Haikyuu!! x Reader AUs

Tangible {Sawamura Daichi}

Soulmate AU in which your soulmate is the only person in the ghost world whom you can touch.
Warnings: this story will contain mentions of suicide, so if that upsets you, I advise you not to read. Other than that, only slight angst that I promise will be fixed with some fluffiness and leave you with a warm and fuzzy feeling inside :)
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After being trapped in the ghost realm for almost a month now, Daichi understood the rules of the world to which he felt to be damned. A cold, loneliness cursed his entire being, leaving him feeling as though he was destined to an eternal emptiness. He'd been roaming through the real world yet hadn't been able to communicate with a single person whose heart continued to beat and whose body was still full of warmth. At certain times of the day, he'd learned that he'd be able to walk along those who still lived, completely unbeknownst to them, and at other times, he was cut off from those who lived and was only able to see other inhabitants of the ghost world.

It was strange. It was like some unknown entity would flip a switch and then all those who lived would disappear, revealing the other ghosts who had been walking in amongst the crowds.

Even after his tragic death a month ago, Daichi continued to roam Karasuno High School, walking down the empty halls during class time, watching the living students eat, looking in on the volleyball practices he was missing. The entire school and team had mourned the loss of one of their beloved students and players after his passing, but they were all moving on now. Sugawara led the team now, and everyone who didn't know of Daichi had already left him behind.

As Daichi watched the school students rush through the gates after the final bell, he suddenly saw the world change. All the students disappeared, leaving behind a few ghostly stragglers of students who didn't make it out of high school alive either.

He hoped that those who were still alive were getting home safely. As he thought about that, he relived the journey he'd made back home one day after school that had led to his untimely demise. On his way home, he'd been attacked by a group of guys around his age. They hadn't intended to kill him but their relentless and hard hitting attacks had beaten the life out of him. It took forever for someone to realize what was happening and call for help, but by the time an ambulance had arrived, he'd died of severe brain trauma.

Reliving his last moments once again brought him immense pain. That seemed to be the only thing he could feel.

He couldn't stand to be at Karasuno any longer, so he too began to head towards the gates, but he stopped when he noticed a figure sitting on a bench underneath a familiar tree. (H/l), silky (h/c) strands of hair framed her face, which showed an expression of hopelessness and emotionlessness at the same time. When he saw your (e/c) eyes slowly move up to meet his own brown eyes as he stared at you, Daichi immediately recognized you.

"(F/n)?" he called as he approached you and sat down beside you.

Your eyes instantly welled up with tears as soon as you realized you weren't as alone as you'd been feeling the past week and a half. "Daichi..." you responded softly, your voice barely a whisper.

"(F/n), what happened? Why are you here?" Daichi questioned urgently.

He resisted the urge to put his arm around you since he knew how cruel the ghost world was. Here, you could only touch the person who was your soulmate, and he didn't want to risk seeking human comfort and be left feeling more alone than before, as he had in the past when he'd tried to console his mother in the living world.

"I couldn't take it anymore..." you sobbed quietly as you pressed your fingers into your eyes, willing the tears to stop flowing.

Daichi felt his eyebrows knit in confusion as he tried to connect the puzzle pieces. He'd seen you at his funeral and you were alive. He'd seen you visit his memorial outside the school gates multiple times a day, and you were alive. He eventually started to wonder where you were when he failed to notice you around school or around the neighborhood where you lived at all.