Soar- A Tsukiyama fanfic (Haikyuu)

Chapter 3

Third person POV

Hands rested snugly in his pockets, Yamaguchi walked alone through the dark streets. It was quiet except for his footsteps and the faint rustling of his jacket as he walked. Yamaguchi disappeared inside his head, thoughts whirling in his mind.

Why was Tsukki acting so strange? What happened for him to have lost motivation in everything? Yamaguchi wondered. Why is he distancing himself from the rest of the team?

Yamaguchi saw the team in the distance and ran towards them. "Yamaguchi!" Hinata called. The tangerine was standing next to Karasuno's setter, Kageyama. Kageyama nodded at Yamaguchi. "Where's Tsukishima?" he asked.

"Oh, he went home.." Yamaguchi muttered. "Said he was tired."

Kageyama and Hinata looked almost disappointed. "But we were supposed to discuss tactics!" Hinata sighed exasperatedly.

Sugawara and Daichi came over to see what the commotion was all about. "So he left?" Sugawara asked. "We can discuss the tactics some other time then." Daichi chimed in. "We learnt so much from our match with Aoba Johsai today. We can't exclude a team member in this discussion."

"Who cares about Tsukishima?" Nishinoya and Tanaka popped up behind Sugawara, grinning wildly. "He's such a party pooper. Come on, let's get our dinner. I'm starving." Nishinoya and Tanaka pulled Sugawara away, Daichi following close behind.

"Hey, can I ask you something, Yamaguchi?" the loud, resounding voice of Hinata rang out behind him. His voice tickled Yamaguchi's ears and lifted his spirits slightly. Hinata always sounded cheerful, so it was impossible not to smile when he heard his voice.

"Yeah?" Yamaguchi turned and looked at Hinata (which was proving to be quite difficult, as Hinata was shorter than Yamaguchi by about a head).

Hinata looked up at Yamaguchi and walkes beside him as they followed the team to Coach Ukai's shop to get meat buns.

"Why is Tsukishima always like that?" Hinata asked in a quizzical tone. "He was always the first one to leave our volleyball practices, he distances himself from the crowd..." He glanced up at him with wide, innocent eyes. "You've known him since you were young, I presume. Why does he do that?"

The question left Yamaguchi surprised. He stared back, thinking. When he didn't reply for a while, Hinata spoke again. "I'm sorry, that was a sudden question," he chuckled nervously. "If you don't want to answer that, its fine."

Yamaguchi shook his head slightly. "It's alright." he told him. "Well... Tsukki has always distanced himself from others. He's kind of mysterious that way. I like that about him, honestly. At least, he never shows his true feelings..." he trailed off, deep in his thoughts.

There was a long pause and they were silent except for the sound of their footsteps. Hinata blinked up at Yamaguchi, waiting expectantly for his answer.

"Oh, gomen Hinata, I was thinking." Yamaguchi said carelessly.

His mind jumped back to earlier on, the moment when Aoba Johsai won the practise match against their team. He couldn't recall what happened at first, but then it hit him.

It was a really close one.

And Tsukishima was supposed to be blocking Iwaizumi's spike. It all happened in a blur, though. Iwaizumi switched to a feint at the last second. Tsukishima was unable to read it, and Seijoh has won.

Tsukishima must have felt terrible.

It was the last point, anyway.

The fate of the whole match rested on his shoulders. And he let his team down.

All Yamaguchi could do was watch from the sidelines.

And he couldn't do anything.