Game On - A Haikyuu!! Mafia AU

- Chapter Four-

•Recap•

And a distance behind him, a raised gun.

"Yamaguchi!"

——

Tsukki's eyes widened as he watched his colleague's body fall against the door, the blood tinting his dark overcoat a faint crimson. Before he even knew what he was doing, he had pushed past Asahi and skidded to a stop beside Yamaguchi, breathing quick. "Hey, hey. It's alright, I'm here.. I'm here."

Yamaguchi was biting hard on his bottom lip, eyes glazed over with tears as he gripped onto the blond's arm. "It's unlocked," he said in a broken whisper, offering a faint smile through the agony and wincing. "Get out of here!"

Tsukki looped an arm around him, letting the boy lean against him and frowning. "Not without you. I'm not going anywhere without you."

Yamaguchi sniffled and nodded a bit, allowing a weak laugh to escape. "You've always been so stubborn.." He fumbled with the door handle, swallowing a breath of air and feeling a tear slip down to his chin - glancing over at Suga as both of them seemingly came to a conclusion without speaking.

Noya noticed the exchange and shoved lightly at Tanaka's shoulder, immediately alerting his friend's attention. "Think we have thirty seconds?" He whispered, gesturing to the exit.

"Sure we do, but I'll buy us a minute." Tanaka grinned and furrowed his brows slightly in determination, nudging Hinata as well. "Get ready to run, 'cause this won't be pretty."

Hinata nodded and glared over to Kuroo, who had nonchalantly slipped his gun away and conversed quietly with a few others in his mafia, a portion of Shiratorizawa joining them. "Kageyama-kun, count us in."

Kageyama huffed, tearing his eyes away from Oikawa - who had been recovered and was murmuring reassurance to the others - an eyebrow raising as though he was about to disagree, though he nodded. "Alright, fine. Three.."

Noya braced himself to start running possibly as fast as he ever had, Tanaka doing the same, while Suga and Daichi waited to ensure everyone would make it out.

"Two..."

A watery smile surfaced to Yamaguchi's lips as he weakly entwined his fingers with Tsukki's, starting to push the door handle down just as Kageyama faintly murmured a 'one'. "Gomen, Tsukki.." He whispered before using the weight of his shoulder to hurriedly push open the door.

Tsukki began to protest as the boy shoved him out first, turning sharply to wait for him before ultimately losing sight of him as the rest of the cadets raced out, led by a frantic Noya and Tanaka.

The large open lobby was a blur of multi-colored ties and overcoats as some other mafias came to their senses and took that time to run as well. Bokuto was in stride with an unconscious Akaashi in his arms, Konoha yelling incoherent orders to the others as they all bolted for the exit; Oikawa and the rest of Seijoh not too far behind.

Tsukki barely heard any of the commotion though, it was all a dull ring in his ears as he kept his eyes locked on the door, where he last saw the closest person in his life. Where is he? Is he dead? No, stop it, Kei. Don't think that!

He felt a tug on his arm and heard his name, vaguely recognizing Hinata out of the corner of his eye though he didn't bother to turn. I can't lose him!

"We need to go, come on!" Kageyama had also tried getting Tsukki to snap out of it, at one point trying to shove his shoulder back. Despair clearly written on his face, he linked his arm with the blond's and physically had to pull him back, struggling.
Nobody had been chasing them, though he swore he could faintly see Kuroo's smiling face from in the doorway.

Tsukki tried to pull against him to no prevail, he still couldn't see Yamaguchi, his entire body felt numb and a fear he'd never experienced before was throbbing through him with every beat of his heart. "Yamaguchi!" He shouted, praying he'd hear a response.

Had the boy's last words really been spent apologizing? Apologizing, as he did so painfully often, right before his life vanished from in front of him?

Tsukki shook his head pleadingly, trying to wrestle himself away from Kageyama and hearing his own voice crack as he shouted:

"Tadashi!"

———

Back at Karasuno's suite, it was dead silent.

Nobody spoke, the loss of Yamaguchi was hanging heavy on all their shoulders, everyone had collectively shed tears upon returning home.

Kiyoko had been trying to reassure everyone, but it appeared to be no use. They'd all gathered together on one of the suite's couches, needing each other in order to soothe themselves, arms wrapped around one other.

All except for Tsukki, who stood by the window, an unreadable expression on his face. He'd refused every attempt at comfort, it felt as though half of his heart had been torn right from him and it seemed as though he'd never get it back.
The only thing he held truly close to him was gone, slipped right between his fingers. If only he could go back and reverse things, would've taken back every bitter word he'd said to Yamaguchi, would've enveloped him in the safety of an embrace instead of pushing him away every time.

Kiyoko glanced over at him, adjusting her glasses with a small exhale and settling beside Tanaka, resting one hand on her partner's shoulder and the other on Noya's, staying silent though letting Tanaka's head fall against her shoulder.

Daichi looked around at them all, a new sense of responsibility pressing down on his chest. It was almost a fatherly instinct to protect them, as odd as it sounded, and would carry the guilt of Yamaguchi's loss with him forevermore. He'd already lost one of his cadets, he wouldn't lose another one under any circumstance.

He naturally found himself peering over at Suga, who still had quiet sobs escaping him, one of his arms wrapped around Asahi and the other secured around Kageyama, holding them close to him as if they'd disappear somehow if he didn't.

Asahi had rested his chin on the top of Suga's head, frowning and reaching across the seat to grip onto Noya's hand and looking over at Hinata as the boy sighed and began to speak.

"So.. what are we going to do?" Hinata frowned, peering over at Tsukki briefly. "We can't sit around forever. We just lost power to two of the strongest organizations, are we just going to lose like this?"

"This isn't a matter of winning or losing," Kageyama mumbled, resting his arms against his legs and shaking his head dismally. "It's life or death."

With that said, he stood up and crossed his arms, glaring at Tsukki as if awaiting a response out of him. "And we don't have any more time for grieving."

"Oh pardon me, your highness," the blond spoke with an unsettling calmness, reaching up to adjust his glasses before slowly turning to face his colleague. "I was just wasting our time, wasn't I?"

Kageyama furrowed his brows in reply at the use of the nickname, shoulders flinching slightly before he recovered his posture. "We can't wait on you. We need to do something or everyone in this room is dead."

Tsukki knew that was true, somewhere deep down. But an unbearable loneliness still stung him, and he wasn't sure how to cope with it. And it was that feeling that drove him to curl his fingers into a fist.

Without giving his logic and reason time to catch up, he locked eyes with Kageyama as if taking aim.

And then he swung.