The Crow With Broken Wings

Battle Against the Wind

Sugawara unlocked the doors to the gymnasium. "Here you go! Don't stay here for too long you two, okay?"

Both of us bowed our head and thanked him. He chuckled. "You guys don't have to be so formal you know!"

As Sugawara walked away, I felt a cold breeze drift over me. I turned and to my dismay Kageyama looked at me with his menacing eyes.

"Alright airhead, no daydreaming this time, okay?" he commanded sternly.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever!" I mocked with a small grin on my face. There's no way I'm gonna let that happen again, I thought to myself.

Throwing the first ball into the air, I ran full steam towards the net, Kageyama tossing it to me by the time I was in the air.

I hit it.

The morning's practice seemed to go really well with me managing to hit all the tosses Kageyama sent to me. The only problem was I quickly lost stamina and we had to take a break to which Kageyama reluctantly agreed to.

"Hey, idiot." he said in a slightly more relaxed tone. "Are you getting anxious again? Because if it's about your height or anything, I wouldn't worry about- "

"It's not that." I huffed as I gasped for breath.

Kageyama looked at me with a concerned look on my face. "Hey, you look really pale? Are you feeling okay? It's not like you to be worn out so quickly..."

Well I am feeling a bit faint but...I must keep going. Just one more!

"I'm fine, Kageyama, don't worry! I'm probably just using way too much energy" I lied through my teeth, grinning while I said it in hopes that he wouldn't notice it.

But he did.

I leant back onto my hands, trying desperately to keep composure.

"Hinata, can you hear me?" Kageyama said, though his words were beginning to become difficult to understand.

"Y-Yeah I can!"

"Hinata, are you..." I completely lost focus on he was saying. The gymnasium began to spin and my arms began to tremble. Faint shouts of desperate attention exited Kageyama's mouth, but to me all was a blur. My eyes gently began to seal off the confusion in front of me until I eventually lost consciousness.

I could hear muffled voices and gradually they became clearer.

"Hinata? Hinata-kun?"

My eyes began to open and before me was the regulars of the Karasuno volleyball club. Figuring out what happened, I sat upright and began apologising to them, though I still felt quite ill.

"Hey, calm down! Lay back will you?" Sugawara put his arms on my shoulders, gently pushing me back to the laying position.

"S-So what happened to me? Why am I in the nurse's office?" Those words slipped out of my mouth despite me being aware of my being here.

"You idiot. You passed out after practice, remember?" Kageyama chuffed bluntly.

"Take it easy, Kageyama, it's not his fault!" Sugawara pleaded politely.

"Tch." Kageyama clicked his teeth in frustration.

Nishinoya pushed forward. "Kageyama said you seemed really warn out from training, even though you didn't train that much. Maybe you're losing touch!" Nishinoya chuckled, hitting my shoulder in a jolly dismissal.

Loosing touch? Am I loosing touch? Noticing my anxiety, Sugawara stepped forward.
"I'm sure Hinata has just caught a fever or something. He'll be fine in a few days."

Kageyama intently glared at me with his piercing eyes, putting me on edge. Upon seeing this, Asahi encouraged him quietly to stop, and though I'm not exactly sure what he said, it seemed to make Kageyama more impatient.

"Don't spend to long slacking off, okay?" Kageyama walked out of the nurse's office with a bad temper.

In confusion, I asked, "Is Kageyama okay?"

"I'm not sure." Sugawara responded. "He seemed pretty frustrated that you passed out. Something about you lying to him?"

"Oh. I think I get it." It must have been when I told him I was feeling okay despite being so pale. But why was he frustrated at that? There must be another reason...

"Hinata?"

"Huh?" I snapped out of my thought and looked up at Nishinoya who was now speaking again.

"Hang in there, buddy! Not to put any pressure on you but without you I don't think Kageyama can practice fully. Besides," he said resting his hand on my shoulder, "without you, who's going to lighten the mood?" He had a simple yet powerful smile on his face.

Without any thought I smiled back. "Of course! I need to get back to practice as soon as possible!" I assured everyone, filled with determination.

"Excuse me?" One of the nurses walked in. "May we please speak to Shouyou alone please?"

"Of course," Sugawara responded in a respectful manner. "Let's go, you guys."

"See you, Hinata! Get well soon, okay buddy?" Nishinoya said as he left the room, giving me a thumbs up with an uplifting grin on his face.

"You sure have a lot of friends don't you?" the nurse remarked, checking my temperature whilst doing so.

"I guess. They're all part of the Karasuno boy's volleyball team." I never really thought about it before but I guess the volleyball really are my friends. They're always there for me!

Suddenly, the nurse stopped smiling and shifted to a more serious tone. "We decided to run a blood check just to make sure you're not suffering from anything serious."

"...and?"

"The good news in that you won't have your fever for long and you'll be able to go back to volleyball practice by tomorrow."

"Oh good! Anything else?"

"Unfortunately, you won't be able to play volleyball as well as you used to. If I'm not mistaken you missed a 'toss' as you call it earlier, correct?"

"What does that have to do with anything? Why won't I be able to okay volleyball as well?"

"That would be caused by your fatigue."

"Fatigue? But why do I suddenly have fatigue?"

"Hinata, you have cancer."