20th Year of December

Living Ghost

TW: Abuse, Mentions of Suicide

"Kageyama, what's wrong with your arm?"

Tobio immediately cover the bruise with his hand and without missing a beat, he speaks, "I tripped,"

Kindaichi looks at it in worry, "That looks really bad though. How did you trip that bad?"

Tobio looks away uneasily, "I… accidentally skip a stair and landed wrongly on my arm. It's not that bad…"

"You're a setter, Tobio-chan. You should take care of your arms more,"

Tobio whipped his head towards Tooru who's looking at him impassively. Tobio nods and wears his jersey, covering the bruise.

Tooru notices that the bruise doesn't look like it came from a simple trip. In fact, it looks almost as if someone deliberately bruises him. He had seen it a few times actually. Even when Tobio changes his clothes quickly, Tooru's eyes caught the scars and bruises a few times.

But Tooru kept quiet and went home.

***

He wonders how it was possible for a human brain to erase a memory simply to protect the heart. No, not erase; lock, hide, bury, whatever you call it. But by hiding the memories, wouldn't it just hurt more the moment the human remembers it?

Because that's what Tooru is feeling right now.

"Oikawa-san, what did you see?"
Kunimi asks again, his eyes never leaving Tooru even though all Tooru want to do at that moment is to run away. Steeling himself, he looks at Kunimi and tried to speak with a confident voice.

"The scars. A—And the bruise," his voice trembles a bit but he didn't look away from Kunimi. What surprises him is that Kunimi is the first to break the eye contact.

"Yeah… You got that right…"

Child abuse is something that he'd seen on television and in books. From what adults tell them and something that he learns in class but never expects to face. Tobio is as isolated as what they mention regarding 'signs of abuse' but before seeing the bruise, Tooru always thought it was just who Tobio is. Someone so focused on volleyball that he never cares about making friends. He's quiet but a lot of people are quiet too, like Kunimi. He plays volleyball so the bruise could always be explained by practice accidents.

But the bruise was carefully placed somewhere people couldn't see and the shape wasn't random. No matter how much Tooru convinces himself, something at the back of his head would always feel uneasy every time he catches sight of the bruise. And he wasn't the only one who feels this way.

In the previous timeline, did Kunimi carry the same guilt as Tooru? Did he too remember the many times they could speak up but decided not to?

"How long have you noticed, Kunimi?"

"…Long enough. Too long,"

How long has Tooru noticed?

"Me too…Too long,"

Kunimi nods but his eyes are still avoiding Tooru's, "And now, I just want to know Oikawa-san. What do you want Kageyama? Because frankly, he had enough on his plate right now. But seeing as you are aware of his circumstance, I'll put a tiny bit of trust in you that your intention with Kageyama isn't anything sinister, right?"

The last word was spoken with so much venom and threat that it startled Tooru a bit. He quickly regains his composure and shook his head.

"I want to protect Tobio. Right now, until the very end, I want to stay with him,"