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It was summer holiday, and the coaches of the Miyagi high school teams thought it would be a good idea to have a training camp together to keep the punks in their toes, and better, sharpen their skills by forcing the cooperation and humility sipirits into them through working together.
The training camp is a week long and the schools are the top 3 schools at the time, which are Shiratorizawa, Aoba Johsai, and Karasuno. When learning about the news, each team was surprised but also excited about the upcoming challenges.
Among them, Aoba Johsai's teammates were feeling those things, but also couldn't help to worry about the potentially, or most likely to happen, or would-be heated clashes of their captain, Oikawa, and the two brilliant players, Ushijima and Kageyama.
Iwaizumi was the first one to vocalize it, and he was blunt about it too. In the face of Oikawa, he said that if Oikawa let that petty rivalries of his get in the way of the team's play or the training camp, he will personally strangle Oikawa to death. This earned Iwaizumi the wolf whistle of other third years for being so manly and captain like, and the starstruck eyes flowing admiration form the other juniors, including Kyotani, the mad dog.
Usually, when "threatened" by Iwaizumi, Oikawa would not stop whining and then turn the whole thing into a fun bicker for his dramastics, thus making the experience a somewhat team-bonding activity. However, this time was different. Oikawa just simply replied back with a "No need to worry. Trust me that I know when it is important and not to fuck it up." It should be comforting, but it instead made the gym slient.
Makki and Mattsun seriously did a double check to see if Oikawa grew another head. Yahaba was busy holding his expression, shocked to hear the fuck word from Oikawa's mouth, who is known for his sarcasm not vulgarity. Kindaichi and Watari, on the other hand, were the complete opposite, loudly doubted themselves if they heard it wrong, and Kunimi was watching the chaos unfold nonchalantly, the word "bored" written all over his face. Kyotani gave a nod. Clearing his throat, Iwaizumi spoke up amist the chaos, telling Oikawa that he didn't mean it that way, and he trusts Oikawa to make the call. It seemed that the offhanded reaction from Oikawa shook him, the best friend, too, and that's why he made things clear on the spot. But it looked like the abnormalities weren't going away for them, as Oikawa again calmly smiled back and called everyone back to practice.
At the time, Iwaizumi chose to let it go and decided that it may be better if they could work it out through practice, or maybe talk it out sometime later. After all, Oikawa was not someone to hold a grudge. So Iwa let it go, and they continued to practice. Now, they are on the bus to the designated training camp and everyone seemed to forget the little incident happened days ago. But looking to Oikawa's direction and seeing him wear the headset and completely discrad to others, he couldn't help but feel there's something more going under the calm surface. Makki and Mattsun surely shared the same thought, and they exchanged a concerned look with each other. Looks like they need to help out a self-isolated idiot friend who is refusing to talk.
It took them three hours of bus ride to arrive at the training camp, which was located at a countryside, somewhere near the mountain. There were a lot of trees, and the heat was not that unbearable. Unloading the bus, they found their way and settled into the rooms for them. It was comically funny to see the shimpy No. 10 of Karasuno sacred alomost to death when coming upon them in bathroom, aside from the uneasiness from Kageyama (The kid admires Oikawa to hell but also scares him the most, it was hurt to watch him like that, Iwaizumi thought.) and the persistence of Ushijima. All things considered, the first night was good as it was mostly for them to settle in.
However, the uneasiness lingered and Iwaizumi couldn't shake it. Rolling onto his side, he whispered to Oikawa.
"Hey, Shittykawa, are you alright?"
The reply came immediately.
"Yeah, Iwa, I am fine. Don't worry your head for this."
You calling me Iwa is not Fine, Iwaizumi thought. And he was started to feel frustrated by this too, Oikawa's recent behaviour was making him ansty. It nagged at him for not knowing what is going on and what is making Oikawa hurting like this. It didn't happen for so long that he almost forgets this version of Oikawa, hurting, spiraling, detached and alone. It made Iwaizumi afraid, to be honest.
"Anyway, if you wanna talk, I am always here. And Makki and Mattsum too, you know."
It came out too soft, and a bit hesitant.
Oikawa huffed a little laugh.
"Yeah, I know. Stop worrying your air head over this, of course I know you and our friends are here. I have eyes, you know. Just go to sleep now, we have practice tomorrow, Iwa-mama."
Someone, or several someone, choked. Looks like those little shits had no sense of boundaries and were listening in, and now they are have a fun time of it! Iwaizumi wanted to hit them all so bad.
"You better, Shittykawa."
"Can't hear you. Beauty sleep now."
The laugh were heard this time. But Iwaizumi didn't react, didn't want to give those brats attention now. He closed his eyes, willing himself to the night's sleep and feeling the knots in his heart come undone a bit, though not completely gone, it was still a bit of relief. They still have time to sort it out.
The next day came, and they were into the brutal training. The coaches were competitive in a way that they were much more strict with the players. The teams sincerely thought that they were going to die. You could hear some players here and there whine and complain, usually the loud ones of the team.
Oikawa, acting as the responsible captain he was, encouraged everyone and cheered them up. He was back to his playful self, always attending to the teammates' mood changes and needs. The team was in a good shape under his command. What's more, he actually kept up with his words, and didn't make any fuss with playing with or even playing for Shiratorizawa and Karasuno during exchanges.
He was wholeheartedly in the game and it was captivating to see his beautiful, even more powerful play. This wasn't lost to the coaches, nor the other teams. The team, including Iwaizumi, praised him, and the head coach commented it good work. Ushijima had came up several times to ask Oikawa to be his practice partner. Even Kageyama, with the edging of the little shrimp, came up to ask for tossing advice. And Oikawa did it, and gave it at the request freely.
The team was kind of adapted to Oikawa's recent changes by now, but the other teams were not. Tendou, the guess monster, the ever strange player, saw it with a glint in his eyes, sang something along the line with "Do my eyes deceive me or has the world changes so much that I could not keep it up anymore." Overall, the changes came of as a shock, but they were welcoming, and they served the training.
The waves came in the sixth day. At the time, they just finished practice, and were stretching together, preparing for the shower and dinner. Then, Karasuno's pretty manager, Shimizu, led a young guy in, saying that there's someone looking for Oikawa.
The boy, appeared to be the similar age as them, pehaps a bit younger than them. He was good-looking as those main character in a manga. Dressed in casual clothing, a T-shirt and a pair of jeans, he looked like a chilled guy. He also had a backpack on, maybe he was out for the vacation too, just droping by to see a friend. Honestly, there's nothing strange about him, except the fact that Iwaizumi didn't know, had never known that Oikawa has other friends outside of their groups and those fangirls, and the fact that the guy was holding a destroyed flower bouquet. From what was left, they could see it was a nice bouquet, though most of them had fallen.
Looking around the gym, the guy soon found out Oikawa, and without asking for any approvals, he just straightly walked into the place and went to where Oikawa was. The coaches called out, but that didn't deter the young man. He continued to walk, and then promptly sat down beside Oikawa. The team, along with the other two teams, looked at him curiously.
Without pausing his stretches, Oikawa firstly called to the coach that he was sorry for it and that he and his friend will finish soon. Since the practice was already done and they were just cooling off, the coach let him off by saying that don't take it too long, and if they want to talk, they could have dinner later together in the cafeteria. Oikawa thanked the coach, and turned his head to see the young guy.
"Denji-chan, to do what I owe the pleasure? I told you that I don't want to see you again loud and clear. Do you need me to tell you that again?" Despite the nickname, none of the words that out of Oikawa's mouth was in any way kind. And he said it with such carefree attitude while doing relaxing stretches. This juxtaposition caught the teammates off guard. In his pioneer view, Iwaizumi could see that Kindaichi, Hinata shivered at Oikawa's cold and cutting words.
Okay, so Oikawa knew this guy, and obviously had some history with him that seemed beyond his petty rivalries with Ushijima and Kageyama, hated him so much to tell him to get out in the face. That's new, and that's some side that they never saw Oikawa present before. Right now, they needed to watch out closely, not for curiosity, but for safety reasons. What if the guy got angry and the two had fight, though they may say Oikawa deserved it.
But the none of that happened. The guy just took it in a stride and made a ugly face at Oikawa, not upset at all.
"I am hungry." It's the only reply he gave. He sounded a bit indignantly, like being hungry is enough reason to show up without notice and walk into their training without saying anything first. Seemed like these two were rude together, one to the other person, one to the people that's not Oikawa.
It was close to the warp of the stretches, and Oikawa was finishing up. Upon hearing the reason Denji gave, he considered Denji for some time, which was unnerving to the people around him because that calculating look never meant something good, and then nodded.
"Okay, you eat, and then you leave. Understand?" Another curt reply.
"Deal!" Why would Denji sound so happy? Werid guy.
Denji's arrival certainly disturbed Oikawa's recently-found equilibrium. Without explanation, Oikawa just told them that sorry for the disruption and that he and his friend will have dinner together, nothing else. That night was the only one time where all of the three teams all went to dinner around the same time.
In the cafeteria, Denji was digging up all the food into several plates, definately backing up what he said. He and Oikawa were seated in the same desk as the other Seijoh members.
Playing with food in the plate, Oikawa was mostly waiting for Denji to open up. Looking at his bouquet and backpackage, he had an idea of what was going on. Seeing that Denji was digging into food with single-minded attention, he knew it won't go anywhere.
"Nee, who's the girl you want to run away with? What's her name?" Oikawa aksed. That got him Denji's attention.
Didn't wait for Denji's reply, Oikawa continued.
"If you tell me her name, maybe I would have an impression of her, you know." This one certainly got Denji hooked.
They just saw Denji suddenly lighten up, which quickly followed by the "Really? Her name is Reze."
That name sounded fimilar, and an image of the person came to mind after some searching. And it made sense that Denji would fall for that girl. Ponding on what to reveal for some time, Oikawa said one thing to Denji.
"You know, I have never seen her at school." That was when Iwaizumi thought enough, and he hit Oikawa secertly under the table and gave him the eyes that screamed "Do not fuck with the kid anymore, he didn't deserve that although he allowed you to walk all over him." Oikawa paid no mind to it, and watched Denji to see if he caught on of what he said and how Denji will react to this information.
"Is that so? She told me that she is a student, and even doing homework at the cafe. What a liar!" Typical Denji reply, and Oikawa chuckled at Denji's answer. But Oikawa knew, when Denji is hungry again, this will just add salt to the injury. Oikawa won't mind another one who feel some of what he experienced before, he was a dick like that. Disheveled as Denji is right now, what would happen to him when he really sinks in the misery, he is looking forward to see it.
"Were you trying to run away when you left for the grocery store that day?" Blinking, Oikawa saw that Denji was looking at him expectantly. He didn't see this question coming, let alone it would come from Denji. That girl did a lot to him, Oikawa thought. Denji, who only cared about food and having fun, asked him if he was trying to run away at some point and pinpointed the occurence accurately, and wanted to hear what he thought. Like there is any fun to talk about abandonment, like talking about it would actually make anything better, changing the fact that the person was dead or just simply didn't want them back.
This stirred something inside Oikawa, and he could not hold the laughter that bubbled out, so he laughed. He laughed so hard that he needed to hold his stomach. He laughed so hard that he almost had tears. He laughed so hard that Iwaizumi had to tell him to stop. After one minute long of hysterical laughing, he calmed down gradually.
"What did she do? What did she give you?" Oikawa asked.
"She taught me how to swim." Denji replied.
"Is that so? I guess she liked you a lot then. She was, most of the time, afraid of being underwater. "
"And to answer your question, yeah, I was thinking about running away that day. And I was set to act on it. But he never showed up, so did the others."
And that was what Oikawa could allow, he would go crazy if Denji poked into the mess, or talk about his mess any further. So he added one last word, "Finish your meals and get the fuck out."
After that, he watched Denji make another ugly face, quickily finished his meals, and got up to leave. His appetite destroyed, and did not touch the food again. Everything went blank, and he was too afraid of having a nightmare to fall asleep that night, the past played like a static black and white slient movie in his mind.