Queen Of The Crows // Haikyuu

#21: Still Growing

// Korean words and phrases are in italic. Thank you for reading! //

"You felt like you re-lived that experience?" Keishin asked. Haneul had sat him down when they got home to explain what had gotten down in the hallway at the Sendai City Gym. She couldn't seem to get the feelings out of her head. "Yes, b-but it only lasted a few seconds. It's very weird, but I-I also, kind of, felt the pain. . ." Keishin nodded, but Haneul thought she was crazy. "I-I'm sorry, I sound crazy." "No, not at all. Don't say that, Hannie," the coach enveloped her in a warm hug, and they stayed like that for a while. At one point, the young girl started crying, so he laid down with her, still enveloping her in his arms, whispering words of reassurance until she fell asleep. 

The next morning, Keishin called her appointed psychiatrist and told Haneul to speak with him on the phone, and the doctor explained through the call how these were symptoms of PTSD, which was what he and her primary doctor had suspected would happen after living that time with an abusive relative. He gave her some coping mechanisms to deal with the 'flashbacks', or so they were called, and told her to try her best and not to push herself too hard. At the school, Haneul took a moment to tell Kei what was going on, and he responded by hugging her, and telling her he'd be with her all the way, no matter what.

After class, Haneul was helping Yachi take the number vests to the school's washing machine to clean them, when the duo was startled by Kageyama. "Kageyama?! What are you doing?" "Dammit! How did you know it was me?!" "Ah, so you're trying to disguise yourself?" Haneul asked, with him replying, "Out of all the possible opponents we might end up facing, there's only one I need to see play." "I get it! So you want to go film a video!" Yachi said, but Kageyama shook his head. "No, I just wanna go and watch for a little bit... There's not a lot of time, we only have two months until we start playing again, but I need to see them. I need to study their game."

Yachi scratched her cheek with her finger, saying, "You know, if you want to blend in when you're going to a school after classes, don't you think it's better if you dress like you're at a sports team there...?" Haneul nodded and took out her phone, "If it's Aoba Johsai you're gonna go see, I can ask Angelina to leave a window open for you." Kageyama looked at her with stars in his eyes. "Can you?!" "Yeah! She owes me a favor anyways," Haneul smiled, chuckling as Kageyama yelled a "Thanks!" and ran off to change into sports clothes. 

A little while later, Haneul came back to see Kiyoko and Yachi helping the boys practice, and Kei was talking to Hinata in a corner, so she wondered what type of training she should do. She approached the middle blocker duo, hearing Kei say, "Specifically if it's you. You haven't apologized to Haneul for hitting her by accident either." 'He's still hung on that?' Haneul smiled, and was going to ask them to help her practice, when Kei turned around and saw her. "Haneul, I'm going to practice with Akiteru's team. Are you gonna come with me?" "W-well, could I practice too? I don't want to fall behind..." The blond boy patted her head and smiled, "Yeah, of course." And so, the duo left the school.

"Kei! You brought your girlfriend, too!" Akiteru waved from inside the court, going up to them. He ruffled Haneul's hair as she smiled, "Hi, Akiteru-nii." The older boy presented them to his team mates, whom most thought having Haneul there was a bit odd. The duo then went to change into their sports clothes, leaving Akiteru with his team momentarily. "Hey, Akiteru, can the girl even play? Is she good?" One of his team members asked, but he just shrugged with a smile. "Dunno. I haven't been to their games, but from what I've heard, she's really talented."

Kei came out wearing his navy blue shirt with black shorts, while Haneul had an orange cropped sweatshirt with black shorts, her knee pads and an elbow pad on her left arm. They then started to play.