A week and a half went by before school was back in. The investigation went on for longer than Chigiri thought and he wasn't sure if anyone was convicted. In the end, they closed off the school gym while school continued. "Hey,
I'm sure your grandfather wouldn't mind if you skipped a day," Chigiri said as he reluctantly dressed you in your school clothes. You smiled as you got dressed in your school clothes. "I want to go, " you said. "Well, at least, I need to. Plus, what do I have to do here?"

The two of you entered the school, but you could still hear whispers about what happened everywhere you went.

"I heard they think it was just a suicide."
"No way! He was definitely murdered."
"But they haven't found who did it yet. Does that mean we have to go to school with a murderer?"

The entire day, it was what everyone talked about, and the younger teachers were even participating in some of the gossips about it. At least Chigiri was there for you. He would walk you to every class with a smile, and ask you about what you'd done to take your mind off of it. After lunch, Chigiri couldn't walk you to your literature class since he was across campus.

And then, there was finally practice. The last thing Chigiri wanted to do was skip practice especially after not being able to for so long, but he shuddered at the thought of you interacting with Reo or any of the others for that matter, so he left it in your hands, hoping you'd tell him that you just wanted to go home.

"You ready to go?" Chigiri asked as he walked down the hall with you.
"Don't you have practice today?" You asked, having forgotten to check the schedule. He sighed. He knew that Reo and Nagi were skipping school today but would probably show up for practice and as for Bachira he had no idea. Either way, he was happy that being out and interacting with people hadn't upset you.

"You come first, Y/n," he said. "If you don't want to go, then we can just go back to your house." You lowered your head thoughtfully, and Chigiri waited to hope that the memory of soccer and Isagi would be too much for you to bear.
"I'll go to practice," You said.
"You shouldn't push yourself," Chigiri warned, but you had already continued walking, past the exit and towards the other side of the school where the locker rooms were. 
"I want to go," you insisted. "It's my job to be there." You entered the stadium, and the sudden scream of your name made you jump.
"Y/n!" You whirled around only to get tackled to the ground by what your mind could only comprehend as a yellow blur, but you recognized Bachira's voice anywhere.
"I missed you so much, my sweet!" He said, faking his voice like he was crying and catching the attention of everyone else on the field, and Chigiri frowned when he saw Nagi and Reo stopping their warmups to see what was going on. "Where have you been? You didn't answer any of my calls or anything!"
"Bachira let go!" You cried, only for his crushing weight to be lifted off of you in an instant. You looked up to see that Chigiri had yanked him off and was not gripping his collar roughly.
"Don't touch her," he growled, and Bachira stared at him with wide eyes.
"Looks like someone grew a backbone," he grinned. 
"Y/n!" Nagi and Reo approached the three of you, and you frowned at the sight of Reo. Just seeing him brought back images of that night and the question that was toying in your mind day and night.

Why were you smiling?

"It's felt like forever," Nagi said while Reo smiled at you.
"Miss us?" You faked a smile at the group.
"I'm glad you all missed me," you said timidly, and Bachira was the first one to notice your change in character.
"Hey, are you okay?" He asked, leaning in closer to you. "You look pale."
"Did something happen?" Nagi asked but before you could respond Chigiri pulled you behind him.
"She's still upset over what happened at the dance." He shot Reo a glare. "You all need to give her some space." Reo's smile dropped as he glared right back at the redhead.
"And since when did you become her bodyguard?" He demanded, and your eyes widened as them going against each other reminded you of the fight.
"Since I decided to help her that night while you were off doing god knows what," he said.
"What the hell did you-" You backed away from them both, your breath becoming caught in your throat as you ran your fingers through your hair.

Calm down calm down calm down calm down

You closed your eyes, trying to calm yourself only to feel a hand slide over your back.
"Hey." You opened your eyes to see Bachira standing there. "Calm down, okay?"
"You guys!" Nagi snapped, stopping Reo and Chigiri's arguments. "You're scaring her!" Reo and Chigiri both turned to see you gripping Bachira's hand tightly as you tried to calm down.
"Y/n!" Chigiri rushed towards you, pushing Bachira aside as he placed both of his hands on your shoulders.
"I'm so sorry, Y/n, are you alright?" You nodded, self-hatred filling you as you felt the eyes of the others on you. Now they were gonna start treating you like something fragile. You were so happy a few days ago but it felt like all that depression was coming back to you.
"Line up!" At the sound of the whistle, everyone hesitantly left you, Chigiri being the last.
"Just relax, okay?" He smiled at you. "Everything will be fine."

"This is ridiculous," Ego muttered as you found your usual place by his side. "One of my star forwards is dead and we've missed a week's worth of practice." You shifted uncomfortably.
"The team relied on Yoichi?" You asked.
"Of course not," Ego scoffed. "There's plenty of talent on this team. We won't miss him at all. My problem is that his replacement might set the team back. That might cause a problem." Your head snapped to look at him. 
"Replaceable?" You repeated, but Ego had walked away to yell at one of his players for doing something wrong.

we won't miss him at all

Tears filled your eyes, remembering his smile. He dedicated his life to this sport, to becoming someone that Ego saw worthy only for Ego to label him as replaceable. Your chest began to hurt as you remembered his smile and the way he'd look at you whenever he'd scored a goal. 
"Yoichi..." You pressed your forehead to the clipboard to hide your face before rushing into the hall.

You stood in the hall, trying to stop your endless tears.
"Yoichi..." You sank to your knees. "It's not true, I promise I miss you, Yoichi, so please, please come back-" You gasped feeling a hand on your shoulder, and you whirled around to see Reo standing there, browns knit with worry.
"I knew something was wrong with you," he said, kneeling down in front of you. You wiped your face.
"Go away," you slapped his hand away, backing away from him. "Leave me alone before I tell Ego you're slacking at practice or something."
"Don't tell him I said this, but you're starting to become more important to me than soccer." Your eyes widened, but you quickly turned away from him.
"The only thing more important than soccer to you is Nagi," you said. "Quit talking to me like I'm one of our fan girls before I get jumped by them again." Reo frowned.
"If that happens, I'll kill them," he said. "Now quit trying to act tough and tell me what's wrong." He grabbed your shoulders and forced you to turn around. You were about to ell at him, but you saw the concern in his eyes, and finally broke down.
"Chigiri's just been trying to distract me, but I can't stop thinking about him." You lowered your eyes as you felt more tears coming. Reo watched sadly.
"It'll be okay," he said. "You have Nagi and me to help you. You can't dwell on him forever, you're gonna tear yourself apart." More tears fell as you finally broke down to him.
"I hate this so much. Chigiri's been treating me like glass like at any minute I'll break and even if I will, I cannot handle being treated like that anymore!" You realized you were being loud when your voice echoed through the hall, and you let out a frustrated sigh.
"I'm sorry," you leaned your head back against the wall. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I-"
"No, you're okay," Reo assured. "How about you come over after practice? Get a change of scenery."
"But Chigiri-"
"Chigiri..." Reo turned to the opening of the hall back into the stadium, where he could see the redhead in question standing on the field. He'd grown pale, and his eyes were wide and full of dread as he stared at you. When the two of them met eyes, Reo smirked. "...Will be just fine."