Kageyama opened his eyes as he heard his name and sat up, coming face to face with a worried Asahi.
"Kageyama?" the frightened male repeated himself slowly, almost as if to ask if any interruption was permitted. His eyes grew wide in horror as he saw Kageyama's tearstained cheeks.
"O-oh god Kageyama what happened?! A-are you alright?! Are you hurt?! C-can I do anything for you?! Can I help you?!"
Kageyama blinked twice, unsure how to respond on that. But then, he chose to shake his head and get up instead. It was awkward, Kageyama noted. The gym was empty but them and none of them had a clue what to do or say, despite panicking Asahi was completely helpless in this situation. From outside Kageyama recognized chatter, the voices of Sugawara and Daichi. Please not now, he internally pleaded.

It wasn't very difficult to see Kageyama's stress on his face and Asahi's head jerked back towards the first entrance, then beckoned Kageyama to follow him and jogged out of the gym through the second entrance. Kageyama was relieved to know he didn't have to deal with Sugawara's motherhenning right now and just followed along. Who knows? Perhaps Asahi was a good company, too. The tall ace was more sensitive than the first impression gave away. Perhaps... perhaps he was a good choice to talk to. Kageyama couldn't possibly go ask his mother about this kind of topic.
A few meters away from the gym Asahi finally stopped and exhaled a troubled sigh. He wasn't the best to cheer people up, mostly it were the others who had to cheer him up. But Asahi didn't want to see Kageyama like this; he didn't look vulnerable at all right now and actually pretty much fine... if it wasn't for those red puffed cheeks. Kageyama's pokerface was amazing- perhaps he could learn a thing or two from him, at least he would be able to hide his fear then and wouldn't have Nishinoya jumping protectively in front of him at every little encounter with other teams.
"K-Kageyama," the ace said and turned around to face him, hand embarassedly rubbing the back of his neck, "I have no idea what's going on... I-I just know that Hinata didn't come to school today and wasn't at your house either. So... do you want to tell me what's going on? I doubt I can help but... it might make it less sad for you."
Asahi shot a warm and hesitating smile at him, something which made Nishinoya go into protective mode around his tall spiker. But Kageyama stiffened at this. For a moment, silence laid on the two colleagues until Kageyama scowled and motioned Asahi to sit down on the bench nearby.

Kageyama clenched his school bag on his lap in his hands, trying to find the right words how to start.
"Azumane-san, you... you know Hinata isn't normal, right?"
Asahi tilted his head and nodded, a hint of uncomfortableness flashing through his eyes.
"Yeah. He's a ghost who is longer here than us third years. But... more I don't know."
Kageyama narrowed his eyes and avoided to look at Asahi. It was quite mortifying to admit his true situation but could he help it? It wasn't going to help him if he just opened up to Sugawara. Hinata taught him to not always expect the worst of people... his team mates had given him a chance and now it was Kageyama's turn to give them a chance.
"That's not true, Azumane-san. We found out Hinata is a demon-" Kageyama stopped in midsentence as Asahi next to him let out an involuntary gasp of horror and waited a few seconds before he picked up his talk.
"-...who appears in front of those with an inner desperate wish. That's... that's the reason I could see Hinata. That dumbass kept nagging me daily to make a contract with him and when I bumped into Oikawa-san and Kindaichi in the Aoba Johsai bathrooms... everything kinda snapped and I made a contract."
Asahi listened quietly by now and for a moment, his eyes grew wide in realization. Right. That was the day Hinata showed up all of a sudden.
"...m-may I know w-what the contract was? You... y-you had to pay a price, right?"
Kageyama lowered his head. This was difficult.
"I..." he muttered, voice quiet, "I didn't want to be alone anymore... I wanted to have friends... Hinata said he was going to grant it in exchange for becoming visible and playing volleyball with us- with me."

Asahi's smile fell. Horrible. Just plain horrible. Why did he never see that? But Kageyama was the King of the Court, the genius, the emperor of Kitagawa Daiichi. He had always thought Kageyama hated other people...
Asahi never saw how much it seemed to tear him apart to be so awkward and horrible at making friends. Guilt began to gnaw on his bones. Why hadn't he approached Kageyama from the beginning? Asahi blamed himself for being the scaredy cat he was, especially when he had seen Kageyama acting all weird and talking to himself. Hinata must have done it different from the beginning... during the conversations Kageyama had seemingly had with himself he could tell Hinata never left him alone, even if Kageyama sometimes had an expression as if he wanted to murder him.
Behind the scowl Kageyama was just a scared individual... like Asahi himself. God, why hadn't he made a move on Kageyama? Things might have went different for him.
Asahi didn't realize Kageyama had stopped talking until they made eye contact. The ace flinched and immediately set up a bitter smile.
"I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry Kageyama. It's my... our fault. We should have approached you, regardless of your conversations with someone we couldn't see up until now. We... we are a team, after all. We should stick together. I'm sorry. I hope you are able to forgive us some time."

Kageyama stared at Asahi as if he had grown a second head. That was the last thing he had expected him to say.
"U-uhm... Y-you don't have to apologize, A-Azumane-san..." he stammered embarassed and Asahi shook his head, feeling equally awkward now.
"I-I have to! We never really approached you. I'm sorry."
Both kept quiet after that and avoided to look at each other. The silence was uncomfortable, tensed, Asahi was on the edge of either leaving or speaking up. He decided for the latter.
"So... I guess Hinata is gone... because your wish is fulfilled?"
Kageyama gave a silent nod and shrank a little on his seat.
"I-I don't feel alone anymore... Hinata made talking a lot easier. He would just talk and do some... I-I dunno, weird something to integrate me and suddenly I was in the middle of a conversation without even noticing it. It wasn't even awkward anymore, it was-... it was nice. I didn't feel alone anymore... and now... now he's gone... Sugawara-san said it's because we never set a specific time when our deal was going to end. So... now that I'm not feeling alone anymore and Hinata played some volleyball, the contract is fulfilled. But... but that's not what I want. I want to play volleyball with him, I want to win against Aoba Johsai in an official tournament, I want to win against Shiratorizawa, I want to win nationals, I-"
Kageyama cut himself off and shook his head lightly, he hadn't noticed he had started to ramble louder and louder by now. He wasn't in need to speak it out, Kageyama knew Asahi could forecast his next words.
I want to be with Hinata.
Asahi next to him was mildly surprised by the tiny outburst and smiled pitiful at him for a moment, then suddenly frowned. Cogs began to turn inside his brain.

"...if there are more demons like Hinata... aren't they somewhere catalogued? And... isn't there a ritual for any demon? Maybe... maybe you can summon Hinata if you find those notes about wish-granting demons. I'd say you research the library or internet. If you could summon him... you could make a new contract."
Kageyama spun bewildered around towards Asahi who flinched in return.