ne, Yu-chin's like Akashi then?" Kise almost choked with Murasakibara's question, Aomine and Midorima glared at the purple teen, while Momoi patted Kise's back. They were not prepared for the discussion, moreover to mention Akashi's name, but to their surprise, Yumi answered like it was nothing.
"If you're talking about family status, you're right Atsu-chin. My family's at least on par with the Akashi's."
"Oh." was the only answer heard from Murasakibara as he was too busy trying out every dish on the table. The others are still stunned from what they've heard, but they knew that there's still more to come.
"So that's the reason why you don't want anyone else to know about this?" Midorima braved out. He wanted to eat peacefully first, but since Murasakibara started already, he decided to let the talk continue.
"Partly, yes. Who knows what will happen when the adults overreacted over our childish fight."
"I guess you're right."
"So what's the other reason?" Aomine interrupted.
"The other reason is rather classified, so I can't disclose it to you as of the moment. I do assure you, that you'll know it when the time comes." her silver eyes stared blankly at her plate.
"Don't worry Yu-chan, we understand. I, well, I think we just didn't know about you and your family, until now." she smiled and patted Yumi's head softly, "Does Akashi-kun know about your family already?" the peach teen added.
"Thanks Sa-chan, I'm really sorry for keeping this, I just don't want people to think that I'm bragging." Yumi gave a faint smile back, "Yes, Sei knows about me, he said he saw me on one of the parties of our company, I can't really remember though, and I think his father told him about my family too." the silver-haired teen put down her bowl on the table and took a sip from her glass. The others, quietly eating while listening to the question and answer before them. "I made him promise to keep to himself what he knows about me, my background, my family, my illness." she added.
"Illness, oh yea. You've been excused during our P.E. classes ever since, and one time you played with us, if that's even called playing, you didn't even run or jump. Anyway, what i find intriguing is that we don't really have an idea what your disease is. Would you mind telling us Yumicchi?"
"Yea Yu-chin, tell us."
"That too. I'm sorry, well you see," Yumi rolled over her sleeves, showing the bandages on her wrist and she pulled Momoi's arm too,
"Sa-chan, may i borrow your arm for a while?"
"S-sure." Yumi also folded Momoi's sleeves, and lifted both their arms in front of Kise.
"Here Ryou-chan, grip both our arms tight, with the same pressure." Kise looked confused but did as what he was told.
"Eh?" Kise asked as Yumi moved her arms as if wanting to be freed
"Hold still Ryou, move your arms too Sa-chan." she ordered, and after a few moment, "I think this is ok now," she smiled as Kise removed his grip from them.
"I'm sorry Yumicchi!" Kise cried, caressing the arm he gripped, both of Momoi's hands on her mouth in surprise. The rest of the kiseki looked at both arms. Murasakibara and Midorima laid their bowl on the table as Aomine leaned over to see Yumi's arm. Momoi's perfectly fine aside from the faint reddening, but Yumi's is worse. There were purple and red blots all over. All of them, puzzled.
"It's fine Ryou-chan, don't worry." she smiled assuringly to Kise who was looking all guilty and ready to cry.
"What the hell was that?" Aomine hit Kise with the chopsticks on his hand.
"Stop it Dai-kun, it's not his fault."
"But what happened Yu-chan? I thought Ki-chan.." Momoi's cry was interrupted by Yumi
"Yes, he gripped our arms with just the same force, it's just that i have this certain illness of the blood, sort of like leukemia, but my doctor said it's much more complicated." she grinned staring, not on her arm but on her bandaged wrists.
"You have what?" Aomine bursted,
"Well, let's just say leukemia to make it easier."
"Yu-chin.." Murasakibara straightened from his seat.
"So that explains the bruises and that occasional nosebleed," Midorima said as he lifted his glasses with his fingers
"I found it rather odd that you were bruised by Akashi's on your wrist, when all he did was hold you tight." he finished.
"Yu-chan.." Momoi cried while attacking Yumi with a hug.
"It's ok Sa-chan, it's not like i'm dying." she gave a small chuckle, as Momoi released her from the hug.
Lies.
"Ne, Yu-chin, and Aka-chin also know of this?"
"I don't think so. Even with his family's influence, i don't think it's possible for him to know about my illness. My family made sure to keep my condition as confidential as possible. It's best to assume that all he knows is that i was sick for a long time, that caused me to be tutored at home rather than going to school."
"But Yumicchi, all these years?"
"You mean i'm sick all these years? Yes."
"But how about the treatment?" Midorima asked
"I'm continuously being treated."
"But how? I've never really seen you absent."
"At home, after school, I also have the weekends, so I don't really need to skip a day."
"Well, that explains it. If you're as wealthy as Akashi, then it all makes sense." Aomine muttered
"I'm not implying that you shouldn't have gone to school, I mean, it's good that your doctor allowed you to go to school now, but why not earlier since grade school? So why Yu-chan?"
"Well, that's because I managed to persuade the doctors to allow me to go when it's time for middle school. Plus, they have their, or should I say "his" conditions of course."
Getting the hang of telling them half truths don't you?
"Him?"the kiseki asked altogether.
"Oh, I mean Wateru-san, our team's physician and school doctor. He's actually a hematologist and oncologist, and, a lot more, let's just say he's a medical genius. He is also one of our family doctors." she forced a smile almost apologetically, as the others are still shocked by what they heard. "Hey, you don't need to stare at me like that! They won't let me go to school if he isn't with me." she pouted.
"It's slowly sinking in. So that's why he was giving off this aura that he wanted to beat the crap out of us earlier, and all of these too." Aomine said pointing to the food with his chopsticks.
"Just who are you Yu-chan?" Momoi murmured.
"I am Yumi of course!" holding the other girl's shoulder as she slightly shook the peach teen.
"Ok, I think there's nothing else that can surprise us anymore," Midorima said almost facepalming while leaning on the table, "So, what happened earlier between you and Akashi?" he continued.
"I agree with you. I felt I've been introducing myself all over again just now," she said with a grin that was quickly gone. Her eyes now staring coldly at her hands clasped together. Momoi placed her hands on top of the silver-haired girl's shoulders and nodded.
"Thanks Sa-chan," she held Momoi's hand in return, "Well, we all know, and at the same time, don't know what happened to Tetsu. It's been a week since we can't contact him, he haven't shown himself during practice. Our last game really hit him hard, I assume. He's always been here with us when we needed him, now, it's our turn to help and comfort him, but here we are. We've been ignoring him, brushing his feelings off. I went to talk to Akashi about this, and told him that we can go to Tetsu and apologize for everything. We made fun of his friend instead of taking them on seriously. If I were in his position, I'll feel the same way."
The rest of the group averted their gaze from Yumi, only Momoi's eyes remained fixated on her. "So that's what started it, the rest is what you've seen earlier. But don't you agree with me? We should apologize and bring Tetsu back right?" cried Yumi.
"Nee Yumi-chin, but we didn't do anything wrong, we just played our game. It's just that Tetsu's friend's team is weak so we crushed them."
"Murasakibara's right, we only did what we need to do." Midorima added
"Right Yumicchi, the game's boring so we decided to have fun, I don't see anything wrong with that."
"They should've at least tried their best to score against us til the end, but no, they lost their will anyway. So just like Akashi, I think I shall disagree with you too Yumi." Aomine said.
Yumi's eyes widened upon hearing their statements, her heart felt like being stabbed with every word they said. She couldn't explain the sensation in her chest.
when did it all start?
why have we let it go this way?
is there something... or anything we can do now?
where have we gone wrong?
Her silver orbs staring blankly as she diverged into deep thought. The questions on her head won't be answered, for she doesn't have the courage to ask them anymore. Yumi's hands are now on her chest, she wanted to cry with the pain, the words of her friends felt like daggers straight to her heart. She gathered all her remaining strength to remain in composure.
"I-I guess you're right," she gave a small chuckle, "Well, that's the story you all wanted to hear, and it's getting late, I think it's time for us to go home now." she clapped while wearing a smile on her face while the others are looking at her, gauging her reaction.
"Now that you've mentioned it. Oi, Satsuki, the last train will be leaving in 20 minutes."
"Oh my, I lost track of time. Ne Ki-chan, thanks for the hospitality, we'll be leaving now."
"Thanks Kise-chin."
The group of teens bid farewell as they left Kise's house, it's past 10:00 pm already.
"Bye guys, take care!"
"Ne Yu-chin, won't you be going with us?"
"Uhh, no. Our driver will come and pick me up here I think he's on his way now." Yumi replied.
"If you say so Yu-chan. Hey Ki-chan, take care of Yu-chan ok?"
"Aye, aye Momoicchi." Kise gave a jolly salute.
"'kay we're going now." Aomine waved a hand to Kise and Yumi.