[English] ~𝒟𝒶𝓇ℯ 𝓉ℴ 𝒟𝓇ℯ𝒶𝓂~ Kenma x OC

Chapter 23: Trapped in between

"Kageyama!" Oikawa-san chased us across the court. Kageyama took the ball and played it in my direction. My lungs were screaming. With a lot of effort I played it back in Oikawa-san's direction. "You've given in again, Izumi." Oh really? Maybe he should ask himself why I wasn't in top form. 

Kageyama was also slowly getting tired. That was unusual for him. "Shitty-kawa, don't rush her like that", he huffed in Oikawa's direction. 

Oikawa-san grinned scornfully. "Go on, go!", he scoffed smiling. I coughed. The process repeated itself.

"Izumi, watch out!" It was too late. I tripped over the plastic bottles and fell flat on my face. My knee scraped across the hard gym floor. I laid there stretched out on all fours. Help, I was done for good. "Are you OK?" Kageyama had arrived next to me. 

I nodded. "I'm okay I guess." I carefully got up. 

"Be more careful!" Oikawa-san had appeared next to us. 

Kageyama growled. "That wouldn't have happened if you hadn't chased us back and forth like that! You should have been more careful! It's your fault that we got so close to the bottles because you did not pay attention where you passed the ball!" 

The two of them stood in front of each other. I rolled my eyes. "Now take it easy, nothing happened", Oikawa scoffed.

I leapt to my feet and pushed them apart. The two of them stared at each other with deadly looks. Then they suddenly attacked each other. I let out a surprised scream.

"Hey!" Atsumu ran towards us, but it was too late. The two of them had pushed me roughly to the side and I lost my balance. I stumbled before landing on my back on one of the plastic bottles. The hard cap dug into my rib and squeezed the oxygen out of my lungs. I gasped. 

"Izumi!" Ruri-chan ran towards me. Groaning, I rubbed the painful spot. That would definitely become a bruise. 

"STOP!" Atsumu pushed the two stubborn men apart. The other two coaches of the group who were currently training with us in the hall had become aware of the situation and came over to us. If I remembered correctly, their names were Iwaizumi-san and Asahi-san.

"Idiot, why are you messing with Kageyama-kun again?" Iwaizumi-san headbutted Oikawa-san. 

"But Iwa-chan-" A second headbutt followed. 

"Shitty-kawa! There's no arguing about that. You're a supervisor!" He pulled him aside. Asahi-san spoke to Kageyama. The two apparently knew each other, they were said to have played on the same team back then. 

Atsumu pulled me to my feet. "Are you okay, ya?" I grimaced. Ruri-chan looked around briefly before lifting my shirt a little. 

I squeaked. "Ruri-chan!" 

She made a hissing sound. "That looks bad." Atsumu also caught a glimpse of my back. He cursed.

I pulled my shirt back down. "It's okay, it doesn't hurt that much." That should do to ease their worries. I didn't want to miss any more of the training. In truth, it hurt like hell, but I would never admit that. Oikawa-san and Kageyama joined us again. 

"And if that happens again, you're in for a treat." Bam. That was the third headbutt Oikawa-san got. He made a weird noise. I had to grin. So there was only one person who could keep Oikawa-san in check, and that was Iwaizumi-san. Oikawa-san and Kageyama apologized to me more or less sincerely, then we continued training, but a little more cautiously.

---

The last training session of the day was a practice game. It was quite exciting to play with so many talented people. After we cleaned up the gym, we went to shower. Unfortunately, there were only shared showers and they were hopelessly overcrowded. I waited until the rush died down a bit before I grabbed my shower supplies and trudged to the showers. My back hurt. It was probably already shimmering in the most colorful colors. I sighed quietly as I pushed the door open. 

"Hey Izumi-chan!" Maru-chan was just rinsing the foam out of her hair when I walked through the door that separated the sinks and the showers. I waved to her.

"There's our Miss Social Media Queen!" Kairi stuck her head out of one of the shower stalls. "Are you OK?" You could clearly see that she was really worried anyway. 

"I'm fine." I put my shampoo and shower gel in the shower stall before taking off my bathrobe. 

"OMG, IZUMI! Who did this to you?!" Maru-chan grabbed my shoulder and I winced in pain. 

"Ouch!" Maru-chan let go and raised his hands. 

"Oops. Sorry!" 

Kairi had also come over to us, her towel wrapped tightly around her upper body. She raised an eyebrow at my back. "That looks bad." 

I waved her off. "During training, Oikawa-san and Kageyama had an argument and I, stupid as I am, tried to intervene. Unfortunately, I lost my balance and fell backwards onto the bottles." Kairi whistled softly while Maru-chan grumbled softly.

"It's okay, Maru-chan. I'm fine." I turned on the faucet and stood under the warm water. My aching muscles trembled and I sighed contentedly. 

"We'll go ahead. See you soon!" Kairi and Maru-chan grabbed their things and left the shower room. I soaped myself up and then rinsed the foam off before standing under the hot water for a few minutes. After twenty minutes I went back to the room to get ready for dinner.

-----

Dinner was quieter than expected. Every now and then I was glanced at, but that was it. For the rest of the evening, my friends forced me to participate in the evening entertainment. We watched a movie called Drive My Car and told each other some stories. At 10 p.m., Maru-chan and I went back to our room to sleep. I took my toiletry bag to go brush my teeth. When I came back from brushing my teeth, Maru-chan was already asleep. I turned off the light and got into my bed.

At midnight, I was still wide awake. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't sleep. My back hurt so much that I had to grit my teeth to keep myself from making any noise. Ten minutes after midnight, I couldn't take it anymore and slipped out of bed. I quietly crept into the dark hallway and started typing on my phone.

Me: Are you awake?

Kenma: Yeah.

Me: Can I come over?

Kenma: Second floor, Room 21. Be quiet, we don't want anyone to know you sneaked into my room ;)

I smiled and sneaked as quietly as possible across the hall to the stairs, which I crept up one floor. Kenma was already waiting at the door. "Come in, kitten." He carefully pushed me into the room with his hand on my back. I whimpered. "Are you okay?" 

I shook my head. "I fell on my back this afternoon." Kenma nodded knowingly. 

"That's right." He pushed me to his bed. "I'll quickly get some ointment." He disappeared into his bathroom. 

O-ointment? Was he planning on putting ointment on that spot? My face flushed. Skin on skin... Just the thought gave me goosebumps.