Nine Lives

Life Nine: Part Five

"Tell me again why you can't ride the bus with us?" Shōyō asked as the group was all standing around in the school parking lot. It was the first day of the qualifiers.

"I need to finish a few things at the school before I come and watch. Don't worry, I'll be there in plenty of time to see you guys win your first match." Benjiro smiled as he ruffled his younger brothers hair. Shōyō nodded before rushing into the bus.

Benjiro waved to the group before walking into the school building. Life has been going pretty great. With everything going on, Ben had almost forgotten about the fact that this wasn't his real world. The constant stress about what comes next had left him and like he had promised when he first got to this world, he was living with no regrets. The anime was almost over, at least from the episode that were available for him to watch before he died, and Ben was looking forward to what was going to happen next.

~~~

"You said you'd be here by now." Keishin voice echoed though the speakers of Benjiro's car. A sigh left the gingers lips as he ran a hand through his long hair that had fallen out of his pony tail. What Keishin said was true. It was a half hour later then when he had wanted to show up but he got held back by his substitute being late. Luckily he would be able to make it before the next match but he did miss the ending of the first one.

"I know I know." Ben sighed again as he glanced around his shoulder to see if he could get over. Traffic had thankfully not been that bad so getting there was going to be no problem. "You guys won the first match right?" He asked knowing that Keishin had him on speaker for the others to hear him. "I'm proud of you guys."

"I wish you could have been here!" Shōyō said in his normal hyper tone. He sounded slightly sad but he also knew that his brother would be there for the next match.

"I'll be there soon. I promise." Benjiro smiled to himself as he leaned back in the driver's seat. What a family he had been gifted with. "I need to pay attention or I'll get lost. Love you guys."

"Love you too!" The team responded before the line went dead.

A large smile grew on Benjiro's lips as he relaxed into his seat. The sound of a text coming to his phone drew his attention for a brief moment. Keishin's face flashed on the screen for a moment causing Ben to chuckle at the thought of getting a text from his partner only moments after hanging up. His brown eyes went back to the road and from the corner of his line of sight, he caught a black car running the stop light. Ben tried to slam on his breaks but the black car still slammed into the driver's side of his car. Benjiro's car slid across the intersection and slammed into a pole. Ben blacked out on impact.

~~~

"Seriously Ben.." Keishin mumbled to himself as he kept looking around the gym and the audience. The match was just about to finish and it had been hours since the phone call. Because he had known how easy it was for him to get lost, Keishin wasn't to worried something had happened. He knew that Ben should have just come on the bus.

"Is that your phone coach?" Nishinoya asked causing Keishin to snap out of his thoughts. Nishinoya had been right, his phone was ringing.

"Hello?" Keishin answered without looking at the caller ID. He put his hand on his other ear to try and block out the yelling.

"K... Keishin" the sound of a crying woman drew Keishin attention quickly away from the game and to who was on the phone. He pulled it away from his ear and saw the name Hinata.

"Mrs Hinata? Are you okay?" Keishin questioned quickly as his eyes landed on the short ginger currently playing.

"I couldn't get ahold of Shōyō.." she cried.

"He's playing. The match is almost over, do you need him?" Keishin calmed down a bit when she asked for Shōyō.

"It's..it's Benjiro" a loud sob left the woman's lips.

"What?" Keishin's body froze at the name of his boyfriend. "What about Benjiro?!"

"There was an accident.."She paused to sob a bit more, unable to continue at the moment. Keishin's hand gripped the phone tightly as he listened and waited. "He didn't make it."

The sound of a volleyball smacking the ground caused the crowd to go into an uproar. Karasuno had scored and won match. The team all yelled in victory and started hugging each other in congratulations. However the celebration had stopped when they turned to their coach for some happy words, only to see him tightly gripping a phone with tears in his eyes.

"Coach? Coach Ukai!" Daichi walked over to him and went to grab his arm.

"Shōyō.." Keishin spoke after a moment. He closed his phone and walked up to the short ginger. "Takeda, Kiyoko, Hitoka please watch over the rest of the team."

"Hey what's going on?!" Shōyō asked confused.

"Benjiro was in an accident." Keishin said with a monotone voice as he locked eyes with Shōyō. Shōyō eyes widened and his heart started to race even more then it already was. The rest of the teams joyful energy left them quickly as they became silent. Waiting for either of the two to say something else. "Let's go" Keishin choose to leave the fact that Ben didn't make it, unsaid. The rest of the team didn't need to know that right now. He turned and left the gym with Shōyō running after the adult.