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“Okay everyone ready?” Kawanishi counted to make sure everyone was awake and paused when he noticed one missing. “Naoyasu,” he realized. He walked over to the younger boy’s bed and found him still asleep. He shook his half-brother’s shoulder. “Wake up, Nao. It’s time for breakfast,” he said. Kuguri slowly opened his eyes and glared at Kawanishi. He sighed and sat up. “Come on. Get changed and make your bed. You can sleep at breakfast.” After a few minutes, Kuguri got dressed and made his bed. The Hypnos cabin walked to breakfast. They were one of the last cabins to arrive, as usual. They joined the line of campers waiting to get some food.
“Good morning, Kawanishi,” Komori greeted him.
Kawanishi nodded back and mumbled a soft “Morning, Komori.” The two made some small talk, mainly Komori talking with Kawanishi occasionally nodding along. A few spots behind them, Kuguri struggled to stay awake. His eyes slipped shut and he fell asleep in line. A loud crash sounded through the mess hall as Kuguri fell to the ground. Narita and Suna tried to catch him but they weren’t able to get him in time. All conversations came to a halt and everyone turned to the noise to see what happened.
“I think he hit his head,” Narita said, breaking the silence.
Kawanishi made his way back over to Kuguri. The other campers in line near Kuguri backed up to give them space. “Naoyasu?” He asked, shaking his half-brother’s shoulder.
Kuguri’s eyes fluttered open and Kawanishi let out a sigh of relief that he didn’t know he was holding. “Huh?” Kuguri asked. “What’s going on?”
“You fell asleep in line again. Kazuhito says you might’ve hit your head,” Kawanishi said. “Are you feeling okay?”
“My head kinda hurts,” Kuguri said. He put his hand to his head and stood back up in line.
“Bokuto, can you come over here?” Kawanishi called across the mess hall.
Bokuto made his way to the line. “Is everything okay?” He asked.
“Naoyasu fell asleep in line and hit his head and now he says his head hurts,” Kuguri nodded in agreement.
“That could be a concussion. We should get him looked at,” Bokuto decided. He walked over to the Apollo cabin’s table with Kawanishi and Kuguri following behind him. “I’m going to take Kuguri to the infirmary to get his head checked out. Kouji, can you still come when you finish breakfast?”
“Yeah,” Hiroo said.
“Thanks, bro,” Bokuto said. “I’ll see the rest of you at arts and crafts.” He grabbed his bowl of cereal off the table and turned back to Kawanishi and Kuguri. “Let’s go.”
Kawanishi made his way to his half-siblings to tell them they’ll be back and that Narita’s in charge. Bokuto, Kuguri, and Kawanishi then left the mess hall and conversations started back up.
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“Yep, it’s a concussion,” Bokuto said, after checking over Kuguri. “But only a minor one. Let him stay here and rest today and he’ll be fine.”
“I can do that,” Kuguri said. He already shifted in bed to make himself more comfortable.
“Okay. I’ll let our siblings know,” Kawanishi said. “I’ll stop by later on to check on you, ‘kay?”
“Okay.”
“See you later, Naoyasu,” Kawanishi told him. He then turned to Bokuto. “Thank you for helping, Bokuto.”
“It’s no problem at all,” Bokuto said. Kawanishi left the infirmary to head back to the mess hall, where breakfast was starting to wind down.
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“Woah,” Koji said in awe.
“That’s so cool!” Inuoka said, smiling.
“You’ve never seen a pegasus before?” Sakunami asked them. They both shook their heads.
“Koji and Sou have only been here for two days,” Kei points out.
“Okay,” Daishou said. He took a moment to think about how to explain how to ride a pegasus. “Have you ever rode a horse?” He asked.
“Nope,” Inuoka said.
“Once when I was like seven,” Koji said.
“Okay, let’s take it simple. We’ll start with how to get on the pegasus,” Daishou told him.
“Kousuke, can you demonstrate step by step how to get on the pegasus?” Kuroo asked Sakunami. He nodded and approached the pegasus. Kuroo gave an explanation of what he was doing. “You start by approaching the pegasus. Let them know you’re there. Especially because they aren’t familiar with you yet. Once the pegasus acknowledges you, stand on its left side and get on the stool,” Kuroo explained as Sakunami stood on a mounting block. “Make sure the horse is standing still and grab the reins,” Sakunami held the reins up so Inuoka and Koji could see them. “Put your left foot in the left stirrup, that’s the part dangling off the side, and lift your body up, swing your leg around, and put your right foot through the stirrup on the other side,” Inuoka nodded. ”Then you just sit down.”
Daishou and Kuroo waited while the rest of their siblings climbed on the pegasi. They watched as Inuoka and Koji climbed on, explaining stuff again as necessary. Kuroo walked alongside Inuoka and Daishou walked alongside Koji. When they started to get the hang of it, they also got on the pegasi and continued to guide their siblings. Inuoka and Koji were galloping on the ground while Nishinoya, Konoha, and Sakunami were flying just a bit in the air.
After a few minutes, things went downhill when the pegasus bucked Inuoka off. He landed on his wrist and a look of agony appeared on his face. “Ouch!” He cried out. Kuroo and Daishou ran over to Inuoka.
“Are you okay, Sou?” Daishou asked him.
Inuoka shook his head and cradled his arm. “I don’t think it’s supposed to bend like this.”
Daishou got off his pegasus and went over to Inuoka. “Let me take a look.” Kuroo got off his pegasus to take a look as well. He winced. “Yeah, you’re going to have to go to the infirmary, but you’re in luck. I think Hiroo’s currently working,” Daishou told him. A smile grew on his face.
“Luck? With Hiroo?” Kuroo asked Daishou.
“Who’s Hiroo?” Inuoka asked. He was still adjusting to camp and it was a lot to take it. He was still trying to make sure he knew the names of all his half-siblings, who he just met the other day, before anything else.
“Hiroo’s part of the Apollo cabin so naturally, he has healing abilities and takes shifts at the infirmary,” Kuroo started.
Daishou continued to explain. “Getting healed by Hiroo is part of the true Camp Halfblood experience.”
“Really?” Inuoka asked, curious about the Camp Halfblood experience. “Is he a really good healer or something?”
Kuroo shrugged. “I’d say he’s decent. He does his job well, but he gives everyone so much attitude for getting injured that it makes the experience unpleasant at best.”
“I’m sorry that you can’t handle Hiroo’s personality. Would you rather just continue to be in pain when you get injured?” Daishou asked Kuroo.
“I’d rather get healed without being called a scrub for getting burnt by Futakuchi while playing capture the flag,” Kuroo told Daishou.
The two continued to bicker until Inuoka spoke up again. “That’s really cool, but I think my wrist might be broken,” he said. Daishou and Kuroo just shared a look.
“I’ll take Sou to the infirmary, you keep an eye on everyone else. We’ll be back,” Kuroo said. He helped Inuoka up and walked with him to the infirmary.
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“Who wants to go first?” Yaku asked. The members of the Demeter cabin were gathered in the training arena. They had just finished stretching and were about to start dueling.
“I guess I can go,” Matsukawa volunteered.
“I can too,” Ushijima said.
Matsukawa and Ushijima moved to the center of the arena while everyone else backed up. “Okay, Yuuki. The way we usually do things is someone on the side will let the fighters know when to begin. Then they can fight. They keep going until someone either surrenders or they’re too injured to continue,” Shibayama winced at the thought of the second option. “But we usually back off before injuries happen. But when it’s just hand to hand combat with no weapons, it’s until someone gives up. Then when the sparring is finished, we’ll talk about what we noticed,” Yaku explained to Shibayama.
“Ready, you two?” Yaku asked Matsukawa and Ushijima.
“Ready!” They called back.
“And fight!” Yaku called. Ushijima ran at Matsukawa who blocked him with his shield.
The fight went on for about 20 minutes before Matsukawa gave up.
“You’ve been training a lot since last summer, haven’t you?” Matsukawa asked Ushijima.
“I have,” Ushijima said. “Sakusa and I have been training a couple times a week.”
“I’ll readjust within a couple weeks,” Matsukawa said, grinning.
“Your blocks were quite impressive considering you haven’t been here for months,” Ushijima told him.
“Thank you, Wakatoshi,” Matsukawa said. “I haven’t had many opportunities to do formal training, like sparring, but I was able to get in some unconventional training during the school year.” The days where they played dodgeball in gym class were Matsukawa’s favorites and he was glad that it paid off. He’d also got some of his friends back home to help him practice his blocking. They’d throw things at him and he’d try to block them with a tennis racket he found in the garage.
“Wakatoshi’s left-handed, so fighting him requires a different approach,” Yaku explained.
When they finished talking, Matsukawa and Ushijima took their seats on the side. “Do you think you’d be able to give it a try?” Yaku asked Shibayama.
“Sure.” Shibayama said.
“And Tadashi, can you go as well?” Yaku asked him.
“Sure thing.” He got his spear and moved to the middle of the arena. Shibayama grabbed his dagger and joined Yamaguchi in the middle. They stood a few feet apart from each other.
“Ready?” Yaku asked him.
“Ready,” They both called back.
“And fight!” Yaku called. Neither of them moved for a minute, waiting to see what the other would do. Yamaguchi made the first move and lunged at Shibayama, but he stepped out of the way. Shibayama lunged back at Yamaguchi with his dagger, but he was able to block it easily. Shibayama backed off and lunged at him again. Yamaguchi swung his spear at Shibayama’s leg, to knock him off balance. That worked and Shibayama got sent across the arena. He skidded to a halt, landing on his side.
“Oh my gods, are you okay?” Yamaguchi asked. He ran over to Shibayama to help him up.
“Thanks, Tadashi,” Shibayama said. He accepted Yamaguchi’s hand and he helped the other back on his feet.
“Crap, you’re bleeding!” Yamaguchi pointed out. Shibayama looked at his arm, then at his leg.
“It’s okay. There’s a first aid kit here for a reason. Don’t panic,” Yaku said. He pulled out the first aid kit and looked through it. “WHY IS THIS FIRST AID KIT EMPTY?!” Yaku yelled in frustration. “I guess we’ll go to the infirmary instead, okay Yuuki?”
“Okay.” He said, still looking at the blood trickling down his arm.
“We’ll talk about your match when we come back,” Yaku said. He turned to Aone and Kita. “Takanobu, Shinsuke, you haven’t gone yet, so you can take a turn. Wakatoshi, can you call it?”
“I can,” Ushijima said. Kita and Aone grabbed their weapons and went to the middle of the arena. Yamaguchi took a seat on the side.
“I’m so sorry, Yuuki,” Yamaguchi apologized.
“It’s okay, Tadashi,” Shibayama said with a gentle smile on his face. “It’s not the worst thing I’ve faced.” He thought back to the monsters he ran into with Hinata, Izumi, Koji, Watari, Yachi, and Kuroo when the latter was taking them to camp. As Yaku and Shibayama walked to the infirmary, Ushijima called for Aone and Kita to start sparring.
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“Cause of injury: incompetence,” Hiroo said while writing something down. Inuoka frowned at that as well as the pain in his arm. He understood what Kuroo had mentioned earlier about Hiroo’s attitude.
“I fell off a pegasus,” Inuoka said.
“He’s not the first person it happened to and he won’t be the last. Can you heal him?” Kuroo asked. He wasn’t fond of anyone talking about his siblings like that.
“Yeah, I can,” Hiroo said. He opened a box and pulled out a small plastic bag of ambrosia. “Eat this,” he said and handed it to Inuoka. “It’s ambrosia. It’ll heal you, but it will take a couple minutes to start working,” he explained. Inuoka ate the ambrosia and waited.
Yaku entered the infirmary with Shibayama and closed the door behind him. Everyone turned to the source of the noise. “Hey, Flower Boy,” Hiroo said to Yaku. He took in Shibayama’s appearance and the blood running down his arms and legs. He washed his hands and got out some bandages. “What happened?” he asked.
“Just some scrapes from training,” Shibayama explained.
“Weak,” Hiroo muttered under his breath. “Okay, come with me.” He took Shibayama to a sink. “I’m going to start by cleaning off your arm,” he explained and rinsed off his arm gently. Yaku stood off to the side next to Kuroo. The two made small talk while Hiroo worked on cleaning up Shibayama’s arm.
“Can you sit down so I can get your leg patched up?” Hiroo asked Shibayama. He sat down and Hiroo started by wiping off the extra blood that ran down his leg.
“Are you okay? That looks painful,” Inuoka asked him.
“Yeah,” Shibayama said. “What about you? Your arm looks pretty messed up.”
“Trust me, it looks better than it did a few minutes ago,” a monotone voice spoke up.
“You’re the kid who fell asleep in line at breakfast, aren’t you?” Inuoka asked him.
He sighed. “That’s me. Name’s Kuguri Naoyasu,” he introduced himself. “Son of Hypnos. Falling asleep runs in the family. I just so happened to fall asleep at the wrong time and ended up with a minor concussion. You’re both new here, right?”
“Yeah. Just got here a couple days ago,” Inuoka said. “Inuoka Sou, son of Hermes. Broke my wrist because I fell off a pegasus and landed wrong.”
“I’m Shibayama Yuuki, son of Demeter. I think I got here like a day or two before Inuoka. Got all scraped up while sparing,” Shibayama introduced himself. “Are you new here, Kuguri?” he asked.
“Nah, been here a few years and I’m a year rounder,” Kuguri said. “Can’t remember the last time I left camp, but it’s okay. It’s home for me here.”
“Oh,” Shibayama said.
“Okay, you’re all patched up, just make sure to change the bandages occasionally. It should heal on its own in a couple days,” Hiroo told him. He got up and went over to Inuoka. “How’s your arm?” He looked at it. “It’s a bit bruised but it looks like it’s healing,” he grabbed Inuoka an ice pack. “Ice it for 20 minutes and we’ll see how it is. What other activities do you have today?” he asked.
“I think I have archery, arts and crafts, and swimming,” Inuoka said. He looked at Kuroo, who nodded his head, confirming that he got it right.
“You might not be able to do archery or swimming today but arts and crafts should be okay. Don’t do anything that’s too strenuous on it,” Hiroo told him. He turned to Kuguri. “How are you holding up, Sleepy Head?” Kuguri gave him a thumbs up and let out a small yawn, which in turn made Shibayama and Inuoka yawn too.
“Ready to head back to everyone else?” Yaku asked Shibayama. “I think we might be able to make it back in time for everyone to discuss Takanobu and Shinsuke’s fight,”
“Yeah,” Shibayama said. “Thanks for helping,” he told Hiroo before leaving with Yaku to rejoin their siblings.
Kuguri drifted back off to sleep, leaving Hiroo, Kuroo, and Inuoka as the only ones still awake in the infirmary. “I’ll be fine, Tetsurou. I can meet back up with you guys when Hiroo says my arm’s good.”
“Are you sure, Sou?” Kuroo asked. “And you know where to go?”
“Yeah,” Inuoka said.
“In that case, I’ll see you soon,” Kuroo told Inuoka. He turned to Hiroo. “Thanks for healing him even if some of your comments were unnecessary.”
Hiroo just shrugged and started to tidy up the infirmary. Soon enough, Inuoka’s wrist had healed. It felt stiff, but Inuoka wasn’t in any pain, so Hiroo let him go back to camp activities. The activity period was wrapping up so he couldn’t do anything, but he was able to be with his brothers again.
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“Grab your arrows and put them back in the quivers. The sooner we get everything put away, the sooner we can get to lunch,” Kuroo said. They got everything put away within three minutes and were one of the first cabins to make it to lunch. Inuoka felt someone tap his shoulder and he turned around to see who it was.
“Hey, I was just wondering how your arm’s doing,” Shibayama said.
“You’re the kid from earlier! Shibayama, right?” he asked. Shibayama nodded. “It’s a lot better. I can’t do anything that’s too strenuous on it until tomorrow but it’s not bent weird anymore which is great!” Inuoka smiled. “How about you? You got scraped up pretty bad, right?” Shibayama nodded.
“Yeah, it’s healing. Nothing too bad,” he said. “How are you liking camp so far?” Shibayama asked. “Well, apart from what happened today.”
“I really love it!” Inuoka told him. “I don’t have any siblings at home so it’s a lot different, but they’re some of the nicest people I’ve ever met and I’m glad to be here!” A few spots ahead in line, Kuroo smiled as he got his food. “And the activities are so much fun! How do you like it so far?”
“I think I really liked it here,” Shibayama said. “I’m not really used to fighting but it’s still a lot of fun here. My siblings are also really cool and I’ve always liked nature.” He smiled. The line moved up and Inuoka got his food.
“I gotta go sit with my siblings,” Inuoka said. “But I hope we can hang out some more later on.”
“Yeah!” Shibayama said. “We have all summer so there’ll probably be some time for us to hang out!”
“See you later!” they both said. Inuoka went to give some of his food as an offering to his dad then to join his siblings.
“Could it be? Sou made a friend outside of our cabin. You’re growing up so fast,” Konoha said, pretending to wipe a tear from his eye.
“Yeah, we met in the infirmary earlier. He seems pretty nice,” Inuoka said. “And he’s not my first friend outside the cabin. I know Alisa and Lev.”
“Wasn’t Alisa the one to bring you to camp?” Nishinoya asked. Inuoka nodded since his mouth was full of food.
“Still, it makes me happy that you’re adjusting to camp,” Kuroo told him.
“Thank you,” Inuoka said when he finished eating.
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It was after dinner a couple days later when their paths crossed again. Dinner had just wrapped up so there was some time to relax before the night’s evening activity, which happened to be a campfire.
Shibayama had been walking around when he heard his name called. He turned to see who was calling him and it was Inuoka. “Hi Shibayama! What are you up to?”
“Oh, I was just walking around camp. I wanted to get familiar with the place,” Shibayama told him. “Would you like to join me?”
“Sure. I don’t have much else to do,” Inuoka said.
The two continued to walk around the camp. They walked along the canoe lake and saw about a dozen or so people on the lake. They reached the volleyball court and stayed there for a few minutes to watch.
“Do you like volleyball?” Inuoka asked when they continued walking.
Shibayama nodded. “Yeah. I played for my team at school as a libero. Do you?”
“Same!” Inuoka said. “But I was a middle blocker.”
“That’s cool,” Shibayama said.
As they continued their walk, they found Kuguri reading. He was sitting on the ground and leaning his back on the tree.
“Hey, you’re the guy from the infirmary. Kuguri, right?” Inuoka asked. Kuguri got startled out of his thoughts. He looked up and saw the other two walking up to him.
“Yeah. That’s me,” he said.
“How’s your head?” Shibayama asked.
“All better,” he said. He marked his page and closed the book. “How about you two?”
“All healed!” Inuoka said.
“I’m basically healed,” Shibayama said. “Just some scabs,” he angled his arm so he could see how it was doing.
“That’s good,” Kuguri said. “What are you two currently up to?”
“We were just walking around. I thought since I’m pretty new here, it would be good to walk around and familiarize myself with the grounds and Inuoka joined in. Would you also like to join us?”
Kuguri shrugged. “Sure,” he said. He stood up and started walking alongside the two of them. “I can show you guys around since I know the place pretty well.”
At one point on their walk, Inuoka almost walked into a plant, but Kuguri grabbed his arm to hold him back. “Stop, that’s-”
“Poison ivy,” Shibayama said. “You don’t want to end up back in the infirmary, do you?”
“Thanks,” Inuoka said. The trio continued to walk around the camp. They had already seen some of the places from their daily activities. Kuguri was able to introduce them to a lot of the older campers. He happened to know quite a few people from being a year rounder. Eventually, they had to find the rest of their siblings for the campfire.
“I’ll see you guys around,” Inuoka told them and ran off when he saw the rest of his siblings.
“Shibayama and Kuguri, they’re nice people,” Kuroo said. “You found some good friends.”
“You know them?” Inuoka asked Kuroo.
“Yeah. Kuguri and I are both year round campers, so we’ve crossed paths at least a few times. Shibayama’s new, though. I was actually the one who brought him to camp,” Kuroo smiled thinking about their unplanned stop and the look on everyone’s faces when he came back.
“Yeah, Shibayama and what was it? Six others?” Konoha asked.
Kuroo recalled the names of who he brought and counted on his fingers. “Yep. There were seven in total.”
“I was one of them!” Koji told Inuoka.
“The look on Daishou’s face was priceless,” Kuroo laughed.
“Yeah. I knew Takeda had you leave camp to pick up some campers but we weren’t expecting a whole swarm of children. And you stopped for smoothies. You didn’t even ask if I wanted anything.”
“Those were some good smoothies,” Kuroo said and Koji nodded. A look of awe was plastered on their faces thinking about it.
“I’m glad you’re getting adjusted to camp, Sou. You too, Koji,” Daishou told them. “Now let’s go. Maybe there’ll be s’mores tonight.” Daishou led his cabin to the campfire. Inuoka smiled as he felt its warmth. Though he just met these people a few days ago, he truly felt like they were his family and camp felt like a home.