survival ~ haikyuu zombie au

161 ~ Repeating Time

As Shirabu and Conny walked farther away from the factory buildings of Inarizaki, Shirabu found himself stuck close to Connys side in fear that they would run into a monster.

Conny suddenly stopped as they reached a small park beside a forest. "What is it?" Shirabu asked quickly taking a step closer to the girl as he glanced nervously around their surroundings trying to spot a monster.

"I was just thinking. You said you grew up with strict parents and never really went out to play right?" Conny asked.

"Yeah" Shirabu replied with a nod.

"Ever climb a tree?" Conny questioned with a large grin. Shirabu quickly shook his head no as he glanced at the forest.

"Come on then, this one looks about good" Conny insisted as she moved to stand in front of a tree. "You can't go through your whole childhood without climbing a tree" she declared.

"I'm eighteen you know. My childhood is already over" Shirabu stated as he looked at the tree Conny had picked. Conny just laughed. 

"What?" Shirabu asked confused.

"Your childhood isn't over until you decide it is" Conny answered as she grabbed onto a branch to help pull herself up onto a branch that hung somewhat lower on the tree.

"How do I do this?" Shirabu asked looking at the tree nervously. It seemed so strange to him that they would stop for a stupid reason like climbing a tree when there were literal monsters littering the streets.

"Find a stable branch to pull yourself up then continue to do that until you are higher up" Conny explained as she moved herself up higher once again.

Shirabu nodded as he focused on climbing. He managed to get onto the lowest branch with a bit of a struggle. 

"Come on at least one more branch then you can stand up and look down. Trust me there is nothing quite like the accomplishment of climbing a tree" Conny said motioning for him to come to the branch next to her.

"Okay" Shirabu agreed as he cautiously stood up clinging to the base of the tree. He carefully moved his hands to a branch above him to use it for extra stability as he moved branches. As he took the step onto a new branch he felt a rush of adrenaline hit him at the feeling of being above the ground knowing he could fall at any moment.

As soon as his feet were stable on the new branch he looked over to Conny with a grin. Conny smiled at his expression.

"I want to go higher" Shirabu said looking at the branch Conny was standing on.

Conny grinned brighter. "Alright, can't say I'm not surprised though. I always have the best ideas" she said as she moved to another branch for him to have space to move. Shirabu grinned and shook his head at her. But he couldn't help but feel the excitement of moving higher up the tree as if he were still a kid. He wondered what the child version of himself would think seeing him right now.

As he took the step though he completely lost his balance as his hand slid off of the branch it had been holding onto and he went tumbling down with a yelp.

Conny quickly climbed down a little hopping off the branch when she was low enough to the ground. "Are you okay Shirabu?" she asked quickly as she sat down beside the boy on the ground.

Shirabu didn't respond for a minute. But then he sat up on his knees and began to laugh. Conny was taken by complete surprise at the boys genuine laugh. "That was so much fun!" Shirabu said looking over to Conny with a giant grin, his eyes wide with excitement.

Conny smiled back. "Told you!" she said excitedly.

Conny slowly got to her feet while Shirabu was still taking a minute to laugh. Suddenly the low growl of a few monsters could be heard. Almost immediately Shirabu stood moving to cling to Connys arm. As soon as she felt the boy at her side holding tightly to her arm she couldn't help but think about how she used to do the exact same thing to Kageyama.

Conny glanced over to her stick on the ground by the base of the tree. She quickly picked it up letting Shirabu continue to cling to her. "Here" Conny said holding out the stick for him to take. Shirabu hesitantly took hold of her hockey stick.

"I can't fight Conny" he quickly tried to explain as they could now see the monsters moving towards them from a distance. 

"I know. You don't have to fight. You can stay behind me, I will protect you" Conny said pulling out Kageyamas knife. Then she quickly glanced back at the boy. "But if you want to learn how to defend yourself you can try, I'll have your back the whole time. Just make sure you aim for their head and swing hard" she added. She would never force someone to kill one of the monsters but at the same time she wanted to help Shirabu become independent. She wanted to help teach him the same way Kageyama had put time and care into teaching her a year and a half ago.

Shirabu nodded gaining a little more confidence in his grip on the stick as he moved his hand from Connys arm to hold onto the stick with both hands. "I'll fight with you" he said. He could feel his stomach turning at the thought but he was determined to at least kill one. He wanted to be strong enough to fight them like everyone else.

Conny nodded as the monsters approached. She began fighting them with the knife as she continuously kept an eye on Shirabu while he swung the hockey stick at the monsters heads. Conny was careful not to let the boy get overwhelmed by monsters.

When all the monsters were finally dead Shirabu stared at the hockey stick in his hands. "I did it. I got two of them" he whispered in disbelief as he looked up at Conny.

Conny smiled. "My first time attacking them I got two as well. Although Tobio took care of the rest really easily" she said putting her hand on Shirabus head and ruffling his hair.

"Thank you for helping me" Shirabu said smiling as he looked at the girl. His friend.

"That was all you, all I did was encourage you" Conny replied as she carefully returned her knife to her belt. "Besides I figured every main character starts off a weakling before they level up. So I get to be like your sensei or something in your book!" she added.

Shirabu scrunched up his face at the insult. "Thanks" he replied sarcastically. Conny just laughed in response.

"So if you could fight, then you could go anywhere you want to. Where would you go?" Conny asked as they began to walk back towards Inarizaki since it was starting to get dark.

"I think I really want to go to Nikko. It's a really small town but that's where my grandparents lived. As a kid my favourite thing to do was visit them. I think my older sister might be there too. I'm hopeful they are still alive because their town is so small it was probably barely even hit by the monsters" Shirabu explained.

"Once I fix things between the prison and Inarizaki I think I'll join you on that journey" Conny decided.

Shirabus face lit up at the news. "Really?" he asked surprised, allowing himself to feel a little excitement at the thought that he might be returning home soon. "Wait, you really think you can fix things between the two groups?" he asked.

Conny nodded. "It's probably just me being optimistic but I really want to try to solve things through talking, that way no one has to die" she explained.

"Your people won't be mad at you for spending so much time here?" Shirabu questioned.

Conny shrugged. "I think they will be. Or my sister will at least. She doesn't see Inarizaki as anything but evil... I understand why but I don't agree. I do plan on returning to the prison soon though, I just think I need a little more time" Conny explained.

Shirabu nodded. "It'll be sad to see you leave. But I guess when you do you'll be able to settle everything, then we can leave together" he said.

Conny nodded. She didn't want to leave her group behind but she thought that traveling with Shirabu once she was sure that they were safe would help her a lot. She still hated the idea of living at the prison without Kageyama and wasn't sure if she would ever fully be able to move back there again. 

"I can't wait for us to go" Shirabu said smiling at Conny. Conny nodded in agreement returning his smile.