The Crow With Broken Wings

Soar

It had been a day since Kenma and I had our fight. The atmosphere in the room lifted significantly since then. Unfortunately, he had to leave the next day to go home, but he assured me that he would keep in touch - both with me and Sugawara.

In the room now, there was just me and Sugawara. We both were having a casual conversation until he received a text.

"Ah, I'm sorry Hinata, I need to head out," he said as he stood up.

"Head out? Where are you going?" I inquired. To my knowledge, he didn't have any prior plans and I didn't hear anything about volleyball practice.

"Ah, it's nothing important! My uhh, my mother just asked me to pick up a couple bits from the shop. I'll be back soon!" Sugawara was visibly uncomfortable, but I tried to ignore it. I was in a somewhat euphoric sense of enthusiasm, so I was doing my best not to overthink things.

He said goodbye and then left the room. Now it was just me and my thoughts.

I did my best to ignore the negative thoughts in my head, but the longer I was alone, the harder it became. There was nothing to fill the silence - no one to talk to, nothing to do to distract myself.

Just as the floodgates were about to crack open, my phone went off. I gathered the strength and extended my arm to grab it.

It was a message from Kenma.

"Hey Shoyo. How are you? Sugawara-san said you're alone right now."

I smiled softly. I should have known Sugawara would look out for me. I responded to Kenma's message, assuring him I was okay. My mood suddenly lifted once again. I wasn't alone. Even if no one was with me physically, I still everyone's support and I was in their thoughts.

Kenma decided to call me. I gladly accepted, putting my phone on speaker and setting my phone down on my lap.

We talked for what felt like hours. It was reassuring to hear Kenma's voice. The conversation meandered between topics - volleyball, our friends, what games were popular now, etc. I didn't really care about what we were talking about, I just felt contend having someone to talk to.

[X]

Suddenly, I heard a knock on the door.

I looked down at my phone and saw that my call with Kenma had ended. I had a message from him saying: "Enjoy your nap. Call me whenever you need to talk."

Did I...fall asleep?

I rubbed my tired eyes then remembered that someone had knocked on my door. "Come in!" I yelled.

The door opened slowly, which made me feel a little uneasy. Sugawara peered his head round the door.

"Is everything okay, Hinata?" He said it in a comedically suspicious tone.

"Yeah, I'm okay. It's just me in here."

"Oh, I see, I see," he said, closing his eyes and putting his hand to his chin. He nodded and smirked, then looked at me. "Well..."

He slowly opened the door a little, creeping through the gap of the door until he suddenly flung it open.

"Surprise!" yelled what appeared to be the whole Karasuno team, startling me a little.

"E-Everyone! What are you all doing here?" I said, stumbling on my words a little.

Nishinoya pushed through everyone enthusiastically and ran up in front of my bed, acting very giddy. "We came to cheer you up, Shoyo!"

Daichi walked over next to Nishinoya, seemingly to make sure he didn't do anything outrageous. He put his hand on his hips. "We were all free so we decided to visit you to see how you were doing."

"You definitely look better," Tanaka-san said, beaming.

I felt super warm inside. Seeing everyone here smiling with me filled me with such hope and determination. It was just like Kenma said - they're all fighting alongside me!

Kiyoko-san came over to the front of my bed holding a cake. "The doctor said it was okay for you to have some. I thought we could all share it."

Kiyoko-san sat the cake down and began to cut it into slices for everyone. Yachi-san pulled out some paper plates and forks. They brought in some chairs from other rooms and all sat down in the room, eating the cake. We all talked and laughed. It was like I was back in the gym with everyone, having fun with them and sharing memories with them.

Kageyama looked at me, then looked away. When there was a lull in the conversation, he suddenly spoke up.

"I'm sorry."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

He paused for a second and the room became silent. "Even though you were struggling, all I cared about was that you didn't tell me what was happening. I made this whole thing about myself when I should have just respected your wishes and done my best to help you."

Everyone's eyes were fixed on Kageyama. They were all very quiet, almost as though they were mesmerised by what just happened.

I smirked cheekily. "Come on now, Kageyama. It's not like you to get all apologetic!"

His head jolted up. "Hey, I was trying to- " he shouted, then paused looking at me.

"Is something wrong, Kageyama?" I said, tilting my head slightly.

"It's nothing. I just...wasn't expecting you to make a joke about it." I could see everyone's expressions dropping a little, as though they were anticipating what Kageyama was about to say. "Suga-san told us that you'd been a bit rough lately, so we all came here to cheer you up, but you seem like your usual self."

The atmosphere dramatically shifted. There was a looming gloominess. Sugawara looked like he was trying to come up with something to say on my behalf, but it didn't feel right for him to have to constantly defend me.

"You're right," I spoke up suddenly, causing everyone's heads to lift and look at me. "I haven't been feeling like myself recently. I'm so used to being full of energy and practicing with you all, so having that taken away from me almost felt like I'd lost a part of myself. I began to think that there was no hope for me." I paused for a moment, making my hand into a fist and bringing it to my chest. "But thanks to all of you, I've realised that I'm not alone. All of you are fighting alongside me, trying your best to make me feel better and get over this illness. I know now that there's no reason to be pessimistic. I should do my best to recover, to be able to fight with you all again!"

Once again, the room fell silent, this time in bewilderment. Slowly but surely, everyone's face began to light up.

"That's right, Shoyo!" Nishinoya said cheerfully. "We all have your back! Besides, there's no way someone like you can be taken down by something like this."

Sugawara then turned to look at me. "And Hinata," he said softly. "Just remember that you're never alone, okay? We are all here for you."

I smiled cheerfully. "Of course, Suga- "

I suddenly began coughing. I couldn't control myself, but I felt breathless, like there was something stuck in my throat.

I covered my mouth with my hand. Once I had stopped coughing, I looked down at my hand.

B-Blood? Why now?

My breathing became more rapid and laboured. I felt my body getting warmer and warmer.

Through my blurry eyes, I could see that everyone had stood up from their seats, looking at me with a panicked expression.

Suddenly, I blacked out.