The Great King -「大王様」

Chapter 18

傷
Hurt

-x-

Love isn't always an exciting experience. Like I said, I avoided it because it is a burden for a student like me. Nonetheless, certain people try their hardest to captivate someone and succeed. Oikawa Tooru is one of those persistent men. It's all fun and rainbows now that we've started dating, but since it took so long for me to return his feelings, there are some complications that came up.

"お願いします！(Please!)" A girl bowed a full ninety-degrees in front of me. She dragged me all the way behind school grounds just to ask for my help in getting close to Tooru.

I didn't know some people get this desperate, but then again, love affects people differently. Tooru got desperate too, but not to this extent.

It was a little difficult for me to think of how to respond to the girl, because, I'm Tooru's girlfriend, but she doesn't know that. If ever I do tell her, how likely is it that she's actually a foul individual and spread bad rumors about us. Despite Tooru's popularity, it's unavoidable in some of their minds to hate him in some way once he gets a bad image. The only ones who know at this point is the volleyball members, coaches, and Yui.

"御免なさい (I'm sorry)," I apologized with a bow straighter than hers. When I straightened up and looked at her with a strong look, her broken eyes squeezed my heart. With all the vocabulary I had, I explained why I couldn't help her. It was hard to do this without having to lie and such.

That wasn't the only time I felt terrible as Tooru's girlfriend. A wave of his admirers were coming at me at an overwhelming rate. Some were shy, but others were feeling high and mighty. Unfortunately, there's no student in this school higher than me and Tooru. Academic-wise. For club activities, well, him. I'm not exactly in any club.

The most terrible one was after classes. This girl didn't even introduce herself to me. She just dragged me to a far convenience store and talked to me there. When I refused, her aura changed from an innocent one, to a dark one. Usually, they would try their best to maintain their good image, so that I won't talk bad about them to Tooru, but this girl's different. She gripped my wrist hard till it turned red, forcing me to help her with Tooru. With her attitude? Even if I wasn't Tooru's girlfriend, there's no way I'd help her with him.

"じゃあーどち？(Now— Which will it be?)" She slammed my wrist to the wall. We were out, at the side of the convenience store. It was deserted, quiet, and my phone was out of reach.

"絶対に助けねえーよ！(I will definitely never help you!)" I exclaimed in a tone more annoyed than I ever felt.

I regret not taking any self-defense classes, but then my brain is wise enough to think of a way to escape this. With all my strength, I brought my knee to her stomach and loosened her grip a bit. I took the chance to move away from her, but her other hand caught my wrist. She pulled me tight and covered my mouth with her hand.

This is bad.

—

On the way home with Tooru, I requested specifically to wear his volleyball jacket. Not only were my wrists bruised, but i bet my whole body was. Somehow, wearing a jacket would make me feel a little more protected.

What persuaded me not to tell Tooru is the thought that she has the capability to hurt him too, just for him to go her way. Plus, I don't know her name.

When we arrived in front of his house, epiphany struck me. He's going to see my bruises.

"あ。。あの徹、俺の家に帰りたい(U-Uhm Tooru, I want to go back to my house)," I said with my head hung low.

"どうかしたの？(Is something wrong?)" My head shook violently on its own.

As seconds passed, it was starting to feel like he wouldn't let me, and that he had plans to pry more on what was wrong. To avoid that, I turned on the balls of my feet and started walking to the direction to my home. Tooru called out my name, but I didn't look back or slow down.

But then, I felt an electrifying pain travel from my wrists to the rest of my body, which paralyzed me in place. It took all the strength in me to stop myself from letting out any hint of pain. Tooru's hold on my wrist was right where my bruise was, and it was a slightly strong one to stop me from walking away from him.

What's weird is that, when I stopped my tracks, he loosened his grip, and paused a moment before standing in front of me. My head stayed low. I could feel his intense stare on me already. He placed his hands on my shoulders. It was shaking as if it was debating whether or not to grip me tight.

"やった誰だ？(Who did this?)" His voice was dark and shaking, controlling his anger. When I remained quiet, he forcefully removed his jacket off me and took a look at my wrist. The sound that came out of his mouth was close to an inaudible one, but I could tell that he was appalled.

Tooru grabbed my hand, dragging me into their house. He greeted his parents briefly, not stopping his feet from bringing us up to his room.

Once we got inside, he locked the door, and stopped. Tooru was breathing heavily as his body faced me. I couldn't stop my legs from shaking. He looked pretty scary, scarier than how he looks like whenever he's fired up in a game.

Tooru pushed me to his bed. The darkness on his face made my mind float away, not realizing that he ripped my blouse open. The buttons flew across the room, and I was just there, lying, letting him look at me.

His face fell into horror. He was in the brink of insanity. "誰がやった？！(Who did this?!)" He yelled. Tooru.. Don't make a fuss. Your parents might get worried.

He got ironic when tears formed in his eyes. I felt its heat drip on my stomach. Seeing him that way made me tear up as well. My vision got blurry when Tooru leaned his body over mine. His arms snaked behind me as he embraced me tight, as if he was scared that I would vanish. "御免 (I'm sorry)," he sobbed. "守れなかった (I couldn't protect you.)" His tears flowed continuously. Tooru didn't stop apologizing that night.