All the broken things - Asanoya

1: (Not) out of time

The gym suddenly felt silent as the two upperclassmen finished their speech.  The team was sitting opposite of them, each one tasting the sour reality of the heard things.

The shortest of them was the first to jump up, his concerned shout echoed in his teammates ears even long after it.
- How do you mean he was in an accident?
- Noya, please, calm down - their captain lectured the libero with emotionless voice.
- He was hit by a drunk driver... -  Sugawara answered.

The grey haired boy was pale, even more than usually, and tired, really tired. The events were still too fresh for him to calm himself. His father worked in a local hospital as a general surgeon, and last night he was on call. Later he was in the operation room. That is how Sugawara got to know what happened with their friend while going home from practice yesterday. This was the reason he was unable to sleep for the whole night.

- So he bruised himself, right? That is no reason to completely quite volleyball! He gave up to easily! - Nishinoya sounded clearly annoyed.
The childish naivety coming from him wasn't something Sugawara could deal with right now.

- I think you get it wrong - Tanaka jumped in, touching his best friends arm to get his attention, but the libero just shake it off.

- He got some... more serious injuries - Sugawara tried to explain with the calmes voice he was able to use, but he couldn't completely hide the crack in his voice.

- Oh? He broke his leg? - Now even Nishinoya had a serious look on his face. He looked worried, he started to be worried.

Except him, whose denial was too strong to accept the truth, everyone else felt the real weight of this conversation, or if not felt, then the red eyes of the third years give them a clue.
Even the always bubbly Hinata sat on the ground with others, holding into Kageyama's jacket, like it was a lifebelt and he was drowning.

- Yuu... - the bald guy tried to reach his friend once again.
- I'm afraid that this is more serious than a broken leg - Daichi looked on the short boy, his usually strong voice was shaking.
- More serious? - Nishinoya's eyes widened as slowly the realization got to him - What exactly?
The last sentence left his lips just a little louder as a whisper.
- Asahi is in coma - hot tears run down on the vice-captain's cheeks.

The gym nearly exploded now.
Daichi hugged his crying classmate, trying to comfort the sobbing Sugawara although the news hurt him just as much, while the others shouted across each other. Questions. Conjectures. Comforting and hopeful words.

Only Noya, the one who was always the loudest, stayed quiet now, grabbing his best friend's shirt to hold up himself, his legs turned into jelly. He felt like his life was shaking. The whole emotional turmoil pushed him to the point where everything around him became fuzzy. His lungs felt tight and for a brief second he couldn't do anything. He was unable to move, unable to think, unable to even react.

Tanaka had on himself nearly all of the libero's weight as he supported him to stand.

- That is not funny! - Nishinoya's crying voice made everyone silent once again - You are lying!

He pushed himself away from the spiker holding him and nearly blind from the tears in his eyes he ran out of the gym.

- Noya! -  Daichi shouted after him, but the libero didn't even care to look back at him.
The gym felt silent once again.

Everyone, maybe except Tanaka who looked rather terrified, was surprised that the short boy was the one who took the news the worst. Everyone knew that Nishinoya get on well with the ace, but no one really realized how well. Until now.

Sugawara blamed himself for not remembering the admiration the second year gave Asahi. He only thought about Daichi being their teammate's best friend, so he told the captain beforehand in the gentlest way. He should know that Nishinoya, whose only talent was the volleyball and who had a chance to get a bright future from it, wouldn't be ready to quit it for someone who didn't mean a lot to him. He should saw it, it was obvious! He should have thought about the short boy's feelings, and talk with him alone, support him, but he failed to do it.