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"Oh, Tobio! I'm so proud of you!" His mother playfully ruffles his hair, her smile so wide that he could have sworn it would fall off her face.
Kageyama's eyes don't move from the window; he watches the greenery roll by, the grinning faces of the dog-walkers strolling aimlessly down the pavement with their pooches, the blurs of colour as cars passed their own.
His mother's pride warms his heart but he keeps his cold, emotionless facade in place, not even batting an eyelid when the doe-eyed woman beside him begins to praise even his 'handsome' looks.
"-I can't believe there aren't girls swooning over you-"
"Mum, you can stop now," Kageyama grumbles.
But his mother doesn't seem to pay attention. "And your eyes are so-"
"Mum!"
For only a moment, his mother goes silent.
"I get it, I look higher than average." Kageyama frowns at the child waving at him from a different car, resisting the urge to stick up his finger at her. "You don't need to keep going on and on about it, alright?"
"Okay. Okay, I'm sorry." His mother takes a deep breath as she adjusts her hands on the wheel. "It's just-"
Kageyama lets out a groan and swats at his mother's face.
The gesture was supposed to be playful but the woman's reaction was violent, more so than anticipated; the car swerves to the right as her hands spin the wheel, the tires shrieking in protest.
Fear and the scent of burning rubber assault his senses.
His mother's screams tear at his ears.
His entire world spins, as the car flips over.
The windows smash in.
And everything goes black.
---
Not a single soul was in the street.
There were no men smoking and drinking outside of the bar. There were no children on bikes whipping up the quiet roads. There weren't even any stray dogs hiding in the shadows of the alleyways.
It was completely empty.
"What happened?"
"Someone call an ambulance! I can see blood!"
Kageyama wipes his eyes, cheeks pale in the cold of the night.
"The kid! He still has a heartbeat... barely..."
"I need an oxygen mask and a stretcher over here!"
"What about the mother? Does she need an oxygen mask?"
Something in the dark pools of an alleyway twitches. Kageyama doesn't even notice it; the memories fresh in his mind as he walks.
"We can't save her. She's... gone."
"Oh no..."
"I hope she rests in peace."
He sighs, and his breath appears in a soft white cloud in front of his nose.
"Kageyama... it's about your mother."
"W-what? Is she... is she o-okay?"
"Kags, she, uh, didn't make it."
He felt his throat swell up and tears sprung to his eyes one more. This time, he doesn't wipe them away; they felt hot against his cheeks, but they weren't hot enough to make up for the warmth that had once held his heart in a tight, happy embrace.
It was his fault.
He had distracted her from driving.
He had caused her to panic, for reasons he still wasn't sure of.
He had killed his own mother, just because he hated how much she loved him.
It was his fault, and he knew it.
When his father - his poor, sobbing father - had told him of his mother's death, he hadn't felt anything. He had only felt the numbness in his body and heard the heart monitor's constant wailing underneath the TV static in his brain.
And after the shock past, the guilt came.
And with that guilt came the depression.
Kageyama kicks a pebble with his shoe, sending it skipping across the pavement. It distracts him, but only for a few moments; the wrenching self-pity still tore at his mind.
He just wants to forget. He just wants to leave it all behind.
And that's why he came to the street, right?
To find something that would hide the memories and guilt. Anything at all would do; he had even brought out money, just in case he comes across a drug dealer or a man with cigarettes.
Or maybe - hopefully, his brain adds, and his heart feels unsteady all of a sudden - someone on the street today felt like killing the helpless teenager just strolling down the streets by himself at night.
He hadn't ever smoked or done drugs before, but he was willing to start, just to leave his depression behind.
"It wasn't your fault, I promise."-
"Daichi, go knock him out."
A hit to the back of the head pulls him out of his flashback and everything goes dark.