Love Me In Secret (Asanoya)

Chapter 2: Thunder

Asahi's POV

        I pushed open one of the many entrances to the school, briskly strolling out and letting the subtle wind hit my body, cooling me down. Although it seemed nice out, dark grey clouds crowded the sky, muffling the warm sunlight and stopping it from showing. It was going to rain.
        Sugawara and Daichi walked out behind me, noticing my gaze up to the seemingly endless sky, then stood beside me.
        "We better hurry to your house, Asahi, if we don't want to get caught in the rain," Daichi remarked obviously, starting down the cement stairs.
       Suga and I followed. "We weren't supposed to even get rain until at least nine o' clock. I don't even have an umbrella with me!" Sugawara flicked his hand up towards the sky in a rant. 
       Daichi snickered. He always noticed when Suga talked with his hands, and always pointed it out. This time was no different.
        "Yeah!" Daichi said, imitating the motion Suga did as we walked. I laughed, joining in on the action.
       Sugawara put all his fingers straight and stiff, then chopped us both in the sides, making both me and Daichi retract our bodies. "Whatever guys!" He said, chuckling at our reactions.
        We continued walking, though starting to increase our paces just a little bit as the roar of thunder could be heard in the distance. I jumped.
        Thunder had always scared me, it was nothing new. It reminded me of my uncle, who, let's say, was not the ideal family member. The sound of him throwing things into the wall echoed in my mind, and only got worse whenever I was reminded of it.
         I could tell this was not going to be a quiet storm.
        Daichi noticed my little flinch, and pat my shoulder. "Don't worry Asahi. I'm sure this storm will blow past in an hour," he reassured me.          
        Most of the team knew about my uncle and my past, so it was normal for them to attempt to comfort me whenever I'm in a situation like this.
       I nodded slightly, furrowing my brow. In an hour.

       "GET YOUR ASS OUT HERE! QUIT HIDING YOU WORTHLESS KID!" My uncle screamed, slamming his fist into the wall.
        I was hiding under my bed, shaking and sweating. He's going to kill me, HE'S GOING TO KILL ME! Was the only thing I could manage to think.
        My door was blockaded with my bookshelf. I thought it would be enough to keep him out of my room. I even locked my door, which I wasn't even allowed to do. It wasn't like the door was hard to unlock, it was very simple, but I didn't know that.
        My heart, already racing, beat faster and faster as I heard each and every stomping step my uncle took, edging closer to my hiding spot. At that point, I was twelve, and knew how to work the phone. I called 119, the emergency number, and was still on the line with them as I hid.
         I remember clutching the phone so hard that my fingers callused after, and my fingers were numb.
         "ASAHI, IF YOU DONT COME OUT, IT'LL JUST MAKE THINGS WORSE!" he was right outside my closed door.
        At that point I was trying not to scream out of fear, trying to back up even farther under my bed. I was against the wall; if he got in I was cornered.
         "It's ok, Asahi. The police are just about there," The kind man's voice was soothing me a little, but didn't make much of a difference. I was worried that if I didn't answer, that he would think I died, but now that I think about it he probably could hear me breathing so hard.
SLAM! The sound of Oji-San tearing down pictures hanging from the wall and throwing them onto the floor shook the house.
        I felt my heart drop as he started kicking at my door. "I KNOW YOU'RE IN HERE," he bellowed threateningly. "I KNOW WHERE YOU'RE HIDING!"
         That's when I lost it and screamed, revealing my location.

        Sugawara waved his hand in front of my eyes, snapping me out of thought and memory.
         "So, my mom won't really be home until really late, Asahi. How about we just eat out at like a fast-food place?" He talked loudly, making sure I was paying attention.
         "Huh?" At first I didn't realize he was talking to me. "Oh, yeah sure. I have some money so I'll pay—"
I was interrupted by Daichi.
          "Nonsense, Asahi. I'll pay," he had a tone that meant don't you dare argue with me, boy.
         "But if you pay I'll feel like I need to give you something! You can pay for Sugawara, but I can pay for myse—"
        Daichi stared at me like he would stare at Kageyama and Hinata when they were fighting. I cowered, making my head tuck more into my shoulders, looking away from Daichi. Scary, I thought.
         It didn't take long before we had arrived at my house.
         Opening my door, I yelled, "I'm home!" And let everyone in.
         My mom shouted back, "Hello!" In her usual happy voice whenever I come home. She bounced into the room where we leave our shoes with a small duffel-bag hanging in her hand. I pointed to it, and she explained.
         "I packed you an overnight bag with what you need for tonight!" She smiled at me, squinting her eyes as she looked up at me. Taking the bag, I smiled back.
          "Thank you, Ōka-san," I told her as she wrapped her arms around my shoulders in a hug. My face grew a tomato shade of red with embarrassment.
        She noticed and let go, starting a (quite unwanted) small conversation.
        "You won't BELIEVE what I saw today, Asahi," she started, placing her hands on her hips.
         "What did you see?" I asked, just to please her.
         "I was out grocery shopping and what-not, when I saw two men kiss! It was so gross! Like, go be terrible people somewhere else!" She ranted with a miffed expression.
        I stopped listening. It's not that I didn't want to hear her tell me her problems, but I actually really didn't want to hear her 'problems'.
         Ōka-San was a nice, gentle, caring mother. She let me go out with my friends and let me go to volleyball. She made me lunches and dinner, and even bought me my first ever knee-pads.
        You wouldn't ever have given thought to the fact that she hates the LGBTQ+ community.
"Anyways, you get the idea. I'll stop keeping you from your friends now— have fun!" Ōka-San smiled and waved as we exited.
~time skip brought to you by: you can't spell Sugar without Suga~