survival ~ haikyuu zombie au

19 ~ A New Normal

It was early and the sun hadn't fully risen yet, casting a luminous shade over the school. Daichi would have guessed it was around five in the morning, possibly a little earlier. He sighed before rolling out of bed careful not to wake up Sugawara who was fast asleep beside him. Then he quietly slipped out of the building, going out to the garden he had claimed as his own.

The garden was inside the fenced off gate, so it was safe. He liked the garden a lot after he had spent countless hours planting vegetables. He was very hopeful for them. Daichi couldn't help but think about how proud he was of the work the group had done so far.

Kimi worked hard with Tanaka and a few others to put together a fence so the place would be a lot safer. Conny and Kageyama were constantly going out on runs to get essential things for the group. Sugawara and a few others took care of the children. Surprisingly Daichi had seen Tsukishima with the kids on more than one occasion, though he was sure that if he ever brought it up Tsukishima would deny it.

And then there was Kiyoko, she was so calm and understanding. She would spend hours out in the garden with him, planting and taking care of the garden.

Daichi had a crush on the girl since first year of high school when he first started talking with her. But he would never admit it to anyone besides himself in fear of making things a little too awkward for everyone.

Besides, he understood that she didn't see him as anything more than a friend. He was okay with that though, he was just glad that they somehow managed to still find each other during the end of the world. He found that when she was around he had more reasons to smile.

"Hello Daichi," he heard Kiyoko's quiet voice from behind him.

"Oh, hi Kiyoko. Why are you up so early?" Daichi asked her feeling slightly embarrassed over the fact that he had just been thinking about his feelings towards her.

She smiled at him. "It's been hard to sleep lately. But I like getting up early like this. Listen," Kiyoko instructed as she placed a finger to her lips to silence the boy.

Daichi was silent, he was afraid she might hear the sound of his heart pounding so loud, but then he noticed what she had been referring to. The sound of several birds chirping could be heard. The world to the birds was still pretty normal and they still had reason to be so cheerful in the mornings.

"It's pretty, isn't it? It is something I never would have noticed before now. I feel like now I keep noticing all the beautiful little things about the world that were always there but never seemed important to me," Kiyoko explained.

"Yeah, I guess that's kind of a nice way of looking at it," Daichi agreed nodding to her statement. He couldn't help but smile at how the girl was able to pick out the beautiful things about their crumbling world.

"You know the sun will rise in a few minutes, normally I would still be sleeping and miss out on it. It's kind of like even though this world is crap, at least there are still some things that make up for it," Kiyoko said happily with a small smile that showed her teeth.

Daichi was in awe of how she could be so positive and optimistic about their situation, it only made him like her that much more. He stared at her smiling, watching as her shadowed features were brightened by the sunlight from the rising sun. Her eyes widened at the sight.

She glanced over to Daichi who was still staring at her beauty. "Don't look at me, you're going to miss the sun rise," Kiyoko said giggling.

"Oh right," Daichi said laughing as his face turned red. He moved his attention over to the sun, it really was beautiful.

"You know what is really incredible?" Kiyoko asked moving her attention from the sun rise over to Daichi.

"What's that?" Daichi asked curiously.

"Well, that we all found each other. I mean you, Suga, Tanaka, Noya, and me. Even some of those other boys are volleyball players about to attend Karasuno. We all would have been a team if things were normal... I guess we kind of are a team now. But in a very different way than volleyball," Kiyoko explained with a smile, her smile slowly faded as she looked down. "I mean other than Asahi and Ennoshita," she added quietly.

Asahi and Ennoshita were also members of their team back when one of their biggest concerns was winning volleyball matches. No one had mentioned them in fear that they might not be alive anymore.

"You know I hadn't really thought of that. Who knows maybe Ennoshita and Asahi will somehow find us! Then we will be a team. We could fight as a team," Daichi said enthusiastically. He decided it was better to show optimism about their old friends than to assume the worst.

"Yeah," Kiyoko agreed. "You know you really would have made a great captain," she added. Daichi couldn't help but smile at her words.

"Daichi, can I ask you something?" Kiyoko suddenly questioned, displaying a bit more of serious look than she had yet during their conversation.

"Of course," Daichi responded immediately. He didn't care what kind of news she wanted to share, he would happily listen to anything she needed to tell him.

"Okay well I've been thinking... Do you think we will all be able to stay here and create a home for all of us? We can make it safe and once we get the garden going we will be in a really good position," Kiyoko asked a little nervous for his response.

"I really do think so. This place is good for us. Hey, maybe we can even become strong enough to take in even more people and make a mini community," Daichi replied hopeful.

"That would be nice," Kiyoko said with a smile once again.

"I thought I heard some talking. What's this? A third-year party and I wasn't invited?" a voice said from behind them. They both turned their heads at the sound of Sugawara's voice, already knowing who had joined them without needing to look. He gave them a bright smile before sitting down next to Daichi.

"Hi Suga, we were just working on the garden," Daichi explained.

"It's coming along nicely. We should have some fresh vegetables soon then!" Sugawara said cheerfully. Sugawara had always been cheerful for as long as Daichi could remember, even when they were always children. He wasn't necessarily overly optimistic like Conny, but more of constantly happy. Daichi was glad to see he hadn't really changed even though so much had changed.

"It's kind of weird sitting at school talking about gardening. Usually we would be here talking about volleyball," Daichi said with a chuckle. It was odd to him that his world had once revolved around a sport and now he couldn't even play it for fun anymore.

"Yeah, it's really too bad you never got to be captain. Do you think our team would have been good this year?" Sugawara questioned.

Daichi shrugged "I have no idea, probably not but who knows, we were going to have a lot of new first years."

"I think we would have been good this year. Maybe even made it to nationals for our final year," Kiyoko said, both boys looked over to her. "What? I always thought you guys were good," she said shyly. Sugawara and Daichi gave the girl a smile at her words.

"Maybe we can eventually clear out the volleyball gym and then we could all play a match for fun. As long as we keep the door shut to stay quieter it might be safe enough," Daichi suggested. He really missed the sport and he figured playing a friendly game of volleyball would be good for everyone to take away a little of the overwhelming stress they've been under.

"That's a good idea!" Sugawara said with a lot of enthusiasm. "It would certainly lighten the mood and who couldn't use a little fun too!" he added.

"It's a plan then. I can start helping out more now too since my leg is starting to get better" Daichi said.

The three of them smiled at the idea, all silently watching the sunrise.