[1] HOUSE OF CROWS | Haikyuu!! (Murder of Crows) ✓

HOUSE OF CROWS | 05

The forest had grown colder since the crows had revealed their presence. The air felt chilled against your skin, causing gooseflesh to break out across your neck as you followed Kuroo and the others down the path that threaded unevenly through the trees. There was an edge to the darkness you hadn't noticed before too, making it seem thicker, as if there were something hiding inside.

"Is Kuroo leading us home?" Hinata whispered, his voice no longer trembling as he walked close beside you, his arm ghosting yours every so often. 

"No," you said. "He's refusing to leave. Stubborn pain the ass."

"So we're still looking for the house?"

You nodded wordlessly, and Hinata shot a worried glance towards the trees, as if he was expecting more crows to be watching them with their eyes like ash and stone. The branches already them were bare, reaching through the dark like crooked hands. "Why did you come here, Hinata? Do you really believe in the Crow?"

The boy dropped his gaze, and a shiver trembled down his back. "Yes. I do."

"Then... why put yourself through this?"

Hinata only shrugged. Perhaps he didn't know either.

Like Tsukishima said, maybe they were simply driven by an innate curiosity. A desire to know what really lurked at the edge of the night. 

Too lost in your thoughts, you only just noticed when Akaashi and Tsukishima stopped in front of you, and you quickly dug your heels into the ground, skidding to a stop. "What is it?" You hissed, suddenly remembering the figure you had seen before. The faceless shadow in the trees.

When you received no answer, you peered over Akaashi's shoulder.

Through the trees ahead of them, sitting like the husk of a dead beetle, was a house.

Kuroo had stopped at the edge of the treeline, and when he glanced back at you, he was wearing a smile. "Found it."

You exchanged a glance with Tsukishima, and found his eyes mirroring your own uncertainty. "Guess we'd better follow him," you said with a huff, breaking from the cover of the forest. Moonlight crumbled down through the trees in a jagged line, paving the way to the House of Crows. The house was thin and crooked, with dark, uneven bricks and a chimney that stuck out at an angle. You counted five windows at the front, two of which were missing their glass panes, and the others which were blotted out with shadow, hanging like empty portraits. Cobwebs fettered the rafters of the overhanging porch, and a lantern hung from it like a cold, lifeless shadow.

"Are you just gonna stand there, or are we going in?" Kuroo said impatiently, and you realised you were holding everyone up behind you.

You turned to him with a glower. "I still can't believe you're making us come here, after what just happened."

Kuroo's jaw tightened. "I'm not making you do anything."

"We're not just going to leave you here."

"Then that's on you."

"Please don't argue." You both glanced across at Hinata, who flinched when your flashlight swung his way. You quickly pulled it back. "Kuroo's right. We could leave if we wanted. But we're here now, aren't we? So we might as well keep going."

You frowned. "But, I thought you wanted to go home..."

"I'm fine," the redhead said quickly, and you all tried to ignore the shaky edge to his voice. 

You huffed through your nose, turning to Tsukishima and Akaashi. "What do you two think?"

Tsukishima nudged up his glasses with a humourless sniff. "I'm not going back on my own, not after you broke my compass."

Akaashi simply shrugged. "I'll stay."

"Wonderful, we've finally come to a consensus," Kuroo said, and you narrowed your eyes at him. "Let's check around the outside first." Then, with a pointed glance your way: "Start recording."

Clenching your jaw, you unlatched the lens cover and flipped the button to record, panning the camera over the house's dark facade while the others stood behind you and watched. Akaashi shuffled his feet, and Hinata kept glancing over his shoulder as if expecting someone to be stood at the treeline. 

"Go around the back too," Kuroo directed, and you threw him an exasperated look. He shrugged. "I'll come with you."

"No, it's okay," you said quickly, hopping over the broken remains of a fence and circling around the crumbling black bricks. Kuroo ignored you and followed anyway, making you jump when he suddenly dropped a hand to your shoulder. You shook him off.

Waving his hands to usher you forward, Kuroo slunk after you as you crept around the side of the house, trying to keep your hands steady as you held the camera. Now wasn't the time to get the jitters. There was no sign of a garden or outbuilding behind the house - nothing but more trees, as if the house had existed first and the forest had simply grown and thrived around it. 

All of a sudden, you glimpsed something in one of the windows. Kuroo must have seen it too, as he quickly brought his flashlight back towards it, the light illuminating the dirty glass - and the misted remains of condensation. The white fog was already dissipating as you zoomed your camera onto it. "Was that... was there someone stood there?"

Kuroo didn't immediately answer you, and you found his eyes still fixed to the window when you turned to face him. "There couldn't have been," he said slowly. Like he hadn't expected it. "This place is abandoned."

"You did see that, right? Like someone had breathed on the glass. Are you sure there's nobody living here?"

"I don't know," he said, seeming to recover himself. "Maybe it's a ghost. Let's go inside and investigate."

"What - Kuroo! I'm not going in if there's some stranger in there," you hissed at his back as he turned and began walking away. He ignored you, already heading for the front door.

"Anything interesting back there?" Tsukishima asked when you returned, and you shook your head, keeping your teeth gritted. 

Kuroo reached the door and gave the handle a twist, his face remaining blank as it swung open with ease. Shadows lingered at the doorway, and from somewhere further inside came the soft groan of wind rattling through a broken window.

He glanced over his shoulder with a grin, then stepped over the threshold.