Sunset Ghost

Balance And Practice

サンセットゴースト
Sunset Ghost
__________________________第5章
バランスと実践
__________________________

"That was exhausting..." Kageyama muttered to himself, collapsing face-first into his warm blankets with a loud sigh of relief. It was late, though exactly how late he wasn't sure. The sun had set while they were walking back through the forest, and it had taken Kageyama a good twenty minutes to get over the fence. Yachi felt bad for making him train for the entire day, so she offered to buy him dinner, which he couldn't refuse, so by the time he'd finally dragged himself back home, his family was already fast asleep, and he was dead tired.

Hinata had—for once—not followed him home, but he was sure he would wake in the morning to that irritatingly bright, smiling face inches away from his nose. Again. Really, did Hinata have a sense of personal space? It was like he wanted to be as annoying as possible and purposefully step over all of Kageyama's boundaries just to piss him off.

What really pissed Kageyama off was that he seemed simple at first glance, with that idiotic smile and boundless levels of energy, but if you looked closer at him, he really wasn't simple at all. He pestered him until he gave in to going to see Yachi; he called Kageyama a friend after having only known him for a few days; he was dead, but still seemed afraid of the world. Not to mention the fact that his past was still a complete mystery to Kageyama.

He realized they didn't really know all that much about each other, even though Hinata had been hanging around him persistently for the past couple of days. Every time Hinata made an attempt at a conversation, Kageyama would turn it back around on him, resulting in an argument that would tear his focus away from what he'd been trying to ask. Why was that? Why did he do that?

Hinata wasn't really all that bad, but Kageyama couldn't seem to open up to him. Every time he saw him, he greeted the boy with a scowl or a glare, and whenever he said something that made Kageyama feel something other than annoyance, he called him a dumbass and ignored him.

You know, I'm glad I got to meet you. You're a pretty good friend, Kageyama!

His fingers cinched in his sheet as Kageyama turned to stare at the dark wall opposite his bed, which was cast in a faint silver sheen from the full moon outside the window. "I'm not a very good friend, am I, Hinata?" he murmured aloud, closing his eyes with a tired sigh. "Not a very good friend at all..."

_____________________

"Kageyammmaaaa." A week later and there it was again; that annoyingly cheerful voice (and his daily wake-up call). It sounded exactly like it had in his dream. But what had that dream been about, exactly? He couldn't seem to remember. It was just out of his reach...

"Kageyama, you're going to be late to schoooool," Hinata sang loudly in his ear. "Come on, haven't you had enough of sleeping already? You're late almost every day now!"

Blinking the sleep out of his eyes, Kageyama stared sleepily up at the boy, brain struggling to place him for a moment with his orange mop of hair and sunshiney smile. He rolled over to avoid being blinded. "Didn't I tell you not to break into my house again, dumbass?" he muttered, burying his face in his pillow. "Let me sleep for a few more minutes..."

"But you're going to be laaaate!" Hinata whined persistently. Kageyama could feel him tugging at his blanket and pulled it back stubbornly, not about to give up his only source of warmth. "You're manifesting just to pull my blanket off? I said let me sleep. Training was tough yesterday."

"Whaa—?! All you did was read!" Hinata huffed exasperatedly. "It's only your second week of training and you're already complaining about being tired? You're never going to last with that attitude! Also, your grades are going to slip if you're always late."