Peppermint [Asahi Azumane]

~ smudgy ~

Staring at the ceiling for a few hours as I reflected over that nights events made my stomach turn the entire time. A steaming hot shower couldn't even calm me down enough from the distress caused by Yuki. All of my tears were released in that 20 minute shower, until it was physically impossible for any more to come out. This morning was going to be painfully awkward.

I couldn't bother with making my hair look the way it usually did, I just detangled it as much as I could. As for makeup, I sigh and cover up the most irritated pimples and messily smudged black on my waterline and my red rimmed eyes. Eyebrows were just barely filled in like they usually were before slamming my forehead into my pillow as quietly as possible as to not wake up the other managers; I had no energy whatsoever.

Softly shaking them awake at 6:30 to get ready and prepare breakfast for the teams, they both noticed how damp my mood was, but chose not to comment on it.

- - - - - - - -

"What the hell happened to her?"

"Why were you guys up so late last night?"

"Foods good today."

The comments were spoken at what they had thought was a whisper, yet I could hear everything amplified. It's not like I was a complete slob, just not as sharp and serious as everyone knew me to be with my lack of sleep that had been building up over weeks, now obvious to everyone else.

This was my first year of high school all over again.

"Hey kiddo-"

"Please, anything but kiddo." I poke at my food while I sit alone at a table, purposefully avoiding everyone as the coach tries talking to me.

"Fine. What the hell happened last night?"

"Nothing happened."

"Y/n, you look like death. You aren't eating your food, just aggressively mixing it all together-" he points to my breakfast angrily mashed up.

"And you were crying after walking back to your room, leaving that other manager girl and some of the other boys all misty eyed."

"Yuki was crying?"

"Yeah, she was. Care to tell me what happened yet?"

I stayed silent.

"Just make sure you eat at least, okay? Maybe it would look less like my nieces excrements if you didn't mix it like that, but it's food nonetheless."

I laugh in response to his joke and inspect my plate. It really did look like toddler vomit.

- - - - - - - -

I hadn't eaten, all of Yukis harsh words digging into my brain as I tried paying even the tiniest bit of attention to the game happening before my eyes.

Yuki wasn't sitting on a bench, I had noticed. I hope she was embarrassed, humiliated at how I called her out the night before. I was of course, all of the above, having spewed nearly everything out to her and the bystanders who unintentionally heard everything though the thin walls. It was like the atmosphere would change based on how I was feeling. Yesterday was so light and easy before everything had happened.

I got some of the stern faces and angered players to speak to me normally. It felt like I was the 'old y/n' that my mom claimed to miss so much. 'Why are you so dreary now?' is what she'd said recently.

I gave up on focusing on the game and drifted off into my own thoughts. Whistles were blown, shoes squeaked, and grunts filled the whole room after a loud smack of the ball.