Chapter Text
Yuuto threw his bag on the floor before letting himself fall on his new, tiny bed. Well, it was of normal size for a fourteen years old, he was just used to a bigger one. A bigger room too, this one was barely the size of his old closet, but once again, it was a very normal size for most people.
Going from a mansion where his bedroom was the size of an entire apartment to an actual apartment where he had to share his room was a huge change, but not a bad one. Here at least he had company, it wasn’t full of big and cold empty space, and he didn’t have to deal with his father.
Yuuto took off his goggles and held them in front of him.
Could he really call Kageyama Reiji his father? Sure, he adopted him and raised him for most of his life, but it was now clear that he never actually cared for Yuuto as a son, only as a tool to take his revenge on the football world. His hatred for the sport was so deep that he had killed and tried to kill people for an easy win.
He was better in jail.
A shy knock on the door took Yuuto out of his thoughts, and almost by reflex he put his goggles back on.
“Come in.”
The door opened, and a tiny purple head appeared behind it, looking at the teenager with big, innocent black eyes, full of curiosity.
Yuuto couldn’t help but smile at his cousin, and invited him to enter in their shared bedroom.
It shouldn’t surprise him that Reiji had relatives, especially relatives who wanted nothing to do with him, but he didn’t expect any of them to bother taking him in after learning his father had been arrested. And he especially didn’t expect to gain a cousin who immediately started seeing him as an older brother. It reminded him of Haruna before they were separated… Before Reiji separated them…
Hikaru happily walked in, holding a paper in front of him, and handed it to Yuuto.
“Yuuto-nii look what I made!” the three years old asked.
Yuuto smiled and looked at the paper, a colorful and messy finger painting.
“It’s very nice. Can you tell me what you had in mind?” he asked nicely, unsure what he was actually looking at.
The little boy climbed on the bed with him and pointed at different forms on the picture.
“That you, that me, and that Haru-nee!” he explained proudly.
“Oh yes, I see it now.” Yuuto ruffled his cousin’s hair, making him laugh, “You’re really excited to meet her, aren’t you?”
The child nodded happily and took his painting back before jumping off the bed.
“Mama said it’s dinner! Hurry Yuuto-nii!”
Maybe it was because of all the time he spent analyzing people’s play and movements, but Yuuto couldn’t help but notice that Hikaru had a surprisingly good balance for a three years old. Maybe he would make a good player? The Kageyama family had a bad history with football, but they had produced several great players. Maybe Hikaru, without the influence of his uncle, could bring their family name back into the light…
No, it wasn’t fair to him, expecting him to carry that burden would only repeat the cycle. For now he was a happy, shy, carefree child, and he deserved to enjoy it without the shadow of the past looming over him.
Putting those thoughts aside, Yuuto got up and joined his family for dinner. It felt nice being a big brother again.