Haikyu!
Higher
Chapter 46: Blue

October brought with it a chill to the air. As the weather changed, so did the school uniforms.

"I wish we didn't have to wear skirts so short," Aika grumbled as she walked with Yachi towards the gym. She tugged at the hem of her skirt, willing it to be just a bit warmer.

Yachi laughed a bit as she pulled her athletic clothes out of her bag, clean and neatly folded. "I don't like it either. I just wear longer socks, to be honest," she replied softly, smiling a bit at Aika as they walked together.

"Socks don't cover my thighs like I want them to. We get blazers and short skirts, and the boys get to be covered from head to toe. It's kind of unfair, isn't it?" She sighed, pulling her blazer a bit tighter around her. "I can't wait to get into my gym clothes at this point."

"Sometimes it seems unfair," Yachi replied easily. "By the way, my mom invited you over for dinner this Friday. I-If that's okay! And i-if you're not busy! I know things are hectic, but I, uh, just thought I'd pass the invitation along!"

Aika gently bumped Yachi on the head. "Please, it's not like I'm doing much. Just prepping for the Tokyo trip."

"Oh, that's right. I've been meaning to talk to you about that, too…"

Yachi had become a close friend to Aika over the course of the summer and into the fall. They weren't as close as Aika was with Hinata, but they were becoming closer over time. They often ate lunch together in their classroom, sometimes being joined by Yamaguchi and Tsukishima, and they hung out together while the boys were changing out of their gym clothes. Sometimes, Yachi joined Aika and Hinata for dinner, and she'd even slept over at Aika's house one time.

"Did you see the episode last night?"

She had even gotten Aika hooked on a new anime that had come out. It was a cheesy romance, but Aika enjoyed it. It was kind of sweet, watching two people who couldn't be more different, yet were so alike, fall in love with each other.

She nodded in response to Yachi's question. "Yeah. I'm kind of mad, though. Why doesn't he just stop being mean to her? He did love her once."

"I think he's just scared," she replied as they reached the girl's changing room right outside the gym. "After all, he's got something going on in his past, and it's probably hurting him a lot. I think he just doesn't want to hurt her. You know?"

Aika dropped her bags on the ground and knelt, unzipping her bag and pulling her own gym clothes out. "That sounds annoying," she grumbled.

"I guess it does, doesn't it?" Yachi placed her bags neatly on the floor next to Aika. "But they're definitely going to get together. I just hope it's before the end of the season."

"Love's hard even when it's easy, I guess." Aika pulled her sweatpants up underneath her skirt, sighing heavily. "I like the show, and I want them to get together, but why can't it ever be easy? They know they love each other. It feels like they're wasting time," she muttered.

Yachi hummed, pulling her T-shirt down over her head. "Maybe. But I also think that love can't be that easy. Otherwise there would be no story, and no reason for someone to love another person." She looked directly at Aika, who had pulled on her own T-shirt, and was now staring blankly at the back of her Karasuno jacket. "Aika, you love someone, right?" she asked softly.

Flushing deeply, Aika bunched up her jacket in her hands and held it close. She looked at Yachi and nodded slowly, her face a deep red.

"Yeah. I do."

Yachi pulled on her own jacket, a soft smile on her face. "Are you ever going to tell him that you like him?" she asked.

"I…" Aika trailed off, not knowing how to respond.

Gently placing her hands on top of Aika's, Yachi smiled sadly. "Isn't this wasting time, too?"

Aika pulled away from Yachi and smiled nervously. "I guess it is. So I guess I'm even more afraid than some fictional character is." She laughed sadly, and moved past Yachi, towards the door of the changing room, leaving her friend behind.

She moved down the stairs and towards the gym, already hearing the shouts of the boys and the bouncing of the volleyballs echoing through the gym. She stopped short just outside of the gym, her feet freezing and refusing to move further. Sighing, she moved her hair from her face and tied it up in a ponytail, making a subtle note of how long her hair had gotten since she'd last cut it before the summer.

As she did, she finally noticed that she had forgotten to grab her notebook from her bags, having left them in the changing room in her haste to avoid Yachi's questioning. She heaved another sigh, running her hands over her face.

"Stupid," she cursed herself under her breath.

"Aika? Are you okay?" She turned to see Hinata and Kageyama behind her, Hinata holding a volleyball as he peered at her curiously. "You look like… uwah, you know?"

Kageyama aimed a glare at Hinata. "Not everyone speaks in sounds, you idiot!" he snapped.

"But Aika gets what I mean!" the sunny boy protested, frowning up at Kageyama. He turned back to Aika. "Seriously though. You good?"

She nodded slowly, plastering a smile on her face. "Yeah. I'm fine, Shoyo." She quickly made to move past them. "I just forgot my notebook. I'll be to practice in a few."

"Aika!" It was then that Yachi came rushing up to her, her notebook tucked in her hands and a bright smile on her face. "You forgot this. It dropped on the floor, so I just went ahead and picked it up," she explained, completely unaware of how Aika's face fell.

Pushing past her annoyance at the timing, Aika cleared her throat and took the notebook from Yachi's hands. "Thanks." She looked up at Yachi again, praying her friend would understand her need to get some space. "I'm going to run down to the store to grab some drinks. Do you want anything special?"

"U-uh… no, thank you. I'm good."

As soon as the hesitant rejection left Yachi's lips, Aika had already begun walking away as fast as she could, hugging her notebook close to her chest as she went. She was glad no one could hear her thoughts, otherwise she would've been an obvious mess to all those around her.

I shouldn't watch anime that Yachi recommends anymore.

Kageyama watched as Aika's retreating figure got smaller and smaller.

Ever since that night at the sushi restaurant, things had begun to change between the two. It wasn't an obvious difference for those watching, but Kageyama felt it. Aika had become quieter around him, more hesitant at points, and he was a bit concerned that his request for her to cheer for him was the root of it.

"Yachi." The short blonde looked over at him, but his eyes didn't leave the spot where Aika had disappeared from. "Did I do something to make her upset?"

Yachi frowned and exchanged a look with Hinata, who shook his head softly, silently warning her not to say anything. She sighed, and glanced towards Kageyama, who was frowning in worry and sadness as his question got no response.

He'd been staying at Aika's house nearly every night since that sushi dinner that Aika and Kageyama had shared. He'd been comforting her as she tried to reason out her own feelings, keeping her from being too hard on herself for being too obvious with her feelings for him. She had begged Hinata to keep quiet, to not let anyone know that she was struggling so much to hide her feelings.

"Shoyo, he can't know," she'd begged him one night. "I know you're close, but I want him to focus on his goals for now. I'll tell him. Sometime, I will. But I need you both focused. So please, don't tell him."

"You didn't do anything wrong." Yachi's voice pulled him from his memories, and he stared in shock at her. He'd gone to her for advice on how to best help Aika, and he'd ended up spilling it all to her, but had sworn her to secrecy soon afterwards.

"Yachi!" he exclaimed, somewhat horrified.

She just smiled at him and nodded, like she knew what he'd been about to say. She turned back to Kageyama, who was staring at her with relief clear in his eyes. "You didn't upset Aika. She's just trying to deal with something right now. It's a bit tough for her. Please let her figure things out on her own."

Kageyama stared at her for a moment, then nodded. "Got it," he replied. He pushed his hands into his pockets and turned towards the gym, walking in with his head lowered so his hair fell in his face.

Yachi sighed, but followed him in, with Hinata close behind. He watched as Kageyama shrugged off his jacket and began stretching, an unreadable look on his face. WIth a sigh, he moved to where Ukai was talking to Shimizu.

"Coach." Ukai paused in the middle of his sentence and looked down at Hinata. "Can I be excused for a few minutes? There's something I have to take care of."

Normally, Ukai wouldn't have allowed him to skip any length of practice, nor would Hinata even attempt to, but the serious look on Hinata's face told him that it was important. He nodded, but before he could even say anything, Hinata had bolted, sprinting out of the gym and down the hill towards the Foothill Store. He made it right as Aika was emerging from the store, a Garigari-kun in her mouth as she tossed the wrapper into the trash.

He slowed to a halt and let out a soft laugh. "Did you get one for me?" he asked.

She looked up, mild surprise coming over her face as she lifted her head. She managed a weak smile as she nodded. "Of course, Shoyo," she replied. "It's tradition, right?"

Moving to her side, Hinata took the second Garigari-kun that she pulled from the plastic bag in her hand. "Thank you!" he chirped as he ripped the wrapper off, tossing it into the trash. He softly took the bag from her hand, holding it as he began to walk back to the gym, knowing Aika would follow him.

She did. She caught up with him, too, as he was walking slow enough for her to catch up. He looked to her and once again noticed that she looked like she was somewhere far away. He sighed a bit and nudged her.

"Hey. We can be a bit late to practice. Follow me." He grabbed her hand and tugged her towards the school rather than towards the gym. He could hear her protesting softly, but ignored her, keeping a tight grip on her hand.

"Do you think I'm wasting my time by not telling Tobio how I feel?"

Aika was leaning against the chain link fence on the school's rooftop, holding her half eaten Garigari-kun in one hand. Hinata sat next to her, his legs crossed, nibbling on his own bar.

He bit the last part of his bar off and twirled the stick around as he sighed. "Sounds like that's what you think." He paused, leaning back and looking up at his friend, who was looking down at her feet, shuffling them awkwardly. "Aika. How do you think Kageyama feels about you?" he asked.

"Huh?" She blinked in confusion and bit off another piece of her popsicle. "We're teammates and friends."

Hinata laughed at the typical response. "You know that's not what I mean, dummy." He stood, twirling the bare stick in his hand. "You're kinda dumb sometimes. I meant how do you think he feels about you… romantically?"

Tugging at her ponytail, she sighed. She looked to Hinata, and he could see obvious pain in her eyes. "Sometimes, I feel like he cares about me the way I care about him," she mumbled, her words slow and purposeful. "But I remember thinking about Suga senpai the same way… and I think about how much it affected me as part of the team. I don't want to let these feelings do the same thing to me. Or to Tobio."

"Ah… Aika…" Hinata heaved a long sigh, and stood up so he was facing her. "You're scared of something that isn't going to happen. If I know Kageyama, he's going to keep all his focus on the game. And you're going to keep all yours on him, so it'll be all the same in the end."

"Shoyo…"

He grinned widely. "You like him, right? That's all there is to it. Don't worry about anything else!" he chirped reassuringly. Lifting his hand, he gently tapped the popsicle stick against Aika's forehead. "Here. Take this and talk to Kageyama after practice."

The stick fell into Aika's hands as she held them out. As Hinata walked away, opening the door to the roof to return to practice, she looked down at the popsicle stick with curiosity in her eyes. She turned it over in her hands and let out a soft snort of laughter as she saw the words engraved into the stick.

Winner, it read.

"Oh…"

The rain fell, hitting the ground with a soft pitter patter sound, but the sky outside was still blue, not a cloud in sight.

Aika bit her lip as she stepped out of the gym, her notebook tucked under her jacket. She held out her hand from underneath the hood of the roof, feeling the rain hitting her palm. Pulling her hand back, she sighed and pulled her jacket off and then held it over her head.

"Hey." With eyes wide, she turned to face Kageyama, who was watching her from where he had just emerged from the gym. "Oh. It's raining?" he asked, glancing out at the sunshower that seemed like it had come out of nowhere.

She nodded. "Yeah. I didn't even notice," she replied softly.

"Me neither. Guess we were really loud today." He walked close, standing next to her so their shoulders were touching. She could feel herself growing warm where his arm brushed against hers, and she could feel her breath catching in her throat. The popsicle stick in her pocket felt heavy, like it was tugging her down to the ground. "I'm guessing you don't have an umbrella?"

Clearing her throat to clear her head, Aika shook her head. "I left mine at home. I know the forecast said that it'd probably rain, but I guess I got distracted," she admitted, cursing herself for her wavering voice.

There was a brief silence between the two, in which the two stayed still, standing with their shoulders still touching. Aika took a deep breath, biting her lip as she tried to keep her eyes on the rain outside, somehow finding it soothing to her raging heart.

"I have mine," Kageyama suddenly said, his face beginning to tint with a pink color as he looked down at Aika. "Let me walk you home."

Aika turned to stare at him again, her eyes once again widening. He simply stared back, his gaze unwavering as his fist clenched in determination. She bit her lip, looking out to the rain from the corner of her eyes. She could feel her cheeks heating up once more as she fought back her soft smile.

Turning back to face Kageyama, Aika nodded with a grateful smile and rosy cheeks.

"Okay."