Haikyu!
Higher
Chapter 23: Treatment

"Aika."

It was the end of volleyball practice a week after Aika's first day, and she was preparing to leave with Kuroo, who was going to take her to the hospital to get her last checkup before her surgery happened the following week.

She looked up to the person who'd called her, only seeing Kenma standing alongside Tetsuro, both of them looking as if they were waiting for her. Tetsuro grinned when she hurried over to them, her new notebook, the one she'd started just for Nekoma, in her hands.

"What's up?" she asked. "Is Kenma coming with us to the hospital?"

As Kenma nodded, he also looked up to Tetsuro. The older boy nodded towards the setter, who refocused his gaze on Aika. "I am. And afterwards, we're getting dinner. We have to tell you something," he replied softly, his cat-like eyes locked on hers.

Aika blinked, but nodded in agreement, quickly moving towards the gym's exit alongside her two friends, both of them exchanging giddy looks behind her.

The checkup went well, at least by Aika's standards.

She learned a lot about how the surgery was going to be done. By the time it was over, her torn hamstring, the one that had been put back in place during her first surgery, would be moved once again, then held in place with metal anchors in order to prevent it from snapping back, like it had after the first time. She'd have to be put under for the surgery, considering the surgeons would be cutting open her leg, and she'd have to be on crutches or in a wheelchair for over two months, while also undergoing physical therapy to ensure she was able to walk again.

That physical therapy would take upwards of two months, with a maximum of nine or ten if she struggled to walk, run, or perform any daily activity. Considering she wanted to return to volleyball, it'd probably take longer than usual, in the higher numbers. However, the surgeon she was seeing, the one Tetsuro had connections with, knew of a good physical therapist in Miyagi that she could go to, so she could return to Miyagi in three months, after the hospital was sure the surgery had gone well.

Three months meant the end of August, considering it was going to be June, but it was better than nine months, which only made it harder for her to go back to Miyagi before the actual Spring Tournament, when Karasuno was for sure going to make it.

Three months was easy enough for her to do, allowing her to go back to her team.

Aika left the hospital feeling lighter than she had in a few weeks, ever since she made the decision to accept the surgery and leave Miyagi. She honestly felt much better about having chosen to follow the path offered to her, and feeling as if she'd abandoned her team.

With this checkup, she felt less as if she'd abandoned them, and more as if she had only left them temporarily. She would be going back to them.

Her good mood continued to dinner, where Kenma and Tetsuro had taken her to their favorite okonomiyaki place. She was typing a message to Shin, letting him know everything that the surgeon had told her that day. Next to her, Kenma was playing through some new video game he'd gotten that weekend, his eyes completely focused on his handheld console. Tetsuro was across from them, flipping the trio's food, continuously glancing towards the door, as if he was waiting for someone.

Aika glanced over to the grill in the middle of the table, where Tetsuro was cooking about six okonomiyaki at once, adding to the already heaping pile of food on the plate on the center of the table.

The grill was beginning to smoke, with Tetsuro not paying attention. His gaze was focused on two people who'd just entered the restaurant. One of them had spiky, silver hair that stuck up in two horn-like structures at the top of his head, while the other had soft-looking, fluffy black hair. Both wore unfamiliar volleyball uniforms, their jackets and sweatpants both white with yellow and black accents.

Kicking him in the shin, she watched as his wide-eyed gaze turned to her. "Tetsu, I think that you're burning it," she reminded him.

"Ah!"

Tetsuro, panicking in the way he did whenever something didn't exactly go the way he expected, immediately scooped up the okonomiyaki, unceremoniously dumping it onto the plate. Aika just stared at the giant pile of food that was still piping hot, but hadn't been touched.

"Remind me again why we haven't eaten, but we're cooking so damn much?" She looked up at Tetsuro again, who was now, once again, watching the two as they approached.

His grin grew wider as the two new people loomed over their table. "This is why," he replied, gesturing to the two. "Aika, I'd like you to meet the captain and vice-captain of the Fukurodani Academy volleyball team. They're hosting our summer training camp this year. Say hello to Kotaro Bokuto and Keiji Akaashi." He turned to Bokuto, the one with the spiked hair. "So? Did you bring the stuff I asked for?" He grinned his familiar grin that came when he wanted something.

Bokuto grinned widely, his grin showing already that he was loud and childish, similar to how Kuroo presented himself around his friends. "Hey, hey, hey! Of course I did! I do owe you one, but man, do you know how hard it is to pull strings for the training camp?!" he loudly proclaimed. His voice echoed throughout the entire restaurant, causing some people to stare at him. In response to his loudness, Kenma buried his face deeper into his game.

Behind him, Akaashi shook his head in disbelief. "You're still being ridiculously loud in a public area. Would you please keep your voice down?" His tone was nearly contrast to Bokuto.

Ignoring his vice-captain, Bokuto slid into the seat next to Tetsuro, with Akaashi resigning himself to the seat next to Aika, not wanting to sit next to his boisterous captain. The silver-haired owl fished through his volleyball bag, which was an utter disaster of clothes, socks, and even a change of underwear.

"There it is!" He proudly held up a small stack of papers, grinning triumphantly. "Here you go, Kuroo!"

Tetsuro gladly took the papers, his eyes scanning them over. He looked pleased as he finished reading them, his scheming grin on his face once more. His eyes settled on Aika as Bokuto, now seeing the huge stack of food on the table, began to eat, practically inhaling one okonomiyaki after another. Beside her, she could hear Akaashi berating him for not having any table manners.

Waving the papers in front of her face, Tetsuro winked at her. "You're lucky Bo owed me a favor, and you're equally lucky that I love you so much. I did this for you, Ai, and don't forget it!" he teased.

Aika, now curious, snatched the papers from him. She immediately began to read them over, and as she did, she felt herself tearing up. "You… you did this for me?" she practically breathed, looking at her friend with watery eyes.

He reached out and patted her on the head. "Of course I did. I'd do anything to make you smile, and you know that, Ai. If these guys make you happy, and if knowing that you'll see them in a little over a month makes you feel any better, I'd do whatever it takes to make it happen."

Gone was Tetsuro's grin that made him the scheming captain of Nekoma. Instead, there was simply a gentle smile that made her want to hug him even more. She beamed at him, feeling her tears start to roll down her cheeks as she did.

"Thank you!"

Karasuno was starting their new practice routines, the last things that Aika gave them before she left for Tokyo.

The one they were implementing the most was the one that Aika had pushed for the hardest. She'd wanted to give everyone a chance to play an actual game, and not just have practices for skills some of the team may never get the chance to use. She'd wanted to create a six-on-six game, since there were twelve players on the team, and mix and match combinations to force people to have to work on things that they may not have had to try otherwise.

Ukai had been thinking about using it for a while, but after seeing how badly the lack of competitive practice affected Yamaguchi during his substitution as pinch server, he'd decided to start using it immediately after Aika presented him with her training regimens.

Everyone had been practicing much harder, with each person noticing their mistakes more often. Without Aika there, they couldn't rely on her to tell them what she saw when they were doing poorly. They'd all resolved, although not vocally, to try to find and fix their problems themselves.

Mostly, it was working.

But Kageyama knew that just playing against people they knew all too well wasn't really the best practice for them. They could only grow so much playing against the same people every day. Sure, they were having practice matches, but it was mostly against schools who'd been weaker than them during the Interhigh.

The only practice match that had really challenged the fired-up Karasuno squad was the match against Date Tech, where the Iron Wall was attempting to find a new third piece, since their captain and pillar, Moniwa, had retired.

Yet it still felt as if Karasuno was growing and changing, but was stuck at the same time.

They were able to practice new things that they could take to the Spring Tournament Qualifiers, things that they'd learned over the course of the Interhigh. But against each other, there was only so much that they could do. Each person knew the others too well, and were learning how to counter each other, but not so much learning how to get better against other types of players.

"Guys! Big news!"

That day, it was just after practice, in which they'd played a long, hard few practice games against each other. Everyone was taking a break, reflecting on what they'd learned from that last game. They were all thinking of how to improve even further.

It was during that time that Takeda literally fell right through the gym's doors, landing face-first on the hardwood floor.

The Karasuno team gathered around the heap that was supposed to be their faculty supervisor, curiously peering down at the ever-clumsy man. He quickly sat back up, ignoring the nosebleed he'd garnered from his miraculous fall.

Instead, his eyes sparkled as he announced, "We should go!"

Even Ukai was confused. "Where?"

"To Tokyo!" Takeda held up the paper in his hands, neatly, yet hastily, written characters on the paper.

This caused a jolt of surprise to go through the entire team, as they began to remember just who was in Tokyo.

"You mean… to where Aika is?" asked Hinata, his voice growing as his eyes began to shine with excitement. "She's with Nekoma, right?! The invitation's from them?! Is it for a practice match?!"

Takeda nodded. "Yes! But this time, it's not just Nekoma, but a whole bunch of schools." Upon the confusion from multiple members of the team, he explained, "There's this group called the Fukurodani Academy Group, made of four schools: Fukurodani, Nekoma, Shinzen, and Ubugawa. Each year, they have a training camp over the summer, and, thanks to Nekoma, Karasuno is allowed to participate this year."

Aika…

It was definitely because of her.

Thanks to her, Karasuno would be going to Tokyo, and would become even better as a team.

"That's not all!" Takeda added, pulling a separate piece of paper from his pocket. "Apparently, the captain of Nekoma has a message for our team. It says, 'Don't worry about Ai. She's doing fine, but she misses you all. Work hard, 'cause she's got a lot of plans for your team when you come. Don't let her down.' He also said that you guys should call her, since she's going to be in the hospital preparing for her surgery for the next few days."

Kageyama's eyes widened.

He hadn't realized that she was already going to go into the operating room, and so quickly. He hadn't even been able to go see her beforehand, or even ask Hinata is he was going to visit over the weekend during her recovery. He had been meaning to ask about her surgery date, but now he knew it would most likely be within a week.

Ukai grinned, knowing the look on the boys' faces. "Considering that the Fukurodani Academy Group has been together for years, and they suddenly decided to add us, we should really thank them. Let's all say thanks to Takeda sensei here, and remember to thank our assistant coach, too. We really owe it to them," he commented with a wry smile.

Almost immediately, all the boys dropped into bows, lowering their head in thanks towards Takeda, who only smiled gently at the team he'd come to care about so deeply.

"We may not be as big as we used to be," he began, his voice shaking with emotion, "but we're a lot different than we were in the past. This is our chance to prove it, so let's not pass this up!" His voice became a passionate shout by the end, rousing the boys in front of him.

As the boys cheered, Hinata moved off towards his bag.

It wasn't like he meant to be rude, it was just that he had someone that he wanted to talk to.

Pulling out his phone, he flipped it open. The last message he'd gotten was that morning, from a name of a person that he was missing terribly, even more so now that he'd heard about her surgery. Narrowing his eyes, he quickly typed a message to her as he plopped himself onto the floor.

To: Princess Aika
From: Shoyo the Giant
Your surgery is this weekend?
Do you want me there?

He paused as soon as he sent it, knowing she'd tell him that he didn't have to come, that he wasn't supposed to skip practice for her. She wouldn't let him come, but if he made up his mind, she wouldn't try to change it. She always claimed that it wasn't her place to tell him what to do with his time. She was his friend, not his mother.

Quickly making up his mind, he typed another message.

To: Princess Aika
From: Shoyo the Giant
Never mind, I'm coming anyways.
Give me the time and date?
I'll buy the tickets tonight.

After a moment, he sent another.

To: Princess Aika
From: Shoyo the Giant
I miss you a lot.
Even if it's just for a day,
I'd like to see you.

He closed his phone, stood, and returned to his place among his teammates, who were still celebrating in excitement over their invitation to the Tokyo Summer Camp. Everyone was excited to go, knowing how good it would be for the team as a whole and for them as individual players.

As for Hinata, he was excited to go to camp, yes, but he also wanted to see his best friend again. Even though it'd only been about two weeks, it was still two weeks too long.

His phone vibrated in his hand, and he subtly flipped it open, not wanting to draw attention.

To: Shoyo the Giant
From: Princess Aika
I miss you, too.
My surgery is Sunday,
I don't know the time.
I'd love to see you again.

Hinata's body practically vibrated with excitement, holding onto his phone so tightly that he was afraid it might break.

I'm going to see Aika…!