Tuesday night, like Monday night, found Kageyama at Hinata's house again. The atmosphere was lively, not only because Nishinoya and Tanaka were both there as well, but because Hinata was returning to school the next day. "Just for a few hours!" Hinata kept reminding them, but that didn't prevent all four of them from being unreasonably excited at the prospect.

"It's gonna be in the afternoon so you can come to practice, right?" Noya asked, not for the first time, as he bounced all over the room picking up the cards from their latest round of Buta no Shippo. Kageyama didn't understand how Noya managed to ask a question, listen to the answer, then forget it immediately, but it seemed to be one of his many gifts.

"I want to, but Mom's not sure it's good idea," Hinata said once again. He was cross-legged on the floor, still somehow managing to bounce along with Noya even though he seemed to be sitting still. "I'm not supposed to play yet and she thinks it will be too tempting just to watch." Strangely enough, he also did not seem disappointed to be repeating the same information for the fourth or fifth time. He was just happy to be here with all of them, talking about a return to some kind of normality, even if it hadn't happened yet and it wouldn't even be that good.

"No faaaiirrrr," Noya groaned, dumping the messy pile of cards in Tanaka's hands, since it was his turn to deal next. "We miss you! It would be more fun with you there, even if you can't play."

"At least Tanaka-san will be back!" Hinata gave Tanaka a brilliant grin.

Tanaka smiled wolfishly, sloppily shuffling the cards on the floor in front of him. "I'll hit a bunch of spikes for you, promise." Noya thumped him on the back, overcome with joy, and Tanaka grunted and fell forward, scattering the cards again.

Kageyama leaned back against the sofa behind him and watched their antics, his eyes falling half-shut with contentment. It was good to see his teammates back to their usual high spirits. Tanaka and Hinata and even Noya had all been sadly subdued by the recent events, like puppies dampened by a sudden storm. Now they were fluffed up and jumping about again, and it felt like a piece of the world had clicked back into place.

He was still waiting for a chance to catch Tanaka alone and have a discussion with him, though. He wanted to ask how the last two nights had gone, if Hinata had had any more nightmares or bouts of fear. Tanaka was sharper than he appeared, especially when it came to how his teammates were doing mentally. Kageyama was sure that if anything like that had happened, Tanaka had noticed.

In the meantime, it was good to be together. Noya was going to take the watch tonight so Tanaka could go home and get ready for his return from suspension. Noya was just as eager and excited for the opportunity to have a "sleepover with Shouyou" as Tanaka had been, so all was well on that count. Kageyama would do his best to trust him with his important task, though it was strangely difficult.

Hinata's phone buzzed, vibrating loudly on the floor next to him, and he scooped it up and opened it with a ready grin. Kageyama opened his eyes a little wider to watch his face. "Who is it?" Every so often since he'd gotten here he had noticed Hinata's fingers start to twitch toward his phone before he restrained himself and brought his attention back to whatever they doing. It was fun to see his glee at having his anticipation finally realized.

"Kenma!" Hinata's eyes flicked back and forth as he read the message, his grin only growing. Kageyama felt a small, involuntary smile appearing on his own lips. Happy Hinata was ridiculously infectious. He didn't know how he'd never noticed it before.

"Must be good news, huh?" Noya asked, watching Hinata as well. They exchanged a glance and a smirk as Hinata remained bent over his phone, mutually acknowledging that, yes, Hinata was hilarious right now.

Hinata just nodded, oblivious to the interplay. He looked up from the phone, beaming sunlight all over the room, and turned it around so they could see the tiny screen. "He says he and Kuroo can definitely visit this weekend! They've talked it all out with everyone's parents and everything. They're gonna come on the Saturday morning train. It's gonna be so great!"

Noya grinned in unadulterated delight. "That's so cool, Shouyou! I know how much you like Kozume. Maybe they can even join us for practice over the weekend."

Hinata nodded enthusiastically, though his face fell a bit with the knowledge that he almost certainly wouldn't be able to join in. He turned the phone back toward his face and started tapping on the keys. "Yeah! That's...that's a good idea. I'll mention it to him."

Tanaka looked up from his (still disastrous) shuffling, glancing between Noya and Hinata, who was now studying his screen as if it was the only thing that mattered in the universe. "But we don't want to take your friends away from you, Hinata. Maybe we should save that idea for another time."

Noya sat up straight as if he'd been electrified, alerted by Tanaka's worried glance that he might have misstepped here. "Oh, right! Or we'd at least keep the practice short, wouldn't we?"

"Kozume probably won't want to anyway," Kageyama put in with a small grunt. "He's not fond of extra practice."

Hinata looked up at that, trying to hide the relief that swept across his face. "Oh, that's true. But if you guys want to borrow Kuroo for a while, I'm sure that would be fine."

Tanaka snickered. "Tsukishima will probably enjoy that." They all grinned, remembering the stories that had been passed around the Tokyo training camp about how very, very much Kuroo had annoyed Tsukishima, even after Tsukishima had agreed to practice blocking with him. Many of those stories had been spread by Hinata, come to think of it.

Hinata's phone buzzed in his hand, and he glanced at, still grinning at the memories. His face lit up even further at what he saw. "You guys are totally right. Kenma just made keymashes and said NO THANK YOU." He giggled as the phone buzzed again. "Ah, and now he's apologizing for the last text and saying that he's looking forward to the trip."

"Tell him we won't make him practice if he doesn't want to," Noya said, and Hinata nodded and started tapping again.

Kageyama's smile faded as he watched Hinata text his close friend. He couldn't ignore the small, sharp needle of disappointment that stabbed through him as the news sank in. Hinata was going to have good friends over for the weekend. He wouldn't need Kageyama to come.

Not that Kageyama had wanted to spend another weekend here. It wasn't like he enjoyed having his time monopolized by an injured teammate. He had plenty of things going on in his life, plenty of stuff to do and things to take care of. It was good that Hinata didn't need him so badly anymore—it meant that he was getting better, and that was what Kageyama wanted more than anything else in the world.

Hinata finished sending his text and looked up, meeting Kageyama's eyes. He was still smiling, but it was different now, aimed solely at Kageyama instead of the phone in his hand or the world at large. "You're gonna come over again, right? We have to have that sleepover, finally!"

Kageyama huffed out a breath as a huge weight suddenly vanished from his shoulders. "Of course."

Yeah, he wasn't good at lying, not even to himself.

"All right, let's play!" Tanaka clapped his hands over the perfect circle of cards he had laid out, and the next round began.

Just a couple of games later, though, Hinata's phone buzzed again, and he scooped it up immediately, abandoning the card he'd just picked up. The other groaned at the pause in their game, but waited patiently for him to read and respond to Kozume's latest text. But something different happened this time.

Hinata had grinned brightly the instantly the phone sounded, of course, but as his eyes flicked back and forth, reading, the grin slid off his face. By the time he finished, his face was solemn and still, and a tiny wrinkle had appeared between his eyes. He sat still for what seemed an unnatural length of time, then slowly tapped out a response. His teammates eyed him warily, unsure what to make of this.

Hinata finally finished and set the phone aside, then looked back to the cards on the floor. "Okay, whose turn was it again?"

"Yours!" Nishinoya piped up.

Hinata reached for a card, but Tanaka bumped his shoulder. "Hey, what was that about? Something going wrong with Kozume and Kuroo's visit?"

Hinata glanced up, the card held loosely in his fingers in the action of turning over. "Huh? Oh, no, that wasn't Kenma. It was...someone else."

He flipped the card over and put it in the middle, on top of the current stack. He was staring fixedly at the pile, as if he was unwilling to meet their eyes anymore. Kageyama observed him suspiciously, his attention on the game fading abruptly. "Who was it, then?"

"Just a friend." Hinata shook his head. "C'mon, let's play."

They played, but both Hinata and Kageyama no longer had their hearts in it. The rest of the round was mostly a battle between Noya and Tanaka, with Kageyama and Hinata trading turns being the loser. When it was done, Tanaka picked up the cards again, but made no move to lay out another circle. All three of them were watching Hinata, now, and his eyes were on the floor.

The phone buzzed again and Hinata picked it up, much more slowly than he had before. He read the new message, the wrinkle between his eyes deepening, then slowly replied. His closed his eyes, the phone drooping in his hand, and rubbed his forehead with the fingertips of his other hand.

"Okay, that's enough," Kageyama said. "You're not allowed to get headaches."

He made a move to snatch the phone from Hinata's hand, expecting him to jerk it away and glare at him. But Hinata didn't even twitch, his eyes still closed, and his fingers released immediately when Kageyama gripped the phone. Kageyama held the phone loosely in front of him in both hands, gaping at Hinata in dismay. What the hell was this?

Tanaka and Noya glanced at each other in concern. Tanaka, sitting next to Hinata, wrapped an arm around his shoulders. "Oi, Hinata. Is Kageyama right? You got a headache?"

Hinata nodded limply. He was pressing both hands to his forehead now. Tanaka pulled him closer into his side. He reached his other hand around and wrapped it around the side of Hinata's head, encouraging him to rest his head on his shoulder. Hinata did so with no hesitation. It looked like they'd done this before.

Noya jumped to his feet. "I'll find Mrs. Hinata and get his pain medicine." He walked briskly out of the room.

Kageyama sat frozen on Hinata's other side, still holding the phone. "Hinata... Is it okay if I look at your messages?"

He was torn between a strong urge to find out who it was that had given Hinata this new headache so he could go punch them in the face and an equally strong urge not to invade Hinata's privacy. There was probably a reason Hinata hadn't just told them about whoever he was texting, and Kageyama didn't want to mess anything up between them by snooping where he wasn't invited. But he couldn't deny the feeling that they probably needed to talk about this, whatever it was.

Hinata was quiet for a long moment, just leaning into Tanaka's shoulder. Then his eyes slit open, studying Kageyama warily. "Don't be mad at Kimura-san. It's not her fault."

"Kimura-san?" Kageyama stared at the phone in his hands.

"Yeah." Hinata blinked, slow and tired. "She didn't mean to give me a headache, just like Kenma didn't mean to last Saturday. It just got... It was just a little too much. I'll be fine."

"Is she the classmate you were talking to?" Tanaka asked. His voice was soft, and he was still gently cradling Hinata's head. It was a little strange to see him being so careful and quiet, but it seemed to come naturally in that moment. "Before...before you got hurt?"

"Mmm." Hinata didn't move his head to nod or move at all, which told Kageyama exactly how badly he was hurting. "When I got my phone back I texted her right away to apologize for what happened and make sure she was okay. She didn't answer until just now."

"It wasn't your fault," Kageyama burst out, sudden and fierce.

Hinata smiled. "I know. But it seemed polite to apologize. Especially after... Especially after you told me how much it hurt you to see that happen. It must have been awful for her, too. I feel bad for her. She's a kind girl. I'm sorry she saw that."

Kageyama looked down at the phone again. He could understand those feelings. He'd felt sorry for this girl that first day too, though very briefly, his concern for her quickly buried in the overwhelming terror he'd felt for Hinata. He had hoped vaguely that someone was looking after her, but had never bothered to find out if that was true.

Of course Hinata cared more, though. Hinata always cared more about other people. He had that ability, an overflow of concern and care from a generous heart. Kageyama did not have the energy for such things, had never had the energy. His world had always been very narrow. Up until recently it had consisted of almost nothing besides volleyball and the occasional concern about the next time he would eat.

Karasuno had changed a lot of things for Kageyama. He'd begun to notice how important people were to being good at volleyball, how he needed to learn to relate to his teammates, to communicate with them so he could draw out their potential the way Oikawa did. Realizing that people were important to volleyball had opened the door for Kageyama to begin realizing that people were important, period. And that had paved the way for him to finally, finally notice that Hinata was his friend and probably had been for quite some time.

So Hinata cared about this girl and the fact that she had witnessed a traumatizing incident, just as Kageyama and Tanaka had. Of course he did. Of course he cared. Kageyama had been foolish not recognize it until this very moment.

He looked up at Hinata. "Is it all right if I look at your messages?" he asked, more slowly and carefully than he had before.

The problem with caring about other people, Kageyama had instantly learned, was that it opened you up to being hurt. He had cared about Hinata, even if he hadn't noticed, so seeing Hinata being attacked and wounded had struck him to the core in a way he had never imagined. If Hinata wanted to, he could also hurt Kageyama directly, something Kageyama would have never believed possible before this insane week.

Had this girl Hinata cared about managed to hurt him somehow? It suddenly seemed all too likely.

Hinata watched him dully for a moment longer. "You're not going to let this go, are you?"

Kageyama shook his head, his fingers tightening on the phone.

Hinata sighed and closed his eyes, leaning further into Tanaka. "Okay, fine. But remember what I said. Don't be mad. She didn't do anything wrong."

Noya finally returned with a glass of water and a couple of pills. Hinata took the pills, still not moving from Tanaka's side, and the other boys settled down to wait for him to feel better. Even Noya was curbing his natural fidgetiness, doing his best to be still and quiet for Hinata's sake. Kageyama knew from experience that the painkillers would kick in soon enough. They just had to be patient, and then they could go back to having fun.

In the meantime, Kageyama opened the phone and found the text logs. It was still open to Kimura. He scrolled up to the top to read from the beginning.

Hinata's first text was very typical of Hinata, though the exclamation points were somewhat reduced. He rambled about how he was all right and getting better and how sorry he was that she'd seen something so ugly, and he hoped that she was okay and not bothered by it, and he was looking forward to talking to her again when he came back to school. It was friendly and innocuous and kind. Kageyama couldn't imagine anyone responding to it with anything but happy acceptance and agreement.

But Kimura's text in return was very short and pointed. I'm glad you're getting better. But I don't think we should talk again.

Hinata: What's wrong? I'm sorry, did I do something to offend you?

Kimura: I just don't want to talk to you anymore. Please don't bother me again.

Hinata's reply stabbed at Kageyama's heart. Okay. Please forgive me for whatever I did. I won't bother you again.

There was no reply, and plenty of time had passed since then to allow for one. She wasn't going to explain herself. She wasn't even going to tell Hinata that he was forgiven for whatever imaginary offense he'd committed. She was just going to leave it there.

Kageyama glanced up at his teammates. Noya and Tanaka were talking quietly about something or other, but met his eyes when he looked at them, their expressions carefully blank. They kept talking, just providing some white noise to soothe Hinata, who still leaned against Tanaka with his eyes closed. Tanaka's fingers carded rhythmically through his fluffy hair, slow and careful.

Slowly, quietly, Kageyama pulled out his phone and copied Kimura's number into his contacts. He set Hinata's phone down where he would find it quickly once he felt better. Then he stood up, careful to make no scuffing noise on the floor mats, and moved over to a corner of the room. He kept his head down as he tapped out a message.

Kimura-san, this is Hinata's friend, Kageyama Tobio. Please explain what he did to offend you. It's bothering him very much and I want to resolve it if I can.

He thought he might have to wait for a long time for a response. She probably wouldn't want to talk to him, and even if she did, she might not see the text right away. Yet he could not tear his eyes away from his phone, staring fixedly at the text log, his own words on the screen, as if he could will a response to come quicker just by wanting it to.

After only a minute or two, the phone vibrated in his hand and a text appeared. Kageyama started a bit in surprise, then narrowed his eyes as he read the tiny characters on the tiny screen.

He didn't offend me. There's nothing to resolve.

Then what's wrong? Why are you cutting off your friendship with him? You hurt him, and he's already been hurt enough.

Kageyama was probably being offensive himself, but he didn't care. He wanted to know what was going on. If he had to provoke this girl to get an answer, that was fine with him.

I didn't mean to hurt him! I just can't be seen with him anymore.

Why not? He's a good person. It won't hurt your reputation to be seen with him, will it?

That's not the point! Just leave me alone. I don't have to tell you anything. Stop texting me.

Kageyama frowned. If he were a good person—if he were Hinata, for example—he would stop now. He would apologize for bothering her and promise never to speak to her again if that was what she wanted.

Kageyama had never pretended that he was a good person.

I'm sorry, but I can't accept that. Just tell me why you're doing this and I promise I'll never bother you again.

The phone was silent for a long while. Hinata finally began to stir again, lifting his head from Tanaka's shoulder and blinking around in a daze. Tanaka kept his arm wrapped around Hinata, occasionally lifting his hand to pat the back of his head. After another moment, Hinata began to join in on whatever stupid conversation Tanaka and Noya were having, slowly at first, then beginning to smile and sparkle again as the medicine finally, finally did its job.

Kageyama was considering going over to join them, or possibly sending another, even more aggressive text message, when his phone vibrated. He turned his back to the room and lifted it closer to his face, his free hand clenching in a fist.

It's those upperclassmen. The ones who were with that guy when he hurt Hinata. They told me that it would be better for me if I stayed away from Hinata from now on. They said I would be safe as long as I stayed away. That's all they said. But they scared me. They seemed really serious. So I'm going to take their advice. Please tell Hinata I'm sorry. But I'm never going to speak to any of you again, and I beg you not to speak to me.

Kageyama's teeth clenched so tight that he could feel the muscles bunching along his jawline. This...this cowardly girl...

But then, could he really blame her? Kageyama had felt the icy cold touch of terror when he saw those words painted on the gym, even just when he heard about them. And those words hadn't even been aimed at Kageyama specifically. No one had stopped him in the hall and warned him to stay away. No one—not one, much less the two or three she must have faced—had cornered him and loomed over him, threatening him with body language and tone of voice. Even if they had, he was not a tiny female facing male intimidation. That was something entirely different.

And how long had she even known Hinata? All year if they were in the same class, but how much time had they spent talking one-on-one? Hinata had never mentioned her before, and he was the kind who talked about everyone he knew and everything that happened to him, just because he liked to share his life with those around him. Their budding relationship must have been a very recent thing.

It was no wonder that she had crumbled and fled, with so little foundation to fall back on.

Kageyama closed his eyes and breathed deeply, struggling to accept this. Hinata made friends easily, but not shallowly. Even a new relationship in first bud was dear to his heart, and having it suddenly cut off and frozen had wounded him deeply. It was no wonder that it had given him a headache. His heart must be aching, too. Whatever this girl had meant to him, whatever possibilities he had imagined for their future, all was gone now, twisted off and discarded like refuse. That was a hard thing, a sad thing, and it was affecting Kageyama as well.

Another new thing about having a friend.

After enough time to calm down, Kageyama opened his eyes and looked at his phone.

All right. I understand. I will not bother you anymore. If you ever change your mind, I'm sure Hinata will accept your friendship easily, because that's the kind of person he is. But I will not. Do not betray him again.

After sending the message, he deleted the text log, then her contact number. And he went back to his friends and sat in their circle again and suggested that they play a different game, one that did not require quite so much slapping and yelling. The evening passed as pleasantly as it could.

Tomorrow, Hinata was going back to school. They needed to focus on that. Nothing else mattered.