A/N: hey guys! Imma here with a new chapter! Gotta say, I think this is the longest chapter in the whole story so far. Ok there is one thing I have to say before we get started. It is confirmed that the trial will start in chapter 10 because I need chapter 9 to finish the current arc. However, after I finish chapter 9, I will be going through a hiatus. I know it sucks, but I'll fully explain everything once I get done chapter 9. This is just a heads up so you aren't that surprised when the time comes and it's not so sudden. Anyway, with that being said, let's get to the reviewer!

CarlaBLa22: I'm debating if I should make another story with his case or just explain in an AN on what happened to Nagai. Tbh I honestly hated using the word arrogant because if you remember I had some drama a month back annnd I may have been called arrogant by a bully several times, buuuuttt I figured it worked in the story and sent a more powerful message so yea. Also thanks I figured I would het Noya's father more involved. He did stay home with Noya back in the first story after he accidentally hurt himself, but that scene wasn't in the story. Wooow how dare you, I don't act anything like JiroXD *I say as I write bad things that happened to our bois* Also I found out the word vendetta means revenge on a family who killed a family member...eh oh well it was more of spur of the moment anyway.

Anyway guys I hope you enjoy the next chapter!:)

I own nothing of Haikyuu!

The next day went by pretty uneventful at school. Going to class and doing all that. At this point, it was no one's surprise that Hinata was falling asleep in class and Kageyama had that stupid confused look on his face.

It didn't help that the two first years would ask Tsukishimia during lunch to help them study. Of course Tsukishima would always decline no matter how many times they ask...and then they would get Yachi to help.

No one was surprised by the time volleyball practice came around whenever Hinata and Kageyama were racing each other. Heck, they almost knocked over Tsukishimia and Yamaguchi on the way over. This would've been just like that time when Nishinoya was basically bulldozed by them. Tsukishimia only rolled his eyes while Yamaguchi shook his head.

Everyone else was talking in the team room before heading towards the gym. Not much happened in the team room aside from a few side conversations...mainly about Nationals. However, there was one teammate who was thinking of anything but that.

Tanaka waited for Noya to come in. He wanted to see how the visit went. He told the lie Noya told him to tell to the team. Half of the team bought it, the other half was a little suspicious. Tanaka didn't blame the suspicious half. Mainly because it just happened out of nowhere. Tanaka looked at the last message that Noya sent last night.

"Sorry, my mom wanted me for something and I didn't get to respond back until now...everything went fine at the jail so you don't have to worry about it"-Nishinoya 11:45pm.

The message seemed a little too vague for Tanaka's liking. It could be because Noya was tired, but it just seemed like Noya was avoiding the topic all together. He made a mental note to ask him about it later.

It didn't take too long for Noya to walk in the team room. He was immediately met by Hinata, who just finished pulling his shirt over top of his head.

"Noya hey!"

Noya smiled. "Hey Hinata! How's it going?"

"It's great! How was your meeting with your lawyer yesterday? Tanaka told us you were meeting with him again yesterday!"

"Oh yea! That went great! He was coming up with different strategies to make sure Jiro is put behind bars!"

"Woooow! He sounds the coolest!"

"Only the best of the best, Hinata!"

The two of them laughed as Noya went to go change. He grabbed his practice uniform before making eye contact with Tanaka.

"Hey man! What's up?"

Tanaka took a glance to see everyone else who was still in the room and decided not to push the matter in front of them. The majority of the team is focusing on Nationals. The last thing they need is more of this case drama.

"I'm good! Practice was pretty much the same yesterday! You didn't really miss much."

"Still would rather be here than meeting with the lawyer."

Tanaka fake laughed, and only Noya seemed to catch it.

As soon as Noya changed, he and Tanaka headed over to the gym. Tanaka debated rather or not to address Noya on the situation about yesterday or not. He figured he could talk about it more whenever there was more time. The two of them made it to the gym, and were treated almost immediately by Daichi.

"Hey guys," he says before looking at Noya. "Welcome back. Tanaka said you were meeting with your lawyer again."

"Yup! He just went over a few things with me and was telling me what he was planning and all that kind of stuff."

Daichi stares for a moment before nodding. "I see. Well, let's get started on practice! Go ahead and stretch with everyone else."

The two second years nodded as they ran to go join the rest of the team. Daichi narrowed his eyes in suspicion at the two of them and then waited for the last few people still needing to walk in the gym.

A little while later, the team was working on receives. It was to no one's surprise that Hinata couldn't really get his receives quite right. Of course that caused Kageyama to scowl him on how much his receives suck. No one was surprised to see Hinata argue back before Daichi had to tell them to knock it off before they could return their focus on receives. Meanwhile, Nishinoya had absolutely no problems working on his receives. He is the libero after all. He was able to receive Ushijima's balls, so this wasn't too hard for him. This was the thing he really missed yesterday.

After a little while, Ukai called for a break and everyone went to their respective water bottles. As everyone was getting their drinks, Tanaka decided now would be a good time to at least start the inevitable conversation with Noya and then maybe finish it after practice. He began walking over to the libero, who was sitting on the floor doing some stretches.

"Noya?"

Noya looked up at his best friend. "Yea?"

"Can we talk?"

Noya blinked in confusion as he stood up.

"Sure. What's up?"

Tanaka looked to see they were a good distance away from everyone else before sighing and looked at Noya.

"I want to talk to you about your visit yesterday."

Noya's eyes widen as he took a quick glance at the others and pushed Tanaka slightly away from them.

"There's nothing to really talk about. I told you about it last night. Everything went normally."

"I just want to know what happened. What you said and all."

"I told him to have fun losing the case. Nothing else really happened. Now can we go back to practice?"

"There was something I did want to ask."

"What would that be?"

"How come you didn't want me to tell the others about your visit?"

"Wha...I already told you. I wanted to talk to him alone."

Tanaka sighs. "That doesn't answer my question. You told me that you wanted to talk to him alone, but you wanted me to not even mention it, and came up with a different excuse. Which, by the way, not the entire team was convinced."

"Everyone just worries too much!" Noya's voice rose slightly.

Tanaka frowned, trying to think quickly on deactivating the situation.

"They're concerned about you," Tanaka hesitantly states. "Noya...you've been very optimistic lately. Maybe...a little too optimistic."

Tanaka instantly knew he said the wrong thing by the hard glare on Noya's face.

"Too opti-are you serious?!" at this point, a few people glanced over at the two second years. "There's nothing wrong with being optimistic! You guys are seriously worried about me being positive about this?!"

"Noya, please, just calm dow-."

"Everyone is sooo worried about me not even showing I'm nervous, when no one is even worried about you! You were the one who was almost killed in that house! You were the one who wanted to play hero and sent me to go get help! And look what happened to you! You were almost killed because you couldn't hold yourself on your own! If it wasn't for Ennoshitia, you would be dead right now!"

Ennoshitia flinched at the mention of being involved in whatever they were arguing about. At this point, the entire team was looking over, shocked and confused on what was happening...especially since it was extremely rare to see Nishinoya and Tanaka actually having a serious argument.

Tanaka stared in shock at what Noya just said about that night as it flashed through his mind for a quick second. Even though it's been a while since the incident happened, he remembers it as if it happened yesterday. After a moment of processing what Noya just said, Tanaka glared back at the small libero.

"Are you actually serious?! You really think I played hero that night?! The only reason why I fought him was because I knew the both of us couldn't make it out of there without him chasing us! And I'm case you haven't noticed, you were still injured! I was saving your ass so you can go call the cops! I was only planning on holding him off until I somehow managed to knock him or the cops showed up!"

"And how well did that brilliant plan work out for you?! You weren't the one who knocked him out now was it?! That was all Ennoshita!"

Ennoshita flinched again. He really hated that he was being dragged into this.

Tanaka growled as he stomped up to Noya and grabbed him by the shirt.

"Did you really think that I wanted to be stuck in a corner like that?! The reason why I even fought him was because I wanted you to get to safety…!"

Noya looked up to glare at Tanaka, but soon felt his own heart stop and his breath hitch in his throat. Above him was none other than Jiro Katsu. Noya looked behind to see he was backed into the wall. Immediately, Noya knew exactly where he was. He was in the same area where he was attacked on that night.

The glare he gave Tanaka instantly faded as soon as he saw Jiro. He was wearing the same hoodie he wore that night. He was staring at the young libero with what looked like beedy red eyes. It was almost as if Noya was in a horror movie. Noya froze as his breath quickened to the point where it classified as hyperventilation. It got even worse when Noya glanced down to see his side was bleeding badly...just like that night.

"This isn't happening! This isn't happening! I...I just saw him yesterday! How did he get out?! Wasn't I just in the gym with Tanaka?! What the hell is going on?! Please...someone...help!" Noya frantically thought through his shallow breathing.

Jiro suddenly lets go of Noya's shirt and they immediately slammed against his shoulders. Noya's breath hitched again before continuing his uneven breathing. He could've sworn he heard a voice in the distance, but couldn't make out what it was saying. He so badly wanted to scream out for help, but he couldn't get himself to calm down enough to do so.

After what seems like ages, Noya had enough courage and strength to glare back at Jiro and push him.

"Get...OFF ME!"

Noya pushed him so hard, that he stumbled back and began to fall. Noya looked back in time to see Tanaka fall hard on the ground and looked back up at him, fear and a hell lot of worry written all over his face. Noya took a glance around to see he was back in the gym.

He was able to see all of the third years, Ukai, and Takeda looking like they were on their way over towards them but stopped midway. Everyone else, even Tsukishimia, was staring at the scene either shocked, worried, or scared.

Noya's eyes drifted back at Tanaka and glared at him. He marched up to Tanaka so it looked like he was towering over him.

"WHO THE HELL GAVE YOU THE RIGHT TO TOUCH ME?! DO YOU REALLY THINK I ASKED YOU TO SAVE ME?! I COULD'VE HANDLED THE GUY ON MY OWN! HOW ARROGANT ARE YOU TO BELIEVE I COULDN'T HANDLE MYSELF TANAKA, HUH?!"

He glared at him for a few more moments until he realized just how terrified and worried a Tanaka looked. Noya's eyes widen and looked up, horrified to see all the shocked and concerned looks he was receiving. It was at that moment Noya realized...he screwed up.

"I...I…UGH!"

And with that, Noya sprinted off and ran out of the gym. There were a few shouts calling after him, but Noya didn't pay attention. He ran as fast as he could go, trying to get of what he just saw out of his head and the sudden outburst he had. He was so careful to keep those negative emotions to himself, that he wasn't aware he had snapped at Tanaka until it was too late.

Noya doesn't know how long he was running until he felt himself trip and fall into some grass. He only had enough energy to push himself up onto his hands and knees and he tried desperately to calm himself down and slow his breathing. Noya took a quick glance down to see he wasn't bleeding through his shirt. That was the only relief he was able to feel in that moment.

As he attempted to calm his breathing down, he suddenly found himself releasing the contents of his lunch all over the grass. Whenever he had a second of air, he either heaved in a breath or cough. While he was releasing the contents from his stomach, he felt a gentle hand on his back. He flinched, but otherwise didn't move. He felt the hand rub around his back which made him feel a little better.

After about 2 minutes, Noya finally stopped throwing up and took a few moments to cough and finally catch his breath. The hand on his back kept rubbing around until he was able to push himself up and look to see who was rubbing his back. To his both pleasure and dismay, he saw that it was none other than Asahi. Asahi had a gentle but concerned expression on his face. Noya only stared at Asahi for a few moments before Asahi picked up a water bottle and nudged it towards him.

"Here, drink this."

Noya wordlessly nodded and took the water bottle to take a few sips. After a few moments, Noya wiped his mouth and took a deep breath.

"I'm fine."

Noya started to get up, but Asahi gently laid a hand on his shoulder to push him back down. His facial expression was still gentle, but also showed sternness.

"Noya…"

"Asahi, seriously, I'm ok."

"Noya!" Asahi's voice became more stern. "You're obviously not fine!"

"I just had a slip up with Tanaka. I'm-."

"Don't finish that lie!" Asahi saw Noya flinch before sighing and then calming himself down. "Noya, we've been worried about you, and after what happened in the gym just now only proves that you're not ok. You...scared all of us. You just suddenly went into a panic attack with your hyperventilating. Not to mention you guys were just screaming at each other. It...just happened out of nowhere. Come on Noya...please tell me what's going on."

Noya stared back at the ground, biting his lip. He wanted to tell Asahi once again that he really was ok, but he wasn't and now everyone who didn't already know, knew. His optimistic facade has shattered the moment he went off on Tanaka. Besides, this was Asahi...he wouldn't believe him even if he did try lying again.

"I…"

Noya went silent again, but Asahi stayed silent. He knew Noya isn't the type of person to share his feelings, especially his deep emotions. So Asahi stayed patient as he waited for Noya to say what he needed to say. Noya took a deep breath as he got himself to say what needed to be said.

"I've...been hiding what I've been feeling. Ever since I got that phone call, it just...felt like I've been going through the same thing again. I don't know...I just…" he stops and looks up at Asahi to see he had a soft expression.

"Is that why you argued with Tanaka? Was it because you bottled up your emotions enough that you exploded on him?"

Noya shook his head. "No…"

"Then what is it?"

Noya knew the truth was gonna come out especially with the fight that just happened.

"I...visit Jiro yesterday."

"W-what?!"

Noya flinched, and Asahi calmed himself again. He knew he couldn't be freaked out on his emotionally fragile friend.

"Why did you visit him? Wait...when Tanaka said you were visiting your lawyer, did you really-?"

"Yes...I did."

Asahi gasped slightly as he felt his heart dropped to his stomach. It was almost the same feeling he felt when he found out that Noya went to the hospital that October night and then sprinted to the hospital. The only difference here was, Noya was sitting in front of him perfectly fine...well, physically.

"Why didn't you tell us?"

Noya glared at the ace. "Because you guys would worry as hell or try to convince me out of it! I didn't want to deal with any of that shit, ok Asahi?!"

Asahi was caught off guard by Noya's sudden outburst, and Noya seemed to catch it.

"I-I'm sorry. But I really didn't want you guys to worry."

"Noya, we were already worried about you...and we know that you know it. You were acting more...enthusiastic than usual. The second red flag was how you would always avoid talking about it and always say he's obviously going to lose the case. I can tell you're just as nervous about it. Noya...how come you never told us?"

"Because...because I didn't want you guys to worry. I figured if I acted confident like usual, it'll make the tension less thick."

"You...don't need to always be the brave person you know. It's ok to let your guard down every once in a while. It isn't healthy to keep your emotions bottled up like that. I mean...you snapped at Tanaka and…"

The end of that sentence hung between the two.

"I...I saw Jiro."

This caught Asahi off guard as he stared at the libero.

"What?"

"When...Tanaka grabbed me by the shirt...I suddenly found myself in the place where Jiro attacked me again...just like that night. I...couldn't do anything and I...well, I froze. It...it was horrible."

Asahi stared at Noya in horror.

"So you've been having flashbacks too?!"

"I've had occasional nightmares about it, but never flashbacks. This...was actually the first time I've had a flashback about it. I know it wasn't Tanaka's fault because he didn't know it was gonna happen...I didn't know it was gonna happen. I don't blame him for it but...I still feel angry at him."

Asahi sighs. "I think you two just need time to cool off. How about I walk you home? You've had a long day and I think somecrest is what you need instead of practice."

"But-."

"No buts. I'm taking you home so you can calm down."

Noya sighs. "My bag's in the gym."

Asahi looked towards the gym again and bit his lip.

"Um...would you-?"

"I'll be ok."

The two stared at each other for a few moments before Asahi stood to his feet and lended a hand out to Noya. Noya took his hand and the two started walking back to the gym. Asahi lad a hand on Noya's back as a way to comfort him as they made their way back to the gym.

Asahi only hoped the others were able to have a discussion with Tanaka as well.

A/N: annnnnd that's it! Yes I know I ran the risk of getting hated for this chapter, but I figured it was necessary as Noya's breaking point. I purposely had this chapter have a misleading title so the fight would be the last thing anyone would expect, especially between Noya and Tanaka. I would also like to confirm that Noya does indeed have PTSD even though he doesn't show all the symptoms and it isn't severe, but he does have it. I don't have PTSD myself, so I wasn't sure if the hallucination/flashback was accurate and what people go through when they relive that memory. So quick question for you all. Who was in the wrong? Noya for starting up the argument, or Tanaka for giving into his anger? Or were they both wrong?

Also quick PSA: don't bottle up your emotions (as Asahi said) because it is not at all healthy. Isn't that right, Steven from Steven Universe Future. Btw, I did not copy that idea because I've been working the story idea and this chapter specifically before that series came out (don't believe me long on the publish date). Buuutttt I'm getting off topic.

Anyway guys, tell me what you think of this chapter and leave any comments and/or constructive criticism you may have and I will see you guys in the next chapter! Buh bye!:)