They both stared at each other for the longest time. Hinata's heart was pounding so hard, he could feel it in his feet. His throat tightened up, and all the sudden, Hinata was at loss for words. The night before, he had prepared everything he was going to say to Kageyama, but that had just fell out the window. Gone.
"I... Kageyama..."
Takito raised an eyebrow.
He opened his mouth, random words coming out in a panic. "YOU LEFT THIS AT SCHOOL?!" Hinata pulled out Kageyama's feather, and Takito nodded knowingly.
Kageyama frowned, and took the feather from Hinata gently. Their hands brushed, and Hinata gasped. But he made no move to pull his hand away.
"Thanks, Hinata." Kageyama nodded curtly.
Another tense silence.
Takito clapped her hands. "Alright... I'm going to go get some banana bread..." She ran over to her bag and pulled out a container with a loaf in it.
"Do you just, like," Hinata narrowed his eyes at the brown loaf. "Carry around food with you?"
She cracked open the lid of the container, filling the small shop with scents of fresh-baked goods. "Um, of course. Who wouldn't? Do you guys want some?" Takito shoved a large slice in her mouth.
"It's delicious," She announced around a huge mouthful of banana bread. "And I even baked it myself."
Hinata looked skeptical but took a piece anyways. Kageyama did, too.
They stood around eating Takito's' banana bread (which was surprisingly good), staring at each other awkwardly.
"So..." Takito cleared her throat, reaching for another slice. "You guys have something to talk about, I presume?"
Hinata nearly choked on the delicious food.
Why does she have to be so... so upfront about things?
"Actually, yes. Kageyama, what are you wearing?!" He stared at Kageyama.
Kageyama twitched his wings, blushing. "Um... This is my costume for the Nationals. I'm wearing the braces I told you about, too."
Hinata shook his head. "I know that. Your face...?" He pointed to Kageyama's face.
"Oh. That." Kageyama sighed. "That was Takito's idea."
Takito crossed her arms. "You said you liked it!"
"I do," Kageyama pointed out. "But did you have to make it so obvious?"
She nodded. "Yes, I did. And it looks fine. I could have made the wings a bit thicker, though."
The trio exchanged an odd look.
Hinata glanced at Kageyama. "As I said before... we have to... um... you know... talk."
Kageyama sat down. "Yeah, but first, you left this at the park..." He handed Hinata his tiny feather.
Takito jumped up and down. "You guys both had each other's feathers? COOL!" She shook out her wings, stretching.
Hinata nodded slowly, unsure.
"Anyways," Takito turned to leave. "You guys have to do your talk thing, so I will be in the back, sorting stuff. If someone starts shredding someone to bits, I have a screwdriver and I will poke them. Got it?"
Kageyama and Hinata shared a confused look.
"I'm kidding. I won't poke them. I'll probably have to drag one of you out of the shop and send another's remains home in a matchbox." She strode off into the back room.
Great. Now I'm alone with Kageyama, Hinata thought sadly.
Before the argument, Hinata would have paid to be alone like this, with a loaf of delicious banana bread, but now, it was nothing but awkward and uncomfortable. For both of them. And the banana bread, too, probably.
Kageyama ruffled his wings. "So..."
"So... yeah." Hinata looked at his feet.
A loud crash from the back room startled Hinata, making him jump back and fall off the bench.
"Don't mind me," Takito yelled. "I just dropped some stuff. Continue your little heart to heart!"
Hinata climbed back into his seat sheepishly. Kageyama stared at him.
He gulped. Kageyama's eyeliner makes him look scary.
Kageyama cleared his throat. "Whatever you have to say, make it quick. I have my Nationals practice soon."
"Okay, well," Hinata took a deep but tight breath. "I'm... um... I'm..."
"You're..." Kageyama prompted.
Hinata, voice barely audible, whispered, "I'm sorry."
"You should be." Kageyama muttered, regretting his words instantly.
Hinata whipped around, staring into Kageyama's black-lined, dark blue eyes.
Kageyama looked away. "I mean... you get what I mean, okay?" He frowned.
"No, I don't get what you mean." Hinata said, voice still really quiet.
The older boy frowned. "Um... I didn't really mean that, okay? I'm sorry."
Hinata sighed. "You have a lot of other things to be sorry for, too, you know?"
"Yeah," Kageyama leaned forward, putting his head in his hands. "I know I do."
Why isn't he apologizing? Hinata thought. He did things wrong, too!
He felt a rush of anger at Kageyama. "You have to apologize to me, stupid!" Hinata snapped, and smacked him on the shoulder.
Kageyama blinked, both eyes at once. "But I did nothing wrong!" He protested.
"No," Hinata considered smacking Kageyama again, maybe somewhere more painful. "You called my wings... tiny!"
It's the truth, Kageyama wanted to say.
"Okay, okay, okay. I'm... I'm sorry, Hinata..." He murmured. The words felt weird in his mouth, like they were wrapped in sticky cotton.
"I'm sorry, Hinata..."
Hinata let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. "Okay."
"Do you, um," Kageyama looked at Hinata, who looked away. "Forgive me?"
Hinata frowned, thinking long and hard.
I want him to be my friend again... But does he deserve it? Do I even deserve it?
"I'm not sure," Kageyama's wings drooped, making Hinata feel guilty. "But can we forget this whole dumb argument?"
They both nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah. Let's start over."
"Agreed." Hinata spoke softly, uncertain almost.
Kageyama turned away, and Hinata put his hands over his eyes.
The darkness was comforting, just like when he would climb to the roof in the blackness.
He heard the older boy turn around, and Hinata pulled his hands away.
"Nice to meet you. My name's Kageyama. Kageyama Tobio. What's your name?"
Hinata took a deep breath. "I'm Hinata. Hinata Shōyō."
They both stared into each other's eyes for about a minute, and both looked away at the same time.
That was so cheesy!
Kageyama tapped Hinata on the shoulder. Hinata whipped around.
"So... um...We're all clear with that?" He asked, almost scared.
Hinata nodded. "Yeah. All clear."
"Shake on it?" Kageyama extended his hand.
Hinata took Kageyama's hand, which was much bigger than his, and shook. "Done."
Kageyama straightened his wings, aligning all the feathers with the brace. "In that case, um, do you want to come to Nationals practice?"
Hinata's heart leapt in his throat.
See the stadium before the Nationals? With Kageyama? And see him fly? In that costume?
"Sure."
Takito poked her head through the door, just on time. "Alright, everyone still has all their arms, legs, and wings. I assume we're all good here?"
"More than good," Kageyama announced. "We're doing great."
The boys smiled sheepishly. Takito shook her head, ducking back into the back room.
They sat in awkward silence. Hinata glanced over at Kageyama, who appeared to be lost deep in his own thoughts. He, tentatively at first, leaned over, but then his center of gravity took over. Hinata couldn't do much except for rest his head on Kageyama's shoulder, their wings brushing.
"Thanks, Kageyama."
Kageyama looked over and smiled. He extended one wing, bringing it around Hinata. He gasped. Kageyama's feathers were surprisingly soft for a Nationals competitor. And the braces weren't as restricting as Hinata thought they would be.
Takito strode softly to the center of the room.
"Aww, guys."
They leapt apart. Takito laughed.
"Tobio, you have practice in twenty minutes. Get going."
Kageyama jumped up, grabbed his bag, and took another piece of banana bread, all in one fluid motion.
Takito fluttered her wings, checking her phone. "You're coming to practice, right? Because YamaYama is going to be there. It'd be the perfect chance to get this stupid project done."
Hinata nodded. "Yeah. Are you coming?"
"I have to come," Takito explained. "First, if Kageyama messes up his braces, which he is probably going to, I will have to fix them, and second, I have to set up the tuning booth at the stadium."
"Okay." Hinata stood up to leave, standing next to Kageyama, who was patiently waiting for the younger two by the door.
Takito grabbed her bag and looked at them. "Everything's chill between you guys now, right? I won't have to do some fancy mid-flight karate to save someone's stupid little butt?"
Kageyama rolled his eyes. "Yeah, we're fine. Right, Hinata?"
"Yup. Better than ever." Hinata opened the door, wincing at the cold winter blast he got in his face.
Kageyama ruffled his wings out against the chill and wrapped one arm around Hinata, making the younger boy gasp again and look away.
Takito stepped outside, locking the door behind her.
"Well then, what are we waiting for? Let's go."
Kageyama pulled a key out his bag, unlocking the doors to the back of the stadium. It was where the contestants would wait until their turn. The room was quite well furnished, actually. The comforting wood walls reminded him of the shop, and there were even television screens, so you could watch the other competitions.
"You have the keys to the back?" Takito asked skeptically.
Kageyama nodded. "Yeah... You gave them to me, remember?"
"No, I don't remember," Takito sighed. "But anyways, where's Yamaguchi?"
The other door to the back room opened. "I'm here!"
Yamaguchi shouldered his bag, messy brown hair ruffled by the wind. He shook out his wings, pulling off his black jacket.
"It's really cold out!"
Hinata waved. "Hey, Yamaguchi! Where's Mei?"
"She's already out," Yamaguchi pointed to the arena. "Practicing."
They all shoved their bags into the shelves along the wall. Yamaguchi pulled out his laptop, which now had a galaxy pattern case.
"Nice case." Takito commented. "Does it help us finish our project faster?"
Hinata laughed. "Probably not."
"You'll see." Yamaguchi smiled, and opened the cover, revealing a star-pattered keyboard cover.
"Um, Yamaguchi," Kageyama pointed at the computer. "Is everything you have cosmic-themed?"
The freckled boy shrugged, pulling a galaxy pattern pencil case out of his bag. "What? I like stationery! And the keyboard cover is my sister's. I just borrowed it." Kageyama sighed.
Mei-Lee burst through the arena exit into the room. "YOU WHAT?"
Her younger brother slammed the cover shut, hiding the borrowed item. "Nothing."
She frowned. Mei was wearing glittery red braces, along with an orange and red costume, which was extremely... sparkly.
"Nice costume, Mei." Kageyama pointed out.
Mei narrowed her eyes. "Are you serious? Yours is so much nicer."
Kageyama looked through the windowed doors out into the arena. Clearly no expense had been spared with this setup. He stepped outside, pulling his jacket a little closer around him. It was really cold...
Five platforms, of varying heights, were suspended about twenty to seventy-five meters above the ground. There was a long and wide catwalk about fifty meters high that ran across the far left of the arena, probably for announcers to stand.
Kageyama would be diving off the five platforms in a few days. He gulped nervously.
I can't believe it... I'm going to be competing here.
Mei stood beside him, taking in everything. She fluttered her crimson red wings, looking at the structures expectantly.
"So this is it, huh, Yama-kun?" Takito asked.
He nodded, not really paying any attention. Kageyama turned to Mei.
"Where's our coach?"
Mei shrugged. "No idea. We should warm up." She beat her wings powerfully, taking off into the sky with ringing wingbeats.
"So that's why Mei's name is Blazing Thunder," Takito mused, watching from the stands with Hinata and Yamaguchi.
"Her wingbeats sound just like thunder. And her costume makes Mei look like a fireball."
Mei soared right by the audience, and perched on the railing. "That's right!" She took off again, doing fancy flips and spins.
"How did you get up there?" Kageyama asked, nodding towards the stadium's seats.
Takito shrugged. "Maybe there were stairs? And maybe we walked up them? I don't know... Anyways. Go warm up. I wanna see you up on that platform. Don't break your braces."
Kageyama scowled at Takito, scolding her sarcasm. He took a few running steps and spread his wings wide, catching a strong gust of wind, rising up into the sky.
The wind tore at his face and hair, making it messier then it already was. He pulled into a sharp rise, coming to a rest on the twenty-meter platform.
"ONLY TWENTY?" Takito yelled from below. "GO HIGHER!"
Kageyama glared down at her. "NO! I HAVE TO WARM UP!" He yelled.
Mei sped by the platform, executing a perfect barrel roll. Kageyama inched his toes towards the edge of the platform, where there was a gold line. That was where you were supposed to stand before diving. You would get the signal from the judge, then it was all you.
He took a deep breath, folding his wings into a streamlined position, and leapt over the edge. Gravity caught hold of him instantly, and he plummeted towards the ground. His coach always would tell him, on a twenty, to count to three, then spread.
One...
Two...
Three!
He opened his eyes, his face barely missed scraping the ground. With enormous effort, he flared his wings wide, feeling the air push back. The braces held his wings in place better than ever, and he kept in a nice, clean and straight formation. Kageyama drifted parallel to the ground until the end line, then set his feet down on the ground.
Takito shouted. "Eight and a half!"
Your dive was a score out of ten, and your total was out of 100. You would do two dives on each platform, the highest being the hardest.
Your score was based off, one, how close you got to the ground without touching it, which Kageyama almost always did fine on. Second, your form, which was how streamlined and graceful you were with it. Sometimes Kageyama lost points here. And lastly, you were graded on speed. If you went faster, you got more points. Kageyama had no problem with this, as he would always tuck his wings straight in and let himself fall. Other competitors would let out their wings a bit to slow their fall and let themselves have more time to pull out of the dive.
He turned to Takito, Yamaguchi, and Hinata. Takito was still yelling random things at him, and Yamaguchi was typing furiously on his galaxy-themed computer. Hinata was staring at Kageyama in awe, eyes gleaming.
"You're not an official judge! But what did I lose points on?" He asked, glaring at the kingfisher winged girl.
Takito tossed her hair out of her eyes, and the wind blew it right back. "FORM! AGAIN!"
Kageyama groaned. "AGAIN?"
"AGAIN!" Takito confirmed.
"Well," He argued. "It was only a warm up."
The girl shrugged. Kageyama looked over at Hinata, wanting to see his awed face again, but was rewarded with nothing but the boy staring at his computer, trying to figure out the project.
Why do I want to impress him?
He took off again, making sure to fly over the stands. Yamaguchi and Hinata looked up, Takito was focused on his every move. She liked to play judge all the time.
Kageyama flared his wings, flying faster and faster, aiming up to the seventy-five. This one was the hardest, and Hinata probably knew that.
Twenty...
Thirty-five...
Forty-five...
Sixty...
Seventy-five...
He touched down on the platform, feeling the cold metal through his performance shoes, which were kind of like jazz shoes, to compare. The line wasn't gold, instead, it was red, indicating the highest height. From here, Hinata looked like a small splotch on the expanse of seats. But Kageyama had good vision, and could tell that Hinata was watching his every move.
He lined his toes up with the edge. Flared his wings. Raised his arms high above his head. And jumped.
Kageyama heard them all cheering, Hinata's high-pitched yelling standing out just a bit more than others.
"Yeah, Yama-Kun!"
"Black Lightning!" Mei shouted, from somewhere below him.
He opened his eyes, and was falling at an alarmingly fast rate. On the seventy-five, count to ten.
Five...
Six...
Seven...
Eight...
Nine...
Ten...
The ground was inches away from his nose. Kageyama snapped his wings open, pulling upwards away from the floor. The small crowd roared, making surprisingly a lot of noise for such a tiny amount of people.
"Go, Kageyama!"
He reached the ending line all too soon, and dejectedly folded his wings in. It was always like this when he hit the ground. If Kageyama had things his way, which he rarely did, he would have stayed in the air forever.
Kageyama glanced up at Takito. "How was that?"
"It was..." Takito looked at her notes. "Better."
"What do you mean, better?" He asked, soaring up into the stands. Mei was sitting next to Yamaguchi, who, once again, had shut his laptop cover.
Takito shrugged. "Nine and a quarter?"
"What's your best, Kageyama-kun?" Hinata asked.
Kageyama thought back to all his scores in the past year. "A ten."
"A PERFECT TEN?" Takito jumped up. "Holy cow! What was the total?"
That was at last year's Nationals, his first. "Um... I think it was a 91?"
"That's good," Hinata mused. "Really good."
Kageyama felt a rush of pride. "Okay, thanks, Hinata."
"Oi, Yama -kun!" Mei prodded him in the side, making him swat Mei in response. "We have to practice our routine! Our coach is coming soon, I think."
"You guys have a routine? Duals, right?" Takito asked.
"Duals." Mei-Lee confirmed.
Takito frowned. "Acro? Synchro? Stunt?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about," Hinata said. "Can someone explain?"
Mei opened her mouth but Kageyama beat her to it.
"So for our performance class, U20 or Junior, there are three main events. Group routine, which is all of your team doing one routine, then there's Duals, which are two people. It's sorted into three categories. Synchro, where you aim to be the most in-sync. Acro is acrobatics, so form is important. Stunts are things like flips, dives and rolls. Then, last, there are Solo acts, sorted into the same sections. Minus synchro, of course. In the older groups, the Master class, there are Duo and Stunt dives as well as Speed trials."
Hinata nodded slowly, and Kageyama could see his eyes narrow, deep in thought.
Takito poked Kageyama in the chest.
Why is everyone poking me today?
"So what is your Dual?" Takito asked.
"Well," Kageyama explained. "We're preforming it under Karasuno Junior Class, so it doesn't have a sub-category. Only U20 and above have subs."
"YOU'RE WHAT?"
Kageyama sighed. "Karasuno's coach choreographed it. So it had to be junior. I'm only in the U20s for dives. Junior doesn't have them."
Mei hopped over the edge of the railing, swooping up to the 20 meter platform. Kageyama followed.
"Takito? Can you find some way to get the stadium speakers to play our music?" Mei called down, wind snatching at her red-streaked hair.
There was a pause, and a few minutes later, a loud and angry heavy metal song started to play.
"Whoops! Wrong song!"
The track changed to a softer song, called Thunder and Lightning. A perfect name, Yamaguchi liked to say.
The song tells a story, Coach Shen would say. It's the beginning. You are the beginning.
Mei leapt off the platform, entering the performance zone first. Kageyama would wait for Mei to do her first combo move, then swoop in.
The music reached a particularly dark and deep note.
The world is new here, Shen would explain. Everything is growing. But Thunder and Lightning want Beginning to meet the End.
This song is the End.
Mei soared into a complex pattern of spins and twists, shooting high into the sky. Kageyama took off, flying above Mei. She reached up, and he grabbed her wrists.
This is the beginning of the End, Shen points out here.
They fell in slow motion together, and split when they reached the ground. The music picked up in pace, and the duo twisted around each other, wings brushing and making an incredible blur of red and black.
The music began to fade, signaling the end of the routine, and Kageyama managed a fancy flip into their ending pose, a spectacular spread eagle with Mei above him, stretching her wings into an upwards U.
A sudden, familiar voice from below startled Kageyama, and they fell out of their ending pose.
"Good, good. I think that was one of the best we've seen so far!" Kageyama's coach, Shen, was in the stands, standing up on one of the seats.
The duo flew over. "Coach Shen? When did you get here?"
"A few minutes ago. I helped Takito set up the music." He smiled.
The name Coach Shen sounded very severe, but really, Shen was a young man, just a day over 26, who had soft brown eyes and soft brown hair. He was small for his age, and was often quiet when there was no need to yell.
His wings were also small, which Kageyama thought might inspire Hinata. Shen's wings, magpie wings, were on the smaller side but still had excellent statistics. Shen had performed in the Nationals every year since he was sixteen, medaling every year, until an injury had put him out of commission.
Shen clapped his hands, signaling for Kageyama to turn around. He did. "Your costume is amazing..." He noted. "And your braces... Are they modded?"
Takito nodded proudly. "By no one other than Mitaichi Takito."
"Alright," Shen nodded. "I trust Kageyama won't explode mid-flight with these braces?"
She laughed. "Pretty sure."
Shen and Takito had always had a pretty good relationship. Shen had been a regular customer at the shop until he was decommissioned, and he was the first to teach Takito about the Nationals and how to apply for the brace mod permits.
"Okay, so what would our routine score be?" Mei asked eagerly.
Shen thought for a moment, shaking out his light brown hair. "Um... 94.2 plus this... yeah. 143.5! That's the second best!"
The highest score you could get in a Duo Competition Junior Class was 150. And a perfect score was rare. So, anything in the 140's is considered excellent. Mei and Kageyama's best score so far was 144.
"Argh. So close," Mei commented. "We were half a point away!"
"What did we do wrong?" Kageyama asked.
Coach Shen took a deep breath. "It's not what you did wrong, but what you didn't do."
"And what's that supposed to mean?" Kageyama questioned, confused.
"Well, this may sound dramatic, but," Shen crossed his arms. "You need to put more emotion into your routine."
Mei frowned. "So, like, make it more dramatic?" She flicked her wings.
"Yeah. Try to feel the music, what the composer is trying to tell you!" Shen nodded.
How do I make a piece more dramatic?
"You said the story of this piece was the Beginning of the End," Kageyama explained. "So, what are we supposed to do?"
Hinata poked his head out from over the laptop. "It's like, apocalyptic? I don't know..."
Coach Shen snapped his fingers. "Exactly! The small guy has it right!"
Kageyama snorted. "The small guy?"
"Anyways," Mei sighed. "So, we have to act like the apocalypse is tomorrow?"
Shen smiled. "Nope! You are the apocalypse."
"Okay...?" Kageyama didn't know what to make of that statement.
"Put it this way," Coach Shen grinned. "Close your eyes and imagine. There is no wrong answer."
"Alright." Said Hinata, Mei, and Kageyama all at once.
"Imagine," Shen continued.
"This song, it's the Beginning. And you, you are the End."