Chapter Text
The day hadn't been horrible so far, no not at all.
It had actually been pretty nice.
Yachi hadn't missed the bus, hadn't accidently stepped into the puddles still remaining from yesterday's rain, hadn't forgotten her bento, hadn't run into anybody and had to apologize, wasn't late for club or class…
And then… between lessons, one of her classmates asked her about her hairband. Singular. Yachi felt as if the world was losing its colour. As her classmate slowly distanced herself from her with a confused look (probably wondering what was wrong with her), Yachi sat as still as she could. As if the truth wouldn't be the truth until she began moving again. But she had to check. Perhaps the other girl just hadn't seen the second hairband from the angle she had looked, perhaps her classmate had a disease which caused her to partly lose her eyesight, perhaps-
A hand touched the empty side of Yachi's head, where the hairband should have been. Who touched her?! Oh, it was her own hand - of course…
It really wasn't there!
Why did that happen? Did she lose it? Where? It could be everywhere by now! It could be on the ground somewhere, unnoticed, never to be found again, only centuries later, someone would find it thinking it was worthless, because it would be decaying already, and it would have lost its shining surface- or it wouldn't, and the sudden light reflecting would attract aliens, who wouldn't have found the last survivors, if not for that hairband, and-
"Yachi-san, what are you doing here?"
The world began moving again, time started, colour came back - and there stood Hinata. Shining as brightly as he did like on most days (when he hadn't had a fight with Kageyama, or had to pass a test for the sake of playing volleyball), looking at her a little confused. A sign behind him caught her eye – Hinata's classroom? How had she walked through half of the school?!
"Hi-Hinataa!", Yachi stuttered, "I- I-"
Hinata looked unsure, "You?"
"I lost my hair-", Yachi pointed to her head, "h-hairband." Her voice shook. She noticed students looking around corners, searching for anything more interesting than school life, as if they could smell any kind of drama. She wanted to vanish so bad but lowering her head didn't make the voices in her head disappear.
"Which one?", Hinata simply asked, his voice quiet and kind, as it always was when the situation required it. "You have a lot Yachi-san, which one did you lose? Is it that one? It's that one, isn't it?", he pointed to the one still resting on her head.
"Wh-", Yachi was a bit surprised for him noticing, she could've easily switched through the day (she often did), boys don't normally notice this sort of thing, right? "Yes, it is… how did you-"
"I like them! They were especially shiny today", he laughed. "When did you lose it? This morning? I remember you wearing both during practise."
"I… think so", Yachi' voice was small, Hinata was so nice, "They were a birthday present from my mother this year, and it is my first time wearing them, and they could be anywhere right now-"
"Let me look at it probably, please?"
"…wh-what?"
"So I know what to look for!!", his usual loud behaviour and big smile back again, almost blending Yachi with their intensity.
The hairband was handed over so quickly, she didn't remember what exactly happened to her to agree without thorough thought, "Eh?"
"Done!", with the hairband back in her possession, Hinata had already started running down the hallway. "Don't worry, Yachi-san! See you later!", he yelled back over his shoulder, dodging a few students left and right.
Yachi was left in a hallway in front of a foreign classroom, totally perplexed, watching the colourful head of Hinata disappear behind the next corner. She heard a crow squawk outside the window.
~**-*_*-**~
"Why are you still outside?!", Tanaka asked the two managers, curiously standing in the door to the gym. "Did something happen?"
Yachi had slowly gotten used to the outgoing personalities of the team but being the lone focus of Tanaka-san's attention was still... "I- we-we are… I mean"
"We are looking for Yachi-chan's hairband.", Kiyoko gently interrupted Yachi, putting a supporting hand on her shoulder. "Is Hinata here? Apparently, he searched for it too."
"Who searched for what?", Nishinoya's head (and after a moment his body too) appeared from behind Tanaka, while Tanaka turned his head to roar into the gym a loud, "Hinataaa!"
Noticing the little gathering by the door, Sawamura-senpai looked outside too. "Tanaka, you already know that Hinata isn't here yet", he rubbed his temples, mumbling a quiet give me strength under his breath (yet Tanaka still winced together with Nishinoya, and slowly backed away from the door). Then Sawamura-senpai noticed Kiyoko and Yachi, "Is he with you? It's unusual for him to be late." He grinned. "Well, not late. But not early."
Yachi trembled behind Kiyoko, imagining the implications of what was said. Had Hinata searched for her hairband and missed classes because of it?! What if something happened? Did he hurt himself just because she had lost it? Had he eaten lunch?!
The sound of running feet behind them, getting louder the closer it came, made them expectantly turn around. Only two of the Karasuno Volleyball Team dashed that way, and Kageyama was already busy inside the gym, setting for the other members.
"Yachi-san!!", Hinata cried, coming to a stop in front of her, a little stirred up cloud of dust descending to the ground after him. Some crows crackled a few trees over. "I have it! It's the right one, right?!", he asked, as if he hadn't just run a distance in a very fast pace (it's proof of all the training he's got, for him to not even breathe heavily after that).
"Uwaa!", Yachi beamed, her eyes settling on the missing – well, now not anymore – hairband, accepting it back and holding it to her chest, relieved, "it is, it is! Thank you, Hinata!", she bowed for good measure (were three times enough? Perhaps one more-).
"No problem, Yachi-san! It was nothing", Hinata chimed, bashfully scratching the back of his head.
"Hinata…"
Hinata froze and slowly turned to his captain. Yachi could almost see Hinata's thought process go from "what did he do?" to "was he late?" to "oh no.".
Sawamura sighed. "Just- go change. You can run a few extra rounds later."
"Ehhh?", Hinata's posture grew hesitant, betrayal written all over him.
"But- ehm-", Yachi squeaked, (Kiyoko encouragingly nodded to her in the corner of her eyes), she could feel her face heating up, "Th-those hairbands are very important to me, and Hinata was so nice to search for me, I was the one who had asked him to help me and- please-" Yachi took a deep breath to steady herself, "He already ran here, and he hurried and- he meant good!"
Sawamura smiled (the nice one, not the one that made her want to crawl somewhere deep and never come back, but the nice, sincere one), "That's true. One extra round, then. For being late." (Months later, Yachi would sometimes think back and speculate about why Sawamura had always listened to her so easily… was it, because she had spoken her mind and didn't keep quiet? Was it because he noticed her timid behaviour and wanted to show her that nothing bad would happen, should she open her mouth to ask something? Was it because he wanted to teach her the importance of speaking up when observing a misunderstanding? Either way, she was thankful to have had such wonderfully patient and just Senpai.)
"Yes! Thank you, Yachi-san!", Hinata jumped, happy again (those mood swings would be the end of her… well, she was one to talk), and after looking the captain in the eye, he immediately ran towards the clubroom.
A sniff brought Yachi's attention to Tanaka and Nishinoya lurking at door, close to tears, while they hugged each other and looked at her.
"They grow up so fast!"
"They do!"
"She stood up to Daichi-san!"
"She did!"
"Get back inside, you two!"
"Yes, captain!"
A crow flew over them and cooed.
~**-*_*-**~
Shouyou happily waved to the others and started to pedal his way home. After a while, he passed the highest point of the mountain in his route and he could stop his struggling the whole way up; then he steadily let his bike go faster on its own, letting gravity do its work.
Through the heavy sound of wind rushing by, the additional WUSH of flapping wings caught his ears. He wa about to reach the first sharp turn, so he leaned accordingly, trying to lose as little speed as possible. It was always a bummer, when people's simple existence got in the way of their race.
Luck was on his side that day, the street was absolutely free of anyone – and therefore a victory for him. Whooping, he gently let the bike lose speed as the slope decreased, then got the bike to stop at the side of the road. He jumped off the bike and high into the air, laughing at the protesting cries above him.
He calmed down enough to raise an arm, letting the agitated crow land on it. It ruffled its feathers, but after Shouyou tugged a little at a disheveled one, it sung a single note and returned the gesture, tugging at his windswept hair.
Shouyou whistled back.