You know, they always dramatize a player quitting their team after an injury.
The coach and team is always begging them to stay, like, “We can’t do this without you!” “The team won’t work!” “It’s alright, we’re in this together!”
But that’s usually in shows, in reality it’s more just “Hey coach, I’m quitting cause blah, blah, blah.” and the coach is like, “If you really have to!”
The only problem is that this isn’t reality.
Here I am staring at my coach, holding an ice pack to my head as he and several of Xayan’s teammates beg me to stay.
“You won’t be a liability, Xayan! Sure you have a bit of memory loss, but we’ll help teach you again!” The slime, Corill, begged me, his hands clasped together as he pleaded.
From what I recall he was a benchwarmer due to the fact he was just slime. The ball would always just push past his arms if he blocked, his spikes weren’t strong enough, and receiving had the same problem as blocking.
I clenched my jaw as the chimera, Solil, joined in on the begging, “Yeah! We’ll make sure you’re back in tip top shape before the season! Please don’t quit, if you do Marian will be devastated!”
The coach watched the two with a scowl, “I hate to admit it, but they’re right, Xayan. I’d understand if you wanted to drop due to a serious injury, but you were just hit in the face, you’ll be fine.” He waved off.
I wanted to strangle the coach with how stupid the reasoning as to why I couldn’t quit was, no wonder they gave Xayan a concussion originally.
With a reluctant groan, I nodded, “Alright, I’ll…stay.” The moment those words left my mouth, I was greeted by Solil and Corill hugging me tightly from both sides, practically squishing me.
A shiver of discomfort ran down my spine due to Corill’s well, sliminess starkly contrasting the strong bear arms of Solil.
-
After a few moments of me tapping on Solil to release me, I was released back to the gymnasium of Red Herring High.
The game was still going on since my injury only halted the game for a few moments, and I was allowed to sit on the side and watch.
Leaning back on the bench and using my arm to prop myself up, my eyes followed the ball as it bunted from one side of the court to the other.
My eyes instinctively drew itself to Marian, who had some form of re-ignited vigor pumping through his veins.
Every jump and spike seemed to reverberate through the gym as it hit against the opponent’s receiver’s, undoubtedly leaving a stinging sensation with how hard he hit.
The only reason Marian could even hit that hard was due to his wooden limbs.
Dolls were simply a category for a handful of subraces, any doll material you could think of, there was probably one like that.
Plastic, porcelain, paper, cloth, wax, you name it.
Marian was a wooden doll, making his limbs extremely strong and due to the lack of nervous system, he could hit as hard as he wanted without any pain or drawback.
Of course! That’s all a headcanon I read online.
It’s known that Marian can hit hard due to being a doll, but it’s never said if dolls have any form of nervous system or not.
I yawned, withdrawing my arm from propping myself up and instead slouched forward to ruin my posture, which gained a strange look from one of my teammates.
…did Xayan never slouch? I never looked at his mannerisms in the episodes, so I can only go off the shitty headcanons shippers made.
‘Oh, Xayan is totally the type of guy to seem serious but is actually a sweetheart!’ or ‘Marian and Xayan totally hold hands whenever Marian is nervous!’ or ‘Xayan probably loves boba but denies it, a total tsundere!’
I cringed at the headcanons, thankful I never spoke within any of the apps that housed fandoms.
Unconsciously my body straightened itself back out, no longer slouching like it was before.
The whistle went off as the student watching the line lifted their arm and loudly announced, “Out!”
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Cinnabar’s team looked exhausted, absolutely floored at their loss as they gathered together to get a drink of water.
Glancing over at the scoreboard I furrowed my brows. It was the same as in the show.
Despite the protagonist’s spirit, they were still crushed 07-25.
A frown of disappointment lingered on my face, I had gotten used to shows where the protagonist wins against all odds after a minor character is destroyed or killed, but then again, this timeline got a bit fucked up.
Marian came over to sit next to me, drinking from his water bottle with a slight air of irritation.
My eyes flickered away, unsure of what to do. Should I interact with him? Would it stir up the timeline even worse?
I shifted my hand up and gave Marian a pat on the back, feeling the light knock of wood with each pat.
He looked over at me with a frown before resting his head on my shoulder, as if it was natural.
It was natural to him but felt strange to me.
It felt wrong.
The reality suddenly dawned on me that I stole someone's entire identity.
What happened to Xayan? What about him? Did he take over my life? What if he’s just…dead? Why me? Why me of all people to take over this life? Why him specifically, will I ever be able to go back? If-
“Xayan.” A voice broke through my thoughts paired with a tissue pressed against my nose, drawing my gaze to Marian’s deep brown eyes. “Are you alright?” He asked softly, a worried look on his face as he continued to speak, “We’re getting back on the bus to head back to Cinnabar, let’s go.”
His voice felt distant, different than the usual joy contained in the show.
With a silent nod, I stood up, taking the tissue from his hand and pressing it to my nose as my other hand continued to hold the ice pack to my head.
-
The walk back to the bus was quiet, and the ride back was even quieter.
It was as if the volume had been shut off, providing me with an inside look to just how emotional the characters were.
Solil and Corill were comforting each other with only touches, whilst Marian gazed out the window, a clenched fist as he avoided letting his face be seen.
Once on school grounds, we all filed out with our bags, heading to the locker room that every sports team at the school shared.
I was thankful that it was emphasized how important Xayan was after he left, so I had his locker memorized.
It was planted a few lockers down from Marian with a red lock and a moth painted onto it, although the paint was chipping away.
My hands fumbled with the code, trying to search my pocket for any indicator on what it was but to no avail.
Then my first blessing came as I took out Xayan’s phone only to realize it had a face ID, letting me inside immediately.
I clutched the phone as I thanked the Gods who sent me for at least sending me to a universe that had modern technology,
I scrolled through the note app until I spotted one labeled “bullshit” and opened it up, to no one's surprise the code to the locker was in there.
With a grin I got into the locker and began to undress out of the volleyball uniform and into whatever Xayan had worn to school that day.
A basic white t-shirt and what seemed to be dress pants, it was like this dude was trying to go to a concert or something.
Ignoring the questionable fashion taste, I grabbed Xayan’s school bag and slung it over myself and closed the door, beginning to head out of the locker room.
-
As I reached the school gate, my body froze as if forcing itself to stop, not allowing me to move any further than that.
I stood there in confusion before I heard footsteps approaching and a somewhat cheery voice, “You know you didn’t have to wait for me, you could’ve just left.” Marian piped up, a lopsided grin as he came to a stop next to me.
“Oh. Sorry, I guess I’m just more used to us…walking together?” I quickly came up with an excuse, but even I was stumped on why my body froze up.
I watched his smile grow before we began to walk, listening to him ramble about how frustrated he was about the match.
“That spiker, the one that hit you- God, he pisses me off. After you left he kept taunting me, saying I shouldn’t be so worked up about nobody. But you’re not nobody, you’re my friend!” He ranted, shaking his head, “I swear, next time we match against them I’m gonna kick his ass.”
An involuntary chuckle escaped me as I tilted my head, “If you kick his ass you’ll get booted off the team, probably.” My words felt like a mix of my own and whatever I thought Xayan would say, it was rough trying to think of what a side character with roughly 10 lines would say in a situation like this.
Marian smiled before looking back at me, his face shifting into confusion, “Didn’t we pass your house already, Xayan?”
Oh.
SHIT!
A wave of panic flooded my mind as I gasped in surprise, “Oh-! Did we? Sorry, that- that volleyball really messed up my memory, it’s hard to remember everything too well, haha!” I excused myself, taking several steps back with a forced smile.
With a turn I took out Xayan’s phone and opened up the maps as I attempted to backtrack, searching for which house was his.
After finally finding which one it was, as well as which key unlocked the house, I stepped into what on the outside, looked like the perfect home.
Inside was a mess, there were bags of trash scattered around as well as the TV blaring loudly.
“Uh, I’m…home?” I announced, walking through the house as I haphazardly glanced at the woman on the couch. She looked older than Xayan, but not old enough to be a mom, maybe she was his older sister?
I quickly located Xayan’s room and stepped inside, noting how it was the only clean room I saw so far. There was a sliding door that led to a patio connected to the backyard, which I now realize is probably how Xayan usually entered the house with all the dirt and the singular towel on the ground.
Slipping off my shoes, I set them off to the side in front of the dresser and laid on the bed. Above was a shit ton of those glow in the dark stars, laid out meticulously so that a large cluster was only above the bed, and the rest simply drifted away.
My eyes grew heavy as I laid there, feeling as though my entire body was being weighed down by sleep, letting it overtake me.
I’ll figure everything out tomorrow morning...