Daich ran over to them, waving at Yui as she left in a hurry. He glanced over Kitsuna's attire, making a face but keeping his comments to himself.

"You ready?," he asked.

"Yeah. You said we were doing a match? I don't know all the rules, but I should be able to keep up," Kitsuna gave an honest answer.

Daichi seemed unsure still, but called the others over to decide teams. While he did that, she started to pull her hair up but froze. Her fingertips brushed over the piercings on the rim of her ears, and she didn't want to deal with Daichi so she dropped her hair and shook it back out. Sugawara glanced over, but didn't say anything. Buzzcut caught a glimpse of the scar under her bangs, or thought he did. He was staring pretty intensely until one of the others smacked the back of his head.

"Right. Let's not go too hard today, remember it's just practice," Daichi warned the others. Kitsuna was split off with some other first-years.

"Right. Tanaka, keep your shirt on. Asahi will be the worst with his spikes, if he goes all out. Watch for Noya, too. Ennoshita, you'll be out setter for today," one of the other boys started barking orders. Kitsuna's brows furrowed, and she was obviously lost.

"Hey, you sure you got this?," one of them asked her. It was obvious they didn't have much confidence in her ability, but that wasn't the issue here.

"Uh. Who's who?," Kitsuna finally asked. There was some intense pressure up until then, but it dissipated in an instant.

"Huh? Oh, I guess you're pretty new here. Right," the boy named Ennoshita spoke up. He made introductions, and Kitsuna did her best to remember names to faces. They started the match, and it was easy enough for her to keep up. There were some awkward points where someone had to tell her to rotate, though. Things were ramping up a little bit, after her general ability became more apparent. Asahi, the big timid guy, was up to serve. He sent one up, and it was fast. Kitsuna moved to receive it, but ended up taking the full force of the ball to the face and tumbling backwards.

"Asahi! You killed the girl!," Tanaka shouted, running over with the rest in a panic. Kitsuna slowly opened her eyes, wincing from the welt on her forehead. She saw a bunch of terrified faces looking down at her, and felt a cool breeze from the open door blow across her face.

"Hey, I know you!," Tanaka shouted suddenly.

"Yeah, you were the girl out behind the store sm-!," Nishinoya blurted out.

Kitsuna rolled up in an instant, slamming her hand over his mouth before he could finish what he said. That stunned the others all over again, but lightened the atmosphere as well. She released him, face heating up a little bit. Sugawara extended a hand, to help her to her feet.

"You okay?," he asked, and she let out a small laugh.

"Yea-"

"Oh my god, you're bleeding! I'm so sorry!," Asahi shouted and fell over backwards. Sugawara's face went pale, along with several others.

"Huh? Oh, I guess I am," Kitsuna felt something warm run down her neck and onto her shoulder. She reached up to touch her ear, which was ringing with pain, and pulled it back. There was bright crimson staining her fingertips. Some of the boys flew into a panic, securing a first aid kit and pulling her to the side of the court to sit down. She could only follow along, unsure how to respond to such genuine care and concern.

Daichi took charge, pulling out a compress and kneeling down in front of her. He reached forward, toward her face. His fingertips brushed her hair, to move it out of the way so he could assess her injuries. But she panicked just then, covering her ear and pulling back hard. He made a face, the same one as when she started to pull up her hair, and she knew it was over if he saw the piercings.

"I got it! I'm fine, I swear!," she tried to snatch the compress from him, but he pulled it back. Shit. he knew, he had to know now.

"Dude?," Tanaka voiced the same thing everyone else was thinking, in a way. Daichi was being super weird all of a sudden. He reached forward again, much faster, and pulled her hand away. She pushed against his face hard, blocking his eyes, but he was determined. He reached up and pushed her hair back, palm covering her ear. She froze, not wanting to make the injury worse. He felt the piercings, and that was the end of it. His face darkened, and she flew into panic mode.

"I forgot to take them out before we started. That's my bad, it's fine! Just gimme that-"

"Ki-tsu-na," he started, emphasizing each syllable of her name and staring her down with that murderous glare.

"Take them out?," Sugawara asked, glancing at the others to see if they had context. Kitsuna froze and prepared for her punishment. Daichi pressed the compress into her ear, a little too hard, and her eyes watered.

"You start dying your hair, and load up on piercings?! Are you kidding me! You tryin' to piss all the teachers off again?!," he started shouting suddenly, and the other boys flinched.

"Hey, Daichi," Asahi started in, pulling on Daichi's shoulder.

"Maybe save that for later?," Sugawara tried to pull him back as well.

"Oh piss off! They don't even know about them, so it's fine! Quit actin' like you're my damn mom," Kitsuna snapped back with equal ferocity. The rest of the team was too shocked to intervene as the two went back and forth like that for a few minutes. They were broken up when the door slammed open and a breathless Takeda rushed in. He scanned the gym, spotting Kitsuna and rushing over.

"Huh?," everyone looked at the teacher, equally confused.

"What're you doing here? Didn't you have work today? Ukai's super mad-hey, is that blood? You just got over a cold, don't push yourself so hard," Takeda flew into a full panic, and spouted off some things that were almost as dangerous as the piercings.

"Huh? So you did get sick!," Daichi started in again.

"Oh shut it! I'm fine," Kitsuna countered, to both of them, but for Daichi she karate-chopped his forehead to shut him up. He sat there fuming while Kitsuna grabbed her stuff to head out. She turned back in the doorway, calling back.

"Sorry, gotta go today! I can help you guys out more with practice when I don't have work again. It's way more fun than-nevermind that last part. Bye!"

And she disappeared with Takeda, who checked again that she was fine at the school gate. She pulled the compress back, and noted that the bleeding had stopped. She assured him as best she could, then took off down the hill. She slid into the store just before the dinner rush, tossing her bag over the counter.

"You're late, what were you-is that blood? You didn't get in a fight, did ya?," Keishin asked several questions in rapid succession, tripping her up.

"What? No. It's fine," she was already tying up an apron. Keishin sighed and let it go for now. That one, anyway.

"Some packs of cigs missin' from the shelves," he said quietly, so only she could hear it. She flinched, but denied knowing anything about it.