Sunset Ghost

Wake Up

サンセットゴースト

Sunset Ghost

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第17章

目を覚ます

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Kageyama awoke with a start, jerking upright in his bed with a cold sweat. He glanced around sharply, breathing rapidly as he frantically searched for Hyde and the Shiki being thrown at him, but there was nothing. He was sitting in his room, morning sunlight shining through the open window and a cool breeze tickling his bare torso.

As he pushed back his covers and stood up, Kageyama's brow furrowed in further confusion. He padded over to his window and looked out to see his parents' cars pulling out of the driveway, the sky a clear and cloudless crystal blue, and frowned. "Wasn't it... raining before?"

He shut the window with a perplexed shake of the head and pulled on a discarded sweatshirt from the floor, pulling open his bedroom door and peering down the dark hallway suspiciously. How was he back in his house? Where was Hyde? And where was Hinata?

Maybe the battle had been won? Yes, and Yachi had brought him back home. It made sense... right?

Still cautious, Kageyama trudged down the stairs and looked around the kitchen, startling when his eyes lit upon a familiar head of fiery orange curls. "Shōyō!"

"Ack!" Hinata let out a giggly sound of protest as Kageyama tackled him in a hug, nearly knocking them both onto the floor. "Ah, get off me!" He finally pushed him off and shot him a weird look. "What's with you today? Usually, you call me something like dumbass and scold me for sitting at your table." He rested his chin in his hand and raised an eyebrow. "Did something happen?"

"What do you mean did something happen?" Kageyama stared at him in confusion. "Don't you... remember?" He took a seat beside the ginger hesitantly. "You know, the crossroads, the Shiki, the— the Ikiryō?"

Hinata frowned. "The what?" He took a sip of Pocari Sweat from the bottle in his left hand and laughed lightly. "Are you still tired or something? I think you should go back to bed, Kageyama-kun!"

Kageyama froze. Very slowly, he glanced over at the boy with a wary gaze. "Hang on... how are you drinking that? Spirits don't drink. And y-you didn't call me by my first name." He stood up, nearly stumbling, and backed up a step uneasily. "You used an honorific. You... you never do that."

Hinata blinked at him. "Huh? What do you mean?" He reached out and took Kageyama's hand, his palm smooth and warm. "What's wrong, Kageyama?"

"This isn't—" Kageyama pulled his hand away and shook his head. "This isn't real. This can't be real. We were— we were in the rain. You begged to use my first name. And you— you were drinking, and you're... too warm." He backed up another few steps as Hinata stood, his expression morphing from confusion to urgency as he lunged forward and gripped Kageyama by the shoulders, shaking him roughly.

"Wake up! Wake up, please wake up!" Hinata shook him harder, tears streaming down his face and falling horizontally, landing on Kageyama's cheeks, or maybe he was lying down now. Everything felt hazy. "Wake up, wake up, wake up! Please, please, please, please!"

On the last 'please,' the world around them fractured, splitting apart and shattering like a hairbrush hitting a mirror. Hinata's broken image fell away from him as Kageyama tumbled down through the darkness, reaching upwards to try and stop himself from falling. Hinata's voice echoed all around him.