Too Late

Suspicion

Sugawara had a bad feeling about something. He decided a long time ago that there was something going on at the Yoshida household.

In his first year at Karasuno, Arata was so quiet and filled with a boat load of anxiety. Everybody knew him as the wimpy, student council secretary who talked to no one besides the council's president at the time.

It wasn't until he joined the volleyball team that the school, and Sugawara, realized that the boy was THE Yoshida Arata, awarded best middle school middle blocker in the prefect in all 3 years of his junior high experience. It was one of the accomplishments that you hear about and couldn't help but be a bit intrigued even if you weren't too into volleyball.

But that isn't what made Sugawara suspect something going on. Not the quietness or the anxiety. Those were normal things that everyone could do or have.

What made him suspect was the bruises. And the slight panic in Arata's eyes when someone yelled or there was a loud bang.

The boy would flinch every time a ball was spiked hard and slammed into the ground. When the door was shut, forcibly, he would let a out a bit of a whimper and draw into himself.

The bruises were more of a concern though. When the first years decided to go to a hot springs during summer break, Sugawara witnessed dark purple bruises lining the arms of his friend, and greenish-yellowish ones sprawled out across the rest of his torso.

Sugawara asked about them and Arata came up with a half-assed lie about a volleyball incident.

But over the years, they just kept showing up, all over his body.

He never asked about them because either he'd get a stupid lie or Arata would just flinch back and ignore the question like he never heard it.

Sugawara didn't know what to do or say. His friend was clearly suffering but how was he supposed to approach it.

Maybe visit the family? Nope. He's tried and the family and house was normal. Very normal. The family looked happy, Arata's siblings were happy, and even Arata was happy. He hugged his mom, and offered to help his dad with something which earned him a slight grin and a head pat from the old man.

It was just so normal to Sugawara.

So he spoke to the father of the house, voicing his concerns about Arata and how he was showing up with many bruises, because maybe it wasn't the family, but a bully, or maybe the boy was just truly accident prone and all the excuses he had were not lies, but truths.

After that, the boy never showed up with a bruise besides a few that could be marked off as normal ones you gain throughout the day that you don't even notice at first.

But still, Sugawara just couldn't get the idea out of his mind, that maybe there was something going on that he didn't know, that no one knew.

Because isn't it weird that right after he voiced his concerns, Arata was absent for the first time, ever, and the absence was for quite a while?

Maybe he is overthinking?

But....maybe not....