Hiding In The Stars.

The Day After

Yachi sat down on her bed, and looked at her room. Her convocation with her mother echoed in her mind, running around like Hinata on the volleyball court. She had said her side, and then her mother had hugged her daughter, which had surprised Yachi. Her mother promised to try and be there for her daughter as much as possible, and had reassured her that her grades didn't define her, and that she was so much more than what the numbers told her. Yachi sighed and flipped her pillow over to the cold side, and rolled slightly closer to the wall, and onto something hard. "Ow..." She mumbled quietly, as she reached under her body to grab whatever she had rolled onto. Picking it up, she saw an orange bracelet with a metal bead in graved with a feather on it. She checked the time, 10:30, and decided to text Suga and Dachi, who seemed to know everything about their team members. Do you regonise this? She sent, with a picture of the bracelet, and quickly followed it up with I didn't steal it, I swear, I don't know how it got here. Suga was the first to reply, only a few seconds later. 

We know you'd never steal anything, Yachi, I've seen it at practice but I don't know who's it is. 

Then Dachi, a minute or so later.

Maybe bring it tomorrow, is it Hinata's or Kiyoko's?  

Yeah, Yachi replied, That's what I'll do. Night. 

Goodnight, Yachi. 

Night. :)

Yachi got out of bed, and took the bracelet to her bin. She grabbed the pen pack out of it, and put the bracelet in that, and placed it on her bedside table, so she couldn't forget it in the morning. She turned off her nightlight, and she don't know how long she lay there, but eventually she went to sleep. 

Early the next day, Kiyoko woke up in her room. It was 6:00am when she checked her phone, and saw a message from Dachi when she had already been asleep. 

Lost a bracelet? Yachi's going to bring it to the meet tomorrow, don't worry. 

Kiyoko gasped, and placed a hand on the wrist the bracelet was usually on, her parent's had gotten her that bracelet as a gift for becoming the manager, not that the team was any good, not until the new years had come in. Kiyoko had faith in them, and she supposed that Yachi reminded her of herself, when she started out as manager. She still needed to learn not to take each loss personally, but now they were doing better than before. Then there was Yachi, short, blonde Yachi with eyes the colour of chocolate and freckles that melt into her face on her cheekbones so you couldn't see them unless you were stood directly above her in warm light and not the harsh light of sports arena's. Yachi who had run to help Dachi quickly, no question's asked, and no hesitation. Yachi who could keep everyone's spirits up and expect nothing in return, who could put an analysis of a team together during a match, but always passed the  torch onto someone else, insisting that she hadn't dome anything. Kiyoko sat there for a while, thinking about her friend, and smiled softly. She felt her face heat up, and put her hands on her face to cover the blush, and almost, almost texted Yachi to apologise, but then she remembered she was probably asleep. She walked over to her door, grabbed her dressing gown and went into her kitchen to prepare for the day. 

It had been and hour, and after eating her breakfast, showering and dressing, Kiyoko was back in the kitchen, making lunch for the day. "Hm? Morning, Kiyo." Her mother said behind her. 

"Oh, morning, Mother." She replied, smiling. 

"How long have you been up?" Her mother asked her, noticing her daughter was all ready ready for the day, despite the early hour. "Did you have a nightmare?"

"No, I suppose, I suppose I just woke up early, plus it takes me a while to get to school so I can go to the team and make sure everythings set up."

"Oh yes, the team. You have that meeting today, right? With everyone?"

"Yes, yes I do." Kiyo replied, keeping an eye on her food. Her mother paused for a moment, unsure of what to say or do, and this did not go unnoticed by Kiyoo, who turned around. "Mother?"

"Oh, sorry! I wanted to ask about that girl, the other manager? You seem to really care about her. The Coach called last night as well, to check on you. I told him you had gone to bed early, and he asked to meet with you today, in the morning."

"Oh, Yachi? Yeah, I- I have faith in her." Kiyoko blushed and turned back to her food. "I care about her, I think more than I care about the team. Sorry, I know you raised me to care about everyone the same." 

"Kiyo," Her mother walked over to her and put her arm around her, "Its natural for you to feel, um, different ways for different people, its called being human." She helped her daughter with her food, and noticed there was a lot more than usual. "Kiyo, why did you make so much? You'll need another box!" Her Mother exclaimed, taking a pink box out of the draw. 

"Hey, Mother?" Kiyo asked, scooping the food equally between the two boxes. "If there was somebody, somebody that you cared about, cared about-" Kiyoko stopped and thought for a moment, "A lot- and they weren't taking time to care for themselves so they-" 

"Kiyo," Her mother said, sealing both the boxes. "Is this about the second manager?" Kiyoko nodded, and her mother hugged her, "Oh, Kiyo, don't worry. Have you told your coach? Your captain?" 

"Dachi knows, but we, Dachi, Suga, Kageyama, Hinata and I, said we don't want to get adults involved aside from her Mother if we don't have to." Kiyoko explained, pulling away from the hug. Her Mother nodded, and grabbed her keys. "Don't be to late home, ok?"

"Ok." Kiyoko said, as her mother headed out to work. She went into her bedroom and grabbed her school bag and phone, then checked her reflection in the mirror, dusted down her uniform and went back into the kitchen, made sure the lunch's were sealed properly, she packed them and  headed out.