The next week, Kageyama returned to school.
As soon as he stepped through the gates, he could sense the stares and whispers that were directed towards him. Usually, stuff like that wouldn't bother him in the slightest, but for some reason it seemed to freak him out a lot, causing his heart to race and his forehead to dampen under his overgrown fringe.
Everywhere he looked, he was reminded of the person he lost. Every step was painful, every breathe felt like his heart was being stabbed over and over.
He noticed that the teachers were being extra nice to him that day. Almost too nice for his liking. Especially his English teacher, who would usually force him to stand up and read a passage in Japanese and then translate it into English all on his own, even though she knew it was his worst subject. But for some reason, she kept her mouth shut and ignored the boy, pity filling her eyes as she looked at him, and directed her attention to other members of the class instead. And while he appreciated not having to speak in front of the class, he didn't want the sympathy.
Somehow, he managed to get through the day and headed straight to the club room, where he was met with the shocked faces of Ennoshita and Yamaguchi.
"Kageyama! We didn't think you'd be back this soon! How are you doing?" Yamaguchi asked nervously, glancing at Ennoshita who didn't really know what to say for the best.
"Where's Tsukishima?" Kageyama replied, ignoring Yamaguchi's mini speech and looking at him dead in the eyes.
"Uh...he's already in the gym."
Without another word, Kageyama spun on his heels and stormed out of the club room, Ennoshita imploring him to get changed first, which he ignored.
Kageyama reached the gym and swung open the doors with a grunt. The whole team was in there, and they were now staring at Kageyama with concern.
"Hey Kageyama, you ready to..." Asahi started, but he was silenced by the sight unfolding before his eyes.
With annoyance in his step, Kageyama walked quickly over to Tsukishima, who had barely acknowledged his abrupt appearance. He grabbed on to Tsukishima's wrist and pulled him with him as he changed directions towards Ukai.
"Hey! Hey! Hello?! Let go of me, idiot!" Tsukishima tried to protest, however it was in vain, as even he couldn't loosen the tight grip around his slender wrist.
When they reached Ukai, Tsukishima looked down to notice the tears forming in Kageyama's eyes. He figured that this was most likely out of anger more than anything else. But he hadn't the slightest idea why he was angry, or more to the point, what the hell he was thinking by clutching on to him like that.
"Shoyo's locker." Kageyama whispered, his red eyes looking at Ukai's desperately.
Noya placed a hand on Kageyama's shoulder, but he swatted it off impatiently. The team looked at eachother in utter confusion, Daichi contemplating whether to say anything or not.
"Ukai! Shoyo's locker!"
Ukai looked him up and down for a couple of seconds, genuinely confused by what he was saying. Shoyo's locker? Why was he saying this to him? Then something clicked inside his head, and a sparkle entered his eye as he ran towards a safe that always sat on the bench. He held a hand out to Takeda, imploring him silently to hand over the key, which he did. He promptly shoved it into the lock and twisted it a couple of times, revealing only a small amount of club money inside. After shifting a few coins around, he produced a tiny silver key, and jogged back over to Tsukishima and Kageyama, placing it in Kageyama's palm.
"Thank you, sensei. Come on, Tsukki!" Kageyama declared, pulling him by the wrist again.
"Hey stop! Stop! And don't call me Tsukki!! What's happening?" He repeated this over and over as he was dragged out of the gym and towards the locker room.
-
Kageyama instantly knew where Hinata's locker was. They'd spent many lunchtimes hanging out next to his locker when there were no more tables in the hall or when the gym was being used by the basketball club.
Tsukishima panted as they finally stopped in front of it. He wiped a couple of beads of sweat off his chin and took off his glasses to wipe them from the condensation building up on the lenses.
'This better be good', he thought to himself.
Putting them back on, he watched as Kageyama shoved the tiny key into the lock, releasing a metallic crunch that made Tsukishima wince slightly. But as he waited for him to open the locker, he noticed that instead, Kageyama was frozen in his position. He was panting slightly, and his knees quivered beneath him in intervals.
"Hey King, can I go? It might be hard to believe but I actually want to practice volleyball." He was slightly annoyed, but the curiosity welling up inside him was starting to overwhelm him, and his patience was growing thin.
"He said to bring you with me. Shoyo did."
After turning to face Tsukishima and finally realising that nothing he was doing would make any sense to the usually intelligent blocker, he explained everything. The video, the business with the locker, and most of Hinata's apologies. It felt good to get it all off his chest, but he couldn't believe he was telling this to Tsukishima of all people.
A bit dazed from all the information, Tsukishima gestured for him to open the locker. He noticed his own hands starting to shake mildly and placed them behind his back and out of sight.
With another shrill creak, Kageyama swung open the small door with his eyes closed. Ever so slightly, he opened one eye and then another. He could barely believe his eyes. He took a couple of steps back, bumping into Tsukishima in the process and furrowing his brow in puzzlement.
The locker was empty.
What? How could this be? Why did Hinata make such an emphasis on his locker?
He couldn't believe it. He raised a hand to his forehead and questioned if he had heard Hinata's request wrong. No. No, he definitely didn't.
"Ask Ukai about my locker. He will understand." He had memorised the whole CD, and he knew this is what he said.
While deep in thought, he noticed a hard tap on his shoulder, and turned his head to see Tsukishima's smug grin radiating down at him.
"You know when he said locker, are you sure he didn't mean his old getabako? After all, of our old ones are next to eachother."
His getabako! Of course! It seemed Tsukishima's intelligence hadn't completely diminished.
Grabbing a hold of Tsukki's wrist again he lead them to the entrance of the school where they were all situated, whilst Tsukki complained the whole way that he could in fact run for himself.
-
As the third years were set to leave soon, the school had assigned them all with new getabako's. Kageyama has almost forgotten where his old one was, but finally reached the dusty cluster of holes.
They noticed that there was one gift box each, all of different sizes, in Tsukishima's, Yamaguchi's and Kageyama's. A smile crept across Kageyama's face, but he wondered why he didn't say that Yamaguchi could come with them.
Tsukishima carefully picked up his box, his hands still trembling a little. Lifting the lid, his mouth opened wide as he was met with a new pair of headphones. His eyes started to fill with tears - he must have noticed that his wires were getting worn. Quickly, he swiped under his glasses to be rid of those salty droplets of water.
But when he looked down again, he saw a wire coiled up by a small piece of paper, which he carefully unfolded, allowing the wire to drop on the floor.
"The earphones are for Tadashi. The wire is for you. They connect together so you can listen to music together. You're soulmates. Stop denying it. I couldn't be with mine for too long, please listen to music together for us. Thanks for enabling me to do just one last spike before I died!
-Hinata :)"
His mouth agape and tears now unashamedly spilling from his eyes, he looked up at Kageyama, who had just opened his box.
Inside was a folded up star map. He honestly didn't know where to start when unfolding the huge sheet of paper. Clipped onto the corner of the map was yet another note.
"I don't know if I will have told you before I die, but if I haven't, one of my biggest secrets is that I'm in love with space. Another one is that I'm in love with you. So just know that when I die, I'm going to come back as a star and hang over you every night until you join me.
-Hinata :)"
He held the map close to his chest and wept. But this time it was out of happiness. Those last words repeated in his head, the same ones he had reiterated on the night he died, staring up at the very stars he loved so much. He wondered if he had purposely made those words to him his last so that Kageyama could not forget if he tried.
Kageyama felt a bony hand touch his back, and they both looked into each others eyes, their tears both spilling at the same rate.
"It'll be okay." They both said in unison.
They both turned to the final box in Tadashi's getabako. But they noticed there was a note in front of it rather than inside it, and so Kageyama picked it up curiously.
"This box is for Sugawara. I couldn't find his getabako, whoops! Please give it to him, and don't you dare look inside."
Obeying his wish, they picked it up and ran back to the gym, pulling Suga outside.
"What's going on? W-what's this?" Suga asked, honestly a bit frightened about what the answer would be.
"A gift from Hinata to you." Tsukishima said, in such a warm voice it put Suga into more of a panic as this was not usual of him.
Opening the box, he picked up the note first and read the scrawled handwriting carefully.
"Not even Kageyama knows this, but I used to wear this under my jersey every single game for good luck. My father gave it to me before he passed away, and I want you to have it. Thank you for visiting me in hospital. You're truly the greatest Senpai.
-Hinata :)"
Suga immediately fell to his knees and glanced into the box. Inside was a dainty necklace with a little volleyball charm on it. He picked it up carefully, holding the sparkling charm in his palm and letting out a shuddering sigh.
He pointed his head up to the sky and closed his eyes, a quivering smile starting to crack onto his face.
"Thank you, Shoyo."