REINCARNATE

Epilogue

"Dad! Dad! Look at this!!"

The little girl cried excitedly. She narrowed her eyes in deep concentration and burst into a sprint, her feet drumming against the concrete and her thin arms pumping as she came to an abrupt stop and jumped, leaping so high her small fingers brushed the lowest branch from an overhanging shrub.

The man smiled and ruffled his daughter's hair playfully, his other hand clutched a bouquet of pink roses. "You're getting better and better each day! I'm proud of you."

"I'm gonna grow super tall and be a super awesome volleyball player when I grow up!" The six-year-old puffed out her chest proudly. "Just like you and grandma and grandpa!"

"Are you sure?" The doctor replied with a smirk. "Well, if that's what you like, then dad's gonna support you with everything he's got okay? Make sure to think about it carefully though, it's a big commitment."

The two of them walked side by side towards the graveyard. It was a cool Tuesday afternoon in mid March, the coldness of winter still lingered in the springtime breeze, but with it came the scent of new life and budding greens. They passed by a nearby high school, a cafe, an elderly woman out on a walk, her weathered hands neatly tucked behind her back.

"Is this auntie Hanami?" Koyama Aimi asked, pointing to a neatly carved block of stone.

Ichirou nodded quietly and set the bundle of flowers down before her grave. Nearly fifteen years since his twin sister's sudden and devastating death, and he still hadn't learned to let go. Her face remained fresh in his memory, her smile undimmed by the coldness of death.

"She would've loved you so much, little one." Ichirou murmured. "Hanami always wanted to be a big sister."

"What did she look like? Was she pretty?" Aimi placed a small hand on the grave.

"Actually, she looked a lot like you."

"So she's very very very very pretty!" The little girl giggled at her own cheek. Ichirou chuckled, his gaze sliding over to the other graves. They'd been tidied recently, the stone freshly scrubbed and basking beneath the sunlight, the leaves swept aside and cobwebs whisked out of sight.

It must've been Mei, he told himself, before realizing for the third time that day that the libero had moved abroad three years ago, permanently parting ways from her volleyball past. He still stayed in touch with her brother Katsuki though, who now played as a libero for the Shweiden Adlers in Miyagi.

"Damn it, you really were so unhappy weren't you? It still feels like yesterday when we were sitting in that hospital ward, you scribbling away in that diary of hers." Ichirou sighed to himself, staring down at the two graves. He'd stormed out of the ward that day, only to return minutes later to see a sterile sheet covering the bed, the somber looks of the nurses as they rolled his body away. He'd died with a smile on his face, apparently.

Tanaka Kenta

1992-2013

Saito Akari

1993 - 2011

Wordlessly, Ichirou carefully unknotted the bouquet and placed two flowers on each of their graves, two of the petals broke loose to drift away into the breeze, entwined and playing alongside each other as though they were dancing.

"Daddy, who's Kenta?" Aimi peered at the grave curiously. "Was he your friend?"

"N-" Ichirou stopped himself before releasing a quiet, defeated sigh. "Yes. He was, the most annoying and arrogant and idiotic friend I ever had. He was also one of the strongest, most loyal people I ever had the honour of meeting. He was only twenty when he died, but if he hadn't been sick, if they'd treated him properly, you could've thought he was going to live forever."

"Are you sad? Don't be sad! I'm going to hug you until you're not sad anymore!" Aimi furrowed her eyebrows and reached out to hug him, her small arms wrapping around his neck. Ichirou picked up the child and held her close, buried his face in the crook of her neck and willed himself into silence. He glanced down at Akari's grave and chuckled lightly.

"I'm not sad, don't worry. They're all in a better place now, happy, and free."

On their way home Ichirou decided to stop by the cafe that Hanami used to love, but as Aimi gasped and gaped at the beautiful glass case full of aesthetic little confections, his gaze became fixated on the group in front of them.

Three teens, two boys and a girl, chatted amiably amongst themselves. One of them was dark-haired and lanky, all limb and leg, with a cockiness in his smile. His eyes were light amber, near golden under the sunlight, and they blinked at him with wonder and curiosity. Unconsciously, a memory unfurled in his mind.

"Yo! Ichirou!" The boy called to him, haughty and determined. "When we win, I'm gonna have a chat with your dad." 

Nobody should be forced into a life they don't want, a career they despise. Ichirou deserved a chance to chase his dreams, Kenta told himself as he bounced the ball against the floor and waited for the whistle.

"Your freedom isn't something you should easily give up for other people. Your pride is your own, your life is your own, your decisions are your own. You're the main character of your own story, and I'm not going to take that from you."

"Daddy can I have this one?" Aimi pointed at a slice of chocolate cake, but to her dismay the lady behind the register suddenly retrieved it for the boy who'd bought it before them. Her lower lip puckered, and she began to weep.

"Sorry Mimi, looks like he got dibs on the last slice." Ichirou patted her shoulder lightly. "You can pick something else if you'd like, the mango mochi looks good doesn't it?"

"It's okay. You can have it." The boy turned to them and knelt down before his daughter, placing the neatly wrapped treat in Aimi's outstretched palms with a smile. "I don't blame you, they have the best chocolate cake in the city you know?"

"Really?! Wow!" Aimi gave him a toothy grin, and she rocked back and forth on her heels in excitement.

"Don't forget to say thank you." Ichirou said sternly before turning to the boy. "Sorry about that, her mother spoils her."

The young teen chuckled lightly and waved his hand. "It's alright, I live nearby, I can always come back when they bake more."

His friend grabbed his wrist, impatience in her tone. She was tall and thin, with piercing eyes and had long dark hair pulled back into a ponytail. "C'mon! We're gonna be late for practice! Suna-sensei's scary when she's mad!"

"Wait! What school are you guys from?" Ichirou blurted out at his turned back, a sudden desperation in his tone.

The boy glanced over his shoulder, replied, and for a moment Ichirou was met with the face of an older, similar-looking male with spiky blonde hair, those same blinding golden eyes shining with confidence, dimples in his cheeks when he smiled. He blinked again and the boy was already sprinting away, crying out in protest as his friends raced ahead of him.

Later, through a phone call and a little research, he would come to know that the three he'd encountered were the star players of y/n's Nakano Koi, a Tokyo-based volleyball club.

They were the legacy of the 2011 Hokkaido Rattlesnakes, and some might even say they were the original big three reincarnated into a new generation, for a second chance at the destiny that was stolen from them.

Ichirou could only watch, equal shock and awe rippling through his body, before he turned to focus on his child once more, a small smile on his lips.

"Keep going, Kenta."