Chapter Text
Chapter 1- right where you left me
Hitoka precariously balanced on her wheeled chair, something the resident assistant said explicitly not to do, as she hung polaroid pictures from her string lights with miniature clothespins. She hummed to the pop music coming from her CD player as she recounted the events of the day in her head. Her mom had left about an hour ago after helping her clean her new dorm room, unpack, and make the bed, and Hitoka had finally decided to wipe her tears and do something somewhat productive. Making the bed early had proven to be a great plan, as Hitoka spent a long while choking back sobs under the covers in hopes that other arriving students on her floor wouldn’t hear her bawling.
It wasn’t like she was the only one shedding tears today. Hundreds of students were arriving on Haruta University's campus this very minute, two of them being boys she was very close to in high school. She smiled as her thumb grazed a polaroid featuring Tsuki and Tadashi holding Hitoka over their shoulders after winning the game that sent them to their final nationals tournament, a rare smile for Tsuki, and a regularly occurring beaming grin from Tadashi.
At least, that beaming grin used to show up often. Tadashi hadn’t been quite himself since that night before the semi-finals of the Spring Tournament in January. At least not how he was when he was around Hitoka. The memory tugged at her heartstrings as she felt her knees wobble and finally understood why the RAs had encouraged residents to check out step ladders from the front desk. Her arms shot to the wall in an effort to regain some balance, causing the stack of polaroids in her hands to flutter to the ground in a scattered pile.
Hitoka didn’t want to look like a slob, especially when her new roommate could be at the door any minute, so she scrambled to the floor to sweep the pictures into her hands. As if Hitoka’s anxiety-driven thoughts had predicted the future, there was a sharp knock at the door, and suddenly she noticed the voices in the hall that had been covered by the upbeat melodies projecting from her CD player. Hitoka hurriedly scooped up the polaroids and tossed them on her bed, clicked off the music, and opened the door with a low bow.
“My name is Yachi Hitoka! I’m your roommate, and I’m a first-year studying graphic design!” At least she hoped that it was her roommate who knocked on the door. Hitoka looked up, and to her horror, it was a middle-aged man staring down at her with a puzzled expression.
“Rin, your roommate is introducing herself, it would be polite to come and do the same” he called to someone down the hallway. Hitoka was practically shaking with embarrassment, but the man didn’t seem to notice, or seem nearly as shaken up by her eager introduction. He stepped out of the way to allow a tall girl to walk past him through the door. She carried an instrument case, and a black bag covered in pins and patches hung from her back.
Hitoka looked in awe at her silky black hair draped over her lean shoulders, and she couldn’t help but be reminded of Kiyoko, the drop-dead gorgeous girl who had invited her to be the new manager of Karasuno High School’s boys volleyball team, and who also happened to be her first girl crush. She decided to bury deep in her mind the fact that she would be sleeping in the same room as a girl who looked so much like the gorgeous Kiyoko.
Really, her long black hair was about where the resemblance stopped. She wore a sharper expression than Kiyoko’s gentle default, and Hitoka had to practically crane her neck to get a look at her face. She was tall. Really tall. Her roommate was taking in the sight of the room, a double-style dorm room with two twin beds up against opposite walls, two desks with built-in hutches, two rolling chairs, two skinny closets, and a dresser positioned underneath the window between the two beds. There honestly wasn’t much to look at, but that’s a dorm room for you.
Her roommate’s gaze turned to Hitoka’s side of the room, taking in her tidy desk with colorful stationary already neatly tucked into clear acrylic organizers, the hot pink CD player with a stack of Japanese and western pop CDs sitting nearby, the string lights and clipped-on polaroids that zig-zagged above her desk, and the bed with a pink and green gingham duvet cover and a large Ketty-Chan plush propped up against the pillow. Her gaze seemed to linger on the three large posters that hung above Hiktoka’s bed. Before she could stop herself, Hitoka explained.
“Oh! Th-those aren’t like posters of my sports idols or anything! I actually know those guys, they’re my teammates. Or, they were my teammates, that was in high school. I guess they’re not really my teammates either, I was their manager! The boys volleyball team manager, I mean. So they’re not up there because I think they’re hot or something, not that they’re not, they’re just my friends, but it’s just that I made the posters and they were the first graphic designs I was really proud of. So the posters inspire me, I guess? Like they remind me why I’m here, at least they’re supposed to, and I guess I designed them to be inspiring and stuff? Like inspiring people to donate to the volleyball team… so I guess that doesn’t apply to me but I still thought maybe… they’d help… inspire me?” Hitoka trailed off as her roommate slowly met her eyes. Hitoka couldn’t read her blank expression, but she felt suddenly embarrassed that she had decided to put those posters up.
They really did inspire her. How could she not feel inspired by the images of her former teammates flying through the air, commanding attention and reminding every passerby that Karasuno High School had earned a place at the national tournament? The first poster was from her first year of high school, and she had worked with Shouyou and Kageyama to take the perfect picture of Shou high in the air, with his arm pulled back positioned for a powerful spike. The second poster was from the next year, when they once again qualified for Spring Nationals, and it featured ‘Yama mid-jump serve, a powerful and almost scary aura seeming to emanate from the pose. Hitoka always felt like one of Kageyama's serves could take her arms off if she attempted to receive it. The last poster was her favorite, the final poster for their final nationals. It featured all four of the graduating boys, with Shou and ‘Yama positioned for their iconic quick attack on one side of the net in their black jerseys, and Tsuki jumping with his hands spread intimidatingly for the block, and Tadashi positioned just behind Tsuki, ready for the receive, both in their bright orange jerseys. Of course, the boys never found each other on opposite sides of the net during official matches, and Tadashi and anyone else could rarely receive a quick from the freak duo, but Hitoka had wanted to feature all four of the third-years in the last poster as a tribute to their time together.
“I didn’t think they were your idols or anything like that, some people just like sports” Her roommate remarked, snapping Hitoka out of her spiral.
“Oh! Yeah, of course… Do you like sports?”
“I mean, I was in the basketball club my first year of high school” Her roommate said, and then added, “but I quit after a while because I liked band more” She gestured to her instrument case. “I’m Higashi Rin, and I’m gonna be majoring in music business.”
“That sounds really interesting! What do you plan on doing with your degree?” Hitoka asked, hoping to distract from her own embarrassment.
“I would like to be a rockstar myself, and make my own music with my own band, but if that doesn’t work out, I’ll manage talent or work at a record label or something” Rin said casually.
“That’s so cool! I’ll have to add you to my list of friends to get autographs from before they’re famous.” Rin raised an eyebrow and cocked her head to the side. “Oh sorry! I shouldn’t have assumed that we could be friends!” Hitoka added.
“Nah, we can be friends, I was just curious as to how many of your friends plan on becoming famous,” Rin said.
“Oh, well…” Hitoka pointed to the middle poster above her bed. “That’s Kageyama Tobio, he’s only eighteen and he’s already training to go to the Rio Olympics with Japan’s volleyball team next year. He looks all scary and intimidating but really he’s a big volleyball idiot who can barely memorize his English vocabulary.” She pointed to the poster to the left. “That’s Hinata Shouyou, and he’s not famous yet but he will be someday. He’s currently training to play beach volleyball, and in a year he’s going to move to Brazil to play there. He’s going back to the basics to improve his indoor volleyball skills.” She gestured towards the last poster. “The blonde one is Tsukishima Kei, and the guy with freckles is Yamaguchi Tadashi. They’re not famous, but they go here, and they’re pretty cool.” She smiled.
Rin reached for one of the polaroids that Hitoka had forgotten were strewn across her bed. “Is this the same guy?” she asked, pointing to one of the figures in the picture.
Hitoka realized with horror that Rin had grabbed the picture of Hitoka and Tadashi curled up on the couch in Kageyama’s living room. The polaroid was taken the night that the five of them stayed over at ‘Yama’s place for New Years, and Hitoka doesn’t remember it being taken, or the actual moment at all. To be fair, there was quite a bit of sake involved, and it was her first time drinking, but she wished so badly that she could remember the soft kiss that Tadashi placed on the top of her head in the photo, and she wonders if he remembered it too. Hitoka had almost died after going through the film the next morning, and Shou revealed over text that he had taken the photo, although that much was obvious from the blur of a finger covering a corner of the lens in the picture.
“Oh! Uh… that’s…” Hitoka started.
“Nooo it’s cute!” Rin teased. “Is there something going on with this guy? You said he goes here right?”
“No, it’s not like that!” Hitoka insisted. “We’re just friends.. We were-” she eyed Rin’s parents coming in and out of the room with boxes and bags. “We were drinking,” she whispered.
Rin laughed, “you are gonna be so fun to corrupt this year!” Hitoka didn’t know what to make of that statement, but Rin was the most expressive that she’d seen so far, so at least she was making conversation without passing out or something. Although the embarrassment was going to get to her sooner or later.
Rin’s parents continued to bring items up to the dorm from the bottom floor as Hitoka and Rin made slightly-awkward small talk, usually back to back as Hitoka decorated and Rin unpacked. Maybe it was only awkward on Hitoka’s end. She found out that Rin had no siblings, like herself, and was from the Ibaraki Prefecture. She and her high school rock band had made some waves in some informal band competitions and were relatively known in their area. They even got to play some gigs around their town. Rin played the bass guitar, and was going to take formal lessons with the Haruta University Music School, which is relatively famous for its contemporary music program. That was also Rin’s deciding factor to come to Haruta. Rin also made Hitoka promise that she would come to a welcome weekend party with her, which Hitoka reluctantly agreed to. She figured that eventually, they would find their own friend groups in their separate circles and simply coexist, but for now, Rin was the only friend she had, besides, of course…
Rin’s parents peeled themselves away from her as she escorted them to the door. “I promise I’ll come home, and I won’t die, and you’ll see me again.” She shut the door with almost a slam, and leaned against it and sighed. “Oh my gosh I can literally hear my mom crying from here… oh and yeah, there’s my dad, too.”
Hitoka laughed, “My mom was super stern when she left, she kept telling me not to make dumb decisions, and wouldn’t stop repeating all these safety measures.” She looked up at Rin. “Do you need any help unpacking? I’m especially good at decorating.”
Rin looked at her with a smile that could almost be read as a smirk. “Nah, I can do that later. Right now, I wanna meet these friends of yours.”
No, that was definitely a smirk.