Chapter 119: My Crown

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Tsukishima Kei was at the end of his rope.

The search had gone on...and on...and on.  Nothing.  No sign of Nakano anywhere.

Night had fallen, and slowly the teams called in that they were coming back, their phones were dying, they couldn't see.  Tsukishima and Kageyama had pressed on, searching everywhere.  Nothing.  Finally, Kei's phone had gone off with a call from Emiko-san.  She was panicked, scared, sobbing into the phone.  She'd called Nakano when she hadn't come home for dinner, and Ennoshita had told her the whole story.

Kei had swapped phones with Kageyama, letting him try to talk Emiko-san down while he called his mother.

Tsukishima Akira had gone over to the Ogawas to help Emiko, and Akiteru had driven over to pick up Kageyama and Tsukishima.  

"She's gonna be alright," Kageyama had said firmly as they dropped him off at his house, "She's been through way worse than this.  We'll find her tomorrow."

Tsukishima had said nothing, just watched his teammate go into his house.

Akiteru had shoved a bottle of water and a container of cold soba noodles at him.  

"Eat up," his brother had said, "And tell me where we should pick up the search."

They'd driven around all night, Kei catching small snatches of sleep in the passenger seat of the car from time to time.  Akiteru had kept going, driving around, searching, until the Sun began to brighten the sky once more.  No sign of her at all.

"Kei," Akiteru had said, looking at him, clearly exhausted, "I can't go on like this - I need to catch some sleep.  Let's go..."

"Drop me at Karasuno," he'd said, voice flat.  

Akiteru had asked no questions, just dropped him off at the school, telling him he'd text him when he felt awake enough to drive safely again.

And so now, here he was, standing  in one of the walkways between the volleyball gyms and the classrooms, exhausted, frustrated, terrified, but trying to hold it all down.  Trying not to explode with the panic he could feel welling up inside him.  He had to hold it together.  

Where was she?

He knew he had to be missing something.  They'd driven virtually every inch of the town, roaming further out than he felt was even reasonable.  At some point, she must have stopped running blindly, and sought shelter.  But where?

He'd quickly exhausted all the places he could think of - she hadn't gone to either of their houses, she wasn't at the park, nor was she anywhere at Karasuno.  He'd even thought about the field where the carnival had been held - it was currently empty, nothing there at all, and certainly not Nakano.  He'd checked the shrine they'd visited, about a year ago now, on their double date with Yamaguchi and Yachi.  He'd made Akiteru drive through town, checking places they'd gone together...any place he could think of that the two of them had ever been that she could possible run to.

He'd even had Akiteru drive to the flat rock by the sea.  Nothing.

He was clearly missing something.  Something that maybe, someone who'd known her longer than he had would know.

He couldn't deal with volleyball practice right now, so he'd picked a spot he knew the idiot was going to walk past, and waited.

And sure enough, the raven-haired pain in the ass was soon headed his way, his tangerine-haired boyfriend in tow.  

As Kageyama approached, Tsukishima stepped forward purposefully, striding straight at the setter, face set.

"You look like shit," Kageyama began, "Did you get any...hey!"  Kageyama broke off with a shout as Tsukishima grabbed his wrist and started pulling him away from the building and towards the main exit.  "What the hell are you doing, you four-eyed asshole?"

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