Shard Society [Haikyuu!!] | ✔

Without Solatium

A/N: Best not to get your hopes up for a peaceful festival...

Warning: Implications of Japanese society's collective homophobia, as well as pedophilia.

xXx

May 3rd, 2018

For Kageyama, life resumed like it had never changed. And it wouldn't have for him, of course, because life didn't care if you needed to slow down a little. With everything that had been happening, he had neglected some of his assignments, a situation that needed to be rectified soon.

But not now.

Right now, all he wanted to do was savor the moment as Hinata carefully made 'the perfect espresso'. Kageyama peered down at the finished work at the counter, while Hinata stood back with a triumphant smile on his face.

"This is a coffee," Kageyama stated blandly, not finding anything particularly impressive about the drink.

"Geh!" Hinata almost fell over. "This isn't just a coffee! Do you know how much thought goes into this, Bakageyama? The timing of the pour, the rich and golden crema...!"

Kageyama gave him a strange look as the orange-haired man began to wax poetic about the intricacies of coffee-making.

"The coffee grounds' consistency!" Hinata went on, gesturing aggressively to the innocent cup of espresso. "The coffee puck has to be firm, moist, and in one piece when removed from the group handle! These thirty millilitres of espresso have to be poured between twenty-five to thirty seconds or else it just won't be right!"

All that for one cup of coffee? Kageyama thought dubiously, feeling rather underwhelmed by the end result of such a strenuous process. He hovered his face above it and took a sniff. It just smelled like coffee.

"You're classless," Hinata accused.

"It's coffee, dumbass."

"You're the dumbass!"

"Having fun, boys?" Sunano mused as she walked around Kageyama with a tray of dirty glasses, which she set aside. There were little customers today, so the manager was rather laid-back with their antics.

"He doesn't appreciate art," huffed Hinata, glowering up at Kageyama.

Irritably, Kageyama replied, "It's coffee, not a drawing."

"Art isn't just drawings!"

Sunano laughed as she went over to the door, flipping the sign so that it displayed 'closed' on the outside. "We're having, like, zero traffic today," she called over her shoulder, "So let's have an early break. Why don't you show Kageyama-san how to make a good coffee? Maybe that'll convince him."

If there was something Sunano wasn't, it was stupid. She watched, smiling, as Hinata explained to Kageyama about the basics of a commercial coffee machine. Sunano knew—knew something had happened between the two that had led Kageyama to loiter around the shop as of recent. She would not complain, of course, if Kageyama didn't get in the way of things and prevent their serving system from running like a well-oiled machine. And, so far, he was fine.

It was obvious to her that Kageyama had formed an attachment to her orange-haired waiter (and vice versa), and she contemplated something as she reached into her apron pocket, fishing out a folded flyer. It was from last year's May Festival—this year's May Festival was to fall on the 19th and 20th of May, and it would be Todai's 91st May Festival, too. She already had a good graphic designer to create this year's poster for their cafe, but she needed someone with ample storage space to ask for favors.