In the Headlights

Chapter Three

Chapter Three

Daichi's voice caught in his throat as he absorbed what exactly he was looking at. Sugawara was lying unconscious on the window, which had cracked beneath him, so much so that the captain didn't understand how the glass hadn't already given way. Below Suga, Daichi could see the immense gap between the bus and the top of the trees below. The drop was at least a hundred feet down with nothing to cushion the fall but needle-like branches and the rocky side of the mountain.

"Suga!" Daichi yelled as he tried to move a little closer to his friend.

With his movement, the bus shifted slightly and Daichi froze. The last thing he wanted to do was tilt the bus forwards and send it hurtling over the edge but he needed to reach the setter and get him out of there as soon as possible.

"We'll move further back."

Ukai grabbed Takeda-sensei, despite the shorter man's protests, and ushered him back towards the rear of the bus. As much as he would prefer to get each and every student off the bus immediately, including Sawamura and Sugawara, he knew he was in no condition to lift someone who was unconscious.

The bus seemed to balance out a little more as the two adults moved back and Daichi wasted no time in climbing closer to Suga. He straddled the edge of the seats closest to his friend and tried to get an idea of his condition. Suga's face was bruised and a small cut under his right eye was oozing red steadily but it didn't look too serious. What worried Daichi more was the way blood had pooled underneath Suga's arms, more specifically his elbows. It must have been where he'd struck the glass as the spider-web of cracks seemed to originate right where his elbows lay. Trying to ignore those worries and focus on the bigger picture, the captain reached down as carefully as he could and prodded Suga's leg. He didn't want to add any more pressure to the glass as it looked like the slightest change might make it shatter into a million pieces and so poked his friend's leg once more, praying that it would be enough to wake him.

Finally Suga stirred. Pale brown eyes fluttered open and he moved to sit up, only to be frozen by Daichi's next words.

"Suga, do not move!"

Even in his half-conscious state, Koushi's brain automatically obeyed the voice of his captain and his body halted its movement. Slowly, he turned his head to look up at Daichi and a kind of half-smile made its way onto his face.

"Hi..."

Daichi sighed, thankful that the setter seemed to be mainly unharmed, "Hi."

Suga's head turned robotically to look down at the glass he was lying on and when he turned back to look at Daichi his face seemed to have paled slightly, making the blood trickling down his cheek stand out even more.

"Um... Daichi, this is bad," Suga's voice wobbled as he spoke but he didn't move.

Daichi nodded, "Yeah. But we've been in worse situations, right?" He couldn't think of one off the top of his head but it felt right to say in the moment, "I'm going to reach down and you're going to reach up, okay?"

Suga's eyes bugged out and he shook his head, soft greyish hair swishing side to side, "If I move it'll smash!"

That's a definite possibility but we're not going to think about that right now, Daichi thought as he shook his own head in response,

"Not if we're quick."

"I'm not Hinata, Daichi! I can't move that fast! I-"

"No, you're Karasuno's third year setter and I'm the captain so you'll do as I say, got it?"