Shard Society [Haikyuu!!] | ✔

Epilogue (3)

June 24th, 2018

There was a bubbling fountain the garden. Each breath Yahaba took was shallow but steady. Foliage lazily waved in the wind as Nurse Arima pushed his wheelchair down the garden pathway. She was talking to him as she pushed but her words fell on deaf ears.

A butterfly landed on his knee. Yahaba blinked, taken aback.

"Oh," said Nurse Arima, stopping them in the middle of the path. "How pretty."

"Yeah," Yahaba agreed, quietly. The butterfly stayed stock-still on his leg. "Pretty."

Pretty.

Beautiful.

Oikawa.

Yahaba took a deep breath.

A new day.

He forgot how long he had been here, but he remembered everything. The confrontation with Kunimi, Yachi's terrified screaming... and everything before that, too.

A specialist had dealt with him at the ward.

Delusional disorder, Yahaba remembered his diagnosis to be. A mental disorder with a variety of causes—a disorder that made the affected fixated on a false belief. A disorder that was commonly a partial symptom of schizophrenia. The specialist and his team of nurses had helped him through it with psychodrama of all things.

He found it hard to believe that he had ever been sick.

Now, the only thing that ailed him was a constant fatigue that had seeped into his body during his recovery.

The me that I want to be...

In his mind's eye, Oikawa grinned.

Yahaba chuckled to himself, gaining a confused look from Arima that he didn't see. Sorry. I don't think you were ever the right role for me, senpai. He glance heavenward, admiring the blue sky overhead. I wonder what everyone is up to. He would be out of here in a few days. Back into the world as himself and not the shadow of a dead man. Relapse was scarily possible, but Yahaba wasn't worried. The only thing that plagued him at the moment was—

I miss everyone.

The butterfly flew off, Yahaba's gaze following it until it disappeared behind a shrub. "Nurse," he requested, "Could you get me some water, please?" He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Sorry."

"No worries," Arima said, waving off his apology. "I'll be back in a moment." She parked his wheelchair at a scenic spot in front of the fountain.

Yahaba closed his eyes, enjoying the temporary peace. Nothing against Arima, of course, but he found that if he didn't have the company of his friends, it was better to be alone. He could hear the cicadas chirping from the surrounding trees, announcing the hearty arrival of midsummer. Where will I go after this? Back to school? Yeah. I'll probably need to repeat the semester, though... That would be fine. It just meant he would be finishing graduate school two semesters ahead of Kindaichi instead of three. Ah, man. Kindaichi. Kunimi. I owe 'em both an apology.

Maybe he would have given Goshiki one, too, had he still been alive.

Yahaba had heard.

The doctors had thought it would be best for him to know about it even though his parents had objected.

He was grateful for that.

Mom and dad never really knew me, anyway.

In fact, the only two people who had really seen his true face were—