Shattered

visiting Miyagi

only a few days have passed since the Fukurodani boys' volleyball club learned about Yuka's reason to move from Miyagi to Tokyo. When the girl reaches for her phone to turn off her alarm, she also sees the date. It immediately makes her lose all motivation to get up. Today her sister should have turned 16 and about now they should be having their dad's amazing pancakes with cake. Just the memories make it even harder to get up for the brunette. She takes out her phone and texts her boyfriend. 'I will be skipping both the morning and after school practice today.' she sends. 'I am on my right now, explain when I am there. Don't bother getting up I still have the key.' he texts back. Yuka grins at the response but does as he says. After a small 15 minutes she hears the door open and close and not much later her boyfriend comes into the room. Yuka moves to the side a little more and her boyfriend slips under the covers and takes on a sitting position while his girlfriend lies her head against his chest. 'So what is wrong?' Keiji asks calm. 'Today is Misha her birthday.' Yuka answers. 'That must be hard.' The black-haired boy says. Yuka just nods. 'I would love to and visit her grave, but because of classes I won't be able to make it in time anyway.' she sighs. 'Maybe we can get permission to leave earlier or something.' Keiji says. 'maybe.' the girl agrees. for the rest of the time she just stays cuddled up with her boyfriend. The boy reassuringly plays with her hair. 'You go get ready, I will make your lunch and breakfast.' Keiji says when it is time for them to get ready. 'Alright.' Yuka answers. After a shower and getting dressed she walks into the living room to find fresh pancakes. She takes a seat and starts eating them. They taste the same as her father's birthday pancakes. Tears stream down her face as she continues to eat. 'I used your recipe book since I am not too good in cooking.' Keiji says turning around. 'What's wrong? Do they taste bad?' he asks worried when he sees his girlfriend eating and crying. Yuka shakes her head. 'We would eat these exact same pancakes on our birthdays.' she answers. 'I didn't mean to upset you.' The black-haired boy says. 'I know, I love them. It just hurts pretty bad to eat them on this day. Thank you for making me breakfast tough.' The brunette answers with a small smile.

Yuka ends up getting dismissed from class early along with Keiji and Bokuto. The school understood she may need her two close friends to accompany her on something so painful. After lunch, the three only had to attend one more class and then they left. Deciding to go as soon as they can they just head over to Miyagi still wearing their uniforms. They arrive in Miyagi around 3 pm and Yuka smiles a little sad when she sees her old hometown. She takes a deep breath and starts walking through the familiar neighborhoods along with her friends. 'Two loud yells make Yuka freeze and she pulls Bokuto and Keiji into an alley with her. Kageyama and Hinata come sprinting past the three of them and Yuka lets out a relieved sigh. She peeks around the corner and sees her small group of friends running their way without any of the others in sight. 'They will get lost again.' Suga sighs. 'We can't stop them anyway.' Daichi replies. Yuka comes out of the alleyway. 'It has been a while.' she says smiling at her friends. 'Yuka!' Noya yells. Her old friends immediately wrap her in a hug. 'We have missed you.' Daichi says. 'What are you doing here?' Asahi asks. The girls face grows a little sadder. 'We have been dismissed early so I could visit Misha's grave on her birthday.' She answers Bokuto and Keiji greet the others. 'Thank you for looking after her.' Noya says. 'After everything she has been through, we hope you will take good care of her.' the captain ads. 'Don't worry, we will.' Keiji answers pulling Yuka close to him. The girl smiles with a small blush. She feels safe around him. Her old Karasuno friends see the sparks almost fly between them and smile. 'Glad to see you found someone that will stay at your side.' Noya says. 'Me too.' Yuka answers. 'We better get going if we don't want to be killed by Ukai.' Suga says. 'Good luck and say hi to him and Takeda when you guys see them.' Yuka says. 'We will.' Daichi reassures. The four of them start running again. 'How was it to see them again?' Keiji asks. 'It was nice to see them, but it also made me realize I really don't belong to their team anymore. I am an owl with my heart and soul now.' the brunette answers. The two boys that accompanied her burst into laughter at her comment. 'Lead the way little owl, we can visit some places if you want.' Bokuto says. There are just a few places I want to go.' The girl answers. They walk past her old house. It looks different with a new front door and kids toys scattered through the front yard. After just looking at it they continue their way. 'Why did we come here?' Keiji asks. They are standing in front of the gate from Aoba Johsai. 'There is someone I want you guys to meet and I also want to thank him.' Yuka answers. Running footsteps can be heard and just like Karasuno passed them by earlier while jogging, the Seijoh team does too. 'Iwaizumi!' The girl calls out when she sees the vice-captain run next to the captain. 'Saegusa, what are you doing here?' he asks confused. 'I am here because I want to thank you.' she says. 'Thank me for what?' the older boy asks. 'Thank you for your advice to move to another prefecture. I moved to Tokyo after meeting some other teams during a trainings weekend. Without your advice I would still be living in that depressing circle.' Yuka says. 'No need to say thanks, I just tried to help out.' Iwaizumi says. 'Iwa- Chan don't be so modest. You seriously worried about her back then.' Oikawa interrupts. 'Shut up shittykawa.' the black-haired Ace yells at his friend. Yuka laughs. The Seijoh captain and vice-captain look at Yuka with surprise written all over her face. 'You are laughing.' Oikawa says. 'Yes, I am. Because of these two.' Yuka gestures at her two friends. 'We are glad to see she has made friends that make her laugh again.' Iwaizumi says. 'It suits her a lot better than the depressed look she had in her eyes the last time we met.' Oikawa agrees. 'We are keeping a close eye on her.' Keiji says. 'The entire team does.' Bokuto agrees. 'You joined another club?' Iwaizumi asks surprised. 'I wouldn't have thought so either at the start. I found out the Fukurodani team has got my back more than Karasuno did.' The brunette says with a kind smile. 'We will see you again at nationals.' Oikawa says smiling. 'We will crush you.' The girl replies with a big smile. 'Yuka if you want to go to more places before heading back we should leave now.' Keiji says. 'Alright. Thank you again. I really wouldn't have made so much progress without your idea to move away.' Yuka says before she leaves with Bokuto and Keiji at her side. 'She really seems happy.' Oikawa says. 'She has found a place where she can be herself, even with her struggles.' Iwaizumi agrees. 'She said she joined Fukurodani and not Nekoma.' Oikawa suddenly says. 'Fukurodani is academically harder to get into, it proves she wants to work hard.' Iwaizumi says. 'What is taking you two so long? The coach is both worried and ticked off!' Matsukawa yells at the two when he finds them. 'We just talked with Saegusa for a second. She moved to Tokyo, she passed by to thank me for bringing up the idea to move.' Iwaizumi says. 'Great for her, now hurry before he ends up giving you guys penalty laps to run.' Matsukawa cuts of any other comments.

After visiting Seijoh Yuka, Keiji and Bokuto head towards a small flower shop. 'I want five small bouquets, each of one kind of flower if possible.' Yuka says. The shop owner nods. 'What flowers would you like?' he asks. 'Jasmine, Amaryllis, hydrangea, lupine and gerbera daisy. If possible, I would also like a small bouquet of white lilies and red roses' Yuka replies. 'Beautiful flowers, with a beautiful meaning.' The flower shop owner says. 'I couldn't agree more.' the brunette answers. 'You don't often find people interested in the meaning of flowers.' the flower shop owner says while he puts the five bouquets together. 'My sister and I used these flowers for a story. I want to say goodbye to her in the same way as the characters in our story did.' Yuka says with a sad smile. 'I will give them to you for half the price. People should seek out the meaning of their everyday life flowers more. You were looking into it just for a story, yet you still seem to remember the meaning of the flowers.' the man says. 'Thank you so much.' Yuka says with a smile. She pays for the flowers and leaves. The cashier smiles when he sees she still paid him the entire amount. 'Let us carry some of these.' Bokuto says. All three of them carry two bouquets of flowers.

A short walk later Yuka, Keiji and Bokuto arrive at the graveyard where Yuka's father and sister were buried. The brunette walked over the paths in silence. She didn't want to show how much it hurts just to walk there. Sometime later Yuka stops in front of two stones that are lying next to each other. The girl takes over the flowers from her friends and kneels in front of one of the two stones she stopped at. 'Hey dad, since it is Misha's birthday today, I am dropping by for a bit. Things have been rough, but now I am living in Tokyo I am doing better so don't worry.' she says after placing the bouquet of lilies and roses on his grave. Then the brunette turns to her sister's grave. 'Hey little sis. Happy birthday. I miss you so, so much. I am sorry, I haven't had the motivation to continue writing yet. My inspiration seems to have dried up too, sorry for letting your beautiful drawings wait.' Yuka's brown eyes fill with tears. 'I wanted to feel a little closer with our story once more. You are not like Lina, but you deserve a bouquet of every flower we picked for her friends in the sad ending. I love you. I wish you were here with me. That one day we could both see how our work was turned into a real book for others to read. We just......we had so many things we should have been able to do. Every morning I still want to wake you up. I still am looking for dad's newspaper and coffee cup. Even after I moved away and things changed like they have. I have no idea what I am supposed to do anymore, why...why did I have to lose you so soon after dad.' Tears were rolling down the girl her cheeks, they fell on the small leaves of the flowers. Keiji kneels next to Yuka and pulls her into a hug. The girl just cries, the loss is still a big wound. Time will heal it, but not yet. Bokuto joins the hug too and the comforting warmth of her friends calms the girl down. After one last look at the two graves Yuka leaves with her two friends close at her side.

The train ride back to Tokyo passes in silence. When they arrive Keiji's mother texts that Yuka can come over for dinner. Yuka smiles and accepts the offer. It is kind of later for her to start cooking anyway. Besides, after the emotionally draining day tasting some food made by a mom doesn't sound too bad.