Distinguished

Ball 11. Downpour

Sugawara Koushi

"Kaori?"

"Suga-san?" Kaori looked at me in the distance. Her clothes were wet and her eyes were puffed up and red. "What are you doing here?"

I went over and sat next to her under the playground's shelter. "I should be the one asking you that."

She looked away from my gaze and sniffed. "I just.. escaped from all the stress building up back at home. I couldn't take it anymore and I just needed some space of my own."

I hummed in reply, letting a bit of silence pass us, then sighed. "Well," I got up from the shelter, kneeling as I did so due to my height, and got my umbrella ready out in to the rain again. "I'm sorry for interrupting your alone time. I should be going-"

"No!" Kaori exclaimed with a tug on the hem of my shirt. "I didn't mean it in a 'go away' manner.. So, um, please stay."

I stared at her for a moment before deciding to sit back down again. "Okay."

She smiled at me faintly with appreciation and had let go of my shirt.

No one talked for a while as we silently listened to the sound of heavy downpour. I was about to speak when she had beaten me to it.

"When is the InterHigh gonna start?"

"Two days from now." I replied. "Why do you ask?"

But she ignored my question and asked me again. "If Karasuno were to win the matches and enter the Preliminaries, how many days will that take?"

'What's with the number questions?' I thought but answered her nonetheless. "About three days. Is there something-"

"Nope." She interrupted. "I was just asking because I wanted to attend all of your matches." She turned her head to face me. "I want to see you guys in action too."

I frowned at the words she spoke; there's something she's hiding from me and I didn't like how she kept on interjecting my sentences in between. "Kaori, regarding-"

"Please, Suga-san," She shook her head before turning away once again. "Not now. I would like to not think about that when it's the reason I'm here right now."

I nodded, understanding how she feels. 'It must've been hard for her these past few days.'

Knowing that a decease is slowly creeping in to your blood stream is scary, especially a paralysis that will stop your movement all at once.

Suddenly, I heard her hiccup and saw that her shoulders were shaking. She wasn't facing my way but I knew that she was crying. Slowly and cautiously, I crawled over to her front and placed my arms around her fragile body. Holding her close, I whispered near her ear, "Shh, it's okay. Pour it all out. You don't have to keep it bottled in for too long."

Upon saying it, I felt both her hands clutch on to my clothes as she buried her head on my chest. She wailed and poured all her melancholic emotions while I patted and rubbed soothing circles on the small of her back.

Looking at the opposite end of the playground's shelter, the rain continued to fall from the grey skies above.

'I guess, sometimes, that the bluest of skies cry too. It may not be literal, but a rain that's heavy might mean that they keep their tears bottled up for too long, and that they needed for it to be poured out.

'Skies have their own kinds of emotions as well as people do. But the sad part is is that they are on their own with no one to comfort or to be comforted to. And the only thing that they can do is show it to the world.

'It's similar to how humans behave. When they're happy, they share it with people close to them, or even strangers that they pass by. When angry, they throw a tantrum depending on how bad it is. Nevertheless, they show to the world, either by breaking objects or saying it in person. But do keep in mind that you also need to apologize either way because that can lead to sadness and other kinds of emotions on the other party and you might not even realize it.

'Sadness is not an easy thing to be dealt with, depending on the situation. But this is when they don't show it to anyone, except their eyes or their actions which tells otherwise. Try to comfort them before it's too late.'

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"Oh," Kaori peeped her head out of the shelter. "It stopped raining."

"So did you." I mumbled under my breath but she heard it.

"What?"

"Nothing," I stood up, crouching a bit, and went out to stretch myself after sitting for a long time under the playground structure. Kaori followed me after.

"Suga-san," She said, catching my attention. "Thank you for coming by."

I smiled at her and ruffled her blonde hair. "It's fine, Kaori-chan. Anyway, it was just pure coincidence that I passed by here."

"Huh? Then where were you heading before coming here?" She asked, a little bit surprised and panicky.

"Um, to your house actually.

"For?"

"A visit."

She frowned. "Seriously?"

"S-seriously." I stuttered.

She grinned before giving me a teddy bear hug. "You're such a big oof."

'Oof?' I chuckled. "Okay..?"

"Kaori!" A feminine voice called out from the distance, along with fast pace of footsteps. Wait, more than a pair of footsteps.

"Mom!" Kaori let me go and went to her mother. A man behind her, must be Kaori's Dad, caught up with her wife and joined the 'reunion'.

Just when I could get away without them noticing me, her Dad placed a strong grip on my left shoulder, stopping me.

"Who are you?" He menacingly said which sent shivers up my spine. "You're not my daughter's boyfriend, are you?"

"Dad!" Kaori blushed at his words and took his hand away from me. I could still feel the weight of it though. "He's not my boyfriend! His name is Sugawara Koushi, the one on Karasuno's volleyball team."

"N-nice to meet the both of you, Mr. and Mrs. Miyazono." I bowed in respect, scared if I don't.

"Ah, at least he has some manners." Mrs. Miyazono smiled at me.

Mr. Miyazono grumbled in response. "Well, thank you for taking care of Kaori. Wife-y here could've gone into heart attack if we hadn't found her sooner."

"It's your fault that you slapped her!" Her wife nudged him in the arm, glaring at him momentarily before turning back to me. "Why don't we have dinner over to our house as a thanks? I can't just let you go without any form of appreciation..."

"A-ah no!" I waved my hands in front of me, but stopped when I saw him glare. "I-I mean, sure! I'd love to!"

"Uh, Dad? What did you just do?" Kaori folded her arms and frowned at him.

"Nothing! Sheesh.. At least he accepted."

"Well!" Her Mom clapped her hands, interrupting the father-daughter moment. "Why don't we go back home with this gentleman over here and eat dinner? I'm sure you're all famished!"

I nodded retrospect. "Thank you, Mrs. Miyazono."

When the two married couple had gone ahead, I heard Kaori sigh and shook her head.

"You could've declined politely."

"Eh? Why?"

"Just so you know, Mom has a tendency of over-cooking, but it either always tastes mild or another kind of alien flavour." She patted my shoulder as my eyes slowly widened in shock and panic.

"This is why I should never leave the house."