VIOLET SKY, takigawa chris yuu

━ chapter ten

act i

this shouldn't be happening.
( oh but it is. )

chapter ten

❛it sounds like your bedside manner sucks❜

━━━━━━

Time continues to crawl by, the remaining days of September winding down. The Sports Festival is rapidly approaching, and with that, the anticipation grows. It's going to be a big event this year, because of Seido's added population and the parents and friends that they bring along with them.

Amara is preoccupied with honing her libero skills with the rest of the retired third years in preparation for their match and it drains her entirely of energy.

She sees Chris only during school and even then, she's quiet, trying to keep her head upright. It works out fine, though, because he also gets busy with schoolwork, physical therapy, and a load of other responsibilities.

It's a worrying kind of load. She's started to see the circles returning under his eyes and he's drinking canned coffee more and more.

She's hesitant to say anything because she doesn't know if it's her place to do so, hoping that his friends, at least, tell him to take it easy.

She supposes that development would backfire eventually; she just didn't expect it to be the day of his birthday.

He's not in his seat when she enters and she doesn't think of it, because he comes in after her sometimes, but the tardy bell rings and everyone is in their seats by that point — except him.

And his seat remains decidedly empty for homeroom and the rest of their morning classes. None of their teachers say anything, leading her to believe that they've been previously notified that he would be out today.

She just wonders why.

She's worried, certainly, because how bad must his stress had to have gotten for him to miss class?

To the point of sickness, she assumes.

She checks her phone periodically, thinking he would text her if something had happened, but her messages remain empty.

It can't be too bad, she reasons. But she's still worrying as she joins Chiyo and Hiro at their table during lunch, telling them about his absence and trying not to frown too deeply.

"He's probably sick," Hiro agrees as she surveys the table he usually sits at; his friends all look fine and stress-free, so it can't be that bad. Right?  "What'd you get him?"

Amara looks back at her. She's talking about presents. "Huh? Oh. Nothing."

"Why not?" Hiro asks, a frown of her own creasing her lips. Chiyo continues to observe, eating.

"He said he didn't want anything and who am I to disrespect his wishes?" She shrugs, not seeing a problem with it.

The idea of finding him a present is scary and she didn't want to stress herself out doing that, especially when he told her himself that he doesn't want anything or he doesn't want to make a big deal out of it. Maybe a little lazy of her but — oh, well.

"Because he was just being polite," Hiro claims. "No one's gonna come out and say they outright want something for their birthday."

She sighs. "This was different. I can tell. He didn't want anything, so I'm not going to get him anything. I don't want to be difficult about this, especially since he's probably sick."