IEGO || Heart Catcher

『 CHAPTER 23 』

After what had happened yesterday, you returned to do your manager duties. You didn't mind it much. Rather, you felt light-hearted that sunrise.

Perhaps it was because of the little good morning messages from Kita, Nishinosora (the punk spammed you a few good times with some cat memes), Ryuuzaki, Miyabino, and Namikawa

Though, as you had sat in bed earlier, you frowned at Minamisawa's side on your contacts. He'd never replied to your greetings, continuing to leave you on read ever since the day he left Raimon.

You knew from Sangoku that Minamisawa transferred, but no one knew which school he had transferred to.

Nonetheless, you were still able to smile for the day, all because of the little things your other friends showered you.

♡ --- ♡ --- ♡

"Congratulations on making to the preliminaries!" Taiyou cheered in your face.

Since you were relieved off the team, you figured you might as well used the extra time in the morning to visit Taiyou. (You also passed by Tsurugi earlier just as you entered. He had exited out to go to school, after telling you how Yuuichi was doing).

"Thank you," you signed.

Taiyou grinned. "You definitely enjoyed the match. The camera almost couldn't catch you jumping that high! That Kenshin shoot you made was awesome too!" His eyebrows then furrowed in concern. "By the way, are you alright? That was still a high jump you did..."

"I'm still okay. Namikawa-kun caught me. Wasn't it shown on tv?"

"I don't think so. I didn't see anything like you being caught by someone. And Namikawa? Wasn't he one of the opponents?"

You nodded. Though, you also find it odd that the cameras couldn't capture the scene when you were saved. You wondered whether they have omitted the scene to prevent some sort of weird scandal.

Well, you supposed you could respect them for that.

"I also wanna ask, did you get enough sleep last night?"

You blinked twice. Taiyou was looking at you in concern again. Suddenly, he leaned in, too, while his fingers reached out and touched your face.

He pressed a thumb just below your right bottom eyelid, and gently rubbed across that part. It was through the reflection of the window that you figured out why he asked about sleep and why he was acting this way. Your little stitches and eyebags were seen through the makeup. You swore you had put a lot that morning.

Quickly, you pushed away your chair, distancing yourself from Taiyou. You squeaked as you tumbled out.

The chair fell, and you couldn't really tell Taiyou you were going to the restroom to fix your makeup. He didn't stop you in any way, however, when you exited out of his patient room.

Once you left, Taiyou looked at his thumb. The bits of your makeup had smudged on his skin, which he deduced you must have put the foundation on lightly. He would understand if you had felt embarrassment from showing your uncovered face.

But he was confused about why your eyes showed fear instead.

♡ --- ♡ --- ♡

You patted your cheeks. Sangoku had arrived to your side when you messaged him to help double-check your makeup.

"You fixed it, right?" Sangoku got a closer look. "Hm, it seems okay now."