Fly (Keishin Ukai) - COMPLETED

18 - Turn of events

That night, after dinner, Yuki found herself on her laptop looking through any and everything that was volleyball. She was over the moon to be on the Neighbourhood Association Team, but she could not help but wonder what other teams were around her area. If she trained adequately, she wondered if she could play on a real team, and make playing volleyball her job, just like she dreamed about when she was a kid. Yuki knew chances were low for her to play at the highest level of volleyball, but being a semi-pro could be a good start to try to kick off her career. Yuki was too focused and did not hear the door to her room open.

"What is that?" Yuki jumped as her mum spoke, she was quick to shut down the page she was looking at.

"N-nothing."

"Were you looking at volleyball teams?"

"What? Pfft, no...." Yuki chuckled awkwardly as her mother walked over to her.

"You can't play, you know that." Saza's voice was stern.

Yuki looked away from her mother as her eyes caught the poster that was on the wall. It was the one from the newspaper, she had put it up the night before. She would not crumble. Volleyball made her happy, and surely her mother would understand that. Even she had seen the change within Yuki, and it was not just because of Keishin, it was because of volleyball.

"But it makes me h-happy..."

Saza stepped back, her hand on her heart. "You've played?"

Yuki swallowed nervously. If she wanted to play volleyball again, she needed h to tell her mother. "Yes, an-"

"What..." Saza started to choke up, her hand covering the bottom of her face.

"Mum, p-please, it makes me happy."

"NO!" Yuki jumped as the sudden rise in her mother's voice. "You're not allowed to play!"

"B-but Mum you've seen how h-happy I-I've been, it's because of o-of volleyball. Do you n-not want me to be h-happy?" Saza shook her head, her eyes shut as she tried to process her daughter's words.

"If you get hit in the head or hurt yourself like last time you could die..." Yuki could see why her mother was so against her playing volleyball, but that did not mean she agreed.

"So you would r-rather me be unhappy?"

"I WOULD RATHER YOU BE ALIVE, YUKI!"

"What about w-what I want? I don't want to live if I can't p-play! It makes me feel a-alive. I have not been t-this happy in yea-!"

"YOU CANNOT PLAY VOLLEYBALL!"

Yuki stood up, getting irritated with her mother, who was not even trying to see her point of view. "I'm not a child, you can not t-tell me what to do!"

"YOU LIVE IN MY HOUSE, YOU FOLLOW MY RULES. I FORBID YOU TO PLAY VOLLEYBALL!"

"That's not fair!"

"YOU KNOW WHAT'S NOT FAIR YUKI? TO SEE MY DAUGHTER LAID IN HOSPITAL FOR OVER A YEAR, NOT KNOWING WHETHER SHE WOULD SURVIVE OR NOT! AND THEN FOR HER TO WAKE UP TO REALISE I LOST HER ANYWAY!"

Yuki's eyes widened, her jaw dropped as tears welled up in her eyes. Pain struck her heart as she looked to the floor. She bit on her bottom lip as she tried to hold back tears. Her mother had never said anything like that to her before. She had no words as her hands clenched into a fist. Without another word, Yuki picked up her jumper from the bed and pushed past her mother and out of the bedroom. She could hear her mother calling her name, but she ignored her and left the house, walking out into the pouring rain.