Chapter Text
Koushi's mind went completely blank as he heard a simple question that stopped the fight between Kageyama and Hinata.
What?
The question that held so much. His body slowly turned to the entrance of the changing rooms, looking right at the faces of coach and Takeda-sensei. Takeda-sense’s arm was holding on the door handle.
"What did you mean the body of Japan's national player and player for São Paolo and Ali Roma? And what do you mean by time travel?"
The team kept silent, their wide eyes looking at each other. Koushi felt as his face grew paler and paler, his hand squeezing the shirt that he was holding tightly. Tsukishima looked the worst out of all of them. His pale face, his wide opened eyes were looking straight ahead at the duo by the doors. his body trembled slightly as he sunk down on the bench, suddenly fully focusing on the floor in front of him.
Koushi's eyes met with Daichi. The two of them just stood, completely frozen by the sudden change of the events. There were so many things that could go wrong, so many possibilities that they were not ready to deal with. But the painful silence was an answer enough. They screwed things up good and now they need to fix it quickly.
"Nothing" Ennoshita-san immediately jumped in, laughing a bit as he spoke, nis wide eyes roaming around the changing room. "It's nothing, right? We were just joking around, nothing else"
His wide eyes finally met up with Takeda-sensei's. There was a small, awkward, pause, where all of them just stood there, unable to say anything. Koushi's mind was blank, his brain could not
"We time traveled," the shock and horror showed on everyone's faces as the entire team turned to the player on the side.
Yamaguchi was staring in shock at Tsukishima. He seemed to blurt out the words with no thought, no explanation, the sudden urge to resolve the things getting the better out of him. There were some that were ready to murder Tsukishima, knowing that the situation was slowly becoming impossible to resolve. there was a small chuckle coming from him, suddenly developing into a fully blown laugh. the wide eyes sat on his figure, taking in the bizarre situation all of them were in.
“We fucking time traveled and we’re so fucked up,” he said once again, his laugh slowly dispersing. “We fucking time traveled and it fucked our lives up”
Koushi put his hand up, looking straight at Tanaka. The spiker wanted to take a step forward, to get his hands on the boy sitting in front of him. The sudden slam on the benches brought their attention. Kageyama slammed his now closed bag on the bench, his back turned to coaches, breathing heavily.
"So what?" Kageyama's voice came in quietly. "First of all, like they're going to believe us and second, Tsukishima already did more than half of the job so what's the difference? Stop acting, you’re only making yourself look like fools"
The coach suddenly started laughing really hard, looking at the entire team. Takeda-sensei was going paler and paler as the minutes passed by. the coach only continued to howl, tears starting to form in his eyes. Shoyo’s face clenched up as the tears showed up once again. Koushi knelt down next to him, putting his hand on Shoyo’s smaller shoulder. His laugh slowly dying down, coach Ukai sighed, looking at the team once again, shaking his head.
"I didn't think you would be up for a prank after you lost to Shiratorizawa," the coach finally said, his voice slowly fading.
Coach Ukai wiped the tear that slid down his cheek from laughing. Takeda-sensei looked at him before turning his attention back to the team. Koushi saw him having so many questions, but not a single word that would be appropriate must have come to his mind.
"You're joking? Right?" his faint voice repeated, desperately looking at the team.
"I…" Takeda-sensei tried to speak up, but his face just stayed in shock.
Coach Ukai suddenly stepped in the room, pushing Takeda-sensei behind him. Slamming the doors of the changing rooms, he sharply turned to the team. Koushi’s entire body suddenly tensed, his hand squeezing Shoyo’s shoulder, taking a slight step forward. Shoyo’s head stayed bowed down, his body slightly trembling.
"We heard the commotion and stepped in to see what the hell was going on,” Coach started, sending every one of them a sharp look. “And suddenly you start by pulling up pranks like this. Tell us now, what's going on"
The tone of his voice immediately shifted as he stared at the team. Koushi's eyes were locked on the furious face of coach Ukai. Shoyo lifted his head just for a second, looking right at the face of a furious Ukai. Kageyama kept his back turned to them, packing up the things in the bag. Yamaguchi sat down on the bench, his shoulders slumping.
"It's…" Daichi started slowly, looking at the team.
First he saw Yamaguchi give a slight nod. Tanaka followed, along with Nishinoya. The rest of the second years also nodded, giving their answers. Asahi's eyes darted around the room while Ennoshita looked at them, the disbelief on his face as the entire team agreed.
"It's true… what they said. It's all true" his entire posture crumbled as he spoke out the words.
“Well, there goes everything,” Ennoshita murmured, rubbing his eyes tiredly. “Taking all in the consideration, it lasted long enough”
Coach Ukai just kept staring at Daichi. The silence that filled the room was becoming insufferable. Koushi’s trembling was only growing more and more, making him sit down next to Shoyo. Taking his hand off Shoyo’s shoulder, he squeezed it tight, taking in a deep breath
“Either tell us the truth or-” the coach finally spoke, taking one last look at the team.
“It’s the truth, coach,” Yamaguchi spoke up just loud enough for them to hear. “We’re not lying, we-”
"We'll meet at the bus and we're going to school, “Takeda-sensei stopped him, looking sharply at the entire team. “No training today or school for you. You're all free to go home"
Koushi just stared at them as Takeda-sensei took one last look before stepping out of the changing rooms. coach Ukai gave them one final glance before following behind. The doors closed with a dull sound, leaving the entire team in silence.
Koushi buried his face in his hands, resisting the urge to scream out.
“Well done,” the voice came from Kageyama. “Well fucking done, now what?”
Nobody gave him an answer. He huffed out as the fabric of hsi bag ruffled. Putting his bag on the shoulders, he bolted for the exit, not turning once. As the doors closed behind him, Koushi finally looked up.
“Leave him be,” Ymaaguchi’s voice came from the other side of the room, him looking at Tanaka.
Tanaka seemed like he was planning to go after him, to calm him down, or even scold him. He looked like he wanted to protest, but Yamaguchi only sent him a sharp look.
“Don’t,” he repeated, shaking his head. “You’ll only make it worse. leave him be. he’ll come around”
“What now?” Koushi spoke slowly, his voice low. “What should we do now?”
there was no answer. the team just started to each other, unsure how to react, how to put the situation into something they could comprehend. their secret was out, and those who heard it do not believe it.
Honestly, who would?
Koushi’s mind scrambled into one big mess as he stood up, going from his own bag. He started packing up his stuff, ignoring everyone around him. Daichi sighed, Koushi would presume that he even rubbed his eyes, a habit he got during his police days.
“Let’s deal with that later on. We’re all tired now and we can’t do anything like that. let's all go home and we’ll see how everything goes tomorrow, how about that?” Koushi didn’t need to turn to see the entire team agreeing with Daichi’s proposition.
Kiyoko sighed as she waited for the team to exit. Both her and Yachi were waiting by hte exit, the stuff already fully packed and ready to go.
she swallowed hard as she thought of a devastating loss that they just went through, the impact it was leaving on them. it certainly did on her who was hearing the news away from the game. She could only imagine how it would feel like for the rest of the team.
“What’s taking them so long?” Yachi asked quietly as she looked down the way of the changing rooms.
“I have no idea,” Kiyoko sighed, shaking her head.
Both of them just looked down the corridor, seeing two figures coming their way. It was the coach and Takeda-sensei. but something was different about them, the way they were holding themselves. coach Ukai seemed furious, storming right to the entrance.
On the other hand, Takeda-sensei looked completely lost, his face fully pale. He didn’t even look at Kiyoko and Yachi as they passed them. Both girls shared confused looks, not sure how to react with everything.
“What…?” Yachi asked, her voice faint. “What happened?”
Kioyko only shook her head, her own every following the two figures. it was pretty unusual to see the two of them like that, especially after the game that they just had. If anything, they should be the exact opposite, if the memory was serving her right.
Soon after, Kageyama stormed past them, not acknowledging his own surroundings. both Kiyokoy and Yachi shared concerned looks, unsure of the severity of the situation.
“Why don’t we go to the team and see what’s going on?” Yachi nodded at the proposition from Kiyoko, both of them hurrying to the changing rooms.
The doors were fully closed, muting the conversation inside. Yachi brought up her hand, knocking lightly on it. The doors were opened by Daichi, who, after a second of silence, let them in.
The majority of the team was ready to go. their bags were put over their shoulders, waiting for a few that were still packing their stuff. Kiyoko looked at the team, confusion written all over her face.
“What’s going on?” she asked finally, her focus mostly on Ryuu. “Why did coach and Takeda-sensei storm right past us? What's going on?
There was no answer at first. The team kept sharing looks as the pit in her stomach only grew larger and larger. Whatever happened, it was not good. She looked at Ryuu one more time, raising her eyebrow, demanding an explanation.
he finally sighed, looking at the team one more time. stepping forward, he shifted his full focus on the team in front of them.
“We fucked up,” Ryuu murmured, his voice barely loud enough for Kiyoko to hear. “We managed to blurt out that the team time traveled. that’s why the coach is acting the way he is…”
Stupid, stupid, stupid!
His mind kept saying the words in his head over and over again. After they exited the gymnasium, they met up with the girls team along with Takinoue-san and Shimada-san. They congratulated them on the game, regardless of the outcome, trying to lift up their broken spirits.
the team listened mutely, nodding at the words. only Daichi-san and Ennoshita-san managed to get a few words with them, but there was one thing that he was grateful for. there were no siblings in the group. Kei presumed that all of them went home, wanting to give their support in private, allowing all of them to open up some more.
And Kei hated it.
The bus ride was painfully quiet, the team avoiding the coach and Takeda-sensei as much as possible. but even that was not impossible, given the fact that the two were also mostly silent through the entire ride. As they stepped in front of the gym, the team got instructions for after school practice before separating.
“I’m home,” he mumbled, taking off his shoes, stepping inside his home.
There were a couple of quiet footsteps behind him, stopping just a bit away from where he was sitting. He didn’t need to turn around to know who it was, fully remembering the footsteps of that one person, his brother. He sighed, taking the bag in his hands as he stood up.
“I don’t need your condolences,” Kei sparred, not looking him in the eyes. “We fucked up and it’s obvious”
“No, Kei, it’s not-” he tried to speak out, but the sudden outburst stopped him.
“Do not!” Kei trembled as he spoke.
The flashbacks came right back to him, replaying cruelly in his mind.
The ball that he could have saved, the ball that he would have saved, not get injured and lead the team to the victory. the ball that finally hit the floor when it was needed the most. He started breathing through his nose and the doors of his room slammed open.
he mutely started taking the things out, putting them away. He angrily threw his own. Akiteru was standing at the doors, quietly watching the mess unraveling in front of him. He sighed finally, throwing his shoes away. Kei suddenly froze, taking a deep breath in, trying to calm down.
“You know,” Akiteru started. “I’ve come to-”
"WHY?! WHY WOULD YOU COME HERE?!” Kei screamed all of the sudden, turning around to his brother. “WHAT WAS THE REASON TO COME? TO SEE THE MIGHTY FALL? TO SEE YOUR BROTHER PATHETICALLY GET OUT OF THE COURT BECAUSE HE COULD NOT BLOCK PROPERLY? TELL ME, AKITER, TELL ME"
Akiter could only watch as Kei crumbled even more with every spoken word. He came towards him, ignoring the protests, he pulled him in a hug.
Kei buried his face to his shoulder, his arms lying next to him, falling down on the floor. Akiteru carefully removed his glasses, placing them on the table next to them. He hugged him tighter as he continued to sob.
"Let it all out now" he whispered "let it out now that you are with me. I'll listen, I promise"
Kei only let out a louder sob which made Akiter hug him tighter. He put his hand in the short hair of his younger brother, going slowly through it with his fingers. Kei let himself fully lean onto him, grateful for any kind of support.