As usual, prologue and first chapter...

FANFICTION

HAIKYUU! : Quiet Voice

CHAPTER II : Reach Out

"Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity."

— Simone Weil

"Loneliness leads to nothing good, only detachment. And sometimes the people who most need to reach out are the people least capable of it."

― Jane Espenson

Iwaizumi Hajime sat first at his desk and a few minutes later, the usual girl arrived. She didn't even glance at him, probably not noticing him.

"Good morning."

The girl stiffened and glanced hesitantly at her right. When she noticed that Hajime was staring at her and had just talked to her, she startled and looked away. Once again, he only saw her brown hair. Did she have a problem with him? Was she annoyed because he had hit her twice on the first day?

Hesitantly, she glanced back at him then around.

"M… m-me?" She hesitated in a very quiet voice.

"There isn't anyone else around, is there? So, good morning." Hajime repeated.

She flushed in embarrassment and opened her lips to speak but somehow, no sound came out at first.

"G-g-good… m-mor… ning…" She said slowly, not daring to make eye-contact with him.

Hajime raised an eyebrow. It had been the longest 'good morning' he had ever heard in his whole life.

"By the way, my name's Iwaizumi Hajime. What's yours?" He asked, wanting to get rid of the thought that he had no idea who she was.

She fiddled with her fingers as she answered – or rather, stumbled over her own words.

"M-my n-name is… is A-Akiya…"

Exasperated by the time she was taking to just pronounce a few words, Iwaizumi suddenly got up and leaned over her desk. She startled at his sudden move but he ignored it as he read her name on her notebook.

"Akiyama Kiku." He read.

She nodded hesitantly and he sat back with his cheek against his hand. When he didn't speak up again, Akiyama Kiku quickly sat down, looking terribly relieved that the conversation was over.

More students came in and class started soon.

At practice…

Iwaizumi was changing clothes along with the other third-years and most team members. They were talking about the new boys who would join among the first-years then, the conversation switched to the first-years girls who had caught their eyes.

"Some first-years told me today that they joined Aoba Josai because I was in it~" Oikawa said with a smile.

"Why am I not surprised?" Iwaizumi grunted, frowning lightly, "By the way – the girl from my class you said she looked familiar, her name's Akiyama Kiku – rings any bell?"

"Akiyama Kiku?" He repeated thoughtfully, "Nope, it doesn't ring any bell. Then why do I feel like I've seen her before?"

"She must be one of your fangirls… And if she's in Seijou, it means we must have walked past her a few times. Even if she's completely invisible." Hajime said with a shrug.

"Mmm… Probably!"

Aoba Jousai's volleyball team then went to the gymnasium, welcoming the new members of the team.

"Ah! There are familiar faces!" Oikawa exclaimed cheerfully, walking towards the group of shy first-years.

Coach Irihata, Iwaizumi and most of the regulars were right behind Oikawa as the new members bowed respectfully towards the team of Aoba Jousai.

"Welcome to you all to Aoba Jousai's volleyball team," Irihata started with a smile, "I look forward to working with you all for the next few years. I am the Head Coach Irihata Nobuteru, and this is Mizoguchi Sudayuki. You probably already know most of the regulars but I will let you discover the team members in a short moment. I will simply introduce to you the team's Captain, Oikawa Tooru."

Oikawa smiled at the boys, most of them staring at him in awe. Being part of Aoba Jousai's volleyball team along with Oikawa Tooru was an honor for most of them.

"I look forward to this year with you all~!" He said, bowing lightly.

"We are looking forward to this year!" They all exclaimed and bowed.

"Now, let's start the introductions of the first years with–" Mizoguchi started.

"Ah, Coach? Coach?" Oikawa called, waltzing towards the two coaches with his hands joined together in a prayer gesture.

Both Irihata and Mizoguchi sighed, already tired of the eccentric Captain – they wondered if it had been a good idea to let him become Captain after all…

"What is it, Oikawa?" Irihata asked.

"Many of them are from Kitagawa Daiichi, can I try remembering their names please? For team bonding!" Oikawa asked with a pleading look.

"It can't hurt, go ahead. When you're done, I'll let you handle the warm-up before practice." Irihata said with a nod, standing a little away to let his team do what they wanted.

The ones who had been to Kitagawa Daiichi were standing together because they already knew each other well so it wasn't hard to notice them right away. Hanamaki and Matsukawa leaned against each other, grinning at seeing their Captain struggling to trigger his memory. Iwaizumi was standing not far from Oikawa, silently playing the same little game.

"You are… you are…" Oikawa started, staring at one of the boy with a spike head, "You were the Ace last year in Kitagawa Daiichi. You are…! Ngnn!" He continued, closing his eyes intensely.

"Kindaichi… is it?" Iwaizumi intervened, arms crossed and staring at the boy who flushed in pride.

"Yes! Kindaichi Yuutarou!" He exclaimed enthusiastically, proud to be remembered by the senpai he has admired for years.

"Iwa-chan! No fair! I was just about to guess!" Oikawa whined.

"Stop complaining and remember your teammates' names." He replied.

"That's exactly what I'm doing! Trying… to do…" He added before turning back towards the one standing next to Kindaichi.

He seemed to be already bored and didn't seem like he enjoyed much but Oikawa did remember this boy who stood out by his lack of enthusiasm.

"And you! You are… Kuni… Kuni… mu?"

"Mi." He simply corrected.

"Kumimu?" Oikawa asked, tilting his head on a side and frowning lightly.

"Kunimi. Kunimi Akira." He said.

"Argh! I was so close!" Oikawa exclaimed before turning towards another boy.

Once all the first-years were introduced, the senpai took turns giving their own names and soon enough, they were warming-up, following Oikawa's instructions (with the help of Iwaizumi) with the two coaches talking aside about their new additions to the team and keeping an eye from afar at how they were doing.

The first practice of the year with the new members went smoothly and was very promising – Oikawa kept repeating it and for once, his third-years comrades couldn't really deny it.

The next day, Iwaizumi blinked when he noticed Akiyama Kiku already sitting at her desk.

"Good morning," he said.

She ignored him. At first he was confused and slightly annoyed because he had been clear enough and his voice would not have not reached her. Then, he noticed a slightly buzzing sound and realized she was listening to music and hadn't heard him so he didn't insist.

After this lame attempt of saying good morning to Akiyama Kiku, Iwaizumi always checked to see if there was her headphone slipping from her hair. Every morning, it'd be here, closing her from the world. At first, he thought that she really disliked people, but then he realized that when she glanced around at group of friends, she had something close to envy and loneliness in her eyes. Then, Hajime thought that if she felt so lonely, she just had to be more open to people. But turned out that she wasn't the one who wasn't reaching out to people – people just ignored her. She tried several times speaking up to some people for a reason or another but they either didn't acknowledge her or simply glanced at the girl then went back to their discussion.

She seemed to be invisible to everyone.

And as annoying as it felt, Iwaizumi had to acknowledge that Akiyama had been invisible to him for a long moment – he didn't even know she was in their school after three years, he had hit her twice without noticing her. Most times, she was so discreet he didn't even see her approaching. There'd be times he'd glance around and her desk would be empty and he wouldn't see her even if she was in the classroom. Other times, he didn't realize she was back at her desk until he'd almost have a heart attack every time she'd suddenly appear out of nowhere. He would never admit it outloud to anyone, and especially not Oikawa, that he was getting freaked out by the appearance and disappearance of one tiny girl.

Iwaizumi Hajime wasn't quite sure when it happened but he started observing her. Perhaps it was because he disliked freaking out by her appearing and disappearing. Perhaps he didn't want to follow what others did – he didn't want to ignore her and he didn't want her invisible to him. Perhaps noticing she was invisible meant he had already been observing her. But by observing her so closely, he started noticing things about Akiyama Kiku:

1. She didn't have any friend to his knowledge and was always alone.

2. She wouldn't speak up unless she was talked to directly and most times, people avoided her so the only person asking her to talk would be a teacher for an answer in class. Sometimes, days went by without Hajime hearing her quiet voice at all.

3. Even if she didn't talk, she was never silent. There was always something to hear around her: the music from her headphones, the way she played with her pens or whatever would be under her hands, the constant (and slightly annoying) muttering in class. Her lips moved to read in an almost nonexistent voice everything she was writing. No one heard but the two people closest to her: Iwaizumi and the guy in front of her but the later didn't seem to mind much.

4. She was incredibly shy but always helped out without discussing if someone asked her. Her obedience was almost embarrassing to Hajime.

5. Every day, except Tuesdays, she stood up and went off directly after class. Hajime was pretty sure she was participating in a club but he didn't know which one. He just knew she must really love whatever this was because she always had the corners of her lips tilting up excitedly and almost had a happy hopping in her steps. He always watched her leave happily, trying not to hop and look awkward even if she failed in holding back her hopping steps.

Today was one of these rare days when Kiku didn't have her headphones in. Surprised by it, Hajime sat at his desk before speaking up:

"Good morning."

Just like the very first time he had talked to her, she glanced around nervously, wondering whether or not she was the one he talked to. Upon realizing that it couldn't be anyone else but her from the way he kept staring at her, she opened her lips.

"G-goo–"

"Everyone, sit!" The teacher exclaimed when he entered the room.

It had made Akiyama startled and she quickly looked away from Iwaizumi, opening her notebook. She looked disappointed she hadn't managed to wish him a good morning and even if he stared at her for a moment, he didn't say anything.

After a few minutes in the lesson, Iwaizumi wasn't thinking about it anymore when a little folded paper appeared at the corner of his desk. He blinked and glanced at Akiyama who, despite avoiding his gaze and blushing madly, tapped very lightly the surface of the desk, as if saying 'it's for you'.

Iwaizumi glanced quickly at the teacher to make sure he wasn't looking in his direction while Akiyama tried to appear nonchalant and innocent – but her embarrassed flushed cheeks were too suspicious for that. The young man grabbed the paper and his eyes widened, surprised by the little message written in a neat and cute handwriting.

Good morning

The corner of his lips tilted up lightly, incredulous at the message the shyest girl he had ever met had given him. It was so simple and so silly…

"Iwaizumi-kun!"

"Y-yes!" He exclaimed, getting up suddenly.

"I said to the board to answer the question," the math teacher said, pointing at the board.

"Yes, sir…" He continued, going all the way to the board.

When he was done and came back to his seat, he glanced at Akiyama but she was busy writing what was on the board on her notebook. Her eyes met his but almost instantly, she looked away, flushing.

The little message would have been quickly forgotten but Hajime hid the little paper in his pencil case. He tried to find out why she'd take the risk to be caught by the teacher by giving him a folded paper – she wasn't the kind to do anything that could be reproached to her and she had looked as if about to pass out from the stress and embarrassment. Then, Hajime recalled that she had tried answering to him 'good morning' when the teacher had entered the classroom, ruining her effort. She had wanted that badly to say 'good morning'?

Eyes dropping from the lack of sleep, Hajime put his head in his arms out of exhaustion. Today had been a particularly rough practice and the math right away in the morning had taken out all possible energy he had had left. He wanted to sleep, just a few minutes, until the end of class. The teacher's voice faded away easily. But there was this constant, annoying sound that kept resonating right next to him.

He opened his sleepy, annoyed eyes and stared at Akiyama, too tired to actually glare at her. She was muttering again. Her lips were moving rapidly, she was frowning in concentration while Hajime's eyes were dropping. But his mind couldn't go to sleep because of this damn muttering.

"Stop muttering… I'm trying to nap here…" He whispered just loud enough for Akiyama to hear.

No one reacted to his voice but Akiyama. She stopped muttering, glanced at him then focused once again on writing her notes. Iwaizumi waited but he didn't hear any muttering from the girl.

His eyes closed at last, and the only thing he could think of before actually sleeping was of the little message folded in his pencil case and the silence next to him.

6. She's kind…

Hajime woke up in a startle when the clock rang the end of morning class. He saw a book that had been in front of his sleeping form falling off his desk and he tried to catch it but he didn't move in time because of his sleepy mind. The smothered sound of its fall reached his ears. He grunted and rubbed his hands over his eyes then glanced at his left but Akiyama was gone.

"Slept well?" Kobayashi, his seatmate on the right, asked.

"How long did I sleep?"

"The last half hour of class – you had been dozing off for a while so I wasn't surprised."

Iwaizumi leaned down to get his book back on the desk. He didn't remember putting the book standing to hide him from the teacher's eyes.

"Who put my book there?" He asked curiously, half-expecting Akiyama to be the one.

"I did," Kobayashi answered as he took out his bento.

Still a little sleepy, Iwaizumi glanced forward and despite about half the class already gone to buy lunch or eat somewhere else, one person seemed to stand out. The only person who was all alone and quiet right now.

Akiyama Kiku was desperately trying to erase the board, jumping up to try and reach the upper part of the board but she was too small to be any effective. She stopped and turned around, watching the people but if they had noticed her struggle, they didn't make any move to help her out. She turned back towards the board, staring at it as if it'd make it go lower for her.

Iwaizumi glanced at the side of the board and saw that the class responsibles of the day were Akiyama and Kobayashi.

"You're not going to help her out?" Iwaizumi asked his classmate.

"Mhm?" He asked, munching on his bento.

Kobayashi followed Iwaizumi's gaze then noticed Akiyama. Then, he scrunched up his nose lightly, swallowing in the same time before scooping up more food with his chopsticks.

"If she needs help she can just ask. And I'm SO hungry!"

Don't you think she might be hungry too, you dumbass? Hajime thought to himself.

Sighing to himself, he stood up then moved towards the board where Akiyama was still struggling. She seemed to hear him just as he approached but before she could do anything, he grabbed the sponge she was using and erased the last kanji at the highest part of the board. Kiku stared up at him in disbelief but before she could say anything – she'd have to muster the courage to do so anyway – he spoke up:

"Asking for help won't hurt, you know." He simply said.

There was a short moment of silence when she opened and closed her lips to speak:

"T-thank you…" She whispered in a voice so low, Hajime barely heard.

"Whatever. There'd better be something left for me to buy at the cafeteria…" He mumbled, giving her the sponge back and turning around.

He put his hands in his pockets, unaware of the girl staring at his back in disbelief.

After school…

Oikawa and Iwaizumi were walking towards the changing-room and gymnasium, talking lightly.

"That's why I disliked this movie! The main actress was down right terrible!" Oikawa declared vehemently.

"I liked the Huntsman, he was cool." Iwaizumi answered with a little shrug.

"I knew you'd say that – but this girl, Snow-White… They only chose this actress because she was a little bit famous! I really don't see what all the fuss is about! I would be a better Snow-White!"

"As annoying as it may be to admit, you're right…"

"Even you would be a better Snow-White, Iwa-chan!"

"You're going too far and I'm about to punch you for saying that," he replied with a roll of his eyes.

Oikawa chuckled at the image of his friend with Snow-White's outfit but Iwaizumi ignored him, glancing at Akiyama as she walked past them. Oikawa didn't seem to notice the girl but he did notice his friend looking over his shoulder to look at whatever had picked his interest. When he recognized Iwa-chan's classmate, his eyes widened slightly and his lips formed a silent 'o'.

"Is she meeting one of her friend?" Oikawa asked with a smile as they saw Akiyama joining another girl at the entrance.

"Who knows?" Iwaizumi said with a shrug.

Oikawa glanced between Iwaizumi then back at Akiyama, a very satisfied smile appearing on his face. Then, Tooru blinked when he recognized the girl Akiyama was talking to.

"I know her. She's the Captain of another school's girl team. Sato Yuuna. I had no idea they were friends…"

"You had no idea Akiyama Kiku existed before last week…" Iwaizumi replied with a slightly annoyed gaze.

Oikawa stared carefully at the two girls as Sato patted Akiyama on the head, looking terribly proud of her. He glanced back at Iwaizumi who, once he was sure Akiyama was into safe hands, turned to continue walking.

"Let's go, Oikawa or we're gonna be late…"

"Now… That's an interesting turn of events…" He murmured to himself thoughtfully.

"What did you say?"

"Wait for me, Iwa-chan!" Oikawa screamed, running after his friend.

"Then stop slacking off!" Iwaizumi screamed back.

Still, Hajime couldn't stop thinking about Kiku joining her friend at the school entrance. So she could make friends. The fact that she had really wanted to answer to his 'good morning' even if it was on a piece of paper proved that she wasn't quite as closed off as she seemed to be. Perhaps she just needed someone to reach out to her.

Despite his angry behavior, Iwaizumi is probably a A+ knight in armor. In my mind he is.

Akiyama means "Autumn Mountain" and "Kiku" means "chrysanthemum" (I chose Kiku because it sounded so damn cute~)

I don't really have much to say except that I am praying for Iwa-chan and Oikawa being IC? And Kiku not being too annoying?

Yours Truly,

May