Haikyuu One-Shots

Stronger Than My Storm (Satori Tendo)

Wizzy: Following the style of the last one, this one is also named after a Citizen Soldier song. Sequel to If I Surrender.  Pretty much gender-neutral, but I do have a brief second where the reader is referred to as a male. This is because I picture this reader as being a male. For yourself, feel free to mentally change it.

This story I'm writing

Helps me remind myself

That rock bottom only got me higher

Won't be a victim, I'm a survivor

There are times when I look back to that day and I wonder... if I had chosen to end it all, what would have happened?

Would anyone have missed me? Would anyone have noticed? I'd felt so sure that no one would back then. Maybe I was right... or maybe I was wrong. Maybe I'll never know.

If I hadn't defended the little redheaded first year, would he have ended up just like I'd been? Would he also have been haunted by his inner monsters? It's an answer that I'll never know... but perhaps that's for the best.

I stop outside the open doorway and peer inside. They're hard at practice as usual... and that brings a smile to my face.

The coaches send a glance my way, but they don't tell me to leave. Coach Washijo remembers me... and he remembers how hard a certain redhead had fought to get me on the team even if I had no skill at all. It's not something any of us would forget anytime soon.

The morning after I'd defended him, I ran into him again. Tendo thanked me and said that it was cool how I'd come to his rescue. There really wasn't anything cool about it, but if that was what he wanted to believe, then who was I to take that away from him?

He questioned how I'd known that he would be there that day, but that wasn't an answer that I could give. If I told him that I only knew because I had been trapped and reliving the same day over and over, he'd never believe it. All I could tell him was that if I told him, he'd think I was crazy.

The members of the team eventually take notice of me watching them. Most of them remember... they're the current second and third years. The current first years are easy to pick out... They are the faces that I don't recognize and they're the ones staring at me in confusion.

My gaze doesn't linger on them though, instead choosing to settle on a particular redhead. He seemed like he was doing well. After I'd graduated, I grew worried that he might have a hard time without me, but I'm quite relieved that it wasn't so. He gave me a wave before my gaze shifted to someplace else.

Nearby, a male with dark hair questions Shirabu, one of the current second years. The question is simple and Shirabu's response comes in his usual calm manner. "He's Tendo's senpai. Apparently, he rescued Tendo from some bullies back when Tendo was a first year. Tendo became rather attached."

It's probably the vaguest way to tell it, but I can't say that anything he said was untrue. Even so, it's not the whole story... not that I'd expect them to know that though. No one would know that... not even Tendo.

"So he's a hero."

"Far from it." The two younger males jump slightly. They hadn't expected that I would be listening to their conversation. It's not the first time that someone has tried to talk about me behind my back, but it's nothing bad this time, so I'll forgive it.

Both look at me in confusion. They wait quietly to see if I'll offer an explanation. When I don't, it's the first year who speaks up, asking "Why not?"

It's not an answer that I really want to give. "A hero doesn't stare down at the ground from the high rooftops, searching for a reason to walk away."