Close to despair

Tobio, Yuutarou and Akira: butterfly effect

"Wait! Kageyama- uhm. Can we- can we talk to you? In private?" Kindaichi asked, and it took him a lot of courage to do so.

Tobio thought about it for a moment, and a look into his friends faces told him that they'd support him no matter what.

"Okay, alright." He said.

Kei casted a glance at the raven, looking for any signs of uncomfortableness in his expression, but Tobio wore a blank expression, and Kei found it almost impossible to read any emotions. Not even his usually expressive eyes told him anything. It reminded the middle blocker of the beginning time of their friendship. Tobio had been similar to a unsolvable Rubik's cube, and it took Kei some time to get the gist of the younger.

Once he did however, he found it easy to understand Tobio. So seeing him completely vacuous and inexpressive scared him a bit. He didn't want Tobio to close off again. They had come so far.
Kei looked for Tadashi and Hinata, and saw them standing close to the cash register. Tobio gave him the Milk and the yogurt, before he headed out of the store. Kindaichi and Kunimi dropped their stuff and followed him soon after. Their snacks could wait.

When Tobio got out, he looked up into the deep night sky, finding it rather interesting that he didn't really feel anything. He would've imagined feeling excessive emotions at this point, mere seconds before he'd talk with his ex teammates again. After they saw him in his worst state.

But he didn't. He didn't feel anything, and this allowed him to keep a clear head.

Kindaichi and Kunimi emerged not too much later, and they took a few steps towards the raven, however keeping their distance. Tobio turned around to them and looked them over. Kindaichi seemed to be nervous, if the sweat drops on his forehead and his ever flitting eyes were something to go by. Kunimi had the calmness he always had. But even he couldn't look Tobio in the eyes.

"Kindaichi. Kunimi. Hello." Tobio greeted them once again, and his friends looked at him, something akin to sadness and self blame discernible. It almost made him tilt his head, but he managed to prevent doing so.

"Kageyama-kun. I- we are- uhm." Kindaichi twiddled with his fingers, searching for the right words. He found it hard to do so. What exactly did he want to say? Did he want to apologize? But was that even appropriate at this point?

"Kageyama-kun. Yuutarou and I are sorry. We are indescribably sorry." Kunimi overtook. Tobio frowned, and opened his mouth to interrupt, but Akira held his hand up to stop him from doing so.

"We know this doesn't bring you anything now. Not now when you clearly want to let go and move on from your past. We heard. But still. I- no WE are so sorry, you can't even imagine. We didn't behave how we should've as your friends, we should have noticed you grieving. If not, we should've asked. It's our fault. And we are sorry for that." Kunimi started at Kageyama, who was still frowning, now even deeper than before.

"I can't even begin to fathom how you must've felt, with your only parental figure having recently died, and your soulmates giving you the cold shoulder. Instead of being a source of warmth and comfort, we decided to be no better than Oikawa and Iwaizumi, and neglect you. I am sorry for the additional pain we put you in, I really am. Please know that." Kunimi further explained. His brows were drawn together, and distress was present on his usually impassive face.

"I failed. I failed you, and I'm so sorry for that. I have the tendency to proceed to anger, whenever i struggle and don't understand something. I was so completely lost, because I thought you didn't want us as your friends anymore, and that made me petty. I thought you found yourself so much better than us, and i couldn't accept that. What we ended up doing must've been horrifying for you. Our actions are inexcusable, please Kageyama, please know we are sorry from the bottom of our hearts. We don't expect you to forgive us anytime soon, but please know we're sorry." Yuutarou ranted, and it had Tobio gaping a bit. Kindaichi was never the type to express his feeling.