Well~ I'm going ahead and posting the second chapter; the rest should be out within the next few days *hopefully*
I hope you enjoy this second chapter!
It's very much a set-up chapter, and features a lot of Rei POV as a neutral POV away from the central triangle of angst. Still not much Mikoshiba, but his chapter to shine is the third one~!
Disclaimer: Title of the fic is from Lydia's album "Illuminate"; this chapter is named for the track of the same name from the album~ I own none of the characters
Sleep Well
The fight doesn't last long. They're even, five for five (until Nagisa steps aside to make the call), except Mikoshiba ought to count for two.
Rei, no doubt calculating the perfect punch, gets decked in the face, luckily only knocking his glasses off rather than snapping them, yet leaving a bruise around his eye.
Makoto is at his defense instantly.
Haru and Nagisa are decent dodgers, though not so good hitters. The most impressive thing, of all the entirety of the fight, is how Haru somehow stripped entirely out of his school uniform down to his swim trunks, which naturally he'd been wearing underneath, in one motion.
Of the rival school's team, they have maybe two good hitters, including the white-haired bastard that acts as the ring-leader (So it would appear, as he calls out commands and the others seem to circle and protect him).
Mikoshiba is relentless; no bars held. He socks one of the kids repetitively, until Makoto steps up to stop him. As Nagisa makes the call, the white-haired boy suddenly calls off his buddies.
Rei wonders if they should really just let them go, but it's Makoto who directs everyone back to Gou. They can't all approach her, so they stand where they are, watching Rin hold her as they wait for Coach Sasabe to arrive.
The rival school clears out quick, because when Rei turns around to look back at them, they're gone.
No one notices when Nitori appears but he's suddenly there just as the punks leave. He recognizes not to approach Rin and Gou, instead walking straight up to Mikoshiba. The Captain pulls the freshmen aside and the two start muttering. Rei is the only one watching those two rather than Rin and Gou, noticing how Mikoshiba's usually bright and smiling face is alarmingly harsh and that he's shaking and he mumbles orders to Nitori.
Nitori suddenly nods quickly and sprints back to the gym. Mikoshiba doesn't walk back to join the others, and Rei almost approaches him but Makoto beats him to it. The two captains begin discussing something in low voices.
Nagisa is about to cry, which cannot be said of Gou, as far as Rei can tell.
Rin is supporting her completely, her legs having just gave, but she isn't shaking or crying. Rin has her smothered, and Rei wonders if she can even breathe.
Nitori returns just as Coach Sasabe pulls up alongside them in the street.
Sasabe arrives with their teacher Miss Amakata in her minivan in tow. Gou sits in the back seat, practically lifted inside the van by her brother, with Rin beside her and Nitori next to him, crammed as close to the window as he can be and refusing to look at either of them. He insisted to come along—he and Gou have become close as friends as of late, and no one thinks to tell him, or any of them rather, to stay behind; that this is too big a group and that not all of them need to go with Gou and Amakata and Rin and how those three would do just fine. Nagisa and Haru sit in the center while Rei sits shotgun.
Makoto and Mikoshiba ride crammed behind Sasabe on his bike.
Rei glances out the window at the bike; he can't see any of the three male's expressions through their helmets. Makoto occasionally glances at the van, nodding once at Rin in acknowledgement, while Sasabe watches the road. Mikoshiba is looking beyond all of it.
In the rearview window, Rei still can't see Gou's face. She's bowed her head and Rin looms protectively over her. Even then, Rin is awkwardly giving Gou space and the expression on his face, so far as Rei can tell, is one mixed of pain and anger and confusion. Rin doesn't know what to do; none of them do.
It's an uncomfortable car ride and no one knows what to say or where to look. Finally, Amakata mutters,
"We're almost to Coach Sasabe's…"
"Coach? Shouldn't we be taking Gou home?!" Rin barks from the back seat. Rei flinches, as though Gou's name shouldn't be spoken in front of her.
"No one's h-home," Nagisa counters, not daring to look back and face Rin and instead settling for glancing at his reflection in the rear view mirror.
"No one's..?!" Rin grimaces, and Rei realizes suddenly that Rin isn't aware his mother is gone; he's the only one in the car, actually, not aware (Nagisa must have informed Sasabe, who told Amakata—that's why they determined beforehand to go to their old coach's house).
Rei knows Rin has questions, they all do, but no one is willing to say anything or ask anything in the car. Not now.
The ride is a short one and suddenly they're all pooling out into Sasabe's yard. Rin herds his sister inside and that's the last Rei sees of either of them for a while. Sasabe and Amakata follow quickly while the others stand awkwardly outside, waiting for the 'ok' to come inside.
"Poor Gou…" Nagisa whimpers, watching the door as if waiting for Gou herself to step outside and tell them all she's fine, let's go have swim practice already!
The sun is gone and the buzzing of insects fill the silence of the gathered party on Goro's yard.
Haru is standing by Makoto, both mirroring a look of concern. Nitori is slumped beside Nagisa, equally worried.
Mikoshiba is still standing by the bike.
"Ah! Was it alright of you to just leave practice like that?!" Nagisa suddenly asks, turning to Nitori.
"Captain had me call off practice on basis of an emergency," Nitori answers, hushed as though he doesn't want Mikoshiba to hear him.
They're all tiptoeing on egg shells.
Rei glances at Mikoshiba, whose eyes are hidden from the others. He's clutching something and his fist tightens, but Rei can't tell what it is in his hand, or what he's thinking.
Rei himself doesn't know what to think.
Coach Sasabe finally steps out and motions the others to come inside.
The main bedroom door is closed, but the others are suddenly aware that Rin and Gou are behind it. Amakata is making tea and they all settle around the table, on the floor and against the walls. It's the most somber sleepover ever.
It's Haru who finally speaks up, even more so surprisingly, "Coach…"
"I'm not your coach anymore," Sasabe admits, but if he meant it as a joke it came out as tired and drained, which is how they all feel.
"Sasabe...I, that is, we…we'd like to stay the night, if you don't mind-"
"That's right!" Nagisa iterates, standing suddenly.
"Perhaps Gou needs space," Amakata offers, as though she doesn't agree it's a good idea.
"She needs company," Goro offers, smiling appreciatively at Miss Amakata.
"You're all welcome to stay the night. In fact, I'll go find some blankets…call your folks, if you need."
"I'll help you," Amakata offers, eager to find something to occupy herself with. The moment the adults are gone, everyone is left awkwardly in the kitchen.
Makoto rubs the back of his neck before flipping out his phone and excusing himself to make a call to his folks. Haru doesn't move; he lives alone. There's no need to call his parents.
Nitori and Mikoshiba, who still is keeping his distance from the group, also remain where they are. They live in a dormitory.
Nagisa leaves to make a call after Makoto, as though they need to take turns and rotate between who can call their parents and who can stand around somberly amongst the others. Rei doesn't understand why, but he still finds himself waiting for Nagisa to return before stepping into the hall and calling his mother, asking to spend the night at Coach's.
("Ah, nothing happened…no, just the team is staying here for the night…Yes…yes, a-alright…Mm…alright.")
When he re-enters the kitchen, Goro and Amakata are back and Coach's arms are crossed.
"A-are you disappointed in us, coach?" Nagisa finally asks, gripping his mug with both hands as their teacher passes around fresh cups of tea. Amakata looks apathetically at him while Sasabe sighs.
"No Coach wants to get a call from his team, whether current or old, to come pick them up from a fight. But, I don't condone you for it…You stood up for one of your own, so I can't be mad at you for that! Or disappointed," he shrugs his shoulders.
"Should we call the police..?" Nitori asks quietly, and it's Makoto who slowly shakes his head.
"Mikoshiba might lose his chance to swim at Nationals…"
Rei glances at Mikoshiba, expecting him to argue that that doesn't matter. Something needs to be done about those creeps!
But, Mikoshiba doesn't seem to have heard anything any of them have said. His eyes are to the floor and his fist is still curled.
Amakata excuses herself quietly with two cups in hand; for Rin and Gou.
"What do we do, then..?" Nitori asks, suddenly hopeless.
"We finish our tea, then go to bed," Goro decides for them. "Let Gou sleep; in the morning, I'll take you all home."
No one argues, or says anything for that matter, and after a minute the cups start piling in the sink and Ama, when she returns a moment later, distributes blankets and pillows that she and Sasabe gathered.
"Here, Rei, let me see that eye of yours," Amakata offers, taking him aside to the bathroom.
Rei sits on the sink while Amakata rustles through the first aid kit under Goro's sink, fumbling for some cream and a bandage.
"You're pretty lucky your glasses didn't break," Amakata adds cheerfully as Rei sets them aside so she can dab at his quickly-forming black eye.
"Mm…" Rei agrees. Amakata is trying to smile and makes one more remark about how this eye of his should heal up soon. It stopped throbbing in the car and Rei hopes it doesn't swell too noticeably. He did just lie to his parents saying nothing had happened, so imagine their surprise tomorrow if they see him with a swollen black eye.
"Goro mentioned he had some old clothes you kids could use for pajamas, if you need some."
Rei just nods, still not having found his voice to properly answer Miss Amakata.
She sighs, dropping her hands for a moment.
"Gou will be fine, Rei," she assures him.
Rei clenches his fists and really wonders about that. Gou seemed pretty shaken.
"Can't we do anything about those kids..?" Rei asks. Amakata frowns.
"Goro and I could speak to their coaches, if we knew who they were. I definitely intend to not let this just slide; it's unthinkable!" She admits, and for such a small teacher she still manages to shake with anger that until then she'd done well to hide. "But, it's ultimately up to Gou how she wants to handle them…"
"Gou will want justice! If Mikoshiba hadn't reached her in time, they would've-!"
"-Then it's a good thing Mikoshiba found her," Amakata cuts him off. "We'll have to wait until morning to see how Gou feels about everything. For now, just try to get some sleep, alright?" Amakata finishes by plastering a bandage under Rei's eye and sending him on his way.
Before he leaves, she asks him to send back Makoto-his knuckles were bleeding, she'd noticed, and she wants to clean them up before he falls asleep.
Rin sits on his knees, facing his sister though her back is turned to him. She's slipping one of his old coach's shirts over her head to replace the school uniform. She does so quickly, trying to hide her form from her brother, which he thinks is ridiculous. They used to bathe together as kids; since when did she feel this uncomfortable around him?
When both her arms slip through the sleeves, she tilts her head as if to look back at Rin, but never truly does.
Look at me, Gou, he wants to tell her.
"Don't tell mom about this, alright?" She finally mutters quietly. It's the first he's heard her voice since she screamed at him to let her go. "She's been busy lately and doesn't need anything else to worry about."
"Gou-!"
"Please?" She pleads.
Rin wants to yell at her how stupid that is, but finally just nods. She doesn't see him, though, so he quickly adds, "Mm," and she relaxes her shoulders in relief.
"Where is mom?"
"She's away on business."
What her voice doesn't say is that their mom is frequently away; she's busy, trying to support her son at his prestigious school and her daughter. Being an only parent is hard work.
"When does she come back?"
"Her trip got extended. Sometime next week," Gou shrugs before pulling the comforter Sasabe gave her over her shoulders, laying down to definitively halt the conversation.
Rin wants to grip her shoulders and roll her over, tell her that he's not done talking to her, but all he can think of is how she tried to push him away, mistaking him for one of the assaulters.
Rin clenches his fists and thinks of that damn white-haired bastard. He hadn't thought much of it, how uncomfortable Gou had been at the practice, glancing up at those guys in the bleachers. Did she know them prior to today? Or did she just recognize that they were trouble, when he couldn't?
They were lucky Mikoshiba got-
Mikoshiba.
Rin glares and looks away. He really shouldn't be upset, not at Mikoshiba after what he did and how he saved Gou.
But he's jealous. Jealous that Mikoshiba got to her first and saved her, and that Mikoshiba got to land a punch on those bastard's faces.
He wishes Gou would sit up and look at him and tell him that's she's fine. That he doesn't need to worry so much about her.
But she isn't talking to him. She won't talk about the things he wants to talk about. How she hasn't texted him. How she didn't even say goodbye to him at the practice. How she feels after…
"Gou…" He tries, quietly. Please be awake, he thinks.
She doesn't answer, so he tries again. He wants to raise his voice so she will wake up, if she is asleep, but he also doesn't want to wake her if she isn't.
"Gou."
"…Rin," she finally mutters from under the blanket.
His heart tightens.
"Gou…I'm sorry."
"Don't."
That's all she says and he thinks about reaching out to her, hugging her, but doesn't. He doesn't know what to say because all he wants to do is yell at her, ask why she stopped texting him, why she avoided him all week, why she left on her own. But he can't yell at her. None of this was her fault.
He wants to tell her this, too, but he can't bring himself to say anything. So, he doesn't.
He stands, hesitating a moment to see if Gou will say anything. When she doesn't, he steps towards the door, the tea cups in hand, and exits the room, closing the door as quietly behind him as when he opened it.
Despite Goro and Amakata encouraging them all to get some sleep, none of the others find themselves to be that tired immediately.
By the time Makoto returns, both hands heavily bandaged around his knuckles, and the overseeing adults take their leave having handed out all the extra shirts and blankets Goro had to offer, everyone had once again gathered in a circle in the living room.
Nagisa had cocooned himself in his blanket, with only his eyes peering from beneath the blanket.
Haru was sprawled on his back, genuinely trying to sleep, but as Makoto took his place beside Haru, he sat up; suddenly deciding staying awake a little longer wasn't so bad.
Mikoshiba was in the kitchen, though no one saw or heard him from within the living room. They all just knew he was there.
Nitori went to check in on him once and returned nearly twenty minutes later, but didn't say what had passed between the two of them.
Rei sat across from Nagisa, a large gap between himself and Makoto within their circle.
No one spoke for a while before Nagisa finally piped up, "We should do something for Gou!"
Rei raised an eyebrow, "You're not suggesting throwing her a party?!"
He didn't think this was the occasion for a party.
"Not like that! I just mean…Gou must be really shaken right now! I am," he admitted. "So, we should do something nice for her! Let her know we're here for her!"
Makoto smiled, "That'd be a nice gesture. But what?"
"Well, a party is too much…" Nagisa admitted, to which Rei gawked at. He was originally suggesting a party?!
"How about we just surprise her! It'll be like a party…but not! We'll all gather together and surprise her…maybe with a cake! And streamers-!"
"That's a party." Rei warned.
"Oh, yeah…I guess I don't know how to throw a party that isn't a party…"
Makoto chuckled, which was surprisingly relieving to hear. Tension seemed to break a little. "I like your suggestion, Nagisa. Maybe not a cake and streamers…but we could all get together and cook a dinner for Gou-"
"I can grill," Haru suddenly perked up.
Everyone knew he was suggesting Mackerel.
"Alright, Haru can grill. We could pitch in, get Gou a gift; just something small…"
"Gou could use a new bag."
Everyone whipped around to acknowledge Rin entering the room. He'd changed out of his swimwear, much like the rest of them. He dragged a blanket and sat beside Rei to complete the circle, though far enough back that he also appeared to alienate himself.
"Ah, Rin!" Nagisa cheered. "You'll be there, too?!"
Rin opened his mouth, annoyed, and Rei expected him to argue, "of course I'll be there, she's my sister" but words never came out. He stopped himself and glared to the side.
"We can all chip in to buy Gou a new bag," Makoto thoughtfully continued, ignoring Rin's hesitation and Nagisa's comment.
"We should throw the party Monday!"
"It's not a party," Rei reminded Nagisa.
"It can be an appreciation par-gathering," Nagisa catches himself, Rei still glaring him warningly.
"Should we invite Miss Ama and Sasabe?"
"I don't see why not."
"I think this is a great idea!"
"I'm tired now…"
"We should all turn in now. We'll talk further about the party tomorrow."
Rei turns to Rin, about to ask how Gou was, but Rin has already stood, moving himself further away from the others as they all spread out to sleep.
Nagisa is the first to fall asleep, having worried himself out. He sprawls out on the floor, extending to kick Haru, who is the second to sleep. Rin takes his blanket and sets his makeshift bed just outside the bedroom door where Gou is, with his back turned to the others. Nitori sleeps closest to him, though with enough distance between them that he's not impeding on the sibling's space.
Rei finds it weird that Rin isn't sleeping in the room with Gou. He wonders if they're having a fight, or if Gou herself asked for some privacy.
Makoto stays up the longest, sitting on the back porch with a cup of tea still in hand. Rei doesn't remember Makoto preparing a second serving of tea, but wonders if perhaps Mikoshiba did while he was in the kitchen for so long. Rei thinks about approaching him, because he can't sleep either, but decides against it.
Goro is on the couch in another room, and Rei isn't sure where Amakata is; either in a guest mattress somewhere or having left to her own home, though he doubts that.
Mikoshiba has his back to them all, stiff and still in a corner, and Rei wonders when he fell asleep. Just as he thinks as much, though, Mikoshiba stirs and suddenly sits upright.
At first, Rei thinks he's sleep walking but when Mikoshiba turns, Rei sees that he is very much awake.
Rei closes his eyes quickly, feigning sleep as Mikoshiba tip-toes around the sleeping bodies. Once Mikoshiba passes Rei, Rei opens one eye just barely, seeing if Makoto from outside has noticed the movement from within.
He hasn't.
Rei follows Mikoshiba with his eye, watching the older boy step around Nitori and carefully over Rin, approaching the bedroom door.
Rei wants to sit up and asks Mikoshiba what he's doing, but decides against it as the youth slowly slides the bedroom door open, slipping inside before closing the door.
Rei watches Rin to see if he stirs, and when he doesn't Rei silently congratulates Mikoshiba for overcoming that obstacle.
A/N: Random Facts~
I chose to write some of the story from Rei's POV because I needed a character who was just as confused and not centrally involved with the drama, and I liked the idea of writing from Rei's POV; he's a good neutral voice, I thought. In original drafts of the story, Rin does sleep in the same room as Gou but that was revised and you'll understand why in the next chapter; also, it adds to how distant their relationship is. This chapter sets up how Rin realizes he and his sister aren't very close anymore, he doesn't know how to be there for her right now and they hav emiscommunication on both of their behalfs that is hindering their problem getting any better. This wedge, though, is perfect opportunity for a certain someone to swoop in a pick Gou back up on her feet~
That said, though, I try throughout this story to keep Gou a stronge character; the show did a great job of fleshing her out so, yes, she was the chick of the team and show but she wasn't so flat and she certainly wasn't just a 'love interest' kind of character which is one of my biggest concerns in writing a romance fic :/ That's why I'm afraid she turns out to be very OOC in this story~ So, sorry about that...
Also in an earlier draft, there was a scene between Makoto and Haru, when Makoto is sitting outside. I was playing with the idea of showing multiply views from all the characters in handling this situation, and the most developed of those ideas was a conversation between those two. I eventually cut that idea for two reasons mainly, 1 being Haru is the hardest character for me to write, and 2, I decided to keep the POVs limited to Rin, Gou, Mikoshiba (picks up more later) Rei, and even later Hana, Gou's friend. And same thing can be said of Amakata that is said of Haru; I don't use her trademark literature quotes because I hardly know any and am too lazy to look proper ones up. So, in that sens,e she's OOC too...(They all are, sorry!)
Anyway, I forget whatelse I was gonig to say for this chapter (I'm gonig to be compeltely honest; I'm still hung over from last night T_T) But I hope you enjoyed this chapter and story! I'll update soon; hopefully the story will pick up! Sorry!