Forgiveness - KnB (ON-HOLD)

Chapter 12 - Rain

Aye, we hit the 4K! Thank you so much guys 🎉💜

Ai had been sitting on the bench for about five minutes and it began to rain heavily.
The girl was drenched within few seconds, but she enjoyed the feeling of rain droplets running across her frame. The ones that met with her face became one with her tears and were washed away by the other drops.

'The game was surely cancelled. It's better if I go now too', she thought as she wiped her puffy and red eyes with her freezing hands and stood up from the bench to run to the court with limps where she assumed the others were waiting for her.

Ai didn't pay attention to the path in front of her and ran into a tall figure, falling down to the wet ground with her bottom. She squinted her eyes in regret when she remembered the scene where she had bumped into Kagami and got to know him afterwards. Ai would have done anything now to make Kagami forgive her, but she knew she didn't stand a chance anymore. He hated her.

Flashback:
Ai's terrified thoughts were interrupted as she bumped into a young and tall man who wasn't paying attention at where he was going either. Ai fell to the ground from the sudden impact and fell on her butt in an unsoft and kinda painful way.

The giant in front of her almost fell back too, but managed to regain his balance. "Can't you be-", the boy growled but stopped and gasped silently as Ai raised her head and looked at him with her grey eyes.

The girl got up, then grabbed her backpack and mumbled a silent "Sorry" before she continued running.

Unbeknownst to the girl, Himuro had kneeled down to the girl and tried to snap her out of her daydream or rather thoughts.
She gasped when someone touched her shoulder and she opened her eyes to look into a pair of familar gray-black eyes.

"Are you okay? I'm sorry, I was deepened in a conversation with Atsushi and didn't see you", he explained with his soft voice and gave Ai a charming smile while Murasakibara looked down at the two. "Be more careful next time, Ai-chin. You might get hurt", he said boredly as his teammate helped the girl up and eyed her.

Both immediately noticed that she had been crying and they wanted to know why. While Himuro held his question back because he didn't want to startle Ai, Murasakibara decided to ask her directly. "Why are you crying, Ai-chin? Is something bothering you?", he asked as he stuck his hand in the bag to take out a few potato chips, fastly closing it afterwards because he didn't want the rain to soak them. He acted absolutely adorable.

"We should go under the roof. You could catch a cold otherwise", the guy with the birth mark told Ai when she didn't reply and he supported her by letting her wrap one of her arms around his shoulders when he noticed that she was injured.

When the three adolescents arrived under the roof, Murasakibara rummaged in his bag to take out his purple-white training jacket and he handed it to the now freezing girl with a lazy smile. "Take off your clothes and put this on, Ai-chin. It should go to your knees", he explained and Ai looked to the jacket, then to him and shook her head.

"I can't accept this. You got wet too and you can't stay in these clothes. Don't worry about me", she said cutely and Himuro chuckled warmly with closed eyes. "We have a change of clothes in our bags, Ai-chan. Go on, we'll be careful that no one watches", he said softly and gave her his towel, making Ai blush slightly, but she agreed in the end.

The two boys turned around and Ai took off her sticky t-shirt and jeans, wringing them and putting them on a bench. She then slightly dabbed her arms and legs with the towel Himuro had given her before putting on Murasakibara's jacket and buttoning up the purple buttons.

The ravenette looked absolutely breathtaking in the article of clothing, which was proved when the two boys turned around and widened their eyes with slight blushes on their faces after she said that she was finished. The jacket went up to her knees how Atsushi had guessed and the sleeves were much longer than she expected. "M-My jacket suits Ai-chin a lot, right Muro-chin?", the candy lover asked his friend and he nodded in response.

She walked towards the two Yōsen members with her clothes in her hands and gave them a small smile. "Thank you. I will return the jacket and towel once I washed them", she said seraphically and both nodded before she turned around to let the two boys change this time.

"You still didn't tell us why you cried, Ai-chin", Atsushi said with a slight pout while eating Maiubo after he and Himuro had changed their clothes too. The three were still waiting under the building for the rain to stop and sat on the dry and cold stone floor while listening to the calming rain sounds.

Ai, who was sitting between the two boys, slightly lifted her head to look at Atsushi, only to look away a short time later because of his intimidating eyes that still scared her. "Uhm... Well, I was running too fast and hurt my ankle", she lied nervously and Atsushi directed his eyes to Ai's right ankle. He wasn't the brightest bulb in the tanning bed, but he exactly knew what she was talking about.

It was the injury he had inflicted on her back then.

"Be careful. It could be dangerous if you slip while running as fast as you did", Himuro said concernedly and Ai scratched the back of her head, nodding. "I will", she said sheepishly.

"Does it still hurt much, Ai-chin?", Atsushi asked her and made her shiver at the tone of his voice. It sounded so cold. "A little bit, but I'll be fine tomorrow I guess. Ah, the rain stopped! It would be bad if you miss your train back to Akita, so let's go", Ai replied and finally got to change the subject as the rain finally stopped and was replaced by drizzling. "You are right. Let's go, Atsushi", Himuro said kindly and the three headed to the station after collecting their belongings.

"By the way, you don't need to answer the question, but did anything happen between you and Taiga? I know him really well and I didn't expect him to be so rude to bruise and threaten you. They also just left when it began to rain without even looking for you. What is your connection with them anyway and why do they treat you like that?", the handsome boy with pale skin asked Ai curiously while the three were silently crossing a street together and arrived at the train station afterwards.

Ai didn't get bothered by his questions - it was the opposite. The questions made her think about that all even harder. "I go to Seirin like them and I am the assistant coach of their team. We got along really well with each other in the beginning, but a few things happened and we decided to end our friendship. I kind of don't care about that anymore because it's always the same. People either treat me like trash or ignore me. But that's the way it is and I don't bother to change that but accept it. That's what I deserve, after all. See you around in a few, Atsu-kun and Himuro-kun."

The said boys watched Ai leave as she shortly waved at them after the words she just had gotten rid off.

"Atsushi, do you have an idea what she meant by that sentence?", Himuro asked his purple haired friend as the two got into the train and sat down on empty seats they found.

"What sentence?", Atsushi replied boredly while munching on his last pack of candy.

"'That's what I deserve, after all.' I thought that you knew because you know her."

"I didn't understand the sentence either."
L I E .

"Hm, I see. Then tell me how and where you two met."

"Too troublesome to explain."

"Alright. You'll tell me that later either way. But at least tell me why she was so afraid of you."

"I don't know."
L I E .

Finally arriving home, Ai went downstairs to the cellar of her house to put her clothes, the jacket Murasakibara has given her and Himuro's towel in the washer. She laid down in her bed after taking a shower and cried herself to sleep.

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This chapter is trash