It happened on Tuesday. The ace of the girl team was carrying Touru to the infirmary early in the morning. There was practically no one at this time expect these two who were joined soon enough by their close friend Iwaizumi. He helped her carry him to the nurse in a hurry. He looked in pain. His ankle was swollen, hopefully not too bad. They opened the door to the infirmary but no one was there yet. They sat him on the table and Yuuka went to pick up some ice to put on his ankle.

"What the hell happened?" Iwaizumi said. Worry could be heard in his voice despite him trying to hide it. Yuuka sighed and she put down the ice on his ankle as she spoke up.

"He overworked again."

Iwaizumi glared at his friend. The latter was split between pain from his ankle and fear from the ace's scary look. "I said I'm sorry! Ouch!" He tried to hold back the tears that threatened to fall as the pain overcame him when the girl touched his ankle.

"Sorry. I don't think it's broken but we'll have to wait for the nurse to come to be sure."

Hajime nodded at her before turning back his attention to the injured setter. "I can't believe you. It's not the time to injure yourself! The tournament is a few weeks from now and you are being the trashcan you always are and broke your ankle!"

"Yuu-chan just said it was-"

"Don't you dare say a word!" He cut him off, angrier than before. Oikawa looked down and mumbled a 'sorry, mom' before the ace continued. "You better not have your ankle broken because I swear to god, I'll break the other one!"

"Now, now," a voice exclaimed from behind. They turned around to the nurse who just arrived. "What happened here?"

They all bowed to him and explained the situation. He nodded and crouched down to look at his injury. He moved it a bit which made the teenager winced in pain. He smiled and stood up. "It's nothing bad." They all sighed in relief. "However, you won't be able to practice at least until Friday. Your ankle needs rest so even if you start playing again on Friday, don't push yourself."

He nodded. "I won't! Thank you, sir!"

"You should stay here for now. You'll be able to go back this afternoon," he finished on that before sitting at his desk.

"See? Nothing is broken!"

"You're lucky," Hajime glared at him once again which let shiver run down his spine.

"I'll let your teachers know and asked for Aoi or Mattsun to bring your homework," Yuuka explained to him. "I will bring back your bag, I'll be here soon!"

Before he could stop her, she left in a hurry to the gym. Oikawa sighed and laid down on the bed. Iwaizumi crossed his arms and stared at his friend. "What is wrong with you two?" Oikawa stiffened. He glanced at his friends to see the seriousness in his eyes.

"Wha- what do you mean, Iwa-chan? Everything is fine!" He gave him one of his fake smiles but, without any surprise, it did not work at all on him.

"Don't give me your stupid smile. Did something happen last weekend? You seemed weird when we came over and even now and yesterday."

Touru fought back the blush that threatened to show. He looked away from his friend and wondered if he should tell him the truth. He eyed towards the nurse who was focused on his work then he made up his mind. "I think," he hesitated. He asked for Iwaizumi to come closer to him. The latter frowned but obliged anyway. He brought his ear closer to his friend waiting for him to continue. "I think I still ha-"

"I'm back!"

"Oikawa! What the hell did you do?!"

The two teenagers turned to look at the door to see both Yuuka with the brunette's bag and their coach. "C-c-coach?!"

Irihata walked to him with a huge frown in his face. "You asked for me to accept a practice match against Karasuno and you go and hurt yourself!"

The guilty bowed his head, apologizing. "I'm sorry, coach. It happened so fast I wasn't careful enough."

He sighed, holding his head. "Maeda explained everything to me. How come you slipped on a volleyball like this? It's not like you!"

Oikawa looked at Yuuka in panic. He asked her to not tell the real reason why he injured himself because he knew people would make fun of him. She looked away, innocently, trying to hide her smirk. The guy noticed it and felt really pissed but let it slide for this time. "I'm sorry, coach. I was very distracted."

The coach looked exasperated and he said nothing more. He advised his player to rest as much as possible so he could be here for the practice match on Friday. The brunette nodded and thanked him before the coach left the room. Iwaizumi eyed his friend and smirked. "So you slipped on a volleyball?"

"Oh, shut up," he said, ashamed of himself.

"Well, I better get going! The girls must be waiting for me! See you later guys! I'll be coming here for lunch!" Yuuka exclaimed as she exited the infirmary in a hurry. She knew Oikawa would yell at her if she stayed any longer so she made a run for it.

"Well, I'll go too. See you."

"Later," Touru said, indifferently. He looked through the window next to him. "I need to stop thinking about her."

The bell rang, signifying the end of morning classes. The word about Oikawa's injury had spread really fast. There was not a person in school ignorant of this fact. Yuuka was alone as Iwaizumi went to eat with his teammates and Ichima had left with a teacher to help carry some documents. She walked in the corridor with a smile on her face but she could not help but feel uneasy. She hated walking alone in the corridors because she knew what usually happened.

"Yuuka-senpai! You look really pretty today!" one underclassman shouted to her from behind. She turned around and smiled while waving at him.

"Yuuka-senpai! Did you have lunch already? Should we eat together?"

She shook her head, keeping the same smile. It was the third time's already that someone asked to eat with her. She clenched her fists and hurried to join the infirmary, her bento in hand.
Suddenly, someone blocked her path. She looked up to see Hiro. She held back a sigh and tried to go past him but he held her back by extending his arm. "Hey there, Yuuka. Where are you heading in such a hurry?"

The tall guy smirked down at her as he waited for her answer. It was always like that. Every time she was alone and they were sure that Oikawa was not around, most of the guys she would pass by would talk to her, ask her things or even flirt. She was not good at managing her popularity unlike the prince of this school, Oikawa Touru. So, many people would take advantage of her vulnerability to make a move on her. The fact that she had a hard time saying 'no' as well did not help. However, the most annoying thing in all this was this guy. Hiro would always step in and try to force her to do something he wanted. Most of the time he did not succeed but he often got to eat lunch with her.

She gulped and smiled at him, that same fake smile she would put on to hide her feelings. "Hi, Hiro! I haven't seen you lately."

His smirk grew wider which almost made the girl shiver. "Indeed. But you are quite busy between your tournament and studies, aren't you?"

She nodded. "I am! If you don't mind now, I have to go talk to Touru about some-"

Before she could finish her sentence, he cut her off by placing a hand on her shoulder. She froze in place. Some unpleasant memories flashing before her eyes. "Come on, Yuuka. You see this guy pretty much every day. I am your friend, right? We should spend some time together as well."

He stood closer to her. Yuuka could not move, her feet were stuck in place, her body felt numb. She could not feel the tip of her fingers.

"Come on, witch."

"I don't want to!"

"Well, it's not a suggestion but an order. Now jump!"

"No!"

Someone pushed the girl in the cold swimming pool. Laugh echoed around the room. She was still in her school uniform and it felt really heavy in the water. She was crying while trying to get out but she was just pushed back in every time.

The girl felt tears threatening to fall in the corner of her eyes. She looked at the ground, her eyes tightly closed, as she prayed for someone to help. "What are you doing with our Yuuka-sama!" a voice yelled in the corridor. The two students looked towards the voice to see a group of people with banners saying 'Yuuka-sama'. The girl sighed in relief as she looked at them rushing in. "You cannot touch our dear Yuuka-sama like this!"

"Oh? And why's that?"

"Because you are not on the list of Yuuka's close friends! Only these people are authorized to touch her!"

"Since when is there a list?" Hiro glared at them, dumbfounded. Yuuka also looked surprised at this revelation.

"Who is in this list?" she asked as curiosity overcame her fear from a minute ago.

The one that seemed like the leader of the group held a piece of paper that came out of his pockets and started to enumerate a few names. "All of the volleyball girl team, Iwaizumi-san and the piece of-" he held back before saying anything else to insult the person. "and Oikawa-san and any family members. Plus I guess Matsukawa-san and Hanamaki-san are fine as well."

Yuuka chuckled a bit. She gave them a heartfelt smile and bowed to them. "Thank you for including all my close friends to this list. Now, I should get going."

"We're always happy to help you, Yuuka-sama!" the guys said loudly with a blush on their cheeks.

"Who said you could leave yet?"

Hiro was far from finished with her. She could tell that he was getting annoyed and it was the signal that she should get away from here as fast as possible. She eyed around, hoping to find another way to escape. Finally, she spotted two familiar faces: Kindaichi and Kunimi. Her face lit up as she noticed them. "Kunimi-chan! Daichin!"

The two first-years turned around towards the girl who was running towards them. "Yuuka-senpai," Kindaichi was the first one to speak.

The red-head girl smiled at them and pushed them so they would continue to walk. "How's your day? Not too stressed out with the practice match coming up?" She completely ignored the dark look from Hiro as he walked by. She felt relieved that it was finished and, hopefully, she won't see him again today.

They shrugged. "We just want to crush Kageyama. Make him pay for what he did."

Yuuka looked surprised by his comment but did not ask for anything more. "Well, sorry to have bothered you, I will go see Touru now!"

"Do you want us to join you?"

She shook her head. "I should be fine now. Thank you."

"S-sure. I don't know why you would thank us for but, we're always happy to help you," Kindaichi said to reassure her. It warmed her heart. She was not comfortable enough around them to be able to talk about her but she knew they were people she can have confidence with. She met them back in middle-school but she was not too close to them at that time.

Yuuka went back on track and walked to the infirmary downstairs. She smiled at the idea to see back her friend, hopefully in better shape. She stood in front of the door and looked at her bento in hand. She decided to give it to him to thank him for last weekend. She nodded to herself and slowly opened the door.

Giggles. The sound of giggles stopped her from moving. Was that a girl's voice?

"Come on, Touru. You have to eat a bit!"

"I can always eat you~"

And that's Touru's voice.

"Stop messing around~"

What is he doing with a girl?

She peeked through the gap of the door to see two students eating together. A girl was sitting on the bed. She had short blonde hair with beautiful green eyes. Her hair looked really neat and was well-done. She had make-up on her face, not too much, but it was very elegant. She had a nice shape as well. She was thin with nice round breasts and long slim legs. Yuuka felt jealous for some reason. She did not have any problems with her body except her hair. She never liked her hair. After all, it was the main reason she got bullied back in the day. The only thing that made her feel better about it was her dye. Ever since she dyed them red, she felt a bit better about herself.

Her eyes turned to the boy laying in bed. His ankle was covered by bandages and was way less swollen than this morning. She sighed out of relief then looked up. Oikawa was smiling brightly to the girl. It was not one of his fake smiles, it was a real one. Yuuka felt a pang in her heart. She frowned and turned away, not able to look at them anymore. She clenched her fists, cursing at herself for feeling this way. She stared at the ground, feeling defeated and walked back to the classroom.