Chapter Text
Happy birthday, Oikawa, Iwaizumi thought as he saw the date. July 20 and he still couldn’t think of anything else that day except how his childhood friend was doing.
It has been around six, no — even seven years since they have talked to each other. The memories are mostly vague and felt more like dreams than proper memories but if there was one day that stuck with Iwaizumi than it was the birthday of Oikawa Tooru. Specifically the last one they have spent together.
Iwaizumi remembered, there was a huge banner hanging in his garden with the writing Happy Birthday, Oikawa!!. It wasn’t too flashy or really well made but he tried his best to surprise his best friend with a small get-together consisting of the two boys and their families.
Around noon the birthday boy and his parents arrived and Iwaizumi’s nerves calmed down after seeing the glistening in Oikawa’s eyes. Everything seemed to be going to the right direction. The music was playing, there was food, the cake with the number 10 lit on top and most importantly, Oikawa was still there.
They both knew that it would be the last summer spent together before Oikawa had to move away to attend some boarding school which was a family tradition. It was in the middle of nowhere and without his Iwa-chan but no matter how much he was whining, his parents insisted that he was going. He was frustrated and didn’t understand why it was important to keep this tradition if he was unhappy about it but he ignored the whole situation as Iwaizumi came closer to him with a cake placed on both hands, singing Happy Birthday.
Iwaizumi started to reminisce about that day as he took a walk around a pond on the way to a bakery. Again, he couldn’t remember everything in great detail but he remembered the countless days that he spent by the pond with Oikawa. It was their go-to spot whenever they wanted comfort or were simply in need of each others presence. Iwaizumi still liked to walk along the shore to ease his mind and fill his heart with nostalgia. He wondered if Oikawa also still remembered him and their time together. He wondered how he must look like as a 17 year-old. Still smaller than him? Still insecure and having trouble befriending people? Maybe but Iwaizumi wasn’t the same kid he was seven years ago. Oikawa must’ve changed a lot too, Iwaizumi thought.
Iwaizumi reached the bakery and ordered the same thing he ordered for the past years on July 20; a milkbread. He remembered Oikawa’s obsessions because if there was one thing that Oikawa couldn’t do then it was to do things half-heartedly. He didn’t just love milk bread; no he was obsessed. He didn’t love outer space and conspiracy theories; he was obsessed. He didn’t just play volleyball; he lived for it. So that was why Iwaizumi was eating milk bread on July 20 by the pond and wondered about Oikawa Tooru.
Iwaizumi still had a whole month before going back to school as he finished practicing volleyball with a few of his classmates.
“So, future-volleyball-captain-Iwaizumi, do you have any plans for summer break?”, Makoto asked on their way home. Makoto moved in the house next to Iwaizumi where Oikawa used to live. They were close friends but never as close as Iwaizumi and Oikawa were. Though, sharing the same hobby influenced their relationship a lot unlike Iwaizumi and Makoto’s where the latter was part of the school’s swim team.
“Don’t know. My parents want me to apply to a bunch of summer jobs again but next year is my last year and I wanted to spend the summer relaxing before diving into schoolwork again”, Iwaizumi said as he remembered the ice parlor incident last year. Suddenly he had the picture of the kids party in his head again. I wouldn’t have given them so much ice cream if i had known they would only throw it up in the next second, Iwaizumi thought. “What about you?”
“Ah, good that you ask. I’m gonna spend the next week cleaning my vest and gaining some good karma by helping elderly ladies across the street”, the boy proudly stated as he held his head high.
“That’s a little too late for you. But why would you need good karma?”, Iwaizumi laughed.
“God, you don’t know? Next week Aoba Johsai is giving out the scholarships and this year they’re looking in Tokyo, Hyogo and drumrolls please, Miyagi! Heard they even have their own stamp”, Makoto said. Ah, Aoba Johsai. Iwaizumi remembered now.
Aoba Johsai was a private boarding school for boys; specifically rich boys. Since they were the only ones who were able to afford it, they welcomed a new program so the middle classes could experience what it was like to belong to the 1%. Every year they gave out scholarships to up to five students from three different prefectures. If you were an academic genius then congratulations you could be the chosen one. But Iwaizumi knew better.
Since it wasn’t required to come from a low-income family, Aoba Johsai loved to pick students from rich and well-known families. Maybe they would pick one or two boys from poorer families just to keep up the act but other than that it was just a publicity stunt to make themselves look more approachable.
“First of all, with your grades you need a whole lot of more than just good karma for them to pick you”, Iwaizumi said. “And second of all, why do you want to go there? It’s not like they’re gonna pick someone who doesn’t know the royals personally.”
“A boy can dream, can’t I? Also imagine how nice it would be to find a rich boyfriend who’s gonna buy you everything you want.”
“Most of them don’t even care about us.”
“You never know. Maybe there’re some nice snobs. Either way, I think you might actually have a chance”, Makoto said but Iwaizumi didn’t answer. Sure, he was the best in class but he can’t imagine not coming home to his parents again. Who would walk the dog every morning or help his mother at home? The chances of being given a scholarship were slim but it wasn’t entirely impossible.
I shouldn’t think too hard about it anyway. There are plenty of other students, Iwaizumi thought and started to push it in the back of his head until he completely forgot about it.
Iwaizumi continued the week as usual. It wasn’t very exciting or special but Iwaizumi found comfort in these routines. He found comfort in the things he was used to. Surprises meant heartbreak. Surprises meant his best friend moving away to god-knows-where. Iwaizumi couldn’t help but associate surprises with tragedies and people leaving him.
They didn’t talk about Aoba Johsai for the rest of their walk home anymore.
“Why did we name our dog Cat? That’s kinda weird, isn’t it?”, Iwaizumi asked his parents during dinner to ease up the weird tension that he was feeling. They looked on edge and fidgety as the boy watched his father fumbling with his seat or as he watched his mother play with her fork. Iwaizumi couldn’t decipher if they were excited about something or if something bad happened.
“I don’t know. Your father thought it would be hilarious”, his mother just said with nervous laugh.
“Right…”, Iwaizumi slowly said.
A second of silence passed in which Iwaizumi felt suffocated by whatever the hell was going on. And then another second passed before his father started talking again.
“But let’s not talk about Cat. Let’s talk about what I found in the mails today!”, his father exclaimed and pulled out a huge, brown envelope. His mother dropped her cutlery set and started smiling brightly on the envelope. No, she was actually beaming as she let out a small squeal and brought her hands to her heart.
Iwaizumi looked at the brown envelope that his father handed him and tuned it around to see the stamp as he felt his face going pale.
Aoba Johsai.