Hello everyone,

once again I'm posting even though it's not sunday yet, but I'm too busy tomorrow to make it to my computer, so i just say enjoy ;-)

Thank you all very much for your lovely comments and kudos, i really appreciate them.

Sharry

Chapter 3

"Kageyama, hey Kageyama, just wait a second!"

"Stop screaming, stupid idiot. What do you want? Practice is over and I gotta get home and do some homework."

"Since when do you care about homework?"

Hinata was able to dodge the sports bag the setter threw after him at the very last moment.

It had been a day like any other: morning practice, boring classes, practice in the afternoon, everything was as always.

Almost as always.

Even the hyper Hinata had noticed that something was different.

"It's just like back then," he muttered, handing Kageyama back his sports bag, "don't you think?"

"I have no clue what you're talking about?" Kageyama replied unimpressed, moving on.

Except for Sugawara and Daichi, who still had some organizational stuff to discuss with coach Ukai, Mr. Takeda, Kiyoko, and Hitoka, everyone else had already left.

"Like how Sugawara-san and Sawamura-san reacted, whenever someone mentioned Asahi-san. It was just like in the beginning, when we joined the club."

"You think so?" Kageyama wondered and observed the empty gym. "I thought everybody was kind of in a good mood. Especially Nishinoya-san seemed fine, considering how bad he was during the practice match. I guess Sawamura-san and Sugawara-san are simply worried because Azumane-san has been sick for the last two days."

Hinata didn't answer, simply crossed his arms, before nodding to himself like he had made a difficult decision.

"Okay Kageyama, let's visit Asahi-san."

"Huh?"

Surprised about this unexpected suggestion the setter looked up.

"Why should we do that? We don't know him aside from the club; it would be totally rude to just show up at his place."

"Why not?" Hinata disagreed. "You are the one who even doubts that Asahi-san is ill. We could walk by and tell him what coach Ukai said yesterday, then he will certainly come back on his feet quickly and return to training tomorrow."

"You complete moron," Kageyama grumbled, rubbing his face. "Didn't you listen? We're not supposed to tell Azumane-san so we won't put unnecessary pressure on him? He's not as confident as you idiot, okay? If we tell him he can be much better than what he has shown so far, he will be totally disappointed in himself every time he can't bring it out and probably fear he'll let us down. In the end he might even lose the will to play volleyball. You don't want that, do you?"

"No, of course not," Hinata muttered silently.

"See? I really have to get my homework done and we don't even know where Azumane-san lives, so it doesn't make..."

"You want to visit Azumane?"

Both first-years turned around.

While talking they had slowly made it outside of the gym and hadn't noticed Shimizu following them.

"What a lucky coincidence," she continued and started digging through her bag, "you mind giving that to him?"

She pulled out a dark blue folder and offered it to Kageyama.

"I asked his classmates about yesterday's and today's assignments, because I'm sure Azumane would want to catch up as soon as he gets better. But he will certainly be much happier about you visiting him than just me."

"I doubt that," Hinata disagreed behind his hand so that Kiyoko could not hear him.

"Well, the thing is…" Kageyama tried to refuse, but at the same time taking the folder while their manager continued to speak.

"I would really appreciate your help. To be honest, I'm quite worried about our ace and would like to check on him myself, but my study group is about to start, and I would probably be late otherwise."

Now it was impossible to turn down her request.

Minutes later, the two first-years walked along the path Kiyoko had explained to them. Hinata pushed his bike and looked at the hand-drawn map while Kageyama tried to repeat English vocabulary.

"I didn't even know you were taking studying so seriously nowadays," Hinata remarked lightly, comparing the manager's sketch to the road intersection in front of them.

"So what? Do you think I want to miss another day of training camp just because I failed some class?"

"Oh, that's why."

In silence, they moved on.

"Why do you actually think Asahi-san isn't sick?" Hinata asked innocently.

Kageyama shrugged his shoulders and answered just as calmly. "It's nothing really, just that I don't think he's in the best condition one day and so sick he can't even make it to school the next one, that's about it."

"But why would he skip training if he isn't sick, oh and miss school of course?"

The setter shrugged his shoulders again. "Don't know. Sugawara-san's right, it's not like him to do something that reckless. But..." He fell silent.

"But what?" Hinata asked as they reached the street they were aiming for. Asahi didn't live as far away from Kageyama as he had expected.

"It's nothing. I just remembered what Sugawara-san told us before Azumane-san came back."

"Hmm?"

"That Azumane-san takes everything to heart very quickly."

"Oh, yes," Hinata also recalled. "True, Sawamura-san and Nishinoya-san always say that he has a glass heart."

Kageyama grumbled something in agreement as they reached the Azumane residence. He paused for a moment to observe it while Hinata ran ahead down the gateway.

"But what happens if this glass heart breaks?" He asked himself before he followed the other. Hinata was already ringing the doorbell.

"Just wait for me, you idiot!" Kageyama grumbled, rushing forward, making it just in time to bow while it was opened. Both high schoolers froze on the spot.

"Asahi-san?" Hinata muttered in bewilderment.

It had to be Asahi, if Asahi would wear his hair short and had grown himself a full beard within two days.

"Excuse me?"

Quickly, Kageyama grabbed Hinata's back of his head and dragged him into a deep bow with him.

"Good evening, I'm Kageyama Tobio and this is Hinata Shoyo. We're from Karasuno High School. We're sorry to bother you this late. We're in the same volleyball club as Asahi-san and wanted to bring him his class assignments from the last two days."

"Oh, you're friends with Asahi? Come on in then."

Much like Asahi, this man seemed significantly more warm-hearted than he looked like at first glance. He had the same warm brown eyes, as brown as his neatly parted hair. However, the button-down shirt with a blue tie along with the full beard and the small worry line on his forehead made it clear that he had to be older than Asahi, even if they resembled each other almost like twins.

"Yes, I remember. Kageyama-kun and Hinata-kun; Asahi told me about you, the two first-years with some strange quick or whatever, right?" The stranger laughed gently and even that sounded like Asahi. "Not that I even know what a quick means, my knowledge of volleyball is rudimentary at its best."

Both players exchanged a silent glance.

At the entrance, they hurriedly took off their shoes and followed the man so alike their ace. They entered an open dining room, to its left leading into a small kitchen and to its right a dark hallway disappearing within the depths of the house.

"I didn't even know that Asahi-san had a big brother, did you?" Hinata muttered so quietly that only Kageyama could hear him, but before the other could answer, Asahi2.0 continued to talk.

"Do you want to drink something? Sit down for a moment? Unfortunately I haven't cooked yet, because my wife won't come home until later and I'm only back for about half-an hour, but if you want to stay and eat with us…"

"His wife? He's the dad?!" Hinata whispered silently, his face caught between admiration and panic. Kageyama, too, was surprised, but was able to hide it much better.

This warm hospitality was truly unusual and almost disturbed him even more. He just didn't know how to handle it.

"Thank you very much, but we really don't want to bother you for that long," he quickly apologized.

"Oh, of course, I forgot; you probably have practice tomorrow even though it is Saturday, right? You are all very hardworking and ambitious. Asahi is very lucky to have a team like yours."

Both first-years couldn't prevent blushing under the praise of Asahi's father and thanked him with a deep bow.

Hectically Kageyama pulled out the dark blue folder Kiyoko had given him.

"Here is the paperwork for Asahi-san. Do you know how he's doing? Can he join practice by next week?"

"Sadly I can't answer that. He's really not doing well."

Giving Kageyama a 'didn't I tell you, Asahi-san's sick' - look Hinata shrugged his shoulders before turning to Asahi's father again.

"So what got to him? The flu? Some stomach bugs? My mum said there's something passing around in preschool, so maybe..."

"Hinata!" Kageyama interrupted him about his misplaced curiosity.

"Oh, is fine," Mr. Azumane waved it off, but his distressed facial expression remained.

"It's like – how should I put it? - well Asahi is really not feeling well, but it isn't like he's..."

"Hey Dad, so yet again Asahi hasn't… Oh, we have visitors?"

Surprised the three men turned to the hallway, where a young girl – roughly as tall as Hinata – stood, a cloth wrapped around her head and a tray in her hands. Contrary to the men of the household she seemed fragile, almost pale, but her eyes were razor-sharp, and her body posture was easily as confident as Nishinoya's.

The tray in her hand displayed an apparently untouched breakfast.

"Akemi my dear, you're awake already? Shouldn't you rest a bit more?" Her father asked, obviously worried.

But she waved it aside – leaning the tray against her hip – and bowed quickly. Both first-years mirrored her movement while Mr. Azumane introduced them to each other.

"This is my daughter Akemi and those fine young gentlemen are Kageyama Tobio and Hinata Shoyo. They're teammates from Asahi's volleyball team."

Unlike her father, who had greeted them in such a friendly manner, her face grew reserved.

"Aha," she scoffed coolly and walked past them into the kitchen.

"I have to apologize for my daughter. She isn't feeling so..."

"I'm fine, Dad," she interrupted him from the kitchen and came back, now without a tray but folded her arms. With a dismissive look in her eyes she observed the first-years. "You should be more concerned about Asahi; he hasn't eaten anything again."

Hinata and Kageyama shared an uncomfortable glance while Mr. Azumane excused himself to take an incoming call on his mobile phone, leaving them behind with the little sister, who still stared at them in a hostile manner.

"So you guys are playing volleyball with my brother?" She asked, unfazed.

They nodded in sync.

"Let me guess. Tall, black hair, lethargic facial expression, you're that weirdo prodigy setter who stole Suga-nii's regular spot, aren't you?"

"It wasn't like that!" Kageyama stammered, confused about her accusing words, while Hinata tried to refrain from laughing, not sure what amused him more, Kageyama's face right now or Sugawara's nickname.

"And you, tiny, messy orange hair, looking like a kid on a sugar-trip, you're that crazy decoy who can't even talk in full sentences, right?"

"Whaaaat?"

Kageyama behind Hinata nodded in agreement, she wasn't that far off with her description.

"What do you want here?" Even though she was pale, thin, and small, right now she was towering above them, scaring at least one of them.

"We wanted to check on Asahi-san and give him his assignments," Kageyama answered honestly, raising the folder he was still holding.

She simply lifted an eyebrow and scratched her neck.

"Yeah, you can leave that here and get going. I'm sure Nii-chan doesn't want to see you guys," She claimed.

"Why wouldn't he?" Hinata asked loudly. "After all we're friends!"

"Sure!" She scoffed.

"You got a problem with us?" Kageyama noted factually, earning him a puzzled look from both Asahi's little sister and Hinata.

For a moment she seemed to think about it before nodding and now scratching her head.

"Well, yeah. After all you're the reason he's feeling like shit right now."

"What the heck are you talking about? Like we did something to Asahi-san!"

Hinata stepped forward but Kageyama grabbed his shoulder, keeping him from attacking the girl.

"Tze!" She folded her arms again. "You can say what you want, but if Nii-chan feels this bad it's always because of that shitty volleyball club. I was really glad he stopped playing in March but then you weird guys show up and pull him back into this. He should never have come back."

"What are you even saying?!"

"Lower your voice, Hinata!"

"Why should Asahi-san stop playing volleyball? He loves it! He has a good time playing and he's damn good at it, that's why he's our ace!"

With crushing hostility she stared Hinata down and walked up to him until only a few inches kept their noses apart; a strange, indefinable odor filled the middle-blocker's nose, which kind of threw him off.

"Yeah, I know he loves it," she whispered hoarsely, "but the thing is that my dear Nii-chan feels more than your average man, deeper and engulfing and that's the exact reason why he always takes everything to heart and every single time he's like he's right now it's because of that shitty damn volley..."

"Akemi!"

Mr. Azumane stood in the hallway, phone still in his hand.

"Please stop talking this rudely to our guests, who spent their precious time to check on their teammate."

Angrily she pouted her cheeks, pushed her way past her father and stumped down the hallway.

"I have to apologize for my daughter again. She isn't feeling well right now and when her big brother is hurting as well, she struggles even more. Please overlook her bad behavior this once."

Kageyama and Hinata mumbled something politely and kept their eyes on the ground.

"If you want you can see Asahi now, but I can't promise you he'll open up. If he's not feeling well, he tends to lock himself up, so he doesn't bother anybody. But you can give it a try, it's the third door on the left."

The man looking like his son pointed down the hallway in which his daughter had disappeared just seconds ago.

Both first-years thanked the older man in a deep bow, before Hinata pushed Kageyama ahead of him down the corridor.

"What are you doing?" The setter freed himself from Hinata's hands as they reached the third door.

"I'm scared that girl will show up again. She's scary."

"At least she's more argumentative than her big brother is," Kageyama agreed and regarded the door in front of them. A children's painting of a rising or setting sun stuck against it.
"Maybe we should..."

"Hey Asahi-san! It's us, Hinata and Kageyama, we wanted to check on you and we have some..."

"Not. That. Loud!" Kageyama gnarled and hit the back of Hinata's head, who was hammering on the door in front of them like a berserk on his rampage.

From the other side of the door they heard not even a single sound and after nothing happened for several seconds Kageyama nodded with a sigh at his classmate, while lifting his forefinger warningly.

Hinata knocked at the door a second time, this time like a civilized human being.

"Hey Asahi-san. It's us, we have your homework from school. We really don't want to bother you, but we're a little bit worried. You're not feeling well, right?"

But nothing happened and Hinata was about to knock again when Kageyama pushed him aside.

"I really don't want to be respectless but I promised Shimizu-senpai to not leave before giving you that folder and I have a lot of homework to do, so could you please open the door so we can at least assert that you're alive?"

His voice was nonchalant as usual and Hinata scolded him for that immediately.

"You can't just throw something like that against his door if he's already feeling bad," he whispered.

"What did I throw against his door?" Kageyama asked, confused. He had just said the truth, so why was that a bad thing?

It was deadly silent, maybe for ten seconds or so, but then they could hear heavy, scuffing footsteps coming closer and closer.

Right in front of the door they paused.

"Somehow I feel like I'm in a horror movie," Hinata whispered, hiding behind Kageyama, who didn't look much calmer.

With a silent click the door was unlocked and Hinata gulped heavily while Kageyama too braced himself for what was coming.

The door opened a few inches and both first-years gasped for air.

"Asahi-san?" Hinata whispered in disbelief.

The broad shouldered, muscular young man appeared scrawny and meager. His usual soft eyes were dull and sunken in; at the same time they were swollen and a small blood vessel in his left eye had popped. His tousled and tangled hair fell almost down to his shoulders but failed to hide his pale, emaciated face. The missing light made his skin appear grayish and his lips were cracked.

He was staring down, averting his head halfway from them.

"You look terrible," Hinata noted loudly, making the third-year wince slightly. "So you're not coming to practice tomorrow, right?"

This naive question made Kageyama roll his eyes.

"Of course not, you see how shitty he looks."

Asahi didn't reply at all.

"But at least you're alive," Kageyama grumbled – while Hinata stared at him in utter disbelief – and offered the file to the third-year.

After a moment Asahi took it.

"Thanks."

His voice sounded just as broken and hoarse as he looked.

"Hey Asahi-san," Hinata mumbled with a gentle smile, "rest a little bit over the weekend and get well soon so we can practice together, alright?"

Finally their ace looked up, his swollen, dull eyes sparkling for half a second, but then that light was gone and they were even darker than before and his lips started quivering.

"Hinata don't push him too much." Kageyama pulled his classmate aside and looked seriously at Asahi. "I hope you'll get better soon, Azumane-san."

He swiftly bowed before nodding at Hinata.

"Let's go, I got to do my homework."

Sighing deeply and rolling his eyes Hinata nodded between waving at Asahi with a bright smile.

"Okay, take care of yourself and see you soon, okay?"

Still waving Hinata walked down the hallway and Kageyama followed him, but then he paused as Asahi wanted to close the door.

"Azumane-san, what do you think is your greatest weakness?"

Confused, Hinata paused as well and watched how his setter turned towards their ace, staring at him directly.

"You think it's your technique or your speed or maybe your receives?" Kageyama sounded cold, almost dismissive, certainly way too pushy to be talking to a senior in his own house, nonetheless. "Might be that none of those are perfect just yet, but they aren't your weakness. Quite the opposite, you have all the physical advantages and the talent needed to become one of the great players. Coach Ukai even said yesterday that you have the potential to redefine the requirements of an ace. But..."

"Kageyama!" Hinata called out, but Kageyama continued without even batting an eye at his classmate and pointing a finger directly at Asahi. "But you're the one blocking your own way. You are your greatest weakness. Coach Ukai ordered us not to tell you the truth so you wouldn't be stressed out, but I disagree."

Kageyama was still staring directly at Asahi and didn't even worry about the enraged Hinata.

"Maybe it's cocky if I as a first-year tell you that, but I don't really care if you play volleyball at all or not, if you're willing to give it your all or not. But after what I saw what you're capable of on Wednesday, I won't be part of that scheme just to offer you an excuse so that you don't even have to try. So that you don't even give your possibilities a second thought."

Kageyama sounded merciless, not even trying to smoothen his opinion.

"I wanna make it into Japan's national volleyball team and I've got the talent and the ambition to reach that goal. I don't care what you do with your talent, Azumane-san, but it would piss me off to throw so much potential away. Not everyone has our physical advantages." Now he nodded at Hinata. "Still the other ones try their best to reach their goal while you're hiding here in your room. That really pisses me off!"

"Kageyama," Hinata muttered again, but much weaker this time, while Asahi stared at the setter with huge eyes, not able to do or say anything.

"I have no idea what you're going through," Kageyama explained and folded his arms, "but now that you know what kind of potential you have, are you really satisfied with knowing that your volleyball career will end with this school year?"

Kageyama turned around and walked away. As he reached Hinata he stopped again.

"I at least know that it wouldn't be enough for me, but I'm not you and I can't take that decision from you."

For a moment they were deadly silent.

"However, I would set the ball for you at any time as long as you just call for it, maybe one day even in the national team's uniform."

Then Kageyama grabbed Hinata and dragged him along, not even saying goodbye to Mr. Azumane, who was cooking in the kitchen, leaving Asahi behind. Back on the street he finally let go.

"What the heck did you do, Kageyama?!" Hinata yelled and pulled up all of his 164,2 centimeters in front of his setter. "Didn't you tell me that we shouldn't talk with Asahi-san about that?! Coach Ukai forbade it so we wouldn't pressure him too much and then you did it anyway. If Asahi-san isn't coming back now it's your fault."

"No," Kageyama disagreed and walked off.

"What do you mean by No?!"

Hinata grabbed his bike and followed the setter.

"I mean it didn't make any difference whether I'd told him or not. But now at least he knows all the facts and can make a serious decision upon that."

Confused, Hinata walked beside Kageyama.

"What are you talking about? Why doesn't it make any difference anymore? What kind of decision?"

But Kageyama just kept going, the gaze stubbornly directed straight ahead.

"Broken is broken," he finally muttered, not even noticing how Hinata stared at him with big eyes.

"What? What are you talking about?"

Once again, Kageyama remained silent; now at least he knew the answer to his question, now he knew what happened when the glass heart broke. Nothing remained, nothing but broken pieces.