A/N: Sorry for the wait, guys! I've been on a Haikyuu! binge recently and it's pretty much taken over my life! (hah) But here's a new chapter! People on tumblr were pretty excited when they found out what I was doing in this chapter so maybe you'll be, too? I don't know.

To the casual observer, Tuesday morning would have seemed like any other typical Inaba morning. People were still getting out of their houses to head off to work or school, and once you got close enough to the gates of Yasogami High, the before-school chatter was still there. The topics people were still talking about were the same as always, gossip about the town and the people in it, who was dating who, who had broken up with who, it was all the same.

But once you looked closer, you'd see things that were slightly off, slightly wrong. Like the complete silence in the Dojima household. Or the unusual quiet between Chie Satonaka and Yukiko Amagi as they walked to school. Or the suspicious absence of Kanji Tatsumi entirely after he hadn't cut class once for a few months now. Or the strangely loud volume of Rise Kujikawa's voice as she tried to be even more enthusiastic than normal. Or the pained look in Naoto Shirogane's eyes as she walked through the school gates, avoiding everyone's gaze.

Or Yosuke Hanamura walking his bike to school alone. Or Yu Narukami walking slower than normal, looking down at the sidewalk the entire way there.

Yu had left the house at 8:16 AM, and while on any other day, he would have reached the school at around 8:35, today he arrived at 8:53, leaving only seven minutes before class started.

Sitting down at 8:55, he received a quick glance from Chie and Yukiko before they turned back to the front. Yosuke was in the desk behind him, probably asleep.

Yu had ended up getting Yosuke's voice mail when he'd woken up this morning. Yosuke had sounded really wound up, just as he'd been last night, and frankly, Yu had no idea why. They'd won, Nanako was going to be okay, and Namatame had been caught. The case was over, solved, and done, so why was there still any reason to have any negative feelings at all?

Maybe Yu just didn't understand what exactly had happened in the TV last night. It had been quite an ordeal.

No matter what, he was convinced he had to make things right. And if things didn't make themselves better after this, he knew that it would all be his fault. After all, he was the team leader. It had all rested on him before now and that wouldn't change, no matter whether times were good or not.

"Hey, Yu?"

"Huh?" Yu turned around to see Chie looking at him across the aisle. "Hey, what's up?"

Chie sighed. "Nothing really, I'm just really tired. I got to bed later than I should have last night."

"Yeah, me too," Yu said, "What were you doing?"

"I invited Rise-chan and Naoto-kun over," Chie said, "Just as a stress reliever. We hung out, watched a movie, you know."

"That sounds fun," Yu said.

"Yeah, it was great," Chie said.

"You okay? Last night was pretty rough."

"Yeah, thanks."

"Good." That was a relief. That meant Yu only had six more people to worry about.

Chie leaned slightly closer, dropping her voice down to a whisper. "Hey, I don't know if you need to do anything about this. Rise-chan said she had it all under control, but I'm still worried."

"About what?"

"Our team morale. I don't know if you saw her much last night, but Yukiko's seemed... I don't know, just out of it since then. Same with Naoto-kun."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"I guess it's just the stress from last night. It was a huge deal."

"Yeah, I guess so. I just want to give everyone a group hug, you know?"

"Yeah, I know how you feel. Honestly, hugging everyone would do a lot of good."

"I don't know." Chie smiled. "Maybe I'll do that."

"Sounds great."

Chie giggled as the bell rang and students rushed to take their seats for the day. "Thanks, Yu."

"No problem."

After that, class seemed to go on as normal. It was another occurrence when nothing seemed wrong, nothing seemed really out of place. Yosuke got called on once fairly early in the morning, and as always, Yu gave him the answer. It was a simple history question, about the difference between Confucianism and Daoism. Right after answering it, Yosuke went back to sleep and no one really seemed to notice.

Except Yu. Normally Yosuke would spend the whole class either passing notes or turning around and whispering with him. This was a change, and not a good one.

After what seemed like an eternity of waiting, the bell for lunch finally rang, and people rushed out like all the classrooms were on fire. Yosuke was one of those people today, waking up to the sound of the bell and trying to get out of the class as fast as possible, even though he usually wasn't. Yu packed up his stuff and wondered why, staring after Yosuke as he left.

After about two minutes, he grabbed his bag and started on his way up to the roof, where he usually ate with the rest of the team. They were supposed to be up there right now, and today was the day when they were going to have a discussion of what exactly happened last night.

But was it too early for that? Clearly, at least according to Chie, some of them, if not all of them, were still getting over the shock of it all, including him. Especially including him. But was it better to talk while the memories were still fresh? Frankly, he had no idea what to do.

"Narukami!"

In a second, Kou Ichijo had practically leaped right next to him and wrapped his arm around his shoulder.

"Haven't seen you in a while!" he said, grinning, "What have you been up to?"

"Not much," Yu said.

"Well, that's good." Ai Ebihara had walked up on the other side of him. "We were beginning to think you'd actually gotten a life without us."

Yu chuckled. "Where's Daisuke?"

"He's off at a soccer club meeting," Kou said, "Stuff about qualifications for being captain next year. We are going to be third-years after all!" He sighed. "This year's going by really fast."

"Yeah, it is," Ai said, before turning to Yu, "So, what are you doing today? Wanna come hang with us for lunch? It's kinda lonely without Daisuke around to make jokes with the idiot over here."

"You talking about me?" Kou tried to fake pout, but eventually gave up and broke into a grin.

"Yes, I'm talking about you!" Ai said, "Who else would I be talking about?" She turned back to Yu again. "So, how about it? Wanna come along for the ride?

"Sorry, can't." Yu shrugged. "I promised some other friends I'd eat with them."

"Your usual posse, eh?" Kou smirked. "Just tell us if you need some people to liven up the place. We'd be happy to help."

"I'll keep that in mind."

"Hey, is something wrong?" Ai's eyes narrowed as she looked at Yu. "You look kinda... I don't know, out of it."

"Nah," Yu said, "Just tired." He wasn't exactly lying. Just not telling the whole truth.

"Aren't we all?" Kou chuckled. "It's a fact of high school life!"

"That's true," Ai said, "I've been in a perpetual state of zombie since April. That's just how it works."

"Yeah," Yu said, looking at the clock, "I should probably go."

"Cool." Kou waved at Yu as he ran off. "Text me if you wanna hang out sometime! We could shoot some hoops together, maybe invite some of your friends and we could all play a game of three-on-three!"

"Sounds fun!" Yu waved back as he started up the stairs. "I'll ask them!" Not now, of course. Next week, maybe, but definitely not now.

Once he got up to the roof and opened the door out onto it, everyone else turned to look at him as he walked out and took a seat next to Yukiko.

"Hi, senpai!" Rise waved with a smile. "Having a good day so far?"

"Yeah, thanks," Yu said, "How about the rest of you?"

Everyone shifted uncomfortably in their seats at the last comment. Chie was the only one who gave a slightly uncomfortable grin, while Yukiko looked down at the ground and Yosuke and Naoto looked away entirely, both staring into the fog off the rooftop. Things weren't getting any better after a day, and maybe the only way to get over it was to talk about it.

"Okay," Yu said, "Are you ready to talk about last night?"

"I am," Chie said, "I don't know about everyone else."

"I guess I am, too," Yosuke said, "We should talk about it while it's still fresh in our minds and stuff."

"I don't think we should do it until Kanji gets back," Rise said, "It'll be better to discuss this with everyone here."

"I agree," Naoto said, "It would also be better to wait until everyone can think clearly about it. I know I'm speaking for myself when I say this, but would it be wrong to say that we can't exactly think straight less than twenty-four hours after the incident?"

"Yeah," Yukiko said, "That's definitely true." She still didn't look up at everyone else.

"Okay," Yu said, "Let's just talk about it whenever Kanji gets back. Is everyone ready for as soon as tomorrow?"

Everyone nodded slowly, before looking down and starting to eat their lunches.

They were silent enough, the barely audible sounds of chewing being the only sounds that Yu could hear, but the fog itself just made it seem like they were even more alone. Past the edge of the rooftop, it was almost impossible to see anything, even the grass and the school gates down below. And now that they were entering the darkest part of the winter, the sun hadn't made an appearance in a very long time, only making the foggy gray sky even darker.

After about ten minutes of unbearable quiet, Chie was the first one to stand up and stretch.

"Jeez, guys, it's way too quiet around here!" she said with a grin, "Liven up the mood a bit, will ya?"

No one really returned the favor, except Rise, who tried to smile for a while. Her face took a glum turn once she saw everyone else frowning all around her.

"Um, I'm going to go down to the library now," Naoto said, standing up, "I have some studying to do."

"Okay!" Rise said, "See you after school!" She waved briefly before putting her hand down and looking down at the ground. "What happened?"

"What do you mean?" Yukiko asked.

"Last night," Rise said, "It changed something about us."

"Yeah," Chie said, "How did we go from super-chummy to not talking at all? It doesn't make sense."

No one else spoke for a few seconds. Like Yu, they probably had no idea what to say.

Rise sighed. "I guess a lot of stuff happened. I think it'll be better by tomorrow."

"Yeah," Chie said, "I hope so."

Yukiko stood up. "I should probably go back inside. It's kind of cold out here."

"Yeah, I'll join you," Chie said, "Bye, everybody. See you later, I guess." Her shoulders slumped as she followed Yukiko back into the building.

After she left, it was just Yu, Rise, and Yosuke out on the roof, none of them really wanting to talk to or even look at each other.

"Hey, Senpai?" Rise asked.

"Yeah?" Yu said.

"Can you..." she paused, thinking of what to say. "Could you try to make everything okay? I'm trying my best, but I don't know what's going to happen or if I can do anything."

"Hey," Yu said, "It's okay. It'll all be okay in the end. This is just a speed bump. I'll help you if you need it."

"Thanks." Rise smiled. "I should probably go. It's a long way to class, and I want to get some stuff done before lunch ends."

"Okay," Yu said, "I'll see you later then."

"You can count on it!" Rise grinned before waving goodbye and taking a few tentative steps before walking back inside.

Yu and Yosuke were alone, just like they'd been last night, facing Namatame's Shadow. That almost seemed like a year ago as opposed to the sixteen-or-so hours that had actually passed since then.

The only difference was that this time, they weren't nearly as energized as they had been before, and there was a rift between the two of them that hadn't existed last time.

Yosuke was sitting down on the ground, looking out into the fog, trying to see if he could make anything out of it. He was frowning, but Yu couldn't tell if it was in concentration or something else. Either way, he was fairly worried.

"It's gotten pretty thick, hasn't it?" Yu walked over and sat down next to him.

"Yeah," Yosuke said.

"What's up?" Yu asked, "You've been in a funk all day."

"I think we both know why," Yosuke said, "You just can't say it."

"What are you talking about?"

"Last night, dumbass." He looked down at his feet. "I've been thinking about it a lot lately."

"Yeah, I know. I got your call."

Yosuke's eyes widened. "You did? Then why didn't you call me back or text me or anything?"

"I was running late this morning, I couldn't do anything besides get ready for school."

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

Yu looked over at Yosuke, who didn't try to meet his eyes. "Tell me everything."

"What do you mean, 'tell me everything'?"

"I want to know exactly what's going on with you right now. Why are you acting like this?"

"Why do you care? You probably don't trust me anyway."

"What?"

"Come on, admit it. You can't look at me the same way ever again after last night. It was brutal, and I don't expect you to forgive me anytime soon, if at all."

"Yosuke, are you serious? Why on Earth do you think

that's how I felt about all this?"

"Do enlighten me, because I don't know your side of this at all."

Yu chuckled. "To be honest, I'm pretty impressed."

"I almost killed you!"

They both went silent after that, for maybe twenty seconds. To be honest, Yu didn't have much of a comeback, because without a few major facts that made last night what it was, that was pretty much what happened.

"Okay…" Yu said. He went slowly, so he wouldn't be in danger of running out of things to say and stopping mid-sentence. "But that's not what I'm talking about here. I'm talking about what happened after that."

"Does that even matter?"

"Yes, it matters. In case you didn't get it at the time, you were the only one of us who was able to break free of Namatame's control entirely on your own. If you hadn't done that, we would probably all be dead."

"And your point is?"

Yu chuckled. "Thanks a lot, Yosuke. I couldn't have done it without you."

"Oh!" Yosuke laughed nervously. "You're welcome." He sighed, before looking back at Yu. "I'm really sorry, dude. About everything."

"It's okay. I accept your apology."

"Thanks."

After that, they both stared out at the fog just past the rooftop. It almost seemed close enough that you could stick your hand out and feel the gray wall in front of you.

"Hey," Yosuke said, "Can I tell you something?"

"Yeah," Yu said, "What's up?"

"Last night was just really weird and uncomfortable, you know?" Yosuke said, "It's just... agh, I don't know how to explain it. You wouldn't understand just how it felt to be in that situation."

"Yeah, I know. I'm not going to try."

"Okay." Yosuke paused for a second, looking up at the sky in thought. "Listen, you might think it's fine, but I don't. I'm not going to get over this for a long time. Sorry."

"It's okay."

"It's not!" Yosuke's voice suddenly got louder and more aggressive, and Yu had no idea why. "It's just not, okay?"

"Okay."

"Sorry, I'm just really on edge right now."

"Yeah, I get it."

"You know, you're not acting any different than you usually do. You're still not saying much."

"Do you want me to talk more? Because I can."

"No, you don't have to. It's kind of nice, having something somewhat constant with how things were before."

"All right, then."

"And, uh…" Yosuke chuckled. "This sounds really dumb, but…" He smiled. "It's fine just having you there, you know?"

"Yeah." Yu smiled back, before he scooted ever closer to the other boy and put an arm around his shoulder. "If you want to talk, you know who to call."

"Thanks." Yosuke leaned his head on Yu's shoulder. "It's really over now. I've been so preoccupied with everything last night that I haven't thought of what it all meant."

"I almost can't believe it." Yu chuckled. "The case is actually closed."

"Yeah, I know! It's weird." A frown began to appear on Yosuke's face. "Um, we're still going to be friends now, right? I mean, all that TV world BS was the only real reason we had to keep talking to each other after the first day of school, and you have friends who are a lot cooler than me."

"What? Of course we're still going to be friends!"

"Good. When are you leaving again?"

"March 21st."

"Which means we have four months until the city gets you back again."
"Actually, I don't really want to go."

"You don't? But this place gets so boring sometimes, I'd honestly rather live in the big

city than out here in the boonies."

"Yeah, but..." Yu paused. "It's almost harder to make any friends in the city. There are so many people and you don't really get to know anyone really well because you just know everybody. You know what they look like, maybe a bit about them, but it isn't a deep bond or anything, you know?"

"You have a point."

"Anyway, out here, you see the same people all the time, and there aren't just that

many of us, so you just get to know more about everybody. Like you see someone at school, and then you see them at Junes, and then you see them all around town and... you know what I mean."

"Yeah."

"I'd say I'm better friends with all of you than I am with anyone else I ever met before coming here, if I was completely honest."

"Yeah, I know." Yosuke smiled. "You know what, dude? I don't want you to go, either."

"We still have four months! Don't get so sappy yet!"

"Okay, I won't!"

Yu smiled. So maybe Yosuke was finally back to normal after all. Maybe they could just finally put this thing to rest.

"But.." Yosuke sighed. Or maybe they couldn't. "Hey, could you do something for me?"

"Yeah, sure, anything."

"I want you to be completely honest with me here, because I want to know so I can make things right."

"Okay."

"Last night, in the thick of everything, how did you feel? What was going through your head?"

What kind of answer was Yu even supposed to give? What kind of answer was Yosuke expecting? He was probably expecting something a lot worse than anything Yu could say to him, which was good. But was Yu sugarcoating it? Even if it was the littlest bit, Yosuke had said to be honest, so what was the truth here? Was it really as bad as Yosuke seemed to think it was? To be honest, Yu couldn't really remember much of it. It had all gone by in a blur as far as he was concerned.

But out of the bits and pieces he did remember from the worst part of it...

"I was -" Yu paused. Did he really want to say this? He sighed, realizing it was for the best. "I was nervous. The slightest bit frightened. I don't know."

"I knew it," Yosuke said. He sat up and looked at Yu with a frown. "I knew everything wasn't okay. Dammit, I really messed up."

"No, it's okay," Yu said, "It wasn't your fault."

"Yes, it was!" Yosuke said, "I broke free, remember? That's what won us the fight in the first place. That means I had the strength to do it earlier. Who knows, maybe I always did? Maybe I could have prevented all this. Maybe if I had done something about it, Chie and Yukiko wouldn't be avoiding each other and Kanji wouldn't have gotten shot and we wouldn't have completely fallen apart."

"You had no control over that."

"Maybe I didn't, but I could have ended it sooner than I did. But I didn't."

"Yosuke, that's not what I'm trying to say -"

"Yu, I understand if you don't want to be friends with me after this. That was stupid and unforgivable - "

"Yosuke, what are you - "

"I'm such an asshole - "

"No, you're not, shut up - "

"I'm so, so sorry -"

"I know! -"

"I won't be -"

"Stop feeling sorry for yourself -"

They realized at the same time that they'd gotten ever closer to each other as they'd argued. Their faces were only a scant few inches apart. Yosuke stared right into Yu's eyes, eyebrows narrowed, not saying a word. Yu stared right back. The silence was only about a second long, but it felt like forever.

And then Yosuke closed his eyes, leaned in, and pressed his lips onto Yu's, slowly, but softly, in a way Yu wouldn't have expected after everything that had just happened between them. Out of all the things he imagined would come out of last night, this was the absolute farthest from it.

But in the end, Yu didn't exactly mind.

It only lasted for a few seconds, ten at most, but it felt like so much longer and lasted so much longer than that, even after it ended. It was almost like the two of them now understood things they never did before, never would have. It was almost surreal.

When Yosuke finally pulled away, his cheeks were completely red, his eyes wide. "Holy shit, I'm sorry!" He looked down at the ground. "I didn't mean to do that. I really didn't. I really fucking didn't."

"I know." Yu thought it wasn't wise to say any more.

"Damn, I'm such an idiot." Yosuke sighed. "Now you'll probably never want to talk to me again and – damn, I messed this whole thing up. I'm so sorry, man. That was so uncalled for."

Yu decided to not make Yosuke feel more uncomfortable than he needed to and got on to the point of this entire conversation.

"So did we make up?"

Yosuke took a little time to think before nodding. "Yeah. I mean, it'll take a little longer for all that to be really over, but between you and me, definitely." He looked away. "Well, mostly. Dammit."

"Good. I was getting tired of seeing you moping around all the time."

Yosuke chuckled. "Yeah, that isn't really like me, I guess."

Yu smiled. Now, this was the Yosuke he'd gotten to know over the past seven months. That was a relief.

"Hey," Yosuke said, "Thanks. You really knocked some sense into me, dude."

"You're welcome. I'm glad we could get over this."

Yosuke let out the breath he'd seemed like he'd been holding since everything started last night. "Yeah. Me, too."