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He distinctly smells the scent and feels the heat of a fireplace burning near him. Oikawa gives his eyes a sleepy rub, not remembering when he had fallen asleep or how did he wind up on the couch instead of his larger and more comfortable bed. Come to think of it. . .this isn’t even his couch. This couch is rather old fashioned, with red cushions instead of Oikawa’s sleek and white minimalist designed couch. And this room that he was in wasn’t his living room, or really any room that he was familiar with.
. . .Where is he?
“So you’re finally awake?”
Oikawa turns to where the voice came from, a sly man standing in the doorway and leaning against the doorframe. Oikawa furrows his eyebrows and swings his legs off the couch, glancing at the fireplace and watches the flames crackle in the hearth.
“How long was I asleep?”
“Not long. You were sleeping so peacefully, I didn’t want to disturb you.”
The man’s tone of voice was rather playful, Oikawa deducing that this guy couldn’t have a care in the world. Especially if hair maintenance had anything to do with it; this guy literally looks like he just rolled out of bed, threw on that suit and tie and came to get Oikawa from. . .wherever the hell he was. The guy turns, his hands in his pockets. “Come on, the others are waiting.”
Oikawa pouts in confusion before giving a final glance over at the fire. He rises onto his feet and follows the black-haired man down a hallway. Oikawa slips his arms behind his head and gives a yawn.
“So, where are we?”
“Nekoma,” the man answers simply and Oikawa raises an eyebrow.
“What’s that? Like a hotel or something?”
“It’s actually a bar.”
What the hell was Oikawa doing in a bar? He places a hand to his forehead. He distinctly remembers that he had to be somewhere. . .but he doesn’t remember where. Or what was the reason he had to be there either. He glances around at the blood red walls and old Japanese woodblock paintings on the wall. This didn’t look like any bar he’d been to. . .why would he come here?
The man makes a right and leads Oikawa into another room where there actually is an open bar filled with bottles of alcohol and spirits. Sitting on a barstool and clutching what looks like a ginger ale was a young male, possibly a teenager due to the non-alcoholic drink. His eyebrows are pulled downwards and his lips are twisted into a frown. The other person in the room was the bartender himself, Oikawa noting with a sigh that he also has terrible hair. Though instead of the unruly mess of bedhair the man beside him was sporting, this man hadn’t bother to dye his blond hair again to fix those roots. Honestly, this place needs to establish proper hair care for their employees.
The bartender turned, golden eyes spotting the two entering through the door and he places the glass he was cleaning onto the counter. The teen turns to look to, and the moment that his eyes rest on Oikawa, he jumps in his spot and furiously looks away.
“Welcome,” he greets in a quiet voice and Oikawa gives a friendly wave.
“Sorry I came so late! I guess I was taking a really long nap!” Oikawa says cheerfully, even though he doesn’t understand why he was rushed over here anyways. From the looks of things, nothing interesting or important was going on and it was only the four of them. This bar must not be very popular.
Oikawa takes a seat next to the teen boy, observing him nervously squirm around out of the corner of his eye as the taller bartender moves to stand next to the shorter one.
“Allow us to properly introduce ourselves,” the shorter one replies and then bows. “Welcome to Nekoma. My name is Kenma and I’ll be you’re bartender,” he introduces and then gestures to the man smiling next to him. “This is Kuroo. He’s my assistant.”
“Assistant? It can’t be that hard to make drinks, can it?” Oikawa inquires. Especially if the bar is dead like this all the time. Kuroo chuckles like what Oikawa said was a joke and Kenma glances at the teenager sitting next to Oikawa.
“Before we begin, I need to ask you both a question-”
“Begin with what?” the teen interrupts and Oikawa sighs.
“He was about to tell us before you interrupted,” Oikawa says with a drawn out, overdramatic sigh. His mouth feels slightly dry and he wishes he had a drink as well. “Ne, while you explain, could you make me a drink too?”
“I’m on it,” Kuroo says and moves to start on Oikawa’s drink. The teen casts his eyes downwards.
“Sorry, Oikawa,” he mumbles and Oikawa waves his hand in a ‘don’t mind’ motion, before he blinks.
“How did you know my name?”
The teen turns to him, his cheeks flushed red. “Y-You’re Oikawa Tooru. You were one of the best setters in Miyagi and you play on the men’s national team. I’ve seen all of your matches, you’re the reason I play volleyball in high school now! I-I’m Kageyama Tobio, captain of the Aoba Josai volleyball club! It’s nice to finally meet you!” he exclaims and Oikawa chuckles.
“Always nice to meet a fan,” he says-offhandedly and Kuroo sets down a blue martini with a cherry. Oikawa gives the drink a little stir and sips from it, finding it to be tart and refreshing. Kenma turns to Kageyama with an eyebrow raised.
“So you know him? Do you remember anything else?”
“. . .Well. . .no, not really. The last thing I remember was heading home after practice,” Kageyama says solemnly and Kenma turns to Oikawa.
“What about you?”
“Nope! Don’t remember anything. Though, I have a feeling I’m supposed to be somewhere important,” he says and sips from the martini again. Kenma hums and gives a small bow.
“Thank you. That was all I wanted to ask from you.”
“So, you’re going to tell us why we’re here, right? I don’t want to get in trouble for not showing up to that place that’s important,” Oikawa says and Kuroo raises an eyebrow.
“You don’t even remember where you need to be,” Kuroo says flatly.
“Yeah, but-”
“We’re going to explain a couple of rules. Please hold all questions until the end,” Kenma cuts in before Oikawa could continue and Kuroo’s smile starts to get bigger. “The first rule is this, neither of us can answer why you both are here or what this place is. We apologize.”
Oikawa blinks. “What do you mean you can’t-”
“Number two,” Kuroo jumps in immediately, “We’re going to have you both play a game against each other.”
“A game?” Kageyama asks and leans forward. “But, why do we need to-”
“Number three, both of your lives will be placed on the line while playing the game,” Kenma says and Oikawa’s eyes widened. His. . .his life? His friendly demeanor starts to dissipate and he begins to grit his teeth in frustration.
“What are you talking about?! What do you mean our lives are-”
“Number four,” Kuroo interrupts again, “the game will be decided on a roulette.”
At this, a board descends from almost nowhere and makes both Oikawa and Kageyama jump. The board is broken up into six tiles, forming a picture of a winking cat. Oikawa scowls at the board as Kuroo places a button onto the surface of the counter. “Just tell us what’s going on and why are you keeping us here!” Oikawa shouts and Kenma sighs.
“This is the last rule. Until one of you has won the game, neither of you can leave.”
“This is such bullshit,” Oikawa murmurs under his breath and opens another door to find a bathroom. One thing this bar has (aside from crazy bartenders), is an abundance of bathrooms. Kageyama checks the door on the other side of the hallway and announces that it’s just a guest room and there are still no exit doors in sight.
“Do you really think they’ll keep us here?” Kageyama asks and Oikawa clicks his tongue.
“They can’t. Besides, even if they try to keep us here, it won’t be long until my friend finds us.”
“Your friend?”
Oikawa hums. “My Iwa-chan, of course. He always checks on me and makes sure that I’m alright. He’s been my best friend since I was a little kid, so of course he’ll be out there looking for me the moment he realizes that I’m gone,” Oikawa explains and pats the pockets of his pants to pull out his cell phone. To his disappointment, the battery life on the cellphone was just about to go out and there wasn’t any service in this bar either.
Oikawa makes a dissatisfied grunt and pockets his phone as the two walk around the corner to another part of the bar. Kageyama makes a noise of recognition and Oikawa sees just what the teenager sees as well. Up ahead, there are two velvet red elevators with a mask hanging over each door. Oikawa beams, guess those bartenders didn’t think that they’d try to find a way out on their own. No need to play some stupid game now.
Oikawa and Kageyama move to the elevator and begin to push the ‘up’ arrow button repeatedly. The light doesn’t flash white and the elevator doesn’t ding. The needle above the door doesn’t change and elevator shows no sign of it working at all. Oikawa crosses his arms in a huff and glares at the masks of a red oni and a porcelain woman. “If the elevators aren’t working and we can’t find the stairs, how did we get here?”
“You want to find out, right?”
The two of them turn, seeing Kuroo leaning against the wall and pointing at the elevators. “Only Kenma or I can make those elevators work. But first, you two need to play the game.”
“And if we don’t want to?” Kageyama asks and Kuroo sighs. He moves from the wall and walks over to the two of them, Oikawa not realizing how even though Kuroo wasn’t much taller than he was, his presence became so much more threatening and made him feel so small.
“I wouldn’t choose that, if I were you,” he says slowly, looking between them both. Oikawa looks into Kuroo’s eyes and realizes that Kuroo’s eyes look. . .different. Surrounding the pupils was a light grey cross concealed by the dark iris. Those didn’t look like the eyes of someone. . .normal. The cross shrunk and then expanded as Kuroo’s eyes focused on him, and Oikawa could feel his stomach drop.
“It would be in everyone’s best interest if you both come back and play the game. If you really want to find out why you both are here and why you can’t remember, you’d do it,” Kuroo says and Oikawa swallows. He didn’t know what was going on and he didn’t know why this was happening to him. Who is this guy? What is this place?
“Oikawa,” Kageyama says and he turns to the teen. “What should we do?”
Oikawa rubs the back of his neck. This kid really respects him, he can’t just freak out like he was slightly doing now. Oikawa puts on his charming smile and gives a thumbs up.
“We might as well do what he says, Tobio~”
“If either of you would press this button, the game will be decided,” Kenma says and pushes the button that Kuroo had placed out earlier towards them. Kageyama looks at the button, then at Oikawa. The older man gives a hand motion for Kageyama to push it and the teen swallows.
He just wants to go home. And if playing this stupid game will make these bartenders tell them the exit, then that’s what he’ll have to do. Plus, he gets a chance to play with Oikawa Tooru. He’d be lying to say he’s not excited and slightly curious as to how he got such an opportunity to play against him.
Kageyama presses the button and the panels on the board begin to light up one by one, a silly little tune playing along with the lights. Kageyama’s eyes follow the light as it moves from panel to panel, the movement growing slower and slower, until it finally lands on the panel in the bottom right-hand corner. A sound of toy trumpets play and the panel flips over.
‘Volleyball’
Oikawa snorts. “Are you sure this is random?”
“It is. Lucky for you two, huh?” Kuroo comments and Kenma gesture to the hallway.
“Please follow us,” he says quietly and leaves from behind the bar with Kuroo following behind him, Oikawa and Kageyama shortly following afterwards. Kageyama has his eyes on the floor, his heart beating frantically. He was going to play against his idol in volleyball.
Man, if only Hinata were here too. He knew the orange-haired boy loved to enthuse about who was considered the best volleyball player ever and didn’t see Oikawa’s talent compared to the blind worship of the ‘Little Giant’ from Karasuno. If he could see how Oikawa plays in person, he’d change his mind.
“Oi! Kageyama! Come on!”
Kageyama turns immediately, looking behind him only to see an empty hallway. That’s weird, he swore he heard Hinata’s voice. . .and it sounded so close too.
“Something wrong, Kageyama?” he hears Kuroo question and Kageyama turns back to continue following them.
“No, nothing at all.”
The room that Kenma leads them to is a volleyball court, albeit a much smaller one than Kageyama and Oikawa were used to playing on. One half of the court is scarlet red like the walls that are adorned with paintings of willowy trees and vines, while the other half is a deep sapphire blue. It also makes Oikawa wonder really just where were they, because what bar has a freaking volleyball court?
“Oikawa, please move to the red side. Kageyama, go to the blue side,” Kenma instructs and Kageyama nods, slowly walking onto the court. It feels like forever since he’s been on the court, even though he remembers leaving practice and working up quite a sweat. Maybe it’s just that thrill he always felt when he was about to play, that burning excitement deep in his chest and the desire to never step off of the court.
Kuroo is bouncing a volleyball up and down while Kenma examines the surroundings. “You both know the basics of volleyball, however this game will be slightly different. This game will be two on two. The opposing team serves the ball and the goal is to get the ball over the net in no more than three hits to return to the opposite team, and vice versa. If you manage to get the ball to hit inside the court, you will receive a point. Mistakes result in no points. The first person to five points will win,” Kenma explains and Kageyama raises his hand.
“Uh, you said ‘two on two’. Are you two going to play with us or-”
“We’re just spectators!” Kuroo says with a grin. “But don’t worry, I have some great players for you,” he says and whistles loudly. A door on the opposite side of the court opens and Kageyama’s eyes widen as to who walks through it.
Slowly, he sees his friend and his teammate, Hinata, walk onto the court and towards his side, his eyes blank and empty.
“H-Hinata!” Kageyama yells and Hinata does not respond. He hears Oikawa cry out ‘Iwa-chan!’ and sees the man go to the second person that had walked out of the door to hug him. Hinata moves to the corner of Kageyama’s court and stands there while Kageyama stares. What is he doing here? How did he get here? . . .Was he stuck here just like they were? What was going on?
“We still have a few more rules to explain to you,” Kuroo says and holds out the ball. He hits it with his palm and it goes from a bleached white to a bright red. He hits it again and it turns blue, the ball alternating colors from red to blue each time Kuroo slaps it.
“As you can see, the ball’s colors corresponds to the courts you’re standing in. Your partners will play according to your resolve. If you score a point in a court the opposite color of the ball, the opposing captain’s – you two – will feel a slight jolt of pain. If you score a point in a court the same color of the ball, the opposing partner will feel a slight jolt of pain,” Kenma says and Kageyama looks at Hinata in worry. What did he mean by ‘slight jolt of pain’? They were. . .they were going to hurt them?
“You can’t force us to do this! Why is Iwa-chan here?!” Oikawa shouts and Kuroo tosses the ball at Oikawa, who fumbles in catching it.
“Once you finish the game, you’ll understand everything,” Kuroo says with a shrug and Oikawa grits his teeth. Iwaizumi is standing in the corner of the red court, only looking dead ahead.
. . .He has to know. He has to understand why they all were here.
Wordlessly, Oikawa goes to where he needs to serve and Kenma gives an approving nod.
“The game will start.”
Oikawa hasn’t been on the court in a while. He remembers he was on vacation and volleyball was honestly the last thing on his mind. He gives the ball a few bounces, inhaling deeply before he takes it into his hands. Oikawa throws the ball into the air and hits it firmly with his palm, the ball immediately turning blood red as it soars through the air.
The ball makes it over the net easily and Kageyama quickly scrambles to hit it back, turning the ball dark blue. To his surprise, Hinata moves almost automatically and chases after the ball, diving to hit it upwards. Kageyama has never seen Hinata play like this before, so robotically and not without that battle cry he always made right before he slapped the ball with his powerful spike. Kageyama moves to send the ball and spike it over the net.
He doesn’t see Iwaizumi waiting for him, heart momentarily stopping as Oikawa’s partner blocks his spike and the now red ball hurls downwards onto Kageyama’s court. Kageyama’s eyes bulge as he feels his insides twisting and falls onto his knees with a scream.
“Move faster!” Kageyama yells and Kindachi scoffs at him.
“Do you think we’re going to get anywhere with you playing so recklessly?! This is why we lost!”
“That’s not true! I know what I’m doing, I just need you to pick up your slack and start taking this seriously!”
The team is scowling when he turns around and starts to set up practice for receives.
“Guys. . .maybe we should just put our all into this. It’s not over! We still have the Spring Tournament!” Hinata says enthusiastically and Kindachi scoffs.
“It’s just like you, Hinata. To always have the ‘King’s’ back.”
“Tobio, are you alright?”
Kageyama slowly looks up, seeing that Oikawa is standing before him and looking down at him, slightly concerned. Kageyama rubs his head and wipes his mouth, finding that he had coughed up a few drops of blood.
“I’m. . .I’m alright,” Kageyama says weakly and gets to his feet. Oikawa crosses his arms and looks over at Kuroo, who turns the scorecard to 0 – 1. The red ball rolls back to Oikawa’s foot and Kenma gestures to it.
“It’s your serve again, Oikawa,” he says calmly and Oikawa looks at the teen still clutching his stomach, before he slowly grabs the ball and goes back to his court. Kageyama looks at Hinata, the boy not even giving him a look over or showing any amount of concern. Hinata would always be the first to run over to a fallen teammate and help them back onto their feet. This. . .this wasn’t his Hinata. But if it wasn’t his Hinata. . .who could it be?
He places a hand to his forehead. How is going to win this game if he’s positive this isn’t partner? Hinata was the one to always spike. . .which means that he needs to trust this ‘person’ to hit the ball first instead of him so he could set it up. Kageyama’s heart starts to increase in speed as Oikawa throws the ball up again and serves it, the ball going directly at Kageyama again and his eyes widen. He needs to hit it, he needs to hit-
Hinata is suddenly in front and hits the ball first, the ball changing from blue to scarlet red and Kageyama swallows hard as he runs to set the ball. Maybe, just maybe this will work. They’re little ‘freak’ quick that manages to stun the crowd and their opponents. Kageyama watches the ball fly towards him and he hits it high into the air. Hinata immediately sets off into a run and jumps high off the ground and Kageyama feels breathless.
“He’s an amazing jumper.”
“He has to be. He’s the only one that can hit Kageyama’s reckless tosses.”
Kageyama watches Hinata spike the ball hard past Iwaizumi and the now red ball hits hard against Oikawa’s red court. Iwaizumi screams and clutches his chest, falling to his knees and Oikawa’s eyes widen.
“Iwa-chan!” Oikawa shouts and rushes to his fallen friend’s side. He clutches Iwaizumi’s shoulder and places a hand on his chest. “Where does it hurt?! Are you alright?!” he cries and feels around Iwaizumi’s neck.
“When are you going to tell her?”
“Hmm?”
Iwaizumi holds up the magazine he was currently browsing, the obnoxious title loudly proclaiming ‘Japan’s National Setter Spotted with Pretty Date!!’. Oikawa only hums and snuggles more into Iwaizumi’s bare back, letting his fingers move along his tan skin.
“Eventually-”
“No, not eventually. Either you break things off with her, or we stop doing this. . .thing. It’s not right.”
Oikawa huffs and pouts. “Relax, Iwa-chan~ I won’t hurt anyone,” he says and kisses the back of Iwaizumi’s neck.
Oikawa places a hand to his head. Why did he remember a thing like that right now? His hand slowly pulls away as Iwaizumi gets to his feet, wearily walking to the corner to start again. Oikawa looks at the teen grab the ball and spin it in his hands, his own slowly moving into fists. What kind of freak quick was that? That wasn’t fair. He wasn’t going to fall for it again, not by a long shot.
Kuroo changes the scorecard to 1 – 1 and Kageyama goes to serve the ball. Oikawa crouches low, watching the boy throw the ball up in the air and serve. The serve isn’t as strong as Oikawa’s and it tips the net. Oikawa could easily push it back over and it would hit the court, but now he has something else in mind. Oikawa gets into position and hits the ball, turning it red as he looks at Iwaizumi.
“Iwa-chan!” Oikawa shouts and Iwaizumi immediately jumps up and spikes the ball. It turns blue and it blows past Hinata, Kageyama diving to hit the ball and unfortunately making it too late. The ball hits the blue court and Hinata holds his stomach to cry out in pain. Kageyama watches on the ground as Hinata’s legs wobble and he staggers, his own eyes widening in horror. He didn’t save the ball in time. It was his fault. He needs to be faster. He needs to be better.
“Again!”
Kunimi misses the toss and swipes at the air.
“Again!”
Kindachi also misses and he growls in frustration.
“Again!”
Hinata dives for the ball and almost rolls into the pole securing the volleyball net. Kageyama growls and runs a hand through his hair. Why wasn’t this working? Why weren’t they getting it? They weren’t going to win like this. They needed to be faster. Kageyama grits his teeth and turns to his team, the ball in his grasp and frustration in his eyes.
“Again!”
Kageyama places a hand to his forehead, aching from the sudden memory, and looks up. Oikawa doesn’t check on him this time, but is instead looking at Kageyama from the opposite side of the net. There is something akin to a childish satisfaction that lingers in the man’s eyes as he looks at Hinata slowly getting into position and Kageyama realizes that Oikawa could have easily hit the ball back when he served it. Instead he deliberately made sure that his partner was able to spike it and change the ball back to blue.
So Hinata would feel the pain instead. An eye for an eye.
Kageyama gets to his feet and he glares at Oikawa, who bounces the ball and gives him a smile.
“I’ll admit. You have good skills. I bet you’re a natural,” Oikawa comments off-handedly and stops bouncing the ball. “I got where I am from training day and night. I even injured my knee because of how much stress I placed on my body.” Oikawa chuckles, “Iwa-chan never let me hear the end of that. . .the point is, I don’t like ‘geniuses’ that use little tricks. Especially that freak quick you two just did. It’s not going to happen again.”
Kageyama clicks his tongue and balls his fist. “And I’m not going to let you try to purposefully hurt Hinata either.”
“How can I hurt him on purpose? We’re playing a game, after all. Everything’s fair,” Oikawa says with a smile that seems slightly empty and Kageyama glances at the scoreboard. Yeah, that’s right. Nothing should be taken personal. . .even with this weird rule. But. . .he doesn’t want Hinata to be hurt. He has to save the ball and score the next point. Not again, not again.
Oikawa serves the ball, changing it to red, and Kageyama watches Hinata dive and hits it up in the air. Kageyama runs to set it and hits the ball up for Hinata to spike again. The ball gets immediately blocked by Iwaizumi, who looks like he was waiting for that to happen and Kageyama’s eyes widen. He dives down and hits the ball before it hits his court and its back up in the air.
“Hinata!” Kageyama shouts and Hinata runs to hit it back. For a second, he misses how Hinata would shout back at him when he hits the ball and confusion clouds his mind temporarily as he tries to send the ball back over to Oikawa’s side. Iwaizumi takes a few quick steps back and hits the ball towards Oikawa waiting to set.
It’s been a while since he and Iwaizumi played together like this. The last time they played a real game was back in high school, before Iwaizumi and he parted their separate ways. They always kept in touch, Oikawa always telling him how much he missed Iwaizumi’s constant nagging and his friend’s presence.
Eventually, the messages exchanged through text message became more longing, more intimate and desiring. When Oikawa was back in Miyagi and visted Iwaizumi. . .that was when their relationship became physical. And yet. . .
“I’ll be leaving tomorrow morning,” Oikawa comments and Iwaizumi looks at him, slowly pulling on a button-up shirt.
“Right.”
“. . .Iwa-chan, you’re not upset, are you?” Oikawa asks and gives a little laugh. “You knew I wasn’t staying long, it shouldn’t be any surprise-”
“Do you love me?”
Oikawa pauses and stares at his childhood friend getting dressed. Were they childhood friends anymore? They did just a little bit more than childhood friends did. But. . .Oikawa doesn’t know what to call themselves. Lovers? Friends with benefits? Iwaizumi looks over his shoulder at the brunet still sprawled out on the bed. “I’ll take that as a ‘no’,” Iwaizumi says with a scoff and Oikawa makes a whining noise.
“Of course I love you, Iwa-chan! We wouldn’t have slept together if I didn’t!”
“If that’s what qualifies as you loving a person, then I guess you truly loved all those girls in high school you slept with too, right?”
Oikawa frowns as Iwaizumi grabs his coat. “If I’m going to be just a conquest to you, I would prefer if we could just forget everything that happened last night. But. . .if this is going to be something serious. . .I want you to say it to me,” Iwaizumi says firmly and grabs his shoes, walking out of the bedroom without saying another word to Oikawa still lying there and watching him go.
Iwaizumi spikes the ball red and Hinata doesn't have the time to react and hit it back. The ball crashes down on Kageyama’s court and Kageyama feels like someone just stabbed him in his chest. He cries out and staggers to the right, trying to keep his footing. Once he feels like he could breathe, he slowly glances at the scorecard. 1 – 3. Oikawa needs two more points and then he’ll win.
He glances at Hinata and remembers that the bartenders said he’ll play based on Kageyama’s resolve. Kageyama wants to win, so why doesn’t this Hinata act like his own Hinata he was familiar with? This was the second time Hinata didn’t hit back one of Iwaizumi’s spikes and Kageyama was starting to get frustrated. Now that Oikawa knew how to counter the quick, it almost seems like he and Iwaizumi were in perfect sync. Kageyama grits his teeth and balls his fist.
“Pay attention next time!” he shouts and doesn’t get a response, Hinata only staring straight ahead. Kageyama could feel something flooding through his veins, anger coursing through his body as he feels his feet moving towards the smaller male. He grabs Hinata by the collar and forces the boy to look at him, Hinata’s eyes dull and empty. “Are you listening to me?!” he screams in Hinata’s face and feels a hand yank him away from Hinata forcefully.
To his surprise, Kuroo was the one holding his arm and looking down at him with a smile. “Don’t rough up your partner please,” he says and Kageyama yanks his arm away to point an accusing finger.
“This isn’t Hinata! What are you two trying to pull here?! If this really was Hinata, then he wouldn’t be making so many mistakes! Hinata at least knew how to put effort!”
“Are you blind?” he hears Oikawa say from the opposite court and Kageyama turns to him. “Does it matter if this is the same person you play with? He runs and dives as much as any normal person putting in effort would. A good captain uses his teammate’s strengths and helps him on his weaknesses instead of yelling at him,” Oikawa replies and cocks his head. “You’re not going to be a good captain if you think you’re some high and mighty king that can order others around.”
“Do you think you can just push us around like this?!”
Kindachi shoves Kageyama against the soda machine, the other members surrounding him and glaring down at their so-called captain. Kageyama rubs his arm, looking between the faces of the members and thankfully, not spotting Hinata amongst the crowd. Kindachi raises his fists, Kageyama seeing behind the furious expression in his eyes, frustration and hurt.
“We practice almost every single day and work our asses off and you know what? Maybe you’re right! Maybe I don’t care enough about volleyball like you or Hinata does! Maybe I just want to do this because I think volleyball is fun and I don’t obsess over every little detail and mistake like you do! But dammit, I’m not going to let this continue anymore!” Kindachi yells.
Kunimi looks down at the ground. “We’re. . .we’re going to talk to the coach and have a meeting about this, Kageyama-”
“Go ahead and tell him!” Kageyama yells. “He’s going to tell you the same thing I tell you. We’re not going to get to the spring prefectures how we are now! We need to get better and you all need to stop screwing up!”
Kindachi throws the first punch and everyone makes a quick scramble to pull off the screaming and swearing teen from hurting Kageyama any further. Kageyama rubs his cheek and jaw, looking up at Kunimi as the others try to pull Kindachi far away from the captain.
“We’re done here and we’re talking to the coach tomorrow. Maybe you can rule the court from the bench, ‘King’,” Kunimi says with a sharpness Kageyama has never heard come from the boy before. With that, he turns on his heel and follows the others, leaving Kageyama outside in the dark.
“Don’t call me that,” Kageyama mutters and Oikawa doesn’t respond, taking the ball back and moving back to serve once again. Kuroo returns to the sidelines as well, reaching into his pocket to pull out a small little red device. Out of the corner of Kageyama’s eye, it looks like a small remote, but to what he didn’t know. Oikawa throws the ball up into the air and pinpoints Kageyama once again as he serves.
Kageyama gets into position. Maybe he can spike the ball this time, if he trusts this. . .person to set it up right.
“You don’t win by yourself! We work as a team and we’ll win the spring prefecture together!”
Yeah, Hinata did always said that to him, didn’t he? Kageyama hits the ball towards Hinata and Hinata turns to look at the ball. He runs and jumps to hit it back to Kageyama, who then jumps up and attempts to aim the ball in a spot where Iwaizumi can’t block it. Spotting the right corner of Oikawa’s court was empty, Kageyama hits the ball and it brushes against Iwaizumi’s outstretched fingers.
The man falls and Kageyama expects the ball to remain red since it wasn’t a full hit. Instead, to his confusion, the ball changes to a blue and Oikawa misses in receiving the ball before it hits the red court. Oikawa’s eyes bulge and he grabs his knee as a searing pain hits it. He screams and curls into a fetal position on the floor, holding his leg as he grits his teeth. Fuck, fuck, fuck. He didn’t know it hurts this bad. He almost feels tears burning at the corners of his eyes. . .
“Tooru?!”
Oikawa’s eyes widen and he pulls the blankets over himself and Iwaizumi, still situated on the other man’s lap and both fully naked. Kana is standing there with her shopping bags hanging on her arm and her eyes staring wide in disbelief.
“K-Kana?!”
“What’s going on?! Who is he?!” she shouts and points a finger at Iwaizumi, who tries to shove Oikawa off of him.
“I thought you told me you and her were through!” Iwaizumi screeches and Kana’s eyes grow teary.
“We’re not through! He loves me! He loves me!”
“Kana, please just leave and I’ll explain everything-” Oikawa pleads, hastily pulling on his underwear and approaches the girl. She raises her hand and strikes Oikawa across the face, her face turning livid.
“No! You love me! You wouldn’t choose to do this! You love me! You. . .he did this!” She turns wildly and tries to fling herself at Iwaizumi and Oikawa grabs her. He pushes her back and she stumbles, falling backwards and landing on her bottom from the force. Oikawa curses and sputters out apologies as he tries to help her up, but she pushes his hand away.
She drops her shopping bag and gets to her feet, wiping tears from her eyes and smearing her mascara over her cheek. “This isn’t over! He loves me! He’s mine! You’ll never have him!” she screeches at the top of her lungs and turns on her heel, running out the hotel room Oikawa was currently staying in.
Everything was quiet and Oikawa’s heart was beating extremely fast, until he hears the sound of Iwaizumi getting out of bed as well. He turns and sees the man putting on his clothes and Oikawa moves to go to him.
“Iwa-chan-”
“I’m leaving and I don’t want you to call me,” Iwaizumi says darkly and Oikawa places a hand on his shoulder. Iwaizumi pulls away from him and grabs Oikawa by the shoulders himself to push against the wall.
“I’m not someone for you to go to when you’re feeling bored or you’re tired of the girl you’re with now. Do you. . .do you know how tiring this actually is? Even during high school, I always just waited for you to come around to me and actually stay. I’m there when you want to sob and complain about your current girlfriend and then you have your fun with me and move on and I’m sick of it. I’m not going to wait for you to say you love me, Oikawa. You either do, or you don’t. And until you figure that out, I don’t want to see your face or hear from you again.”
“Iwa-chan, please don’t go. . .”
Oikawa opens his eyes and feels like his body is slightly numb. Iwaizumi is staring down at him, though he makes no move to help Oikawa off the floor. Eventually, Oikawa pulls himself back onto his feet and Iwaizumi goes to stand in position. Kageyama bounces the ball up and down, watching Kuroo place the remote back into his pocket with a satisfied smirk on his lips. Oikawa blearily remembers he just needs to get to five. Two more points. He just needs two more points.
Two more points and he’ll understand this feeling that’s starting to grow in his chest and the clouds in his memory will become clear.
Kageyama hits the floor the same time the red ball hits his court from Oikawa’s spike and Kageyama coughs up more blood; at the same time, he feels his lungs squeeze so tight that he can hardly breathe.
His cheek is still numb and his jaw feels swollen, but he continues to walk towards his home anyways with the thought of what was going to happen tomorrow. The coach will listen to his defense, he wasn’t being a tyrannical ‘King’. He was being a critical captain and he was going to make his teammates see the error of their mistakes.
. . .They were all against him, weren’t they? Except for Hinata, but he and Kageyama butt heads so often that he doesn’t know whether the boy truly understood Kageyama’s passion for the sport like the others do. What if the coach listens to them and he gets forced off the court? Kageyama doesn’t want to be taken off the court, he wants to keep playing. He wants to keep fighting. He doesn’t want to give in. Not like this.
“Oikawa, you just need one more point and you’ll win,” Kenma informs as Kageyama comes to his senses. Oikawa nods wordlessly and takes the ball that rolls to his feet. Kageyama gets to his feet and looks at the scoreboard.
“. . .You never told us what happens if one of us loses,” Kageyama says slowly and Oikawa bounces the ball.
“Does it matter? Once one of us win, we get to leave,” Oikawa says in a monotone voice.
“We also said that your lives will be at stake,” Kuroo says and Kenma shoots the taller man a look as Kageyama swallows.
“Does. . .does that mean if Oikawa wins. . .I die?”
Kuroo taps his chin. “Well, we’ll just have to see, would we?” he says with a smile and Kageyama’s eyes widen. Oikawa stops bouncing the ball and stares at the teen himself. He didn’t think about what would happen if one of them lost, he just thought about what would happen if one of them won. He thought about all the memories that were slowly coming back to him and piecing themselves together like a mystery puzzle.
He remembers cheating on Kana and simultaneously Iwaizumi, and he remembers the countless calls Kana left him while he tried to get back in contact with Iwaizumi. He remembers receiving a text after dinner that Saturday evening from Iwaizumi to meet him downstairs outside. . .that must have been the important place he needed to be. He needed to tell Iwaizumi how he really felt and that he was serious about them being together.
But. . .then why were they both here? That was the last puzzle that needed to be solved and Oikawa had to win in order to find out. Even. . .even if it meant that one of them had to die in order to find out the truth.
“Oikawa, please serve the ball,” Kenma says and Oikawa is shaken from his thoughts.
“R-Right,” he stutters out and moves to the back to serve. Kageyama looks at the man and swallows hard. He can’t lose, he can’t lose.
“Hey, Kageyama!”
Kageyama pauses by the convenience store he was passing by, Hinata running out to greet him with a big smile. “I just got some pork buns for me and my sister, do you want. . .oh my god, what happened to you face?”
Kageyama turns his face away from Hinata’s hands reaching out. “Nothing. Make sure you’re at practice tomorrow,” Kageyama says stiffly and Hinata frowns. He grabs the boy’s hand and prevents him from moving any further.
“Tell me who did that to you,” Hinata says firmly and Kageyama looks down at him. Hinata had a strong will about him, something that Kageyama respected and admired about the young boy. However, his strong will also meant a stubborn attitude that was probably as worse as his own, and it always manages to get on Kageyama’s nerves.
“It’s nothing.”
“It was the team, wasn’t it?” Hinata asks and Kageyama feels a twinge in his chest.
“So you knew about it? About how they all felt about me?” Kageyama asks, not knowing what this pain in his chest was. Betrayal? Worry? Hatred of himself? Hinata releases his grip on Kageyama’s hand and looks down at the ground.
“I knew they were upset, but not to the point that they would try to pick a fight with you. That’s not going to solve anything by beating you up,” Hinata says quietly and Kageyama turns to him.
“Then what’s going to solve it?”
Hinata balls his hands into fists. “You need to trust us to be there for you when you need us! Cause I’ll be there to hit any toss you throw, Kageyama! I promise you, but you need to have faith in me that I’ll be there!”
Kageyama blinks and Hinata’s eyes sparkle. “Come on, let’s just go to the courts and practice a little bit. I don’t have to be home so soon. Are you busy?”
“. . .Yeah. . .yeah, okay. Let’s go and practice.”
Oikawa serves the ball and Kageyama gets into position. A good captain trusts in his teammate, regardless of who it may be, and knows how to utilize their potential to the fullest. That was what he had to do in order to win this game. It’s not over yet. It’s not over until the ball hits the court. He wasn’t done fighting, not yet.
The ball rallied back and forth over the net, each person running to dig and save the ball before attacking the opposite court only for the ball to still remain in the air from a quick save. Oikawa needed to win, he needed to know why they were here. Kageyama couldn’t lose, he needed to prove his teammates wrong. He needed to show them that he could depend on them. He still needs to be there to toss for Hinata and get them to the spring prefecture.
Both needed to win, and both didn’t want to lose.
Oikawa sees Iwaizumi standing outside near a tree and sucks in a deep breath, placing a hand to his chest to calm his steadfast beating heart. The words should come naturally to Oikawa the moment he sees the other man. It’ll be alright, it’ll be alright.
Oikawa calls out to him and he turns slowly to face him. It almost seems like time was slowing down for real as Oikawa runs with his arms open wide to embrace him and tell him all the words he needed to say before it was too late. It wasn’t too late, it wasn’t too-
“Tooru! Get down!” Iwaizumi screams and Oikawa’s eyes widen.
“You can’t have him!” he hears Kana screech from behind him.
One single gunshot rings in his ear and Oikawa feels something move through his chest and knock the wind out of him. Blood splatters on the ground and he is down in an instant.
Oikawa feels the pain in his chest and he chokes, hitting the ball to change it to red before falling to the ground. It tips the net and Kageyama runs to make a dig for it despite being so far and Hinata does the same.
“Come on! I’ll race you! You love to race me to practice, let’s see who can get to the court faster!” Hinata says with a cheeky grin and Kageyama couldn’t help the competitive spirit coming over him. Hinata always knew how to bring it out of him, that friendly rivalry that Kageyama found he didn’t want to lose the most. He didn’t want to leave the court, but he especially didn’t want to stop playing with Hinata.
He needed to change. He needed to show them.
Kageyama gives a nod of the head with a smile matching Hinata’s. Hinata gives him a thumbs up and the two boys break out into a run. The night sky is overhead and the street lights were flickering, not giving enough light to illuminate their path. Kageyama follows the sound of Hinata’s laughter and teasing to hurry up, approaching a crosswalk. Hinata didn’t slow down; instead, he runs even faster and throws a smile over his shoulder.
“Come on!” he shouts, but the sound of a truck horn drowns out his voice. Kageyama’s eyes widen and his heart slows as Hinata turns back to see the oncoming truck and the next few seconds are blurred together. Kageyama doesn’t remember anything, only his feet picking up speed and shoving Hinata extremely hard, and cold metal crushing against his body.
Kageyama crashes into Hinata, the ball out of each other’s grasp and hitting the blue court. Hinata screeches so loud that Kageyama’s own scream is frozen in his throat, before the boy goes quiet and stops moving entirely.
The room is silent and stiff, no one moving in the slightest. Faintly, Kageyama hears someone. . .clapping. His head slowly turns to look off at the sidelines, the scorecard reading 2 – 5 as Kenma turns the card and Kuroo gives the players a rousing applause. Kenma doesn’t clap, moving to Oikawa still lying on the floor and looks down at him. Oikawa is curled up into a fetal position and mumbling to himself.
“No, no, no,” Oikawa says through clenched teeth and Kenma places his hands behind his back.
“Congratulations, Oikawa. You won the game,” Kenma says and Oikawa looks up at him. Kenma’s eyes are like Kuroo’s, golden crosses staring down at him without any ounce of emotion. Oikawa swallows and slowly sits on his knees. He pulls the collar of his shirt down to look, seeing a festering bullet wound on his chest, right through his heart.
“No, no, no! This isn’t real! This isn’t happening! I’m not dead! I can’t be dead! Iwa-chan-” Oikawa’s head shoots up to look at the Iwaizumi standing before him and looking down at him with the same cold emptiness Kenma was looking at him. Oikawa grasps Iwaizumi’s hand and squeezes it. “He’s here! I’m not dead if he’s here! He didn’t die!” Oikawa shouts and Kuroo sighs.
He walks onto the court, over to Kageyama who was cradling the lifeless form of Hinata and crouches down.
“You were right,” he says to Kageyama and places a hand on Hinata’s forehead. “This isn’t Hinata.”
As soon as he removes his hand, Hinata’s skin begins to flake off and Kageyama’s eyes widen in horror. Hinata’s facial features fall off in large chunks as if they were nothing but paper, til what was in Kageyama’s grasp was not his former teammate, but a mannequin. Kageyama drops it onto the ground and Oikawa turns to look up at who he thought was his Iwaizumi.
“If Hinata and Iwaizumi were both really here, that means that they left the land of the living like you both had. But these are only dummies meant to aid in my judgement,” Kenma explains and places a hand on Iwaizumi’s shoulder. Like Hinata, Iwaizumi’s skin flakes off piece by piece and Oikawa’s eyes widen.
“Don’t touch him! Stop it!” Oikawa shouts and moves a hand to push Kenma away. Something grabs at his wrist and yanks his body up against the wall. He wearily looks up, seeing the vines that were in the painting slowly leaking out of the frame in colorful pastels to wrap around his wrist. Kuroo walks over to him, touching the frame of the painting lightly.
“The game is over. Any actions outside of it won’t be tolerated,” he says firmly and Oikawa watches the mannequin that used to be Iwaizumi crumble to the ground in a heap of plastic limbs. He bites back a sob and tears roll down his cheek, looking away from Kuroo’s eyes.
“What’s going on?” he shakily asks. “Why is this happening?”
“When two people die at the same moment, their souls are either sent to Heaven or Hell. But before that, they are sent here to Nekoma to be judged by me,” Kenma explains and Kageyama slowly gets to his feet. The left side of his body feels numb and as he slowly approaches the shorter man on the other side of the court, his left leg is uselessly dragging behind him.
“What do you mean? Judgement?”
“I am an arbiter,” Kenma replies.
“I’m an arbiter-in-training,” Kuroo quips and Kageyama’s eyes slowly move to the floor. He was already dead, so there’s no point in fearing that he would die if he lost the game. But now. . .
“Will. . .I go to Hell?”
“If you both will step inside the elevators, you will find out your outcome-”
“Please, don’t do this!” Kageyama cries out and falls to his knees. “I just wanted to make my team better. . .I just wanted to keep playing with Hinata. I was supposed to go to the spring prefecture with them! I was supposed to show them I can change! I changed! I changed!”
“I should have told him. I should have told him how I felt long ago. Before Kana, before all this mess could have happened. It’s all my f-fault,” Oikawa grits out through his teeth and the vines slowly release his wrists. Oikawa places his face into his hands and cries as Kageyama screams upwards to the ceiling with tears coming down the sides of his face. The two arbiters only watch them and take it all in, Kenma crouching down onto one knee and wraps his arms around Kageyama’s shaking frame.
Kenma’s body is cold and stiff, but Kageyama doesn’t say anything and buries his face in the man’s shoulder to hiccup and sniffle.
“You’ve done all that you could. And you’ve done well.”
Oikawa stands in one elevator and Kageyama stands in the other. Both of their eyes are red and swollen from tears and Oikawa doesn’t meet the arbiters’ eyes. Kenma gives a bow and Kuroo waves at them. “We wish you the best on your journey,” Kenma says and Kageyama closes his eyes. He repeats how sorry he is over and over again in his head, to Hinata and his teammates for failing them.
“Good luck!” Kuroo shouts out to them and Oikawa balls his hands into fists. There is no one to blame but himself. Tears are falling from his eyes again as he thinks about the last time he saw Iwaizumi right before Kana’s bullet hit him. He should have shouted it right there that he loved him. He should have told Iwaizumi when Kana stormed out of Oikawa’s room. He should have told it when they were cuddled in bed together and Iwaizumi was reading the magazine. So many opportunities missed, so many chances Oikawa had he didn’t take.
The doors are slowly sliding closed and Oikawa finally looks up to see Kuroo’s eyes were watching him.
The arbiter gives him a soft smile and the doors are shut for good.
“Well, that was an interesting judgement,” Kuroo comments, polishing off the remnants of the drink Kenma made him.
“Well, it’s my last one before you take over, so I’m glad you managed to get something out of it,” Kenma comments, returning to cleaning the glasses.
“. . .Are you satisfied with the decision you made?”
“Would you have chosen differently?” Kenma asks and Kuroo hums.
“Probably not. You know I don’t understand humans like you do.”
“None of us do,” Kenma says quietly. He sets the empty glass on the counter. Kenma could honestly say he was glad that this was over. Maybe the sorting of memories of the deceased would be even more stress on his mind, but deciding the fate of souls was considerably more. He doesn’t regret the decision he made with Oikawa and Kageyama. He never does.
Kuroo pushes his empty glass towards the smaller man. “Can you make me another drink?” he asks with a smile.
“Coming right up.”