The Deer & The Owl [Haikyuu x OC]

August - I

I felt the headphones slip off as I stretched in the warm sun, the sounds and voices of the park around me now sharper. It was almost noon, and the lawns of Beacon Hill Park were filled with noisy families and children.

I looked nervously at the screen of the cell phone I had left in my lap, wondering if she would find me here, like all those years ago.

"You're still as lazy as I remember!" a voice I thought I had forgotten said, making me jump.

"I was sure you'd be here, Nora!"

I turned to see Sadie's smiling face, full of freckles and sunshine, her long, rebellious curls tied in two thick braids with a few curls escaping.

"It's been a long time since anyone called me that..." I said, getting up to walk over to her. "Is that your way of telling me that you missed me?"

"Maybe!" I replied, smiling at her.

The last day of my two weeks in Canada had finally arrived, and it still didn't seem possible that the time had passed so quickly. And to think that at first I was terrified of having to sacrifice half of my vacation here, in a place I felt I'd almost forgotten, stuck with my father, with whom I hadn't spoken seriously in months.

Instead, things had gone well.

Sure, the first few mornings had been a little tense, but then I had slowly sensed his silent guilt and plea for forgiveness, and I had decided to go for it.

I didn't feel any resentment toward him anyway, and I don't think I ever really felt any.

The only person I had ever taken my frustration and impatience out on was myself.

These past few months had made me realize that not everyone has the strength to break with the past and forgive themselves.

My father hadn't been able to do that and had naively passed on his own mistakes to me. But unlike him, I felt that I had managed to let go of that part of me and my past, not forgetting it, but accepting it and making it mine.

Like soil that changes its culture and after years comes back fertile and ready to receive new fruit.

Yes, I felt that I had truly turned over a new leaf and was ready to embrace new beginnings.

At least that was what I was trying to do.

So the first weeks passed between bike rides to Butcharts Gardens, where I always went loaded with all the books I hadn't been able to read during the year, and walks along the colorful Johnson Street, where I could finally use my camera again. Then the evenings would fly by with marathons of movies and TV shows, eating all the snacks I had missed in Tokyo, along with plates upon plates of poutine, the only dish my father could cook without setting off the fire alarm.

But despite all the things I was busy with, my mind couldn't help but return to what I had left behind in Tokyo and what I was sure was waiting for me.

Although Victoria was the city that had seen me grow up, I felt like I didn't belong there anymore, like it had nothing new to tell me or show me.

"When I saw you outside your father's house, I thought you were a ghost or a hallucination!" Sadie said, pulling me out of my thoughts.

"I could have said the same thing about you, after all, you only came back here for the holidays, didn't you?" I replied, nibbling at the straw floating in the half-full glass of milkshake in front of me.

"Yeah, but there's a big difference between moving to Chicago and living in Tokyo! By the way, how are you finding it?" she asked, leaning over to get the attention of the owner of the small bistro where we were sitting.