Iwaizumi pushed his way through the bushes and looked around. He could've sworn he heard something, but not a soul was in sight. There wasn't even a sign that there once was. He sighed, a long, drawn-out one, and turned back to the group, shaking his head. There was sadness in his eyes, Kageyama knew, but the cause couldn't quite be identified. Had he wanted someone to be there? Could he, perhaps, have been hoping for Oikawa? Why was he so sure that it was the demon? 

The truth was, he'd only told half the tale to the wing spiker. There was another part, a part that would break Iwaizumi, so Kageyama had refrained from telling him.

There had yet to be a non-lethal way to get the demon out of the person's body.

It always left after the person died, for a decomposing body would do no good to it. 

He didn't know why he hadn't told the full truth, unless he was hoping that that particular part had been myth. Whatever this was, it was terrifying. Should he have ever even come in the first place? He could've pretended to be so hurt that he had to go back to his home, where he could use volleyball as an excuse. It would've worked, too, because he played so intensely every day. His parents would force him to rest. He'd "begrudgingly" comply.

His parents.

Where were they right now? Did they know where he'd gone? Did they think he was at a training camp, with Oikawa and the other schools? When would he get back? Would this insanity ever end?

No. I can't lose focus now. If I can't do this for me, I have to do it for Iwaizumi-san. I don't know what'll happen to him when he finds out, but I guess I'll have to cross that bridge when I come to it.

Whatever happens, I have to stick with him.

Tohru watched with watery eyes as Iwaizumi left. He was gone, wasn't he? He would never come back, and Tohru didn't know the way back to his teammates, or his enemies. He felt strangely disconnected from it all. It was a weird feeling. His friends no longer felt like friends, and his family was gone. He had been torn away from them. He'd also been torn away from Iwa-

Hajime.

I like Hajime better, he decided. And it's not like he'll ever know anyway. 

Because he knew the real reason that he accepted that deal. It was because he wanted to run away. He was scared. Scared, because he'd fallen in love, and it was with someone who would never return the feelings he held. The feelings that gave him hope that was much like a weak, fragile flame in his heart, sputtering out sometimes, but coming alight all the same.

He wished he could stop caring. He didn't want to feel anymore. It was too much, too much on top of everything that was going on. 

"TURN AROUND! GO BACK TO YOUR FAMILIES! GO BACK TO YOUR HOME! GO BACK TO YOUR LIFE! IT'LL BE THE SAME! YOU'LL JUST BE LIVING WITHOUT ME!" 

The tears broke free from their ducts and slowly dripped down his face. Tohru wanted to scream it at them. He was a hopeless case. He couldn't be saved, and he knew that. He'd accepted it. All he had to do was tell them.

But no one ever heard him.