#1 - Life's Not Fair(Was It Ever?)

Noise At Night

The gold medal shimmers on his desk; the streetlights shine through the window onto the metal and cast gentle streams of light around the room.

The light layers of bandages irritate his legs, and the urge to scratch is driving him mad. The painkillers he took earlier are beginning to wear off; there should be more in the medical cabinet they have in the downstairs bathroom. Groaning quietly, Miyo heaves himself out of bed and cracks open his door.

The hall is dark, and no lights or noises can be considered or heard from Hitoshi, Manami, or Ari's rooms. They're probably asleep, like normal humans who aren't awake between one and four in the morning. God, he should really try to get at least three hours a night.

He will admit that his show of walking down the stairs was pitiful, to put it lightly. Gripping the banister in a death grip, his legs sending shocks of pain up through his body with each and every step, and not to point out when his left knee bumped into the couch, which resulted in swears in a not so quiet voice. Luckily enough, no one woke up, so he continued with his mission. The hall floorboards creak from his weight as he nears the bathroom.

Still cursing under his breath, Miyo enters the bathroom, heading straight to the cabinet over the sink. He pulls out two painkillers and places the packet back into the cabinet, exiting the bathroom and going into the kitchen. He grabs a cup and fills it with water, then washes down the tablets quickly. The throbbing in his legs slowly reduces to an annoying itching, probably just from the bandages rubbing off his healing skin.

He'll need to go to Recovery Girl first thing on Monday morning; she said that it's going to take one to two weeks of healing sessions and medical treatment for the bandages to come off completely, but he will be sore and his muscles and skin will be tender, so leaving the bandages on for another week was recommended. At least, that's what Recovery Girl said when he left after the sports festival.

He sits down at the table, snatching one of Hitoshi's hoodies that have been abandoned on the back of the chair beside him, and slips it on; the smell of lavender and coffee greets his nose as soon as the fabric passes over his head. He gazes at the coffee machine on the counter, since he won't be getting any sleep tonight anyway... he quietly fills a cup with water, he poors the water into the coffee maker and waits for the dark drink to brew. He explores his options while casting a glance at his mummified legs.

He might be able to take a quick stroll, right? He doesn't have any broken bones. In fact, Recovery Girl advised him to relax; he can do that! It's just that she wasn't told that he exercises to unwind by walking or running. He isn't theoretically breaking any rules because of this.

When the coffee machine makes a tiny ting sound, Miyo quickly grabs his cup of sacred liquid. It burns his throat as he drinks; that's one of the good parts, but the best part is when he can't tell the difference between his heartbeat and the sounds surrounding him. That's when he can hardly close his eyes, and Hitoshi discovers his state and smacks him on the upside of his head, scolding Miyo until his ears seem like they're bleeding. The other teen is quite hypocritical, though; he nearly drinks twice the amount of caffeine Miyo does weekly.

Miyo calmly enjoys his coffee while seated at the table. He turns to face the crutches in the room's corner, which were thrown there as soon as he and the others returned from the festival. Manami had given him a critical look, but he mostly ignored it. If he actually leaves the house after drinking his coffee for a short stroll, he'll definitely need to bring his crutches. Miyo finishes the last of his beverage and places the cup in the sink; he can wash it later. He grabs his crutches and flops, quite dramatically, onto the floor by the front door and puts on a pair of runners.

He makes the mistake of looking into the mirror above the shoe rack; his classmates would tease him until he went deaf if they even saw a glimps of his outfit; nothing he's wearing goes together: baby blue sweatpants, multicolored runners with lightning bolts on the sides, and a large purple hoodie with cat ears on the hood, though the hoodie is just barely reaching his wrists and he thinks he's able to see the red t-shirt he's wearing underneath.