Are We Really Together? (KageHina)

Conflicting feelings

Hinata just needed that one word of confirmation to find out if Kageyama liked him. He knew it was impossible but he just wanted to be fully sure so he could give up and move on.

By now Yachi had known his secret. Sometimes, they would take walks home together and that fostered the closeness in their relationship. Hinata knew Yachi could be trusted. Yachi had a sort of air around her, friendly, reliable and something that told him she wouldn't hurt a single fly. He had told Yachi his crush on Kageyama a few days ago. She was dumbfounded at first but supported him anyways. They were best friends for a reason. Hinata decided to confide Yachi about finding out Kageyama's feelings and Yachi agreed to be the wingman. To be honest, Yachi actually knew that Hinata liked Kageyama, almost everyone did.

During training the next day, Yachi went up to Kageyama after Hinata supposedly went toilet. "Kageyama-kun, do you like Shouyo-" She gave a deliberate pause to observe Kageyama's reaction. Kageyama said nothing, his face on the other hand, looked frightening. Hinata came back just in time to see the terrible expression on Kageyama's face, which he mistook for pure hatred. Hinata went home that day, crestfallen.

When Yachi had suddenly asked him if he liked Hinata, Kageyama couldn't react in time. He wanted to tell her that he liked him but what if Hinata found out about his feelings and hated him instead. His mind was in a turmoil. Hinata was now across the court, chatting with Tanaka. He whispered a soft "Yes" and blushed. Yachi was really happy for her friend. But when she wanted to tell Hinata, Hinata said that he already knew the answer and flashed her a weak smile, brushing her off. Yachi knew Hinata had misunderstood, but she never got another chance to explain, leaving Hinata with the deep impression that Kageyama loathed him.

Hinata started avoiding Kageyama. That made Kageyama wonder if Yachi had told Hinata about his feelings and now Hinata hated him for it. Kageyama couldn't stand that stinging pain in his chest each time he considered the possibility that Hinata disliked him.

Training was now reduced to 3 times per week. So out of the 5 school days, Kageyama had 2 free. He would always use those times to sort out his own feelings. He headed up to the roof to have his bento alone. Eating alone had now become his usual routine again, he no longer had those weekly lunch and lunch practice with Hinata anymore. He looked at the letter clenched in his hand, he felt so lonely. Like people always say "Once you get used to company, you can never go back to being alone." And that explained everything Kageyama had been feeling the entire week.

"Shouyo! Shouyo! I finally got you! I'm telling you, Kageyama doesn't hate you, he doesn't! He likes you ok? He L-I-K-E-S you. Though I can't really confirm if it's friend like or like like,  but if he took that long to answer means that he might actually like you in that way you know." Hinata's eyes widened and sparkled. He was on cloud nine, or maybe heaven itself. He was glad that there was training later on.

Kageyama came into the gym and found Hinata waving excitedly at him. So, Hinata didn't hate him? He walked over and ruffled Hinata's hair. "What happened to you, ignoring me all week? I missed that annoying dumbass." "Hehe...Had some friendship problems. Sorry I wasn't very happy. But now everything's been resolved, I'm back to be the next ace!" Kageyama kind of knew Hinata was hiding something, but he didn't care. Hinata didn't hate him at all, that was what mattered.

Kageyama felt the letter in his pocket poking his thigh. He had been so determined to agree and go, but now that he understood Hinata knew nothing of his feelings and didn't hate him, there was a seed of doubt planted in his mind. He didn't want to just leave. He didn't want to leave the Karasuno team, he wanted to spend as long as he could with Hinata. He sighed, fishing the letter out and showing it to Hinata, hoping that Hinata would tell him not to go. "Woah! Bakageyama! You got scouted to join the under-21 rising stars team. Dude, you will get private coaching from like the literal volleyball star. It's a good chance!" Hinata screamed without thinking, genuinely excited for his friend.

Then, Hinata felt his heart sank. Kageyama would transfer to Kyuushu for 2 years. They would never be able to play on the same team again. And Hinata would only be able to see Kageyama for like once or twice each month. He shook his head vigorously, he couldn't be selfish, this was a good opportunity that would help Kageyama in his sports career. By now, most of the team surrounded the two of them, staring with interest at the letter Hinata held in his hands, Hinata's earlier racket had pigued their interest.

Once again in the same week, Kageyama found himself flooded by words of congratulations and encouragement from his teammates. "Kageyama you should take on the offer, it's an amazing honour and it'll help in your sports career. We'll miss you." Chikara had suggested before chasing everyone else back to train. Now that the third years had stepped down to study, Chikara was elected captain and everyone had to say that he did quite a great job at it. Kageyama knew that what Chikara said was a fact but... When Coach Ukai also supported him to go, he gave up. He would use this chance to change and become a man Hinata could be proud of. He would move during his summer holidays to get used to the Kyushuu environment before school started. Sakusa, Kiryuu, Motoya, Akaashi, Ushima, Tendou, Nishinoya, Kuro, Tsukishima, Oikawa and many other high school talents had been scouted to join this training, which would prep them to be future stars and represent Japan as their national volleyball team. Kageyama knew he wouldn't have many friends but at least he had Oikawa-senpai and Nishinoya-senpai, which he could consult and maybe talk to over there. Tsukishima declined the invitation, unlike the others, his dream wasn't to be a volleyball star.

Coach Ukai knew that everyone on the team was going to miss their setter and libero, worse still, no one else knew how to play those positions. He hoped that the first-years next year would be sufficient, or Karasuno would never even pass the preliminaries for the interhigh or springhigh tournaments. It was going to be a huge loss of talents for Karasuno, but he would try his ultimate best to make sure not to let Karasuno fall again.