Kenma took slow steps towards Y/n's old bedroom door, hesitating to go in.

Y/n was facing opposite of the door, leaning on her dresser as she hugs her knees and tried to silence her sobs.

He was about to go in when he felt a hand on his shoulder. The boy turned around to see a man, her uncle, Keishin Ukai.

The man stared at him seriously, as if he was telling him to let him handle the situation.

Kenma got the message and moved out of the way for Ukai to pass.

Y/n's sobs were quiet and held back.

She heard heavy footsteps coming towards her and a sigh from above.

The girl lifted her head carefully before spotting her uncle who came to chek on her.

Ukai sat down carefully next to the girl to comfort her.

"Hey, kid." he said casually as he looks directly to the window.

All he heard were soft whimpers in response, he could tell she was holding back her tears and voice by the way she buried her nails on her arms.

"I-" he tried to speak but was quickly cut off by Y/n's words.

"I didn't do anything, right?" she said calmly as she lifts her head up to see the stars out her window.

Tears were still flowing from her now red and swollen eyes but she never made a sound.

"I know you didn't do that." Ukai reassured.

He sighed as he focused his eyes on her old bedroom's ceiling.

"Why didn't you defend yourself?" he asked her calmly, dropping his usually commanding attitude he always used when coaching his volleyball team.

"What's the point? They wouldn't believe me." she answered, eyes wide open while staring into space, her tears still flowing.

"I believe you." Ukai answered as he ruffled her hair like he used to when she were a little kid.

Her head slowly turned to look at him.

"...You do?" she stared at him silently before answering.

"You're a good kid, you always have been." he said while smiling lightly and he looks around the room.

She remained silent wiping her tears with the handkerchief she has brought.

"Am I?" she questions her uncle's statement.

Ukai smiled and looked to the floor remembering a memory from when his neices were just little girls.

"You know..." he paused and turned to look at her.

"When you were four, your mother told me to look after you and your sister for a day because they had to leave for work." he began to tell her a story.

Y/n nodded slowly in response, not bothering to look at her uncle because of her swollen eyes.

"I got you guys ice cream and the both of you wanted chocolate... but there was only one serving left." he continued.

"So you let her have that one and you just got a plain old vanilla ice cream." he finished and smiled.

"And then there was this one time when you were three when you both got gifts from your aunt." he began to start another story.

"You really liked your gift, it was your favorite color. But S/n liked yours better so you offered to trade and she accepted." he said in admiration.

"And you're point is?" she asked before sniffing.

Ukai stayed quiet, not knowing what to say next because none of it seemed to be working.

"I'm selfish." Y/n insulted herself.

"You aren't." her uncle replied immediately.

"If I wasn't then I would've let him go earlier." she turned to look at him with an unreadable expression.

He couldn't tell if she was sad or just mad.

Ukai took a deep breath before returning back to his original position.

"It's okay to be selfish sometimes..." 

"You can't always just let your sister have everything you can't." he advised her.

"I'm not telling you to fight your sister, just confront her. Okay, kid?" he asked and only got a nod from the girl in response.

"You deserve to be happy too." he said with a straight face as he looks up to the ceiling.

"I do?" she asks, slowly lifting her head up and turning it to her side to face her uncle.

Ukai nods in agreement.

"You can talk to me... you know?" he asks her.

People tell you you can talk to them but they never actually listen.

BF/n's words ran through her head.

She sighed before responding,

"They all say that." she says, unfazed.

She turned to look at her uncle again, surprised to see that he was now looking at her too with concern in his eyes.

Y/n sighed before making up her mind. She'll tell him. She trusts him.

She felt comfort.

It felt nice finally having a person in her family by her side.

Her whole life she felt like she never had any family. She never had someone to call when she needed to talk except for BF/n and Kenma.

"Kuroo..." she began.

"We started dating when I was a first year... I really liked him, I didn't really know why." she didn't know which words to say, but Ukai just stared at her waiting for her to continue.

He was listening.

"And in my second year, I introduced him to my family as a friend. We kept our relationship a secret because he had a lot of fans and S/n probably wouldn't be able to keep her mouth shut and accidentally spread rumors all around the school." she continued as Ukai was listening to her story beside her.

"And then when Kuroo graduated, they went to the same university."

She remembered a scene from Kuroo's birthday, where he was laughing with a girl beside him that wasn't her.

"I visited him once. He was really happy. He looked like he was having a lot of fun." she explained.

"...But it wasn't me who laughed and smiled with him." she added.

"It was her." she continued while playing with the ends of her hair.

"He's happier with her."

"So I let him go, for the both of them to be happy."

"...Like I always have." she said silently while looking at the sleeves of her dress covered in tears.

Ukai stared at his crying neice, but instead of pity, he felt sadness. He knew that she didn't deserve every singe ounce of pain she had experienced. And she shouldn't have to experience it ever again for the rest of her life.

"And the thing is, the night I broke up with him... he said something."

Ukai waited for her to finish her sentence patiently.

"He asked me, What the hell is wrong with you?." she quoted which infuriated her uncle.

"And I asked myself too..."

"I asked myself, What the hell is so wrong with me that everyone leaves me the second they meet her?." she stressed.

Silence filled the room.

"Nothing." her uncle responded, wrapping his arms around the girl protectively.

"Nothing's wrong with you." he said to her comfortingly.

"Your parents suck." he said jokingly, but the both of them knew it was true.

"They do." she chuckled while a tear fell from her face.

"You'll be happy. I just know it." Ukai said to her while patting her head.

"Hey." Y/n called out to him.

He would've smacked her for being disrespectful if not for the moment they were having.

"Yeah?" he asked casually.

"It's not too late to adopt me, y'know." she said jokingly which caused her uncle to laugh.

Ukai stood up, lending his hand out to help her neice stand back on her feet.

"But... I do hope they make up." Y/n whispered.

"Why?"

"Because S/n was innocent and as much as I hate to admit it I still kinda care for her." she confesses.

"I always thought that rooster head was a bit nice... but now, he's kind of an asshole." her uncle reasoned.

"He is... but that asshole makes her happy, and she does the same." she explained.

"And besides, I don't blame him for leaving me. I kinda expected it."

Ukai realized that Y/n had never gotten a chance to properly grow up, it was like she was already mature when she had just been born.

He noticed that by the age of five, the girl's happy and bright attitude and personality to the world began to dim and dim until it was just a dead lightbulb.

A star that doesn't shine.

"Someday, you'll meet someone that will always stay with you." Ukai said to her and pat her head.

He wanted to say "Maybe you already have." but he knew she had to figure it out herself.

Ukai walked out the door and saw that the pudding-haired boy was waiting by the stairs silently without doing anything.

Ukai walked passed him, giving him a smile of approval and a thumbs up.

Kenma hurriedly walked towards her room only to be shocked by Y/n who was standing directly by the door.

He stood in his place, shocked but he began to process the situation and immediately grabbed her into a hug and held her head by his chest that was beating rapidly.

He stroked her hair gently.

She felt a feeling of comfort in her body, so she decided to stay like that for a while.

"You had me worried." Kenma tried to say calmly, which was the opposite of what he was feeling.

God, he was anxious.

"Should I be worried?" he blurted out suddenly causing Y/n to chuckle sarcastically.

He let out a sigh of relief.

"I'm a bit better..." she answered, not letting him go.

Thank god, you're okay.

Thank god, you're here.

...