The Ultimate Stride | Prince of Stride Fanfiction |

12 | Old Foes

| {Takeru's P.O.V.} |

Why do I feel so uneasy?

Sitting in the club room along with everyone else, I held my head in my hands heavily.

    It was like my stomach was being twisted into intricate knots every time thoughts of Kyouko flickered through my mind, and I had no idea what to do about it.

    I miss her.

It had been a day since our match against Mihashi, and even though we had finally achieved our first victory, all of us were still stressing out over Kyouko's condition.

She had developed an extremely bad fever.

And by bad, I mean bad enough to be the cause of her collapsing after the handoff with Kohinata.

I was one of the few people who had witnessed it happen because I was jogging on the sidelines to cheer for her and Kohinata. I was also the first person to some to her side after she had fallen.

    I couldn't remember a time where I had been so shaken up.

    Even though it was fairly warm that day, I was trembling like a leaf, and I couldn't get my voice to call out for help.

    Luckily, Kohinata and Heath came along and ushered for some assistance, but I still couldn't get over how powerless I was at the time where Kyouko probably needed me the most.

It was a very haunting memory, and I wished I could forget the image of her limp body strewn across the concrete, but it was like the moment had been permanently etched into my mind.

Watching her fall to the ground was like watching a delicate glass vase shatter into thousands of pieces.

The thought made me shiver, but I kept my face clear of negative emotions. I didn't want to add something to the club members' growing list of worries by appearing upset.

Everyone was in pretty bad shape, and I could sympathize with them on a very high level.

    Miss Sakurai had bags beneath her eyes, so one could assume that she had a rough time sleeping the night before, and Kadowaki was silently playing a game of Shoji without his usual fighting spirit.

    Kohinata was staring off into space, ignoring the presence of his favorite plushy while Riku was sitting in the corner of the room in a fetal position, slowly rocking himself back and forth.

Honestly, I wanted to join Riku in the corner, but I simply didn't have enough energy to get up and move.

    Heath isn't here, but everyone knows the reason for that...

"I wonder how Kyouko is doing..." Miss Sakurai mumbled quietly, being the first one to break the cold silence of the club room. Her voice sounded rugged and tired, nothing like the usually bubbled tone she had whilst talking to Kyouko about her relationing.

    That day, the sun was hidden behind dark-grey clouds, so not only was the club room missing Kyouko, but it was also missing it's usual feeling of 'home' that it always somehow managed to maintain after long treacherous days of school.