"Why'd he think you stayed at the store? I know you work there, but are you related to them?," Sugawara started with a pretty rough one.
"Um. Not exactly. They sorta took me in halfway through middle school, for reasons. But it's more on paper than anything," she answered. She could have lied and said they were cousins or something, but she found it hard to be dishonest with the boy walking alongside her. Especially when he was so close to Daichi, who would definitely throw a fit if he found out she lied.
"Oh. Sorry, don't mean to pry. Tanaka mentioned a scar, though. What's that about?," he went for another hard one, and her breath caught in her throat for a moment. It was clear from that question that he hadn't figured out the story, so she let out her breath slowly.
"Um," she fiddled with her hair again, thinking. Then she came to a stop and turned to face him, which shocked him for a moment. She pulled her hair back from her eyes, smiling a bit with scrunched eyebrows. Sugawara's eyes widened, then his expression softened. She hated that reaction, when people saw the scar and were shocked. Then there was the pity, and it was difficult to deal with. It didn't feel like the same sort of pity this time, though. It was harder to read what he was thinking, actually.
"It's kinda difficult to deal with people's reactions to it," she said finally. Sugawara smiled back, a weird gentle one that made her feel somewhat flustered.
"Anyway, this's my stop. Thanks, 'night!," she turned around and walked right up to the door. She dropped the keys, picking them up and stealing a backward glance. She waved at him before closing the door, letting out another held up breath and pressing her forehead against the cool wood.
Sugawara stood there under the street light for several minutes, processing everything he'd just learned. He realized he was still there, and turned back to go to his own house. He was lost in thought. So she wasn't staying with family of any kind, and helped out a lot with the store-owner's family stuff. There was obviously something in her past that made Daichi worry about her more than usual, and they had known each other for a long time. He reached into his pocket, which was empty now but wasn't before. When she returned the jacket. He was terrified when he got home that night and pulled out a pack of smokes and a lighter. There was a faint hint of smoke lingering on his jacket, too. Was pretty odd, someone their age with a habit like that. The piercings, scars, it all had to be from something pretty nasty. She was always pretty spirited despite it, whatever it was. Sometimes in a way similar to Tanaka or Daichi, though. He laughed at that thought as he stepped through the door, earning a look from his mom.
"Walkin' a girl home, eh?," she teased from the kitchen.
"It's not like that!," Suga shouted back, face flushed.
The next morning came way too soon for Kitsuna. Her alarm blared in her ear, at a crisp and early 5:00 AM. She groaned, rolling off the couch and onto the floor. She considered flaking out, but remembered what she'd said about the girls' team being like that and groaned again.
"Why'd I have to go and say all that?," she whined at the empty room. The rest of the conversations from the previous night filtered through her head, and she covered her face with her hands in embarrassment.
"Whatever. If I get goin' now I can probably get some breakfast on the way. And a coffee," she motivated herself with that. It's not like she wasn't used to getting up so early, she regularly did for some prep work at the store. She usually handled making the day's food then, if she got behind the night before.
She trudged up the hill slowly, munching on some melon bread and chugging down some tea. Keishin threw a fit at her breakfast, but she managed to slip out before he could complain too much. She walked into the gym, already in her gym clothes, and spotted Daichi and Sugawara setting stuff up. She waved at them, and hurried to finish her breakfast.
"Coffee?," Suga spotted the canned coffee.
"That's not really the best thing before a practice," Daichi chided. Kitsuna nearly choked on her drink, but finished it in one big swig before crunching the can in her hand.
"Yeah, I know. Teachers're tired of me fallin' asleep in class, though," she pouted, tossing her trash in a bin by the corner of the gym.
"If you're struggling, you don't gotta come to morning practice," Sugawara tried.
"Nah, it's fine. I'm up around this time anyway for work most days," she waved him off as more players filtered into the gym.
"Huh? Why d'you go to work so early, it's not open then is it?"
"No. I gotta prep the day's food though," she answered while stretching.
"You're the one who makes all that?," Tanaka joined the conversation, stretching alongside her.
"Yeah. Keishin's a terrible cook, unless I leave super detailed instructions," she responded with a jab at her boss, earning some laughs.
"Wait, you work too? So busy," one of the other boys added their two cents.
"Guess that's why you've chilled out so much," Daichi muttered. That got him a jab in the ribs from Kitsuna, and set off another round of laughter. Daichi, flustered, ordered them to start with a run. Takeda stopped by before class started, as the club's advisor it was his job to make visits sometimes.
"Kitsuna? Wow, you're almost as dedicated to this as the actual club members. Do you wanna put in a form?," the teacher handled his surprise by throwing out a lot of different stuff at once.
"Nah, doubt it'd get approved with the other stuff," Kitsuna deflected again.
"Oh, right. You keep falling asleep in class," Takeda let out a pretty careless remark, so everyone glanced at Daichi. He pretended not to hear it this time, though. Instead they were caught off guard by Kitsuna's face. A mix of frustration and sheer panic, like when someone forgets the stove's on at home.
"You good?," Tanaka asked.
"I…forgot my school uniform," she muttered, her expression tightening as she braced for a lecture from either Daichi or Takeda. Both just stared at her, unsure what to do with that.
"I'll write you a note for today, but don't do it again," Takeda came to the rescue.
