Yachi imagined a lot of worst-case scenarios, but she had never imagined something like this.

Well, perhaps "imagine" wasn't the right word. Her brain just...took her there. Something would happen, and Yachi's mind would get stuck on something, and then her brain would rush away down a long spiral of horrifying events that ended in utter disaster. It wasn't like she sat and daydreamed about all the bad things that could happen in her life. Her brain just...took her on trips sometimes.

So perhaps it wasn't surprising that she'd never imagined something like this. This didn't follow from any preceding events. There was no build-up to it, no explanation. It had no logic. It didn't follow rules. It made no sense.

And Yachi's brain could not comprehend it at all.

She had been walking down the hallway, heading for volleyball practice, when she spotted Hinata and his classmate walking ahead of her. Hinata was smiling and talking loudly, as usual, jumping around like a grasshopper in the sun. Yachi started to raise her hand, to call and hurry her steps so she could join them.

Then something strange happened. A group of older boys Yachi hadn't noticed moved forward, surrounding Hinata and hiding him from her sight. A terrible noise sounded in the air, and Hinata's voice stopped as if it had been cut off by a knife.

Somebody laughed.

No one Yachi knew. She was sure of it.

A black hole opened up in the middle of Yachi's gut, and time skipped forward. Now Tanaka was in the hallway, straining against Daichi's hold on his arms. He was yelling and crying, spittle flying from his mouths, tears falling down his cheeks. He was trying to get at an older boy, a boy with a bloody nose who had raised his hand to swipe at his face, smearing the blood around. The boy with the bloody nose was smiling. So were his friends.

Hinata was kneeling on the ground, half in and half out of the doorway that led outside. He was bent forward, as still as if he'd been paralyzed. Yachi couldn't see his head.

She heard Kageyama's voice on the walkway outside. She'd never heard his voice sound quite like this before. He sounded...scared. He sounded terrified.

Hinata's classmate had backed until she hit the side of the doorway. Now she leaned against it, her hands over her mouth, her eyes full of tears as she stared down at Hinata, kneeling on the ground. All around the girl was movement and chaos, but she was still, paralyzed and silent.

She needs to look away, Yachi thought. She didn't know why she thought it, but she knew it was true. She needs to stop staring at Hinata.

Yachi's feet started moving, certain and firm. This was something she could. She didn't know what was going on, and she couldn't do anything about it. But this one thing, she could do.

No one was paying any attention to her. She slipped through the moving bodies, the volleyball players who suddenly filled the hallway and pushed back the boy with the bloody nose and his companions. She moved through them as if she was invisible, as if she was wearing dark green camouflage in the jungle to fool the wild animals. Then Yachi was at Hinata's classmate's side.

She wrapped her hands around her arm and tugged her away. "Hello, my name is Yachi Hitoka. You're Hinata's friend, right? What's your name? Will you come with me?"

The girl moved easily at Yachi's prompting, pliable in her hands. "I'm...Kimura...Chiyoko..." Tears were falling down her cheeks, silent, one by one.

Yachi dragged her away. She propped Kimura up against a wall on the inside of the hallway, removed from the mess, and stood between her and the shouting, weeping boys. She said something, and Kimura said something back. They had a conversation. It might have been a conversation, anyway. Neither of them were paying attention to what they were saying. Later, Yachi couldn't remember any of the words she had used. It might have been complete nonsense. It might have been poetry. She would never know.

Her brain was too full to think about words. She'd caught a glimpse of Hinata as she pushed by him to get to Kimura. Hinata had been bent over, there on the concrete, Kageyama kneeling in front of him and reaching out as if he wanted to grab Hinata but was unable to finish the movement. Yachi had seen blood. Blood had been spattered on the ground beneath Hinata's head. Hinata was hurt. He was bleeding.

Eventually, Kimura reached out and nudged Yachi's arm. "I'm...going to go home now," she said.

Yachi blinked at her. It took her a few seconds to comprehend what Kimura had said. "Shouldn't you wait and talk to the adults? Tell them what happened, what you saw? I'm sure someone went to get the authorities. You should talk to them."

Kimura shook her head, slow and dazed. Her movements were jerky and confused, but she seemed certain. "I need to go home." Her voice was firm, too.

"I don't think you should go. You just saw something really bad... You need to be still and relax until you feel better.

"No. I need to go home." The tears started flowing again, quiet, endless. "I want to go home. Please."

Yachi faltered. Every instinct screamed at her that she should not let this girl wander off alone. She clearly wasn't in control of her faculties. What if she forgot the way home? What if she wandered down the wrong street and got mauled by wild cats in an alley? Or she could fall down an open manhole and end up in the sewer and have to live on garbage for the rest of her life and her only friends would be the mutant rats that lived down there and then how would she ever have a family? Her family would be full of rat babies.

"Please, Yachi-san, let me go home."

Yachi felt like crying, too. Then a gentle hand landed on her shoulder, and she looked up to find Kiyoko standing there. Her face was milky pale and her eyes were wet, but she seemed strong and in control of herself. "Hitoka-chan, are you all right?"

Yachi nodded numbly. She looked at Kimura again. "Kimura-san wants to go home."

Kimura switched her attention to Kiyoko. The tears fell faster. "Please, let me go."

Kiyoko nodded quickly. She brushed her hair behind her ear and stepped forward, wrapping an arm around Kimura's shoulders. "I'll help you, all right? Don't go alone."

Kimura nodded. Yachi almost fainted in relief.

Kiyoko looked back at Yachi. "Will you be all right here?"

Yachi opened her mouth, then hesitated. Not really, no. Not at all. But someone needed to help Kimura. "I'll be fine. I'll look after the team."

Kiyoko smiled. "I know you will. I'll join you as soon as I can."

She walked with Kimura away down the hall, steering her so that she couldn't look back at the chaotic scene they were leaving behind. Yachi watched them go for a few moments, then set her jaw and turned around. She had to face what was going on. She had to do everything she could to help her friends, her teammates. They were her responsibility.

The situation had changed in the last few minutes. Kageyama and Hinata were sitting with their backs against the wall inside the hallway, Hinata leaning on Kageyama's shoulder, Kageyama's arm wrapped around Hinata's chest. Suga knelt next to Hinata on the floor, talking to him quietly and holding a folded handkerchief to his forehead.

Hinata...didn't look good. His face was far too pale, and he seemed sick and dizzy and almost completely out of it. Yachi couldn't bear to look at him for long, her eyes slipping away. She couldn't help him—Kageyama and Suga were already doing everything they could. She would just get in the way.

But Kageyama...he didn't look much better than Hinata. He was pale, too, his cheeks flushed as if he had a high fever. His face was set in misery and anger, and he was glaring across the hall at Bloody-Nose and his friends, who were being kept back by Asahi and most of the second-years. The thugs were still smiling amongst themselves as if it was all a big joke. It made Yachi feel sick.

"You," Kageyama barked, and Blood-Nose turned to look at him. Noya shoved at his chest with one fierce hand, keeping him still, and Bloody-Nose grinned, expectant.

"Why?" Kageyama asked. The single word was...so full of pain. Pain and rage and sadness and confusion and grief. Yachi's chest hurt to hear it. She stared at Kageyama, unable to look away.

Bloody-Nose said something. Yachi didn't listen to the words—she already knew that they didn't mean anything. They were cruel and mocking and worthless. Kageyama's face shut down instantly, and he looked away and glowered at the floor. His arm tightened around Hinata's chest, and Hinata's hands tightened their grip on Kageyama's arm.

Bloody-Nose laughed.

Heat rose in Yachi's chest and spread through her arms, making her hands tighten into fists. She had a strange feeling as if she were floating, but it wasn't happiness. It was pure, potent, incandescent indignation. How dare he laugh? How dare he?

She still couldn't understand what had happened with Hinata. Her brain could not grasp the concept. It was too large, too heavy, too fiery to handle. Her mind shied away from the understanding of it, because it was just too much for her right now. Soon it would all be clear, soon it would all settle in her mind, and she knew already that it was going to crack her heart in half. Soon, but not yet.

But she could grab this corner of the situation, as small and as silly as it was. She knew this: Her friends were upset, and this boy was laughing at them. He was amused by their pain—he was openly mocking them for being hurt and angry and sad. How could he? What kind of person could have that response to a thing like this?

Tanaka was still sobbing, loud and shameless, pouring himself all over the floor. It was heartbreaking to listen to and difficult to watch. Daichi had pulled him away down the hall, opposite from where Yachi stood, and he still had his arms wrapped around him. Tanaka wasn't fighting to get away anymore. He was just standing there, letting Daichi hold onto him while he cried.

Yachi couldn't do anything for Hinata and Kageyama. They were already at their limit. But maybe she could help Tanaka. She could try, anyway. She could stand next to him and pat his back and tell him it would be okay, even if it was a lie. Tanaka adored Kiyoko, and he saw Yachi as Kiyoko's apprentice, so maybe it would mean something to him.

To get there, though, she would have to walk by Bloody-Nose and his friends. At another time this might have been a problem, but Yachi was currently buzzing with indignation at all of them. It was fuel in her limbs and fire in her heart. There was no room in her for fear when she felt like this.

She set her shoulders and started walking, arms swinging aggressively. She kept her eyes trained on Tanaka and Daichi, determined not to look at those nasty boys. If she looked, she might get scared. She needed to keep this buoyant feeling of heat and pressure bearing her up. She needed to walk, she just needed to get there...

A foot thrust out into her path. Yachi glared at it. A quick glance up revealed what she already knew—it was Bloody-Nose. He was smirking. Did he think he was going to trip her? What a ridiculous notion. Yachi stared down again, watching the floor in front of her with grim determination. She wasn't going to trip.

The foot was still there, clad in only a thin indoor shoe. Yachi stalked toward it without pausing. Then she stepped on it, deliberately, as hard as she could. She ground her weight down on the offending foot, ignoring Bloody-Nose's yelp of surprise (and pain?) and continued on her journey to her friends.

Tanaka had watched the entire exchange, though Yachi wondered how well he was able to see it with his eyes streaming tears. Right after she was past that horrible foot, Yachi's indignation suddenly fled. All of the heat left her body in a rush, leaving her feeling light-headed with terror. What had she just done?

She gasped, too frightened to look back, and scurried the rest of the way to Tanaka and Daichi, where she ducked behind them to hide from the thugs. Why did she do that? What was she thinking? They were going to remember her forever and watch for her whenever she came to school and trip her when she wasn't looking and steal her lunch and put bugs in all her food and then how was she going to eat at school anymore? She really didn't like bugs! They were not delicacies, no matter what her grandma said.

"Stag...beetles..." she whimpered, clutching the back of Daichi's shirt for protection.

He looked over his shoulder to frown at her, but Tanaka was laughing. It was choked and harsh and quiet, but it was a real laugh. He reached around Daichi to pat her shoulder, rough and clumsy. His hand was shaking, but the gesture was genuine.

"I saw that," he said in a loud stage-whisper. "That was awesome, Yacchan. You're awesome."

"It was an accident," Yachi lied. She just straight-out lied, her voice thin and high. "I didn't mean to do it."

Yachi peeked around Daichi to watch the thugs with one eye. They weren't looking at her, their attention held by Asahi and Nishinoya. Maybe they hadn't noticed that she did it on purpose. Maybe everything was okay. Even if it wasn't, at least she was with Daichi and Tanaka now. They were the most reassuring people on the team to be with if a fight was on the way.

Tanaka was still snickering. He had lowered his head to rest on Daichi's shoulder, soaking the fabric of his shirt with tears and snot. Daichi made a noise that might have been disgust and might have been satisfaction—or maybe both—and began to loosen his grip on Tanaka.

"All right now?" he asked gruffly. "You won't try to punch him again?"

Tanaka shook his head. He was still shaking all over, and tears were still leaking out of his eyes. Daichi shuffled sideways so they stood side by side, Yachi still clinging to his shirt. He kept one arm around Tanaka's back, and he didn't try to dislodge his head from his shoulder. If anything, he did everything he could to make sure Tanaka could leave it there for as long as he wanted.

Yachi let go of Daichi's shirt with one hand so she could pat Tanaka's back, as had been her original goal. Her hand was shaking, too, but she knew Tanaka appreciated it. "Everything's going to be okay," she said. That might be a lie, too, but she wanted it to be true.

Tanaka nodded. After another long few moments, he lifted his head from Daichi's shoulder and gave her smile. "Of course it will," he said, and his voice was brave and sure. "We're Karasuno. We'll take care of everything."

"That's right, we will," Daichi growled.

There was something low and dark in his voice, something not quite fitting for a teenager, a high school boy, even one who was a captain of a sports team. Yachi did her best to ignore this. Everyone was upset. They were all saying and doing things they didn't quite mean.

Tanaka nodded calmly, though, as if he expected nothing less. He swiped a hand over his face, wiping away most of the tears and other fluids, and rubbed his hand on his shirt. Yachi stared at his hand, then let go of Daichi's shirt and moved around to his side so she could see it better. His knuckles were messed up, all red and swollen-looking.

Tanaka started to raise his hand back to his face, but Yachi caught it and held it in both of hers, staring at his knuckles. Tanaka started in surprise but didn't try to pull his hand away from her. Instead, he just watched her silently while Yachi frowned, trying to understand.

Then she put it together, all at once and in a rush, and she blinked. Tanaka had punched the boy with the bloody nose. He'd hit him. He'd used violence against another human being.

Good.

Yachi looked up in Tanaka's face, and he looked back at her. His face was pale, and grim, and still streaked and blotchy from crying. Yachi continued to hold his hand just as gently as she could.

"Everything will be okay," she said.

Tanaka nodded. On the other side of him, so did Daichi.

The three of them stood there, understanding. They held on to each other, and they waited. They had done all they could do, and in the future, they would do much more.