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Kageyama’s tiny arms wrapped around the volleyball, the redness of his eyes already fading out, the tear trailing his round cheeks gone. His gums latched onto the volleyball, the side of his mouth that was in pain is now rubbing relaxed on the rubber of the volleyball.
He tilts onto his pillow and keeps clinging onto the volleyball, content and lazy. He hugs the ball between his hands and his stomach.
Kageyama’s grandfather is not at ease, not yet. He hasn’t slept in days ever since Kageyama started his racket and decided he didn't know what he wanted. He'd been given baby bottles and pacifiers, key chains and plushies.
Kazuyo's eyes are puffy, his hands are gripping the plush toy that Kageyama discarded with an unceremonious throw. Kazuyo is relieved at the silence that a volleyball gave him, but still holds his breath in case he was getting ahead of himself.
There is a tiny knock on the door and it opened, 'Grandpa? Why are you still here?’
‘Sorry Miwa, it takes him a while to fall asleep. He's only just now settled down. We can’t let anything disturb him.’
‘Can I kiss him goodnight?’
How could he say no to that face? Those wide dark eyes were always curious and kind, her hands were always cautious.
He nodded, and she tiptoed towards her new baby brother. Her kiss came heavy on the boy’s forehead. Kazuyo smiled when Kageyama continued sleeping in peace. He locked the crib’s door and in his own bed slept the deepest he had in a while.
Kageyama’s smile is broad like the ocean waves, his eyes blue like their depths. His grandfather throws him another ball, their energies burning off each other, mangling in the burning air that was summer. Miwa is peeking at them beneath their family's umbrella, her art notebook in her hand. The breeze is as soft as the sand that runs beneath his fingers.
Kageyama felt the same comforting gentleness that came from the sand, but he felt the entirety of its passion. He felt the sand dunes cushion the soles of his feet, he felt the warmth like a hug, and when he stood on it for longer, the warmth was burning but passionate, fiery like his own soul and heightening the dizzying adrenalin that coursed all through him. He is laughing now each time the wind steals the ball from his grandfather's hand. Kazuyo is laughing so much, so that his teeth are showing, and Kageyama knows that he loves his grandfather, loves that he has so much fun with him. He wants entire days to be spent on the beach with him, and now that it is finally sunny, he had his wish granted more than not. His sister, who is already in elementary school and eternally smarter, is his role model.
He knows by the hugs that his sister gives him when they score against the other team that she is just as invested in his joy. Forever and ever, on any surface in any weather, Kageyama plans to play volleyball. The winds, the sand, the sky calls him, he believes.