Haikyu!
Higher
Chapter 21: Departure

Aika's fingers slid over the buttons of her cell phone, the one she was hiding from her teacher as she tried desperately to pay attention in class. She failed miserably, only seeing the text from Tetsu, the one he'd sent her the day of the Aoba Josai match.

To: Ai-chi
From: Tetsu-nya
Think about it.

She bit her lip. There was no way she was going to agree to that, to even think about what he'd given her the chance to have. They only had a few months until the Spring Tournament Qualifiers and the rematch against Oikawa and the powerhouse school, Aoba Josai, and perhaps even a game against the top team in Miyagi, Shiratorizawa.

There was no way that she could afford to agree to what Tetsu had offered her.

There was absolutely no way that she could leave Karasuno.

Sugawara sighed as he walked down the hall.

He knew that everyone was expecting him, Daichi, and Asahi to quit the volleyball team. After all, they were third-years, and they had their futures to think about. There was a lot on the line if they decided to continue to play on Karasuno's volleyball team. They would be giving up a lot, at least a lot academically. But the chance to play volleyball once more…

… there wasn't a chance in Hell that any of them would back out of that.

All three of them had agreed that they weren't going to just abandon Karasuno there. Daichi had wanted to quit, but after both Suga and Asahi revealed that they were going to stay, no matter what, Daichi had quickly admitted how much he wanted to stay, too.

Daichi was certainly a captain, through and through. He cared more about Karasuno and their upcoming games than he did his own career and college prospects.

As for Sugawara, he already knew that he'd definitely be going to college. If he could go on a sports scholarship, that'd be great. He probably wouldn't be able to, considering he hadn't played many games in his third year. But he was smart, and he knew it.

He'd be able to fend for himself. Perhaps he'd even be able to help out his struggling juniors if they needed it. After all, they had to prepare to take over the mantle of captain, vice-captain, and ace.

As he looked out the window, just to see if there was something to be found, he found Aika. She was sitting in the courtyard, for once not with Hinata.

She seemed stressed about something.

Frowning, Sugawara quickly backtracked, walking towards the stairs. He made his way down and into the courtyard, looking for the girl with wine-red hair. He found her staring at her phone, a half-eaten rice ball in her hand, with a juice box beside her.

Her eyes seemed bloodshot from match only days before as she stared at her phone. He blinked, knowing that it had to be serious for her to be just staring at it.

"Aika?" he called.

She immediately sat up straight, eyes wide. She snapped her phone shut and shoved it into her pocket, clearly attempting to hide it from him. "S-Sugawara senpai… I didn't see you coming…" she stuttered, quickly taking a bite of her lunch.

He sighed, knowing that she was hurting again. "May I sit with you for a moment?" She nodded, and he sat next to her. "Something's bothering you."

"I… no. Nothing's bothering me." She stubbornly took another bite of her rice ball, like eating it would make whatever was hurting her disappear.

Sugawara only stared at her in return, his stare telling her that he wasn't buying any part of what she was trying to sell. "I don't believe you. When I found you, you were staring at your phone like it'd offended you. Did someone say something that was hurtful to you?" he asked softly.

For a moment, Aika hesitated. She moved to grab her phone again, slowly pulling it back out and opening it up. "It's… it's not like he said anything mean. It's just… I… here." She practically shoved the phone into his hands.

The only thing he saw was a message.

To: Ai-chi
From: Tetsu-nya
Think about it.

"What… what does this mean?" he asked, genuinely confused at why those three words distressed her so much. "Is it something bad?"

Aika sighed. "Tetsuro is like my big brother. We grew up together, me, him, Kenma, and my real brother, Shinji. We were always all together. Tetsu and Ken were the two who got me into volleyball. Ken's the reason I became a setter, but Tetsu's the reason we both started playing. And…" She hesitated, rubbing her braced leg, wincing as she did. "Tetsu… he's got a lot of pull. He's from a well-known family, and his dad's got a lot of connections. And he found out that I did this to myself."

"So… what does he want you to think about?"

She seemed even more distressed at this. She sighed again, even more heavily than she had before, and she hung her head, letting it rest in her hands. It was like whatever this Tetsuro had wanted her to think about was something she didn't want.

"He wants me to come to Tokyo for surgery."

Sugawara froze. "F-for your leg?"

"Yeah. I got surgery done here back when I injured it the second time around, but… Tetsu says he knows a surgeon who can fix my leg so I can walk normally, maybe even play again." She took another huge bite of her rice ball as Sugawara handed her phone back. "But there's a catch. He wants me to go to Tokyo for the surgery. He's got all the papers done and everything… but if I go, I'll be gone for a while. Maybe until the end of August if I beg him to let me come back."

"You… you won't be here for summer break…"

She shook her head, her hair falling into her face. "No. I won't." She looked him in the eye. "Suga senpai, I really want to play volleyball again. I have a chance, but if it means giving up you guys? I don't want to take it… but I want to. I want to be able to play, even if it's just for a while."

He wasn't quite sure how to respond to her.

Aika was clearly someone who did whatever she felt she needed to do, but in this case, she was stuck between two things that she genuinely loved. She cared so much for all of Karasuno that she'd give up surgery for them, but she wanted to be selfish and get surgery if it gave her the chance to play again. There was no option where everyone got what they wanted.

He knew that the entire team had grown accustomed to her presence. She was their steadfast assistant coach who always looked at the situation from all sides. She had won the hearts of all of the players, even those who were a bit pricklier than most.

If she left, Karasuno would definitely be hurting.

Some more than others.

But if she stayed, she was possibly giving up her best chance of becoming a player again. She'd be recovering for most of her remainder of the first year and perhaps even some of her second, so playing would be out of the question until she was back permanently. If she wanted to go to college, she'd most likely leave the team during the second half of her third year.

If she postponed her surgery longer than a few weeks at most, she'd never get to play in high school again, and playing in college or even professionally would be nearly out of the question.

"What should I do?" she asked, looking up at him with her teary eyes.

"You should go."

That voice didn't belong to Sugawara.

Both of them turned to see Hinata standing before them, looking teary, but determined. He looked like he was hurting from what he'd just heard, with his eyes tearing up a little, but he also looked determined, a resilient fire in his eyes as he stared directly at Aika.

"Shoyo," she murmured, staring at him in sadness and horror. She pushed herself up from the bench and made her way towards Hinata. "You heard?"

He nodded. "I heard. Aika, I…" He cut himself off, his hands curling into fists as he shook a little under the weight of his own words. "I want you to be happy. And you always said that you want to feel that rush again. The one where you feel like your toss is absolutely perfect. And I want you to feel that, too! So, if you have to leave Karasuno for the summer… then do it!"

It was clear that Hinata was struggling to push his words out. He looked as if he was on the verge of tears as he stared Aika in the face, looking directly down at her.

She looked like she was about to cry, too. "Shoyo…"

"Please. If not for yourself… then do it for me. I want this for you."

Aika bit her lip, looking down to her phone again, back to the message that she still had yet to reply to. Sugawara lifted himself up to join the two, watching over Aika's shoulder as she typed a reply to Tetsuro. Her hands were shaking as she did so, Hinata at her side.

The orange-haired boy lifted his hand, placing it over hers, and helped her push the keys, typing a single response that finalized her decision.

To: Tetsu-nya
From: Ai-chi
I'll come.
Give me until the end of the week.

Hinata stared at Aika as she hit send, only to catch her as she broke down into tears.

"I'm sorry, Shoyo…"

From his place behind the pillar of the school, Kageyama pushed himself off and away.

He didn't want to admit that Aika leaving hurt more than he ever thought it would. After all, he had to be a lot stronger if he wanted to win. He didn't want to get left behind by anyone else, and he certainly couldn't rely on Aika anymore.

Now that he was thinking about it, he wasn't quite sure when he'd come to rely on Aika as a source of knowledge and strength.

He found that he'd started to become inspired by her, and by how passionate she was about volleyball. She was constantly trying her best to improve and help others make their own improvements. She only wanted to help people improve their skills in the best way possible. She cared so much about the rest of Karasuno, about each individual and their unique skills, that it was impossible to not be inspired by her passion for volleyball.

Kageyama had always thought he was passionate about the sport.

He'd loved it for years. It was always the thing that brought him the most happiness in this world. He'd always thought he was the only one to really care about volleyball like that. He thought he was the one who loved it most.

But now that Karasuno was a part of his life, that was different.

There were people on Karasuno who were just like him, in a way. He had people who were passionate, who loved the sport more than anything. There were people who cared so much that they'd give up everything just to play it a little bit longer, just to stay on the court for another brief second and have one more shot at winning.

Aika was no exception to that.

She'd been as passionate as anyone else on the court, taking notes and laying out strategies for the team, to help them improve. She'd been there for nearly everything, her perceptive eyes watching how her team had grown over the past two months.

Somehow, Kageyama knew he'd always admired Aika.

After all, she'd been the one to help bring Hinata into the world of volleyball, getting him just good enough to play on a team in less than a year and a half. She'd helped him train when she couldn't even help him physically play. She'd even joined him in attending Karasuno, just so she could continue to watch him grow and change, developing his skills.

She'd also joined a struggling team, helping them piece their team back together and improve even further with all their insane skills that weren't easy to deal with. She'd even been able to help Kageyama pull himself out of his own mind and back onto the court.

It was easy to admire someone like that.

"Gather round, guys! We have an announcement to make!"

Karasuno looked towards Ukai, who looked down at Aika, who was standing next to him. The team gathered around the two, confused looks on their faces. Everyone except for Sugawara, Hinata, and Kageyama.

While Sugawara and Hinata exchanged knowing, sad looks, Kageyama aimed a glare at his feet. All three knew exactly what was going to happen in the next moment.

"Um…" Aika began, somewhat uncertainly. "I'm very sorry to announce that I'll be leaving at the end of the week. I've been given the chance to fix something that's been wrong for a few years… so I took it."

She bowed lowly as she announced her departure from the Karasuno team, like she was trying to hide herself from the murmurs and stares filled with shock at her sudden announcement. Except for the three who already knew, everyone was surprised.

"Is it your leg?" asked a quiet voice. The group turned to Asahi, who was looking at her with both understanding and guilt. "I-I noticed that your leg's all bandaged up again today. You hide it well, but… I saw you putting on your brace one time."

Nodding, Aika managed a small smile as she stood. "Yeah. I mean, I'm sure it's pretty common knowledge at this point that I messed up my leg back when I was a stupid middle school second-year. But I have the chance to fix it. Maybe I'll be able to play again. You never know."

"I see," Asahi murmured, looking down.

I get why she said wanted me to play again… even though I'd lost my spirit. Because she can't, and she knew I could.

After a moment of silence, Yamaguchi suddenly asked, "Would that mean that you won't come back to us… even if you come back?" His voice quivered, having only just become really friends with the girl. He didn't want to lose her as soon as she'd become friends with him.

Silence fell as the boys, even the ones who already knew about her surgery, turned to Aika, watching her expectantly. She hesitated for a moment, looking down at her feet, which were shifting with uncertainty as she thought. No one was prepared for if she replied negatively. She was a central part of their team now, whether she knew it or not.

Finally, she looked up, a wide smile on her face, one that shocked everyone with how genuine and open it was, especially in comparison to the smiles she showed, but still tried to hide.

"Yeah. I'll come back," she promised.

Author's Note:

I'm so sorry... I completely forgot I never put this one up as I began writing on season 2. (シ_ _)シ
I'll be better about that as season 2 begins, as I'm more than halfway through the season.

Also, my friends who read this told me I was being way too formal? I'm so sorry about that, too.
I just wanted to come off as professional, but I guess I scared people?

Ahhhhh writing here is harder than it used to be when I was younger.
Anyways, I'm now officially on hiatus until I get through the second season!
It'll be much longer, considering all that happens. I'm going to be doing a lot, and I'm super excited.
Until then, thank you!

-Chiyuki