As soon as everyone was awake, they were on their way. Kageyama was managing to keep up, but the group collectively decided to take a break midday, even though the ravenette protested. Eventually, though, he gave up and sat on a rock. Iwaizumi sat next to him.

"Hey," he whispered, "I'm so sorry. I don't know what happened to Tohru."

"Tohru?"

"I- yeah. I don't know what's going on with him."

"It's fine. I just hope everyone else is still okay."

"Where were you?"

"It was a dungeon."

"He kept you in a castle?"

"Yeah, me, Seijoh, and Shiratorizawa. Well, most of them."

"Do you know why?"

"It was...about strength."

"...strength?"

"Yeah. He said that now, he was stronger than us, and he could finally be..."

"C'mere."

The two shared a hug. Breaking apart, Iwaizumi could see Kageyama wiping away something from his eyes that looked suspiciously like tears, but no comments were made. The ravenette was grateful for that. He didn't want to talk about the person Oikawa had become. It wasn't...

"Iwaizumi-san. I think I might know what's wrong with him."

"What?"

"I heard this story when I was a kid, Oikawa was a pretty firm believer in it- no, it isn't aliens- it was about this demon that feeds on hate. It'll take over a person's body, and as long as the person has negative feelings bottled up inside of them, the person will almost be trapped in their own head, and the demon will control them."

"That doesn't sound possible."

"Yeah, well I didn't think being magically transported to a castle was possible either."

"Touché."

"Besides, it'd explain how he suddenly and mysteriously got supernatural powers."

"...yeah."

"Anyway, I'm gonna go and find a place to take a shit, or something."

"Yeah."

It was a lame excuse, but Iwaizumi was glad that Kageyama recognized that he needed some alone time. That myth would explain Oikawa's sudden change, and why everything that had happened happened, but it just seemed so...ethereal. He'd never shown a hint of these negative emotions to him. Why?

Were they not as close as he thought?

Was he hated as much by Oikawa as everyone else?

"Look at him! He's scary!"

"He's a monster!"

"No one likes a scary monster like you!"

He blocked the thoughts out of his head as soon as he could, but it didn't do much good. He knew Oikawa wouldn't want him to hate himself for this. But was he faking it all along? Was it out of pity? If not pity, then what?

Was it some cruel joke?

He thought he had been Oikawa's friend.

Maybe it was the demon.

Maybe it wasn't.

But demon or not, something had happened.

Maybe Iwaizumi wasn't the person he thought he was.