Haikyuu Creature Collection

Guilt (Kentaro Kyoutani)

My eyes slowly fluttered open. White walls and the quiet beeping of a monitor greeted me. My entire body ached as I tried to sit up. My head throbbed painfully and I instantly moved my hand to it.

As I tried to think of why I was here, it slowly started to come to me. I'd been walking home from a friend's house and it was dark out. I was in a hurry, so I took a shortcut through the park. That's when I heard noises nearby. Then as I'd turned, the last thing that I remembered was something big and furry growling and leaping out at me.

Overall, that memory was incredibly fuzzy. In all honesty, I wasn't even sure that was what really happened. I mean, I didn't get a look at what it was that had attacked me, so there was no way of even knowing what it was.

Slowly I looked around my room. My gaze stopped on a small table near the bed. On it was a vase that had my school's colors, probably a gift from someone at school. Or maybe it was just a lucky coincidence.

In the vase were some flowers. They were a lovely little mix of colors, as well as several different types of flowers. I found the card laying next to the vase and opened it. All it said was one little thing.

I'm sorry.

There was no name and it wasn't the handwriting of any of my friends. It was sloppy, so it was probably a guy. I couldn't think of any guys who might besides Yahaba, but I knew his handwriting was incredibly neat, so it couldn't have been him.

A week passed before I was finally out of the hospital. Every day I spent there, I'd wake up to new flowers and another card. But every time, the message was the same. A simple apology and no hints as to who it was or why they were apologizing.

When I finally returned to school, I asked around, but no one could tell me anything. Eventually, I decided to ask Yahaba. He didn't know much, but what he could tell me was more helpful than anything else I'd heard.

"It kind of looks like Kyoutani's handwriting. I don't know why he'd be apologizing to anyone though. It'd be really out of character for someone like him," Yahaba told me. "Whoever it was though, they must feel pretty guilty about whatever they did."

"Guilty..." Thinking his words over, the pieces started falling into place. The furry beast that attacked me... the flowers that kept appearing in my hospital room... What if they were connected? Maybe that thing was a werewolf or... A werewolf. "Yahaba, you wouldn't happen to know if there were any werewolves here, would you?"

It was a bit of a long shot, but he was a smart guy. If anyone knew, it would be him. I hoped so, anyway. "I know a couple, but what does..." Suddenly it clicked in his mind too. "There's a few at almost all the schools in Miyagi. I know we've got a few... oh! Kyoutani's one of them."

There's that name again. I had yet to talk to him, but he wasn't exactly the most approachable guy. Not to mention I ruled him out because it just didn't seem possible. "Kyoutani, huh?"

Eventually I talked to Kyoutani about it, but he wouldn't confirm or deny it. Actually, he didn't even say anything. After that I gave up on it. I was pretty sure it was Kyoutani, but I knew I'd never get him to admit it.

Things were normal again... until some third year decided that he wanted to make fun of the scars I had from that night. The guy had no idea what it was from, so I tried not to react to him. They always say that if you ignore a bully that they'll eventually lose interest. Yeah, that's a bunch of nonsense.

As I was being pushed to my limits, someone stepped in. "Leave her alone." The voice was strong and intimidating. It was more than enough to scare off the third year.

As Kyoutani wandered off, I found myself running after him. If him suddenly defending me wasn't the sign of a guilty conscience, then I don't know what is. "Kyoutani!" I called out, finally catching up and syncing my pace with his. "You didn't have to do that. It's not your fault."

I'd hoped that that would trigger some sort of denial or confirmation, but I got nothing. He didn't even say a thing. Apparently apologies and niceness wasn't exactly his strong suit. After a moment I sighed. There was no way I was getting anything out of him.

As I started to leave him, I gave him one last look. "I forgive you, so don't feel guilty anymore." And as I walked away, I nearly missed the tiny smile that tugged at the corner of his mouth.