The Trees Have Eyes [Haikyuu!!]

Prologue

In the summer of 2012, four boys ventured up the mountain and never returned. Approximately twelve hours after their disappearance, their parents and several neighbours organised a search party, carrying with them torches, rope, and fearful hearts.

The night, she'd once been told, was darkest before dawn.

Hinata Natsu was eight years old when she stayed up the whole night for the first time in her life, fighting the temptation of sleep and forgetting all about the monster under her bed. She sat by the windowsill, her room overlooking the mountain, until dawn finally broke.

But her sun did not rise with it.

Her parents said things she didn't understand after that. They fought a lot at home, but pretended nothing was happening outside. They and the other parents persisted in pestering the police for more resources and bigger search teams put into the hunt for their children, but were refused.

She spent many nights staring out her window. Her brother's room collected dust down the hall.

One night, she opened the window and screamed: "Shouyou! Shouyou! Where are you, Shouyou?!"

Her parents rushed into her room, her mother already sobbing before she swept Natsu into her arms and back into bed. "Don't shout," she begged through tears. "Don't shout, Natsu."

"But Shouyou's still out there!"

Her father let out a deep sigh. "The neighbours won't like it. But rest assured, Natsu, we'll find him."

Natsu cried when others cried. She sniffled, the sound of her mother's weeping piercing her tiny heart. "Promise?"

He nodded. "Promise."

"Pinky promise?"

Another sigh. "Natsu. It's past your bedtime."

Reluctantly, she allowed herself to be tucked in without any fuss. Her mothers tears had almost dried. She kissed Natsu on the forehead, lips warm against her skin. "Sweet dreams, my dearest daughter."

Exhausted from consecutive nights without proper rest, Natsu fell into a deep sleep.

She awoke before dawn, when the night was darkest. She'd dreamt during her short slumber—dreamt of chasing her big brother Shouyou through the woodland, sunlight freckling their arms and legs.

Hopeful, Natsu crawled out of bed and padded over to her windowsill. She held her favourite stuffed toy—Mr. Crow—to her chest as she pressed her face against the glass.

The entire mountainside was covered by thick forest.

Natsu squinted.

There was the slightest movement at the tree line. A shadowy, humanoid figure hunched beneath the canopy.

Gasping, Natsu closed her curtains. Then, once her racing heart had calmed, she took a tentative peek through the curtains.

Nothing.

Shaken, she climbed back under her blankets and didn't dare let go of Mr. Crow.

The trees, was her last thought as she fell back into darkness, the trees have eyes.