Sunset Ghost

With Time

サンセットゴースト
Sunset Ghost
__________________________第7章
時間とともに
__________________________

As time passed, Kageyama began to enjoy his psychic training. School became less worrisome as they approached the end half of the year and volleyball practice was much easier after his workouts in the field—if you could call running for his life a workout. Hinata even started to become less annoying, though only marginally. (He still woke him up way too early and wouldn't leave him alone, but it was becoming manageable.)

Speaking of Hinata... "Kageyama, what are you reading?"

Startled by the voice, Kageyama glanced up at the ginger boy who was perched beside him, resting his elbows on the table and peering over his shoulder curiously. "It's a list of spiritual terms," he answered, turning back to the book where his finger marked the page. Hinata simply hummed at the answer, shifting to get a better view of the book. "Is it interesting?"

"Mmm, not really." He flipped the page with a tired sigh, glancing over at Hinata again. His brown eyes moved across the page quickly as he silently mouthed the words to himself, brows furrowed in concentration. Kageyama snorted quietly in amusement and turned back to the reading, shaking his head with a tiny smile. Hinata really was something else. In the past month, he'd insisted on training alongside Kageyama even though he couldn't really do everything that a living person could.

It was almost endearing, in a sense. Kageyama could appreciate his determination—after all, it was almost exactly like his whenever he was working towards something. Of course, he was still a huge pain in the ass, but... Kageyama was starting to like him. Only a little, and of course he would never admit that to anyone, but maybe he wasn't so bad, after all.

"Kageyama, Hinata!" Both boys looked up at the sudden exclamation to see Yachi standing in the doorway, breathless. Her eyes were shining with excitement and she looked about ready to scream, which was both worrying and intriguing. "Guys, guys, guys, you'll never guess what just happened!"

"What?" Kageyama asked, raising an eyebrow. "You seem... excited."

"I am!" The blonde giggled gleefully, prancing over and slamming her palms down on the table with gusto, nearly knocking over the tea Kageyama had been drinking. "I just talked with my mom, and I asked her if you could help out in her shop, Kageyama. I figured it would be good training for you, and my mom has been wanting to meet you for a while, so I figured this would be a great chance to kill two birds with one stone!"

"Wait, wait, wait." Kageyama held up his hands to stop her typical rapid-fire speech. "Hold on just a minute. Your mother's shop? Are you serious?" Yachi's mother ran a curio shop a few blocks away that specialized in spiritual items and psychic consultation. Yachi worked there weekdays after school and Kageyama and Hinata had often gone there to walk back with her for training, though her mother had been there on none of those occasions.

Yachi nodded happily. "Mmm-hmm! She even said she'd pay you, too!" She clasped her hands together, barely able to contain her excitement. "Isn't that great? What a fantastic way for you to learn. It'll be much quicker than reading all these thick books. Just like field work, but safe!" She scratched her cheek sheepishly, pausing for a moment to finally take a breath. "Ah, well, you'll still have to memorize, but... at least you'll be learning at a faster pace!"

Kageyama's face morphed into a frown, brain still struggling to catch up to the words that had just been spit at him at Mach 20. "Yachi-san, are you sure about this?" he asked eventually. "I don't think I'm experienced enough to be helping in a psychic's shop." (Kageyama felt a little odd using the honorific considering Yachi had told him to drop it after they got to know each other, but it felt wrong without it considering she was his teacher.)