Philophobia 2.0

Realizations in the Nurse's Office

"I told you, I'm fine."

For the first time since meeting Ai, Atsumu grinned at the sound of her voice (even if it sounded irritated and far too defensive). After shaking himself out of his earlier trance, Atsumu ran after Ai with an urge to check on her and give her a pat on the back, but by the time he caught up with her, her friends found Ai first.

Atsumu was still cringing at the memory of their high-pitched voices laden with panic and worry, but he was surprisingly glad Ai had some people in her corner.

Yuki and Chiyo were busy fretting over Ai's busted lip when Atsumu slid into the nurse's office. He eyed Aiko rifling through a cabinet, looking for ointment, and cleared his throat.

He never thought the day would come—when he'd develop a nervous sweat upon the gaze of four second-year girls. At first, all four pairs of eyes were of a cautioned caliber, prepared to kick him out, but then they realized who he was. Aiko shrugged and faced the cabinet once more; Chiyo frowned, but she gave Atsumu a curt nod before she gave Ai her full attention; Yuki continued to stare Atsumu down like he was enemy number one; and Ai raised her eyebrows at him, wondering what he was doing there.

"What are you doing here?" Yuki crosses her arms, her aura turning fiery and lethal—like Ai's injury was all his fault.

Regularly, Atsumu might have had an offense to that alone, but he found Yuki's effort amusing and endearing. There was a point in life where Atsumu probably would have found her intimidating, but as it was, he'd been around people like Kita and Ai for a while now. Yuki had nothing on their daunting gazes and ice-cold auras.

"Came to check on my manager," He replies, taking great care to sound unaffected and bored. "There a problem with that, four-eyes?"

"That the best ya got, Ass-umu?" Yuki bounces back. Previously, she'd been sitting at Ai's bedside, but when her anger flared, she took a stance before the bed, as if Ai needed her protection. "You've got some balls on you to come here, mister star setter. This is all your fault."

Atsumu scowls, ready to tear Yuki a new one by the nickname alone, but to hear that, sure enough, she was blaming him. It caught Atsumu off guard.

"Th'hell you mean it's my fault?! Did I punch Kimura? No! It was that crazy fan, whats-her-name—"

"If you lot had taken no for an answer, she wouldn't have been attacked in the first place!"

"I don't even want her on the fuckin' team!" Atsumu yells back in the heat of the moment, only to regret the words the second they came out of his mouth...which confused him greatly.

This morning, if someone had told Atsumu he was second-guessing finding a way to kick Ai out, he'd have laughed in their face and threatened them not to mess with him. Now, however?

It was absolutely not because he witnessed her fight with her sharp tongue and fists, and win—that'd just be plain silly to start liking Ai after that...but for some reason, Atsumu was finally wrapping his head around her sticking around, and without a complaint. Hell, he'd even come here to see if she was okay. That had to say something, right?

"Alright, that's enough—" Ai starts, preparing to separate Yuki and Atsumu before they turn into a couple of feral foxes...Until her brain finally registered what Atsumu said. "Wait, how did you know I was attacked in the first place? And by a fangirl, nonetheless?"

"Oh, er—" Atsumu sputters, visibly reddening with embarrassment and possible shame. "I...saw....it?"

While Chiyo gasps, and Aiko makes a loud slamming noise, Yuki laughs darkly.