サンセットゴースト

Sunset Ghost


第11章

第1ウェイステーション


By the time they reached Madoka's shop, the rain had only worsened, increasing Kageyama's encroaching feeling of worry. After what Hinata had told him, his brain was spinning in a never-ending loop of confusion and a single question: How can someone have the aura of a human and a ghost? Nowhere in any of Yachi's books had anything like that ever been mentioned.

He resolved to ask Madoka, but when they got back, the shop was empty, the front door locked and the shop windows dark. Kageyama let out a frustrated sigh at this realization, shifting Hinata's weight on his back to reach for his phone in the back pocket of his jeans. As he walked, he sent a text to Yachi saying he'd found Hinata and would see her the next day.

Hinata watched him as he tucked it back in his pocket, head lulling slightly on his shoulder. "I'm really sorry... I didn't want to worry everyone so much."

Kageyama sighed again. "It's fine, really. It's not your fault you got scared."

They walked in silence for a while until Hinata shifted on his back again, trailing warmth across his shoulders. Kageyama found it much more pleasant than his usual aura of freezing cold. "Where are we going?"

"Home," he replied quietly. "My parents are gone, so it should be fine if you stay there for a while." He paused, feeling the flicker of a smile cross his lips. "Besides, they wouldn't be able to see you, anyway."

Hinata giggled, and the sound was familiar and reassuring. "You're right." His arms tightened around Kageyama's neck as his mood turned sober. "But thank you. I... really feel better if I'm with you." As if that phrase didn't have a kick-like effect to Kageyama, he laughed again. "Haha, you know, this reminds me of when I used to give my little sister piggy-back rides."

For a second, Kageyama stopped walking, surprised. Hinata had never shared anything about his life before, and that he was finally doing it now made him feel... happy? It was like they were actually friends: or, it at least meant Hinata trusted him, which gave him a strangely... satisfied feeling.

He forced himself to start walking again before Hinata noticed something was up, but had to lower his face to hide the smile there.

I'm such an idiot.


Dusk was settling over the Natori sky-line when they reached Kageyama's house. A chill breeze had swept over the landscape, and Kageyama couldn't feel his fingers by the time he finally managed to unlock the door and escape into the warmth beyond. He stumbled inside, kicking off his shoes and tossing his stuff on the floor, letting out a relieved sigh as the heat hit him.

"Can I set you down now?" he panted to Hinata, feeling like his muscles were about to give out, even though the redhead weighed next to nothing.

"Mmm." The boy tapped his shoulder lazily in consent and Kageyama lowered into a crouch, allowing him to slide off easily. As he straightened, his back popped painfully and he winced, muttering a curse under his breath as he wandered over to the fridge. He was about to ask Hinata if he wanted anything, but then remembered he was a ghost and couldn't help but laugh at himself.

While Kageyama removed the milk and sipped from the carton, Hinata flounced around the house, making appreciative noises. "Tobio, hey, hey, what is this painting thing?" he inquired, pointing at a mural on the living room wall.

Kageyama set down the milk carton, once more startled hearing his name come out of the smaller boy's mouth. He walked around the kitchen island and came closer, pausing with his hands on his hips to study the familiar portrait. "My dad has a thing for antique paintings. He collects them. He got that one at an auction when I was ten."

"Uwah..." Hinata peered at it with awe. "Wow, that's so cool! I've never known anyone who collects stuff."

The look of genuine wonder on his face was so funny, Kageyama couldn't help but chuckle. "It's not that impressive. Lots of people collect things, you weirdo."

Hinata turned and stuck his tongue out at him, but he was still smiling. "I think it's cool! The only thing I ever collected was sports magazines, and that's pretty boring." He looked over his shoulder with a smile that made Kageyama's stomach feel weird. "What about you? Do you collect anything, Tobio?"

Hearing the ginger say his name again reminded Kageyama that they were doing that now—that he could call him Shōyō, if he wanted to. However, that thought was way too embarrassing to think about for too long, so he quickly shook his head no and turned around to replace the milk in the fridge, hiding his blush with the back of his hand as he scooted past Hinata to head for upstairs. "I'm going to bed..."

"Wahh, but it's not even that late!" Hinata whined, following him as far as the foot of the stairs, gripping the railing with trepidation. "You're like an old man if you go to sleep this early!"

Kageyama shot him an annoyed glare over his shoulder as he climbed. "Shut up. I'll see you tomorrow." He shot him the I'm-watching-you gesture. " And don't touch anything. My parents should be home late, so don't... freak them out with your ghostiness or anything."

He paused again on the last step and cast a glance back at the redhead, who was still pouting childishly below. "And... goodnight, Shōyō." He retreated as soon as the words left his mouth, only stopping once he was safely behind his bedroom door.

Sagging against it in relief, Kageyama covered his burning face with his hands and groaned loudly. "Kill me now..."

He flopped on his bed face-down and buried himself underneath the blanket, stewing in embarrassment. This was horrible. Awful. Completely terrible. The odd fluttery feeling in his chest just wouldn't go away. It was like a pack of butterflies had moved in beneath his rib-cage and were constantly flying around his heart. An infestation; that's what it was.

Kageyama only wished he was stupider, so he wouldn't have to realize what that feeling was...


The next day, the morning seemed to crawl by. By the time Kageyama was awake enough to open his eyes, the late-morning sun crept through the windows, and when he looked outside, his parents' cars were already gone, meaning it was past 8:30.

He groaned at that and ran a hand over his face tiredly. Mornings had never been his thing.

After a few more minutes, when Kageyama finally gained the willpower to get up and stumble down the stairs into the kitchen on bare feet, he found Hinata laying on the floor on his stomach, looking through a photo album.

"I told you not to touch anything, dumbass," he mumbled tiredly, though Kageyama was too exhausted to really be mad.

Hinata jumped at the sound of his voice nonetheless, hand phasing through the album page he had been about to turn and sending him sprawling. "A-ah, you scared me!" He flipped into an upright position and sat seiza-style with his hands sandwiched between his legs, glaring at him. "Geez, I just saw it on the bookshelf and got curious..." His eyes fell guiltily, mood switching in an instant. "I'm sorry..."

"It's fine," Kageyama said quickly, hating the dejected look on his face. "You can look at it. Just... don't touch anything breakable."

Hinata's face quickly brightened as he gave a little salute. "Yes, sir!" He went back to studying the photos while Kageyama simply rolled his eyes and began searching for breakfast. It was way too early to deal with the redhead's antics.

Taking a bowl from the cabinet, Kageyama felt his phone begin buzzing in his pocket: a lot. By the time he successfully extracted the device from his pocket, there were about twenty different texts from Yachi dominating the screen. Kageyama frowned as he started reading them over. The first one was from late the previous night.

From: Yachi at 0103: I'm glad you found him! Mom and I will see you both tomorrow at the shop.

After that relatively normal message, they quickly got weirder.

From: Yachi at 0311: Kageyama, there's something going on. Call me when you see this.

From: Yachi at 0407: This is seriously important. Something's wrong. Mom got a call a few minutes ago and now she's telling me to pack up a combat kit. She won't tell me what's going on. Please call soon.

From: Yachi at 0546: There's been a serious breach at a wayline. We really need your help. I'm texting you the address.

She had sent an address that Kageyama recognized as an old factory a few miles away from his house, which was confusing considering there was nothing there besides the husk of the old production building and a huge empty field of dead grass.

Frowning, he scrolled down to the next message.

From: Yachi at 0620: Mom took me with her. The wayline looks like it had a bomb exploded in it. I know you don't know who they are, but the IBPA is here. This is really bad.

And the last (and most troubling) one:

From: Yachi at 0659: Come now. Urgent.

As he read over it, Kageyama felt a pang of paranoia and dialed Yachi's number as he put back everything he'd taken out for breakfast. "Hinata, put that away," he ordered, stalking to the door and pulling on his shoes as the phone continued to ring. "There's something serious going on and we need to go."

He cursed as the phone went to voicemail, ignoring Hinata's confused inquiries to leave a message. "Yachi, it's me. I just saw all your messages. We'll be there in ten minutes."

Hanging up, he shoved the phone back in his pocket and finished tying his shoes clumsily.

Hinata, who had stood up, was looking at him fearfully, still confused. "What's going on?" he asked quietly, shifting closer and staring up at him with earnest, concerned brown eyes. "Did something bad happen?"

"I don't know," Kageyama relented, finally allowing himself to pause and take a deep breath. "I just saw all these messages from Yachi talking about a wayline being attacked, and now she won't answer my calls." He tugged a hand through his hair nervously. "We need to go, now. Are you ready?"

Hinata paused a moment before nodding hesitantly, eyes unsure but determined. "Yeah. Let's go."


The factory wasn't too far away from his house. Kageyama took his bike, Hinata riding on the back of the seat and holding on to him for dear life. Apparently, he was too drained to do his usual vanishing act, which left their current arrangement as the only option. It was annoying, but Kageyama also felt more relaxed with him close by.

As they reached the factory's expansive empty lot, he pulled to a rough stop and threw down the kickstand, squinting through the foggy morning air at the decrepit structure ahead. The building's iron foundations had long-since rusted well beyond repair, leaving a bulky shell of mangled metal behind like a picked-clean corpse. Usually, it was (understandably) empty, but today, there was a group of about twelve people standing in the middle of the field.

As the two boys slid off the bike, one of them turned and sprinted across the grass towards them. "Kageyama, Hinata! You're finally here!" Yachi herself came to a stop in front of them, struggling to catch her breath. Her usual bright smile was absent from her face, replaced by an oddly somber look that Kageyama rarely witnessed tainting the blonde's cheerful features, but at least she was in one piece.

"What's going on?" he asked, picking up his feet to avoid tripping as she started dragging him towards the gathering out in the field.

Hinata scurried after them as Yachi shot him a troubled glance. "This wayline was attacked early this morning. My mom said she felt it, and right after that, they called her." She gestured at the gathering when she said 'they,' and from the way she said it, Kageyama could tell she wasn't a fan of them, whoever 'they' were.

"What's the situation?" he asked, deciding to get down to business. He knew from his few months of training that a wayline being attacked was a serious issue.

Waylines were veins of spiritual energy that ran across the whole world like the lines of a map: If one was damaged, it could have serious consequences on the spiritual realm, and if one was destroyed, the balance of the natural world would be completely overturned.

As they neared the group, Yachi gave a quick rundown of the events: Early that morning, a large explosion had gone off, snagging part of the wayline and creating a tear. If they didn't seal it quickly, the escaping spiritual residue would eventually rupture the line from the inside-out.

She had been right when she said the situation was urgent, and Kageyama felt terrible for making her wait.

"How can I help?"

Yachi grimaced. "About that... they actually have jurisd—"

"You two there!" A loud voice cut Yachi off mid-sentence, drawing Kageyama's attention to a man with a strange blond buzz-cut that was breaking away from the group up ahead and stalking towards them with a glower. "The tall dark-haired one and the Ushinawareta! Stop right there!"

The three of them did as instructed, Hinata ducking behind Kageyama with a small yelp as the man came to a rough stop in front of them. He waved a finger in Kageyama's face. "What do you think you're doing here? This is a closed location. Only specialized individuals are permitted to be here."

Yachi looked about ready to kick the guy—and Kageyama shared her sentiment, honestly—when a calm voice interjected, "They're with me, Agent Kyōtani." Madoka slid past the man—Kyōtani—to stand beside Kageyama and her daughter. "This is my apprentice, Kageyama, and his familiar, Hinata." Her tone was pleasant and face stoic, but her eyes were narrowed in an almost predatory way. "Please don't interrogate them further."

Kageyama was too caught up in what she'd said to hear the man's response as he began arguing with her. She'd called Hinata his familiar. He remembered reading a little bit about those in one of Yachi's books, but they were described as spirits or demons under a binding contract, which he and Hinata definitely didn't have. Hinata couldn't possibly be his familiar, so why would Madoka say so? And what was that thing the agent had called him—Ushinawareta?

"Fine, then," Kyōtani barked, startling him back into the conversation. "I suppose they can observe, but at the slightest sign of trouble, they'll be removed." He turned on his heel and stormed back over to the others, whom Kageyama guessed were his colleagues.

Madoka followed, turning to look back at them. "Well? What are you waiting for?" She waved a hand at them. "Come on."

As they all hurried to follow her, Kageyama felt a tingling sensation between his shoulder-blades, like something was watching him, and shivered, burrowing deeper into his jacket and glancing around restlessly. Whatever was going on there, he had a very bad feeling about it.