Kusari
Dodgeball was easier than people expected.
Not because it was simple.
Because it obeyed rules.
Movement, intent, pressure, hesitation, overcommitment.
A throw wanted somewhere to go long before it left the hand.
Panic had weight to it. Confidence did too.
Most people telegraphed themselves more in games than in fights, because they had never learned that bodies speak before mouths do.
I stood near the back-right line and watched the other team move into place.
Students from another club.
Loud. Competitive.
Human enough that all of us had to stay careful.
Normal enough that no one watching would read too deeply into good coordination
We were up against the baseball club.
They were already glaring at Issei for some reason.
That would seem odd if it was directed at someone else, but Issei wasn’t exactly popular with his status as a member of the pervert trio.
The whistle blew.
“Aim for him! Aim for Hyoudou!”
Instantly the other team began to target Issei as he frantically dodged their throws.
“Uoooooo! Screw you guys!”
He shouted as he ran across our side of the court avoiding their throws.
The first throw at someone besides Issei came toward Akeno.
She caught it one-handed.
The second was going to head toward Asia, then veered because the boy throwing it saw her flinch and looked like he felt bad for targeting her.
It went wide enough that Koneko stepped in, caught it cleanly, and launched it back at him.
From the sidelines the crowd cheered on the players going after Issei.
“Kill him!!”
“Go Asia-chaaaaaaaaan! Her bloomers are the best! Issei-san, die!!”
“Please take Hyoudou down! For Rias-oneesama’s and for Akeno-oneesama’s sake!”
“Get him! Throw to the right! No, throw it at him head on!”
“Kill him!! The one close to Koneko-chan should be me! There’s only room for one loli-con, me!
“You wouldn’t have needed to be killed if you stayed away from our idols!”
Issei continued to frantically run from the barrage.
“Damn it! Why is this happening to me!”
I ignored the hatred of the student body directed at Issei and focused on the match.
“The left side overextends after they catch,” I said quietly.
Rias heard immediately.
So did Akeno
Koneko’s eyes flicked once in the direction I meant.
The next exchange proved it.
Their left side crowded too far inward, leaving the outlet side weaker than they realized.
Rias and Akeno threw there.
One player stumbled trying to cover the distance and got clipped on the thigh.
Another just finished throwing at Issei when he got hit in the shoulder.
Out and Out.
Seeing that most of the other team was still targeting Issei, Rias shouted to the team.
“Their team is concentrating onIse! We can use him as a “sacrifice” for our strategy! Ise, this is a huge chance!”
He ducked under another throw while replying.
“Buchouuuu!! I will do my best!”
Another almost hit his back
“Ah shit! This really sucks!”
The Occult Research Club’s side erupted with energy.
I resisted the urge to tell him to be quiet and keep running.
This time I watched the center.
A taller boy was throwing balls at the rest of us rather than Issei.
“He’s favoring his right side heavily,” I said.
Koneko threw next.
Not at him.
At the space just to his left.
He tried to dodge exactly as expected.
The ball struck his side on the way through.
Out.
A few of the girls from my class watching near the side shouted in surprise.
I saw Kiryuu among them, arms folded, eyes following the rhythm of our court much more carefully than most students would.
Beside me, Asia tightened her grip on the ball she had somehow ended up holding.
“You can use the middle lane now,” I told her quietly.
Asia looked at me, startled. “I can?”
“You throw straight when you don’t think too much.”
She looked unconvinced.
“I do?”
“Yes.”
Rias glanced back.
“Kusari is right. Throw when issei creates the opening.”
Asia inhaled, nodded, and held onto the ball like she was preparing to face judgment.
Issei ran back across the court while yelling angrily at the other team.
Asia threw.
Not hard.
Straight.
The ball smacked into a surprised boy near the middle who had moved the wrong way to follow Issei.
Out.
Asia stared.
Issei screamed louder than anyone in the gym.
“Asia! That was amazing!”
He then jumped over another ball thrown at him.
Asia turned bright red instantly.
A couple of girls from class clapped and cheered for Asia.
Kiryuu smiled.
Murayama and Katase looked delighted.
They started cheering her name too.
Asia nearly died of embarrassment on the spot.
I looked away before anyone could see the change in my expression.
The game continued.
Another throw came.
I stepped once to the side and let it pass wide.
“Shit! I don’t care whether I get hated! The girl I like won’t stop talking about you!”
One of the other players wound up and was about to throw one of the few actual attempts to hit someone besides Issei.
Not at me. Not at Rias. Not at Koneko or Asia.
At Yuuto.
She didn’t look like she noticed at all.
“Yuuto-san! Pay attention!”
Issei moved before anyone else could speak.
He ran straight towards her.
And everything in the gym seemed to lean toward what would happen next.
Issei
The second I threw myself into the middle of the court, I knew I’d done something stupid.
Not because it felt stupid.
Because the entire gym seemed to react like I had.
“Kya—!”
Asia’s startled voice hit first.
Then the ball did.
It came hard and low, straight for where Yuuto-san had been standing.
I moved without thinking, the way I always did when something aimed itself at one of the girls and my body got there before my brain had the chance to object.
The baseball club guy had a good arm.
A really good arm.
And the ball hit me exactly where a guy least wants to be hit by anything, ever.
My soul left my body.
I made a sound no proud man should ever make in public and folded in half so hard I thought my spine might crack.
The gym exploded.
Some people laughed.
Some people winced.
Somebody actually shouted, “He took it for her!”
I dropped to my knees with both hands clamped over my groin, vision white with pain.
Buchou and the others ran over to check on me.
“Bu…Buchou…m-my…..my balls….”
“Don’t worry, Ise I got the ball. You did well as a distraction. Now I will have to hunt down the one who hurt my cute Ise!”
Buchou has scary eyes…..
…It hurts to breathe…
“Ara ara. Buchou, I think you’ve got it wrong. It seems like a different ball is what Ise-kun is worried about.”
Buchou looked at me in shock.
Akeno-san laughed quietly.
Kusari-san, from just behind them, had the decency not to say anything immediately.
Yuuto-san looked apologetic and less distracted now.
Which probably meant whatever she was thinking was especially vicious.
“No! Asia, you’ll need to heal him! It will be a problem for me if it becomes useless form this! Asia, Koneko, come here!”
Rias turns and calls out to Asia and Koneko-chan.
“Y-yes Buchou! Where is Ise-san hurt?”
Koneko-chan and Asia run over to us.
“Yes! His important parts may have been damaged when he was hit. Can you take him behind the gym and heal him?”
“What do you mean his important part? I don’t really understand Buchou, but I’ll help Issei-san!”
“Koneko. Asia will need somewhere private to heal him. Can you take them behind the gym?”
Koneko looked like she wanted to be anywhere else.
“……Affermative.”
The pain was too much.
I could hardly pay attention to their conversation.
“B-Buchou…… I’m sorry that I wasn’t able to do more than run around.”
“It’s alright, Ise. You were great as a distraction. We will win the match for you.”
Buchou gently patted my check before turning away.
“I’m sorry Issei-kun, It’s my fault you were hurt.”
Yuuto-san apologized while looking at me with worry.
“I-It’s fine…… Don’t worry about it.”
I managed to mumble out a response despite the pain.
Someone grabbed me by my collar.
I was getting dragged away
I looked back and saw it was Koneko-chan.
I groaned at the rough treatment
“Ise-san! It will be fine! Just hold on a little longer!”
Asia was trying to soothe me as we left the gym.
“The rest of this match will be revenge for Ise!”
Buchou stepped forward, red hair swaying, eyes blazing.
The girls Akeno, Kusari, and Yuuto answered instantly.
As Koneko-chan dragged me away and Asia scurried after us I muttered quietly.
“Please win for my balls.”
Asia made a distressed noise.
Koneko-chan pulled me more roughly
“Koneko-chan!” I yelped. “C-Careful! The future of the Hyoudou family is currently in critical condition!”
“You’re loud,” she said, dragging me toward the edge of the court anyway.
Asia scrambled after us immediately. “I-I’ll heal it!”
Behind us, I heard Buchou clap once, sharp as a command.
“All right. Enough. We finish this now.”
The baseball club side, which had been enjoying my suffering way too much a moment ago, suddenly looked a lot less confident.
Koneko-chan dragged me out of the gym while Asia hurried after us, carrying her bag and nearly tripping twice from trying to go too fast.
My crotch was in agony.
My pride was dead.
But at least Buchou was avenging me.
That counted for something.
Behind the gym was quiet compared to the madness inside.
Quiet except for my pain.
Koneko-chan let go of me only once we were out of sight of the other students.
There was a narrow bench against the wall, and I collapsed over it face-first with all the grace of a dying animal.
My hands were still clamped where they needed to be.
Asia knelt beside me at once, panic and determination fighting all over her face.
“Issei-san! I’ll start healing, so please show me the place you hurt yourself!”
My head snapped up.
“…What?”
She looked desperate enough to cry. “If you don’t show me properly, I can’t heal it!”
There are moments in a man’s life when his soul is tested.
This was one of them.
“Asia,” I said weakly, “there are limits.”
“Wh-What limits?”
“The limits of decency! The limits of human dignity! The limits of what I can survive emotionally!”
Koneko-chan stood beside the bench, watching us with that same unreadable face.
“…You’re being dramatic…”
“This is my crotch!”
“Yes.”
“Why are you so calm!?”
Koneko-chan blinked once. “Because it isn’t me.”
That was unbelievably cruel.
Asia’s eyes had gone watery by then.
“I-I only want to help…”
Damn it.
That face was unfair.
The problem with Asia was that she was too earnest.
If I pushed her away too hard, she’d think she had done something wrong.
If I let her help the direct way she meant, I’d die from shame before the physical injury had time to recover.
I groaned into the bench.
“Asia… just… don’t cry. Please don’t cry.”
“I’m not crying…”
She was absolutely about to cry.
I forced my head up and tried to think through the pain.
“You can use your Sacred Gear around my hips,” I managed. “Just around there. That’ll work, right? Probably?”
Asia hesitated. “It might…”
“Good. Great. Perfect. Let’s do that and never discuss this again.”
Koneko-chan, arms folded, said, “This is definitely going to be discussed again.”
“No, it’s not..”
“…It will be...”
“Why are you like this?”
“Because you’re a pervert.”
That from Koneko-chan, who had watched me take a direct ball shot with all the compassion of a prison guard.
Asia moved closer, swallowing hard and lifting her hands.
“O-Okay. Then… please stay still.”
“That was always the plan,” I muttered.
I stayed draped over the bench because changing position sounded impossible and, honestly, I wasn’t sure I trusted my legs yet anyway.
So there I was.
Bent over the bench.
Face down.
Ass up.
The most humiliating position I’d been in all week, which was really saying something.
Then Asia’s hands began to glow.
Warm light spread from her palms, and even before it sank in properly, I felt the pain begin to ease.
Oh.
Oh, wow.
That was heavenly.
The worst throbbing receded first, then the deeper ache, then the impossible crushing pressure that had made every heartbeat feel like a fresh attack on my bloodline.
A sound escaped me.
Not a manly one.
“Ahhh… that’s… way better…”
Asia brightened with relief. “Really!?”
“Yes, yes, keep going—!”
At that exact moment, the door behind us opened.
I heard footsteps stop.
Then a pause.
I twisted my head just enough to see over my shoulder.
Kusari-san stood in the doorway.
Still in her gym clothes.
Hair slightly disordered from play.
Expression perfectly composed except for the fact that her eyes were on the scene in front of her and had clearly judged all of us in a single instant.
Me bent over the bench.
Asia kneeling close, hands glowing just above my hips.
Koneko-chan standing nearby, watching.
Out of context, there was no saving this.
There was barely any saving it in context.
No one spoke for one horrible beat.
Then Kusari-san said, in the driest voice I had ever heard in my life, “At this point I shouldn’t be surprised. I didn’t expect this exactly, but I should have assumed that you had convinced Asia to do something perverse.”
Asia made a tiny strangled sound and nearly fell backward.
“It’s not like that!” I shouted immediately, which only made the position I was shouting from worse.
Koneko-chan didn’t move.
Kusari-san’s gaze shifted to Asia first, then to me.
“If you’re going to do this,” she said, “do it at home. You live together.”
Asia looked ready to die.
“I-It’s healing!” she squeaked. “I was healing him!”
Kusari-san’s expression did not change in the slightest.
“You don’t have to make excuses. I don’t care what you two do when you're alone. But I didn’t expect Asia-san to be interested in that sort of thing.”
I realized the position she had seen Aisa and I in when she first saw us.
Asia looked confused and like she was going to ask Kusari-san to explain.
I tried to push myself up and immediately regretted it. “Kusari-san, listen—”
She looked at Koneko-chan.
For the first time since walking in, her stare changed.
“And I’m disappointed in you.”
Koneko-chan blinked. “Why?”
“You’re the one who calls Issei-san out on being a pervert the most, but now you’re watching them do this.”
Koneko-chan took half a second to process that before blushing lightly.
Then, somehow, her face got flatter.
“….I’m not a voyeur.”
“That is what a voyeur would say,” Kusari replied.
I would have laughed if I wasn’t still too close to death.
Asia had both hands over her face by then. “Please stop saying it like that…”
“It looks like that,” Kusari-san said.
That was, infuriatingly, true.
I dragged in a breath and tried again.
“I got hit in the balls! That’s what this was about!”
Kusari-san’s eyes dropped, briefly, toward the general area in question.
Then back to my face.
The corner of her mouth moved.
It didn’t raise enough to count as a smile.
“A tragedy,” she said.
She was enjoying this.
She knew exactly what was actually happening and just wanted to make it sound worse.
Koneko-chan made a small sound. It might have been amusement.
Traitor.
Asia forced herself to lower her hands. “I was only using Twilight Healing near his hips because he wouldn’t let me…” She stopped and went red all over again. “B-Because he was embarrassed.”
Kusari-san held her gaze a moment longer.
Then, at last, some of the sharpened judgment in her expression eased.
“A reasonable response,” she said. “For once.”
“Hey!”
Koneko-chan looked at me. “ …..Perverted senpai….”
“Why am I being judged for this?!”
I hated how little support I got in moments of personal crisis.
Kusari-san stepped fully out of the gym then, closing the door behind her with a quiet click.
She came nearer, stopped just far enough away to remain outside the ridiculous triangle of me, Asia, and Koneko-chan, and added, “Rias-Buchou’s revenge is going well.”
That caught all of us immediately.
I forgot my humiliation for a second. “Really!?”
Asia lit up. “Rias-san’s amazing!”
Koneko-chan nodded once. “As expected.”
“She asked me to check on you.”
I was surprised that Buchou sent Kusari-san.
“Buchou sent you after you were knocked out?”
Kusari frowned as if insulted.
“I wasn’t knocked out when I left to come here. Rias-Buchou was dominating the match by herself and decided that I could leave.”
Kusari-san’s eyes moved to me again, assessing.
“No permanent damage, then?”
I drew myself up as much as a man could while still face-down over a bench. “Of course not.”
“Well I’m glad it’s nothing serious.”
The answer seemed sincere.
And because my life was unfair, that hit me harder than it should have.
Asia seemed to notice too.
She smiled faintly and resumed the healing without as much panic now that she had explained herself.
Koneko-chan stayed where she was, apparently committed to being misread forever.
Kusari-san leaned one shoulder against the wall and, after all that judgment, actually stayed.
The pain faded.
The embarrassment did not.
A minute later the loudspeaker cracked through the afternoon noise outside.
[The Occult Research Club wins!]
Asia clasped her hands together in delight.
“We did it!”
“I knew it,”
I said into the bench, voice thick with relief for more than one reason.
Koneko-chan’s expression softened the tiniest amount.
Kusari-san closed her eyes for a brief second, like she had expected nothing less.
Then Asia’s healing finally finished, and warmth sank all the way through the last of the ache.
I exhaled like a man coming back from the dead.
“That’s not fair,” I muttered.
Asia tilted her head. “What isn’t?”
I looked back at her over my shoulder. “You have healing hands and no idea how dangerous that is.”
Asia turned red again.
Koneko-chan looked bored.
Kusari-san, merciless, said, “That sounds like something you should keep to yourself.”
The worst part was that Buchou probably would’ve only half-scolded me for it.
Maybe less than half.
That thought alone was enough to put some life back into me.
I stood up carefully.
Kusari-san’s gaze dropped, checking without asking whether I could actually manage it.
When I stayed upright, she turned away first.
That annoyed me for reasons I couldn’t name.
“Anyway,” I said, trying to reclaim what was left of my dignity, “thanks for the healing, Asia.”
Asia smiled warmly. “Of course.”
“And you two,” I added, looking at Koneko-chan and Kusari-san, “this never leaves this corner of the school.”
“No promises,” Koneko-chan said.
Kusari-san considered it.
Then: "Perhaps."
“Why are you the worst?”
She looked at me sidelong. “You were the one who didn't think to have someone lock the door.”
I had no answer to that.
Rias
Rain began after the tournament ended.
I might have called that kind, if the day had not already left me with other irritations.
We took first place.
Even with Ise removed from the court for a time after that unfortunate strike, we won the Ball Tournament as a club.
Akeno and I finished what was left of the dodgeball match.
Yuuto was still distracted and I had sent Kusari to check on Issei.
Koneko, Kusari and Asia returned later with the healed Ise.
The rest of the events broke our way after that, one by one, because once I decided we would not lose, losing stopped being an acceptable shape for the day.
I should have been satisfied.
I was not.
Because Yuuto had drifted through the tournament like a shadow of herself.
Capable when pressed.
Sharp when directly forced to act.
But absent too often.
Distracted too often.
Somewhere else in her own head while the rest of us moved around her.
I had let it pass during practice.
Then during the event.
Then through our victory.
By the time the rain started and we were gathered under the shelter near the old school building, I had run out of patience.
Yuuto stood in front of me, damp hair clinging at her temple, expression closed.
The others were nearby.
Issei, recovered and expectedly lively again, though still walking with slightly too much care if one knew where to look.
Asia beside him.
Koneko quiet.
Akeno watching.
Kusari still and unreadable near the edge of the group, but watching us all quietly.
The rain struck the roof hard enough to fill the pauses.
I lifted a hand.
And slapped Yuuto across the face.
The sound cracked through the shelter beneath the rain.
Almost everyone went still.
Yuuto’s head turned with the blow.
Kusari flinched slightly, as if she had been struck instead.
Then Yuuto straightened.
I let my hand fall.
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