Hereafter | Haikyuu!! Oneshots | Hiatus!

I: Black Hole

"Where's (Y/N)?" 

Tooru Oikawa was confused. (Y/N), who was always punctual and rarely missed work, had disappeared today. The brunette frowned and tried to dial their number, only to find that he went straight to voicemail. Even more puzzled, he set his phone down and started to think — the (Y/N) he knew never left anyone hanging. In fact, he didn't remember the last time they pulled something like this.

Perhaps their phone was out of battery, but he knew it was highly unlikely. 

After pondering about the subject for a while, Oikawa's anxiety got the best of him, so he decided to ask an outside party. It took him a couple minutes to find someone, weaving throughout the whole training facility, but when he did, he pounced at the opportunity, desperate to know where the dear assistant coach went.

"Nicolas, where's (Y/N)?" Spooked by the sudden intrusion, the Argentinian jumped at the sound of his teammate's voice, quickly turning around to face him. Relief flooded his features as he recognized his familiar, but that stopped as soon as he noticed how upset the setter seemed. A small frown took the place of the otherwise pleasant expression Lazo usually had on as he recollected his memories from the morning.

"They called in sick, apparently," the wing spiker replied, quirking a brow at an attempt to remember, "Though I don't really believe that. Coach said their voice was really hoarse, so maybe there's a bug?" Tooru exchanged glances with the other volleyball player, his eyebrows raised, skeptical of the excuse. Nicolas had on a similar mien, his lips flattened and pressed together in a thin line.

"I'm just worried for them. Do you think something bad happened?" The brunette started to get jittery, the tips of his fingers rubbing together in circles as he stared at the ground. Nicolas placed a hand on Oikawa's shoulder, attempting to quell his sudden surge of apprehension.

"I understand what you're feeling -- (Y/N) is really important to all of us, and I wouldn't want something horrible to come their way. Let's practice to get your mind off it for now. If you think something really went down, I'm sure Coach will be lenient and let you go." 

Though as hesitant as Tooru was to drop the topic, the only thing he could do was nod and go to the courts, awaiting the usual drills and matches. 

__

It's funny how the world works. In the past, we were blessed with boons and had the aspirations of gods. We dreamed of holding the stars in our palms and blowing them away like dandelion seeds, so they'd scatter across the Milky Way in such a fashion that we would sigh dreamily while our galaxy spun and formed itself. The whole world was accessible at our fingertips, and when you held me it felt as if my scapula had sprouted wings. 

Oh, but how the mighty lord of the cosmos tumble from their throne, from a blatant realization that in this desolate world, there is no solstice, there is no nirvana. There is no space to behold, there is no shroud of fog we can hide behind as the jeers from jesters reach our ears and pummel rotten tomatoes at our pride. 

When you left, there was nothing I could confide in. 

There was nothing really left of me, even.

As I buried my head underneath my covers and sobbed just a little bit more, I could only shiver and curl myself up into a little ball of misery while bathing in my own sadness. The air underneath my blanket was hot, stuffy, but drowned out the coldness that spread through my limbs and helped me ignore the bleariness of my eyes and my dreary stupor. My tongue melted in the sweltering heat, so that only disgruntled cries could come out of my mouth, and nothing more.

Was I merely this wax figurine, or a pair of wings taken for granted by Icarus? Perhaps I was overthinking, but I digress. What I felt now was only the aftershock of the original pain and devastation that befell me the moment I uncovered the thing that made me like this. As I pulled my knees to my chest, heavy breaths came out of my mouth in pants as an attempt to not hyperventilate at the memory.