Oddly enough when he got home that night Kageyama discovered that his scarlet string had gotten quite a bit longer. It was strange, but so was how it had suddenly started getting really dark when he began playing volleyball at Karasuno. Maybe he was just a freak of nature?

When Hinata got up the following morning the first thing he did was check to make sure that his string had the same crimson tint as the night before. It did, and he was immensely relieved that he wasn't doomed to be alone for the rest of his life. But it did make him wonder who his partner was. Maybe they had been in a coma or some other near death experience? Happily he got dressed and pulled on his black Karasuno jacket. Today felt like it was going to be a good day.

Back to the bundle of sunshine he typically was Hinata smoothly went through his day. He had completely shrugged off his fears from yesterday and was eagerly looking forward to meeting whoever his partner was. At lunch he walked past the vending machine and saw Kageyama deliberating what drink to get, as per usual. Humming he bounced over and leaned around his arm to see what the final choice was. Milk, also part of his normal routine. Why Kageyama had to think about getting milk every day was beyond him, but at least he was consistent. ("Just like his tosses," a voice in the back of his mind whispered.)

"Hey, hey, wanna toss to me?" He was overly excited and ready to attempt hitting Kageyama's throws again. The day before he knew that the setter must have been really disappointed, and he also wanted to prove to himself that he was better.

Ice cold eyes glanced down at him before softening almost unperceptively.

"Sure, let me finish this and then we can go practice in the courtyard." Kageyama almost never said yes, so Hinata was more than happy to wait for the five minutes it would take his setter friend to drink a milk box. As he sat on one of the benches he absentmindedly turned his wrist and watched as his thread moved with it. Upon further inspection he discovered that it had grown in length. Where was it leading?

He estimated that it was going in the general direction of the trash can that Kageyama was tossing his milk container away in. Discarding the ridiculous thought that his partner was a garbage bin Hinata jumped up and threw his volleyball at Kageyama's head. It didn't quite make it, and the setter grumbled at him before almost immediately serving it back.

"Wait no! Bakayama I don't want to work on receiving, I want you to toss to me!" He managed to catch the ball and fling it into Kageyama's waiting hands.

"You started it. I was just responding to the lovely throw you aimed at my face. Have you forgotten what happened last time already?" He smiled creepily and Hinata's mind flooded with images of the time he had hit their king in the back of the head with his serve. He was on the verge of apologizing and running away when he saw a toss coming in his direction.

"It's fine. You wanted to practice, right?" Kageyama muttered ominously. Still slightly intimidated Hinata nodded affirmatively, but kept his distance. As they practiced Hinata slowly calmed down and started teasing Kageyama as he would normally. Instead of getting mad and quitting like the previous time they had practiced alone because Hinata wasn't acting "serious enough" Kageyama smirked and called him names back.

Lunch was over too soon for both of them, and when Hinata went to stick his volleyball in his locker he noticed that his string was leading him toward the history class that he remembered hearing Kageyama talk about. Excited he was about to go into the room, but then he bell signaling the start of the period rang and he had to sprint to his own class.

Throughout the rest of the day Hinata did his best to follow his string, but every time it seemed he was getting close something happened and he had to go somewhere else. By the time he was getting ready for practice that afternoon he was sad that he hadn't managed to find his partner, but happy since it appeared they went to Karasuno. That meant that he would have another chance to search for them tomorrow when school started. Comforted with that thought he performed superbly during all of their drills, and complete 180 from what he had been during the last section of practice the night before.

"Um, Hinata how are you coping?" Suga was surprised that Hinata had managed to bounce back so quickly. He was a very optimistic person, but even for him this sort of character recovery was unbelievable.

"When I got home last night my string was back and it was a really dark shade of red. It's never been that color before! Then when I got to school today it started extending towards all sorts of places. I think my person goes to Karasuno." By the time he was finished speaking Hinata was smiling brightly, reassured by his thread's recent behavior.

Suga had never heard of something so strange his entire life, so he just grinned and congratulated his underclassmen on the new development. As long as Hinata was happy then it didn't really matter what his string looked like.

After finishing up for the night Hinata and Kageyama walked out of the gym together talking about a new type of quick they could work on the following day. To Kageyama it sounded outrageously hard to start using right away, but Hinata was excited and he said that with enough practice to get the timing down it could be amazing. His positivity was catching, and eventually Kageyama agreed that he would try to figure out how to toss for it on the agreement that they wouldn't attempt to use it in a match until they could consistently do it correctly.

As he began to pedal away Hinata glanced down at his wrist and saw that his thread went somewhere behind him. Turning in spite of knowing that he wouldn't see anything Hinata looked at the corner it went around. Breaking into someone's house during the night to see where his string led him was definitely unacceptable. Sighing the decoy starting pedaling again and tried to stop curiously wondering who his partner was.

Eagerly Hinata entered the school building ten minutes earlier than normal. If he was motivated he could get to places on time, but most of the time it was all he could do not to be late to everything. Once he had prepared his things for class he commenced following his thread. To his dismay it led off school grounds, meaning that his partner hadn't yet arrived for class. Impatiently he waited around for the distance to shorten. Just when he felt a slight tug on the line the two minute warning bell rang. Irritated that he had yet again failed to meet his partner Hinata ran to his class, which was on the opposite side of the campus.

As the day progressed Hinata did his best to yank on his scarlet line and alert the person on the other side that he was tired of waiting for them to show up. Sadly he kind of doubted that they got the message. Refusing to be negative, even if only to himself, Hinata collected his feelings and plotted how to find his person during lunch. There was no way he could fail with a whole forty minutes to search the school.

His string led into a classroom with a note on the door that read "Testing: Do Not Disturb." Frustrated Hinata decided that he would go ask Kageyama to practice the new quick with him. It was still pretty early in the allotted lunch time, so he was probably hanging around the vending machine trying to decide whether or not he wanted milk. Rejuvenated with the possibility of trying a new "gwaahh" move with Kageyama he made his way to the vending machine across from the courtyard. Surprisingly his friend was absent. Maybe he was already sitting on the tree out near the edge of campus?

Hinata checked all of the places he could think of that Kageyama might like to hang out. He even resorted to checking the other two vending machines in the school just to see if they had something Kageyama wanted that his normal one didn't. Every place he looked Hinata grew more and more panicked, thinking that something had happened to the antisocial setter. He hadn't seen him this morning before class either, which was strange since Kageyama hated being late for anything. After checking the gym and only seeing Asahi and Noya practicing he did the rational thing: Texted Kageyama. When he failed to get a reply after five minutes he sent a few more. As the minutes passed his messages become both more frequent and more frantic.

To: Bakayama

Where u at? I wanna practice

To: Bakayama

I've looked all over! What r u doin

To: Bakayama

Are u ok?

To: Bakayama

IF YOU'RE GETTING THESE ANSWER ME

To: Bakayama

Kageyama I'm getting kind of worried

To: Bakayama

I'm waiting near the gym

To: Bakayama

Ur not dying right? Or sick?

Sitting alone in front of the gym doors Hinata remembered that he was supposed to be following his string. Somehow it paled in importance next to finding out if Kageyama was alright.

To: Hinata

I'm fine. What's wrong with you? I was finishing up a test, be there it a minute.

As always Kageyama refused to use text speak, and typed things out completely. Calmed by the fact that his friends was, in fact, unharmed and on his way Hinata slid his phone back into his bag and waited patienty.

True to his word Kageyama showed up a little later, though he did look rather annoyed. ("Probably from all of those texts," said the rational part of Hinata's mind.)

"You wanted to practice so bad that you sent all of those texts to me. You couldn't possibly wait until practice tonight." His voice was practically dripping with disapproval. Flinching Hinata fidgeted and looked down.

"Well… I'm excited to learn the new quick so that we can use it by our next match…" It was true, but it was also the excuse that he thought Kageyama would be the most likely to accept. 'I failed to find my partner and you're my rebound activity' doesn't really sound that flattering.

"Lunch is practically over now; we'll do it at practice. See you then."

"Bye," Hinata muttered.

After his last class Hinata was walking toward the club room as he always did when he realized that his thread was going through the door. Unsure of what was going on he slowly pushed the door open. The entire team was in there changing for practice, which was nothing out of the ordinary. What was strange was that his hazel eyes were able to follow his string all the way across the room to Kageyama's wrist.

"It's you?" He whispered. "How could it be you?" This was a development that he never expected in his wildest dreams. Everyone looked up at Hinata's words, confused at what he was talking about. Kageyama glanced up last, and when he did his eyes widened. His entire face was blank except for his eyes, which practically screamed "What is going on?"

"Hinata what's going on," Noya asked irritably. He hated being left out of anything, no matter how trivial.

"It's him." Hinata mumbled before lifting his wrist. "He's the one at the end of my string."

The room went silent for a moment before Asahi broke in nervously.

"Congratulations?" No one was really sure how to respond, especially with all of the recent drama over Hinata's string "malfunctioning."

Welllll it actually looks like this is going to get an epilogue now to tie things up. Thank you to those of you that reviewed, etc.