Guarded (Sugawara x OC)

Chapter 10

"Are you sure you're alright Machi?"

"Oh my god, if you ask her that one more time I'm going to slap you for her."

"Sorry Tsukki..."

Tadashi, Tsukki, and Machi sat at a corner table, not one of them eating their lunches. Machi had braved sitting with them today despite still feeling like shit, and had apologized for ditching them yesterday after finding out how upset Tadashi had been. They spent most of their lunch listening to Machi re-live the evening from hell, minus a few choice details Machi kept to herself, and by the time her story was done, both Tsukki and Tadashi looked like they were ready to punch Nakagawa too. But beneath his anger, Tadashi also couldn't help but worry for Machi. She didn't seem angry anymore so much as empty, which if he were honest worried him more. She sat across from them, chin resting on her hand, a blank look in her eyes. When she was angry he could at least be there to calm her down, but he didn't know how to help her now. Not when he couldn't tell what she was thinking.

"I appreciate your concern Tadashi, but Tsukki's right, I'm fine." Machi picked at her stir fry, her overall blank expression unconvincing to them both. Her anger seemed to have fizzled out after beating her hands to a bloody mess not once, but twice yesterday. After arriving home she had turned her phone back on to find twenty messages and ten missed calls from Kaido and Nakagawa. While Kaido's texts were full of concern and questions, Nakagawa's grew increasingly more hostile the more she ignored him. After furiously clearing the messages, Machi had spent an hour at the punching bag again. Even with gloves this time, she had to re-bandage her hands with the extra wrappings she picked up on her way home. It seemed to do the trick though, all her fury was gone, replaced with a hollow feeling she had trouble naming.

Tsukki raised a questioning brow at her response, but didn't press the issue, lest Tadashi start worrying like a mother hen again. Instead he threw a french fry at her to try and distract her, "So am I to assume you'll be at volleyball again today? I could use the target practice."

Machi threw her chopsticks down on the table and pointed an accusatory finger at Tsukki, "Yes I will be there, but if you so much as toss a volleyball at me today Tsukki I swear I will murder you in your sleep." Tsukki raised his hands in mock defeat, but his plan had worked; a spark of life seemed to return to Machi's eyes, even if it was just until the lunch bell rang.

As expected, Machi sat on the sidelines of the volleyball court the entire practice, reading a book and quietly grateful that the new coach kept Tsukki from spiking any volleyballs towards her. She technically probably could have gone to her own club practice today and just taken it easy, but where was the fun in that? Plus, an extra day away from Nakagawa was an added bonus. After his angry string of texts last night he had finally stopped bombarding her and she could finally take time to think about what he had said and what it meant. She wasn't quite ready to forgive him just yet, not when he had mocked her and questioned her judgement so easily. For someone she had known since they were kids, she had never thought he would think so little of her. Sure, his jealousy definitely played a major role in his outburst, but how much of what he said was fueled by that jealousy and how much was what he truly believed about her? It made Machi question how real their friendship had been in the first place, let alone what deeper feelings he apparently had been hiding all this time.

Biting her lip anxiously, Machi tried to quiet her spiraling thoughts by re-focusing on her book, but had trouble keeping her mind focused on the story. Her eyes would scan the page and read the words, but she couldn't absorb their full meaning and would re-read entire passages just to try and make sense of it. It was while she was re-reading a paragraph about Mr. Wickham for the sixth time that she felt something being placed in her lap and heard the squeak of shoes as someone dropped to sit on the floor next to her. Finally giving up on her book, Machi lifted her head to see the squinty-eyed smile of Suga. The rest of the team had already finished cleaning the court and had disappeared to change back into their uniforms. Still donning his #2 practice jersey, Suga pointed at the small brown paper bag he had placed in her lap,