Hinata was early. The cafe was the prettiest spot near Sendai and,  just like his friend had said, it wasn’t at all hard to find right next  to Aoba Castle. Not far from Aoba Johsai.

This place is something else, Hinata thought to himself as  he made his way to a booth and sat down. The place was decked in huge  vases with an abundance of flowers that filled the air with the aroma of  orchids and tulips. Almost directly above the booth, a huge ornate  chandelier shaped like a flower.

‘Awesome,’ Hinata stared in wonder. This place is so cool! I wonder if Kageyama –

Ah. No. There would be no way Kageyama would want to come to a place  like this. Hinata sighed and took out his phone. His friend was running  late. There weren’t many people in here today. Probably because it was  about to be the rainy season. 

He held up his phone to take a picture of  the place –

And froze.

A slender figure with bruised-brown hair and a model-like face  emerged from the other end of the cafe, wiping his hands on the sides of  his jeans. He looked elegant in a white shirt and brown tie. Currently  unaware, he walked straight in Hinata’s direction until –

Their eyes met.

‘G-Grand King?!’

Both had equal levels of shock on their faces.

‘Oh my if it isn’t Karasuno’s shrimp. What brings you here?’

‘I’m meeting a friend who lives in Sendai!’

‘A friend, huh? Where’s your usual partner in crime?’

‘Kageyama? He has a family get together.’

Oikawa couldn’t help but notice, the fleeting downcast eyes and saddened tone before Hinata perked up and asked –

‘What about you? What are you doing here?’

Oikawa ran his fingers through his hair. ‘I’m on a date. Why else would I be here?’

Hinata glanced around.

‘She’s not here yet. She’s running late.’

‘You picked the perfect spot for a date -’

‘Didn’t I just? Everyone knows this as the “first date” cafe. Are you  sure there’s nothing going on between you and your little friend, hmm?’

Hinata blushed. For some reason, Oikawa got a kick out of it.

‘It’s nothing like that,’ Hinata shook his head.

Oikawa smirked. ‘Oh really? Well, whatever you say. This place is also perfect because I live just around the cor-’

Wait.

Oikawa’s eyes suddenly widened. ‘Did you feel that?’

Hinata cocked his head to the side. ‘Feel what?’

Had he imagined it? No. There had been a small rumble under the floor…

‘That… tremor.’

The alarming look in Oikawa’s eyes gave Hinata a prickling sensation at the back of his neck.

‘That tremor on the ground.’ Oikawa was agitated. His eyes searched the floor.

Hinata frowned and realised that he was sat in a booth. ‘My feet aren’t touching the ground -’

Suddenly, the table, the seat, the wall, the ceiling, the floor began  to shake. Someone started yelling. The judder of the giant vases on the  floor were like an army of a million soldiers stamping their feet. A  plate – a glass – something shattered.

Hinata and Oikawa locked eyes –

Earthquake.

Hinata’s whole body uncontrollably vibrated; he grabbed the sides of  the table to try and stop himself shaking as Oikawa slipped and slid  like a surfer trying to stay standing.

Screaming. People were screaming.

Water from the giant vases splashed onto the floor – someone tried to  run but slipped and fell – above, the chandelier was rattling, louder,  and louder, shuddering, violent, and then –

Hinata could see it. Like he could in a game sometimes.

It snapped and, like in slow motion, the chandelier began falling –

And falling –

And directly underneath it –

Oikawa.

A heartbeat.

A flash of orange.

‘Uh!!!!!’

Oikawa was thrown sideways across the floor.

SMASH!

A million tiny pieces of glass scattered like beads of water right  from the point of impact, where Oikawa stood a second ago. Everything  shook. Everything was out of focus.

Oikawa groaned – the whole of his right side had hit the floor like a tonne of bricks and his left had been tackled by –

Hinata lay right in front of him. Face down. Not moving.

An iron fist twisted Oikawa’s intestines.

‘Chibi-chan? Chibi-chan?’ Oikawa slithered forward, the ground still  shaking until he could reach the small frame and touch his shoulder.  ‘Hinata?’

An affirmative noise came from the small boy. Oikawa dragged himself through the glass and pulled Hinata to him. Strange, Oikawa couldn’t help but think.

‘Hinata – I need you to hold onto me, can you hold onto me, can you do that?’ Oikawa hitched Hinata up onto his back.

Like a miracle, those frail arms wrapped themselves around Oikawa’s  torso with just about enough strength to hold on. Oikawa crawled, the  ground vibrating so much he thought it might split apart at any moment,  taking in sharp breaths every time his hand pressed into a shard of  glass, until he reached the underside of the table of the booth Hinata  first sat in. He peeled the boy off of him and carefully sat him up,  holding him up by his shoulders, the world rattling. Hinata’s eyes were  round and wide and open. But he wasn’t saying anything.

‘Shrimpy – do you know who I am? Do you know where we are? Where are we?’

Did he hit his head? Does he have concussion? He looks stunned. Is it shock? He’s so small –

Without warning, droplets formed in the corner of Hinata’s eyes as he  stared at Oikawa and his face creased into a smile. ‘I’m so happy  you’re OK.’

Oikawa felt something in him break. Tears began spilling down Hinata’s cheeks.

The shaking. Was it just on the outside? To Oikawa it felt like someone was drilling into his chest.

Before Oikawa even realised what he was doing, his bloodied palm had cupped the side of Hinata’s face – so pretty, he’s almost like a girl – and his sliced thumb had wiped away a tear. He leaned forward and  embraced the little crow. His lacerated hand stung as he gently guided  the boy’s head onto his shoulder. Even in all his pain Oikawa couldn’t  help but think his hair… it’s so soft.

‘There, there chibi-chan,’ he whispered.

Hinata wept. In all his fear and his relief, the musky sweet scent of  Oikawa was a comfort blanket, a torch in a tunnel. But through the  darkness, a creeping sensation, there was something stinging his leg.  Hinata’s brain suddenly registered a short, sharp pain –

‘Ah!’

Oikawa withdrew. ‘What is it? What’s wrong?’

Across Hinata’s thigh – a long cut – and it was still bleeding.

BANG!

Hinata screamed. Something had thundered right above their heads on the table.

The ceiling.

But his leg. Oikawa suddenly remembered he was wearing his school  uniform’s tie. He whipped off the brown piece of material and looped it  around the boy’s thigh.

‘This may hurt.’ Oikawa tied a knot against the wound and Hinata  cried out in pain, his small hand shooting out and grabbing the setter’s  shirt. ‘It’s OK. It’s done. It should help stop the bleeding.’

Above them, a shattering of glass. More debris. And then –

The shuddering eased.

Oikawa’s heart banged against his chest as if it was trying to burst  out of him. Hinata was shaking from head-to-foot, his eyes as wide as  saucers, his lips trembling. He looked terrified. An odd sensation  spread through Oikawa’s chest. Why do I keep wanting to hold him?

‘Hinata.’

Hinata’s eyes flicked onto Oikawa’s.

OK, good, he’s responsive.

‘Did you hit your head? Where does it hurt?’

‘No, I – collided with you first then landed on my front. On my arms and legs. What about you? Where do you hurt?’

He looks dazed and like he’s about to break yet he’s still asking me that?

‘The whole of my right side feels like it’s been battered by a hundred volleyballs and I think I hurt my coccyx as well.’

Hinata blinked a few times and then suddenly turned a bright red. He quickly dropped his gaze. ‘Oh -’

Oikawa couldn’t help himself. ‘You know what a coccyx is, don’t you, chibi-chan?’

Hinata nodded, embarrassed, without looking up.

‘It feels really sore…’ Oikawa watched Hinata’s blush increase. He  pursed his lips to stop himself from smiling. ‘But it’s a good thing  it’s just your tail bone.’

Hinata’s eyes snapped back up to meet Oikawa’s.

‘The bit at the bottom of your back,’ Oikawa added, enjoying the  selection of reactions from the underclassman. ‘Why? What did you think  it meant?’

‘I – I knew that!’

Oikawa smirked. ‘I’m sure you did little man seeing as they only teach it in third year biology.’

Hinata looked slightly sulky.

Good. That’s better than being terrified.

‘Can you walk?’ Oikawa asked.

‘I’m not sure.’

Oikawa crawled out from under the table. The devastation was  heartbreaking. A million pieces of glass were across the floor. The  windows had gone. Bits of ceiling had fallen; there was plaster and dust  everywhere. There was a huge chunk of ceiling on the table he’d  crouched under. The few people that were in here were emerging. A  waitress was crying into the shoulder of her colleague. Two people were  helping up the guy who had fallen who’d also seemed to hurt his leg. And  those stupid giant marble vases, somehow they’d survived and not even  toppled over.

Oikawa’s eyes wandered back to the spot he’d been standing in. All  that was there – the crushed metal framework of the giant chandelier.

The gut-wrenching reality of that sight stamped a weight on Oikawa’s  soul like a seal on red molten wax. The magnitude was enough to crumble  him – his skull, his body, his life would’ve been smashed in an instant.  He wouldn’t have survived. And if he had, he wouldn’t have been  healthy. His life, in a split second, could’ve gone in a horrifying  direction. It was about to. If it weren’t for –

Gratitude as vast as the ocean, as overwhelming as a tidal wave,  drowned Oikawa in that moment like nothing he’d ever felt before. His  eyes stung but he swallowed it down and took a deep breath to steady  himself. Now was not the time. He turned back and, shoving his emotions  back in a box, bent down to his saviour still seated under the table. He  laced his arms under the boy’s armpits and dragged the little Karasuno  member up. Hinata tried to stand but staggered and Oikawa caught him.

‘I think you’re going to have to lean on me.’

Hinata leaned his body weight against Oikawa’s left side, the side he  had pushed out of the way of the chandelier. He winced as he wrapped  one bruised arm around Oikawa’s waist.

He’s so short but he fits against my side so perfectly, Oikawa couldn’t help but notice.

Oikawa wrapped his arm around Hinata and guided him out of the cafe,  hoisting him up if there was fallen objects. The whole of Oikawa’s right  side pounded like a pulse. He wanted nothing more than to lie down here  on the treacherous ground and dream but the adrenaline coursing through  his veins pushed him into continuing and made his calculative mind  sharper than usual. The feel of Hinata next to him just made Oikawa  relive the moment again – the fear in the crow’s eyes as he flew  forward, having seen the danger that Oikawa hadn’t, the impact and force  of the push that threw Oikawa out of the way.

Outside, people were huddled together, some crying, some injured,  some buildings had windows, slates from roofs and chunks missing but  most seemed to be standing.

All hail Japanese architecture.

The hospital would be manic right now and full with more severe  cases. Neither he or Hinata had hit their heads or seemed to be in  constant pain –

‘I live a five minute walk from here, do you think you can manage?’

The little ball of fluff looked up at Oikawa and nodded, a distant look on his face.

He must be in shock.

It was beginning to get dark. They moved slowly and eventually  reached Oikawa’s apartment. He lived on the ground floor of a house with  the upstairs rented out to someone else. An outside staircase gave  separate access.

Inside his home, Oikawa took off his shoes and then crouched down and  undid the laces of Hinata’s trainers. Hinata’s small hand rested gently  on Oikawa’s shoulder as the older student helped him take his trainers  off. Silently, Oikawa returned his body to Hinata, helping him into the  open-plan living space and leading him to the sofa. Hinata perched  himself down on the edge. The older one straightened up.

‘Now, don’t you worry chibi-chan, I have a first aid kit in here  somewhere, if I can just find it -’ Oikawa busied himself in the kitchen  area, checking drawers. ‘Everything’s going to be just fine -’

Oikawa reached for the light switch –

Nothing happened.

He flicked it on again. Nothing.

That’s strange.

He turned to his TV on standby. There was no red light.

Oh no.

No no no no –

His charger was connected to a wall socket on the kitchen counter-top. He plugged in his phone.

It wasn’t charging.

Oikawa turned to the window. It was getting darker by the minute. He  looked at that small boy who sat quietly, too quietly, on the sofa,  staring at something just in front of him but that wasn’t really there.

Oikawa didn’t want to but for the first time since the incident he  stretched out his palms in front of him and looked down. It was like  someone had chopped up his hands with scissors. His skin was shredded.  Slashes and tears filled with drying red blood. And there were shimmers  and sparkles niggling at him, he could feel it –

I have glass stuck in my hands…

But I may have a greater problem.

Outside in the distance, he heard sirens. Oikawa glanced over.

By the dying light he could see a dazed Hinata seemingly unaware of the trickles of blood snaking down his leg.

---

Listen to Chris Patton, the official Oikawa Tooru English dub voice actor of the anime Haikyuu!! read some of Chapter 1 here