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Chapter 44

"She's burning up..."

"EH?!"

"Guys... Look at this." Aijima, who was by her laptop, since it was lit up, told the others.

Everyone, except Shinomiya who was still holding Kato, went to look at what Aijima was looking at.

"An audio file?"

Nanami then clicked on the audio file and a song was played.

"A song...?"

"What was it that got me into music, again?
Was it the record player that my dad had?
Listening feels good.
Just listening doesn't require any effort, after all.

A preface isn't needed, so I'll just get straight to the point–
One day, I thought:
"Perhaps, this hole could be filled up if this song were to become mine.

And so, I stole"

Ah, it's still not enough. Nothing's enough.
I'm not satisfied at all.
I won't be able to live alone if this goes on.
I want to learn more. I want to learn of love
And of something so beautiful it'll sate my heart.

"One day, I realized that the song playing all over town was my own.
Well, no wonder it became popular.
I made it by stealing a masterpiece, after all!

That guy is an idiot. This guy is an idiot, too.
Everyone who showers them with praises is an idiot as well.
And the true value eludes the crowd, which flocks like crows.
Well, I guess I'm the same as them"

Ah, something's still missing.
I've stolen this much but I'm not satisfied in the slightest.
I can't be satisfied just with superficial words.
I want to learn of love. Just money isn't enough.
I want to learn something so beautiful it'll sate my jealousy.

The song continued as the room was deadly silent when they listened to the lyrics.

"Did Kotone... write this?" Jinguji questioned but no one answered him, as they didn't know what to say as well.

Then, something appeared on her laptop.

Upload complete.

They stared at those two words with wide eyes.

"Guys? What's wrong? I can't see." Shinomiya said, trying to look at the laptop since they were surrounding it.

"She uploaded the song? Where?" Kurusu muttered.

Few seconds later, Kato's phone was beeping with notifications. Hijirikawa picked it up and saw a lot of likes and comments on LIME.

"She posted it on LIME..." He told them which of course shocked them.

"Ugh..." They heard a groan coming from the aquamarine haired girl.

"Koto-chan!/Kotone!/Kotone-chan!"

The girl slowly opened her eyes but her vision was slightly blurry. Her head was pounding as well.

"G-guys...?" Pain shot through her head which she held tightly.

"You need to go to the hospital." Ichinose said in a stern tone.

"No... There's a meeting with HEAVENS tomorrow... I can't..." Kato tried to stand up but Shinomiya held her down.

"You can't! You're burning up, Koto-chan!"

"It's okay. I'm fine."

"No you're not!"

"Kotone-chan, this..." Nanami mumbled as she looked around the room and Kato's laptop.

"Ah... I was planning to tidy them up. But guess it took a toll on me. I'm sorry I caused too much ruckus."

"What about the song?" Aijima asked, eyebrows furrowed with worry.

"... I don't want to talk about it."

Her friends look at her with worry.

"Don't worry. I'm fine. Though, I supposed I don't have a place to sleep now." Kato laughed sheepishly.

"You can stay in the room next to yours once your fever has died down and when the room is cleaned up."

They turned around and saw Tsukimiya and Hyuga standing by the door with a frown.

"Ringo-san... Ryuya-san..." Kato said softly as her lips quivered.

"It's okay. Just take some rest. Shiny said so too."

"But..."

"It wasn't your fault, Kotone." Tsukimiya smiled reassuringly at the girl. Hyuga doing the same.

Kato stared at them with wide eyes before she started crying.

"I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I'm sorry... It's all my fault... Everything's my fault... I shouldn't have done that... I'm sorry..." Kato's voice started to become softer and soon she feel asleep in Shinomiya's arms.

"Bring her to the next room and put a cold pad on her forehead." Hyuga instructed which they nodded.

------------------

Shinomiya placed Kato on the bed as Nanami placed the cold pad onto her forehead.

They left and headed to where Tsukimiya and Hyuga were.

"Tsukimiya-san, Hyuga-san, did you listen...?" Nanami asked.

"We did, and so did Shiny. After she posted it, it went viral. Everyone is talking about it. But, I'm sure her family is the most worried." said Tsukimiya.

"Why?" Hijirikawa asked.

"We're not the ones who should tell you. You should ask from her family, or directly from the person or family involved." stated Hyuga.

"Directly?"

Tsukimiya and Hyuga looked at each other. "We're sorry. But we can't tell you that."

"When Kotone and I went to look for Otori Eiichi, he mentioned that he knows something about her. Do you perhaps know about it?" Ichinose asked. The others were desperate as well but Ittoki was slightly confused.

"Well..."

"Ryuya."

"They should know. In order to help Kato, they should know."

"..."

"What is it?" Kurusu asked. He had enough of Kato keeping secrets from them. But this is a serious matter, he, they need to know.

"You know that when she was a child, she started composing songs and she even changed some other songs, right?"

They nodded.

"Someone died because of what she did."

Everyone was having thoughts about what Hyuga said.

Someone died?

"I don't know the details about it. That's why I said you should ask the person directly."

"And who are they..." Hijirikawa asked.

"You and Jinguji will probably know them."

They were starting to get anxious.

"The Kikuchi family."

I literally started writing the Haikyuu fanfic 👁️👄👁️

And I alr wrote 2 chapters-