The Silence In The Dark (Prince of Tennis) ||REWRITE||

Chapter 17

Reichi and Sanada were walking in strides into the hospital, finding their teammates pretty quickly with the help of a nurse, Reichi took a spot beside Jackal, jersey draped over his shoulders loosely. Sanada spoke first. "Have there been any updates on him, yet?" Yanagi exhaled slowly and shook his head. "Not yet, though we're expecting to get one fairly soon." He provided, Reichi shifted his feet and weight, biting and chewing on his inner lip lightly as he waited. Trying to be patient as his arms easily crossed. Jackal placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder, Kirihara draping himself over the youngest member with ease to try and get rid of some of his own nerves as well.

It took a little while for there to be even a word of an update on Seiichi's surgery, but they finally got one about him being moved to the recovery room. The team easily packed up their bags and headed to their captain's room, stepping inside quietly when they saw Yukimura sleeping peacefully. Reichi slowly sat down beside Sanada, Kirihara throwing his arms around the boy again.

Reichi's shoulders sagged slightly, leaning into the touches, it was pretty obvious the youngest was stressed about the situation. Reichi doesn't particularly like the hospital and was only comfortable normally when Seiichi was awake and talking, filling in the lull of conversation. Whereas now there were lulls in the conversations, making him bite his lip, leaning heavily into the second-year's arm that was still slung over him. Reichi hated the hospital, that much was obvious, even when the boy was coming to Seiichi's room after his vocal therapy he was tense, his body rigid and stiff and he didn't relax for a good half hour once he was with his teammates. Which was fine, the group took it in stride and helped the youngest relax. But here- where everyone was worried and lips bit raw, red-rimmed eyes from a select three people (̶N̶i̶o̶, M̶a̶r̶u̶i̶, a̶n̶d̶ K̶i̶r̶i̶h̶a̶r̶a̶)̶, they couldn't focus on helping the youngest like they usually do. And that's fine, Reichi seemed to be relaxing under Kirihara's arms.

Sanada watched the younger members carefully, with watchful eyes and a frown tugging his lips. Reichi shifted in Akaya's hold before moving to settle into the chair beside the team's captain instead, Kirihara followed him to stand behind the boy, arms still draped over him with natural ease. Any tension either boy had eased out of them both as one had his arms draped over the other. Kirihara's hand fumbled to hold his phone in front of them both, showing Reichi something of interest on the screen.

Reichi was happy, happy yet so nervous as he sat by his captain's side. Happy to be with friends that doubled as his teammates, but nervous in a way that he knew Seiichi would have a long road of recovery ahead of him. But just as the thought lingered a stronger thought took over in his mind. His teammates have been giving him support during his vocal recovery, what would be different with Yukimura? Nothing. They'd, Reichi included, give Yukimura their unquestionable and loyal support during his recovery and even after that. They pulled Reichi up from his own brain and helped, the help he desperately needed but people outside his family never gave him. These were the boys he went to if he needed help and rushed to them in a heartbeat if they needed help back.

Reichi had gone to Sanada on a very select few accounts for help, during English class especially, since the older boy was just a tad better at speaking English than him now. Yanagi easily offered his help up when he found out, and so a small study group was formed since he couldn't help Kirihara with his spoken English. Yanagi, Yagyuu, Kirihara, himself, and Sanada were usually the ones to attend this study session at Kirihara's place on the weekend. Though Nio and Marui did make occasional appearances, Jackal has shown up more than once now.

Everyone in the room let their eyes linger on Reichi and Seiichi. They were glad to have the young boy on their team, and not everyone had realized prior to the Ryoga incident how much the boy meant to them friend-wise. Reichi was close to Yukimura, and Yukimura had a soft spot for the boy. The Child of God had a soft spot for a first-year student that still struggled to grasp tone inflictions in voice. Struggled to word things properly and voice his needs and wants. But a soft spot nonetheless. A spot that nobody really had a good grasp on just how soft. Everyone in the room- minus Reichi- thought that Yukimura was fond of the boy, obviously, he was. But nobody knew Seiichi had thought Reichi deserved the Child of God title just a bit more than himself. Nobody knew the way the older boy hung to Reichi's words like a dying breath sometimes.