Solace | [Sakuatsu]

Part 1

His key was turned in the keyhole, opening the door to let him view the genkan of his new apartment. The new construction smell, a combination of fresh paint, carpet, and wood hits his nose hard. Atsumu scrunches his nose, the stale air in the place is making him feel slightly nauseous and coughs a few times into the room. Dragging his luggage into the genkan, he looks around with a smile.

It's perfect, the furniture he bought is here, and the paint on the walls is calming for him to stay in. The different shades of blue are soothing, and he likes it. He walks to the living room, kitchen and bedroom, even the bathroom is great. He should buy a small gift for Meian-san as thanks for the recommendation on this apartment.

Opening all of the windows to let out the unpleasant air, he breathes in deeply the clean air outside. He hums, satisfied with how the sunlight is lighting up his apartment without even him turning on the lights.

This place is the best apartment he could have chosen, he's glad that he made this choice.

The most important factor for him to live in any place is now placed in the bedroom, toilet, and living room. The smell of lavender starts to flow into the apartment and will soon cover every spot in the place. Smiling at his small glass bottle filled with the scented essential oil with several reeds dipped inside it to soak up the calming scent and emit it to the rooms.

He checks the phone that was taken out from his side pocket, it's only 8 am, maybe he should take a nap from the trip he just took before he unpacks his stuff. Therefore, he walked to the bedroom and placed a blanket on the new mattress, set an alarm clock for an hour to wake him up to organize and ready for his training later in the afternoon.

Waking up to the usual soothing ringtone on his phone, he turned it off with a swift motion by using his thumb pressing on the button while his eyes are still closed. He rubs his eyes with the back of his hand, he yawns into the room that's still brightened up by the sunlight outside sipping through his windows.

He inhales a soft breath and exhaled out with a long one; he stretched his body with a groan. It feels nice, it's starting to smell like his home in Hyogo, and he missed it even though it was just hours ago. It's not his fault that he is such a homesick person, he just feels overwhelmed leaving his comfort zone sometimes. Not to mention, he is now staying in an apartment in Osaka alone, away from his familiar surroundings.

The luggage bag that's sitting beside the bed is opened to start his unpacking.

Prescriptions in his luggage bag are now out in his hands, he puts them down on his kitchen counter. Bottles of pills for his condition are now organized on the counter, it's for the social anxiety disorder (SAD) he has it since he started high school. He purses his lips together and breathe out deep breaths that are taking it through his nose, looking away from the meds and trying to stop thinking about what happened during that time, preventing it to trigger his anxiety to acting up again.

A few minutes have passed and his body has finally relaxed slowly after thinking about what his therapist instructed him to do, he went back to his bedroom to change into his jerseys for his training later.

He takes in a few breaths behind the door to his training hall, he can hear multiple squeaks from the volleyball shoes on the wooden floor. Peeking inside the hall with his head popping out slowly at the side of the doorframe, he can see several players warming themselves up by spiking and receiving from each other.

Cold sweat begins to secrete out in his palms and his body is shaking slightly, he is feeling scared to go in to meet his new team. He removed his head from the door and stood behind it again to breathe in several breaths by his nose that fills up his lungs fully. His teeth chewing on his bottom lip in anxiousness, he thinks he needs to head in soon, but he can't.