I'll be here for you, through everything

Chapter 28

Day 3 of the training camp flew past with no complications.

Nishinoya had felt a huge weight and he felt he could breathe easier around everyone.

By the next day, the whole volleyball team had heard Nishinoya’s story and had all offered to let him stay at their places if he needed to when they returned to Miyagi.

“Are you sure you should be playing”? Asahi asked as Noya pulled on his jersey, his eyes focusing on his bandages.

“I can do a lot of things without hurting my back now,” Nishinoya said and turned to his giant friend with a reassuring smile.

“You worry too much Asahi-san”!

Asahi sighed at his friend's eagerness to get back on the court but was thankful he was joining back in.

The time off was bad for his mentality.

"If at any given time you need to sit out, you can," Coach Ukai said, glancing at the boy's arms.

"Yeah ok".

Kiyoko and Yachi shared a look as the libero bounded over to his spot.

"Never been so glad to stand here" Noya sighed wistfully.

"We're glad to have you back," Narita said.

"Just be careful, ok"? Ennoshita told him.

"I'll be fine" Noya brushed him off and was bouncing on his toes, waiting for the game to start.

When the whistle blew and Shinzen served, Noya watched carefully as Daichi received the ball.

He was sure he'd most likely start running on muscle memory when the ball was flying at him but that didn't stop him from worrying he might mess up.

Shinzen scored a point and Nishinoya saw Hinata running towards him.

Time to play.

"You got this," Hinata said, high fiving him.

Nishinoya smiled and walked to his spot and lowered into a defensive position. Everyone on the team seemed to sigh in relief.

The guardian was back on the court once again. 
~(T-T)~

Nishinoya was in heaven, running around, diving for the ball was something he could do in his sleep.

It was after the 3rd game of the day when he turned around and nearly everyone gasped.

They had just finished playing a set against Fukurodani and won, currently waiting for the next.

Then why was Nishinoya getting stared at?

He watched as the setter from the other team talked to Daichi and pointed straight at him.

Noya didn’t think he had done anything wrong.

“Yuu, your arms” Hinata had whispered.

That's when he looked down and saw his blood seeping through his bandages. “Nishinoya, you should sit out,” Daichi said.

“But I just got back on the court”! Noya said loudly. “I don’t want to sit out again”!

“Look Noya, you need to take care of yourself first”. Yuu knew he was right so he dragged himself over to the bench and sat down with a huff.

He grew conscious of his bandages and attempted to fix them so no one could see the red lines underneath.

His cuts must've split open again from getting hit repeatedly by the volleyball.