***I am starting this chapter off with an advisory. The events that take place are not pretty and may be triggering for some. If you are sensitive to any kind of physical abuse please be aware before continuing.***

"Machi, wait—"

Suga tried to call her back, but the door had already slammed shut. When he then moved to follow and hopefully catch up to them, to explain or at least be there with her, a rough hand stopped him.

"Where do you think you're going?" Machi had always spoken so well of her team captain, even after their unfortunate misunderstanding, but that kind friend she described was nowhere in sight. Fury mixed with an explosive amount of jealousy ignited behind his eyes as he moved to stand crossed armed in front of the door.

Suga narrowed his eyes, not liking the clearly combative way Nakagawa faced him. "I'm going after Machi, I'm worried about the way her dad was talking to her." Guilt ate at his heart right alongside the fear. The moment both of them had been afraid of finally happened and he was helpless the entire time. Reo's anger was fierce, enough so to make Suga waiver in his resolve. But Machi had stepped in without hesitation, taking the full brunt of his anger without flinching. And now she was on her own.

Shoving rather forcibly past him, Suga nearly ran down the stairs in haste to reach the gym. Not that he knew what he'd do once he arrived, there was no way around the situation really. He was halfway down the first set of stairs and trying to think fast what he'd say to Reo, when Nakagawa's resentful voice echoed around the empty stairwell and made him stop.

"You've got some nerve, you know that." Obviously not ready to let it go, or just looking for a reason to fight, Nakagawa had quickly followed after Suga, jumping over the last half of the staircase to land in front of him. He was slightly taller than the volleyball player, which made him smirk darkly. The final chord of his heart had snapped the moment he'd seen them, perfectly fitted together and oblivious to the outside world. It had felt like he'd been hit by a freight train to see how happily she'd kissed him, and how tenderly he held her in return. "What gives you the right to chase after her like some lovestruck puppy, when if anything it's your fault she'll be chewed out in the first place." He sneered, almost spitting the words with hatred.

How easy it would have been to play into Nakagawa's goading; it didn't take a rocket scientist to see that's exactly what he wanted. But Suga's concern was only for Machi. Not at all intimidated by his taller stature, Suga moved to go around him again, "Nakagawa-San I know you're mad, but—"

"You're damn right I'm mad!" He shouted, blocking off Suga's chance to escape by taking another step forward until they were so close he had to strain his neck to glare down at Suga. "The girl I love kissing another guy, I have every right to want to deck you in the face right now." Oh he wanted to alright. His hands even unconsciously balled themselves into fists as if waiting for the moment to strike. Yet Suga remained annoyingly calm and kept trying to side step around him.

"I get that, I do, but Machi needs me—"

"Why exactly?" He cut Suga off again, redirecting back to the question he really wanted to have answered, "You never responded to my question, Sugawara-San. What gives you the right to chase after her like you are?" He could feel his heart pounding painfully fast against his chest, echoing in his ears; knowing what was coming but still hoping it wouldn't.

There was an almost imperceptible ache attached to his question, but Suga didn't care anymore. Nakagawa was getting in the way, and he could swear he could hear Reo shouting from somewhere in the gym now. If admitting to what they both already knew would finally get the guy to move so he could race to check on Machi, then so be it. Squaring his shoulders, Suga stared back at Nakagawa with unhidden pride, "Because she's my girlfriend Nakagawa-San, and I care about her more than myself."

He had braced himself for it, but the impact against his face still didn't dull the sting. Nakagawa's fist slammed into Suga's chin with all the force he could muster, pushing the latter back into the wall. Suddenly much more impressed with Machi's ability to take a punch, Suga cupped a hand over his aching chin, only to find a dribble of blood trickling down his face; one of Nakagawa's knuckles had busted his lip.

"Oi!"

Red-eyed with fury, Nakagawa had raised his fist again to land another blow when Kaido's outraged cry made them both pause. Pale-faced and sweaty, Kaido jumped in between his friend and Suga, pushing Nakagawa roughly. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Stay out of this Kaido, this is none of your business." Nakagawa barked. It had felt good, to finally hit him. Almost vindicating, but it wasn't enough.

"Like hell it is." Kaido had been so patient with his jealous friend, but he seemed to have finally snapped. A head shorter than Nakagawa, but radiating so much fury even Suga took a step sideways to avoid him, Kaido shoved Nakagawa angrily again. "You've been moping and jealous for months and I'm tired of it. You're acting like a child!" With every sentence, Kaido shoved his friend further down the stairs until standing in front of the door that lead to the gym, "You don't get to take your anger out on Suga just because he can be there for her like you could never. It's only doing more harm than good, Naka. So grow up or get out because I'm not sticking up for you anymore."

The stairwell was silent as Kaido's words hung in the air. They were sharper than he intended, but it seemed to do the trick. Nakagawa's fist slammed angrily into the wall, but then his shoulders slumped in defeat, a small mumble of words that were barely audible as he turned without looking at either of them, and left as fast as he could. Not fast enough to outrun Kaido's words, nor Suga's as they rang in his ears all the way out of the gym and into the blazing heat of the afternoon sun.

"God damnit, I wish he didn't make me say that." Kaido sighed heavily, somehow entirely exhausted. "But the guy needed to hear it." Finally turning to Suga, Kaido's eyes traveled to the spot on his face where a purple bruise could already been seen forming along with a fat lip, "He got ya good, you alright?"

"Yeah," Suga pressed a few fingers to his face gingerly, wincing when they came back stained red, "I'll be fine, but I'm worried about Machi." He couldn't hear anything from the gym anymore, which did nothing to alleviate his growing fears. And they only intensified when he watched Kaido flinch.

"Yeah, um. It's not great." He had caught the tail end of the fight as he returned to the gym ladened with salty treats from the vending machine. They had all tumbled out of his arms though when he saw her and had rushed forward to help.

"I tried to help, but she told me to find you," Kaido sighed again, heart heavy, "to make sure you were ok."

Something about the way Kaido kept his gaze averted made Suga's stomach churn with dread. "What do you mean?" He asked anxiously, fearing the worst. "Is she alright?"

Kaido hesitated, "Not exactly."

***

"Dad, let me explain..."

Machi had followed him back towards the gym without hesitation, yet Reo refused to even acknowledge her until they were back in the middle of the court. A dark shadow still lay over his face when he turned towards her, arms raised and lightly bouncing on the balls of his feet. Of course. Reo didn't like to ever discuss things like a normal person, not when you could spar instead.

"Dad, can we please just talk..." It was futile to even try, but Machi was desperate. She didn't want to fight, literally or verbally for that matter. Now that they were away from Suga, her mind was a bit clearer and began working in overdrive to find a solution. There was no way now to convince him that nothing was going on between her and Suga, he'd never believe it, but maybe she could persuade him to see it wouldn't be an issue; that Suga wasn't the distraction Reo believed he'd be. It was a long shot, but worth a try.

"I know you're mad, but Suga and I—woah!"

Machi's quick reflexes saved her from the impact of Reo's fist as he aimed a punch at her side. Dodging it by just a few millimeters, Machi took a few steps back to regain her composure. But Reo wasn't in the mood to talk, and charged again, this time with a quick succession of punches that forced Machi into sparring mode. Arms up to protect her face, Machi dodged the volley of strikes almost entirely, hissing when one finally made contact against her ribs.

"You disobeyed me Machi." Reo growled lowly, finally deciding to speak, "And by the looks of things, you've been lying to me for quite a while." His daughter had looked much too cozy with that boy for this to be new. Now that he thought about it, he recognized the gray hair as that annoyingly polite boy who kept showing up to their house with food all that time ago, blabbering on about how Machi was feeling. And then again in the crowd at tournaments. A muscle twitched in his temple; she'd been lying to him for months.

Still refusing to counter any of his combos, Machi continued to duck and weave her way around the ring, "I didn't disobey you! Well, I mean, not really...If you'd just let me explain—"

"Explain what? How you lied for months on end and deliberately went against my orders?" The more she denied everything the greater his anger seemed to become, his voice steadily rising in volume, "You know better than to lie to me Machi, to go behind my back like this.
You even got your friends to lie to me too!" He had never been fully convinced by either Kaido or Nakagawa's pitiful stories, but now that his suspicions were confirmed he wasn't sure what he was more furious about: the lies, or the relationship she had been trying to hide.

"I didn't know how to tell you!" Machi cried desperately, but Reo only scoffed, so she tried again, "I didn't want to tell you because I knew you wouldn't approve, but being with Suga hasn't changed anything, I can still compete just fine—" The rest of her words were cut off again by a swift double kick combo. Machi managed to block the first to her face but didn't drop her hands in time to absorb the second aimed at her ribs. Gasping at the impact, she stumbled backwards, placing a hand over the worst of the pain and hissed; that was gonna leave a mark.

"You admit it then, that you're dating this boy." Reo stopped momentarily but didn't drop his guard. It might have looked like he paused out of concern for his daughter, as she clearly was still feeling the pain from his last kick, but that wasn't true at all. He just wanted to make sure nothing distracted him from her next response.

The awful truth of it was, Machi always knew this moment would happen. Did she secretly hope she'd be able to keep everything secret from him forever, or at least until she was out of high school? Absolutely. But the world isn't perfect and her father was way too perceptive to really allow for such a reality. Straightening back up and turning her full attention back to Reo, Machi could feel herself shaking. She wouldn't be surprised if Reo could see it too, the way her knees almost buckled under the pressure and fear, or how she couldn't seem to keep her hands steady. But it was better this way; if this moment had been inevitable from the start, she'd much rather face it alone than drag an unsuspecting Suga down with her. The one silver lining was he'd be alright.

She cleared her throat once, not really needing it but looking to stall a second longer. It didn't help much, her voice still was scratchy when she finally spoke, "Yes. He asked me to be his girlfriend the other day, and I said yes."  There, she'd finally said it, their weight finally lifting from her shoulders.

The weightlessness didn't last long.

Fueled by the knowledge that he'd been right all along, Reo jumped back into their sparring match with new fervor. "So this is the thanks I get for all the hard work I've done to make sure you're ready for the Olympics. For your dream." Reo had watched his daughter through narrowed slits. He'd seen the fear that pooled in her eyes. But she should be scared. Children didn't disobey their parents without consequences. Especially not his daughter. Another punch to the gut, another dodge by Machi. A jump kick to the shoulder, she ducked under it and side stepped around him. "I should have known something was wrong as soon as I saw that punk at the tournament. How foolish of me to think you wouldn't want to throw away your dream for some snot-nosed brat."

"I'm not giving up on anything!" Now Machi was starting to get angry. He didn't know anything about Suga and yet already dismissed him as insignificant. The next kick he threw she dodged once more, but instead of backing away, she countered with her own solid kick that pushed him back a few steps. "I can still make it to the Olympics and date Suga at the same time! I've been doing just fine with him around so far!"

Their sparring match started to look like a real one now, but that didn't stop either from arguing at the same time. "Clearly," Reo spat while easily shoving aside a misplaced punch. "Your technique is sloppy. It has been for a while. You're obviously too distracted to take your training seriously, otherwise you would've passed that tournament with better than a third place loss." That should have been his first clue something was off, but hindsight is always 20/20.

"Suga is not a distraction! I lost that match because of me; I wasn't prepared enough!" Now she was pissed. Fueled by her own hurt ego and the fire to defend the only person who ever made her happy, Machi's next words were out of her mouth before she even processed them, "Just because your love life has been non-existent ever since mom left you doesn't mean I can't be happy with someone and still do the sport I love."

Shit. As soon as she said it, Machi wished she could take them all back, but the words hung in the air between them like smoke, making it harder for her to breathe. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean that..." Machi tried to backtrack as quickly as possible, but it was no use. She'd never seen him look so angry; tight lipped and jaw visibly clenched in rage, yet it was the icy blue fire of his eyes that could have burned a hole in the ground that scared her the most.

As if his restraint had finally snapped, Reo charged towards her with all the speed and agility of an experienced fighter. It took all of her own skill just to be fast enough to block, but soon his strikes were finding their marks: the lower ribs, small of the back, twice to the face. Reo knew the soft spots and where it would hurt the most, and didn't seem to care he wasn't holding back. When a particularly rough kick hit the same spot on her ribs as before, Machi crumpled to the ground with a sob. But it only seemed to make him angrier.

"Get up Machi!" He was shouting now, voice echoing even louder around the gym. When Machi didn't move to stand right away like she normally would, he crouched down and pulled her back to standing, not noticing or not caring about the new bruises that now littered her arms and face. "If you can't even last a regular sparring match with me anymore than clearly I was right. That little boyfriend of yours has turned you soft. Pathetic."

It worked. Machi forgot the pain her body was in and retaliated with her own string of quick attacks that pushed her father back. "I am not weak!" She shouted in between jabs and kicks. But whether it was the injuries slowing her down or his superior skills, Machi grew more and more frustrated when none of her attacks seemed to do anything. That initial kick had been one of the few she managed to land successfully, everything else either missed or was blocked. She even tried throwing in a few fancier jump kicks and feints to try and land something, just one, but to no avail.

With an ugly grin stretching across his face, Reo watched Machi pour every ounce of energy into her sparring, but she was already slowing down, leaving openings. It truly was pathetic, especially for someone he had personally trained. He scoffed again as she aimed a punch for his head, an illegal move even in practice sparring, which he easily pushed away and moved to counter. Instead of moving back to avoid his kick, Machi took a risk and chose to jump forward, aiming her own kick for his head and hoping to beat him to the target.

A clash of feet and legs met midair, there was a loud smack followed by a distinct pop and both parties were on the ground. Machi's foot had found its mark on the side of Reo's head, leaving him dazed but able to stand after a few seconds. Shaking away the stars, Reo slowly got to his feet and barked for Machi to do the same. But she didn't move from her place on the ground, curled in a tight ball with her face pressed to the floor.

""We are not done here Machi, get up!" He barked again, but was met with the same response.

"Machi!" Kaido had walked into the gym just as the sparring match came to its eventful conclusion, all thoughts of which salty snack to eat first replaced with a sickening worry when Machi did not respond to her father's commands, or move at all. He rushed forward just as Reo took one last look at his daughter before he turned and walked away.

"Looks like we really are done for now, what a waste. Your sweet little beau has made you weak, sweetheart, I hope you're happy." Kaido didn't even get a chance to ask what the hell that meant before Reo was out the door, letting it slam shut behind him.

"Machi?" Kaido kneeled next to her and placed a shaking hand on her back, "Are you alright?" He didn't like the look of the blue and green bruises blooming all over her skin, which had definitely not been there only an hour before. But what really worried him was the way she stayed curled in a ball, clutching her knee and trying to hold back tears. "Did he do this to you?"

"Go find Suga, Kaido." Machi's voice was barely a whisper as she fought back the tears and waves of pain that now radiated from her knee. "I left him with Naka, and I'm worried he might try something."

"I can't just leave you, Machi," his voice now shook as much as his hands were, "we need to get to you a nurse or a hospital or something."

But when he tried to help her off the ground, Machi pushed him away with a surprising amount of force for someone so beaten. "I'll be fine. Please Kaido," she glared at him through the pain, "if you don't go I will."

"No! Stay there, I'll be right back." Knowing Machi, she really would find a way to go after him despite the obvious pain she was in. If it meant saving her from further injuring herself, then there wasn't much of a choice. "Just please don't move, ok?" he asked gently. With her nod of consent, Kaido raced back across the gym floor, hellbent on finding Suga as fast as possible, if only to return back to Machi.

Finally alone for just a moment, Machi lay her head back on the floor and let the tears fall freely. Pain radiated from her knee in white hot spasms that wouldn't even allow her to stand had she tried in the first place. It had all happened so fast. One minute she felt her foot slam into Reo's face, triumphant to finally land a good hit and prove to herself she wasn't as pathetic as he had claimed. But then the next his knee was colliding with hers, and the sharp pain blinded her to everything else. She had barely even registered her father shouting at her to move until he spat those hateful words about her and Suga once more and was gone. Now curled on the floor unable to move without excruciating pain, it was clear to her that he had been right all along. She really was weak. And she may have been so all along.

"Sunshine?"

Sniffling back her sobs, Machi looked up at the sound of Suga's voice, which was tight with worry. Even with blurry eyes Machi could still make out the anxiety stretching across his face, and the angry looking spot on his chin; a clear sign she had been right about Nakagawa's intentions. It only made her tears fall faster.

His own eyes beginning to glisten, Suga tried to be as careful as possible when scooping his heart into his arms, paying close attention to the way she winced at the slightest movement. While it probably would have been a better idea to immediately call for a car to take them to the hospital, Suga chose instead to sit for a few moments longer, holding her until their tears ran dry.

"It's alright, Machi. I'm here."