Distinguished

Ball 8. Burden

Third Person's POV

As Kaori and Tsukishima walked to the center of the stage, the whole audience gave them a round of applause as they waited in anticipation. The Karasuno members immediately got themselves a vacant seat after a run from the back stage.

"Whaa!" Hinata's eyes sparkled when he saw Kaori's formal wear; a white long dress that reaches her ankles and hugs her body curves. "Miyazono-san is so pretty!" Tanaka and Noya nodded in agreement.

Suga rose a his index finger towards his lips and shushed them. "They're gonna start."

From Kaori's view, she stared at the audiences until she spotted the dorky boys who were waving at her and the rest of the team. She smiled faintly and calmed herself, getting rid of the uneasiness from the inside. After that, she recited some words.

"Elohim, essaim.. Elohim, essaim.. I implore you."

With one last sigh, she turned to face Tsukishima behind her and gave him a nod. Recieving his approval, she placed her violin on the bottom of her chin and started a note which Tsukishima then followed after.

Kiyoko sat at the edge of her seat as soon as they played. She watched Kaori move fluidly with the sound of her violin, singing every note with clarity. As for Tsukishima, he had been doing his part well being her accompanist. If inspected closely, you might even see a faint smile on his face.

The both of them had been doing well and the audience were listening in awe with Kaori's performance. She might not have played like before during the auditions, but she was still the same person they chose and betted on.

With every stroke of her bow and his pressing on the monochrome keys, they played in sync while adding more dynamic flow to each and every note.

As they neared the end, Kiyoko noticed Kaori's deep furrow of her eyebrows as she struggled to concentrate on the last part of the song. As she had memorized from the music score, there's gonna be a dramatic crescendo until the last grandios note. But luckily, Kaori had perfected that.

In the end, both Kaori and Tsukishima stayed at their current positions while letting the last note linger in the air, not a peep of sound was heard until a second later, the crows errupted into a cheer and a round of applaud.

Kaori smiled brightly similar to the stage lights, then motioned towards Tsukishima who bowed together with her.

"Hey," He whispered towards her ear once they were walking out of the stage. "Are you okay? You're breathing's quite rigid."

"O-oh?" She calmed herself before speaking again. "It's fine. This kind of always happens after a performance. You're great at the piano, by the way."

"Thanks, I guess." Tsukishima rubbed the back of his neck as he acceoted her compliment, a light blush showing on his cheeks.

Suddenly, the exit doors of the back stage flew open and in came the Karasuno members with big smiles on their faces.

"Miyazono-san!!" The second years gave Kaori a teddy bear hug. "You looked beautiful on stage just now!"

"Thank you, guys!" She ruffled Noya's spiked hair while she kissed on Tanaka's shaved head. Both of them blushed deeply at her actions as they fantasized about it repeatedly.

"You were great too, Tsukki!!" Hinata piped up beside her but instead, he just recieved a slight glare from him. Hinata immediately backed away and hid behind Kageyama's tall stature.

In the midst of all the compliments from them, Kaori's heavy breathing never seem to cease. She suddenly felt dizzy being around them and her weight took a toll on her petite body that she fainted in front of them. Thankfully, Suga caught her just in time before she hit the ground.

"Kaori!"

"Miyazono-san!"

Concerned voices filled the room while Daichi and Kiyoko ran to get help from a secretary who immediately called for an ambulance.

When Kiyoko returned, she rushed to Suga's side and checked on her cousin.

"She's heating up this time," She said as she let the back of her hand linger on Kaori's forehead before taking it away.

"Shimizu," Suga had a worried look on his face. "Is this about her paralysis?"

"Paralysis?" Tsukishima and Asahi overheard them.

"Um.." Suga dropped a sweat, cursing to himself at how loud he'd talked. But looking at Kiyoko's expression said otherwise.

"It's okay." Kiyoko sighed when she saw the paramedics rush in the room. "There's no point in hiding it anymore.

"We'll explain it to you later."

----------

"...and so that's how we knew." Kiyoko ended with a sigh. The team looked at her with utter shock and disbelief at what they had just heard.

"Miyazono-san has been having it ever since she was young..?" Kageyama shook his head.

"But is her sudden fainting also part of her paralysis?" Asahi asked but Kiyoko shrugged at him.

"I can't say for sure. But she did say that after every performance, she gets exhausted easily. Her body can't take her weight much longer if she's at that state and her legs are mainly the ones carrying that burden." She explained.

"So," Yamaguchi spoke after a while. "What do we do now?"

Suga sighed and smiled sadly. "Honestly? All we can do is wait and hope that she's okay."

A/N: Chap is about 200 words short than my usual 1000+ word updates. Gomen.. I'm not really having the best of my week right now.