DAYLIGHT - K. Rukawa

nineteen

Chapter 19: Edited on 10th of January 2022.

You sat on an empty white bed beside Mitsui. After Rukawa left for the practice you stayed at the clinic to wait for Mitsui. By just looking at him, you felt your heart aching with a familiar longing. The longing you just felt this morning. Things no longer work just like how they used to.

No matter how hard you tried to avoid Mitsui and what has happened to the both of you, it would just be impossible. It's possible to ignore and deny things, but it wouldn't be possible to just forget all of them. Ever since you became the team's medical-based manager, a lot of things have happened.

First, you get to know more people and bond with them. For you, having friends is a huge distraction from your studies, it would only affect you and your emotions. But then, right after you get to know each member of the club, you've successfully got rid of the idea. For the first time in a while, except for Haru, you had considered the team as your friends.

Second, you felt like you became free after partially joining the club, not free of responsibility, but free of your doubts about the things you can actually do. You went out of your comfort zone, making things easier for you.

And third, you won't take all the credit but you're proud that you became a part of those persons who had helped the team to stand out. It was always this overwhelming feeling within you, and how the club members trust you with your work and part as a manager. You want to highlight the advantages, benefits, and all of the happy things that this duty has cost you. For a while, you become optimistic about those things that surround you.

But then you can't possibly ignore the cons of being their manager, especially with your personal reasons.

"Mitsui..." as his name escaped your lips, you felt a strange feeling. 

Unbeknownst to you, Mitsui is already half-awake. He kept his eyes shut, hearing your heavy breathing. He felt his body ache, so he never tried to get up or even arch his back. He knew it was you, because of a deep feeling in his instincts. And when you mutter his name in a low tone, he has confirmed it.

You glanced at the wall clock placed above the door. It's already dismissal time, which means you were excused for a whole day because of this incident. And you would just study again by yourself with the help of your textbooks and some of Akari's notes that she always lends you.

"I think I should go and check them out for a while." You said to yourself letting out a sigh. You stood from sitting at the bed, stretching your arms in the air for a bit.

You made your way to the window facing Mitsui's side. You shut the blinds, to keep the sun's reflection away from his face.

"I will just check them out, I'll be back." You were already in front of the door with a hand on the knob and were ready to leave.

"Don't go yet, F/N."

↶*ೃ✧˚. ❃ ↷ ˊ-

Meanwhile, the other members of the basketball club have started cleaning after finishing light training due to Mitsui's absence and Akagi's distress about the teams. Next week will be their exams, and of course, the basketball club won't be able to join the inter-high if one of them slacks off.

Unfortunately, four of them slack off.

"Akagi, what really happened between Mitsui and L/N-san?" Kogure's curiosity has caught the attention of the other players.

Even Rukawa, Sakuragi, and Miyagi who's still amid trash-talking and bickering with each other while mopping the basketball gym floor have stopped. Let's just say that they are one of those who have seen and felt the tension between the two.

Especially... him, Rukawa.

Most of the time, he's clueless and he didn't care a bit aside from basketball. But he found himself sticking his nose to your business, that was way too out of himself. He's not that dumb for him not to tell that something happened, or there's a story between the two of you that hasn't been told.

He heard all of it. The way you spoke towards Mitsui, even though you deny it, and you said it yourself that you and Mitsui don't know each other, he's not that dumb to believe that.

"It's not my story to tell, Kogure." Akagi grits a reply.

"C'mon, Gori! We've been actually questioning too!" Sakuragi started to become more persistent about it. Akagi sighed knowing the stubborn red-haired he won't stop until he actually gets what he wants.

"Tell us! Even just a bit!" Sakuragi even motioned his fingers, with his thumb and index with a tiny space in between showing Akagi what he meant by 'a bit'. 

It didn't help that the three idiots of Shohoku have helped themselves. Sakuragi forced Rukawa to copy him, and Miyagi gladly and voluntarily did it. 

"Stop being stubborn and just continue cleaning, idiots!" Akagi groaned.

But, Sakuragi is Sakuragi.

"Could they be... ex-lovers!?" Sakuragi has been getting more attention.

Ayako gasped and stilled at her position. Akagi has dragged him down, giving him a whack on his head. Meanwhile, the other players have started to whisper and gossip things, distracting them from cleaning.

Miyagi with wide eyes exclaims, "Eh? There's no way!'

Rukawa glanced at Sakuragi, slightly looking back at all those memories with L/N. There is not even a lot to tell if he really knew her. He just happened to be lucky to meet her and to be treated by her at the rooftop at that time.

She's something else, he wouldn't want to admit but he thinks that he finally found something he's interested in, aside from basketball.

He blew a fuse sighing. Why would he even copy a huge moron like Sakuragi for these questions on his mind when he can directly ask you all of it?

He let go of the mop he was holding, with his teammates distracted by Sakuragi's idiocy, he took the opportunity to sit on the bench and rest with his towel on his head.

Rukawa drank the water beside him. "Yeah. There's no way," he had whispered to himself.

It didn't help that the letter, the confession letter to be exact that Sendoh has given you, didn't leave his mind until today.

This is not so himself, this is not so Rukawa Kaede.

"Oi, Rukawa! Get your ass back to cleaning!"