"OKAY, STOP!"

Slowly putting her arms down rather than letting them drop like the rocks they felt like, Kasumi greedily sucked in air as she watched Coach Hiraguchi come over. The two stared at each other as all around them, other people could be heard shadow-boxing or were with trainers and hitting practicing mitts. After a while, Coach Hiraguchi spoke.

"Is there something on your mind, Kasumi? You seem to be distracted today."

What should she say about that? An image of Ren popped up in her head, making her shake her head vigorously to get it out. Looking back up, she saw Coach Hiraguchi raise an elegant eyebrow and have a bit of a smirk.

"So… is there something distracting you? Or perhaps… someone?"

At that, Kasumi immediately got the insinuation, her face turning bright red. "N-NO, IT'S NOT WHAT YOU THINK!"

Immediately, Coach Hiraguchi's mischievous smirk quickly disappeared as she sensed the seriousness behind Kasumi's exclamations. Gesturing to Kasumi, she led her to another part of the gym where it was quieter and barely anyone was around but them. Pointing to the bench, she let the red haired girl take a seat before sitting down herself.

"Alright Kasumi. Go ahead, I won't make fun of you. What exactly is going on?"

Kasumi always was thankful for how Coach Hiraguchi conducted herself. While she could be tough on you during practice, she always did it out of a faith that you could always do just a little better than what you believed you could. And right now, Kasumi could use a little bit of that faith as she collected her thoughts.

"It is my kouhai… He came to Shujin because he had been charged with assault, and the principal wanted the honor of 'rehabilitating' him." Kasumi explained before looking at her coach.

"This kouhai has a record? Actually, how do you even know that? I doubt any of your classmates at your school are allowed anywhere near the school records."

The red haired gymnast knew that her coach was speaking sense. Maybe it wasn't a student that leaked that information. Perhaps someone else at Shujin did, but who would have that access, and then decide to leak that information?

Suddenly, she was reminded of one that seemed to be very willing to tell her about all the problem students, and seemed all too happy to tell her about it in front of the person in question while they were in the middle of a crowded hallway, all for everyone to hear.

She was quick to deny that. Surely, if he had done something like that, the school would not have tolerated that. They would have taken action, right?

"I don't know. It was a rumor that had been spreading around school. He was… very sensitive about it."

"He hasn't done anything to you?" Coach Hiraguchi asked, which Kasumi gasped and shook her head.

"NO! No, I just upset him. I know he is a good person, I…" Kasumi trailed off as her emotions ran rampant, just trying to figure out what exactly Ren was to her. While she knew that the charge couldn't have simply come from nowhere, she knew that what she saw on the train and at lunch that day were genuinely Ren as well. She just…

"Kasumi." The red haired gymnast looked back up at her coach, who was completely serious. "Just a word of advice to you. I'm in no real position to tell you who you should or should not associate with, but I feel like you should first sort out exactly what you hope to be to your kouhai."

Why would she do that, she knew full well what she hoped to be. She tried her best to ignore the… something that was worming around at the bottom of her heart.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~TAKE YOUR TIME~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kasumi had heard much of the Volleyball team of Shujin. It was the school's pride and joy, the thing that put the school on the map. After all, who haven't heard of the team and their coach, Suguru Kamoshida? What made it even more incredible was that before Kamoshida came in, the volleyball team was nothing special, just another team that had been among others. Now, they were the only sports team that Shujin had.

Maybe that was the reason why everyone was watching the volleyball rally right now with bright eyes rather than the horror she tried to hide as she watched from the balcony.

Did no one at Shujin ever see another sports team practice other than their volleyball team? Now that Kasumi actually paid attention, she could see how just injured the male volleyball team looked. The amount of bandages, tape, and patches just utterly astounded her. She saw boxers spar against each other and come out looking better than these people.

Just what was happening at those practices?

And then there was the volleyball rally itself. Even though volleyball wasn't exactly her sport, she was always a little excited to see the fruits of another athlete's labor. She too knew the amount of hard work that it took to hone your skills and the rush that came knowing all that would pay off in that one moment of triumph that was frankly intoxicating.

Yet, the eyes of the volleyball team haunted her as they played against a team of teachers led by their coach. There was no excitement, there was no joy that could be seen in them as they took their positions, as they dove for the ball. There was no spirit, no drive, just their bodies going through a script that seemed to be running on automatic. She could see through the polish of their moves and the speed they accomplished them that their reputation was still deserved.

So why was it that they didn't seem the least bit happy, when their coach practically beamed? In fact…

Kasumi began to pay more attention to Kamoshida as he spiked the ball towards one of his players. With a pained grunt, the player dropped to a knee as the ball smashed through his arms, landing on the floor. As the player shook off what must be the numbness in his arms, Kamoshida gave a brief look before looking back and laughing with the rest of the teachers as they crowded around him and congratulated him.

Paying more attention, the red-haired gymnast started to wonder what exactly this volleyball rally was supposed to accomplish.

From what she had seen, no one seemed to pay attention to the volleyball team. No one seemed to care about how hard they trained, no one cared when they pulled off something impressive, no one cheered for them. In fact, even now, she didn't know any of the team members' names. No one on the sidelines called out to their teammates, or did any of their classmates cheer them on…

But everyone knew Kamoshida's name.

Everyone cheered Kamoshida when he did something impressive. Everyone seemed to recognize just how hard Kamoshida worked to make his team the best. Everyone always brought up his Olympic gold medalist background. Everyone cheered and swooned and smiled…

She watched Kamoshida lap it up, all while wondering why-

Then she saw it. Another set, another drive, she wasn't sure what was the proper term for another round. Kamoshida jumped up and spiked the ball. The ball flew through the air. One of the volleyball team stared at it, bruised and tired. She recognized him, he was from her class.

The ball smashed against her classmate's face, who staggered back with his face to the sky. For a brief moment, he was still, a brief moment before he hopefully looked back and rubbed his aching nose. Unfortunately, that hope of hers didn't last as her classmate flopped to the ground on his side.

Almost immediately, the mood in the school gym was dampened, some of the students surprised and even concerned for her classmate. Kamoshida noticed and came over, checking her classmate before calling one of his teammates to pick him up and get him to the nurse's office. As the teammate picked up her classmate, Kamoshida returned to the other side of the net and prepared to serve again.

Kasumi blinked at Kamoshida's action. W-Was he serious? A member of the volleyball team might have been injured, because of him, and he only spared the minimal concern before he went back to play? She went ahead and looked around, and what she saw utterly shook her.

Did anyone care? Everyone seemed to go right back, like the whole incident was something to be brushed under the rug. That wasn't right, that wasn't…

She needed to leave, she couldn't stand this.

Immediately going down the balcony and out the door, she didn't watch where she was going. Before she knew it, she accidentally bumped into someone, nearly knocking them over.

"Hey, watch it!" Looking up to see who it was, she blinked as she saw an annoyed looking Ryuji Sakamoto and a surprised Ren Amamiya. Her heart started to beat a little faster as Sakamoto's eyes seemed to grow a little hostile.

"I-I'm sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going." Kasumi nodded her head in apology, hoping to diffuse whatever hostility that Sakamoto-san had towards her.

After a while, Sakamoto-san clicked his tongue. "Alright, you're good. Come on, Ren, we got more important things to do."

'...Ren?'

As the two began to leave, Kasumi was about to try and stop Ren. Just as she was about to raise her hand, she could hear some whispers. Looking around, she saw that people were starting to whisper again.

'No… Better not cause a scene. Ren can't afford a scene.'

Watching Ren and Sakamoto-san walk away and disappear behind the staircase, she pondered what to do next, realizing that the volleyball rally wasn't going to end for another couple hours.

'Maybe I should start looking for places where me and Ren can talk alone… But not too out of the way, then people might start talking, and by the way the rumor mill works around here, what's going to pass around will not be good for Ren's reputation so that can't happen… Actually, there was something else I can do…'

Quickly passing through the halls, Sumire stood in front of the nurse's office. Knocking on the door, she waited for a few moments before testing the door. Much to her surprise, the door opened without resistance. Looking inside, she blinked as she noticed someone missing.

'Where is the nurse?'

After a few moments of waiting for someone to ask what she was doing there, Kasumi eventually just entered the room entirely. Eventually, she stood on the side of one of the beds, where her classmate was sleeping. Suddenly, she realized that his name wasn't quickly coming to his mind. She didn't want to say that he was forgettable, just that she hadn't been paying too much attention.

Seeing him stirring awake, she leaned back and stood to the side. After a while, her classmate groaned as he awoke, before looking to his side. Seeing Kasumi to his side, he shouted as he sat up.

"Y-YOSHIZAWA-SAN?!"

She grimaced as she immediately bowed to her classmate. "I'm sorry if I surprised or upset you. I just wanted to see if you were okay."

Any other reactions that her classmate would have had were gone as he blinked in surprise. "You… wanted to see if I was okay?"

"Yes…" "Yuuki Mishima." Kasumi looked up at the now named Mishima, who rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment.

"Don't worry. Everyone forgets my name."

Kasumi frowned before nodding. "Don't worry, I forget this time."

A few minutes passed, both of the people unsure what to say. Eventually, Mishima looked up. "Just so you know… thanks for checking on me. It's really nice for you to do that."

The red-haired girl looked around at the near empty room and the door. "Does no one else check up on you? I know that the rally is important, but it feels… wrong that no one else is making sure you're okay, even Kamoshida-san."

Mishima blushed a little as he bashfully looked away. "Yeah, don't worry. I took harder…" "What?"

Mishima paled as he realized what he unwittingly gave away. "IN PRACTICE! I took harder hits in practice. Sometimes I just miss the ball and it hits me in the face. Coach just spends all his time training us and I still can't hit a ball good. Makes me wonder why I'm still on the team. Hehe, clumsy Mishima strikes again…" "Mishima-san…"

He looked over at Kasumi, who stared at him concerningly. "T-That's not normal. I know that's not normal. I've seen boxing people come out looking less injured than you. If you want, I can try talking with Kamo-" "Don't."

Kasumi stopped as Mishima shook his head as he threw the covers off himself and sat on the edge of the bed. "You think we haven't tried? No one cares, not the teachers, not the principal, not our parents. As long as Kamoshida keeps helping us win, then this is nothing."

Her classmate looked back at her, worry and fear in his eyes. And yet, Kasumi could tell it wasn't for himself, it was for her.

"Still, thank you for checking up on me, Yoshizawa-san. It… really means a lot. But don't dig into it… and don't go with Kamoshida. Always have an excuse if he calls on you... You be careful out there, okay?"

Before she could even stop him, Mishima was out the door, leaving her behind in the nurse's office.

Kasumi could barely breathe. Just two days ago, she came to Shujin, hoping to just concentrate on her gymnastics after… But now, she knew she had stepped into something much bigger than she had ever known. Indecision practically paralyzed her as she thought of what to do, what she can do, what she should do…

Just then, the bell rang, signalling the end of the volleyball rally. She shook her head and slapped her cheeks. Standing up, she exited the nurse's room and made her way back to her classroom.

She… she needed to get her head on straight. Maybe she could go out for a jog, or find a place in the gym to practice her routines. She…

Kasumi just needed time to process all this...