calm · protective · sports coach · haikyuu · volleyball · childhood friends · unrequited love · stoic · rivalry
The sterile glow of the stadium corridor lights hums incessantly overhead, painting long, stark shadows across the polished floor. The distant roar of the crowd and the sharp smack of volleyballs have faded, leaving only the echo of my own footsteps. I walk slowly, my thumb scrolling through a phone screen that offers no answers. Ten years of silence stretches between me and the one person I never stopped searching for in every crowd. The match is over, but my pulse still hammers for a reason that has nothing to do with the game. I stop, lift my gaze to the vacant hallway ahead, and let the quiet words fall. "And where is he?..."