Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

ON AN UNEVENTFUL DAY IN THE MIYAGI prefecture, a chilly air blew over the slightly busy streets. As people went about their business, a pair of ginger-haired siblings were biking down one of the roads towards their local park. The two nearly identical tweens were heading out with some friends to play soccer as they do on any other day.

They started to bike by a shop that had a television out front with two people already watching it. At the sound of the television, the orange-haired twin who had been pedaling the bike stopped and stared at the screen. It was a volleyball game between two high school teams. One of the teams was wearing uniforms covered in a dark navy blue and a bright orange. Interested at the sight of the game, they paused to watch it. To their amazement, they watched as the shortest players on the team jumped to an impossible height to spike the ball and earn a point for his team. The boy's eyes grew wide as he breathed out in awe at the feat the player pulled off.

The other tween, sitting in the front basket of the bike holding a soccer ball, looked at the screen as well with a raised eyebrow and a borderline bored expression. She hummed and brushed some of her shoulder-length hair from her eyes. The girl watched the match with a minuscule amount of interest. While she liked to play sports like soccer and baseball and was at least a little athletic, volleyball was never really something that intrigued her. Though watching it now almost made her fan of it. She had to admit how impressed she was by the shortest high school player, though not as awed as her brother.

"Truly a giant! That makes five point in a row!" The commentator exclaimed as the twins continued to watch the screen. One more intently than the other. "This is the Spring High School National Volleyball Championship. He might be surrounded by players as tall as 6'2", but that does not stop Karasuno's Tiny Giant from making a huge impact!"

"Oh Karasuno, the next town over." One of the two other men also watching the game commented. "They're not half bad."

Another tween rode up alongside the twins and came to a stop. His light chestnut hair swaying as he looked over to the two with a worried expression. "Hurry up, Shō, Saku-chan, we're going to lose our soccer field!"

However, Shōyō was still mesmerized by the screen. The image of someone so small, so short, having such an amazing ability like the Tiny Giant seemed to blow his mind. He was also on the shorter end of kids his age, like the Tiny Giant, and didn't even think that someone like him would be able to do that. "Karasuno..." He said in a sort of trance. With wide eyes, it seemed as though he had found someone to idolize. Instantly inspired after just watching a short snippet of the game.

He was then bumped on the head by a small pale fist from his sister in front of him. Shōyō cringed and rubbed his head with a pout. "Stop gawking and let's go." The girl drawled out.

"That hurt, imouto!" 

Sakura rolled her large, deep brown eyes, "I just want to get to the park already, now hurry up." While being impressed by the skills that the teens on the television displayed, Sakura didn't care as much as her brother. All that was important to her at the moment was getting to the park so she could let out some energy and lay around taking pictures of her brother fail at playing soccer. Shōyō was quite enthusiastic and athletic, but that didn't mean he the best at the sport. Her most precious pictures were of her brother getting hurt while doing something or other. She was kind of sadistic in a way.

So the group of friends headed to their destination. The image of the Tiny Giant still playing over in Shōyō's mind. It was quite obvious that he was now inspired just by watching a few minutes of that game. 

APPROXIMATELY THREE YEARS AND THREE MONTHS LATER

Excitement buzzed in the air around the short orange-haired boy who had run ahead of his team to get to the gym. His obvious excitement about having their game today was giving him far more enthusiasm than usual. He jumped down the staircase taking two steps at a time, nearly falling down a few times.

"Sho, slow down!" Izumi shouted after his overzealous friend while he and Koji chased after him.

Sakura shook her head and lazily followed after her brother's volleyball team. Her digital camera swayed around her neck as she walked down the steps. In the past three years, the girl didn't look as different as she did back then. The Hinata twins appeared to be just as similar to each other since they were little. The only difference was that Sakura had longer hair, like usual. There was also the fact that Sakura was a few centimeters shorter than her brother and obviously had some more feminine features. If her hair had been shorter, people surely would have mistaken her for her brother.

"He's really excited about this, huh?" Yuuki Kawashima, a first-year, commented as they descended the final steps.

Sakura scoffed, "that's an understatement." The three first-years turned to the older girl. "I had a hard time forcing him to go to bed because he was to hyped up for this."

"Really?" A different first-year, Tatsuya Mori, sweatdropped.

She nodded her head with pursed lips, "he can be such a pain."

The rest of the team, plus Sakura, finally caught up to Shōyō as he marveled at the gym. There were at least a dozen teams warming up at the nets or around the gym. Many were doing stretches, practicing jumps, serving, passing to each other, or practicing their dives. Each of them looked to be well put together and quite talented. Well, they look more skilled than Yukigaoka's team.

Shōyō took in the sight in awe. He was finally here! Finally, he'd get the chance to play volleyball just like his idol, the Tiny Giant. A real match against a real team for the first time ever. He had been dreaming about this for such a long time. "It's huge!" He took in a deep breath, "It smells like Air Salonpas."

"Don't say stuff like that, Sho." Izumi said, "It's dorky."

Koji, his dark-haired friend, agreed with a nod, "Yeah, don't be that guy."

"You're so weird," Sakura deadpanned.

"But guys this my very first real volleyball game." He exclaimed, "I've waited three long years for this."

Koji nodded his head, "That's true I guess it is kind of amazing we made it this far."

"Izumi, Koji," Shōyō turned towards the two, "thanks for coming to help our team out."

A light pink hue appeared on their cheeks, obviously due to embarrassment. "Don't make it weird," Koji grumbled as he looked away from his friend.

Izumi scratched the back of his neck. "Our game was the first one to finish, no need to make it a big deal."

"You too, first-years." Shōyō bounced up to the three other teammates. He was lucky to have gotten at least a few other players to make up a team, it was a miracle that these three had said they'd join. "I'm so thankful you three decided to join the volleyball club with me this season."

"Uh, sure. We're pretty terrible at this whole thing, but okay." Saiya Suziki, the third first-year on the team, said nervously at their captain's enthusiasm.

Koji stared at his orange-haired friend in slight annoyance. "Spare us the tears, Shōyō."

"I'm not crying!"

Izumi chuckled lightly, "You've got tears in your eyes." 

He disregarded that and jumped on his sister next and hugged her tightly, "Thanks for coming too, imouto!"

Sakura looked away from her energetic twin but didn't push him off of her. She was far too used to his behavior and his tight embraces. She shrugged her shoulders, trying to make it seem like she was indifferent though there was a light blush on her cheeks, "I'm just here for moral support."

"Um, I'm sorry to interrupt," Tatsuya said which broke the twins from their hug, "but we should really warm up now." 

Isumi nodded his head, "Come on, captain, you're in charge here."

"He's right, Shōyō. You're the one that dragged us into this tournament thing and you still haven't explained what all the rules are." Koji said in exasperation. It was true, even after forming the team and practicing just a little bit together, Shōyō had yet to go over how exactly to play. It probably would have been a good idea to do that earlier.

Shōyō spun around to face him with a shout, "I know that! Even though we barely made the cut, we are here to win this. Okay, guys."

Everyone stared at him in disbelief, except Sakura. She had already heard all about Shōyō's seemingly impossible goal to win the tournament. She had already gone through her shock last night. "We can't win with a thrown together team of rookies." Izumi blanched at his friend's high expectations.

"Sure we can!"

"Kitagawa first might be tough though." Koji thought out loud about the team they were matched up against. He had heard about them, along with their infamously terrifying reputation. They were one of the best teams around! How were they going to compete with that?

"Maybe. But I'll beat them anyway." Shōyō said with determination in his voice. He was obviously going to try and win this whole thing! The orange-haired boy even thought that he could try and win against some of the top tier teams. Though that seemed to be quite an impossible feat considering they were extremely inexperienced.

Sakura let out a sigh through her nose. She admired her brother's enthusiasm and determination but knew that it was displaced. There was no way that they were going to win this tournament, no matter how much Shōyō tried to hype up his team. Don't get her wrong, it was always a good idea to be confident especially when playing a sport. However, Sakura likes to look at the facts in this scenario. A team made up completely of kids who had not played even one actual game of volleyball didn't stand much of a chance. Call her a pessimist if you want, but that's how she sees it.

Just then footsteps were heard from behind the orange-haired captain as a team of extremely tall players walked up from behind him. Dawned in blue and white uniforms, it was the infamously powerful team from Kitagawa. Shōyō turned to look up at the players and blanched at just how intimidating they appeared.

"Excuse us!" Izumi said as he and Koji pulled Shōyō out of the way, "move dude."

The much smaller team watched them go with dread coursing through them. This was who they had to play against?! They were giants! "They're tall." Koji swallowed as they passed by the shell-shocked team.

The final player on the team who walked passed held an air of superiority, even over his own teammates. He was just as tall as the rest of the team, but for some reason, Shōyō felt like he was the player to really watch out for. Sakura was also surprised by the team and watched them with wide eyes. Though when she caught sight of the last player, she couldn't help but feel a shiver run up her spine.

Once the team passed by them, there was a loud roar of cheering which startled the small team. They ran out to see a large group of Kitagawa First Junior High School students cheering loudly for their team. There had to have been over four dozen kids there to cheer on their peers.

The other teams on the courts watched as the renowned junior high school team walked out to start practicing. "Hey, Kitagawa First is here." Someone commented.

"They're huge," His teammate marveled in slight fear.

On another end of the gym, a boy said, "Those guys scare the hell out of me."

"They're the best team around here."

A boy in an orange uniform said to his teammate, "They've got the king."

His teammate questioned, "The king?"

"What? You don't know? That's what they call Tobio Kageyama, he's a setter." He explained, "And he's supposed to be awesome."

Koji, breaking out of his shocked trance, pointed at the team with nervousness lacing his voice. "We'll be going up against these frickin' guys!"

"It'll be fine!" Shōyō exclaimed, "I don't care how big they are, I'll bust right through 'em!"

"Maybe you're right, Sho. You are a really good jumper." Izumi commented with a little bit of reassurance.

Koji joined in on the encouragement, "You've got this!"

Shōyō's stomach then let out a low rumble as his face started to turn a little green. His teammates stared at him as he hunched over clutching his stomach. "Wonder where the bathrooms are." Their captain then shuffled away, obviously sick with his nerves now. He groaned and whimpered as he walked off, to the shock of his team.

Sakura closed her eyes in despair at the sight. She knew that the pressure was going to end up getting to him at one point. "Well," she stared, gaining all of the boys' attention. "While Shōyō deals with that, you guys start warming up."

The boys nodded their heads at her suggestion, "Right!"

She flashed them a small side smile that disappeared just as quickly as it appeared. If they had blinked, the boys definitely would have missed it, "good luck, you're going to need it."

They all blushed at her encouragement and small smile. Sakura didn't smile, like at all, so the small uptick at the corner of her lips was rare. Of course, it also made her look quite adorable. Though, don't tell her that. She'd probably curse you for saying something like that about her.

The team then set out to do just as she said as Sakura made her way to the stands. She wanted to find a good spot of the game so that she could take some pictures. She trekked through the crowds of players and spectators. Though just as she was about to turn a corner to head up some stairs, she found herself colliding with someone.

She saved herself from falling over and made sure that her camera was safe. Brown eyes scowled at the person she had run into. Sakura had to look up quite a bit to see the eyes of the person who she had run into.

It was a member of the Kitagawa First team. He had black hair that was spiked up quite high. If Sakura had to be honest, his hair reminded her of an onion. He seemed to shiver slightly as he looked down at the girl who glowered at him.

"S-Sorry," he apologized to her as he backed away from her.

Sakura rolled her eyes and ignored him, "whatever."

Yūtarō watched the orange-haired girl walked around him and up the stairs, not sparing him another glance. He watched after her and noticed that she looked extremely similar to that little guy from that unknown school he's going to play against. The middle blocker shook his head and started to walk back into the gym. He had a game to focus on and not that scary girl.

The game between Kitagawa and Yukigaoka had started. Of course, Shōyō had made it back onto the court just in time to practice a little bit with the others after his run-in with the King of the Court. Kageyama was quite an intimidating guy, he admitted. Though it wasn't going to scare him off. Shōyō was going to give this game his all. He wanted to win against Kitagawa! He was going to do everything in his power to win this match and then the next and the one after that until they were in the finals.

As the first few points were scored, it was quite obvious which team was more experienced. Kitagawa won point after point in a row from simple mistakes that Yukigaoka made. Sakura watched from the stands in a comfortable spot, the only one there to cheer on the small team. It was kind of sad to see that the team of six only had one supporter in the crowd. Though she knew that the boys' spirits were being kept high by her brother. He encouraged them and kept them from being discouraged after a point was lost. Shōyō did what he could to make them feel better, even if they were being destroyed.

She occasionally shouted out some form of encouragement like 'nice try' or 'you'll get it' from the stand. Other than that, she stayed kind of quiet among the crowd. It wasn't like she could really be heard over the noise that Kitagawa's cheer squad was making anyway. Though she was able to get a few good pictures of her brother and friends. Even one of Koji getting hit in the face, that one was definitely a keeper.

Kitagawa had won the first set, not a surprise, but Yukigaoka had done their best against them. Shōyō certainly showed how high he could jump and spike the ball. That was impressive in itself. 

The second set started and unlike the first, Yukigaoka was able to score at least a few points. Not enough to really make it seem like there was going to be a comeback, but it was still an improvement. Sakura was happy to see her brother having such fun for his first official game. It may not be going as he had hoped, but it was better than nothing, right?

She would love to see her brother actually win the game, but that was something that was impossible to even imagine. Despite wanting to believe in her brother and friends' abilities, she knew that they were going to lose. It was a no brainer, sadly. Kitagawa was just a team that was more well put together than Yukigaoka with more experience. There was no way that Yukigaoka could compete.

Though during the second set, Kageyama made it quite clear why exactly he was called the King of the Court. Sakura could see that he was a very arrogant and controlling player. He demanded so much from his teammates that caused quite a bit of tension between them all. In all honesty, Sakura could totally see the team calling for mutiny against him. Though she admitted that he was still very intimidating with the glare that always seemed to be on his face.

The winning point that caused Yukigaoka to lose ended with a mistake on Shōyō's part. Though he showed off his speed at spiking a ball, he had hit the ball out of bounds, ending the game with Kitagawa's win. Though before they lined up for the end of the game, Kagayama had decided to shout at Shōyō from the other side of the net.

"What've you been wasting all your time on for three years?"

From the stands, even Sakura could see how the setter's words had affected her brother. Shōyō went stock still as he processed what Kageyama had said. Her brother was shaking with his fist clenched and his knuckles turning a pasty white. Sakura certainly wasn't happy that the pompous king had said something so insensitive to him. She wasn't the only one.

"What did you say!?" Koji shouted in anger and had to be held back by Izumi.

"Koji! Calm down!"

"You don't know a damn thing about what Shōyō's been doing."

"You can't pick a fight in the middle of the court." Izumi implored him to stop.

"Watch me!"

Eventually, Izumi got Koji to calm down enough to get in line and he turned to Shōyō to get him to do the same. "Come on, Shōyō, let's go."

They then parted to the opposite ends of the courts to thank each other for the game. Sakura just scoffed as she put her camera around her neck safely to take some final pictures of her team. She wasn't as upset about the loss as she was about that stupid King of the Court. Bothering her brother like that was uncalled for. He was just playing the game to his best ability, no need to insinuate that Shōyō had wasted his time doing what he loved. She stomped off from her seat once she put her camera away and went to meet up with her brother and friends.

She passed by a group of four older boys who had been observing some of the game. They were obviously from a high school because they were wearing the uniforms for the Karasuno High School Volleyball Club. Though Sakura just brushes past them, more focused on her journey to find her brother.

"So that's the King of the Court, huh?" One of the boys with silver hair asked. 

The one next to him with brown hair nodded his head, "uhu, he'll be a force to be reckoned with when he gets to high school."

The third boy with a shaved head stood up straight from his previous position leaning on the railing. "The short kid seems promising too."

"Wonder what high schools they'll choose," a blonde-haired boy said with pursed lips. The quartet of high school volleyball players then turned around and left the stands.

The third-years all gathered outside of the arena after the game. The first-years had already left, of course, after they made sure that Shōyō knew they were grateful they got to play. Shōyō was obviously upset, extremely so. Not even Sakura could seem to get him out of his small bout of depression over the game.

They walked towards the stairs where Shōyō stopped and stared out at nothing. Koji, Izumi, and Sakura shared a look with each other before Koji walked closer to their upset captain.

"Hey, we never stood a chance anyway." Koji said and placed his hands behind his head, "I heard those guys are candidates for the nationals."

Before either of the three could say anything else to Shōyō, the Kitagawa team themself came out of the building. After a small moment of silence between them, Shōyō finally spoke.

"No matter how good or bad each team is, in the end, it all comes down to winning or losing. If you lose, then you have to step off the court." He took a deep breath through his nose after his wise words before taking off down the stairs.

"Hey, wait up!" Izumi shouted after him as Koji did the same.

"What's the rush?"

Sakura watched her brother sprint down the steps to meet up with the one player who she may or may not despise at this point. After what he had said on the court to Shōyō, she wasn't going to let it go so easily.

"Hold it!"

Kageyama turned around to face who had called out to him. "Hm." He was slightly surprised to find that the orange-haired kid he had played against wanted to talk to him. 

Shōyō tried to get his words out, but his throat was starting to clog up slightly as the beginning of tears blurred his vision. "You might be the king who rules the court for now," tears started to stream down his face as he tried to stay strong, "but I'm gonna win, one day I'm gonna stay on the court longer than you."

Kagayama blinked up at him before narrowing his eyes and turning to him fully. "Only those who win get to stay on the court. Only the strongest. So if you wanna keep playing, then you have to become stronger."

A wind past between the two as the echoing sounds of the games still going on inside invaded the air. The challenge between them was now set. Shōyō was going to do everything that he could to improve upon his skills so that way when he met the setter again on the court, he would win. Kageyama then spun on his heels and walked away from the emotional boy.

The other third-years came down the stairs as well. Shōyō turned around and bowed deeply to them. "Thanks for everything."

The two other boys grew flustered once again at Shōyō's words just like they did before the game. There were even tears starting to build up in their eyes. "Dude, don't make it awkward," Koji mumbled, "you don't have to thank us alright?"

"Huh?" Shōyō tilted his head as he looked at his friends, "What are you crying for?"

"I'm not crying, okay?!"

Sakura just chuckled at her brother and walked up to him. She slung her arm over his shoulder and let herself smile just a little bit. "Come on, let's head home."

So months passed for the Hinata twins. Shōyō and the other first-years had to practice with the girl's volleyball club since they were still down two teammates. They adapted to what they had for the time being. Sakura, of course, continued to encourage her brother to do what he loved and to never give up, even if deep down she saw it as slightly pointless. Why practice when you didn't have a team to play on? Though she didn't question that out loud to her brother. He was happy, and that's all that mattered to her.

The twins eventually made it to the end of the year. Now they were no longer third-years at Yukigaoka. No, they were going to be first-years at their new High School. It didn't take that long to decide which school to apply to. Shōyō had made his mind up about which school he wanted to attend ever since he first saw the Tiny Giant during nationals. Karasuno High School.

Sakura didn't really care about which school she went to. Even though she had the opportunity to go to a different school based on her academic scores, there was no way she was going to leave Shōyō. They were together no matter what, high school was going to be no different. So here they were, their first day of school. It took them about a thirty-minute bike ride over the mountain, but the twins had arrived at their new school. 

Though unlike the previous years, Sakura decided to change how she looked, at least a little. After all, it was high school. Don't most people change their styles then?  Sakura had taken it upon herself to cut her hair to the same length as Shōyō's. Now, the twins looked even more similar to each other, not that they cared much. She just thought, a new year, a new her. So what if people mistook her for her brother some times, she didn't mind. 

They chained up their bikes together, made their way into the building, and suffered through the opening ceremony. After nearly falling asleep during the ceremony, Shōyō was bouncing with excitement and nerves. He had been up almost all night thinking about how his first day would go, much to his sister's dismay.

"Are you going to join a club this year, Saku?" Shōyō asked as they walked through the crowd of their new peers.

Sakura shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know."

Shōyō's eyes sparkled like a little kid on Christmas. "You should join the photography club this year!"

"I should?" She asked him. Sakura hadn't been in any clubs the year prior, she didn't really see a need for them when she could just spend her time taking pictures or studying. Besides her junior high school didn't even have a photography club. The only way to have taken pictures for school was to join the yearbook club, but she didn't want to deal with the plethora of popular kids who were in it. Karasuno though did have a photography club that wasn't just meant for the yearbook. She tilted her head and considered the idea. "I guess I could..."

"If you do you can probably take pictures of the volleyball team!"

Sakura nodded her head slowly at the justification, "I'll think about it."

"Cool!" He gave her a thumbs-up as he seemingly vibrated in place. "I'm going to go to the volleyball club, so meet up with me at the gym later, kay?"

Sakura smirked, "alright, see you."

The twins then parted ways, Shōyō heading to the gym to meet up with the volleyball club and Sakura searching for the photography club. Though one of them was going to get one of the biggest shocks of their lives once they made it to their destination.

Chapter Text

SAKURA TAPPED HER FOOT AGAINST THE FLOOR impatiently. Though really it was also in nervousness. She had been searching for the photography club for a few minutes before finally finding it. The president of the club was currently talking with a few other people about what exactly the club would do. Apparently they do take pictures for the yearbook but then those pictures get sent to the actual yearbook club and let them deal with them. They also take pictures for the newspaper as well, but they do more than that apparently. The club holds exhibitions every month of the pictures that the club members have taken. They focus on learning how to take the perfect picture and how to edit. They also had some of the best software and equipment to use for photography. Overall, it sounded pretty promising. At least it was better than doing it alone which Sakura had been doing since she could hold a camera. Plus getting to actually show off her pictures instead of just keeping them for herself sounded kind of nice. 

"Are you thinking of joining?" The president walked over to Sakura. 

The president looked like a nice girl. Obviously a third-year who was quite pretty with long light brown hair cascaded over her shoulders with bangs that swayed in front of her bright green eyes. She was at least a few inches taller than Sakura, which wasn't surprising considering most people were taller than her. She had a kind smile plastered on her round pale face as she approached the first-year.

"...I guess," Sakura muttered.

The girl continued to smile sweetly, "that's great! I'm Shimada Emi, president of the club."

The younger girl nodded her head in understanding, "Hinata Sakura."

"So how about it? We're always ready for new club members!"

Shimada was quite an enthusiastic person. She wasn't on the same level as Shōyō but still above average, Sakura supposed. It wasn't anything she couldn't handle though.

"Hm," she hummed and raised an eyebrow, "do we get to take pictures of other clubs, like the boy's volleyball club?"

"Oh, want to take pictures of those boys, do you? Got a crush on one of them?" Sakura bristled at the accusation as Shimada continued on with hearts in her eyes, "I can't blame you, just about all of them are adorable!"

The first-year shook her head frantically, "No! My brother is joining the team, I was just thinking about getting to take pictures of him, that's all."

"Alright," Shimada giggled, "well, we do have to take pictures of the other clubs, one or two people are assigned to each one. If you want to join, you can be assigned to take pictures of the boy's team. You'd just have to go to each game and such with them."

That fact alone was probably a deal-breaker for Sakura. She'd get to hang around Shōyō even when he was at his club. Plus being in her own club would give her a chance to make friends of her own instead of just befriending her brother's friends. High school was a time to reinvent oneself, after all.

Sakura pursed her lips and shrugged her shoulders lightly, "Yeah, it sounds cool." 

It seemed impossible, but Shimada's smile widened, "Awesome!" She scurried around to grab an application for Sakura. "Here you go, fill this out!"

Sakura nodded her head and started to fill out the application which only took a minute or so. Once she finished she handed it to Shimada who was ecstatic to have another member of the club. Photography wasn't exactly the most popular club at Karasuno. There was interest in it and there was a decent amount of members, but the number of new applicants had been decreasing yearly. So having any new members was one of the best things that could happen.

Now officially a member of the photography club, Sakura spoke with a few of the other members, new and old. She acquainted herself with them and was glad to say that they were all tolerable people. So now with her position as a new member and the boy's volleyball club photographer, Sakura started to make her way towards the gym. There was just one problem, she wasn't exactly sure where to go.

She was in a new school after all and didn't know the layout yet. Sakura did her best but ultimately was just wondering around aimlessly after about fifteen minutes. At this point, the only way that she would find the gym and her brother would be to ask someone.

Just then a beautiful girl with shoulder-length, straight black hair, the clearest skin that Sakura had ever seen, and a slim figure started to walk down the hall. She must have been an upperclassman from the way that she walked around with confidence. Confidence that none of the first-years had and was somewhat difficult to replicate. Someone who was familiar with the school, like this upperclassman, might know where the volleyball club meets. Seeing no other choice, Sakura decided to ask for directions.

"Uh, excuse me?" She approached the girl.

The girl turned to her questioningly and smiled kindly to the younger girl. "Yes?"

Goodness, even her voice was smooth and heavenly. "I'm looking for the boy's volleyball club, but I don't know what gym they're in. Can you tell me how to find them?"

"Of course," the girl smiled, "I was just heading there myself. You can come with me."

Sakura nodded her head, "Thanks, I'm Hinata Sakura."

"Shimizu Kiyoko."

Meanwhile, in the gym where the boy's volleyball club were supposed to meet up, Shōyō was arguing with the King of the Court himself. Well, he didn't like being called that apparently. Kagayama made that quite clear. Shōyō was easily able to get on the former king's nerves. Though it seemed that both of them were quite frustrated with each other. 

Their tense atmosphere was broken when they heard a few voices approaching the gym. "Who knew that the setter from Kitagawa First would end up at our school?" The first voice said.

"He better not be too cocky," A second voice exclaimed, "or I'll have to pound him."

A third voice sighed, "Give it a rest, Tanaka, you don't have to threaten everybody."

"What are you going to do about it? Huh? Yeah, that's what I thought."

A fourth voice scoffed loudly, "He'd probably just beat your ass if you did end up in a fight. You are quite weak after all."

"Why you-!"

"Uh, hello," Kageyama said as a quartet of upperclassmen entered the gym. The four of them were wearing the Karasuno Volleyball uniforms which consisted of a black jacket with black pants. Each of them was quite tall with slight smiles on their faces. Well, two out of the four had kind smiles on their faces.

The first was a silver-haired boy with slightly paler skin than the others. He didn't appear to be threatening or intimidating at all. His eyes were a light brown color that seemed to greet the first-years warmly. 

The second one next to him was a guy with brown hair and also brown eyes. While he had a kind smile on his face, there also appeared to be a spark of leadership in his eyes. It was quite obvious that he was most likely the captain of the team. 

The third guy had a shaved head and his eyes were narrowed at the two newbies. He had this sort of crazed look in his eyes that just screamed how crazy he was. Though his appearance alone would make someone think that he may be a delinquent, yet that was quite far from the truth.

The fourth looked a bit different than the others in the scense that he appeared to be a foreigner. He had blond hair with the right side of his head shaved. It was quite obvious that he put a lot of effort into how his hair looked as it shined slightly due to the gel in it. He had crystal blue eyes that held a certain sort of mirth in them as he pinpointed the newest members. His skin was softly tanned like the sun had given him a brief hug. His thin lips were also pulled up in a large smirk, unlike the other two who actually smiled or the one who was trying to intimidate them.

"Well, well, well, now what do we have here-" Tanaka Ryūnosuke, the second-year with a shaved head, said as he made a face that he thought would intimidate the younger teens. Though all it really did was make him look ridiculous.

Sawamura Daichi, the brown-haired captain, grabbed the back of his jacket and pulled him away, "You Kageyama?"

"Yeah," the boy answered as he was approached by the four.

"It's nice to meet you."

"Pretty tall aren't ya." Sugawara Kōshi, the silver-haired teen, commented in awe.

"First impressions are everything, Suga," Tanaka explained to the vice-captain. "You're a third-year so you have to establish dominance," He then pulled a face that he believed to be intimidating at the setter. Yet again he only looked ridiculous.

Daichi shook his head lightly, "Stop it, Tanaka. You look stupid."

The blond third-year, Endo Joji, laughed loudly, "he always looks stupid!"

As they were introducing themselves to each other, Shōyō walked around the older teens to stare at the back of their jackets. He stared in awe at them as he grasped the reality of the situation. He really was going to be joining the Karasuno volleyball team. The same team that the Tiny Giant had been on!

"Hey, guys-!"

"So how tall are you?" They disregarded him and didn't even see that he was there. Oh, the curse of being short.

"Six feet," Kageyama answered plainly. Meanwhile, Shōyō was still trying to gain their attention as the boys exclaimed their amazement at the King's height. Seriously, was he really that invisible?

Fed up, Shōyō exclaimed, "Hey!"

They all went silent as they looked down to see the orange-haired teen. "Huh?" Finally seeing the other first-year was there, Tanaka pointed at him, "Hey, it's you! You're the shorty!"

The other four's eyes widened in recognition. After all, they couldn't forget about the small junior high schooler who had jumped to heights that seemed impossible for someone like him. Daichi glanced down at the other paper in his hand. "Wait a minute, the other applicant goes by the name of Shōyō Hinata. I guess that's you. It's just kind of surprising, that's all. But, well, hey you guys both chose Karasuno."

Shōyō tilted his head, "Guess so."

"Didn't mean to freak you out." Suga smiled kindly, "It's just you made a big impression last year."

Tanaka nodded his head along with him, "Yeah, you were tiny and all over the place but you really had some spunk."

"Even I thought you were impressive," Endo said mindlessly with a hand on his chin in thought.

"Wow, thanks a lot!" Shōyō beamed.

"And not to mention that jump of yours," Suga said.

Tanaka walked up to the short kid and sized him up, noticing that there wasn't much of a difference in his height from last year. "It's too bad you haven't had a growth spurt yet though."

Shōyō groaned, "I know! I may be small, but I've got talent. I'll be Karasuno's ace before you know it!" Kagayama's eyes widened before he scowled at the spit-fire. His ambitions were far too out of his reach, the setter thought. Unless Shōyō had improved significantly over the year since their first game as opponents, there was no way Hinata was going to become the ace.

Tanaka laughed, "Hot damn, already got your eyeballs on the ace position do you? Somebody's got cojones."

"Well, there's nothing wrong with shooting for the stars, is there? Right?" Suga asked with a closed-eye smile.

At the encouraging, hopeful words, Shōyō grinned widely, "Yeah, I'll do my best."

"Okay, then," Kageyama started from behind the ball of sunshine with a harsh tone, "now that you've sworn to become the ace, you better be prepared to back it up. If you're not careful, you'll waste another three years."

Shōyō's eyes narrowed as he turned around, "Excuse me."

Daichi let out a sigh, "Was that really necessary, Kageyama?"

"I did everything I could, I did." For a moment, Shōyō thought back to that first game he got to play against Kitigawa. The team that he had to back him up and what they had gone through. "Look, I've done a lot. Stop putting me down."

The two of them had a bit of a stare off at each other. Shōyō glared up at the setter who just returned the stare with annoyance flashing in his eyes. The rivalry that had been born between the two the year prior was still kicking. This was certainly going to be a problem if the two of them were meant to be on a team together.

Endo smirked at the petty argument between the two. Oh, he loved drama like this, he lived for it. Watching the two underclassmen have this little fight between each other was quite entertaining. Barely in the club and the two are already giving him a show. The blond was no stranger to drama and such, as he was one of the biggest drama queens at Karasuno. He thrived off of this sort of stuff. Oh, he could already tell that this year was going to be extremely fun!

"Relax, guys." Daichi said scratching the back of his head, trying to be the voice of reason, "You know you're not enemies anymore, right? Volleyball is supposed to bring people together-"

"I want you to play me, right now," Shōyō exclaimed as they ignored their captain.

"Whoa watch it punk," Tanaka glowered, "don't you know Daichi is talking to you!"

The two still ignored the team as Kageyama continued their conversation, "What are we going to play?"

"Volleyball!" Shōyō shouted, "What the heck else is there?"

"How do you plan to play volleyball one-on-one?"

"...Like passes and stuff."

"How does anybody win at that?"

"The kid's got a point!" Tanaka shouted.

Daichi did his best to keep his composer, however, his smile was growing tight as they bickered. His patience was wearing thin with these first-years, and he already knew that these two were going to a handful to deal with. He certainly had his work cut out for him as captain this year.

"What's all the noise in here." A new voice asked from the doorway. Entering the gym was the vice-principal himself in all of his fake hair glory. 

"Oh, turds! VP!" Tanaka exclaimed harshly.

"Be quiet!" Suga reprimanded him.

"Why don't you be quiet!"

"Shut it," Endo hissed, hitting Tanaka on the back of the head.

The older man ventured further into the room garnering all of the teens' undivided attention. Well, besides Shōyō and Kageyama who were still glaring at each other. "Are you boys fighting in here?" 

"No, we're just working as hard as always, vice-principal." Daichi smiled, trying to hide the fact that there was some sort of discord between the newbies. "Right?"

Tanaka turned to the first-years to explain to them in a not so quiet whisper. "We gotta watch ourselves around the vice-principal, that guys always waiting for us to slip up."

However, still lost in their own world and rivalry, Shōyō and Kageyama continued to fight,  "Serve it to me. I can handle whatever you send."

"Dude!" Tanaka shouted.

"Listen, jerk, I only received once serve from you last year." He grimaced at the memory. "Granted it was with my face but since then, I've practiced with everyone I could. I am not the same person I was."

"Hm, not the same person, huh?" Kageyama asked before walked over to the abandoned volleyball and picked it up. He pointed at Shōyō dramatically, "Well, I've improved a bit in the last year too."

"Alright, alright, that's enough smack talk, you guys." Daichi tried to defuse the situation before they were punished by the VP for something or other. How was he going to be able to control these boys if all they were going to do was fight like this?

"They're both first-years aren't they?" The VP asked in disapproval.

Kageyama readied himself on the other side of the court as he bounced the ball. Shōyō also prepared himself in a receiving position. He wouldn't let Kageyama get to him now. Shōyō would prove that he had risen to the challenge to better himself, to improve his volleyball skills.

"Get ready," Kageyama said before throwing the ball up into the air. A jump serve!? The king could do jump serves now? He certainly had improved since their last meeting. With an immense amount of force behind the serve, Shōyō had to dive out of the way before the volleyball could hit him in the face which caused him to fall to the floor.

"Whoa!" Tanaka marveled as he and the others stared in awe. "Not even I can catch that."

"Pathetic." Kageyama scoffed, "How is that any different than last year?"

The initial awe of the serve wore off as Shōyō's expression hardened. He jumped up to his feet with determination in his eyes, "One more try."

"Okay, now cut it out." Daichi tried again to stop them only for it to fall on deaf ears.

"I see the new recruits have no respect for their captain." The VP drawled out unimpressed.

Endo snickered, "Man this is great!" His statement earned a smack on the back of the head from Suga and a disapproving look from Daichi. He just shrugged his shoulders innocently.

Kageyama threw the ball up again for another jump serve. Instead of falling out of the way, Shōyō used his speed to get to the ball. He had some good reflexes, though he lost control of the ball when it hit his forearms. It went straight up into his face and bounced off towards the spectators.

Unaware, the VP turned to Daichi, "If this keeps-"

He didn't get to finish his statement as the volleyball slammed into his cheek. This caused his toupee to fly off of his bald head and land right on Daichi's head. Everyone stared in shock for a moment before Tanaka and Endo tried to stop themselves from dissolving into laughter.

"Oh, man, that was a toupee?" Kageyama asked as he walked over.

Shōyō snorted, "You're just now figured that out. I noticed it at the entrance ceremony."

"Dude, shut up." Tanaka did his best to keep his snickering to himself but was failing. "It's not even that funny."

"You shut up, moron!" Suga yelled at the second-year who had to hang onto Endo to stay standing.

"Captain," the VP said emotionlessly, "a word please."

"Luckily we're not in trouble, he doesn't even want an apology," Daichi said to the team as they all lined up in front of him. They all let out a sigh of relief at that. They certainly dodged a bullet after that. "But we have been sworn to secrecy." He then addressed Hinata and Kageyama, "And as for you two-"

"If you had handled the serve it wouldn't have happened in the first place," Kageyama gritted through his teeth to the shorter teen, completely ignoring Daichi. "You're the same clutz you were last year. I can't believe I thought you'd be a challenge."

"You don't know when to quit do you?" Hinata asked with a glare.

Growing fed up with their childish behavior, Daichi shouted, "Can it!" Which instantly silenced the two gaining all of their attention. "There's something I want to tell you. I don't know your reasons for coming to this high school, but I assume you came to win."

"Yeah!" Hinata answered instantly.

As did Kageyama, "Yes, obviously."

"Up until a few years ago, Karasuno's volleyball team could compete with the best of them. They even made it to nationals once. But these days we're eighth in the prefecture. Not terrible, but not good either. And people talk, they call us the Wingless Crows." Daichi started to reminisce, "I remember when Karasuno played in the spring high national tournament. I was a student at a nearby school who happened to be in the neighborhood. Watching them fight those tough opponents in that huge gym in Tokyo, it gave me chills." Hinata remembered the same thing happening to him on that fateful day while headed to the park. "Let's go back one more time!"

An image of playing on the court, the same court that the Tiny Giant had played on, passed through Shōyō's mind. How amazing would it be to play on such a stage! That was his ultimate dream, to be just like his inspiration and it seemed like his new captain had the same idea.

"The nationals, huh?" Kageyama asked with a slight scoff. "Plenty of high schools talk about making it there one day, doesn't mean they'll go."

"What?! You little-"

"I know what you mean." Daichi cut Tanaka off, "but I'm dead serious. If we wanna get there, we need to be a cohesive unit. That means no more run-ins with the VP for one thing. It's not like I'm telling you to be best friends or anything like that. I know back in middle school you two might have been adversaries on opposite sides of the net, but let me be clear, you're on one side now and you need to make peace with that. Is that clear?" He flashed them a terrifying glance that caused shivers to travel up the boys' spines. Daichi placed a hand on each of their shoulders. "I don't care how good you are or how determined you are to play hard. Anyone who lets a petty rivalry get in the way of the team's success gets the boot!" He slammed their applications into their faces now that he had pushed them both out of the gym door. "You two are banned from participating in club activities until you learn to think of yourselves as teammates." The metal doors of the gym then slide shut in their poor faces, locking them out of the club. It took a moment for them to process what had just happened, but when they realized they were not allowed in the club the two first-years screamed.

Sakura followed after Kiyoko lazily as they walked through the school. After sharing a few words with Kiyoko, Sarkua found out that she was the team's manager and dealt with most of the behind the scense stuff for them. She even told her about what the team was like and who was on it. Useful information to use since she'll probably be spending a lot of time at their practices.

She explained to the third-year that she was the photographer for the club, and Kiyoko was quite happy to hear that. Despite loving all the boys on the team, she really would like to have another girl around. Some times, they could just be too much, especially Tanaka and Nishinoya. Kiyoko could only hope that having Sakura around for a few practices or games would give her a chance to have a girl friend to hang out with than just the boys.

"Keep talking short stack!" A shout greeted them as they approached the entrance to the gym. To Sakura's dismay, the one who had yelled, was the King of the Court himself, Kageyama Tobio. It was no surprise that he had been yelling at her brother. Oh, how terrible it was to find out that they were going to the same school as that arrogant prick. 

"Excuse us," Kiyoko said to the two boys who had suddenly been mesmerized by her beauty. "We need to get through."

The teens moved out of the way to let Kiyoko walk between the two of them to enter the gym. Sakura walked over as well, though she stopped to look between her brother and the king with narrowed eyes. "Why am I not surprised you two are out here?"

Kageyama and Shōyō were still slightly distracted by the upperclassmen to really pay any attention to Sakura, so she just shrugged her shoulders and walked behind her senpai.

"Hey, Kiyoko!" Tanaka jumped over to them once the door was open. "Thanks for your hard work. Oh, let me get that."

Kiyoko shook her head lightly, "No thanks. I can carry it myself."

"Okay then, you look super gorgeous today." Kiyoko just walked away from him without replying. The ignored teen hugged himself as he visibly shivered, to Sakura's confusion, "Oh, man, She's so pretty when she ignores me."

Sakura ventured further into the gym as Suga closed the doors, once again not letting the two first-years into the practice. The orange-haired teen kept her distance for a moment and silently observed them. They certainly looked like a good group of volleyball players, she thought. Tall, lean, and athletic, the perfect combination for a volleyball player. Though she wasn't sure what the team was like now or how they played. After all, they were once a powerhouse school. One would suspect they were at least somewhat talented. Though it's a shame that they fell from that. The Wingless Crows indeed. She would just have to see how they practiced.

Just as the team was going to start a few practices runs, Sakura decided to speak up, "Hello."

The sudden voice drew the team's attention and startled them quite a bit. Standing just to the side of the door was an identical copy of the little ball of sunshine that was just thrown out of the gym by the captain. The team stared wide eyes at the teen who casually standing looking back at them with a raised eyebrow.

"Hinata, how did you get there?" Suga gaped at the sight of the teen.

Endo stared for a long moment before rubbing his eyes as if he had something in them, "am I seeing double?" While the girl in front of them certainly looked like Hinata, he could instantly tell that she was not a boy. He wasn’t wrong about this. Endo could definitely tell the difference between a guy or girl, quote him on that.

Tanaka bounced over to her in shock and started to poke her in the cheek, "you're like magic!"

Sakura raised an eyebrow and pushed the second-year's hand away from her face with a scowl. The terrifying look that crossed her face caused a shiver of fear to strike the older boy. To say that Tanaka was frightened by the small girl was an understatement. "Don't touch me, baldy," Tanaka shouted out in offense at the name but was disregarded by the others. Sakura turned to the captain and vice-captain with a bored expression. "I'm Hinata Sakura, that idiot you probably tossed out is my twin brother."

Seeing the mistake that they made they smiled apologetically to her. Daichi scratched the back of his head in embarrassment, "Sorry about that, Hinata-chan."

She shrugged her shoulders indifferently, "no worries."

"It's nice to met you!" Suga smiled towards her kindly.

"Same, I guess." She waved her hand vaguely in the direction of the door where they could hear the two idiots bicker with each other. "I don't know what Shōyō may have done, but I apologize for him, he can be an idiot." Her scowl seemed to deepen even further, "it doesn't help that the King is here as well." The four upperclassmen shared glances with each other. The venom that dripped from her voice as she said the setter's nickname, it was obvious that she is not a fan of Kageyama's. 

"Well, let's hope that those two can get over their differences and become teammates," Daichi said encouragingly to his underclassmen.

"Yeah, let's hope," Sakura said, though there was an obvious amount of doubt coating her words. "Anyway, I'm in the photography club, and apparently I'm assigned to take pictures of you guys and stuff. Just so you know. " She shrugged her shoulders.

Endo walked over to her and leaned down so that he could try to be eye-level with his underclassman. "A photographer now, eh? We've got our own paparazzi now," he ran a hand through his hair with a large smirk. "I'm sure you'll find I'm a perfect subject for photos, Hinata-chan. I don't have a bad side." He then stuck a few poses which earned himself a few laughs.

Sakura rolled her eyes, "yeah, yeah, sure."

"Well, I'm Sawamura Daichi--"

"The captain, yes I know," She deadpanned and waved her hand in the general direction of the lady-manager. "Kiyoko-senpai already told me about you guys on the way here."

"Kiyoko talked about me!" Tanaka exclaimed as hearts formed in his eyes.

Sakura eyes the overdramatic teen for a moment before nodding her head. She certainly understood what her senpai meant when she described Tanaka as "over the top".

"We're about to start practice," Suga said approaching the younger girl, "you can stay and watch if you want."

His kind smile caused Sakura to purse her lips and look away. Consideration for the option buzzed around in her head for a moment before she nodded her head. "Sure, I guess I'll take some pictures while I'm here."

What better way to pass the time. After all, her brother certainly wasn't going to leave the school if he was locked out of the practice. She could already see him trying to peek through the windows. So instead of riding back home by herself, she might as well as see how the volleyball team works together. It would definitely give her a better idea of what would be the best method to take pictures of them.

So Sakura pulled out her camera and stationed herself on the sidelines. Occasionally she would help Kiyoko if she saw that she needed help with something or other. Other than that, she stayed out of the way and snapped a few pictures and was content just watching them. Sakura could tell that the team worked well together, they were just missing a few pieces. A libero would be a good addition to the team, maybe another wing spiker or ace, but other than that they were strong, she observed.

Throughout the practice, Endo seemed to be the one who was acting up the most for the camera. It was like he wanted to make his poses more appealing than functional for practice. He was scolded by Daichi for it a few times after he had missed a few sets. She made sure to stay out of their way as she took pictures and analyzed their playing style.

While Sakura wasn't a volleyball player, she understood the game enough. Having Shōyō as her brother forced her to learn nearly everything about the sport. She knew every position, what they did, different attacks, and almost every term related to the sport. In her own conclusion based on her knowledge, she thought that the boys in front of her had potential. The team was rough around the edges for sure, but what team wasn't? Either way, she could see her brother possibly reaching his dreams with this team. At least, she hoped so.

Night had fallen and darkness covered the nearly abandoned high school. The volleyball club was most likely one of the only clubs still at the school besides maybe one or two others. Everyone was thoroughly exhausted after the practice that Daichi had put them through. He wasn't kidding when he said he wanted to go to nationals this year. The captain wanted to work his team into shape to actually get there this year.

"Good work everybody!"

The boys started to clean up the gym, putting away the net, collecting the scattered balls, etc. Sakura gathered her things and put them in her white messenger bag and slung it over her shoulders. The practice gave her the perfect opportunity to take action shots of the players and figure out who was the most photogenic. She had to admit, she at least enjoyed watching them a little bit. 

It was also a plus that the boys were kind and tolerable. Well, the majority of them were. The team themselves were a very positive bunch. There are worse people that she's had to be stuck around. So having to deal with them wasn't a problem.

Sakura could already tell that Tanaka was probably the most troublesome of the group and a complete goofball. If he wasn't celebrating his skills by taking off his shirt and whipping it around, then he was ogling Kiyoko from afar or declaring his love for her very loudly. Sakura had no idea how Kiyoko dealt with this! She was just glad that Tanaka wasn't doing the same thing to her. There had already been enough attention drawn to her when she had to be introduced to the team, there was no need for Tanka to start gushing over her. Though Sakura was able to catch him saying something along the lines of "Hinata-chan is small and adorable". She just glared at him for that which effectively shut him up for the rest of the practice, to her knowledge.

Another pain, Endo liked to be the center of attention, which was proven to how many times he tried to pose for a picture("Hinata-chan! Make sure to get one of my good side!" "Shut up, Endo and focus!"). Sakura could tell that she wasn't going to like having to deal with him and his attention-seeking personality. Though that wasn't the part that really irked her. His crystal blue eyes always had this spark in them that unsettled Sakura, for some reason. Though she was easily able to hide that fact from everyone. His gaze, whenever he did look at her, was so... accusatory. Like he expected her to say something about him. What did he think she would say? Did he think she would say something about his athletic skills? His arrogance? Either way, she tried not to dwell on it for long.

Daichi could be a pretty intense captain and did his best to keep the team on task and motivated. He did his best to control the more unruly underclassmen, and honestly, was like the dad of the team. Sakura admired his level over leadership as it seemed like the team knew that they had to listen to him as their captain. He had the confidence level that a captain should have. In himself and his team.

Suga encouraged the team to improve their skills if they needed to, a total mom in her opinion. He was the setter of the team which made scense since a setter was the control tower of a team. He basically had the responsibility of pacing the team and keeping them alert. Something that she thought Suga could do quite easily after seeing him control the ball so flawlessly while practicing. 

Narita Kazuhito is a pretty mellow guy, someone who certainly wouldn't get on Sakura's nerves(unlike Tanaka or Endo). They had only shared a few words of greeting before he had to get back to practice, but she knew that they would get along. The second-year has a shaved head much like Tanaka, however, he didn't look like a delinquent or as intimidating. He was a second-year, just like Tanaka as well, though they were drastically different from each other, Sakura observed.  

Another second-year on the team was a boy who had a light brown shade of hair that reminded Sakura of Izumi. Sakura got to talk with this boy, Kinoshita Hisashi, a bit during practice drills, and he seemed to be a slightly nervous guy. He wasn't anxious in general, but just in his playing style, Sakura supposed. He was kind to her at least, that's all she cared about at the moment.  

Ennoshita was a second-year who seemed to be able to handle Tanaka's craziness the best. He was most likely the buffer between Tanaka's insanity and reality. Ennoshita kept him grounded, for the most part. The brown-eyed, dark-haired upperclassmen always had a kind smile on his face(except when he had to deal with Tanaka) and an air of maturity that some second-years don't have. If she didn't know, Sakura would have thought that he was a third-year. 

The manager of the team was a complete sweetheart. Kiyoko has the patient of a saint to be dealing with these boys. She was also obviously a hard worker with all the chores and such that she did for the team. Though Sakura had to wonder how much work she really did as the manager, guess she'll get to see if she hangs around to take pictures of them.

Her thoughts on the team carried a bit from person to person, but overall they were nice. Tanaka and Endo could be a bit much at times, but she'd live. Though now that practice was over, everyone was ready for some rest after their first practice back. "You know what, I bet those two goofballs are thinking right now," Tanaka started as he pulled on his jacket, "that if they can beat us then they'll make the team, right?"

Suga shrugged his shoulders, "Yeah, sure. But all they really have to do is cool off and prove to everybody that they've learned their lesson."

"Did you see those two?" Endo scoffed as he pulled on his jacket, "I highly doubt they'd do that."

"Captain!" The troublesome duo outside shouted which prompted the team to jump in shock before sliding open the doors. "We challenge you to a match!"

"I stand corrected..." Endo drawled out with pursed lips and arms crossed. Next to him, Tanaka laughed loudly as the boys continued to go on their challenge for the team.

Hinata stood strong in front of the upperclassmen, "If we win, you have to let us join."

"Guys, I'm psychic!" Tanaka exclaimed before wincing as he was hit on the back of the head by Endo.

"Now, we want to prove that we finally understand how to play together as teammates." Once again, the two spoke together as if they had been practicing saying it together this entire time.

"How many times did you rehearse that?" Suga asked in amusement.

Sakura watched the interaction from behind the upperclassmen. She was more than happy with not interfering in whatever plan her brother and Kageyama wanted to do. Despite both of them disliking each other, she knew that neither of them would want to admit defeat or be kicked out of the club. After all, both of them were completely volleyball crazy. 

Tanaka continued with his laughter that had subsided slightly after Endo's cuff to the back of the head. "This is gold, I can get used to having these clowns on the team!"

"If you lose?" The captain asked with his arms crossed over his chest.

The first-years gasped slightly before Kageyama spoke up. "Then you get to choose the penalty."

"Huh?" Daichi tilted his head with a raised eyebrow. It was an interesting proposition from them. In honesty, he expected them to do something like this to prove themselves to the team. However, he didn't expect them to challenge them like this. He then started to explain, "Club application form, here's an idea we have two other first-years joining the club soon, you'll play against them in a three-on-three match. We do this game every year with our new club so we can get an idea of how they play."

Shōyō's eyebrows furrowed as he pointed to himself and Kageyama, "But if it's going to be three-on-three, then whose going to be our third player?"

"Tanaka, you're with them. Make sure they behave alright?"

"Oh, man, why me?" Tanaka complained as Endo patted him on the back in sympathy. Though he was slightly glad that he wasn't chosen to help them. As much as Endo loved seeing people bicker with each other, Hinata-kun and Kageyama were too much.

"Well, you seem to like them." Daichi shrugged his shoulders.

"Don't drag me into their mess!" 

The captain sighed, "That's too bad. I was thinking you'd be the only one tough enough to keep these delinquents in line."

Hearing that, Tanaka perked up. Stroking his ego obviously helped persuade him into doing just about anything, which is something that Sakura filed away in her mind. "Aw, well, why the heck not. When you put it like that! Just stick with me, little man!"

"Anyway," Daichi brought back their attention, "here's the penalty if you lose; for the remainder of my time here at Karasuno, Kageyama cannot be the setter."

At his declaration, Kageyama's eyes widened. Not be the setter? How could Kageyama Tobio not be the setter on the team?!

Shōyō looked up in thought, "Is that the only penalty we have sir?"

"If the setter's aggressive, self-centered and driven by his own ego, the team can't win," Daichi said bluntly which caused Kageyama to glare at him, "What? I'm not saying I'll reject your application to join, I'm sure you'll be well suited to a different position."

"NO WAY, I'M A SETTER!" Kageyama screamed angrily.

"Then win the game." The captain deadpanned, "You're the one who thought you could win without help, right?"

Shōyō bristled noticing that he hadn't even been addressed by the captain. It was like all that mattered was the great and powerful King of the court, not him. "Hey, uh, but what about me?"

Shōyō was ignored once again as Daichi continued on. "We play on Saturday."

"Come on! I'm over here too, you know?!" The orange-haired boy jumped up and down to try and be noticed. Sakura raised an eyebrow at her twin's desperate attempts to be noticed as she glided around Suga to approach her brother and stand next to him.

Tanaka waved his hand with confidence, "Don't worry, your cool upperclassmen will show you the ropes-"

Suga grabbed the back of Tanaka's jacket before he could finish and dragged him back inside before sliding the door shut with a farewell, "See ya."

"Bye-bye Hinata-chan~!" Sakura scowled at the blond second-year as the doors slid shut.

The doors shut in the first-years faces once again. Shōyō sighed and plopped down on the stairs in seeming exhaustion. Though after having to go through all of that, Sakura gave him the benefit of the doubt. She leaned against the side of the building with an uninterested aura surrounding her. The most frustrated out of the trio was obviously Kageyama, who stomped on the ground, "Damnnit."

"What's wrong?" Shōyō asked the former king, "Are you mad because you're the only one who gets penalized? Even if you're not the setter, I bet you'd figure out a different position just like that. Plus, spikers are cooler than setters anyway. They get to go up and slam the ball!" 

Shōyō was just doing his best to try and make the setter feel better. However, it didn't seem like that it was working so much. That was pretty obvious from how Kageyama's shoulders were shaking in anger. Sakura would have said something since her brother was oblivious to it, but she elected not to. Since seeing the King frustrated entertained her.

"SHUT UP!" Kageyama screamed as his anger finally erupted. He spun around and grabbed the front of the shorter boy's shirt. There was a moment where Sakura contemplated getting in between the two of them. After all, she would do anything to make sure that nothing and no one hurt her family. However, she had a feeling that Kageyama wasn't going to really hurt her brother. He was all bark and barely any bite when it came to something like this. So he let it slide, for the moment. Kageyama continued on, "The setter is the team's control tower plus, it's the position that gets the most contact with the ball. It's the greatest position there is because you get to be the ruler. Without the setter to toss the ball, there wouldn't be any spikes for you to hit."

"I know, but even though the setter as an important job you don't really stand out very much, do you?" Shōyō asked as he squirmed in Kageyama's tight grip.

Kageyama rolled his eyes and sighed heavily before letting go of the short teen. He stared down at Shōyō with dark narrowed eyes and his hands on his hips. It almost looked as though he was disappointed in him. "I'm guessing you've never seen a major volleyball tournament in person, have you?"

"No."

"And you?" Kageyama turned his narrowed eyes to the girl leaning on the wall of the gym.

Sakura was slightly surprised that he even addressed her. She thought he was just going to ignore her existence completely, which she would have been fine with. Though now that he has taken to talking to her, guess she'll have to engage with him now. Especially since he'll probably be around her since he's on the team.

She shrugged her shoulders, "I don't care enough to watch it."

Kageyama narrowed his eyes at her, as if asking her why she wouldn't care about volleyball since it was all he ever thought about. He turned back to Shōyō sharply, "You can't tell by the angle they show on tv but pay attention to the end of the court. From there you can see how fast the setter tosses the ball. It flies straight across the court, the ball passes right in front of the face of the other team's blocker, then just when you start to think, 'no way! He's never going to hit that one!' There's a spiker just waiting to strike and he smashes the ball just in time."

From his words, Sakura could tell that he was extremely passionate about volleyball, just like Shōyō. The only real difference in their love for the sport was that Shōyō wanted to be the ace and Kageyama, the setter. It made her think that these two were more similar than she previously thought. Yeah, they're both volleyball-crazy, but Kageyama is arrogant and controlling while Shōyō is humble and shy, at times. Yet they both had this burning passion for the same sport, and they would do anything just to play it. Including teaming up together to ensure they get to join the club.

"Y-yeah," Shōyō stuttered.

"The spiker's job may be flashier but the spiker can't get through without the setter to get the opponent to block and break the wall." Kageyama explained with so much passion lacing his voice. "It's the most important, cool, and challenging position on the court, okay?"

The orange-haired boy pursed his lips, "Yeah, sure, fine, I get it. You wanna be the setter."

Their minds flashed back to the penalty that their soon-to-be captain set for them, which caused Kageyama to grunt. "Damnnit! What with that guy?"

"All you have to do is win. You seemed pretty confident when you challenged them to a match earlier."

Kageyama seemed to think for a moment, his thoughts sticking firm to the idea that he would only serve to Tanaka on Saturday. "Okay!" He suddenly exclaimed, "We've got until Saturday to work on your crappy receiving."

"Crappy?!" Shōyō bristled at the accusation, "But we can't get into the gym."

"Ahem," The three then heard Tanaka in the gym. Suspiciously, he was talking a tad bit louder than normal as he seemed to angle himself to face the window. "I forget we start practice at 7 AM tomorrow, don't we?"

"Uh, yeah, is that a problem?" 

Tanaka quickly tried to cover his suspicious and loud question, "Ah, not at all. Anyway, do you think the vice-principal's nappy rug made it out alive."

"We're not supposed to talk about that," Daichi deadpanned to the younger boy.

Endo piped up with a chuckle as he remembered what happened only a few hours ago, "it was still funny though."

"Endo." 

Outside, a plan that the first-years came up with silently was mutually agreed on. "Alright then, 5 AM," Kageyama said curtly before the two boys started to walk off beside each other. Sakura watched them with a small smirk, seeing that the competition between these two was certainly going to entertain her for a while.

Shōyō nodded his head, "Don't be late."

"I won't."

Sakura watched in annoyance as the two idiots started to race each other to the exit of the school. She would let the two of them run on there own, there was no need for her to chase after them. Especially since they were far faster than her. So, she just lazily started to walk after them, with her bag slung over her shoulder and her brother's in her hand. He would realize that he left his bag at some point. Might as well as be a helpful sister to her impulsive brother.

Sakura yawned loudly as she sat on the stairs leading to the gym. It was five in the morning and she was not happy. Mornings are tough for her as it is, but being woken up at about four just to get here on time was something that definitely made her grumpy. She didn't even have to come to this! This was Shōyō's thing and had nothing to do with her. Sakura would much rather be sleeping in for another few hours instead of sitting on the stairs to a locked gym. Yet here she was. All because Shōyō said that it "wasn't safe for her to ride her bike by herself and as the older brother, he has to keep his imouto safe!" She had such a caring brother... good grief.

"Should have seen that coming," Shōyō said defeatedly as he tried to open the gym doors, "it's locked."

"Okay, let's go through the window," Kageyama said casually as if he hadn't just suggested committing a crime.

Shōyō turned to him with wide eyes at the idea, "Are you crazy? We'd end up getting expelled."

"Let him do it, Shō." Sakura mumbled out while leaning on her knees, "If he gets expelled, one less pain we have to deal with." Kageyama glowered down at her which she returned with one with equal ferocity.

There was then another pair of footsteps heading in their direction as a tired voice spoke up, "Man, 5 AM is too early."

"Tanaka-san?"

The second-year yawned loudly as he approached the trio. "You got two hours, and then beat it." He flashed the gym keys he had volunteered to take the other night to the teens.

Shōyō's eyes sparkled in admiration, "You're awesome!"

"Thank you!" Kageyama exclaimed.

Sakura deadpanned, "It's cold, let us in."

Tanaka laughed loudly, almost sounding insane in Sakura's opinion. "Yeah, who's your hero first-years? Call me Tanaka-senpai!"

"Tanaka-senpai!" Shōyō and Kageyama chorused.

"What was that?!"

"Tanaka-senpai!"

"How about you, Hinata-chan?" Sakura just pinpointed a glare on the older boy which caused him to freeze up. Like hell would she call him senpai right now. She was far too tired for any of this. He chuckled and turned to the door to open it. "Okay, punks. Let's get cracking."

Though it seemed like things were certainly not going to start out on a good note since the boys were already starting to bicker. "Get out of my way," Shōyō exclaimed as the two boys fought to even walk through the door. "I'm going to be the first one on that court!"

"You can't be first if Tanaka is already on it, dumbass!" Kageyama yelled as he pushed against Shōyō.

"Then why don't you let me go!?"

Tanaka groaned, already knowing that this was probably going to be the longest two hours of his life. "We don't have time for this."

Fed up with their childish behavior, Sakura pushed the two bickering boys which caused them to fall on the floor tangled together. She scoffed down at them with narrowed eyes as the annoyance was clear in her eyes. Lightning stuck behind her as she glared at her brother and his new teammate on the ground, "stop being annoying."

Shōyō bowed his head from Sakura's narrowed eyes, "sorry, imouto."

Kageyama looked up at Tanaka apologetically. "Sorry, boss, we've got a long way to go on those combinations."

They turned on the lights of the gym to get ready for their first practice. Sakura situated herself to sit by the entrance and pulled out some work to do for school. It wasn't like she had much to do, but she needed something to pass the time. Besides, it's not like she was completely interested in watching her brother and the former king fight with each other. Honestly, they were like an old married couple!

"Wow! Check it out!" Shōyō marveled as he stared around the gym.

"You were just here yesterday..." Tanaka pointed out lamely.

It didn't matter that he had been here already, Shōyō would always be in awe at the same gym that the Tiny Giant practiced in. Not only that but his first real practice with high school volleyball players. Not that practicing with Koji, Izumi, or Sakura wasn't good. It was just different getting to do with other volleyball players who were also trying to improve their skills instead of people just trying to be stand-ins. Either way, Shōyō was ready to get to spike some real sets!

Chapter Text

SNEAKERS SQUEAKED ACROSS THE POLISHED GYM FLOOR as the newest members to the boy's volleyball club practiced with each other. Though by practice, it was really just Kageyama berating Shōyō every time he did something subpar. At this point, Sakura had gotten over listening to the king yell at her brother. She knew already that Shōyō might not be the best volleyball player, but he had raw athleticism and passion for it. While it annoyed her to listen to the boy, who she had found a large dislike for since last year, talk badly to her twin, Sakura didn't feel a need to shout at Kageyama for belittling Shōyō. Perhaps it's a good teaching style? After all, it usually takes a lot to instill a lesson in Shōyō for him to actually understand it. Maybe getting yelled at would speed up the process. Besides, it's always a hassle having to confront someone as temperamental as Kageyama.

"Damnit!" Kageyama shouted in frustration as Shōyō, once again, missed a receive and had dove flat on his face. "Stop dragging your feet, what happened to those reflexes you had? Get it together."

"All I've been doing is receives." Shōyō complained and jumped up, "Kageyama, we're running out of time I wanna jump around, I wanna do some spikes."

"Well, that's too bad!"

"That's enough!" Tanaka shouted at the younger boys, obviously annoyed with their behavior. Perhaps Endo was right the other day, having to help these two morons will definitely be trouble. "A word to the wise, Daichi's a nice guy most of the times but you will not like him when he's mad. Trust me."

The two chorused together at the reminder, "Yeah, we know."

"If he were to find out we were practicing early, I'm so dead. Not that I'm afraid of him or anything, of course not, that would be ridiculously ridiculous."

"Right," Sakura spoke up boredly from the sidelines. A small amount of amusement tainted her words as she smirked from her seat on the ground, "you totally don't sound scared at all."

Tanaka bristled slightly at her words but cleared his throat and ignored her, "Anyway, its probably for the best that we keep this little practice session a secret between the four of us."

Suddenly, the gym doors slid open abruptly as the grey-haired third-year from the team burst through, startling the other boys. Sakura flinched slightly but outwardly kept her composer at the older teen's entrance. "Aha, just as I suspected." 

"Suga!" Tanaka exclaimed in surprise and worry.

Suga smiled widely, "Hey."

"How'd you know!?"

Suga chuckled at the second-year and started to put on his gym shoes, "Come on, something was obviously up. I mean why else would you offer to take the key to the gym when you always show up to practice at the last minute." Tanaka jumped at his words and slowly started to worry that he was in trouble with the vice-captain. Suga shook his head, knowing that they were worried about being caught. "Don't worry, I won't tell, your secret is safe with me. A clandestine crash course, pretty exciting."

The three boys sighed in relief knowing that Suga wasn't going to tell Daichi. Sakura snickered which caused the boys to stare at her with narrowed eyes, she obviously liked seeing them in distress. Shōyō seemed to be the only one who didn't find her amusement surprising or annoying. After all, he was pretty used to it at this point. Sakura just hid her laughter and amusement as they started to practice some more. What could she say, she liked seeing people in pain like this. She found it to be one of the most amusing things.

Tanaka and Kageyama paired up so the king could practice his setting with the outside hitter. Shōyō had been denied getting to hit any sets and instead had been paired with Suga to do some more receives. Shōyō was certainly getting frustrated that he couldn't do the one thing he had wanted since he first set foot in the gym. 

Sakura wanted nothing more than to just head to class already. After all, she had nothing to do at this point. It's not like she was also a volleyball player who could practice with them. She served no purpose at the moment. Sakura would have left already if it wasn't for the fact that Shōyō had begged her to stay for "moral support". All she could do was grumble to herself on the sidelines as she fell victim to his puppy-dog eyes. Sakura could never really say no to her brother, especially not when it's about something he really cares about. So she was forced to just watch the four boys practice for a while.

Tanaka screamed as he jumped up in order to spike another ball over the net from Kageyama. Once he hit it over, he was pumped at his own powerful hits, "Whoo, I'm on fire!" 

Shōyō was distracted by watching Tanaka's powerful spikes over the net. He watched in fascination and envy, why didn't he get to spike balls? Why was Kageyama so insistent that he didn't get any sets? Sure, working on his receives was important, and he should improve on them, but he should also get to practice his spikes! He was then brought back to his own task when he was hit in the head by a volleyball. Suga shook his head at the distracted boy, "Hey, you're not paying attention."

The orange-haired teen just ignored his upperclassman and shouted at the stubborn setter, "Hey, I wanna hit too. Throw me a bone here Kageyama." The setter turned to Shōyō with his ever-present scowl. "You're all about your sets aren't ya? Go ahead, send one over this way. Come on just one, for practice, please?"

There was a moment of silence as Kageyama pursed his lips at Shōyō before turning away from him, "No."

Shōyō, Tanaka, and Suga all blanched at his blunt answer. How could this guy be so cruel? To bluntly reject Shōyō's enthusiastic attempts to work on his volleyball skills. Did he dislike Shōyō that much!?

"Aw man, don't be like that!" 

"Yeah, dude send him one," Tanaka agreed.

At the upperclassman's exclamations, Kageyama turned and spiked a ball straight at  Shōyō. The orange-haired boy was not ready to receive it, so the ball bounced off his forearm and flew over by Sakura. Said girl watched the interaction with narrowed eyes as her upper lip started to lift in a sneer. She caught the discarded volleyball and held it tightly in her hands, it almost looked like it was going to pop as her annoyance started to fester. The young setter shook his head, "I sent that one head-on, you receive to make a set and attack. Don't run your mouth if you can't follow through. I'll be sending all the sets to Tanaka during the match on Saturday. Leave all the attacking to him. You just do your best to not get in my way."

Anger started to bubble up inside of the small teen at Kageyama's dismissive behavior. He let out a breath, "Okay, fine, then as soon as I get good enough at receives will you at least throw a few sets to me too."

"I'll set to whoever I have to to win." He dramatically turned around to face Shōyō, "It's just, I highly doubt that person is going to be you."

"Watch your mouth," Tanaka grumbled at the blatant disrespect from the first-year.

Suga gasped, "How's he ever going to learn if you not going to set to him?"

Kageyama brushed off their reprimands and started to walk away, "It's almost seven, we should clean up."

"Oh, crap, hurry up! We can't leave any traces!" Tanaka shouted as he ran off to start hiding any signs that they had been there.

Suga also ran off with the same amount of panic, "We need to find a mop!"

Kageyama bent down to pick up one of the discarded volleyball to start cleaning up. His shoulders were tense like they always had been, as he seemed to scowl at nothing in particular. His back was still turned to the smaller volleyball player, who continued to glower. His anger simmered within him at the what Kageyama had said. Sakura, who has gathered all of her things, walked over to her brother and placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder to try and calm him down. Shōyō visibly relaxed but there was still a lingering wave of annoyance wafting off of him. She always had a way to calm him down just with her presence, most likely a twin thing.

Once Kageyama did stand up to put the balls away, he found himself being hit in the back of the head which nearly sent him to the ground. He clutched the back of his head and growled lowly at the fact that someone had decided to hit him. The angered setter spun around to see who wanted to face his wrath so much only to find Hinata's clone standing in front of her brother with a scowl.

Her thin lips were screwed so tightly into a frown, that it almost seemed like it would be stuck like that. Her right eye twitched slightly in anger while she glared at him. Kageyama almost had half the mind to shiver. Even though she was such a small girl, she was just as terrifying as a six-foot boy. "Asshole," she only said one word, but it was enough to keep Kageyama from saying anything else. With that, she grabbed her brother and started to get him to help clean up. Right now, all she wanted was to get away from that dick and head to class. She was starting to get a headache now.

"Wow, Hinata-chan!" Shimada marveled with sparkles in her eyes as she looked at the pictures on Sakura's camera. The pictures that Sakura had taken the other day of the boy's volleyball club had come out really well, apparently. They only needed a few edits to be made here or there, but other than that they were perfect for the yearbook or newspaper or anything else. Honestly, Shimada thought that they could be used for professional posters. "These look awesome!"

Sakura scratched her cheek slightly to hide the small hint of pink that spread up her ears, "Thanks." She was used to getting compliments, though they were mainly just from her family as she never really showed anyone else her pictures.

The two of them stood in the hallway outside of Shimada's classroom, which is where they agreed to meet up the other day. After all, Sakura wanted to show her senpai that she had already taken some pictures. To show that she was quite enthusiastic about being in the club, which she wouldn't say out loud.

"You've got a real talent here." Shimada complimented with a large toothy smile, "Especially, with these action shots, even I wouldn't be able to get shots like these!"

Sakura could feel the tips of her ears starting to turn a dark red, but she remained calm. "It's not that big of a deal..."

Shimada gaped at the girl, the seeming dismissal of her natural talent was disbelieving. "Are you kidding, I swear these could put on a bunch of posters or something!"

Her shiny eyes drifted off into space as she imagined seeing Sakura's pictures on a poster that could bring even more attention to the photography club. If people actually liked these, then they may be inspired to join the club! After all, as the president, Shimada is always looking for new members at any time.

Sakura watched her as the third-year mumbled to herself about the pictures. She slowly took her camera back from her senpai and eyed older girl wearily. "Well, I'll send you the pictures later, when I get home."

Shimada still stuck in her own fantasy about the club getting tons of new members, nodded her head absentmindedly. "Sure, sure."

"Alright," Sakura said putting the camera around her neck and turned to walk away with a lazy wave over her shoulder, "later."

She made her way through the third-year hallway and started to search for her brother who she was certain had found a space to practice. Eventually, she turned a corner and found the arrogant setter that she despised standing by the vending machine. He lazily sipped on a drink of milk while looking around the corner, seemingly trying to listen in on something and stay hidden. Sakura could hear her brother and Suga talking just around the corner. She knew that Shōyō wanted to practice some more during the break. He was adamant about fixing his receives in order to get Kageyama's approval to practice spikes.

Why he wanted his help was beyond her. The arrogant "King of the Court" has got to be the biggest assholes that Sakura has ever encountered. She could just set some for him if he asked, as she has done so in the past. Though she knew it was more than just practicing, it was teamwork. Kageyama and Shōyō had to work together now after they had vowed to beat each other when they next saw each other. Though they couldn't really do that if they were on the same high school team. So Sakura understood that Shōyō wanted to prove himself to Kageyama not only as a rival but as a teammate. In order to do that, he has to get Kageyama to set to him, at least once. 

Shōyō was so determined to get this to work out, especially now that they had the match on Saturday. If anything, Sakura thought that he wanted to prove himself to Kageyama that he had improved, even if he couldn't use these new skills against the king. If it were her, Sakura probably would have given up at this point. She wouldn't go as far as Shōyō to prove herself. Another difference between the two of them.

"You know, it isn't nice to eavesdrop." Kageyama jumped slightly at the sudden voice and nearly spit out his milk. He turned to find the cold stare of the second half to the Hinata twins pointed at him. Sakura stared at him and clicked her tongue. "Listen, I know my brother can be a lot to handle, but you're not helping anyone by being a jackass."

"Hn," He grunted and took another sip of his milk. Her words didn't mean all that much to him, not really. All he wanted to do was ignore her just like he ignores her brother.

Sakura let out a long sigh and stared up at him with a tired and bored expression, "At least try to work with him. You are teammates after all." With that, she brushed passed him and walked around the corner to see Suga and Shōyō practicing. She was ready to just sit by the boys and watch them practice while enjoying her lunch. 

All the while, Kageyama watched her go with narrowed eyes. However, there was a small flame that started to burn in them. He wasn't sure why she was trying so hard, considering she must know how stubborn he is, but she was definitely adamant about trying to get him to work well with Shōyō. It was almost admirable, to him. To stick up for her brother against him.

How the hell are those two idiots twins? Kageyama wondered to himself. After all, they seemed to be on the opposite ends of the spectrum from each other. Shōyō was overexcited while Sakura was unenthusiastic. Shōyō couldn't intimidate an elementary kid, but Sakura could strike fear into anyone's hearts, and he spoke from experience. They looked so similar to each other, yet acted nothing alike. Honestly, Kageyama was quite certain that he would actually get along with Sakura if it wasn't for the fact that she was related to the annoying ball of sunshine. He shrugged his shoulders at his thoughts and decided to head back to class. After hearing what Shōyō said to Suga and Sakura's words, he had a lot to ponder over.

The next for the volleyball club was pretty lackluster. After what had happened yesterday, today seemed to be kind of boring. The craziness that had happened with the first-years had definitely caused a stir within the team. Add in the fact that the team now also had their own photographer now, and the guys were pretty enthused about what the rest of the year would be like. Though since those two first-years had not been allowed to practice with them, and their photographer most likely wouldn't be at the practice today, it was probably going to be a boring day.

Suga and Tanaka let out a large yawn together. They were obviously tired after having to be at the gym early for the two first-year morons to practice. Though even if they wanted to try and hide that fact, their captain was quite observant, "You two look sleepier than usual."

The two jumped at Daichi's observation and spun around to face him with fake smiles. Hoping that they were able to keep their secret under wraps. "Uh, really?" Suga questioned wearily, "Maybe I've been studying too hard or something."

"I've been studying hard too," Tanaka joined in, which earned a pointed glare from Suga.

"It doesn't sound very convincing when you say it."

Tanaka glowered, "Eat it."

"Oya Oya," Endo slid over to the two and wrapped his arms around their shoulders. It seemed like he didn't know the term "personal space" at the moment. His sly blue eyes watched his two friends with a teasing spark in them. He overheard the conversation and knew that he had to butt in, as he usually does. Endo certainly couldn't miss any possible tidbit of gossip from anyone. "It looks like you two are hiding something, huh?"

"Excuse us." A different voice interrupted Endo's attempts to get the scoop over his friends' tired behavior.

"Oh, hey guys." The captain greeted the two new people who now stood in the doorway. The two of them were tall, like extremely tall. The tallest of the two was a blonde with black-rimmed glasses on his nose and headphones around his neck. The other was a boy with light brown hair and a light dusting of freckles on his cheekbones. The others marveled at the sheer size of the two boys and stared in awe. "These are the other new first-years. Normally, we'd wait till next week to start new members but since we have that match on Saturday, we're making an exception and bringing them in now."

"Nice to meet you," the two newbies said together as the brown-haired first-year bowed while the blond didn't.

Endo eyed the two of them closely. He sized them up, just like he did the other day with Kageyama and the Hinata twins. His blue eyes were sharp and observant as he watched the shorter of the two stood up from his bow. Now, Endo usually has a very good idea of a person after first meeting them. 

The big, blond beanpole seemed to be the one to watch out for. He almost seemed a bit annoyed that he had to be there. Like he didn't like the fact that he even joined the team, which made no scense cause it was his choice. Though there was a certain kind of malice around him that Endo didn't like all that much. A bored arrogance that kind of reminded him of their new little paparazzi-chan. Though she wasn't arrogant in any way from what Endo saw, unlike Mr. Glasses.

The other boy seemed to be a meek kind of guy, to Endo. He wasn't much like the other first-year as he was shorter and had a light brush of freckles over his cheeks. Endo thought he looked like a nice guy, unlike the blond. Though he'd have to wait a while to figure out just what their deals were.  

Either way, with this new set of first-years, Endo knew that they were all in for an interesting year. He smirked widely as his eyes sparkled dangerously. Endo couldn't wait to see what kind of drama pops up from all of this.

Sakura let out a tired pant as she put away her bike at home. Her and Shōyō had just arrived home after their long bike ride from school. It was extremely late and she was a little peeved off that she would have to stay up a bit later to do her homework. She really should have done it while she waited for her brother in the meeting room for the photography club. However, she ended up taking a nap there by accident.

It wasn't until Shimada had woken her up and told her that she was locking up the room that she finally went to meet up with her brother. Though once she found Shōyō and Kageyama, both of them seemed to be beyond exhausted and horribly annoyed by something. She didn't question it, as she didn't want to be dragged into whatever it was that angered them. The king especially seemed to be angered by something or other. Still, Sakura didn't care.

Though now that they were home, it seemed like she was going to end up involved anyway. As soon as they had gotten inside, greeted their mother and little sister, and went into their shared room to settle down before dinner, Shōyō had started to rant.

"Calm down, Shō," She said while plopping down on her bed. "You're going to give me a headache with your complaining."

Shōyō sighed heavily and jumped on his own bed after already talking extremely fast. He was just so heated after meeting Tsukishima and Yamaguchi. After what they said about Kageyama and how they dismissed him so easily. Though it was more Tsukishima than Yamaguchi, Shōyō would admit. Either way, it was still frustrating!

"I don't know why he would even say that!" He exclaimed in anger as his face started to turn red.

Sakura leaned up on her arms to face her brother, "Hold on, hold on. What did he say?" It wasn't like she cared all that much, but she knew that if he didn't rant about it, she would never hear the end of it. Better to just let him vent and then shut up about it than let his emotions bubble over. 

"He said that Kageyama's nickname was from his team and not other people, and then he said that his team probably abandoned him and Kageyama got upset by it, and he called me short, and ignored me, and even said he'd throw the game on Saturday because he doesn't care!" Shōyō said all in one breath.

With all of that information to process, Sakura stared at her brother with wide eyes. She had no idea how he hadn't passed out from lack of oxygen after not breathing for that long. He was obviously upset by what that guy said, which was obvious from how he wouldn't sit still and he was rambling a lot.

She tilted her head back onto her bed in disinterest, "who was this again?"

"Tsukishima Kei and Yamaguchi Tadashi!"

She hummed in acknowledgment, she didn't recognize those names, so they must be in another class. Either way, she didn't care enough to really think about it. The more pressing matter on her mind was the home that she'd have to do in a few minutes. Besides, Shōyō has a tendency to over-exaggerate things. So for now, she'd take what he said with caution. These guys might not be as bad as he says, or they are, she didn't care. As long as they don't bother her, she has no opinion on them.

"Well, I want to get my work done, so should you." She lazily grabbed her school bag to take out her assignments for the night. If she got them done now, then all she had to do was eat and go to sleep.

"But—"

She cut him off and threw his own bag at him, effectively shutting him up and giving him a bruised face. "Worry about those guys later, you have homework."

Shōyō huffed at her but did as she said and started to pull out his work. There was no need to argue with her at all, especially over something like homework. She was always the one to focus on assignments and grades more than him. Sakura studied as much as she could to get the grades she got and did a very good job at it. She constantly encouraged Shōyō to focus on his schoolwork at times when he had been too obsessed with volleyball to do his homework. It's a good thing she did, or Shōyō definitely would have failed some of his classes. So he did as he was told begrudgingly, though he muttered under his breath every once in a while. Sakura just shook her head at him and started her own work.

Just like yesterday, Sakura was forced to wake up at the ungodly hours of the morning by Shōyō. He pestered her to get up as quickly as possible, eat a small breakfast, and mount their bikes to head to school. She was far more annoyed than the previous day since she got even less sleep than last night. A grumpy, sleepy Sakura was not a good Sakura. Nobody better mess with her today, or they're probably going to end up fearing for their lives.

Still, she went with him even if she complained all the way there. What kind of a sister would she be if she didn't go? This was for Shōyō's sake as he wanted her there for support. She could never deny something from her twin. He was probably her only weakness, honestly. Shōyō could most likely make her do anything if he flashed her his puppy-dog eyes for long enough. 

Things were just about the same as yesterday. She still sat on the sidelines and watched Shōyō, Kageyama, Tanaka, and Suga practice together. Sakura will admit that she did take a small nap while she waited, which ultimately ended up with her being squished by Tanaka as he gushed about how cute she is... only to end up with a nice fist-sized bruise on his cheek after that. 

Though now it was lunchtime, thankfully. Shōyō, once again, had met up with Suga to practice as much as he could, which left Sakura alone for the time being. Now, she would have gone to sit with them and munch on her food, but she wasn't up for it. Too tired from waking up so early for two days in a row had taken its toll on her. She's a growing girl who needs her sleep! A full night's sleep is always important, especially to Sakura.

So, here she was, sitting on the ground underneath a tree casually eating some rice. It was quite peaceful to be by herself. She should really do this more often. All her life, she's kept herself practically glued to Shōyō's side, as he did the same with her. They never strayed far from each other as they always calmed each other down if Sakura got too heated, or Shōyō got too enthusiastic. They knew how to control each other's emotions when they needed it. Their mother always said that they were inseparable since birth, which is true. Though she also encouraged the two of them to try and do things on their own. So, Sakura moved on to photography at the beginning of middle school to try to distance herself from Shōyō. Though no matter how much she tried, she really couldn't do it. Being separated from her twin for a long period of time always made her anxious in a way. 

Though at this moment, for a short time, she was perfectly content without Shōyō. Just munching on some rice, lazily scrolling through the pictures that she has already taken, and enjoying the quiet.

Though the quiet didn't last as long as she would have liked.

“Hey, shorty," A snide voice said which caused Sakura to stiffen at the name-calling. "I thought you would be practicing non-stop, you seemed quite hell-bent the other day. Did you lose your determination already?”

“What?” The orange-haired teen turned around to glare up at the boy walking up to her. 

Tsukishima's eyes widened a fraction as he realized his mistake. This certainly wasn’t Hinata. While they did have the same hair, small stature, and pale skin, she also was… well, a girl. Her feminine features were quite a dead give away of that, even if there weren’t many. Her cheeks were soft and round with wide brown eyes that were currently glaring up at the beanpole. Obviously, she wasn't that happy with being called "shorty".

Yamaguchi gaped, seeing that they mistook the girl for the spit-fire volleyball player. He flailed his arms, “Tsukki didn’t mean that! We thought you were someone else.” He sharply bowed down at a ninety-degree angle in apology. "So sorry!"

She crossed her arms over her chest and scowled, “hm?” She stared at the two with a calculating gaze. They were freakishly tall, compared to her. They made her look like a little kid with their height. She's used to being short but these guys were just making it ridiculous. 

The one who was frantically apologizing had light brown hair and a multitude of freckles covering his cheeks. The other one was blond with glasses and headphones around his neck. The bored look in his eyes was something that was mirrored in her own. Well, at least she knows that she's had that same look before. As people have told her.

She narrowed her eyes, “how do you know nii-san?”

Neither of the giants were surprised that the girl in front of them was related to the annoying first-year. It would be especially weird if they weren't related because they were nearly identical. They didn't hear Hinata say that he had a sibling, let alone a younger sister, at the school or anything. Then again, they've only had the one interaction with him and it didn't include talking about family.

"W-we're in the volleyball club with him." Yamaguchi coughed and scratched at his blushing cheek. He glanced down at the girl and saw the bored glare she had on her face. If he had to be honest, she scared him just a little bit, and all she had done was ask a question. Scarily enough, it reminded him of his best friend. Oh boy, another Tsukishima?!

She pursed her lips and seemed to relax just a little bit. A small amount of tension washed away from her face, though she was still wasn't completely relaxed. She clicked her tongue and tilted her head, "Oh, I see. You're Tsukishima and Yamaguchi, right? The two other first-years on the team."

Yes, she had heard quite a bit about the two of them. Shōyō had ranted and raved about them last night even after she made him do his work and eat. It was quite easy to rile up Shōyō as he could be a bit sensitive and emotional about the littlest of things. That being said, usually, Sakura didn't take what he would say to heart, especially when they were about a person. However, she would make a bit of an exception at this moment. While Yamaguchi didn't look like much of a bad guy, Tsukishima was a bit of a different story.

The freakishly tall blonde stared down at her with narrowed eyes. He stood over her with a standoffish kind of attitude that she didn't really appreciate. Not only that, but he seemed to be entertained that he annoyed her. The lenses of his glasses gleamed slightly when the light hit it the right way, making him just a tad bit more intimidating. Though that didn't affect Sakura.

"Ah, Hinata didn't mention a sister," Tsukishima said.

Sakura rolled her eyes, "pretty sure it was because you were too busy berating the king and underestimating my brother."

Tsukishima eyed her for how she referred to Kageyama as his volleyball nickname and the distaste that coated her tongue. Someone else who didn't like the King? It's to be expected considering how arrogant that kid can be. Still from what she said, it almost seemed like she was defending him. He scoffed, "I didn't think you would care about the king."

"I don't," Sakura eyed him lazily and turned back to her food. "I don't care what you say about him, I only care about you thinking less of my twin. You definitely riled him up yesterday." Her eyebrows scrunched up in distaste, "thanks for that, by the way, I had to listen to him complain about it all night."

The blond huffed, "whatever, I was only stating facts."

Sakura hummed, uninterested. She certainly wasn't going to rise to the bait that Tsukishima was trying to set out for her. Sakura knows what type of person he must be now, and she didn't appreciate it. He was the type to enjoy discord and upsetting people to a certain degree. Putting people down must be his favorite pass time, she thought. Though, unlike Shōyō, she was uninterested in what he may have to say, "Sure, sure. Now, can you two leave me alone, I was enjoying my lunch until now."

Yamaguchi nodded his head frantically, seemingly wanting to not upset her since having mistaken her for her brother. "Yeah, sure thing Hinata-chan!" He started to push Tsukishima back in the direction that they had came from. Yamaguchi definitely didn't want his best friend to end up upsetting another person. He's used to Tsukishima's abrasive and blunt personality by now, though he knew that he liked to be mean to others. Yet upsetting Hinata-kun's younger sister was probably not going to be a good idea. Then Tsukishima would have both of the twins on his case, Yamaguchi was just trying to save him the trouble of having to deal with them.

She grunted as she heard the two of them start to walk away from her. Though she couldn't help herself from saying the last word, "Word to the wise, my brother is definitely going to give you a run for your money, beanpole." She glanced over her shoulder to stare up at him. Her bored, coffee-brown eyes bored into his sharp, golden ones as a small smirk lifted the edges of Sakura's lips. "Doesn't matter if you want to throw the game or not, he's not gonna leave you alone now."

With those last words, the two other first-years turned to leave. Leaving behind tension now residing between Sakura and Tsukishima. While Sakura was not going to let go of the fact that the blond had tried to belittle her brother, Tsukishima was annoyed that she was nothing like her brother. Sure, he didn't know that she was actually his sister instead of Hinata himself, but he would have hoped that she would be easy to rile up just like him. Yet all he got out of her was light scoffs and eye rolls. She was far more controlled and calm than her twin, that was for sure. Those twins were complete opposites of each other, and it kind of ticked him off. Though he didn't dwell on it for long as he would rather dismiss the girl entirely. No doubt in his mind, she'd just end up being another annoyance that he'll have to deal with.

The next few days were a blur for Sakura. She woke up with Shōyō for the rest of the week to go with him to his practices at the gym. Sakura had gotten better at waking up, but it still bothered her. She enjoyed her sleep immensely, she didn't like missing out on it. Though she still helped her brother when he needed it. She kept him focused on his school assignments when he was too distracted by practice, or even helping him at home with his receives. Shōyō's skills had improved a lot in the past few days thanks to the practices with Kageyama, Suga, Tanaka. No doubt, he'd be ready to get a set from the infamous king soon enough.

So now on a nice sunny Friday morning, Sakura watched as Kageyama spiked yet another ball at Shōyō. She and Suga had been watching both of them go back and forth with each other for a while now. Shōyō was throwing himself around the court to receive all of the hits. He had improved exceptionally since the beginning of the week, which both Kageyama and Suga noticed.

Tanaka then came in through the door, late as usual. He eyed the two boys who were practicing already. He walked over to Suga and Sakura with a quirked eyebrow. "Damn how long have those two been back and forth like that?" 

Suga shrugged his shoulders, "Well, I got here like fifteen minutes ago, so."

"It's been nonstop? Wow!"

They watched as Shōyō fell down after hitting another ball back towards Kageyama. Despite showing signs of being completely exhausted, he was still willing to push himself to the limit. It was nothing new to Sakura, as she's seen it plenty of times from him. Some times, she wished she could be like him in that regard. To push herself even more to do something, to have that powerful amount of motivation and determination within her. Though it seemed like Shōyō was the twin to get all of that, while she was stuck with next to none.

"Everybody has their limits!" Kageyama suddenly shouted as he hit yet another powerful spike at Shōyō. He received it perfectly despite his forearms stinging so much as they turned a bright red from so many hits. "Let's take a break--"

"NOT YET!" Shōyō cut him off loudly, "No! It hasn't hit the floor!"

"Okay, fine." He exclaimed before hitting the ball again, only for it to go soaring over Shōyō instead of straight at him.

"That's brutal, can he hit that?" Tanaka asked loudly as Kageyama blanched at his force of habit.

"Hinata-kun has had amazing athletic ability since middle school," Suga said as they watched the small teen rush after the ball. He gained Tanaka and Sakura's attention, "But besides all that, he's got this insane thirst for victory that keeps him going."

"That's just how Nii-san is," Sakura spoke up from beside him, now drawing both of the older boy's attention to her. "He likes a challenge and will do anything to prove his worth." She clicked her tongue and rolled her eyes as she grumbled, "Plus, he's far too optimistic for his own good, honestly."

They watched as Shōyō pushed himself one step further and dove at the ball, successfully saving it from hitting the ground. "He did it!" Tanaka cheered as they watched him in shock, "Nice one, little man!"

Kageyama watched the ball come back towards him as he started to remember Shōyō's sheer determination. Not only that but Sakura's words about them being teammates now. Perhaps it wouldn't hurt to actually work with him. After all, it would be counter-intuitive for him to keep putting down his new teammate. So, Kageyama set a spike up from Shōyō to the surprise of just about everyone.

"Here we go!" Tanaka yelled.

Suga stared with wide eyes, "There it is, he finally set him one."

"Too bad," Tanaka said as they looked over to the panting Shōyō, "there's no way he's got enough strength to spike it down."

Though at the sight of an actual set, the biggest grin broke out on Shōyō's face. Sakura couldn't help herself but feel warm inside at the sight of her brother being so happy. Something as simple as a volleyball being set up from him to spike brought such joy to her twin, and in turn to her. All she ever wants is for Shōyō to be happy like this. They watched as Shōyō sprinted up to the net and jumped to a seemingly impossible height for someone like him and spike the ball to the other side of the net.

"I gotta hand it to him, the kid can jump." Suga marveled as Tanka stood in surprise at Shōyō's unrelenting athleticism. 

"I can't believe he managed to hit that." Tanaka said in shock as they saw sparkles radiate off of the small teen, "Check out the stupid look on his face."

Suga started off in space as he started to think about when he and Shōyō had been practicing during breaks. "So I guess getting a set must be really important to the guy, huh? I suppose getting tosses from a setter is something we always took for granted."

Sakura shook her head as she reminisced about their time in middle school. The reminder that it was something amazing for Shōyō to actually get a setter to set him a ball. Since he never truly had someone to help him out, other than her. "Nii-san didn't have anyone to really set him for spikes. I did my best, but there's only so much I can do." She did her best to help Shōyō with setting him some spikes when they were in middle school. She wasn't the greatest setter, but she was decent enough to help him at least a little. Though she wasn't the most athletic when it came to helping him overall with volleyball. Still, for him, she did her best. A small smile made its way onto her face one that neither Suga nor Tanaka thought she could possibly muster, "I'm glad he's finally got what he wanted; a team."

"Hey," Kageyama said while looking down at the tired teen who panted on the ground, "tomorrow we'll win."

Shōyō nodded his head firmly, "Yeah, tell me something I don't know!" His cheeks then inflated as his face started to turn green. All that exercise must have made him sick as he threw up all over the floor.

"Aw, that's sick!" Tanka screamed in disgust as Suga instantly started to run around to help Shōyō.

"Tanaka, get some water! Oh god, and a bucket, and some towels!"

Sakura walked over to her sick brother, making sure to avoid the mess, and patted him on the back. "You'll be fine, Shō."

Saturday was usually a day that Sakura used to sleep in, like most other people. Though today was different, as she had a feeling that most of her weekends were going to be. It was the day of the match between the first-years. Though at the moment, she watched as her brother started to sprint at full speed towards the gym.

Sakura rolled her eyes at Shōyō's behavior. Why he decided to try and race Kageyama to the gym was beyond her. All he'd do is tire himself out before the game. Literally, as soon as they had put the bikes down, he had taken off running once he saw that Kageyama was ahead of them. She had to hand it to her brother though, he was pretty fast. 

There was still no way that she would run after him, so she strolled after them at a leisurely pace. She wouldn't have come to the game, as Shōyō even said that she could rest for the day. Sakura had argued that if she had to get up all week for him to practice, she was going to see how well he did at this match. 

She finally walked up to the gym to find a glaring match between Kageyama, her brother, Yamaguchi, and Tsukishima. Sakura raised a delicate eyebrow at them and scoffed, "you guys are ridiculous." They're all on the same team after all. How were they suppose to work together if they had some petty disagreement with each other? She just lazily raised a hand at them in greeting, "Hi, Yamaguchi-san, beanpole."

Tsukishima looked over at the girl he wasn't exactly expecting to be there. After all, it was a match just between the team, so why would she be here? "Ah, if it isn't shorty number two."

"Hey, don't call her short!" Shōyō jumped to his little sister's defense like a good brother should.

"Calm down, Shō." Sakura just waved her hand dismissively, "He's just annoyed since he knows he'll lose this game." She took pride in seeing the small twitch in the blond's eyebrows as his golden irises sharpened dangerously.

Before Tsukishima could say anything else to the orange-haired girl, A different blond popped his head out of the gym door. "Aw look at that, you're all getting along so well!" Endo teased them all with a sly smile. He then caught sight of the only girl among the group and cheered happily, "Hinata-chan! Here to take even more pictures of me, huh?"

Sakura took a deep breath and disregarded the second-year as she walked through the group to enter the gym. She grunted at the older boy in greeting and didn't give him anything else to satisfy his ego. Today was definitely going to be a different Saturday for her.

Chapter Text

SAKURA SETTLED HERSELF ON THE GROUND BESIDE the scorekeeper with her camera ready. It's not an official game or anything, but she still wanted to take some pictures of the boys. Might as well as practice taking some pictures for the team, right? So while the guys set up for their match, she got comfy on the ground next to Suga.

The door opened once again, and the stunning third-year manager walked through the door, "Good morning, everybody."

Ennoshita greeted her like a normal person should, "Hello there."

Yet the resident idiot did not. "You're looking as beautiful as ever my dearest Kiyoko!" Tanaka shouted at her like a mad man, only for her to ignore him like usual. Still, despite the girl not doing anything, he still shivered at even being in the same room as her. "Aw, yeah being ignored."

Sakura looked up at the older girl with a blank expression as the black-haired beauty walked over towards the scoreboard. "Oh, morning Kiyoko-senpai." 

"Hello, Hinata-chan." She said, "I didn't think you would be here."

Sakura shrugged her thin shoulders and pursed her lips, "Well, nii-san had forced me to wake up early for his practices all week. I want to see how those practices have helped him improve."

"Hey, Kiyoko!" Endo suddenly greeted the manager with a charming smile as he bounded over to the two. 

"Hello, Endo," She replied back in aloof voice and then moved away to get ready for the match, effectively ignoring Endo as he approached. Though, unlike Tanaka, her ignorance didn't affect him. He was neither enchanted nor upset that she walked away from him. At least he wasn't as perverted as Tanaka, Sakura thought. The blond looked down at her with a sly smile, "ready to see how well your brother and Kageyama fair in this game, Hinata-chan?"

Sakura's eyebrow twitched at the fact that he called her 'hinata-chan', but she disregarded it for the time being, "I guess."

Endo tilted his head curiously, "aren't you worried about him? He just might lose this match, you know."

She shrugged her shoulders and glanced up at him from the corner of her eyes, "I don't care if he wins or loses. He won't be punished if they do lose, which is all I care about."

Endo eyed the bored girl for a moment and contemplated her reaction. You would think that she would want to see her brother actually win this game. Yet here she was, perfectly content with either outcome. If it were him, Endo would probably be cheering his heart out for his sibling. Then again, he and Sakura didn't really have the same personality, so he wasn't sure what she would do at this match. He could understand her logic about Hinata-kun not being punished if he did lose the game. There wasn't much on the line for the kid besides maybe his pride, and suffering through the humiliation that came with losing a game. Though if she really did care for her brother, wouldn't she want him to win? Isn't that what a sibling is supposed to do? He wouldn't know.

Before he could say anything else to her, his captain grabbed everyone's attention. "Alright, let's get started." Daichi took charge to start the match, "I'll play on Tsukishima's team to make it three-on-three."

Shōyō jumped up with confusion painting his face, "Huh!? Is that fair though?"

The captain chuckled, "Look don't worry, of course, it is. Tanaka has got a lot more attack power than me. I won't go easy on you though."

"Aww, but Daichiiii," Endo whined while leaning against the captain with faux tears tunning down his face. "I wanted to play against the troublesome duo!"

Hinata and Kageyama bristled and shouted out in annoyance at being called the 'troublesome duo'. Though he wasn't wrong. Daichi sighed loudly and rubbed the bridge of his nose in frustration, "Endo, shut it!" You would think that he would be used to the third-years antics, but Endo could always be a nuisance when he needed to be.

The blond boy gasped dramatically and pretended to cry into his arm. "You're so mean, captain!"

Tsukishima eyed the strange interaction before clearing his throat and pretending to whisper to Daichi, though he made sure the others could hear him. "Well, ahem, the buzzcut or the shorty, who to crush. I mean, challenge first. So hard to choose, but I do know I want to save his highness for last."

"Uh, Tsukki," Yamaguchi walked over and whispered to his best friend with urgent hesitancy. "They can hear you. Be careful."

"I know genius, I want them to hear me." He rolled his eyes at his best friend, he spoke louder for the others to hear once again. "I can't wait to watch the king fall apart out there."

"Well now," Daichi chuckled, "you've got quite a personality there don't you?"

Sakura scoffed from the sidelines and made sure that the beanpole could hear her, "Yeah, a terrible one." Endo snickered into his hand at her comment as he walked towards the others, finished with his dramatic act. Her words had earned her the pleasure of being on the receiving end of the blond's narrow-eyed glare. She didn't mind it though, she just ignored the burning stare as she lazily leaned on her arms.

Tsukishima's glare hadn't let up on the unaffected girl as he continued to speak, "It'll have to be a pretty great show to top watching him get abandoned by all his loyal subjects last year."

Kageyama's fist clenched at the jabs about his past. While they may be true, he didn't like being reminded of it. After all, it was one of his lowest points as a volleyball player.

"Well, well," Tanaka sang as he walked over to the troublesome duo with a sweet smile. "Did you hear that you guys, they're talking trash now. That jerk better step off..." He then turned around with a menacing expression, "OR HE'S DEAD MEAT!"

"Suga-senpai," Sakura raised an eyebrow at him and looked up at the vice-captain who turned to look at her. "Please tell me he isn't always like this."

The upperclassman sighed, "I'm afraid he is." All she did was groan in displeasure. 

The game started with Shōyō, Kageyama, and Tanaka against Tsukishima, Yamaguchi, and Daichi. Sakura honestly didn't care who won this match, despite saying that Tsukishima was going to lose earlier. Sure it would be nice for her brother to win, but if they did lose nothing would really happen to Shōyō. His pride might end up being wounded, but she knew that he would bounce back eventually. The only one who was really at risk was Kageyama, who would not be allowed to be a setter. So she didn't care. Though it would be nice to see Tsukishima's ass handed to him. That would definitely be entertaining.

A few points had already been scored, and at the moment, Kageyama had just set a spike for Tanaka. The second-year easily broke through Tsukishima's block. "YEEAAAAH!! WHOOOHOO!!" Tanaka shouted at his scored point and pulled off his shirt to spin around like it was a lasso. 

"Put your shirt on!" Suga shouted at him with annoyance lacing his words.

Ennoshita rolled his eyes, "Yeah, calm down." 

"Nobody wants to see that," Kinoshita said.

Endo shook his head, "It wasn't even that impressive!"

Sakura just pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed loudly. God these guys are annoying, she thought. The match continued on with Daichi serving the next ball.

"Front!" Kageyama called.

Tanaka moved to receive the ball confidently, "Got it!"

"Hinata!"

An excited expression blossomed on the short teens face. His first real spike in a high school game! How awesome!!! He couldn't wait to feel the satisfaction of hitting the ball over the net, scoring his first point in a real game. Shōyō jumped up, more than ready to spike the ball, to the surprise of everyone in the room. Seeing a small teen like him able to jump at least a few feet in the air was amazing. Even Kiyoko was stunned by the sight right in front of her. Sakura though was unfazed, as she has seen it a million times before. Though just as Shōyō tried to get it over the net, the extremely tall Tsukishima was there to make a perfect kill.

Shock flooded Shōyō's body as he realized that this was just like middle school. Another wall to block him and keep him from scoring. His twin clicked her tongue. She expected that it would be blocked at some point. After all, you can't really do much against someone as tall as Tsukishima. He's a giant.

"You took me by surprise before," Tsukishima said smugly as his glasses gleamed slightly in the light, "you've got a really nice jump there. Now if only you were about a foot taller you would be a real superstar. Better start taking your vitamins."

On the sidelines, Sakura scowled harshly at the boy. She usually isn't one for showing her emotions, at least externally, but when someone constantly berates her brother, she was definitely going to show her displeasure. What was with this guy and hating on just about everyone? That sadistic bastard certainly got a kick out of it, which Sakura was ashamed to say that she was just about the same. As if knowing what she was thinking, Tsukishima smugly smiled at her as well. Seemingly figuring out that he could get to her by speaking like this to her twin. It almost seemed to amuse him, even more, seeing that he had riled up the other twin, even if it was just a twitch of her brow and a deep frown.

"Whatever, one more. I got this one for sure." Shōyō said in determination before the game continued. He was set a few more spikes, but each time they were blocked by the same smug beanpole. Things certainly weren't going as Shōyō had hoped.

"Blocked again," Suga said, dejected.

Ennoshita nodded his head, "How many times is that?"

"Tanaka's getting a lot through though," Kinoshita said, trying to lighten up the mood.

Though Sakura, ever the Debby-downer, shrugged her shoulders, "the only way they'd actually win is if nii-san is able to get his spikes through. You can't really win a game with only one spiker breaking through blocks."

"Wow," Endo said and leaned on the top of Sakura's head, to her annoyance, "you're quite the pessimist aren't you, Hinata-chan."

"Don't touch me, baka!" She shouted and pushed the poor third-year away, who ended up falling to the ground on his face.

Back on the courts, Tsukishima taunted Kageyama, who did his best to ignore the blond. "You better snap out of it buddy, or you're going to keep getting blocked." Kageyama made sure to keep is back to the giant, not willing to reveal that he was bothered by the jabs. "Why don't you give them one of your royal sets, the kind that wipes out your opponent and your teammates at the same time."

The dark-haired setter flinched a little at the reminder but made sure not to show any other indications that he was affected by those words. "Shut your mouth."

The boys set up for the next service to be made, which Daich called out, "Your serve, Tadashi."

The meek boy took his spot for the serve and hit it... only to have it fall short and hit the net. "Oops," the freckled boy sheepishly said while tubbing the back of his head. "Sorry Tsukki." Endo snickered at the poor boy's misfortune.

"Shake it off," the captain encouraged while Kageyama got ready to serve the ball this time. His jump serve was quite impressive, just like Suga had seen from a few days ago. Sakura had made sure to get at least one shot of him in mid-air. She may not totally like the guy, but he did make a good subject for photos. 

He aimed his serve for Daichi, thinking that he might be weak at receives, but found out that their captain can easily make it. Caught off guard by that fact, Tsukishima was easily able to set the ball for Tadashi who spiked it over the net. Shōyō wasn't ready to receive it, so it just hit off of him and out of bounds.

Tanaka walked over to Kageyama, "Steady receives like that are Daichi's specialty. They got mad defense."

"Did you think I would be a weak spot?" The captain asked the first-year with a raised eyebrow. "I may not have as much raw talent as you, but I've been training on receives a lot longer than you have. You won't break through that easily."

Okay, even Sakura had to admit, Daichi sounded cool.

"Your grace, shouldn't you be taking this seriously?" Once again, Tsukishima took the time to call out Kageyama.

Endo did his best to hide his small smile. The sight of drama was something that he lived for! Seeing this, gave him such good entertainment. It would be even better if he could interject himself into it. Causing drama and being involved with it was what he thrived on. Though there was no way he'd really get to get in on the action. This was just between the first-years and whatever beef they have with each other.

Shōyō walked up to the net and glared at Tsukishima, "Dude, what's the matter with you? Why do you have to keep picking on the guy? Chill out with the frickin nickname."

"What for?" The blond scoffed, "Don't you know why everybody started calling him the "King of the Court"?"

The ball of sunshine furrowed his eyebrows. "I just thought his enemies called him that because he's a really good player and well everybody so afraid of him."

Tsukishima laughed at his stupidity and naivety, "That's a common misunderstanding but it's just not true. Well, if the rumors are to be believed then his nickname, "King of the Court", was given to him by the other players of Kitagawa First. Yeah, that's right by his own teammates. The truth is they were not paying him a compliment but calling him a tyrant." Endo was eating all of this up, if only he had some popcorn. "I've been hearing about it for a long time, but now that I've seen him play, I'm convinced. He got benched at the finals because he was a domineering, power-tripping, dictator. That's why you won't try a quick attack, you're shaken up by what happened that day."

There was a short moment of silence as everyone took that it. They knew that Kageyama could be full of himself and abrasive to others when they played, but they didn't really think it was that bad. Meanwhile, Kageyama was remembering that faithful game. How he snapped at his team and ended up with a mutiny at match point for their opponents. Being put on the bench was probably the worst feeling for anyone, especially someone as passionate about volleyball like him.

"Wow," Sakura spoke up and couldn't help the humorless chuckle pass her lips. Tsukishima glanced at her from the corner of his eye, with his smug smirk still on his lips. She must be surprised by the truth, which is understandable. The orange-haired girl didn't seem smart enough to realize the truth. Though she just flashed him a fake smile with annoyance shining in her eyes. "I didn't think anyone could be a bigger jerk than Kageyama. Congrats." Tsukishima glared heatedly before he scoffed at her. Of course, she didn't see the point of what he was saying. She really was just as idiotic as her brother.

"You know what," Tanaka said approaching the net to glare at the bully, "I've had enough of your smarmy ass-"

"Tanaka." Daichi reprimanded him, which only made the second-year pout slightly.

"Well, why bother setting if there's no one there to spike it?"

"You're right," Kageyama started solemnly, "The thought of no one being there to back me up, it terrifies me, alright?"

Admitting that must be a big step for Kageyama, Sakura realized. Talking about your flaws was not usually an easy task. So for him to say that, he was certainly improving himself. Perhaps Kageyama wasn't going to try to be "The King of the Court" anymore, thank god. High school is the time for reinventing yourself, after all.

"Yeah, but that was back in middle school," Shōyō said innocently, surprising Kageyama. "Your sets are going to reach me. No question about it. After that, the only problem is how to get passed this jerk hole." He said pointing to Tsukishima and earning a snicker from Daichi, Tanaka, and Endo. Though a shake of the head from Sakura, she would have thought he would come up with a better insult, had she taught him nothing? "You need to kick Tsukishima's ass, join the volleyball club, and become the setter, just like we planned. Then you have to send the ball to me, it's not that complicated."

As uplifting as Shōyō's words might have been, they didn't impress Tsukishima. "Oh, shut up. That over-the-top, annoying little attitude of yours is disgusting." He took the ball and got ready to serve it. His words were starting to rub just about everyone the wrong way. Nobody knew why he was being so... mean to his opponents. "And enthusiasm won't make you any taller. If you think trying hard is all it takes to succeed you're sorry mistaken."

The ball was served, and Tanaka received the ball. As it flew through the air, heading straight for Kageyama, Tanaka and Shōyō both called for it. Who would he set it to? Tanaka may be able to get it through even if he is blocked, thanks to his power. Hinata would most likely not get it through, seeing as he hasn't gotten one during this entire game. Who was the better choice in this situation?

"Kageyama!" Shōyō's voice broke through his contemplation. He turned his eyes up to see the small teen already in mid-air ready to hit a spike, "I'm here!"

Making up his mind he easily tossed the ball to Shōyō to hit it, which he did. It wasn't a powerful hit, but it still got over the net, to the surprise of everyone. He landed back on the ground happy with himself but still dejected, "That was close, almost jumped at nothing... but it's out."

"What the hell was that for?!" Kageyama shouted at him.

"The ball came right towards me!" Shōyō shouted, surprising Kageyama into silence, "I don't care what happened in middle school, I'm grateful for any set that comes my way, I just want the ball. I'll jump anywhere. I'll hit any ball. Believe me, give me set and I'll hit it."

Tanaka rushed up to them with wide eyes. "You guys can do quick attacks and didn't tell me!"

"What's that?" Shōyō tilted his head in confusion.

"That crazy fast attack you just did!"

"Uh-uh," he shook his head, "no, the only attacks I've hit were way up in the air."

Tanaka groaned, "You literally just did it. Look remember in middle school when that rookie setter mess up that set but you hit it anyway? Like that!"

"Huh? But I don't remember how I did it. Whatever, I'll still hit whatever set comes at me. You just wait and see!"

On the sidelines, Endo leaned down to Sakura. He made sure this time that he didn't touch her, as he didn't want to end up bruised. "That brother of yours is sure something huh, Hinata-chan."

Sakura huffed at him, "Stop calling me 'Hinata-chan', you nuisance."

"You've never done combos before, so that's impossible for you."

Lightning struck behind Shōyō in shock. How could he just say something like that?! "Don't be ridiculous, you don't get to act like a wimp just stop it!"

Kageyama just glanced at him, indifferent, before walking off. Tsukishima chuckled and called after him, "Not very regal of you, sire."

Shōyō blanched and glared at Tsukishima, "You're going to pay for that, I promise you."

"Look at that, getting all bent out of shape again." He looked down at the short player with a small smirk tugging at the corners of his lips. It seemed like all he ever did was smirk, and it infuriated a few people. "You can't just bulldoze your way through everything, you know that right? Not everyone is a good fit for every job you know. I mean, you're clearly not cut out to be a spiker."

Sakura grounded her teeth together while clenching her fist. Oh, if only she had a volleyball to throw at this jerkwad. Seeing her anger start to boil over, Suga bent down slightly and placed a soft hand on the top of her head, to hopefully calm her down. Though all it did was cause her to stiffen up at the sudden touch. Did he not hear her with Endo a few minutes ago?! She didn't lash out at him though, as she figured he wasn't doing for the same reason as Endo. Still, she didn't totally appreciate it. The sentiment of calming her down was nice and all, but she'd rather go without the touching part.

"You're right, in middle school, even now, no matter how much I jump I always get blocked." Shōyō admitted, "Height is important for volleyball you can't always just jump real high to make up for being short like me, but still that never stopped me from wanting to be a spiker." He remembered the awe that came from watching the Tiny Giant, the way that he amazed his twin with his jumps when he first tried to play. He liked that feeling, the satisfaction that came with surprising people, especially his sister. You could argue that she was one of the main reasons he wanted to succeed so well, along with becoming the next Tiny Giant. "I don't care whether I'm cut out for it or not, I'll do the best I can with what I got and I'll win. I'm on this court and I'm not going anywhere."

Tsukishima let out a breath in frustration, "Have you even listened to a word I've said. It doesn't really work that way, shorty. You can't substitute spirit with height unless you want to be a libero that is."

"I open up the wall and block the spiker," Kageyama, who had been quiet since this little spat between Shōyō and Tsukishima started, walked over to stand side-by-side with Shōyō. He spoke firmly to them, he was obviously passionate about this. "That's the setter's job."

Everyone else in the gym watched as Kageyama pushed Shōyō's head down and started to talk with him. Most likely discussing their plan of action for the rest of the game. Eventually, Tanaka was dragged into it as well, so he would know what exactly it was that his team was thinking. Surprisingly, even Sakura was interested in what they were talking about, though obviously couldn't hear them.

Once the boys finished their huddle, Tsukishima set up to serve the next ball which was easily received by Shōyō. He was ready to spike the ball like last time, though this time around it wasn't going to be as weak or out of bounds as the first. Yet he wasn't ready for how fast Kageyama had set the ball. He completely missed hitting the quick set. Shōyō landed on the ground with the volleyball falling lifelessly to the ground a few feet from him.

"How'd you miss that! You have to-" Kageyama started to shout but cut himself off from probably insulting Shōyō and bit his lip. He seemed to have learned from the past and didn't wanna risk repeating it. Shouting at Shōyō would only result in a mutiny, once again. Kageyama certainly didn't want that to happen again.

Tsukishima chuckled at his opponents' misfortune, "Nice ball, your highness."

"Nothing ever works out on the first try!" The setter exclaimed in frustration.

"Hey, that's what losers say."

The troublesome duo still kept trying to get their hit right. Though each and every time, Kageyama's sets were a bit too fast for Shōyō to hit. On one try, Shōyō had even ended up tangled in the net because he jumped too far. It wasn't working out at all. Though Endo found it quite funny how they easily got frustrated with each other. Still, it probably would be better if he saw this happening to another team. After all, he was going to end up having to work with these two idiots eventually. Endo certainly didn't want to have to deal with this in the middle of a game, that could totally cost them a win. And Endo is all about winning!

"I can't guess your timing at all," Shōyō miserably said.

"You have lightning-fast reflexes," Kageyama shouted, "you just need to give it more pow, more oomph!"

Shōyō grew frustrated, "Is it oomph or pow, make up your mind!"

"Don't get caught up in the terminology!" Tanaka jumped in between the two.

On the other side of the court, Suga picked up the discarded volleyball and walked over to the fellow setter. "Kageyama, you need to make sure you don't let history repeat itself." He gained all of their attention, "Uh, what I mean is uh-"

Kageyama pointed at Shōyō, "He's got super fast reflexes, and he can jump, he can learn how to quick attack."

"That's not really what I'm getting at though." The third-year shook his head, "I think I know how you guys can be more effective. Hinata doesn't really know what he's doing out there."

At those words, Shōyō deflated slightly, "That's kind of harsh."

Suga continued on, "He doesn't have technique or experience like a lot of the people you competed against in middle school. But he's a rare asset."

The orange-haired boy's mood spiked happily at being called a "rare asset". His ego certainly got a bit of a boost at that. Who wouldn't be empowered after having their senpai call them an asset like that? "Ah, really? Aw come on, I'm not like a genius or anything."

Tanaka turned to him with a bland expression, "Who said that?"

"If I had your skill..." Suga continued on in a strained voice, "I mean think about it maybe you should try adapting to more of Hinata-kun's characteristics instead of the other way around. Don't you see what I'm saying? Then, maybe-"

"Take it easy Suga," Tanaka tried to calm his friend down.

"It's up to you to use his talents more effectively!" The silver-haired teen exclaimed, "I'm a setter like you, so I was honestly a little freaked out when I saw you play last year. You've got incredible talent and control over the ball. But most of all you're good at analyzing the opponents blocking moves and you make decisions on the fly. I've got... none of those things."

"Don't you say crap like that!" Tanaka exclaimed, not putting up with how Suga was putting himself down.

Daichi stopped him, already seeing how Suga was trying to help, "Hold on, just let him talk, okay?"

Suga continued on with his pep talk for the younger boy, "You're good at what you do and almost have too much determination. But your ability to assess your surroundings is your most important skill. So pay closer attention to your allies!"

Suga then walked back off of the court to let the boys discuss their plan. Hopefully, his words had sunk into Kageyama. This could help them significantly if they figured it out correctly. Endo patted him on the shoulder with a large smile, "Good job, vice-captain! Such wisdom!"

Sakura tilted her head as she watched her brother and Kageyama talk with each other. While she couldn't hear them that well, she figured that they were going to work together to the best of their ability. If there was one thing for certain, she knew that when posed with a challenge, both Kageyama and Shōyō would rise to it. The two of them were extremely competitive, to an annoying degree.

So the service was set by Daichi and easily received by Tanaka. In the zone, Kageyama assessed his surroundings and was ready to make the most precise toss to Shōyō as he could. He calculated everything perfectly and set the ball at an amazing speed. It only took a split second, but the ball was suddenly hitting the ground on the other side of the court. Everyone stared in awe at the turn of events. It actually worked?

The small spiker stared at his hand as it became a slight pink and stung a bit. "I... touched the ball!" Shōyō exclaimed and started to laugh hysterically and turned to Sakura, "Did you see that imouto!!"

"It wasn't that great," Tsukishima said lamely. Honestly, what was so amazing about just hitting the ball over the net. These simpletons were awed by anything.

"Guys," Daichi walked over with wide eyes and an expression of terrified awe, "he just did that with his eyes closed." Everyone jumped in surprise at that fact. Closed!? His eyes were closed? How in the name of kami had those two been able to do that?! What kind of madness was this! Daich went on to explain further, "From the moment his feet left the floor to the second he swung his arm, Hinata-kun's eyes were closed. Kageyama just made a pin-point toss into his hand, but Hinata-kun wasn't even looking at the ball! I don't know how he did it, but his timing was perfect."

During his explanation, Shōyō just continued to laugh in amazement. That feeling in his hand brought him such joy and accomplishment! "That's awesome! You guys, I don't know what happened but I just hit something! Did you see that? Huh!"

Kageyama spun to him and pointed at his with wide eyes, "Hey, what did you do? Your eyes weren't really shut, were they!?"

"Um, well you're the one who told me not to look at the ball," Shōyō explained sheepishly. "If I kept my eyes open I knew I would look at it."

"I wasn't telling you to-"

"But... but it worked, right? What's the big deal?"

"I know it worked but-" Kageyama started off in frustration, "what kind of person acts totally on trust?"

"I can't help it! Trust is the only way I know how to do it!"

Sakura shook her head at the question. It may seem impossible, but that's just what Shōyō is like. She may have not been as surprised by that, but that may just be because she grew up with him. Sakura has never known her brother to be any other way. A scense of trust that she could never have. He was different from her, in every way.

So the game continued on, with more failed attempts by Kageyama and Shōyō. It almost seemed like their magical quick attack was a one-time thing. Kageyama set the ball for him once again, though this time it was too far from the net and ended up hitting Shōyō in the face. "Sorry," he apologized to the fallen teen who now had a red cheek.

On the sidelines, Ennoshita shook his head as he added a point to Tsukishima's team, bring the score to 22-15. "Hmm, I guess that first time was a fluke."

"Yeah," Suga said with a hand on his chin in thought, "but I can tell their precision is already starting to improve."

"You really think so?" Ennoshia asked his upperclassmen shakily like he couldn't believe that. Sure the attack was pretty cool, but it certainly isn't consistent. They have yet to hit it even more than once.

"Doing good, Hinata-kun!" Endo cheered for the shorter teen and aimed a cheeky smile down at him, "just hit the ball with her hand, not your face."

"Yeah, I know." Shōyō said sarcastically and started to clean the floor while holding his bruised face, "That hurt."

The manager walked over to the boy in slight concern and bent down to him, "Are you okay?" 

"Ah, y-yes ma'am!" Shōyō exclaimed at her appearance and worry over him. Slowly but surely his face was starting to turn a bit red in embarrassment. He abruptly looked over to Kageyama who had a slight smile. Though he wasn't smiling at Shōyō's misfortune, he was contemplating how doing this, keeping up with Hinata and the game was actually... Fun. "What are you smiling about this is the second time I've been smack in the face. I'm starting to think you're doing this on purpose. You do know we still have to win right?"

"Of course I do!" He roared and spun around to get ready for the rest of the game.

"Aw man, it's not working," Shōyō whined rubbing his cheek before looking down at his stinging hand.

Sakura walked up to her twin and placed a hand on his shoulder in encouragement. Her camera swayed around her, almost being completely unused. She had taken a few pictures, at least one shot for each of the players, but that was all. After all, she has been pretty invested in the game, whether she wants to say it out loud or not. The outcome didn't matter, but with this developing quick attack, there was no way that Sakura could really look away. "You'll get it nii-san." She squeezed his shoulder before bonking him on the head with her fist, "now kick that beanpole's ass. If you don't, you know I'll make fun of you for it."

Shōyō nodded his head, knowing that she would mercilessly make fun of him for losing this game. She wouldn't usually do that, but this isn't a real game, so she's a tad bit more relaxed with her support for him and how she teases him when he loses. There was a strong spark of determination in his eyes, one that Sakura had seen plenty of times. She knew that he would do it, even if she didn't say anything to him. He was motivated to get this done!

The game continued on with Daichi serving the ball again with it being received by Tanaka. Like lightning, Shōyō ran up towards the net which drew the attention of the two other first-years who were ready to block him if he did try to spike it. There would be no way that he would be able to get through them, so he did what Kageyama had told him to. Go around!

He ran around to the other side of the net, throwing off Tsukishima and Yamaguchi. He may be shorter, but he could get through this. He could get that extra inch, that extra second to get around that gigantic wall. So he closed his eyes and swung his arm back. His hand came in contact with the ball. For a moment, he was able to open up his eyes and look to the other side of the net, just beyond Tsukishima's extended arm. Then he saw it, the view from the summit! It was even more amazing than he would have thought. 

It almost felt like it went in slow-motion, for Shōyō at least. Seeing his own hit going over the wall before Tsukishima could block it, Daichi missing it, and the ball hitting the floor, left an amazing feeling in his gut. So it seemed like that new spike wasn't just a fluke. 

"Yes!"

Chapter Text

THE FIRST SET OF THE GAME WAS coming to an end. Kageyama and Shōyō's team was quickly closing the gap between points. The air in the gym was starting to get thick with inspiration after watching this game. Overall, even if things may not be going well for one team, they were still all allies here. Some of the revelations that are being made, especially that quick that Hinata and Kageyama can pull off, things were going to start looking up for the Karasuno team. With a first-year who could very well be the next Tiny Giant, a prodigal setter, and a giant blond, the first-years were stacking up to have quite a lot of potential. Their three-on-three game was displaying exactly how well these boys worked together and their own individual strengths.

Sakura, continuing to take some pictures if she felt like it, watched the game with a critical eye. Now, she isn't a sporty person, actually, she just about hated any and all physical activity, but she knew things about volleyball. Thanks to her brother. Before she had seen any of the boys play, she had a feeling that they had at least some skill. The older members were pretty good in their own rights, though these first-years were on a bit of a different level. Shōyō and Kageyama's combo attack was so amazing, for one thing. If they were to perfect it, then Karasuno would have quite the weapon for their games. Though what did she know? She wasn't a volleyball player, just a photographer.

"Wow..." Suga sighed out in wonder with his brown eyes wide. He stood beside Endo and Ennoshita by the scoreboard who were just as in amazement as the vice-captain. On the other side, Kinoshita also stood in astonishment of the newest club members with Sakura seated by his feet, idly watching the game in seeming indifference now. The shock of seeing the quick attack from her brother and the king had worn off just a little bit by now. Especially after seeing them mess it up a few times, which she found to be quite funny.

"They did it again!" Ennoshita exclaimed.

"They turned it around," Kinoshita said in awe as he fixed the scoreboard so it was in team Kagehina's favor. "One more point and they'll take the first set."

The third-year vice-captain nodded his head in thought, "His timings better, it's improving by the second, impressive."

"I never had any doubt in those two weirdos!" Endo laughed joyfully with a toothy smile which earned some deadpanned looks from the other second-years, Suga, and Sakura.

Kageyama then went to set up another spike that had gone to Tanaka instead, effectively tricking the other team's blockers. The first set then ended with Kagehina winning 25-23.

"Yikes, he better keep a close eye on Tanaka too," Ennoshita sweatdropped at Tanaka's shouts. Why was he on a team with idiots like this?

With the first set finally over with, each team of three was ready to have a short water break before they started the next one. Though, Tanaka certainly was going to use this time to boast about his win. He had already taken off his shirt in celebration and began to taunt Tsukishima, "How do you like me now, Tsukishima! Weren't you going to crush me and Hinata-kun?"

Hinata jumped along with him in the back like an excited puppy, "Yeah! Yeah!"

"Try it if you can!"

"If you can!" the orange-haired boy echoed.

Suga broke Tanaka out of his shouts, however. "Why are you bragging the most, Tanaka?"

"Exactly," Ennoshita agreed, "without the first-years, you never would have made that hit."

"Yeah, don't get all cocky."

Endo nodded his head and chuckled, "Your voice is annoying!"

"Keep your clothes on," Kinoshita joined in on the berating of Tanaka.

"Look, I don't need any more smart remarks from the peanut gallery!" Tanaka roared and pointed at the other boys angrily. Even if it was true, couldn't they just let him bask in this win?!

"You know," Kinoshita started as the older boys glanced over at the other three players. "Tsukishima's team doesn't have a lot of initiative on their side. So the best thing they can do is try to block all those aggressive attacks."

Sakura took a quick glance at them to see that he was right. The three other boys didn't seem to really be into this game, unlike their opponents. Sure they didn't have much riding on their win and wouldn't be punished if they lost like Kageyama and Shōyō. However, you would think that they'd be a bit more... into the game. Considering they are also suppose to be showing off how good they are at volleyball for the team.

From her perspective, she thought that Yamaguchi was doing a pretty good job. Sure, he's not the best at volleyball, but he's certainly not the worst. His nerves may or may not get the best of him at certain points during the game, but he knew what he was doing. Plus, there's always room for improvement. To be honest, she liked him far more than his friend, the stuck-up giant. Tsukishima was talented at volleyball, Sakura had to admit. His tallness gave him an edge in the game and made his blocking skills better than most. He was obviously good at the game, but he didn't put much effort into it. Sakura didn't know why, and didn't care. So what if he wasn't going to play to his best ability, as long as it didn't effect the team as a whole or Shōyō, then Sakura didn't care what he did.

The whistle was blown, signifying the end of the break and the beginning of the second set. "Time for the second set."

"Ready!?" Tanaka shouted as his team lined up.

The First-years, with the same amount of enthusiasm, answered, "Yeah!"

The game continued on with each team scoring at least a few points. Honestly, it was quite a close game between the two. At one point, Shōyō had ended up getting a ball to the face. Thankfully, Sakura had her camera ready and snapped a picture of it. Yet another snapshot of her brother getting hurt to add to her collection. The game picked up the pace, so much so that Tsukishima appeared to finally take it a bit more seriously. Perhaps he does care, thought Sakura.

"Whoa, Kageyama is pretty amazing," Kinoshita said, once again marveling at the first-years skills. "And man, all those precision sets? He's really gotta stay focused."

Ennoshita placed a hand on his chin analyzing the troublesome duo, "Not to mention Hinata-kun's running around more than usual."

"Yeah, but..." Suga started watching them with a small smile as Shōyō hit another spike with his eyes closed, "They're having fun." With that final hit over the net, team Kagehina had won! They were quite exhausted, but it was worth it. "Good game."

The other orange-haired twin walked over to her brother as he shakily got to his feet. "You did good, Shō," Sakura said as warmly as she could to her brother and handed him a bottle of water. There was a small smile on her face, one that was only reserved for her brother as her eyes were shining with a sort of pride that always came about when she saw her brother do something amazing. And that freak quick was definitely amazing. She then turned to Kageyama, who also finally got to his feet after catching his breath, and her smile disappeared at an instant. "You too, King."

The boy scowled at her heatedly and roughly grabbed the offered bottle from her, "Don't call me that!"

"Hm," Sakura raised an eyebrow and eyed him for a quick moment. A spark ignited in her eyes before she smirked evilly at him, "I'll call you what I want."

He chocked on the water and growled as he tried to tower over the girl, in order to scare her, "No you won't." His intimidation didn't do anything. Nothing scared Sakura, especially not some temperamental teenage boy.

She clicked her tongue in amusement, "And who's going to stop me? You?"

That seemed to anger him even further as his face started to turn red in anger. Sakura continued to stare at him in a bit of amusement swimming in her eyes. As much as she liked not getting involved in anything, teasing someone every once in a while was a tad bit entertaining. So she couldn't help herself, especially if it was Kageyama. They may have gone on a little bit longer if it wasn't for Shōyō speaking up, "We should go shake hands with them."

He was referring to Tsukishima and Yamaguchi who were standing with each other in the corner of the gym. Neither of them seemed to be really willing to socialize with anyone else besides each other, at least not yet. That wasn't a good sign considering they were a part of the team now.

"Why?" Kageyama asked, finally taking his glare off of Sakura. "We don't have to."

"Yes, we do. All right. Let's go." Shōyō said firmly before walking over to the taller teens with Kageyama and Sakura following him, "Tsukishima."

The giant turned to look down at the little ball of sunshine. "What?"

"We're supposed to shake hands before and after a match. Though we didn't do that at first today." Shōyō started to explain with an outstretched hand before his face twisted slightly into a sour expression, "Besides, we're teammates now. Though that doesn't make me happy." Tsukishima stared down at him with an annoyed frown, obviously not willing to shake his hand in the slightest. It was something that he would never do in a million years! Shōyō saw he wasn't going to comply and started to whisper urgently, "Hurry up. Don't you know? They'll kick you out of the gym if you don't show team spirit."

Tsukishima blinked, "The reason why you two got kicked out was because you ignored the captain, started your own competition, and finally, blew the vice principal's rug off his head."

The troublesome duo went rigid at being called out, "N-Never mind the minor details."

"That's what got you thrown out?" Sakura asked with a raised eyebrow. She knew that they must have done something spectacular to be thrown out of the gym last week, but going as far as to knock off the vice principal's wig? That was definitely worthy of punishment. If only she had been there to see it. "Impressively moronic."

"Come on!" Shōyō shouted as he tried to attack Tsukishima into shaking his hand, which the tall teen tried to avoid. "Shake hands!"

Tsukishima dodged each of Shōyō's attack as best he could, with Yamaguchi's help, of course. "Wh-What are you doing? Get away from me! Stop!"

A little further away, the group of third-years and Tanaka watched them continue to shout at each other with confusion. "What are those first-years doing?" Tanaka asked.

"Becoming friends?" Endo guessed while scratching the back of his neck with a chuckle.

Eventually, Shōyō had gotten his handshake from Tsukishima. This left the poor blond staring at the hand that had been forcibly shaken in disgust and shock. Behind him, Yamaguchi seemed to be in just as much shock as him, "Are you all right, Tsukki?"

Kageyama and Shōyō had already walked away from the other pair of first-years, satisfied with the outcome of their talk with them. Though Sakura hung back just a moment, she did her best to keep the chuckles that threatened to spill out of her the best she could. She finally cleared her throat to grab their attention and flashed them a fake smile, the same one she did the other day during lunch. "I told you he wasn't going to let this go, Tsukki." Sakura earned herself a heated glare from the blond giant with didn't affect her in the slightest. She just smiled back at him with her lips turned up in a mocking smile before walking away.

Who does she think she is? Tsukishima scoffed to himself. This shrimpy girl was infuriating Tsukishima to no end! She and her brother were both starting to become thorns in his side at this point. How annoying.

Sakura returned to Shōyō's side and watched as he fumbled around to find his crumpled up application paper. To be honest, Sakura had to keep the paper save, since she had a feeling that Shōyō would have lost it at some point. He always did that. She couldn't count the amount of times he had lost his homework one way or another. He and Kageyama then jogged over to their new captain.

"Captain!" Shōyō's shout broke off whatever conversation that was being had between Daichi and Tsukishima.

"What?" He asked and turned to find Shōyō and Kageyama holding out their applications to him. The captain took the papers from them and then called out to the manager of the team, "Shimizu. The stuff is here, right?"

"Stuff?" Shōyō asked with a tilt of his head.

The lady-manager then came out with a cardboard box. They all peered into to get a good look at what was inside as she opened it up. Once they caught sight of what was in it, the troublesome duo gasped.

Now, the newest members of the team were all wearing their brand new Karasuno Volleyball Club jackets. Well, all of them were except Tsukishima, who has to be a wet blanket about everything.

"The sizes should be okay," Kiyoko said, "but let me know if you need anything."

"Thanks!"

Suga walked over to Tsukishima, who still had yet to put on the jacket, "Come on. Put it on."

"No, I'll do it later..." Tsukishima tried to deny, though that wasn't going to happen with Tanaka jumping over to him.

"Are you shy or something?" Tanaka asked, "Come on! Just put it on!"

"Wear it! Wear it!" Everyone started to chant, sans Sakura who was amused at the sight, "Wear it! Wear it!"

Now every first-year had their jackets on, and they all looked quite good in them. Sakura would have taken a picture of them but didn't feel like it. She's lazy, what can you do? Shōyō seemed to be the most excited about his new jacket as he jumped around in it to show it off. The first-years were complimented by Tanaka, "Looks good on you."

Suga agreed with his signature wide smile, "Yeah, looks good. Looks good."

Now, the rest of the team stood in front of the new members with smiles on their faces. Daichi addressed them, "We're the Karasuno Volleyball Club from here on out... Ready, and..."

The entire team then exclaimed together, "Good to have you with us!"

Sakura stared at the little welcome ceremony that the team had for the newbies and was warmed at the sight. Up until now, she had never seen Shōyō be welcomed into something like this. Sure, in middle school he had the small team of six that he had been able to scrounge together for that one game, but it was nothing like this. He finally had something, a team, to call his own. For a moment, it made her think. A short thrill of fear stuck her for only a millisecond at that thought.

He had somewhere. A place that Sakura couldn't really be. He had a team now that wouldn't really need her like in middle school. So what would happen to her? She has nowhere else, no one else, not really. Well, she had the photography club now... Maybe she could find a place there, considering Shimada seems to really like what Sakura had already done. If she tried, Sakura could have someplace of her own, away from Shōyō. Though that terrified her to an extent. Still, only time would tell what would happen to her. Perhaps she was just exaggerating over something silly. Even if she could be quite a logical person, there were times where she just worried too much.

It seemed like Kageyama and Shōyō were thinking along somewhat of the same thing as Sakura had. Well, the thought that they had a team now, not her crisis. They shared a glance with each other before turning back to their new team, "Thanks!"

Now the four third-years gathered in a small group as they watched the other team members go on about the first-years jackets. Though it was more like Tanaka was going on about the jackets while Shōyō bounced around with him with a nearly unbearable amount of enthusiasm. His twin watched him with a raised eyebrow and minuscule smile. Though it slowly turned into a smirk when she said something to Tsukishima which caused the tall blonde to deadpan at what she said. Overall, they seemed to be getting along quite well.

Daichi sighed, "Anyway, got that out of the way." He turned to his vice-captain, "Suga, you and Tanaka helped them out, didn't you?"

"What?" Suga jumped and raised his hands in surrender, "No, not really."

"Oh~" Endo purred and slung an arm around Suga's shoulders and poked him in the sidws, "That's what your little secret was, huh?"

Daichi continued on, "Anyway, it all worked out. Thanks."

Endo, Suga, and Kiyoko all shared a look with each other before approaching Daichi. "Good job," The three said to the captain while Kiyoko and Suga patted him on the shoulders and Endo flashed him a smile with his thumbs up.

"What?" He asked, "Hey."

"Hey, Hinata, are you rested?" Kageyama called out to the orange-haired boy and picked up a volleyball. "You ready to go? Let's practice quick attacks again. Let's go it while you're still in the zone."

"Yeah!" Shōyō agreed and ran over to the setter to start practicing. Sakura eyed them in scared facination. She was used to Shōyō's seemingly never ending enthusiasm for things, as he was a volleyball freak, but to now have another boy like that was kind of freaking her out. The girl could already tell that the two of them were going to become good friend, which she wasn't looking forward to.

"Tanaka-san, please bring the balls."

The second-year blanched, "You're moving around already?"

Sakura crossed her arms over her chest and huffed, "The two of you never run out of energy, do you?"

"Perks of being a moron, I guess." Tsukishima spoke up from beside her. Sakura hummed at the comment but didn't say anything else. Once again, she wouldn't rise to any bait that the blond had laid out for her. The troublesome duo would have probably screamed at him for calling them morons, but Sakura was more reserved. So all he got was a slight eye roll and an indifferent hum. Frustrating him for yet another time.

Suddenly, the gym door bursted open violently as a man came in. He panted harshly which meant that he had just run to the gym. From the looks of it, he ran for some exciting news, "It's decided! It's decided!" The brown-haired, glasses wearing man flashed the group a large smile, "The practice match. It's against one of the top four teams in the prefecture. Aoba Johsai High School."

Everyone was shocked at the news for them. A practice match with Seijoh?! Whoa! Sakura thought back to whether or not she had heard of that school before. She believed that Shōyō had said it had one of the top volleyball teams in Miyagi, which is impressive. For a team like Karasuno to get to have a game with a team as pronounced as that was impressive.

Endo hummed at the news, a bit more indifferent to it than the others. In his time playing for Karasuno, he's never really played against Aoba Johsai. Sure, he's seen their games and was reluctant to say that they were quite a decent team. Though that was mainly because they had the Grand King as their captain, not to mention that pretty powerful ace of theirs. Though he shouldn't worry about them. Endo shouldn't worry about those peasants who don't matter to him. Still actually getting to play against them will be interesting. He couldn't wait to see Trashykawa after so long.

"Oh." The man said as he approached the troublesome duo, "So you two are the controversial Hinata-kun and Kageyama-kun. I'm the volleyball club advisor starting this year. I'm Takeda Ittetsu."

"Hello," the two greeted him.

"I have no volleyball experience, so I can't help with your technique," Takeda explained with a smile, "but for anything else, I'll do my very best. It's good to meet you."

"Right!"

The teacher then turned his sights onto the other student who he was not familiar with. "Ah, and you must be the photographer I heard about." He bowed slightly to the girl who looked identical to the orange-haired boy. The only real different was that she was about a centimeter shorter than her brother, but you could only notice that if you looked long and hard that the two. Plus, her eyes lacked that childish spark that Hinata-kun had. Perhaps she was more mature than her brother. Lord knows they would need more mature minds around to balance out the troublesome duo. He marveled at the similarities between the siblings, "Wow, you look identical to Hinata-kun!"

Sakura sighed at once again being compared to her brother again. At least this time, she was refurred to the photographer first before she was she was called Shōyō's sister. "I'm afraid he's my twin brother," she shrugged her shoulders indifferently, "nice to meet you, sensei."

Daichi and Suga then approached the teacher with confused expressions, "Sensei."

"Ah..." Takeda started off sheepishly with a hand scratching the back of his neck, "I've been running around everywhere setting up the practice match, so I haven't had time to drop in here."

"But, Sensei, how did you get a powerhouse like Seijoh to agree?" Suga asked with wide eyes.

Daichi then worriedly asked, "You didn't get on your knees and beg again, did you?"

"No, no." Takeda answered with a close-eyed smile, "I'm good at getting on my knees and begging, but I didn't do that this time." Both the boys then sighed at that as Takeda looked down at the paper he had about the match, "But they had a condition."

The boys perked up and tried to sneak a peak at the paper, "A condition?"

"Kageyama-kun must play setter the entire game."

Everyone was surprised with the announcement that came with the match. The most surprised was a toss up between Kageyama and Suga. As the official setter of the team, it was pretty jarring for Suga to hear that he wouldn't get to play in the practice match. Why would Kageyama be chosen to be the setter for the entire game? He was a first-year, and not really on the starting line up just yet. Then that begged the question as to why Seijoh would ask that of them. Some one knew that Kageyama was at this specific school, they knew that he was on the volleyball team, and most likely wanted to play against him.

"What's that about?" Tanaka asked scarily which caused the teacher to sweat just a bit, "Sounds like they're not interested in Karasuno. They just want to assess Kageyama. Are they underestimating us? Are they?"

Takeda waved his hand, "Well, that's not quite how it is."

"Sounds good." Suga interjected, gaining the attnetion of everyone, "We don't get chances like this that often."

"You're going to agree to that, Suga-san?" Tanaka asked in surprise, "You're the official setter of Karasuno, Suga-san."

"I..." the vice-captain started, "I want to see how effective Hinata-kun and Kageyama's attack will be against a top four team."

The troublesome duo were surprised at their senpai's words. He didn't seem to be upset at the prospect of not being able to play. Though Tanaka and Endo were both a bit bothered at the idea of Suga not being able to play in this upcoming match. After all, they're only ever played with Suga as their setter. Looks like they're going to have to get used to Kageyama as their setter now, at least for this practice match.

Daichi glanced at Suga for a moment and earned a head nod before turning to their advisor, "Sensei, may we have the details?"

"Sure. Um..." Takeda started to explain, "the schedule is rather sudden, but it's set for Tuesday next week. It'll be after classes, so there will only be time for one game. We'll rent a bus after school... So make sure you're not late."

Sakura tilted her head and watched the team crowd around the advisor. A practice match, huh? She thought, playing against such a skilled team as Seijoh will most likely be a challenge, especially for a team that only just got some new players. Though I'm interested to see how they do.

While Sakura wasn't exactly sure whether or not she could actually come with them, she was going to try her best to go with them. After all, this was going to be the first game that Shōyō has had since middle school. Hopefully, it would have a better ending than that one did. There were far better odds with their win than there were stacked against them. Sakura would certainly want to be there to see the game if they ended up winning.

After being told the last few details of the match, everyone nodded their heads, "Yes."

The gym was all cleaned up from practice now as they finished up. Sakura had grabbed her bike as they finished up putting away the last of the volleyballs and finished up mopping the floor. She met up with her brother once they were finished and found that they were heading down the hill to a convenience store at the bottom. So she was forced to go with them, since Shōyō hadn't wanted either of them to ride home alone. At least she would get something out of it.

"Suga-san!" Shōyō shouted as he and Sakura walked their bikes beside Tanaka and Endo. They were more than excited at what their captain was going to do with them. After all, free food is always a good thing.

"Suga-san," Tanaka called out, breaking the conversation between their two setters. "Daichi says he's gonna treat us to meat buns!"

"One thing though, Kageyama." The quartet approached the two and heard the last bit of the conversation between Kageyama and Suga. "Aoba Johsai is the high school most players from Kitagawa First go to, isn't it?"

Kageyama nodded his head, "Yeah, I think so."

"I just thought it might make things hard for you."

The younger setter glanced down for a moment but answered him confidently, "Maybe, if we were on the same team, but if they're my opponents, I'll fight them with everything I've got."

"I see." Suga smiled, seeing the passion in Kageyama's words. He certainly seems to have changed since middle school, which is a very good thing for them. "You're right."

"Thank you."

Tanaka jumped in between the two of them and looked frantic, "But are you sure about this, Suga? I... I kind of have trouble accepting it!"

"Yeah! You're our official setter!" Endo joined in with the second-year and grabbed Suga's shoulders. He pointed dramatically at Kageyama, "Not this gloomy king!"

Kageyama bristled and shouted at his senpai, "What did you say!"

"Of course, I don't like it," Suga said, breaking in between the two and pushed Endo's hands off of him, "but... we gotta show those guys that Kageyama has changed a lot since middle school."

Daichi then came out of the convenience store with two large bags filled with meat buns. As a good captain, he had decided to buy the team a treat after practice. Was it most of his money for the week? Maybe. However, the team deserved it, he thought. "Yeah." He handed off one of the bags to Shōyō who yelped happily at the sight, "We have to show them that they're up against more than just Kageyama. Right, Hinata-kun?"

They turned to find that Shōyō had already started to eat his food before them. Sakura munched on one as well next to him, though barely acknowledged them as she enjoyed her food. "Y-Yesh, shir!" Shōyō shouted while he stuffed his face full of meat buns.

Tanaka and Kageyama then ran at him and grabbed the poor boy by his shirt to raise him into the air. Tanaka shouted, "Why are you eating before the rest of us?"

"Don't screw around!" Kageyama yelled.

The convenience store clerk, a twenty-something-year-old man with died blonde hair and a cigarette hanging from his lips, then came out of the store and raged, "Hey, Volleyball Club! No trouble in front of my store!"

"Sorry, sir." Tanaka and Kageyama apologized.

Sakura watched the scene as she passed the bag of meat buns to Suga. "Are they always going to be like this?"

The third-year shook his head fondly, "most likely."

Sakura nodded her head, obviously already accepting this as a fact. This team was definitely going to be a handful. She placed her meat bun in her mouth and pull up her camera from around her neck to take a look at it. I'm going to have to sort through these later, she thought, I'll have to do it after my homework, we got assigned a lot today.

"Wow, these are some pretty good pictures, Hinata-chan." Sakura was startled slightly at the sound of Daichi's voice right next to her. Apparently, as she was looking through the pictures that she had taken, Daichi had approached her and peeked over her shoulders at her camera.

She flushed slightly at the attention but made sure to keep as much redness off of her face. At most, only the tips of her ears were a deep red in embarrassment. She cleared her throat and duct her head slightly, "Oh, thanks, Daichi-senpai." She rubbed the back of her neck, "They're only practice shots, I guess."

"Are you going to enter them into the gallery?" The captain asked while the team headed into the convenience store to hang around for a bit.

Sakura shrugged her shoulders sheepishly and glanced away from him timidly, "I'm not sure. I still don't know much about it, or even what to enter into it."

Daichi smiled encouragingly and patted her on the back, "Well, any of your pictures will look good in the gallery, I think."

"Thanks," Sakura mumbled out still slightly embarrassed.

Seeing the usually stoic(and sometimes scary) Sakura even a little bit embarrassed drew a few prying eyes, wanting to see what she and the captain were talking about. Tanaka also came over to look at over her shoulder, "Whoa, not only are you cute, but you also take amazing pictures!" He shouted, "Hinata-chan is amazing!"

Sakura scowled and pushed him away from her which caused him to fall to the ground, "back up."

Endo lumbered over to them slowly. He bent down slightly to be to look at the girl with a pout. Something seemed to bother him and whatever it was, Sakura didn't want to know. Endo was such a strange guy and it may or may not have scared her just a bit. He softly asked her, "You let them call you 'Hinata-chan'?"

"Not really," Sakura answered while backing up from the boy who started to invade her personal space. She really should have just headed home without Shōyō to avoid hanging around these boys. Sakura had more important things to do, like homework.

Endo pouted with his bottom lip jutted outward as he walked towards her forcing her to back away, "Why can't I?"

"Because I tolerate him," Sakura said blandly pointing to the captain and then at the shaved-headed boy, "Tanaka is on thin ice." She added with annoyance tainting her words like it explained everything. Which it kind of did. Tanaka was slowly but surely proving to be a pain, just as much as Endo. The third-year just unnerved her a bit more. Endo got on her nerves, what else was there to say? While Tanaka was loud and in her face sometimes, Endo could be the same and more. Like he had alternative motives for some of the things he did. What those alternative motives are was unknown to Sakura.

Honestly, she didn't really care whether or not someone used -chan or -san to address her. It doesn't bother her all that much. She found such simple honorifics were kind of stupid. However, for someone as annoying as Tanaka or Endo, she didn't want to be referred to in such a familiar way. She didn't want anyone to think that she was actually close friends with those two morons.

"Does that mean you don't tolerate me?" Endo asked, breaking her out of her thoughts.

Sakura narrowed her eyes at him as she could see the shine of something else in his irises. He was thinking of something, there was more to this than simply her tolerating him like this. Why was he so butthurt over this? "Yes."

"Wah!" Endo started to cry and grabbed the small girl into a tight hug. Fat tears streamed down his cheeks as he started to sob loudly, " you're so mean, Hinata-chan!"

Sakura bristled and tried to push him away from her personal space harshly, "Were you not listening, you half-wit! Stop being so familiar! I'm Hinata-san to you, boke!" She fought against him harder, "Let go!"

It wasn't much use considering Endo just ended up picking Sakura off of the ground and swinging her around while crying. She looked like a ragdoll in his hold. Well, she was about as tall as a doll, in all honesty, she didn't have much strength either so she was at his mercy. Endo was then chopped on the back of the head by Suga who glared at the blond. He dropped the small girl to turn to his fellow third-year and whined like a child. "Suga! That hurt!"

"Don't attack Hinata-chan like that!" He shouted at him in a reprimanding tone. Honestly, he was just filling the role of the team mom more and more. He grabbed Sakura as well and made sure to steer her away from Endo. As much as Suga would love to see Endo pummeled into the ground by the feisty girl, they had a game coming up, and they needed everyone to be game ready. Though next time, he'd be more than glad to let Sakura at Endo for his behavior.

Though his commands didn't seem to get through to the drama queen, "even Suga can call her 'Hinata-chan'! Wah!"

The next morning was somewhat similar to all of the previous ones. Shōyō woke Sakura up at an ungodly hour of the morning, forced her to get breakfast, and then ushered her to get on their bikes to ride to school. Sakura huffed and puffed as they biked along the road, she cursed herself for choosing to go to Karasuno with Shōyō. She could have picked a school that was far closer and within walking distance. But no! She had to follow Shōyō to a school over thirty minutes away because she couldn't be without her brother. How pathetic.

Once they got to the school they quickly made their way to where they usually put the bikes for the day. Shōyō was more than happy to have another day at practice. This was mainly because they'd have to discuss more about the upcoming practice match. There just seemed to be only one problem.

"Ne, but imouto-!"

Sakura cut off Shōyō as they finished up putting their bikes away, "I said I'm not going to your practice today."

"Why!?" Shōyō shouted and looked to be on the verge of tears. His twin not coming to his practice!? That's never happened before! What was happening?!

"First of all," she started to explain, "there's no point in me going since I am not actually apart of the club."

"But-"

She continued to speak as if he didn't just try to interrupt her, "And I'm meeting up with Shimada, I have to ask her about the gallery that's in a little bit."

Her twin perked up, though he was obviously downtrodden to see that Sakura was adamant about not coming with him to practice. "Oh, yeah! I heard a few people talking about it." He tapped his hand on his chin, "I guess it isn't that popular except with a few clubs."

Sakura shrugged her shoulders and started to walk away, "Either way, I think I wanna enter a picture into it."

"You should!" Shōyō cheered and bounced in place, it seemed like he radiated as brightly as the sun. He surely lived up to their surname. "It'll be really cool to see your pictures on display in a real gallery thing."

The shorter twin scratched her cheek bashfully. "Yeah... I guess." The neverending enthusiasm that her brother had about everything was both annoying at times and amazing. He had such positivity in him while she was filled with basically only negativity. Opposites they are. You probably wouldn't find another pair of twins who were as different as the Hinata twins.

"See you later then!" Shōyō shouted before parting ways with his twin and headed to the gym while Sakura went off to find the photography president. They would meet up after his afternoon practice and her club activities. The pair of twins weren't in the same class at Karasuno. Actually, they never really have been. That was thanks to Sakura's talent when it came to academics. She would never really like to admit it out loud, in fear of sounding conceited, but she found school to be easy. Which was most likely why she was placed in class five this year. Studying came easy to her, something that she liked to point out to Shōyō every once in a while. Sure, Shōyō was far more athletic than Sakura, but she had her academics to make up for it.

Though that wasn't something to think about right now. The orange-haired girl found that it took a little bit to actually find the older girl. Sakura had searched the club room and found nothing, then she checked her senpai's class and once again didn't find her. Shimada was certainly far more elusive than Sakura had thought. After a fifteen-minute walk around the school grounds, Sakura magically came upon Shimada outside in the courtyard.

She was talking quite animatedly with some other students. Whatever it was the brown-haired third-year girl was quite passionate about it. Sakura debated for a moment whether or not it would be a good idea to approach her now, but didn't have much of a choice.

Shimada caught sight of Sakura a little ways away and seemed to vibrate in place. Before Sakura could even attempt to run off, once the older girl caught her in her sights there was no way Sakura would escape.

"Ah!" The president bounded over to Sakura and basically ditched whoever she was talking to, "If it isn't our best photographer ever!"

Sakura stared at her with pinkness starting to crawl up her cheekbones. "I'm not that good senpai..."

Shimada chuckled loudly, "No need to be bashful Hinata! You're very skilled."

"Right," the younger girl said trying to pull the conversation in the right direction. "Well, I wanted to ask about the gallery coming up."

Shimada jumped at that as stars entered her eyes. It was quite obvious that she was passionate about this. Sakura had seen this look before. It was the same look that Shōyō had whenever he talked about volleyball. Just another person who had something that they valued to an unbearable amount. Though, as Sakura thought about it, isn't it a good idea to be obsessively passionate about something than have nothing at all. "Yes, yes. I'm more than happy to explain anything." Shimada drew Sakura from her thoughts, "We have a gallery nearly once a month, twice if we feel like it. It's a time for photographers and artists to show off their skills for a few days." Shimada scratched the back of her neck and chuckled sheepishly, "I'll be honest, it's not been as popular as it used to be, but it's still fun!"

Sakura took in that explanation and tapped her chin in thought, "What sort of pictures should I enter in the gallery?"

"Well, anything really." Shimada started, "Usually, we pick a theme for galleries, depending on the month. Like in August it's a sort of fall theme fall, October is usually scary things or something, December is Christmas and so on."

"Interesting," Sakura clicked her tongue in thought. It made sense, she supposed. Honestly, even if Sakura has been a bit of a photographer for some time now, she had never really been to a gallery or anything. So this was new to her.

"Yeah, the gallery that we're having next week is all about new starts!"

Sakura tilted her head with a brow arched, "What does that mean?"

"Well, the new school year started up, I thought that choosing something like new start, new inspiration, something that just means rebirth would be a good gallery theme, don't you think!"

It seemed like a good topic, Sakura thought. She understood it considering it was the start of the new school year, and as she kept reminding herself, high school was all about reinventing yourself. "I guess."

"We'll talk more about it at the next club meeting," Shimada said with a wave of her hand, "that way everyone knows what we'll be doing!"

"Hai."

The day dragged on like normal after that. Sakura took notes, did her classwork, and idly spent her time with her peers. While she had no other choice but to socialize with these other first-years, Sakura didn't make friends with them. She never really had the ability to make friends, that was Shōyō's thing. He was the one who had the skill to talk with people, to make friendships. Of course, Sakura had the ability to talk to other people, but she didn't have the skill to make lasting relationships. It was sad to think about it.

Sakura didn't really have anyone besides her family. In middle school, she had Shōyō's friends to hang around with, but nobody to really call her own friend. It was always Shōyō's friends, Shōyō's hobbies, Shōyō's life. There was never anything for just Sakura. She never minded, why would she? All she's ever had was Shōyō, so why would she want to leave what she knew? Sakura didn't like uncomfortable situations, and leaving Shōyō was equivalent to leaving her comfort zone. Leaving his side meant abandoning what she knew, leaving her twin meant having to make new connections, new friends. As much as she liked the idea of creating her own friends or interests, she was anxious about it. After all, she's spent the passed fourteen-years with Shōyō and she doesn't know what she would do if she distanced herself from him now.

Though that wasn't important at the moment. She'd rather focus on the present and not her own existential crisis. Sakura was currently making her way towards the Boy's Volleyball Clun room at a lazy pace with her hands stuffed deeply into her pockets. She didn't want to think about how socially inept she was. All she wanted right now was her brother. Maybe then her heart would stop hurting so much or her blood would stop burning in terror. Just being with her would reassure her that everything was fine because he was still there.

"Ah, Hinata-chan." Sakura turned at the call of her name and found that Yamaguchi and Tsukishima were heading the same way she was. Most likely heading to the volleyball club room like her. It was Yamaguchi who had called out to her, well, it certainly wouldn't be Tsukishima to greet her, "Good afternoon."

"Pipsqueak." Tsukishima simply said with a smirk aimed down at her. Ah, there was that snide expression on his face that Sakura did not miss in the slightest.

"Hello, Yamaguchi-kun." She nodded her head in greeting the taller boy kindly before setting her eyes on the one next to him. Her eyes narrowed a fraction, as she turned from them and continued to walk, "Bitchy, blond giant."

Tsukishima's smirk dampened slightly at her name-calling. He sneered just a little bit but made sure to keep his tone indifferent, "Hm, someone seems bothered, eh? Paparazzi-chan?"

Sakura sighed softly and didn't even give him the satisfaction of looking back at him. She just continued to walk off with them trailing behind her to the club room. "I'm not bothered by anything, just annoyed that I had to run into you." She liked hearing the scoff that she got from him in response.

"Are you going to come with us to the practice match?" Yamaguchi asked.

Sakura shrugged her shoulders non-committedly, "I'm not sure."

"It would be nice if you did, I think..." Yamaguchi said softly and glanced away shyly. Sakura took a quick peek at him and found that he was blushing just a little bit, it made him look cute. There was no way she could deny that.

She tilted her head, "Really?"

"We don't need another shrimp hanging around the gym at the match." Tsukishima cut in with his differing opinion. He didn't like the fact that Yamaguchi had decided to be so nice to her. Though his friend was quite the softy when it came down to it. A good reason why they were probably good friends since they were somewhat opposites of each other and balanced each other out. Still, that didn't help the fact that Tsukishima liked seeing Yamaguchi warming up to the annoying girl. This could only mean that she would end up being around him more if she and Yamaguchi became good enough friends. Still, he doubted that Sakura would actually try to be friends with him, she was far too attached to her brother to actually make friends. He didn't need anyone to tell him that as it was quite obvious.

"And I don't wanna be around a snide asshole like you, but we don't get what we want, do we?" She said calmly, though they could tell that she was being snarky with him. Sakura paused for a moment and pursed her lips in thought, "I think it would be cool to see all of you play though."

Yamaguchi shook his head in depression, "It's not like I'm going to do much, I'm nothing but a benchwarmer." All of the other first-years were special in some way. Kageyama is a genius setter, Hinata-kun could jump super high, and Tsukishima was extremely tall. Yet Yamaguchi didn't have anything special about him that the team could utilize.

"Hm?" Sakura hummed before waving her hand in dismissal, "You'll probably do fine, Yamaguchi-kun. Even if you aren't on the starting line up." She chuckled slightly, hoping that what she was saying was lifting his spirits. After all, she hated when people got sad or anything of the like. "If anything, Shōyō will most likely do the worst."

Yamaguchi eyed her in surprise, "Really?" Shouldn't she have more faith in her brother's volleyball abilities?

"He gets extremely nervous easily, especially right before a match." She explained as she remembered what it was like at his game in middle school, "I have no doubt he'll crack under all the pressure."

Tsukishima clicked his tongue, "Not a very good player then, is he?"

"My brother has skill, I know you can't deny that." Sakura stared with half-lidded eyes looking up at Tsukishima through her orange bangs. He stared right back with his golden eyes and neither of them seemed as though they were going to let up their staring contest. "He just doesn't have the nerve that comes with playing matches, at least not yet. Once he gets over it, he'll be fine."

"Tch." Tuskishima finally looked away from her and used his long legs to walk ahead of her. Sakura didn't mind and just let him lead the way. Let him sulk, she thought, he's beyond annoying. The trio made it to the building that housed the many club rooms and walked up the stairs to the Volleyball Club. They just rounded the corner when another orange-haired teen ran into Tsukishima. "Oh, I'm sorry." The giant apologized, though it was obvious that he was not since at all, "You're so small, I didn't see you down there."

Sakura was quite sure that he had bumped into Shōyō on purpose but didn't say anything about it. If anything she was more worried about why her twin was holding his stomach as if in pain and why his eyes looked sunken into his skull.

"Oh, right..." Shōyō said hollowly before waddling off slowly repeating the same phrase over and over. The pressure was definitely getting to him already, and the game was tomorrow. "I must not goof up. I must not goof up. I must not goof up... I must not goof up." The other first-years watched him go before Sakura sighed heavily and followed after him.

She finally stepped down the last step to approach her brother who looked as though he was going to puke at any second. "Hm, you alright there, nii-san?"

"I can't goof up, Sakura..." He turned to her with his face a dark blue and his stomach rumbling.

Oh, boy. The pressure was getting to him at a fast rate. She may have only really seen him get this anxious at the one game in middle school, but she already knew to stay a good few feet from him to make sure he didn't accidentally throw up on her. She pinched the bridge of her nose, "Geez."

"Hinata!" They heard Tanaka and looked up to the club room to see their upperclassmen had run out in only his underwear. "You're wearing my jersey pants!"

Shōyō looked down to see that he was in fact right, as the pants he was wearing were far too big. He was far too distracted to notice he too his senpai's pants by accident. At least he didn't walk out wearing his jacket as pants as he did in the club room. That would have been even more embarrassing!

"What are you doing, Tanaka, you pervert?" A girl from the tennis club shouted in disgust. She had the unfortunate luck of being just outside the club room when he came barrelling out. "What are you, stupid? You creep!"

Tanaka deflated at her words and slowly lumbered back into the room to wait for Shōyō to come back. He was wounded, how could a girl think that of him? Sakura hummed with her nose scrunched up in displeasure, "What a disturbing sight." They were able to hear Endo's obnoxious laughter from within the club room as he made fun of Tanaka. Yeah, Sakura thought to herself, these guys are definitely something else.

Nighttime had finally fallen on the Miyagi and now the Hinata family were getting ready to sleep. Sakura had already finished up all her work for the night and her nightly studying to settle in her bed. All comfy and cozy under her blankets, sleep was about a millisecond away from taking her into unconsciousness. Sleep was the best part of her day, the one thing that she really looked forward to at the end of the day. Though her peace was broken by her idiotic brother.

"I can't sleep!" Shōyō suddenly shouted and started to toss in turn in his bed, "I can't sleep! I can't sleep! I can't sleep!"

The youngest Hinata, the cute and small Natsu, barged into her older siblings' shared room with annoyance. "Shōyō be quiet!"

Now half on his bed and half on the floor, Shōyō had the decency to look a little bit sheepish up at his baby sister. "S-sorry..."

"Honestly," Sakura scowled at her twin from under her blankets. Shōyō shivered at the sight of his angered sister and tried to hide in his bed. An angry Sakura wasn't a good Sakura. "Try to get some sleep. You'll have no energy for tomorrow's game if you don't!"

"Right!" He exclaimed and buried himself into his bed to appease Sakura. After all, he wouldn't want to anger her anymore. Sakura was one scary girl when provoked. Something that Shōyō was quite familiar with.

Sakura sighed through her nose and turned over in bed. She understood Shōyō's inability to go to sleep. He was excited and nervous about tomorrow. His first real high school game was going to take place tomorrow. Not only that but it was against Aoba Johsai, quite a powerhouse of a school. So she understood why he was nervous, why he couldn't sleep. However, he needed to! Not only for his sake but for hers as well. If he was going to be like this before all of his games, she should just move into Natsu's room. At least then she would know that she would get to sleep peacefully every night.

Sakura yawned loudly as she lined up next to her brother and the rest of the volleyball team. She found out that she technically was allowed to go with the team to just about any excursion that they had, as long as it didn't interfere with any important Photography Club business. So it was good news, Sakura could join Shōyō just about anywhere he goes with the team. All she had to do was take some pretty good pictures of their game and she was free to do what she liked. Plus, she had to be there for Shōyō! What kind of a sister would she be if she wasn't there to support her brother at his first game against a team like Aoba Josai, even if it was just a practice match.

"Line up!" Daichi called out.

Everyone then bowed to Takeda, who had gotten them a small bus to ride to Seijoh. "Thank you for your help!"

"Okay," He smiled brightly and ushed everyone over. The group all boarded the bus with their gear and were rearing to go. Each of them was at least a little bit excited about the match. There was even a chance Tsukishima was excited. Though it would be pretty hard to decipher that, the tsundere bastard was hard to read.

Sakura's brown eyes swept over the seats on the bus and found that there were only two seats left open. One was in the back, right next to her brother while the other was towards the front next to Kageyama. The boy himself looked to be concentrating on his thoughts quite hard. Something troubling was on his mind, and the expression on his face would scare just about anyone. Not, Sakura though. So seeing it as her only choice, she plopped herself down in the seat next to him.

Kageyama was broken out of his thoughts when the girl sat next to him. His features were twisted into a nasty scowl as he glared at Sakura, "Shouldn't you be sitting with your brother?"

"No." Sakura simply answered and pulled out her camera to check it over. She had made sure to keep her camera charged and with an extra lens.

"Why are you sitting here?" He growled out hoping that she would take the hint and move seats.

She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. "It was the only open seat."

"There's one next to Hinata-kun."

"And?" She asked and glowered lightly at him for the interrogation, "there's no way I'm sitting next to him."

"Why?" Kageyama asked harshly. Well, he wouldn't want to sit next to Shōyō either. That idiot would probably just bother him the entire ride there. Though he would have thought that the Hinata twins would want to be beside each other as much as they could.

"What?" Tanaka suddenly screamed from the back of the bus as they heard Shōyō heaving next to him. When they realized what had happened, it was certainly building up their confidence in their decoy. "Stop the bus!"

Now everyone was realizing just how badly Shōyō was cracking under the pressure. He was sick because of the nerves! This was even worse than they thought! Sakura sighed heavily through her nose and clicked her tongue, "That's why."

Chapter Text

"I'M SORRY!" SHŌYŌ EXCLAIMED AT HIS SENPAI as he bowed at a ninety-degree angle towards the older teen. "Tanaka, I'm sorry!"

The shaved-headed boy shook his head while tying up the plastic bag with his soiled pants. After what had happened on the bus, Tanaka had to change into his shorts. Though after Shōyō throwing up on his upperclassmen, just about everyone was worried about the ball of sunshine. Who knew how he was doing after this. The upperclassman waved his hand dismissively, "I told you it's fine. What about you? Are you okay?"

Shōyō nodded his head vigorously, causing the others to think that he was going to make himself sick again. "Yes, I got some rest and I feel fine now that I'm off the bus."

"Great! Good to hear! The outcome of today's game depends on how well you operate!" Tanaka exclaimed which caused the younger boy to suddenly freeze up. "I want you to let me hit the ball freely just like in the three-on-three."

"Tanaka," Suga called out in an urgent whisper as he climbed off the bus, "Don't pressure him."

"What's that you say?"

"I-I'll do my best!" Shoyo stuttered out shakily as he broke out in a sweat. Once again his stomach rumbled unhappily which caused him to clutch it as he started to waddle away, "I've gotta go to the washroom!"

"So it's coming out both ends now?" Tanaka laughed, not seeing the problem like a clueless idiot, "You're a busy guy!"

Kageyama glowered as he watched the queasy boy walk away. "He's doing it again? That's pathetic!" He rolled up his sleeves and moved to march ofter him, "He needs a good, motivational whack."

"Hey, what are you saying?" Suga grabbed him before he could get too far, "You know he's not the type that responds to that stuff!"

Endo eyed Kageyama with a raised eyebrow and leaned over towards Daichi and whispered not so subtly, "He is such a violent little boy."

"You never know unless you try," Kageyama insisted on his violent tactics.

Suga continued to try and hold the boy back but it was turning out to be a bit of trouble. How was this kid stronger than him? "Tanaka, hold this simpleton back!" 

"Yessir!"

"Just one whack!" Kageyama continued to fight against them.

Sakura then stepped off of the bus with half-lidded eyes as she heard the threat to her brother. The orange-headed girl is usually impassive on certain things, but when it comes to physical threats upon her family, she tends to become less than friendly. Especially when they come from people who doesn't like all that much. She pinpointed Kageyama as he struggled in Tanaka's arms, though he paused once he could feel the cold stare on the back of his head. Really, Sakura was the only one who had a glare that could rival that of Kageyama's. If anyone had to say, they might say that Sakura was the female Kageyama, but looked exactly like Hinata, it was unsettling. 

"Please restrain yourself from beating up my brother." She clicked her tongue and casually strolled over to where Kiyoko was talking with Takeda. "Or you'll have to deal with me." Her dark brown eyes glinted in the light as she passed by him, "Got it, king?" Kageyama shivered at the unamused stare that she was pointing at him. She just continued to walk away with a satisfied feeling, seeing that she intimidated him at least a bit. Kageyama let out a sigh of relief once she was far enough away. Who would have thought that the Kageyama Tobio would be rattled by a girl far smaller than him.

Endo walked up to Kageyama as the boys still watched the intimidating girl walk-off lazily. He swung an arm around the frozen first-year with pursed lips. His blue eyes were alight with both amusement and fear, "Christ, Hinata-chan is one scary girl."

Outside of the gym, while heading to their practice for the day, two players of the Aoba Johsai Boy's Volleyball Club spoke idly with each other. One of them was Kindaichi Yotaro, a first-year and former student of Kitagawa First. Yes, he was on the same volleyball team as Kageyama, an unfortunate happenstance, he would say. The other boy was Yahaba Shigeru, a light brown-haired second year on the team. The two were currently talking about their opponents for their next practice match. Karasuno High; the flightless crows. A school that used to be extremely good, however, fell off a while ago and no longer was a powerhouse like they might have been. Yahaba continued on their discussion about the other high school, "All I know about them now is that they have some super hot babe for a team manager."

"They have a girl?" The first-year asked in surprise.

"Yeah, she's got this sexy vibe about her..." Yahaba said nodding his head happily. It was always fun to have a manager, especially one who was good looking, sadly Seijoh didn't have one. Another thought then struck him, "Oh yeah, they've got some cocky foreigner on the team and another one of their team members looks like a thug. He's got a shaved head, mean eyes, and he looks kind of dumb."

Hearing the end of the conversation, said stupid, bald-headed delinquent peered around the corner. "Hmm?"

The two Aoba Johsai jumped at his appearance. They certainly had some bad timing. Yahaba cleared his throat, "Um, hello."

"Don't mock my team, bro," Tanaka told them as he, Tsukishima, Kageyama, Endo, and Yamaguchi stared at them as intimidatingly as they could. Well, most of the boys were doing a good enough job, Yamaguchi still looked as cute as ever. He really couldn't intimidate many people, maybe children if he really tried. "We'll tear you apart..."

It almost sounded like there was a distant caw of a crow. The two Seijoh players bristled in fear at their opponents who were doing a pretty good job at giving them a fright. This murder of crows was certainly good at scaring their opponents.

Tsukishima shook his head, "Come on, Tanaka. There's no need to talk like that." He smirked menacingly at the two as his golden eyes became half-lidded, "I mean, look at what you've done, the hotshots from Aoba Johsai are practically shaking in their shoes."

"You idiots think we're afraid of you?" Kindaichi shouted at them in offense. After all, why would a school like Aoba Johsai High be scared by a flightless school like Karasuno? They were the players who were on the powerhouse team! So who did these guys think they were to act so intimidating.

"Oh yeah, good thinking," Tanaka laughed hauntingly ignoring Kindaichi as if he didn't talk at all, "it'll hurt worse when we kick your ass on the courts instead."

The other blond then tilted his head and looked down at the other boys, "Besides, they don't have to be scared of us." Endo pompously said with a wide cheeky smile. His electric blue eyes stared down at the two players with a steely glare. The blond may not have been able to be as scary as Tanaka with his appearance alone, however, he did his best. If anything, Endo looked insane with that cold look in his eyes and smile that left a lot to be desired. His eyes gleamed in crazy arrogance, "all you have to do is recognize greatness."

"Hey, knock it off!" Daichi screamed as he came zooming around the corner, enraged by his team's behavior. "I cannot take you two anywhere!" He grabbed Tanaka and Endo's heads and forced both of them onto a deep bow. "Please, excuse them."

"Uh, it's fine," Yahaba said in confusion at the display.

Daichi scowled at the two of his teammates who pouted, "Don't make that face at me."

Another person then came around the corner lazily with a hand shoved deep into her pocket. The camera around her neck swayed from side to side as she ran her other hand through her messy orange hair. She yawned loudly and turned to the group of boys gathered around each other. It was an interesting sight to walk in on, she thought. It seemed like her team was going to end up making a fuss, as usual. All they'd do is embarrass themselves. She rolled her eyes and looked around them to see a slightly familiar face. It was that kid who she had run into during Shōyō's first volleyball game. She tilted her head and spoke in a bland voice, "Oh, look, it's onion-head." Those around her snickered at her words, while said onion-head blanched at her. Even his own teammate couldn't help but snicker at her words, which earned him a sharp look from Kindaichi.

"Hinata-chan!" Daichi shouted loudly, like a father scolding a young child. Why were the underclassmen such a pain to handle!? Honestly, Daichi felt like he was in charge of a bunch of five-year-olds.

She just shrugged her shoulders, indifferent, "What? It's not like I know his name."

"Let's go, now!" He commanded her, in his father-like voice.

Sakura waved her hand dismissively and started to walk off to the gym without looking back at the group, "Hai."

The group of crows started to walk away from their opponents to head into the gym. The last thing they needed was to cause a big scene just before their practice match. Kageyama was doing his best to ignore his former teammate, but Kindaichi wasn't going to let him go so soon. "Long time no see, King." He sneered, "I'm looking forward to seeing what kind of dictatorship you're running."

The setter was quiet for a moment before nodding his head, "Yeah." Kindachi stared in shock as Kageyama walked off with the rest of his team. His dismissal and nonconfrontational attitude earned himself a slap on the back from Tanaka and Suga. "Ow! What was that for?"

"Learning self-control I see, eh Kageyama." Endo marveled while wiping away a fake tear, as if he was a proud father, "I'm so proud!" His dramatics earned himself a shove from Kageyama who shouted at him for being so weird. Though what else did he expect from the drama queen. 

Sakura watched them with a raised eyebrow as she glanced at the onion-head out of the corner of her eye. She couldn't imagine what it was like to see how much Kageyama has changed since middle school. Even just watching that one match, she knew how much of a jerk Kageyama probably was. Yet now, he was a bit less controlling on the court. It was a good thing for them, but a confusing one for Kindaichi. She figured that this match was going to be interesting to watch.

The Karasuno Crows entered the large gym to find that the Aoba Johsai team was already warming up. It was far larger than their own gym, which certainly wasn't overwhelming in the slightest. At least not for most of the team...

"I-It's huge!" Shōyō called out in shaky amazement, "The gym is huge, the players are huge..."

He was right. Not only was the gym much larger than the one at Karasuno, but the players were also quite tall. Karasuno had their fair share of tall players(Tuskishima for example) but when compared to Shōyō, they were much taller overall. Sakura was actually mildly impressed with the team and how large they were. This definitely looked like a powerhouse school with an elite team. Why didn't Shōyō go to a school like this? He would definitely go far on a team with skills like this. Though then she remembered that he chose Karasuno based on the fact that his idol attended there. Oh, well, it's not like she would have liked coming to a school like this anyway.

"Greet!" Daichi called out as the entire team bowed to the Aoba Johsai players, "Thank you for the game!"

"Thank you for the game!" The other school reciprocated the greeting before going back to their warm-ups.

"Every Aoba Johsai player has above-average defensive and offensive skills." The Karasuno captain commented as they watched the other boys practice their spikes, receives, and serves with each other. "Their guys can compete for ace no matter where they go."

Suga nodded his head next to him, "They're also famous for their power blocking."

Endo tilted his head as he observed all of their opponents. He pursed his lips just a little bit as he watched Aoba Johsai. He knew about this school and their reputation as one of the best volleyball teams out there, who didn't? He figured that it was going to be an uphill battle in this practice match, especially since they were up against the man himself, Oikawa Tooru. Though as he looked around, he didn't see the annoyingly handsome guy anywhere. That certainly made the blond happy. Maybe they did have a chance! Endo placed his hands on his hips and cheekily smiled, "They're not bad looking either, eh?"

Suga elbowed him in the stomach lightly, "calm down, Endo, we don't need a repeat of our first year, do we?"

The near scary look on his face caused the dramatic boy to shake his head reluctantly. "No, I guess not," he huffed at Suga ruining his fun, "but what's wrong with just looking?!"

"What's wrong with both of you?" Tanaka then cut into the third-years banter loudly, "We have Hinata-kun to shake things up! Right?" He didn't even seem to register the fact that the first-year was blue in the face and shaking like a leaf. Sakura just stood beside her twin with a blank expression and watched the interaction with a critical eye. In her mind, she was counting down the seconds before Shōyō bolted for the bathroom again. "I already know how much you suck, so I'll be there to cover you."

At the mention of having someone there for him, Shōyō lightened up slightly. Okay, so maybe Tanaka can be a good upperclassman sometimes. Even Suga, Daichi, and Endo were surprised by his words, "Oh!"

"But remember you're all alone when you serve. Don't fumble it!" And Tanaka just ruined it. Just about everyone blanched at him and his possible attempt of a joke. He should really work on reading the room better. Maybe then he would have noticed Shōyō's sickly appearance. Tanaka just laughed, "Just kidding! Fumbling a serve is no big deal! Don't let it get to you and just keep smashing that sucker--" He looked down at where Shōyō was only to find him missing, "Huh? Where'd Hinata-kun go?"

Yamaguchi was the one to explain, "To the washroom."

"Not again!"

Yamaguchi looked between everyone with a worried expression, "Should we go after him?"

Sakura pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed heavily. She knew that today was going to be a bit chaotic, but this was a little too much. Shōyō could get nervous extremely easily, but she could have thought that he would have been able to control himself at least a little bit. She grabbed the back of the annoying second-year's jacket and started to drag him away. It was a bit of a struggle since she wasn't that strong, but it worked nonetheless. "Tanaka, let's go." 

"Why do I have to come with!?" He whined but still allowed himself to be dragged by the small girl. After all, it wasn't common for Sakura to be physically close to him, at least voluntarily. She hated it when he tried to hug her or something, so he'd take what he can get!

Sakura's sharp eyes turned to Tanaka, which caused him to shiver, "You're the reason he freaked out, so let's go."

"Yes, ma'am!" Tanaka clamed up real fast as he scurried off to find their ball of sunshine with Sakura trailing behind him.

The teens made their way through the halls looking for the nearest bathroom where Shōyō most likely was. Eventually, they found it, though they also found Shōyō talking with a few Aoba Johsai team members. It was the boy with an onion-shaped head who was speaking, "He's a self-serving king." Sakura didn't dout that he was referring to Kageyama. She could figure out from the venom on his tongue that the boy hated Kageyama in middle school. "He's supposed to be a setter, but he can't set up a ball for the spiker at all. What he wants is a mindless pawn who does whatever he wants. Anyone he can't use for his own victory goes in the trash."

Tanaka then chuckled, trying to act cool, as he leaned against the adjacent wall with Sakura by his side, eyeing them boredly. The other boys jumped at their appearance as Tanaka started to speak to them, "You'll have to play to find out if Kageyama has changed or not since middle school, Onion-top."

"Huh?" Onion-head exclaimed in confusion.

The second-year just turned to Shōyō, "Right, Hinata-kun?"

From her spot beside Tanaka, Sakura could see the cogs turning in her brother's mind. She may not have heard everything that they had talked about, but she got the gist of it. Now, she could tell that Shōyō was going to stress over Kageyama discarding him when he wasn't playing well. Sakura didn't have much faith in Kageyama to begin with, however, from the practices that she's seen with them she believed that Kageyama has changed a bit. He may still be a jerk, but Sakura could tell that he was willing to work with anyone if it meant winning. Though her brother wasn't smart enough to see it. Shōyō bristled before making a beeline back into the bathroom, "My stomach is killing me!"

Seeing the panic in Shōyō, Kindaichi snarked out, "Okay, we're looking forward to it."

Sakura watched her brother bolt back into the bathroom. She clicked her tongue and crossed her arms over her chest, "So pathetic, doesn't have the nerve to play a proper game." He would definitely need to get over his nerves and soon. If he wanted to reach his goal of being like the Tiny Giant and get to Nationals then he would have to build up his nerves to play in a game. He couldn't be getting sick before every single game he has!

Kindaichi looked down at the girl he had briefly interacted with and tilted his head, "He's your brother, right?"

The short girl turned to gaze up at him lazily and smiled sarcastically. What a stupid question. "No, we just happened to look exactly alike," Sakura rolled her eyes at his stupidity, "of course, he's my brother, Onion-head."

"That's not my name!" Kindaichi exclaimed at the girl who was slowly getting on his nerves. The last time that he had seen her in middle school, he was slightly scared of her. It was a brief interaction, but it had installed a certain fear in him that he never knew he could have. A fear of short orange-haired girls.

"I don't care." She blandly replied before turning on her heels and stalking off with her hands in her pockets. She didn't want to deal with whatever drama the onion-head was trying to trudge up. His past grudge with Kageyama might well-founded and something she could understand, but she didn't want to care about it.

The trio was now back in the gym, setting up for the practice match to begin. The boys had gotten their practice jerseys on and started up their warm-ups. There was just one thing, it was quite obvious that Shōyō was still extremely nervous from the way that he was still shaking and overreacting to just about anything said to him.

Sakura just watched him with her brows furrowed. Get a hold of yourself Shō-nii, she thought to herself. Sakura brushed it off for the time being before approaching the team's beautiful manager, "Kiyoko-senpai, am I allowed to sit on the bench?"

Kiyoko turned to her and nodded her head, "For practice matches, I think so. Though for real games, only the manager is allowed on the bench and I believe that applies to photographers as well."

"Okay," The first-year said before walking towards the bench with Kiyoko. 

Though before they could get too far, Daichi approached them and stage whispered to the third-year girl. "Say! As manager, can you offer the first-years a word of inspiration?" He figured that getting some encouragement from their manager would help Shōyō with his nerves. 

However, seeing what he was trying to do, Sakura tried to interject, "I don't think that's a good idea, Daichi."

"Why not?" He turned to the younger girl as Kiyoko walked up to the nerve-stricken Shōyō.

"Hey, you." Shōyō jumped at the girl's voice and faced her. He froze as soon as Kiyoko placed a hand on his shoulder, "I'm counting on you."

It took a moment, but Shōyō suddenly exploded with his face completely red in embarrassment. Sakura shook her head, that's exactly why. Her brother usually had trouble with talking to girls like Kiyoko. He always goes stupid when he's confronted with a beautiful girl. Sakura should have tried to warn them sooner, but it was too late. She sighed, "I think that might have just made it worse."

Daichi turned his hollow expression to his last hope to try and get the first-year middle blocker to calm down. "Hinata-chan, can you please try to calm him down?"

Sakura pursed her lips for a second before nodding her head, "I'll try." She walked over to her frozen brother and bonked him on the head to break him out of his stupor, which it did. While her twin rubbed his head in slight pain, Sakura crossed her arms over her chest. "Shōyō, you need to get yourself together. You won't be able to play if you worry over everything." Her eyes narrowed while glaring at her brother slightly. The annoyance was starting to get to her now, with how her brother was acting. It took quite a bit to annoy the short girl, but her brother was an exception, as most people with siblings would probably feel the same. He had gone on and on about actually getting to play and now he was going to mess it up by being so nervous! "This is what you've always wanted, right? To play on an actual team? Don't waste this chance because you were too nervous."

Shōyō jumped at his sister's cold voice and nodded his head rapidly, "I-I'll try!"

"Good," Sakura said as she relaxed slightly before ruffling his hair making it even messier, "remember to have fun too."

"Now, let's begin the practice game between Karasuno High and Aoba Johsai High!" The starting line-ups then got onto the court for each team to bow and thank each other for the game. Dawning the red jersey with the number three on it, Endo was more than happy to start up their match. It had been a while since they actually had one and against a school like Aoba Johsai will definitely be fun. Whether they won or lose, it didn't matter since it wasn't an actual match, but this will hopefully solidify them as a team and understand their playing styles. Winning isn't an objective for Endo, at least not for a practice match. His objective is to understand how the newest members play with them to improve it for an actual game. Though it would be a bonus if they won against Seijoh, even if Trashykawa wasn't playing at the moment. Endo would definitely wanna hold that over his head.

At the blow of the whistle, Sakura let out a deep breath, trying to hide the fact that she was also nervous for her twin's first practice match. There was no need for both of them to be nervous about this, she needed to be the voice of reason for it all like she always is. "This is going to be a mess."

The match started with Aoba Johsai serving to Karasuno. The serve was simple and easy to receive, nothing fancy at all, so it would be easy to return it. "I got it!" Daichi called out, more than ready to receive the ball as it came right for him. "Leave it to me!"

Though before he could properly bump the ball over to Kageyama, Shōyō jumped in front of him in a frenzy and received it instead. Kageyama raged, "You idiot! It obviously wasn't your ball!"

"I'm sorry!" Shōyō shouted out his apology as their blond third-year ran out to get the ball back into center court.

Endo called out, setting it for the second-year, "Tanaka!"

"Got it!" He shouted and jumped to spike it, only for it to be blocked and hitting Karasuno's side of the court. 1-0 for Aoba Johsai. Sakura watched with pursed lips at her brother's mistake. She could already tell that this was going to be a terrible game.

Daichi approached the shaking orange-haired boy, "Shake it off! Hinata, calm down and look around you."

"I'm sorry!" Shōyō instantly bowed as everyone realized just how badly he was cracking under the pressure.

So the game continued on, with plenty of more mistakes from Shōyō and points lost for Karasuno. He ran into his own teammates, tripped over his own feet, and even knocked over the judge's tower at one point. Kageyama had grown so frustrated with him that it took a laughing Endo to hold him back from beating up the poor tangerine. Of course, despite all of his mistakes and nerves, Sakura made sure to capture the events forever on her camera. Oh, she can't wait to show their mother just how amazingly terrible Shōyō was today! No doubt in her mind that Natsu would also find it hysterical as well.

At one point, Kageyama had finally exploded at Shōyō and got his hands on him. He shouted at him angrily, "Hey, stop being so nervous already!"

Shōyō shook in Kageyama's tight hold and tried to push him away, "One more chance! Please give me one more chance!"

"What?"

"Okay!" Daichi intervened before one or both of their first-years got hurt, "Let's take back those points, one by one!" He said confidently, like a captain should, and tried to encourage them all, "The next one serving..." He blanched now seeing Shōyō lining up to serve the ball. This didn't seem good. Such terrible timing. "Hinata, relax!"

While Shōyō had his own internal freakout over his serve, Endo leaned over to Daichi to stage whisper, "are we sure that Hinata-kun will survive this game? I have a feeling that his nerves might just kill him."

"Have some faith in him, Endo." Daichi shook his head trying to convince himself that Shōyō could do this. They knew that he was a good player, so they shouldn't doubt his skills.

The whistle then suddenly blew which freaked Shōyō out causing him to serve wrong. The volleyball had no arch to it, there was no way that it was going to get over the net. It would have just hit straight into the net... If it wasn't for Kageyama's head being in the way.

Everyone froze once that ball fell to the ground. It was silent for a moment as everyone processed the fact that Kageyama was just hit in the back of the head by Shōyō's serve. Sakura was surprised by it, and may have a bit of fear for her brother's well being at this point, but she smirked. She stared down at her camera to see that she had snapped a picture of the moment of impact. Oh, this was definitely going to become her favorite picture ever!

Laughter then broke through the silence as half of Karasuno's team couldn't help themselves. Tanaka shouted out, "Hey, is the back of your head okay?"

"Nice head shot!" Tsukishima joined in on the laughing.

Endo was nearly on the floor as he choked on his words through his laughter, "Great aim!"

"Don't make it worse!" Suga exclaimed irritated he also turned to Sakura as she let out a small snort, "you too, Hinata-chan!"

"Stop it, you guys!" Daichi reprimanded the three with his captain/fatherly voice. The victim then turned around and started to approach his attacker who backed up at each of Kageyama's steps. Daichi tried to stop him, but the setter was not listening, "Hey, Kageyama!"

Shōyō, now realizing that his life was most likely in danger, he started pleading with Kageyama, "W-w-wait! We can talk this over! Kageyama, listen! Wait!"

"Look..." Kageyama finally said after invading Shōyō's personal space.

"Yes?" Shōyō answered as he broke out into a sweat.

He bent down to get into Shōyō's face with every sentence he said, "What's making you so nervous and freaked out? Is it the tall opponents? Is it because it's your first practice game? What's more frightening than nailing me on the back of the head with a serve? Tell me."

"Nothing is more frightening," Shōyō said hollowly, most likely accepting his death at this point.

"Then you have no reason to be nervous anymore, right? You've already gone and done the most frightening thing." He then shouted out angrily and pointed at the court, "Now get back on the court, you moron!"

So maybe Kageyama wasn't going to kill him yet as he walked away from the shorter boy. "W-wait," Shōyō gasped out, "so you mean I got away with that?"

"Huh? What the heck are you talking about?"

Shōyō bristled now seeing that he had gotten away with hitting Kageyama on the back of the head with no consequences. Though hopefully, he doesn't try anything else to get himself into this much trouble again. As much as it was an entertaining sight, Sakura would much like to go home with her brother in one piece. Though now it seemed like Shōyō had gotten over the fear of upsetting Kageyama, at least a little bit.

The teams then lined up to start up the second set, since Aoba Johsai had won the first one. Though after they bowed, Shōyō was once again fearing for his life, this time from his senpai. "Hey, you," Tanaka stoically walked over to the first-year, "Hinata-kun. You..."

Shōyō instantly kneeled down at his feet, "Yes?"

"Are you thinking you gotta be as good as the other experienced players?"

"I-I have to do my job right," Shōyō stuttered out, "or I'll be swapped out. I want to play for the entire game."

"Hey, don't mess with me! I know full well how much of a klutz you are!" Shōyō froze at his harsh but honest words. "Daichi put you in the game knowing that as well."

"What?" Daichi himself asked in confusion as everyone watched Tanak yell at the boy.

Tanaka continued, "You can start worrying about being swapped out when... um... ...when you're actually swapped out!"

"What?" Shōyō asked.

"Just stop worrying so damn much!"

By the bench, Takeda watched the spectacle worriedly as he leaned over to Suga, "Shouldn't we help him?"

"Uh, no," Suga answered, already figuring out what Tanaka was trying to do, "it should be all right."

Sakura idly flicked through the few photos that she had taken already and commented to the teacher and vice-captain, "Shōyō usually learns a lesson when it's yelled at him like this." With how much of a moron her brother can be some times, she knows that what Tanaka was saying would get to Shōyō eventually. He usually needed a rough push in the right direction to get things done correctly.

"Now listen!" They were drawn back into Tanaka's speech as he continued on, "The thing about volleyball is each and every guy on this side of the net is your ally! If you suck, bring it! Make trouble for us! Hold us back! We're here to back you up! We are a team!" Shōyō now had stars in his eyes at the second-years words. Yup, he definitely had cheered up the boy. "We are your upperclassmen! Now call me Tanaka-senpai."

"Tanaka-senpai!" Shōyō instantly responded happily.

Suga deadpanned, "He just wants to be called senpai."

Endo nodded his head before sighed sadly and slouching, "yeah... so do I..." Maybe he should try to do this too to get the first-years to respect him as their senpai. After all, as a good senpai, he must look out for his kohais when he needs to. Which he would certainly do at some point. Honest.

"Yeah, but I'm glad he's here." Daichi commented drawing Endo and Suga's attention, "That sort of thing sounds best coming from someone who's honest to a fault." He wasn't wrong, Tanaka's brutally honest nature was perfect to match Shōyō's stupid and oblivious mentality. Tanaka might just be a perfect key to helping control Shōyō at times.

With Shōyō now pumped up, the match continued. Now, Endo was up to serve, and he was more than ready to show off his serving once again. He bounced the ball a few times in front of him before the whistle was blown. He smirked, "watch and learn boys!" With that, he threw up the ball and ran up to hit his jump serve. For the Aoba Johsai team, it was eerily similar to someone else's serve that they've seen. They weren't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

Though the ball was received, albeit a bit shakily, and was enough to allow Aoba Johsai to attack. Tsukishima was the one to receive it this time and let Kageyama set it. Now that Shōyō was more controlled, it was time to try the freak quick. In a blink of an eye, Shōyō was already in the air as Kageyama set him the ball. Though it didn't work. The ball landed on the ground without Shōyō having even touched the ball. He had closed his eyes like normal but had missed the ball completely.

Seeing that Shōyō had messed up, Kindaichi snickered on the other side of the net. There was no way that the little shrimp could actually hit one of Kageyama's royal serves. It was nothing but a fluke, he thought. "You have to hit balls like that or the king will get mad at you."

"Hinata!" Kageyama shouted which caused the boy to bristle in fear. Though it was unfounded as Kageyama just apologized, "Sorry, that toss was a little too high."

That certainly shocked his former teammates. Shōyō just bounced over to him, "I am willing to forgive you!" Though he yelped in pain once Kageyama grabbed him by the head with a scary expression, "Ow, ow, ow! You're hurting me, Kageyama! I'll go bald!"

"Bakayama!" Sakura shouted at him with narrowed eyes. Kageyama instantly let go of her brother, though tried to act as though he wasn't at least a little bit scared of the girl. There was no way that Kageyama feared her, not in the slightest!

The next point was played and this time, the freak attack actually worked. Which surprised their opponents immensely. Everyone expressed their happiness that it actually worked this time, even Sakura. Though it was really just a small smirk and a spark in her eyes that indicated she was happy with the play. 

Karasuno celebrated their point together which Shōyō marveled at, "Th-this is so team-like!"

"Huh? There's nothing "like" about it." Tanaka said and smirked happily, "We are a team."

Shōyō then exploded in excitement, "Yessir! Yessir!"

They then set up to play once again as Kageyama spoke, "Now that Hinata is in action, let's start our counter attack." The team was more than happy to agree with that statement.

The game continued with Shōyō being a good decoy and spiker for the team. He certainly was making up quite a bit of the points that he had lost in the first set. Karasuno was starting to earn some good points with Daichi's receives, Tsukishima's blocks, Tanaka's spikes, Enod's serves, and the troublesome duo's freak attack. Eventually, Aoba Johsai became so intimidated by Karasuno's sudden strong plays that they had to call a timeout.

The entire team was buzzing with excitement now that they had gotten into the groove of things. Kageyama scowled at Shōyō who walked over after sharing some words with Daichi, "You're slow."

"You're doing good, Shō-nii," Sakura commented and shoved Kageyama away from them. She was truly happy to see that her brother had gotten over his nerves for this game. It only took losing one set, but he eventually got there. That's all that mattered to her.

Shōyō beamed at her praise with a smile that nearly blinded his sister, "Thanks, imouto!"

"He only messed up about a hundred times beforehand," Tsukishima commented as he and Yamaguchi approached their fellow first-years. Sakura rolled her eyes but didn't say anything. She just turned her head and made it seem as though she was indifferent to his words. In reality, she hated how Tsukishima was poking at her brother, but she bit her tongue. She figured that Tsukishima was just always like this, saying mean things just to get a rise out of people. So she wanted to control herself enough and not give him the satisfaction of being affected by what he says.

Shōyō would have verbally retaliated against the blond giant but he eyed the bottle of water in his hand. After having played this game for a little while, Shōyō was quite parched. He tried to grab for the water bottle, but Tsuishima easily held it over his head. "Hey, I wanna drink!"

Tsukishima then pushed the bottle into Shōyō's face and taunted him, "Wanna drink? Oh, sorry. Your face is lower than I thought..."

Sakura clicked her tongue with a bland expression, "Are your insults limited to mentioning how short he is all the time?" She pursed her lips, "I thought you were supposed to be smart, shouldn't you be more original?" Not even Yamaguchi could help himself from letting out a small snicker at that. Though Kageyama and Shōyō were laughing a bit loudly at her words since they caused Tsukishima a bit of plight. The blond scowled harshly at Sakura before tossing the bottle at Shōyō who caught it clumsily. 

The time-out was called off and the game resumed. Eventually, Karausno took the lead with 18-17. Well, now, it was 19-17 once Tsukishima was able to spike a ball over the net thanks to Kageyama's pin-point set. Something he made clear freaked him out a bit.

On Karasuno's bench all of the benchwarmers, Kiyoko, Sakura, and Takeda watched the match with wide eyes. Karasuno was definitely looking to be a better team now more than ever. With the addition of their new members, they were rounding out to be a team to look out for, which was good for them. Not only did Kageyama and Shōyō end up being a strong pair in the game, but Tsukishima was proving to be an intimidating blocker.

"Oh, I see." Takeda started as he looked over the setup that the team had for the match, "Every time they take a point and get serving rights, they rotate. Right now, Kageyama, Tsukishima, and Endo are acting as forwards."

Suga nodded his head and leaned down to look at it as well, more than willing to explain more to their advisor. "Yes, right now their positions are exactly the opposite from the start of the game."

"When Hinata-kun is in the front, our overall attack success rate increases thanks to his decoy tactics." Takeda observed, "On the other hand, when the ball goes to Tsukishima, his intimidating blocking is every bit as good as Seijoh's team."

At the net, Tsukishima and Kageyama stood next to each other as they were getting ready to block an attack. The blond glared at Kageyama, "I forget, are you good at blocking too? Just try to stay out of my way."

"Be careful not to get blown away, you gangly bastard," Kageyama said as he scowled in return.

"You first-years are such a hassle!" Endo chuckled from next to them.

Tanaka then jumped at them angrily, "I keep telling you, the enemy is on the other side of the net! Hey, they're coming!"

The three-man block was a success, though it resulted in an argument between Kageyama and Tsukishima about who blocked it. Endo watched them in amusement as they were reprimanded by their captain and Kageyama started to attack Shōyō about him laughing. Yeah, this team was definitely a lively one, and he loved it.

The second set came to an end, with Karasuno being the winners. It was definitely a confidence boost to come back like this. The entire Karasuno team was more than elated with how the tides had turned, even Sakura had let slip a small minuscule smile at the win. Aoba Johsai though were finding that they had certainly underestimated the crows quite a bit. Sure, in the beginning, Karasuno wasn't that organized with each other, but they fixed that quickly and proved to be a good competitor.

"Right on! Let's keep this up to take the final set!" Tanaka exclaimed and clapped Shōyō on the back harshly. The two of them then started to chant, "Victory! Victory! Victory!"

Sakura watched them from beside Kiyoko and snorted, "they're a bunch of idiots."

Ennoshita approached his captain and offered him a water bottle, "We're lucky they don't have anyone who can serve like Kageyama."

"Yeah," Daichi agreed and took a swig of his drink, "'cause out receiving is marginal at best. Thanks."

"Ne," Endo jumped over to them and crossed his arms in front of him in an 'x', "don't jinx it, captain!" Of course, he knew better, after all their actual official setter was missing. Endo knew for a fact that they had a player who could serve like Kageyama... Actually the more he thought about it, their serves were almost exactly the same. Wait didn't they both go to Kitagawa? Why didn't I realize this sooner, he thought to himself as he started to put the pieces together. Oh, well.

Kageyama then walked up to his upperclassmen with a slightly troubled expression, "Don't let your guard down. It's just a feeling, but I don't think their setter is their official setter."

There was suddenly a multitude of girls who screamed happily at something. Well, it was more like someone. That someone was Oikawa Tooru. Kageyama's senpai from his middle school. They were in trouble now.

Endo smirked as his eyes flashed in an unmeasurable amount of excitement, "there he is."

Chapter Text

IT ALMOST SEEMED LIKE THE GYM CAME to a stand-still now that the Aoba Johsai captain had finally arrived for the match. Even if both teams were having their break in between sets, their attention was drawn to the official setter of the powerhouse school. His very presence seemed as though it demanded recognition, or at least he carried himself that way. The smug aura that surrounded him was not unnoticed by Karasuno. In fact, a few of them even seemed to be glowering at him for it. Well, it was more like just Tanaka, who didn't like the attention that the captain was getting from the girls who stood to watch the match.

Endo seemed to be the only one on the team that was a tad bit excited at the arrival of the other boy. Don't get him wrong, it was a bit unsettling to know that they'd have to face his monster serves now, but that made it a bit thrilling for him. He hadn't gotten to play against Oikawa all that much. Karasuno never made it far enough to play against Aoba Johsai at any tournaments. The only time he did get to see Oikawa was when they were in grades school and practiced with each other. If Endo thought about it, the last time he really got to see the cocky setter and talk with him was some time last year. And the last time he practiced volleyball with him was during their first year at their high schools. So, of course, he was excited at the prospect of getting to play against him and see how much he's improved. Not only that, but he was more than ready to show off how he's improved as well.

"Hey! You're back, Oikawa!" The Aoba Johsai coach said as the captain walked over, "How's your leg?"

The brown-haired third-year flashed an ok sign with a smile, "Perfect! I'm good to do regular practice. It was only a light sprain."

His coach shook his head, "Honestly, be more careful. They met our demand to produce Kageyama so we lose face if we aren't using our official setter."

"Sorry, sir," Oikawa apologized, he at least had the decency to look a little sheepish. 

Just from one look at him, Sakura could already tell that she didn't like him that much. He seemed to be the overly arrogant type, which didn't sit well with her. It was one thing to be confident in your abilities, it was another to stuff it into someone's face. He definitely seemed like the type to do that. Not only that, but he scarily reminded Sakura of a certain blond foreigner on the team, and she wasn't looking forward to having yet another Endo around.

Then again, Sakura shouldn't judge just based on the vibe she was getting off of him. If he had a shitty personality or the personality of a saint, she wouldn't care. He's a player from a different team. He may be her brother's opponent, but as long as he didn't infuriate her by undermining her brother or otherwise annoying her, then she wouldn't care about Oikawa or what he does.

A girl from the stands suddenly yelled out, "Oikawa, please don't hurt yourself!" There was then a collection of giggles and shouts from other fangirls in the stands. The sound was infuriating quite a few people on Karasuno's team.

"Kageyama, who is Mr. Slim there?" Tanaka was obviously one of them as he gritted his teeth in irritation, "I am exceedingly displeased."

"That is Seijoh's captain," Daichi answered.

Kageyama stared at his former senpai with narrowed eyes, "Oikawa... is a super offensive setter. I'd say he's at the top of his class for attacks and team play." He then turned to the Hinata twins with a slightly troubled expression, "And he's extremely nasty."

"Worse than you?" Shōyō asked in disbelief, not thinking that there could be anyone worse than Kageyama.

Kageyama shook his head, "Maybe worse than Tsukishima." Said boy just looked over at the group with narrowed eyes. Why was he being brought up in this conversation?

Sakura squinted her eyes in thought, "Is that even possible?" She hadn't really met many people with personalities as bad as Tsukishima, but was it possible to be worse than him?

"He must be really bad!" Shōyō exclaimed at the same time.

Tanaka then asked, "You know him, so he's from Kitagawa First?"

"Yes," Kageyama answered with a nod.

Endo slithered himself over to the first-year setter and leaned against his shoulder. "Weren't you his kohai back then?" A wide smile grew to take over most of his face as he seemingly leered down at the younger boy. "His precious Tobio-chan?" 

"How do you know that?" Kageyama asked skeptically. 

The third-year just continued to smile cheekily. He wasn't sure why he hadn't put it together already. Kageyama was the genius kohai that he had heard Oikawa talk about for a bit. Why hadn't he figured this out beforehand? It should have been quite obvious! Then again, Endo didn't really hang around Oikawa when he was in junior high, so it's slightly understandable as to why he didn't know. 

He could see how Oikawa had come to dislike Kageyama, as Endo could see how jealous Oikawa could be of the genius boy. From what he could tell, Kageyama was what Oikawa wanted to be. A young, aspiring setter who had a skill that he was most likely born with. Oikawa had to work hard for the skill that he had now, not just given it by the volleyball gods at birth. Still, this was the type of drama that Eno loved. Oh, he's glad that he ended up on Kageyama's team, his reputation would certainly bring about a lot of drama.

"Yoo-hoo!" The captain of Aoba Johsai called out to the other side of the court, gaining the attention of the Karasuno team. He waved at Kageyama with a smile, "Long time no see, Tobio-chan! Having fun being the king?" His teasing smile then dipped as he caught sight of the blond still hanging on Kageyama. His expression became strained, "Endo."

Endo smirked and disregarded the looks that he was getting from his teammates. He let go of Kageyama and leaned forward with his electric eye burning in amusement as they were pointed at the Seijoh captain. "How's the knee, Flattykawa?"

Oikawa stuck his tongue out at him and shook his head, "I'm not telling you!" He then turned to his own coach to talk with him and ignore the other third-year. His reaction earned a satisfied chuckle from the drama queen who ignored the stares from his team. He already knew he'd have to explain how he knew him, but he wasn't sure if he should tell them everything. No, a brief explanation should be fine, he thought. As much as he liked drama, gossip surrounding himself is something he doesn't likes to divulge people in.

"I learned how to serve and block by watching him," Kageyama explains, pulling the questioning stares from Endo and onto himself. "He is extremely good. However, focus on the game for now. We're going to take the last set."

"R-right on!" Shōyō stuttered.

Kageyama then turned to his senpai who was currently trying to send Oikawa his most intimidating stare. "Tanaka, stop trying to intimidate them!"

Sakura furrowed her eyebrows while walking back over to the bench. "Intimidate? It looks like he's constipated more than anything."

Her comment earned a small giggle from Kiyoko and a deflated Tanaka who tried to fire himself back up by shouting, "I'm seriously gonna kill 'im!"

Endo chuckled at his underclassmen and glanced over at the Seijoh captain. He watched as Oikawa went off to start up his warm-ups. Even from across the room, Endo could see with his keen eyes that Oikawa was favoring one leg over the other. "Ah, I haven't seen that moron in a long while." He tsked while putting down his water bottle. "He's always getting injured."

The game continued on, with points being exchanged and earned by each team. Though throughout the set, there were plenty of girls gathering around, worrying over their poor Oikawa. It certainly encouraged Tanaka to make some more spikes which got through most of Aoba Johsai's blocks. Kageyama and Shōyō did their own set and spike a few times, earning points. Kageyama and Tsukishima also made some crucial blocks while Endo made a few service aces. Overall, the third set was going well and in Karasuno's favor. 

Wow, Sakura thought to herself as she looked at the score, match point... who would have thought. 

Karasuno was now at match point. Only one more point before they won this practice match. A win now would definitely build up team morale and confidence. They could say that they won against the Aoba Johsai, one of the best volleyball teams in the prefecture. And who wouldn't want that opportunity? Granted there were still a few mistakes that were being made by Karasuno during this set, but it was a work in progress. Tsukishima and Shōyō's receives needed work as did some of their serving, but they were holding themselves against their opponents.

Though the mood changed once Oikawa was subbed into the game. He took the place of one of the team's first-year wing spikers, Kunimi Akira. It was his turn to serve. To say that Karasuno wasn't nervous was an understatement. The only ones who looked about ready were Endo and Daichi, though that could be attributed to the fact that they were the oldest on the court at the moment and good at recieves. That and Endo knew how to receive Oikawa's serves from practice, so he didn't have that much to worry about.

Oikawa, being the cocky teen that he is, stood at the back of the court to serve and pointed at one of the weaker receivers on the team. Tsukishima. Obviously, he was indicating that he was going to serve right to him. If it were anyone else doing that, Endo would have laughed and taunted them about having good aim, but he wouldn't. Oikawa had scary good aim, so there was no doubting whether or not he would actually do it. Without further ado, the captain threw up the volleyball and used a jump serve to hit the ball right where he had pointed. As he had predicted, Tsukishima was unable to receive the ball causing it to fly off into the upper level.

Everyone was in shock at the accuracy, including Sakura, even if it was for a moment. The indication of her shock was mainly just her eyebrows raising up just a bit and her lips opening up the slightest bit. "Yeah, I thought so." Oikawa said from the other side of the court, "I started watching midway through. You guys, Number 6 and Number 5..." Tsukishima and Shōyō blanched at being called out like that. "You're bad at receives. Are you guys first-years?" There was no way that Oikawa would serve anywhere near Endo, knowing that the blond could receive any ball that he served. A downside to having practiced with the drama queen when they were kids. So why not target the newer members of the team? "Okay, I'm going for another."

Once again he did his impressive serve at the same spot, causing Aoba Johsai to earn yet another point as Tsukishima couldn't revive it. "Tsukki!" Yamaguchi shouted in worry as he clutched onto the nearest person to him, which just so happened to be Sakura.

"Tch," She clicked her tongue and gently pushed Yamaguchi away from her as nicely as she could. "I'd appreciate it if you didn't latch on to me, Yamaguchi."

He jumped away from her, already seeing that he was pissing her off just a little. He definitely didn't want to upset her at all. "Gomen Hinata-chan!"

"Hey, you, Great King!" Back on the court, Shōyō started to jump around and shout at Oikawa like a toddler. "Aim for me! I can take it! Target me! Don't mess with me! Hit that thing!"

Tsukishima sneered from behind him, "Stop hollering! It's undignified!"

"Excuse me!" The orange-haired boy shouted at his teammate, offended. Even if Tsukishima was acting like an ass, as usual, Oikawa was definitely getting on his nerves a lot more. So he would just have to put up with the blond giant for the time being. "The thing about volleyball is... each and every guy on this side of the net is your ally!"

Tanaka smiled proudly and flustered to know that Shōyō was using his words, "What choice words of wisdom!"

"Okay!" Daichi stepped in as the captain to control the situation, "Fall back as a group. Tsukishima, get closer to the sideline."

Now Karasuno had set up to make sure that Daichi was in the middle of the court to most likely receive the serve once it came over the net. After all, he is their best receiver on the team at the moment. By also placing Tsukishima towards the sidelines it would increase the chance of Oikawa messing up his serve and maybe hitting it out of bounds. Endo wanted to argue that he should be placed in the center since he could actually receive the serve, but Daichi stuck to his plan. Endo wasn't going to argue with his captain about it, so he just stuck to the front of the net like he was told.

Oikawa served once again and proved that their set up didn't work, at all. Oikawa was easily able to hit it to Tsukishima again, though this time it wasn't as powerful as the last couple. 

"Tsukki!" Yamaguchi cried out, causing Sakura to cringe at his shout.

"He made a pinpoint hit on the guy so close to the edge!" Takeda marveled from the sidelines.

Suga shook his head, "But the momentum has to be slower due to the emphasis on control!" This time, Tsukishima was able to receive the ball and return it. "It went up!"

"Tsukki, nice," Yamaguchi let out in relief.

Sakura eyed the ball as it flew over to the other side of the net, "Oops, a chance ball."

Aoba Johsai set up the ball as normal, already believing that they were going to get this point to tie the game. The ball was set to Kindaichi who appeared to have a clear shot. Only, Shōyō came out of nowhere to block it. It was just a one-touch, but it was enough for Kageyama to set the ball. With his impressive speeds, Shōyō spiked the ball onto the other side of the net. Oikawa was amazed, he had barely even moved before the ball went sailing past him. How interesting. He'd never seen anything that fast.

Everyone in the gym was in awe. How did Karasuno win this game?! "All right!" Tanaka shouted, celebrating their win as they collected themselves after that tiring game. They had done it, they won against Aoba Johsai!

Takeda plopped down onto the bench in amazement. Sakura and Suga turned to their teacher with eyebrows raised. Suga asked him, "What's the matter?"

"That was amazing," he breathed out.

"Oh, right." Suga smiled like a proud mother, "Today is your first time seeing Hinata and Kageyama's attack. Aren't they amazing? I mean amazing, even scary."

"It's terrifying," Sakura agreed monotonously earning a sweat drop from her senpai. Yes, it was terrifying and super effective. She could now see just how effective it is when put into a game against another team. 

In the past, Sakura would be the first to say that she didn't think that Shōyō would get anywhere with his dream to be like the famed Little Giant. He didn't have a team for the longest time and barely any support. Though she kept her pessimistic thoughts to herself, not wanting to rain on her brother's parade. However, now, seeing that he was making a place for him on this team, that he had a killer combo with Kageyama, she had hope. She didn't want to admit how much hope it was, but it was quite a bit. She could feel that warm feeling in her chest, the feeling that crept on her whenever she was proud of Shōyō. Sakura was finally hopeful that Shōyō would go places with this team. That's all that she wants for him. To be successful. To be happy with what he loves. Only time will tell though and she'd be right by his side the entire time.

The team then ran up to the bench to surround Takeda and bowed to him, "Please coach us."

Takeda was confused for a moment and turned to Sakura and Suga for an explanation. Though Sakura didn't help as she just moved to stand beside her brother and faced him as well. Suga scratched the back of his neck, "Sensei, maybe give a critique or something."

"O-oh, I see." Takeda swallowed as he fidgeted slightly with the stares of his students pointed at him. He cleared his throat and tried to collect his thoughts, "Um... I'm just a beginner when it comes to volleyball, but... But even I can tell that something amazing is going on here." Daichi and Endo shared a glance, "We have some amazing first-years this semester. They were hard to handle in the beginning, but I learned something today. We're nothing if we don't cooperate. A chemical synergy happens when each one encounters the other... Even this very moment is giving birth to other encounters that will change the world. Maybe in some far, remote country. Maybe on the other side of the planet. Or maybe at an ordinary volleyball club, at an ordinary high school, in a northern countryside on a small island in the east. I think that encounters like that happened to Karasuno today. I know I can't prove what I say, but it's better than not believing. All of you will most likely become stronger. Much stronger!" His long and lyrical speech earned himself silence for the students that surrounded him. Even if it was long and not a critique of their playing, it was still just as inspirational. The teacher then panicked as no one really reacted to it. "Sorry! That was a little too poetic! Are you turned off?"

Daichi rushed up to reassure him, "No, no, no, of course not. Thank you."

"Thank you," the team then bowed to him in thanks.

"Oh, y-yeah." He laughed nervously with a light blush on his cheeks.

Sakura huffed in amusement, "I can see why you're a literature teacher, sensei."

With the game now over and clean up nearly done, it was time for Karasuno to head back to their own school. The crows made their way out of the Seijoh school gym together, still buzzing with the after-effects of their win. Shōyō was bouncing in place next to Sakura as he recounted the game to her in detail. Sakura just allowed him to, there was no way that she was going to ask him to stop his excited rant. If someone paid close enough attention, they could see the smallest of smiles on her lips as she side-glanced her brother. She tried to make it seem like she wasn't paying that much attention to him, and uninterested in his babbling. However, Shōyō knew that she was giving him her undivided attention, and that's all that mattered.

"Takeda-sensei complimented us," Daichi commented as he spoke with Suga and Endo at the front of the pack. "But frankly, if we were facing Seijoh and Oikawa in an all-out match, we'd be lacking."

"Spoken like a true captain," A new voice commented from in front of the group as they neared the gate of the school. They all looked up to see that it was the captain of Aoba Johsai himself, Oikawa Tooru who had seemingly waited for them. The brown-haired captain smiled artificially at them, "You know your stuff. Have you been telling them about me, Endo?"  

The blond ran a hand through his hair with an arrogant smile that was quite menacing in the dim sunlight, "Don't flatter yourself, Loserkawa. I don't talk about you to others."

Shōyō jumped at Oikawa's appearance, "The Great King makes his entrance!" Most of the team was now ticked off that Oikawa had decided to show up. Endo appeared to be highly amused, the first-years and Tanaka looked thoroughly angered, and the others looked annoyed. Sakura's face scrunched up in a small amount of disgust. She found this a bit weird. Had he waited for them to walk out of the gate this entire time? That's creepy.

"You got a problem, dude?" Tanaka jumped closer to him with his intimidating expression on his face. 

Plastered to his senpai's back, Shōyō tagged along to confront the Great King, "What do you want?"

Tanaka continued on with his intimidation attempt, though it didn't seem to be working at all, "Wanna fight, huh?"

"Wanna fight, huh?" Shōyō echoed. It seemed like Tanaka might end up being a bad influence on the little ball of sunshine.

Oikawa just continued to smile, as if he wasn't going to try and antaganize his opponents. "Don't be so hostile. You, little one."

"Huh?" Shōyō jumped at the captain having stated to talk to him.

"Your last one-touch and broad attack were amazing," Oikawa complimented the small teen.

"Huh?" It took a moment for Shōyō to process his words before he blushed, "Oh..." Sakura sighed and bonked her brother on the head, to try and get him to focus. Even one compliment on his skills and he becomes a bumbling idiot. Though he usually is an idiot all the time, so it shouldn't be surprising.

"Let's give it all we got the next time, right from the start," Oikawa started to say, "You didn't get to see our set up. Oh, yes, and we'll be improving our serves, too. It's true, your offense was amazing, but your receives aren't polished." He was clearly pointing out their flaws to try and annoy them quite a bit. The entire team wasn't exactly happy to hear that. "You'll reach your limit very quickly. I'm not the only one who hits powerful serves. The Inter-High preliminaries are coming up soon. Don't get eliminated, okay?" He then raised his hand and pointed at Kageyama with a smirk, "Because I... want to pulverize my dear underclassman, setter-on-setter, in an official match." He then spun around to glare at Endo with a fire in his eyes that burned just as brightly as it did while he was looking at Kageyama. "And you! I'm going to beat you like I always do, got that?"

Endo smirked cheekily as his eyes sparkled at the challenge, "We'll see."

Already getting anered by what Oikawa had been saying, Shōyō jumped over to Tsukishima and grabbed his jacket, to the taller boy's annoyance, "The receivers will train."

Tsukishima grunted and tried to pull himself away from the small ginger, "Hey, let go."

"Receivers don't improve overnight," Oikawa stated, "Ask the captain. He should know. There's not much time left 'til the tournament. I look forward to seeing you there." He turned to start walking back into his school gym, however, he paused. He saw something out of the corner of his eye. "Oh? Another chibi?" He caught another head of orange hair and was confused for a second as he raised a questioning brow. He looked between the apparent twins with interest and bent down slightly to try and be eye-level with the girl. Sakura couldn't tell if he was doing it just because or to make fun of her height. Either way, she didn't appreciate it. "Wow, you two look identical, are you as good as a volleyball player as your twin?" There was no way that he could not think that those two were siblings, well, twins. They were, as he said, identical. The only difference he could find between them was the dull look in the girl's eyes, which was slightly off-putting. Still, she'd probably just end up being like any of the other girls who swarm around him, right? Every girl that he came across fell for his charm, even the cold, tsundere type. She'd be no different, he thought.

The other orange-haired teen paused in her steps to follow after her brother's team. She sighed, yare yare. Sakura ignored the name-calling and turned to stare at the third-year setter in boredom. What was with volleyball players and being so cocky and annoying? She had yet to meet a single boy who wasn't annoying like this. Perhaps you just needed to be annoying to play volleyball? She smiled extremely wide at the older boy as it was pretty obvious that it was fake. Not only that, but her eyes were cold and unamused, "You can say all you want, Oikawa-san, but I know my brother's team will work hard to beat you." She stated bluntly as her brown eyes were sharp as she pinpointed Oikawa to the spot. Sakura was doing quite a good job of being intimidating, Oikawa may have even shivered under her gaze. She didn't even need to try and she could be quite the terrifying person. "Don't underestimate them, got it?"

Oikawa hummed in thought as if considering what she had to say. He had to admit, she was quite scary, though he was used to scary people like this thanks to being friends with Iwaizumi. Still, her straightforward words gave quite a bit of insight into what type of girl she is. The cold, tsundere type. How fun. Without saying anything else, the Aoba Johsai captain turned to walk back into his school's gym. He certainly had quite a bit to ponder over now with this new and improved Karasuno team.

Kageyama looked between his teammates before turning to Daichi, "Don't let him get to you. He likes to razz people like that."

"He really does get under your skin," Endo nodded his head as his eyes had yet to stray from Oikawa. His blue hues seemed to be glued to Oikawa's back as he disappeared from sight. All of this, the fact that Endo seemed to know the other captain, and that he was staring after him with such a knowing expression, just raised even more questions from his friends. 

Daichi just chuckled, "It's true. We don't have much time before the Inter-High Preliminaries, but he should be coming back soon."

Shōyō tilted his head at his captain, "Who's coming back soon?"

"The Guardian Deity of Karasuno." Just those simple words brought an air of mystery and amazement to Shōyō. Who could have such a title on Karasuno's team? How good of a player could they be to gain such a distinguished title? Though Sakura couldn't help herself but think that things were going to get even more chaotic once this "Deity" came back to the team. She could only hope that it wouldn't get too hectic.

Now that it was dark, and Karasuno had finished their practice, it ws time for the team to clean up the gym. "All right, let's clean up quickly." Daichi told the team as they gathered around him and Takeda, "Then we're done. Good job today." He then sent them off to start cleaning up the gym together as he turned to talk with their advisor.

At this point, the Hinata twins were beyond tired. Both of them had seemingly run out of energy for the day. It almost seemed impossible for Shōyō since he always had an abundance of energy for everything that he ever does. However, he'd have to burn out at some point. Sakura being tired wasn't that surprising since she didn't seem to have as much energy as her brother. Most people would assume that she didn't because of her mellow and quiet personality, though they would never believe that she actually has just as much energy as Shōyō. She just doesn't use it as much as her brother. Shōyō jumps and runs around any chance he can get while Sakura conserves her energy at any chance she can. Though that didn't mean she was any less tired at the moment. Watching that practice game definitely tired her out.

Much like his sister, who may or may not be falling asleep at the moment, Shōyō was swaying from side to side. If he kept this up, he'd end up falling asleep leaning against the mop he had been using. "Hinata-kun, that's enough mopping." Ennoshita said as he made sure the obviously tired first-year didn't fall over due to his exhaustion, "Go home."

"Look at that Tsukki," Yamaguchi chuckled as he and his best friend mopped up the gym floor together.

Tsukishima snickered at the sight of Shōyō almost falling asleep while standing, "Amazing." He then took a glance over at the other Hinata twin who was doing the same thing as her brother. Though she was sat on the floor by the door almost falling asleep where she sat. He huffed, so maybe there was at least one similarity between the twins.

Endo leaned over the girl by the door with a tilted head. His eyes sparkled, "Look how cute Hinata-chan is!"

Tanaka jumped over as well, marveling at the cuteness of the first-year girl, "She's adorable!"

"You two have five seconds before I kick you in a very uncomfortable place," Sakura muttered tiredly with her eyes still closed, "One-" She barely even started to count before the two boys retreated, not willing to risk getting hurt by the small girl.

Endo made sure to use the volleyballs that he had been carrying as a shield for his crotch, which she most certainly had threatened. He pouted while scurrying away, "Why are the first-years so violent?"

Everyone was finishing up their clean up for the night. Of course, Sakura was no help since she didn't want or need to help them. She wasn't a member of the club so she isn't obligated to clean up after their practices and such. She's just the team photographer, all that she's concerned about was taking photos. Though at the moment she was wondering how she was going to get home since she's so tired. 

It's way too late, she tiredly thought to herself, why do these practices run so damn long?

Though she didn't have to wait much longer since almost everything just had to be put into the closet. Then she would finally get to leave! Putting the mops that he and Tsukishima had used, Yamaguchi was almost done with his clean up. Though he did end up finding something in the equipment closet. "What's this?" He muttered to himself as he pulled out a wooden mop that was broken in half. He turned to the third-years also in the equipment closet with him, "This mop looks dangerous. Can I throw it away?"

Once Suga caught sight of it, he swiftly walked over and took the two pieces from him. "Oh, don't worry about that. It's all right." He stared down at the two halves sadly, a far off look in his eyes. "We can fix it, and still use it."

Yamaguchi eyed him in confusion, "Huh?"

Just entering the closet with the last of the volleyballs, Endo smiled widely. "Come on, Yamaguchi," he stepped in and grabbed his kohai's shoulders to steer him out of the closet, "we can finish up in here."

The first-year looked between the two with a raised eyebrow, thoughtfully confused. He had yet to pick up on the slight melancholy atmosphere that was slowly emanating off of Suga. Not only that but he couldn't see how strained Endo's smile was. Yamaguchi tilted his head, "Are you sure?"

Endo smiled brightly, his lips stretching into a smile that was far too big to be real, "Of course!"

With one last curious glance, Yamaguchi headed out of the closet to grab his things and meet up with Tsukishima. Still in the closet, Suga put down the broken mop in a safe place while Endo approached him. He placed a reassuring yet firm hand on his shoulder. "Those two'll be back," he told him softly with his fake smile now replaced with a small twitch of his lips. His expression, while not completely confident, still seemed to have hope in it. "They can't stay away forever, you know."

Suga nodded his head, "Yeah..."

The team soon went their separate ways to head home. Tanaka, Kageyama, Daichi, Suga, and the Hinata twins had headed out together and made their way down the hill. The single brain cell trio had wanted to head into the convenience store at the bottom of the hill to grab some food. So while they harassed the worker at the store, Sakura grabbed her and her brother's bikes from where they were chained up.

Now the group was walking down the dark streets to their homes, "But I gotta say... Nice Guy sure has an amazing serve." Tanaka commented, "We would've been in trouble if he'd played from the start. He's Kageyama's junior high senpai, after all... Huh? Wait a second." He turned to Kageyama as they all stoped to face the younger setter. "Why are you at Karasuno, Kageyama? The strongest school in the prefecture is Shiratorizawa."

Shōyō tilted his head with a mouthful of his food, "Shiratori?"

"Shiratorizawa," Sakura simply answered her brother with a roll of her eyes. He should know what the school is, not only because of its volleyball reputation but because of her.

"They're top in the prefecture." Tanaka explained, "They're a powerhouse school ranked among the top eight in the country."

The short boy nodded his head in amazement, "Oh."

Kageyama just stared at them plainly, "I didn't make Shiratorizawa."

"You didn't make it?" Tanaka exclaimed in confusion, thinking that an amazing setter like him would be able to get into Shiratorizawa.

"I never got a recommendation from them, so I took a general entrance exam." He explained, "I didn't understand the exam at all."

Sakura expected that much from him. She had to admit that the entrance exam seemed quite tough. Of course, she didn't have to take it since she received a full ride to the school. Though she had a feeling that even she might have trouble with the exam if she were to take it. However, she would still pass it in the end.

"That school is super hard to get into by conventional means," Daichi agreed, already knowing how rigorous and tough the school is along with the entrance exam.

"I guess the King isn't very good at studies," Tsukishima commented snidely as he and Yamaguchi walked past the group to head home. Kageyama bristled at the jab at his intelligence which caused Sakura to huff in amusement. She tried to hide it behind her hand since it was Tsukishima who had made the remark, she didn't need that beanpole to know that she found something he said funny. That certainly would inflate his stupid ego, and she didn't want that.

Yamaguchi snickered and walked alongside his best friend, "See ya."

"But why did you come to Karasuno?" Shōyō asked once Kageyama had calmed down from Tsukishima's comment, "Are you an admirer of the Little Giant, too?"

Sakura shook her head and took the power bar from Shōyō's hands to take a bite out of it, "Not everyone wants to be like the Little Giant, nii-san."

Kageyama shook his head, "I heard Coach Ukai is coming out of retirement."

"Ukai?" The Hinata twins asked in unison with matching tilted heads.

Tanaka nodded his head, as he pointed into the air strongly and exclaimed, "An outstanding coach who took unknown Karasuno to the spring nationals!"

"Wow!" Shōyō jumped at that while Sakura raised an eyebrow in interest.

Tanaka continued on his explanation. "The name "Ukai of Karasuno" is famous. They call him the coach in charge of vicious crows."

Sakura tried to imagine what kind of coach this would be. He would definitely be a no-nonsense kind of person, she thought. He wouldn't take any sort of excuse about someone's inability to do something in a game. There was one thing that she didn't envy athletes for, and that was having to deal with coaches like that.

"Second and third-years got some coaching from him. He was pretty Spartan." Suga explained with a bit of irritation in his voice. It seemed like even the reminder of all the back-breaking training that they had to do. He looked over at the first-years to see that Shōyō and Kageyama looked jealous at the training that they got with the crow coach. "Why do you look so envious?" He sweatdropped, "Coach Ukai was going to officially come out of retirement, but... he collapsed."

Kageyama's expression hardened, "But I figured, no matter what school I attended, I'd be up against high school students like me. There's no reason why I couldn't win."

"Quit being a sore loser." Tanaka chuckled, "You can act cool about it but you failed just the same."

Kageyama grabbed Shōyō by his jacket, as the tangerine had been snickering as well, and held him up over the ground. "That's not true, and I'm not acting cool about it. We did defeat a top four team today, didn't we?"

"True, 2-1 against Seijoh." The second-year nodded his head in thought, "I was able to score one free, too, thanks to Hinata-kun's decoy."

Shōyō saluted, "Thanks."

"But how was your debut match for you?" Tanaka asked the ball of sunshine as Sakura punched Kageyama's head to get him to drop her brother. Kageyama did as she wanted but glared at her for having hurt him. She just stared at him blankly showing that she didn't care that she may have hurt him. Besides them, Shōyō remembered what it felt like on the court. The sting on the palm of his hand from when the volleyball had hit his hand still lingered. The reminder of the exhilarating feeling of actually scoring points for the team brought joy to him in the cool Japanese street. It was his first match, and he sure hoped it wouldn't be his last, he loved it so much. Though Tanaka decided to drag him down from his pedestal for a moment, "Well, you really went crazy in that first set."

Kageyama joined in on it as the two loomed over Shōyō, "You scored as many points as you lost, so don't get complacent."

"Why must you say things like that?" Suga exclaimed as Shōyō deflated at their words. As much as it was hurtful, it was also true, Sakura thought.

"That's right. We're lacking in a lot of ways." Daichi said wisely, "Today's victory was by the skin of our teeth."

Shōyō jumped up in enthusiasm, "I-I will practice a lot!"

"Oh, yeah." The captain sweatdropped at the boy's energy, "Individual level-upping is important, too. But Karasuno, as it currently stands, is fundamentally short of members."

Kageyama nodded his head as he started to think out loud, "That's true. We need a libero, especially for defense. And we need an ace spiker who can battle three blockers all by himself."

"A-Ace?" Shōyō raised his hand, "That can be me."

The dark-haired setter scowled at the boy, "I told you, you're the best decoy." He turned to the third-years, "But didn't you say the "Guardian Deity" is coming back?"

"Yeah," Daich nodded.

Suga then spoke up, "We're not powerful, but we're not particularly weak, either. We had outstanding players in the past, too. But we were never able to apply to their strengths effectively." Tanaka and Daichi silently agreed with that fact, "But if all of us unite, and we also have new strength coming from our first-years...  If we're able to connect all those strengths together..."

"...we could definitely go to the Summer Inter-High, the national tournament." Daichi continued for him as the morale of all the boys started to grow just a little bit at their vice-captain and captain's wise words, "It won't be a distant goal. It can actually happen."

Shōyō's eyes sparkled, "The Summer Inter-High Tournament! I've heard about it!"

"But that person who's coming back..." Kageyama tilted his head, "where has he been all this time?"

The upperclassmen all appeared to become slightly sheepish at the question. Tanaka was the one to answer, "He was suspended for one week and banned for a month from club activities."

"A delinquent?" Shōyō gasped, "He's a delinquent?"

"No... he just gets too fired up. He's a good guy, for real." Tanaka reassured them, which caused Sakura to raise an eyebrow. What kind of guy would this Deity have to be for Tanaka to say that he gets too fired up? Tanaka continued on, "And not only that, he is... a player we could say is Karasuno's unique genius. But I guess he's not the only one anymore, since we have cocky-as-hell Kageyama with us." Said setter narrowed his eyes at the second-year as the twins snickered at him.

"Call him "senpai" when he comes back, Hinata-kun." Daichi commented as they turned to head off, "You'll make him gleeful like an idiot, like Tanaka."

Tanaka deflated at his captain's words, "Like an idiot?" The group then started to walk once again, except for Shōyō who was lost in thought. He was already starting to think about what this Deity was like, he couldn't wait to meet him! Tanaka eventually called out to him and broke the orang-headed boy out of his thoughts, "Hey, we're leaving you behind."

"Oh. Coming!" 

Suga then turned to the quiet girl of the group who just continued to walk alongside them with her bike. She had barely said anything during this entire conversation. He had chalked that up to just being apart of her personality. Through these few weeks that he's known the other Hinata twin, she certainly was on the quiet side, unlike her brother. He quite liked that about her, since she usually is the level-headed one to keep Shōyō under control. "Hinata-chan?"

"Hm?" She turned to her grey-haired senpai with a raised eyebrow. 

Suga gulped slightly at the vacant look in her eyes, "Why did you come to Karasuno?"

Sakura shrugged her shoulders and continued to look forward, barely giving him a lingering glance, "Nii-san decided on Karasuno, so I came here too."

"Didn't you get a scholarship somewhere, imouto?" Shōyō asked as he hopped over to walk beside her. His eyes were wide and curious as he remembered how excited their mother had been that she got a scholarship. He didn't remember to what school, but he knew it had to be good since his mother was extremely, extremely excited for Sakura. Then she was also extremely disheartened that Sakura didn't accept it.

She nodded her head, "Yeah, but I didn't accept it, obviously."

"What school was it?" Tanaka joined in on the conversation as he grew to be interested as well. It's not like Sakura divulged anyone in herself. The only one who knows things about the girl is her brother, so of course, he's going to be interested in hearing about her. All of the boys were, including Kageyama. He tried to act indifferent, but he was also listening in on the conversation ernestly. 

"Shiratorizawa."

"W-what?" The boy exclaimed together at Sakura's monotone answer. After they were just discussing how dificult it is to get into that school and she was acting as though it was nothing. They all knew that she was in advanced classes, but just how smart is this girl to think that getting into Shiratorizawa was nothing to freak out over?

Tanaka jumped at her, "So you got into the powerhouse school! Why didn't you say?"

"You didn't ask me." She stated plainly and clicked her tongue, "I got an academic scholarship from them." There was no way that they could think that she got accepted into the school based on a sports scholarship or recommendation. She is by no means a sporty person. Sure she could run fast, like her brother, but she had no power when it came to volleyball or any other sport. She couldn't jump as high as Shōyō, she had a decent amount of stamina, and she has little to no technique. The only good thing that she might have that's good while in a sport is her game sense. Though she'd actually need the athletic ability to apply those strategies. She pursed her lips as she thought back to her short visit to the powerhouse school, "Though it was too far away and I'd have to live on campus if I did chose to go there."

Kageyama eyed her for a moment before scoffing, "And you can't be too far from your doppelganger, huh?"

"I guess," Sakura snippy said already feeling her stomach churn at his tone, "Besides I met a few guys there and they're definitely too annoying to be around. They're probably worse than Tanaka." The second-year blanched at her words and what she was insinuating. Though the others seemed to find it funny.

Daichi and Suga chuckled at her words as the captain asked, "Worse than Tanaka?"

"I know seems impossible, but it's true," she nodded her head as she thought back to the few people that she had the pleasure of meeting on her tour of the school. She supposed that that was another reason why she was glad she followed Shōyō to Karasuno. Then she wouldn't have to deal with those guys. 

"I'm not that bad!" Tanaka exclaimed in offense.

Sakura smirked ever so slightly, obviously enjoying the banter between them all as she huffed in amusement, "Sure, sure."

After bidding the other team members goodbye, the twins had started their long ride home. Eventually, the Hinata twins had finally gotten home after their journey over the mountain. Surprisingly, the ride home was a tad bit quieter than usual. Most of the time, Shōyō would talk to Sakura about their days. He would rant on and on about a difficult assignment or maybe something Kageyama said to him, but not this time. Sakura was unsure what he was wondering about in that messy brain of his, but she didn't worry about it.

Unknown to her, Shōyō had been mulling over what she had said earlier. She chose to go to Karasuno because of him... As much as he loves having Sakura with him at school... Wouldn't she have wanted to go to Shiratorizawa? It's a far better school in nearly every aspect. He certainly didn't like the idea of not getting to see Sakura every day like usual, but to give up such an amazing opportunity didn't seem all that logical to him. Here he is thinking logically about her actions, isn't he suppose to be the impulsive one? How was he the one thinking logically about this? So their ride was silent beside their heavy breathing and occasional curse from Sakura as she nearly veered off of the road a few times due to her tiredness.

Eventually, they made it home and greeted their mother accordingly as they settled in. "Did you really come to Karasuno because of me?" Shōyō finally asked as they entered the main living area. Their mother was already in the kitchen cooking up late dinner for the twins while Natsu was most likely already in her room asleep. 

"Well, yeah," Sakura stated as if it were the most obvious thing ever as she pulled off her shoes. She looked over to him to see the troubled expression on his face and raised an eyebrow, "Why do you sound upset about that?"

Shōyō tilted his head, "You had the chance to go to a really good school, imouto, but you came to Karasuno..."

"Karasuno is a good school too." She pointed out, already seeing where he was going with this, "It's definitely not on the same level as Shiritorizawa academically or athletically, but you know I don't worry about that stuff. I'd rather be with you than surrounded by a bunch of stuck up strangers at that rich kid school. You know I can't make friends that easily."

Shōyō still had a bit of a bad feeling about this. She gave something up to go with him. It didn't sit right in his stomach. She may have deprived herself of certain things that she wouldn't get at Karasuno. All he wants is for Sakura to be happy just as he is, and if she was sacrificing some things to make him happy, he didn't want her to be held back because of him. "It still would have been a good opportunity-" 

"No," she grunted with a tone that strongly called for the end of the conversation, "I just didn't want to go, okay?" She stomped off to their bedroom with the sick feeling bubbling in her chest. She didn't like how Shōyō was questioning her. How he was pointing out how she dictated her decisions based on what he does. She didn't know if he realized it or not, but he was pointing out how Sakura sacrifices certain things to be with him. She plopped down her bag onto her bed and sighed sadly while biting her bottom lip. "...and I didn't want to be alone." She finally voiced up the real reason why she didn't go to Shiritorizawa, why she gave up the scholarship.

How pathetic was that? She was so unwilling to change, too scared to be separated from her twin, that she gave up a perfect opportunity to go to a prestigious school. She was too scared to be alone and left behind by her brother to make her own decision and go to another school. What would have happened if she did decide to go to Shiritorizawa? Would she and Shōyō have grown distant since they would be away from each other for so long? Would he end up forgetting about her? Would their relationship have been affected? Though she wouldn't chance it. She would not give even the idea of her losing the close bond that she has with her twin a chance to manifest. So she didn't take the offer, she chose to follow Shōyō and make sure that she was right next to him like she was used to.

Sakura huffed at her own patheticness and started to pull out her school work. She needed a distraction, right now. The teen didn't want to think about her own flaws, her inability to make her own decisions that were different from Shōyō's. It was always about Shōyō for her, she never thought about herself. Maybe she should, now that she was in high school. It was a time to reinvent herself! Though until then, she had an English assignment to focus on.

Sakura laid her head on the desk she was sitting at as she stared at her camera in front of her. The lens glared back at her as if it could see right through her, it could see all of her secrets, all her fears, everything she tried too hard to hide. That might be a reason she hated having her picture taken. She would much rather be behind the lens, to take the picture and capture a moment in time than be the one captured. 

Her cheek was pressed up against the desk as she listened to the excited chatter going on around her. Everyone in the photography club was more than ecstatic to start working on their gallery for this month. People already had ideas about what to do about it. She heard some third-year girl say that she wanted to take photos of her new boyfriend, a second-year said he would like to take pictures of his new pet. A second-year boy said that he wanted to take a picture of his house, which his family had just moved into, and another second-year said they were going to take pictures of the store that their family had just opened up.

Everyone had something, or at least an idea, of what to take a picture of that was related to the idea of "new beginnings" or "rebirth". Yet Sakura didn't have much. All that was new for her was that she started school at Karasuno, yet she felt like that wasn't enough. Sure, if she took a picture of the school and explained why it was new to her, she would probably be original in this idea since she was the only first-year a part of the club. However, it felt so... superficial to her. It was an easy idea for her to grab onto and she wanted her first photo in the gallery to be... meaningful.

"Something got you down, Hinata-chan?"

Sakura turned her head to look up to find the president of the photography club, Shimada Emi, standing beside her with a large smile. The brown-haired third-year leaned against the desk the younger girl was sitting at and peered down at her green eyes. Sakura cleared her throat and sat up slightly, "Nothing, senpai. I'm just thinking about what to do for the gallery."

"Ah, yes, I remember the first gallery that I participated in." Shimada sighed in wonder, nearly getting lost in thought about her time as a first-year. Though she shook her head to focus on the present, she waved her hand dismissively, "You don't have to worry about it too much, all right. It's your first one, after all, don't think too hard about it."

Sakura considered her words for a moment before staring down at the camera in front of her, "But isn't that the point, to think hard about what you put in the gallery, to make it meaningful?" She looked back up at Shimada to see that she startled her slightly with her sentiment. She knew that she was right, to some degree. When an artist displays their art, no matter what medium, they always want it to have some sort of deep meaning, right? So why would now be any different?

"Well, I guess yeah, but you really shouldn't stress about it!" Shimada chuckled lightly and scratched the back of her neck, "What I mean is... That what you put into the gallery should be what you find meaningful. Don't worry about if anyone else will think it's meaningful, or if they think it's good." Shimada ruffled Sakura's short hair playfully and sat down on top of the desk. She did her best to try and calm the first-year down. She could already see the frown on her face starting to form and didn't want her kohai to feel down about this. "Only focus on what you want."

The younger girl considered her senpais words and glanced away from her in slight embarrassment, "...What if I don't know what I want to do?"

Shimada considered her struggle for a moment before an idea struck her, "Think simply, what's new to you this year?"

Sakura thought pretty hard about that for a second. High school is new to her, but she really didn't think that was a good enough idea. Other than that, there weren't that many new things apart of her life. Though she supposed there was one thing that was new to her that she had been around for the past few weeks. She pursed her lips, "The volleyball club, I guess."

"There you go!" Shimada exclaimed happily, which caused Sakura to cringe, "You can take a picture of the team or something!"

"But that's not..." Sakura trailed off.

Shimada tilted her head, "Not what?"

"It's not really... mine?" The younger girl sighed and tried to think of what to say about this. It took a moment for her to try and collect her thoughts about it. Shimada is already starting to become a good friend, at least, as close as a friend as Sakura would allow. She didn't want to divulge all that much about her, however, she had a feeling that if she wanted help she needed to at least tell Shimada something. Sakura finally came up with some sort of explanation, "I mean, it's not my team, it's Shōyō's... and I want to take a picture of something that's new to me, you know."

Shimada nodded her head and placed a hand on her chin, "I totally understand." She stared down at her kohai to see the slightly troubled expression on her face. Shimada could tell that there was more to this than Sakura would like to say. She's only known the first-year for a short while, but she has grown to like the girl. The third-year could easily tell that Sakura had trouble with making friends. This was obvious from how Sakura liked to keep to herself and never went out of her way to talk with others. She didn't seem to try and make friends in the club, which Shimada had thought was because everyone else in the club, which was only like five other people, were all second and third years. Still she was glad that she had opened up just a little bit, it warmed her heart to know that Sakura was willing to open up to her, even if it was just a little bit. She smiled softly,  "You know, you have a little while to think about this, you don't have to make a decision right here, right now. You can decide this later." She then brightened even more, if that were possible, "When I can't think of what to enter into the gallery, I like to think about the things that I enjoy the most. I love baking! So I take my mind off of photography for a bit and bake cookies or something. Then I can come back to the gallery later with fresh eyes."

"That's actually a good idea..." Sakura thought about it for a moment. Her senpai's words seemed to be good advice. She is overthinking the gallery ever since she was first told the theme of it. Shimada was right, stepping back from the gallery should calm her down and take her mind off of it for a bit. Then once she came back to it later, she might have a better idea of what to do about it.

"So?" Shimada exclaimed in eagerness which broke Sakura out of her thoughts, "What do you enjoy the most?!"

Sakura monotonly answered, "Photography."

Shimada processed that for a moment and blinked, "Hm, anything else?"

"I don't know..." The younger girl slumped down in her chair. She didn't really have any other interests. She always had her focus on Shōyō and what he did, so she didn't have many hobbies. Though really it was just volleyball. Shōyō drowned himself in volleyball the same way Sakura drowned herself in photography. The only other thing that she really ever did was study, but she wasn't sure if she should do that to take her mind off of photography. Shimada was most likely referring to things that would calm her down and relax.

Shimada pursed her lips in thought, "How about we try something different... Why do you like photography?"

Sakura raised her eyebrows in confusion, "Huh?"

"Since you love photography, maybe thinking back to why you like photography, you'd be inspired on what to do for the gallery."

She tilted her head in thought, "I guess that could work."

"Great!" Shimada smiled brightly and jumped up in excitement. She was extremely glad that she was able to help her precious kohai in her troubles. The third-year could only hope that Sakura came to her again if she needed any help 

Sakura huffed in amusement as the corners of her lips lifted slightly, "Thanks, senpai." She found it quite funny how excited Shimada was getting about this. She seems like such a kind person, and Sakura was glad that she had Shimada around to talk with. Maybe... just maybe, Sakura could confide in Shimada a bit more. A friend. Perhaps Shimada Emi could become Sakura's first true friend.

Shimada's smile was a warm as the sun, which may or may not has helped Sakura feel secure. "No problem, Hinata-chan!"

Soon enough, the club came to an end, and Sakura and the few other club members bid each other goodbye. Shimada locked up the club room while Sakura was the last the leave and headed towards the gym where her brother was. Just like any other day, she would have to wait for Shōyō to finish up his volleyball practice before she would have to head home. No matter how much she argued that she could do it on her own, Shōyō would not let his sister ride her bike home alone. Curse her protective older brother! 

Though on her walk to the gym, Sakura started to wonder about the gallery. She thought back to what Shimada had suggested being inspired for the event. Why does she like photography so much? Well, at face value she would say she likes capturing a moment in time, whether it's good or bad. To keep that moment in time forever encased in a photo has fascinated her since she was little. Well, it's fascinated her since the beginning of middle school. 

As she walked through the chilly air, she remembered the first moment she held a camera and took a picture. The more she thought about it, she sighed heavily as she remembered who had gotten her into photography. She didn't know the woman's name, and yet she had impacted Sakura's life that it was laughable. It was a one-time meeting, but it changed the course of Sakura's understanding of life so much. 

It gave her a hobby to have, something that Shōyō didn't have. It was her own. She supposed this was the first time that she got the idea of being different from her brother. Sure, back then she didn't look identical to her twin, but even then she never left his side. This was the first time she got a taste of individuality. She finally had something to call her own that didn't involve Shōyō at every moment. 

So maybe the reason that she like photography was because of how it was one of the only differences between her and Shōyō. It gave her an identity that she could have for herself. Though how would she show that in a photo? As Shimada had said, she doesn't have to think about how a photo's meaning would be seen by others, instead just focus on how it was meaningful to her.

She was broken out of her thoughts when she finally made it to the gym to find the boys still practicing. Lazily strolling in, she greeted Kiyoko and Takeda before sitting and waiting for the practice to end. Sakura watched the boys continue to practice their receives, blocks, and spikes. Shōyō's skills really showed on this team, she thought. Her brother was fast and could jump high, however, she knew that he lacked in some things like blocking and serving. Though even if he wasn't the best all-around player, Sakura was happy for him. To have this team, these guys to help him improve his skills was all she ever wanted for her brother. Well, that and the ability to play as many games as he could. In her seat against the wall, if the boys had been paying attention, they would have noticed the small smile on her face as she watched Shōyō get yelled at by Kageyama.

Sure, it was a good thing to want your sibling to succeed, especially with such a close relationship that the twins had. However, to completely focus on your sibling and not even think about yourself was a bit problematic. Though now, she was going to fix that now that they were high schoolers. She wants to be different, she wants to be her own person. So to do that, she'll focus on her photography. To do that, she has to find her inspiration from why she likes photography. She'll figure that out soon enough.

Chapter Text

HINATA SAKURA WAS ALWAYS PLASTERED TO THE side of her twin brother. No matter where her ten-year-old brother was, you would no doubt find Sakura right by his side joining in on whatever he was doing. They never strayed far from each other which most people found to be quite endearing. A pair of adorable looking twins who loved each other to not want to be a part was quite cute. The only time that they were seen apart was during classes since Sakura was in a more advanced class than her brother.

People viewed Sakura as the more responsible Hinata sibling when compared to each other. Shōyō, despite being the older of the two, was by far the far more childish and extremely troublesome. He got into trouble a bit, not intentionally, of course, he wasn't a delinquent after all. Even if they are only junior high students, Sakura was quite mature for her age. She was there to try and keep her brother out of trouble, though it never usually worked. The younger twin liked to blame his moronic nature for his knack to cause trouble. She jokes that she got all the academic genes while Shōyō got the athletic genes. Which is why the twins weren't that alike.

Despite the fact that she tended to hide some of her emotions from time to time she's still... well, a child. At times she can't help her childish naivety or curiosity no matter what she might feel. That included her childish stubbornness to not want to go outside. Shōyō loves going outside to play with friends, no matter what it was. He has an insane amount of energy all the time, which he liked to express through running around playing whatever he felt like. Sakura didn't want to be outside, she'd rather be indoors doing something she liked. Maybe studying, or reading, just something that didn't involve physical exercise.

That was why she was dragging her feet while she followed after her twin and his friends while heading to the park. She had been forced, once again, to spend time with a few other children who had wanted to play soccer at their local park. Of course, she couldn't really argue all that much, since she wanted to be right besides Shōyō and all. She had no choice but to go.

So here she was, sitting on the grass as her brother and his friends ran around laughing and playing with each other. Sakura didn't mind watching them, she didn't mind being included. She's not that athletic or anything, so it's not like she'd be any help in a game or that she would enjoy it. Shōyō has talked her into racing a few times since both of them are pretty fast, but that was the extent of what she would do. She would much rather not play any sort of sport, unless Shōyō asked her to, then she'd have no choice.

She idly picked at the blades of grass in boredom. The slightly warm wind brushed over her like a soft blanket as she watched her brother run around laughing. It brought a smile to herself to see her brother having fun. Even at this young age, Sakura knew all she wants is for her brother to be happy no matter what. 

Just as she was thinking of her brother's happiness, a pink cherry blossom floated right into Sakura's face and placed itself on her button-like nose. Her brown eyes crossed as she stared at the sudden flower on her face. The snap of a camera drew her attention away from the petal on her nose.

The young girl looked up to find a young woman who looked to be in her late teens or early twenties. She was of average height, with nice tan skin and dainty hands that held a camera. The woman smiled sheepishly with her pearly white teeth, "Sorry, it just landed so perfectly, I had to take a picture."

Sakura tilted her head and glanced down at the camera that was in the black-haired woman's hands. Apparently, while a blossom had landed on her nose, the woman had taken a picture of her. Sakura shrugged her small shoulders, "that's fine I guess," she eyed the woman with squinted eyes, "a bit creepy though."

"Ah, I didn't mean to be creepy!" The woman insisted as she knelt down to the young girl's height. Sakura was drawn into her gaze as her shiny blue eyes reflected in the afternoon sun. They looked like crystal pools of water, and Sakura thought that they were very pretty. The stranger smiled, "Though it is a really good picture, do you want to see?"

"Hm," Sakura pursed her lips, "since it's of me... I guess."

The woman chuckled and pulled off her camera from around her neck. Sakura leaned over curiously to take a look at the woman's camera and found that it displayed an image of herself. She didn't like it all that much. The woman obviously knew how to take a good photo, that wasn't the problem. The problem was that Sakura didn't like how stupid she looked in the photo. Her crossed eyes just looked far too silly and her appearance just wasn't something that she liked overall. Sakura's long orange hair looked like a mess and her cheeks were far too pale for her liking. While the woman may have had good photography skills, the subject of the photo was subpar.

"You look quite cute," the woman giggled while showing Sakura the photo. 

Sakura huffed and crossed her arms over her chest, "if you say so."

The woman eyed Sakura for a moment. It seemed like she was easily able to pick up on how Sakura didn't like her appearance in the photo. She thought that perhaps Sakura just wasn't used to being photographed or that she didn’t enjoy being photographed. The woman smiled gently, "have you used a camera like this before?"

Sakura's eyebrows furrowed at the question, "no... why?"

"Why not give it a try!" The woman brightened and took the camera from around her neck, "Here." She plopped the camera into Sakura's hands and stood up straight to push the girl forward, "Come take some pictures of these flowers!" Sakura eyed the strange woman uneasily for a moment. She knew not to talk to strangers, especially one who was as bubbly and inclusive as this woman was. Though she had been talking to her all this time... and nothing bad had come from it. So maybe it was all right. Sakura shrugged her shoulders as she looked over the digital camera in her hands. Why the woman had just handed over this very expensive looking camera to a child who could easily break it was unknown to Sakura. It was quite obvious that this woman was not the smartest person around. Though Sakura did as the woman suggested and lifted the camera and pointed it at a tree. She took a photo of it which caused its lens to shutter. For some reason, Sakura really liked the sound of it. She stared down at the photo for a moment, as she seemed to be amazed at what she had been able to do. The woman even seemed surprised, "Wow! You're a natural!"

This continued for a while longer. Sakura took plenty of photos with the woman's camera and was given a few tips on how to do certain things. The woman even convinced Sakura to let her take a few photos of Sakura by the cherry blossom trees. Sakura eyed the camera for a moment before turning up to the woman. Her large brown eyes, now wide in wonder and brimming with curiosity. Sure, Sakura has seen photographers before and cameras and such, however, seeing this woman, the photos that she was able to take just interested Sakura so much. "Miss?" Sakura stared at her with quite an important question burning on her mind. "Why do you like this so much?" She wanted so badly to why this woman liked being a photographer. The woman just seemed to like doing this a lot, and this is what Sakura had wanted. She wanted to have a skill that she could call her own, and if this woman said that she was good at photography then maybe she could make this a new hobby of hers.

"What? Taking photos?" Sakura nodded, the woman pursed her lips and thought for a moment, "Hm, well, I guess I like it because I get to capture a moment in time. A small moment that could be extremely meaningful to me or someone else. It doesn't have to be meaningful to everyone, but as long as I believe that it has significant value to myself, then I want to be able to have that snapshot of life forever."

Sakura considered the idea for a moment. It was an interesting way to look at it. She never really thought about it necessarily like that, since she just thought photos would just be memories and such. Though she never would have put so much thought into who would find a photo meaningful. Photos of families do hold meaning, but what about the ones of just scenery or an inanimate object? Who would find those meaningful? Why would they be meaningful? Though the idea of capturing a moment in time, not just of people, but of things around them and holding them in a still moment of time seemed so intriguing to Sakura. Such an interesting idea, that she was starting to like the idea of photography more and more. 

"Imouto!!" The two turned to find that Shōyō had shouted out towards his slightly younger sister. It seemed like he had finished playing with his friends as he came running over to her.

Seeing as Shōyō would most likely want to leave after this, Sakura returned the camera to the woman's hands. Though once she let go of the camera, her hands felt a bit fidgety without it in her grasp. It seemed like she had gotten used to the feeling of the camera in her hands, and now that it was gone she just felt strange without it. Sakura pursed her lips, "Thanks, I guess."

"No worries," The woman smiled and began to bounce off to continue taking photos of whatever she liked. "Bye!" 

Shōyō zoomed up to Sakura and tilted his head after the person who his sister had been talking to. "Who was that?"

Her eyes widened as she looked after the woman, though she was only able to catch a fleeting flicker of her black-hair before she was completely gone. "Ah, I didn't get her name..." Sakura's eyes then brightened as she jumped on the balls of her feet, "Though she had a camera and she let me take pictures with it!"

"Really?" His enthusiasm started to grow at the sight of Sakura becoming giddy. This usually happened. When Sakura becomes excited or happy, which happens only about once a day, Shōyō feeds off of it. It was kind of like powering up a battery, there was no doubt that they weren't going to run out of energy for a while.

Sakura nodded her head rapidly with her large smile, "Yeah! The photos she took were so much better than mine, but I think I did a good job."

"That's so cool!" His eyes sparkled at Sakura, "Do you think we can convince Okaasan to get you a camera?!"

"We can try!" The two orange-haired twins then bounded off together to head back home. No doubt they would instantly start pestering their poor mother about what Sakura had found out. Also the fact that she would like a camera now for her new found interest. Though there was no doubt that their mother would be happy that Sakura has found something to be interested in that didn't just involve her brother.

From that moment forward, Sakura became obsessed with photography. She asked her mother for a camera which she eventually got as a birthday present. Once she had a camera of her own, she brought it with her everywhere. She took photos of buildings, plants, people, or anything she found interesting. 

Sakura started to become more invested in her new hobby. Every day she took as many photos as she could. Then she would happily show them to her family, who praised her for her good work. It felt so nice to her. To have this one thing, something that she could do that didn't always have to involve Shōyō at every moment. Sure, she still didn't stray far from his side, like usual, but she could still do this without having to look out for him at every moment. 

Eventually, by the time Shōyō had gained his own obsession with volleyball, Sakura was well into her photography hobby. She became quite skilled with her camera and her mother made her the designated photographer for things like holidays and birthdays, which she thoroughly enjoyed. This is also where she grew to become a tad bit sadistic. Most of the photos that she ended up taking were of Shōyō getting hurt some way or another while trying to practice volleyball.

Up until this point, Sakura had never really thought of showing anyone else her photos. She may enjoy photography, but she was still insecure about what other people would think of what she could do. After all, she was just Shōyō’s twin who did everything with him. Sakura wasn’t anything else except his shadow, so who would care if she decided to do something that didn’t involve her brother.

It would have been a good idea, considering it would have been a chance to possibly make friends. Though Sakura decided not to. She was in no way able to make friends on her own, so she didn't think that she would be able to share her hobby with others. Despite all that, here she was, standing in front of a door in her junior high as she anxiously fiddled with her fingers for a moment. 

Just beyond that door was the yearbook club. Since their school didn’t have a photography club, this was the closest that she could get to having an outlet for her hobby. Considering it was her third-year in junior high, she didn't have that long before heading off to high school. So, wanting to venture out of her comfort zone for the first time ever, Sakura had thought about actually joining a club. Her chest was tight while she bounced on the balls of her feet slightly. She didn't know how people would react to her wanting to join the club, however, they would be nice, right? Gaining a new club member must be a good thing, so they couldn't just dismiss her or anything. 

"They're awesome, imouto!" She recalled her twin's words earlier that day when she expressed her worry to him. "They'll really like them!"

She took a deep breath at the reminder of her brother's reassuring words. Ever since she had thought about joining the club and told Shōyō about it, he had been extremely supportive of the idea. And he was right, her photos were decent, and people would surely like them. Besides, even if they didn't, it wouldn't matter, right? It would be fine if they didn't like them. Maybe they truly weren't good and Sakura could use this as an opportunity to improve whatever photography skills she had. So everything would be fine, she tried to calm herself down, talking to others about her hobby would be a good thing for her! Maybe she'll even make a few new friends through this.

With that thought in mind, Sakura raised a shaky fist to knock on the door. Her nerves were sky-high at the moment, though she pushed through any apprehension that she had and swallowed hard. She had done this for a reason, and she wasn't going to back out now! ...Even if she was becoming extremely anxious at the moment.

There was a short moment where all Sakura could hear was her beating heart in her ears before the door opened up. A boy with large, round glasses opened up the door and peered down at Sakura questioningly. She knew this boy, Sato Hitoshi, who was in her class and considered to be one of the smartest boys in their grade. Though there was no way that he could truly be the best, considering Sakura was his competition for the spot, and she had been on top for the past three years. This was probably why the boy was staring down at her with narrowed eyes. It was blatantly obvious that he disliked her solely on the fact that she was smarter than him. 

He was, by far, much taller than Sakura, as he was on the taller end of the students with a head of black hair and dull blue eyes. Sato pin-pointed her in her spot, and for a short moment, Sakura was scared at his judgemental stare, "Hinata."

"Sato," Sakura nodded her head at him and peeked around him to see into the club room, "this is the yearbook club, right?"

The boy clicked his tongue, "yes, and what do you want?"

From the slight bite in his tone, Sakura could already tell that this wasn't going to be as easy as she had thought. She fiddled with her camera and glanced off to the side, "I uh... I was wondering if I could join."

"Join?” The boy scoffed and pushed his glasses up his nose, “You want to join the club?"

Sakura swallowed slightly, "Yes... I-"

He cut her off, "Do you even know how to use a camera?"

"Well, yes." Sakura dully said as she motioned to the camera around her neck. "I have my own camera and I’ve been taking photos for a while now-”

Once again she was cut off by the snarky boy, “Then why haven’t you joined the club yet?”

Slowly but surely, Sakura was starting to become quite frustrated with Sato. Though that’s nothing new. She was used to having his jealousy clouding around her like a fog, it was almost always unavoidable. The only time that she could get away from Sato and his stupidly petty jealousy was breaktime when she’d go off to find her brother to eat with. Sakura knew how frustrated Sato was with her, as he’s made it clear plenty of times. He hated how Sakura could easily get good grades while seemingly having no motivation. He was jealous of how Sakura seemed to do nothing, and yet get the top spot in their class as the smartest student. 

Of course, this wasn’t true, as Sakura studied at any chance she could. Did she retain information easier than some people? Yes. Does that mean she didn’t have the motivation for her academic career? No, of course not. She just thought that it was all so stupid.

“I never thought to,” Sakura shrugged her shoulders, “Though I decided to try this year.”

Sato glowered down at her though there was a smug smile on his face. “Hm, and let’s see what the great Hinata clone is capable of with a camera.” He then grabbed Sakura’s camera from around her neck abruptly and began flipping through the photos on them.

Sakura tried to grab the camera back, but the boy just used his height to his advantage.  “Hey-!” She jumped and tried to take it back only to be pushed back by Sato who continued to look through the photos.

His eyebrows twitched as he looked through the photos. They ranged from photos of scenery or her family, and they were all so… good. Even if they were taken by a junior high schooler, they looked quite professional. Once again, that envy was building up in his gut. Not only was this short orange-haired girl smarter than him, but she was also a better photographer! He laughed bitterly, “These? Do you call these good?”

Sakura bristled, “Yes-”

“Ah,” Sato smirked and leered down at Sakura with narrowed eyes. “It seems like we’ve finally found something that Hinata Sakura sucks at! I mean, these are terrible!”

Even if she didn’t necessarily like Sato, Sakura still respected some things that he did. He is the second smartest person in their grade, and he had some good opinions that Sakura could agree with while in class. So for a moment, she was doubting her skills. If he was saying that they were terrible… were they really that bad? “They are…?”

Sato snickered snarkily, already seeing how he was slowly breaking down Sakura’s self esteem. “I feel kind of bad for you,” he shoved the camera back into Sakura’s hands. “You can’t even see how these photos are so mediocre. Well, I don’t think we need someone so horrible at photography in the club.” He sneered and walked Sakura out of the doorway, “We need people who actually have skill.” Sakura clenched her jaw in doubt while staring down at the camera in her hands. Was she really that bad at photography to not even be allowed in the photography club? Had her family been lying about her photos? Just saying they were good in order to not hurt her feelings? No… Maybe. Her family were just too nice sometimes, so maybe this was one of these times. “Stick to what you’re good at, being you twins stupid shadow.”

It was quiet for a while before she swallowed hard, “Right.” 

Should she have taken what he said to heart? Probably not. He was easily using this situation to exploit the one thing that Sakura couldn’t really help; self-doubt. She was already self conscious about her newest hobby because she wasn’t used to having something that was her own. So she doubted whether or not she was actually good at it. To hear someone she had just a small amount of respect for say that she was doing terrible certainly had shook her.

Without saying anything else, Sakura shuffled away from a far too smug Sato, who was more than happy that he had put Sakura down, even just a bit. So he just waltzed back into the club room, satisfied to have undermined Hinata Sakura in something. 

A heavy heart rested in Sakura’s chest as she lumbered down the hall. She felt like hiding, at least for a little bit. It was only the opinion of one person, but it still hurt her. Technically, he is the first person to see her pictures outside of her family. So for him to act like that and say that about her photography skills, she started to question herself. What if other people say the same? She could understand having criticism given about her photos, but what if someone else just said the same thing about them? Could she handle that? Sakura likes to think that she’s strong, mentally and physically(though she actually isn’t physically strong). Though there are moments of vulnerability from time to time. Being away from Shōyō does that to her, she couldn’t help it.

Though was it a surprise when her eyes started to become blurry and her nose started to run? Maybe. Sakura isn’t an emotional person, so for her to start crying over this meant that it affected her far more than she originally thought. The first time that she tried to be her own person and she’s belittled for it. She couldn’t get away from it, the reputation that she had. She’s just Shōyō’s shadow. Nothing else.

Eventually, Sakura finally came to a stop with her wandering. She settled down on a bench just outside her school and wallowed in her own pity. Her mind was racing with so many doubts and she felt like she was drowning. She’s never felt like this before. The weight in her stomach was just so… she couldn’t even describe it. Long story short, she felt heartbroken to think that people wouldn’t think that what she thought was good.

Though in the middle of her darkness, there was a shining light. “Imouto?” The sun was rising and lighting up the decrepit space that she had been dragged into. She looked up to find a matching pair of large brown eyes looking down to her. “Imouto, what are you doing out here?” Shōyō asked as he looked down at his twin. He had just been heading to the gym for his own practice and found Sakura sitting outside staring off into space. Since he didn’t know what had happened, the smile that he had on his face felt a bit mocking to his sister. “Did you go to the yearbook club? Did they like your photos?! I bet they did!”

Sakura quickly wiped her eyes to get rid of her tears. The last thing she needed was for Shōyō to see that she had been crying, he certainly would cause a fuss if he saw that. She swallowed and plastered on a faux smile, “I couldn’t find them. I guess they ended the club early today.”

Shōyō fell for her facade quite easily, he was idiotic enough to do so. He sat next to her with a questioning expression. “Are you still going to join the club?”

“No, I don’t think I’ll join.” Sakura instantly answered. She was in no way going to get in that club, or that she even wants to be in it. Her one time to leave her comfort zone was not a good experience. She just smirked slightly, “I’d rather be around you to take pictures of you getting hurt trying to play volleyball.”

Shōyō bristled, “I don’t always get hurt!”

“Most of the time you do,” Sakura chuckled while standing up from her spot and started to walk off. Shōyō quickly followed after, trying to dispute what Sakura had said about him getting hurt. Though it was true, Shōyō gets hurt quite easily while playing volleyball.

They then ventured off to the gym, where Shōyō would work on practicing with the girl’s team like he always does. Sakura didn’t want to burden her brother with the fact that she had been turned away and made fun of for her photographs. She would much rather keep it to herself than have Shōyō upset because of something as silly as her bruised feelings. Besides, it was her job to look out for him, not the other way around. Besides, why would she want to admit that she was pathetic enough to be so hurt by one simple encounter? She’s not the emotional twin, she’s the mature and responsible twin. Sakura couldn’t let herself get upset so easily after just one person’s opinion. She isn’t that fragile, or at least she won’t let people think that.

Chapter Text

“ARE YOU EVER GOING TO EXPLAIN IT to us?” Suga asked Endo as he, Daichi, Tanaka, and Endo walked through the halls towards the second gym for practice. Ever since the quartet met up, they had been pestering Endo about his connection to Oikawa. Nobody had let it go after their practice game. How could they? It was always interesting to know some juicy tidbit about Endo. While Endo loved getting into other people's drama, he never really told anyone his own drama. So the guys just wanted to get a little information on him.

Even though Endo has been on the volleyball team for the past three years, no one on the team could really say that they knew Endo. Well, there was one person, but he wasn't here right now. They didn't know his past. He rarely talked about his family, his life in his home country, or his ambitions for the future. So seeing as this was an opportunity they could find out about some aspect of his past through his interactions with Oikawa, they were going to take it.

Endo shrugged his shoulders with a smirk, "There's not that much to explain."

"You know that stupid Oikawa!" Tanaka growled, "You owe us an explanation!"

Endo hummed with a smirk, "Hm, I find the mystery of this far more appealing than just telling you my secrets."

If Tanaka had hair, he would be pulling on it right now. He gritted his teeth at the smug bastard next to him, "You're so infuriating!" Endo just laughed loudly at Tanaka's plight as his eyes glowed arrogantly.

Daichi rolled his eyes, "I'm guessing you two went to school together."

"Oh, boo." Endo stuck his tongue out at his friend with narrowed eyes. His happy expression morphing into one of annoyance. "Daichi, always here to ruin my fun."

Suga nodded his head in understanding, disregarding Endo's glower at their captain. "I see. You and Oikawa must have gone to the same junior high

"Elementary, actually. I couldn't go to Kitagawa," Endo rolled his eyes and clenched his jaw. Any hint of amusement had been drained away as his eyes grew cold. "Father would never let me go anywhere except Mustafa." The resentment in his words was quite clear. He seemed to hold some sort of dislike for his father and the fact that he had gone to the prefecture's most expensive private school. The others of course knew how the blonde disliked his father, though that was just the tip of the iceberg. There was far more drama that they didn't know. The only one who did had already run away from the club, so there wasn't anyone there to really understand everything that Endo has gone through.

Suga blew a raspberry, "Rich boy gets to go to all the fancy-schmancy schools." Mustafa is a private middle school. It is extremely prestigious and not just anyone can get into it. The school is much like Shiritorazawa Academy Junior High since it was expensive to get into. Well, it was probably even more expensive to get into, especially because it is in Tokyo and not Miyagi. If anything, even if someone got into the school after passing the entrance exams, they would still have to shell out thousands of dollars just for a single year at the school. So it's reserved for the rich of the rich  the top one percent really.

The team always teased Endo for the fact that his family was wealthy. It was an unavoidable fact that Endo was quite well off financially. Not only that, but Endo tended to like flaunting his wealth quite a bit. Whether that was having the newest phone, designer clothes, or even a nice car. Out of any family in Miyagi, the Endo family was probably the wealthiest in the prefecture. The team liked to make a joke out of it sometimes. Though it could be annoying when Endo would constantly become extremely arrogant because of his wealth, but they made up for it by teasing him from time to time. They'd bring him back down to Earth when his ego inflated too much.

"Yes, it makes me wonder why I ever decided to come to Karasuno." Endo sighed as if truly saddened by his own choice in school. "I hate having to slum around with you peasants."

Tanaka bristled, just about ready to jump his upperclassmen, "Why you-!"

Though before he could do that, Endo placed a hand on his face to stop him from attacking. Tanaka just threw his arms around trying to hit the blonde, but Endo's long arms kept him at bay. Unconcerned with his younger teammate, Endo eyed the entrance of the gym after catching a glimpse of someone that he hadn't seen in nearly a month. It was a small ball of energy that certainly wasn't Hinata-kun, as this boy had black hair instead. Though once he caught a clear look of the famed libero, he bounded into the gym happily. "Is that who I think it is?"

The Guardian Deity turned to see the other members of the club come into the room. His dazzling smile seemed to widen even further, "Endo!"

The other teens came into the gym where Kageyama and Hinata had been practicing. Nishinoya Yuu, Karasuno's Guardian Deity, had seemingly interrupted their session, just as chaotically as he usually is.

"Hey!" Tanaka shouted out happily, "Noya-san."

Noya returned the same amount of joy at the sight of his fellow second-year, "Hey, Ryu."

"Nishinoya," Daichi greeted the short boy.

"Hey!"

The captain walked over to them and turned to the first-years, "let me introduce you. This is Nishinoya, a second-year."

Endo walked over and placed a hand on the smaller teen's head. He hummed in thought as he seemingly measured Noya's height. "Wow, Noya. You've been gone for nearly a month and you still haven't gotten any taller." Still the shortest on the team, how sad that must be, Endo thought. He couldn't relate.

Noya bristled and jumped at Endo. The two started to brawl with each other. "And you still don't have any manners, huh?!" The libero shouted out in anger while the blond cackled while dodging Noya's hands. The little demon was no match for Endo's quick reflexes and tall height.

"Don't talk to your precious senpai like that, my little kohai." Endo purred while grabbing Noya and lifting him up in the air. He trapped Noya's arms to his side, effectively stopping the small boy's attack. Though Noya's short legs wiggled in the air as he continued to fight against his capture. The older teen clicked his tongue, "you certainly have turned into a delinquent since you've been gone."

Daichi then chopped the back of Endo's neck, forcing him to drop Noya and yell out in pain. "Okay, okay you two. Calm down before I shut you both up."

"Yessir," both teens grunted out, Endo now nursing the new bruises on his neck.

Noya then turned to the younger boys who stared at the display, confused. "Hey! You guys are first-years, huh?" He then pointed at Kageyama, "You, the guy that was serving! The tall guy with the nasty glare. What junior high are you from?"

Kageyama stared for a moment before answering, "Kitagawa Daiichi."

"Seriously?" Nishinoya gaped now jumping in his spot, "That's school's for champs! No wonder you serve like that. I lost to them 2-to-1 when I played against them in middle school. They had someone who could deliver even better serves!"

The third-years stared at the bouncing energy ball with hollow expressions, "Noisy as ever." They did miss their precious libero, but his chaotic energy was definitely something they could probably go without.

"What junior high were you at, Nishinoya-san?" Kageyama questioned his senpai.

Nishinoya answered him with a shout, "Chidoriyama!"

He was also in awe at the answer, "That's a strong school. Why did you come to Karasuno? Because you heard coach Ukai was coming back?"

"No... I came to Karasuno because..." He paused for dramatic effect, making it out as if he had a profound reason for choosing this specific school. Though it wasn't that extreme of a reason, "Because I like the girls' uniform. Intensely. And the girls have lived up to my expectations. And above all..." He pulled on his blazer, "because of the boy's uniform. In black! I wore a blazer in junior high, so I admire this uniform. It's not brown or grey, but black!"

"I know what you mean," Tanaka agreed with a large smile.

"Karasuno has black uniforms, and the girl's uniform is cute. The school's close to home. It was a no-brainer." Just at that moment, a tall dark-haired beauty came walking into the gym. Nishinoya's eyes grew wide with hearts in them as he spied the third-year manager. He took off into a sprint and launched himself at the poor girl, "Kiyoko-san! I've come to see you!" She shouted out in surprise and Noya found himself at the receiving end of a harsh slap. 

Endo laughed loudly as Nishinoya now laid on the ground with a handprint on his cheek, "Rejected!"

Daichi chuckled, "He's like a hurricane, as usual."

Shōyō stared in surprise at the display, "A horny tornado."

"Quite the noisemaker, isn't he?" Their captain laughed, "Yet when he plays, he's surprisingly... quiet."

Nishinoya collected himself, sending one more glare at Endo who continued to laugh at his blunder. He turned to everyone with his smile, "And? Where's Asahi-san? Did he come back?"

Everyone held their breath for a moment. The dreaded question was something that none of the upperclassmen really wanted to tell him. Endo's laughter came to a halt at the question, at the reminder. The older club members looked away from him. "No..."

Nishinoya processed the muttered answer before gritted his teeth. Slowly but surely the group eyed his fist shaking slightly as he clenched them in frustration. "That coward!"

"Hey, Noya!" Tanaka exclaimed at the disrespect, "Don't talk like that about your senpai!"

"Shut up!" Noya just about screamed, "A coward is a coward. If Asahi-san's not coming back, neither am I."

Tanaka called out to him as Noya spun around and marched out of the gym, "Hey, Noya!"

The gym was quiet and awkward for a moment after their libero stomped off. The air was thick and nearly choked each boy as they stood there watching the smallest club member walk off. They knew that talking about their missing member would upset Noya. It upset them all that Asahi had yet to come back.

Endo cleared this throat and made sure that his face was devoid of any negative expression. "What did I say, a delinquent. Talking bad of his upperclassmen, I wonder where he learned that." Trying to defuse the tension, he chuckled and looked down at Kageyama and Hinata. Obviously hiding the fact that Noya's departure had upset him just a little bit. His fake smile was plastered on his face, trying to hide his true feelings on this matter. "Don't take after him, Kageyama, Hinata-kun. Always respect your amazing senpais, okay!"

Suga deadpanned, "I don't think taking your advice is a good idea either, Endo."

Meeting up with the photography club was slowly becoming something that Sakura enjoyed. It may be away from Shōyō, but it was slowly becoming a safe space for her. Not only that, but she was also making friends. The upperclassmen who were a part of the club were slowly but surely becoming close acquaintances of hers. She wasn't exactly friends with them, but she got along with them easily and could have good conversations with them. There were only four other members besides herself and Shimada; one other third-year and three second-years. Sakura didn't talk to them outside of the club(mainly because they were her upperclassmen and she didn't see them that often), but they had a nice enough relationship.

It also helped that everyone in the club was supportive. In the beginning, Sakura was so hesitant to show them her photos. However, they got her to open up enough for her to show them at least some of her work. From then on, they found how Sakura was so new to getting compliments and was quite shy to show others. So they showered her with compliments and good-hearted constructive criticism whenever they could. Instead of trying to tear her down, like some assholes, they would rather see her improve.

Currently, the club was ending a tad bit earlier than usual. It was coming up soon; the first gallery of the year. Just next week, Sakura would have to enter a photo into the gallery. Everyone was pretty jittery for it, but knew what they were doing. While Sakura has a better idea of what to do, she just needed to find something she deemed worthy of being in the gallery to represent her. The club president came bouncing over to the first-year with a smile stretched on her face, "So you have an idea of what to do, Hinata-chan?"

"Yeah, I think so," Sakura shrugged her shoulders while placing her camera around her neck. She then pursed her lips, having an internal debate for a moment before coughing. A light tinge of pink came over her cheeks as she spoke in a small voice. "By the way... you can just call me Sakura. So you don't end up confusing Shōyō and me."

Shimada was, Sakura would say, her first friend. At least, her first real friend at Karasuno. So isn't this what friends do? They become friendly, have nicknames for each other and stuff. Sakura has really only had one nickname from Koji and Izumi, who called her "Saku-chan". Nobody necessarily got familiar with her in that way(besides Endo and Tanaka so far), though that may be due to her seeming to be unapproachable. Some people just assume that she's mean or didn't want people to be friends with her. However, she didn't mind if someone called her with such a familiar honorific(unless they were annoying like Endo and Tanaka). Though she did kind of find it embarrassing to say it out loud. She's never gotten close to someone unless they had something to do with Shōyō. Really, Shimada could have kept calling her Hinata since Shimada had yet to even meet Shōyō. So there was no real reason for Shimada to differentiate between the twins by name. However, Sakura was just using it as an excuse to give her... friend the ability to be more familiar with her.

The brown-haired girl cooed and grabbed Sakura in a tight hug, "Aw! You're so cute Hina- I mean Sakura-chan!" Oh, how she loved seeing her little kohai opening up to her even more.

Sakura choked for a moment at the tight grasp on her. She wondered if Shimada was secretly a wrestler or something. The younger teen fought against her for a moment before finally escaping Shimada's gorilla tight grip. She straightened out her uniform and huffed, "Whatever. I'll be going now."

She exited the club room with a final goodbye to all of her fellow club members and started to make her way towards the gym. On her way there, there were two thoughts rolling around in her head. One; the gallery and what she would enter into it. Two; how she was going to let her brother let her ride home alone since all she wants to do is go home at the moment.

While she was stuck in her thoughts, she didn't hear the thudding footsteps running up behind her or the shout, "Hinaaataaa!!"

It was already too late by the time Sakura realized there was someone behind her. She found herself being run into by a boy, a little shorter than her. "Wah!" 

The two tumbled to the ground, with the boy falling on top of Sakura. She grunted at the sudden weight on her while the boy held his head after accidentally hitting it. He laughed joyously, "Oh, sorry, Hinata! I'm just excited a-" He froze with wide eyes after finally opening his eyes to see who he had accidentally tackled. This wasn't Hinata, even if they looked extremely alike. Not only that but she was also wearing the girl's uniform. "...girl?"

"Can you get off?" Sakura deadpanned up at the boy who was still hovering over her, frozen. A few seconds passed without any movement from the teen with black-haired and a tuft of blonde hair right in front of his eyes. He was staring at her in awe and confusion. She then tried again, "Please? Hello?"

He blanched, "I'm sorry, girl Hinata! I would never mean to hurt you ever! I deeply apologize!"

Sakura rolled her eyes, "Get off."

"I'm sorry!" He then jumped off of Sakura and bowed deeply.

She slowly got up as well, brushing off her uniform before checking to see if her camera was okay. If this boy had damaged her camera in any way, he certainly would have been in a world of hurt. Though she found that it was perfectly fine. Looks like this guy gets to live another day. She huffed, "Stop apologizing, it's all right. You thought I was my brother, right?"

"Hinata didn't say he had a sister!" He exclaimed in surprise.

She stared at him closely with a raised eyebrow, "Who are you?"

The boy puffed out his chest, "I'm Nishinoya Yuu, a second-year! Call me senpai!"

Sakura stared at him blankly, obviously not going to comply with his wish. She could already tell that he had the same chaotic energy as Tanaka. Dealing with the team just got 5x harder, she realized. "You're on the volleyball team, yes?" She studied him for a moment and took in his small build. He was by no means tall, actually, he was shorter than her by maybe a centimeter or two. Unless he could jump like Shōyō, then he would have to be a libero. Not only that, but she spied the small bruises on his arms and suspected that he got them from doing diving receives. "Why do I have a feeling you're Karasuno's Guardian Deity..."

Nishinoya brightened with stars in his eyes. Not only did this girl know who he is already, but she was quite cute too! She wasn't exactly on the same beauty level as Kiyoko, but she was still quite adorable. "You know who I am!"

"Ah," Sakura grunted still eyeing him, "I can see why you're the libero now."

Nishinoya bristled, "Why? Because I'm short!" He huffed, thinking that she was going to make fun of his height. So what he was short?! This may be girl was a bit taller than him, that didn't mean she could make fun of him for it! Even if she is a cute girl!

She shook her head lazily and spoke with a bored tone, "No, because you're quick on your feet. You knocked me down pretty hard too." She tilted her head at him with her eyes large and inquisitive, "I guess being short is just an added bonus."

Nishinoya stared at her for a long moment. Even if she had just called him short, when really she was only taller than him by about a centimeter or so. It almost looked as though he was in a trance as he stared at her. Sakura had thought that he had suddenly short-circuited with the way he became so quiet. Though he did finally speak after a bit, "You're so cute..." He had been completely distracted by the way her large brown eyes had been lit up in the sun rays and her short orange hair swayed in the light wind to say anything else. He may have said that without meaning to, though with this chaotic boy, you never really know what or why he does things.

She bristled slightly as the tips of her ears became red once she registered what he had muttered out. Sakura crossed her arms over her chest as she became embarrassed, "Don't say stuff like that to someone you don't know."

"What is your name, cute girl Hinata!?" He jumped at her and became uncomfortable close to her, ignoring what she had said.

She stared at him for a long moment before muttering out her answer, "...Sakura."

"A cherry blossom!" Nishinoya exclaimed with hearts in his eyes, already knowing what her name meant, "A cute flower!"

Sakura sighed heavily as she started to walk away from the love-stricken second-year. "I'm so done with you volleyball idiots." She then turned to head off to the gym with the boy following after her like a love-sick puppy. Things were definitely going to become even more annoying, she thought.

For some reason, one that Sakura didn't understand or care to comprehend, the libero wasn't going to play on the team. Apparently, the only reason he was at the practice at the moment was to teach her brother how to receive properly. While she was grateful to know that someone was going to finally teach him the correct technique, she was a bit annoyed that it was from one of the most chaotic boys that she's met. Ever since they had walked to the gym together, Nishinoya made it pretty obvious that he found her extremely adorable. No matter what he said, she always became embarrassed. Sakura has never had someone compliment her so much as he did in the first few minutes of them meeting. So sue her if she becomes easily flustered by the stupid things that Nishinoya said about her. This may be why she had placed herself on the other side of the gym, away from the second-year, hoping that she wouldn't draw his attention and be embarrassed again. The last thing she would want is for the others to see her like that, especially that stupid Tsukishima, he wouldn't let her live it down.

"So, what I'm saying is..." Nishinoya said as he stood in front of the first-years. "You shwoom in, swish together, then thump." He demonstrated a receive as the volleyball hit his forearm perfectly, "See?"

The others just stared at him and then tilted their heads. The way that he was explaining it was going straight over their heads. Nishinoya may be a genius, but he wasn't the greatest teacher. From the sidelines, Tanaka shook his head, "It's impossible to decipher the words of someone who moves on instinct alone."

Endo piped up with a snicker, "I'm pretty sure it's just how morons speak."

"Really?" Kageyama asked from beside them, "I got a good idea of what he meant."

"You've proven my point," Endo flashed him a wolfish smirk. The first-year just bristled at the slight against him. 

The other second-year stared at Kageyama with a disgruntled expression, "You're just like him. Whenever you explain things, you speak in sound effects, like 'oomph' and 'boosh'." He then grumbled, "It's gobbledy-gook to the rest of us."

Sakura had to admit, that Nishinoya is quite a talented volleyball player. He has the raw athleticism that any good athlete should have. That included being quick on his feet, having good technique, and having the advantage of being the shortest on the team. All good qualities of a libero. Though, at the thought that he was a very talented libero, Sakura raised an inquisitive eyebrow. Why isn't he on the team? She wondered, he's a volleyball idiot just like the others, so why would he not be able to play on the team?

"Uh, Nishinoya?" Shōyō asked as he walked over to the slightly shorter teen.

His upperclassman turned to him, "Huh?"

"Who is Asahi, the person you mentioned before?" He had just unknowingly opened up a can of worms that surely would bring up some sore spots on the team.

"Idiot!" Tanaka shouted at him from across the gym, "That's the name that must not be spoken!" On the side, Endo shuffled a little bit, uncomfortable, as he knew what was coming. This was a sore topic, for everyone, especially Nishinoya and Endo. Even Sakura could tell that the subject was a bit touchy for them. Her narrowing brown eyes swept over the older teens as she observed how uncomfortable Endo had suddenly come. It was strange to see the pompous boy become quiet like this.

Nishinoya was quiet for a moment, seemingly trying to compose himself. Though he eventually sighed and explained, "He's the Ace of Karasuno, for now."

"'The Ace'?" Shōyō asked in awe.

"Why have you gone dumb?"

The orange-haired teen jumped, stars already beaming in his eyes at even the thought of the positions "I want to be the ace!"

"You wanna be ace with your height?" Nishinoya asked inquisitively, causing the boy to deflate. Great, yet another person who didn't seem to believe that he would make it as an ace due to his height. Though Nishinoya laughed heartily, "I like you! For sure! You wanna do it because it's cool, right? Go for it! You be the ace! You can do it! You have way more promise than our current ace! I guess everyone wants to be the ace."

Shōyō nodded his head rapidly, "Yes, sir! It's cool to be the ace!"

"The word "ace" even sounds cool!" Nishinoya commented, "The words "setter" and "libero" are kinda plain."

To the side, Kageyama glowered slightly at the slander against his position. Seeing his sour look, Suga walked over to his kohai, "Now, now..."

"But one thing that really works up a crowd during a game, better than any amazing spike..." Nishinoya said as the others stared at him, as he started to explain his love for the sport. "They go crazy when a super receive is made! In "tall beats all" volleyball, the libero may be one of the few positions best suited for a short player. However, I do not play the libero position because of my height. I would play libero even if I was 6 feet tall." He said passionately, "Even if you can't spike or block, you cannot lose in volleyball as long as the ball doesn't touch the floor. And the one who does that job best... is the libero."

Shōyō was amazed at Nishinoya's little speech. While he didn't relate entirely since he loves to spike and jump, he understood his adoration for his position. Just like how Nishinoya loves being a libero, Shōyō loves being a spiker and hopefully an ace. "Th-that's so cool!"

"Y-you idiot!" Nishinoya grew flustered at Shōyō's sudden gushing admiration. He waved at the boy to try and hide his embarrassed expression. "You don't have to say it so loud and clear, you! How about two popsicles, in soda and pear flavor?"

"Yessir!"

Sakura laughed lightly at the display. At least now he had a bit of karma for flustering her earlier, she thought. Though she hoped that Nishinoya also got her a popsicle, she actually felt like getting one after practice. Plus, free food is good, no matter what it is, in her opinion. A nice sugary treat will be nice after having to deal with these volleyball idiots. She didn't doubt that he would. From how enamored he seemed with her, Nishinoya would most likely do it.  

Nishinoya then calmed down a bit, "So, Ace Wannabe, what's your special skill? Sure, you may be crap at receives, but I bet you have something."

"I'm, uh..." Shoyo muttered, "a decoy."

Nishinoya stared in confusion, not able to hear what he had said, "You're a duck?"

He sighed, "I'm a decoy."

They were silent for a moment as the older boy stared at Shōyō confused. "Why aren't you more confident when you say that?"

"It sounds kind of boring compared to "ace" and "guardian deity"." Shōyō explained glumly.

Nishinoya shrugged his shoulders, "What it's called has nothing to do with it."

"But..."

He insisted, "If someone can score with a spike thanks to your decoy work, that makes your position as important as the rest of 'em."

His words certainly lifted Shōyō's spirits just a little bit. Even Kageyama agreed with Nishinoya as he nodded his head behind the short teen. Shōyō sighed, "Yes, sir."

Endo then waltzed over to them, a smirk plastered on his face. He rested his elbow on the top of Nishinoya's head, to the libero's annoyance. "You best take his words to heart, little guy!" The blonde third-year laughed loudly, "he may be a delinquent, but he knows what he's talking about... most of the time."

"Endo!" Nishinoya shouted and started to attack his senpai like a scrappy puppy. "Bend down so I can punch you're pretty face!"

"Ooo, Nishi thinks I'm pretty."

After a little while, Daichi ended up having to scold the two like the overworked father that he is. Meanwhile, just about everyone else was laughing at the display. Including Tsukishima and Sakura. The entire team was almost complete. All they were missing was their ace and a proper coach.

"You know, I don't think you need my help with this."

Sakura stared at the pair who had come to find her in her classroom the next morning. Her brother and Kageyama had wanted to journey over to the third-year classrooms in hopes of finding the Ace of Karasuno. Perhaps they could find out why this Asahi guy hadn't come back yet. Could it be because of an injury? Some other problem? Either way, Shōyō was extremely anxious to find him. After all, this was the guy that he wanted to be like!

Shōyō whined, "But you've been over there before!"

"Doesn't mean I know where your precious Ace is." Sakura hummed in uninterest as she stared out the window from her desk. She has been to the third-year classrooms a few times. Most of the time it was to find Shimada to talk with her about the club. Of course, deep down, she knew it was because Shimada was really her good friend and wanted to actually hang around her, but Sakura wouldn't say that out loud. Emotions are not her strong suit, so she wouldn't admit that she just wanted to be around someone she considered a friend.

There was then a grunt from the taller boy beside Shōyō, the to boys surrounding her desk, as he glowered down at Sakura. Kageyama didn't necessarily want her to come with, but Shōyō insisted that she could be of some help. Though whatever got this over with quicker was fine with him. Even if he had to go along with the stony-faced Sakura. "Are you going to help or not?"

Sakura paused as she heard him speak. The girl wasn't sure if she had heard Kageyama say the word 'help' before. Even if they've known each other for a short while, Sakura was positive that he never asks for help. He is far too arrogant for that. She smirked and teasingly looked up at the gloomy boy, "Oh, is the king actually asking for help, how strange."

"Hinata-kun is the one who's desperate to talk with the Ace and he won't shut up about it." He grunted in reply as his eyes narrowed even further. His blueberry eyes almost started to take on the shape of slits, like the eyes of a snake. At least, in Sakura's perspective, it looked like it. "Are you going to not help your twin?"

Sakura's jaw clenched at the question. And there, he caught it. He caught her in a bit of a tough position. Kageyama observed as she seemed to have an internal debate about this. If she said no, it meant she wasn't willing to help her brother. And she could rarely say no to him, Kageyama was slowly realizing. She really only said no when it was for something she deemed unimportant. However, meeting this ace is quite important to Shōyō. So Kageyama was sure that she'd have a hard time saying no to him now.

Shōyō jumped in place with his infamous puppy-dog eyes, "Please, Imouto!"

She clicked her tongue at the large eyes boing back at her. Her tough resolve slowly broke down at the pout from her brother, she really can't say no to him when he looks like this. Sakura crossed her arms over her chest, "Whatever, I'll help." Her brother yelped in happiness as he seemed to vibrate in place. Sakura sighed heavily and got up from her desk, "come on, I wanna get back in time for class."

She left her classroom with the two boys quickly trailing after her. For being such a short girl, she certainly could walk fast, so they didn't want ot lose sight of her through the school. Sakura led the boys through the corridors and passed plenty of different classrooms. While they walked, there were a few older students who called out to Sakura. Though in response to them greeting her, Sakura just waved slightly before trying to hide and walk even faster.

Shōyō was a bit confused. Sakura had other friends? She hadn't said anything about friends besides the guys from the volleyball team. Though he does remember her mentioning a Shimada, and some other people, so they must be the people trying to talk with her. It certainly wasn't a bad thing, by a long shot. He smiled widely. This meant that Sakura was putting herself out there, at least a bit more than she did during junior high. He didn't know why Sakura was always so closed off, especially in their third year. However, he's glad to know that she wasn't like that now. Joining the photography club has definitely done her some good! He is so happy for his imouto!

The trio then started to approach the first third-year classroom that they came across. Sakura moved out of the way to push her brother towards it. "Here, first classroom. Go find the ace."

Though instead of heading towards it, and easily staying in place since Sakura was as strong as a lemming, Shōyō turned to the tall blueberry next to him. "You go first," Shōyō said to him.

The dark-haired boy shook his head, "You're the one who wanted to see the ace, remember?"

"B-but I'm too scared to go near a third-year classroom."

As they were talking the door had opened up and a tall boy with long hair walked out of the classroom. The two first-year boys bikered a little bit more while Sakura stared at them with irritation burning in her eyes. She was debating whether or not just leaving to two here, since she didn't feel like she needed to be there. There was no way that she wanted to be late to class today. Her perfect attendance was not going to be ruined because of her brother's volleyball obsession.

Then their setter senpai came out of the same classroom, chasing after the long-haired teen. "Wait up, Asahi!"

"'Asahi'?" The three first-years asked.

Azumane Asahi, the tall ace of Karasuno, turned to the group with a tilt of his head. "Yes?"

Shōyō jumped at the intimidating figure in front of him and hoped over to hide behind Kageyama and his sister. Suga looked at the first-year trio inquisitively, "Wh-what? What are you guys doing?"

"Uh, well..." Shōyō stuttered.

Sakura stared up at Asahi with a raised eyebrow. Yeah, he's definitely an ace, she thought to herself. He appeared to be intimidating, and he was tall, maybe taller than the blonde beanpole. Though she did think that he looked... older than he actually is. The beard definitely gave him the appearance of a guy who was held back a few years. At least, she hoped he hadn't been held back a few years. 

"I'll introduce you." Suga commented and gestured to them, "This is Hinata and Kageyama, who just joined the club."

Asahi smiled, "Oh, the first-years."

"Afternoon!" They bowed to him, though Sakura just bowed her head a bit. She was too lazy to act formally at the moment.

"Afternoon," The new third-year greeted and turned to Suga, "They're all on the team?"

"I'm not," Sakura cut in and shook her head before gesturing to her twin, "I'm just this idiot's sister."

Asahi smiled sheepishly. Honestly, he thought that she was a boy at first glance. However, he really should have caught on to the fact that she is, well, a girl. She is wearing a female uniform after all. "Ah, I see. So how many did you get this year?"

"Four." Suga answered, "Not the numbers we wanted, but they're all promising. Including Hinata-kun, he's hoping to be the ace."

"I see." Asahi smiled before placing a hand on the short boy's shoulder. Shōyō was broken out of thoughts about the ace, "Give it your best."

Shōyō tilted his head, "Aren't you going to give it your best with us? I want to become the ace, so I want to see the real ace in action!"

There was an apprehensive expression on his face. Sakura could already tell that this was a hard decision for him to make. She has no idea what could have caused this tough-looking teen to become so uneasy about coming back to the team. From what she observed, all of the upperclassmen on the team felt uneasy about Asahi and Nishinoya. She knew that they two must have fought or something to cause whatever tension there is between them and the team. In order to have a complete and efficient team, she knew that they were going to need them all together. The chemistry that she had seen between the team as it is already was pretty strong, though she figured that it would be even more powerful with their libero and ace around.

"Azumane, the teacher's waiting for you!" A student called out to them, breaking their conversation up.

Asahi smiled apologetically, "Sorry, but I'm no ace." Then he walked off, leaving behind a group of disappointed teens. The most depressed at Asahi's departure is obviously Suga. He had been hoping to try and convince his friend to come back, entice him with the fact that Nishinoya was already back practicing with them. Try to get him to come back with the fact that even Endo seemed to be upset at their absence. However, nothing was getting through his thick head. Even if Asahi had faltered at the fact that Endo had shown any sort of indication that he was even slightly depressed, he still walked away from this.

"Excuse me," Kageyama spoke to Suga as Asahi disappeared down the hall, "but did he get injured?"

His senpai shook his head with a sigh, "No, it's nothing like that. The problem is... he may hate volleyball now."

"What?" Shōyō gasped as if it were a sin to not like volleyball, which he probably believed. "But he's so big and they call him the ace! Why would he?"

Sakura clicked her tongue, "Just because he's built for volleyball doesn't mean he has to play or like it."

The grey-haired setter nodded his head in thanks towards the girl. He is glad that she was there to be somewhat reasonable. Suga definitely knew that Sakura always had to explain things to her brother like this. He swallowed, "Asahi... was Karasuno's biggest and most powerful player. He could score in the trickiest, most problematic scenarios." He walked over to an open window and leaned out of it. The memory of what had happened the previous school year getting to him just a little bit. "That's why we trusted him and called him the ace. But..."

"Was he crushed?" Kageyama asked, already having a feeling what had happened.

"In this one game, his spikes were completely blocked." Suga swallowed as he remembered their game against the iron wall. No matter what they had done or tried to do, they were shut out no matter what. Their ace could not break through their wall, and their libero couldn't save as many balls as he could. "Asahi is the type who has a strong sense of responsibility."

The trio of first-years eventually turned to start walking off after finishing their conversation with their senpai. They all now had a better understanding of what was happening with their missing ace. How he had lost enough confidence to not want to come back to the team. Even enough to lose interest in volleyball to the point where he might not even like it.

The boys had to head to the gym for practice as usual. Though before she followed after them, Sakura huffed through her nose. Suga turned to find that she hadn't left just yet and allowed the troublesome duo to head off on their own. "If you say that he's the responsible type, then I'm pretty sure he'll come back." She said to him. Her expression wasn't void like it usually is. Instead, she looked compassionate, at least, as compassionate as a tsundere like her could get. Her eyes were soft and the corner of her lips was turned up slightly in a small smile. It took Suga by surprise since he had never seen her smile like this. At most, he had seen her slick, sadistic smirks. At the sight of her soft expression, Suga had blushed a tiny bit. Only a little though. Not a lot. What could he say, she looks absolutely adorable when she wasn't scowling so much. Sakura shrugged her shoulders, "That and I think Shō-nii will keep pestering him until he comes back. Either way, the team will have their ace, eventually."

Suga cleared his throat before chuckling. Yeah, she was right about that. Asahi wouldn't be gone for long, he thought. Also, her brother definitely wouldn't let this go so easily. "I hope you're right, Hinata-chan."

With one final nod and flash of her cute little smile, Sakura spun around and lazily waving over her shoulder. "Later," her light footsteps traveled further away from the third-year who still had a small hue of rose on his cheeks. All this volleyball drama was a bit more tiring than she would have thought. Honestly, Sakura was starting to get a headache with some of it. She exited the building and looked around to see where dumb and dumber went, only to find that they were racing off towards the gym. She rolled her eyes, there was no way that she was going to run after them. So she set off on her lazy trot towards the gym.

This time while walking off to find her moronic brother, her mind wasn't racing. At least not as usual. While she was still a bit... worried(she supposed) about the gallery next week, it wasn't as prominent in her mind. Sure it was coming up soon, and she is a bit jittery about it, but it was on the back burner. She had at least an idea of what she wanted to do now. After thinking back to why she liked photography, her insecurity with it, and her apprehension to share her passion, she had finally come to terms with what to do. She had a clearer idea of what she wanted to represent in her photo. All she needed was to find a subject for it. There was no way that she would pace herself as the subject, even if she was thinking of her own new beginnings. She hates taking pictures of herself, she always thought that she looked weird in photos.

On her way to the gym, Sakura ended up running into the two other first-years on the team. She pursed her lips, it seems like they were starting to run into each other like this quite often. On one hand, Sakura was more than okay with running into Yamaguchi since he is an extremely likable person. However, Sakura has made it quite clear that she did not like Tsukishima.

"Ah, Yamaguchi," she greeted the olive-haired boy politely. Though she didn't even bat an eye at Tsukishima as she threw a greeting at him over her shoulder, "beanpole."

Tsukishima glared down at her and tsked while putting on his headphones. He was obviously alright with ignoring her, though that isn't surprising. Sakura also is more than okay with not having to hear his annoying jabs at her. Yamaguchi smiled warmly, "Oh, hey, Hinata-chan. Are you headed to the gym?"

She nodded her head while following them, "Yeah, I don't have club today."

"Really?" He asked.

"Yeah, I guess Shimada-senpai is giving us the opportunity to plan for the gallery next week."

"And here I thought you were slacking off." So it seems like the blonde giant is paying attention to their conversation. 

She stared up at him with her half-lidded eyes, "I guess you thought wrong." She clicked her tongue, "First time for everything, huh?"

"Tch."

Sakura disregarded him as he ignored her once again. Ah, how she loved annoying him just as he does to her. She then turned to the other boy they were walking with, "So how have you been Yamaguchi?"

"A-ah, I've been alright." He jumped slightly at the sharp attention. Yamaguchi definitely didn't want to see Tsukishima and Sakura have a bit of a spat between each other again. He liked to think that he was slowly becoming friends with Sakura, especially with how she's been kind to him. So he didn't want that to be ruined because of the relationship between the two. He smiled sheepishly, "Though I did have a bit of trouble with our math assignment today, but Tsuki helped me out. He's really good at math!"

He always has something nice to say about Tsukishima, she observed. No matter what, he tried to wedge in some sort of compliment about the blonde. Sakura would have found it quite sweet if Tsukishima wasn't such an asshole. "Never would have thought."

Yamaguchi chuckled slightly and disregarded the pointed glare Tsukishima was burning into his side. He calmed down enough and scratched the back of his neck, "So when is your gallery?"

"Next week," she answered swiftly.

"Oh, it'll be really cool to see your work, I haven't seen any of your photos yet." While Sakura had been around them these past few weeks, she hadn't shown anyone her photos. Of course, Yamaguchi was certain that she has shown her twin her work, but he hadn't seen any. The gallery gave him the perfect opportunity to see what she could do. He was actually really curious to see what photos she had taken of him, if any.

Sakura puckered her lips and looked away from him, "Well... I didn't necessarily think anyone on the team would want to see it."

"Why?" Tsukishima snapped. His tone sounded sharp and uninterested, but truly, he was just a little, a little bit curious as to why. She wasn't exactly an open book, from his perspective, and he couldn't read her as easily as some people. He could tell that she was hiding quite a bit, just like himself. Tsukishima had baggage, stuff that he hid from everyone in hopes to avoid the same betrayal that he was subjected to as a kid. Sakura could be doing the same, he thought. Someone doesn't become this emotionless and unbothered with life for no reason. Something happened to her, and even if he would want to admit it, he was curious as to what it was. He has an idea of what it was related to, but he wasn't certain.

"Let me rephrase that, I don't want you to see it." She stated hotly, breaking the tall boy out of his thoughts. He glanced down to see the harsh stare that she pointed at him, "Especially you."

The sly smirk that graced his lips caused Sakura to falter slightly. He moved to stand in front of her, effectively stopping the trio from continuing on. Yamaguchi watched anxiously from the sidelines while Sakura glared at Tsukishima. He couldn't help the snide snicker that escaped his lips. "Scared that we'll actually see how bad your photos are."

Sakura clenched her jaw at the jab. Though she couldn't really deny that he was completely wrong.  Even if her confidence had been built up quite a bit since joining her club, it wasn't high enough to let her brother's team see her work. Especially not the beanpole. He would tear her down within a second, and she really didn't want to hear what he had to say. She could tell that he was figuring it out what was going through her mind from that smirk on his punchable face. "I don't care what you think of my work." She snapped harshly, showing that his slightly true statement got to her. "I just don't want to deal with you bothering me while I'm there." With that said, she brushed past him and leaving behind the infuriating boy.

"If you say so," He said smugly. Oh yeah, he could see through her now.

Now at practice, everyone settled into their normal routine. Sakura sat down against the wall to watch them while they lined up to practice their receives. Next up is Nishinoya, who jumped once the ball was spiked at him, "Rolling Thunder!!"

It was silent for a moment as they took in his exuberant display of skill. Though eventually, a few of the other boys started to laugh at his shout. Suga just stared at him with a raised eyebrow, "Uh, yeah, nice receive."

"That's just a rolling receive!" Tanaka cackled loudly at his fellow second-year's 

Kageyama stared at him with wide eyes, "Why did you shout like that?"

"What was that?" Tsukishima asked through his snickers while Yamaguchi did his best to hide his laughter. Though his shoulders continued to shake despite his efforts. Even Sakura was laughing at the poor boy, though she did a better job of hiding her laughter by stuffing her face into her knees.

"Kageyama! Tsukishima! Yamaguchi!" Nishinoya raged at the laughing first-years, "I'm gonna lecture the whole lot of you! Crouch! No, sit! Get over here, so I can look down at you!"

"Teach it to me!" Shōyō called out, rushing up to the libero with stars in his eyes. "Please teach me the rolling Thunder!"

Endo was probably the loudest as he laughed at his friend and patted him on the back. "Good job, Nishi! As excitable as always!"

As the boys continued to laugh at their libero, their club advisor came running into the gym. "Well done, guys! Can I have your attention, everyone?" The boys all gathered up in front of their teacher, "You're all doing the Golden Week training camp this year too, right?"

Daichi nodded his head, "Yes, we need more practice."

Takeda pushed up his glasses like a badass, "Anyway, for the final day of Golden Week... I've booked you a practice game!" The boys cheered at the news. A practice match! How awesome!

"Wow!" Tanaka exclaimed, "You're really pulling your weight, Take!"

"Who are we playing against?" Suga asked excitedly.

Takeda then explained, "A veteran school in Tokyo, Nekoma High. I believe the nickname they go by is... 'The Cats'."

Shōyō tilted his head in question, "Cats?"

Tanaka placed his hands on his hips, "We heard about them a lot. Our old coach and theirs were rivals, and we'd travel to play against each other all the time." Ah yes, the famed Nokoma volleyball team. Things are definitely going to get interesting soon.

Suga nodded his head, "I remember! 'The Major Matchup! The Cats VS Crows Dumpster Showdown!'"

"Was that seriously a major matchup?" Tsukishima asked snarkily at the ridiculous name.

Their captain raised an eyebrow to Takeda, "But we haven't had any reason to play them for a while, so why now?"

"Right, I'll explain the details later." Their advisor started, "I happen to learn about our worthy adversary Nekoma, so I just had to stage a 'fateful rematch'. I'm positive he'll make a move... if we play Nekoma High." At the corner store down the hill, Ukai sneezed.

Daichi "Okay! Let's put some enthusiasm into this practice game so it doesn't go to waste!"

The entire team nodded, "Yessir!"

"Tokyo, huh?" Tanaka thought out loud with a sharp-toothed smirk, "Those damned city boys. I'm gonna pulverize their pretty little faces."

Tsukishima laughed, "Did you say 'city boys'?" The way that Tanaka had said 'city boys' sounded more like 'shitty boys', he should probably work on his pronunciations. 

"Shut up!" Tanaka bristled at the younger boy, "Tuskishima, you bastard!" Though Tsukishima was more than happy to see how he caused his upperclassman some plight.

Though as the rest of the team was quite excited with the news, there was one person who was a bit... Nishinoya walked up to the captain, "Daichi? I'm sorry, I can't attend the practice game."

Daichi turned to him in confusion, "Nishinoya?"

The boy sighed heavily, "Shōyō's a great guy and the other first-years are a bunch of ruffians, but they're all fun. I think this team is gonna shape up into something good."

Endo came up to the pair, having heard their conversation and decided to come over to see what it was about. However, now that he heard it, he wasn't that glad to know about Nishinoya not wanting to stick around. He had high hopes of their libero staying in the club. Though now it seemed like he had hoped for nothing. The blonde tried to smile, "Come on, Nishi, with your help it will."

"I want to practice here too." The libero pursed his lips, "But if I play a game and our team won, that would be like proving that we can win without Asahi. I'd hate that." He then turned to stare meaningfully up at the third-year spiker, "You understand, right Endo?"

Endo stared at the libero with no smile on his face. It had dissolved so easily, proving that he was just putting on a mask. He tried to keep any negative expression off of his face, but he slowly started to appear disheartened. He sighed heavily, "...Yeah..." As much as he wanted to argue with Nishinoya, his argument was tugging on his heart. He also didn't want to play a game without Asahi. He's the strongest one on their team, which is why he is the ace. Even when they had played against Aoba Johsai, it was upsetting to know that they won without him and Nishinoya. It was by the skin of their teeth, but it was still a win. A win without their entire team. As much as he liked having a win over Oikawa, it was slightly pushed to the side with the fact that it wasn't with his best friend.

"We've been teammates all this time. I-I'm sorry for being so selfish," Nishinoya stuttered out.

Even if Nishinoya felt like he was doing a disservice to the team, Daichi knew where he was coming from. He nodded his head, "Understood, but I want you to come to the training camp with us."

Nishinoya sputtered at the demand, "What? But..."

Before he could question it, the smallest first-year came running over to them with a volleyball in hand. His eyes were large and sparkling, "Noya, one more time! Do the Rolling Thunder one more time!"

"See?" Daichi smiled while crossing his arms.

Endo smirked, now seeing how they could use Shōyō as leverage to get Nishinoya to stay. Hopefully, for a while. He placed his hands on the libero's shoulders and pushed him closer to their ball of sunshine. "Don't disappoint your kohai, Nishinoya!"

The practice came to an end and the boys were starting to clean up the gym after a satisfyingly tiring practice. Not only that, but the boys were still buzzing in excitement over the training camp and the showdown against Nekoma. Traveling to Tokyo will definitely be extremely fun!

Sakura was a bit interested to hear about this trip. She has no idea what these training camps would be like, since Shōyō had never been to one before. So she couldn't wait to hear about it from him when it was over. Especially that practice game against "The Cats". She could only imagine what kind of team that was. If they earned that nickname, then they must have the reflexes of cats. That was the only prediction that she could really make about them since she had no idea what kind of a team Nekoma is. Maybe she should look into it.

The troublesome duo was taking a few quick sips from their water bottles now that they had finished their clean up duty. Shōyō looked over to Kageyama, "Do you think that things with Sugawara and Nishinoya would work out if Asahi came back to the club?"

Kageyama shrugged his shoulders, "I dunno."

From her seat against the wall by her twin, Sakura crossed her arms over her chest, "Maybe." She couldn't be sure of anything with what was happening between their senpais. She's only known these boys for a short time, so she has no idea what to expect of them. Whatever relationships they have with each other isn't something that she's privy too, at least not yet. 

"He said that Asahi is the type who has a strong sense of responsibility," Shōyō recalled their talk with the older setter, "but I think Sugawara is the same way, don't you?"

"Both of them are very responsible." Kageyama commented, "Although they can't possibly win by themselves."

"A-are you allowed to say that?" Shōyō gasped dramatically at the seeming hypocrisy that he just witnessed, "I remember that famous line of yours like it was yesterday!" He then flattened down his spikey hair and tried to intimidate the king's voice. "'I'd rather do every receive, spike, and toss by myself.'"

Kageyama raged at the pretty good impression of himself and grabbed Shōyō by his shirt. He vigorously shook him for his mockery, "Shut up!"

"'All by myself'." Though since Shōyō disregarded him and continued with his impression, Kageyama threw Shōyō through the air. However, Shōyō just landed on his feet as if the king hadn't just tossed him like a volleyball. "And everyone on our side of the net is supposed to be an ally. I hate it that we're so awkward."

Sakura raised an amused eyebrow as she stood up from her seat on the floor, "That comes with being a teenager, Shō."

The orange-haired boy huffed, "That's not what I meant."

"I know." Sakura chuckled, "Golden Week sounds like it'll be fun for you guys though."

Her brother jumped into her personal space. She leaned back at his invasion and pushed him away as he pouted, "Are you not going?"

"Why would I?" Sakura asked with a tilted head, "I'm not a part of the team."

Shōyō whined childishly, "But you should still come!" He wanted her to be there with him while experiencing his first training camp. They've done everything together, so why would this be any different?

Though it was a bit hypocritical. He wanted Sakura to be her own person... yet still wanted to have her around him most of the time. It was strange. It seemed like even though he wanted Sakura to find her own identity, he was still unwilling to distance himself from her either. Whether it was intentional or not, it most likely will not help Sakura to find her own niche away from her brother if even he is not letting her go off on her own. The least he could do is not try to get her to come with him at every volleyball related thing he did. While she would be doing photography and such, it still revolved around Shōyō. Everything she does is related to Shōyō, she was in need of doing something that is for her. Hopefully, both of them realized this sooner or later.

Sakura raised an eyebrow, "For what purpose?"

Shōyō pouted harder, as she had yet to see the obvious, "To take pictures of us and stuff."

She stared at him with her usual blank expression, not understanding what he meant. "I do that just about every day." 

"But at the camp, you can take even more pictures of us getting hurt!" Oh, he knew his sister so well.

Sakura paused for a moment before tapping her chin, "Hm, good point." It was a tempting offer. While she usually took photos of the entire team(when she felt like it since it can be a bit boring just taking pictures of the boys doing the same thing all the time) she didn't get much of the opportunity to get photos of them hurting themselves. And Sakura needed to have her fill of sadistic photos. The ones of Shōyō were all fine and good, but getting those of others was fun. The others on the team didn't have many moments where they messed up as spectacular as her brother, warranting a photo. "I guess I'll think about it."

Yamaguchi and Tsukishima then walked up to the trio of first-years, having a quick sip from their water bottles. The tall blonde pushed up his glasses as he stared down at the other first-years with a malicious expression. He smirked, "You take pictures of us getting hurt?" He may or may not also be quite the sadistic person, so he may want to see them.

"Yes, especially Shō," she stated nonchalantly like it was an everyday thing, which it is. She then started to flip through the photos on her camera. Sakura had yet to transfer them onto her laptop, so there were a few older photos on it. Including one that caused her to smirk widely. The sadistic gleam to her eye didn't go unnoticed by those around her. They even shivered at how she hummed in amusement. She turned the camera to show them what she was looking at, "Though I do have this one. It's probably my favorite."

Kageyama sputtered at the photo that he was presented with, "What!" His face was becoming a tad bit red. Whether that was because of anger or embarrassment, nobody could really pinpoint it. It was probably a combination of the two.

Of course, it was the photo of Kageyama from their practice match against Seijoh. It was a perfectly timed photo of Shōyō's botched serve hitting him in the back of the head. Sakura chuckled with an amused smirk, "Can I just say, I have pretty good timing."

"I appreciate the thought," Asahi said while scratching the back of his neck. In front of him stood the same three first-years who had seen him the other day. Apparently, they had come to see him yet again to try and get him to go back to the team. He had to admit, they sure were persistent. "But why are you so keen on me even though we've never practiced together?"

Just like the previous day, Shōyō had dragged Sakura along with him and Kageyama to go talk with the third-year. She tried to argue that they didn't need her since they knew how to get to the third-year classes. However, she couldn't say no to the way Shōyō just about begged her to go once again. Kageyama found it quite amusing how Sakura could bend to Shōyō's will at times. Don't get him wrong, he's seen Sakura deny Shōyō of certain things from time to time. However, when it has something to do with his ultimate passion, volleyball, she was wrapped around her twin's finger. So here she was, stood beside the duo as they looked up at Asahi. Though she was a bit bored and was just staring at the floor tiredly. It seemed like her late-night study sessions and early mornings were starting to catch up to her.

Shōyō jumped, "Oh! Because if you don't come back, my upperclassmen won't cheer up!"

Kageyama cringed before hitting the smaller boy in his side, "You're too loud."

Then he was hit in his side himself, just as painfully as Shōyō had been(if not more). He glowered at the short girl while rubbing his now bruised side. Sakura glared right back at him cooly, "Refrain from hitting my brother."

"You guys are a hoot." Asahi laughed lightly. He found that these first-years were quite amusing. He then sighed, "But I'm sorry. I've lost my ability to visualize what it's like to break through those high clockers right in my way. I'm positive I'll be shut out. It freaks me out and fills my head with thoughts of self-destruction."

Sakura supposed that she could relate to Asahi on some level. He seemed just as doubtful in his volleyball skills as Sakura could be with her photography. Sure, she's gotten better at showing certain people her work and having the courage to do so. However, that was really only because she's become numb to what people might say. She could never take a compliment seriously unless she could decipher if whoever was saying it was actually sincere. Shōyō was always sincere to her, Shimada didn't seem to have a mean bone in her body, and those on the volleyball team who had seen her photos are nice to her, so none of them would speak badly of her work. Could she take constructive criticism? Yes. Though could she hold herself against insults to her work? A little bit. At least, better now than in junior high. 

Doubting herself was always a huge flaw of hers. It hindered her ability to create her own identity beyond just being Shōyō's twin. So yes, she understood Asahi's perspective. However, unlike her, he had people depending on him, basically begging for his help and guidance. Sakura's photography isn't a team effort, but volleyball is. So she supposed there was a bit more pressure added to his dilemma when compared to hers.

"Th-this may sound cocky coming from pipsqueak first-years, but I have to say it," Shōyō stuttered out, breaking Sakura from her thoughts.

"Not at all," Asahi smiled, "What is it?"

Shōyō took a deep breath, "I know what you mean. I'm short and I don't have technical skill so I kept getting stopped by blockers. But now I can get past any high blocker thanks to his tosses! The blockers all fade away and the view of the other side of the net opens up to me! And when the ball hits my hand at the highest point, the weight of it kind of sloshes into my hand." He held out his hand as if it was still stinging from a spike. "I love that! I'm jealous of you. Right now, I don't have the height or the power to break through the blockers, but you do. I know you've been blocked a lot until now, but you've scored way more times than you were blocked, right? That's why they all call you the ace!"

Asahi stared at the small boy in wonder for a moment. His words obviously getting to him in some way. Though before they could continue, they were interrupted by the shrill sound of the school bell. Now that all had to head to their classes for the day. Sakura, Kageyama, and Shōyō were definitely going to have to leave now if they wanted to make it to their first-year classes on time. So Sakura already turned to leave, not willing to let these boys be the reason she's late to class.

"Let's go," She commented and grabbed her brother's arm as he tried to stay rooted to his spot.

Kageyama tried to help out, "It's time to head back. Dummy, you'll be late." The trio then started to walk off, but the black-haired teen paused and addressed Asahi, "Excuse me... It's only natural that you can't win by yourself. That's why there are six people on the court. I only learned that for myself recently so I can't talk big about it. Excuse me."

Asahi watched as the three first-years headed off to their classes for the day. What they had said had struck a chord with him, especially Shōyō. He knew that feeling, he knew what it was like. However, now, it felt like it was so far away from him. He had been shut out far too much to clearly feel what it was like. So while the first-years walked off, the twins making fun of Kageyama for his words about teamwork, Asahi's mind ran rampant with his own internal debate.

"Man those guy sure talk a lot."

Asahi jumped at the sudden voice behind him and turned to find a fellow third-year behind him. It was his best friend, and drama queen, who stared at him with his signature raised eyebrow and smirk. "J-Joji."

"Asahi..." Endo trailed off while staring at the teen in front of him. The two hadn't had a full conversation with each other for a while. The tension was thick between them as they took in each other's presence. The blonde clicked his tongue and walked closer to his friend, "I hope that the small fry and gloomy king's speeches got through your thick head." He hit Asahi over the head which caused the bearded teen to whine out in pain.

"H-hey-!"

"We miss you, okay? The team's not the same without you." He then coughed realizing what he said was kind of sappy and quickly added, "Or Noya, yeah the both of you." Good save, he thought to himself sarcastically.

Awkwardness consumed them once again as Asahi tried to find his voice. For such a big guy, he really had the personality of a timid teddy bear. "Suga said that Noya already came back."

"He did, somewhat," Endo stated and glared at Asahi, "Which means we're just waiting on your lazy ass. We need our ace!"

Asahi winced at Endo's sudden shout and shrunk in his spot. This was why he had been trying to stay away from Endo, no matter how much it hurt him. He didn't want to disappoint the club, which included Endo. Especially Endo. He bit his lip, "You know I don't feel like the ace, not anymore."

"And here I thought I was the dramatic one," Endo scoffed.

Asahi was the one to raise an eyebrow this time. "You are the dramatic one, Joji."

"Oh, I know." Endo easily admitted and didn't even try to argue with him. The two shared a laugh with each other as they allowed themselves to have a moment of contentment. They hadn't talked like this in a while. Ever since Asahi had left the club, he had been actively avoiding Endo. It hurt the blonde, to have his best friend avoiding him for some silly reason. However, Endo let it happen. He knew that Asahi needed to be alone for a while. Though a month was really far too long for his liking. He sighed heavily, "Look we've known each other for a long time... and I know that you love volleyball, even now." Asahi looked away from Endo's burning gaze, already knowing that his friend could see right through him. Even if he tried to deny it, the two of them know just about everything about each other. They also have the innate ability to know what each other are thinking without saying anything. There was no need to hide secrets from each other, as they could easily tell if one of them was trying to hide something. Endo placed a hand on Asahi's shoulder and squeezed it reassuringly. "So just save us all the trouble and come back to the club. We have a hard enough time looking after our newest members, we need some help, okay?"

Asahi chuckled with a small, timid smile on his lips, "Yeah. I'll think about it."

"I'm serious, I really think we can go far with the new first-years." Endo commented before brightening, "Plus, we've got paparazzi-chan now, she can really take great pictures. Though it helps when the subject, me, is quite handsome." Asahi chuckled at Endo's arrogant statement. He did kind of miss Endo's selfish statements, even if sometimes they could get annoying. He missed Endo. And the rest of the team, of course.

They parted ways after that to their classes. Asahi's mind was racing with a heated debate about going back to the club. Meanwhile, Endo was praying to Kami-sama that his friend would actually get off his ass and come to their practices. Because if he didn't, Endo really wasn't sure if he'd stick around the club without his best friend. Suppose that's just how attached he is to Asahi. 

Chapter Text

EVEN IF HE TRIED TO PUT ON the facade of disliking volleyball now, Asahi couldn't keep himself away from the gym. It was always pulling him in, much like a wave pulling him further out into the sea. He can't distance himself from the one sport that he had come to enjoy so much during his high school career. Not only that, but it was one of the biggest parts of his life that brought him so many good people into his life. Daichi, Suga, Nishinoya, Joji, just to name a few. So for him to try and distance himself from the team meant distancing himself from his greatest friends. He hated to do it, but he's scared, what can he say.

So now he watched in awe as the new first-year members practiced with each other. He witnessed just what Shōyō had been talking about before. That feeling of getting the ball over the net, hitting a powerful spike, and the sting in the palm of his hand is truly amazing. Asahi missed that feeling...

The short orange-haired boy cheered, "Right on! Our fast attacks are gonna count in the Cat fight too!"

Asahi's eyes widened as he realized what the first-year was talking about. He thought to himself, 'Cat? They have a game with Nekoma?'

"It's a practice game on the last day of Golden Week." 

The bearded third-year jumped at the sudden statement "U-ugh!" He turned to find the captain and blonde spiker standing behind him. Daichi was smiling widely at his friend while Endo was smirking. He knew that Asahi couldn't stay away for too long, especially after having met the first-years. Plus, there was no way that Asahi could stay away from him for a long time. Asahi was bound to come back one way or another.

Daichi bristled, "What do you mean, "ugh"?" Though Asahi disregarded him and was trying to escape from the raging captain, in fear for his life. That only caused Daichi to get even more irritated, "Hey, don't run away!"

"But you can be scary when you're mad." Asahi explained with an ashen expression as he tried to climb over the banister and away from his friend.

"I'm not mad this second!" Daichi exclaimed.

Endo chuckled as he pated Daichi on the back, "You look kind of mad."

Though the captain just turned his "not mad" expression at his other smirking friend, "Endo."

"Yessir," He clammed up pretty quickly. Endo is not an idiot, at least not a big one. He knew what to keep his mouth shut. Especially when he was being glared at by one Sawamura Daichi. Endo doesn't have a death wish at the moment.

Daichi huffed in annoyance at his two good friends. One is far too timid and contradictory to his appearance while the other was being a nuisance as usual. He walked up to Asahi, who decided to abandon his plan to run, for now. "To us, Nekoma was like some kind of old folktale at the time. There's no fateful connection between us and them in the current generation." He explained, "But now, it's the Cats VS Crows Dumpster Showdown! Now that we have our first rematch with that Neko team I've heard so much about, I'm feeling kind of psyched."

Asahi looked down sadly, a sight that caused Endo to shift uncomfortably. Endo really hates having to deal with emotions and such, unless they provided him some sort of entertainment. Seeing Asahi in this depressing predicament gives him no joy at all. Asahi sighed, "I'm too ashamed to face Suga and Nishinoya."

The trio was quiet for a moment before Daichi placed a hand on Asahi's shoulder, "I've gotta hand it to you. You sure are timid for such a big guy! You're the polar opposite of Nishinoya!"

The Ace pouted, "Would it kill you to sugarcoat it just a little?"

"There's no need, Asahi." Endo chuckled and draped his arm around Asahi's shoulder. It wasn't that hard to do considering the two of them were around the same height. The blonde cooed while Asahi started to grow a bit flustered at Endo's close proximity, like usual. "There's nothing wrong with being a big teddy bear!"

Daichi shook his head at the display of affection. Honestly, Endo wasn't doing a good job of hiding it. It’s a good thing that Asahi was too thick to really notice it. He huffed, "Don't worry! Suga and Nishinoya don't have a problem with it. Unlike you, they're open-minded."

"Aren't you supposed to be nicer than this?" Asahi muttered while stopping his attempts to get Endo to let him go. He knew, from years of experience, that Endo is a very touchy-feely kind of guy. Asahi knew that he should be used to it by now since they've known each other since they were young, but he honestly can't control how embarrassed he feels when Endo is like this.

Daichi turned to start walking towards the gym, "You're the exception because you're so timid. Stuff like skipping out on club activities for a month and feeling awkward about finally showing up... It doesn't matter." He paused in his steps, "If you still love volleyball, that's ample reason to come back. Oh, and also, we have this guy who dreams of becoming the ace."

Asahi sighed heavily through his nose at the reminder of the short kid who hadn't left him alone. He didn't really know how good he was, though he could tell that the first-year was pretty talented considering how high he could jump from what he just saw. However, from the way that he talked about hitting a spike, the passion that was in his voice was admirable in a way.

In the silence left between the three, Endo and Daichi shared a look with each other. Endo slyly smirked as Daichi nodded his head, a silent agreement between the two. Together they punched Asahi in the stomach, quite hard. "Ow!" Karasuno's ace yelped out in pain which caused Endo to laugh wholeheartedly at his friend.

Eventually, the rest of the boys started to show up from practice. As usual, Sakura had situated herself on the floor against the floor to watch the boys. She is sporting her usual bored expression while watching the group start their warm-up. Once again she was debating whether or not to just head home on her own, since she could easily do that. However, she didn't want to have her twin nagging her once he got home about her heading out on her own. So it was a bit of a toss-up on what to do. Well, no it isn't. She'd stay. Not actually wanting to head out on her own. She would just rather be home by now, is all. Though, to try and keep her happy, Shōyō had offered her his club jacket. His reasoning was that she could use it as a blanket and take a nap in the gym. As if that would happen, she couldn't sleep with the sound of all the boys practicing right by her. Still, she took it and put it on to try and get even comfier on the floor.

A few feet away, Endo was doing his usual stretches on the floor while talking off Suga's ear. The co-captain was listening to him with a minimal amount of attention, more focused on trying to see how far he could stretch his arms to the end of his legs. Though Endo just continued to go on and on about one thing or another. It wasn't that surprising that he was talking so much, it is a part of his personality. The team has a theory that if Endo ever stopped talking for a long time, he would probably die. However, he was a tad bit jitterier than usual. The others noticed it and wisely decided not to comment on it. If they did, Endo would ignore the topic and chew them out for some reason or another. Daichi, Suga, and Nishinoya were probably the only ones who had an inkling of an idea as to what had caused Endo to act like this. Of course, their idea mainly revolved around their missing Ace, and they were by no means wrong.

Though while everyone was starting to get ready for the practice to start, Tanaka walked over to his fellow second-year and eyed Nishinoya. Bruises littered the libero's arms, which isn't necessarily a new thing. Being a libero meant that you were prone to getting bruises here and there on your arms and legs. Though Nishnoya hadn't been at practice in a month, so despite that it seemed like their libero was practicing during that time. "Say, Noya?"

The libero looked up to him as he continued his stretching, "Yeah?"

"How did you train while you were banned?"

Nishinoya brightened as he explained, "I focused on blocked ball retrieval. Specialized training to retrieve any blocked ball! I'm not that great at it, but if I can just retrieve blocked balls, you guys can go for your spikes with less on your minds."

Tanaka marveled at the dedication that Nishinoya has. To continue to practice even through his suspension,  was so inspiring to him. Enough for him to dissolve into tears, "Noya, you are totally, utterly cool!"

The libero jumped at the exclamation in confusion, "Why are you crying?"

The doors to the gym then opened up and the club advisor came bouncing on through. Takeda appeared to be quite excited about something, which is evident from the smile on his face, "Hello!"

"Gather 'round!" Daich called out to everyone. The boys all headed over to stand around the door with their club advisor and another man next to him. The second man was a tad bit taller than Takeda, blonde, and had a slightly mean-looking expression. Curious as to what was going on, Sakura edged her way over as well and stood next to her brother to catch a glimpse of who this old guy is.

"Allow me to introduce you to Ukai," Takeda explained, "your coach as of today!"

All the boys were a bit shocked at the news, not really knowing what to say about this. They just stared at him for a quick moment. They haven't had a coach in quite a while, so it was quite surprising that they now had someone to actually work with them as a team. "C-coach?" Daichi stuttered out in awe, "Do you mean it?"

The newcomer, Ukai, grunted, "Only for the duration of your game with Nekoma."

"What? He's the guy who runs the Sakanoshita Store, right?" Tanaka asked in recognition, "Is he really our coach?"

Takeda nodded his head, "He is your upperclassman, and the grandson of the famous Coach Ukai."

"WHAT?" Everyone blanched, sans Sakura and Tsukishima, of course. 

Shōyō the jumped up to their new coach with wide eyes, "But isn't your store called Sakanoshita Store? I mean, sir?"

"The store comes from Mom's side of the family," Ukai explained quickly, before placing his hands on his hips. "There's no time! Let's get started! I want to see how you guys play, so we have a game at 6:30. I called in your opponents."

"Huh?" Daichi asked, "Opponents?"

"The Karasuno Neighborhood Association team." Their new coach explained before clapping his hands, signaling to boys to run off and practice. "Now, come on start some drills!" The boys all scurried off to start doing just as they were instructed. Though Ukai caught sight of a boy who had yet to take his direction, if anything, he just seemed to be ready to watch them. "Hey, you! Shouldn't you be practicing too?"

Sakura wondered for a second who he was talking to, but quickly realized that he was staring at her. She quirked an eyebrow and shook her head, "No, I'm not on the team."

"You don't play with your twin?" Ukai asked, pointing to Shōyō in confusion.

"No," she said slowly, "And even if I did play volleyball it would be on the girl's team since I'm a girl."

"Oh, sorry..." He could have sworn that the other orange-haired teen was a boy, just like the other one. Though he couldn't really tell since the girl was wearing a volleyball team jacket, which he now assumed was her brother's. Twin brothers, is what he thought at a first glance. So it isn't that hard to imagine that he'd mistake her for a boy!

Sakura shrugged her shoulders, seemingly unbothered at the mistake. "It's fine."

"Why are you here then?" The new coach asked in confusion.

She just raised her camera from around her neck with dull eyes, "I'm the team photographer."

"Oh..." Ukai then went off to start observing the boys start their practice. The awkwardness that came off of him now was pretty palpable. However, Sakura didn't seem that bothered. Just as emotionless as usual.

A snicker came up behind Sakura who turned to find the blonde beanpole leering down at her. "You must be used to this, being mistaken for a boy." Tsukishima clicked his tongue and crossed his arms over his chest. "Maybe if you dressed like a girl you won't have that problem, huh, pipsqueak."

"It doesn't bother me that much, honestly." She stated dully, honestly not that affected by his possible insult. So what if people thought she is a guy? She doesn't care if people think she's a girl or a boy. The only small problem she had with it was being mistaken for her brother. She smirked up at him, "Though didn't you also think I was a boy when we first met? Not smart enough to notice the difference, beanpole?"

"Tch," Tsukishima clicked his tongue before stalking off somewhere else. Yet again, instead of reacting in any manner that he could predict, Sakura just brushed off his attempt of an insult. Not only that but she tried to jab back at him in retaliation. At this point, he should just suspect that she was going to act this way. After all, he’s seen enough evidence to prove that they 

Yamaguchi approached her as well with an apprehensive expression, "It really doesn't bother you, Hinata-chan?"

She shook her head at him, "No, it's my own fault for looking too much like Shōyō, I guess." She shrugged her shoulders as if she wasn't concerned, "I've grown used to being called his doppelganger."

"I'd find it annoying," Yamaguchi frowned. If he were to be mistaken for someone else all the time or for the opposite gender, he'd be a bit peeved by it. However, he found that Sakura was a bit of a strange person. And if she says that she's used to it, then it must not be a big deal to her.

"Hm," She just hums uninterested, which Yamaguchi takes as his cue to head towards the court.

"Damn, he isn't picking up." Ukai grunted with a sigh, "I guess assembling the gang this late on a weekday was too much to ask."

Besides him, there was a small snort of amusement, "I'm surprised you even got one to agree to show up," Sakura offhandedly commented.

Ukai wasn't sure if he liked having this clone around. She was quiet for the most part, but she usually said comments like this out of nowhere in the short time that he's been here. The first time she did it, it scared the crap out of him since he kind of forgot she was even there. The new coach has only been in the gym for maybe thirty minutes, but he learned that Sakura liked to make small remarks from time to time. He didn't have a problem with the team's photographer being around, but this girl just creeped him out a bit. How could a small girl like her look so intimidating with just a stare? Not only that, but the dull look in her eyes is a tad bit unsettling to him.

"Aren't you supposed to be doing something?" He looked down at her with a raised eyebrow. She was seating on the ground slightly behind him, leaning up against the wall. "Not just sit there doing nothing?"

Sakura looked up to him with her half-lidded eyes, "I don't see a point in taking photos while they're practicing," she shrugged her small shoulders, "it's better when they're in a game or something." The first-year girl didn't have a definitive opinion on the new coach just yet. He may have the same name as the famous "Ukai of Karasuno" but that didn't mean he had the same level of coaching as his grandfather. Sakura could tell that he used to play for Karasuno from how well he knew volleyball. It was personal for him, not just in an "I've watched a lot of volleyball" kind of way but in an "I used to play on a team for some time" kind of way. Ukai seemed like he could help the team, if only he was going to stick around longer than just one practice game. Oh, well, Sakura thought to herself with a mental sigh, guess having a coach for a short time is better than never having one.

Soon enough, a trio of men walked into the gym. Obviously, these were the guys that the new coach had called in to practice with the team. They are the Neighborhood Association. Contrary to what the teens had been expecting, this team of veteran volleyball players were young, probably in their late twenties at most. They were a trio of older guys, yes, but they were younger than what they would have thought. Though that is a good thing, none of the guys would have to worry about slowing down for a bunch of old geezers. 

"Hey!" Ukai greeted the three newcomers, "Thanks for coming out at the drop of a hat like this, guys!"

Tsukishima was one of those who didn't expect it to be the young men who just walked into the gym, "I envisioned a bunch of old men when he said 'neighborhood association'."

"Same here," Yamaguchi agreed.

Sakura watched the older guys start their own little stretches for their practice game, "It's surprising to me that they showed up. It was extremely short notice." If someone had asked her to do something like that, she certainly wouldn't have agreed. Though there needed to be someone to ask her that in the first place.

"Okay! Let's get this thing started!" Ukai called out once everyone was set up and ready.

Everyone shouted out their agreement as Shōyō rushed onto the court, practically throwing the water bottle he had been given back at his twin, "Game on!"

Sakura caught the water bottle easily as she watched her brother run off in excitement. The barest of smiles crawled on her face as she got ready to watch them all play. If there is one thing she could never get tired of, it was seeing her brother play volleyball. Though that small smile quickly disappeared when she heard Tsukishima’s snickers a little bit away and found him laughing at her. For what, she didn’t know, but she disregarded him and just settled in to watch the match.

The other players got onto the court and picked out their starting lineups, except for one the teens. Ukai noticed it, and turned to the shortest boy, "Hey, you, what's wrong?"

Nishinoya was quiet, not wanting to voice the fact that he couldn’t play on the team. Well, it wasn’t that he couldn’t play with the team, it was just that he wasn’t necessarily willing to do so. Especially with all that drama surrounding him and Asahi after their fight a month ago.

Daichi stepped up to explain, "I'm sorry, he's not ready."

"What's the deal?" The new coach asked with his expression scrunched up in confusion, "Issues? Injury?"

The captain shook his head sheepishly, "No, it's not that straightforward."

"What, so he's not injured?” Ukai turned to the libero with a raised eyebrow before sighing, “I dunno what the deal is, but join the NA team. Our libero is tied up at work."

"Oh, in that case..." Daichi turned to Nishinoya. The libero just looked up to 

Now the NA team had a libero, but there was still an imbalance between the team since only three older teammates. "What will we do about the other three? You have more people, right?"

"Hey!” The little ball of sunshine yelled out as he hung onto the window bars. He noticed something that certainly would help with the missing player problem. “It's Asahi! Asahi!" The others jumped slightly at the fact that their friend is here. Endo was both surprised and satisfied that Asahi was spotted. He figured that Asahi would come back sooner or later, but he didn’t think that it would be this soon, only a day after they had talked.

"Ugh!” Asahi cringed at Shōyō’s sudden shout. He sweatdropped at the appearance of the short first-year. “Him again. I was just, um--"

Ukai came rounding the doorway to shout at the newcomer, "Late? Are you jerking my chain? State your position!"

Asahi sweatdropped, "W-Wing spiker..."

"We need players!” Ukai shouted out his demand, “Get the hell in here and get warmed up! Make it snappy!" 

Without much of a choice, the tall Ace swapped out his shoes and made his way into the gym. Though if he didn’t want to run into anyone from the volleyball team, he shouldn’t have been walking past the gym where he knew that would be. His appearance not only brought a sense of enthusiasm to the team, but it caused the usual sly smirk on Endo’s lips to turn into a genuine smile. Instead of looking as though he was just about ready to spill the juiciest gossip, he looks as though he is authentically happy about Asahi’s return.

He let out a small content huff, "Looks like the big teddy bear has finally come back to play." Suga just elbowed him in the side with a small smile as well. Both of them were happy to have Asahi back, just like everyone else. Though Suga knew how Endo felt, so he knows how this might be making Endo even more excited than usual.

Ukai was a bit happy that they had yet another player, though they still needed two more. He placed a hand on his chin, "Now all we need is a setter and another spiker."

"Ah, I'll play for the oldies team!" Endo volunteered quite quickly. It was a bit surprising considering they would think he'd want to practice with his team, but he really just wanted to play with Asahi. For the first time in a month, he wanted to be on Asahi's side and not against him. It’s always been that way, they’ve never been opposing each other, in just about anyway, and he wasn’t going to start now. Though, not wanting to say such a sappy thing out loud like the others might, Endo was certainly going to keep that to himself. So instead, he came up with a believable reason while dramatically pointing at his underclassman, "I'd really like to crush Tanaka and show him his senpai's a better spiker."

Tanaka jumped up at the challenge with a roar, "What did you say, rich boy!" Though when he said "rich" it sounded more like "witch".

"You heard me!" Endo shouted before Daichi pulled the two troublemakers apart before they went after each other.

Ukai could already tell that these boys were going to be a handful to deal with. He sighed, "Fine, but we still need a setter. I wanna do it, but I have to watch from the outside.” He turned to the two setters of the team, “Loan me one of your setters."

The two were silent for a moment, before the third-year made the decision and moved to join the other team. Kageyama was a bit surprised, "Sugawara! You're not deferring to me, are you?” Suga paused in his steps, “If rising in the ranks comes at your expense, I'm out."

It took a moment for Suga to find his words, but once he did, he obviously knew what to say. "Since you joined the club, the entire time I was preparing to fight you for the position of official setter, I think I felt relieved somehow," Suga stated, drawing just about everyone's attention. "The setter is a team's attack axis. The setter must be steadfast. But I was too freaked out to toss properly. I was so afraid of exposing the spiker to repeated blocks because of my tosses again that I hid in the shadow of Kageyama's overwhelming talent." Said boy stood behind the older setter as he took in his words. There was both a sense of admiration for his senpai and challenge in his gaze. "It was comfortable there. The very thought of a spike being clocked still scares me.” Suga then turned to Asahi, “But please let me throw you a toss one more time, Asahi. That's why I'm joining this side. And Kageyama?” He turned his gaze over to the younger boy, “I'm not gonna lose."

Kageyama nodded his head, "Me neither."

Walking over to his teammates for this match, Suga smiled at the libero, "Nishinoya, give me those nice receives!"

The libero nodded his head confidently, "Naturally!"

Despite that, there was still a small amount of tension between Asahi and Nishinoya. While they were all affected by their departures since the game against Date Tech, the real argument was between those two. They were the ones with the drama with each other, and it wasn’t the kind of drama that Endo enjoyed.

The game started up as they all lined up for the game. Ennoshita, Tsukishima, Kageyama, Tanaka, Shōyō, and Daichi are on Karasuno’s side. Meanwhile, on the NA side, it is Sugawara, Endo, Shimada, Uchizawa, Takinoue, Asahi, and Nishinoya. Two pretty stacked teams that were about to go head to head, how exciting! Though Yamaguchi, Narita, and Kinnoshita were made to be scorekeepers and referees for this game along with Kiyoko. Sakura of course was one of the only spectators, sitting lazily on the sidelines besides the new coach and club advisor.

"He really is intimidating," Daichi commented as they all looked at Asahi in all his man-bun glory.

Takinoue was hype for this game, "Come at me, high schoolers!"

So the game started pretty tamely, as each team traded the first points back and forth. Endo getting the first point for his team with his strong serve. Which impressed the oldies with how much control the third-year has with his serve. Suga then set the ball for the dirty-blonde of the NA team, Takinoue Yusuke, which got them a point.

"Looking good!” Takinoue complimented Suga with a thumbs up, “Nice toss."

Suga smiled happily, "Thank you, sir!"

On the other side of the net, Shōyō was in awe of the older setter, "Sugawara's fast attack!"

"Well, duh,” Daichi stated proudly, “Suga is a respectable setter in his own right!" Even Kageyama looked as though he was extremely admirable of his senpai. Though why wouldn’t he be, Suga is a good player!

Back over with the NA team, Nishinoya walked up to his friend, "Suga, nice toss!"

"Thanks!” Suga was quite proud of himself with “It's only because they're adjusting their team play for my benefit. They're real veteran players. My tossing still needs work. We need to keep using fast attacks and play hardball, or the game will ride on the ace again like before."

Nishinoya stared at him for a moment before he smiled, "Suga, you've gotten really cool."

Suga stuttered, "What? Y-you think so? That's kind of awesome, coming from you."

"Huh?” Nishinoya tilted his head, “Why is that?"

"You know..." He scratched the back of his head basfully.

"No, I meant it.” The libero jumped, “You've gotten really cool."

Asahi watched his friends interact with a forlong expression. He really did miss his friends while he skipped practices. The bond that they all have with each other is strong, and it was hard enough for him to stay away from them. His friends are his everything, in most ways. They are much like family to him, and to cut them out like he had was painful. However, he really only had himself to blame, now he realized. It was his own insecurities that stopped him from coming back, and being with his friends. Though even while he was coming back… he wasn’t sure where he fit in anymore.

There was a hum from besides the ace that was followed by a slick chuckle. "Is Mr. Ace brooding about the team?" The voice, one that Asahi has come to recognize so easily, was as thick as honey yet piercing like a knife. 

Asahi jumped slightly at Endo now being right besides him, "Oh, Joji."

The blonde loves making his friend bristle like this, as he does other people. Though doing it to someone that he is extremely close to is just more entertaining to him. "Don't act so frightened, Asahi. You know I don't bite…” Endo then smirked with his half-lidded eyes, “unless you want me to."

Endo was glad to have the whole team back, that was evident with how bright his eyes were. His electric irises were lit with a raw, childish glee. Usually, someone could argue that they were lit like that all the time, especially when he was gossiping. Though this time, there wasn’t the underlying sick pleasure from people’s secrets in his eyes. Instead they were just 

The Ace just shook his head vigorously, obviously flustered with Endo’s close proximity and sly tone. Endo is is best friend, ever since they met in grades school, and Endo definitely likes to be as close to him as possible. Something that he really hasn’t gotten used to after all this time.

They then readied themselves for the next rally and Endo finally let Asahi go. Of course, Shōyō and Kageyama were more than ready to use their quick freak in order to get their team a point. Their speed obviously threw off the older team, since they had never seen such speed and jumping power from a short guy like Shōyō. Not only that but Kageyama’s toss was perfect!

Takinoue stared at where the ball had gone. He hadn’t even been able to try and block that ball because it had been hit far too fast. "What the..."

"Yes!" Kageyama cheered at their point.

Shōyō did the same with his usual enthusiasm, "Right on!" 

On the other side of the net, the older players were in awe of the little small-fry’s jumping ability and that broody setter’s skill. Uchizawa "That guy really flew!"

Shimada nodded his head, "That toss was dead-on."

Ukai stared in shock at the freakish quick he had just witnessed, he has never seen something like that. He has seen the Tiny Giant before, so seeing a shorty like Shōyō jump that high isn’t as surprising. However, that accuracy, that speed. There’s potential there. Besides him, Takeda wiggled in his seat, more than pleased to have Ukai see just what the team could do. Sakura was also a bit smug about seeing the twitch in Ukai’s brow. It seemed like he doubted the team having any sort of special talent on the team. She is glad that he was proven wrong.

Endo looked over to see how Asahi would react to seeing their new shorty’s skill. He loved seeing the star-struck expression on their faces when they saw Shōyō’s skills. It is so satisfying. Though he found that Asahi was looking off into the distance. His eyebrows furrowed as he thought about what Asahi could be distracted by. Though as he thought it over, Endo was certain that Asahi was thinking back to the last real game that they all played together.

A MONTH AGO

The game against Date Tech is brutal. No matter how many times their ace tried, Asahi couldn’t get any spike through. Points were being earned left and right by the Iron Wall and there didn’t seem to be anyone to stop them. No one could break through and get even one ball past them. It was even a miracle that they were able to get even a few points from serves and out-of-bounds hits.

"Shake it off!" Daichi said, trying to keep it positive. Though that doesn’t seem to be working, considering things were going to come to an end soon. Date Tech was nearing match point, meanwhile, Karasuno hadn’t even gotten twenty points yet. Things aren’t looking good for the crows.

"One more!" Suga shouted out, already seeing how downtrodden Asahi was becoming. Date Tech served the ball, "It's a bluff! Forward!" Noya jumped towards the front to save that ball.

Tanaka laughed, "Nice, Noya!"

"Asahi!" Suga called out and set the ball for the Ace. Though even though Asahi spiked the ball, the ever unbreakable ‘Iron Wall’ was there to stop him.

Nishinoya tried to stop the ball from hitting the ground after it was blocked, but was unsuccessful. "Damn it!” He grunted and hit the ground in frustration, “I'm sorry! I'll save the next one!"

Endo patted their libero on the back, “good effort, Noya.”

Losing doesn’t matter to Endo. Not really. It would be nice to win against such a tough team like this, but he knows when to admit defeat. It’s not like he would give up just yet. Not until the other team is at match point. He didn’t see Karasuno winning this game, not by a long-shot, so he wouldn’t be positive about the outcome of this game. Though he wouldn’t be a douchebag and become negative. Least that negativity causes discourse between the team.

They continued to play and Suga was getting ready to set the ball, but their ace wasn’t calling for it. Surprising just about everyone on the team. Noya has to be the most shocked by the fact that Asahi just seemed to give up. He never would have that thought Asahi would do this, give up so easily just because he couldn’t break through a block. Why would he be so downtrodden by this?

Even if Asahi had asked for so many, he was growing frightened. No matter how many times he tried, he couldn’t break through. Whatever he did, he was not strong enough. Date Tech really does live up to their nickname as the ‘Iron Wall’. Endo could see his frustration even while in the thick of the game. The drop in the atmosphere around his friend was giving him 

Seeing that Asahi wasn’t calling for the ball, Daichi called out to Suga, "Suga, right!"

"D-Daichi!" He then set the ball to the captain, only to have the same thing happen. They were once again shut out. Karasuno lost to Date Tech.

After the game, things were not good. The air around everyone was tense and melancholy. Even more so around Nishinoya and Asahi, they had taken this loss far worse than anyone else. The boys were all cleaning up the gym, and were currently putting everything into the closet.

"Shit!” Noya exclaimed as he finished putting things away, “I couldn't retrieve a single blocked ball!"

The others wanted to step in and reassure him that he was wrong, but Asahi stopped him. "Why? Why aren't you putting the blame on me?” He asked, “We only lost the game because of me! Any ball you could have saved would've been pointless because I couldn't make them count!"

"Asahi!" Daichi tried to reprimand their ace.

"What do you mean, 'pointless'?” Noya spat out as the two disregarded their friends at the door. “Okay, then why didn't you call for the toss at the end? You were in spike position."

"Lay off, Nishinoya!” Suga shook his head. Everyone could see that both boys were starting to boil over with emotion after this game. All of them were upset about losing, but it seemed like Asahi and Noya were taking it a bit worse than everyone else. “It's my fault for sending all the balls his way. He got overwork--"

Asahi cut him off as they continued to ignore any sensible voice that could calm them down. "Even if you did throw it to me, I couldn't make it count anyway."

That seemed to set Noya off as he lunged at Asahi and grabbed his collar. "You don't know that until you hit the damned thing!” Noya shouted, “You never know! The next one might get through!” He pushed Asahi backwards, causing the Ace to step on a broom and accidentally break it. “Don't you dare give up on a ball I keep in play!"

Endo pulled the two of them apart and put himself in between them as a buffer. Now Endo loves drama, but not fights. Seeing people fight each other just reminds him… He just doesn’t like it. "Come on, both of you calm down!"

Tanaka ran up to grab Nishinoya by his arms, "Noya!"

"I am a libero! I am pivotal to defense, and pivotal to the team!” He shouted as Asahi looked away. “But... I can't earn us any points. I cannot attack. But I don't care how many spikes don't get through. I wouldn't blame you in the least.” He paused before looking up at Asahi with a harsh expression. “However, I do not forgive anyone who up and quits on me!"

There was a moment of silence between them all. It seemed to take him a moment of consideration, before Asahi marched out of the closet, pushing his way through his friends. They all called out to him, "Asahi!"

Endo wanted to help Asahi. They are both each other’s crutch, helping each other whenever they can. However, he doesn’t know what to do. So he just watched longingly as Asahi grabbed his belongings and left the gym. He sighed loudly, "I've never seen him angry like that before."

"Nice, Hinata-kun!" Tanaka shouted encouragingly at the younger boy. Effectively, his shout had broken both Endo and Asahi out of their memories of last month. Which may have been a good thing, they don’t need to dwell on the past when they have so much to look forward to now.

Shōyō bowed, "Thank you!"

"Hinata, you're up to serve!" Kageyama walked up to the orange-haired boy with the ball.

From the sidelines, a drawled-out voice called out, “Don’t hit anyone in the back of the head this time!” Despite sounding bored, it is obvious that Sakura is more than amused by her little joke. Especially when Shōyō turned to her with an annoyed glare. His glare hardened even further when Tsukishima and Tanaka joined in on the laughter.

Asahi had finally come to a realization. One that has been a long time coming, one that would most likely mend any broken cracks that were in this team, at least a little bit. "I do want to,” he said drawing Nishinoya’s attention, “No matter how many times I run up against it, I do want to hit it one more time."

They were silent for a moment before Nishinoya got into his ready position, "That's all that matters. That's all I needed to hear." Asahi looked back at him with a small amount of surprise, it seemed like their little spat was starting to wash away.

Shōyō served the ball. This time, it was better than all of his other serves. Still plenty of room for improvement, but it at least got over the net, so that’s good. It just barely hit the net and tipped over to the other side. Sakura was glad that he’s been able to be somewhat consistent with his serves, not all of them were horrible like last year.

"Oops!” Shimada called out as he dove for the ball causing it to go soaring in the air, “Sorry! Cover me!"

A second NA teammate recovered the ball, "Long-haired guy, seal the deal!"

The three-man block was set up yet again, Kageyama had his normal, serious expression on his face, "We're stopping him!"

"Would you please not order me around?" Tsukishima rolled his eyes.

Tanaka was shaking just a little bit as he had to go up against the ace, "We're playing for realsies, Asahi!"

Asahi ran up to spike the ball, but was once again shut out by the block. Not a good sight for anyone to really see. Though, like he had been practicing, Nishinoya saved it! Thanks to his blocked ball retrieval practice with the lady’s team, he is more than ready to save the ball, just like now. Truly a talented libero!

"It's up!" Shimada shouted out in awe.

"Nice follow-through!"

Tanaka then started to cry out of nowhere as he remembered his earlier conversation with Nighinoya, "Noya!" Tsukishima is thoroughly disturbed by the sight of his upperclassmen breaking out into tears.

"I'm going to keep that ball in play even if it rebounds off their wall.” Noya explained confidently to Asahi. His passion was quite obvious in his words and tone, which caused Asahi to really understand what he was saying. “So, please call for a toss just one more time, Ace!"

"Cover me!" An NA teammate called out.

The grey-haired setter set himself up under the ball, "I'm free!"

Suga wasn’t sure what he should do. Passing it to Asahi could go one of two ways. One, Suga sets the ball for Asahi and the ace is able to spike it through the block and get a point. Or two, the more devastating of the two, Asahi would be shut out completely and the idea of him not being a suitable ace being reinforced in his mind. Asahi is strong, there’s no denying that, but he is sensitive about some things. He is plagued by self-doubt and having yet another loss would affect him in a terrible way, Suga thought. 

"Sugawara!" Kageyama yelled at his senpai from the other side of the net, "Give them to him until he scores!"

Besides him, Tsukishima chuckled, "You're such a sadist, King."

"Quiet!"

Suga had to make up his mind soon. Asahi was either going to be the spiker for this ball or not. Suga isn’t sure if Asahi is ready for this ball, so it would be unfair on his part just to set it to him, expecting Asahi to be ready. One of the older players called out to the setter, "I'm Free!"

"Shimada!" He called out more than ready to set the ball up for the older man, only to stop at a sudden shout.

"SUGA!" Asahi yelled out on the top of his lungs, his hand raised in the air as he looked towards his friend. "One more!" All of the upperclassmen, Suga, Noya, Endo, and Daichi knew it. This was the turning point for their precious ace. 

Asahi couldn’t just give up. Not after everything that he had worked for on this team. He is talented, just because he got shut out in their last game didn’t mean that much. All it meant was that he had room to improve and he shouldn’t run away from it. He is the Ace.

So Suga set him the ball, Tsukishima, Kageyama, and Tanaka on the other side of the net getting ready to try and block the ball.

"Are you backing the other team?” Tsukishima snarked, “We're gonna have to block him again."

"Obviously," Kageyama grunted, "There's no point cutting corners." The three readied their three-man block as Tanaka shouted in slight fear of having to go up against their ace.

So, Asahi jumped up. He flew through the air much like a redeemed crow after just regaining its ability to fly. It's mesmerizing in a way. To see this teen, who may have lost his motivation to be the ace of the team to gain that confidence back. It is a confidence not only in himself but also in his team. Despite the fact that Tanaka, Tsukishima, and Kageyama had put up a three-man block, Asahi, the great Karasuno Ace, easily broke through them all. In doing so, the volleyball hit the other side of the court with a loud bang before bouncing away. Everyone was in shock that it had gone through. The three-man block was reeling from their fail, the third-years were excited to see Asahi finally get his groove back, and Shōyō is mesmerized by the sheer power that Asahi possesses. One thing is for sure, from the determined expression on Asahi's face, it is safe to say that Karasuno has their ace back!

Chapter Text

SAKURA DOES PHOTOGRAPHY ALL THE TIME. THAT'S pretty obvious. However, she wasn't committed to it, she wasn't passionate. As much as people would say she's good at it, her heart might not truly be in it. Seeing this team, each of the guys on the team talks so passionately about their love for volleyball was hitting her in her heart. It was making her realize that she wasn't the same way. That she wasn't as zealous about the one hobby she has. She wouldn't admit it out loud, but...

She is scared.

Sakura isn't afraid of many things, but this was one of them. The teen feared people hating her work. She feared that people would constantly tell her that the photography she does is terrible. That the hobby she had been trying to make her own for the past couple of years was for nothing. Then what? What would she do if she sucked so badly at photography that she had to give it up? She would have nothing. She would no longer have that small speck of individuality anymore. Sakura would only be Shōyō's twin again. Nothing more.

Seeing that guy, Asahi, finding himself again was so... inspiring to her, in a way. He loves volleyball, even if he lost a tad bit of motivation a while ago. However, he came back and is just as strong as usual, based on what the upperclassmen were saying.

Their scenarios were different, Sakura would admit, however, they were similar in some ways. Asahi lost confidence in what he is capable of. Sakura has never really had self-confidence. Asahi had a team to back him up, trying to build him up enough to come back. Sakura only really had her brother, and when she tried to make friends of her own they put her down. Asahi had people depending on him while Sakura didn't have that burden. Despite the differences, Sakura felt like she related so much to him. They both had something they liked to do and were proud of their work. However, both teens suffered self-doubt. Now, only one of them still does. Asahi seemed to have gotten over it at least a bit. Sakura has yet to do that same.

Perhaps, if Asahi could regain his confidence in his volleyball skills. Sakura could gain her own self-confidence. Asahi has restored his passion for volleyball. It was about time for Sakura to strengthen her passion for photography. It was now or never.

Everyone in the gym was astonished by the sheer show of power that Asahi showed. Even after taking a break for some time, he hadn't lost any of his prowess as an ace. "What a sound!" Takeda gasped loudly, breaking Saura from her thoughts, "It went 'ka-doom!'"

"Nice!" Suga said as he hopped over to Asahi enthusiastically, "Nice, Asahi! You too, Nishinoya!"

Asahi gave him a sheepish smile, "You guys too." He scratched the back of his head as he complimented his friends, "Nice toss, Suga. Nishinoya, nice receive. Joji, nice serves."

While Nishinoya and Suga blushed slightly and smiled widely, Endo jumped up to Asahi and wrapped his arms around the ace's shoulders. His sparkling, bright blue eyes were drowning in both mischief and excitement. "Ah, look at the old gang back together again!" He boyishly laughed while swaying him and Asahi back and forth. "Working together as if someone hadn't ditched for a month!"

The group all laughed as Asahi's expression grew even more sheepish. If he were anyone else, it would be impossible. However, it's one of Asahi's skills to look extremely sheepish because of how soft he really is.

To say that Endo is happy is a small understatement. He's beyond happy! Endo is more than excited to have all of his friends back on the team. Especially his best friend, who had the audacity to try and avoid him for so long. Endo will definitely get back at him for it, at some point.

On the sidelines, Sakura nodded her head with a minuscule smile, "so that's an ace?" She could already see the way that her brother was staring at the older teen. While she knew that Shōyō admired Asahi, she also knows that he wishes to be better than him, to be the next ace at some point.

Ukai glanced down at her with a raised eyebrow, "what? Never seen one before?"

Her dull, yet sparkling eyes stared at him for a moment, "not in person. I haven't necessarily gotten to see many volleyball matches in person." She explained with a small sigh. It's not like she didn't want to go to them or anything. However, she certainly doesn't feel like she's missing out on much. "So I don't have a concrete idea about what an ace should be like besides the fundamentals. Though based on what I know already and what Shōyō has said, Asahi is a prime example of an ace. Technique is an important part of the game, and Asahi seems to have it down pretty good. Still there's plenty more improvement that can be made in his skill, which is what you're supposed to help him with." She said with a tiled head towards him. "With your added knowledge of actually being a player should be helpful as well. You may have just been a setter but it's better than nothing."

If the new temporary coach is, to be honest, this is the longest that he's ever heard her talk. Honestly, he didn't think that she was capable of speaking more than a few sentences, or anything that wasn't a snarky remark or drawn out observation. Sure, he's only just met this girl, but he figured that she's quite the silent girl. Takeda was also a bit surprised that Sakura was able to speak that long. They shared a look, having the same thought about the usually quiet girl. Not only is she observant, but also intelligent in the view of volleyball. At least a little bit. She understands what is needed in order to play the game, neither of them were exactly expecting that from her. Though she is the sister of one of the most volleyball obsessed boys ever, so what did they expect?

Ukai sputtered slightly, "How did you know I was a setter?"

The orange-haired girl shrugged her shoulders, "Eh, bit of a guess. That and you don't necessarily have the build of a spiker or even a middle blocker."

"You seem to know a lot about volleyball…" Takeda trailed off with a hand on his chin.

"Why don't you play?" Ukai stared down at the young girl with narrowed eyes, "Or at least manage the team?" If she really understands volleyball from a strategic and analytic point of view, then she would be a pretty good asset to the team. Yes, the players on the court need to be fit and smart, though it is always good to have the coach and manager also be strategic. Much like a general and their army. This girl has sharp observation skills, only being around her for a short while Ukai could tell that, and also a decent understanding of what goes into playing volleyball. If only she was manager of the team. Though if she sticks around so much, then she could be an asset to the team, whether or not she is actually a part of the club.

"I'm not a team player," Sakura scoffed at the absurd idea of being in the club. Sure in junior high, she was sort of like the team's manager but didn't help them out in a normal managerial way. Really she was just a tag-a-log, and every once in a while voicing out some ideas about certain plays. Though it's not like it helped, the team was still extremely inexperienced and unskilled. She waved her hand dismissively, "Besides I'd rather be by myself most of the time. And volleyball isn't my… thing, it's Shōyō. I'd rather stick to photography." She then picked up her camera, checked that it had its flash on, and then took a photo of the coach. That's one way to end a conversation that she wasn't necessarily comfortable with.

Effectively, she blinded the poor man who jumped away and rubbed his eyes, "Gah!"

On the court, Nishinoya hopped up at Asahi, "You can't jump worth a damn! Skipping club for a month will do that!"

Asahi rubbed the back of his neck, "Yeah, I'm sorry."

"Harsh, Nishinoya," Suga chuckled.

Endo shook his head and rubbed the libero's head. That earned him some shouts in protest from the shorter teen who fought against him. He laughed, "Says the one who was suspended for knocking over a vase!" He finally let up on Nishinoya who scowled at him like a rabid chihuahua, "couldn't you have done something cooler!"

Excited with the hopeful outlook on their team being back together, Tanaka spun to look at their captain, "Daichi!"

"Yeah!" He nodded his head, "If Asahi is back and we're facing both him and this veteran team, we're gonna have trouble winning this."

"What're you talking about, Daichi? You've got me on your si-"

Shōyō then cut him off and jumped in front of him, "You've got me on your side!"

"Huh?" Daichi blinked, "What?"

"Hinata, butt out!" Tanaka raged with his sharp teeth, "You've ruined my awesome speech, you idiot!"

While Tanaka started to chew out the first-year for messing up his badass moment, and the others snickered at the sight, Takeda turned to Ukai with excitement lighting up his expression. "That was great! And Nishinoya's receive was awesome! If we can retrieve blocked balls, we have nothing to fear!"

It's a nice thought, but far too optimistic. "As if. He can't retrieve those all the time," Ukai explained, "The ball plummets down at a speed of 60 miles an hour from just 6 to 8 feet away. There's no way he can retrieve everyone."

Takeda deflated, "Right."

"Even if he can't get them all, making sure that they don't give up after a ball is blocked can be a good tactic to not only bring up morale but also encourage them to continue to provide effort." Sakura said drawing the men's attention once again. She seems to be talking a lot more often now. Though she has had a bit of an easier time talking with teachers than her classmates. Most likely because she is a bit more mature than the average first-year. She tapped her chin, "Having confidence in themselves is good, but having it in their teammates is better."

Even more analytical observations from Sakura. Seriously, why was this girl a photographer for the team and not a co-manager? Ukai narrowed his eyes even further at her, a bit skeptical about whether or not she told the truth earlier. "Are you sure you don't play volleyball? You seem to know a lot about it."

"I'm not the athletic type." That much is obvious from her noodle arms and physique of a pencil. She could run pretty fast, but that's only when she was in the mood which rarely happens. Even then it's only for a short while since she doesn't have an excessive amount of stamina, unlike her brother. Other than that, Sakura is both quite weak(even if she doesn't want to believe that) and small. She certainly wouldn't try out for any sort of sports team any time soon. Or ever.

The match continued with a score of 5-7 with the NA team in the lead. The NA team served to the high schoolers. Sakura yawned slightly, it was getting quite late and she would really like to have already eaten dinner by now. Cures her inability to say no to her brother, which forced her to stick around for this practice match. So she barely batted an eye when Kageyama and Shōyō did their quick freak. Though it did surprise those who hadn't seen their teamwork just yet.

Asahi was in awe of the small teen as he thought back to the other day when Shōyō was telling him about how he plays. "So, he wasn't exaggerating."

"That's amazing, Shōyō!" Nishinoya ran up to him from the other side of the net, "What was that? I couldn't help but watch!" Shōyō smiled at the compliment, more than flattered at his senpai saying this about him.

The sight of Shōyō and Kageyama performing their freak quick was pretty baffling to their temporary coach. He hadn't seen something like that before! Just as he was trying to think about which setter to use, Kageyama had to pull that out. His decision just became a lot harder. "Boy!" He shouted at the orange-haired boy, scaring the poor teen, "Why did you jump over there just now, Peewee?"

"P-" Shōyō started in shock at the name, though he brushed it off and answered his question. "B-because the toss will come to me no matter where I am, Sir."

This just proved to Ukai just how skilled Kageyama actually is. To set such a targeted set right into Shōyō's hands really is both impressive and terrifying. It's a good thing that the boys were on Karasuno instead of on a different team. Ukai shook his head, "What are you guys, deviants?"

The two of them stared at him, "'Deviants'?"

"Why?" Shōyō muttered to Kageyama.

He shrugged his shoulders, a bit unnerved that he was labeled a deviant by Ukai. "Beats me." They then could hear the snickering of the blonde middle blocker behind them. As usual, he quite liked the fact that the two were under a small amount of unease. Kageyama whipped around to face him with a glare, "Tsukishima, wipe that grin off your face!"

"I had no idea what they were discussing before the game," Ukai said, as Kageyama and Shōyō go over to argue with Tsukishima, referring to what Suga had said about not wanting to be in Kageyama's shadow. "That first-year setter has to be what they call a genius. Normal mortals pale in comparison to him. However…"

Suga then set a spike for Asahi, which the ace used to score his team a point. Shimada marveled, "Ooh, a straight spike."

"His timing is bang-on after being out for a month, goddammit!" Tanaka fangirled.

Daichi chuckled, "Tanaka, you're too happy."

Endo patted his friend on the back, "Nicely done, Teddy bear!"

"Don't call me that," Asahi muttered sheepishly, "it's embarrassing." Though Endo just continued to flash his pearly whites, obviously not going to do as he says. Suga laughed at the two and high-fived Asahi in celebration of their point.

Ukai pursed his lips, "The one breath between the toss and the spike can only be achieved over time with lots of training. Their bond of trust cannot be built in a day." He commented about Suga and Asahi. "So, if the first-year setter's weapon is "overwhelming talent," that makes our weapon "accumulated trust and stability." An evilly disturbing expression, which freaked out Takeda a bit. "Karasuno ain't such a bad team!" He happily explained and roughly patted the teacher on the back, almost causing him to fall forward. "You should've told me sooner, Teach."

Takeda fixed his glasses, "I did tell you, many times."

Sakura scoffed in amusement, "Your ears must be going with old age if you didn't hear him tell you that."

Ukai glowered at her snarky comment, "Why you-"

Sakura raised her camera up at him as if it were a weapon. Though it was effective since Ukai cringed at her brandishing the camera and backed off. She smirked happily, knowing that the coach also feared her, just a little bit.

He cleared his throat, trying to brush off the fact that he was now afraid of a small girl and her camera. "Who'd have thought that peewee could be a middle blocker?" He commented as Shōyō stepped up to the net. "His fast attacks are impressive, but how does he block?"

Takeda then started to buzz in place as he saw this, "That's right! This game is Hinata-kun's showdown against his dream ace." Ukai raised an eyebrow, a bit confused. So Takeda started to explain, "You see, Hinata-kun enrolled at Karasuno because he wants to be just like the ace they called the Tiny Giant."

"Who, him?" Ukai tilted his head.

"So that's why he tries so hard. He says he's gonna be the ace. For Hinata-kun, this is his big face-off against the current ace of Karasuno."

"Really? That sounds fun." Ukai then chuckled, "Although it's more like man versus middle schooler."

They continued the game, and Shōyō was really proving that they shouldn't underestimate his height. Even for a small fry like him, he was still able to try and block Asahi. Sure, it was tipped off and landed out of bounds, but he still jumped high enough to touch the ball and slow down its trajectory. Sakura saw that as a small advantage. Since her brother couldn't really perform a kill block or anything like that due to his height, trying to slow down the ball would be good enough and something that they could use to their advantage.

On the other side of the net, Asahi stared in surprise at the boy, "I knew how high he could jump, but it's more impressive when he's at eye level. How high is the guy jumping?"

"He's pretty cool right?" Endo sashayed over to his friend and pointed at Shōyō. He gave Asahi a genuine smile, well a smile that was a tad bit genuine and a bit mischievous as he swayed from side to side. "No doubt he'll help get us to nationals this year, just like you guys always wanted!"

Asahi nodded his head slowly. He knew that Endo didn't care about going to nationals. Not completely anyway. Ever since they first joined the volleyball club together, Asahi has known that this sport isn't necessarily Endo's passion. He's good at it, yes, but it barely interested him all that much. Given the choice of playing volleyball or doing anything else, Endo wouldn't choose volleyball. He knew why Endo chose to play volleyball, Asahi isn't completely thick to miss that. Endo chose volleyball because of him. It warmed his heart to think of his best friend doing this for him so that they could be around each other as much as possible. Of course, he's also glad that Endo wants to help them reach their dream of getting to nationals. However, he had hoped after nearly three years, that Endo would share that same dream, at least a little. Though he knows that his interests lie somewhere else.

"He's amazing," Shōyō commented, referring to Asahi, as he stared at his red palms. "And he hasn't played for a month!" Being the ace is what Shōyō wants, more than anything. Being exactly like the Tiny Giant, having that trust with his team and having that confidence of knowing you can break through any block, is what Shōyō wants.

"You're holding your hands wrong when you block!" Kageyama commented as he raised his arms in the correct way, to show him. "This is how you block! Like this!" Though Shōyō just continued to stare at Asahi, which annoyed Kageyama, "Are you listening? Like this!" He then grabbed Shōyō's head. "Hey!" He still wasn't getting anything from Shōyō. The boy was stuck in a trance, his own thoughts about the ace. "Hey…"

"The ace is amazing!" Shōyō exclaimed after finally breaking out of his trance. "It doesn't matter if they're blocking or not cause he can blast through 'em anyway!" Kageyama stared at him, which slightly bothered Shoyo a bit, "What is it?"

Kageyama then muttered out a reply as he turned to get back into position, "Nothing."

The game continued and Sakura noticed how distracted her twin was. That certainly isn't a good thing. Being distracted during a game was going to cause some problems, she just wondered what would happen.

"Hinata-kun, go further back!" Daichi called out, though it fell on deaf ears. "Hinata!"

Though even if there were a few calling out to him, Shōyō didn't hear them. His thoughts were completely ignoring the game, a terrible thing to do during the game. At least it isn't during an actual match, that's a somewhat good upside to this.

So without focusing on the game, he didn't even notice how Asahi had jumped up to spike the ball, that was headed right for his face. It was already too late, he couldn't react to it fast enough. So he ended up getting a volleyball to the face and falling on his ass.

Everyone was in shock as they ran around to see if he was alright. The most shaken by this was Asahi, evident from how blue his face was and how nervous he looked. He leaned over the poor boy in concern, "Hinata?"

Sakura snickered into her fist as she held her camera to her chest. She's more than happy to get yet another photo of her brother getting hit in the face. It is always amusing to see her brother fail like this. Though she wouldn't laugh at his pain if it actually hurt his feelings. If anything, both of them usually laughed at his failures together. Well, after Shōyō finished his match and his pain went away.

Really, she saw this happening. If he wasn't daydreaming so much then he wouldn't have been hit. She feels like she has a pretty good idea as to what he was thinking. Sakura could read her brother like an open book since he is to just about everyone. Shōyō wants to be the ace so badly, and now that Karasuno has the ace back, there's not much doubt in her mind that Shōyō's jealous. With Asahi not around, it meant that Shōyō could have had a chance at becoming the ace sooner rather than later. However, it's not like that would have happened this year for many different reasons. Though Shōyō's optimism wasn't going to let him think otherwise. Sakura really thinks that he should have at least some pessimism in him in these situations. Much like how he thinks that she should have some optimism in certain situations.

"Hey, he's alive," Tanaka commented as he groaned and held his head.

Nishinoya peered down at Shōyō, "You okay?"

"You okay?" Asahi was shaking as he fussed over the boy he just hit, "I'm so sorry!"

Having not even moved over to check on Shōyō, Tsukishima lazily commented, "Any way you slice it, it's his fault for standing there all spaced out." For once, Sakura agreed with the blond giant and didn't have much issue with admitting that.

Takeda stuttered out in concern, "F-first aid…"

"Calm down, Teach," Ukai commented, obviously not that bothered by it since he's seen stuff like this often as a player. Though as he heard the chuckles from the girl sitting down on the floor beside him, he raised an eyebrow. What was Sakura so amused by this, "Shouldn't you be more worried about him?"

"He's got a thick skull," Sakura waved her hand, unbothered by the fact that her brother was just hit. "He'll be fine." Honestly, she was surprised that her brother hadn't had any concussions or anything because of how many times he gets hit in the head.

"I'm all right," Shōyō said, "I'm sorry."

Daichi didn't look that convinced, "Really? Maybe you should sit out to be on the safe side."

"I-I'm really all right!" Shōyō insisted, not wanting to have to sit out of the match. "I didn't dodge it in time, that's all. It's nothing serious. I'm used to getting hit in the face."

Sakura nodded her head in agreeance, "He is, and I have the pictures."

"That's not a good thing," Suga said, a bit more concerned to hear that Shōyō's used to this.

Endo chuckled from his spot. Unlike the others, he hadn't rushed over to see if the shorty was alright. "Why am I not surprised."

A fiery aura then started to heat up the gym. Through the small gathering around him, Shōyō was able to spy an extremely annoyed Kageyama glaring at him. Oh, boy. Everyone was a bit scared by the young setter and his scary expression. "Why were you daydreaming during a game?" Shōyō sprung to his feet to back away, having flashbacks to the time he hit Kageyama with his serve a while ago. "I know what you're thinking. Being an ace is cool. Being a decoy can't be my best weapon. That's stupid and lame. You wish you were as tall and powerful as Azumane so you could be the ace!"

"I-I don't think that way!" Shōyō explained though he did end up muttering, "Most of the time."

Kageyama pursed his lips, not letting up, "Now that you know there's an ace, you're not only dreaming about being him, you're jealous of him! Clear your head of that kind of garbage during a game!"

Shōyō's expression darkened, "What's wrong with being jealous? You've always been tall, so you could never know what it's like!"

"I need some popcorn for this," Endo commented with his hands on his hips, a bit more interested in the turmoil between the duo. He knew ever since the first day that they met the troublesome duo that they were going to bring along plenty of juicy drama. He's glad he stuck around to see this.

Daichi was ready to intervene between the team, "Hey!"

Though the door opened up and an older man peeked through, "Hey, you, volleyball club. It's time to wrap it up. You need to put this away."

"I'm sorry!" Takeda ran over to him, "We need to finish this game."

The man tilted his head, "But it's late."

Takeda waved his hands, "I'll take responsibility for locking it up."

The club advisor was able to convince the man to let them finish this game instead of locking up now. The man then started to leave, "All right."

"Thanks for putting up with me," Takeda called after the departing man and closed the door.

Daichi called out to the club advisor, "Sir, I'm sorry! Thank you so much." Being a badass, Takeda flashed them a thumbs up. He's got the teams back!

"Take! That's bitchin'!" Tanaka exclaimed in admiration of their teacher.

All throughout this, now in her own thoughts, Sakura wasn't paying that much attention anymore. Another thing that the siblings share, when they daydream, they usually get sucked into their thoughts. No matter what it is, they usually aren't brought back to reality unless someone forced them to.

While Shōyō had been thinking of his jealousy of Asahi, Sakura was more so focusing on her own plight. Her individuality is starting to become a big part of her plan for high school. Finding herself as a person is probably high on her list of things to do. By doing so, she has to pick something that she is passionate about, and photography is what she chose. That's the first step done. However, seeing these boys be so passionate about this sport caused Sakura to question herself. Since she's never been truly passionate about something, she was comparing how she views her own passions to how they view volleyball. Should she be this fiery about photography? Is she supposed to be this outspoken about the thing she views as her ultimate hobby? She isn't that emotional about things or even knows how to comprehend some emotions anymore, so she's unsure.

She wishes that she could be the same way about photography, but knows that it's her own fault she doesn't feel the same way. It must be her fault. There's no one else to blame for her inability to truly commit and say that she's passionate about photography. If there's one thing that she would quietly admit, it's that she finds their passion and commitment to volleyball admirable. Of course, she wanted to be the same way. Sakura could only hope that she could figure this out soon.

The game picked back up, despite Sakura's inner debate, and the NA team was serving to the high school team once again. On the NA team, Takinoue leaned over to Asahi and Endo, "Hey, this is the most powerful attack rotation for the high schooler team. We have to watch out for the short guy's fast attack."

Asahi nodded his head, "Right!"

"Mhm," Endo hummed.

"Excuse me…" Kageyama interrupted their small talk and dramatically pointed to Shōyō. "My next toss will be to him. Please block him to the best of your ability." It certainly surprised everyone that Kageyama had blatantly displayed his plan to his opponent.

Takinoue raised an eyebrow at the high schooler, "What's this, a dare?"

"Yes, it's a dare." Kageyama said before bowing, "Forgive me for being so impudent."

The older man just laughed in amusement, "You're a funny guy! Okay! Let's do this dare!"

"Thank you!"

"What is he thinking?" Ukai shook his head, "Fast attacks are effective because they're unpredictable. There's no way Peewee can take a head-on block with the cards on the table."

Takeda nodded his head, "You're right. I would have to agree, if he takes them head-on."

Sakura narrowed her eyes at Kageyama from her spot on the ground. Having finally zoned back into her surroundings, she was a bit skeptical about what the setter was doing. She didn't see any strategic gain to this or anything. So what is he trying to do?

"Right now, you're…" Kageyama faced away from the court as he spoke to Shōyō, "nothing but a klutzy shit who happens to be nimble and can jump high. You will never be the breadwinner ace."

"Hey!" Tanaka shouted out at the insult towards the younger boy.

Asahi shook his head, "J-just a minute…"

"No need to be a dick," Endo scoffed.

Shōyō certainly wasn't that thrilled with hearing Kageyama state that. Neither is his sister, who was glowering at them from the sideline.

"But…" Kageyama continued and turned to face Shōyō, "as long as I'm around, you're the greatest!"

Shōyō furrowed his brow in confusion, "Huh?"

"Azumane's spikes are so forceful, he can cut through a triple block."

Asahi started to shake now that there was some attention on him, "Uh, but not every time, I, uh…"

"You're getting too flustered," Nishinoya commented.

"Now how about you? When I throw you a toss, have you ever been stopped by blockers?" Kageyama questioned, which seemed to affect Shōyō in some small way.

They started up the next set, and Shōyō was still unsure about what Kageyama was going to do, since he already revealed their plan. Not only that, but the blockers are too tall.

"Evade!" Kageyama shouted, breaking Shōyō from his thoughts. "What else can you do, you moron?" So Shōyō did just that. He baited the blockers onto one side of the court and used his incredible speed to run around Kageyama to the other side of the net. Effectively, when Shōyō jumped up to spike he was completely open and Asahi couldn't block him. So that's why Kageyama did it. "You are not the ace!" He shouted at the shorter boy, "But with your speed and jumping power and my tosses, you can take on any blockers! The ace blasts through for a point. You evade for a point. A point is a point! You don't need the ace's crown. You can hit out more points than anyone! That's why our opponents will be marking you, freeing up our other spikers thanks to your decoy skills! Including the ace!" He then spun to Tanaka for confirmation, "Right?"

The second-year jumped slightly at the shout but quickly nodded his head, "Yeah? Yeah, listen to him! Your decoy work drastically affects our success rate."

"Do you still believe that your job is uncool?"

Shōyō was quiet for a moment as he stared down at his hand, "I don't."

"What?" Kageyama grunted.

"I don't!"

The setter smirked, "Good!"

Shōyō then looked at the ace, who complimented him, "That last hit was incredible." That certainly lifted Shōyō's spirits even more.

The duo then ran up to Dachi, "I'm sorry for interrupting our practice game!" Kageyama called out while bowing.

"Uh, sure," Daichi sweatdropped.

Shōyō joined in, "I'm sorry!"

The two then stood up straight with their eyes hardened in determination, "Please continue the game, sir!"

Sakura found it quite… admirable for Kageyama to do this. He was proving a point to Shōyō. Trying to show him that his job as decoy isn't nothing, it's still an essential part of the team. Just as Shōyō was starting to possibly doubt himself in a way, Kageyama was able to drag him back into reality.

"Okay," Tanaka jumped with a shout. "We're gonna seriously catch up!"

"Right!"

On the sidelines, Sakura watched them with a small smile. She's glad that Shōyō had someone to bring him back down to earth. Sakura has been that person all their lives, so she's more than content to know that there's someone else who can control Shōyō's emotions in a way. Sure, it's not necessarily someone that she likes, but she'll deal with it.

"Say, Girl?" She lazily looked up at Ukai who had called down to her. "Your brother and that guy… Are they from the same middle school? Or the same elementary school?"

"Not at all." She scoffed, thinking back to all the times her brother and Kageyama opposed each other. "They only met once last year. Pretty sure they've still got their little rivalry going on." She rolled her big brown eyes, "Though working together is much better than opposing each other at the moment."

They were quiet for a moment as the men processed that, though Ukai finally said something, "That's cruel."

The next set started up, and everyone was invested in it. Especially now that Shōyō was even more motivated than before. Though as everyone was busy with the game and how skilled both Shoyo and Kageyama truly are, nobody noticed Sakura quietly slipping out of the gym. Well, almost nobody.

It isn't that cold out, Sakura noticed. Well, she may just not notice how cold it is because she's still wearing her brother's volleyball jacket. She could still hear the squeaking of shoes against the wood floors and their shouts of encouragement from inside the gym.

Things were getting a bit too… overwhelming for her in there. It wasn't that the game was intense or anything, it was just that it was bringing forth some emotions within her that she had to sort out. The questioning of herself was starting to become a bit much, and she needed a change of scenery to calm her mind.

So she idly leaned against the wall outside the gym while messing around with her camera. She snapped a few photos of the dark pathways of the school campus, just to distract herself a bit. Sakura needed a little bit of relaxation for a moment. She wouldn't get that inside the gym since everyone is going on and on about their volleyball skills and such.

Sure, Sakura likes seeing her brother improve his volleyball game both mentally and physically. Though she would rather do it without her own insecurities creeping up on her. She never really thought that she had fears, not conventional ones like heights or spiders. Though deep down she's known that she feared separation from Shōyō ever since she was little. It wasn't up until last year that she discovered she has other fears as well. The fear of rejection. The fear of people hating her work so much that she realizes she might have wasted three years doing photography for nothing. The fear of being reduced to just a clone once again. Individuality is what she is striving for, and if that is taken from her, she doesn't know what to do.

"Are you alright?"

Sakura jumped slightly at the sudden voice behind her, not expecting anyone to be outside with her. She spun around to see that someone had indeed followed her outside, even though she thought that she had stealthily left the gym. Turns out the one that had followed her outside is Yamaguchi. He cautiously approached Sakura as if she were an animal that would attack him at any moment. The startled expression that had adorned her face quickly disappeared as she relaxed her face. Putting on a mask, of sorts.

"Yamaguchi, I'm fine." She said while turning away, hoping that he'd leave her alone. She pretended to busy herself with the settings of her camera. "Shouldn't you be watching the match?"

He just kept on approaching her slowly, despite the fact that Sakura tried to keep herself closed off. "Shouldn't you?" He was met with a pretty heated glare from over her shoulder that caused him to shiver, "I-I mean… it's warmer inside and Hinata-kun will notice that you're gone soon so…"

"I just wanted some fresh air." She semi-lied, "A gym full of sweaty guys isn't exactly that pleasant, you know."

"Right," Yamaguchi allowed himself to chuckle slightly at her small joke. Though he cleared his throat, "You seem troubled." Once again he was on the receiving end of a glare. Gosh, why does this girl have to be so intimidating? "Ah, s-sorry if I'm wrong!"

Sakura scoffed and buried herself into her borrowed jacket, "It's whatever." she certainly didn't want to admit that he was right, but couldn't deny his observation either.

The two were quiet for a moment as Yamaguchi allowed Sakura to sort through her thoughts in silence. He could tell that she was bothered, especially with how she shut him out so quickly. If he were anyone else, he would have left by now. However, he knows how to deal with someone as stone-faced as Sakura. He's had a bit of practice with Tsukishima already, so he might be a bit of help with whatever she's thinking about.

He swallowed thickly and nervously played with the ends of his jacket, "I know that we haven't known each other that long, but I know what Tsukki is like, and you act quite the same-"

"Tch," Sakura rolled her eyes at being compared to the giant.

"-so I can tell that something is bothering you."

Sakura didn't know whether to be a bit freaked out that someone could read her like that, or a bit touched that someone was actually wanting to have her open up to them. She stared at him long and hard for a moment over her shoulder, causing the boy to squirm under her incense stare. Should she be happy to have someone here who could see that she was having issues? Possibly someone she could talk to about her emotions? "Why do you like volleyball?"

"Huh?"

Sakura turned around to face Yamaguchi fully with her dull eyes looking up to him inquisitive. "Why do you play volleyball?"

Yamaguchi thought about it for a moment, really thinking about the questions. He pursed his lips, "Well, Tsukki plays and I wanted to play with him."

"So the reason you play is because of Tsukishima," Sakura concluded.

"...I guess."

Of course, that would be the reason. Those two are practically always together. That makes Sakura wonder, if she were a guy, would she have played volleyball with Shōyō. Maybe if that were what reality was, she'd be just as obsessed with volleyball as him. Hm, a strange thought to think of. Though that's not reality, so she should focus on how things are now.

She tilted her head at him, "If he wasn't around, you wouldn't play?"

"W-well, it's a bit complicated I guess." He gulped at the intense stare that Sakura had pinned him with. He really isn't sure what to think about "I enjoy volleyball, and I feel like I would have started to play it without Tsukki. Why?"

"Hm, I guess… I'm just conflicted." She should open up a bit. Sakura would probably be more willing to open up to Shimada about this for plenty of reasons. The club president has become Sakura's friend, independent of her brother, and someone that Sakura considers to be pretty close to her. Yamaguchi isn't exactly that close to her yet. They know each other, they've been around each other, but this is the first conversation that they're having a one-on-one. Though she shouldn't hide, not anymore. She wants to change, and she's going to start that change now.

Yamaguchi peered down at her softly, "About what?" He could see that she is extremely bothered by this and figured that she needed someone to talk to about it. He's heard plenty of things about Sakura, rumors that were floating around school. She's a loner, only ever hangs around her clone. She doesn't really talk, yet is extremely intelligent. Though when she does talk, she speaks with this drawled tone that unnerved some people. It doesn't help that people are scared of her with her intimidating aura and seemingly unapproachable expressions. As far as he knew, she doesn't have friends. At least, none outside of the volleyball club. Even then she seems to keep the guys at arm's length and doesn't befriend them.

"Photography," Sakura answered, bringing him out of his thoughts. A questioning expression then crawled onto Yamaguchi's face, so Sakura had to elaborate a bit more. "About why I do it."

Yamaguchi's eyebrows furrowed, "Don't you enjoy it? You always have your camera on you so I thought you like taking pictures and stuff."

"I do…" Sakura shook her head with a heavy sigh, "It's complicated."

The green-haired boy pursed his lips. He isn't really good at this, giving advice. However, considering this seemed to be like the first time that Sakura was opening up to someone, he is going to try his best. "Well, the way I see it, if you like photography so much, then you'll figure out why you enjoy it eventually." He stated, "Sometimes you can't explain why you enjoy something, not after a while."

Sakura considered that statement. She let it mull in her mind for a moment before her soulful eyes turned back up to him. "So I shouldn't consider people's opinions about my work?"

Yamaguchi thought for a second before finally coming up with an answer. "Criticism is good, especially for art, right?" Sakura nodded her head slowly, "You should only listen to the people who are giving you constructive criticisms, not just putting you down for your hobby. I figured that you were saying that because you're questioning if you're good at it."

Sakura stared at him and thought over his words. He's right, and she knows this. She has known that for a bit, but she supposed her self-esteem was just far too fragile to really accept some things said about her work. A small smile, one that caused Yamaguchi's eyes to widen since he's never seen her genuinely smile before, graced her face as she sighed. "You're a tad bit more observant than I thought, Yamaguchi."

"Uh, thanks?" Yamaguchi nervously thanked her. The first-year had to admit, Sakura certainly looked adorable when she smiled. A lot less intimidating and scary. He cleared his throat and motioned to the door behind them, "Why don't we head back inside."

Sakura shrugged, "Sure."

The pair then headed back into the gym. Both of them felt a little bit lighter about what they had talked about. Sakura was a bit happy with the fact that she was able to talk with someone about her feelings and maybe get some advice about it. Meanwhile, Yamaguchi was glad to be that person to help Sakura with her feelings. He's not necessarily good at it, but he hopes he helped her out a little bit.

The score for the game was now 20-17 with the NA team in the lead. Well, now it was 20-18 since the high schoolers were able to get another point. One of the older players, Shimada Makoto nodded his head in contemplation, "These high schoolers are pretty good." He commented before smirking, "Us middle-aged guys are gonna have to show our stuff." So he set himself for his serve, though it wasn't like any usual serve that has been used throughout this game. Instead, it is the jump float serve!

Tanaka called out to the small fry, who the ball was headed for, "Hinata!"

"All right!" He readied himself, "I'm open!" Though when he thought that he had gotten into the right place to get the ball, it swerved slightly and ended up landing just before him. In turn, he ended up face planting onto the ground. Of course, Sakura made sure to get a picture of it. Though it wasn't that good if she were being honest.

Shimada laughed happily at his success, "See that?"

"That's immature," Takinoue shook his head at his teammate's actions.

Takeda gasped at the new development, "What was that? That serve didn't look like it had much momentum."

"Was that a floating serve or something?" Sakura asked the temporary coach, "I've never seen it done in person, only on tv."

Ukai nodded his head as he explained, "It's called a jump float serve. Serving it without any spin gives the ball a shaky trajectory. It can swerve and drop without warning."

"It's like a curveball," Takeda said, "That's so cool!"

So Shimada served again, and again, and again, and again. Each time he was able to earn his team a point due to the high schoolers being terrible receivers. They really need to work on that, Sakura thought bordely.

"This is the fourth point in a row," Ukai said, thinking along the same lines as Sakura. "The first-year combination attack is impressive, but the first and second-year receivers really need work.

Shimada got ready for his final serve, "You're all mine!" Well, it might be his final serve, especially now that thanks to him, the NA team is at match point.

The ball swerved through the air, but Daichi was able to receive it properly and send it to Kageyama. The blockers all set themselves up to mark Shōyō. Even Endo was focusing on him when you would think he'd be smarter to think about looking out for any other attacker.

"You won't get away with it this time, Shorty!" Takinoue shouted as they jumped to block the decoy, "Caught him!"

Though the ball went to the other end of the net. Kageyama had set it to Tanaka instead of the little guy. "Oh, no!"

"Forgot about him!" Endo exclaimed.

"Hello! Remember me?" Tanaka smiled viciously. Though when he spiked the ball, it didn't hit the ground, the ever-reliable libero was there to save it. "What?"

"Nice, Nishinoya!" Suga complimented his friend and then went to set the ball again.

Asahi got ready on the left side, "Suga!"

"Asahi!"

Like the powerful ace he is, Asahi was easily able to break through Kageyama and Shōyō's block. That meant that the NA team had scored the winning point.

"Damn, I'm sorry, Hinata!" Tanaka groaned, "I was totally unmarked too!"

Shōyō shook his head, "Th-that's okay."

"But that was amazing." He clapped the smaller boy on the shoulder roughly, "You had them all dogging after you. It almost made me jealous. I'll be counting on you next time!"

"Y-yessir!"Sakura then mosied over to her brother with his water bottle. Her expression may be neutral, but she was bustling with emotions. However, it's not like she wanted to display them, or even knew how to. "Did you see how well I did, imouto."

Sakura hummed, "yeah, you did great." She was not going to mention the conversation she had with Yamaguchi. Maybe some other time. But for now, she'd keep it to herself. Sakura would rather figure things out on her own before she broadcasted her feelings to her brother. She doesn't want to bother him with it, he already has volleyball to focus on. There's no need to distract him from that. At least, she thought that was best.

While she talked a bit with her brother and was surrounded by Tanaka who tried to boast about his strengths, Yamaguchi watched her with keen eyes. Even when Tsukishima had said something to him, he barely paid attention to it. Really he was mulling over the conversation that he had with her earlier. In the beginning, he believed that Sakura was put together completely, with little to no conflict within herself. She just seemed to have a handle on herself. Though that may be because he's never really heard her talk that much and never actually tried to talk with her before. However, he now knows that she's just like any normal teenager. Anxious and full of doubt. He's glad that she trusted him enough to open up a bit. He hoped that she would do the same in the future, or at least find someone else to be an ear for her. Everyone needs someone there for them to just vent to, in his opinion. Which is why he has Tsukki, and Tsukki has him. Well, first he needed to have Tsukki open up to him more too. Looks like he has two tsunderes to look out for now. How tiring.

After gathering their things, the older players all filed out of the gym. The trio of older men was quite happy with not only themselves for winning, but also the high schoolers. All of them are extremely promising!

So now the high schoolers were all going to thank the NA players for playing with them and bid them goodbye. Shimada sighed contentedly, "I don't know what just happened but that made me feel young again. 'Please call for a toss, Ace!' It's great to be young!"

"'With me around, you're the greatest!'" Uchizawa quoted another high schooler, "I wish I could say that! High schoolers are wicked cool!" Kageyama and Nishinoya were blushing beside them since it was them that they were quoting.

Takinoue smirked at the high schoolers, "You made us old timers feel like yesterday's news!"

Suga scratched the back of his neck, "S-sorry, Sir."

"How can I say it?" He tapped his chin. "You guys haven't got it together yet, but once you do pull together, I think you guys are going places."

All of the players were warmed at the words from the man. If he thought that they had potential, then perhaps other people did! So that could mean that they

After they left, the group all headed back into the gym and crowded around Ukai. After he observed the game, he figured out what they needed to work on. Well, just about everyone knew what they needed to work on, it's pretty obvious. Sakura was certain that a five-year-old could notice it, even Endo knows what it is!

"Anyway, the receives!" Ukai exclaimed, "You can't get anywhere without receiving. We'll be training on those fully tomorrow!"

The boys all agreed before thanking him and heading off to do stretches. As they did that, Sakura yawned. It was getting late and she really was thinking that she couldn't do this all the time. She enjoys riding the bike with her brother, but she has other things she would like to do like her homework. Sakura isn't even a part of the club, so why does she have to stay? Maybe she should stop complaining about it and just tell Shōyō that she wants to ride home by herself. She's a big girl who can do that on her own! Though for now, she just elected for leaning against the wall while watching the boys clean up.

Just as they were starting their clean-up, Sakura spied her brother slowly approaching Asahi. She kept an eye on them and listened in on what they were saying. "Asahi?" Her brother started, "I'm no ace, but I can clear a path for the ace! I will become the greatest decoy!" How cocky, Sakura thought, "Oh! Although I can't do that without Kageyama's tossing. So, what I'm trying to say is…" Shōyō cringed trying to come up with something to say.

Though he didn't have to when Asahi spoke up, "Hinata? Is that your name? Or are you called something else because of your sister?" He shook his head getting back on topic, "The ace is basically the name given to a wing spiker in left position, which makes him me or Tanaka."

"Yes…"

"It's definitely the ace's job to break through triple blocks and to receive delivery of tosses when the timing is crucial." The older boy explained, "I think that having a setter say such a thing to you is an awesome thing. Anyway, what I'm saying is… No matter what name the position is given, I'd say that the player that terrifies the opposing team the most has to be the coolest. Like, 'Looks out for that middle blocker! He's crazy.' Things like that."

Shōyō understood that completely as his eyes brightened, "Yeah, yeah!"

"I'm not gonna lose."

"Yessir!" Shōyō exclaimed.

A thought then occurred to Asahi, "But that's only if I'm allowed back on the main lineup."

"Asahi, you really are timid for such a big guy," Suga commented as he and Daichi stood close to them to listen in on what they were saying.

Endo enthusiastically nodded his head, "He's a teddy bear~!" He sang which caused Asahi to blush lightly at the nickname once again.

Daichi chuckled and "You're back in action, Suga."

"I apologize for worrying and obsessing," the grey-haired setter apologized.

"I didn't say that," they all then turned to their libero, "And the reliable Nishinoya is back too."

He saluted, "Yessir!"

"But you can never shove the Vice Principal ever again." Nishinoya stiffened at the reminder of why he was suspended. Daichi then turned his stare to Asahi, "I suppose our timid wing blocker, the ace in name alone, is also back. As an afterthought."

Ukai clapped his hands, "Okay, get this thing locked down and go home!"

After they all finished their clean-up jobs, the boys all huddled up together. Takeda, Ukai, and Kiyoko watched together from the sidelines. Meanwhile, Sakura was still leaning against the wall, watching the interactions from the side of her eyes. Daichi then shouted, "Karasuno, fight!"

"Yeah!"

They really are close, Sakura thought and sighed heavily, I'm more than glad that Shōyō has a real team. Really that he's found a place to belong. Now I've got to do the same.

Chapter Text

THERE WERE TWO DATES THAT WERE CIRCLED in red on the calendar hanging in the kitchen. The first is obviously today while the other is for tomorrow. Two big days for Shoyo and Sakura. To say that Sakura is nervous would be one of the biggest understatements. Sure, on the outside she was trying to keep her composure as she got herself ready in the morning with her family. However, on the inside, she is simultaneously extremely excited, and nauseated at the same time.

Since today is Tuesday, the first of May, it is the big day that Sakura has been worried about. The gallery. Her nerves were so high that she just about had the idea to skip breakfast, to make sure that she didn't end up getting sick at school. It's usually Shōyō's thing to get sick, not her. Though Natsu had encouraged Sakura to eat something, she even offered to share her own breakfast. Little Natsu wasn't going to let her big sister leave the house on an empty stomach! Not wanting to upset her baby sister, Sakura agreed to eat a little bit of something.

"Have fun at your gallery, Sakura," their mother said and kissed her eldest daughter on the head. Once Sakura had been practically fed by Natsu, their mother came over to clean up after them. "I might be able to stop by later in the day when they let parents go see it."

Sakura shrugged her shoulders, "you don't have to if you don't want to okaasan." She didn't look up to her mother, already knowing that her mother was looking at her with a coy expression. Sakura didn't have too much of a qualm with her mother going to the gallery. The teen has been pretty hush-hush about what her photo is for the gallery, so she understood the reason for her mother to go see it. Though she's just a bit too embarrassed to admit that she was actually giddy for her mother to go see it. Her mother has been very supportive of her in every endeavor that Sakura has done, so she isn't scared of what her mother would say. So Sakura is perfectly okay with her mother seeing her work. She knows that her mother would praise her for her work, so it isn't that nerve-racking. At least she knows that her mother won't say anything bad about it.

Her mother shook her head with a click of her tongue, "I'll go if I want to, young lady." She swatted the back of Sakura's head who yelped.

Sakura grumbled while rubbing her bruised head, "...mean old woman..."

"What was that?" The older Hinata hummed far too sweetly.

Her brown eyes narrowed at her mother as she shuffled off to grab her school bag, "I'm leaving now."

Her mother just chuckled, "alright, have a good day. Shōyō, hurry up!"

Sakura lazily walked outside and grabbed her bike. The cool morning air washed over her and relaxed her just a bit. As long as she didn't work herself up so much, everything would be fine. She's used to being completely calm, so today shouldn't be any different.

Shōyō then came barreling out the door after his sister, "bye, Natsu! Bye, okaasan!" He grabbed his bike from beside Sakura and the two started their journey to school. All the way there, Sakura was quiet, far more quiet than usual. On their morning bike rides, she's usually complaining every once in a while about the ride there, but she wasn't today.

Her brother noticed it right away. Sure, Shōyō can be pretty dense about a lot of things. Though every once in a while, he could notice subtle things about his sister. She's a far better reader of his emotions, and he might not be the greatest at reading hers, but he does what he can. "Are you nervous, imouto?" Sakura just huffed in reply as they were peddling up the mountain. She tried to make him believe that she was more focused on riding up the mountain instead of overthinking things at the moment. Shōyō just smiled widely at her, "There's no need to be, you'll be completely fine at your gallery! Everyone is going to love your work!"

Sakura glanced at him from the corner of her eyes before focusing back on her biking, "Hm."

The school day started off as normal as usual. Everything about today was normal. Besides the fact that Sakura has been feeling sick since she woke up. Even while she's sitting in her class, she can't focus on the lesson since she could feel the butterflies in her stomach causing her an issue. Never in her life has she felt like this. The closest that she's come is when she had first tried to join the yearbook club in junior high. After that, joining the photography club this year is a close second.

She truly hasn't put herself out like this in any way. Sakura is subjecting herself to a pretty big stage. Though she shouldn't complain about it, she's doing this to herself. Whatever gets said about her work, hurtful or not, she would just have to suck it up. She can no longer let people's opinions, or what she thinks their opinions might be, rule her world.

This is the moment where she's going to put her work out there and let people hit her with their opinions. Though she was still completely nervous about it. She probably would be sick about it for the rest of the day until the day was over.

As Sakura was wallowing in her own worries, a meek classmate of hers was slowly approaching her. "U-uh, Hinata-san? Are you o-okay?"

Sakura glanced over to see that it is Yachi Hisoka. The other girl has short pale blonde hair, brown eyes, and a pale complexion. Yachi is a pretty well-known student. Sakura respects her for the fact that she's hardworking and intelligent. If she were more outgoing, Sakura would have tried to befriend her a bit more. Considering they're in the same class and both quite similar, the two girls would be pretty good friends. Though neither of them was going to speak to the other. Well, until now.

"Why?" Sakura asked coolly, "Do I not look okay?"

Yachi jumped in fright. She's heard about how cold Hinata Sakura could be, but seeing it up close is terrifying. "Eep! Sorry!" She bowed deeply, "I just thought that you looked upset about something! I'm sorry for assuming that you were."

"Hm, it's… fine Yachi-san." Sakura shuffled uncomfortably at the girl's sudden bowing. She knows that Yachi is quite the skittish girl. Sakura is certain that she has seen her apologize to a wall after she walked into it. Though she didn't realize that Yachi was worried about everything and anything she said that might be offensive. Sakura could understand that fear, but she couldn't say that she has the same one. Sakura could care less if she offended someone unless it has to do with her photography. Her hobby is her weak spot, everyone knows that.

The other girl shook as she looked up at the intense expression in Sakura's eyes. She tilted her head, "You know my name?"

"Yeah," Sakura raised an eyebrow, "I know everyone's name, just because I don't talk with anyone in class, doesn't mean I don't know who you all are."

Yachi nodded her head strongly, "Right! So sorry for thinking otherwise." Yachi chuckled nervously, "U-uh, I was just wondering if maybe you would like to eat lunch together. Since you usually eat alone or go outside." She then frantically waved her hands, "But you don't have to! It's just a suggestion!"

Sakura eyed her for a moment and thought it over. It's not a bad idea. Besides Sakura needs to start befriending others and at least being more approachable. She shrugged her shoulders, "I guess that's fine. Besides I'd rather just stay here instead of trying to find my brother." Having something else to focus on, or in this case, someone else, to distract herself from the thought of later today would be a good idea. Plus, this could be… practice. Practice making friends or trying to socialize. It would be nice for Sakura to say that she was able to at least make a friend in her class. It would be nice.

"Oh, all right," Yachi said, quite surprised that Sakura had even said yes. She had been expecting the other girl to just scoff and ignore her. Guess the rumors of Hinata Sakura being some mean, cold girl were a bit wrong.

They were silent for a moment as Yachi pulled a chair up to Sakura's desk. The two girls started to eat their lunches. Though really they were both picking at their food because they were too anxious to eat. Though Sakura finally sighed, "Do I look nervous?"

"Huh?" Yachi jumped again and stuttered slightly, "Oh, well I don't know… are you nervous about something?"

"Maybe." She certainly had thought that she had hidden her emotions a bit better. Though Sakura couldn't be certain since she's never had to hide her emotions like this. Nervousness, to this degree, is obviously new to her so trying to keep it hidden is also new to her.

Yachi waited for Sakura to elaborate a bit more, but didn't get anything else from her. She could tell that Sakura isn't one for opening up or small talk. Yachi also has a bit of trouble talking to people from time to time, so she understood just a bit. "Oh, well, I'm sure you don't have to be worried about anything."

Sakura raised an eyebrow while stuffing some rice into her mouth. "Yeah, sure," she mumbled out.

The blonde-haired girl sighed and gulped in trepidation. "I don't know what it's about, but you'll be fine." She tried to smile reassuringly to Sakura who looked up to her with slightly narrowed eyes. "Based on what I've heard about you, you'll be okay!"

She appreciated the sentiment, though she has to ask, "And what have you heard about me?"

Yachi froze, "O-only good things! I swear!" She panicked for a moment, thinking that Sakura saw this as a bad thing. "People just talk about how you're really smart and stuff and level-headed."

Sakura chuckled slightly which calmed Yachi down a bit. Sakura knows about the gossip that goes around, having Endo follow her around at volleyball practices undoubtedly meant she heard plenty of it. So she knows what some people have said about her. Even during middle school, she had. Though it doesn't bother her, it's just opinions or lies most of the time. Why should she worry about rumors? Which is a bit of a hypocritical though considering she was usually so affected by people's opinions about her photography and such. It seemed like opinions about things that she couldn't change about herself didn't affect her. However, opinions on her hobby, something that she chose to pick up as a kid, gave her quite a bit of anxiety.

"Well, I'm not the smartest," she shook her head and continued to eat her lunch, finally getting a bit of an appetite, "Didn't you get the highest mark on our last test?"

"Oh, well, not really." Yachi scratched the back of her head sheepishly. A bit bashful at being called smart, "I think we might have tied or something…"

"I'm sure you got a point higher than me." Sakura shrugged before coughing slightly as the girl slouched down in her chair. She cleared her throat, "Hm, I've been wondering… I've been looking for someone to study with." She pushed around her food in her bento box, "Kami-sama knows my brother is terrible at studying and would just be annoying." She turned to look out of the window so Yachi wouldn't notice how her ears and cheeks had become slightly red. "So maybe would you… Study… With me? Sometime?"

Yachi wasn't sure what to think at the moment. Was Sakura suddenly embarrassed? Yachi didn't think that Sakura would be capable of that. Once again, she shouldn't think that the rumors she heard are true. "Ah!" She gasped while staring at Sakura who still hadn't turned to her. "Yeah, that would be nice."

Sakura glanced at her from the corner of her eyes and let out a breath she didn't know she was holding in. The barest of smiles graced her face, "Cool." Suddenly, the butterflies in her stomach calmed down just a bit more.

"Yes, that goes there. No! Keep that off of the ground, Fujiwara will kill me if you mess that up!" Shimada ran about the club room gathering all of the pieces that would be displayed in the gallery today. She truly hadn't realized just how stressful it is for the president to oversee all of this stuff. The third-year now has a new respect for all of the previous club presidents. Why did she take up this responsibility? Oh, yeah, because there really wasn't anyone else.

Sakura watched her friend run around the room helping others collect their things. If she were being honest, she doesn't envy Shimada for having to deal with all of this. Even if they were in one of the smallest clubs at the school, it seemed like they were more or less in charge of this gallery. The art club could have taken this over since they've got about triple the amount of members. Though for some reason, Shimada and Mori Aiko, the vice-president, had decided for their club to take the responsibility of getting everything set up. All of the entries into the gallery had to be run by them and the club advisor, an old woman who Sakura has barely met before, while they set up the venue and such. Though the venue just happened to be one of the large classrooms on campus. Both the art club room and photography club room are far too small for the number of people involved in the gallery and people who would probably come see it. Sakura could only hope that she doesn't end up having such a responsibility. It's not that she is incapable of doing it, she doesn't want that added stress on her.

Just as Sakura was thinking about it all, Shimada came bouncing over to her kohai. Her hair bounced around her head as she smiled brightly. "Oh, I can't wait to have you show people what you've done!"

Sakura just stared up at her before walking over to her framed photo, "...ok."

"Don't be so down, Sakura-chan!" Shimada followed after her as they both stared at it, "Everyone will love it, I sure do! I can never get over how talented you are!" She then grabbed Sakura in a tight hug and swayed them back and forth.

Sakura deadpanned, "Stop being so clingy, Shimada-senpai."

"I'll stop being clingy if you just call me Emi." Her senpai cooed while rubbing her cheek against the top of Sakura's head. Sakura really does not appreciate being this small. Why do people feel the need to pick me up like a child?

She rolled her eyes, if it meant getting put down, then she'd do it. "Emi-senpai," the older girl preened now that she got the usually stoic and formal Sakura to call her by her first name. Though she froze once Sakura continued to talk, "you're annoying." Shimada then let the girl down who brushed off her clothes.

Shimada pouted like a baby, "Don't say something like that to your senpai!"

Sakura disregarded her, "Hm."

The older girl shook her head and tried to brush off the small disrespect from her kohai. "So how did you decide on what to put into the gallery?"

"Surprisingly, you're kind of good at advice," Sakura shrugged her shoulders.

A different girl passed by the two while carrying a box. "Is she really?" The mousy, brown-haired second-year chuckled, "Shimada usually is bad at giving people advice!"

"Shut your mouth, Ito!" Shimada growled and just about threw her clipboard at the other third-year girl.

While Shimada started to bicker with Ito, Sakura stared at the photo in her hand. She never would have thought that one photo would have so much meaning to her. And one that wasn't really of anything. It would have a meaning of "rebirth" or "transformation" no matter who looked at it. Though she doubted anyone would really see the deeper meaning to it, and what she tried to portray in it.

The anxiety started to creep back into her stomach. Though she tried to breathe slowly and stop it from overtaking her. There was no need to get sick before this. Getting sick is Shōyō's thing. She's level-headed, she's the calm twin. She swallowed thickly and thought of something to distract her for a moment. She thought back to how she got this done after so long.

A FEW DAYS AGO

Sakura needed a little bit of inspiration. Tomorrow was her deadline for the gallery, and she still didn't have anything to turn over for it. Even though she has taken plenty of photos they mainly consist of the volleyball team, scenery, and her family. It isn't a question of whether or not the photo will be good, it's a question of what the photo should be of.

Just about everyone else in the photography club had already turned in what they wanted to show in their exhibit. Even the art club already has all of their entries for the gallery and started planning out their layout for the gallery. Really, Sakura is the last person to turn something in. Here she was saying that she wanted to change herself and do something to make herself unique and she's procrastinating.

It's not that she is doing it on purpose, it's just that she can't think of what to photograph. So, taking up the advice from Shimada, Sakura thought back to what got her into photography. To do that, she went to the park. The place where she first became… inspired. She could only hope that she found some more inspiration here.

Sakura walked along the pathway in the middle of the park. The blossoms from the trees were swaying along with the breezes of wind as a few kids running about playing with each other. It almost looked exactly the same as the day that she first took photos as a little kid. Spring was coming to an end though. Soon enough the heat will increase as summer rolled in in about a month. That's something that Sakura doesn't like all that much. She hates the heat.

She idly walked along and took a few photos of the trees and blossoms. As much as she thought it would be a good idea to just take the photo of the cherry blossoms or something similar, it doesn't feel right with her.

The teen tried to think about what she could find here that would be rebirth. Sure the photo itself may not need to necessarily mean actual rebirth or anything, but she wants it to. She wants the meaning to be obvious yet have its own hidden meaning. Curse her for wanting to have multiple layers to her photo.

Though she then thought to herself about her first time taking the photos. She wondered how that woman was doing… Was she also still doing photography? Perhaps she has her own business or something. That would be pretty cool. Sakura would kind of hope of doing that once she graduated college. She still has no idea who that woman was, never getting her name or anything. If Sakura has to guess, she'd say the woman must be around thirty now. An old lady.

Sakura wandered around the park. She listened to the ambient sounds around her, looking around lazily while sticking her hands in her pocket. Hmm, if she didn't find anything to photograph here, then she'd have to just enter in her photos of the cherry trees. At least she has a back-up.

Then she saw it. A fluttering little butterfly. A swallowtail.

Its pale white wings with small black designs on them seemed to glow in the sunlight, drawing Sakura's attention to it. The butterfly flew past her face and slowly and gracefully landed on the bark of the tree beside her. She stared at it for a long moment before lifting the camera to snap a quick photo of it.

Sure, the butterfly isn't the flashiest or prettiest one around, but Sakura is the same way. In her own opinion, she isn't pretty, she doesn't stand out, yet she's changing. Becoming better in some ways. So perhaps she saw herself in the butterfly. So she is drawn to it as she captures the butterfly in a moment in time.

Just after she took the photo, the butterfly then flew off, disturbed by the teenager. Sakura watched it fly away, so she would never see it again. She looked down at her camera to see the photo that she took. Honestly… it's perfect!

For the first time in a long time, she felt giddy. This photo is definitely amazing. No doubt is it a good pick for the gallery. Not only that, but butterflies are a universal symbol for metamorphosis, everyone knows that. So this is it, this is the photo for the gallery.

She smiled, "this is great!" She laughed joyously, a laugh that she hasn't uttered since she was in middle school. For a moment, she almost started to jump around in excitement. Though she stopped before she embarrassed herself in public.

Sakura stared at the photo, a small smile crawled onto her face. She took the photo and placed it up on the wall, in the perfect place, just where it belongs. Admiring her work for a moment, she let out a content sigh. From this moment forward, things are looking pretty good.

Shimada noticed how Sakura seemed to have calmed herself down. Slowly, she joined Sakura to stare at the photo, "Don't worry about anything, Sakura-chan. People are going to love your work!"

Sakura nodded her head at the encouraging words. With another quick breath, she calmed down completely. There's no need to be. There were plenty of people who already said that they liked it, with some small criticism to the composition and color correction for it. Other than that, Sakura knows that this work is good. So she's assured that she shouldn't feel anxious about this any longer. It's time to be confident in herself.

"Imouto!" Sakura jumped slightly at the shout from behind her and slowly turned around to find her brother. Apparently, a few students were already coming in to look at the gallery since everything is just about set up.

However, it wasn't just her brother. It seemed like he had brought along the entire volleyball team with him. Aren't they supposed to be practicing right now? She thought to herself in annoyance. Sakura sighed and approached the group, "Hi."

They all looked around the room and stared at all the art pieces and photos that the conjoined clubs had nearly finished setting up. Suga glanced around at them all, "Everyone did a really good job with their work."

"Yeah," Asahi agreed, "all of you guys are really talented!"

Sakura nodded her head at him, "Oh! Oh!" Shōyō jumped up and down as he dragged his setter friend over to the framed photo. "Kageyama look at the cool picture that my sister did!"

The setter stared at the butterfly photo for a moment with narrowed eyes, "...I don't get it." Sakura rolled her eyes, she already knew that a simpleton like him probably wouldn't understand anything in here. His brain probably couldn't comprehend art.

Daichi walked up to her and patted her on the shoulder, "This is really good, Hinata-chan. Good job!"

Sakura muttered, "...Thanks."

"Yeah, Sakura!" Nishinoya jumped over with stars in his eyes, "You did a really amazing job!"

She hid in her arms at the compliments constantly aimed at her, "Whatever."

"Aw, no need to be embarrassed." Endo cooed down at the girl who was growing even redder. He bent down and got up in her personal space. Sakura then stomped on the drama queen's foot, "Ow!" The third-year then hopped around on one foot as his friends laughed at him.

"It's true, Hinata-chan." Suga approached her with his usual large smile, "You've done a good job on this one. I may not know much about art, but I can tell you put a lot of thought into this."

Sakura stared at him for a long moment and pursed her lips, "Really? You can tell…" She wasn't sure if he understood the fact that a butterfly on its own could mean "rebirth" or if she was trying to change herself. Though she wouldn't be surprised if he did see it as a symbol of herself. He's pretty observant and if Yamaguchi could see her issue, then Suga probably could too.

He flashes her a thumbs up and a heartwarming smile that may or may not have flustered Sakura. "Of course."

The group then started to move on, the others finding something else that caught their eye. Sakura is just glad that they weren't going to bother her anymore. Hopefully, they won't come back and she'll get to leave before they try to bombard her again. Just as she had thought she got away with it, a large shadow engulfed her. She looked up to find that it is the bitchy blond giant himself looming over her with a bored expression. Yeah, he's certainly someone she wasn't looking forward to seeing here.

The boy stared at her with narrowed eyes before taking a quick glance at the photo, "Oh, it's a picture of a butterfly." The tall blonde rolled his eyes, "how original."

Sakura clicked her tongue and crossed her arms over her chest. "I don't see any other photos of a butterfly, are you seeing something I'm not?"

"I thought you'd pick something a tad bit more interesting, not just a silly butterfly." Lightning struck between the two as they continued to glare at each other.

For a moment, Tsukishima's appearance changed in Sakura's mind. Instead of being blonde and golden-eyed, he had black hair and dull blue eyes. She thought of Sato Hitoshi, and how he looked down at her the same way. Always thinking that he's better than her, that he had the answers that she didn't. Months ago, she may have been more self-conscious about her photography. She would have succumbed to her doubts and wilted under his stare. However, she's learned to not take malicious opinions like Sato's or Tsukishima's to heart. They were saying these things just to get under her skin, just to cause even more self-doubt in herself.

She's different now.

Being around the photography club, getting those compliments and kind constructive criticism has helped to boost her confidence. She was better now, at least a little. Sakura could brush off Tsukishima now about her photography just like with every other thing he tries to say to her.

Sakura made sure to stand tall, well as tall as she could in front of this beanpole of a teenager. She squared her shoulders and stared straight into his gold irises. "You may think it's silly, but it has meaning to me. And that's all that matters." Her words were strong and loud, no doubtful tone in her voice at all. "Say what you want about my work. I know it's good, and a lot of other people think so too."

Tsukishima stared at her for a long moment, processing the fact that she was standing up for herself. He knew that she doesn't get riled up like her brother and doesn't get that emotional about things. He also knows that she doesn't like confrontation. At least, the sort of confrontation that involves her own problems. He's seen firsthand how she stands up for her brother most of the time. However, to see her stand up from herself is new. Something he never thought he'd see.

The blond continued to stare at her for a moment, and Sakura easily stared back at him with no sign of backing down. Tsukishima scoffed loudly before turning away and walking off. Honestly, Sakura saw that as a win.

"So did you find out why you like photography?"

Sakura turned to find that it was Yamaguchi who had approached her this time. He smiled sheepishly and apologetically, seemingly apologizing for Tsukishima's behavior. She brushed it off though, no need to think about that asshole. "A bit. This certainly… helped, I guess." She then cleared her throat, "Thanks for your advice, Yamaguchi. I… appreciate it."

Yamaguchi's smile widened, "No problem, Hinata-chan."

"Sakura."

He blinked, "Huh?"

Sakura turned away from him with pursed lips. She certainly was getting quite embarrassed today, isn't she. "Just call me Sakura, so you don't confuse my brother and I." He's a friend now, she thought. He's seen her real problem with self-esteem, so he deserved to be regarded as someone closer to her. It seemed like she was building up plenty of friendships now.

"Oh, all right." He chuckled lightly while shaking the back of his neck, "Then call me Tadashi."

Sakura smiled slightly, at least, a larger smile than Yamaguchi has ever seen from her. "Right."

To be honest, that went far better than Sakura could have ever thought. There was no need to be so anxious about this she realized. Today was far more… relaxing than she would have thought. So as the sky was starting to darken, Sakura's mood was more than bright. Though you wouldn't be able to tell that with how she kept herself so calm on the outside.

The day was winding down, school had now completely ended and really only a few clubs were still going on. Mainly it was the sports teams continuing their long practices, including the boy's volleyball team. Sakura gathered her belongings with a content sigh and started to head out of the classroom. She was quite hungry and could totally go for a meat bun right now. Daichi might end up getting her one again if she flashed him her large eyes. After all, she did a good job today.

"Hey, Sakura," Shimada called out as the small club followed after her. She turned around to find her president smiling widely at her, obviously extremely proud after today. Shimada bounced in her place, "We're all going out to get some boba! We do this after every gallery, it's kind of a ritual. You wanna come with?"

The five upperclassmen all stared at Sakura expectantly. However, there seemed to be a small air of hesitancy. It seems like they figure that it is pointless to ask her as if they already know her answer. Sakura shuffled slightly, "Oh, um…" She chewed on her bottom lip, "I don't know."

Sakura isn't a stranger to hanging out with people. However, hanging out with her own friend group, without Shōyō… is different. She's unsure if she would consider it a good difference or a bad difference just yet. As much as she'd like to distance herself from Shōyō, it was still up for debate on how quickly she is going to do that. Leaving any sort of comfort zone for her was already anxiety-inducing as it is. However, to do it too quickly might scare her off. She has to find a pace for herself that doesn't cause her to want to abandon her quest for individuality.

Yokoyama Nobu, a blond-haired second-year nodded their head rapidly and pulled Sakura from her thoughts, "Come on, you deserve a treat after today."

"Yeah, you did so good, short stacks!" Wada Katski, another light-blue-haired second-year, chuckled as he stuffed his hands into his pockets.

Sakura huffed lightly and looked away from the group, "I can't… I have to go with my brother to his practice."

The upperclassmen all shared a glance with each other, obviously not surprised at that. Though that didn't mean a few of them didn't deflate just a bit. Shimada scratched the back of her neck, "Ah, well then."

Mori Aiko, the white-haired vice president, waved her hand "Another time then."

"...yeah," Sakura muttered as she turned around and started to head to the gym, not really wanting to see their disappointed looks. They all seem to know her almost unhealthy attachment to her brother, and they just wanted to help her. Every one of her senpais saw that she wanted to be her own person, make a name for herself, but they just weren't sure what to really do to help her. They want to be her friend. It just seems like they're just going to have to wait a bit longer.

Chapter Text

THE NEXT DAY FELT REFRESHING TO SAKURA. Not only is the gallery over, but it also went far better than she would have thought. Her anxiety had been quelled once she got plenty of praise from not only people that she knows but also complete strangers. So her photography truly isn’t bad. It’s actually really good going off of what happened yesterday. Now if only she could show the jerk Sato how well she did. He truly was an asshole to her in middle school. 

The Hinata family all got themselves ready for the day. Well, it was more like the twins got themselves ready while their mother and Natsu barely woke up to see them leave. As usual, Shōyō is full of energy, actually, there’s far more energy inside of his little body than normal. The reason being that today was the start of the volleyball training camp.

So Shōyō got himself ready as quickly as he could. Meanwhile, Sakura was forced to hurry up as her brother was trying to get her out the door as fast as possible. He finally finished tying his shoes, "Okay!"

"We're going!" Sakura called out while putting on her own shoes.

Their little sister waved after them, "Bye."

The pair of twins then exited their house and grabbed their bikes. Pedaling as fast as he could, Shōyō took off leaving Sakura to try and catch up to him. Sure, Sakura could be quick on her feet but not this early in the morning! They maneuvered through their neighborhood and finally started to make their way up the mountain.

"This is kind of amazing!” Shōyō exclaimed suddenly, “Okay, it's time for training camp!"

He then started to take off down the hill, leaving poor Sakura in the dust. She groaned and tried to pedal faster, "Slow down, Shō! I can't catch up!"

Shōyō just laughed loudly, "Hurry up, Saku!"

“Why are you so energetic in the mornings?!” She shouted after them as they zoomed down the road.

“So what’s it going to be like?” Yachi asked as she once again sat with Sakura for lunch. “This training camp.”

The two were eating lunch with each other just like they had yesterday. It seemed like the two were slowly starting to form a friendship. One that could possibly last quite a while, Sakura hoped.

Sakura munched on some rice and shrugged her shoulders, “I’m not sure, I’ve never been to one, so I’m not sure what to expect.” Sakura answered before pulling out her notebooks. “I imagine that all the guys will be sharing a room, and I think Kiyoko-senpai mentioned something about having to cook for them all.” She huffed and rolled her eyes. “That’s going to be tough, I’m already terrible at cooking for myself, can’t imagine what it’s going to be like having to cook for a whole volleyball team.”

Though during her explanation Yachi started to think to herself about what the camp might be like. “A whole team of really tall scary guys…” Yachi muttered out, starting to shake slightly thinking what kind of scary people her new friend was going to be around. She grabbed Sakura’s shoulders and shook them, “Hinata-chan! Don’t die while you’re out there. Actually, don’t go, I can’t lose my friend out there!”

Sakura pushed off the other girl’s hands and shook her head. She appreciated the concern, but knew that it was unnecessary. “Yachi, it’s fine. Besides, I’m pretty sure most of the team is scared of me.” A smirk pulled on her lips which caused Yachi to shiver, “As they should be.”

The other girl bristled in fear slightly, at least Sakura wasn’t pointing her scary expression at her. Yachi would probably die of fright if Sakura would glare at her with such an expression. “A-ah, right…” Yachi said with a small nervous chuckle.

They then calmed down a bit as Sakura asked her, “So are you in any clubs, Yachi-san?”

“Oh, no.” She shook her head, “I’ve been trying out a few, but they just don’t seem to stick, I guess.” Yachi has been hopping from club to club, trying to find something that stuck for her. So far, she’s tried a few clubs for a little while, however, she found that none of them were her forte.

Sakura nodded her head in understanding. Sakura is lucky enough to know exactly what club she wanted to join ever since middle school. So she didn’t necessarily know what it was like to not know what club suited her. “Hm, I’m sure you’ll find a club sooner or later.”

Yachi sighed and glumly ate her lunch, “I hope.”

Sakura lazily trotted down the hallway around the other groups of students. Now that school had ended, she was headed to the photography club. Since she liked to usually lie about her emotions, she would deny the way she skipped slightly to the club room.

Eventually, she made it into the club room where the other five club members already were. They all lounged around the club room and spoke idly with each other. With his feet up on a desk, and balancing on the back legs of his chair, Wada Katski laughed at something that Yokoyama Nobu said. Yokoyama was sitting on top of the desk next to the blue-haired boy and ran a hand through their own blonde hair. They were debating about something or other, probably a topic that Sakura wouldn’t care about. Next to them, the last second-year of the club Ito Miki sat at a desk writing in a notebook and commenting on something every once in a while. 

As far as second-years go, Sakura has to say that this trio is pretty relaxed and somewhat mature. Unlike the other second-years that she knows. Excluding Narita, Ennoshita, and Kinnoshita, of course. Really it’s just Tanaka and Nishinoya who were the most immature of the second-years that she has come across while at Karasuno. Ito is outspoken and responsible, Wada is pretty easygoing and kind, and Yokoyama is loud and enthusiastic. With shoulder-length brown-hair, moderately tall, and with light green eyes, Ito is probably one of the most respectable people that Sakura has come across. Hazel eyes and light-blue hair are the trademark features of Wada Katsuki. He’s on the more popular side of the social scene at school, which is due to his handsome features and such. Something that Sakura doesn’t care about. Then the last of the second-years with short, shaggy blonde hair and glowing blue eyes, Yokoyama is quite a childish person from time to time. Though they’re pretty skilled with a camera and become excitedly focused on their photography.

The other two members of the club were third-years. The vice-president of the group is Mori Aiko. If Sakura is to be honest, the white-haired girl might be on the same level as Kiyoko in beauty. She’s like an angel with her long white hair and pale green eyes. She’s quite soft-spoken but still passionate about her work with the club. Shimada Emi is the president of the club who has personally taken Sakura under her wing. Not that Sakura isn’t grateful for having someone to guide her in some ways, however, Shimada can be overbearing from time to time. Even then, Shimada is the one person who Sakura has opened up the most besides her brother. Shimada is her first real friend in Karasuno. Hopefully, Sakura continues with this though, and makes the rest of the club her good friends.

They’re nice to Sakura, she would like to consider them her friends. She knows that they want to be her friend, however, it would take her a while to open up to them to that point. It’ll just take a little bit longer.

A pair of hazel eyes then turned to the new arrival as Wada greeted Sakura, “Hey, short stuff.”

“Hinata!” Yokoyama waved enthusiastically at the first-year with their blue eyes lit with delight. Ito waved at Sakura before turning back to her notebook.

At another set of desks, Shimada turned to Sakura and waved at her. Sakura just nodded her head at them as she moved to sit at her usual spot by the window. Just as she was settling herself down, the two third-years of the club shared a glance with each other.

Mori brushed her long white hair out of her eyes as she took a closer look at the youngest member. She noticed a small difference in the younger girl the moment she walked into the room. Mori is quite an observant person, and she could see the small uplifting spirit in Sakura. “Hinata, have a good day today?” She asked in her sweet, melodic voice.

“Hm?” Sakura slumped back in her chair with narrowed eyes, “Why?”

Shimada smiled widely, “You just seem to be quite happy, anything happen?”

Sakura grunted and gazed out of the window. “No.” Her day has been pretty much uneventful. Besides, maybe her getting a new lunch buddy and perhaps she was still happy about yesterday going so smoothly, however, everything else was boring.

“The training thing for the volleyball club is today, right?” Ito spoke up, finally turning away from her notes, even if she probably shouldn’t because she desperately needs to study.

The first-year nodded her head, “Yeah.”

Wada raised an eyebrow at the girl, “You don’t sound that enthusiastic there, girly.”

“She’s usually not enthusiastic about anything,” Ito commented with a small chuckle.

Yokoyama perked up and buzzed in her seat, “Except for photography! Remember her expression when we told her about the darkroom we’re setting up.”

“Oh, yeah,” Shimada commented with a growing smile. She remembered that from last week, “I’ve never seen such a smile on her before.”

Sakura deadpanned, “I wasn’t that excited.” That is a lie. She was excited to hear about the darkroom that they wanted to make. Sakura hasn’t used one before and is completely enthused about getting to use one at some point. Though she tried to keep that to herself.

The others all shared a look with each other with the same thought about that being untrue. Shimada hummed, “Mhm, so are you excited?”

“I don’t know.” Sakura shrugged her shoulders, “Being around a bunch of sweaty teenage boys twenty-four seven is not something I’m totally looking forward to this week.”

Ito slumped in her seat with a sigh, “Well, at least you get out of classes for a bit.” She whined about her position as the photographer for the basketball team, “The basketball club hasn’t had a camp in a while, I rarely get any school off with them.”

“That’s a good thing,” Wada commented coolly, “if you did miss classes your grades would suffer.”

Ito bristled and glared at him hotly, “Are you saying I’m stupid!”

“No, but you just did.” Wada retorted and found himself on the receiving end of a notebook thrown at him. A small fight broke out between the two, but the others disregarded them. It’s usual for Ito and Wada to get into small fights or something over stupid things. So it’s no cause for concern.

Yokoyama leaned forward towards Sakura, “So, are you really not excited to be around a bunch of cute guys like them.”

Sakura blanched, “Cute? What does that have to do with anything?” Does she find any of the volleyball boys cute? No, nah, there’s no way. Though if she really thought about it-

“Oh, come on,” Shimada cooed and moved to sit beside Sakura. She leaned in with her glistening green eyes filled with mischief. “Don’t be coy, Sakura-chan. You must have a crush on one of them, right?”

Sakura cringed at the thought and stared at her senpai with a disgusted expression, “Gross.”

“Are you kidding,” Ito joined in on the conversation now that she and Wada had stopped fighting. Now they both were invested in the conversation. Ito swooned, “that Sugawara is something else!”

Yokoyama jumped up, “Don’t forget Nishinoya!”

“Yeah, but he’s too energetic for me.” Mori waved her hand dismissively, “Now, on the other hand, Ennoshita-”

“Let’s not forget about Kiyoko,” Wada said calmly, “the goddess herself.”

Shimada nodded her head in agreeance. Those volleyball boys definitely are some good eye candy. She turned back to her kohai, “So! Sakura~”

“No,” She replied bluntly, hoping to stop them from speculating anything. “I find almost all of them annoying.”

“Ah, almost.” Shimada cheekily commented which caused Sakura to glare at her. Sakura can admit that some of the guys are decent, mainly the second-year trio on the team, and perhaps Suga, Daichi, and Asahi. However, there were a few others that just overshadowed the decent guys on the team.

Wada tapped his chin in consideration, “You know, that glasses guy reminds me quite a lot of you.” Sakura blanched at his comment, “Seems like a perfect match to me.”

“He’s right,” Ito exclaimed and pointed at Sakura, “what’s that guy’s name?”

The first-year glared at all of them, which caused each of them to shiver. Sakura hotly replied, “I’d rather start playing volleyball then ever have a crush on the bitchy blond giant.”

Each of the older students nodded their heads, somewhat unbelieving. They can’t really read what Sakura’s emotions are just yet, however, they were definitely going to take this as denial from her. Perhaps there is something there, that maybe even Sakura could notice it. Ah, young love.

Wada was the first to recover from the heated glare from the first-year. He chuckled lightly, “The Lady doth protest too much, methinks.” Sakura just glared at him even more intensely, as if she were trying to stab him with her icy gaze.

Yokoyama cringed slightly, “Oh, and you hate playing sports.”

“Whatever,” Sakura rolled her eyes, “no matter what I say, you’ll take it the wrong way.”

Shimada smiled innocently, “Maybe.”

While Sakura was being interrogated by the photography club, at the gym, all of the boys finally showed up for practice like usual. Currently, Endo helped Asahi with his stretches as they conversed happily with each other. “Do you think little Ukai will be like old man Ukai?” Endo asked as he stretched out his legs.

Asahi shrugged his shoulders while helping hold Endo’s leg, “I don’t know.” His expression then became a bit blue, “I just hope that he isn’t as intense as his grandfather.”

“Hm,” Endo hummed and moved to help Asahi with his own stretches. He smirked while leaning down into his friend’s personal space, “I remember seeing how hot you got after those practices. Gotta say I’d be ok with seeing that again.”

“J-Joji!”

Endo laughed cheekily at the flustered expression consuming his best friend's face, “Oya, someone’s a bit flustered now aren’t they.”

Soon enough, the temporary coach showed up and gathered the boys together. “You’re all here,” he commented.

The group all exclaimed, “Yessir!”

Ukai nodded his head, “The practice game against Nekoma takes place in four days. After that, it will be time for the Inter-High preliminaries. There’s no time! But you guys are full of weak spots.” He explained, “There is only one thing to do in order for you slobs to win. Practice! Practice! Practice! Keep retrieving that ball until you throw up!”

“Yessir!” Shōyō shouted out loudly, which must have meant that he probably already did his job.

So the team lined up and started their drills for the day. Ukai got up on the platform and got ready to serve some balls at the boys to practice their receives. Which they all desperately need to work on. First up, is Yamaguchi. Though he was missing a few receives every once in a while.

“Come on, how many balls are gonna be your last one?” Ukai shouted at him, “Focus!”

Yamaguchi growled slightly, “One more!”

“Here comes!” This time, he was easily able to save that one which earned him some encouragement from his teammates.

“He’s made five!” Kiyoko commented, “Time to switch.”

Ukai nodded his head, “Next!”

Daichi then stepped up as Yamaguchi hobbled off of the court, “Here, Sir!” The serves continued from club member to club member. The first-years obviously needed some work with their receives, even the king of the court. The third-years, who have the most experience, seemed to be the most skilled at this. Well, almost all of the third-years.

Endo then stepped up for his turn and got in position, “Hit me, little Ukai!” So the coach did and there were far too many spikes that were either completely missed by him or misdirected. It seems like Endo isn’t that good at this...

Once he finally got three done, he stepped off the court with a sigh of relief. Narita took his turn after him as Tanaka bounced up to Endo. The vicious smirk on his face was teasing as he laughed at him, “How many times did it take you, Rich boy? Twenty?”

Tsukishima butted in with a snicker, “More like thirty.”

“Eh, I’m not too good at receives,” Endo waved off unaffected, “except receiving Oikawa’s serve.” He isn’t that good. Sure, he’s learned how to do relatively powerful serves and could receive Oikawa’s monster serve pretty ok. He isn’t that good of a spiker, since he can get blocked pretty easily. He isn’t that strong when it came to his spikes or blocking, which isn’t that surprising. So what if he isn’t that good? He has fun most of the time, so why should he care? It’s not like he’ll be a regular player anymore with the addition of these talented first-years. So it’s no big deal to him. He whipped his sweaty face with his shirt, “I’m fine with not being all that good.” The dashing smile that he flashed them all was completely easygoing.

“Nice work,” After getting through all of the boy’s, Ukai jumped off of the platform. “Good work! Okay, next, spike practice!”

“Yessir!”

So they lined up for spiking practice, with Kageyama and Suga by the net for setting obviously. Now spiking is a skill that they obviously have pretty good control over. Ukai was certainly happy with seeing that at least, “This is looking real good!” 

Off to the side, Sauga glanced at him quickly

Yamaguchi stared at Suga with a tilted head, “May I go next?”

“Sure,” Suga shook himself out of his staring, “sorry!”

Endo observed the interaction with pursed lips. He figured that Suga is feeling a bit… off this year. Especially because they have the gloomy king on their team now and were taking Suga’s spot as the regular setter. Endo knows that his friend has worked extremely hard these past few years. Though it’s disheartening to think that his hard work wasn’t worth much if a first-year was just going to take the rug out from under him. If it were him, Endo would use that opportunity to slack off in the club. However, this is Suga he’s thinking about. His friend is a huge team player and wouldn’t put himself in front of the team's success yet still wouldn’t hinder his own improvement. 

The third-year brushed his hair from out of his eyes and sighed slightly. He’s really good at reading his friends, so he knows just how Suga is feeling about this. However, at the same time, he doesn’t necessarily know if he should talk to him about it. Endo isn’t one to talk about emotions unless it provides him gossip or entertainment. At most, he’s more willing to talk with Asahi about something like this, but his other friends are a bit trickier. Asahi knows him better, seen sides of him that he hasn’t even shown his parents. Looks like only time will tell if Endo tries to help out Suga and his small emotional dilemma.

Night started to blanket itself over the gym as everyone started to wind down. The practice had gone pretty okay for them. Well, it definitely showed them what they needed to work on. Overall, the team is pretty well-rounded, they just need to have someone help sharpen their skills into a refined weapon to help them. 

Daichi clapped his hands, “Okay, we’re moving out.”

“Yessir!”

The boys all worked together quickly to put things away for the night. So after the boys all ran around putting away the balls, packing up the net, and cleaning up the floors, they all grabbed their things and grouped up outside of the gym. They were just about to head to the building that they would be staying at for the next couple of days.

“Hey,” Ennoshita commented as he noticed someone trotting over to them. He squinted his eyes at who it was, “there’s Hinata-chan.”

Shōyō jumped at her arrival and bounced over to her, “Imouto!”

Endo smirked as the young girl came over to them. He placed his hands on his hips with his dashing smirk illuminating in the dark. “Ah, paparazzi-chan. So glad you could make it!”

Sakura rolled her eyes as she trailed up to the group of boys. She cringed slightly, the migraine that she had started to flare up at their loud voices. “Quiet down.” She rubbed her head in annoyance as she frowned at them all.

“Huh?” Yamaguchi walked over to her with a slightly concerned expression, “Are you alright, Sakura?”

She waved him off, “I’m fine, just some annoying upperclassmen,” she said with a grunt. Her club really hadn’t stopped talking about the volleyball club for what felt like an eternity. They kept trying to get her to “admit” to having some sort of crush on any of the boys, which would not happen. Because it’s pretty obvious that she doesn’t! Who in their right mind would like any of them? Well, she could understand maybe the third-years, excluding Endo, and perhaps some of the second-years, excluding Tanaka and Nishinoya. They were alright, but not anyone she’d be keeping an eye on. Especially since she’d rather focus on her studies than worry about boys.

Shōyō then jumped away, just itching to head off, “Now, let’s go! To the training camp!”

Sakura lightened up just a bit at her brother’s excited mood. She certainly is always glad to see Shōyō so excited about something like this. It’s a new experience for them both, she’s just glad that she gets to be there for him for this. Not only that but having him around for her is a good bonus as well. 

To the side, as the boys already started to head off, Tsukishima stared down at Sakura boredly. Feeling his glare on her, she turned up to stare at him with a raised eyebrow, “Since when do you let people call you by your first name?”

Sakura scoffed at him and pinned him with her own stare. Neither of them seemed to be willing to let up on their heated glare. She crossed her arms over her chest, “I only let my… friends do it.” She explained slowly, “Which is why you should only call me Hinata.”

Tsukishima tsked and broke away from the stare, “I didn’t think you were capable of making friends besides your brother.”

“Yeah, well, you learned something new,” Sakura clicked her tongue and walked away.

Honestly, she still isn’t over how he had spoken to her the other day. Going forward, she certainly isn’t going to tolerate having someone talk down to her any longer. Standing up to Tsukishima felt so good yesterday, and she’ll be damned if she’ll let him do it again. So she marched off, with a small skip in her step since she knew she pissed Tsukishima off even more. Ha, looks like he’s getting a small dose of karma. Hopefully, she can continue doing it in the future.

As he watched her head off and catch up with her brother, Tsukishima scowled lightly. In the beginning, he knew that he couldn’t get that much of a reaction out of her. However, he had been able to find something to annoy her. Of course, that is belittling her brother and her photography. He can tell that she’s insecure about her work and protective of her twin, perfect topics to use against her. Though now it seems like he lost one of them. Though he can’t figure out why it annoys him even further that she isn’t going to react the way he wants. She’s far too… unpredictable, and Tsukishima doesn’t know how to feel about that at the moment.

So the club headed off to the building where they would be staying. Sakura made idle chat with Kiyoko, who had asked her to help with making dinner. The first-year denied having any sort of skill in the kitchen that could help the older girl out, but Kiyoko had shaken her head and insisted she could help out. Not wanting to disappoint her senpai, Sakura reluctantly agreed. She isn’t a cook by far, but she’ll help out any way she can. Besides, it’s not like Sakura would be doing much. She’s the photographer and there’s no job for her to do right now, might as well as make herself useful.

While Sakura headed off to the kitchen with Kiyoko and Takeda, the boys piled into the building and started to take a look around. “So, this is the training camp!” Shōyō had to be the most excited in the group as he ran around from room to room with sparkles in his eyes.

Kageyama watched him do it, “Chill out a little.”

“I can’t help it!” He turned around to the gloomy setter, “I’ve never done a training camp before!”

Tsukishima grunted as he came over to them with a scowl, “What’s so great about having a bunch of dirty guys in your face all day long?”

“Tsukishima, you turd!” Tanaka suddenly slid over to the first-year with fire in his eyes.

Nishinoya joined him with just as much feistiness in him, “All air within a quarter-mile radius of Kiyoko is sparkling clean!”

“Can you not tell that this air here is as fresh and clear as the Ou Mountain spring?” Tanaka asked, “I pity you.”

Though the vice-captain walked up from behind them, “Shimizu lives nearby, so she goes home when the day’s done.” With the damage done to the two-brain-cell duo, Suga waddled off triumphantly, as if he hadn't just dismantled the second-years fantasy. So the two were face down on the ground, almost completely lifeless. Like a pair of zombies, the duo crawled through the hallway. They finally slithered their way up to the kitchen doors, which were opened up by their club advisor.

Takeda jumped at the sight of the near-dead second-years, “Wh-what are you guys doing?”

“Take,” Tanaka gasped out and reached his withered hand out to the teacher, “it’s hopeless; we’re done for.”

Though before he and Nishinoya could truly perish, there was a shining ray of godly light that blessed them. The origin of that light of course being the goddess herself, Kiyoko. Instantly their youthful expression came back as life was breathed back into their souls. The manager had just finished helping out with making some food with the club advisor and photographer. Said photography poked her head out from behind Kiyoko with a disturbed expression.

“You two are so annoying,” Sakura clicked her tongue as the rest of the team came walking down the hall. She had been helping Kiyoko and Takeda with cooking up the meal for the boys. However, Sakura is far too unskilled with any sort of cooking that she was mainly just put on cleaning duty. Though it’s not like she minded. A far less chance of her burning something and being embarrassed. Sakura may be pretty smart, but she can’t even boil water without burning it. How that’s possible, no one knows. 

Though at the moment, she was really questioning why she was here. Oh, yeah, because she can’t say no to her brother. She only has herself to blame for this.

The boys all came into the kitchen, already smelling the amazing food that Kiyoko and Takeda had worked on for them. Everyone sat down for their meal, “Thank you for the food!” They all gorged themselves on their meal happily.

Sakura watched in rapt fascination as Kageyama scarfed down his food just as fast as her brother. It was both disgusting and interesting to find that there was someone else who ate as quickly and as much as her brother. Though then again those two are a bit more alike than they’d say. Still, this freaked her out just a little bit more than she’d admit.

Kiyoko then got up, “Does anyone want seconds?”

The two biggest Kiyoko simps were instantly in front of her with their empty plates, “Yes, thank you.”

“Okay.”

Sakura wasn’t sure if she should have taken Kiyoko up on her offer to stay with her. As much as she’d have liked to have this large room to herself, she isn’t necessarily used to sleeping by herself. That’s due to the fact that she and Shōyō have shared a room since they were born. Though it’s not like she could sleep in the same room as the boys. For the sake of their safety and her sanity. God forbid one of the boys woke her up and faced the demon that she is in the morning. Someone may end up hurt!

Though she’ll just have to deal with it. Another adventure on her own that she could use to try and distance herself from Shōyō. This one is a tad bit more forced, however, after her uplifting day at the gallery yesterday, she’ll deal with it a lot easier than usual. So she settled herself into the large room. She set up her mat and already changed into her pajamas which is a pair of blue baggy sweatpants and a light-green tank-top. 

However, things never go to plan, especially with the Karasuno volleyball club around. So she found herself jumping at the sound of screams coming from the main lobby. It sounded as though it was Tanaka and Shōyō. That certainly is a little bit concerning. So she headed out of her room and down the stairs. She isn’t necessarily happy to have her nighttime ritual interrupted. However, if there was something bad happening, she might as well find out what it is.

Though as she was heading down the stairs, there were even more screams, this time Nishinoya seemed to join in. She rounded the corner of the landing on the stairwell to find the three morons screaming at the top of their lungs as a frantic Asahi tried to calm them down. Sakura raised an eyebrow at them and realized that there really isn't anything wrong. They were just screaming for some stupid reason. Though why did she think it was anything else.

From down the hall, she could hear their captain shout at them angrily, “Shut up, you guys!”

Sakura’s expression grew even more annoyed, “stop screaming.” Though her harsh voice and small silhouette looming on the stairs gave her a bit of a demonic appearance. In turn, this caused all the boys to scream again in fear. Yeah, it certainly was going to be a long week.

Once the morning came, Sakura slowly got herself ready in the morning. One of the good things was that she didn’t have to worry about having any of the boys around while she woke up. So it was pretty easy for her to get herself ready and head downstairs.

Just as she stepped off the final step, she found that the team manager had just arrived. Thankfully, Kiyoko had been able to avoid all the shenanigans from last night. She smiled with her pearly white teeth as the younger girl walked over to her, “Good morning, Hinata-chan.”

“Kiyoko-senpai,” Sakura greeted her politely.

The third-year tilted her head in the direction of the kitchen, “Do you mind helping me again with preparing breakfast?”

“Hm, why not.” Sakura shrugged her shoulders as they made their way into the room. “Not like I have anything else to do until the practice match.”

“I appreciate your help.”

“Yeah.” So the girls headed into the kitchen and got themselves ready to start cooking. They put on some aprons and grabbed the ingredients that they would need to make the food. While Kiyoko worked on cooking up the actual food, Sakura focused on chopping up the ingredients. They were silent with each other, the only real sound in the kitchen is the stove and knife cutting up vegetables. Though Sakura decided to try and make some conversation, even if she is enjoying the quiet. “Say, senpai,” Kiyoko hummed in acknowledgment, “how do you deal with these morons all the time?”

There was a small, angelic chuckle in reply as she started to cook up some rice. “They are a handful to handle,” she replied truthfully, “though I find that they can be manageable.”

Sakura raised an eyebrow. She truly thought that Kiyoko had to be a saint with the way she has such patience for these boys. Especially with the likes of the club’s resident simps and drama queen. Sakura clicked her tongue, “I suppose it helps with having years of experience with them, huh?”

Kiyoko laughed, “Yes, that helps.”

Sakura put some of the chopped-up ingredients into a bowl, “I know that Shōyō and the King have certainly added in on the chaos as well.”

“They have.” There was no denying that things have certainly become lively with the new first-years. “Though the club itself would not be as fun to be around if the boys weren’t themselves.”

Sakura hummed in consideration about that. She can’t say that the club didn’t have personality. Because everyone certainly is an interesting character as a part of the club. “Maybe.” After that, the conversation between the two continued on. It seems like they were starting to bond over retelling stories about the team. Whether they are embarrassing or not. Actually, the more embarrassing the better, in Sakura’s opinion. 

After helping with breakfast and eating the meal, everyone headed back to the gym for practice. They were once again practicing their receives the same way they were yesterday. The only real difference was that Sakura was there to watch them from her spot on the floor.

“Keep moving your legs!” Ukai shouted at Shōyō who had missed another one of his receives, “You’re not a windmill!”

Shōyō got back up and nodded his head strongly, “Yessir! One more!”

This time he was able to save the receive decently which earned him a compliment from Tanaka, “Nice, Hinata!”

“He’s made five,” Kiyoko commented.

“Okay, that’s one time around for everyone.” Ukai clapped his hands, “Next up is running!”

“Thank you!”

The boys all changed their shoes and ran outside to start their jog as instructed. Kiyoko walked off to start some other manager things, which left Sakura by herself. Well, except for the adults.

“They sure are energetic.” Takeda commented with a small chuckle, “They even practice during the lunch break.”

Ukai nodded his head, “I saw Kageyama running early in the morning too.”

“Yeah, Hinata does that too. He said it’s because he doesn’t have to go over the mountains while he’s at camp.”

“Over that mountain?” Ukai asked, “That explains his stamina. Why aren’t you the same way?” The pair of adults then turned to the last teenager in the gym who just shrugged her shoulders.

Sakura sighed, uninterested, “That’s one of life’s mysteries.”

Takeda then turned back up to the temporary coach, “Let me guess… are you worrying about the game lineup?”

“I can’t decide… on the setter.” Ukai sighed heavily, the decision obviously weighing heavily on his shoulders. “For raw power, I’d use Kagayama. Even though Sugawara has built up his abilities playing alongside the ace since he was a first-year. Kageyama has the kind of talent that can skip over that in the blink of an eye.” He then shrugged his shoulders unsure. “However, because Sugawara has been playing all this time, he most likely has the trust of his teammates.”

It is a very tough decision to make. Both of these boys are extremely talented, choosing who to bench would be difficult for him. Takeda though saw this also as a personal dilemma for Ukai. “Is the real reason you’re having a tough decision, due to the fact that Sugawara is in his third year of high school?” The coach gasped slightly as Takeda was able to see what the conflict within him was. “Being a third-year means that this year is your last so it’s special.” Though Takeda thought that he overstepped a bit as he waved his hands. “I’m sorry! I shouldn’t interfere.”

“No, you may be right.” Ukai shook his head,  “The only time I got to be in the starting lineup in all three years of high school was when the official setter, who was my underclassman, couldn't play due to an injury. Back then it was simply frustrating that they didn’t put me in the game. But now that I’ve taken on the coach’s job, even temporarily, I can’t allow myself… to feel like a player.”

They were enveloped in silence for a while as they both thought it over. Ukai can’t make any sort of decision for a team that he was just coaching, temporarily coaching as it is, and make such a big decision. Choosing the regulars could make or break the team. Especially a team that wasn’t that united at the moment. “I think you should choose whoever will be best for the team. Suga would agree.” 

“You think so?” Ukai asked as the two adults turned to glance at the teen girl who decided to voice her opinion on his. Though her eyes weren’t even pointed at them, she seemed to be more interested in her fingers.

Sakura hummed with a tilted head, not really paying attention to the conversation. “Suga doesn’t seem to be the type to hold a grudge about this.” She became quiet for a second, before shaking her head. “Though what I say shouldn’t mean anything, I’m just the photographer.” However, she may just be right.

Shōyō is lost. Totally lost. He may or may not have run a bit too fast and accidentally distanced himself from his team after trying to beat Kageyama. If only he had Sakura around to help him out, she has a far better sense of direction than him. Though just as he was losing hope for finding any sort of help for getting back to the gym, he spotted some people sitting by a fence. Well, a boy with dyed hair was sitting on the edge of a fence while a girl was leaning against it and looking over his shoulder.  The boy has blonde hair with black roots and with his face stuffed into his phone. Every once in a while he furrowed his eyebrows as he concentrated on what he was doing on the game and also scowled at the girl beside him. The girl with a large smile leaned over the boy’s shoulder and made comments right in his ear, in order to annoy him no doubt. Her shoulder-length chestnut hair swayed around her green eyes as she watched her friend play on his phone.

The first-year perked up at seeing them and jogged up to the pair, “Hey, what you guys up to?"

The two other teenagers jumped at the sudden voice as they turned to see the orange-haired boy run over to them. The girl flashed Shōyō a bright and kind smile while the boy shyly looked away from him. The boy’s voice was soft as he answered him, "Well, it's just, uh we're lost..."

"You're lost?” Shōyō asked, “Are you two from out of town?"

"Mhm," the pudding head hummed.

The taller girl nodded her head rapidly, "Yeah, we're from the city!" The girl really is a lot taller than Shōyō. Then again, just about everyone is. Though she had to be about 180cm or so, certainly a decently tall girl.

"Wow! Really?" Shōyō exclaimed in amazement. He could tell that the girl was a tad bit more talkative than the boy. The girl, with her forest green eyes, smiled kindly at him while the other teen was still looking at his phone. He’s seen this before. After all, his sister can tend to be a bit of an antisocial person. He then looked down at the boy before jumping into a squat next to him. "Is that a fun game?"

The boy bristled slightly at the close proximity as the girl snickered. After giving the girl a side glare, he answered the younger boy, "Uh, not really, I'm just trying to pass the time."

"Oh,” Shōyō commented, a bit disappointed that the boy’s answers were a bit short. Though he then noticed the bag beside him and Shōyō’s eyes sparkled, “Hey, do you play too!?” He pointed to the shoes that were in the bag happily, “Those volleyball shoes in your bag."

"Um, yeah," the boy said which caused the girl to smile warmly at the interaction. 

Aw, look at Ken making a friend all on his own! She thought to herself while wiping a tear from her eye. I can’t wait to tell Tetsu.

"I'm Hinata Shōyō.” The energetic ball of sunshine introduced himself to the two, “So what're your names"

The pair shared a glance with each other. While the boy looked as though he was reluctant, the girl nudged him in his shoulder encouragingly. He sighed and muttered out, "Kozume..."

"Kozume?” Shōyō tilted his head, “Is that your first name?"

The boy shook his head and spoke in his soft voice, "No, it's... it's Kenma."

The tall girl then jumped at the first-year and swung an arm around his shoulders. She seemed to be buzzing in place, obviously excited to get to meet someone new. Not only that but having someone easily able to make Kenma talk this much was alright in her books. "You can just call me Yua, Hinata!"

Shōyō nodded his head happily at the girl, "So are you two in high school?"

"Yeah," Kenma grunted.

The energetic boy jumped, "What years are you guys in? I'm a first-year."

"We’re both second-years!" Yua sang.

He bristled, "Aw crap, you guys are my upperclassmen,” He bowed deeply, “I'm so sorry!"

Kenma just sighed, "It's okay, after all, that age-based hierarchy stuff that comes with sports, it's lame."

"Oh, you think?” The first-year furrowed his eyebrows.

However, Yua laughed happily with her hands on her hips, “I don’t mind being called senpai though!” 

Shōyō nodded his head rapidly at her before turning back to Kenma, “Uh, so do you like volleyball?"

The boy shrugged his shoulders, "It's fine, I can't say I really care.” Kenma drawled out, “I don't mind it or anything, but I'm not big on getting all worn out. But, uh, my friend likes to play and he needs me, so I play too."

Yua shook her head at him. Her good friend is never one to admit that he likes sports. She knows that he likes it enough to stick with it into high school, so that was something. To her at least. Well, it might also be because she’s been around to help push him into it. Especially in their third-year of middle school.

"Oh,” Shōyō blinked, “well once you get used to it, I'm sure you'll like volleyball too."

Kenma didn’t even look up from his phone, "Whatever, I'm only playing it while I'm in high school."

"Don't say it like that, Kenma.” Yua tutted while rubbing Kenma’s head, much to his annoyance. “We all know you actually like to play!" Though the boy just glazed at her boredly before rolling his eyes and looking back at his game. Yua can be such a pest sometimes.

Shōyō brought the attention back to himself as he questioned Kenma, "What’s your position?"

"Uh, I'm a setter."

The ball of sunshine jumped up and down. Yua watched him in fascination, how could one little kid be so full of energy like this? "Really? You're a lot different than the setter we've got.” He said and imitated his own setter friend, “He's really growly and scary like a saber-tooth tiger. Grr.” He then brightened, “I'm a middle blocker by the way."

Kenma just nodded his head, "Cool."

"Really?" Yua asked curiously as she thought out loud absentmindedly, "You seemed a little short for a middle blocker."

"Wha- Hey!"

Yua jumped about two feet in the air at the sight of an angered Shōyō before she scuttled behind Kenma to hide from the first-year who she had accidentally upset. "Sorry, Hinata-kun!" It was kind of funny seeing such a tall girl trying to use her small friend as a shield from the ball of sunshine. Though could you blame her? She honestly thought he must be a libero, or maybe even a pinch server.

Shōyō calmed down a bit and shook his head, "You think that's a little bit weird. Shorter guys don't usually play that position."

"Hm, I don't think it's weird, not at all,” Kenma hummed, still not taking his eyes off of his game. Honestly, his golden eyes were glued to the screen only ever really glancing away to glare at Yua whenever she nudged him a bit. “People say a lot about me whenever I go to a game too. You know things like, 'I thought the setter was supposed to be the team member with the strongest abilities, so why did they ever pick this guy of all people.' You see, I'm not all that much of an athletic person."

Yua sighed heavily at that. She really doesn’t relate all that much to the two boys. While it seemed like they both of them usually had someone looking down on them for playing the sport and not being what people would suspect for their position, she’s never had that problem. First off, since she’s pretty tall, people usually just assume that she either plays basketball or volleyball. Of course, they’re somewhat right. So she’s never had an issue with people doubting her abilities. Maybe she shouldn’t assume what skill set people have before they play. After all, she’s best friends with Kenma, who everyone assumes isn’t the genius setter that he is. At least until it’s too late.

"Oh,” Shōyō said, bringing Yua out of her thoughts, “So does your school have a good volleyball team, or what?"

"Hm, I don't know.” Kenma shrugged his shoulders. “Apparently, it used to be good, and then it went downhill. But as of recently…” For the first time, Kenma tore his gaze away from his phone and turned to look up at Kenma. His cat-like eyes piercing the younger boy in his spot. “I would say, it's pretty good."

Yua laughed at the remark, not really seeing the awed expression on Shōyō’s face. “You guys aren’t just pretty good, Ken.” 

Shōyō furrowed his eyebrows, "Hang on, what school is-"

"Hey, Kenma, Yua!" A sudden voice shouted at the pair. The tio turned to find that another boy had approached them. He was quite tall, probably as tall as Tsukishima, and has a head of hair that appeared as though he had just rolled out of bed.

Kenma’s face brightened just a tad bit, "Kuroo.” He grabbed his bag and stood up. Yua hopped on over to the tall, black-haired boy who came to get them. Kenma then turned to Shōyō, “Got to go. Later, Okay?"

Yua waved over to her new friend with a dazzling smile, "Nice meeting you, Hinata-kun!"

The trio then started to walk off together. The tallest boy, Kuroo, grunted at the pair, "You guys shouldn't wander off."

"Sorry," Kenma muttered, though not actually sorry going by the tone of his voice.

Yua waved her hands dismissively at her other best friend, "Hey, You told me to keep an eye on Kenma." She casually shrugged her shoulders and walked beside the roster-haired boy.

Kuroo shook his head, "You guys don't know your way around here."

"Yeah, yeah,” Yua waved him off, stretching her gangly arms over her head, “Can we eat? I'm starving."

Though as they walked away, Shōyō watched them go with a confused expression. What did Kenma mean by “later”?

Endo strolled down the slightly darkened hallway heading towards the cafeteria for yet another satisfying dinner with the team. Sure, the food wasn’t anything like the Michelin star level of meals that he gets at home. However, he’d say that it's far better than the food he gets from private chefs. After all, he gets to eat with his friends, instead of by himself at home. The food doesn’t really matter as long as he’s in good company, in his opinion.

So he, along with Asahi and Daichi, was happily making their way towards their next meal. Suga wasn’t with them, since he had left a little early, saying that he had to do something. However, it seemed like they had found him and what he had to do.

“Mr. Ukai?” Suga said to the coach who had been grabbing a drink from the vending machine. Meanwhile, Endo, Daichi, and Asahi quickly stopped themselves and started to eavesdrop on their conversation. Endo was more than pleased to do it, any juicy tidbit into Suga’s thinking is something that he is more than willing to get a sip of.

The older man turned to Suga, “What’s up?”

“Us guys in our third year don’t have a next year,” the third-year started off strongly, “That’s why I want us to win as many games as possible. I want us to get the ticket to the next game. If Kageyama is the better choice to get that ticket, I think you should select him without hesitation. Daichi, Asahi, and Endo have been playing together since they were first-years. I want to stand on the same court with them, even if it’s just for one play.” He swallowed thickly, “When Kageyama gets tired or something unexpected happens, even if you think it’s pitiful for me to be in this position despite my seniority, if it means I’ll have more chances to play in games, I’ll take what I can get. Even if I’m not the official setter, I will never give up on playing. I want to be given more chances to do that. I’m sorry for being so rude.”

Ukai stared at the young man for a moment. Suga was willing to give up his spot as the regular setter to Kageyama if it meant that they advanced further in the tournament? That certainly is the definition of thinking like a team player. Instead of putting his own want or need to play his last year of high school with his friends as a regular, Suga wanted to make sure that they succeeded. That they moved on as far as they could without him being the regular setter for the team. How selfless. Ukai processed what he had said before sighing, “Sugawara… I believe I underestimated you. To be honest, you’re freaking me out right now.”

Suga blanched, “What?”

“I’m still green as an instructor,” he continued, “but I’ll do everything I can to keep you guys on the winning track.”

That’s all that the setter had to hear as he bowed deeply in gratitude, “Thank you, Sir!”

“Sure.”

Around the corner, from their eavesdropping spot, expressions of confrontation were present on Asahi and Daichi’s faces. Endo really looked as though he had heard some even more drama material. After all, who doesn’t like a little competition among friends? A toss-up for the spot as a setter on the team between the first-year and third-year would certainly bring a bit of drama to the team.

“We’re gonna get motivated,” Daichi commented. “We’re going after that one extra victory.”

Asahi nodded his head, “Yeah!”

“Whatever you guys want,” Endo commented with a firm nod. He then gave them a thumbs up with a dashing smirk. “I’ll help anyway I can.”

“Thank you for the food!”

Now everyone was in the kitchen, ready to devour the food that was made for them. Well, Kageyama and Shōyō were basically halfway done with their meals after only five minutes. It was impressive how they could inhale their food that quickly without choking. Sakura watched them from her spot besides Shōyō with an apprehensive expression. She made sure to keep an extra glass of water beside her just in case one of those idiots needed it for eating their food too quickly.

Across from them, Tsukshima watched the pair with disgust, “Where do you get that appetite?” Next to him, Yamaguchi looked as though he was going to be sick at the way the troublesome duo stuff their food down their throat. So Sakura offered the glass to him, who was appreciative of his friend keeping an eye on him. There’s no need for him to get sick just from watching them.

“Hey, eat up!” Nishinoya then slides in from nowhere, “Force it down if you have to!” Yeah, they were certainly taking that advice. They barely even pulled their faces out of their bowls to look at him.

At one of the other tables with the third-years, Suga was eating quite a lot as well. Well, not as much as thing one and thing two, but more than the setter usually would. Daichi noticed with a chuckle, “You’ve got a healthy appetite today, Suga.”

“Really?” Suga asked with a smile, “I need to fill up… so I can work my hardest!”

“Then here, take my veggies,” Endo commented as he slid the plate over to his friend who just shrugged his shoulders and did as he said. The blonde made a disgusted expression, “You know I hate them.”

At the table with first-years, Nishinoya pointed at Shōyō who had asked for some of Yamaguchi’s food. “You! Let Yamaguchi eat his own food!”

Sakura rolled her eyes and offered her rice to Shōyō, “Here, have mine.” She scoffed as her brother just took the bowl from her, now done with his own large portion, and moved on to hers. She started to drink her tea, “Watching you two has made me lose my appetite.”

“Shouldn’t you make sure you eat your food?” Tsukishima snickered, and started to mock her a bit, “So that way you can grow up big and strong one day.”

“If that's the case,” Sakura lazily commented with her eyes sharply staring at him from over the rim of her cup, “you probably shouldn’t eat anymore. Lest you grow too tall.” She took a sip and rolled her eyes again. It seems like she’s doing that a lot. “God knows your attitude is too big for anyone to handle.”

Tsukishima glared at her as the other first-years laughed at the interaction. She smirked in return and ignored him in favor of looking at her phone. Yeah, there’s no way Tsukishima was going to get on her nerves any time soon. She’s above his petty comments… for now.

Lined up in the gym, Ukai held up a board showing just who was going to be opening up for the game against the cats. “This is our starting order for the Nekoma game.” It’s no surprise to see that the ace is in the lineup, along with the captain. Obviously, Kageyama was chosen to be the starting setter while Shōyō and Tsukiahima were the middle blockers. Lastly, Nishinoya and Tanaka were also on the starting lineup. Those on the bench weren’t exactly happy but knew that this would happen. Well, Endo wasn’t exactly upset about being on the bench, he could care less if he was a regular or not. “You guys haven’t had much time to get acquainted. I don’t expect you to function with mechanical precision. Just because a hotshot libero is in the club and the ace returned, it doesn’t mean that victory is a sure thing. The winner keeps the ball in play. We’ll see how far this ragtag team can go. This is Karasuno VS its nemesis, the Cats!”

The boys all nodded their heads with a shout, “Yes, Sir!”

“Asahi!” The tall third-year bristled at the shout from Nishinoya. He slowly turned around to see that the libero was staring up at him with his hands on his hips. “Setting Suga aside, don’t you feel bad for Ennoshita?”

Asahi stared at him in confusion, “What?”

“Only the strong stand on the court! This is obvious!”

“Um, Asahi?” Ennoshita called, “I haven’t always been dedicated to the sport. I ran away from the game once. That’s why…”

Nishinoya then cut him off with his hands on his hips, “Once he becomes tougher than you in body and spirit, he’ll take away that regular spot from you, fair and square! Right, Chikara?”

“Don’t put words in my mouth,” The other second-year shook his head rapidly, already seeing that Nishinoya was just going to cause him problems by saying these things.

The libero “No, wait. You’d have to take Ryu’s regular spot first!”

Tanaka ran up to Ennoshita and grabbed him by the front of his shirt. “That’s fine by me, scumbag!” The poor other second-year was at the mercy of the overzealous boy who shook him around. “Come at me, Ennoshita, you scumbag!”

Fearing for his well-being, Ennoshita tried to fight his way out of Tanaka’s grip. “Nishinoya, just stop it, okay?”

Meanwhile, Endo watched it from the side with Suga and Daichi. He snickered at the scene, “do you think one of them is going to get hurt?” He leaned over to his friends, “I bet ¥10,000 that Tanaka’s gonna end up on his ass.”

Suga and Daichi shared a glance with each other. There goes Endo, throwing his wealth around. He acts like ¥10,000 is pocket change to him, which might be. Daichi shook his head, “I’m not taking that bet.”

“Oh, come on~!” Endo whined, “Not even gonna match it?”

Suga deadpanned, “Like we have money for that, Mr. Rich boy.”

“You guys are no fun,” the blonde blew a raspberry, “Oh, to be poor peasants. How dull your lives must be.”

“Endo!”

Sakura watched the interaction blankly. These guys sure are a lively bunch… They may end up giving her a migraine soon.

Another day went by for the team. Their routine easily was followed by everyone like a well-oiled machine. The day started with the girls and Takeda making breakfast again followed by some of the boys going out on a run. Though that was usually just Shōyō and Kageyama, which always involved the two of them racing each other. Then the entire team would meet up for their practice a little later in the morning. Currently, as the boys were practicing, Sakura followed Kiyoko into the gym. She carried a bag full of uniforms for the team. Kiyoko had asked her to help pick them up once they were done, and if it meant not being bothered by any of the boys for a short while, Sakura agreed. The two girls walked up to the club advisor. “Sir?”

Takeda turned to them, “Hey, are they ready?”

“Yes,” she nodded her head and the two him with the bags, “the uniforms have been cleaned and altered.”

So they gathered up the boys and handed out the uniforms to them all. Sakura smiled just a bit as she handed her brother his own jersey. It was number ten, just like his idol. It warms her heart to know that Shōyō really is on his own journey to becoming the next Tiny Giant, his ultimate dream.

He accepted the uniform from his sister with stars in his eyes, “I saw this on TV! Hey! Imouto, take a picture!” He jumped and held up the uniform to her to take a photo, only for him to get distracted by Nishinoya’s uniform. “Noya’s the only one who gets orange! That stands out!”

“Well, duh,” Nishinoya boasted with his hands on his hips, “that’s because I’m the star!”

“The star!” Shōyō exclaimed in awe.

Kageyama narrowed his eyes at the orange-haired boy, “During a game, the libero goes on and off the court many times, so he is different from the others to make it obvious, dumbass.”

“I-I knew that!” Shōyō bristled, “Of course I knew that!”

Sakura shook her head, “Even I doubt that you did.”

Her brother scowled at her slightly before noticing Kageyama’s jersey number being nine, “Kageyama’s is one number higher.”

“I knew he’d say that,” Tanaka and Tsukishima chorused together.

“We’re first-years,” Kageyama glared, “so be grateful that you’re getting a uniform at all.”

“I know that!”

Once again, Sakura spoke up, “Doubtful.”

“I get it.” Dachi chuckled, “He doesn’t remember the number.”

Suga shook his head, “He only saw him on TV that one time.”

The captain then explained, “The number worn by the Tiny Giant when he played in the Nationals was 10.”

Sakura scoffed lightly under her breath, “you would think you’d remember something as important as that.” Though she’s probably expecting too much of her brother. He has the attention span of a puppy.

Shōyō’s eyes widened as he spun around to face Ukai, “Did you arrange this especially for me, Coach?”

“No, it was a fluke.” Ukai shook his head.

With his shining eyes, Shōyō stared down at his jersey in a new light, “Then it’s destiny!”

Kageyama rolled his eyes, “It was a fluke.”

“Don’t be jealous of me, Kageyama,” Shōyō said, patting him on the back.

Kageyama raged, “Why would I be jealous of you?”

The others chuckled at the interaction before Shōyō turned to one of his senpais who was still admiring his uniform. “Um… Endo-senpai?”

The blonde turned to glance down at his kohai, “Yes.”

“Why is your number thirteen?” Shōyō pointed at the older teen's jersey with the odd number on it, “You’re a third-year, so shouldn’t your number be higher?”

The boy shrugged his shoulders, “Well, yeah, I guess. But just like how you like the number ten, I love the number thirteen.”

“Why?”

Endo’s smile widened to a disturbing length, “It's an unlucky number of course!”

Kageyama tilted his head, “Thirteen is unlucky?”

“Yeah!” He exclaimed, “Back home, it’s considered especially unlucky, like how number four is unlucky here in Japan.” Endo explained before looking down at his jersey, the white of the number staring back at him as he seemed to grow to be a mix between sentimental… and resentment. “I find that… I’m quite an unlucky person, despite everything that I might have. So I like the number because it’s just very… me.”

The other third-years shared a look with each other. They all had an inkling as to what made him feel this way. Asahi most of all knew why, since he knew what Endo’s childhood was like. They all know that Endo has just about everything he could ask for due to his family’s wealth, however, Asahi is well aware that Endo doesn’t have what he wants. Well, he really hasn’t had it until he joined the volleyball club. Of course, the ace knows that after this year… Endo is likely to lose it as well.

“Incidentally,” Ukai said, drawing everyone’s attention back to him, “at the time Hinata’s hero, the Tiny Giant, played here, Karasuno was at its best. But for all that, Karasuno didn’t beat Nekoma a single time. It ended in a losing streak. I want you to clear our name.”

“Yessir!”

“Okay, now let’s resume practice!”

“Thank you!” The boys all exclaimed before running off to do just as he said.

“That must mean that Nekoma has a good team,” Takeda hummed, “What kind of team do they have?”

Ukai shrugged his shoulders, “I don’t know their current status, but they’ve always had good receivers. They never had any stand-out players, but they also had no holes in their defense. They’re our opposite. They’re called the Cats for a reason. They’re flexible.” He then glanced at Sakura who was idly typing on her phone. “Do you know anything?”

Sakura looked up at them, now seeing that they were addressing her. She just turned her eyes back to her phone, “Me? Why would I know about a team from Tokyo?”

“You seem to be the type to know everything, I guess,” Ukai explained. Really she thought that she would know everything about everyone. It certainly seems that way to him at least.

“Tch. No,” Sakura grunted, “I don’t know about this team. I don’t concern myself with other schools unless it has to do with Shō…” She then paused and placed her hand on her chin in thought, “though guess I should find out something. Would definitely help with understanding how his quick attack would fare against his opponents.” There’s nothing wrong with doing a little bit of research on their opponents. Though should she really do it? Considering she’s not even on the team? Oh well, she’ll think about it some more later.

Ukai and Takeda eyed her for a moment as she seemed to be mulling over something. “Hm. You want to help you brother right?” Ukai asked, already knowing the answer. “If we get a few more practice matches, it would probably be a good idea for you to find out more about those teams they’ll play against.”

“So you want me to be a spy?” Sakura asked lazily, “Like a private investigator?”

Ukai nodded his head, “Yeah.”

Sakura huffed, “I have my own life, you know.” Not a total lie, but also not the complete truth. She waved her hand at him, “I’m not going to spend my time stalking other schools.”

“It was just an idea!”

The game between Nekoma and Shirato is currently in progress. In the beginning, even if the players from Shirato didn’t think that Nekoma could be all that good, especially considering their setter is some meek little guy, they were now eating their words. Not only is Nekoma extremely cat-like, but they are also strategic to a terrifying degree. Of course, that’s all thanks to their genius setter, Kenma.

Kuroo, the tall, black-haired third-year of the team and captain, was able to make a receive and make it look easy. After that, it was a piece of cake for Kenma to set the ball and Yamamoto to spike it for the final point.

“All right!”

“They don’t have any geniuses on attack or defense,” one of the Shirato players gasped out as they watched the victors celebrate their win, “so why are they so good?”

On the Nekoma side of the net, Yua bounced up to the team and handed them some towels and water bottles. A large smile was plastered on her face, obviously excited with seeing her boys win yet another game. “Good job, boys!”

“Do you have to be so loud?” Kenma cringed at her energetic voice as he took the water she offered him, “You’re really embarrassing.”

“Aw, don’t pout so much Ken,” Yua whined at him before grinning evilly at him, “or you’ll find yourself without your switch for the rest of this trip.” Oh yes, she knew just how to motivate her friend. Just threaten his one true love in life, video games. 

Kenma froze at the threat and glared at her with his golden eyes. “You wouldn’t.”

“She would,” Yaku Morisuke, the third-year libero, commented with a chuckle, “and you know it.” Yua is known for doing just that to Kenma in the past. After all, she always tries to encourage her best friend to be more invested in volleyball instead of just video games. It’s not that she thought they were bad or anything, it was just that she’d like to see him be a bit more social and play sports a bit more.

Kenma glared at nothing as he couldn’t argue. She’s done it in the past and he honestly doesn’t doubt that she’ll do it again. He muttered out, “I hate you.”

“Aw,” Yua cooed and grabbed her friend in a tight hug which caused Kenma to cringe, “I love you too!” The rest of the Nekoma team laughed at the antics of their manager and setter.

Nighttime rolled around once again as crickets chirped their greetings to the stars in the sky. Currently, the Nekoma team is getting ready for bed. Since they need rest for their next game tomorrow against their rival school, the murderous crows; Karasuno. 

The one person who seemed to make an issue with their new opponents over nothing was obviously Yamamoto Taketora. The mohawk rocking second-year, “Does our fated opponent, Karasuno, have a female manager? Yes or no? My yakisoba bun says no!”

“What?” Shibiyama Yuki, a first-year libero, questioned, “I want them to have one, so I say yes!”

Inouka So, another first-year though a middle blocker, smiled widely, “Same here.”

“You idiot!” Yamamoto shouted and turned to them pointedly, “We already have Yua, so it would be frustrating if they had one too!” The other boys tilted their heads, “What if it’s far worse, and their manager is both female and beautiful? I would never forgive that! Ever!” He started to cry, freaking out just about everyone else in the room as he jumped up to shout out the window. “If that time should come, prepare to meet your fate, Karasuno!”

Kuroo, with his patience running thin, turned to shout at him, “Yamamoto, shut up!” Beside him, Yua shook her head at the shenanigans of her team with narrowed eyes. Why had she agreed to be this team's manager? Oh, yeah cause it was the only way to make sure that Kenma actually stuck with the team instead of just relying on Kuroo to make sure that he stuck around. Besides, it’s better to have the two of them around Kenma to make sure he stayed on the team.

“Hey!” Yua shouted as she growled at the boy. She jumped up and pointed at Yamamoto with a glare, “Are you saying I’m not beautiful!”

Yamamoto shook his head rapidly, “You’re too much of a brute for me, Yua!” He then crossed his arms over his chest, “Besides, everyone knows you're off limits!” Yeah, he was kind of right. After all, his type of girl is the elegant type. Meanwhile, Yua is a bit more tomboyish and vulgar than that type of girl. Oh, well.

“You’re just not into strong, hot women like myself, huh,” Yua glared at him before plopping back down next to her third-year friend. She leaned against him with a loud, dramatic sigh. “Humph, I know I’m hot,” she blinked her long eyelashes at her friend, “I’m hot right, Tetsu?”

“Well-” Though he didn’t get to answer when Yua smacked Kuroo with a pillow.

She smugly smiled, “You’re going to say yes, I know it.” Kuroo mumbled something into the pillow that sounded like he was trying to say, ‘you’ll ignore me no matter what I say.’

“Hey, what do you think, Kenma?” Yamamoto asked as they all turned to look at the boy who was just playing his game, as usual. Thankfully, Yua hadn’t taken his games from him. Though she’s still debating it, after all, he needs lost of rest tonight and he can’t get that by staying up all night and playing his games.

Kenma didn’t look up as he drawled out, “It wouldn’t matter either way.”

Yamamoto grumbled, “I knew you’d say that.”

“But…” Kenma trailed off, bringing everyone’s attention back to him as they waited for him to continue. He then looked up with his eyes glistening slightly, “I am looking forward to our game with them, just a little.”

All of his teammates, plus Yua, stared at him in shock. Yamamoto seemed to be the most freaked out by this, “M-Mr. Unenthusiastic Kenma is actually looking forward to a game?”

Growing fed up with the bountiful energy that the second-year ace has, Kuroo smirked dangerously at him, “Yamamoto, would you like me to put your excess energy to use by upping your training workload?”

Yamamoto shivered in fear at the glare from his captain, “S-sorry, Sir.”

Yua smirked at him, “Pay back’s a bitch.”

Back with the Karasuno team, Sakura was currently heading back to her room after a nice bath. It’s always so refreshing to have a nice bath by herself after having to deal with the team all day. She’s kind of surprised that she hasn’t gotten any migraines just yet. There have been some close calls but they were avoided after taking some medicine. Though there’s still tomorrow. Just as she was finishing up drying her short hair and walking down the corridor, she could hear thing one and thing two yelling as they came running towards her.

Sakura moved out of the way just in time to watch as the two idiots raced past her. Her brother is in the lead while Kageyama was gaining on him, shouting at Shōyō for being a cheater. She stared after where they had gone for a moment before shaking her head and then continuing on her way. Just as she was coming up on the room that the boys were sleeping in, she found Yamaguchi and Tsukishima leaning out of the door. They too were watching as the troublesome duo continued to race each other to the baths.

“It’s nighttime, how do they have the energy to run around,” Sakura yawned turning to the other two.

Tsukishima scoffed, “One of them is your brother, shouldn’t you be used to it?” Yamaguchi nudged him with his elbow, obviously thinking it wasn’t a good idea to insult her brother in front of her.

However, Sakura has somewhat thicker skin now. She just shrugged her shoulders, “Maybe. I’m just surprised that there’s another idiot like him.” She tilted her head in consideration, “Never thought I’d see the day.” Truly, she didn’t think that there would be someone as obsessed with volleyball and as much of an idiot as her brother. Unfortunately, it was someone that she still isn’t necessarily fond of, but it’s whatever.

“Hey, you!” They heard an annoyed shout from Daichi, “Who’s running?”

Sakura hummed as they heard the two morons being reprimanded by their captain. She yawned cutely once again while rubbing her eyes. “Well, good night Tadashi, beanpole.”

“Night Sakura!” Yamaguchi said while the girl trotted off to head to bed. Though Tsukishima didn’t say anything, not that she expected him to. All he did was watch her go. His golden eyes followed her every move until she disappeared and Yamaguchi maneuvered him towards the baths.

Today is the day. The day of the match between Nekoma and Karasuno. The cats versus the crows. The fated reunion of the rival schools is just about to start. To say that everyone was jittery is an understatement. Shōyō and Kageyama had eaten far more food than normal because they were both excited about this and a slight bit nervous. Thankfully, Shōyō wasn’t anxious enough to get sick, this time.

So the two teams arrived at the gym around the same time. Now, each of the teams stared at each other as they lined up across each other. They sized each other up. Meanwhile, Shōyō was more than surprised to see the two teenagers that he had run into the other day there with Nekoma. Yua smiled and waved enthusiastically at the younger boy while Kenma either ignored him or didn’t notice. Yeah, looks like today is going to be an eventful match.

Chapter Text

“SHŌ, DO YOU KNOW THEM?” SAKURA ASKED her brother as he gaped at the pair of Nekoma teens. She glanced between him and the excited girl and bored boy across from them. Sakura tilted her head as she observed them closely. The boy, with dyed blonde hair, seemed to want to disappear in his spot, obviously, he’s quite antisocial and doesn’t like having people look at him. No doubt Shōyō’s gaze on him was making him a bit uncomfortable. Though it would make anyone uncomfortable with how intense her brother was staring at him. Sakura then turned her gaze to the taller girl. She looked as though she were bouncing on the balls of her feet as she waved at Shōyō happily. While much taller than the average girl, Sakura could tell that she is probably just as excitable as her brother. Meaning they may as well as have the mentality and energy of a toddler.

“Kenma! Yua-senpai!” Shōyō shouted as he chased after them. He jumped up the steps and came to stand in front of them. 

Yua leaned down to the younger boy with her wide smile,  “Ah, there’s the little guy. Heya, Hinata!”

“Y-y-you’re on the Nekoma team?” He stuttered out in surprise. Though it made sense now, now Kenma had volleyball shoes and both of the teens were wearing what seemed to be red jackets, obviously Nekoma colors.

Kenma nodded his head, “Uh, yeah.”

Yua smiled widely, “yup!”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Shōyō asked.

“You never asked,” Kenma shrugged his shoulders lightly.

Shōyō stared at him, “But you said “later”. You must have known something!”

“The words “Karasuno High School” were on your t-shirt,” Kenma stated only for Shōyō to blanch at that. How hadn’t he realized that?

Before they could continue their conversation, a mohawk-rocking ace had decided to stalk up to them. “Hey, hey, hey!” He loomed over Shōyō, “What business do you have with our setter and manager?”

“Hey…” Kenma said, seeing that Shōyō had jumped in fear.

Yua huffed at his intimidation tactic, “Tora.”

Shōyō started to back away, “I-I’m sorry!”

Though he just ended up running into his own team's attack dog, “What about you?” Tanaka grunted, “What business do you have with our first-year? Eh?”

“What’s it to you?” Yamamoto asked as the two glared at each other, “Eh?”

“You wanna rumble, city boy? Eh?”

Off to the side, Sakura stared at the interaction in disbelief. “Oh no,” she facepalmed with a cringe, “there’s two of them.” Kiyoko just chuckled from beside the younger girl. Sakura certainly didn’t know what she could do now that she’s got another Tanaka to be around. Hopefully, she doesn’t have to see him around all that much.

Yua looked in between the two boys in fascination, “Whoa, it’s like they’re long-lost twins.”

Though as the flames flickered between Tanaka and Yamamoto, the team mothers slid over to take care of them. First, it was Suga who tutted, “We’re going to “fight”. That’s why we’re here to play the match. And stop the “city boy” thing. It’s embarrassing.”

“Erk…!” Tanaka was the first to be reprimanded.

Next up was Yaku, “Yamamoto, you’re always quick to pick a fight. Stop it. It makes you look stupid.”

Yamamoto also flinched, “Erk…!”

The two teens were now sulking, nearly identically to each other as the two third-years spoke with each other. Yaku scratched the back of his head, "I’m sorry about that. He’s an embarrassment.”

“I’m sorry, too.” Suga said, “I’m embarrassed.”

“Ahhh!!” Suddenly, Yamamoto started to scream for no other reason than catching sight of Kiyoko who had started to walk by. He clutched his chest as though he were about to have a heart attack, “Gahh! A lady… manager… beauty…”

“Score!” Shibiyama exclaimed.

Inuoka agreed with a large smile, “A lady manager.”

The two high-fived, “We win yakisoba bread!”

With tears running down his face, Yamamoto rushed off like a drama queen. “I’ll make you regret this!” The beauty that is Kiyoko is just too much for him to handle it seems. After all, even if he was expecting Karasuno to have such a pretty girl as their manager, he wasn’t expecting a Goddess!

“Taketora-san, you can’t escape!” Yaku shouted after him as they all started to head into the gym.

Kageyama then walked up to Shōyō with Sakura trail up behind him. Her hands were stuffed deeply into her pockets as her usual accessory, her camera, swung around her neck. “How come you know them?” Kageyama asked.

“I met them by coincidence during a town run.” Shōyō explained to them, “Kenma said he’s Nekoma’s setter.”

Flames then started to build up behind Kageyama, as well as in his eyes as he heard that, “Setter…”

“Erk!” Shōyō jumped once again in fear.

Sakura eyed them before grabbing both of their arms, effectively breaking Kageyama out of his intense star, and pulled them into the gym. “Come on, you guys best start warming up.” She is certainly going to have such fun being around yet another group of volleyball idiots.

Both teams headed into the gym. After the harsh handshake between the captains, and a conversation between coaches, the boys all got dressed and started their stretches. This match between the cats and crows is certainly going to be interesting.

Just as Sakura was heading over to the Karasuno bench to take a set, a shadow loomed over her. Now, while just about everyone could stand over her, this was someone who was exceptionally taller than her. What does beanpole want? She scowled mentally and turned to see what the blond giant wanted. Only to find that it wasn’t Tsukishima. Instead, a pair of curious, sharp green eyes look down at her intensely. It’s that other girl that Shōyō ran into the other day. The stare almost made Sakura feel uncomfortable like this older girl could see right through her.

“Say,” Yua chirped, “you must be another Hinata. His… sister?” When she spotted the other head of orange hair, Yua grew interested. She quickly noticed that this girl was nearly identical to the boy she’s just met. She can’t lie, Yua may have mistaken this other girl for a boy. That was until she turned around and Yua could see that she in fact was not a boy.

“Yes, I’m his twin sister,” Sakura answered coolly. She’s not sure what to think of this girl, she seems nice from the kindness in her eyes and genuine curiosity swimming in them.

Yua jumped excitedly, “Oh, twins! I’ve never met twins before!”

“Okay.” Her short reply and bored tone kind of reminded Yua of Kenma. Does that mean that she’s just as unmotivated as him? Oh, only one way to really find out. Befriending her is the first step!

“You can call me Yua-senpai!” She flashed Sakura a thumbs-up with her dazzling smile, “What should I call you?”

Sakura stared at her as her eyes narrowed slightly, “Hinata…”

“Oh, but what if I confuse you with your brother?” Yua tilted her head, “I mean, you two already look nearly identical, you must get mistaken for each other all the time.” 

Sakura flinched slightly at the remainder and muttered out, “More like I only get mistaken for Shōyō.”

Yua then leaned down to her height so they were eye to eye. The sharp gaze from Yua, that pin Sakura was definitely unnerving. The older girl just tilted her head, “So, come on, what’ll I call you besides Hinata.” Yua loves getting to know people. It’s easy for her to make friends, she makes good friends with even the unlikeliest of people. She just has that aura around her that most people find extremely likable. Her charming smile and kind eyes always give people a sense of security. So Yua certainly loves having a plethora of friends from school and beyond!

Sakura just stared at her blankly and turned away from her, “Hinata-chan.”

“Boo,” Yua blew a raspberry at the younger girl's dismissive answer. Though she didn’t let that deter her as she followed after her. “So your team has two managers? I must say, I’m a bit jealous that you have another girl to hang around.” Yua then placed a hand on her chin, “Maybe I should convince Akane to join the team...” 

“I’m not a manager,” Sakura grunted. Honestly, Sakura was starting to think this girl was pestering her much like a mosquito.

“Oh?” Yua gasped in surprise. She should have suspected that being the case, especially because the girl wasn’t wearing a volleyball jacket or anything. Also, the camera around her neck should have been some sort of giveaway. “Then what are you doing with the team then?”

Sakura raised her camera from around her neck, “I’m a photographer. I just tag along to all of their practices and matches.”

“Whoa! Really!” Yua’s eyes sparkled, “That must be so cool! I should convince coach Nekomata to do the same thing!” Just imagine it, their own personal photographer following them around to take photos!

The orange-haired girl stared at her, somewhat uncomfortable with how Yua was so enthused by this. “...Sure.” Yua seems like a nice person, but Sakura certainly isn’t open to speaking so freely with her. Making friends at her own school is already somewhat of a challenge, trying to do it with teens from other schools is completely off the table at the moment. Sakura is only just starting to open up more, and she would like to make sure that she does it to the right people. She can’t really gauge if Yua is the right person for plenty of reasons. Besides, this is the first time Sakura is meeting her, and probably wouldn’t see her for a long while afterward since they attend different schools.

Across the court, Endo stared at the Nekoma team with gleaming eyes. He really had yet to tear his eyes away from the one person that he had been staring at basically ever since he first laid eyes on him, “Now, would you look at him.”

Suga looked up from tying his shoes, “Huh?”

“The cat captain, what’s his name?” Endo nodded over to said guy who was talking with his team’s setter. The tall boy had certainly caught Endo’s attention since the moment he walked into the gym.

“I’m not sure,” Asahi answered with a frown. He wasn’t really liking the tone that had slathered itself all over Endo’s words.

Daichi’s eyebrows twitched slightly as they all turned to the other captain, “His name’s Kuroo Tetsurou.”

“Oh, Kuroo Tetsurou~.” Endo purred as he eyed the captain up and down. “My, my isn’t he a handsome fellow.”

Suga punched Endo in the shoulder, causing the blond to yelp in pain, “Calm down there, Endo. No need to get hot and bothered before a game.”

“You can’t blame me though!” Endo pouted, “Sure, his bedhead is obviously a bit messy, but it certainly adds to his… appearance.”

“Don’t ogle our opponents, Endo,” Daichi chastised him, “We’ve been over this!”

“What? It’s not my fault some guys are hot!”

Asahi grunted and got up. A blank expression was now on his face as he marched past his friends, “Let’s just get ready.”

The trio of third-years watched him head off in a mixture of confusion and suspicion. Endo tilted his head as he best friend seemed to be bothered by something, “Huh.” He turned to Daichi and Suga who were eyeing Asahi with raised eyebrows. Though there was a small knowing gleam in their eyes as they moved their stare between their ace and drama queen. Endo huffed, “Did Asahi wake up on the wrong side of bed today?”

The two shared a look with each other, realizing that Endo didn’t see it. So not to give Asahi away, the two just shrugged their shoulders, “Maybe.”

Endo hummed, unsure what to really make of it. Though he just brushed it off. Asahi just might be a bit jittery about playing in a match again after so long. That must be why he seemed so bothered just then.

After stretches, both teams huddled up together for their captains to give their pre-game speeches. The Karasuno boys all circled around their captain. “Let me be frank,” Daichi started off, “We’ve all just met. We’re awkward and fragmented. But regardless, we’re facing our first match. We know nothing about Nekoma’s team or the kind of walls we’ll hit. But when we find a wall, that’s our chance to jump over it.” Each of them nodded their heads in agreement.

Sakura leaned over to Kiyoko, “Daichi is pretty good at motivational speeches.” Kiyoko hummed and nodded her head.

“We will now commence the practice game between Nekoma High and Karasuno High!”

All the boys bowed to each other, “Thank you for the game!”

The boys all got into their formations, obviously, it was the lineup that Ukai had come up beforehand. Even now, standing on the sidelines with the other benchwarmers, Endo didn’t care that he wasn’t in the game. If he played, he played, if he didn’t, oh well. It’s not the end of the world for him if he’s not put into the game.

Setting her camera up on the right settings, Sakura got herself ready to take a few photos. After all, since she’s on the bench, she’ll get a far better angle from here since she’s close up. In a real game, she certainly wouldn’t get to sit so close to the action.

So the game started with Kenma making the first serve. On the Nekoma bench, Yua cheered, “nice serve, Ken!”

The ball soared over the net right towards the Karasuno ace. “I’m open!” He called out and retrieved the ball, only for it to veer off course a bit, “I’m sorry, it was too short!”

Nishinoya shouted at him, “It’s your fault for skipping a whole month!”

“I’m sorry!”

Daichi yelled as the ball soared overhead, “Kageyama, cover it!”

“Right!” The setter called before setting the ball for the quick freak. It certainly left Nekoma in a tizzy after seeing something as fast as that.

“That was really fast,” Inouka gasped, “What was that?”

“A fast attack from that far away?” Yaku marveled.

“What was that?” Coach Nekomata grumbled out in disbelief, “He didn’t even look at the toss.” On the Karasuno bench, Takeda and Ukai both smirked viciously. Sakura had half the mind to chop the back of their necks to get those disturbing expressions off their faces. However, she wouldn’t do that to an adult, she’s not willing to get in trouble for it.

Yua gaped like a fish out of water, “how can someone be that quick?”

Kenma walked up to Shōyō with wonder in his eyes, “That’s amazing. I’m surprised.”

So after Nekoma got over their shock for such a surprising quick attack, the next point was played. Though this time, Shōyō was the perfect decoy and led the Nekoma blockers astray giving Asahi the opening to get a point.

Nekomata chuckled on the bench, “You could hardly expect him to retrieve that.”

The next point was played, however, it was Shōyō’s serve. Those never work out, including this one where the ball just hit the net. Shōyō cringed, “I-I’m sorry!”

“Hinata, you dumbass!” Kageyama shouted at him as Nishinoya ran back onto the court after his short conversation with Suga.

“Shake it off, guys!”

Takeda tilted his head, “Nishinoya sure switches a lot.”

“Yes, Sir, the libero specializes in defense,” Suga explained to the teacher, “In our team, the middle blockers, Hinata and Tsukishima, rotate to the rear guard to hit serves, and when one rally is finished, Nishinoya makes the switch.” The club advisor nodded his head at the explanation, glad that he has someone around to explain how to play the game. 

The game continued on as a few more points were won by both teams. Eventually, Karasuno ended up in the lead with 10-7. All the while, Kenma was watching them with his sharp, keen eyes. Eventually, coach Nekomata ended up calling a time-out. They certainly needed to discuss what they were going to do to try and compensate for that freak quick that Karasuno has.

Nekoma gathered around their old coach as Yua handed the boys some water bottles and patted them on the backs for a job well done. “They have a good libero and spiker.” Nekomata started, “the most ridiculous of the lot is their setter. He’s a monster. He speed tosses to the spiker’s optimum striking point. He has enough control to thread a needle.” Yua shivered at that description of the other setter. The skill that that first-year actually has is somewhat terrifying. Watching him play is like seeing some sort of miracle, add in Shōyō and it becomes even more impressive, in Yua’s opinion. “Anyway, you can’t do anything about a genius. But they’re not gonna win this thing just because they happen to have one genius on the team.” They then all looked to their resident genius.

Kenma thought for a moment, “If Shōyō is the heart of their offence… all we need to do is stop Shōyō.”

“Shōyō?” Yamamoto questioned.

Yua perked up, “The orange-haired shorty!”

“That #9 and #10 are, in a matter of speaking… an oni and his iron club.” Nekomata grumbled, “For starters, we steal the oni’s iron club.”

“We can’t let Shōyō move around so much,” Kenma said as he started to strategize, “From what I’ve seen, Shōyō simply dashes to where there are no blockers. So if the blockers move to one side, he’ll move to the opposite side.” He then  turned to one of the first-year middle blockers, “Then all we have to do is chase him.”

Inuoka nodded his head, “Yes!”

“I think anyone would be shocked the first time they saw that attack. But even if we can’t clear the first round of the game, as they keep repeating the same move… we’ll get used to it.”

The game continued on as the time-out ended. This time, Nekoma had somewhat more of a plan to try and deter the quick attack from Karasuno. So the boys started up the play for the next point as those on the Karasuno bench watched the game with a mixture of emotions. “Amazing!” Takeda exclaimed happily, “We’re doing well.”

Though Ukai shivered as they observed the game, “I’m getting the creeps.”

“Huh?” Takeda tilted his head as he and Sakura looked over to the coach.

Ukai eyed the Nekoma team, uncertainty painting his features, “Like we’re being watched and analyzed.”

“This team certainly lives up to their name, the cats.” Sakura idly commented as she snapped a photo of Asahi, “They’re far more observant than Aoba Johsai was.”

Takeda leaned over Ukai to get a look at the teen girl, “What do you think the team should do about that?”

Sakura thought for a moment and just watched the game. She clicked her tongue, “There’s not much they can do. Especially with that setter of theirs.” She eyed Kenma critically. While she can see he’s not exactly the most athletic person, he sure is intelligent. The way that he can seemingly control not only his own team but predict what Karasuno could do was a weapon that the crows can’t really beat. “He’s watching everyone closely, specifically Shōyō. The surprise of the quick attack has worn off a bit. If they’re able to slow him down enough, you’ll lose your greatest decoy.” They’d have to outsmart Kenma if they wanted to keep Shōyō’s quick attack as effective as it was in the beginning. Though she doubted that would happen. Not only is Kenma smart and observant, but Nekoma as a whole has extreme receiving skills. Sakura certainly thought that it was going to be a tough game for Karasuno.

The game continued on for a while longer, as Shōyō had been swapped out for Nishinoya. Kageyama then raised his hand and shouted out, “Right!”

“What?” Shōyō asked skeptically, “Kageyama called for a toss?”

Nishinoya hit it and set it for the first-year, “Kageyama, last!”

Impressively, Kageyama was easily able to hit the ball right past the blockers, which certainly surprised everyone. “Hey, that was a straight-down!” Kageyama pointed right at Shōyō who bristled. “You go straight along the sideline. You need to learn to choose your hits!”

“His high spec-ness seriously pisses me off!” Tanaka gritted his teeth as everyone stared at Kageyama with either irritation of surprise.

Suga nodded his head, “You said it.”

“Tobio-chan is as big of a prodigy as I thought.” Yeah, Endo understood why Oikawa was annoyed with his kohai now. Endo certainly is a bit put off by just how talented Kageyama is.

They watched as Nekoma’s #7 seemed to get even closer to blocking Shōyō’s spikes. At first, it started out as just a fingertip getting to touch the ball and he was slowly getting closer and closer to completely blocking the spikes. Sakura has to admit, it was impressive of him to do that, being just as quick as her brother is quite surprising. Though a bit anxiety-inducing for Karasuno. Not only that but Nekoma had moved their blockers, just as Kenma said, and seemingly trapped Shōyō and minimized his space for spiking.

Not only did she notice that, but she saw how Kenma was able to trick Tsukishima. While she hates having to admit it, Tsukishima is an intelligent player. Not only is he an extremely tall player, but he also is good at strategizing and observing certain aspects of the game. So for Kenma to mislead the glasses-wearing player, was both impressive and worrying. Kenma isn’t really a one-of-a-kind player like this, not really. There are plenty of players who are observant and such while playing. So if Karasuno couldn’t find a way to overcome such a player then they’d certainly have trouble winning any game against players like that.

Back on the Nekoma bench, Yua leaned forward as she watched the game intently. There was a part of her that was itching to actually play in the game. She would love to play against Karasuno, especially Shōyō and Kageyama. They’re monsters, and she certainly wants to see how well she would fare against them. 

“He hates being around others and became so conscious of their eyes that he learned how to scrutinize.” Nekomata commented to Yua and Shibayama. “He has good prediction skills. The type of prediction based on character type and skill sets.” 

Yua nodded her head, “He can see even the smallest of details in people’s movements, it almost looks like he’s psychic!”

Nekomata smiled at the enthusiasm dripping from Yua’s mouth as she spoke of her good friend. His sharp eyes then gleamed in the light, “Although that isn’t what makes our team strong.”

Nekoma's manager agreed completely. Her large yet sharp eyes turned back to the game as she watched her friends have a pretty intense yet fun time against their nemesis. She certainly loves getting to see this team play, especially Kuroo and Kenma. They are her greatest friends after all!

Yua has known Kenma just about most of her life. Ever since they were in elementary together, Kuroo had forced him to try and make friends with her. While Kuroo was Kenma’s first friend, Yua is his second. Since they were in the same classes, it was easy for Yua to work her way into Kenma’s life. It also didn’t help that Kuroo was more than happy to try and force all three of them to become friends. He may act annoyed by it, but Kenma will mentally admit that he does enjoy his two best friend’s company. 

The brown-haired girl was outgoing and loud, so it was easy for her to make friends as a kid. Just about everyone loved how charismatic and kind she is which drew in plenty of people into her circle of friends. However, Kuroo and Kenma are her closest friends. Even above her cousin, which he would like to argue about, but she wouldn’t tell him that.

Kuroo had eventually gotten his two friends interested in volleyball, even convinced Kenma to join the volleyball club in junior high school. It was a bit of a hassle for the two others to get Kenma to agree to it. He isn’t that into sports and would rather just play his video games. On the other hand, Yua has always been a sporty person. She played a different array of sports, though she didn’t usually stick with one sport for long. One year she was in the tennis club, the next the basketball club, then the soccer club, and eventually the volleyball club. She really couldn’t sit still and wanted to try everything out while in school.

By the time that she and Kenma had gone from junior high to high school, Kuroo had once again gotten Kenma into the volleyball club. Yua had offered to sign up as well to be the team manager but was shot down by Kuroo. For what reason, she wasn’t exactly sure. So that year, she focused on playing for Nekoma’s girl’s volleyball team. 

However, when their first-year came to an end and Yua could see how Kenma wasn’t sure if he would stick with volleyball, she may have gone behind Kuroo’s back and signed up as manager. Sure, Kuroo was a bit annoyed by it, but was eventually fine with it. Besides, it just meant more time getting to hang out with his favorite girl, so why was he complaining.

Being a manager was different than actually being a player on a team, but Yua adjusted easily. She loved getting to know that team and befriending them. They all quickly became good friends thanks to her disarming charm and charismatic personality. She has fun as manager and being around her best friends nearly all the time. Perhaps she’ll stick with being manager next year as well!

“He doesn’t stand out,” Takeda commented as they watched the game intently. Already seeing that Nekoma was starting to pull a bit of a lead on Karasuno.

Ukai hummed and turned to the teacher beside him, “Hmm?”

Takeda placed a hand on his chin in thought, “It’s obvious to an amateur that our Kageyama gives off sharp vibes. Nekoma’s setter might indeed be doing amazing things but it’s hard to tell by watching him.”

“That’s due to the stability of their receiving.” Ukai said, “The most important part of setting up a wide variety of attacks are receivers that deliver the ball neatly above the head of the setter. Those receivers enable their setter to utilize his best potential. Karasuno’s setter, Kageyama, is holding together his uncoordinated team with overwhelming talent. While Nekoma’s setter, Kozume, is supported by the receiving skills of his entire team.”

Clicking her tongue and joining in on their conversation, Sakura seemingly abandoned her camera to focus solely on the game. “Kenma is also quite muted with his presence,” Sakura commented watching the game closely, more specifically her brown eyes were pinpointed on the setter himself, “the type of person to be looked over unless you were specifically looking for him. It’s actually quite good, if their opponents are paying attention to the receivers and not him, then Kenma has free reign with his plays.” She hummed in thought. Having little to no presence on the court is a bit of an advantage. If no one is paying attention to you, that gives you plenty of opportunities to gain points for your team or trick the opponent. This is evident from the fact that Kenma and Nekoma have already done that a bit. Add in the fact that Kenma himself is observant and that can be quite a powerful weapon. Kageyama has raw skill and talent, she can’t deny that, but at times he’s too flamboyant with his plays. He has everyone watching him and monitoring his every move. He can’t exactly male sneaky plays like Kenma might because every eye is on him.

“We don’t need a superman for an ace,” Nekomata said, “as long as we earn the points one by one, slowly but surely.” Yua smiled at that and nodded her head. Yes, that is certainly how Nekoma always wins!

 Yamamoto was able to score yet another point for Nekoma, bringing the score to 24-22, match point for the cats. If Karasuno messed up now, they would lose the set! So the next serve was sent over the set to Karasuno. Just, as usual, Kageyama set the ball for Shōyō like they have dozens of times before.

However, Sakura saw it. Nekoma’s #7 had gotten his entire hand in front of the ball. There was nothing that Shōyō could do to avoid the block as he spiked the ball only for it to come hurtling back onto Karasuno’s side. Sakura could see how… startled her brother looked at the revelation that someone was able to catch up to him. For the first time since Shōyō had learned that he has the skill to perform a quick freak, he was learning that it wasn’t some overpowered talent he had. She knew it would happen eventually, but not the second practice match that they played. Still, it’s better to learn that now rather than later, she thought.

So Shōyō stared up at the taller boy on the other side of the net who smiled triumphantly, “I finally caught you!”

And that was the end of the first set with Nekoma as the victor. The teams both crowded around their benches now for a short break. Of course, each team was going to use this as an opportunity to try and come up with a plan to deal with the other. Shōyō seemed to be even more upset about all of this than Sakura would have thought. She could see how downtrodden he really was now that he was up close. While they all crowded around to hear what Ukai might have to say, Sakura rested a hand on her brother’s shoulder. She isn’t usually one for comforting people, but her brother is obviously the exception.

“Hey, we can’t let every little thing get us down,” Kageyama said, trying to lift Shōyō’s spirit a bit, “We’re going to take back the next set!”

Ukai nodded his head, “There is no spike that can’t be stopped. Don’t get distracted.”

“Let’s nail the next one, Hinata!” Tanaka pumped his fist.

Endo ruffled Shōyō’s hair, “It’s not as bad as it can be, little guy.”

“Smash it in!” Nishinoya cheered encouragingly.

Getting the encouragement from his team seemed to lighten his heart as he smiled determinedly, “Yessir!”

The second set started up, with Nekoma getting the first few points. It was slightly frustrating for Karasuno to try and slow them down. However, even if they were able to get the ball onto the cats' side of the net they could easily receive it. Not only that, but Inuoka was becoming consistent with blocking Shōyō. At this point, it seemed like there really wasn’t a way for Shōyō to get around him. Which was a thought on Sakura’s mind… and not just her. 

Ukai huffed slightly as he could feel the stares from two teens. One of them sitting on the bench beside him and the other from one of his players. “Do you two have something to say?” Both Sakura and Tsukishima jumped at being caught and scowled at each other for having the same thought. “Are you wondering why I don’t swap out Hinata-kun?”

“Not really,” Tsukishima grunted.

Sakura mumbled, “No.”

“If this was an official game, I might swap him out,” the blond coach said, “But right now, this is his chance to find the solution. However, if that results in him losing his will to fight, maybe I should take him out of the game once.”

Sakura hummed at his explanation. That really does make sense, she thought. She eyed Ukai as she teased him, “...You almost sound like a coach there.”

“Huh?!”

A few more points were scored and lost by Karasuno. No matter what Shōyō tried to do, Inuoka was there right beside him to block his spikes. It didn’t seem like much else was going to happen. Though Ukai is right, if Shōyō can figure out a way to bypass a blocker now, then it’ll only mean success in the future.

“It’s the spirit-breaking ‘human wall’.” Nekomata commented to his players that were on the bench with him, “The more you hit it, the more your heart breaks.”

Yua nodded her head at the coach’s words. She’s had that feeling before, whenever she played volleyball and she had to go up against players who were taller than her, though that was somewhat rare. The second-year then turned to look back at the court and found a peculiar sight as her sights were set on Shōyō. “Now would you look at that.”

Nekomata, much like everyone else on the court stared at Shōyō in surprise, “He smiled.”

It seems like Shōyō wasn’t upset about that anymore. If anything, Sakura would say that he looks excited about this. She speculates that he might be excited about actually having someone that can keep up with him or something, but she doesn’t really know what is going on in his head.

They started the battle for the next point. Kageyama once again set it to Shōyō to try to get around the blocker again. This time, however, Shōyō kept his eyes open. It was shocking to everyone to see it, even Sakura’s eyes widened. Though it didn’t work since Shōyō completely missed the ball and fell onto the floor on his back.

The bench-warmers were in shock as Suga blinked, “Hinata-kun was looking at the toss.”

“Yea,” Yamaguchi agreed, speechless.

“Until now, he left the ball fully up to Kageyama and just took the swing!”

“Is Hinata-kun…” Endo muttered, “actually trying to evolve their freakish quick!?”

Ukai jumped up from the bench, “T-time out!”

The whistle blew as the teams grouped up again. Shōyō jumped as Kageyama walked up to him, “I-it’s not like I don't trust your tosses…” He placed a hand on his chin, “How can I say it?”

Kageyama stared at the shorter boy in confusion, “What’s with the panic?”

“Kageyama,” Ukai said, drawing the boy’s attention, “I want you to give slightly weaker tosses to Hinata-kun. Rather than the usual direct delivery…”

The boy’s eyes widened slightly, “Indirect delivery.”

Shōyō tilted his head, “Huh? In…”

“Rather than the usual powerful, straight trajectory toss, it needs to float a little.” Their coach explained, “It might be tricky to change it up so suddenly.”

“I’ll do it,” Kageyama 

Endo muttered to Suga with a small amount of annoyance, “Of course he will.” Was it even a question of whether or not Kageyama could change up his playing style so quickly? He’s a prodigy after all!

The whistle then blew as the players all ran back onto the court now that the time-out was over. Takeda turned to Ukai, “Why would you have him change the toss?”

“To give Hinata-kun freedom in midair. A moment ago, he attempted to dodge the blocker in midair.” He explained, “He probably tried to mimic the technique to dodge a blocker. Though he didn’t manage it at all.”

So Shōyō and Kageyama tried their new quick. Though it barely worked, like at all. Most of the time, Shōyō missed the ball. Even if he did hit the ball, it was so weak that Nekoma could easily receive it.

Seeing them not totally working out, Ukai stood up once again, “One more time-out!”

“Hinata-kun,” Tanaka walked up to the younger boy, “you need to calm down.”

Shōyō jumped and nodded his head,“Yessir! I-I’m sorry, I keep making mistakes.”

The shaved-headed boy laughed loudly, “What are you talking about? I always get to hit the ball unmarked thanks to you! I think I’m allowed to totally own a game once in a while!”

Nishinoya placed his hands on his hip, “Although Asahi is scoring more points than you!”

“You shaddap!” Tanaka exclaimed, “Anyway, it’s all good! Right, Asahi!”

“Uh, yeah, he’s right. We’ll make the points back.”

The blond middle blocker then slid up behind Shōyō with a smirk, “If you keep screwing up you could be swapped out.”

Shōyō bristled fear as Tanaka reprimanded the other first-year, “Tsukishima!”

Daichi walked up behind Tsukishima and clapped him on the shoulder, effectively getting Tsukishima to quiet down, “If you’re on the verge of learning something, keep at it. You jump alone, but we’re all here, right behind you.” The rest of the team smiled widely at that, proving that Daichi is right. Daichi then turned to their team's teddy bear and slapped him on the back, “After all, the ace claims he’s going to win back all those points.”

“Daichi, don’t put pressure on Asahi!” Suga laughed, “What will you do if you hurt him?”

Nishinoya nodded his head as he joined in on the teasing, “He’s right! He has a heart of glass!”

“Look at how flustered and worried he looks.” Endo said while poking Asahi’s cheek, “How adorable!”

Tanaka exclaimed, “Please stop ganging up on him!” Though Endo just continued to mess with his best friend until the game was called back into play. Oh, how he loves embarrassing his friend!

Shōyō tried to make his spikes each time it was set for him. Though no matter what he did, it wasn’t that effective. Still, this could be a turning point for Shōyō, and the evolution that he desperately needs.

“Ahh… Again,” Takeda groaned out as they watched the cats get another point because Shōyō weakly hit the ball over, “all he can do is hit returns. What can we do to help him improve?”

Those on the bench turned to the coach hoping that he would have the answer. “It’s only natural that he can’t do plays that he’s never done before.” He said, “But everything you learn, you learn by doing. Remember Karasuno’s Little Giant?”

Takeda nodded his head while Sakura looked away with indifference, “The ace Hinata-kun idolizes?”

“He lived up to his name,” Ukai started as he started to talk about the famed high school player. “He was only 170cm tall. In the beginning, he was constantly blocked. But in the latter half of his second year, he was peerless when it came to battling mid-air. He couldn’t overcome the blockers’ height, so he aimed at spaces in between them. He’d make the ball touch the blockers’ fingertips on purpose and make it ricochet. That’s how he conceived his own style of battle as a short player. I’m just repeating the story my granddad told me.”

Sakura completely understood why her brother idolized the Tiny Giant. He had seemingly overcome a disadvantage that he hadn’t been able to control. Shōyō has always been about wanting to go above and beyond everyone’s expectations, even her own. Though it’s not like she had many expectations for her brother. Still, she’s more than proud of what he’s done so far. Even if Shōyō doesn’t do that well during his games or anything, she will always be proud of her brother as long as he puts in the effort. Which he always puts in more than enough effort.

Takeda dragged Sakura from her thoughts, “Former Coach Ukai?”

“Yeah. I remember everything my granddad told me really well.” Ukai then quoted his grandfather, “Because people don’t have wings… we look for ways to fly.”

“So in short,” Sakura voiced as she tilted her head, “practice makes perfect?”

“Exactly,” Ukai nodded his head since that was the point he was making.

Sakura shrugged her shoulders, “Makes sense, besides it’s not like Shōyō has been able to really grow as a player due to the fact that he hasn’t played many games.” She eyed her brother as Kageyama set him another ball. She’s sure that if Shōyō had an official team during junior high, then he would definitely be a better player now. Though as long as he gets better for the official games then it’s fine. “Still some times, no matter how much you practice you’ll hit a wall at some point.” Even if she has some hope in her brother’s skills, there was a part of her that didn’t want to be too optimistic. The pessimism in her was reminding her that there were still obstacles against her brother, like his height, and that might hinder his progress as a player. You can only get as good as your body would allow after all. Her brother might have plenty of stamina and raw athleticism, but it may run out eventually. At least, in her opinion. There’s no telling what Shōyō might end up doing, he’s full of plenty of surprises.

Back to the game, Shōyō jumped up again to spike the ball. However, this time it was different. Instead of hitting it straight, it curved right around Inuoka’s blocks. It completely avoided him! It was even too much for Yaku to try and cover. For just a moment, it seemed like a large improvement was made for their freak quick. Though the whistle blew and apparently the ball had gone out.

“Shucks, that was out!” Takeda groaned loudly as he pulled at his hair.

Sakura smirked, a swell of pride washing over her, “even if it was, it seems like Shōyō’s solving his problem on his own.”

On the court, everyone was in awe at that. Sure, it had lost Karasuno the point, but it was an improvement for Shōyō that certainly would lead the team to success. “That was awesome…” Inuoka gasped as he turned to the shorter boy in amazement, “That was awesome, Shōyō!”

He then looked up with his eyes filled with determination, “One more!”

Chapter Text

THEY TRIED IT ONCE MORE BUT IT really wasn’t working that well. Had that first time been a fluke? “Geeze, it doesn’t seem like this is working out that well.” Endo commented as they watched Shōyō miss the ball again. However, it was thankfully saved by their captain who was able to get the last hit over the net. Though Nekoma was still able to save it, curse their cat-like reflexes.

The rally went on for a while as Nekoma kept making revieces and Karasuno did their best to keep making good blocks. Though it still ended with the cats getting this one point thanks to Yamamoto.

On the Nekoma bench, Shibayama turned to his coach and manager, “Taketora is more into it than usual.”

Yua nodded her head in agreement, “You’re right, he’s certainly more fiery in this game.”

“Maybe it’s because there’s someone a lot like himself at Karasuno,” Nekomata commented, gazing at Tanaka and Yamamoto(the possible long-lost twins). “Or maybe he’s being inspired by the battle between Inuoka and their number 10?” It’s true, these teams certainly had found some good adversaries in each other. It seemed like each player had found an opponent to try and knock down a peg. 

“Hinata and Kageyama’s fast attacks just aren’t lining up,” Takeda groaned on the Karasuno side.

Sakura shrugged her shoulders, “It’s understandable considering they’re still such a new team. So a new strategy with even the smallest adjustment might take a while for them to get comfortable with.”

Ukai nodded his head with his hand on his chin, “Unlike the deviant fast attacks they’ve been doing up till now where Kageyama aligns perfectly to Hinata’s moves, they’re now attempting to do normal fast attacks.” They all watched the game with a critical eye. “Hinata needs technical improvement. The only way to accomplish that is conditioning through repetition. But if he gets the conditioning down, and learns when to use the two different attack types…”

Nekomata narrowed his eyes at the freak pair on Karasuno, “...then those two will no longer be ‘a demon and his iron club’. They will be ‘demon’ and ‘demon’.”

The game continued on with Nekoma serving to Karasuno. It was hit over and heading straight for Shōyō who wasn’t sure if he should receive it overhand or underhand. Though he didn’t decide quick enough as he was hit in the chest with it. It still was in play, but now the orange-haired teen was on the ground.

Sakura smirked lightly, “that’s another one for the collection.” Takeda and Ukai eyed the girl with uncertainty. Both of them thinking along the same lines of her being a bit of a sadist. It was a bit unsettling to them.

“Cover it!” Karasuno’s Number 5 called out.

Nishinoya saved it and hit it towards him, “Ryu!”

“You got it!” Tanaka shouted as he ran up to the net, “Asahi ain’t the only one who can pull his weight at crunch time!” He spiked the ball and was able to bounce it off of Yamamoto’s hand and out of bounds, giving Karasuno a point.

Nishinoya and Tanaka pumped their fists together as they celebrated their win. “Boo-yah, boo-yah, boo-yah, boo-yah!” Though it was really only to infuriate the mohawk boy on the other team, which it certainly did.

Sakura just watched the game intently, like a good spectator should. She found it quite interesting how each team was fueling each other’s hunger for victory. This truly is what competition is like. Not what she’s seen of her brother’s first game in middle school where there was no doubt who was going to win. This time, instead of one team getting an easy win, these two teams were battling it out on somewhat level playing fields. Each player, on both sides, were all pretty skilled in volleyball. Really, in Sakura’s mind, it was just going to come down to which team can use all of their players' skills in a cohesive manner to get the edge over the other. She also thought that was most likely Nekoma considering Karasuno is a pretty green team. Though no matter who wins, Karasuno will learn new skills about themselves and how well they work together. Vital information that can be used to better the team for official games. With how she is so analytical about the players and the game in front of her, it truly is a surprise that she isn’t either playing volleyball herself or a team manager!

“Nice one-touch!” Nishinoya shouted, breaking Sakura from her thoughts as she glanced over to see that it was Shōyō who had blocked Inuoka’s spike.

Daichi called out, “Chance ball!”

Kageyama got ready to set the ball as nekoma also prepared themselves for an attack. Yua’s green eyes sparkled as she watched the small orang-ehaired teen sprint across the court like it was nothing. “Look at him go!” She hasn’t really seen that type of speed before, of course, she’s seen her fair share of players from all over the country, so that’s saying something.

Shibayama gasped in shock, “He’s fast!”

With the Karasuno benchwarmers, they all watched as Inuoka tried to keep up with their little shorty. “Nekoma’s number 7 has fast reflexes too!” Suga shouted.

“My, my, these rivalries are starting to heat up the gym.” Endo commented, pretending to cool himself down with his hand. He quite liked how Nekoma was bringing about this competition from Karasuno, which just means there’s some opportunities for juicy drama.

“They influence one another in on-the-edge combat,” Nekomata commented, noticing the growing friction between the teams, “and occasionally draw out more power than their talent allows. These are truly worth adversaries.”

Shōyō was able to hit that ball, albeit weakly, onto Nekoma’s side and got the point since Yaku couldn’t save it. Suga pumped a fist, “He got past!”

“It’s in!” Yamaguchi exclaimed

Endo clapped once with a cheer, “Well done!”

The game progressed just like usual and eventually the scores were 15-18 with Nekoma in the lead. Karasuno’s vice captain shook his head, “I don’t want them to hit 20 before we do.”

Nemoka’s number 7 then had to serve for his team, which meant that the other middle blocker of the team stepped up to the net. Kuroo stared down at his small opponent with his hands on his hips and a smirk. His cat-like eyes surveyed the smaller boy impressiveness shining in them and sparking in sly determination. “Inuoka’s eight inches taller than you,” Kuroo commented, “but you’re more than a match for him. That’s amazing, Small Fry.”

Shōyō bristled, “You’re the small fry, Small Fry!” It kind of looked like a baby crow shouting at a smirking cat. Before anything else could be said between them, Kageyama then grabbed the back of Shōyō’s jersey and pulled him away for a short discussion.

Endo eyed Kuroo, his blue eyes filled with admiration for him and calculating just what type of player the other third-year is. He tapped his chin, “No way they can get around Mr. Tall, dark and handsome with a normal quick attack.”

“Do you really have to call him that?” Suga deadpanned at his friend's description of the other captain. Endo really doesn’t know when to quit sometimes, Suga is more than aware of that.

Endo scoffed as if Suga’s question was completely absurd, “Yes. Don't act like you can't see it Suga.” Really, Kuroo is quite the specimen, in Endo’s opinion. He then cooed as they looked at Shōyō and Kageyama muttering to each other. “Look at them scheming together. Rubbing their two brain cells together for a plan.”

They then continued on with the next battle for the point. “Inuoka, nice serve!” Yaku yelled encouragement as the first-year hit the ball over the net.

Though the ball was received by Nishinoya and passed to Kageyama who set it for Shōyō, effectively performing their closed-eyed freak perfectly. Kuroo wasn’t expecting it or fast enough to try and stop it, so it earned Karasuno a point.

Yua tilted her head while absentmindedly writing in her notebook, “Kuroo couldn’t even stop their quick,” she brightened, “I’m liking these guys even more and more.”

On the court, the short boy jumped with his brown eyes wide, “I really do love this sensation!” Shōyō exclaimed, blushing as he stared at his stinging palm.

Ukai nodded his head while sitting on the bench, “That was a good decision. I think for now, their deviant fast attack is more effective against Nekoma’s third-year middle blocker. A normal fast attack would obviously be easier for their skillful middle blocker to block.”

Sakura nodded her head at the observation, “that was actually pretty smart of the king, who knew he could think that stragicial.” Though when it came to volleyball, she shouldn’t be that surprised Kageyama was extremely smart when it comes to the sport. She is well aware that academically, he’s not that intelligent and he has little to no common sense. However, when it comes to volleyball, he’s a genius, she can’t deny that.

On the other side of the net, Kuroo and Kenma watched their opponents. “He really is amazing. He’s the dictionary definition of the word ‘superhuman’.” Kuroo commented with his eyes sharpening, “All right then, let’s take it back.”

Shōyō served the ball for the next point which was easily received by Yaku. It was passed to Kenma as every Nekoma team member ran up to the net and jumped as though they were going to be the one to spike it over.

“Yikes, it’s all jumbled somehow,” Takeda gasped.

It looked as though Yamamoto was going to be the one who was going to hit the ball, but instead Fukunaga ran up from behind the pack of cats for a back attack. That certainly shook up Karasuno as he was easily able to evade their blockers. Though it ended up being saved by Shōyō’s face. It seems like his face is a bit of a magnet for volleyball nowadays. 

Sakura took note of the back attack while putting down her camera after getting another picture of her brother. A tactic that could easily be replicated by Karasuno at a later time that they could use against their opponents is a good thing. No doubt in her mind that they would try to copy it at some point.

“Chance ball!” Kuroo called out as he received it.

Asahi shook a little bit, “Who will get it this time?”

This time Kenma had set it up for Kuroo who performed a textbook definition of a quick attack. Ukai eyed them critically, “That fast attack has some impressive stability. Though it might just look stable compared to Hinata’s usual erratic moves.”

By the Karasuno benchwarmers, Endo whistled lowly. “Not only is he good looking, but he’s also a decent player,” the drama queen pretend to swoon, “take me now, Kuroo-kun~”

Suga, growing fed up with Endo’s seeming infatuation with this guy, hit the back of the blond’s neck, effectively stopping Endo. “Stop being annoying!”

Endo whined while rubbing the back of his neck, “I’m only admiring a fellow player, what’s so wrong about that!”

“Everything.” The vice captain stated blandly as Yamaguchi watched his senpai’s interaction uncertainly. The first-year hasn’t had that many interactions with Endo, never trying to talk to him since he thought that Endo was a bit much. However, he knows that the older boy is very lively, to put it lightly. It’s not that Yamaguchi didn’t like Endo or anything, he just wasn’t sure how to go about talking with such an excitable person, after all he usually has to deal with the ever vibrant Shōyō all the time. He could really only deal with one intense person at a time.

Nekoma served the next ball now with the score being 16-19 in the cats favor. Yaku yelled out some encouragement like a good team mom, “Yamamoto, nice serve!”

“Crap!” Tanaka called out after receiving the ball, “Sorry, cover it!””

Asahi raised his hand towards Nishinoya who saved it, “I’m open!”

“Asahi!” The libero called out while setting the ball to him. Even though Karasuno’s ace has a pretty powerful spike, Yaku was able to receive it almost perfectly.

Kenma got the ball and set it for Kuroo, just like last time. Only difference was that instead of hitting a quick, Kuroo seemingly waited a moment before jumping up to hit the ball. This left him basically wide open since the blockers had already started to fall back to the ground.

“What was that attack?” Takeda turned to Ukai with wide eyes. Sakura also turned to the coach questioningly, not knowing what it was either. Sure, she knows a lot about volleyball despite not being a player, but she doesn’t know everything.

Ukai huffed slightly in annoyance, “A delayed spike. You make it look like you’re about to jump for a quick attack, throw off the opponent’s block timing, and hit. This attack hasn’t been that popular recently. I’m impressed they threw it in right after their quick attack A. They’re good.”

“Good job, boys!” Yua called out to her team from the bench. She jumped up and down on the balls of her feet with a wide, toothy smile and two thumbs up, her hair bouncing around her like a curtain, “You’re doing great!” Nearly all the boys preened in her praise, like usual. Except for Kenma, who cringed at her shout and muttered under his breath about how annoying she could be. Though deep down, he was more than glad to have her support, at least a little bit, even if he doesn’t show it.

Ukai groaned a little bit, “This is bad. I’ve already used both of our time-outs.” Those sitting on the bench felt a smug aura radiating from the Nekoma’s side and saw the cat coach smirking smugly at them. Ukai gaped, “Aw, shit! He’s smirking at me!”

“Ever since their Number 1 came up to the front row,” Takeda commented, “their attacks seem to have more of a sense of proficiency.”

“You’re right. Half of our starting lineup is made up of first-years. If you call us Level 1 with our newly assembled team, that would put them 10 or 20 levels higher.”

“So,” the advisor tapped his chin as he looked for a comparison, “they are a full grown adult cat and we’re a freshly hatched baby crow.”

Ukai nodded his head at the imagery, “Yeah, that, good description. No matter how we struggle against their versatile range of offense and defense, we can’t possibly win. Not today anyway. Which means… …our only option is persistence and tenacity! Attack them with power and speed!”

Tanaka smirked viciously, his eyes glinting red as his teeth sharpened, “You want us to force them into submission?”

The benchwarmers plus Shōyō stared at him in slight concern. The shortest boy tilted his head, “That makes us sound like the bad guys.” 

Ukai just laughed maniacally, “What’s wrong with being the bad guys? You normally think of a crow as the bad guy!”

“Ukai, your face is scaring me!” Takeda exclaimed, fear of the new coach quite evident. Sakura stared at the blond man as he laughed evilly, she blinked at him. Honestly, why is this sport filled with such strange people, she wondered. 

The coach just continued on with his speech and disregarded any he freaked out, “We’ll make it happen with sloppy speed attacks and receives. Those are your weapons, you clumsy oafs! Bombard them with all the weaponry in your arsenal! Hit them! Hit them and hit them hard!”

So Karasuno did just that. They did what they could with the skill set that they had to try and slow down Nekoma and gain on them with points. While Nekoma had got into the twenties first, Karasuno was gaining on them by only being behind by two points.

A timeout was called, and each team walked over to their respective benches. “Anybody flustered?” Nekomata asked his team.

Everyone shook their heads, “No, Sir!”

The coach smirked, “Good, keep that ball in play.”

“Yes, Sir!” A simple but effective pep talk. Yua also gave encouragement to her team with her signature smile that never seemed to leave her face and some nice pat on the backs.

After the timeout, more points were fought for and soon enough the score was 22-23, with Nekoma still in the lead. Karasuno’s vice captain fist pumped the air from the side, “One more point for the tie!”

“K-keep going!” Takeda gasped, shaking in anticipation.

Though they were all optimistic and rooting for the boys on the court, Kenma was able to slip one past them. He did a setter dump, which got past Shōyō and Tanaka and Nishinoya wasn’t able to save it.

Takeda grabbed his head, seemingly just about ready to start pulling out his hair. “It’s upon us when we least expect it! Match point for Nekoma.” Sakura nodded her head, it’s not that surprising, especially since Karasuno is somewhat of a newer team, like they said before. There was no way that they were going to actually win a game against such a team like Nekoma. In her opinion, she was surprised that they haven’t been completely shut down by Nekoma. Even being able to keep up with them is slightly impressive in Sakura’s opinion. Though she certainly didn’t think that they were actually going to win in the end. And she knows that’s not her being a pessimist, she’s being a realist. Takeda then jumped up startling Sakura from her thoughts, “It’s all right! Our team is still sharp!”

“Yes!” Tanaka shouted as he and the others ran up to spike the ball, “We clawed our way to a tie!”

Yamamoto made sure that he was the one to block the other bald boy, “You’re not getting past me!”

Though this time it didn’t go to him, instead Kageyama sent it to Daichi who spiked it and got them a point, “Right on!”

Nekomata growled lightly in annoyance, “Now their Number 3 is up in the front row.”

“If we get a point now, it’s a deuce.” Kiyoko’s angelic voice commented, since she didn’t say all that much at all during this match. Sakura may or may not have forgotten that the older girl was even there. 

Takeda gritted his teeth, “Yes, a deuce would give us the opportunity to turn the game around! This one ball is crucial.”

They watched with anxiety coursing through them. There was even a little bit in Sakura’s veins, though she kept her cool and nonchalant mask on her face as she watched. Kageyama set it to Asahi, but it was once again received by Yaku. Though it ended up soaring over the net back to Karasuno’s side.

“It’s coming back! Chance ball!” Asahi shouted out.

“Shit,” Yaku grunted, “I’m sorry!”

“Azumane, direct!” Ukai shouted out, shocking a few of the players.

Yamamoto gasped, “Oh, crap!”

“Do it, teddy bear!” Endo shouted out, louder than he had anything else.

Asahi did just that but Fukunaga received it in time, only for it to be yet another chance ball for Karasuno. It’s extremely impressive how quick their reflexes are, Sakura thought to herself, they really are like cats.

Shibiyama groaned, “It’s their chance ball again.”

“That’s fine,” Nekomata commented to the pair of teens' confusion. “Even if you look sloppy or can’t make an attack, as long as the ball is kept in play, you can’t lose.”

Yua nodded her head, “all you can do is keep making an effort. If you stop, then you truly lose.”

Tanaka passed that chance ball to Kageyama who saw the glint in Shōyō’s eyes as he ran across the court. Even from the bench, Sakura could see how determined her brother looked. Her chest swelled with pride for him. She wishes she could have that look, that same spark of resistance and hope in her gaze about something. Perhaps that might be some time soon. She feels as though she was half way there when she had the gallery last week, another time like that was bound to come around again.

Shōyō spiked the ball, finding that opening between the blockers. Even though it was saved by Yaku, it ended up hitting the net. It almost appeared as though Karasuno was going to get this point, but Kai was able to hit save it at least a bit. “It’s not that the most powerful spike wins,” Nekomata commented as they watched the ball. There was this moment, as if everything slowed down. The ball inched closer and closer to the ground. Though seemingly out of nowhere, the pudding haired setter came diving out of nowhere to try and save the ball. “It’s that whoever drops the ball loses. That is what it means to keep the ball in play.”

The ball was able to get over the net, and while Nishinoya and Shōyō ran after the ball to try and save it, it still hit the ground before either could reach it. So that was it, game over. Nekoma had won with the score of 25-23.

To say that Karasuno was disheartened is an understatement. They had put everything they could into this match, and were still beaten. How upsetting.

“We didn’t make that many mistakes,” Ukai commented with a large sigh,
“and we utilized the most powerful weapons in our arsenal. But we didn’t win. That must be a team trained ‘as a team’ rather than ‘as individuals’. I accept defeat.”

Not appearing to be as upset or bothered by the lose, Sakura furrowed her eyebrows, “It’s only a practice match,” Ukai, Takeda, and Kiyoko turned to her in question as she shrugged her shoulders, “If it were a real game, I’d see maybe getting upset about it, but it’s not. All you can do is learn from this and use what you’ve learned in an actual game later down the line.” This match didn’t count for anything official. If they lost to Nekoma while they were in a tournament, then she could see the appeal of getting upset. However, since it isn’t, there’s no need to cry over this or feel disheartened. Nekoma is a formidable team, even if Karasuno lost to them, they still kept up with them quite a bit. So that should be an accomplishment in itself, from what Sakura thought.

Yua buzzed around her team, handing out water bottles, towels and high fives to the boys. “You guys are awesome!” She then caught sight of Kenma, who was seemingly trying to hide himself behind Kai, though it didn’t work that well since Kai just pushed him in front of him instead. Kenma glared at him with daggers. Yua bounced up to her best friend and ruffled the top of his head. “And you, Mr. I don’t like volleyball. You really put everything into this game, huh!?”

Kenma pushed her hand off of him and grumbled, “You’re always so embarrassing after every game.”

Yua’s smile didn’t disappear in the slightest, if anything it widened. “Of course! Since my boys play so well all the time, I’m entitled to embarrass you as much as I want.”

“One more time!” Shōyō then shouted, scaring a few people with his loud voice. Though just about everyone was surprised that he had the energy to suggest that. “Let’s play… one more time!”

Nekomata chuckled at the boy’s exuberant amount of excitement. “Yeah, I plan to do just that! Practice games are all about playing all over again.”

So the teams played a few more practice matches together. Eventually, the sun started to set as the boys all started to wind down from their intense games. “Now we’ve been thrashed beyond a shadow of a doubt,” Ukai sighed, looking over Kiyoko’s notes from their additional matches against Nekoma. It is true, Karasuno had not won a single match against Nekoma. They came close a few times, but the cats were able to pull through and beat the crows.

Takeda nodded his head, “Now they’re truly exhausted.” It’s true, all of the boys were laid out on the court, thoroughly tired after playing quite a few more sets against each other.

“One more time!” Shōyō yelled out despite himself appearing to be just a bit tired.

The old coach blanched at the small boy, “What? You haven’t stopped moving the entire time! What batteries are you using?” While he may have admired the boy’s excitement to play more games, this was getting ridiculous. Didn’t this boy run out of energy?

“Hey, knock it off!” Ukai yelled at Shōyō and grabbed him by his jersey, “They have to make their train!”

Sakura walked up to her brother and just shoved a water bottle into his hands, “you can’t just keep playing, you’ll pass out at some point, you know.” Shōyō pouted but took the bottle from her and started to chug it. Sakura admires her brother’s passion, but sometimes he can be a bit too much with volleyball, to the point where it could be annoying.

“Gather ‘round!”

The two teams all then gathered around the benches. Ukai, Takeda, Kiyoko and Sakura stood at the Karasuno bench while the Nekoma team walked up to them. Meanwhile, at the Nekoma bench, the Karasuno team gathered around Nekomata, Naoi, and Yua.

“Me and his grandfather have known each other for a long time,” Nekomata commented, glancing over to Ukai who was talking with the Nekoma team. “We used to have our teams play lots of practice games. It was always a pretty good contest, however… he retired.” The older man sighed in slight disappointment, “Worthy adversaries just aren’t that easy to find. After that, I heard that old man Ukai fell ill soon after coming out of retirement. I was sure that Karasuno would never come back from that. However, to be honest, you have more talent than I imagined. Especially in the attacking department. The Number 9, Number 10 fast attack…” the two boys puffed their chests at being called out, “I doubt many can prevent that attack. I also believe that your two left players are powerful weapons. It will all come down to how long you can keep the ball in play.”

“Yes, Sir!” The boys exclaimed.

“As a team, you’re rough and need more practice, but you have overwhelming potential. I’m sure you will improve greatly with the appropriate training. I’m really glad to see this.” The coach smiled lightly, “We have a worthy adversary once again. I’ll see you next at the Nationals. I’ll see you at the place whirling with emotions with its throngs of spectators in that shiny, spotless, huge gymnasium. And we’ll have our most ultimate Dumpster Showdown ever!”

“Yes, Sir!”

The boys all then started to clean up the gym, mopping up the floor, gathering up the balls, putting away the net, the usual. “You shit!” Kageyama shouted at Shōyō as they tried to work together and clean up the net. Key word; tried.

Shōyō stuttered at the aggressive boy, “You piece of poo!”

While they were cleaning, teammates from each team were interacting with the boys from the opposite teams. A bond seemed to be formed between Tanaka and Yamamoto for their shared admiration for their goddess Kiyoko.

Meanwhile, Kageyama had stalked up to the other setter, “How long have you been playing volleyball? Who taught you how to play? How long have you been a setter?” He muttered quickly, scaring poor Kenma, “Did you come up with that feint yourself? Have you been training? Have you ever hit a brick wall?”

The other setter just squeaked out in slight alarm at the intimidating aura. Shōyō had been right when he said that their setter was quite scary. 

“Oi, King,” A lazy voice commented as someone walked up between the two. Kageyama glared at Sakura, who had placed herself in front of Kenma, “shut up, will you? You’re scaring the guy.” She isn’t necessarily sure if the setter really knew that he was being intimidating, but it still was getting annoying. Though she honestly didn’t think that he understood how he always had this glare on his face whenever he spoke to someone.

Kageyama clicked his tongue before stalking off, muttering under his breath about the girl and continuing his cleaning. Kenma sighed in relief, glad to not have the scary boy glaring at him. He quickly glanced at the girl, seeing how she was extremely similar to Shōyō which surprised him a bit. He noticed her earlier, but didn’t think that she was a girl. Though that doesn’t matter, he shyly thanked her, “Thanks.”

“Sure.” Sakura nodded, already seeing the tension dispelling from the second-years shoulders. She could see that he is quite the socially awkward person, something that she could relate to. Nothing more had to be said for each other as they went their separate ways. A mutual respect for each other started to blossom between them, Kenma respecting her for getting Kageyama to leave him alone, and Sakura for him being her upperclassman.

Just a little ways away, the other orange-haired Hinata twin was jumping up and down like a spring along with the Nekoma middle blocker, Inuoka. “That was incredible, Shōyō!” Inuoka exclaimed while jumping as if he were on a trampoline, “All those “vrooms!” and “swooshes!” Oh, I’m Inuoka, I’m a first-year.”

Shōyō nodded his head, also jumping around, “And you’re really tall, but you sure can “zoom!” and boom!”

“Your “zip!” was totally impressive!”

“Your “ba-zoom!” was too!”

“That “ba-ba-boom” was a real smash hit!”

“It was more “chu-doom!”

Tsukishima watched them with furrowed eyebrows, “What is that conversation?”

“That isn’t the conversation of high schoolers.” A smooth voice commented as Kuroo walked up to the tall blond, “But I think you could try goofing around more like a high schooler.”

“I’m not good at it,” he bordely commented before walking off, ending any sort of conversation between them.

Kuroo chuckled lightly, “You’re so young.”

“Yet he acts like an old man.” Sakura clicked her tongue as she mosied past him.

Kuroo’s eyes glinted slyly as he stopped the girl from continuing to walk, “Oh, another shorty, huh?”

Sakura rolled her eyes, “don’t call me shorty, or you’ll find out what it’s like not to live without kneecaps.” 

The tall boy just continued to smirk, not that affected by her threat. After all, he could easily just hold her above the ground and she wouldn’t be able to do anything. Oh, to be that short. “You’re a feisty kitten, aren’t you.”

“Kitten?” Sakura scoffed at the nickname, which made no sense to her since she isn’t from Nekoma, if anything she’d be a feisty crow, though she shouldn’t care.

Kuroo laughed as he explained his reasoning, “yeah, you’re small and adorable. Just like a kitten.”

The orange-haired girl bristled in embarrassment at another person calling her adorable. Why do people feel like pointing that out? All it really does is fluster her. The tips of her ears started to turn red as she glanced away from him. “Don’t say things like that, I don’t even know you.” First Nishinoya, now this guy? Geeze, when will Sakura catch a break.

“Oh, you’re right.” Kuroo said, “I’m Kuroo Tetsuro, you are?”

“None of your business,” Sakura snippy stated before trying to walk off from him.

Though the captain certainly was persistent as he followed after her, easily catching up thanks to his long legs. “Now don’t be rude, kitten.” Sakura just continued to try and ignore him as they started to play this small game of cat and mouse. She really thinks that these people are just far too strange for her understanding. “Say, you must be shorty’s twin sister, right?”

Sakura rolled her eyes. Wonder what gave that away, she thought to herself. Though she just huffed and tried to turn herself away from him so he could get the message to leave her be. “Don’t call either of us shorty, it’s annoying.” Though he just continued to pester her.

As she was trying to escape the cat captain, they passed by another strange scene between the two teams. “I-I’m sorry,” Shibiyama bowed to the ace of Karasuno, sweating and slightly scared of the bearded teen, “I should have been moving faster!”

Asahi gasped in surprise and tried to calm him down, “Wh-what? No, uh, I’m sorry.”

Shibiyama shook his head and seemingly bowed even deeper, “I’m to blame! Please forgive me!”

Daichi scowled at the sight, “That bearded mouse is scaring the first-years.”

Kai walked up to him, “They look like father and son from where I’m standing.”

“They look more like a scared kid and his kidnapper to me.” Daichi shook his head while Kai chuckled.

“Oh,” Endo cooed at the scene and waltzed up to the pair. He swung his arm around Asahi, “don’t be scared of this guy. He’s nothing but a big teddy bear. Even if he looks like a thug.” He poked his friend's cheek, trying to show Shibiyama that Asahi was nothing to be scared of.

On another end of the court, Suga and Yaku tried to have a conversation with each other, but they were interrupted by a certain fiery libero. “Excuse me,” Yaku said to Suga as he started to sweat as he could feel the heated stare from behind him, “but I’m really getting stared at.”

Suga chuckled nervously, “I’m sorry, just avert your eyes, and you’ll be fi--”

“Number 3,” Nishinoya shouted, causing the pair of third-years to jump, “your receives were amazing! I’ve never seen anyone retrieve spikes from our ace before. I believe you have amazing talent as a libero on a team with such good receiving skills! I won’t be beaten by you! Excuse me!”

“Hey, that’s too one-sided.” Suga shouted after him, “I apologize on his behalf.”

Yaku’s eyes sharpened as he watched the slightly younger boy jog off, “He’s dangerous. He’s a highly skilled libero himself, but he doesn’t rest. He only looks onward and upward. He’s frightening.”

“Say,” Yua suddenly slid out of nowhere, slightly startling the two boys. “That’s Nishinoya Yuu, right? From Chidoriyama?”

Suga calmed down his racing heart and nodded, “yeah.”

The brown haired girl’s green eyes sparkled, “really?! I’ve heard a lot of awesome things about him! And seeing him play today was so cool!” She gushed. Yua heard about him quite a bit back in junior high. Sure, she may have not been playing volleyball at the time, but she still had plenty of friends at the time who played against the libero. Her eyes then brightened as she turned to the grey-haired boy, “I’m Yua! It’s really nice to meet you!”

The sparkling smile that she flashed him quite nearly blinded poor Suga who smiled sheepishly at the exuberant girl. “Sugawara.”

“Nice!” She exclaimed, “what position do you play? Huh? I bet it’s setter, right!” So Yua started to excitedly talk with her new friend from Karasuno who answered her questions with some laughter. It’s always nice to make a quick connection with someone from another team, and Yua seemed to be just that.

Now that everyone had finished helping clean up, the teams were now congregating together outside of the gym. They were saying their goodbyes to their new friends that they were sure going to keep in contact after this. Even if the teams were sworn enemies with each other, it was all in good fun. On the court, they were opponents, though that didn’t mean they couldn’t be friends off the court.

A prime example of this is Yamamoto and Tanaka. The two were in tears as they said goodbye to each other, “Comrade, we shall meet again!”

Kenma eyed the strange scene as the two punkish looking teens continued to cry with each other. “What the heck is that?”

“Beats me.” Kuroo grunted, “Don’t look at them too much.”

Yua just continued to watch the display in rapt fascination, she hit Kuroo’s shoulder, “I’m telling you, they’re long lost twins!”

Though Kuroo didn’t pay attention for too long as he turned to look at Karasuno’s captain. The two of them shared a tense chuckle as they shook each other's hands tightly. Kuroo gritted his teeth, “We won’t lose next time.”

“We won’t lose next time either,” Daichi grunted as he squeezed the other captain’s hand.

Yaku and Suga slid over to the two captains, “Stop it! You’re scaring us!”

Behind them, their coaches were doing the same thing. Ukai smiled evilly at Naoi, “The next time won’t go down like it went today.”

“I really hope so,” Naoi said just as meanicingly, “or it won’t be much of a practice game!”

Suga sweatdropped, “It’s catching!”

“That’s so immature!” Yaku exclaimed. Seriously, why do they feel like they're mothering these teams sometimes?

Endo eyed the interaction between his friend and the cat captain and tapped his chin in thought. “Think I should give Kuroo my number? Just so we can talk about volleyball, of course.” He commented to Asahi, who stood next to him.

The ace bristled slightly, a sour expression starting to cloud over on his face. He grunted, “Oh, uh, I don’t know.” He really didn’t like the fact that Endo seemed so… taken with Kuroo. He also didn’t know why he didn’t like it. A thought then popped into his head. “Wait, do you have your gym bag?”

“Huh?” Endo raised an eyebrow at the question, “Yeah, pretty sure I left it in the van…”

Asahi shook his head, “Are you sure, because you usually forget things easily.”

“Ugh,” the blond groaned, “I leave my bag one time at an away game, and you guys never let me forget it.”

“Because you left all of your money in the back and complained to us that you couldn’t buy food all day.”

He clicked his tongue at the memory, “Ah, but you ended up getting me food anyway. That’s why you’re my favorite.” Endo latched himself onto Asahi and hugged his arm closely.

“Oh, r-right.” Yeah, Asahi really wasn’t going to think about how being hugged by Endo made him feel warm inside, or that he was glad that he had distracted Endo from actually trying to talk with Kuroo. Because it didn't mean anything. Like at all.

“Kenma!”

The second-year setter turned to see that the twins had come over to him, “Shōyō…” He glanced at Sakura, not having gotten her name, so they just shared a little nod of acknowledgement.

“Remember when we met on the street the other day and you said you really didn’t like volleyball that much?” Shōyō asked him, getting right to the point.

 Kenma blinked, “Oh, yeah.”

“How about today?” The younger boy asked quickly, “How did you like winning?”

Kenma hummed for a moment in contemplation before sighing, “it was just the same old thing.” He didn’t feel all that different about winning. Kenma would feel the same way no matter if they won or lost.

That wasn't exactly what Shōyō had been hoping for, but he could work with this. “Next time… I’ll make you desperate to win… and we’ll win. And then I’ll make you say, ‘I hate losing!’ or ‘That was a blast!’ You’ll start talking differently about the game!”

Kenma’s eyes widened, surprised at the passion from Shōyō. Though he smiled, more than pleased to have the boy care enough to change his perspective on the game. “Okay, I’ll look forward to that.”

Everything was winding down, Nekoma was ready to head to the train so they could get back to the city, and Karasuno was ready to head back further into the countryside. As Kenma and Shōyō were saying their final goodbyes, Kenma was finally introduced properly to Sakura. To say that the two teens got along is an understatement. Now, while the two were pretty quiet with their introductions with each other, they seemingly had an understanding with each other. Being two antisocial teens, they understood each other silently. There wasn’t much of a need for talking all that much. However, Kenma did suggest that they play games together. Not the biggest person for games, Sakura was a bit hesitant, though accepted since she figured she could actually make a friend out of him. While she’s hesitant to make a friend from a different school, having an online friend could help give her a bit of confidence to branch out to others. Plus, she’s been meaning to have someone new visit her animal crossing island. 

“Well,” Bouncing up to the trio, Yua smiled widely, which looked as though it was going to split her face in half. She was buzzing in place while looking down at the younger girl, “it was really nice to meet you, Hina! I can’t wait to see you again!”

Sakura tilted her head with narrowed eyes, “Hina?”

Yua nodded her head enthusiastically, “Yeah, since you won’t let me call you by your first name, I gave you a nickname. Isn’t that nice!”

The newly nicknamed teen cringed slightly, though it’s not like she could stop Yua. Sakura could tell that Yua was going to do it regardless of what she said. She scowled lightly, “Tch, whatever.” Getting a nickname surprisingly doesn’t bother her that much. If anything, getting it was actually a bit heartwarming. To know that she has someone close enough to her to come up with a nice nickname for her. The only problem is that it comes from someone that Sakura has only just met and barely knows. Hell, Sakura doesn’t even know Yua’s full name!

“Leave her alone, Yua.” Kenma drawled out, “you’re going to scare her off.”

The girl gasped with a hand on her heart, a scandalous gasp leaving her lips, “‘scare her off’, Kenma, I would never do that!”

“No, he’s right.” Sakura nodded her head along with the pudding-headed boy, “Though I would much rather you don’t even try to befriend me, doubt it’ll work.”

Yua deflated as Kenma and Sakura pinned her with nearly matching bored expressions. A slightly hollow expression started to wash over Yua’s face, “Oh, you two are getting along well, huh?” 

Kenma let out a long sigh, now having to deal with a discouraged and saddened Yua on the ride home. No doubt he’ll be hearing how wounded she feels about this until they get home. Even then she might end up texting him a whole bunch about it too. That’s going to be a long night.

Now that Nekoma was heading off back home, Karasuno watched them go. Kageyama and Shōyō stared off into the distance. The setter grunted, “If that had been an official game… ...it would have been over the instant we lost in the very first game.”

“I know,” Shōyō nodded his head in agreement.

“So you are fully aware,” Ukai commented, having heard the two first-years. Everyone turned their attention to their coach. “That official game, the Inter-High preliminaries are right around the corner. We’re heading back right away. We need to reflect upon and analyze today’s practice game!” He then turned to lead the way to the van, “And then, we practice!”

Determination struck just about every one of them as they nodded their heads, “Thank you, sir!”

Chapter Text

ENDO IS QUITE THE TALKATIVE PERSON, THAT’S pretty obvious. Everyone at Karasuno knows the drama queen of the volleyball team who looks for every tidbit of drama and gossip that he can get his hands on. Not only is he well known for his hobby of finding gossip and such, but he also has plenty of admirers. It’s not that surprising, considering he has this exotic look to him since he is half-English. Foreigners are not that uncommon, but Endo Joji is certainly one of the most famous ones around Miyagi.

With his father being Endo Hideaki, a wealthy CEO of a medical supply corporation, it’s not that surprising that there would be some spotlight on Joji. Hideaki is well known for his past of building his company by himself and slowly growing his wealth as the decades went by. Hideaki is an intelligent man who went through medical school and eventually settled for helping the development of medical supplies that go to hospitals all across Japan. Though they specialize in prosthetic limbs and it’s what they are most known for.

Joji’s mother is not that well known in the sense of wealth or owning a company. Endo Eliza is a native English woman from the heart of England, London. She has a small following of people who like her art since she’s a small time artist. Not that well-known, but still has enough fame to sell her paintings for a good chunk of change. She of course met Hidake when they were both young adults when he was on a business trip to help distribute his supplies to other countries, starting with Europe. As the story goes, they fell in love, got married, had Endo and eventually Hideaki moved his family to Japan.

So the Endo family has lived in Japan for quite a while now, ever since Endo was in grades school. They’ve lived in Miyagi for just about most of that time and have become well known amongst the community. 

People know about the Endo family, but not many know Joji. The only ones who come close to that is the volleyball club. Asahi must be the only one who truly understands the blond. So that’s probably why Joji likes the volleyball club so much. 

At the moment, Joji was helping out with cleaning up after yet another practice. Though like usual, Endo wasn’t doing all that much cleaning. Really all he had done was pick up a few stray balls and then kind of just messed around with his friends. Currently he was observing Shōyō as he swayed from side to side due to exhaustion. “Oh! Are you tired, little guy?” Endo teased Shōyō as he poked him in his cheek. “You look dead on your feet.”

Shōyō caught himself before he fell over onto the ground, “Ah!”

“Hahahah!” Endo laughed loudly as the younger boy scowled at him.

“ Endo ,” Daichi called out in exasperation, “leave Hinata-kun alone!” Honestly, Endo acts more like a child than the children.

The blond shrugged his shoulders as he calmed down his laughter. “Huh? I’m just making sure that the poor guy is awake enough to head home!” He smiled widely and puffed out his chest. “I’m just being a good senpai!”

Tsukishima raised an eyebrow as he and Yamaguchi walked past the upperclassmen towards the closet, “Like you can actually do that.”

“Tsukishima!” Endo shouted after the other blond who just snickered, “Get over here so I can lecture you about respecting your elders!”

There was the sound of someone clicking their tongue, “Like you deserve our respect.”

“Paparazzi-chan!” Endo whined as he stuck out his bottom lip. He turned to the girl who was sitting against the wall and pointed at her with tears in his eyes, “Don’t act like that salty beanstock! It’s unbecoming of a young lady.”

Sakura just rolled her eyes and wrinkled her nose at being compared to Tsukishima. Though even she couldn’t deny that her statement was similar to his, “Shut up.”

“Oh,” Asahi walked over to his friend with Endo’s buzzing phone in hand. Of course, it’s one of the newest iphones that not just anyone could get. Well, unless you’re rich, like Endo is. He handed Endo his phone, “Joji, your phone’s been ringing.”

“Hm?” He hummed and took his phone from Asahi’s outstretched hand. He looked at the number that was calling him and the contact was named ‘Don’t answer’. He rolled his blue eyes before answering it, “Ah. Hello?”

“ Endo-san! ” A high-pitched voice exclaimed on the other end. The woman who had been calling let out an exasperated, yet relieved sigh now that he had picked up the phone. “ I’ve been trying to contact you for nearly thirty minutes now! ”

Endo scoffed, “Well, did you not know that I’m at practice?” He started to walk out of the gym, not really wanting his friends to eavesdrop on his conversation. The last thing he needs is for any of them to overhear something that he wouldn’t want them to know. He waved at them over his shoulder while grabbing his school bag and walking out of the gym. Endo ignored the calls from the others telling him to keep helping and asking him where he was going. If he was getting a call from this number, there was no way he could stay at practice anymore. “Anyway, what is it that my father wants?”

“ He wishes for you to be home right now, ” his father’s assistant, Komatsu Tomiko, said hotly, “ he has important business to discuss with you about your training for- ”

“For what?” Endo snapped as he came to the front gates of the school, “I don’t need training for anything.”

Komatsu sighed heavily, also not happy to have to make this call like Endo, “ I’m only telling you what I was told by your father. ” There was the shuffling of paper on the other end of the line, “ He has a meeting tomorrow afternoon and wishes for you to attend it with him to observe. After all, you’ll be taking over the company at some point in your life. ”

“That’s not…” Endo gritted his teeth, annoyance starting to bubble up in his chest, “We agreed that I wouldn’t have to worry about anything involving the company until after I graduated.” He then clenched his fist around his phone, “not only that, but I have practice tomorrow, just like any other day. He should know that I’m busy!”

“ Yes, well, ” Komatsu exhaled quickly out of her nose, “ like I said I’m just- ”

“Telling me what father said, yes, yes.” He ran a hand through his hair as frustration started to settle in. “Whatever, if it’s so important, father should be the one calling me not one of his lackeys!”

“ I- ”

Endo hung up the phone before the assistant could say anything else. He silenced his phone to make sure that if they did call again, he wouldn’t get annoyed by it. The blond stared at his phone for a while before clicking his tongue and shoving it into his pocket, “How lame.”

So he trudged away from the school to head home. His head was bowed as he started his journey. He kept his eyes to the ground as contemplated things. Endo is somewhat angry at the moment, it’ll take a little bit for him to calm down. 

His bright blue eyes had started to grow dull as he was more or less forced to leave practice a tad bit earlier before he got in trouble. He hates having this happen. It doesn’t happen much, though still enough where it got annoying. His father, or more specifically his assistant, would usually try to pull him away from volleyball from time to time. Endo knows that his father doesn’t necessarily… understand how he somewhat enjoys the sport. His father has a plan for him, just to grow up, get involved in the medical field, and inherit the company when it comes time. Endo doesn’t want that. Well, he’s not totally sure what he wants. He doesn’t have a clear idea of what he wants to go to college for, nor what he wants as a future career. He hasn’t had any real interests, besides maybe volleyball. However, he doesn’t see himself making a career as a professional athlete. So he doesn’t have that much going for him.

When he was little, sure he had plenty of dreams. Some days he wanted to be a doctor, just like his father, other days he wanted to be an artist, like his mother. Though he also wanted to be a superhero or actor or something completely random. It varied from day to day back then. He seemed to have big dreams like that while he was a child. Then he moved to Japan and that might as well as completely dampened his childish dreams. Being ostracized like he was would do that to a young child. 

Being a CEO of a company isn’t really something that he would say he’s built for. His father has been trying to mold him into the perfect heir for his company to be passed down to him eventually. It hasn’t really worked out all that well, considering how Endo had not taken to the idea that well. Though why his father was bothering him about it now and trying to force him to go to a meeting tomorrow was definitely violating their deal.

Getting home was a far more depressing affair than it usually was. The entire walk there, Endo just kind of felt like dragging his feet. Perhaps he could just go somewhere else for a bit, cool off since he was still pretty upset about what Komatsu had told him and made him leave practice. Daichi had promised him a meat bun, now he was annoyed he didn’t get one as well. Today just truly wasn’t going that good anymore.

He finally made his way to one of the largest houses in Miyagi. The Endo family lives on a somewhat spacious estate. It wasn’t excessively large, but still enough to basically be considered a mansion. It was a simple-style home with traditional Japanese architecture and features. 

“Joji, sweetheart,” a melodic, soft voice called out from the living room as Joji walked through the front doors. He walked towards it to find his mother sitting on one of the couches with some tea in his hands. “How was school?” Endo Eliza is the epitome of beauty. While Kiyoko is a Goddess, Eliza is a celestial being! She has long golden hair that shined in the light as if it were the sun. Her skin was pale, but it didn’t give her a sickly appearance or anything like that. She seemed to be glowing because of it. Then there were her crystal blue eyes that looked as though they were as blue as a calm ocean. Truly, there isn’t much of a question as to why Hidaeki would fall in love with this woman. 

The teen huffed slightly and plopped down on the armchair beside the couch. “It was fine, I guess.” He lazily played with his fingernails, “I heard that one of the boy’s baseball players say he’s dating a girl from Shiratorizawa, but we all know that’s a lie to make his ex jealous.”

Eliza sighed, more than familiar with the fact that her son is a hotspot for finding gossip at his school. “That’s nice, dear.” She then tilted her head, her hair swaying like a golden curtain across her porcelain features, “Though you seem bothered by something. Did something else happen at school?” She could tell right away that Joji was a bit… annoyed by something. He’s not as boyishly happy at the moment, which he usually is after school. He’d be talking non-stop about how volleyball practice went, but he was surprisingly quiet. Especially when his father isn’t home. A fact that saddens Eliza a bit, but she knows that the relationship between her husband and son is strained. She shook her head and put down her teacup. “I thought everything was getting better, especially since you told me your friends joined the team again.”

“Did father mention to you about some…” Joji clicked his tongue and tilted his head back against the chair, “meeting tomorrow?”

She blinked, “Oh, well, yes, he did.”

Joji sighed heavily, staring up at the intricately designed ceiling, “Did he also forget the deal that we made when I went to Karasuno?” His eyes hardened, “Not only that but I have practice tomorrow!” He was certainly growing a bit more upset now. Of course, he’s not upset with his mother, he’d never be upset with her. She’s far too pure and kind-hearted for him to ever get angry with her. His father is the one who will certainly face the ire of his frustration. After all, it’s because of him that Joji now has to go to this stupid meeting.

“Sweetheart, calm down,” Eliza tried to pacify her son with her soothing voice. He patted the spot next to her on the couch. “Come, here.”

Joji got up and lumbered over to the seat and sat down next to her. Eliza patted his back and rubbed circles to try and calm him down further, as she’s done so in the past. He let out a heavy sigh, “I know that he expects me to be the perfect little son for him and learn how to work at the company. However, I have my own things to do!”

“...It’s alright, Joji.” His mother said, “I know it’s stressful right now, but it’ll be fine eventually.”

He looked up at his mother, his eyes completely devoid of their usual mischievous glint as he stared at her with a small amount of disbelief. “Why does it sound like you aren’t as annoyed about this as I am.”

Eliza sighed and politely place her hands in her lap. She thought of a response for a moment before finally finding something to say, “Joji, you have to understand, you are your father’s son, his only child. He’s more than ready to start giving you some insight into how to run the company.” Joji just rolled his eyes at her in annoyance. She saw this and ran a comforting hand through his short hair, “Look, sweetheart, I know that you and your father made a deal when you graduated junior high. You agreed that if you were allowed to attend Karasuno, you would take up learning about the company eventually.”

“After I graduated from Karasuno,” Joji scoffed, “that was the deal!”

“You have to understand, you are going to graduate soon,” Eliza stressed, “sooner than you think.” She reached over to place a hand on his knee in a form of comfort. “Your father just wants to ensure that you’re ready to start looking after a small part of the company. He’s trying to have you understand just how important this is to him. To you. We just want you to think about your future, is all.”

Clicking his tongue, Joji shook his head. “I get it. Though did you ever consider what I want to do with my future?” Joji snapped, “Huh?”

“And what do you want to do with your future?” A cold voice asked from the front door. Eliza and Joji turned to find that it was Hidaeki who had entered the living room, home from a long day at work. His sharp, hard dark brown eyes seemingly glared at his son who returned that glare tenfold. Tension started to rise in the home as Hidaeki entered the room fully. His prim and proper black hair was seemingly glued back to his head. His expensive black dress shoes clicked across the floor as he stalked further into the living room with his eyes still burning into Joji’s head. “As far as I can tell, you do not have any ambitions, no definitive interests that can be created into a successful career.”

Joji clenched his jaw at the truth behind his father’s words. Yeah, Joji hasn’t found anything that really interested him all that much besides gossip, but he couldn’t really turn that into a career. “How would you know?” He debuted, “You’re never around to get to know me, father .”

It was silent for a moment as Hidaeki considered his words. Not only did Joji realize that his father told the truth, but Hidaeki recognized that his son was also telling the truth. He glanced away for a moment, “That may be true, but I know enough about you, Joji.” He squared his shoulder, certainly not willing to back down from this, “You play volleyball, but we all know you are not passionate about it. Besides becoming a professional athlete is completely off the table for you.”

“Oh? And why’s that?” Joji spat the frustration starting to bubble over, “Is it because my life is basically planned out by you and you are going to force me into your company.”

“We aren’t forcing you-”

Joji scoffed and cut him off with an unamused chuckle, “Yet I have to learn how the company is going to work and I shouldn’t try to find something else to do, right?”

Seeing how upset Joji was getting with the way that his voice was starting to grow tight and grow louder. She hates when these arguments happen. Of course, they happen far too much. “Sweetheart-”

“Joji.” Hideaki cut off his wife with his seemingly ever-cold voice, “You are going to inherit the company at some point, whether it’s sooner or later, you must know how to conduct business. So I suggest that you come with me to this meeting. It will only take a short while and it’s in your best interest.” The nonsense in his tone was palpable, but an ever-present part of his voice. No matter how many times they argue about this, that got nowhere. While Joji likes to say that he’s nothing like his father, he certainly inherited his stubbornness. Both Endo men were completely headstrong and they butted heads far too much.

The pregnant silence that followed his statements was uncomfortable. The tension was at its all-time high as Joji glared at his father intensely. He doesn’t understand how his father could think that he could dictate his life. Joji is his own person, if he decides that he doesn’t want to join the company, then he has the option not to. Though like his father would ever let that happen. Joji clenched his jaw again, “If I go,” he swallowed thickly, “will you leave me alone for the rest of the year about it?”

Hideaki stared at him with his facial features as hard as stone. He subtly nodded his head, agreeing with the terms, “Fine. Come to this one meeting tomorrow, observe how the proceedings go and I will not… bother you with this until after you graduate high school.”

Joji mocked him with a smile, “Yeah so then you can dictate my university life as well.”

“Joji,” Eliza said firmly, not liking the hostility that was brewing up between her family.

He then brushed off his clothes to straighten them out and then grabbed his discarded school back. His usual bright eyes were stoic and lifeless as he walked away from his parents. He waved his hand over his shoulder and started to head towards the main stairs. “I’m going to bed. Don’t bother with calling me down for dinner.” He started making his way up the stairs as he could feel the burning gazes of his parents on his back. “Night, Mum. Father.”

“ You’re going to miss practice? ”

Joji nodded his head to Asahi’s question as he sat at his desk in his bedroom. Asahi was currently on the phone with him since he needed to talk with someone about what happened. Of course, Asahi is his go too since he knows just how bad Joji’s relationship with his father is. He’s heard all of the retellings of the arguments between them, and he’s always been there to calm and reassure Joji.

“Yea, at least after school.” The blond rolled his eyes while leaning back in his chair. His homework is completely forgotten about now. He had first thought that he could do it to distract himself from the argument earlier, but that didn’t work. So the next best thing is to call his best friend and just vent. “Father wants to bring me to a meeting tomorrow. He says it won’t take that long, but for him that's hours. There’s no way I can go to practice at all.”

On the other side of the line, Asahi sighed, “ Oh, well, maybe it’ll be a good thing. ”

Joji narrowed his eyes, “A good thing for who? Father, probably.” He stood up from his desk and started to pace his spacious bedroom, “He’ll be more than happy to subject me to the boring meeting.”

“Still you can learn stuff there about the company. ” Asahi said, trying to be somewhat optimistic. He knows that Joji doesn’t really want to get involved with the company. However, he knows that Joji is the heir to the Endo family, he knows that it’s important for Joji’s father to pass it on to him. It’s a troubling situation to be stuck in between. Asahi hasn’t met Joji’s father before, but from the stories that he’s heard of him he knows he’s a very uptight person. Joji’s mother is an angel, he could tell that from the few times that Asahi had met her(really he could tell that from the first time), and he couldn’t imagine what it was like being in the middle of the two.

Joji paused in his pacing and blinked, why was everyone seemingly against him right now. He groaned and ran his hand down his face, “And you know more than anyone that I don’t want to learn about the company!”

“ Joji!” Asahi exclaimed, a bit panicked that his friend was shouting now. He slowly calmed himself down before trying to do the same for Joji. “What I know is that you don’t know what you want to do after graduating. Maybe giving the company a chance will be a good idea. ”

“Yeah…” Joji rolled his eyes, “Whatever. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Joji hung up the phone after saying his goodbye and threw himself down on his bed. He stared up at the ceiling in exasperation. Why was this coming up now ? He wondered. He still has a year left of high school, the deal that he made with his father just as he was deciding what high school to attend. If he was allowed to go to the school of his choosing, Karasuno High, then after he graduated Joji would do what his father wanted. 

Hideaki has dictated just about everything in his life. When Joji was born, his father decided to have him stay in London with his mother. Hideaki stayed in Japan to take care of his business, and never visited Joji. So he lived his life for nearly nine years without really seeing his father in person, only through a screen or on the phone. He blindly idolized a father who was in a completely different country, and who didn’t seem to care enough to even visit his only son for so long.

Back then, his mother built up this image of his father that Joji followed blindly, believed without question. It wasn’t until they were forced to move to Japan that he saw the truth. Hideaki brought his wife and son to Japan, picked out the school that Joji was to attend, the friends he had to make to be successful .

Joji questioned his father as to why. Why did he have to do everything his father wanted him to without complaint? He asked those questions and complaints to his father back then. He remembers his father calling him… ungrateful . How was a ten-year-old ungrateful about something like this? A child wanting to just… be a kid and not having the prospect of a company hanging over his head.

He grew up, became a teenager and slowly grew frustrated. In the beginning, yeah, Joji thought that it would be cool to be a CEO like his father. Though with the constant berating from his father, saying that he wasn’t enough, isn’t what he wants in a son… Joji grew resentful and insecure. For how could a son that wasn’t living up to his father’s expectations be a good CEO.

That insecurity grew more and more. So it wasn’t that Joji didn’t want to get involved with his father’s company… it’s just that he doesn’t think he’s good enough for it. What if he got into the company and messed it up, becoming a disgrace for the Endo family. After all his father is all about legacy and such. Even if he tried to say that he dislikes his father… Joji certainly wants his approval.

He burrowed himself in his bed and fluffy duvet and pillows. Perhaps if he hid himself in his bed for long enough he could completely forget about everything. That would be great. So he closed his eyes and settled himself in his bed. He’s far too emotional right now. Sleep will definitely distract him from this. Tomorrow is going to be great.

Chapter Text

TO SAY THAT THE KARASUNO CROWS WERE fired up about their upcoming tournament was an understatement. After their game against Nekoma and their training camp, just about everyone had kicked it into high gear to start work on their practicing. They all worked to improve their spikes, blocks, and, of course, their receives.

Currently, Ukai was spiking balls at the team to work on their receives. "Follow-through when you block! Staring won't cut it!"

Shōyō grunted and got back onto his feet, "Sorry, Sir!"

"You must go after every ball as though it's your last!" He hit yet another ball at Shōyō, who tried his best but was unable to save it despite his dive. "'Cause if you don't, the ball you ignored will be the ball you cry over at the end of the game!"

Sakura laid out on the ground by the wall, a book in her hands. It seemed to be a literature book, most likely one that Takeda recommended to her at some point. She seemed to be a bit more invested in the book that she was reading than watching the boys practice. After all, she's seen the guys do this stuff all the time. So reading seemed like the ideal thing to pass the time. Though as she was reading her literature book, she thought back to the discussion that she had seen the night they all got back from the training camp.

After the training camp and their journey back to Miyagi, the Karasuno team were all gathered around their coach and club advisor as they stood before them. Sakura was sitting behind Ukai and Takeda near the whiteboard, though she was still listening in on their conversation. Once again, it's not like she had much else to do. All she can do is just sit around and wait for the practice to end so she can head home with her brother.

"Everyone," Takeda clapped his hands, "well done playing against Nekoma today! So getting right down to business, the Inter-High preliminaries begin next month, starting June 2nd."

Ukai nodded his head, "Miyagi has no regional prelims, so we launch straight into prefectural. Only one team out of approximately 60 in a prefecture proceeds to the nationals. Lose once, that's all she wrote. If you want revenge against Nekoma you must by becoming first in Miyagi. Second won't cut it. Although there's the small issue of them pulling their own weight to represent Tokyo."

"Don't worry!" Tanaka called out, "I know they can do it!"

"Yeah, they were tough!" Nishinoya agreed as they huffed through their noses.

Endo nodded his head and smirked, "That cat captain doesn't seem to be the slacker type, he'll get his team there." Sitting beside him, Asahi didn't appear too happy to have his friend mention Kuroo yet again.

The team all talked about what's to come now that they have the preliminaries to look forward to. Soon enough their practices will have to ramp up quite a bit. They'll have to focus a lot more if they wish to make the cut for the tournaments after all, though it seems like Ukai would push them far enough to get there.

Sakura knew that going to the practices was going to annoy her quite a bit. Waking up in the morning is already a hassle. She hasn't even worked up the nerve to tell Shōyō that she'd rather sleep in and ride her bike to school on her own instead of watching his practice. On one hand, she doesn't like waking up so early. On the other hand, she quite likes getting to see how happy Shōyō gets that she's there. So it's a bit of a toss-up whether or not she would want to be involved in this. Though that's the usual internal debate that she has every once in a while. Nothing totally new for her.

They all started to clean up the gym now that they were finished with their practice and discussion. Eventually, Endo's phone rang, and he left with only a wave over his shoulder. The call dampened his mood far too much for him to even give them all a proper goodbye. It also caused him to leave early, to the chagrin of just about everyone else.

"Hey! Where does that stuck-up prick think he's going?" Tanaka, one of those more than annoyed to see him go, scoffed as they all watched Endo walk out with the phone plastered to his ear. Even though he waved at them while departing, he was more focused on his phone call. "We've still got cleaning to do!"

From the way that Endo's mood had suddenly changed, he could only assume that the call he got was not a pleasant one. Most likely having to do with his father. Asahi sighed, anxiety starting to build up in his chest for his friend. "I think you should just let him go for now." Asahi has more than enough knowledge of the Endo family to know the animosity between them. Joji's mother is an angel and Asahi likes her a lot. Joji and his mother also have a pretty good relationship together. It's Joji and his father who have the fractured relationship that Asahi is more than aware of. That's who he's worried about with Joji at the moment.

Nishinoya tilted his head questioningly, "Huh? Why?" If anything, he'd think Asahi would be the most curious about what Endo had become so worked up about enough to leave so suddenly.

"I'm not sure," Suga spoke up as he picked up a volleyball, also a bit apprehensive about their friend's sudden departure. "But I didn't like that expression on his face."

Shōyō jumped in after finishing his race with Kageyama. Who won that race isn't exactly clear since both of the boys would loudly declare themselves the winner. "Yeah, it kind of looked like he ate a whole lemon that was super sour."

"Leave him alone," Sakura rolled her eyes and yawned, "are you done? I want to get enough sleep tonight."

The way that Endo left was suspicious to Sakura, but she wouldn't pry into his business. Unlike her twin, she can keep her nose out of places that she didn't need to be. If anything, she's more focused on how Shōyō is going to act now. After the other night, she knew that her brother was going to start pushing himself even further for the tournament. Oh, how she's looking forward to that.

It seemed like her brother was also lost in thought, most likely about the other day as well. He didn't receive the ball that was spiked at him which caused him to fall to the ground. "Nice one, Hinata-kun!" Ukai called, "Get back on your feet! One more!"

"Yes, Sir!" The boy shouted and hopped back to his feet like a spring, "Thank you, Sir!"

After a few more hours, practice finally came to a standstill. All the boys started to get their things together and wind down after such a productive practice. The only thing that was really missing was Endo and his annoying commentary or comments to his friends. It was quite a mystery where he was, really the only ones who knew where the blonde was were the third-years. Though it was obviously a personal issue, so it's not like they were just going to tell everyone where exactly Endo was. It was something they knew was a touchy subject.

Currently, Sakura was handing her brother a towel and water bottle. Meanwhile, she made some short, sarcastic comments towards Kageyama who was growing more than annoyed with her. "You're right, that is cool!" Nishinoya exclaimed, drawing the first-years attention to him, "That photo is huge!"

Tanaka nodded his head, "Right?"

Asahi approached them and bent down to take a look at the magazine that the libero was holding, "Let me see." Though he gasped once he got a good look at the photo that Nishinoya held up to him.

Shōyō, Sakura, and Kageyama walked over to the group that was sitting on the ground curiously. "What is it?" Shōyō asked, "What's up?"

"Looky." Tanaka held up his magazine to show the curious first-years, "These guys are this year's three to watch high school boys! They've made Ushiwaka from Shiratorizawa one of the three players to watch in this year's Nationals." Sakura peeked over his shoulder to get a good look at the photo. What stared back at her was a photo of one of the most intimidating boys she has ever seen. He has olive-colored eyes that were scowling at the camera with brown hair. To her, he appeared to be quite the intense type of guy. If she really concentrated, she could vaguely remember Ushijima being mentioned when she had gone to tour at Shiratorizawa. Though she didn't really think much of it since it was a school she didn't really intend on going to. Still, she thought that this Ushijima, the "miracle boy", was obviously quite a strict-looking guy.

Shōyō marveled at the photo and the school that the boy played at, "This is the school Kageyama didn't get into and imouto didn't go to."

Kageyama's eyes twitched, "Shut up!",

He disregarded him and tilted his head, "So, who's Ushiwaka?"

"Don't you know?" Tanaka asked.

Suga chuckled and explained, "The only player Hinata-kun cares about is the Tiny Giant."

"That's an understatement," Sakura mumbled and crossed her arms over her chest.

Tanaka shook his head, "Ushiwaka is… currently the hands-down the number 1 ace in the prefecture. Wakatoshi Ushijima."

Their captain also came over to take a look at what they were all fussing over. "Yeah, now this is what a real ace should look like." Daichi then glanced over at their own ace with a deadpan expression.

Asahi started to sweatdrop, "Hey, why are you looking at me?" Poor guy, Sakura thought as Nishinoya walked over to the bearded teen to pat him on the back in comfort.

Suga looked up at the younger setter of the team, "Kageyama, you tried to go to his school, right?"

"Let me guess!" Tanaka started to laugh. "You wanted to tell this Super High School Level ace 'Move faster, you klutzy shit!' to his face?"

Sakura snickered at both the thought that the setter would do that and Tanaka's impression of the gloomy king. Oh, she's certain that he would try to do that with his arrogant personality and all.

Kageyama bristled, "I would never!" He then turned and glared harshly at the sniggering girl beside him. Sakura just continued to laugh as her brown irises glittered in amusement.

Shōyō didn't seem to be paying that much attention around him. His large eyes solely looked over the photo and article that talked about Shiratorizawa and their star player. "We need to defeat them to play against Nekoma."

"Whoa there!" Ukai then walked on over to them all, "Shiratorizawa isn't the only good school team out there."

All of the boys then came to crowd around their coach. Suga asked him, "Do you mean last year's best four, Sir?"

"Obviously, but there are also other good teams this year." The old blonde said, pulling out a paper from his pocket. "Like Wakutani South, which has excellent defense and solidarity. Date Tech, the team summed up with the term 'Iron Wall'. Their team has higher blocks than any other. Isn't Date Tech the team we lost 2-0 to in the Prefectural Public Tournament this March?" Sakura raised an eyebrow at the description of Date Tech. Ah, the team that beat them and ended with two teammates leaving. Hopefully, they don't have a repeat of that. The last thing this team needs is for not only a loss, but also their teammates giving up again."Their second-year, Aone, is the one to look out for. Date Tech has always been a best four level team, but last year they ended up the best 16 tier in round three against the tournament winners, Shiratorizawa. That's why they aren't seeded this year. What this means is depended on their pairings it's possible to be matched against them in round one. Next up, is… oh, right. I'm told you held a practice game with them not long ago." Kageyama gasped at the mention of Aoba Johsai, "Their setter is Number 1 on their team for offensive power. He is also an excellent setter. He is possibly the best all-around top player in the prefecture. Toru Oikawa, the leader of Aoba Johsai."

"The Great King!" Shōyō bristled.

Sakura clicked her tongue at the reminder of the boy. His personality just rubbed her the wrong way. Sure, she can admit that he's a talented player and leader for his team. However, he was still a prick. His talent doesn't make up for the way that he annoys her so much.

"These are last year's best four."

Tanaka was growling at the reminder of the annoying team, especially Oikawa, "Damn!"

"Last, but obviously not least, Super High School Level ace, Wakatoshi Ushijima commanding Shiratorizawa. That's about it. I'll explain more details later." Suga and Daichi both had the same thought about how Ukai wasn't as much of a slob as they first thought. Their flowery expressions caught the attention of their coach, "Are you two thinking something rude about me right now?" Both boys shook their heads rapidly as Ukai got serious again, "Anyway, that's my personal prediction for this year's toughest four. That being said, if you keep staring up at the top, you'll get the rug pulled out from under you. No team in the tournament is there to lose. They are all there to win. All the while we're training with everything we've got, the others will be training with everything they've got as well. Previous winners and losers alike are all aiming for victory. Don't forget that. Also, do not allow them to call us 'The Clipped Crows' ever again!"

All the boys chorused together, "Yes, Sir!"

Sakura was a bit surprised, Wow, he can actually give good advice it seems. And it was extremely good advice. They shouldn't focus on their possible future opponents and lose sight of who they were facing first. If they did think about Shiratorizawa too much they might end up losing to Date Tech or Aoba Johsai because of it.

The door to the gym then suddenly burst open as Takeda came in. He started at the group in surprise. "You're all still here? Sorry I'm late! I was stuck in a meeting." He approached the group and pulled out a piece of paper with a bracket on it. "Anyway… I've got it! I've got the pairings for the Inter-High preliminaries!"

Everyone grew anxious and giddy to see just who was in their bracket for the tournament. They all quickly tried to peer at the paper, even Tsukishima seemed interested. Though Sakura wasn't that interested as she lazily blinked. She may have been interested in who they were playing but she wasn't the one actually on the team. It's not like she has any insight on the other teams anyway since she doesn't know much about them besides the basics.

Though their sharp eyes all saw just who they were up against for the first round. Of course, that wasn't the most alarming part, it was who they might possibly play in round two that really caught their attention. "If we make it through round one, and Date Tech does the same, we'll be matched against them in round two," Nishinoya observed.

"That's not all," Tsukishima drawled out, "Aoba Johsai is seeded in our block."

Shōyō and Kageyama froze as Tanaka groaned,"For real?"

"Didn't Ukai just say not to focus on the top?" Sakura rolled her eyes, drawing everyone's attention to her. She raised a lazy eyebrow at them, "So don't focus on it."

Daichi nodded his head at the younger girl, "We know."

After looking over the block and just who they were going to be playing against, everyone was getting their stuff together to leave. Though as they were finishing up getting their things, Tanaka spoke up, "Say, the rich boy didn't get to hear any of this." Something that everyone knew, but didn't know whether they should say anything. He scoffed, "Doubt it would matter though, he doesn't care enough about volleyball to really let it sink in."

Asahi huffed while pulling on his jacket, "He's just busy tonight." He didn't really like that his missing friend was constantly brought up. Endo has his own stuff to deal with at the moment, it certainly was going to cause enough stress on him even now with the tournament coming up. Asahi couldn't imagine what was going on with him. No doubt he's going to try and get Endo to talk about it to try and figure out what's best for him.

"Yeah, he'll probably be back tomorrow morning," Suga said, already seeing how Asahi was getting annoyed about the questioning of Endo's whereabouts. Truly, the setter is also worried about Endo, but he knows that it is touchy. Suga doesn't know everything about Endo, he's a bit of a secretive and mysterious person. Asahi is probably the only person that Endo is open to, and just about everyone knows that.

Tanaka tilted his head, "Where is he anyway?"

Asahi answered, "He's doing work with his father."

"What does his dad do?" Shōyō asked in curiosity.

Nishinoya pulled on his jacket, "He's a doctor or something, I think."

"He also owns a company with medical supplies." Asahi spoke once again, this time a little bit snippy as they all headed outside. Just thinking about all of this is starting to vex him. The situation that Endo is in always frustrated him. The fact that Endo has told him multiple times that he has little to no say in his life after high school is so upsetting to him. He understands that Endo is an heir to his parents' fortune and company, however, he'd think any parent would hear out what their child wants. Though not for Mr. Endo. It's his way or no other way, and that irritates Asahi far too much.

Still, he shouldn't think of that, for now, they have practice in the morning to rest. So he just started his trek home, even as the rest of his friends moved on to another topic to speak about. More specifically, they started discussing the tournament. Something that Asahi should be more focused on.

It was the next day, and Sakura was walking around the school campus heading to the boy's practice. She checked in with Shimada and her own club and found that they aren't really doing anything today. Shimada and Mori said that it would be okay for her to leave early, especially since Sakura had been talking about the tournament coming up for the team. All of her club members could tell that she was pretty anxious about it and maybe even a little excited. Yokoyama commented about how this may have been yet another time that they've witnessed emotion in the usual stoic girl. Sakura just rolled her eyes at that and headed out, more than willing to escape before they said anything else.

Just as she was heading towards the gym, she heard a boy ask, "What's with him?"

"Yikes…" His friend shuttered as they moved away from the intense boy who was glaring at nothing in particular.

Sakura turned to find that it was Kageyama who was scaring them. He was getting himself a drink from the vending machine

Sakura waltzed up to Kageyama as he started to drink his milk, "What did the vending machine do to you, King?"

Kageyama spun around to glare at who had just called him that, "Don't call me that!" Of course, it was Sakura who was smirking at him with her thin, pale lips. His glowering seemed to get even more intense now that he knew it was her.

"Whatever," She shrugged her shoulders, unaffected by his glare. Though she just sighed, staring up at him with a calculating gaze. "Look, I get that you're thinking about that stuck-up prick Oikawa. Honestly, I don't care what sort of grudge or whatever you have against him or he has against you. What I do care about is how well you play."

Kageyama huffed, "Why? Only hoping your brother will get to play? Stay on the court as long as he can?"

"Yes," she answered plainly, it's not like that was a secret by any means. "You and I both know that's all he's ever wanted. So I want to make sure that it happens. You just focus on playing your best, first win against Tokonami, then Date Tech, and so on. When you actually play against Aoba Johsai, then you can sulk about Oikawa."

The setter assessed what she was saying, and she was right. He shouldn't be thinking about Oikawa at the moment since they aren't playing him any time soon. He clicked his tongue, "You know, you're just as annoying as your brother."

Sakura shrugged her shoulders, "Whatever."

"...Though I guess it's good advice."

"Oh?" She smirked at his grumbling. Kageyama bristled, it seemed like he didn't mean for her to hear him say that. "Did you say I give good advice?"

Kageyama huffed harshly and had the urge to throw something at her. He really didn't like the fact that she smirked at him so smugly. Reminded him of that blonde, glasses-wearing bastard. A volleyball would be best, maybe his milk carton would do. However, it's still got plenty of milk in it, so it would be a waste. He settled for shouting at her, "Dumbass!"

"I'll take that as a thank you," Sakura smirked before walking past the annoyed boy. She took quite a bit of enjoyment from how irritated he is. He's quite easy to rile up.

"It was even more boring than I thought it would be," Endo told Asahi as they stood in their third-year classroom. Ever since the first minute of class, Endo had taken any second to complain to Asahi about the meeting with his father.

Asahi sighed, "I know. At least, you didn't have to actually talk during it."

Endo huffed while running a hand through his hair in frustration, "Still didn't stop some investor trying to talk with me. Like I wanted to talk to some old geezer about some company I want nothing to do with."

The meeting the other day was complete and utter bullshit to Endo. All he did was sit in the back and watch the deal that his father was trying to make. Sure, it wasn't something like being forced to interact with people. All he had to do was sit and watch. However, no matter what it was, he still had to deal with his father's stupid business. Still didn't stop some old guys from asking him questions. Of course, to keep the Endo family's image perfect, Endo just smiled dashingly and answered questions or spoke quickly with them. He would have much rather been at practice. Though his mother begged him to not make much of a fuss about it. Endo is certainly a mama's boy, so he did as she requested begrudgingly and only complained a bit. He couldn't really say no to his mother, not if she really wanted what was best for him. Or what she believed was the best for him.

As they lapsed into silence, Asahi turned his attention back to the bracket in front of him. Endo watched with sharp eyes as his friend stared down at the paper in front of him. He sighed sharply through his nose before grabbing the paper off of Asahi's desk. Asahi sputtered now that it was taken from him and Endo placed himself on the desk instead. "Stop staring at that paper." He said, now leaning against Asahi's desk to draw his attention to him, "I can smell your anxiety from miles away, you know."

"Eh!" Asahi gasped, "Don't do that!"

Endo rolled his eyes, "Really, Asahi, you're getting worked up over nothing! We have a different team, things will be better." He stuck his tongue out, "Besides who says that we'll play those goons. Maybe they'll lose in their first match."

Asahi deadpanned at him, "You know that won't happen."

"Oh, let me be optimistic if I want to!" Endo blew a raspberry at his best friend. Though Asahi did smile a little bit at Endo's silliness. Just what Endo was hoping to get out of him. The last thing he needs is to deal with a nervous Asahi. Having him constantly thinking about how he was shut out so much in their last match against Date Tech isn't good at all.

Their small libero then came out of nowhere and started yelling, "ASAHI! ENDO! GO! CLUB!"

The other third-years in the class jumped "What the…?"

"Like they're dogs?"

Now walking through the halls after a marching Nishinoya, Asahi rubbed the back of his head, "Nishinoya… it's okay now. I won't run away. I know that everyone's got my back now." The libero paused in his steps, giving Asahi his full attention. The ace had an intense look in his eyes, "I'll stand proud this time and I'll tell them I'm the ace of Karasuno!"

Endo smiled at the declaration and flashed them both a smirk, "Besides, you know I won't let him get away any time soon." He quipped, "He might have escaped me for a month, but not anymore!" He jumped up and grabbed Asahi by the shoulders, "he's not gonna skip out on us anymore!" Despite Endo not truly being that invested in the sport, he'll be damned if he lets Asahi get out of this again. There was no way that Asahi could run away from the sport, at least until they both graduate, then Endo will let Asahi go since they won't be on the team together.

It felt surprisingly nice to Endo to be back at practice. Missing the practice the other day had put a little bit of a damper on his mood. However, it was like a nice break. Still, he didn't have fun on said break, but it was like a good day just to rest he supposed. Of course, he was chewed out by all of his friends for missing yesterday. They questioned him quite a bit, Tanaka and Nishinoya were the loudest about it and wanted to know just what he had been doing.

Though he wanted to sound mysterious and secretive, so he told them only a little bit of what he did. For all they knew he was doing business with his father, though he didn't specify what kind of business. He kind of figured that they knew it has to do with the medical supplies stuff, but he tried to make it sound far more nefarious than what it was.

Sakura saw right through him and wasn't even interested in hearing about what he was doing. Although he tried his best to get her to be at least a little curious about his escapade outside of school. However, all she did was lazily blink at him and then roll her eyes. She sat herself down on the floor and started working on her school work.

Currently, he was standing beside Tanaka as they worked on some spiking practice. Kageyama was setting to them and at the moment he was setting to Asahi. Obviously, the ace of the team was able to hit a perfectly strong spike right over the net.

"Nice kill!"

Kageyama complimented him, "Nice, Azumane!"

"Azumane!" Ukai then called.

The ace turned to his coach, "Yes, Sir!"

"Are you good at back attacks?" He asked as Asahi became slightly unsure. "Hey! You guys come here a second!" The boys all gathered around their coach as he started to write a few things on the whiteboard. He explained a certain maneuver to them, one that consisted of a back attack, and turned to them once he was done, "And that's how it goes."

"First we need to find the right hitting height." Kageyama thought aloud.

Shōyō seemed to be a little unsure, "That looks complicated."

"I don't think we've tried something like that before," Endo said with a hand on his chin in thought.

"Let's try it." Asahi said standing up with a spark of determination, "Thank you for your help!"

Some time had passed, and the boys had all worked together on figuring out the few plays that Ukai had shown them. Putting them into fruition was a bit harder than anticipated. Especially since Endo may or may not have messed up a bit too much. Though he got over it eventually and figured out how to use them in play. Sakura, now finished with her homework, stared at the whiteboard in curiosity. Many of the plays that Ukai had written were a bit complicated. Well, perhaps they looked complicated to her since she's not an actual player. Takeda then approached Ukai who was standing beside the board that Sakura was studying.

"Ukai, you look tired," Takeda commented to the coach who did look a bit tired. The man had circles under his eyes and he was yawning a bit earlier. "You've been arriving right when practice starts every day. How are things at work?"

"Yeah, I specialized in retail all this time, but I've recently taken up a early morning crop tending, so I've been working nights at the store to compensate. After all, I can't let my family coddle me all the time."

Sparing a glance up at the coach, Sakura turned her attention away from the board for just a second with a bored voice, "You're actually responsible?"

"You-"

Takeda cut him off before Ukai could retort to Sakura, "Thank you so much!" He bowed deeply, "I'll bring you a bottle of sake some time!"

Ukai's eyes sparkled at the promise of alcohol, "You mean it?"

Sakura stored that in the back of her mind. If ever she needs to bribe him or something, alcohol is the way to go. Takeda looked over all of the plays Ukai wrote out. "Still there sure are a lot of attack patterns. Are we using all of these?"

"It depends. We need them to focus on the game in front of them." He said, "But we need to pay attention to all the games after this one too." They then watched Suga set a quick attack to Shōyō, which was hit perfectly, "That Hinata-Sugawara fast attack is starting to come together!"

On the court, Kageyama and Asahi were working together on their sets and spikes. Kageyama jumped up to his senpai with wide eyes, "Azumane, what did you think of that last toss? Was it too high or too low? What did you think?"

Asahi started to sweat at the intensity coming from the king, "Uh, well I'm okay wit-"

Kageyama insisted, "Nothing is too trivial! Don't hold back! I'll adjust!"

"Really?" Asahi said in apprehension, not totally prepared at the exuberant manner Kageyama was talking to him with. He scratched his chin, "Okay, then how about just a little higher? Oh, and also make it a little further from the net."

"Absolutely!" Kageyama exclaimed, "I would like to do another 10!"

"What?"

"Should we do more? Okay, let's do 20!"

Asahi shook his head rapidly, "No, no, that isn't what I meant."

"He's so aggressive," Endo laughed loudly at the worried expression on Asahi's face. He wasn't sure if he should go over there and save his big teddy bear or just let the first-year bother him. Either way, it's entertaining.

On the sidelines, Sakura snickered, "I've never seen him so worked up like this." Of course, she had to take a photo of him. For blackmail, obviously.

Kageyama still hadn't let up, "Do you mean you want to practice a different pattern?"

Though Asahi was saved when Daichi called out, "Hey, you guys! We've stayed late enough!"

"Yes, Sir!"

So all of the boys started their clean-up. Daichi reprimanded Kageyama and Shōyō for racing while mopping and Endo tossing stray balls at Suga. When clean-up was finally done, all the boys got their jackets, their school bags and headed out of the gym after saying goodbye to their advisor and coach.

It seemed like Kageyama and Shōyō were going to race once again. This time down the hill towards the shop at the bottom of the hill. All of the boys started heading down, laughing and sighing at the fact that even after practice the troublesome duo still had so much energy. Sakura stuck to the back of the group, her walking pace was far slower than the others, especially since they were so much taller. Curse these volleyball giants and their long legs.

She walked lazily besides really the only person she tolerated in the club and the person she may despise the most. Sakura doesn't have much of a problem being with Yamaguchi. Ever since their private talk the other day, she feels like she can be comfortable around him. She opened up a bit to him, and he was nice to her and didn't seem to want to push her own anyway. So she accepted him as a friend at this point. Tsukishima, obviously, was on a different level. She cannot tolerate him and his snarky comments most of the time. He's a bully, and she hates him for it. End of story.

"Oh, you guys can go ahead," Yamaguchi suddenly said as he paused in his steps, which caused his two friends to do the same. "I have somewhere to go before I head home."

Tsukishima raised an eyebrow at him, "You sure."

Yamaguchi nodded his head with a smile, a bit touched that Tsukishima was worried about him just a little. "Yeah, I'll be fine. See you guys tomorrow. Make sure you get plenty of rest, Tsukki." He smiled brightly and sweetly at him.

The blonde clicked his tongue, "Whatever, see you."

"Bye, Tadashi," Sakura said with a small smile.

The boy flushed slightly at the fact that she called him by his first name and smiled widely. "Bye, Sakura!" He really hasn't gotten used to the fact that Sakura and he are on first-name basis.

As he started his trek to whatever errand he had to run, Tsukishima and Sakura were left alone. Something that could go one of two ways. One, they could just stay silent and not speak to each other on their walk to the store. Or two, one of them was going to say something to the other just to rile them up. Of course, it was going to be the latter since Tsukishima was glancing at the girl from the corner of his eyes.

"It's weird."

Sakura sighed, a bit annoyed that he actually wanted to start a conversation with her. Though she'd humor him for now. "Weird?"

"That you actually made friends with Tadashi."

"Is it?" She raised an uninterested eyebrow, still not batting an eye at him, "Hm."

It seemed like pointing out the fact that she doesn't have many friends were getting to her. Tsukishima really was getting annoyed with how he couldn't annoy her. "Why do you always stay so late anyway? Don't you have anything better to do?"

She shrugged her small shoulders, "I guess not. It's far more entertaining watching you guys mess up during practice than just studying at home." She could tell that he was trying to rile her up. He was trying everything he could, it seemed. He was bringing up some sensitive topics for her but she wasn't going to take the bait. Ever since she stood up for herself during the gallery, Tsukishima has been poking and prodding at her a bit more lately. It was beyond annoying.

He scoffed, "I find it quite pathetic that you seem to have separation anxiety from your brother."

Sakkura could feel herself wanting to retaliate at that, but she kept her cool. Tsukishima watched as she took a deep breath through her nose and let it out through her mouth. Obviously, she was calming herself down before speaking. She only hummed in reply, trying to act like what he was saying wasn't actually getting to her. "Hn."

That topic didn't seem to bother her as Tsukishima had hoped. Though he wasn't going to give up on trying to rile her up. Instead, he tried something else. "So you turned down a scholarship to Shiratorizawa for what exactly?"

Sakura bristled slightly. Why was he trying so hard to annoy her this way? If only she had longer legs to speed walk away from him. Though his much taller stature would catch up with her easily. She huffed, "It's none of your business why I do what I do."

"I find it interesting that you seem to revolve your existence around your brother." He commented, already seeing that she was starting to boil over. His smug smirk graced his lips as his golden eyes started to glow in the dark, "You know, you really are just a clone of your brothers, a shadow."

"Yeah, like I haven't heard that before." Sakura scoffed at his attempt at offending her. Seriously, he should be a little more original. She paused and turned to face him completely. Her dull, brown eyes looked up at him as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Look, I didn't go to Shiratorizawa because I didn't think I'd fit in with those rich kids. Besides, it's better to go to a local school than one a bit farther away." She was telling the truth, at least half of it. A part of why she didn't go to the school was because of the distance, but also the fact that she'd be away from her family, more specifically her brother. So she isn't lying when she says the fact that it was too far away was a factor in her decision.

Tsukishima seemed to stare at her for a while, trying to gauge whether or not she was lying about it. He wouldn't put it past her to lie to him about something like this. Though her indifferent mask seemed to be keeping him from finding out if she was telling the truth or not. "Tch." He tsked before starting to walk off again, "I'm sure you're just trying to convince yourself of that."

Sakura glanced at him with her sharp brown eyes and followed after him, "Maybe I am. Maybe I'm not. You'll never know."

It was silent between them. The only sound was the distance shouts of the rest of the team at the bottom of the hill and their footsteps on the ground. Neither of them was looking at each other, more than content with ignoring each other. Though Tsukishima broke the silence again, "You're nothing like your brother." Obviously, Sakura rolled her eyes. "At this point, he'd be telling me his life story about exactly why he would or wouldn't."

Sakura let out a small chuckle at that, he wasn't wrong there. "Hm, Shōyō just likes to be dramatic most of the time. I'm not. It's not something you need to know, especially since we aren't friends." Her voice turned bitter at stating that fact. It's obvious that she was more than annoyed at the fact that Tsukishima wanted to know things about her, personal things. If he wasn't being such an ass about everything and a bit more sincere then perhaps she would be more inclined to talk to him about it at least a little. But he's just being a bully, so she's not going to give him anything.

"Hey, Tsukishima, Hinata-chan!" Tanaka called and held out a bag to them, "Daichi got us meat buns!"

Tsukishima took the bag from him before handing it to Sakura, "Oh, thanks."

"Hn," Sakura said and took her own meat bun out of the bag. If there is one thing that's good that comes from staying late with the volleyball club, it's the free food Daichi gets them from time to time.

Tanaka noticed their missing friend, "Isn't Yamaguchi with you guys?"

"He said he had an errand and went home," Tsukishima explained as he subtly watched Sakura walk over to her brother. He eyed her as she listened to her brother talks excitedly about something stupid or other. Though the way that her usually bored gaze turned amused and affectionate, gave him pause. Yeah, she wasn't like her brother. And Tsukishima wanted to know exactly why.

The days went by pretty quickly. At least, it felt really quick to Endo. Perhaps it was because he was having quite a lot of fun nowadays both at school and practice. True to his father's word, after the one meeting that he had gone to, none of them mentioned the company again. It was pure bliss. Sure, his father and he didn't talk all that much, but that's nothing new. Besides, his father is never usually home when he's there. Hideaki would usually stay at work quite late and leave really early in the morning, so it's not like either of them say that to each other that much. Still, it brightened Endo's week now that he didn't have to think about it at all.

Practicing was quite fun for Endo. All he focused on was trying to learn new attacks and such that Ukai had come up with. Sure, he's still not the best player on the team, and really is only good at his serves, but it didn't mean he didn't have any fun. All he can really do is get better, and having his friends there to cheer him on, and a new coach to teach them, it can only go up from here, right?

Though tomorrow was the day, the tournament starts tomorrow. Endo was quite excited about it, he wouldn't lie. Tournaments were so fun for him. Drama can come around from every corner when teams clash against each other. Besides, Endo doesn't get stressed at games or such. He can keep a cool head most of the time, the pressure doesn't really get to him. Most likely because he doesn't put too much worth into winning or losing. He could care less about who comes out on top, so that might be why he doesn't usually get so worked up about them. Still doesn't mean he wouldn't put in the work. After all, if he didn't he'd be letting his friends down.

"Well done, everyone!" Ukai called now that they finished practice. It was a bit earlier than usual since the last few rays of light were still gazing down on the ground even if they were dim. "Let's quit early and go home to rest up."

"Yes, Sir!"

"Okay, that's all-"

"One minute!" Takeda suddenly exclaimed, "Can I add one more comment from Shimizu and Sakura?"

All of the attention was now turned to the manager and the girl who was sitting on the ground. Sakura jumped at the fact that she was included in this and shook her head with a click of her tongue. She crossed her arms over her chest and shifted on her feet, "Well, it's more from Kiyoko-senpai, but whatever." The manager had approached her the other day and asked her to help with something that Kiyoko found in the closet. It seemed to be completely forgotten and abandoned, so it took some time to clean it up. Though Sakura has to say that she's quite… happy to see it. She actually couldn't wait to sit in the stands right behind it to cheer on her brother.

"I'm not that good at pep talks, so…" She trailed off and turned to head towards the ladder to the upper floor. She waved to the photographer, "Sakura, if you please."

The younger girl got up and followed her senpai, "Sure thing." The two girls climbed the ladder with Kiyoko carrying a black cloth with her. The team watched in anticipation to see just what the girls were going to do.

"What's that?" Nishinoya questioned what everyone was thinking.

They then flipped the banner over the edge to show the team. It was completely black with the kanji for "Fly" written boldly in white. All of the boys were in awe of it, since they never used it before.

"I didn't know we had this!"

Kiyoko looked down at them, a tad bit bashfully, "I found it while I was cleaning so I washed it."

Extremely motivated, Tanaka and Nishinoya both pumped their fists. Tanaka shouted, "Now I'm on fire!"

Nishinoya agreed on with rosy cheek, "I'm impressed, Kiyoko. You do good work!"

"Okay! It's time to get psych-"

"Not yet." Daichi cut them off, "I think… there's more."

"Y…" Kiyoko started now with everyone once again turning all of their attention to her.

All the boys were hanging off of her words, anticipating just what she would say, "'Y…'?"

She took a deep breath as her cheeks started to turn a rosy red, "You can do it."

It was silent. All of the boys were now processing what she had said. The only sound in the gym now was Kiyoko's sneakers on the ground as she ran off. It took a moment for them to understand what she had just done. Eventually, after a second, all of the upperclassmen break out of their stupor, only to start balling their eyes out.

"Shimizu…" Daichi started to sob, "has never done this before!"

Kageyama and Shōyō stared at him, "You too, Captain?"

"These people are dumbstruck," Tsukishima said, disturbed.

Yamaguchi started to sweat, "Usually, they're so boisterous."

Endo smiled with some tears in his eyes, "She's so kind."

Noticing that his sister was still standing up behind the banner, Shōyō jumped with his eyes sparkling, "Oh, Imouto! Say something too!"

The other orange-haired teen jumped now that everyone was looking up at her expectedly. Their teary eyes staring at her caused her to squirm a bit, "Huh? Why me? Um…" It took her a moment to figure out what to say. Much like Kiyoko, she also isn't good at pep talks. Sure, she's pretty good at hyping up her brother from time to time, but not an entire team. Plus, Shōyō understands Sakura far more than the others, so she didn't even have to say much for him to understand her support for him. So she flashed them a small, soft smile with a bit of uncertainty in her voice, "good luck?"

That certainly gave every boy a jolt, since they've never really seen her smile in such a manner. Only a few people have come close to seeing the corners of her lips lift up slightly in a smile. Though this time, while appearing a little unsure of herself, the smile was still far more genuine than anyone on the team has seen. Though the boys then broke out into even more cheers at the sight, which scared the poor girl just a little bit.

"Wait, what is this?" Tsukishima shouted, more than unnerved by how they reacted to Kiyoko and Sakura, "This is getting out of hand!"

Through his sniffles, Daichi shouted, "We're going to win round one!"

"Yessir!"

Nishinoya cried out, "Kiyoko! Sakura!"

"I have the strength of 100 men!" Tanaka screamed.

Despite the strange scene, Sakura was… excited. They were all pumped up for the tournament tomorrow, and she is no exception. The second tournament that her brother has ever been in and his odds look far better than in middle school. As she watched the team shouted and freak out with each other down below, she truly couldn't help herself from smile softly at them all. Yeah, things are looking pretty good for her brother.

Yawning loudly, Sakura ran a hand through her slightly messy hair. Today was the day. Yet another important day for her brother since the first match for the tournament is today. Now, while she was tired, Sakura was also a bit energetic. It's kind of contagious between the twins. Sakura is usually able to control herself and keep herself cool and collected, but it just seemed like today was the day that she was willing to be more excited than usual.

"Can you believe it, imouto!" Shōyō exclaimed as he quickly put his bike away and seemed to be buzzing in place. "We're heading to the tournament today!"

"Yeah, it's great." Sakura smiled subtly at her brother's enthusiasm.

He jumped up and down like a rabbit, "You'll cheer us on, right?"

"Of course I will." She said almost offended that he would think she wouldn't, "Mainly just you though, I don't really care about the others."

Shōyō tilted his head. Even after all this time, Sakura still didn't seem like she liked the other guys. "Why not? Aren't you friends with any of the others?"

"Hm, no." She then thought about it for a moment before shrugging her shoulders. "Maybe Yamaguchi. Or Suga, Daichi and Asahi. Though that's it." There were only a few others that she tolerates. Perhaps the second-years, sans Tanaka and Nishinoya, though that's about it. The others were either too annoying or an asshole(*cough* Tsukishima *cough*). Though as a whole she'd cheer on the entire team. If they all succeed then that means Shōyō succeeds.

"Oh, I thought you'd-"

The twins then suddenly heard shouting from behind them and the ground started to rumble as Kageyama came racing up from behind him. He passed the two, picking up the wind around them and nearly knocking the twins over. Shōyō growled and quickly took off after him, "Why, you! Come back here, Kageyama!"

Sakura readjusted her uniform after it was messed up by the sprinting setter. She clicked her tongue but let it slide. For today, she could understand why they might have an unimaginable amount of energy. Though they usually are like this so perhaps she shouldn't let it slide. Oh, well.

Though it's not like she was going to race after them. She'd let them run to the club room while she continued her calm, lazy pace. Doing this not only allowed her to not exert any extra energy and contemplate things.

Ever since coming to Karasuno, she's had hope. A hope of her brother finally getting exactly what he wants. An opportunity to prove himself as a player. To show everyone that no matter how short he is, he's still an amazing player. All she wants is for him to prove himself and be the best that he can be. Joining Karasuno seems to have given him the opportunity to do so.

She knows that he has improved exponentially since middle school. He's refined his technique and has a team that can support him in the game and such. While she can support him from the sidelines and give him encouragement, he always needed an actual team to be on the court with him. Karasuno certainly is that team for him.

While she has to admit that some of his team members are annoying, they're talented. They're good enough to help her brother achieve his goal. Some of them get on her nerves, however, she'll look past it for the sake of Shōyō.

Sakura is proud of Shōyō. He's worked hard to get towards this. She knows that this is just one step towards winning as many games as he can. He'll stay on the court for as long as he can. That's all she hopes. Then he'll become just like the Tiny Giant, his idol.

Though, she sighed while getting closer to the club room. Finally turning the corner and seeing Shōyō and Kageyama talking about something, she watched them from her position. She didn't want him to lose. Even if it's a bit of a possibility. They are still a new team, the odds are stacked against them no matter how much they practice. Karasuno is going against other teams that are known to be far more put together. As a pessimist, she's not going to let go of the fact that they may lose. While Shōyō may not think it's possible, Sakura would be the realist of the two and not be too hopeful about everything going right for them.

The last thing she wants is to see her brother get upset after losing despite putting in so much work and having this new team. She'd hate to see that. Even if she's more than prepared for it happening.

Chapter Text

ENDO GATHERED HIS SCHOOL BELONGINGS JUST LIKE any other day. However, today was not like any normal morning. Today is the firsts day of the volleyball tournament after all. This isn't the first tournament that he's ever been in, but it certainly has got to be one of the most exciting. Not only do they have these new first-years shaking everything up, but it's also his last year to play volleyball.

This will most likely be the last time that he gets to play with his friends. Since they’ll be graduating this year and there isn’t really any other chance that they’ll get to play like this again. So for the sake of his friends, he’d do whatever he could to get them to win. While he may not feel gratification from it, he knows that they do and he loves seeing them like that.

So after his mother kissed him on the cheek, and he skipped out the front door, Endo was on his way to school. His large family home is a bit of a walk away from Karasuno, but he doesn’t mind the walk there. It gives him a bit of time to himself and to contemplate about things. Sometimes it’s not the greatest thing since he can be a bit… depressed about certain things. However, it’s usually okay.

Just as he was getting in the final stretch of his walk to school, he found himself coming to a crossroads with his other friends. Asahi, Suga, Daichi, and Endo blinked at each other, “Morning.”

So the quartet started their journey to school side by side. They were silent for a while. Whether it was because they didn’t know what to say to each other or they were still trying to wake up is unclear. Though Asahi then sighed, “Listen, it’s finally time for-”

“Don’t speak!” The other three snapped at him.

The bearded teen sweatdropped, “Pardon?”

“I’ll bet you’re about to say something sentimental,” Daichi stated the obvious.

Suga nodded his head, “Like, ‘it’s finally time for our final Inter-High’... or some other such nonsense.”

Endo chuckled lightly, “You’re usually so sappy about this stuff.” However, from time to time, he found it endearing of Asahi. The bearded boy usually got like this around certain things like graduation and such, like during junior high. Endo still remembers the riveting speech Asahi gave him on their last day at their respective schools. He even made a declaration to always be his friend no matter if they went to the same high school and stuff. That may have also played into a part of why Endo chose Karasuno as his high school instead of Shiratorizawa or some other expensive, preppy school. 

“That kind of conversation is like marking us for death,” Suga exclaimed, “so no way!”

“Oh, come on!” Asahi whined. What was so wrong with wanting to be sentimental with his good friends? “Why not? What about yesterday? I wanted to boost our morale by getting all us third-years together for a quiet chat under the stars to mentally prepare for our final Inter-High. But you guys just up and left.”

“Aww,” Endo cooed, causing his friend to blush a bright red, “that’s adorable, Asahi.”

Daichi shook his head, “We got a 120% boost in morale thanks to Shimizu and Hinata-chan’s surprise.” They all thought back to the few encouraging words from their manager and photographer. Yeah, their entire team was definitely pumped up after that.

Asahi sighed, “Yeah, well… Yeah, true, but…”

“Today we’re going to win the first two rounds and get to Day Two.” Suga said strongly as they finally came to the gate of the school. “I don’t want to talk like it’s all over just yet.”

Daichi agreed with him, “We will win every game put in front of us! That’s all you need to think about!”

Asahi nodded his head, “Right!”

“Because we’re counting on you, Ace.”

“Sure…” As their captain headed further into the school grounds, Suga, Asahi and Endo all started to whisper to each other. “Daichi is kind of scary when he’s being nice.”

“Should we be worried he’s planning something.” Endo whispered along, not that quietly. 

Suga chuckled lightly, “Maybe it’ll rain.”

“Would you prefer me to rake you over the coals instead?” Daichi asked, now more than annoyed with them as his forehead furrowed. The trio jumped at being called out by their captain, even more frightened of him.

The quartet of third-years then came upon the club rooms and found that Kageyama, Shōyō and Sakura were already there. The two boys were obviously itching to get into the room to start their practice. Sakura looked to be pretty tired, which certainly isn’t new. Shōyō jumped around and shouted, “Good morning!” The excited boy waved down at them while his sister blinked slowly at them.

“Right! We’ll open up the club room now!” Daichi then glanced at his fellow third-years,
“Let’s go.”

All of them were now determined to get as far as they could in this tournament, “Right!”

Taking the bus to the tournament was a normal affair. Shōyō didn’t end up getting sick like the time they were on the bus to Seijoh and it wasn’t in the middle of the night like for the training camp. A perfect little bus ride towards one of the most important events in this team's short existence. Though everyone was a bit nervous for today, after all they’ll be facing some pretty talented schools.

The team walked towards the building together, a few guys talking about strategies, some excitedly jumping around about actually getting to play while some were quite nervous. Sakura was listening to her brother gush about how tall all of the other teams where. Though he kept declaring to her how he was going to be better than all of them. She just nodded her head along with him, believing in his fighting spirit and amused at how fiery he was being.

Just as they were entering the building, the come up to the front doors where a board was posted of the tournament bracket. “Shiratorizawa will rack up wins as usual.” Some boy said as he and his teammate looked at the brackets.

“No, Aoba Johsai seems to be a threat this year.” The teammate said, “They’re a cut above the rest now that Oikawa is a third-year. And I hear the Seijoh first-years are improving fast.”

His friend shook his head, “But can they win the block against Date Tech? I’m glad they weren’t in Block A.”

“Let’s see, Block A has…” 

He squinted at the kanji, “Tori? Torino?”

The other boy tilted his head, “Don’t you mean Karasuno?”

“Weren’t they really tough a few years ago?”

“Yeah, maybe a few years ago. Now they’ve earned themselves a totally lame nickname.”

“Really?” Said team was slowly making their way over there, overhearing the conversation. “What is it?”

“If I remember correctly, ‘the Fallen Champs, the Clipped Crows.’” That certainly didn’t make Karasuno that happy. They now loomed over the two poor guys, only one of them was aware enough to try and warn the other. 

The boy started to sweat, “Hey, be careful!”

“‘Clipped’?” Tanaka came sliding in with his most intimidating face, “What’s that again?”

Daichi then grabbed Tanaka by the back of his shirt, as if he were a rabid dog being restrained by his collar. “Come on, we’re going!” He then bowed to the two other guys, “I’m so sorry.”

Despite the apology and the clearly scolded Tanaka, the two boys were still a bit shaken up. “Oh, th-that’s okay.”

Daichi started to scold his underclassmen like a disappointed father as they walked away. “Stop picking fights.”

“Yes, Sir,” Tanaka sighed, thoroughly embarrassed as he was pulled back over to the rest of his team by the back of his jacket. Though as they headed in, they didn’t notice the lingering look of a boy from Tokonami.

“You’re acting like a child,” Sakura rolled her eyes at the display and headed off further into the building. Though she left behind a slightly distraught Tanaka, still being held by Daichi, who pouted at the fact that such a cute girl was annoyed/disappointed in him. Though he still has Kiyoko, of course.

The team continued their march into the building, earning the looks of all of the other teams. Not like they totally noticed since some of them are in their own little worlds. “They look so dark,” someone commented.

“One of them doesn’t look like he belongs in high school.”

A different boy jumped, “I-is that who I think it is?” The clearly terrified boy exclaimed, “It’s Azumane of Karasuno!” Asahi blanched as Endo started to chuckle.

“What?” Someone else asked, “Who’s he?”

“You mean you don’t know? I heard he got his underlings to beat up some guys from North High.” That wasn’t true, in fact he was actually trying to stop the fight by calling the police. “And he tried to sell a questionable substance on the street.” No, he was just returning a handkerchief to a young woman. “And he got held back five years.” 

“What? Then he’s an adult?” Arrows pierced Asahi with blatant lies about himself. The price to pay while looking a bit older than a teenager.

The other third-years laughed at Asahi’s plight. Suga shook his head, “There, there, this is how it always is.”

“That’s the image you project.” Daichi shrugged.

“All I wanted was to look a little wild on the outside, that’s all!” Asahi exclaimed in desperation.

“There, y’see?” Suga deadpanned, “Nobody wild would go around saying that.”

Endo walked up to Asahi and clapped him on the shoulder, “Yeah, you kind of have to act wild, not just look it.” He pinched the rosy cheeks of his best friend, “You’re just a big teddy bear, obviously.” 

“Don’t say stuff like that, Joji.” Asahi whined, more than embarrassed by his friends. The laughter that he got in return from the blonde caused even more embarrassment for Asahi. He tried to squirm away from Endo though it didn't work since his friends just cooed even more and held onto him tighter.

Nishinoya then butted into their conversation with a boisterous laugh, “What’s wrong with that? Who cares what you look like?”

Daichi and Suga then clapped the libero on the shoulders, presenting him to Asahi, “This is what we call ‘wild’.”

As they continued their trek through the halls, they were gaining quite a lot of attention.. and not just the tall players, their beautiful manager was drawing some eyes to her. She walked alongside the advisor, unaware of the attention.

“Hey, look at that,” some boy commented.

Takeda smiled, neither him nor Kiyoko hearing the whispering around the team, “It looks like the banner did its job!”

“Do you think so?” Kiyoko asked.

“It was far more effective than my silly poem.”

The boys watched the beautiful girl walk past, “She’s cute!”

His friend encourages him with a pat on the shoulder, “Go talk to her.”

“Should I? Should I really?”

He then noticed something else, "Look, they have two girls.”

“Two?” The boy questions excitedly, eyeing the group searching for the other girl. “Where?” 

“There, see.” He pointed at Sakura who was talking with Yamaguchi about his nerves for today. She didn’t even notice that some attention was now draw her way, she was more invested in calming down the poor boy walking beside her. While not many people noticed that she was actually a teenage girl at first glance, they could see her feminine features eventually. “She must be a tomboy or something.”

“Wow! They really do have some cute girls on their team.”

Tanaka and Nishinoya’s ears perked up, hearing the comments about their manager and photographer. So protection mode was activated. The two became rabid as Tanaka circled around Kiyoko and Nishinoya circled around Sakura like a pair of guard dogs.

The older girl sighed and wacked Tanaka’s head with her notebook, “Knock that off.”

Tanaka was frozen after being touched by his goddess, “Kiyoko… wacked me.”

Sakura kicked Nishinoya’s shins, causing him to fall to the ground. Though he barely registered the pain, as he seemed to sigh in happiness. The girl stared down at him with a disgusted expression. “You’re so annoying.”

“Sakura… kicked me,” Nishinoya sighed while staring up at the ceiling in a daze. 

“Say, you see the little guy?” Someone whispered as Sakura scowled at the libero in distaste, “That’s gotta be Nishinoya from Chidoriyama. He won the award for best libero in middle school.”

The libero then jumped up with his fiery aura intensifying, “Now I have the energy for another day!”

A different boy’s eyes widened as he continued to gossip with his friend, “What, he did?”

The teen nodded his head, “That’s not all. Look at him over there.” He gestured to the gloomy Kageyama, “He’s that genius setter they’re talking about… Kitagawa First’s King of the Court!”

The gloomy king overheard their comment and glared at them. The two boys jumped slightly, “Huh?”

After Kageyama scared the two poor boys, they continued their conversation as they watched him walk away. “Why Karasuno?”

“Beats me. But he had a really bad rep in middle school.”

“Okay, then who’s he?” He pointed to Shōyō, “Is the little guy as impressive as the rest of them?”

The enthusiastic boy was eagerly glancing around the hall, obviously excited, “Whoa!”

The other boy deadpanned, “Actually, I have no idea.”

The Karasuno team made it into the lobby of the building where every team was gathering. The energetic ball of sunshine was buzzing on the balls of his feet as he gasped at the groups around him. “Ooh! Look at all the people!” Shōyō then slid up to a pair of boys, one of them wore a t-shirt with the word “The Summit” on it. He exclaimed, “I’m the same! I’m also aiming for the summit! I won’t be beaten!”

The startled boys stared down at the small boy, “Oh…”

“You idiot!” Suga exclaimed and quickly tried to grab the younger boy like a worried mother, “What’re you doing? I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!”

“That’s okay,” the boy muttered in confusion.

Sakura rolled her eyes and grabbed the back of her brother’s jacket to drag him away, “Don’t just start yelling at strangers, nii-san.”

As she dragged him back over to his team with Suga, she really couldn’t help herself from not feeling too annoyed with him. He’s excited about today, and she can’t fault him for that. She’s more than happy to see him this excited about getting to play. Shōyō has been waiting for something like this for far too long. Now, he’s got a team that can actually back him up this time. Sakura could only hope that this time would be different. Perhaps she could let herself be a bit optimistic about this tournament. Though not too much, considering they are a newly assembled team and haven't played a real game against schools like this. So really, she’s going to keep some realism in her opinion about today. If they make it through the first game, it’ll be both skill and luck, in her mind.

Shōyō allowed himself to be pulled away, however, his smile didn’t leave his face, “Sorry, imouto.”

Sakura just shook her head with a small, breathy chuckle. She’d let his over excited reaction slide for today, since she also was quite happy for him.

The team came to the door leading onto the gym. Most of the courts were already occupied by teams either in the middle of a game or warming up. Shoyo’s eyes were sparkling as he took a deep breath. “This gymnasium is huge! I can smell the Air Salonpas!”

Kageyama stared at him with his eyebrows furrowed, “What’re you talking about?”

“This smell makes a tournament feel real.”

“I get you, Bro!” Nishinoya cheered along with him, believing the same thing.

The group then started to hear some people exclaim in surprise and slight fear as another team approached the entrance too. The upperclassmen's eyes hardened, “It’s Date Tech!”

Before Karasuno stood a group of extremely tall boys, the one team that beat them not even a few months ago. Both sides seemed to remember just how badly their game ended for Karasuno, Asahi and Nishinoya more than anyone else. There was one boy in particular that stood out to Karasuno, however. He had to be the tallest on the team with short white hair, no eyebrows, and a scowling expression. This is Aone Takanobu.

Endo knows about him, how could he not. After all, he’s the one that Ukai told them to look out for the most. Not only that, but he certainly remembers him from the last game they played. His blue eyes narrowed while this ever present smirk grew on his lips. Even if he doesn’t care whether or not they lose these games or this tournament. However, he didn’t want to see his friends broken down again like a few months ago. So to say he didn’t really like these guys was a small understatement.

Meanwhile, Sakura stared at the team with calculating eyes. She could see just why Date Tech would have garnered the name the “Iron Wall”. Being that tall would certainly make it easy to make near perfect blocks against their opponents. Of course, that’s not the only thing that would make a good blocker. Height is an advantage, but she knows that they need skill as well. Though going based off of the reputation of the team that she’s heard from the guys, they most likely have that skill.

Aone then silently pointed at Asahi, who started to sweat a bit at being singled out. Though there was some sort of silent conversation between them. What was being said wasn’t necessarily clear, though to Asahi it was obviously a challenge.

Nishinyoa glared, “Who the hell are you?”

“Pointing is rude you know,” Endo snarkily said and placed his hands on his hips, “didn’t your mother teach you manners?” Though Asahi held out his arm to his two friends, telling them to stop talking. The challenge that was being made between the Ace and blocker silently. So he didn’t want them to really get in the middle of it.

“Hold it, hold it! Stop that!” The Date Tech captain, Moniwa Kaname, shouted as he came running up. He seemed frantic as he tried to stop his underclassmen from being so scary, “I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!”

Daichi just stared at him in a bit of confusion and understanding. Ah, another captain who has some trouble reigning in his teammates. “That’s okay.”

Moniwa tried to grab Aone’s arm and pull it down, but he had no effect on the giant. He turned to one of his underclassmen, “Hey, Futakuchi, give me a hand.”

“Coming!” A brown-haired boy stepped up and also started to push the silent boy’s arm down. He had a bit of a sickly sweet smile on his face that put the Karasuno team on edge. “I’m so sorry. This dude has a habit of singling out a team’s ace. So, I’d like you to get good and ready to lose again.”

“You guys are way too rude!” Moniwa chastised them with a slightly embarrassed expression while pushing his team in the opposite direction, “Why do you always do that?”

Karasuno was left to watch Date Tech walk away. They certainly were a bit intimidated now after that. “Well, that was a little scary.” Suga commented.

Daichi nodded his head, “Yeah…”

“I’m amazed you kept looking him in the eye.”

They all turned to the ace only to see that he was sweating in fear, “Th-that was nerve-wracking.”

“Why are you such a wimp off the court?” Nishinoya snapped at his friend.

Tanaka slid over, “Noya, sugar coat it!”

“It is a bit surprising that Asahi’s not shaking in fear at the moment.” Endo commented with a tone of impressiveness. He clapped his friend on the shoulder, which caused Asahi to jump in fear. “You really are becoming less of a wimp!”

As they were about to head in, another boy called out to their captain, “Sawamura! Long time no see.” He has light brown hair with matching eyes and he was wearing the Tokonami.

“Hey, Ikejiri!” Daichi greeted his old friend. He turned to his team, “Go on ahead without me, guys.”

“Yessir.” So the team plus Sakura left their captain to talk with his old friend.

Now all getting ready to play their first game, the Karasuno team were all stretching and such in the hallway. Sakura was getting her camera ready while sitting next to her brother. She could tell that he was overtly nervous now. The excitement of the day had gone away as he was now worried about actually playing. He was getting anxious, like he usually does. She knows that her brother could practice, improve his skills, and become extremely confident in himself, only to become so nervous that he ends up playing so abysmally that it makes it seem like he really didn’t have those skills. It’s one of his biggest flaws, for the moment. As soon as he could get over it, then he’d be even more admirable on the court.

“Hey, don’t tell me your stomach is hurting again.” Kageyama noticed how quiet the other first-year was. 

Shōyō started to shake even more now that everyone was turning to look at him, “I-I’m univering in ancipation!”

Kageyama bristled, “Excuse me?” Shoyo was getting nervous just like he did in the last game they played. The last thing they needed was for Shōyō to end up playing like he did during the Aoba Johsai practice game. If that were to happen now, there was no way they’d crawl their way to a win.

“I think he’s ‘quivering in anticipation.’” Suga translated as he walked over to the first-years a bit worried about the nervous boy.

Tanaka shook his head, “Nah, he’s just quivering, period.”

“I get it!” Nishinoya knelt down to Shōyō, “The sight of Date Tech freaked you out!”

“Of course it did, didn’t, did!” Shōyō exclaimed.

“Make up your mind!”

Suga turned to the ace of the team with a quirked eyebrow, “You’re just as wimpy, but you don’t look that nervous, Asahi.”

“‘Wimpy’?” Asahi whimpered at the attack, though he shook his head, “There’s a trick to get rid of the jitters. Recall an experience that scared the living daylights out of you. The scarier the better. It will remind you that there are scarier things out there so you can handle this.”

Shōyō then started the think. What is scarier than this upcoming game? Was it the time that he and Kageyama accidentally knocked off the vice-principal’s wig? No, that was more funny than scary. Rollercoasters? No, those are kind of fun. That one horror movie he saw with Sakura a bit ago? No, not really. His terrible grades? Nah, those are expected. Then it hit him. A terrifying Kageyama. That moment he hit Kageyama in the back of the head with his serve. Now, that’s way scarier.

His expression then drastically changed as he thought back to the scary expression that Kageyama had as he rubbed the back of his head. The rest of the team looked at him in concern, “Hinata-kun?”

“Hey, I think I’m okay now,” he said now smiling, eerily blissful.

The team then started to freak out. Suga started to worry, “Hinata-kun, what’s wrong?”

Sakura poked her brother’s cheek as his blissful expression didn’t even faulter, “now this is just unsettling.”

Meanwhile, Nishinoya turned to Asahi, “If you had a coping strategy, why did you get so bummed the last time we took on Date Tech?”

Tanaka cringed, “Noya, stop pouring salt and pepper into his wounds like that.”

“I had no time to daydream like that.” Asahi quickly tried to say, “It takes time and concentration and other conditions to daydream!”

“Too much work,” Suga deadpanned, causing Asahi to blanch.

Daichi shook his head at his team's antics and stood at the door, “Okay, are you ready? It’s our first game! We need to warm-up.”

“Yes, Sir!” The boys all called before they gathered their things and started to follow their captain.

Since she couldn’t go on the court with them, Sakura helped her brother stand up and pushed him towards the door. She had to start making her way towards the stands uptop so she could get a good seat. Wanting to make sure that he actually got onto the court, she patted him on the back and encouraged him to head in, “Good luck, nii-san.”

He finally broke himself out of his stupor and smiled brightly at his sister. “Thank you imouto!” He exclaimed and squeezed Sakura in a hug. She just let it happen even if she doesn’t like hugs that much. “I’ll make sure to do my best for you!”

Sakura smiled softly at him, more than happy to see him like this. She pushed him one last time, “I’m sure you will.” She has no doubt that he’d play his heart out in this game. He had been waiting forever for this moment so hopefully he wouldn’t mess it up. As her brother skipped off she then turned to one of the more anxious players on the team with a similar soft look in her eyes. “Good luck, Tadashi.”

The poor boy jumped slightly and scratched the back of his head as the others headed onto the court. “Eh, I don’t think I’ll play today…”

She just shrugged her shoulders, “Still, good luck.” Yamaguchi smiled and thanked her before following after the others.

“Shouldn’t you be gone already.”

Sakura rolled her eyes and didn’t even look at Tsukishima. “You don’t have to be so pissy.” His snarky little comment was not going to get to her. “I’m not going to say anything to you, so go away.” With that she turned and swiftly trotted away. As if she was going to wish Tsukishima good luck. Yea, she wants the team to win, but she could care less about that beanstock. If he did good or bad was not something that interested her.

The golden-eyes of the giant followed after her. Though he just scoffed in uninterest and headed off. He wasn’t going to get anywhere with finding any sort of insight into her personality today. So he’d just focus on the game at hand.

Down on the court floor, Shōyō was obviously amazed by the size of the gymnasium. It was far bigger than any gym that he’s ever been to let alone played in. “It’s so spacious! It’s so huge!”

“Hey, no freaking out,” Kageyama told him. He certainly wasn’t overwhelmed or impressed with the size of the gym. He’s played in plenty of places like this for a lot of games during middle school.

The orange-haired boy bristled, “You’re the freak.”

“You’re the only freak here!” Kageyama shouted and grabbed the shorter boy by the front of his jersey.

Shōyō jumped, “D-don’t get so mad at me!” Ah, look at those two bickering like an old married couple.

The team then all looked up at the stands when they heard fabric rustling. All of the boys turned to see that Kiyoko, Sakura and Takdeda were setting up the banner. The bold white characters of “Fly” were certainly giving each other them a swell of determination.

“All righty then!” Ukai called out, “Let’s start practice!”

“Yessir!”

On the outside, Sakura may have appeared as emotionless and calm as she normally is, but she was quite jittery on the inside after she helped Kiyoko with the banner. She finished tying up her end of the black banner, wished her senpai good luck and sat herself down right behind the banner. Though she doubted that she’d be sitting for too long. Soon enough she’ll be on her feet to not only get some good pictures but also get a close look at her brother playing.

“Hey, it’s onion head!” She heard her brother shout out which gained her attention. There was really only one person she knew to be an “onion-head”. She turned her head to find that the Aoba Johsai team were here. They were currently walking towards her seat, obviously going to watch a few games to pass the time before they played. It just so happened that they had to come by where Karasuno was playing. Great, Sakura thought sarcastically while slumping down in her seat. There was no doubt in her mind that their captain was going to try and get a rise out of them. Not only that but she has a feeling that if he notices her, Oikawa won’t leave her alone so easily.

Kindaichi blinked, hearing that, “Who’s an onion-head?”

“You are.” Kunimi, a fellow first-year and opposite hitter for Aoba Johsai, snickered,  “Who else could it be?”

“Huh?” Kindaichi turned to his friend in shock and offense. Why was he being targeted like this!?

“Yoo-hoo!” An annoying voice called out gaining the duo’s attention. It was Oikawa who was smiling down at them with a cheeky smirk and a peace sign. “Tobio and Small Fry, having fun with your deviant combination?”

Shōyō gasped, “Great king!” Meanwhile, Kageyama was scowling up at his senpai just a bit.

Growing frustrated with his friend's behavior, Iwaizumi hit him on the back of his hand. “That hurt, Iwa…” The dramatic boy whined. He rubbed his bruised hand and tilted his head as he noticed something, “Huh? You have a libero now. You didn’t when we had our practice game.”

Iwaizumi pointed at another new teammate, Asahi, “They seem to have more big guys now too.”

Though as they were surveying the new additions to Karasuno, Oikawa accidentally made eye contact with Karasuno’s gossip king. The blond’s electric eyes brightened at the sight of the Aoba Johsai captain. Endo waved at him, “Tōru~! Are you here to watch me dominate? Huh? Just like I did at our practice game?!”

Oikawa bristled as he glared, “you didn’t dominate anyone and I doubt you’d do it today.” He childishly stuck his tongue out at Endo which only caused the blond to laugh loudly. 

Besides the snickering Endo, Asahi nudged him slightly in the ribs, “don’t go riling him up, be nice.”

“Oh, you’re no fun.” He blew a raspberry at him for ruining his entertainment. Endo noticed how after speaking, Asahi’s attention was quickly draw back to Date Tech. Ever since they stepped on the court, his friend had been staring at the Iron Wall for the most part. He knew that Asahi was most likely thinking about the team and their loss to them last time.

Nishinoya then walked up to the pair, also noticing Asahi’s lingering gaze, “Asahi! Date Tech seriously worries me too. I have no intention of losing. I am only thinking of winning. That’s precisely why… we need to focus on the opponent in front of us.”

The ace took a deep breath and nodded his head, “Right.”

Aoba Johsai all made themselves comfortable in the stands, which certainly annoyed Sakura. For they were now sitting around her. “Oh, it’s Small Fry’s twin.” Oikawa had said to her while plopping himself in the seat beside her. 

Sakura rolled her eyes, “Leave me alone.” Yeah, she certainly isn’t pleased to have him sitting here with her. Now though, his teammates also joined him in sitting around her. So not only was Oikawa now invading her personal space, but she now had a couple other boys crowding her area. She was hoping to have an entire section to herself. Why is Kami-sama so cruel to her?

“Oh, so moody, huh?” Oikawa poked at her with his calculating brown eyes surveying her. He leaned in close which caused Sakura’s eyebrows to twitch. The captain certainly wasn’t going to give up on his quest to see this girl swoon for him just like any other girl does. It would just take a bit more persistence on his part to get this tsundere to fall for him.

Sakura clicked her tongue, “Only when I’m being annoyed by pricks like you.” It’s only been a few minutes and he’s already getting on her nerves.

Iwaizumi tried to intervene between the two by physically pushing his friend away from the poor girl. He could tell that if she let this go on longer she would most likely punch him or something. She may be small but the cold glare on her face convinced him that she may be prone to some sort of violence against him. So he took it upon himself to push his friend away from her with a smack to the head and a scowl, “Leave her alone, Oikawa!”

“Wha, Iwa-chan!” Oikawa exclaimed while rubbing his head. What was with Iwaizumi being so violent? Though Sakura just sighed, now focused back on the court as she stood up from her seat and decided to stand at the at the railing to watch the game and get away from the annoying boys.

“Captains!” The referee called out on the court which prompted Daichi and the Tokonami captain to approach the net.

The two shook hands, “Thank you for the game.”

“Gather round! Form a line!”

There was a moment of anticipation as both teams stared each other down from each end of the court. A thickness in the air that started to form around them all now that they were here. At this moment, the first game of the tournament was about to start. The whistle then blew again, breaking the deafening silence. All of the boys bowed to each other, “Thank you for the game!”

“Go, go, let’s go! Let’s go, Date Tech!” The crowd of other Date Tech students and supporters shouted out loudly. Really it may cause Sakura to go deaf with how loud they are. “Go, go, let’s go! Let’s go, Date Tech! Go, go, let’s go! Let’s go, Date Tech!”

“Now listen,” Ukai called as Karasuno huddled up together, “this is the first game of the season! This would make anyone nervous enough to throw off their game! Our challenge is to shake the nerves off faster than they do. We need to start by scoring one point to get into the rhythm!”

“Yessir!” They exclaimed together.

Takeda then stepped up, “What I’m about to say is neither flattery nor loyalty. You are all good. Karasuno has a good team. Let’s show the entire stadium that the Clipped Crows can fly once again!”

“Whoa!” Nishinoya gasped with his eyes sparkling, “Take has brought out the buzz words!”

Tanaka crossed his arms, “I’ll bet anything they’re using that infamous nickname on us right now.”

“And then we’ll say to them…” Takeda then suddenly shouted, “‘Observe! The old warhorse Karasuno is back!’”

“Yessir!” He certainly knew how to fire up this team of boys.

Takeda started to panic, “Was it too poetic? Did it gross you out?”

Daichi reassured him quickly, “It’s okay! Don’t worry!”

On the side, Shōyō turned to question his friend, “What’s an old warehouse?”

Kageyama shrugged his shoulders, “You think I know?” Yeah, all he knows is volleyball. How would he know that?

“It’s not strictly accurate,” Suga tried to explain, “but it basically implies ‘We were strong once.’”

Endo slid over with a raised eyebrow,  “So he’s saying we were shit last year and have the chance to be good again?”

“Hey!” Diachi called out with his eyes narrowed at Endo for his vulgar language, “We’re going in!” Endo raised his hands in surrender though his smirk was ever present on his lips. The boys all huddled together in a  circle as Daichi started up their rally cry, “Karasuno fight!”

“Yessir!”

So all the boys lined up, Kageyama, Tsukishima, Asahi, Tanaka, Shōyō, Daichi and Nishinoya were Karasuno’s starting lineup for this game. The audience started to talk amongst themselves, questioning why such a small boy was a middle blocker. As Sakura snapped a few photos of her brother, she could hear their confusion. It’s not surprising since everyone would be confused about the player who was not meeting the normal expectations of a middle blocker.

A few feet away from her, she could hear the Aoba Johsai players talking about it as well. “Their opponent is confused,” Iwasumi laughed as he could hear Tokonami questioning why such a short boy was a middle blocker. Yeah, they were all confused about Shōyō’s position at first glance. After all, he looks more like a libero than a middle blocker. “Which is only natural. Who’d put that up for middle blocker where you fight for height?”

Kindaichi growled lightly, “Those who mock will pay the piper.”

“Spoken like an expert!” Iawzumi laughed at his underclassmen.

The boy clenched his hand in frustration, “I’ll force him into submission next time.”

From the side, Sakura raised an eyebrow at him and just shook her head. The rivals that her brother was gaining were quickly growing. They all wanted to beat him and prove that he isn’t all that. He wasn’t what people expected for a middle blocker, and when he beats someone they become frustrated that they lost to a person who was not the expectation when it comes to that position. He provided them with a challenge. When they first believe that they can beat him just because he’s short and small, then he proves he’s just as intimidating and talented as a tall player and they start to really see what kind of threat he posed. A threat that they wanted to try and knock him down. She knew that he was going to have quite a bit of uphill battles to fight through in these games with these other teams.

So the game started with Tokonami serving the ball to Karasuno. The point was quickly won by Karasuno thanks to Kageyama’s precise setting and Tanaka’s hard spike. Though during their victory celebration which just consisted of a bunch of screaming, they were given a warning by the referee. Sakura rolled her eyes at their loud shouts and how they were reprimanded. Though she did find it amusing how they got themselves into situations like this.

“Gee, those boys sure are rambunctious, huh?” A smooth voice commented from beside Sakura, nearly causing the girl to jump in surprise.

Sakura clicked her tongue, not looking in Oikawa’s direction. “Didn’t I say to leave me alone?”

The third-year shrugged his shoulders and ran a hand through his lucious brown hair, “Perhaps, but I have some questions.”

“I don’t care,” Sakura snapped, focusing on the game instead of the boy besides her. She didn’t care what he had to say. Anything and everything he was going to say was no doubt going to be annoying to her. After their last meeting, she knew that he was going to become increasingly annoying. Not only because he had become a rival of Karasuno and her brother, but because he had this spark in his eye when he had looked at her. It almost seemed like he had taken her as some sort of challenge. What that challenge is, she has no idea.

“Your brother’s team gained some new players, it seems.” He continued on, not even letting her cold and snippy deter him from talking. “They work quite well, certainly help out in their own ways.” Sakura didn’t say anything to him, more invested in watching Nishinoya’s saves and the blocks made by Tokonami. “Though I’m curious, how is the king getting along with the Small Fry? You must know plenty about it since he is your brother.”

Growing fed up, Sakura turned slightly to slowly pinned Oikawa with the most chilling and annoyed expression that she could. For a second, Oikawa froze at such a harsh stare now pointed at him. He truly didn’t know how such a small girl could muster such a terrifying expression. “You can make your assumptions.” Her eyes hardened, “I want to just focus on the game.” With furrowed eyebrows and her brown eyes piercing the older boy to his spot. “Now. Leave. Me. Alone.”

Oikawa stared at her in slight fear as she turned away from him and started to walk away from him. Just so she could stand as far away from him as she could. Yeah, she really is a tsundere, but it seemed like she was just annoyed by him quite a bit. His assumption about trying to get her to be interested in him like most other girls was no easy task. He may be a bit of an idiot, but he can see that his attempts will be futile with this specific girl. However, he wouldn’t be Oikawa if he didn’t do what he could to get under his opponents skin, which includes this girl.

Back on the court, Endo clapped enthusiastically from the sideline, “You got this Asahi!” He was more than ready to be the cheerleader for the team. The blond could care less if he got the chance to play. All he really is during this game is a backup player. If anyone got too tired to play, he’d be a substitute for them. Though he doubted that would happen since the other guys have been looking forward to this first game for so long. So they weren’t going to drop out at any point. However, if there’s one thing Endo loves about these games, it’s getting to watch Asahi play. The bearded teen looked to be in his element when he focused on the game. Endo certainly loved to see that.

If there was any doubt that Asahi was the ace of the team, his spike certainly squashed that since he hit the ball over the net, easily breaking through a block. His teams cheered for him while some people, mainly from the stands, started to speculate.

“Wow!” Someone shouted from the crowd in disgust, “That’s a grown man for you!” Asahi heard it and slumped down as if struck by an arrow with that statement.

Someone else tacked on, “I hear he was held back five years!”

“For real?” Another person questioned, “Is that allowed?”

A different person scoffed, “Maybe he lies about his age.”

Those comments from the stands didn’t do anything to uplift Asahi who was growing depressed at the lies from the onlookers.

“He’s never going to get away from those comments.” Endo sighed, a bit frustrated for his friend about all the questions and comments. He grumbled, “At least until we graduate.”

Suga worried for his friend, “Asahi, pull it together!”

Back up in the stands, the Aoba Johsai team were once again surprised, to Sakura’s smug enjoyment. Iwaizumi shook his head, “Whoa, that had huge momentum.”

“Yes…” Kindaichi breathed out.

So the game played on for the next point with Tanaka serving to Tokonami. It was brought back over the net and it was obvious who it was going to next. Sakura readied her camera as she watched her brother practically fly through the air to perform his demonic quick attack. With the echoing sound of her camera shutter, Sakura caught the perfect photo of her brother flying in the air. A perfectly timed moment captured on her camera of the beginning. The beginning of Karasuno’s journey to prove themselves as powerful as they once were. This time though, they have the likes of Hinata Shōyō as a secret weapon.

Chapter Text

KARASUNO WAS DOING QUITE WELL AGAINST THEIR opponent. While Tokonami isn’t exactly a tough team, they’re not the worst team around. They’re decent. It was just that Karasuno was a tad bit more talented, thanks to the supernatural talent of Kageyama and Shōyō. Though the upperclassmen were just as formidable opponents for Tokonami. Asahi’s spikes were extremely powerful, Nishinoya’s receives were perfect, Daichi’s leadership was strong, Tanaka’s hits were fiery, and even Tsukishima’s blocks were sound. Soon enough, Karasuno won the first set with a score of 25-12.

Throughout the entire game, Sakura tried to get the best photos that she could. She really thought that it would definitely be better if she were actually on the court to take the pictures. Instead, she’ll just try and zoom in as much as possible. Plus she thinks that it’ll just look better for an action shot if she were down there, but she can’t really argue with the rules about her not being allowed down on the court. Plus being down there meant that she wouldn’t have to deal with Oikawa. 

The prick really didn’t know when to let up. She could see right through his little ruse and such. It was obvious that he wasn’t trying to be nice and trick her into thinking that he wanted to befriend her, he had other plans. He wants to get as much information out of her about the team as he can so he could use it to his advantage. She wasn’t entirely sure what he wanted. Last time she saw him, he had wanted to play against Karasuno with their full power. Though as he tried to talk with her, it seemed like he wanted to know just how well the team worked together. So did he want an advantage over them even though he challenged them to be as strong as they could? It didn’t make too much sense to Sakura. Though she ignored him as best as she could and tried to ward him off with some cold glares. It also helped that a few times his teammate also helped out with trying to rein him in. She appreciated him a bit for that. Both had dealt with an annoying person like this, Sakura with Endo and Iwaizumi with Oikawa, so they had a mutual understanding when they locked eyes.

She also had to deal with overhearing the other Aoba Johsai players talk about Karasuno. There were a few things that they said that either made her smirk a little or glare at them. She may not be apart of the team but she’s quite defensive of her brother. So when they said something to belittle her brother’s technique it annoyed her greatly. Thankfully, when they were talking about her twin, it was to marvel at his quick attack of make small comments about the basic mistakes he was making. She tolerated those comments, as long as they weren’t mean comments just for the sake of being mean. Making comments about her brother’s plays that obviously needed work was fine, since she’d probably say that same thing and agree with them. She mostly was listening to Onion-head and that ace talk to each other about the team. At least when Oikawa wasn’t trying to talk to her.

Kindaichi, Aka Onion-head, stared at the game in surprise, “They’re suddenly about to win the set.”

“Their libero is going to be real trouble.” Iwaizumi observed. “Having that stubbled dude on their team allows Kageyama to use his tosses more effectively.”

Sakura agreed with that, while she found Nishinoya quite the nuisance, she couldn’t deny how talented he is. Also Asahi is such a cool and powerful guy. If she were being honest, Sakura might or might not look up to Asahi because of their similar struggles not to long ago.

After a few more points were won, Karasuno ended up winning the set with a score of 25-12. “Nice job, guys!” On the sidelines, Endo cheered and clapped Daichi and Asahi on the back. “You guys are killing it out there!”

Asahi bashfully scratched the back of his neck. “Oh, thanks, Joji.”

“I mean, you guys usually do good,” Endo said while running his hand through his blond hair. “We’d have probably won already if I were on the line-up, but it doesn’t matter. We’ll win either way.”

Tanaka nearly did a spit-take when he heard Endo’s confident statement. He turned to the older boy with a menacing glare and stalked up to Endo, steam starting to come out of his ears, “You cocky son of a--”

Endo cut him off and held him back by his bald head, “Ah, ah, there are children here.” The way he tsked at his underclassmen, obviously in amusement. Tanaka just huffed and turned away while muttering to himself. 

Asahi chuckled nervously, “don’t rile him up, you’re on the same team!”

“Nothing wrong with having some fun~!” Endo purred with a chuckle. If he couldn’t play in the game, then he was going to have fun on the sidelines. Teasing his friends and making jokes to them is his pastime after all. 

The second set then started as the whistle blew, and Kageyama was up to serve. Throwing the ball in the air and serving it, he was able to easily get a point for the team thanks to his precision and power.

Kindaichi gaped as Karasuno cheered, “A no-touch ace!” 

“Now that they’ve won the first set Karasuno is starting to get into the groove,” Iwaizumi commented, impressed with Kageyama’s powerful start to the second set. 

Kageyama easily won his team five points just because of his serves. A fact that Sakura was thoroughly impressed with, but kept her mouth shut. The last thing she’d want is for Kagayama’s ego to get any bigger.

Sakura watched the game intently. It wasn’t that much of a back and forth, but she could tell that Tokonami wasn’t going to just give up. She admired them for that fact. If she were on a team that didn’t have the greatest chance of winning, she might just give up. Perhaps it’s the pessimist in her that would see playing as a lost cause, but she most likely wouldn’t put in the effort for it.

“Do these guys understand they have another game to play this afternoon?” Kindaichi asked, “It’s just that victory was a sure thing so they should have kept as much energy in reserve as possib--”

“What’s so bad about it?” Oikawa cut him off, speaking for the first time in a while since he had been told off by Sakura and Iwaizumi, “We got to see them play for keeps. But they didn’t use the deviant fast attack.”

Sakura scoffed lightly under her breath, “Karasuno now has technique and strategy, something they lacked last time you saw them.” The way he said it almost made her think that he didn’t think they would wait to use the freak attack. Like they would be more than eager to use it right away against all of their opponents. While that may be a somewhat fair assumption, the entire team wasn't reckless. However, she’s sat at their practices and knows that they have a plan of when to use the troublesome duo’s attack. While they were a new team, they had  plans and strategy, surprisingly.

A different Aoba Johsai player, Hanamaki Takahiro, then walked over to his teammates, “The other game is also over. Date Tech won by a landslide.”

“Karasuno vs Date Tech…” Kindaichi trailed off, “Who will rise to victory?”

“Let’s go.” Iwazumi said before heading off, “We have to win our next game or we won’t be there.” He paused by the orange-haired girl sitting behind them and bowed lightly, “I’m sorry that this idiot wouldn’t leave you alone.”

Sakura rolled her eyes, “don’t apologize for someone you have no control over. I understand the feeling.”

Oikawa bristled at the fact that his best friend and this girl were talking about him as if he weren’t there. “I-”

The younger girl pinned him with a cold glare, “You have a game, so leave.” He just shivered under her intense stare, gave Karasuno one last glance before following after his team to get ready for their own game. After now sitting with Sakura for a little bit, he understands her just a little bit more. While he didn’t get too much out of her, he was able to make some assumptions about her. She truly is a tsundere or doesn’t care much about volleyball since she did little to no cheering for Karasuno. He noticed that when she did cheer it was mainly for her brother. So he could conclude that she was there only for him, though anyone could notice that from a mile away.

He could conclude that she was analytical since he could see just how intently she was watching the game. Her eyes were calculating, something that he knew he’d seen in other volleyball players, coaches, and managers plenty of times. Oikawa could only imagine what she was thinking about the game and the plays that were made. Even if she wasn’t on the team, he now knows to look out for her as well. Since she was tied to the team because of her brother, he doens’t really doubt that she’d help them out with planning and such if it means her brother stays on the court longer. It intrigues him a bit. Hopefully, he’ll get to see more of her.

After the game was done, Karasuno all collected their things and headed out of the gym. They all congratulated each other and were in high spirits. This was quite a good outlook after all. They won their first game in the tournament! If they were able to keep this momentum up into their next game and the one after that, then there’s no telling how far they could go in this.

Endo certainly was quite happy with the outcome. His friends were more than ecstatic about it. It warmed his heart to see them like this after years of not being able to really do anything. They all have been talented since his first year at Karasuno, but Daichi, Suga, and Asahi were never given the correct building blocks to get to that extra step of winning games. Eventually, they got new recruits in his second year, but they still were not enough. This year though with the newest members convinced Endo that they were going somewhere. He could care less about getting to play or anything, despite the fact that he would love to show off his own skillset and such. However, as long as his friends, who truly wanted and enjoyed volleyball like it was their entire life, got to the top, then he wouldn’t complain in the slightest.

Though one thing did get to him, and he knows that it’s going to be inevitable. His father most likely will be an asshole and point out how Endo isn’t on the starting lineup like last year. No doubt in his mind that his manipulative father would try to use that as a tool to get Endo to leave the club early and focus on his future . Endo doesn’t care if he’s on the court or not. He’s a member of the team. Sure, his heart isn’t truly one of a volleyball athlete, but he isn’t in this club because he wants to be a professional athlete or anything. He’s here because he has something in this team that he didn’t get when he was younger; friends.

“Sawamura!” A voice shouted out, breaking Endo from his thoughts and drawing the attention of the entire Karasuno team.

Daichi and the rest of his team turned to find one of their former opponents standing in front of them. He was breathing heavily, obviously having chased after them to speak to them. Daichi blinked at the teary-eyed boy in confusion, “Ikejiri?”

“Win!” He exclaimed as his bottom lip wobbled, “You have to keep winning! Win for us too!”

Daichi stared at his old friend and clapped their hands together, “Sure, challenge accepted!” So Karasuno headed off after that interaction, more than ready to do just that. For those who didn’t win their first games, the extras who didn’t get to move on to the next round, this year’s losers, Karasuno would win for them.

As they were walking away Endo shook his head, “And you guys call me dramatic? That was… textbook dramatics right there!” Let it be him to break through a slightly sentimental moment to make it about himself.

Daichi turned to the blond with a slight glare, “Shut it, Endo.”

He just smirked in reply and teased, “Oooh, scary Daichi is a bad Daichi.” The blond then ran off once he saw the shadowy expression on his friend's face. The last thing he needed was to have his captain attack him and possibly get hurt before the game. He may not be playing, but the last thing he wants is for a brute like Daichi to hurt him and possibly mess up a fine specimen like himself. Endo certainly is quite vain.

The team then came to the lobby of the building and found their photographer standing by herself looking through her camera. Once Shōyō caught sight of his sister, he jumped over to her and attacked her with a tight hug. “Sakura! Did you see me! We won!”

“I know, Shō-nii, you did really well.” His excitement was a bit contagious at the moment. Even Sakura was smiling just a bit at his enthusiasm. After all, Sakura is more than happy to see that Shōyō got to win this game and stay on the court longer. She then turned to look up at the team’s ace who jumped now that her attention was on him, “You too, Asahi.”

The older boy let out a relieved breath at that, since he knows that she can be quite cold towards some people. He scratched the back of his neck bashfully, “Thanks.”

Nishinoya and Tanaka then slide over to her with stars in their eyes, “Did I do good, Hinata-chan?!”

Sakura stared at the two second-years in both annoyance and reluctance. The last thing she wanted to do was fuel their weirdness by saying anything. From their expectant expressions, there was no doubt that they weren’t going to leave her alone until she gave them some sort of recognition. She sighed heavily and rolled her eyes, “Yea, sure.” The two idiots shouted out in excitement since they were acknowledged by the girl and somewhat complimented by her. It certainly had made their day, just about as much as their win against Tokonomi did. However, Sakura could admit, silently at least, that those two did do a good job. They’re talented in their own rights, Tanaka is a powerful outside hitter, and Nishinoya is a skilled libero. It’s not like she can ignore those facts.

“What about me?” Endo popped up with his bottom lip out in a pout as he whined like a needy child, “Can I have a compliment?”

She looked at him blankly, “You didn’t even play.”

“So?” He asked looming over the shorter girl with puppy-dog eyes, “I think I was a pretty good cheerleader, you know. Takes a lot to cheer on the team from the sidelines.” Endo wiped his brow as if he had worked up a sweat by doing nothing.

Sakura shook her head and turned to walk away, “So annoying.” 

“Waaait~!” He called out in a pout while trailing after her like a lost puppy, “I want Hinata-chan’s approval too!”

“Don’t call me that, boke!”

Resting in the lobby of the building, Karasuno found a quiet spot to stretch and prepare themselves for their next game. They stretched and rested for a bit while most of them talked and joked with each other. However, there was still a lingering cloud of anxiety that wafted over the group, specifically the upperclassmen. After all their next match is against Date Tech.

“Karasuno was incredible.” Someone commented as they walked down the corridor. “Their tiny number 10 really freaked me out!” Said number 10’s ears perked up at the statement.

The guy’s buddy nodded his head, “Yeah, that’s for sure.”

“He was totally nailing those fast attacks.”

Sakura took notice that Shōyō had also heard their compliments. It was well deserved, in her opinion. It’s a recognition that she knew her brother deserves because of his unwavering talent and hard work. Though she just hoped this doesn’t go to his head. Hearing the praise about his skill, Shōyō’s cheeks became pink. He then turned to find that Kageyama was staring at him with an unsettling expression. “Wh-what? I’m allowed to be happy! No one’s ever said that kind of stuff about me before.”

“Did I say anything? It’s great that you’re getting noticed.” Kageyama gloomily commented, “The more our opponents pay attention to you and get wary around you, the more you can show off your special talents.”

Shōyō stared at him in confusion, “I’m not sure what you’re saying but for now, your smile terrifies me.” Kageyama growled and grabbed the top of the orange-haired boy’s head which caused him to whine, “Ow! Ow, ow!”

Though Kageyama let go when he was chopped in the side by his victim’s little sister. Sakura growled slightly, “Don’t do that.” The setter just grabbed his newly bruised side and glared down at her.

Their coach and captain then came walking up to them, “Yeah, he’s right. Anyway, “That tiny Number 10” will set an excellent mood. The bigger the mood is, and the more Hinata shines, the more blinded the opponent blockers are going to be. We’ll be using the same starting lineup for round two as we did for round one.”

“The next game is at 1:30 PM.” Daichi declared, “Don’t let yourselves cool down.”

Ukai clapped his hands, “Have a light meal before that time. Don’t fill up!”

“Yessir!” The boys all shouted.

Endo rummaged through his bag and pulled out his lunch. A beautifully designed bento box is what he pulled out with an equally crafted meal inside of it. Obviously, such a delicious-looking lunch was made by his mother. Not only is she a talented artist, but she’s quite a skilled cook as well. She certainly had the time as a stay-at-home mother to hone in on that skill.

He got cozy and started to dig into his lunch while talking with Asahi, “so you ready for the next game?”

Asahi shrugged his shoulders, “Uh, as much as I can be.”

“Not very confident,” Endo laughed and nudged the other boy’s shoulder, “Come on! You’ll be fine. Not only did you win the last game, but this game I’ll most likely get to play on the court.” That’s not a garentee, but Endo would like to play at least a bit today, especially if it’s against Date Tech. Sure, playing wasn’t exactly what he wanted to do, even now that he wasn’t on the starting line up anymore. Though to get some good revenge against those giants would be more than exciting!

The ace shook his head, “Don’t be so arrogant, Joji. It’s not a good thing.” Though he wasn’t exactly scolding him, Asahi knows that Endo is quite full of himself. Asahi is well aware of why Endo acts like this. It isn’t something that they like to discuss much, but they both know the truth. So he shouldn’t really be surprised when Endo says selfish things.

He just smirked in reply, “You got to admit, this rematch will be in our favor. We’ve got the new first-years and we’re all fast more confident than we were months ago."

Asahi thought about it for a minute and then nodded a bit, "That's true."

As a team, they all have gotten more skilled at volleyball. Asahi would also say that they are a bit more close as a team. In his opinion, they had grown closer thanks to the tightly knit way that they were all brought back together. Since he and Nishinoya had not been at practice those few months, things had obviously been a bit more depressed because they weren’t a whole team during that time. Though they were brought back, closer than ever, and with some new first-years along for the ride.

Endo also had a bright outlook on the game thanks to their new additions and more skilled team. What he wants more than anything is for his team to beat Date Tech and get their revenge. Not only that, but he wants Asahi to be the one to really do it. After all, their last game against Date Tech had really dampened his confidence. Now that Endo could clearly see that he’s got most it back, he’s sure that beating Date Tech will give his friend the needed push he needs to be fully confident in himself.

"Now come here,” Joji shuffled closer to his friend, “mum made some teriyaki, one of your favorites! There’s no way I’m going to eat all of it."

"Oh thanks, Joji!"

The bright smile that Asahi now had plastered on his face certainly caused Endo's stomach to flip. His chest felt tight as he focused on anything else but the dazzling smile of his best friend. He just turned his electric blue eyes down to his food, trying to forget the feeling. He’s got some delicious food to eat and some sweet revenge to focus on. Not the way his heart fluttered at the bright expression on Asahi’s face. He’s gotta keep his head in the game.

Sakura situated herself in a seat up in the stands. Once again behind the Karasuno banner with her camera already set up to catch the game. She could feel just how anxious just about everyone on the team was. Based off of what she had heard about Date Tech and Karasuno’s last game against them, she understood why they would be feeling like that. She couldn’t only hope that the momentum of their win would help Karasuno win this time.

The loud cheers from across the way startled her, and broke Sakura out of her thoughts. “Go, go, let’s go! Let’s go Date Tech!” Sakura cringed at the sound of their chants. That certainly was going to get annoying fast. Why do they have to be 

Tanaka crossed his arms over his chest, “Those guys sure keep busy with scare tactics!”

They all lined up to start their warm ups for the game. Since they were going to be receiving, they started with some receiving drills. They Then it was their libero’s turn.

“Rolling…” He slid over to retrieve the ball and rolled across the ground like a badass. “THUNDER!! Again!” The gym was enveloped in a silent awe as everyone from Karasuno, Date Tech, and the stands stared at the libero with wide eyes. “Nailed it.”

“Noya, nice receive! It’s totally sharp!” Tanaka slid over while snickering, “Aside from the name.”

Nishinyoa spun around to him in anger, “The name is sharp too!” 

“Teach it to me!” Shōyō marveled as his eyes twinkled in admiration, “Teach me how to do the “Again”!”

The rest of the team all either chuckled or stared at the libero in confusion. Obviously, Kageyama was one of the ones, maybe the only one, who stared in confusion. “Was that different from the last one?” He asked.

Suga shrugged his shoulders, “He still retrieved it.”

“What was that?”

Daichi shook his head, “Nishinoya’s up to it again.”

“Hey, Nishinoya,” Asahi shook his head while giving him a warning. “Daichi will get mad at you again.”

Though the libero didn’t take his words into consideration as he stood tall, as tall as he could, and started to shout. “All right!” Nishinoya exclaimed, a wide, bright smile on his face, “We’ve got nothing to worry about! You guys focus on what’s in front! I’ve got your backs.”

“Th… That’s so cool!” Tanaka, Shōyō, and Kageyama all exclaimed with pink cheeks and admiration shining in their eyes.

Endo laughed, “Damn, Noya. You’re fired up, though when are you not? You really are a little firecracker, huh?”

Nishinoya jumped at the nickname, “Why you, don’t call me stupid names!”

“Stop being stupid and I just might!” That didn’t do anything to simmer the boy down. Nishinoya just became more rabid as he jumped at the blond third-year.

From up in the stands, Sakura facepalmed at their idiocy. She has to admit that Nishinoya was quite… impressive with what he had done. He’s obviously a reliable player, as a libero should be. Though it seemed like he was just proving it again and again why he was one of the best liberos. However, she wouldn’t say that out loud in case he heard or something and it just fueled his ego. The last thing she wants is for his undivided and overbearing attention to be pointed in her direction. Sakura just shook her head, trying to not think about that. For now, she’s got this game to pay attention to.

Chapter Text

“GO, GO, LET’S GO! LET’S GO, DATE Tech!” The crowd of Date Tech students and supporters all loudly cheered. Endo rubbed his ears in mock pain, they’re so loud, my ears might just end up bleeding .

His team all huddled up around their coach. Since this was quite an important game, all of them were quite serious about it. The only reason that Endo was really serious about it was that he wanted to see revenge taken against Date Tech. Just to prove them wrong about assuming his team was some fallen champs, just like the others. The only difference was that if they lose the game after this, he wouldn’t be that torn up about it. However, the blond knows that the others would be immensely distraught about losing. 

He’s already seen what his friends were like when they lost to this team before. Endo didn’t want that to happen again. The fact that the loss had affected them so much to the point where their emotions bubbled over and Asahi and Nishinyoa got into a bit of a fight was not good. If they lose again, there’s no telling where the team’s morale will be after that.

Endo was broken out of his thoughts as Ukai stood with his hands on his hips gaining all of the boy’s undivided attention. “After watching them in round one, I expect their first shot will be a powerful serve. They crush with serves and block every point. Date Tech starts by discouraging their opponents from the get-go. Receive the first ball high!”

“Yessir!”

He then turned to their first-year setter, “So, you know what to do, Kageyama?”

“Yes, Sir,” Kageyama nodded his head.

“Good.”

Ukai then called out, “Now, break through that Iron Wall!”

“Yessir!”

The boys all huddled up as Daichi called out their battle cry, “Karasuno Fight!”

They all shouted, “Fight!”

The boys all lined up for the start of this no doubt intense game. Endo of course was on the bench since it was really the same starting lineup as the last game. Date Tech and Karasuno stared each other down as they waited for the game to start. Endo could see the determined expression on Asahi’s face as he surveyed their opponents. 

The whistle blew and it was Date Tech’s time to serve to Karasuno. Daichi effortlessly received it and passed it to Kageyama who set it for their number 10. Though the Iron Wall certainly was a correct name for the team as Date Tech players were there as sturdy as ever as they jumped to block the spike. Thankfully, Shōyō was able to hit it so it ended up getting right in between Aone’s arm and the net, winning Karasuno a point. Though it was a really lucky move. There’s no way that he’d be able to get one through like that.

“That was quite lucky!” Endo cheered with a small sigh of relief. He could tell that this match was going to be just as tough as the last time they played Date Tech. Hopefully this time they have more of a chance thanks to the first years. Even he would be a little put off if their tournament run ended here. Especially against Date Tech .

Up in the stands, Sakura’s eyes widened. She obviously knows that Date Tech was a formidable foe, but to keep up with a quick attack like that was surprising. On the first block of the game too, that’s not a good outlook on things. Sure, Karasuno did get the point, but in her mind that was not a promising thing. Date Tech has a different type of blocking, one that her brother’s team hasn’t played against yet. She didn’t really know the name of it, but she understood how it worked. Instead of blocking once they know where the set is going, Date Tech waits until the ball is in motion to which ever spiker it’s going to and then block. Sakura would imagine it would take quite a while for such a tactic to be mastered and to be used in a game. No wonder they’re call the Iron wall. If they can master such a technique they really are talented. Still, for the time being, Sakura was more than content with the fact that Karasuno was keeping the lead. 

Endo, while on the bench, was also super excited and supportive of his team. More specifically Asahi since he knows his best friend would need it. Date Tech was making perfect blocks and shutting Karasuno’s spikers out, but some little mistakes made by the blockers had given Karasuno the opportunity to keep the lead.

“You got this teddy bear!” The blond shouted in support of his best friend. Since it was Asahi’s turn to serve, Endo certainly wouldn’t want his nerves to get the better of him. “You can break through their wall!”

Besides him, Sugawara chuckled at his friend, “You’re going to fluster him if you keep calling him that, Endo.”

“Maybe that’s the point,” His blue eyes glistened in the light with mischief as he shrugged. The blond’s perfectly pink lips were pulled back in a smirk, obviously knowing 

The two third-years then turned back to the game and watched as the ball was played for the next point. Suga nodded his head while watching it critically, “They’re doing pretty okay right now.”

Endo whined and pushed Sugawara away from him, “It’s only the first set, Suga. Don’t jinx us!” Just as he said that Shōyō came sprinting up to the net but his spike was blocked by Date Tech’s Number 7, Aone. As Date Tech’s cheer quad went berserk for that, Endo clicked his tongue in annoyance. “It was only one point, no need to lose your minds.” Endo then turned to Suga and punched him harshly in the shoulder, “and you jinxed it, you prick!”

“Ow!” Sugawara cried out as Endo started to hit on him a bit. “Stop that!”

Yamaguchi, standing beside the pair, watched them begin to fight a little bit with uncertainty. He wasn’t sure what to think about his senpais antics. Endo is one for dramatics, but he wasn’t sure what to do with this situation. He spoke up shakily, “U-uh, don’t hurt each other please!”

Though even losing that point, Karasuno didn’t seem all that nervous. At least, Shōyō and Kageyama weren’t. There was still a secret weapon that they had yet to use against Date Tech. One that would surely shake up Date Tech’s expectations of them.

After finally letting Sugawara go and forgiving him for jinxing them, Endo shrugged his shoulders. “Though, I’d say it’s about time those two start using their freak quick.”

“This soon in the game?” Sugawara asked him.

Endo nodded his head, “When else are they going to use it?” When Ukai talked to them about it the other day, they all know that most teams would try to be prepared for their demonic quick. If they used it too early, it just meant that Date Tech had enough time to adapt to it and learn to shut it down like any other spike. Though if they saved it for too long, then it might become useless cause Date Tech could just end up winning the game for it to be effective.

Just as Endo had thought, the troublesome duo was going to do just that. It happened within a blink of an eye. The ball was served to Karasuno and ended up on Date Tech’s side in seconds. The quick attack didn’t even seem to register in Date Tech’s mind. None of their blockers even moved. It certainly was too fast! Maybe it was a fluke? No way something that fast or precise could be used in a game. It was as if those two first-years were demons! Date Tech thoroughly left in a bit of a confused state. Never had they seen anything like that before. All they could hope was to adapt to it quickly.

The game continued on, and Karasuno did end up losing a point because Shōyō messed up his serve. Meaning that the score was 4-3 with Karasuno in the lead. As Nishinoya was put back in the game and Shōyō was pulled out, Endo greeted the younger boy with a wide smile. 

“Doing well, little guy! Sure gave Date Tech a good scare!”

Shōyō returned the smile as Endo ruffled his hair, “Thanks! We’re doing pretty good, huh?” He then turned his attention back to the game, “but they sure are tough.”

“No worries,” Endo brushed away any doubt that the small guy might have, “We’ve got you. Kageyama, Nishinoya, and Asahi on our side. All of you will win this game!” Shōyō’s eyes sparkled at the encouraging words from his teammate. 

The game continued on with a back and forth between them. Once Karasuno got a point, Date Tech would get one. It went like that for a while until Shōyō went back on the court. Just having Shōyō step up to the net seemed to shake Date Tech just a little bit. They even scared them, even more, when Kageyama was able to send a quick pass to Shōyō from the back of the court. Their quick freak certainly wasn’t a fluke. With that soon being understood by the team, Date Tech then called for a time-out. 

Shōyō had gained all of their opponent’s attention, Sakura could see that from miles away. Though that’s his job on the team, more or less. He’s a decoy. The greatest decoy! Sakura was more than happy to see that he was doing just as he’s supposed to help the team. He brought an asset to the team that no one would have thought of. He’s gaining everyone’s attention, shinning the brightest so that their other spikers could emerge from the shadows to attack.

As Sakura snapped yet another photo, she could hear a couple of people headed in her direction. She turned to find that it was the Karasuno alumni apart of the neighborhood association. It was the one wearing glasses with black hair, the one with that float serve if Sakura remembered correctly. Along with him was the dirty blond middle blocker, that she also didn’t remember the name of.

“You’re so slow!” Shimada shouted as he and his friend came up to the railing, “We could’ve missed the game!”

Takinoue whined, “But customers are so rare!”

Shimada then glanced over at his friend and caught sight of the orange-haired girl only a few feet away from them. “Hey, it’s that little shorty’s twin.” He waved at the girl who was glancing at them. Sakura nodded her head slightly in greeting and then turned to focus on the court. It’s not that she didn’t really want to talk with them, she’d just rather focus on the game.

From the other side, a group of girls came running up to the railing. “Hurry up!” Michimiya Yui shouted as she and her teammates came running up to the railing. Even if she and the other Karasuno girls lost their game, they were more than ready to support the boys. “Great! The boys are still playing round two.”

“I can’t believe it!” One of the wing spikes of the team, Sasaki Chizuru, said in amazement, “They’re beating Date Tech!”

“Bring it on!” Shōyō shouted before Kageyama passed him his quick attack. Karasuno had gained yet another point since Date Tech had yet to come up with a way to combat the attack.

Michimiya and the other girls all stared at the boys in awe. She blinked, “What was that?”

“A fast attack?” Sudō Rinko, another member of the team said with her mouth left open.

Aihara Mao, another girl on the team was in awe of the duo, “That is a first-year, isn’t it?”

“Did that little guy just jump incredibly high?” Sasaki asked.

On the other side, Takinoue smirked at the awestruck expressions on the girl’s faces as they watched the game. Shimada snickered at his friend, “Don’t look so smug.” Sakura rolled her eyes at the older men and just focused on the game at hand. She’s not one for bragging or anything like that, she’s proud of her brother and would gladly talk to someone about it. Though she wouldn’t be smug or anything about it.

Down below, Sugawara cheered on his team, “Looking good, Hinata-kun!” He shouted, “That’s the way! Do another one!”

Michimiya heard him shout and looked down, “Sugawara isn’t in the game.” She certainly was surprised by that. Considering he is a third-year, you’d think he would be the starting setter. Though now that she looked, that dark-haired first-year seemed to be the setter on the court right now.

The game continued on and this time instead of using their quick freak, Kageyama just passed Shōyō a normal fast attack. That threw off their blockers since it ended up getting Karasuno the point. Sasaki questioned, “Now a normal fast attack?”

Sudō nodded her head, “So are they tossing at different speeds for each scenario?”

“They’d have to against a team like Date Tech,” Sakura commented looking over the photo she just got of her brother.

The girl’s team all jumped slightly at the voice since they had barely even registered that there was anyone else there. Michimiya turned to look down at the younger girl and smiled, “Huh, oh, hi there!”

The rest of her team all looked at the smaller girl, Sasaki marveled, “Wow, you really look like that little number 10 down there.”

“He’s my twin brother,” Sakura commented, “so I would think we’d look similar.”

The girls all stared at her in amazement, “Oh, really!”

“You’re brother sure is amazing down there!” Michimiya exclaimed happily with a wide smile.

Sakura’s chest felt warm as she turned her camera back to the game. A smile graced her face as she softly said, “He sure is!”

Michimiya then noticed the younger girl taking the photos, “You’re taking pictures of the game?”

“Well, yes, I’m the team’s photographer,” Sakura explained.

“Whoa! That’s cool!” Sudō exclaimed, “It’d be so awesome if we had a photographer too. You think you could take photos of our games in the future too.”

“Maybe.” Sakura shrugged her shoulders, “Though I only do it for my brother…”

“Still, take it into consideration.” Another member of the team, Kikuchi Moe, said encouragingly, “Next year, we’re going to make it far, so we’ll need someone to document it!” 

Sakura appreciated the confidence in the older girl’s words. Perhaps she’d consider it. Maybe next year she’d be more inclined to branch out to other teams or something like that. Though for now, she has her brother and his team to focus on.

The next point was played, though this time it ended with Date Tech making the block against Shōyō. Thanks to his height and long arms, Aone was able to jump twice and make sure that the little number 10 was shut out.

Shimada sweat just a little bit, “Hey, hey, that block is scary.”

Takinoue nodded, “A block like that can turn the tide. They need to make the next point, or Date Tech will ride the wave.”

Sakura bit the inside of her cheek. There was still some room for hope at the moment. Karasuno still had the lead and as long as they kept this momentum going, they might just squeak by this set with a win. The next set was still up in the air if they could keep this going, but for the moment, she’ll focus on this moment in time.

Endo clapped his hands, “don’t lose it now, guys!”

“Keep your cool!” Yamaguchi encouraged them.

Sugawara joined in on the cheering and shouted, “Make the point!” 

The ball was then in play, with a score of 18-15 in Karasuno’s favor, it was quite important for the crows to get this next point. If they did and were able to make it to twenty before Date Tech, well, their morale will be higher than ever before. After a bit of back and forth, and Nishinoya’s amazing save, the ball was sent to Kageyama. It wasn’t clear on who it was going to be sent to. However, thanks to Shōyō’s shining beacon, Date Tech focused on him, Aone was more than determined to block him. By doing this, Asahi was left completely unblocked. A blazing path was left clear just for him! As Aone realized this and came falling back to the ground after trying to block the orange-haired boy, he saw that their ace was completely left untouched.

Asahi could see it; the view from the summit. It was clear, complete, and utterly clear. Nothing was standing in his way from scoring his team a point, just as Kageyama had wanted. Just about everyone went crazy once Asahi scored the point. 

“That’s…” Shimada tilted his head, “the same pipe Nekoma did!”

Sakura let herself smile, seeing Asahi really gain back his confidence. This was obviously the moment . Just like how she had her own moment at the gallery a few weeks ago. Asahi had finally gotten his groove back. Date Tech certainly was in for it now.

On the court, everyone cheered on their ace for his accomplishment. “Yes!” Suga cheered as he thought back to the conversation he had with the troublesome duo before the game.

Endo laughed loudly while jumping up and down, “Yes! Teddy Bear!” He latched on to Ennoshita and Narita in a tight hug as he celebrated that one point. The two second-years were just as excited about winning the point that they didn’t mind it, for the moment.

This was the momentum that they needed in the game. Asahi had gained his groove and would no doubt try to carry it going forward. It certainly was going to be looking up for Karasuno as the game continues on. Even if Sakura’s pessimistic side wants to keep a realistic idea of how this game would end. It was still looking quite good since the team morale was higher than ever and they kept surprising Date Tech with every play they made. Things hopefully would continue like this!

Chapter Text

THE GAME WAS NECK AND NECK AS usual. However, Karasuno was able to keep the lead for quite a while. They made it to 20 before Date Tech and currently, the score was 23-19. The emotion surrounding the court and those that were watching their game were palpable. People were surprised that Karasuno had held on to a lead for this long. Not only that but that they seemed to be on the trajectory to win this set.  

“If the take-and-take back momentum keeps up, Karasuno will probably take the first set. But in order to get that vital lead…” Shimada trailed off as they watched Shōyō jump up in front of a spike and get a one-touch. The glasses-wearing alumni exclaimed, “You need this!”

Takinoue shouted, “Nice one-touch!”

Then Karasuno used it to their advantage and allowed Kageyama to set the ball. He set it to their little number 10 who got the team yet another point making the score now 24-19. “Wow…" Michimiya breathed out, "set point for us against the famous Date Tech?”

Just about everyone was in shock at that. Sakura was in such surprise that she had to put her camera down for just a moment. No one would really notice that she was anything but bored, though if they looked at the way her eyes widened then they’d see her emotions. Her large, dark brown eyes were the windows into her soul, showing just what she was really feeling. At that moment, they were filled with nothing but shock and excitement.

Endo was shaking Yamaguchi’s shoulders in his joy. “Look at that! Look at that! They’re about to win this thing!”

While he too was quite happy, Yamaguchi wasn’t exactly comfortable with the fact that he was being squeezed quite tightly by Endo. He at him with a bit of an awkward expression, “Can you let go of me?”

The blond paused and looked down at his underclassmen. Yeah, he could see now that Yamaguchi wasn’t all that good with his personal space being invaded. Endo just couldn’t help it sometimes, he’s quite a touch-starved person, so he just unintentionally gets into people’s space. This includes people who may not exactly want their space taken over. Endo really needs to work on that. Though he couldn’t help but smirk while he purred, “Call me Senpai and I just might.”

“Don’t harass him, Endo!” Sugawara shouted at him, watching the interaction and ready to intervene and save the first-year, “Leave Yamaguchi alone!”

Endo smirked with a raised eyebrow. With a familiar mischievous spark coming to life in his electric eyes, the blond third-year just hugged Yamaguchi tighter and swayed them back and forth. He pouted at his friend. “Aw, but he’s so cute, Suga~! Can’t I just hang on to him for a little while longer!”

“No!”

Endo blew a raspberry, like a spoiled child, “You’re so mean .” In the end, Endo was left pouting and rubbing his now bruised side as Ennoshita apologized to Yamaguchi for their upperclassmen’s behavior. Suga was also giving him quite the earful about being annoying and too overbearing with their underclassmen.

Despite now being in a bit of pain thanks to Sugawara, Endo focused back on the game. Of course, he had to pay attention so that way he could cheer his loudest for his teddy bear. Which was a good decision. Since Asahi was the one who ended up scoring the winning point. Endo’s blue eyes widened as he watched his best friend closely. Seeing just how Asahi had thrived during this game, Endo’s heart was beating extremely fast. Not only was Asahi showing just how much of a strong force he was, but he was also showing how he could overcome the mental block he had for quite some time. Endo admired him. So much. In Endo’s mind, Asahi was truly one of the most amazing people he knew. Endo is the first on that list, obviously.

Watching the game was actually quite amazing for him. Sure, if he were playing he’d probably have some fun, but while on the sidelines, Endo doesn’t have the pressure bearing down on him. The eyes of spectators who either wished for Karasuno’s success or downfall were not pointed in his direction. While Endo loves getting attention, negative or positive, it was different when there was the team involved. He wasn’t the center of the team and the only one getting judged. Instead, it was his entire team that was in the limelight, his friends under the microscope. The last thing he’d want is for them to be judged. He’s been judged his entire life, so he’d rather have it just be him that gets any from people. That way he could make sure that none of his teammates were negatively hurt by judgment. His skin has hardened to the distasteful stares or unnecessary and hurtful comments. 

In his mind, you can never be sure who is judging you for every little thing you do. The last thing he’d want is for his friends to face that sort of thing. It probably would even be worse if he were actually playing. Not only is he a mediocre player, but he garnered quite a bit of gossip about himself because of his name and origin. If he were to play, he’d be a hindrance. So while the others were a bit put out that they weren’t playing in this game, Endo couldn’t care that much. He’s not passionate about volleyball, this is just a hobby that he wouldn’t keep once he graduated. This is just something he could do to pass the time of his third year and hang out with his friends. After all, how can he do anything right since he seems to never be able to do that no matter what. Especially with something that he wasn’t truly into.

So that was that. Karasuno had won the first set. To say that the boys were ecstatic with that outcome was an understatement. Though everyone in the stands and on the other teams was quite surprised themselves. After all, Karasuno wasn’t exactly favored to win this match. Since they lost before, it was thought that this game may just end up being a repeat of a few months ago.

All of them huddled up with their teams, ready to discuss the set and what to focus on for this next one. As soon as Asahi approached Karasuno’s bench, Endo just about attacked him. His hug was tight as he smiled widely at the ace. The breath was knocked out of Asahi as he steadied himself to keep himself and Endo from falling on the ground. Though he wasn’t surprised nor unwelcoming of the sudden hug. The adrenaline that came with the win of the first set and the accomplishment of seeing that glorious view from the summit was running through his veins. Having Endo there to cheer him on and congratulate him on it just added even more serotonin to his system.

“You did awesome!” Endo just about screamed, “This has got to be the best game I’ve seen you play, teddy bear~!” 

Asahi rubbed the back of his neck while he blushed ever so slightly, “Thanks, Joji. Though I think everyone is really putting in a lot of effort for this game.”

“I mean, everyone did really well, but you ! Well, I can’t even describe what it was like watching you.” Though his next statement caused Asahi to choke on his water, “God, that strong, determined look on your face just made you look so hot .” Asahi’s blush darkened as Endo continued on, “I was swooning so hard!”

The ace coughed, “Don’t say stuff like that!” Daichi and Suga just watched their friends’ interaction with light chuckles. It’s not that strange of a sight to see Asahi completely flustered by Endo and his remarks.

The teams huddled up around their benches once they calmed down. Date Tech was no doubt discussing a game plan to try and counter that freak quick Karasuno had, while Ukai addressed his team about their rotations, “In our current state, our attack axis is the deviant toss. We can’t have it contained like it was when we played Nekoma.” Ukai explained to the team while showing them the plan that he had come up with.  “Which is why we will start our rotation two places ahead for the second set. The first set rotation match up Number 7, A.K.A. “No Brows”, head-on with Hinata. So, we’re starting the set two positions ahead.”

“I get it.” Takeda said, “Then Hinata can avoid being marked by Number 7 as closely as he was in the first set.”

Ukai nodded his head, “But he won’t go completely unmarked. The idea is to keep them as separate as possible. Besides… the less Hinata is marked, and this is obvious, the more the others will be marked. We can’t keep depending on Hinata either.”

“Keeping Hinata in play keeps the rest of us in play.” Asahi said firmly, “I’ll prove to you that I am up to the task of being ace.”

The team all stared at his determined expression in awe. “Asahi, you’re so cool!” Tanaka and Nishinoya marveled in unison as they stared at their friend, completely awestruck.

Daichi nodded his head like a proud father, “How you’ve grown, Asahi!” Suga just stared at him with slightly pink cheeks and wonder in his eyes.

Endo though was smiling so widely, it seemed like his face was going to split. “I’m so proud!”

Asahi sweatdropped, “Are you guys my ancient relatives now?”

“Same here!” Shōyō then jumped up. “I can’t do back attacks like you, Asahi, so I’ll make lots of points while I’m up front! And I’ll be the greatest decoy!”

The older boy smiled at the boy’s determination, “Great, I’m counting on it. And you can count on me!”

“Yes, Sir!”

After a quick break and a bit more discussion about their game plan, the boys from both teams got back on the court. “Go, go, let’s go! Let’s go, Date Tech!” The crowd chanted once they all lined up again.

“Seriously,” Endo groaned, “they need to quiet down before I go deaf!” He really could go without their incessant chanting. Why didn’t they have such a cheer squad, huh?! Though when he glanced up to see who was standing behind their own banner, he saw only a few people. The girl’s team was there, which was a bit nice, then those two alumni guys from their practice match with the neighborhood association and paparazzi-chan. Yeah, they certainly didn’t have a cheer squad like Date Tech. What a shame.

That crowd of Karasuno supporters was anxiously watching the second set start. Michimiya was about a hair length away from biting her nails, “Set Two is starting.”

Sakura was reserved in her anxiety. Many years of practice at keeping her feelings to herself had prepared her for moments like these. She’s pretty good at reading people’s hidden emotions because she’s a master when it comes to hiding her own. She was calm and collected on the outside, but she was starting to become slightly worried on the inside. A part of her was worried about her brother losing this game, but another part of her reminded her that the odds were against them from the beginning. There never really is any definite answer to who will win and who will lose before a game starts. You can never predict 100% of the time who is going to be the victor before the teams even step on the court. Players can be unpredictable, they could be terrible one day, amazing the next, and mediocre the day after. An underdog could come out of nowhere and win the game in a landslide. Though that didn’t mean there were any possible facts that could sway a game. A more experienced team will have an advantage against a team that was barely put together. With Date Tech having been a pretty powerful school for some time, it was hard to really believe that Karasuno was going to pull through. Sakura isn’t saying that Karasuno is a bad team. Just when paired with Date Tech, things didn’t look so promising. To her at least. She’s thinking logically here. As long as Karasuno

Shimada gasped in horror at the harsh shutout. “It’s only because they were targeting Long-haired guy.” Takinoue said, “Only short-stuff can do fast attacks when the receives are all over the place.”

The young girl nodded her head along with him, “This set will be as much of a back and forth as before.” She stated, drawing their attention, “Date Tech hasn’t come up with a counter to the fast attack just yet, and Karasuno hasn’t exactly found a way to perfectly avoid the iron wall.” She clicked her tongue, her analytical gaze piercing every move that the players made with scary concentration. “It’s all about who can pull ahead by a point or two at this point.” It was going to be just like the first set. Whoever was able to get that small edge, maybe by one point or two, would end up winning. Just like how Karasuno ended having really a one-point lead over Date Tech for most of the set only to pull away for the last few points.

So the next few points were played. As expected it was a push and pull between the two teams. When Karasuno would get a point, Date Tech would get a point and repeat. Shōyō still surprised most of Date Tech with his speed and proved to be an amazing decoy for the team. The iron wall seemed to be so ready to jump at Shōyō and stop his freak quick that that forgot there were other spikers on the team at times. After a while, Date Tech called for a time-out. With the score at 12-10 in Karasuno’s favor, it was obvious why their coach would do that.

While huddled up, the iron wall did their best to come up with some sort of plan to counter not only the freak quick but their ace. Karasuno also huddled up to discuss how well they were doing. Even if they were fairing quite well, there was still plenty that needed to be done. They were by no means out of the woods yet. There was no time to breathe, at least until the end of the game. Though the time-out ended and the teams all rushed back onto the court.

Karasuno wanted to do their best to keep the lead. It may have only been by one point, but it still meant that they had the edge in this game. The next point was played and Asahi was the one to try and make a spike but was shut out by Aone himself. Even if they had just lost a point to Date Tech, Asahi didn’t look too upset. If anything his eyes started to spark in determination.

“Can you see that look in his eyes…” Endo said wistfully, to know one in particular.

Ennoshita tilted his head at the blond as he heard his murmur, “what look in who’s eyes?”

“Asahi,” He clarified, “even after that block… he looks so determined.” For a moment, he was lost in his own mind as he watched Asahi on the court. He truly admires his friend. Endo has since they were young. The dedication that Asahi had for volleyball always amazed him to no end.

The second-year eyed the near star-struck expression on his senpai’s face. Though he just shrugged his shoulders. It’s not totally common to see Endo get like this. However, whenever he did, it always has to do with Asahi. No surprise there, in Ennoshita’s eyes. Instead of focusing on his dramatic senpai’s infatuation, he has a game to watch.

With the score now tied at 17-17, there really was a chance for Karasuno to lose it here. If Date Tech was able to pull ahead, then it might just seal their fates. However, the tides changed when Karasuno used their own blocks to gain back a point and give them the lead again.

Up in the stands, the Karasuno supporters were more than excited. Sakura sighed in relief, her anxiety starting to get to her now. It was too tight of a game for her to just sit idly by. Date Tech was intense, and the fact that Karasuno was able to keep the lead and even win the first set was amazing. Odds were starting to turn in the crows’ favor. Sakura was starting to be a bit more optimistic about this game.

“Yes! Block point!” Shimada shouted happily.

Takinoue smiled widely, “Good! Now if Date Tech gets the next point, their huge Number 7 will fall back to the back row!”

“Okay!” Michimiya gasped.

Sasaki cheered, “Now widen the gap!” 

Shōyō then stepped up now that he was in the front row again. That served to be trouble for Date Tech as he scored another point for his team. Though Date Tech returned that with a point of their own. Eventually, the score became 

“Six more points… Nail those suckers while you’re in the front row, short-stuff!” Takinoue said as they watched the game continue on. Shōyō was able to score yet another point, though it was returned by Date Tech. The score became 22-20 in Karasuno’s favor. Even more so when Asahi was able to score yet another point.

Endo had to be one of the loudest to cheer for that, “Amazing!”

“All right!” Ennoshita yelled in support.

“Nice kill!” Suga shouted, “One more!”

The girl’s captain in the stands gasped, “One more point to match point! Go! One more point!” Sakura snapped yet another photo of the game and hummed to herself. This game was interesting, and she enjoyed watching it quite a lot. Now, all that needs to happen to make it perfect was for Karasuno to win.

Shimada sighed, “Now Date Tech’s huge Number 7 is in the back row, and short-stuff is still in the front. This is their chance to widen the lead!”

Date Tech was able to get yet another point, one that Nishinoya wasn’t able to save. Though they got one back when Shōyō spiked the ball straight down in between Aone’s hands and the net.

Shimada was jumping in his spot, “That was too close for comfort! It barely got sucked in.”

Takinoue nodded in agreement, “At least it’s match point now.”

Shōyō was then subbed out as Nishinoya stepped onto the court. “Go for the next one! Shake it off!” Kinoshita shouted.

Besides their little number ten, Yamaguchi sweatdropped, “Date Tech’s Number 7 is amazing.” 

“Yeah, I thought he stopped that last one. But… Asahi is in the front row now.” Shōyō said firmly, “The ace is there, so it will be fine!” 

“The placement is good,” Shimada observed while talking with Takinoue, “but they’re being watched now.”

The next point was played and there were quite a few tense moments. Though the great Karasuno Guardian Deity saved the ball from the back of the court. Then there was a tough joust between Aone and Asahi. After that, there was this tense moment. A split second where it seemed like Karasuno was able to lose a point. However, once again, Nishinoya was right there to save the ball. This time he used his foot for an instinctual save that ultimately saved Karasuno’s game. As everyone shouted in amazement, Sakura was silent as she looked at the photo she had just gotten. Though her attention was drawn away from it as she turned to hear the boys shouting. With encouragement from Sugawara from the sidelines and Asahi’s determination, Kageyama then made his decision to set the ball to their ace.

“Go!” Everyone shouted as Asahi jumped up to hit the spike. Sakura didn’t join in on the yelling as she steadied her camera ready for yet another perfect photo. In that moment, Endo watched with wide eyes, and a large smile as Asahi made a spike that broke the iron wall. It may have not gotten through them, but it hit off their hands and landed on Date Tech’s side on the other end of the court. At that moment, he saw the awesome power of the ace. His best friend truly is amazing. It nearly brought tears to his eyes.

Then the ball hit the ground, ending Date Tech’s journey and empowering Karasuno’s spirit. Everyone was in amazement as the referee called the game. It took a moment for some to process it but they soon started cheering.

“All right!” Takinoue and Shimada cheered together as they fist-bumped.

“They did it!” Michimiya cheered as the girls all jumped around in celebration, “They did it!”

Sakura smiled at their win and clapped, “good job!”

Endo just about tackled his best friend once they finished shaking hands, “You did so amazing!” The ace was a nice pink color now that he had Endo hanging onto him in a tight hug. Endo didn’t seem to want to let go of Asahi as he tried his best to keep hanging on while singing his praise for his friend. Though Sugawara made him let go eventually. Even if he was told off by Sugawara a bit for being too excessive in his celebration, which he believes he isn’t, nothing could wipe the smile off his face.

Nishinoya flashed their ace a close-eyed smile, “You did it, Asahi!”

“Asahi, Date Techs block went “boom!” And then they went “wobble-wobble…” If it was me, I would’ve “schwoomed!” Shōyō exclaimed like a hyper toddler. His terminology really was a bit confusing, but Asahi could get the gist of it.

Tsukishima stared at the over-excited teen with narrowed eyes, “Speak Japanese.”

“If I’m the ace,” Asahi looked to his teammates, “you guys are the heroes.”

Shōyō’s eyes were now sparkling, “Ooh, heroes!”

Nishinoya’s smile seemed to widen even further, “I like the sound of that!”

“What’s with you being so badass all of a sudden, huh?” Endo purred, “Where was this Asahi hiding?”

Asahi just shook his head at Endo and tried to move away from his friend’s teasing. They all then lined up to thank their supporters and saw just who was watching them. Sakura wasn’t much of a surprise, nor was the smirk she flashed them and thumbs up. Though seeing it just caused the two second-year simps to start swooning and Shōyō to proudly puff his chest. There were also two of the NA team members there to support them and most of the girl’s volleyball team as well.

“Sawamura, Sugawara, Azumane! Congratulations on clearing round two!” Michimiya called down to them with a wave.

Daichi smiled up at her, “Michimiya! I thought I heard a lot of girls’ voices.”

“Didn’t you notice them?” Sugawara leaned over with a raised eyebrow

“Aya-senpai!” Tanaka and Nishinoya called out to one of the other second-years on the girl’s team.

Mischimiyta smirked, “You got your revenge.”

The four third-years all shared a glance with each other before raising their fists, “Yeah!” Even if half of them didn’t get to play, Karasuno had redeemed themselves against Date Tech. While Endo and Sugawara were on the bench, they still get to say that they won against the iron wall. Thanks to their teamwork and supporting each other, they had truly gotten their revenge.

“And we’ll keep on winning!” Daichi exclaimed.

The boys then all lined up and bowed to their crowd, “Thank you very much!” So that was that. The game had ended and it was time to head home.

“Date Tech’s block was seriously terrifying.” Shimada sweatdropped.

“Yeah…” Takinoue trailed off, “Still, did you figure out how the Karasuno first-year duo differentiated their redonk fast attack? I didn’t see any tell-tale signals during the rally.”

Sakura raised an eyebrow in their direction, “you guys couldn’t?”

“Well no,” the older man shook his head before bristling at the young girl, “didn’t I just say that!” The way that this girl was quite unnerved Takinoue just a bit. She really is different from her brother on the team. Ukai had mentioned a bit about the pair being different, but he didn’t think too much of it.

“It’s a bit obvious,” she shrugged her shoulders like it was nothing.

Takinoue grumbled, “You’re the shorty’s sister, of course, you’d know!”

“I don’t.” Sakura rolled her eyes, “Despite the fact that Shōyō usually tells me everything, he was very tight-lipped about this. Though doesn’t mean I couldn’t actually figure it out eventually. Only took me one game.” Anyone with ears and keen observational skills would probably be able to see it. She has to admit that it’s quite smart. She shook her head, “Still, I’m sure that they didn’t come up with them on their own. They’re both too idiotic to come up with something so subtle.”

Shimada leaned over to her, curiously, “Can you tell us what it is?”

Sakura grabbed her things and replied with a polite smile, “no.” That just caused the two guys to grumble at her in frustration.

On the court, while gathering his own gym bag, Endo was talking excitedly with Asahi. “I mean, really, you all were pretty good out there. Would have done better with me on the court, but you were the best, I have to say.”

Asahi chuckled nervously, “Joji, it was a team effort. You don’t have to keep complimenting just me.”

“Says who?” Endo sassed while bumping their shoulders together. “I just want to hype up my best friend and let him know how awesome he is. Is there something wrong with that?”

Asahi just sighed. There was no arguing with Endo about this. When it comes to talking big about him, Endo always liked to talk nonstop. Sure, Endo also likes to talk big about the other, but when it comes to Asahi, Endo loves complimenting him as much as possible. Asahi, of course, is flustered by this. Though he understands it quite a bit. They’ve been friends the longest when compared to the other third-years. The both of them are extremely close, so Endo will take any opportunity he can to boost his spirits. Asahi smiled softly as he listened to Endo ramble. The way his blue eyes were alight with joy and excitement always gave Asahi a funny feeling. It’s an expression that he always wants to see on his face. Asahi has seen Endo upset, depressed, angry, devastated. So to see him like this, it’s always refreshing.

With high spirits and large smiles, the team was more than ready to watch a few more games today before heading back home. Nothing could bring them off their pedestals. 

“Oikawa!” A crowd of girls all cheered which caused Karasuno to pause. Well, looks like they were knocked off quite quickly.

They all turned to see that Aoba Johsai was currently in the middle of their first set. It honestly shouldn’t have been much of a surprise to see that they were winning with a score of 23-14. They truly were a powerhouse school. 

“Aoba Johsai’s…” Daichi trailed off.

Sugawara finished for him, “...first win.”

Endo watched his old friend with a tilted head. He didn’t necessarily know what he was feeling about their game against Aoba Johsai. While he’s kind of excited about getting to play against his old friend, he’s… nervous. Losing would be heartbreaking to his team, and while playing against Date Tech was already intense, Aoba Johsai will no doubt be even tougher. Oikawa especially will be a problem for them to deal with. 

He bit the inside of his cheek. Knowing Oikawa, he’ll be obsessing over the game against them as well. No doubt running himself ragged with practice and watching their games. There’s no doubt in his mind that he’s doing that. If Oikawa is the same as he usually is, which Endo is pretty certain he is, he’ll be a perfectionist as usual. While not having played on an official team with him, Endo knows what type of player he is. Endo just really hopes that Oikawa doesn’t hurt himself over this. He is well aware of how Oikawa can overwork himself from time to time. His obsession with trying to be the best can cause him to get hurt and be tired most of the time. What their game will be like, Endo isn’t sure. Though he sure is intrigued on what it’ll be like. Nothing like a good old-school rivalry to spice up the year.

Chapter Text

THIS ISN’T THE SORT OF NEWS THAT Joji had thought his mother wanted to tell him today. It is surprising, to say the least. Any twelve-year-old would be a bit dumbfounded to be told that they were suddenly moving. Not only that but moving to a completely different country!

Here he sat, comfortable at the dining room table staring at his angelic mother who smiled apprehensively. Her crystal blue eyes were swimming in worry about the reaction of her son. The perfect smile on her thin lips was strained slightly and started to droop the longer Joji stayed quiet. She knows that this isn’t exactly exciting news for her son to hear, but there wasn’t much Eliza could do about it.

For all of Joji’s life, he has lived with his mother in the heart of London in a posh apartment. The lavish lifestyle is all Joji has ever known. As well as a bit of an isolated one since he never really did anything a normal kid would. He’s homeschooled, which in itself is not that strange for a child to go through, however, Joji has no friends. At least, no friends his age, since he would consider his elderly nanny his friend. That aside, Joji didn’t have the normal life of most other children. Thanks to the fact that his parents were a part of the elite of the world, Joji was just about always spoiled by the best life can offer a little boy. However, Eliza’s husband, Hideaki Endo, had practically demanded that she and their son move to Japan by the end of the month. 

To have his life suddenly upended like this was a bit jarring for a young boy. Though there really wouldn’t be anything too drastic with the move besides the change of scenery. It’s not like the Endo family was unfamiliar with traveling around the world. Joji wasn’t exactly new to the idea of going through customs and flying all the time thanks to his parents’ work. Also, the fact that his mother likes to spoil him with lavish and exciting vacations for her little boy. However, moving was something entirely different. 

“Japan?” He asked with a tilt of his head. “But why?”

Eliza sighed slightly, though her blinding smile barely faltered, “Daddy wants us to be closer to him. Especially now that his business is getting busier.”

Joji has only ever lived in their home in London. While he’s also been to Japan to visit family out there, he’s never lived there before. He loves London, especially since it’s Joji’s and his mother’s birthplace. Though Japan was his father’s home country, so he also liked it quite a bit. Though moving there… That’s going to be strange. His eyes then became alight with wonder and excitement as the idea really sunk in, “are we going to be living with daddy now?!”

Eliza laughed lightly at the obviously giddy child, “yes, of course.”

Joji jumped up from his seat at the dinner table, “So we get to see more of him!" 

His mother giggled at his enthusiasm. “Yes, dear. We’ll be living with him permanently after this.” Eliza loved the fact that her boy idolized his father, it’s all she would have wanted for her children. After all, she knows what an amazing man her husband is, so it isn’t much of a surprise to see her son so excited to get to see him more often. She doesn’t like the fact that Hideaki is away almost all the time for business. She would argue with him about it most of the time. Though she knows it’s a losing battle. He’s a very, very busy entrepreneur. He’s always traveling for work and has very little time to stay with his family. Hideaki visits them of course. If he didn’t, then she’d have an even bigger issue with it. Though he never stayed in London long enough for his family to really be together. However, they found a solution!

Joji gasped, breaking Eliza from her thoughts, “Are we going to live in a big Japanese temple, like the ones we saw!” His electric blue eyes were sparkly as he daydreamed about the large temples that he had seen on his last visit to Japan.

“I’m afraid not.” Eliza said while brushing a delicate hand through her son’s hair, “We’ll be staying in Daddy’s old family home in Miyagi.”

“Oh!”

“I know that it’ll be tough to move away from London,” she said softly, “but you’re a strong boy. I have no doubt that you’ll adapt quickly.”

He pumped his fist, “If I have my mummy and daddy then I will.” Joji then giggled with a large, bright smile

Eliza cooed, “You’re such an adorable boy.” The two dissolved into laughter as Joji started to babble about their future in Japan. They weren’t necessarily sure how things were going to be with this sudden change. However, they did know that they would be an entire family and together. What more could they want?

The move from one county to the other was a normal affair. The entire time, Joji was vibrating in his seat on the plane, in the car, and eventually even as he entered his new home. It was a nice western style home, though it still had plenty of traditional Japanese aspects to it. Joji liked it quite a bit. Honestly, he liked the idea of living in an actual house since his mother and he has only lived in an apartment. It was much bigger than his previous home which meant he had more room to do plenty of fun things.

The two settled in quickly with their things already moved into the house. Joji had already had his adventure around the house, finding any and all of the little nooks and crannies of the home. It was magical in his perspective. The house may have been quite sterile and empty, but he’d soon take over and add his special touch where he can. After all, he was an excitable little boy who had quite a lot of energy.

After moving all of his toys and such into his room all by himself, like a big boy, he hurried downstairs. The sound of the front door slamming shut definitely piqued his interest. It was most likely his father coming home! So he just about sprinted down the hallways and hoped down the stairs to find him. Though his mood dampened slightly when he saw it was just his mother closing the door after the movers left.

Eliza turned at the rushed footfalls to find her son skidding to a stop in front of her. She sighed happily, “well, looks like we’re all moved in, dear! Isn’t that wonderful!”

“Yea!” Joji smiled while jumping down the last steps, “though when’s daddy coming home? I wanna see him!”

She sighed at the bright, impatient expression on her son’s face, “Soon. He still has some work to do, but he’ll be home by dinner.”

Joji nodded his head, though he was still slightly disheartened. He has been looking forward to seeing his father ever since they started to move. Though he’s waited weeks for this, so he can wait a little while longer.

Eliza then held out her hand to him, which he grabbed right away, and started to lead him out of the foyer. “Speaking of dinner, what would you like tonight? I was thinking of making some soup.”

“Soup! Soup!” Joji cheered while hopping after her.

The two then set out to the large kitchen where Eliza would start making some delicious soup. While humming a light tune, Eliza worked her magic in the kitchen and ended up making a delicious miso soup. While the family has had plenty of maids, private chefs, and butlers at their home, Eliza loved to take it upon herself to cook her family meals. For special occasions like a party or such, she wouldn’t interfere in the kitchen and let them do their work. However, she loves doing these things for her son and husband.

Once Eliza was done, she glided into the dining room and put a steaming hot bowl of soup in front of her impatient boy. Joji greedily slurped on his dinner while babbling with his mother about anything that came to his mind. Their conversation ranged from some of the new toys that Joji had gotten recently to what they wanted to do now that they were living in Japan. Joji made it quite adamant that he wanted to see his father’s office since he was quite fascinated by Hideaki’s work in the field of biomedical engineering. 

Joji admires his father’s work. After all, his father designs and creates prosthetic limbs for people who needed them. He’s heard all his life about how brilliant and innovative his father is. Joji sees his father as a hero for everything he does. He even talks about wanting to be just like him. Though Joji is still a bit decisive about what he wants to be when he grows up, as are most other children. Through working with his father is definitely in the top three!

The clinking of their silverware against their bowls and the obnoxious slurping of soup was the only sound in the room currently. Joji was enjoying his soup wholeheartedly while his mother watch him with a fond smile. “So, Joji,” Eliza started, “what do you think of school?”

Slurping up some of the delicious noodles, Joji looked up, “I think that you’re a really good teacher, mum!”

Eliza smiled softly, “Oh, thank you, honey.” Her son could say some of the sweetest things. “But I was thinking more of public school.”

“Public School?” Joji questioned through his mouthful of soup. He slowly chewed his dinner while staring at her with big eyes, “Like with other kids?”

“Yes.”

He furrowed his eyebrows and pouted, “Oh, well, I don’t know, I’ve never been.”

“Would you like to?”

“Hm, I don’t think so,” he shrugged his shoulders, “I like just being homeschooled by you and my tutors.”

Eliza nodded her head, “Well, daddy and I thought it would be a good idea to enroll you in the nearby school.”

Joji froze, “Huh?”

Already seeing the shock starting to settle on her son’s face, Eliza quickly tried to explain. “I know that you might not want to, but mummy and daddy will start to get busy with work and other things. Not only that, but we think it’s time for you to try and make friends.”

“But Tabby is my friend.” Tabatha, the lovely elderly lady that's a nanny for Joji. Really, she basically a grandmother to him whenever she'd look after him when both Hideaki and Eliza were busy. In Joji's mind, he didn't need other children as friends. He has his mummy, his daddy, and his Tabby. Perhaps he would also count the other limited family members he has in this, though he rarely ever sees them. So what need did he have with befriending other children?

“Yes,” Eliza broke him out of his thoughts, “and I know that she’s your best friend, but it would be good for you to make some more.”

Joji thought about it for a moment. A small amount of anxiety crept upon him, but he pushed it away for the time being. “Hmm, okay, if you say so, mummy.” He wasn’t going to argue that much about it. After all, whatever his mummy says, he’s going to believe wholeheartedly. Going to an actual school is a completely new concept to him. He’s been homeschooled all his life, so he didn’t know any different. His curiosity was going to get the better of him. Public school in Japan is bound to be interesting, right?

Breaking Joji out of his thoughts, the sound of the front door opened earned his attention. “Tadaima!”

Joji’s eyes sparkled as he took off towards the front door. The deep voice that Joji has come to recognize easily caused him to sprint in the direction of the new arrival, “Daddy!” Once he caught sight of his tired father taking off his jacket, Joji launched himself into Hideaki’s arms for a hug. Hideaki chuckled deeply and allowed his son to latch himself onto his waist.

Eliza laughed at the sight as she followed her son into the foyer. She softly smiled and gently took her husband’s jacket, “Okaerinasai!” She kissed the dark-haired man on the cheek which seemed to get rid of all the tension in Hideaki’s shoulders.

“I’m sorry I was late, we were designing a new prosthetic arm for a well-known volleyball player.” He explained with a tired sigh, “It takes a while to figure out how to make a strong enough prosthetic that can withstand him spiking and blocking.”

Eliza nodded her head, “Sounds tough.”

“Daddy can do it though!” Joji cheered, still hanging onto his father, “He’s a superhero!”

Hideaki looked down at the adoring eyes of his son and smiled slightly, “Thanks, my boy. Now, what amazing food did my lovely wife make, hm?”

“Mummy made Miso soup!”

“Oh, sounds good,” Hideaki exclaimed and swung Joji around while they headed towards the dining room to resume their dinner. The blond boy giggled as he excitedly enjoyed this moment with both his parents. Now the entire family was together to enjoy a meal together for the first time in a long time. It was moments like these, getting to have his mummy and daddy together to do something, no matter what, that Joji loves the most. After all, he doesn’t get to enjoy both of their company that much. So he’d savor this for the time being. 

The large, ominous building that stood before the two blondes scared Joji just a bit. He surely is intimidated at this moment. While he had been curious a few days ago about what school would be like, staring at the place now, Joji wasn’t sure if he wanted to go through with this.

His mother didn’t seem to really catch onto his emotion at the moment. She actually seemed happy for her son. She knelt down to his height and fixed his black school uniform with a soft smile, “Alright, first day of school. Are you excited?”

“I don’t know…” Joji gripped his backpack tightly, anxiety starting to creep upon him, “There’s a lot of people.” They observed all of the families dropping off their children. Most of the kids laughing as they met up with their friends and said goodbye to their guardians. Others moped about having to go to school as most normal kids would act. There were so many people! Joji’s been around quite a few people before. Due to his parents’ professions, he’s attended a few art galleries and business parties which usually had quite a few attendants. Though this was going to be different…

Eliza ruffled his hair, “No need to be nervous, dear. Your first day will be fun!”

Joji pouted and lightly pushed her hand away, “Why couldn’t daddy come with us?” 

His mother sighed heavily, “He’s busy. Too much business for him to take care of at the office this morning. I’m sorry, dear.” Hideaki had been called into the office again, and as much as he wanted to stay, he was needed elsewhere. Eliza tried to object to it, but she couldn’t pull him away from his work. 

Joji smiled sadly, “It’s okay… He has more important things to do.”

It broke Eliza’s heart to hear her son say that. Joji shouldn’t think that his father values his business more than his own child. Though Joji idolized his father far too much to see that Hideaki should put his family above work. Eliza dreads the day he realizes that.

“You have a good day, okay?” Eliza said softly and caressed Joji’s cheek, “I know you’ll have lots of fun, and make plenty of new friends. When I come back to pick you up, you better tell me all the fun you had, okay?”

Joji brightened at his mother’s warm expression, “Sure thing, mummy!” His mother sure knew how to cheer him up with her soft words and loving nature. So he said his goodbye and put on a brave face while waltzing into his new school. Soon enough, Joji found himself being introduced to his new classmates. All of their eyes were staring at him, and he quite liked all of the attention pointed at him. They all gazed at him in curiosity and eagerness that gave Joji a boost in confidence.

His teacher, a nice man with bushy hair and green eyes, gained all his students’ attention by clearing his throat. He brought Joji before the class and presented him like a new toy, “Class, meet your newest classmate, Endo Joji.”

Joji bowed to all of the other children, “It’s nice to meet you all.” He flashed them all the brightest smile he could. After all, he wants to make a good impression.

He was told where to sit and happily sauntered over to his seat. As soon as he sat down, plenty of the kids sitting around him started to crowd him. Their inquisitive stares were all pinpointed on him as they started to strike up a conversation with him.

One of his new classmates walked up to him, “You’re Japanese isn’t that good, is it?”

“Well, no.” Joji said with a nervous laugh, “I’ve lived in England all my life! So I didn’t really practice it that much.” It’s not like Joji couldn’t understand or speak Japanese at all. His father made it important that Joji is fluent in the language. Of course, because he didn’t get to practice it that much, he had a little bit of trouble with certain words and pronouncing them a bit weird. Though other than that, Joji was about completely perfect.

“England.” Another kid marveled, “that’s why you’re hair’s so yellow, huh?”

“It’s just blond.” He said in confusion since he didn’t find it so weird since he’s seen plenty of other blonde people around. Sure, all the kids in his new class either had black hair or brown hair, but he wasn’t that strange for having blond hair. 

A girl peered down at him with wide eyes, “My mom says that your dad is rich. Is he really?”

“Yea!” Joji said proudly while puffing out his chest, “He owns a big business and my mum’s a really good painter.” Any chance that he could get to boast about how cool his parents are, he would gladly take it.

That definitely got their attention. His new classmates all bantered between themselves at the news. Their new classmate seems to be really interesting with stuff like that! The other kids then started to fire even more questions at him, “So you have a bunch of money?!”

Joji tilted his head, “Hm, I guess.”

All of the kids leaned in closer to get a better look at the new rich kid. “Do you get all the toys you want?” A different kid asked eagerly.

Now feeling a bit overwhelmed at the attention, Joji stuttered, “N-not really-”

Someone else asked, “Then why do you have so much money if not to buy toys?”

“Oi, don’t crowd him!” A sudden voice exclaimed over all the questions. The crowd of students parted slightly to allow an intimidating boy to walk up to the desk. At the sight of the boy, most of the students scurried away, either scared of the boy or uninterested in the new student for now.

Joji felt like he could breathe now that he wasn’t surrounded by people. He could hear all of the others whispering and muttering to each other about him, but he focused on the boy walking up to him. He smiled, “Thanks.”

The boy had spikey hair, dark green eyes, and quite a scary expression on his face. Joji could understand why the kids all listened to him now. The boy gruffly said, “You’ve got everyone’s attention today, huh?”

Joji nodded, “Yea, I guess so.” He expected to gain most of the attention for the day, since he is something new and different for the class to see. Though to have them crowd him like that was a bit overwhelming.

“Don’t worry about them so much.” Another boy bounced up to the pair. This boy had blue eyes and soft-looking brown hair.  “They’re a bit annoying sometimes. I’m Oikawa Toru!”

The spiky-haired boy spoke, “Iwazumi Hajime.”

“I’m Endo Joji.”

Oikawa giggled, “We know. Say, why don’t you come play with us.”

Joji’s face just about split with the smile that was on his face, “Sure!” Hopefully, this would lead to a happy friendship between the three.

The rest of the school day went by quite quickly for Joji. He enjoyed some more of the attention that he got from some of his classmates. As long as they kept themselves out of his personal bubble and weren't too overbearing with the questions. There were a few who were like that, but Iwazumi and Oikawa were there to help him out. Truly, Joji knows that he’s at least made two friends today, and that felt amazing.

Eventually, school came to an end and every student was reuniting with their guardians. Joji was easily able to spot her in the crowd and made his way towards her. “How was your day, dear?” Eliza greeted her son once she saw him come running out of

Joji tilted his head, “It was… okay. Kids are weird.”

“Yes, I suppose they are.” Eliza chuckled, “So tell me all about it.”

“Can I do it later?” Joji yawned, “I’m tired.”

The excitement of his first day of school had seemed to tire him out. “Oh, sure thing,” Eliza said softly and started to lead her son to the car waiting for them, “When we get home, why don’t you have a short nap while I get dinner together.”

“Okay.”

Being the center of attention in his class obviously gave Joji quite the confidence boost. For some time, Joji was happy with the fact that he was attending school with other kids. A few more days passed and his class was still somewhat abuzz with his presence. Everyone wanted to know about him and he was happy to oblige. He played with them, learned quite a few new things in his class, and was overjoyed with his experience. Honestly, he didn’t think that he would like it as much as he did.

However, things started to turn…

It started when a few kids kept pointing out that his hair was a funny color. It was only a small group of kids, so it didn’t bother him at first. Sure, he was the only one in class with blond hair, but it wasn’t that strange. So why was he being teased for it so much? Why was it such a big deal? Eventually, it started to spread. 

More and more kids started to call him silly names and ask if his hair color was real. He wasn’t sure why they constantly questioned him about it. It shouldn’t bother him that much, but… For some reason, it hurt. They laughed at him behind his back. At first, Joji didn’t think anything of it, but he soon realized they weren’t being that nice. The attention that he had been getting started to turn sinister in a way. Joji couldn’t really pinpoint when it happened, but he could just feel that the air in the class had started to suffocate him. 

There were murmurs and whispers behind his back. He heard snippets of them and wanted them to stop. What had he done to now deserve snide comments pointed in his direction. Unbeknownst to him, it was because some kids started to become jealous. The other kids saw what wealthy things Joji was able to get due to his parents. It didn’t help that a few of the kids' parents spoke badly of Eliza which effectively trickled down to Joji’s classmates. All around, there was quite a bit of gossip and rumors floating around Joji no matter what. No matter what he even tried to do, nobody seemed to want to be that friendly with him anymore. There were a few who downright disliked him and others who put on facades around him, pretending to be his friend only to go behind his back and whisper.

Eventually, the only ones who seemed to be genuine with him were Iwazumi and Oikawa. Not that Joji would question that, they’re really good friends. Even after only a short while, they became an inseparable trio. Joji got to play with them and learn about volleyball, a cool sport that interested him just a little bit, and they didn’t even question him about his wealth like many others constantly did. They spent their school days laughing and joking around, making fun of Oikawa from time to time, practicing volleyball, and getting ice cream at the nearby convenience store together. They were the only good part of Joji’s school days. 

Though the comments about his hair eventually got to him. One day, after a tiring school day, Joji approached his mother as she sat in her study. Her dainty hands held a paintbrush as she expertly painted a beautiful scenic painting of a beach. Joji watched her work for a moment, not wanting to interrupt her.

“Mummy?” He finally said after a few minutes of watching her brush strokes.

Eliza glanced over her shoulders at him, “Yes, dear.”

“Can I…” He trailed off.

Eliza paused her work and turned to give Joji her full attention. “What was that dear?”

Joji took a deep breath and rushed out, “Can I dye my hair?” He squeezes his eyes shut tightly, expecting his mother to shout.

Which she did. “Dye your hair!?” Eliza exclaimed in shock, “Why on Earth would you want to do that?” 

Joji shuffled his feet, “I want my hair to look like daddy’s…”

She stared at her son's sheepish demeanor. Eliza felt as though that wasn’t the entire truth. From the way that he wasn’t looking at her and how he sway on the heels of his feet, she had a feeling that there was more to this. She eyed him, “Are you sure?”

“Yea.”

The sheepish way that her usual confident boy spoke didn't rub Eliza the right way. How the idea of dying his hair came to him, she wasn’t sure. Had someone mentioned it to him? Perhaps he didn’t like his blond hair anymore? “Well, um…” She cleared her throat after a long while of just staring at him, “I’ll find something alright? This isn’t a definite yes, I’ll look into it for you.”

“Thank you, mummy,” Joji said, grabbing his mother by her waist in a sudden tight hug. He let out a small sigh of relief at that. Joji honestly didn’t think that she’d get anywhere close to agreeing to the idea. Though perhaps she did it because of how insecure he appeared. He may have tried to 

So, even though Eliza wasn’t completely on board with it, she set up an appointment to get Joji’s hair dyed. Sure, she didn’t really like it, but it seemed to make Joji happy. He hasn’t been himself lately and she figured that if doing this could make him happy, then maybe he’ll become his normal self. He now sported dark black locks, much like his father and plenty of his classmates. The day after he got it dyed, Joji went to school in high spirits. He believed that now the names would stop. After all, he had changed the one thing that had been the focal point of their teasing. 

However, things didn't go in his favor. As soon as he walked into the class, he was swarmed by the other children curious about his hair once again. They asked him why he changed it, how he did it, and if he'd change his hair back. His classmates then started to speculate on why he would do this. Some rumors started to go around about him, most of them not that nice. One that Joji was able to hear was that he dyed his hair just for attention, which wasn't the case. He did it to take the attention off of him. Whatever he thought was going to happen after he dyed his hair certainly didn't happen. If anything the teasing just got worse!

At this point, Joji didn't know what to do. So he turned to the one person he knew could help him. After all, his father is extremely smart and strong, he'd know what to do.

Cautiously, Joji walked into his father's study one day after he got home from school. Hideaki was actually home before it was dark out since he tends to stay at his offices for hours on end working on projects and was barely home. He was buried deep in his paperwork and laptop, so he barely seemed to notice that his son had walked in. Joji cleared his throat lightly,  “Daddy?”

“What is it, son?” Hideaki droned out, almost uninterested in the boy. He seemed to be more focused on his computer than anything else. “I’m a bit busy at the moment.” The seeming frustration about whatever he was working on seeped into his words. 

Joji swayed back and forth on his heels, “Oh, I just wanted to ask about school.”

Hideaki didn’t even look away from his work, “If it’s about school, ask your mother, she knows more than I do about it.”

Joji frowned, “But I thought that you could help-”

Finally tearing his gaze from the screen for just a moment, Hideaki pinpointed Joji with a harsh stare. He gruffly said, “I’m busy.”

Joji looked down at the ground and mumbled out, “Sorry.”

That wasn't what Joji had hoped to happen. Honestly, he thought his father would help him out, or at least hear what he had to say. He's his idol, his father is his Role model, his hero. So who else did he think of going to? Perhaps going to his mother was a better idea. After all, she does know more about his schooling and such. So he shuffled out of the study and up to his room to wait for a good time to ask his mother.

Later that Night, Joji heard his parents in the living room. Joji couldn’t see them since he was standing outside of their line of sight, but he figured that his mother was sitting on the couch and his father standing by the fireplace. The same blank expression on his face that had been present for the past few days. He didn't know what had been bothering his father, but he wish he knew. Joji would like to help him out!

Joji was able to hear a part of their conversation, it seemed like they had been talking for a bit. "He's having trouble at school," Eliza said, concern dripping off of her words.

Hideaki huffed slightly, "Did he tell you that?"

Eliza sighed, "Well, no. But I know our son, and he's upset every day he comes home." She took a moment, staring at her husband with her emotion-filled eyes, "He's just like you and too prideful to admit that there's something making him sad." Joji didn’t necessarily think he was too prideful. Sure, he tried what he could to make friends but that ultimately failed and he was now going to his parents for advice on how to fix it.

He stared back, unwavering under her soulful stare, and shrugged his shoulders lightly, "If he's like me, as you say, then he can fix his issues on his own."

“Hideaki, he’s just a boy," Eliza said, not believing what her husband was saying. Doesn't he care about his son's well-being? "Whatever is happening at school is affecting him.”

Hideaki took in a deep breath, “It can’t be that bad. He's a strong boy, he'll be able to handle it." The look that Eliza was giving him clued him into the fact that he most likely didn’t say the right thing at that moment. Though he didn’t retract his statement at all.

In the hallway, Joji nodded his head. If his father didn’t think that he needed help, then he most likely didn’t need it. As his father said, he’s strong, so he can do this on his own. Unbeknownst to him, his father wasn’t sure what to do with his son. Even after all this time, Hideaki doesn’t know how to be a father. Yes, he and Eliza had Joji years ago, however, Hideaki hasn’t been around to be a father like normal. So to suddenly have his family around him at all times was strange. Though whatever was happening at school was nothing too important, they are just grade-schoolers, it couldn’t be that imperative. As long as Joji kept good grades, then there wasn’t that much to be worried about in Hideaki’s mind.

Joji went back to school and did just as his father said. He stayed strong. He went through his school day ignoring the bullying and waiting until it was break time when he could hang out with his real friends. “Hey, guys!” Joji called out as he came over to his friends once class let out for lunch. He ran over to them with a large smile, and he barely noticed the way that Oikawa and Iwaizumi shared a look with each other.

Oikawa sighed, “Oh, Endo…”

He seemed to be buzzing in place, “So do you guys wanna play volleyball again?”

The two boys shared a look, noticing the stares that they were getting from their other classmates. Oikawa took it upon himself to clear his throat, “Well, Iwazumi and I wanted to practice together today. Without another person to play with, we don’t have another team to play against. So we just wanna work together, uh, by ourselves.”

“Oh…” Joji’s smile dimmed slightly as he took that in, “Could I watch you guys?”

“If you want,” Iwaizumi said before he and Oikawa took off to pass the volleyball to each other. Joji just sat on the sidelines, hoping that at some point they’d tag him in to play a bit as well. Though they didn’t.

This went on for a few more days. Iwaizumi and Oikawa didn't seem interested in being around Joji anymore. It hurt him. A lot. He wasn’t sure if it was because of all the rumors and bullying that he got or they just didn’t like him anymore. Though he kind of got it. They just didn’t want to be caught in the crossfire of his bullying. Joji ended up giving up then, their friendships seemed to be gone at that point. Soon enough, it felt like he was alone. Those who did try to talk to him just pretended to be his friend, and it was sickenly obvious.

Oikawa and Iwaizumi officially stopped talking with him, which broke his heart. Though he’s strong, so he pretended that it didn’t affect him. Still doesn’t mean that it didn’t hurt him deeply, but he kept it to himself. If his father didn’t want to hear about what troubles he was having, then most likely no one else would.

Being lonely was not fun for a little kid. He didn’t have anyone to play with or hang out with after school. His mother questioned if he had friends, and he just lied. Said that he does have good friends, not to worry her or anything. He’s strong, he can handle it.

Eventually, nearly halfway through the school year, Joji ended up finding out that money talks. If he bribed people with new toys, got to play with some of the state-of-the-art gaming consoles, and went to expensive amusement parks, Joji could get as many friends as he wanted. So that’s what he did.  

He figured out how to fix his school experience, just like his father thought he would. Though Joji doubted his father imagined it going like this. Joji doesn't have friends anymore. The people that surround him with faux smiles and condescending compliments were just using him. It's not like he was blind to it. Though how else was he to fit in? No one wanted to hang with the rich kid unless he used his wealth on them. The bullying and gossip didn’t stop, but it calmed down when kids got what they wanted from him. Joji learned to hide it whenever he was upset. Either by smiling or brushing off his emotions with a distraction or snarky remark. Though he came to the conclusion that public school wasn’t that fun anymore.

Joji just couldn’t take it. Too many nasty things were said about him today, and he was sick of it. As soon as school let out, he had taken off. He needed to be alone for some time, just to calm himself down. Joji didn’t want anyone to see him crying, lest they bully him even more for being a cry baby or something. He ended up finding himself in a park, one that he hasn’t been to before. Joji might have gotten himself lost, though he’ll deal with that later, right now he needs to calm down enough to go home. The last thing he wants is for either of his parents to see him like this. Then they wouldn’t think that he was strong.

He found a bench in the park to take a seat on and quickly threw his school bag on it. He brought his knees up to his chest and burrowed his face in them. The blond sniffled a couple of times as his mind raced with quite a few thoughts about school, his father and mother, and 

“Are you alright?” A concerned voice suddenly asked from behind him.

Joji quickly whipped his eyes and tried his best to compose himself. He looked over his shoulder to see that it was a boy who had approached him. Taking in the appearance of the boy, Joji found that he was quite tall. With a head of short brown hair with dark brown eyes, Joji could tell that he was around the same age as him. Joji sniffed, “Hm, yes, I’m fine .”

The boy who had questioned him didn't leave him alone, to Joji’s dismay. “You don’t look fine." Joji harshly shot the poor boy a menacing glare that caused him to jump. "Sorry! It’s just… you’re out here alone and you look really sad so I thought…”

“Why would I tell you, you’re a stranger!” Joji back spun around and rested his head on his knees, “So go away!”

The boy was silent for a bit before walking around to stand in front of the bench Joji was sitting on. He said in a small voice, “Well when I cry, I don’t like being alone.”

“How bold of you to ignore what I just said,” Joji said snarkily. He huffed harshly, “Whatever, I can’t tell you what to do. No one listens to me anymore. Not unless I bribe them.” He then snapped his harsh, accusatory gaze back at the boy, “Do you want something? Huh?”

The boy jumped, obviously quite the skittish boy, and frantically waved his hands, “W-what, no. I don’t want anything from you.”

“No money? No new toys? Hm?” Joji continued to push. All of his "friends" always wanted something when they hung out. The only way that Joji could feel less alone was when he bribed people to be around him. Even then he didn't really like the kids he was around anyway, though what else was he to do?

“Nothing at all.” The boy sheepishly scratched the back of his neck, “You look sad! I want to see you happy!”

Joji scoffed, not believing him in the slightest, “Yea, sure.” Why would this boy want to see him happy? It seems like no one wants to see Joji happy. So why would this random boy want that? He truly didn’t believe that this boy didn’t have some sort of ulterior motive.

The boy moved to sit on the bench with Joji. He made sure to keep some distance between them, though he seemed to make it clear that he wasn’t going to just leave. He cleared his throat slightly, “So why are you sad?”

Joji let out a bitter chuckle, “Just because." He glanced at the boy from the corner of his eyes,, "Don’t you just feel like being sad sometimes for the hell of it?”

“Not really?” The boy said in confusion, “Being sad isn’t fun. So I wouldn’t want to be sad just because.”

Joji scoffed, “Yea, well, try it sometime.”

The other boy blinked, “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

Joji just huffed and shrugged his shoulders. He buried himself further into his knees, trying to hide from the boy. “So what? I shouldn’t care what you think. I shouldn’t care what anyone thinks! What those friends of mine say to me, about me, shouldn’t bother me.” He then paused and took a shuddery breath, “So why does it hurt so much?”

The boy watched him for a moment. His expression morphed into one of sadness for this blond boy. It was obvious to him that he was hurting a lot, and he hated seeing people like this. “I’m sorry that happens.”

Joji glanced at him with narrow eyes, ignoring the fact that he was close to tears again. "Are you though? The only person who seems sorry is my mum. Dad doesn't even care." That probably hurt the most. The fact that his father didn’t seem to want to hear about him was disheartening for him. Joji thought his father was the best, his hero. Yet Hideaki doesn’t even talk with his son unless made to. Joji gets that he’s at work all the time and has an obligation to help others, but how could he just brush his son to the side every chance he could?

"That doesn’t sound too good." The boy replied, not really knowing what else to say.

"Why am I telling this to a stranger." Joji rolled his eyes, "Who even are you?"

"I'm Azumane Asahi!” The boy introduced himself, “What about you?"

Joji  hesitated for a moment before sighing, "Endo Joji."

“Nice to meet you!”

“Sure.”

The two didn’t talk much after that. There wasn’t much else to be said. After all, Joji was still quite depressed after his day at school. Though Asahi seemed to make it his mission for the time being to make him feel better. Joji didn’t know why he would do that. Though, deep down, he appreciated Asahi's effort. 

After that one day, Joji continued to come back. He went to the park wherever he could and sat on the same bench. In the beginning, he was hesitant with the idea of going out to see that boy again. Though he talked himself into it when he realized that no one else was being nice to him. Joji liked that boy, while he couldn't be certain if Asahi was genuine or not at the moment, he was at least nicer than Joji's classmates. 

They met a few more times and slowly but surely their friendship was blossoming beautifully. Even if they didn’t go to the same school, they were eventually each other’s best friends. A couple of years went by and soon enough both Joji and Asahi were heading to junior high the next school year. To Joji, Asahi was his saving grace at the end of his days. One of the only good things in his life at the moment. His mum is the other, obviously. Not only that, but he found that Asahi enjoyed volleyball quite a bit. As much as it hurt at the reminder of his old friends, Joji decided to say that he also likes to play volleyball. The two bonded a bit over that. They learned a lot about each other. While in the beginning, Joji was far more closed off than Asahi, the brunette was able to break down Joji’s walls.

Currently, only a short time before the two were to decide their junior high for the next year, the pair were at the park after school as usual. They were a bit tired after having run around and passing their volleyball around.

“So did you decide on what junior high to go to?” Joji asked as he and Asahi lay on the grass. They stared up at the bright blue sky as an occasional cloud passed over them.

Asahi hummed, “I was thinking of Sekodai. My parents think it's a good idea too." He looked over at his friend, "What about you?”

“I don’t have a choice." Joji scoffed, "I’m going to attend Mustafa no matter what. Father says it’s a good school, so I shouldn’t fuss about it.” The relationship between him and his father had deteriorated quickly. Joji had thought that living with his father would be amazing. After all, he'd get to see his hero every day instead of just once every few months. Though he's realized now that what he imagined was just a fantasy. His father wasn't the great man that Joji had made him out to be. Perhaps it was because Joji used to see him once in a blue moon that he thought his father was the greatest. Though he's learned now that he is cold, strict, and downright mean. Joji had started to question why he ever looked up to the man.

“He’s not even considering what you have to say about it?” Asahi asked him with furrowed eyebrows. He knows how rocky the relationship between Joji and his father is. Joji was a bit vocal about how his father is a terrible person sometimes. Asahi knew about Joji’s issues since he confided in him almost all the time.

“Of course not!” Joji exclaimed in irritation, “He’s making my life choices from now on, I guess.”

Asahi furrowed his eyebrows, “What about for high school?”

“Most likely Shiratorizawa or something.” Joji clicked his tongue, “I don’t know why I’m not going to Shiratorizawa for junior high. Maybe he just wants to show off that he can send his son to an even more expensive school just because.” That definitely would be something that his father would do. If there was one thing, Hideaki is definitely boastful. Showing off that he can send his son off to these expensive private schools and such is something he’d gladly do.

Asahi sighed, “Well, I’m not totally sure what school I want to go to for high school.”

A brilliant idea then popped into Joji’s head. His bright blue eyes widened as he sat up slightly to get a good look at his friend, “Why don’t we go to the same school, huh?”

“I doubt I could go somewhere like Shiratorizawa.” Asahi laughed, making a joke of the situation.

“Obviously.” That earned Joji an offended scoff, “I mean, we could go somewhere closer.” He racked his brain for the name of any other schools in Miyagi. Then he perked up, “Say… Karasuno! They’re nearby! They also have a pretty good volleyball team, right?”

Asahi tilted his head in thought, “I think so.”

Joji smiled brightly, “There we go! A school close by and with a volleyball team that we can play on!”

“You want to play volleyball?” He asked in confusion. Asahi likes to play volleyball, especially with Joji. However, he knows that Joji isn’t the most enthused about playing though

“Well, I hear about it enough from you, I might as well as see about playing on an actual team.” Joji chuckled loudly and gazed at Asahi, “Especially with you.”

Asahi flushed slightly at Joji’s declaration but smiled nonetheless. “Yeah, it would be cool to play with you.”

“Then it’s settled,” Joji jumped on his feet and put his hands on his hips, “for high school, we’ll go to Karasuno and play on their team together! We’ll be the best wing spikers they’ve ever seen!”

Asahi laughed, “If you say so, Joji!”

Joji ended up coming home a little bit later than usual. He and Asahi just got too invested in talking about their future that they lost track of time. They thought about being wing spikers on Karasuno’s team was the greatest idea that they could have. After all, they’ve never been to the same school, so getting to go to Karasuno means that they could be together a lot more than they already are.

He was looking forward to high school. The only problem was that he had to convince his parents to let him go to Karasuno. His father was adamant about picking the schools that Joji would be going to, so high school was definitely not going to be on the table for him. Joji found that his father wants to mold him into the perfect heir for his company. While a few years ago Joji would have been ecstatic with the prospect of working at his father’s company, it’s definitely different now. Joji has come to resent his father’s work for a few reasons. For one thing, his work kept Hideaki away from his family for so long and he prioritized it over them. All Hideaki seemed to ever care about his work and his standing within the medical community. Joji didn’t want his father to dictate things for him. How could he do that when he doesn’t even know anything about his son?

“Have fun?” An angelic voice called out as Joji came into the house. It was Eliza who had been waiting for his return home. She was alone as usual. Another thing he hates his father for. Constantly leaving his wife on her own for days on end and barely talking to her, it’s terrible in Joji’s opinion.

“Huh?” Joji jumped at her sudden appearance but nodded his head, “Yea.”

She was currently sitting in the living room on a chair, reading a book. Though as soon as Joji walked through the door, she eagerly leaned forward to hear about what Joji had to say. “So…” Eliza coyly started, “Who’s the lucky lady?”

“Lucky lady?” Joji asked in confusion, “Pft, for what?”

Eliza pursed her lips, “Well you’ve been going out to the park to meet with someone nearly every day, you come home with a giant smile all the time, and you usually come back with a new obsession.”

He blinked at that, “I do?”

“Of course. I suspect the reason you’ve come to like volleyball so much now is that you want to impress her, huh?” Eliza smirked as she stared at her son expectantly. She was quite happy with the fact that Joji was able to find someone to make him happy. Eliza knows that he’s not happy at school and hasn’t been for a very long time. However, he won’t talk to her about it, and whenever she tries to get him to speak about it he dismisses it. She lets it go after that since it upsets him whenever brings it up. Though if there is someone out there who can make him happy.

“No. No.” Joji shook his head vigorously, “I’m not trying to impress anyone let alone some girl !”

Eliza chuckled as she watched her son with amusement dancing in her eyes. “Well, whoever it is, thank them from me, will you!” She called out to him and giggled after him, “They’re making my boy quite happy!”

Joji just hummed noncommital as he marched upstairs to his bedroom. He started to mutter to himself as he walked into his spacious room. “Impress a girl? Ha! What does mum think?” He walked over to his bed and plopped down on it, “It’s like she thinks that I’ve got some crush or something!” He rolled his eyes, “I’m only hanging out with Asahi and we talk about a lot of things. He likes volleyball so that’s why I want to get into it. He’s my first real friend…” He then smiled softly, “I love getting to hang around with him. I look forward to every day that we see each other. Does that…?” Joji’s eyes widened as he thought it over. His cheeks heated up as it finally sunk in. He definitely wasn’t trying to impress a girl, but he was certainly trying to impress Asahi… Oh boy. He threw himself on his back onto his bed in realization. He liked Asahi!

Chapter Text

WATCHING THE AOBA JOHSAI GAME WAS A BIT intimidating for Karasuno. Ever since their game ended against Date Tech, they had gone into the stands to have a closer look at their next opponents who were in the middle of their game. Of course, it was no surprise to anyone to see that they were dominating the other team. Thanks in part to Oikawa's killer serves. At the moment, it was the second set between Aoba Johsai and Omisaki and the score was 21-10 in Seijoh's favor.

"Yikes!" Shōyō exclaimed after watching Oikawa serve yet another service ace, "He did it again!" Sakura glanced up at the game at her brother's shout, though turned back to her camera when it was just the same thing again. She was sitting next to Yamaguchi since her brother and Nishinoya were being a bit too loud for her taste at the moment. The girl wanted to see what pictures she was able to get after their game and she needed to sit with some less rambunctious boys to focus on it. Thankfully, Yamaguchi had offered her to sit next to him.

He seemed to be more than happy to let Sakura sit with him. While she was a bit annoyed that she had to sit close to Tsukishima as well, she still sat on the other side of Yamaguchi. She liked having the option to sit with someone different other than her brother. So she looked through the photos that she took, debated which ones should probably be deleted, and marked the ones that were perfect. Yamaguchi looked over her shoulder and commented on a few and questioned her about her work. While hesitant, Sakura was more than happy to explain certain things to him. She liked having someone who was actually interested in hearing what she had to say about her photography, especially someone who wasn't doing it just because they too did photography. Though neither of them noticed that side-eyed glare that a certain blond-headed middle blocker was giving them every once in a while.

Asahi shook his head in disbelief, "That's the fourth consecutive service ace."

"Obviously he's got power," Ukai muttered, "but that control of his is brutal."

Shōyō glanced behind him at his coach, "But if we can just do something about that serve…"

"Yes, his serve is terrifying," Suga commented, "but as a setter, Oikawa is completely unknown to us."

Endo tapped his chin as he couldn't take his eyes off of his old friend, "Oikawa's always been observant, not like that Nekoma setter, but more… manipulative, if that makes sense."

"Manipulative?" Daichi asked him.

"He knows how a person plays almost to a T, he knows how to adapt to his teammates and elevate their technique in order to win." Endo sighed as he thought back to the times he played with Oikawa during grade school and junior high. He ran a hand through his blond hair and shrugged his shoulders, "He can make even the worst spiker look good."

When he played with Oikawa, he made Endo feel like the greatest player out there. Sure, they didn't play in any actual games together, but when they did get to play a two-on-two against Iwaizumi and someone else, Oikawa knew just what to do to make Endo the best. It's no pin-pointed set like Kageyama's and it wasn't that freak quick, but it was still just as powerful. It was like Oikawa was able to make Endo play a certain way, make Endo feel however he wanted him to feel just by using a set. It is just as impressive as it is terrifying. Hence why Endo thinks that it's manipulative. Oikawa was able to make Endo into just about any spiker that he wanted. To play to his strengths yet mold him into something new.

"I think that setters…" Ukai started, "are a lot like conductors in an orchestra. You can have the same song and the same orchestra," They watched as Oikawa set to one of his spikers perfectly, "but change the conductor, and you get a whole different sound." With that, Aoba Johsai

Sugawara said, "They seem to have really smooth teamwork."

"Oikawa and Iwaizumi," Kageyama spoke up, "their Number 4 left, I heard they've been playing together since their elementary school team. They have what you call a non-verbal understanding."

Endo scoffed at the understatement, "The two of them have been stuck at the hip for a long time, even when we were in grad school together, nothing got in between them" He then chuckled lightly, "Sometimes I thought they had telepathy or something with how they worked so seamlessly together." He remembered when they were friends the first year of him starting school, Endo always felt like a third wheel around them. He wasn't sure how long the two had known each other before he met them, but they had a strong bond. One he wished he could have joined at the time as well, but that was the past. Endo has gotten over the childish resentment that he had for the two in elementary school. While they lost that initial spark of friendship as kids, he's forged a bit of a different relationship with them.

Iwaizumi wasn't necessarily his friend, but they were friendly. Neither would go out of their way to hit each other up to hang out any time soon, but if they ran into each other there was no bad blood between them. Besides, Iwaizumi knows how much of an asshole he was during that time and he's apologized, which Endo accepted wholeheartedly. If given the chance, Endo doesn't see a problem with striking up a friendship with him again. Might as well as give it another try, right? People are all about giving others second chances and whatnot, after all.

On the other hand, Oikawa was a bit of a special case for Endo. Their relationship was full of teasing and rivalry. Not like Oikawa and Kageyama's relationship, but they had similarities. Endo liked getting under Oikawa's skin and Oikawa liked trying to prove he was better than Endo. Perhaps it was because Endo always acted so arrogant that Oikawa wanted to knock him down. Even if they didn't play the same position, they still kept track of how many games they've won and tallied it up. Oikawa was in the lead by far, but Endo didn't care. All he cared about was getting the text message every once in a while about Oikawa's next win. At least then he knew that Oikawa still liked to hear from him. So he didn't care about winning or losing, just getting to talk to an old friend, one of his first friends in Japan, that's what mattered.

"I don't really think the second-year setter's level was lower in the practice match." Ukai thought out loud, "I mean, they're in Seijoh."

Takeda nodded his head, "Right."

"I think it's just that Oikawa knows everything there is to know about Seijoh's team, and is helping them bring out their A-game."

While everyone else was analyzing Oikawa and Aoba Johsai, Shōyō was completely enraptured by the strength and control Oikawa has. "The Great King is so awesome!" Shōyō exclaimed as he and Nishinoya stood at the railing. The two of them were seemingly far too excited to watch the game from their seats. "I want to hurry up and play him!"

Nishinoya nodded his head as he buzzed in place, "Yeah! I hope he aims his serves at me! I totally want to get them!"

Shōyō's eyes sparkled at his senpai, "Noya-san's awesome, too!"

Ukai and Takeda chuckled together as the coach smirked, "Well, isn't that promising…"

"Hey, look, Shōyō!" Nishinoya shouted, "A TV crew's here!" He pointed down at the court and the two looked over to see the camera crew.

Shōyō's eyes sparkled. "TV?! Awesome! I wanna be on TV, too!"

"Hey, now…" A man on the court spoke up towards them, "You two junior high– Maybe you're grade school kids?" The pair became stony at being mistaken for such young kids. "Quiet down a little."

Shoyo muttered out, "Grade…"

"Sorry…" Nishinoya quietly apologized as the two stood in silence.

Though behind them, everyone laughed at the short boy's misfortune. It must be so disheartening to be constantly mistaken for a young child. However, their chuckles died down when Aoba Johsai won their second set, ending the game with a straight-set win. They stared at them for a while before all of them got up and lumbered out of the stands. The team had a lot to think about for their next game. Endo was the last to go as he lingered at the railing. He stared down at the back of Oikawa's head and smirked lightly. Tomorrow will definitely be an interesting day. Their first official match against each other, a real game. Oh, Endo's waited for this for a long time.

Everyone piled onto the bus to head back to school. Though it didn't take long for just about all of the boys to fall asleep. It was quite a tiring day for everyone, after all. So it wasn't that much of a surprise when the boys started to drift off. The only ones who weren't asleep were Ukai, Takeda(who was driving), Kiyoko, and Sakura.

"It's so quiet," Takeda commented as some of the boys lightly snored.

Kiyoko nodded her head with a small smile, "Everyone's out cold."

"Well, they did play two matches." Ukai said, "Plus they won both straight-set wins, so that's not bad. If they keep winning starting tomorrow, not only will they have two matches a day, but their opponents will continue to get stronger. We'll have to bolster their morale every time."

Sakura stretched out in her seat beside Kiyoko, "Think about it though. If they actually make it to the finals, they'll have to play five sets. It'll be brutal for them to keep their stamina." She knows how the boys can get far too into a game and could deplete themselves of energy quite quickly. Sometimes they don't seem to think of what's next. Not all the time, but when it comes to stamina she knows that her brother can exert himself too much after only a short amount of time. Instead of focusing on how to utilize their energy for the entire game, they might use all their energy in one set if it means they might win it. It's just a thought that she had after their second game. Something that they should probably address beforehand, just to be prepared.

Ukai nodded his head at the thought, "Something that we should keep in mind." Building up the team's stamina and endurance should be on the top of their list. Or at least one of the things on top of their list for practice.

The bus ride back was quiet. Really the only sounds were the boys snoring and the occasional chatter from those who were awake. Eventually, they finally got back to their school. After waking everyone up, they grabbed their things and marched off of the bus.

Takeda stood in front of the group, "All right, we're going to have a meeting."

"Right," they all agreed, some of them yawning loudly.

"Takeda-sensei!" An older teacher called out from the faculty room, "The volleyball club is on TV!"

"TV?!" Tanaka, Nishonoya, and Shōyō all shouted before sprinting into the building.

Shōyō was jumping up and down as he grabbed his sister, "Imouto we're on TV!?"

"I heard," Sakura grumbled as her excited brother shook her shoulders. She likes that her brother is thrilled about this, but Sakura would appreciate not having him shake her around like a doll.

As they walked towards the school, Endo stage whispered to Asahi, "do you think they got me on camera?" He gasped, "they better have gotten my good side!"

Asahi chuckled, "You don't have a bad side."

"Oh~!" Endo cooed at the subtle compliment that his friend had given him. Though it seemed like what Asahi had said had caught up to him as he started to blush quite heavily, "Thank you, Asahi~"

"Please excuse us!" They all exclaimed as they entered the faculty room.

The boys all gathered around the television, all of them hoping to catch a glance of themselves on the broadcast. After all, if they were, they'd be famous right? At least, in Miyagi.

"Now, then…" The news anchor started, "The first and second matches of the Miyagi Prefecture Preliminaries for the Inter-High School National Sporting Competition Volleyball Tournament were held, and heated matches ensued.."

Tsukishima rolled his eyes, "It's just the local news." He didn't seem interested in whether or not he and the team showed up on television. Currently, he just wanted to go home instead of listening to the bumbling idiots around him glue their eyes to the tv. He couldn't care less about this sort of thing.

"Shut up!" Tanaka and Nishinoya shouted at him, "TV is TV!"

The woman continued with the news, "First in the I Block, we have the ace player Ushijima Wakatoshi-kun, leading the reigning champions at Shiratorizawa Academy in their first game. They played against Oginnami High School, winning 25 to 10 in their first set, and 25 to 6 in their second set, not giving their opponents the slightest chance against them." Sakura narrowed her eyes at the screen and thought about Shiratorizawa. It's not surprising to her that such a team dominated so easily. They're a school that picks their players off of scholarships, so they're the best of the best. They'll be a tough opponent to beat if ever Karasuno plays against them. That's still a big if in her mind though. "They showed everyone why they're the reigning champions."

Asahi's eyes widened, "25 to 6?"

Just about everyone stared in shock, "Will they be able to make it to nationals once again or will a team appear that can stop them? It will be worth seeing. Next, the A Block is also drawing interest." The camera then switched to the gym that the team had been in

"That's the gym we played at today!" Shoyo exclaimed as he, Nishinoya, and Tanaka pushed themselves closer to the TV.

"A player you should definitely watch out for is Aoba Johsai High School's team captain, Oikawa Toru-kun." The three scolwed and deadpanned since the anchor was focusing on their opponent. "His dashing good looks draw in female fans, so he's a player with both skill and popularity to spare." The camera changed again to show Aoba Johsai, though it mainly focused on the captain. In the background, everyone could hear the squeals of all of Oikawa's fangirls cheering him on. "Tomorrow, going up against Aoba Johsai is a team that sped to an unbelievable straight-set victory against Date Tech —who were expected to place in the tournament's top eight— the powerhouse, Karasuno High School."

"We're gonna be on!" The three shouted.

Though instead of showing clips of the game that Karasuno had, it was instead the infuriatingly handsome face of Oikawa. Just about everyone sneered at the fact that it was focused on that pretty boy instead of talking about them. "We asked him what he thought about his opponent, Karasuno High School, who he'll be facing in the third match."

"They're a great team. I hope…" He smirked, "…they go for broke."

The Karasuno team all glowered at Oikawa's infuriating smile on TV. He really is annoying. "There'll definitely be more heated matches tomorrow. We wish them the best." The news anchor continued, "Next is the weather. We have Komata-san reporting from Sendai Station."

"Th-There was a glimpse of your match at the very beginning!" The old teacher exclaimed, seeing the gloomy faces of the boys, "You all looked very cool!"

Daichi monotonously replied, "Sensei, thank you."

The teacher stiffened, "Oh, it was nothing…"

"All right. Well, then…" Daichi grunted as he and the rest of the team started to march off with shadows looming on their faces, "Let's do this."

The older teacher started to freak out at the ominous and murderous expressions on the boys' faces. "Do what?!"

"A m-meeting!" Takeda shouted, trying to reassure the man that nothing was going to happen.

Sakura watched them go with a sigh. Looks like they have a lot to think about for tomorrow. She pushed her hands far into her pockets and slowly followed them to the gym. They're going to need to strategize a lot for tomorrow. Not only do they have to get over the fact that Seijoh is a stronger team physically, but they have to mentally prepare themselves for it as well. That might be just as hard as coming up with some strategies to counter them.

Back in the gym, the team huddled up to hear what Ukai had to say about their games today. Sakura lay on the floor with her brother's jacket over her like a blanket. Sure, she didn't play, but she's still tired after watching such intense games. Ukai placed his hands on his hips, "Today's match against Date Tech is what you call 'the first sip of beer.'" Everyone stared at him in confusion, "The deliciousness of the first sip of beer is special, and you only get it in that first sip."

"Ukai-kun," Takeda shook his head slightly, "we should phrase that differently for the minors here."

The coach realized that he was talking to a group of kids and would need to rephrase his metaphor. After all, kids don't know what beer tastes like. "Ahem. Well, the match with Date Tech was the first time we used the freak quick against them. Therefore, we were able to catch our opponents off guard. But we fought Seijoh in the past, so they know at least some of our tricks. Still, I'm certain that your offense is stronger than theirs." He thought back to see how their next opponent played, "First, we need to endure Oikawa's serves. His serves controlling the game's pace is what we want the least, but that's most likely that will happen. So for right now, we have the basic 'everyone who's not the setter goes after the ball' formation to receive serves." He turned to draw on the whiteboard to map out their strategy for the game. "However, this time, we won't have the middle blockers, Hinata or Tsukishima, participate in receiving the serve. They'll concentrate solely on attacking."

"'Kay," Tsukishima said monotony, unaffected by the strategy.

Though Shōyō seemed to be disheartened, "Okay."

Ukai pursed his lips, "Hey don't get so bummed out. We're just dividing up the work." He then addressed the entire team, "Oh, also, you guys saw Seijoh and thought, 'Oh, crap. They're strong,' right? But… If you were seeing our match against Date Tech from the stands, you'd hesitate, saying, 'what's with that blocking? Talk about scary. We can't win,' right? But you fought them, and you won. Tomorrow will be the same."

With a new sense of vigor and inspiration, all the boys exclaimed, "All right!"

"All right." Ukai nodded his head, "Let's clarify the formation a bit." The boys then jogged off

After running through some things with the team, it was time to head home and rest. It was dark out, and the boys needed to have some sleep before their big day tomorrow. So Ukai called, "All right. Make sure you're not late tomorrow." All of them called out their agreement and started to collect their things. Though Ukai continued by saying, "Endo, can I talk with you?"

Endo's head popped up as he pulled on his club jacket. He tilted his head but shrugged his shoulders. "Sure thing, coach." He waved off his friends to wait for him outside as he walked up to the older blond, "What's up?"

"I've heard that you're pretty good at receiving Oikawa's serves, right?" Ukai asked. He had heard about how Endo played in the practice match against Aoba Johsai from Takeda. Honestly, Ukai couldn't get that good of a read on Endo as a volleyball player. Endo was athletic, sure, but didn't totally have the natural talent for the sport. He could keep up, but there was just something missing in Endo's play style that was left to be desired. However, to hear from the club advisor about how well Endo held up against Aoba Johsai and with his serves and receive of Oikawa's monster serve, intrigued him.

Endo nodded his head and chuckled, "Yeah, we grew up together and I've grown accustomed to it." Practicing with him for the short time in elementary school, and reconnecting in junior high gave Endo ample time to learn how to adapt to Oikawa's playing style. Sure, during elementary school Oikawa wasn't the strongest player there was, though that was to be expected. It wasn't until they started to practice together again in junior high that Endo realized just how much potential Oikawa had as a volleyball player.

"Do you have any pointers on how to handle it?" Ukai asked, "It would probably help everyone if we had some sort of idea how to deal with them from someone who knows how to."

Endo shrugged his shoulders, "Hm, I guess. I sort of just do it on instinct at this point, but I don't know how to put it into words that well." He tapped his chin in thought, "I suppose keeping a strong base is mostly key for his serves, also watching for where he looks. He picks the best spot for his serve to land, though that's kind of obvious." He scratched the back of his head with a nervous chuckle, "Oikawa can be a bit unpredictable with his serves, much like his setting. I don't think I can help all that much with this."

Ukai waved him off, "We can work with that, thanks, Endo." Every little bit of information about Oiakwa helps, right?

Endo smiled brightly as he left, "No problem, coach!" Even if he couldn't that much help, he was glad that he could at least give his coach a little something.

He quickly changed his shoes and mosied on out of the gym to meet up with his friends. He walked up to Asahi, Daichi, and Suga to see that they were gazing at Kageyama. The first-year was marching off with his head pointed down at the ground. Obviously, he was concentrating on something quite hard.

"Kageyama seems more irritated than usual." Suga commented as the others nodded their heads in agreement. A ball of orange then shot out in front of them, "Oh, there he goes."

"Kageyama!" Shōyō shouted as he ran up to the gloomy first-year. "You're going to end up with permanent forehead wrinkles, even though you're just a teen!" Kageyama bristled at his declaration, though Shōyō continued, "Tomorrow, we're going to defeat the Great King…." He said seriously before ending with, "…and end up on TV, so you should practice looking good for that!"

Kageyama's forehead wrinkled even further, so Shōyō was right, he might end up with wrinkles as a teen. He exclaimed, "Mind your own business!" He took a deep breath and calmed down, "We'll win that match. If we don't, we can't advance."

Shōyō smiled and nodded his head in determination, "All right!"

"I'm tired." Sakura walked up to them lazily with a loud yawn, "I wanted to head home earlier, but you never let me go home by myself."

Shōyō huffed at that and reminded her, "Yeah, well, you shouldn't ride your bike home at night by yourself. As the older brother, I have to protect my little sister!"

"Sure, sure, let's go."

Getting ready for bed was a bit harder than normal. Though Sakura should have expected this would happen. Shōyō had been restless ever since they got home. Sakura had to force him to do his homework and study a bit, though that's not necessarily an unusual occurrence, he had inhaled his dinner and was buzzing in his bed. Sakura could hear his excited muttering as she lay in her own bed. It was already quite late and she didn't want to lose any sleep as it is. So she flopped over and stared at her brother from the other side of the room.

"Are you too excited to go to sleep again?" She asked with a yawn. Sakura really couldn't understand how he could be unable to sleep because he was excited. If it were nerves, which it might also be, then she completely understands. Though she should be used to this by now since he's done this plenty of times.

"I guess so." He sat up suddenly like a springboard and said, "I just can't wait to play the Great King!"

She rolled her eyes, "Well if you don't get any sleep, you won't be awake enough to play." It was both amusing and annoying to an extent for Sakura. She might just let it slide tonight if he went to bed now.

"I know, I know," Shōyō said and shuffled himself back under his blankets.

It was silent for a while longer, both twins trying to fall asleep. Though it was difficult for both of them now. Shōyō was excited thinking for tomorrow. Meanwhile, Sakura's mind started to overthink some things. She bit her lip lightly and turned over to face her brother once again. "Say, Shōyō."

Her brother hummed as turned over and faced her while lying down. Sakura could barely see his glowing eyes on the other side of the room. The two of them might share the same wide, brown eyes, but his were far more alive and bright. They were similar, yet different. The same, yet not.

Sakura seemed to hesitate for just a moment before sighing heavily, "What happens if you lose tomorrow?"

"We won't!" He insisted with a shout or hesitation. His tone of voice almost sounded as though he were offended that she would even ask such a question.

Sakura nodded her head, "Yea, I know you think that. But just… humor me." She paused seeing that Shōyō wasn't going to argue with her, "Hypothetically, if you were to lose tomorrow, how would you feel?"

Shōyō furrowed his eyebrows, "Well, I'd be sad, obviously." He pursed his lips at her, "Why?"

"I just want you to think about the possibility that the team might lose." She explained as lightly as she could.

"Do you not have any faith in us?" He asked in disbelief, "In me?" To him, it almost sounded like she was doubting him. Though she would never do that, right?

"That's not it," she insisted. Sakura certainly didn't want him to think that she would ever believe that. She has full faith in Shōyō's ability as a middle blocker and knows that he's doing everything in his power to be the best that he can be. Though who's to say that his best will be just slightly inadequate against his opponents. They might just have that edge over him and it will end with him losing. She sighed heavily, "I have all of my faith in you and the team. Especially you. I just don't want you to be disappointed if you do lose." She stressed to him, "There's a slim chance that you might win. You must admit that Seijoh is the best of the best. You've been with Karasuno for less than a year and you guys are nowhere near their level of teamwork and skill."

Shōyō didn't even seem to consider her sentiment or ponder over what she was saying. He just determinedly shouted, "I'll show you, imouto! We'll win tomorrow! Then after that, you'll have no reason to ever doubt us!"

Sakura smiled and turned over in her bed so she could face the wall. She certainly didn't want him to see her conflicted expression. She heard him huff and turn away in his own bed, ready to try and fall asleep like her. She gnawed at the inside of her cheek and softly said, "I hope that's true."

Nervousness wafted around Karasuno the entire way to the gym the next day. Everyone was buzzing in their seats either because of their nerves or from excitement. Perhaps from both? Sakura had done her best to calm Shōyō down on the ride there. She did a pretty good job at it since she got him to focus on her photos instead. Any opportunity that he got to boost her confidence in her work, he'd gladly take it. So she distracted him with it up until they made it to the gym.

Walking into the building, the team were doing their best to hype themselves up. They walked past the other teams in the lobby, ignoring the whispered things about them like they have before. Though some couldn't help but revel in the pride over the fact that people were recognizing their skill. Once the group made it towards the gym entrance, Sakura turned to her brother to softly wish him luck before heading up to the stands.

Though Shōyō's big mouth had to cause her some trouble as he smiled brightly at her. "Imouto! You should say something encouraging!" That would definitely bring up the team morale. Shōyō knew it always made him feel better when his sister gave him some inspiration. Not only that, but seeing her wearing his club jacket to support him just gave him that extra boost he knew the other would gladly like to have.

Now all the attention was on her as she jumped slightly at the eyes pointed down at her. She pursed her lips and fidgeted with the end of her sleeves. Why did he have to do this to her?! Sakura sighed softly and mustered up the most genuine smile that she could. With her voice taking on a much lighter tone as if covered in honey, she said, "You got this." Her pink lips were pulled up to show off the sweetest smile that the team had seen. Sure, she didn't smile often, but it's not like she didn't know how to do it. She knows a lot, after all.

All of the boys were frozen as they stared at her. This is only the second time that they've seen her smile and encourage them like this. However, the way that she was giving them one of the largest smiles that they've ever seen from her caused a few of them to short circuit. Even Kageyama seemed to be a bit flustered at her appearance. Even Sakura's cute side could get through to the gloomy king, it seems.

The first to break out of their stupor was the brainless duo, Tanaka and Nishinoya. The two seemed to be love-struck as their hearts started to beat out of their chests. The two of them screamed, "AHH!"

Tanaka shouted with hearts in his eyes, "She's so adorable like this!"

"I've never seen her smile that that before!" Nishinoya swooned loudly. The two of them had to lean on each other's shoulders to stop them from melting into simp puddles.

Sakura's cheeks became bright red as she grew beyond embarrassed. These two really couldn't tone down their idiocy for even a moment! She screamed in her own mind. Calming herself down enough, even though her cheeks were still pink, she shouted at them, "And you never will again, boke!" The annoyance and anger built up in her quickly with the sight of the two acting like idiots. Then again, she just couldn't handle their simp behavior most of the time, especially when it was directed at her. Sakura huffed at the idiot duo's outbursts and calmed herself down.

"Ne, ne," Endo purred with an amused smirk, "that was truly adorable, paparazzi-chan~! Give me your camera and do that again, I wanna document this moment!" Though Daichi smacked his hand before he could reach out to the girl and possibly take her camera. Since the captain was certain that Endo would do just that.

Huffing once again, Sakura just crossed her arms over her chest and almost pouted like a child. After a moment or two, the rest of the team got over their shock at seeing their tsundere photographer like that and headed into the gym. Ennoshita, Kinoshita, and Narita had to drag Tanaka and Nishinoya in since they could barely walk and didn't want to go. Though after a good, firm smack on the back of the head, the brainless duo reluctantly left. Not having the pressure on her, Sakura then turned to her brother and gave him a hug. One that the twins melted into easily as the tension left each other almost instantly. Leave it to a simple hug between siblings to make each other feel better. Sakura sighed in the crook of Shōyō's neck, "Good luck," she softly said to him as she squeezed him one last time before letting go.

Shōyō's smile never left his face, "I'll make sure to prove you wrong, Sakura!" His blinding optimism blinded Sakura for a moment as she realized just how bright her brother is. He's as shining as the sun, as warm as summer, and as naive as a newborn chick.

Tsukishima clicked his tongue at the interaction between the Hinata siblings. "Look at you, getting emotional." He sneered, "I never thought I'd see the day."

Sakura scowled up at the looming tower over her and glared, "I'm not emotionless like you, bastard." For him to call her emotionless was completely hypocritical. He's as much of a tsundere as she is, if not more. So who is he to call her emotionless! Besides, she's by no means void of emotions… She just picks her moments to be emotional. She then turned to the green-haired first-year and smiled at him. Her eyes were wide as she filled them with as much happiness as she could at this moment. Her smile was larger by tenfold as it was obvious she was just forcing this to spite Tsukishima. She even grabbed Yamaguchi's hands and held them in her own, a gesture that she's seen Wada, from her art club, do to fluster some girls. Going from how Yamaguchi's freckled cheeks became a pink hue, she figured it had the same effect. Her voice was lathered in honey as she exclaimed, "Good luck, Tadashi!"

Yamaguchi bristled slightly and froze. Having her go from annoyed to sweet like this was jarring. The extreme switch in emotions quite nearly gave the poor boy whiplash. He stuttered out, "s-seeing you like this is actually quite scary." He wasn't sure if it was the fact that it was painfully obvious that she was just acting, or if he just isn't used to seeing her smile like this, but he was perturbed.

Sakura dropped her smile instantly as well as his hands. She huffed and rolled her eyes, "I was just being nice."

Yamaguchi swallowed thickly and shook off his apprehension of her. After all, he's got a game to think about, "Thanks, Sakura!" He does appreciate her encouragement since he doesn't believe she was being sarcastic towards him or anything.

With that, Sakura headed upstairs, and called out over her shoulder teasingly, "good luck, to you too I guess, Tsukki~!"

The blond boy watched her go up with narrowed eyes. He was obviously annoyed with her at the moment, though when was he not? She just likes to get under his skin, and he allowed it. So it's his own fault. She's gotten cockier now since her art gallery thing and gained a new sense of confidence. He knew now that she wasn't going to just take whatever he has to say to her now. No doubt now she'll have even more smart remarks to say to him if he tried to get a rise out of her like usual. He hadn't found much else to really bother her about since she had confidence in her work. Tsukishima could just stick to bothering her about her brother and volleyball, though that could be hit or miss sometimes. Yamaguchi broke him out of his thoughts as he started to head in, "Come on, Tsukki."

Setting herself up in the stands, Sakura made sure that her camera was in the right setting. Once she was set, she leaned against the railing and watch the teams warm-up. Even being in the stands she could feel the tension between the two teams. "Go, go go! Go, go, Seijoh!" Aoba Johsai's cheer squad shouted out, "Push it, push it, push it! Push it, Push it, Seijoh!"

Sakura huffed at the loud cheering that was coming from across the gym. She's all for showing team spirit and such, but she won't be the one to do it and she'd rather it be a bit quieter. Though she should really get used to the loud noise since she'll be seeing plenty of volleyball games for the years to come.

"Looks like Karasuno made it safely through to day two." Sakura heard the familiar voice of the alumni from beside her. She glanced over to see that the two from the other day were walking down the steps towards her. Shimada sighed, "I ended up using another paid day off. I'm not gonna be able to take another day off for a while."

Takinoue nodded his head, "Same here." They then stared across the way at the crowd of students there to support their opponents. "Date Tech had quite the crowd cheering for them, too, but these guys…"

"Ready, and…" A trio of girls beside them took in a deep breath and shouted, "Oikawa-kun! Do your best!"

Shimada deadpanned, "They've got that." Oh, to be a pretty boy in high school with his own following of fan-girls.

"Their high-pitch screaming will give me a migraine," Sakura commented with a grimace, drawing the alumni's attention to her.

"Oh, hey!" Takinoue exclaimed with a smile, "Figured we see you today."

Sakura blinked and raised an eyebrow, "Yeah, considering my brother is on the team." It was kind of self-explanatory why she would be there…

The black-haired man chuckled lightly, "I'm Shimada Makoto," he then pointed to the blond man beside him, "and this is Takinoue Yusuke." Since they never really introduced themselves to the team during their practice match, it was a good idea to do it now. Though it's not like the teen had to introduce herself to them. They know that she's Hinata's sister, so they already knew who she is.

Sakura stared at him for a long moment, causing the older man to sweat under her stare. She tilted her head, "Are you related to a Shimada Emi?" The man and her club president shared the same name and looked vaguely similar. The only real difference that Sakura could see was that this Shimada had black hair while Emi had brown. So sue her for thinking that they might possibly be related.

"Huh?" Shimada shook his head slowly, "No."

"Oh." That is all she replied with before focusing back on the game with no further explanation. Yeah, that left the two men a bit confused.

On the court, after hearing the constant shouts for Oikawa from girls in the stands, Tanaka and Nishinoya were fired up. Tanaka's pointed teeth were pulled back in a menacing snarl as he shouted, "Ain't no way I'm gonna lose! Let's go!"

Shōyō and Nishinoya exclaimed their agreement, "Yeah!"

"Ready, and…" another few girls were ready to cheer on their idol, "Oikawa-senpai! Do your best-"

Though the girl's encouragement was drowned out by Daichi's war cry, "Karasuno! Fight!"

The boys all lined up to practice their spikes, receives, and passes with each other. They definitely needed to have a good warm-up for this game. Though it was a bit intimidating to also watch Seijoh warm up too. Oikawa seemed to be in his best form as he adjusted his serves and such for his teammates. Not only that, but the others were strong spikers, and watching them hit those powerful spikes was also a bit astounding to see.

Endo huffed as he landed on the ground after sending a pretty decent spike over the net. It wasn't anything too amazing, but it got the job done. Suga complimented him as he does with everyone else and Endo smirked. He was ready to boast about how awesome he is but paused when he locked eyes with Oikawa through the net. The two stared each other down. As Endo smirked widely at the other boy, a vein popped out of Oikawa's forehead. It seemed like even in close proximity to each other, Oikawa was instantly annoyed. Endo wasn't exactly sure why Oikawa reacted this way to him. He supposed it was something similar to Kageyama but not based on his skills in volleyball, obviously. Endo has a feeling that it was because he was so blazé about certain things. Or maybe it has something to do with his wealth since Endo likes to flaunt that quite a bit. Either way, Oikawa huffed and turned to continue setting to his team and Endo walked to practice. This game was going to be intense. Endo just wondered if he was going to get to play.

Up in the stands, Shimada chuckled lightly, "They sure are pumped up."

Takinoue turned to Shimada, "By the way, did your student get better at serves?"

"What do you mean, 'student'?" He shook his head as he thought back to the day Yamaguchi came to him for guidance, "It's only been a week since then. He may be able to get some lucky hits in, but he can't really control it yet."

Sakura grunted while observing the boys, "Luck might just be what they need for this match." They'll need all the luck in the world if they hope to win against Seijoh. If they even win one set against them, it would prove that lady luck was real, in Sakura's mind.

"Line up!"

Each team all bowed to each other, "Let's play!" After the pleasantries, the teams separated to huddle with their coaches and talk strategy.

"Hey, it's starting." Takinoue commented, "The third match, huh?"

Shimada nodded, "If they win, they'll be in the top eight!"

Sakura took a photo of Karasuno all lined up and smirked lightly at that. Imagine that. Her brother being in the top eight teams of this tournament. Oh, how proud of him she is.

The cheering on the other side if the court started up again, "Go, go go! Go, go, Seijoh! Push it, push it, push it! Push it, Push it, Seijoh!"

As all of the boys huddled up together in front of their coaches, Endo kept sneaking glances over at their opponents. He could see that Oikawa was saying something, no doubt about Kageyama or something. Endo found Oikawa's rivalry with his teammate amusing. After all, it showed how insecure Oikawa was since he obviously felt threatened by Kageyama. The third-year seemed to think that he was inadequate when compared to Kageyama. Perhaps he was since the other boy was a beast. Endo just found it amusing that despite Oikawa trying to pretend he's the perfect, confident, pretty boy, he was just as insecure as anyone else. It was almost comforting in a way to him.

He then focused on his own team huddle, "All of you have already defeated Aoba Johsai once." Takeda said to the team, "Even if our opponents were not at their best at the time, I believe the fact that we won is enough reason to have confidence. Not conceit, but confidence." His encouraging words resonated with the group as usual, as they all puffed out their chests. They were ready to start this battle against their foe.

They all shouted, "Right!"

The boys then huddled in a circle together and cheered, "Karasuno… Fight!"

The air then suddenly changed around half of the court. It was so sudden that even the observers in the stands could feel it. "I think…" Takinoue gulped, "…the atmosphere around Aoba Johsai just changed suddenly." Sakura stayed quiet. Though on the inside even she felt chilled at the way Aoba Johsai became so serious all of the sudden. That wasn't a good omen in her books.

The starting lineup for the teams all got onto the court. For Karasuno their starters were just who everyone expected. The rotation for the team was Kageyama, Hinata, Tanaka, Tsukishima, Daichi, and Asahi. On the other side of the court, it was by no means a surprise that Oikawa and Iwaizumi were starting. Alongside them were Kageyama's former teammates, Kindaichi Yutaro(AKA onion-head) and Kunimi Akira. There were also the other third-years Hanamaki Takahiro and Matsukawa Issei, the team's libero, Watari Shinji, and their pinch server Yahaba Shigeru.

The game then started with Karasuno serving to Aoba Johsai. Tsukishima was the one to serve it and it was easily received by Kunimi. Shimada exclaimed, "Two of the guys in the front line jumped out!"

"Who will they use?" Takinoue wondered outloud.

Before he could even think of what sort of strategy that Aoba Johsai would go for, the team had already scored a point. All thanks to Oikawa hitting the ball over the net instead of setting it. Something that no one was expecting to happen. It was an easy point for him. Everyone gaped at that move.

Sakura clicked her tongue, "a setter dump… sneaky move but what do you expect from someone like Oikawa." She grumbled to herself while narrowing her eyes at them. This will be the first game that she's seen Oikawa play in its entirety. Since last time he only played for a few minutes in the last practice game, she saw him in. She'll find out just how sneaky and strategic of a player this pretty boy can really be, she's certain of that. Sakura has no doubts that Oikawa will pull out every trick in the book to use against them. After all, he's playing against Kageyama, his rival, and Shōyō, someone who had become a challenge for him.

"Go, go, Toru! Push it, push it, Toru!" The cheer squad shouted in victory, "One more!"

Endo whistled from his spot and shook his head. "Slykawa!" He exclaimed, figuring that Oikawa would pull something like this. He ran a hand through his hair with a smirk on his face. Though if anyone looked close enough, they would be able to see that it was a bit strained. Which is why Suga was able to catch on the small tension on his perfect face. Suga knew that Endo didn't necessarily care about winning, he wasn't as invested in it as the rest of the team. However, he could tell that playing against Oikawa was affecting him in some way. He might not know the history that the two share, but it must be significant enough for Endo's arrogant mask to slip even a fraction.

It was Aoba Johsai's turn to serve to Karasuno. Daichi, the reliable player he is, received the ball perfectly which allowed Kageyama and Shōyō to perform their quick freak. Though it didn't go to plan.

"It's dead-on!" Shimada exclaimed when the spike went straight to Hanamaki who easily set it up for Oikawa.

Takinoue then noticed something, "Hey, is the Seijoh setter going to try a dump again? He's being even more obvious this time!"

Oikawa sure was doing that as he jumped up boldly with a large, condescending smile on his face. Tanaka and Shōyō had read him easily and moved to block him, too easily from Sakura's point of view, which led them straight into a trap. Just before he was going to hit it, Oikawa changed his move and set the ball to Iwaizumi. He spiked it over with no problem since everyone was focused on Oikawa. Now Aoba Johsai was up two points!

"Oikawa is going to be a big obstacle," Sakura said while biting her bottom lip. This wasn't good in the slightest. She knew that if Aoba Johsai got even more points and started to bulldoze through Karasuno, the crows' morale would be shattered. After that, there would be little to nothing that they could do to possibly catch up. She didn't like this at all, and it's only been a few minutes into the game. She sighed loudly, drawing the alumni's attention to her, "He's really good at manipulating the situation, that will be a problem."

So the next point was

Everyone was lost in the fray. Aoba Johsai certainly didn't seem to know who the set was going to be. Perhaps it was a quick freak with Shōyō. Though Tanaka was right there on the wing, ready for some payback. However, there was also Asahi, perhaps they were going with a pipe this time.

Though it was a complete surprise when Kageyama just tapped the ball over the net. He had returned his own setter dump to get the point! That certainly was a declaration of war between them now. Everyone cheered for the point since it meant that Karasuno was by no means going to take this lying down. They were going to fight to the very end. No way Aoba Johsai was going to plow through them to the finals.

Tsukishima blinked, "He sure hates losing, doesn't he?"

"Do it again!" Suga clapped with a close-eyed smile.

Endo cheered loudly, "get your revenge, Kageyama!"

Up in the stands, Sakura smirked. "Smart. Seijoh would think that Karasuno would want to show just how powerful their spikers are so they wouldn't think that Kageyama would return a setter dump." She certainly didn't think that Kageyama was anywhere near smart. However, when it comes to volleyball, Kageyama certainly knows how to outsmart his opponents. She just hoped that he, and the rest of the team, kept that up.

Chapter Text

“WHOA! YOU REALLY ARE GOOD AT THIS!” A young Endo Joji marveled with his sparkly blue eyes wide with wonder. The cool spring wind flowed around him and his two new friends as they played around in the school courtyard. It had only been about a week after Joji had moved to Japan. He was settling pretty easily into his new environment and that included making some good friends, Iwaizumi and Oikawa.

He found out that they enjoyed playing volleyball with each other. The two taught him how to play since all he knew was that you hit the ball over the net. Apparently, it was a bit more of a complicated sport than Endo first thought. He learned about the positions, the terminology, different Japanese teams, and bonded with his new friends over it.

They were currently passing the ball around to each other. Now Endo wasn’t the best at receiving yet, though that might just be because of who was spiking it at him. Oikawa may only be a kid, but his serves were pretty solid. Strong enough to where Endo couldn’t receive it properly and the ball always ended up flying far away after hitting the ground. Endo was thoroughly impressed with Oikawa’s skill. He could only wish that he could be like that!

Oikawa smiled widely, obviously smug with the compliments that he was getting. “I know, I’ve been working really hard on this.”

Their other friend, Iwaizumi narrowed his eyes, “Don’t boost his ego more than usual, Endo. His head is big enough as it is.”

Oikawa pouted at his best friend, “Iwa-chan!” Endo just laughed as they continued to banter and pass the ball around. Getting interested in volleyball wasn’t something that Endo ever planned on, but having friends who played it, and were good at it, he’s more than willing to get into it too.

Junior high wasn’t totally fun in Endo’s opinion. While it wasn’t as bad as grades school, because Endo had found a way to make “friends”, it was still as stressful as his other school experience. The good thing about his time in junior high had to be practicing for volleyball. That was only because he practiced just about every day with Asahi at the park. Endo didn’t necessarily like playing on his team since all of his teammates were snobbish brats, but he dealt with it. He had to learn how to play volleyball on a team so that way he’d be good enough to get on Karasuno’s team once he got to high school.

As he was waiting at the park for Asahi to arrive, he spotted another boy coming towards him. The fluffy brown hair and brown eyes were far too familiar to Endo. “...Oikawa?”

His old friend stiffened before turning to him slowly, “Endo?” 

The two just stared at each other for a long moment. They were both sizing each other up with critical eyes. They haven’t seen each other in quite some time, not since they ventured off to their own junior high schools. Joji saw how Oikawa had grown taller, almost as tall as him, and his hair had grown out a bit more. Oikawa was able to see how Joji had seemingly grown some sort of muscles on his arms since he last saw Joji with noodle arms. Not only that but his blond hair was back instead of it being completely black or two-toned. They certainly could see that the other had changed quite a bit.

Joji licked his lips as he slowly asked, “What are you doing here?”

“I’m waiting for Iwazumi,” Oikawa said with a roll of his eyes, “he wanted to go looking for bugs in this park, gross!”

“Oh…”

Oikawa then narrowed his eyes, “Are you here to do gross things too? Last I heard, you were doing anything to make friends.” He’d heard and seen all of the ways that Endo had accumulated his group of mindless friends. Oikawa knows that Endo just bribed them and showed off his wealth, which annoyed him. What gave Endo the right to show that he’s better than them, just because he has wealthy parents? He had been doing it ever since elementary school and it pissed off Oikawa quite a bit. After all, why hadn’t he done that when they were friends?

Endo furrowed his eyebrows, “No, I’m actually waiting for a friend.”

He scoffed, “Are you sure they’re your friend? Not just hanging around for your wealth .”

“Yes, I know he’s my friend! Asahi isn’t that shallow!” Endo exclaimed. He’s known Asahi long enough to know that he certainly isn’t like his other “friends”, he’s not even like Oikawa. His old grade school friends left him at even the slightest amount of backlash they got being associated with him. Endo knows that Asahi wouldn’t just stop being friends with him because some kids might say some mean things about him. Sure, Asahi could be a softy sometimes, but he’s loyal, and an amazing friend. Endo eyed the volleyball that Oikawa held in his tight grasp, “You’re still playing volleyball?”

“Of course!” Oikawa exclaimed like it was the most obvious thing in existence.

Endo pursed his lips, “Hm, I’ve been practicing too since Asahi plays some. I’m actually on my school’s team as a wing spiker!” He boasted proudly about that, since he surprised just about everyone he knew, besides Asahi, by signing up and making the team. 

Oikawa scoffed, “At your fancy private school, huh?”.

“I don’t wanna be there, but I don’t have a choice.” It seemed like that even a modicum of a reminder that Endo was wealthier or more privileged than Oikawa set him off just a bit. Not that something like this is anything known. Just about everyone he knows either says something about his foreign appearance or wealth. Endo then smirked, “Besides my team is better than yours so-”

Oikawa bristled, “What?! Just because your dad bought your way on to a team, doesn’t mean it’s good.”

“I beg to differ,” Endo shrugged his shoulders, ignoring the insult about getting onto the team. He knows that he isn’t that good, but he tried out just like his teammates, and he made the team. Endo got his way onto the team just like everyone else, the fair way. “If your team ever plays against mine, we’ll defeat you!”

Oikawa seemingly growled, “my team will beat yours! Mark my words!” Endo just laughed at how fired up Oikawa became. Neither of them was totally sure how it happened, but the two practiced together while they waited for their own friends. Perhaps it was because Oikawa wanted to see just how much Endo had improved with his volleyball skills. After all, he just thought that Endo was on the team thanks to his money. Though Oikawa was surprised and ticked off that his former friend was decent enough. Endo was enjoying the way Oikawa’s eyebrows furrowed in frustration over this. So that’s when the rivalry between Endo Joji and Oikawa Toru was ignited.

Time passed on for the two after that. It wasn’t often, but the two did end up practicing a bit during junior high. They only did it when Endo couldn’t see Asahi and Oikawa couldn’t hang with Iwaizumi. The two former friends forged a sort of relationship with each other. They may not have been the good friends they used to be but both of them were a bit giddy about doing it. Endo enjoyed it because this felt like a genuine relationship with someone, one that wasn’t forced or unfulfilling. Oikawa used it as a way to gauge what kind of brat Endo had become after their time away. Though… he also used it as a way to… redeem his past actions in elementary school. Looking back he knew it was a bit stupid for him to just unfriend Endo because of little rumors. Though he was too prideful to admit that he was wrong or had to apologize to someone. Sure, he was still butthurt about Endo being a spoiled brat, and Endo sure did like to act snotty to him from time to time, but he still somewhat liked playing with him again. Either way, things had changed for the better at this point. Soon enough, they’ll have high school to look forward to.

Endo gazed at Oikawa from the other end of the court. No matter what, Endo will always be impressed with him. He’s talented, not like Kageyama or any other prodigy, but his determination to be the best he can be is admirable. Endo has seen how hard Oikawa works to get to this point, and how much stress he could put himself through. Even in junior high, Oikawa was stressing himself about playing volleyball, especially against Shiratorizawa. 

He bit his lip as his electric blue eyes turn to stare at the floor. Endo doesn’t want Oikawa to be upset if he were to lose but at the same time, he most certainly doesn’t want to see his friends heartbroken if they lost. So he would prioritize his actual teammates' feelings over Oikawa. While he and Oikawa have somewhat patched up their relationship, they are by no means good friends. His teammates were actual friends to him. They matter more.

From this point forward it seemed like it was a battle between setters for this match. Oikawa had set up a challenge for Karasuno, more specifically Kageyama, and the crows’ setter had returned that challenge with his own. Up in the stands, Sakura could see the rigid glares that the two were giving each other from across the court. Though just about all of Karasuno was giving Oikawa quite the glares from time to time, Kageyama’s was just a bit more personal.

Kageyama then stepped up to start his jump serve. Though he wasn’t focusing too much on it since the ball went way out of bounds. All of their opponents chuckled at that as Kageyama glowered at his mistake. Even Sakura chuckled at the way Kageyama definitely lost himself in his feelings and ended up taking that out on his serve. Though let’s hope he doesn’t do that again, she thought to herself.

However, thanks to that it was now Aoba Johsai’s turn to serve. Of course, Oikawa was the one to serve to them. The team all got themselves ready as the Great King jumped to serve the ball. With his pinpoint precision, the ball was heading straight for their team’s libero.

“Eh?!” Suga exclaimed, “He was aiming for Nishinoya!” Though their reliable libero easily received the ball, which should of been expected. Nishinoya saved the ball with a smirk. The ball was expertly passed to where their setter was, which was perfect. Kageyama then sent the ball to Shōyō, who spiked it and got Karasuno a point.

In the stands, Shimada smirked as he and Takinoue leaned on the railing, thoroughly invested in the game. “You just saw the guy on the right, didn’t you?”

“Yeah.” Takinoue said as he thought back on the previous games they saw from the team, “Nekoma’s setter tried to trick people using his eyes, didn’t he?”

Sakura nodded her head lightly, appreciating how Kageyama deceived his opponent. It seemed like after each game he played he was picking up subtle tactics from his opponents to use in later games. That’s interesting and impressive, she has to admit. At least impressive for someone she thought was quite the idiot.

The next point was then played with Tanaka serving which was received easily by Aoba Johsai. Oikawa set the ball for Kindaichi, AKA Onion-head, who got them a point. Though it seemed like Kindaichi had jumped over Shōyō’s block completely. Sakura blinked, “looks like someone can jump higher now, huh?” She didn’t like that all that much. She suspected that Aoba Johsai would have improved quite a bit, much like Karasuno. Though she still didn’t have to enjoy this.

“Go, go Yutaro!” The Seijoh crowd cheered, “Push it, push it, Yutaro! One more!”

The next few points were played out. All the while, Oikawa’s sharp eyes and ears were paying close attention to the troublesome duo. Even Sakura could tell from her spot in the stands that he was hyper-focused on them. She narrowed her eyes once she saw that it was Oikawa who motioned to his coach for a time-out. That wasn’t a good thing in her eyes. If he figured out how Kageyama and Shōyō are able to signal each other for their quick freak, there’s no telling how that will affect their game. Aoba Johsai may just have the upper hand now if that’s the case.

On the court, Karasuno all gathered around each other. They took a small break as a few of the boys talked with Ukai about strategy for the game. Endo was handing Asahi a water bottle as he smiled widely, “you’re doing amazing, Asahi!”

The ace chuckled in embarrassment, “thanks, Joji.” Endo smirked at the adorable expression on his best friend's face but brushed off the fluttering in his chest. They had the game to focus on, not his stupid feelings. He can think about those after they win this game. Asahi took a long swig of his water before asking, “Why do you think they called a timeout?”

Endo glanced over at the heated talk that their opponents were having in their huddle. “I have a feeling it has to do with the quick freak.” He shrugged his shoulders, “Maybe they figured out the signals.”

“Oh no!”

“We shouldn’t be surprised.” Endo clicked his tongue, “Oikawa’s sharp, he’s probably the one who noticed it.”

A few feet away, Suga approached his kohai. “Could it be that they’ve already figured it out?” He worried as they all glanced over at Aoba Johsai.

Kageyama bristled, “Damn it, that was fast.” The last thing they needed was for Aoba Johsai to get their 

“Hey!” Nishinoya exclaimed as he and Tanaka came up to their setter, “What’s with the serious face? That’s not like you.”

Tanaka smirked, “Nah, Noya-san. That’s actually how he always looks. He has that face when he’s trying to decide between milk or yogurt drink.” 

“That– He–” Kageyama stuttered, “That has nothing to do with anything!”

Tanaka ignored the floundering boy and just looked down at their libero, “But Noya-san, I’m amazed that you were able to return that serve.”

“I received that serve once when I was in junior high.” Nishinoya explained, “It was always an amazing serve, if he could actually get it in, but he missed it a lot, and it didn’t have as much control. I’m sure he practiced a lot. Just because they have one guy who can serve really well and their setter is an all-around player, I don't think those are the only reasons they’ve stayed in the top four for so long.” He then gazed over to their resident drama queen who was hyping up his best friend a few feet away. “It also helped that Endo gave me a few things to look out for. He really knows how Oikawa ticks!” That wasn’t especially surprising to the group. They’re aware that Endo has a past with Oikawa, they may not know the extent of it, but it was something. Nishinoya’s expression then became serious, “If we let our guard down, they’ll take this game. Let’s give it our all!”

The three boys in front of him nodded, “Right!”

They all then got back onto the court to continue the game. Kindaichi was the one up to serve, which proved to be a bit of an issue. While Kindaichi wasn’t that intimidating when it came to his serves, he was getting his team a few points thanks to where he was serving. Every time Asahi tried to recieve the ball, he wasn’t completely ready for it thanks to Kageyama running in front of him.

One of the girls pouted, “That wasn’t like Oikawa-kun’s serve, so why can’t they get it?”

“Ahem.” Takinoue coughed, earning the girls’ attention. “Well, that’s because… When the setter is in the back line, he can’t move in the front of the players on the front line until after the serve is hit. So when they serve the ball, they have to rush toward the net at the same time.” He explained, “If they happen to serve right where this mixing of people occurs, they tend to receive late and it’s easy to miss. But as soon as they know where it’s going…” As he was talking, Asahi was able to receive the ball properly, “… it’s not an impossible serve to get.”

The black-haired girl blinked, “So they’re thinking about a lot of things while playing…”

The two girls then bowed to him, “Thank you, old guy.”

“‘Old’.” Takinoue froze, “Sure.” He didn’t come here just to be called an old man, you know. He’s not even that old!

Shimada chuckled lightly as Sakura raised an eyebrow, “don’t be surprised, they’re right you know.”

Takinoue bristled at her, “You-!” That caused Shimada to snicker even more at his friend’s plight. 

Though that stopped when Sakura turned her half-lidded gaze to him and said, “you’re the same age as him, so don’t feel high and mighty, Jiji-san.” That left the two men to deflated lightly at the younger girl’s words. 

A few more points were played with Oikawa having ended up on the front lines. At one point, Kageyama attempted to get a point by setter dump, though that wasn’t going to work with the Great King there. However, Karasuno wasn’t going to let Aoba Johsai just gain points laying down. They were going to keep on fighting, even if the score was 9-5 at the moment, of course, with Aoba Johsai leading. Though it became apparent that of the biggest worrying things was that Seijoh now knew the signals to the quick freak.

In the stands, Sakura sighed heavily as she put her camera down. Shoyo had tried to get a point, however, Aoba Johsai was there to block it. While he still got the point, it was obvious things weren’t going to be that easy anymore. Sure it was only the first set, but only after a little over a dozen points being played, it didn’t leave a good taste in her mouth. Since they had been able to figure it out now, any sort of optimism that Sakura tried to have for this game was completely squashed. No matter how much her brother may have tried to convince her to have a more positive outlook on this game, the realist in her was winning out. Though her keen eyes were assessing everything that was happening on the court. From how Kageyama’s soft serve lead to Tanaka being blocked by Seijoh. To when Oikawa stepped up to serve and seemed to be targeting Tanaka. 

No matter what the second-year attempted to do, the point usually ended up going to Aoba Johsai thanks to that monster serve. Just about everyone could see how Tanaka was steadily growing frustrated after a while. Anyone would be frustrated if that were happening. If this continued, the team would start to break down, Sakura was sure of it. She could guarantee that Oikawa was thinking the same thing. Oikawa doesn’t have the genius reflexes that Kageyama has, and it shows. However, he makes up with his experience and determination. The way that he could ready not only his own team but his opponents as well and adapt to just about every situation on the court was a skill every player wishes they had. She could almost admire him for it… If he wasn’t such a prick.

Eventually, Karasuno called a time-out. Mostly to regroup and to slow down Seijoh’s momentum. It was much needed now that the score was leaning muh further in Aoba Johsai’s favor. Karasuno needed to slow them down if they ever wanted to get close to winning this set. Or else Aoba Johsai was going to bulldoze them and be the easy victors.

“Just lift it up!” Ukai exclaimed and focused on their bald wing-spiker, “Even if it doesn’t go to the setter, as long as we can get the ball up, we can recover somehow!”

Tanaka nodded, “Right.”

“By the way, Kageyama-kun…” Ukai started as he turned to the setter, “What was with that dump earlier?”

Kageyama jumped slightly, “I’m sorry! I panicked!”

“If you realize that, it’s fine.” Ukai said with a small sigh, “It’s not that dumps are wrong. It’s also in our favor if we have the enemy verify that we have a lot of ways to attack. However, if they read that we’re doing a dump, then it’s likely that they’ll stop it. Think carefully about when you’re going to use it.”

“Yes!”

“Also, don’t forget who we’re fighting against. It’s not Oikawa, but Aoba Johsai. Also, it’s not just you that’s fighting, it’s Karasuno.”

Kageyama’s eyes hardened slightly, “Right.”

Endo then popped in, “Ne, ne, you guys should try harder, I really wanna see Oikawa get even more frustrated, okay?” He pleasantly smiled with his hands pressed together in prayer. Though they just glared at him since they were trying their damned hardest in this game. Not only that but they weren’t going to do what he wanted just so he could see what he felt like seeing. Though they all would like to see Oikawa’s pretty face twist into an even more upset and frustrated expression. That was one thing they all wanted.

The time-out ended and as the game continued it seemed like Oikawa was going to continue to pick on Tanaka. Even if Tanaka was able to save the serve, it was still blocked by Aoba Johsai and they’d just get the point. Even after a short time-out, Aoba Johsai’s momentum hadn’t stopped in the slightest. Which prompted Takeda to call for yet another time-out. Perhaps this time it could slow Aoba Johsai down and stop them from dominating Karasuno.

Meanwhile, with the Karasuno fans, the alumni continued to converse with each other. “So they’ve already used both of their timeouts…” Takinoue groaned, “Right now, the top priority is to stop their momentum.”

Shimada held his head in frustration, “In volleyball, where making the connection is everything, when you miss receiving this serves repeatedly, the guilt and loneliness you feel is like no other. And then the final blow that followed… Is baldy going to be okay?” They watched the second year as he followed the rest of his team to the sidelines. His head was down as it was obvious he was contemplating his playing so far.

Sakura shook her head while snapping a photo of the team all huddling up together, “He may be an idiot, but he’s resilient.” She shrugged her thin shoulders, “He might get upset about this for a moment, but he’ll bounce back just as quick.” Thanks to being around them so much, Sakura has a clear grasp of each of the boys and their personalities and mentalities. She was certain that she could read them all just with a single look and know what they were thinking. Really there were only two exceptions to that. Those two being Endo and Tsukishima, not surprising.

Tanaka, while he can be loud and obnoxious at times, she knows he’s strong and adaptable. Granted he can be fueled by his emotions at times and get fired up just because someone may have said something to him, but he can keep his eye on the goal, most of the time. The goal right now being to stop Aoba Johsai.

Just as the boys were gathering around to talk with each other, Tanaka suddenly slapped himself on the side of his face. Effectively leaving red marks in the shapes of hands on his cheeks. “I’m sorry!” Tanaka screamed as he bowed at the waist deeply. Obviously, he was apologizing for his last few mistakes.

“Ryu! There are some things that can’t be helped!" Nishinoya exclaimed, "That toss was hard, and there was a three-person block. I should have followed up-”

Tanka shook his head, “I didn’t call the toss just now. I got scared for a second, damn it! I’ll have all of my regrets after the match! There’s no point in someone worthless like me bringing everyone down because I’m upset about my own mistake! I’ll get it next time!” His loud exclamations caused the rest of his team to stare at him in admiration. His fiery passion for this game was completely inspiring!

Ukai laughed lightly, “The fact that you’re saying that shows just how worthy you are.”

“Oh, right.” Tanaka scratched the back of his head as a little bit of embarrassment washed over him.

“If you try to receive by just using your arms, it’ll just deflect, so move your legs too.”

After Tanaka’s passion-filled shouts, Nishinoya looked up to his right to stare at Asahi, “You should be just like Ryu, Asahi-san.”

“If I could, I would!” The ace jumped.

Endo laughed from the libero’s other side, “he’s right, you should at least try!” Asahi just deflated at that declaration.

In the stands, Sakura narrowed her eyes as she spied Oikawa sitting on his team bench. “They have to stop Oikawa’s serve. If this keeps going, Oikawa might just single-handedly pull his team to win this set.”

Shimada looked down at her with a worried gaze, “Could he really do that?”

“I wouldn’t be surprised.” She muttered, a little bit of an unsettled tone in her voice. 

The last Karasuno timeout ended and everyone hurried back on the court. Those in the stands and on the sidelines watched with bated breath as Oikawa served yet again. It was so powerful that Tanaka could do nothing but receive it with his chest, nearly getting hit in the face. While it seemed like it was going to just end there, Shōyō came diving out of nowhere and saved the ball before it could hit the court. Then Kageyama was there to send it back over the net. While it gave Aoba Johsai a free ball, it still kept Karasuno alive.

Oikawa was the one to receive it and their libero set it for a spike. However, Nishinoya saved it, keeping Karasuno alive for a moment longer. Then out of what seemed to be a raw passion, Tanaka called for the ball, spiked it, and won Karasuno a point. Aoba Johsai’s momentum was paused.

Everyone cheered for the wing spiker and his achievement. Takinoue leaned over the railing with a large smile, “Karasuno’s baldy just managed… to stop Oikawa’s momentum.”

“Things are looking good,” Sakura commented while snapping a photo of Tanaka screaming in triumph. She could help the way that she smiled lightly at this, 

The game continued on with Karasuno getting a few more points and the score having a bit more promise for Karasuno’s favor. Sure, they weren’t in the lead or even close to it, but they weren’t just taking a loss lying down. It was nerve-wracking for just about everyone involved to watch it happen. While Aoba Johsai was favored to win and was expected to, it was surprising to those who don’t know Karasuno to see them keep up even a little bit. Karasuno was faring well against their opponent. Though Sakura still knew that they didn’t have that edge that they desperately needed. However, there was something that some people started to notice.

“Hey.” Takinoue hummed, “Are Karasuno’s attacks getting faster?”

That’s not good, Sakura thought to herself. Being fast on the court is important. However, even she knows that if a player, especially a setter, sped up their plays they could lose themselves in the game. Kageyama, thanks to his past as the King of the Court, would certainly end up just being a hindrance to the team if it got to out of hand. Sakura had a feeling that things were just going to end up bad from here on out. Not only that, but she knows for a fact that not everyone trusted Kageyama as a setter. If he started to speed up even more going forward, no one would end up trusting his sets during this game. As much as she may not like him all that much, he was an asset the team needed. If he lost his head now, there’s no telling where the team might end up.

During one of the points, the ball ended up a bit farther than normal and Kageyama could set it. So Kageyama and Oikawa ended up having to joust the ball with each other. Though it only ended with Kageyama on the floor while Oikawa stared down at him smugly. That just added fuel to Kageyama’s emotions. His plays started to speed up even more as he started to lose himself further. Even the sets that he was making were completely missing their mark. So it didn’t come as a surprise to see that Ukai decided to sub Suga in for Kageyama.

Chapter Text

KAGEYAMA WASN’T EXPECTING THIS TO HAPPEN, SEEING his number being held up by Suga. He wasn’t expecting to be subbed out like this. Though even he knew that he was speeding up too much. Hell, Tsukishima completely missed that last set he sent him. Perhaps he was just getting too overwhelmed over this game. He could only blame Oikawa for that, the Great King was getting under Kageyama’s skin. 

He walked over to take his number from his senpai, gets some encouraging words from him, and walked over to wait to be subbed back in. All the while, he was thinking of how this was reminding him of his time in middle school. He had gotten so far on this new team as well. His team has trust in him, most of them anyway, and he has someone who can hit his quick sets. Though that didn’t matter at the moment now that he was being subbed out of the game.

A shout from Shōyō broke him from his thoughts as he approached the rest of his team. “I said I’d be the one that defeats you!”

Yamaguchi whisper-shouted at him, “Hinata, you’re gonna get in trouble-”

“So don’t lose to anyone else before that!” He continued to passionately shout, disregarding his friend's warning.

The rest of the team watched the two of them with wide eyes. Most of them were inspired by Shōyō’s constant, blazing passion for this sport. The way that Shoyo constantly did everything he could to challenge Kageyama. Kageyama stared at him for a moment before he pursed his lips, “The match isn’t over yet, so I haven’t lost.” everyone could see the way that Shōyō's eyes gleamed at that.

Yamaguchi then came up behind Shōyō and grabbed his arms to haul him backward, “You’re going to get in trouble!”

Endo laughed at the rambunctious group, “you guys always seem to be full of energy!” It was quite entertaining to watch them like this. The lively first-years were so full of energy over this sport. Though as he watched Kageyama talk with their coach and then head over to the rest of the team, he had a sinking feeling.

Kageyama was reverting back to his old ways, in some capacity. While he hadn’t gotten upset and shouted at anyone, he was slowly speeding up his plays which was causing no one to be able to spike anything. Endo knew that Kageyama had been humbled by the team and wasn’t as much of a tyrant as he used to be. Though it's only been a short time, there's no telling if he might go back to his old ways. Especially in a game against his old teammates, that would definitely bring up some bad memories.

One upside to this was that Endo is more than glad to see that Suga was on the court. He knew that Suga belonged on the court since he’s also a talented setter. Not a prodigy like Kageyama, but Suga has a connection with everyone on the team that made him easy to work with. He lost his spot as a starting player, so Endo was just a tiny bit grateful to see Kageyama on the bench. Even if it's for a short while, he's happy to see Suga play!

He smirked widely as the younger setter marched over to them. “Don’t you worry about anything, Little King.” Endo patted Kageama’s head, “Suga can hold down the fort while you calm yourself down.”

The younger boy swatted away Endo’s hand roughly, “Don’t call me king!”

Endo just chuckled, the cheeky expression on his handsome face not moving at all. “To be fair, I called you Little King.”

“Shut up!”

With Suga now on the court, the game continued on. Sakura thought to herself about how interesting it would be to see how the third-year worked with the team. After all, he lost his starting position to Kageyama. She couldn’t really imagine what Suga might have felt about that, though she’s been around him long enough to know that he isn’t necessarily jealous of that. Perhaps a little bit, but Suga wants the team to succeed. So Sakura likes to think that he would put the success of the team over his own wish to play on the court. Besides, he was getting to play now, so he didn’t have to be on the bench the entire tournament.

Aoba Johsai served the Karasuno which was received perfectly. While Tanaka tried to spike it over thanks to Suga’s set, it was still saved and passed to Oikawa. Though when he tried to give Iwaizumi a clear path for a spike, they were blocked by Karasuno's glasses-wearing middle blocker.

“Denied!” Shimada laughed smugly, “I guess they figured out they’d be aiming straight forward.”

“Right? Well done. The blockers switched places right before the opponent’s spike.” Takinoue explained just how Suga and Tsukishma switched their spots to stop Aoba Johsai’s number four.

Sakura pursed her lips and glanced down at her camera. The photo of the block stared back at her. It was a perfect shot of Tsukishima blocking the spike, it encapsulated his focus and strength on that block. His golden eyes were wide as he stared through the net at his opponent. Sakura will admit that she’d never seen him express an emotion other than smugness and annoyance, so seeing him appear almost determined gave her pause. Tsukishima is good at what he does, and he is smart. Though that doesn’t make him any less of an asshole. Sakura clicked her tongue and focused back on the game. She’s allowed to think that he was talented and a jerk at the same time. 

The next point was played with Tukishima serving it. Shimada exclaimed, “Whoa, they totally returned it!” Which Aoba Johsai did in fact receive the ball and passed it to Oikawa.

Takinoue questioned, “Are they gonna do a quick?” Though even if they did a quick, Shōyō was there to make the block and get Karasuno the point. That earned him some praise from Suga who ruffled his hair. Suga seemed to be really good at giving some advice on plays and such. 

Endo cheered along with the others. He gazed at all of his friends happily as his blue eyes sparkled. Though there was a small, bitter part of him that kind of wished to be with them. To play alongside his fellow third-years. After all, it was the four of them that decided to take Karasuno to nationals when they were first-years. It took until this year for it to happen, but still. Then again, he always told them that he would do it for their sake. Endo didn’t care about winning nationals or any tournament for that matter. Being with his friends was what mattered, getting to have a real bond with them was his goal. So sue him for being even the tiny bit sad about not getting to be on the court with them.

A few more points were played with it being obvious that Suga was an amazing team player. He just provided the team pointers and strategic plays just about every point that was played. The point gap between the two teams would fluctuate, though Aoba Johsai kept the lead the entire time. Eventually, it was then Oikawa’s turn to serve. As per usual, it wasn’t a good thing since he got a point on his first serve due to both Nishinoya and Tanaka going after it.

“Now he’s aiming between them,” Shimada grunted.

Takinoue shook his head, “He’s aiming at the optimal spot!”

“It’s almost frustrating how strategical he is,” Sakura huffed.

Oikawa served again, though this time it was a soft serve that no one was ready for. The score was now 24-15 with Aoba Johsai obviously in the lead. It was match point. This meant that the Aoba Johsai was most likely going to win this since Sakura didn't see Karasuno catching up at this point. It was still a bit impressive that her brother's team kept up with them. That’s one way that she can look at it. She was told to be optimistic and find a good aspect to situations, so she’s doing just that. Karasuno held up against Aoba Johsai pretty well. They most likely won’t win, but they did better when compared to other teams in the tournament, in her mind.

“Seijoh at their set point. Damn.” Takinoue pouted, “Just how many points did that guy’s serves get them?” 

“If volleyball had an ultimate play,” Shimada hummed in thought, “it’d be to take 25 points just by serving, not giving your opponent even a single chance. That’s what a service ace is.”

Sakura pursed her lips. Was it bad that she figured Oikawa could certainly do that? Maybe, maybe not. She could believe that with his skill set, against the right team, Oikawa probably could win an entire set just because of his serves. Then again that’s only assuming that whoever he plays against wouldn’t be able to adapt to his serves at all. His serves are strong for sure, but a player could learn how to receive them eventually. 

Daichi was able to save the ball after calling out for it. It was returned to the other side of the net by Asahi with a back attack. Though Hanamaki saved it at the last second which basically gave Karasuno a chance ball. Shōyō used it for a direct attack and tried to spike it over the net, but it was so soft that it was easy for Iwaizumi to receive. Kindaichi jumped up to spike the ball, himself and Oikawa quite confident in this being the set winning point. Though before he could get that point, Shōyō was there to block it. The ball went soaring towards the back of Seijoh’s court which meant that Watari had to chase after it. For a brief moment, as the ball hit the floor, everyone was in awe. Karasuno was keeping their head afloat in this match, it seemed. 

Though when the referee blew the whistle, he made it clear that it was Seijoh’s point. The ball that Shōyō had blocked had gone out of bounds!

“It’s out?!” The alumni screeched together. Sakura sighed heavily and slumped against the railing. Even she had been holding her breath when it had hit the floor. Maybe for a moment she even felt a spark of shock and hope in her chest. Though despite her brother’s best effort, it didn’t work out in their favor. Oh well.

“Damnit!” Endo whined out in English, frustrated with the outcome. He leaned against Ennoshita and buried his head into his shoulder as he seemed to weep. “That was so dramatic, but it would have been such an underdog move for us to get that point!”

Ennoshita tried to push his senpai away from him, “hey, get off!” Though Endo just continued to wallow and hang off of him, much to his chagrin.

“We’re switching sides.” Ukai told the team, “Let’s go!”

The boys then all trudged over to swap places, a bit disheartened by the end of the set. Though they moved on since they were determined to do better in this next set. Just because they lost the first set didn’t mean that they were out of this for good.

“We’ll go as-is with our second set,” Ukai told the team.

“Right!”

He nodded his head, “Since the most troublesome thing we’re facing is Oikawa’s serves, we’ll be charging up our defense to maximize efficiency with few players. When Oikawa does his super-fast serves, even the slightest hesitation or faltering is deadly. So we’ll use Nishinoya and Sawamura, the few who received his serves, to counter. It’s a formation we’ve never used in practice. But considering it’s you guys…”

“We can do it.” Nishinoya and Daichi chorused together.

Shoyo’s eyes sparkled at his senpais, “So cool.”

As they finished up discussing the game plan, Asahi handed Endo his water bottle. “Here.”

Endo hummed, “you need this more than me, you’re playing after all!”

“Still, you gotta drink something too,” Asahi said while forcing his friend to take it. He’s gotta look out for him from time to time, as any good friend should. 

“All right, all right, mom .” Endo sassed as he grabbed it from him and took an exaggerated swig from the bottle.

Asahi laughed lightly, “just making sure you’re okay.”

Endo whipped his lips, “I should be doing that dummy, the most workout I’m getting today is shouting.” It’s not like he was the one playing his heart out on the court and ending up tired.

“I know, I can hear you over just about everything.” Asahi wouldn’t comment that he could hear most of Endo’s cheering was mainly just for him, but it was implied. He also certainly wouldn’t comment on how flustered it made him, that’s for another time.

Endo shrugged his shoulders, “We both know I’m good at being loud.”

Asahi sputtered as the statement settled in his mind. He blushed heavily, “Joji don’t say stuff like that!”

He paused for a moment, thought about what he just said before smirking widely, “Whaaat?” Endo’s sharp blue eyes peered at Asahi with his usual teasing glint in them. “I’m just saying I’m good at cheering you guys on, what are you thinking about Asahi~?” Asahi was growing slightly heated under Endo’s intense, teasing gaze, and didn’t dare look at his friend. Before Asahi could respond to Endo, even though from his flustered expression it didn't seem like he could, the referee blew the whistle. Asahi was more than glad to abandon that embarrassing situation with his teasing friend as he practically sprinted back onto the court. Endo just laughed loudly at his retreating figure.

Kinoshita stared at the interaction with furrowed eyebrows, “why are you teasing him so much?”

Endo turned to him with his own furrowed eyebrows at the ridiculous question, “He’s my best friend! Why wouldn’t I? Do you feel left out, huh?” Endo then pouted, “Want me to tease you too, Kin-kun?”

The second-year quickly shook his head, “No, no.” There was no need for him to endure Endo’s teasing like what Asahi gets. Though him, and just about the rest of the team, knew that it wasn’t just teasing between Asahi and Endo. 

Endo then set his sight on the other quiet second-year that he caught staring at them as well. “What about you, Narita?”

“Please no.” Narita grimaced, “Just focus on the game.”

“What do you think I’ve been doing?!”

All the boys then lined up for the next set. An air of determination was clouding around the entire court. Karasuno was determined not to let Seijoh run over them to win another set. Though Seijoh seemed just as determined to not let Karasuno win any set at all. It was going to be even more intense now than it was before.

“Oh?” Shimada tilted his head as they stared down at the formations of the teams. “Looks like Karasuno changed up their rotation a bit for the second set, and Seijoh kept it the same as the first set.”

Takinoue pursed his lips, “I wonder why they changed it, though.”

Sakura raised an eyebrow, already noticing why they would have done it.“They’ve got Nishinoya and Daichi basically adjacent to Oikawa.” She glanced at the older men from the corner of her eyes, seeing that they were giving her their undivided attention. “They’re the best receivers the team has against Oikawa, maybe besides Endo. They’re trying to combat his monster serves at this point.” It was a logical assumption to make. Perhaps it was because she had some insider information about the team, but Daichi and Nishinoya were the best at receiving, not matter who spiked it or served. It made sense that Karasuno would want to try and keep the two of them in the perfect space to make those receives. 

On the court with the benchwarmers, Shōyō seemed to be buzzing in place as he talked with Kageyama. “Sugawara-san gives you nice compliments when you get one in!” He exclaimed with a large smile as he turned to Kageyama.

Kageyama just replied boredly, “I see…”

Endo, hearing the first-years talking about Suga, bend down and smirked. “Of course he does, he’s one of the sweetest guys out there, you know!” He boasted about his friend, “He can read most people quite easily, and knows just what to say to make them feel good!” Endo says ‘most’ since, from time to time, Suga can usually read him. The blond is just pretty good at hiding his ulterior motives and his true feelings. Years and years of practice of this gave him the ability to hide his emotions even from the most observant. Even with that though, there are times when someone can get in through his mask. Though that’s rare, and it’s usually only just one specific person.

Ennoshita then also butted into the conversation, “It’s not like being overly buddy-buddy, but I think he says what he does based on the spikers’ expressions and how they’re doing that day.” He explained, “And unlike the second and third-years, I’m sure for Tsukishima, there are a lot of things he doesn’t know about Sugawara-san.” A sour expression then drifted onto Kageyama’s face which caused Ennoshita to chuckle. “‘Why do I have to match what I do with how others are feeling especially Tsukishima, that jerk?’ That’s what’s written on your face.”

Kageyama jumped, “Th-that’s not what I…” Shōyō snickered at the setter being called out, which earned him getting attacked by Kageyama in retaliation.

“But Kageyama,” Ennoshita said, ignoring the fact that Shōyō was now fighting for his life at the moment, “if Hinata-kun seems to have a hard time hitting the ball, you switch things up, right?”

“Yes, because he misses easily,” Kageyama said bluntly, which caused Shōyō to deflate. Endo just patted the orange-haired boy in comfort, though he was entertained by his plight. 

“I think that everyone else also has their own techniques and that affects how they hit the ball. I might sound biased, but…” He smiled widely, “I think our spikers are pretty skilled.”

Kageyama pursed his lips, “I think that, too, but…”

“Then, if they were all able to hit the ball with 100% of their ability, don’t you think they’d be able to break through a block?” It seemed like that gave Kageyama to think about.

Endo then raised his hand, gaining their attention, “I may not be volleyball smart like you guys, but even I know it’s best to build up your team.” He shrugged his shoulders, “Having a good social standing with the team and knowing how your teammate's tick can be useful. Which is why Suga does so well!” If there’s one thing he understands, it’s how to be a sociable person. His father had instilled in him to be affable yet calculating. Watching how people react to certain things and what to do to affect that. In his line of work, it’s usually a good skill to have for business deals and such. Before the group could say anything else to each other, they were interrupted by the squeals of the crowd.

Shōyō gasped as they looked back to the court, “It’s the Great King’s turn to serve!”

“Oh?” Shimada hummed, “Looks like twin-chan was right.” 

“The reason they changed things up a bit from the first set is …to bring this rotation around when it’s Oikawa’s turn to serve,” Takinoue said before he and Shimada turned down to the girl beside them. “How did you figure that out before us?” They were former volleyball players who understand the game from that standpoint, so how had she seen that before them?

Sakura shrugged her shoulders, “I’m good at observing things.” As long as someone paid attention, they could see the subtle plays and strategies that a team would come up with. For example, Aoba Johsai hadn’t changed their lineup because they’re confident in this formation winning another set. It had happened before, so why would they change what had worked?

Oikawa then jumped to hit his serve, which Daichi was able to save on the first try. The formation really did work! Suga then set the ball for Tanaka, getting them a point thanks to a wipeout. The spirit was raised as Karasuno all shouted in victory. The first point had gone to them!

Shimada shouted out, “They broke the serve streak!”

“Let’s go, baldy!” Endo screamed alongside his teammates. This was going to be an interesting set. He could feel it in his bones.

Sakura watched the game, taking photos at the optimal times while a feeling was growing in her chest. The score was neck and neck for this set. Unlike before, Kararsuno wasn’t stuck behind at all. They were not letting this set get away from them even a little bit. Once again, it almost gave Sakura a lick of hope for this game. Though the realist in her had to squash it. If she starts having hope that they’ll win, she’ll just be thoroughly disappointed when they don’t. She can’t even imagine how destroyed the boys will be over it.

At this point, the score for the game was 13-14, in Karasuno’s favor! Finally a lead for the crows! Takinoue seemed about ready to start jumping around at this development, “All right! They’re equal in the second set!”

“Yeah, but the blockers are keeping up.” Shimada sighed, speaking out Sakura’s own thoughts. They watched a few more points being played and Shimada observed, “It feels like their spikes are going through our setter a lot more.”

Takinoue hummed, “Yeah.”

Oikawa served again and Tanaka was meant to spike it but was blocked, Seijoh was able to gain the lead once more. Now with a score of 15-14 in Seijoh’s favor, who knew where this game was going. Seijoh could win this right here if they just keep Karasuno at bay. Though the crows were certainly not going down without a fight and were doing their best to keep up.

The trio in the stands all seemed to slump at the turn of events. “Seijoh just scored multiple points,” Shimada commented.

Sakura clicked her tongue, “If this keeps up, Aoba Johsai might not be stopped.”

“A break happens when the momentum changes…” Takinoue trailed off, “Don’t let Seijoh get it now.”

If she had to choose who was better, Sakura wouldn’t know who was a better setter between Kageyama and Suga. Before, she might have said Kageyama due to him being a prodigy. Though she might say Suga just to spite the king. However, after this game, Suga was just as strong and threatening as Kageyama. Sure, they were threats for quite different reasons, but they were important to the team. Kageyama has raw, monstrous skill and terrifying accuracy. Though Suga makes up for any sort of prodigal magic that Kageyama might have with his own strategy and social skills with the team. They both have their skill sets, their strengths, and weaknesses, but there was no definite answer to who would be better. At least, that’s the conclusion that Sakura has come to.

Everyone then noticed how Ukai called Kageyama over to him. It seemed like he was going to finally be called back into the game. After Asahi was able to get a point thanks to Daichi’s receive and Suga’s set, that’s just what happened. Suga was pulled out of the game, gave them some encouraging words, talked with Ukai, and then headed back to the bench.

Endo greeted his friend with a large smile, “You did amazing out there!”

Suga appreciated the encouragement as he approached them while whipping his eyes slightly. Ukai’s subtle comment about getting to play again had gotten to him a little bit as he grew teary. “Not good enough-”

“Now, now. Don’t say something like that! What is it you usually say to us,” Endo put a hand on his chin as if in thought before striking Suga in the stomach harshly, “to be positive!”

Suga groaned at the punch to his gut. So this is what it felt like when he did it to his friends. Maybe he should reconsider attacking them like this if it hurt… then again, it was usually fun to do it. Oh, well. 

Chapter Text

“LOOKS LIKE THE KING HAS COME BACK to occupy his throne,” Sakura hummed in thought. It didn’t surprise her that he was put back in eventually. Suga had been a good substitute for Kageyama for a while, by shaking things up against Aoba Johsai and giving each boy some encouragement. Though now that Karasuno was able to have somewhat of a lead, it was time to put that quick freak back into motion. 

She really hoped that Kageyama was calmer now. If he had just been benched and brought back onto the court but still hadn’t gotten his control back, then what’s the point.  Her sharp brown eyes surveyed him. Sakura could tell the mood change in him. There was something that had clicked in him after his break on the bench. So perhaps he was calm now. Though even she could spy that creepy smile he had spread on his face, and it certainly was unsettling.

On the sidelines, after Endo finished praising Suga and patting him on the back, the first-years stared at their senpai in admiration. More specifically Yamaguchi did since Tsukishima could care less. 

“Don’t look so amazed,” Suga chuckled lightly at the stares, “I was pretty nervous.”

“Really?” Yamaguchi asked in surprise. It didn’t seem like he was that nervous to play, nor should he have been. He’s a third-year, he must have played plenty of games like this to not be nervous.

“Of course, there were third-years that played at last year’s Inter-High, so I wasn’t able to play in a lot of official matches.” He then smiled ruefully, “I hate to say it, but it’s likely that Kageyama’s had his feet on the court more than I have.”

It's quite a disheartening fact. Suga had been on this team for three years, never got to have the starting position due to being an underclassman. Now, the moment that he is the senior player, a first-year keeps him in the same position. Endo could tell that Suga might be a bit bitter about it since he knew how hard Suga worked to get to this point. He had forged his spot onto the team ever since their first year together. Though he has a feeling that Suga was willing to let it happen. Their dream was to get to national, and if stepping to the side to let Kageyama stay on the court longer gave them that opportunity, Endo isn’t surprised that Suga would let it happen. He also finds it quite admirable. To be honest, if it were Endo, he would be petty as hell because of it. Though that was just him.

Tsukishima then spoke up, “Despite that, Kageyama was freaking out quite a bit.” They all looked over to the first-year setter, “Speaking of, the King’s going right into a serve. Do you think he’ll be all right?” The group turned to watch as the setter got ready for his first serve back onto the court.

“He’ll be fine!” Endo shrugged his shoulders. “Did you see that look on his face? Looked like he was all serious and giddy to be back on the court.” He did his best to mimic the look on Kageyama's face, though they just thought he looked constipation. Which either means Endo was doing a bad job of imitating Kageyama or Kageyama just looked constipated. Who knows.

Suga agreed, “Kageyama looks pretty happy.”

Yamaguchi nodded, “Yeah.”

“It sort of puts me at ease,” The upperclassman smiled.

“What does?”

“Apparently every player feels the same pride about the fact that they’re going to be on the court. No matter whether they’re some genius or just a regular guy.”

Endo’s eyebrows furrowed slightly at that. Would he consider himself in that? He certainly wouldn’t say that he’s a regular guy, extraordinary actually(arrogant, more like), and he would describe himself as a genius but not a genius volleyball player. Is he prideful when he plays? Arrogant perhaps, though is he proud to play volleyball? He likes to play with his friends, though he wasn’t good enough to the point he’d say he’s proud to play. Endo isn’t necessarily the worst player out there, but he might be the worst on his team. After all, he’s a third-year who isn’t even considered to play at all. Throughout this tournament, after all, he hasn’t set foot on the court to play during any of these games. Suga at least got subbed in for Kageyama… Endo wasn’t lucky enough to play. Though he can’t sulk about it, Kinoshita, Ennoshita, and Narita hadn’t gotten to play either, so Endo shouldn’t act like he’s the only one being kept off the court. Though once again, he has to remind himself, he isn’t a volleyball guy like his friends. He could care less about playing or winning games. So why are his thoughts wandering around to this topic now?

On the court, Kageyama took a moment to calm his breathing down, not seeming to be disturbed or nervous about having to serve right after getting off the bench. Everyone could feel just how serious he was at the moment. He jumped up to serve and was able to get a service ace, tying the score at 17-17. Everyone cheered over that. It's a strong start for a player just coming off of the sidelines! Though what else would they have expected from the king?

He went to do it again but Aoba Johsai was able to save it. Even if they got that, Shōyō and Kageyama performed a spike and got a point. This time doing it without even saying anything! Perhaps the crows were starting to gain momentum. Especially if they were going to throw off their opponent like that.

“All right!” Shimada exclaimed while Takinoue smirked, “Now Karasuno’s turning things around!”

Sakura got a photo of her brother and Kageyama cheering over their point. It was good to see the tides turning, if ever so slightly in their favor. It may not be all that much, but even a little bit could mean a lot in the long run. One point won now could end up pushing Karasuno over the edge to come out as the winner of the set. An optimistic thought for Sakura to have.

“Hinata’s so sharp! Damn!” Suga shouted in amazement, “And Kageyama’s playing like a fish in water.” The others stared at him with a tilt of their head as they thought about it. Tobiou does mean flying fish after all. 

Endo chuckled, “You’re talking like a proud mother, Suga.” He sure did love the way that his friend acted as a mama bird. It was quite cute. Suga rolled his eyes slightly but just continued to praise the underclassmen.

Kageyama served once again and the ball was received relatively easily by their opponents. It wasn’t too much of a surprise that Aoba Johsai was able to get the point there. The team might have been slowed down by Karasuno, but there was no stopping them, completely at least.

So Aoba Johsai was next to serve and it was Kunimi who was the one to step up for it. Tanaka received it and sent it to Kageyama, which let him set it for Shōyō who got a point. Even if Aoba Johsai could stop them, Karasuno was coming back even stronger than ever. Things were finally turned on their head. Though now with Kageyama back on the court, there was no doubt that the boys were going to use the quick freak any chance they got. Especially now that they had switched from verbal cues to just hand gestures, that was definitely giving them an advantage in this set.

Everyone cheered for that as Takinoue shouted, “All right! They broke 20 points first!”

First to twenty points , Sakura mused to herself, they might just win this set, if they’re lucky.

Though as they paused between switching out the libero and middle blocker, Kageyama and Tsukishima shared a distrustful gaze between each other. Hopefully, this won’t cause any issues with their plays.

“Don’t be so uptight, bean stock!” Endo shouted from the sidelines which earned a smack in the side from Suga. All he wanted to do was give some encouraging advice, what’s wrong with that? Though Suga certainly didn’t buy that and just whacked Endo on the head again for his thoughts. Endo scowled, how his friend seemed to know what he was thinking was disturbing. It was going to be interesting once again with Tsukishima back on the court with Kageyama. The two don’t get along all that well, that’s obvious.

Brown eyes narrowed as Sakura watched the team interact with each other. From what she knows of Tsukishima, he certainly isn’t the trusting type. That's more than obvious. He doesn’t even seem to really trust Yamaguchi that much, and that boy was probably the blond’s best friend. Sure, some would say that she has a similar personality to that giant, to her chagrin, but at least she allows herself to trust people. She’s made an effort to make friends with those around her, all he’s done is make enemies. Even on the court, she’s certain that Tsukishima doesn’t trust Kageyama as a setter either. Whether that’s because he thinks the prodigy is a freak or he just despises him that much, is a bit of a toss-up. Maybe it’s both.

Shōyō served it, and thankfully it went over, just by a hair. It clipped the top of the net and dropped over onto Aoba Johsai’s side of the court. Matsukawa was able to save it with a dive but it gave Karasuno a chance ball. Daichi passed it to Kagayama who set it for Asahi. The ace wasn’t able to get it through the block, but he was able to hit the blockers’ hands and let it go out of bounds. Yet another point for Karasuno!

With a score of 21-19 in Karasuno’s favor, it was definitely crunch time for this set. Sakura leaned on the railing with a tilt of her head as she muttered to herself, “Now it’s the final scene…” Only a few more points and Karaunos might just win this set. These next few moments are going to help determine who goes into the semi-finals. Possibly. They still have the third set to play, but if Karasuno wins now, it means they get to play another set. This means even a larger chance of moving on to the next round of games.

“I guess even Seijoh would call a time-out after that,” Takinoue smirked, obviously more than smug about Aoba Johsai needing someway to slow Karasuno down.

On the sidelines, Endo clapped their little shorty on the back. The poor boy nearly choked on his water at that. His dazzling smile was illuminated in the fluorescent lights of the gym as he peered down at the younger boy, “You’re doing pretty good out there, short stuff!”

Shōyō saved himself from drowning on his own drink before beaming at his upperclassmen, “Oh, thanks Endo-senpai!”

“Though that serve was a bit iffy,” Endo commented which caused Shōyō to blanch at the reminder. Endo chuckled loudly, “thankfully it went over, if it didn’t, who knows what the score would be now.”

Asahi slid over to the pair, a bit apprehensive at the expression on Shōyō’s face. “Joji, don’t bring him down like that.”

“What?” Endo furrowed his eyebrows, “I’m not bringing him down! Just congratulating him on his messed up serve that actually worked out!” Asahi just sighed, knowing that Endo is either doing this just because, or he doesn’t see how his phrasing would upset the young boy. Shōyō definitely seemed to be rethinking that play in his head, the look of horror and embarrassment on his features as he thought of what could have happened if it didn’t make it over the net. Endo didn’t see an error in his words, since they were true, though he did watch in amusement and slight worry, as a few of his other teammates tried to get Shōyō out of his frozen state.

The next points were then played after the time-out was over. Aoba Johsai gained on Karasuno just a bit, but the crows were doing their best to keep the lead. Tsukishima had just spiked the ball, but Hanamaki was able to receive it. Even if the blond had a decent spike, it wasn’t going to get through Aoba Johsai’s defense so easily.

“He picked it up! Here comes the counter!” Shimada shouted as they watched Aoba Johsai get yet another point, “They caught up!”

Takinoue shook his head, “Damn, they’re tied now.”

There were ups and downs just about every second here. One moment it was in Karasuno’s favor and another Seijoh was suddenly gaining on them. Though now with the score at 21-21, who knows where this is going to end up. Seeing the score, Karasuno called for a time-out. At this point, they needed to slow Seijoh completely if they wanted a chance at winning this set.

The boys all gathered around their coach to hear what he had to say. “Come on, your faces! They’re all tense! Calm down and go!” Ukai then suddenly grabbed Tanaka by the face, “Your moves are great!”

Through his pinched cheeks, Tanaka was able to get out, “Yeah.”

Endo chuckled at the display and leaned over to Enoshita, “I don’t think I’ve said this, but Ukai is definitely a good coach.”

The second-year nodded his head in agreement, “yeah.”

“He’s not necessarily as cutthroat as old man Ukai, but certainly intense and effective.” He shrugged his shoulders after saying that. Yeah, the previous Ukai was definitely a perfectionist and tough on them when he had coached them previously. Endo certainly had been quite intimidated by the old man when he came to work with them for a while. Ukai definitely busted their asses into shape, even though it didn’t totally work. Though hey, he did what he could with the team he had and it was… ok. Endo certainly could do without some of the shouting the old man Ukai did, but it was fine. Though as he was thinking back to that time, something popped into his head. He furrowed his eyebrows, “say, you three, I have a question.”

“Yeah?” Ennoshita asked while he, Kinoshita, and Narita gave their attention to the blond third-year.

“How do you feel about being benchwarmers? I mean, you guys wanna play right?”

The three shared a look, a bit confused as to why their upperclassman was asking this. Kinosita said, “Well yeah, we all want to play, why do you ask?”

“Oh, um, it’s just I was wondering how you guys felt about it.” Endo blinked, not even sure why he was asking himself, “I mean you guys are really into volleyball, so how do you feel about this?”

Narita shrugged his shoulders, “It’s not ideal. I would rather get to play.”

“Yeah, we all want to play, but I think we know that we’re not exactly what the team needs right now,” Ennoshita explained.

Endo stared at them for a long moment and tilted his head, “Ah.”

He raised an eyebrow, “You seem confused.”

“Oh, no, no. I was just wondering!” Endo chuckled while waving his hand dismissively, “After all, I’ve never really been a benchwarmer, so I wanted some insight from professionals.”

The trio of second-years all collectively bristled at that. Ennoshita’s eye even twitched at the jab. They weren’t necessarily benchwarmers last year, since the upperclassmen took priority over them, the trio being first-years then. Sure they didn’t play as much as their teammates, but it was somewhat expected at the time. This year they did think that they would get more of a chance to play. Though now with the talent of the first-years it seemed like they’d have to wait until next year to be on the court more. 

Endo turned away from them, keeping his smile on his face. Though his mind started to spin as he thought about why he even wanted to know. Was it insensitive to even ask them that? He had a feeling it might have been. However, when has he ever worried about being insensitive to someone, even if they are a friend? Just about never. But he had to wonder, why was he curious about what they thought?

Was that because he was trying to compare how they feel about it to how he does? He would say no because he doesn’t know what he would ask. For some reason, in the course of these few games, Endo’s outlook on volleyball was ever so changing. Endo didn’t seem to realize it, and no one else probably saw it either, besides possibly Asahi. However, the blond was slowly… beginning to care about the games. Sure, beforehand Endo cared enough about volleyball to practice with the team and pay attention to plays and such. Though not enough to really care about winning them. These past few games were a bit different. Maybe it started with the game against Date Tech, seeing his friends get revenge against the iron wall had done something in him. Seeing his friends so ecstatic about winning that game against an opponent they thought was near impossible to beat must have affected him in a way he didn’t know what to do with. Not only that but maybe because he was on a team that was up against Aoba Johsai, Oikawa’s team, that could have been doing something to him too. 

He never got to play against Oikawa in an official game, so maybe getting this shot to actually do it was making him a bit more jittery or something. Endo never had an issue with being on the sidelines for a game, perhaps he even preferred it so he could watch Asahi play. Though this was different. It was almost like… Endo wanted to be a part of the game. A sudden longing that had grown in him in the past few days to be on the court. So perhaps he was asking his other teammates how it felt to be a benchwarmer to see if he felt the same way. Still, it wasn’t clear if he felt the same as them, but something had changed in Endo. If he knew it or not was unclear. He’ll find out eventually.

Finally, with the time-out over, the boys all headed back onto the court. The ball was served over and Nishinoya received it. Kageyama then set to Tsukishima again. This time, Tsukishima got a point by performing a feint right over Aoba Johsai’s blockers. That cheered everyone on Karasuno’s side after that.

“Yeah!” Narita cheered, “He got over the block!”

Kinoshita was buzzing in place, “He totally did it! How annoying!”

“Oh, I can imagine their blood is boiling over that!” Endo laughed.

Ennoshita placed a hand on his heart with a relieved sigh, “I thought that he was going to hit it hard up until the end.”

“Nice!” Yamaguchi exclaimed, “Tsukishima’s lively after getting through the opponent’s guard.”

“‘Lively’?” Shōyō tilted her head, never imagining that Tsukishima would ever be described as something like “lively”.

Seeing that they were having a bit of a hard time thinking that it was impossible for Tsukishima to be anything other than a jerk, Yamaguchi chuckled. “It’s hard to see, but that expression he has means he’s pretty into it,” He explained to them.

Shōyō blinked while looking at the expression on the other middle blocker’s face, “Oh.” The expression was lighter than usual, and he didn’t have an annoyed scowl on it. So maybe he was having a bit of fun during this. Then again, Tsukishima would definitely take pleasure in annoying people like this.

Up in the stands, Takinoue turned down to the teenage girl and questioned her, “That number 11, he’s a pretty good player isn’t he?” He certainly wanted to know more about the new first-years. Sure, they’ve seen them play quite a few times at this point. Though who they are as players are really shining now in this high-pressure situation. Plus, Sakura has insight on the team as being a friend of most of the players. So she knows them all as athletes and also as friends and classmates.

“Sure,” Sakura huffed after a moment of thinking, “He’s pretty intelligent when it comes to volleyball.” 

Shimada raised an eyebrow at the seeming contempt that was in her tone, “You don’t sound like you like him that much.”

She clicked her tongue, her bored eyes stared at the tall blond on the court, “He’s annoying.” Sakura didn’t necessarily want to say anything too personal about him. Even though her voice betrayed her slightly, she did her best to keep her personal feelings to herself. Even if she didn’t like Tsukishima all that much, she’s not going to put her own outlook on him to other people. The issues that she had with him were, as expected, personal to them. She’s certain that Tsukishima doesn’t act all that much differently with other people, but she wouldn’t say to other people what she felt like he is as a person without them experiencing it themselves. For all she knows, Tsukishima might have respect for their elders, perhaps he would be nice to these alumni. Though she can’t be certain. Then again, she has an inkling feeling that he’s an asshole to everyone, no matter who they are. Still, she wouldn’t speak ill of him to these guys, at least not yet. Nor does she want to talk about him all that much at the moment.

There was something more there, Takinoue and Shimada could just tell. However, it was probably just some high school kid stuff, drama that they were more than happy to not have now that they didn’t go to school anymore. The older guys just shared a look with each other before shrugging at each other. Some teenage drama was the least of their worries as they turned back to the game.

The next points were played with Asahi getting the team a point, only for it to win back by Matsukawa. With the score of 23-22 in Karauno’s favor, Aoba Johsai seemed to be desperate in keeping Karasuno at bay. Tsukishima had done another feint, but Watari was able to save it just barely. Oikawa was able to set it for Kindaichi to spike it, but Tanaka was there to save it.

“Be careful!” Takinoue exclaimed.

Shimada seemed to start to sweat, “They really need to get this.”

Sakura’s eyes started to become calculating as she watched Tsukishima jump up for the spike. It wasn’t going to be a feint, she just knew it. There was no way that they could just keep doing feints. Aoba Johsai’s libero had already caught on to the feints and can save them near perfectly. So if the libero was expecting a feint, then it wouldn’t be good to do just that. As she suspected, Tsukishima had spiked the ball quite hard instead of feinting. Everyone cheered for that quite happily. Yes, Tsukishima is an intelligent player, and also highly annoying. Though Sakura at least appreciated that he was annoying for Aoba Johsai at the moment. He brought the score to 24-22, something that amazed just about everyone.

Though even before they could cheer for that feat, Iawizumi was there to get Aoba Johsai the point back. They were making sure that they were only one point behind Karasuno. The score was now 24-23, set point for Karasuno. This was the deciding moment. In the next few minutes, Karasuno could shake up this match and actually win a set against their opponent, or their run in the tournament could come to an end right now. Of course, at this very pivotal moment, Oikawa was up to serve. His expression was stony and focused as he got himself ready. No doubt thinking about how he got to this point, how he had come to despise both Kageyama and Endo for his own reasons. Sure he didn’t get to play against Endo and defeat him as he would have. Though at least he’d get to do it to Kageyama, a bigger nuisance than Endo in his eyes at the moment. Kageyama was his underclassman and had been a pain ever since they were on the same team. He hates prodigies like him. Not having to work hard like him to be good at the sport. Replacing him as a setter when they were in middle school, being  And Endo, his old friend, who was stuck-up, selfish, and two-faced. While he wasn’t that annoying when it came to volleyball, he certainly made things off the court unbearable when they talked. He may have stayed in touch with him out of guilt for the past, but that didn’t mean he thought Endo was a good guy. Though that was behind them, Oikawa has to focus on now, and that meant beating Karasuno to try his luck against Shiratorizawa once again. 

So after some encouraging words from his best friend, he served the ball with his killer serve. He aimed for the far right corner on Karasuno’s side, but Nishinoya saved it

“It went up!” Shimada shouted in glee.

“Yeah!” Takinoue exclaimed but started to sweat as they watched the ball fly over the net, “But it’s going to go right back to Seijoh’s side.”

The chance ball flew back over to Watari who passed it to Oikawa. At first, it appeared that Kindaichi was gonna be the one to spike it, but at the last moment, Kageyama and Tsukishma moved to block Iwaizumi. At the last moment, Oikawa seemed to be relying on his best friend to get the point. Though it wasn’t enough since Kageyama could see through it.

That was it! Karasuno actually won the set!

Everyone was cheering for that, even including Sakura who at least clapped happily and smiled. As soon as they won the set, Shoyo had looked up to the stands to wave at her excitedly. It made her chest swell with pride as she gave him a thumbs up with both hands and a large smile. Of course, a few others on the team caught the smile and were both excited about the win and swooning for how adorable Sakura looked. She ignored them and made sure to get plenty of photos of the boys celebrating as they got ready for the next set.

Endo was more than happy to jump around with his underclassmen after the win. He was whooping and hollering loudly about it, sticking his tongue out at Oikawa who just bristled and glared at him. Endo clapped Nishinoya and Asahi on the backs as they drank some water. “You guys are badass out there! Keep it up and we’ll beat Crapykawa!”

“Don’t call people names, Joji.” Asahi sighed. It’s rude.”

“It’s just an endearing nickname I have for him, besides it’s not rude if it’s true, Oikawa can be quite a crappy guy.” Nishinoya snickered at Endo’s statement as Asahi just shook his head. Though he can’t really say that he disagrees with Endo, after the years that he’s known him and has heard the stories about Oikawa, he was right. Asahi didn’t like to hear the terrible way that Endo was treated by his friends in the past and vowed to never let that happen to him again. Though this game, it was quite satisfying to win this set against him. Even more so if they got to win the game. Then Asahi could say that he not only got revenge against the iron wall for making him question his skills but also against Oikawa for having hurt his best friend. Though first, they had to get through the final set.

Chapter Text

EVERYONE COULD TELL THAT NEITHER KARASUNO NOR Seijoh was going to give up in any way during this last set. They were all fired up since this was the match that would decide just who was going to move on. Any little mistake that was made by the teams could be crucial in their loss.

In the stands, Sakura was thoroughly invested in this game. More invested than she might admit. Sure, she was paying attention to the game for her brother’s sake. However, now things were getting far too interesting for her to look away even for a moment. Her brown eyes were bouncing back and forth while watching them. Before she was focused on Shōyō, but now she was pinpointing where the ball was going at all times.

Shimada sighed, “This rally is going on forever.”

“Overall, Seijoh’s better at everything, but…” Takinoue said as they watched Nishinoya save the ball, “…their libero has far better defensive skills.”

Each of these team’s tenacity to win just this rally was tiring to watch. Sakura was nowhere near playing and she even felt fatigued by all of this. Though she was getting plenty of perfect photos of this match. The intensity in the eyes of the boys was portrayed perfectly as well as the desperation every time they fought for each and every point.

While each team fought valiantly during this one rally, thanks to Seijoh’s libero setting for Oikawa, they were able to get a point. The score was then made to be 8-10 with Karasuno behind.

Sakura’s eyes widened at the play, “their libero was a setter?” A play like that is quite impressive, and not really seen in high school games. Those types of plays are usually saved for the big leagues. Just goes to show how advanced Seijoh is as a team.

The next rally was played with Oikawa serving it once again. It was received by Daichi who sent it to Kageyama to set it to Asahi. Though even if the ace did his best to spike it over, it was saved. The ball was heading back over the net after Hanimaki saved it, though before the ball could get over the net, Oikawa was there to save it and set it to Iwazumi. Aoba Johsai was about to get another point that way. So a timeout was called by Karasuno to slow the game down a bit.

The crows all grouped together, eager to hear what their coach had to say about the game. “All right! You’re all fighting well!” Ukai exclaimed, “Keep cool!”

All the boys nodded their heads, “Right!”

“It looks like they’re getting used to attacks that cut into the middle, so use the sides of the court as much as you can!”

“Right!”

Endo glanced over at Seijoh as they were in their own huddle. Oikawa was talking to his team, no doubt giving them his own encouraging words while bragging in some way. If there was one thing that Endo admired Oiakwa about, it was his way with words. Endo knew that sometimes Oikawa could make the most vile words sound like honey to anyone. He just hoped that today would be the day he could see that smirk wiped off his face because of his team.

“Let’s go!” Ukai broke him out of his thoughts.

All the boys nodded, “Right!”

So they dispersed and headed to their spots again. Endo waltzed back over to his spot to the sideline with the rest of the bench-warmers, clapping as his friends jogged back onto the court. To be honest, Endo wasn’t sure whether or not he actually liked being on the sideline. He is athletic, but he’s also not the type of person to constantly want to be playing sports or partaking in a physical activity. He’s not lazy… he just doesn’t like to sweat all that much. After all, sweating just messes up his hair. So he’s glad to see that he still had a front row seat to Oikawa’s possible downfall today on the court. Oh, it was quite delightful. Sure, it would be quite fulfilling to see Oiakwa knocked down a peg, though Endo would be quite proud to say that his friends and teammates were the ones to do it!

The match continued with the usual push and pull between the two teams. The score became 13-10 with Seijoh in the lead. Though thanks to Tsukishima and his feint, the crows got another point, hopefully bringing them closer to the lead and win for this match. On the sidelines, Shōyō was obviously stuck in his own head, hyper focused on getting put back on the court. That was obvious from the intense expression on his face as he kept his brown eyes pointed at the game. 

“Hinata.” Suga said as he broke Shōyō out of his thoughts.

The younger boy jumped slightly before turning to his upperclassman. “Yes?”

“Do you remember what Ukai-san said?” He asked.

Shōyō tilted his head, “About attacking both sides of the court as much as possible?”

“Right. That’s the best attack.” Suga stressed, “We haven’t used that much this time around.” It took a second, but Shōyō realized what he was saying.

Endo patted Shōyō on the back, “you’ve got this small fry. You and Kageyama are some of the most annoying tools we’ve got for this team.” The group of boys just chuckled at Endo’s words, knowing that he was pretty much right. The troublesome duo was going to be difficult for Seijoh to really slow them down, at least at first.

Even from so far away, Sakura could see the look in her brother’s eyes. She snapped a photo of the boys laughing together. A perfect time capsule of this happy moment between friends. Something that Sakura obviously loves capturing! Especially if it was a happy moment for her brother’s. She loves seeing those moments. It would make it even better if Karasuno won this game, she just knows that there would be plenty of happy moments to capture if that happened. Still a pretty big ‘if’ from her perspective though.

Shōyō was switched back onto the court, to the cheers of his friends and others. Nishinoya made sure to give him a hard high five as they past, which Shōyō returned just as hard.

They all lined up on the court, with Karasuno serving the ball. Thanks to a well placed block by Kageyama, it gave the crows a chance ball. From his spot on the court, Oikawa could already see that the little ginger was going to jump for a broad cross.

Everyone watched as the little number 10 used his near supersonic speed to rush across the court. Of course, Kageyama’s pin-point toss set the ball perfectly into Shōyō’s awaiting palm. They were able to get a point thanks to Shōyō’s broad cross, since Seijoh wasn’t prepared for that at all.

“Nice shot, Hinata!” Everyone cheered and jumped on the sidelines. Now the score was 14-13. Seijoh was still in the lead, but now with Shōyō fired up, who knows what will happen now.

Things were going to start swaying from here, no doubt. With Shōyō being extremely motivated now, Karasuno wasn’t going to go down with out a fight. Not only that, but his fire was infectious. The rest of the crows on the court were going to end up being just as enthusiastic about this game as he was. That was evident from how even if they were starting to become visibly tired, none were willing to slow down.

“That ball’s not coming down.” One of the girls besides Sakura said, “So amazing.”

Another girl gasped, “That little guy’s amazing.” 

Sakura couldn’t help herself but smirk a bit. Yea, it was a bit satisfying to hear other people be impressed by her brother. Sue her for being proud of him!

“Volleyball, more than anything,” Shimada started drawing all of their attention, “is a sport where you keep jumping continuously, so I believe it’s also a battle with gravity. Jumping as a decoy, jumping to block, and jumping to spike. As the rally keeps going, fatigue sets in and your mental faculties decline. To be honest, you want to skip the blocking, and I’ve had times where I hoped someone else would spike it.”

Sakura took a deep breath, knowing what he was saying. They’re tired, which of course they would be after so long. Though she knows her brother. He wouldn’t let something like fatigue get in his way. He’ll keep going. Keep pushing. Until he’s down. Until he no longer can jump. He will do everything in his power to be the best. Do everything he can to stay on the court for as long as possible. Even then if he gets tired, he’ll do what he can to push through it. Shōyō would never give up. Even in the face of an impossible opponent while running on fumes, he wouldn’t find an excuse to stop. Perhaps it was a talent in itself to have that sort of tenacity. Though whatever it was, Sakura found it more than impressive.

Takinoue nodded his head in agreement, “When long rallies continue and I get deprived of oxygen, I think, ‘Hurry up and drop, ball… Preferably on the other side.’”

“Shōyō won’t stop.” Sakura said, earning all of their attention, “He’ll never stop. He’s a bit annoying like that.” Was it annoying? Or perhaps admirable? His determination could not be rivaled in her eyes. He’s just so... amazing! More often than not, when he sets his mind to something, there’s very little that will stop him from achieving it.

Back on the court, Kageyama appeared to start setting the ball to Shōyō, but there was a perfect opening for their ace! So like any good decoy, Shōyō did his best to get all of their focus onto him, even though he has done it time and time again during this game.

It seemed like Seijoh fell for it as Asahi only had one blocker in his way. That blocker was Oikawa, who didn’t seem all that happy when Asahi’s spike went right through him. Yea, Endo was more than smug about that happening from his spot on the sidelines.

“Pipe concentration!” The two alumni cheered.

Sakura clapped lightly, slowly but surely starting to grow excited about the outcome of this game. After all, they had caught up! They didn’t have the lead just yet, but there was still time. There’s no telling what will happen now.

Eventually, a timeout was called now that the teams were tied up. All of the boys came off the court to grab a towel and a water bottle. They were all tired, that’s for sure. Though their determination was palpabile to everyone in the gym.

As Endo finished handing off a water bottle to Asahi and joking with Nishinoya, he walked off to the side and noticed something. Yamaguchi was staring at the group of their teammates who were trying to cool down a little bit before going back on the court. There was a look in his eyes that Endo somewhat recognized. He appeared to be… envious of them. “You alright there, Yama?” He asked while walking up to the olive-haired boy.

Yamaguchi jumped slightly before turning to his upperclassmen with a tilt of his head. “Huh! Yea, I’m fine.”

“You seemed a little lost in thought there.” Endo smirked cheekily, “Or are you admiring our teammates, they all do look kind of attractive all out of breath like that, no?”

Yamaguchi became so red, that he honestly looked like a strawberry for a moment. “Eh!?”

Endo laughed loudly at the flustered state he just brought upon his underclassman, “I’m only kidding…”

It took a while for Yamaguchi to collect his bearings and calm himself down. Though once he did, he blinked up at his teammate, his brown eyes lit with curiosity. “Say, Endo-senpai.”

The blond glanced at him with a raised eyebrow, “Hm, yes?”

“You seem ok with not being able to play.”

Endo blinked and chuckled, “Well, I think I do a lot better on the sidelines as a cheerleader than an actual player.” 

Yamaguchi eyed him, “Do you want to play?” Endo paused only for a moment, considering the question. Why did even Yamaguchi care about it? Perhaps because they were both benchwarmers for the game and most other games. So perhaps Yamaguchi was curious about why a senior wasn’t on the court at all. Sugawara wasn’t on the court that much, but even then the setter seemed impatient to be put on the court. So why wasn’t Endo? The younger boy jumped, now realizing that he may have overstepped his bounds. “S-Sorry, that was a sudden question.”

Endo chuckled at the ball of nerves that the younger boy became and answered, “For fun, I suppose. I don’t really like being competitive.” That’s more than true. Endo didn’t really care for the tournament itself, just to have fun with his friends.

“...I-I would have thought you would want to be the best there is at everything,” Yamaguchi blinked, since he knows that Endo likes to boast about everything. His senpai is quite smug and cocky, any moment he got to put himself above another, no matter who it is, Yamaguchi knows Endo would do it.

Internally, Endo was having a little bit of a conflict, like usual. Was he going to tell him that he certainly does, but doesn’t feel like he can prove it? That Endo has felt inadequate when compared to his other friends who were thoroughly passionate about the sport? Was he gonna tell his underclassmen, who Endo doesn’t really know all too well, about how he’s struggling with finding his passion for this game or anything in general? No, he wouldn’t do that.

So he just smugly smiled nodding his head, “I am the best at everything. So there’s no reason for me to constantly be on the court!” He exclaimed, “Why play when I’ve already proven I’m extremely good? I let the others get a chance at attention.” It may have been a mildly good vaile to hide behind, and he’s used to hiding behind his smugness in the past, though it wasn’t as strong as usual. So yes, Yamaguchi might have shook his head lightly at the loud boasting of his senpai and focused back on the game, but he didn’t think that it wasn’t extremely truthful. Though who was Yamaguchi to say whether Endo was being honest or not? He doesn’t know Endo all that well, so he doesn’t truly understand how his senpai really thinks.

Thanks to Tanaka, the score had been brought back to another tie of 16 points each. It was constantly going back and forth between them no matter what each side tried. Shōyō came running up towards the net and it was quite obvious what was going to happen. “Is he going to do another broad…” Takinoue asked before they all noticed that none of the blockers were moving to block him. “Or wait… Huh? No mark? Did they give up on the block?”

Sakura squinted her eyes as she realized that without the blockers in the way, Seijoh’s libero had a perfect view of Shōyō’s spike. Sure, it was completely open for Shōyō to spike the ball, but there was an obvious counterattack that Seijoh had in mind. It wasn’t too much of a surprise to see that with that clear view, Watari was able to save the ball. With his receive, he lined it up to Oiakwa who faked them all out with a setter dump right over Shōyō.

Everyone was surprised by that, the alumni shouted, “Now a dump?!” That wasn’t good, at all. If this continues on, Aoba Johsai may be able to pull far enough ahead in points and leave Karasuno in the dust!

After that, Oikawa was then next up to serve. While he put the same amount of power into it as he normally does, the arch of the ball wasn’t high enough and ended up just hitting the net. Though it was just enough for it to tip over onto Karasuno’s side, and no one was able to save it. Now they were two points behind again. Oikawa served once more and it was perfect, which let Nishinoya receive it nicely. Though there was some confusion as Kageyama and Asahi both ran over to receive that ball. It would have ended up in a point for Seijoh if they hadn’t been quick enough. Kageyama bumped it to Asahi who took the last hit to send it over the net.

Takinoue grabbed his head in anxiety, “That was close!” 

“Calm down! Don’t lose your cool!” Shimada exclaimed in worry.

Sakura bit the inside of her cheek, more than worried about all of this. They better not lose their common sense after all of this work. It would be quite unfortunate for them to lose this set thanks to a few stupid mistakes. That would be the most anti-climatic thing ever, in her opinion. Also quite sad. After all the work they’ve put in, to be out done because of a few mistakes. That wouldn’t be the best feeling.

“This isn’t ending any time soon…” The Oikawa’s black-haired fan girl gasped at the long rally so far.

“When you make it through a long rally, you can shift the game’s momentum. With this rally, getting that one point will be crucial.” Shimada commented, speaking from experience.

After a one touch by Karasuno’s number 10, Asahi dove for a nice save of the ball. Shōyō had tried to spike the ball with a set made by Nishinoya, but it didn’t work. Aoba Johsai was there with a three man block to stop him. Now, the score was 19-16. Slowly but surely, that small gap that Karasuno had used to catch up was closing. It wasn’t that much of a surprise when Ukai called for a time out. There needs to be some semblance of effort made to slow Seijoh down. If it wasn’t through Karasuno making points, then slowing them down through timeouts should work.

“Damn.” Takinoue grunted, “They’ve used up their two timeouts.”

“It can’t be helped. They’ve got to physically break that momentum with a timeout, or Seijoh’s going to take control.” Who knows where Karasuno could go from here. They needed some sort of miracle to get them out of this slump. Though as he gathered the team together and thought things over, Ukai glanced up to the stands where the alumni and Sakura were standing, to their confusion. He appeared to have an epiphany right at that moment.

Sakura’s eyebrows furrowed, “why does the old man have that weird look on his face?” The two older guys just shrugged their shoulders, just as confused as her.

The teams went back on after the timeout, the last time out that Karasuno could call for this set. Though as they played, the referee blew his whistle. Shimada gave a large sigh of relief, “Seijoh touched net. Thank goodness!”

“But…” Takinoue started to sweat.

“If they miss here, Seijoh will have the advantage at 20 points. If they take the momentum, we won’t be able to catch up.”

The teenager girl blinked as she watched her brother step up to the back of the court. “It’ll be Shōyō’s serve too…” Sakura has faith in her brother, most of the time. When it comes to his serves… She has little to no faith.

Though there was a little commotion as it seemed like Karasuno was going to sub a pinch server in. “Hey, Shimada, look at that.” Takinoue said as he pointed to who Ukai was subbing into the game. It was the team's pinch server, Yamaguchi Tadash. The poor boy was shaking like a leaf, appearing to be extremely anxious. He walked onto the court like a baby deer learning how to walk for the first time.

“T-Tadashi’s the pinch server?!” Shimada shakily exclaimed. He grabbed his head, almost ripping out his hair while hiding behind the railing, “What is Keishin thinking?! He’s an idiot! I told him that it’s still mostly pure luck!”

“I think he wants even that pure luck.” Takinoue said, “You don’t know what’s going to change the momentum.”

‘Tadashi…’ Sakura thought. Quite a few different emotions ran through her chest in that moment. Worry, excitement, pride were just a few. She’s more than happy to see him play in the game. Since he didn’t think that he was going to play in this game, she’s excited that he got the chance. She’s even proud to see that Ukai trusted him enough to try to change the momentum of the game. Though this was his first game, with it being an extremely stressful moment. This is bound to be the most nerve wracking  moment for him.

On the sidelines, the rest of the team were staring at the more than nervous Yamaguchi. Endo was certain that he was going to be sick at some point. That’s definitely something that he didn’t wanna see. Because if Yamaguchi was sick, then Endo was going to be sick, and it just wouldn’t be pretty at all.

“Is that all right?” Ennoshita asked, “He already has enough reason to be nervous, but won’t there be more pressure from playing with his seniors?”

Suga nodded his head,“Oh, right.” He then quickly gathered the benchwarmers together and lined them all up. “Hey, Yamaguchi!”

The frightened boy jumped before glancing over at the group to see them all staring at him with large smiles. Lined up like a kick line, they all pointed at him and shouted, “Hit a nice serve!” Who knows if that helped calm Yamaguchi down at all. Perhaps the absurdity of it had lightened his mood at least a little. That’s all they could hope for.

“Dang… He’s so stiff.” Even Takinoue could see just how tense the pinch server was from up there.

“Wouldn’t you be?” Sakura asked, “first ever game he’s been put in, and it’s a pivotal point in the game. His actions here alone could determine how this game goes.” She almost felt defensive of Yamaguchi. He’s her friend, so she guessed the protectiveness over him was normal. Like she said, he hasn’t been in an official game on this team just yet. Not only that but to be put in the game to hopefully change the momentum left a heavy burden on his shoulders. Sakura knows he can be quite the anxious guy, so she has no idea how he’s handling this moment.

“It can’t be helped.” Shimada said, “Relying on your team is most of volleyball. Serving is the only time you’re alone. Everyone will be looking at you, and you’ve got all the pressure. But when you’re standing in the serve position, you’re the center of attention, no matter who you are.”

Yamaguchi seemed to prepare himself while on the line. This is his big moment after all. What happens if he does make this? He’ll be quite the hero to the team if that were to happen. They were in a moment of need and he might just be the piece to pull them towards their win. So he readied himself. He jumped up to serve. A near perfect jump float serve, just like Shimada had taught him. Everyone held their breath, waiting to see just how good of a pinch server Yamaguchi is. However, the ball didn’t even make it to the other side. It was just a bit too short, and just ended up falling back onto Karasuno’s side. So that was that. The score was now 20-17, Seijoh obviously still in the lead. So they broke to 20 points first, that wasn’t a good sign, but still not the end.

Sakura let out a soft, sad sigh while watching the destroyed expression on her friend's face. “Oh, Tadashi.” She watched as he headed off the court with his head hung low. No doubt spewing apologies to his teammates for his mistake.

One of the fan girls blinked, “Eh? So he got brought out here because of a punch, but if he fails, he’ll be pulled out?”

The other girl sighed sympathetically for the poor boy, “That’s sort of sad.”

Shimada shook his head while he explained, “That’s the job of a pinch server. That one shot has both the game’s momentum and their pride riding on it. And Tadashi messed up. But this chance to feel this regret and his own helplessness will definitely make him stronger.”

Sakura nodded her head, silently agreeing. She may not have been friends with him for all that long, but even she knew how he would be feeling about this. Sakura could only hope that he looked past it for the time being. It was one mistake, he could make up for it another time.

On the sidelines, Endo greeted Yamaguchi back over to them with a pat on the shoulder. “You did great out there!”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t get the point we needed.”

“Don’t worry about it! You did the best you could. Plus I bet you were super nervous out there. I mean first high school game and you have to get us a point that might make or break us in this set. That’s super stressful. I’m surprised you’re holding yourself together so well!”

Ennoshita quickly stepped in between the two, separating the now sickly looking Yamaguchi from their senpai. The second-year pinpointed Endo with a small glare, “If you keep talking, he won’t be.”

Endo blinked, now realizing that he wasn’t really helping Yamaguchi calm down all that much. He sheepishly scratched the back of his head, “Oh.”

Putting Yamaguchi’s little mess up aside, the atmosphere had changed around Karasuno’s side. Obviously, this has happened a few times during this game. Though Aoba Johsai knows to watch out when this happens. Each time Karasuno 

“Did the black team cheer up of a sudden?” A fan girl asked.

“It’s just like Tattsun says…” Shimada said with a smirk, “You don’t know what’s going to change the momentum.” Even if Yamaguchi didn’t get the point, his actions still appeared to change the momentum. They were fired up now more than ever. Their teammates effort had fueled them to some capacity to push themselves harder. They most likely wanted to redeem Yamaguchi, to not make his effort in vain, even if it wasn’t successful.

So it was another push and pull between the teams taking and getting points. Even a quick move by Takana kicking the ball over the net to save it had given Karasuno a point. So when Kageyama stepped up to serve, it was 23-22!

It was intense to watch all of this happen. None of them wanted to lose so they were giving their all. Though Karasuno may have put up a fight, but Aoba Johsai was now at match point. This might just be the end of Karasuno journey. Sakura seemed to be more than resigned to 

Tanaka was then up to serve, which he did pretty easily.

“Crap! It’s going past the net!” Shimada exclaimed as they all leaned over the railing, “They’re going to hit it head on!”

Oikawa was right there to get the ball, more than likely going to smack the ball straight down for the winning point. However, Kageayama was there too! He saved the ball from going over the net and into Oikawa’s hands just by a centimeter. Once he did, Shōyō was there to spike the ball over the net. Now Karasuno had another point. Taking away that match point from them was more than satisfying. It also meant that Karasuno was more than capable of catching up to Seijoh. Even if the Great King thought that he could keep them from reaching him at all, but things were certainly changing now.

Chapter Text

THE ONE-HANDED TOSS THAT KAGEYAMA HAD MADE was incredible! Not only did it show how much skill and precision he has as a setter but it tied up the game. There was a moment when the ball had hit the floor on Seijoh’s side that Sakura just about screamed out in excitement. Though she kept herself in check and only clapped loudly. Last thing she’d do is get too emotional at a time like this. However, she’ll be damned if she’d let someone think that she wasn’t invested and supportive. 

During this entire game, it’s been quite the rollercoaster of emotions. Her doubts and hopes constantly flip flopping around from believing that they were actually going to win or lose. Though at this very moment, she was wholeheartedly going to have faith that this game would end with her brother winning. After all the miracles and good luck that they’ve had so far, there’s little to no doubt in her mind that they could lose at this point. 

Yes, her heart was taking over her logical thinking right now. However, there was still a very strong chance that they would win this! She was going to let herself be optimistic right in this moment. That point had changed her opinion in just a few seconds. The growing feeling in her chest was new and slightly confusing, but she’ll let it consume her at this moment. She was elated for her brother and friend.

Everyone was in complete shock over what had happened. Now that the teams were at a deuce, hopefully that meant Karasuno still had a fighting chance. But imagine it, what if Karasuno could beat them! The underdog taking down one of the most elite teams in this tournament, that would be a complete upset.

Seijoh had to call a timeout after that. Not only did they need a break after those intense rallies but now they needed to slow down Karasuno’s momentum. When the boys came over to the side to get some well-deserved water, Nishinyoa was more than excited to greet the troublesome duo. He rubbed their heads harshly with a large smile, “Hey! That was awesome, Hinata, Kageyama!”

Endo smirked at the sight of his tired teammates, “you guys are keeping up with those buffoons, huh? Good job!” Oh, he loved to see the near panicked expression on Oikawa’s face. He seemed to now be realizing that Karasuno was a worthy opponent to knock them down a peg. Sure, they hadn’t done it yet, but it was more of a possibility than Oikawa originally believed. Endo certainly is salivating for the sight of a defeated Tooru.

After getting a quick drink and calming down some, both teams returned to the court. It was Karasuno’s serve and Tanaka was up. “We’ve got the momentum!” Ennoshita encouraged them.

The other boys all yelled, “Nice serve!”

Endo joined in on the cheering, “You got this!” 

“Give it all you’ve got, Tanaka!” Suga yelled in encouragement.

Tanaka served the ball pretty well and the receive that their opponent made was a bit wonky. “It’s a little off!” Shimada exclaimed.

Takinoue was gritting his teeth, “Block! Block!”

They watched as multiple times Shōyō attempted to spike the ball. Though each and every time he tried, it was saved. Sakura noticed that her brother’s jumps were getting shorter. Even if he was able to get a point eventually, it was only because he floated the ball over the block thanks to his jump being short. He was running back and forth too much, and she feared that it was catching up to him. That can’t happen now, he can’t let that happen! She gripped the railing tightly as she watched the game even more intensely than before. Her camera was completely forgotten at this point since she didn’t want to miss a moment of this. The only time she would use her camera at this point, was to capture the moment they won, that was for sure.

“This time…” Takinoue let a large smile spread over his face, “…Karasuno is the one checkmating.” 

Though that feeling didn’t last all that long since Seijoh just got another point and tied the game up once more. “Even if they’re tied, as long as Seijoh doesn’t pull ahead, Karasuno will have advantage. Now…” Shimada said as they watched Oikawa prepared himself to serve the ball. “And now, it’s time for Oikawa to serve again…”

Oikawa got himself into the right headspace before jumping up to serve. It was just as powerful, just as intimidating as all of his other ones, and it was headed straight for Nishinoya. Though thanks to his keen observations, the libero was able to tell that the ball was going out of bounds. Which it did, much to everyone's surprise. So that just meant another point for Karasuno.

Sakura smirked just a little bit at the seeming panic that Oikawa must have been going through. Let him start to lose his cool, start to squirm now that Karasuno was catching up and over powering him. It was a good feeling to see him in that state. Especially after he had annoyed her so last time she saw him. He was cracking under pressure and she hoped that he got crushed by it.

Takinoue smugly smirked, “If he missed a serve, when that’s his strong suit, maybe he’s panicking a bit.”

“Yeah. Even Oikawa…” Even though Shimada and Takinoue thought that Oikawa may be losing it a little, that didn’t mean the rest of the team was. Case and point, Iawzumi had gotten a point back for his team. 

Shimada questioned, “Are you sure Seijoh’s never been to nationals? They’re not breaking at all.”

“No. As far as I know, Shiratorizawa is always the team to go to nationals.” Sakura commented with a shrug. While she hasn’t done all that much research into other schools, one thing is for sure, Shiratorizawa always seems to dominate. They’ll definitely be an obstacle to overcome. Though that was later.

 Takinoue shook his head, “But that doesn’t change Seijoh’s position at all. Even if the physical fatigue they’re feeling is the same, the mental fatigue that Deijoh is feeling is much greater! Get through this Karasuno!”

It was a bit of a blur to some people, others saw it in slow motion, but each team had fought back and forth for points. They fought so hard, that each team got over 30 points! It amazed Sakura quite a bit to see them all like this. The mentality that they must have to be able to keep themselves going for so long is admirable. However, at this point all it could take is one small mistake by one person to end the game. Who knows what that mistake might be, or who it will be that’ll make it. She just hoped that it wasn’t someone on Karasuno, especially her brother.

Though she has high hopes, for the first time in a long time. High hopes that things could turn out positive for Karasuno. After all, if Karasuno is able to keep up with Aoba Johsai like this, then there’s a likely chance of them winning. The percentage of Karasuno winning here has certainly gone up every moment that they stayed on the court. Hopefully that percentage keeps growing and tips the odds into their favor! 

Shimada chewed on his bottom lip in anxiety, “This is rough on both of them.”

“But…” Takinoue started, “I think Karasuno is just barely keeping it together. I think their attacks are becoming simple, too. Seijoh should be worse off, mentally, but…”

The three girls besides them all shouted out, “Oikawa-kun, nice serve!”

Sakura cringed at their high-pitch squeals. She really could go without Oikawa's fan girls. She’ll have a splitting headache from all the shouting and the stress of watching this game. How does Oiakwa deal with these fans? Actually, she thought it over, he probably loved the attention they gave him, that cocky, pretentious setter.

“Gah! That was one full rotation!” Shimada jumped in worry, “He’ll probably have the missed serve on his mind, so I wonder how Oikawa will do.”

“Let’s hope he chokes,” Sakura said blandly, earning some concerned stares from the alumni.

Though even if they wished for the Aoba Johsai captain to mess up once again, it seemed like he had laser focus for this serve. He served the ball, though this time it went straight for Daichi who received it and ended up giving them a chance ball. Even after messing up, he didn’t let that get to him at all! The ball was played back and forth for a moment, but the rally ended with Seijoh’s number 13 getting the point thanks to a feint.

Now with the score of 32-31, Seijoh was at match point. One more point and it was all over for them. As the boys all congregated together to talk strategy, Kageyama seemed lost in thought thinking about his former teammates and how they’ve changed. 

“Kageyama! Stop hesitating!” Suga shouted at him, noticing his conflict, “Everyone on our team is…”

From across the court, Kageyama finished his senpai’s sentence, “...Strong, as they should be.” He turned to see all of his teammates, all of them standing proud and determined in this moment. There was no need for Kageyama to hold back or worry about his team, they were just as capable of handling things themselves.

“Do you think the King is scared of the Great King?” Tsukishima asked no one in particular.

“It’s okay.” Suga smiled with a chuckle, “Kageyama’s not the Lonely King anymore.”

Endo nudged Tsukishima in the arm, “what amazing character development, eh?” The first-year’s eyebrow twitched as he pushed Endo away from him. As if just having him touch him was one of the most disgusting things ever. Endo shook his head at that, “though it’s understandable, Oikawa can be scary at times.” He spoke from experience, he should know it more than anyone really.

Tskishima clicked his tongue,“You’re scared of him?”

The older boy just continued to smile at him, trying to seem unaffected by his question. “He’s extremely powerful, it’s usually good to be cautious of him.” The determination that Oikawa has towards volleyball is terrifying in its own right. If he were able to put his mind to anything, he'd achieve it, at any cost.

Back to the game, Oikawa served once again though this time it was a near perfect float serve. Yea, the Grand King had quite the range of attacks when it came to his serves. With quick reaction time, Daichi was able to save it from hitting the court. Shimada gasped, “It went up!”

“But it’s messed up!” Takinoue exclaimed as they saw that the ball was passed too close to the net. “They won’t be able to use a quick!”

Unable to use Shōyō in that moment, Kageyama set it for Asahi who spiked it but Aoba Johsai ended up getting a one touch. Kindaichi was able to spike the ball back over the net, but Karasuno’s guardian deity was there to save it!

All while this was happening, Sakura was biting the inside of her cheek. It wasn’t a very good idea considering she could taste the slight metallic taste on her tongue now, but she’s too invested to worry about that right now. This is the set that might just end Karasuno’s dream of getting to the nationals this time. So she’ll worry about that later. Her knuckles were white as she gripped the banister like it was the only thing keeping her grounded. She might possibly be working up a sweat just watching this game. All the while, she was just about trembling in worry and exhilaration. A strange combination she will admit, but it definitely made her feel alive!

Shōyō was then at the perfect spot, the perfect time for Kageyama to set him the ball. Kageyama even seemed to have full faith in this play as he sent his signature pin-point toss to the ball of sunshine.

Everything was suddenly in slow motion. 

Nobody saw that block coming, not really. The three man block had stopped Shōyō’s spike. At that moment, Sakura’s heart cracked. No one could save it which meant… Karasuno had lost with a score of 33-31. As the ball hit the ground, the sound echoed throughout the gym. It felt like that was the only sound that could be heard. Karasuno was in shock as Seijoh began to celebrate.

It took a moment for Endo to comprehend it. Maybe even more than just a moment. They lost… That’s not new. They’ve lost before, plenty of times. So why did it feel so much worse!?

For the first time ever… Endo was upset about losing. He stood on the sidelines with his blue eyes wide and mouth turned down in a heavy frown. In this game… he actually wanted to win. Whether it was to rub it in Oikawa’s face or to prove to his father that he could be successful with this team, he didn’t know. 

What he does know is that he felt like crying now. Tears built up in the corners of his eyes, Joji felt like sobbing. At the start of this game, he personally didn’t care if they won or lost. However, winning would make his friends happy, and he wanted that for them. Now, feeling that crushing defeat from Seijoh, he was sad. He wanted to win, he realized. This tournament gave him the opportunity to feel like a champion, and it felt so good. To be the victor of a game was exhilarating. To be a loser was heartbreaking.

He didn’t play in the match, so he shouldn’t feel this way, right? He didn’t have a hand in the points that were made or lost during this game. Though that seemed to just make him feel even worse.

 Suga solemnly stated, “Let's go.” Urging his fellow-benchwarmers to follow him to line up. It took a moment for Endo to break out of his stupor, but he languishly followed after them. He kept himself from crying and put his mask back up on his face, but not even he could completely hide the fact that he was upset.

Sakura watched the way her brother collapsed to the ground. She almost felt like doing the same, she was emotionally exhausted from this, but not as much so as them. So she held herself strong as they lined up to thank each other for the game, shake hands, and lined up to thank their supporters.

Everyone clapped for them, obviously impressed with their fight against Seijoh. Though those claps probably felt like pity to some of Karasuno. They did try their best, it just wasn’t enough…

Shimada clapped loudly and tried to cheer them up, “Great work!”

“That was a great match!” Takinoue called out.

The praise didn’t mean anything to them. The loss was fresh and whatever good thing that anyone had to say to them would go over their heads. It would take a while for them to come to terms with the loss. Perhaps by tonight they would, but who knows for some of them.

“When we lost…” Takinoue said, as he started to speak from experience. “I hated being told we had a great match. It was like, ‘but we lost.’ However, being on the side to say that now, I guess I don’t know what else to say.”

“There’s nothing else to say.” Sakura said blankly as she sighed through her nose. “They lost, plain and simple. All you can do is compliment them on what they did right and point out some skills they should improve on.” She shook her head slightly before saying softly, “they’ll have to do better next time.” Did she feel like crying for her brother? Just a little. Though she did a good job at hiding that. She doesn’t need to add on the emotions at all.

On the court, Karasuno gathered up once more to get their last words from their coach. Most of them were all in their own thoughts, thinking over their loss. Thinking about what they did wrong and how they could have fixed it. What would have happened if they spiked the ball just a little bit more to the left? What would have happened if they had pushed themselves more into a dive to save a ball? Who knows. Though they couldn’t dwell on it too long since they had to leave since the next game was going to start.

“We need to clear out immediately. The next team’s warm-up is starting.” Ukai stated to the group, “We’ll start our cool down upstairs or outside. Seijoh will be going to the quarterfinals after a short break.”

Endo followed after his teammates slowly, off of the gym floor. With one last quick glance over at Oikawa, Endo lumbered after the team. He didn’t want to see Oikawa’s infuriating smile, nor did he want Oikawa to see him like this. There was no need for Oikawa to see him upset like this. There was only one time that Oikawa had seen that, and Endo wouldn’t let this be the second time.

An arm then placed itself over his shoulders, shaking him out of his thoughts. Endo looked up to see that it was Asahi who had drawn him into a side hug as they walked off the court. They stared at each other for a moment, both of them knowing that they needed this comfort at the moment. So Asahi and Endo silently supported each other while following their team out of the gym. They didn’t really need to say anything to each other to know just how they were feeling. All they needed was to be close to each other for right now.

It took a while, but eventually after cleaning themselves up the boys all headed upstairs to grab their team banister. Which meant that Sakura could finally see just how broken up her brother was close up. 

He lumbered up to her like a sad puppy and just plopped himself into her shoulder. Shōyō needed comfort more than anything right now and she would gladly provide it. Sakura swallowed thickly, keeping her emotions at bay as she took a deep breath through her nose. “You guys did well,” she shrugged. “Doesn’t seem like many people can say they lasted against Aoba Johsai that long.” 

“You were right, imouto…” He miserably said into her shoulder.

Sakura closed her eyes in dismay, “Shōyō-”

“Like always.” He pulled away far enough to look at her with the most heartbreaking expression she had ever seen as tears built up in his eyes. “Why didn’t I listen to you?”

It’s not like Sakura wanted to be right. Not this time. If anything, she really wished that she had been proven wrong. The last thing she wants is for her brother to be upset, to be let down like she has in the past. This is the worst thing that she has ever bared witness to. 

In this moment, she didn’t know what to say to him. She’s usually a voice of reason, to at least try and give him some constructive criticisms to focus on for later. Though that didn’t seem to be a good thing to do right now. Bringing up what he might have done wrong in the game certainly would set him off. The last thing she wanted now was to make him feel worse.

With having nothing else to say besides a quiet, “you did your best.” Sakura and Shōyō followed the rest of the team once they got their things and headed downstairs. 

“All right, let’s go get some food.” Ukai called out to them all as they exited the building, “Of course, I’m paying.”

Daichi’s eyebrows furrowed, “Eh? Food? But…”

“Just shut up and eat.” Ukai chuckled as they all filed onto the bus. The team obviously didn’t think that they were going to get treated like this. They did lose after all, what sort of thing did they do to deserve a reward? They all ended up going to a small restaurant that wasn’t too far from the gym. After sitting down at the table and waiting for their food, everything was set for their lunch. Ukai nervously bowed to the owner of the restaurant, “Sorry, Ma’am, for coming in right before you open up.”

The kind owner, an older woman with a warm smile shook her head, “Don’t worry. This used to happen all the time.”

Ukai looked at his team, all of their faces somber as they looked to him for words of encouragement. “Running, jumping, and anything else that stresses your muscles will cause the fibers to tear. Right after a match, like now, your muscles are at their limits, so you’ve got to repair them by eating. That’s how you build muscle, and become stronger. So eat. Eat a proper meal.”

So everyone started to eat in silence after saying thanks for the food. None of them wanted to focus on the loss, just the delicious food. Though that didn’t mean they weren’t upset. Mostly everyone at the table was silently crying. Who knows where they could go from here. All that they need to focus on right now is to eat. To eat and grow stronger so they can start training once again.

Chapter Text

WAKING UP IN THE HINATA HOUSEHOLD WAS a much quieter affair than normal. Shōyō wasn’t as energetic when he had woken up and barely spoke a word to his family. Not even his little sister, Natsu, had really said anything when she watched her older siblings leave for school. She obviously could feel the downtrodden mood and didn’t know how to make him feel better.

Sakura didn’t want to bother Shōyō by asking him if he was all right. She knew that he wasn’t. From the way that his brown eyes were misty and his lips always seemed to quiver, as if he was a hair away from busting out into tears, there was no way he was okay. Their bike ride was quiet besides their breathing as they trekked up and down the mountain. All the while, Sakura was thinking about how she tried her best last night to make him feel okay. She had comforted him all last night, not even reprimanding him for staying up later than usual. 

She’s always been there to comfort him for everything, every loss, every injury, every issue. So she did the same as normal ever since the end of the game. She kept close to him, didn’t say much, let him vent to her when he felt like it, and didn’t leave him by himself. Shōyō doesn’t usually like being by himself whenever he’s sad. Sakura has helped him through a loss before, being the one game that he had during middle school. He had wanted to be close to her since he’s a very physical person, which usually meant hugging her lots to make him feel better. Sakura may not like hugs all that much, but if it made her brother feel better she’d endure his hugs no matter how long it took to make him feel better. Though she couldn't make him feel completely better. He still lost. There's no changing that.

Though today it seemed like he was completely out of it, so Sakura was just going to leave him be for a while. He could usually bounce back pretty quickly when he was upset. Not this time, however. Perhaps he needed to just be alone for a bit. So when they put their bikes away, she bid him a hug goodbye and headed off to her own class. 

She went about her day like normal. She talked with Yachi about it all and she was sad to hear about Karasuno’s loss in the tournament. Through stuttered words and a few apologies sprinkled in there, Yachi told Sakura that if she wanted to take her mind off of it then Yachi would help her out somehow.

It was a bit confusing though. Why would Sakura need to take her mind off of it? Sakura wasn’t the one who played or was completely emotionally attached to the game. Plus, she basically assumed that this would happen. The only thing that would probably be affecting her would be how Shōyō was upset. She hates seeing her brother sad or frustrated to this point, so that’s the only issue that she could see for her. 

She still appreciated the gesture from her newest friend. Maybe she’ll take her up on that offer at some point, who knows. It’s not like I’m upset about the game, Sakura lied to herself, I had a strong feeling that this would happen. She was upset but kept it to herself. After all, it would be a bit selfish of her to express how sad she was when her brother and his team were the ones really hurting.

A part of her was shaken after the game. Terribly so. During the game against Aoba Johsai she had started to grow hopeful for Karasuno. They had fought back against their opponent that Sakura actually thought she’d get to see them win it. She was so swept up in the emotions of the situation that he logical side of thinking was completely abandoned. 

She shouldn’t have let that happen since she’s basically lived her life by expecting failure to avoid heartache. At least, for the last few years she’s grown accustomed to having that sentiment. It kept her from being hurt. This time it just didn’t work completely. While it wasn’t her team, or her accomplishment, so she isn’t allowed to be emotional about it like her brother. So she pushed it aside and went about her day as easily as she could. Perhaps she was a bit more snippy and cold towards people today, but that didn’t matter. Everyone assumed she was like that anyway, so what harm is there in being a bit more quiet than usual. It’s not like anyone would care that she was rattled or that she was affected by this at all. 

It was a somber morning for all of the third years. Which was to be expected after yesterday's game. Due to this, some questions started to arise between them all. The most important being whether they would continue to stay on the team after this moment. They were the seniors and they had to think about what their futures will be like after this year. Should they decide to focus more on their future, or stick with the team? After such a bad defeat the other day, leaving the team might have been on their minds.

The third-years gathered together during break time on a stairway landing. Endo munched on an apple as he looked between his friends who looked beyond conflicted. He certainly didn’t like seeing those types of expressions, but it was unavoidable. Hell, even he probably had his mask fall from time to time to show his near matching look. As much as he wanted to act like he was unaffected by the loss against Oikawa and his team, Endo couldn’t completely lie. It bothered him in a way that he never knew could. Losses in volleyball didn’t feel all that bad to him in the past. However, it was probably because this game was personal to him that it felt all that much worse.

Daichi gazed out of the window with a deeply conflicted expression on his face, “I think it’s best that we back out here.”

Asahi gasped, “Huh?” The three other teens looked to their captain in shock. After all, they didn’t think Daichi out of all people would offer up the idea of leaving the team.

“I wanted all of us third-years to be able to compete in the spring tournament, so I wanted us to hang in there until then and go to Tokyo to fight. But…” Daichi pauses for a moment, thinking about their younger teammates. “After watching the first and second-years, I think it might be better to hand the club over to them. Their futures are so full of promise, that it might be better to let them start as mainstays of a new team. That way, the team will-”

“Daichi,” Suga cut him off, “do you really mean that? It’s true that, as captain, you’re responsible for thinking about the team. But I don’t think you need to completely remove yourself. If you’ve already made your decision, I won’t object, but if that’s not the case, then at least see things through to the end.” He took a deep breath and continued on, “As I already said, I’m staying. If the first and second-years asked me to leave, then I’ll think about it. And I’m staying even if you, Endo and Asahi leave.”

Asahi jumped in, “I already said I’d stay yesterday!” 

“Me too, I wouldn’t leave my friends hanging.” Endo said while continuing to chomp on his apple. If his friends weren’t leaving, then neither would he. After all, what else would he do with his time if he didn’t spend time with his friends at the volleyball club?

“I’m not planning on going to college.” Asahi explained, “If the first and second-years asked me to leave, I’d feel really bad.” 

“I… Of course I want to keep playing.” Daichi exclaimed, “I want to keep playing volleyball with you guys!”

The three other boys shared a small glance before smiling at their captain. So it didn’t seem like they were going to be breaking up this team any time soon. They still had to prove themselves to everyone else that they can win the tournament and even go on to nationals!

Endo swung his arm around his friend, “That’s good, it’d be awkward if you said you wanted to leave.” Daichi just shook his head at the blond but continued to smile. Hopefully things will start to get better from here. Though they’ll have to work hard for it, and they would more than gladly rise to the challenge.`

When her break time came around, Sakura thought that it would be a good idea to find her brother. Just so she could check up on him a little bit. She can imagine that he hasn’t been paying attention in class and mulling over yesterday. Though it isn’t that surprising that he wouldn’t be paying attention, just this time it was for a not so good reason. So she started her trek down the hall towards her brother’s class.

Sakura walked into the other classroom, already scouring for the sight of her brother. Though she saw that he wasn’t in his seat, nor sitting with his friends. She approached the one boy that she knows is friends with him and tilted her head, “Hey.”

“Oh, Hinata-chan!” The boy greeted with a kind smile, “how are you?”

“Good.” She hummed in reply, “where’s Shōyō?”

The boy didn’t even blink that much at the question since whenever she did come in here she was always looking for her brother. “Oh, he said he was going to the bathroom.”

Sighing Sakura nodded her head, “Okay. Thanks.” She then left and went searching for him. However, she was certain that he hadn’t gone into the bathrooms and hid or anything. He probably was taking his frustrations out with volleyball, like normal. So she started looking for him in the usual spots he likes to practice in. As she came up on the last spot to check, she ended up finding yet another brooding teen. He seemed to have just found Shōyō as well, and turned to walk away. Only he ended up running into the tangerine’s doppelganger. The doppelganger stared at him for a long moment before greeting him with a subtle nod of her head, “Kageyama.”

He nodded back slightly, “Hn.”

Sakura sighed, “Do you know where my brother is?”

He jabbed his thumb behind him, “over there.”

She leaned around him to see her brother depressingly tossing his volleyball up in the air. It really was quite a sad sight. “I would think you’d be practicing with him.” She said with a quirk of her eyebrow, “You guys never seem to stop doing that.”

The boy huffed, “Can’t we have one day off?”

“A day off?” Sakura nearly laughed at the idea, since she would never think the King would take even one day off of volleyball. “Since when do you of all people have a day off from volleyball?”

“Since now.”

Sakura could see that through his little brooding expression that Kageyama was more than hurt by the game yesterday. Sure, he’s not as expressive when it comes to his emotions like her brother, but she could still see that even the King was upset. She sighed heavily and pursed her lips. “Look, you guys did good. Beating Aoba Johsai was seemingly impossible but you held strong against them.”

He clenched his fists at his sides, “It wasn’t enough.”

“Even if it wasn’t, why did you expect it to be more? You knew who you were up against.” Sakura furrowed her eyebrows, “I understand wanting to be hopeful, but you don’t want to be too optimistic about impossible odds.” Even she would think that Kageyama would be somewhat expecting this outcome. She would never say that she and Kageyama are similar in anyway, but she at least theorized that he had a modicum of pessimism in him when it came to his games.

Kageyama stared down at her with a frown, “Is that what you told your brother? That he wasn’t going to win.”

Sakura shook her head, seeing that he was twisting what she meant. “I told him not to expect it. If it happened, it would have been a miracle. Though the odds were stacked against you all.”

“So you told him that nothing was worth it, his effort was for nothing if he was going to lose, huh? That’s pretty shitty.”

“I didn’t exactly say that. I only said he should expect disappointment.” She explained simply, “He’s too optimistic, about everything. You of all people know that. Even things that are far too out of reach. I’ve learned to expect loss and failure, so that way I’m not let down that far.” Sakura got a far-off look in her chocolate eyes as she continued, “He builds himself up so far… and I hate seeing him fall. I don’t want him hurt the same way I was. He can’t end up like me, ever. I don’t want him to face the hardships I did at my lowest points. Had I known that I could end up at rock bottom, then perhaps I could have felt differently about myself.” 

When she had first started her journey in photography, she felt so elated. Not only had she found something to differentiate herself from Shoyo, but it was something that she thoroughly enjoyed. She kept her camera by her side at all times because it made her feel different and special. Though to have her photograph then ridiculed the moment she tried to share it with others, hurt her so much. She didn’t expect it to happen. Sakura had just always gotten so much praise for her work and been separated from her brother that she could have never thought of going back to the person she had been. She was optimistic at the time. Perhaps too optimistic.

Sato was the biggest perpetrator of putting her down, practically bullying her for the remainder of her junior high experience. Thanks to his influence, the entire yearbook club had decided that everything she did was trash. She kept it from Shōyō, from everyone for that matter. Sakura didn’t see a point in worrying them with something like that. Looking back, she maybe should have said something, but it’s too late now. Besides, it wasn’t anything too bad. The harsh, mean, and unwarranted insults towards her work never came to her unless she tried to show people her work. So she kept her hobby to herself after that. It wasn’t until she was brought into a new environment that she tried to be a bit more outgoing once again. Thankfully this time it worked out favorably for her and wasn't an unpleasant experience again.

Back in junior high, had she factored in the possibility of others not liking her work or putting it down in some way, then she might have been a different person today. She knows now that what Sato had done to her in junior high was most likely done out of spite. He wanted to put her down just for the sake of it. This year in high school has proven that to her. His jealousy was palpable back then, Sakura just ignored it at the time due to wanting to be civil with him. Now having positive reinforcement from people other than her family has given her some confidence back. However, she’s learned to have a pessimistic outlook on things, just in case things don’t end up favorably. It's better to expect a bad outcome than think that things will go well when they end terribly.

She shook her head out of those thoughts, “I’ve learned my own lessons in the past. I’ve faced too much disappointment to the point where I should expect nothing else. I want Shōyō to have faith in his ability to play, but I also don’t want him to be delusional to the point where he can’t see the facts.” Sakura swallowed thickly, “He’s the twin who should be happy and successful. I’m just here to support him from the shadows.”

It was silent between them for a bit. They stared at one another, the two sized each other up at that moment. Sakura was watching him with annoyance now that she had been wacked by him, she had half the mind to retaliate against him. Who did he think he was doing that to her? She’s not her brother! Kageyama was staring at her in a new light with his blueberry eyes. He knew that Sakura valued her brother’s happiness over her own. He’s seen her put Shōyō before herself, even if it meant being put in annoying or uncomfortable situations. It was more than just her valuing her brother’s happiness over her own, Kageyama realized. He may have thought that she was just there to only support her brother because she had no other dimensions to her personality. Though he’s seeing now that it was more complicated than that. 

Kageyama could see that Sakura didn’t see herself as successful in almost any way. Whatever she had experienced before had destroyed her self-esteem to the point where she couldn't see herself succeeding in anything. So instead she put her effort into supporting Shōyō in hopes that he would. It was something that Kageyama wouldn’t talk to her about since it was a bit too heavy of a topic and also they don’t know each other enough for him to bring it up. Either way, that way of thinking is just stupid!

“I was wrong,” Kageyama muttered to himself, causing Sakura’s eyebrows to furrow. Sure, she knows he’s wrong about a lot of things but for him to just admit it is weird. Though her thoughts were broken as she was smacked on the top of the head. “You are like your brother. You’re both idiots!” He shouted at her as she whined at the sudden pain. As Sakura nursed her now bruised head and glared up at him, Kageyama scowled at her, “No one should expect failure, you’re just setting yourself up to lose. You can’t just predict how something is going to happen!”

Sakura almost felt like a little kid being scolded by a parent. Which is strange with Kageyama being the one to tell her off. Most of the time it was him being told off by someone, never the other way around.

“Maybe not,” Sakura grumbled, “but I like being a realist. I look at facts and logic and it was a fact that Aoba Johsai had the advantage going into that match.”

Kageyama clicked his tongue in annoyance. In a way she is right, Oikawa’s team does have a bit of an edge over Karasuno thanks to certain things. However, to go into a game expecting them to lose is just absurd in his mind. If he were to go into a game thinking that it would be impossible to win, then he certainly wouldn’t have won any. Playing volleyball, or sports in general, isn’t just a game about physicality or strategy but also mentality. He must have the outlook and optimism to believe that he will win his games.

“If you go into every game expecting to lose, you will lose.” He stated simply, “maybe you should have a little optimism when it comes to your brother, to his team, and believe that we’ll win.” Sakura didn’t appreciate the feeling of being told off. Honestly, she’s usually the one doing it to people. Though he has to question if he’s right or not… The conflicted expression that now spread across Sakura’s face told Kageyama that he had gotten to her just a bit. He then started to walk off, leaving her to her own thoughts, “See you.”

Sakura watched him go with pursed lips, she didn’t like the way he had left her contemplating this. In her own little existential crisis in a sense. She glanced back around the corner to see her brother continuing to toss the ball high into the air. He was too lost in his own thoughts at the moment, and Sakura needed to rethink some things. So she changed her mind, and stalked off elsewhere to think things over.

It was stuffy in the room that Takeda had called all of the third-years to. Endo wasn’t sure if it was because they all knew what he wanted to talk to them about or there was far too much dust in this room. It was probably both, since he’s certain no one’s cleaned out this place in a while. His allergies were going to start acting up if he sat in this room for too long. The table in front of him seemed quite interesting as he stared at it instead of looking at his teacher in front of him.

The five third-years all sat in front of Takeda in silence for a moment longer before their teacher cleared his throat. “If you guys try too hard and end up hurting yourselves badly enough to affect your futures, but still want to play, we will probably stop you. There are times where it’s not best to act based on how you’re feeling.” Endo shifted uncomfortably in his metal chair, silently wishing that he could leave this talk at this very moment. “However, if you’re able to keep challenging yourselves, there are choices. That’s what I think. Of course, I’m not saying that scoring poorly on an exam is nothing. To overcome difficulties, you need effort, endurance, and sacrifices. The hours you’re putting into the club are hours others are putting into studying and securing their futures, which will give them an obvious lead over you. You all might end up regretting that.” He gave each student a look, expressing just how important this was for them. “Please choose wisely. Choose the path that you will not regret in five, or even ten, years.”

Endo stared down at his hands in compilation. Their teacher had a point about them needing to focus on their future. After all, even if they as third-years were good players, none of them really had the aspiration of playing sports as a career after they graduate. So why would they continue now after a huge loss when they could try and set a successful future into motion.

Though for him, he didn’t see a point. Yes, he wished to go to college. For what? He isn’t entirely sure just yet. However, no matter what it is, his father will dictate it for him. That was their deal. Endo got to have some semblance of control over his life for junior high and high school. Though once he graduated from high school, his father would decide what was best for him. Since to Hidake, his son didn’t seem capable of deciding what his life should be like, or how to go about it. More or less thinking of Endo as an idiot, unable to make big decisions for himself. At least that’s how Endo sees it.

So after some last parting words about making the right choices and thinking of their future despite what they might want in this moment, Takeda dismissed the teens. The five shuffled out of the room, slightly more conflicted for the time being after being reminded of what they had to think about. They walked with each other, not saying anything to each other as they were in their own thoughts. Eventually they ended up heading outside with the afternoon sun beaming down on them and the pleasant smell of blossoms wafting around them.

The blond cleared his throat, “I’ve made my decision. No one can change it otherwise.” Everyone looked at him to hear what he had to say. After all, they rarely ever got to hear about what Endo was thinking about. He usually kept things like this to himself. Asahi was really the only one who may have an idea of what Endo thinks. Endo took a deep breath, “My life after school has already been decided for me. So I'll decide this part of my life for myself, and I’ll keep playing.” As if he’d let this be taken away from him like most other things in his life. “If Takeda-sensei has changed your mind, then I’ll respect that, but I wanna stay.”

Asahi gave his best friend a large smile, “I’ll stick with you, no matter what, Joji.” It warmed Endo’s chest to see him like this. Especially if it was Asahi devoting to be by his side. Well, not his side, just the team. Yea, Asahi was saying he’d stay with the team, not just Endo.

“Look at you, actually wanting to play volleyball!” Suga laughed as he smacked Endo on the shoulder harshly. “Oikawa must really annoy you, huh?”

Endo chuckled, “He can be a pain in the ass, that’s for sure.” At this time, Endo still doesn’t know if he likes volleyball itself. He can say that he’s decent at it, and can hold his own in a game. However, he enjoys playing with his friends more than the sport itself. Though after yesterday something felt different. He wouldn’t say that he was suddenly inspired to become the best volleyball player in Japan or anything, but there was something. Maybe it was just revenge creeping in, wanting to win against Oikawa after that loss. Who’s to say? Not Endo. At least not yet.

School was over now, and every student was either rushing their way home to finally relax or heading to their club. Sakura was doing neither. She does have a club meeting today, but she has to find Shōyō as soon as she can. Sakura has spent most of this day without her brother, and while in the beginning it was to give him space to brood over yesterday's game, she has to check on him now. She should have done it earlier, but she got… distracted by Kageyama.

She searched for a while, and eventually found him by himself, staring at his volleyball. The depression on his face hurt Sakura’s heart so much. No matter how much time had passed, she was still going to be upset to see her brother like this. He sat on the ground in the courtyard, not really paying attention to all that much around him. Obviously stuck in his own thoughts, and even from her spot, Sakura could tell he was just about close to tears.

Slowly, she approached him and silently sat down next to him. He didn't really acknowledge her presence besides glancing at her arrival. They were silent for some time. Neither wanted to speak for sometime. Whether that’s because they didn’t know what to say, or that they wanted to talk about it is not exactly clear.

"You know if I'm being honest,” Sakura started breaking the silence between them, “I never thought you guys would make it as far as you did."

"Huh?" Shōyō grunted in surprise as he turned to her. How could she just outright say that? Doesn’t she see he’s upset!?

"There were a lot of obstacles for you guys to overcome.” She started to explain, “And I had thought that there was no way you guys would get over them, but you proved me wrong. You improved yourselves, evolved after every practice to become better players. Through sheer will, optimism, and luck, you guys got close to your goal."

Shōyō scowled, "Close isn't good enough."

Sakura paused at the echoed words that she had heard earlier from Kageyama. She sighed, "You still have the inter-high, boke. After these few games, Karasuno has proved themselves not to be as weak as they were before. Now people will consider you all a contender for number one. They see you as a threat. Which means you will face even more obstacles… ones that I know you can get over."

Her brother gasped at her words as his brown eyes widened, "You sound optimistic." There were times that he has heard her be hopeful and optimistic, but that felt like so long ago. Honestly, Shōyō didn’t know exactly what changed her outlook on things into how she is now. However, he found it more than refreshing for her to be like this once again.

"Yeah, don't get used to it.” Sakura clicked her tongue as her cheeks started to turn a light pink. Honestly, why did he have to point that out? Now she’s embarrassed! She shook her head with a huff, “I'm just saying, you guys somehow exceeded the expectations of everyone, what harm is there in thinking that you can do it again. Look, losing is... not just a bad thing."

Shōyō tilted his head, "It isn’t?" How is losing anything other than a bad thing?

She shrugged her shoulders, "Losing gives us the drive to push ourselves harder. We make sure that we do our best to win the next one. Without losing we wouldn't cherish a win as we should. It feels terrible, I know. But losing gives the feeling of winning value." Shōyō has suffered quite a few losses in his time on a volleyball team. Surprisingly, Sakura has tried to see them in a positive light. Instead of believing it to be a setback, she wanted to see it as something to improve from and to help her brother. She more than often kept that to herself, though now seemed like a good time to bring it to light. After all, he’s never suffered this devastating of a loss.

Shōyō thought over her words for a moment. Perhaps he saw it like that to an extent, but he never thought he’d hear something like that from Sakura. Then again, it’s a bit of a logical way to look at it.  He shook his head slowly, “I guess that’s one way to look at it.”

“Stop being a downer.” Sakura paused and blinked in surprise of herself, “Wow, never thought I would be saying that to you. So stop pouting.”

Shōyō just pouted even more, "I'm not pouting."

"You are," Sakura chuckled.

Soon enough the two dissolved into small bouts of laughter before becoming silent again. They said what they needed to for the time being. They’d more than likely talk more about it when they went home. However, for now they got what they needed out in the open. Besides, they both had to go to their respective clubs. While they didn’t totally want to part ways, duty called for them. So being the good big brother he is, Shōyō walked Sakura to her club room before sprinting back to the gym.

Planning for the next gallery was a bit easier than it was before. Sakura wasn’t as anxious about this one as she was about the first. They had to decide on a topic at the moment, so they were having a bit of a discussion about what to do. There weren’t any holidays really coming up, so a holiday theme was out of question. Plus they wanted to be more original and more thought provoking than having a one-dimensional theme. They had a little while to figure it out, so it wasn’t that much to worry about. Though Sakura kept the decision making to the other members. She was still contemplating what Kageyama had discussed with her earlier. 

What he had said had been stewing within her the rest of the day. She thought over his words thoroughly and believed that he had some truth to what he had said. Sakura was at least going to admit that she could possibly be wrong or misguided about her pessimism and optimism outlook. However, she does still think that there is some merit to her thinking. Just after the conversation it… made her question her thinking a bit.

Was he right about her outlook on the game being wrong? She supposed that in a way it could be perceived as such. However, she wasn’t just outright believing that the game was over right from the start. She just believed that when looking at who was stacked against who, the odds were always favoring one team for another. Besides, watching the game yesterday had even shaken her initial belief that Karasuno had little to no way of standing against Seijoh.

Add in the fact that she had talked with Shōyō about it and did her best to cheer him up, her mind was starting to change. It’s not like she was suddenly going to become optimistic and think that Karasuno can go all the way. Having a healthy dose of skepticism and pessimism about certain situations is a good idea.

Though the advice that she gave him about thinking a loss could be turned into a good thing stuck with her. Deep down, she thought about the idea some time ago, just never thought that it could be put into action. If anything, she just hoped it was true, since she didn’t completely believe in it. Just because she hasn’t had to witness Shōyō lose so badly. Which meant it was more than a good time to try it out.

Shimada then appeared suddenly in front of Sakura and plopped onto the desk her underclassman was sitting at. A large smile was plastered on the club president's face as she pinned her kohai with an inquisitive look. “You seem deep in thought, Saku-chan!” Ever since Sakura had come into the club room, she seemed distracted. Shimada noticed that her brother was there to drop her off before rushing off, so she wondered what he was there for. After all, the male Hinata never seems to come around here. 

“I sort of am,” Sakura commented, now seeing that her senpai was not going to leave her alone. She brushed her hand through her hair, “Just thinking about the game yesterday.”

“Oh, yeah. I heard about that.” Shimada hummed, “The boys did really well though! From what I heard the team they played is super good.” Sure, she didn’t know much about volleyball, but she did know the results of the game. The volleyball team isn’t talked about that much around school since other teams take the spotlight a bit more for their tournaments. Then again it wouldn’t matter if the boy’s volleyball team were the number one in the prefecture, Shimada still would know nothing about the sport.

Sakura shrugged her shoulders, “Seijoh’s one of the best teams in the prefecture.”

“I guess they didn’t take it that well.” From the frown on Sakura’s face, Shimada knew that was a bit of an understatement. “What about your brother? How’s he doing?”

“He’s upset, as to be expected…” She sighed heavily while her brother’s depressed expression haunted her for a moment. Sakura stared down at her hands on the desk as she nervously fiddled with them. “I really wish that they won.”

Shimada nodded her head, “I mean, I would too, imagine what photos you could have gotten of their win!” She gushed as her imagination took over the amazing photos that Sakura could take in that scenario. Though once she saw the unamused stare from the other girl, Shimada calmed down and appeared sheepish, “ahem, sorry.”

Sakura shook her head at her friend’s behavior. There are definitely times where she thinks that Shimada is crazy. There are quite a few moments like that. Though she focused back on what she was feeling about the game, “I honestly thought they were gonna win after all that work. They tried their best. Shōyō especially, I know he put everything he could into it.” A soft little smile then graced her face, “I’m so proud of him.” Sakura is always proud of her brother, basically no matter what he does. However, this time it was much stronger than usual. Maybe it was because she was extremely sympathetic towards him and his loss, maybe it was just because he’s her brother. Either way, the effort that she knows he put into it for so long just made her admire him so much more.

Shimada had to hold herself back from jumping the adorable girl in a tight hug. Her eyes were sparkling as she started fangirling at how adorable her kohai is. “You’re such a sweet sister!”

Sakura huffed while hiding her pink cheeks, “you’re annoying.”

The president eventually calmed herself down before saying, “Well, I don’t know all that much about volleyball, but I’m sure they can do better next time!”

“I hope.” That’s all she can do right now. She’ll gain some hope and optimism for the next tournament coming up. Sure, she’ll keep her own healthy level of pessimism and keep her brother down to earth, but maybe now she can see there’s nothing wrong with reaching for the impossible.

Shimada gave Sakura a meaningful, hopeful expression, “Support your brother, boost up his morale, keep the other boys in check. I know you’re really good at that.”

“I guess you’re right.”

Shimada displayed her pearly white teeth in a large smile, “I usually am!” That totally didn’t just stroke her ego.

Their white-haired vice-president then walked past the desk and casually commented, “No you’re not.”

“Gah, Aiko!”

After their talk with Takeda and a small conversation between them, the third-years had rushed to the club room to get ready. However, they were certainly going to be late at this point. Even if practice was technically off for today, there was no doubt in everyone’s mind that the entire team was going to show up.

“Crap, hurry.” Suga called out to the others running behind him.

Endo huffed, “Yeah, we are.” He was going to get tired once they started practice, why did he have to tire himself out now by running across school to get to the gym!

Just as they thought, they were late, the last ones into the gym while everyone else was already there. Tanaka jumped at them once they got into the gym with a vicious smile, “You’re late!”

Suga huffed and puffed as he caught his breath, but couldn’t wipe the smile off of his face. He declared to the team, “Let’s go to the spring tournament!”

“All right!” They cheered before they started to set themselves up for practice. It’s safe to say that the team's morale was quite high at this moment. The boys all worked together to get the net set up, the balls out and started some drills. It was quite the sight for Ukai to come into the gym and see. After all, he wasn’t sure if any of them would actually show up.

“Thank you!” The boys all greeted their coach who stared at them in disbelief.

Ukai smiled in amazement, “You guys are in good spirits.”

They all then lined up in front of him as Daichi shouted out, “Please continue to coach us!”

The boys all bowed, “Please!”

From a bit further away, Sakura smiled as she watched the coach enter the gym to a more than overzealous team. Her own club had just ended and she was walking out with them right now. As she walked over to where she left her bike, she couldn’t help herself but glance into the gym through the open door to see what the shouting was all about. It was quite the exciting scene to see for her. No one seemed upset any longer about yesterday, if anything they seemed more determined.

“Saku-chan!” She turned at the shout of her name and found that her own club was waiting for her. They all  waited for her expectantly as Shimada was waving her over, “Come on, we’re all going to get food!”

“Yeah, sure.” She grabbed her bike and started to walk off towards them. So Sakura left, for the first time in a while, she was journeying off on her own, away from her brother. Perhaps this was for the best. Both Hinata twins seemed to have carved a spot for themselves at Karasuno. While it wasn’t surprising for Shōyō to do that, it was for Sakura to find that niche place for her. As the wind blew, cheers continued to come from in the gym, and Sakura trotted over to her group of club members, a lone snowtail butterfly settled itself on a random flower.

A little while later, Ukai called for the team to have a break so he could talk over a few things with them. After all, they needed to discuss yesterday's game. “We lost in a match that decided our superiority or inferiority.” Ukai said to the group as they sat on the gym floor. “Seijoh was strong and we fell to them. That is our reality right now. As for today’s finals for the Inter-High… The winner was Shiratorizawa.” That shocked everyone. After all, Aoba Johsai is such a strong team… and Shiratorizawa beat them?! That must make Shiaratorizawa extremely scary!

“Seijoh…” Shōyō’s eyes started to widden.

Kageyama’s eyes were just as wide, “...lost?”

Ukai continued on, “There are teams stronger than Seijoh, even in our prefecture. That just means we have to get stronger. I’m pretty sure you know what our next goal is, but… It’s the spring tournament. For the third-years who will be participating, it will be their last battle.” He then turned to focus on Daichi, “Well, then let’s have the captain pump us all up.”

Daichi stood up with his back facing his team as he started, “It’s the stage that Karasuno has been to just once in the past… Tokyo. The Orange Court.” He then turned to face them with a determined expression on his face. “We’re going to go there one more time!”

“All right!” It would mean intense practice, long nights, and sore muscles, but the team were certainly going to put in the work now. A fire was lit under all of them, and that fire wasn’t going to go out until they made it to nationals!

Chapter Text

NARROWED GREEN EYES STARED DOWN AT THE console screen displaying a seemingly difficult video game. With a scrunched up nose, Yua watched her younger best friend play his game in fascination. She's never really been one for video games, but it was impressive to watch Kenma play his. After all, she's spent most of her childhood watching him play and beat many games like this. She’s not that much of a gamer, though she does find it quite impressive.

Kenma, Yua and Kuroo were headed to their school on this lovely Sunday morning for volleyball practice. The trio were strolling through the surrounding neighborhood after just getting off the train. It wasn't that much of a walk through the nice warm morning sun. If anything, Yua quite enjoys it when she journeys to school with her best friends. The walks can be silent but not uncomfortable, or full of laughter and teasing. She just loves her best friends, what can she say?

Kuroo was also glancing down at Kenma’s screen with his own hazel eyes, “Kenma. That looks pretty tough.”

“Somewhat." The pudding-head commented, "But I’m getting the hang of it, so if I play for about thirty more hours…”

"And not sleep?" Yua scoffed, "I thought we talked about this, mister." Honestly she has no idea how he can run on such a small amount of sleep. He usually complains about being tired and she'll reprimand him for not sleeping, like a mother hen would. He needs a healthy amount of sleep for volleyball and school, after all!

Kenma grunted, not taking his eyes off his game, "You talked. I wasn't listening." Yua's right eye twitched at that. He can be so rude sometimes.

Kuroo chuckled lightly at his friends, “I’m surprised you don’t get bored. If you have that much time on your hands, let’s practice volleyball."

“I am, though.” Kenma lazily said, “That’s why we’re here at school on a Sunday morning, right?”

The trio then came up upon the school entrance for Nekoma Municipal High School. Kuroo grew serious, “Well, we did lose the Inter-High prelims. The Spring Tournament prelims are just around the corner.”

Kenma didn’t even take his eyes off of the game, “You never get sick of volleyball, huh, Kuroo?”

“He’ll never get sick of it, like you’ll never get sick of your games.” Yua commented with a giggle. 

Eventually the trio got to the school and entered the gym to find their team already setting up. Inuoka noticed their arrival, “Ah, Kuroo-san, Kenma-san, Yua-senpai, good morning!”

Yamamoto waved over at them, “Morning!”

“Mornin’!” Kuroo greeted them.

Kenma did the same, but in his normal lackluster way, “Morning.”

Yua jumped over to the group enthusiastically, “Good morning, boys!”

“Is everyone already here?” Kuroo asked.

Inuoka sighed, “Well…”

Yua looked around trying to find who was missing. Mentally, she checked her list on who was who, and noticed only one person missing. She clicked her tongue, “Oh, the giant isn’t here, what a surprise!”

“I always tell first-years to show up early.” Yaku commented as he started to squeeze the volleyball in his hand, it seemed like it was going to pop. “That little bastard.”

“He’s not a little bastard when compared to you Yaku!" Yua snickered at her jab at the libero. She certainly did get a kick out of annoying the short guy. Though she seems to forget how scary he can be afterwards. She spotted the dark look on his face and knew she was fucked. So Yua started to run for cover, which included using her friends as human shields. "Ah! No! Kenma save me from the gremlin!”

While the team watched as Yaku started to march after Yua and she tried putting Kenma in between them, Yamamoto said, “Well, it’s actually pretty quiet and nice when he’s not around. I’m sure he’s slacking off again somewhere.” The others glanced at him for saying that it was quiet and nice, then stared at their libero chasing their manager around. Maybe just a little but quieter, they thought.

After eventually grabbing Yua and now sitting on her back, Yaku commented, “He’s like a stray cat.” Yua flailed around in an attempt to escape, but the libero is surprisingly strong despite his small stature. Though she should learn by now that she’ll end up like this every time she messes with the libero.

So without their underclassmen, everyone started to get ready. Yua changed into her gym clothes and grabbed her supplies. That supplies being her notebook and clipboard, now she meant business.

Eventually after a bit of time, their missing teammate actually showed up. With a soft meow coming from the entrance, the japanese-russian boy had finally arrived. Lev Haiba, the tallest member on the team with silver hair and bright green eyes, was smiling in the entrance. “Mornin’!” Along with him was a orange and white cat in his hand, for some reason.

Kuroo sighed and looked up from tying his shoes, “The bigwig finally shows up.”

“Haiba Lev has arrived!" The silver-haired boy shouted,  "Yeah!”

“Oh my,” Yua gasped as she gushed at her underclassman, hearts in her eyes. She quickly pushed Yaku off of her and scurried over to Lev, “How adorable!”

Growing flustered and blushing, Lev stuttered, “Wah, Yua-senpai!” Obviously, he figured that she had to be talking about him, and of course he was getting flustered. Yua’s quite a pretty girl and Lev sure finds her to be a cute manager!

“I didn’t mean you,” Yua said, which caused the poor boy to deflate. The girl then grabbed the cat out of the beanstalk’s hands and started to fawn over it. “I meant this little guy, hi there.” The team watched as she started giving the cat scratches and cuddling it in her arms,  to the poor cat's dismay. 

Practice was in full swing by now as the boys were in a mock game with each other. On the side lines, Yua was scribbling things down every once in a while in her notebook. Though she took her time from writing to pet the orange and white cat that was resting in her lap. The cat was now enjoying some of the attention the girl was giving him.

“They all seem ready to go,” Naoi commented as they watched the boys in their scrimmage game. 

They watched as Yamamoto jumped up to spike the ball over the net and got his side a point thanks to Lev’s inability to receive it. “You dumbass!” The ace roared at Lev, “I told you not to try and get that with your arms, you beanpole!”

“I’ll get the next one!” Lev exclaimed, more than pumped up to try again, “One more time!” 

Naoi nodded his head, “Haiba Lev’s got good instincts. He’s half-Russian and so has been blessed with height, long limbs, and excellent athletic ability. Any of those things would set him apart from the Japanese players…”

“Bring it!” Lev dove with cat-like reflexes to receive Inouka’s serve, it was quite impressive. He was more than overjoyed with his accomplishment as he stayed laying on the floor with a large smile. “I did it! I did it! See? I did it! Did you see that?”

Kuroo grunted while running up to block, “You dumbass! Keep your eyes forward!” Though his warning didn’t do much as the ball was spiked back towards him and he certainly wasn’t ready to save it at all.

Yaku slid over more than annoyed with the first-year, “Lev!” Yeah, he was about to chew out the boy for that.

“But he’s got that personality,” Naoi sighed heavily, “and he’s still learning the basics. There’s plenty we have yet to teach him. But we’re dealing with the Spring Tournament prelims. Things will probably get very interesting.” 

Who knows what will happen when they add Lev onto the team roster for games? Yua would like to think that the team would be elevated with such a player like him on the team. Perhaps not a starter, since he is still really new to the sport, but he could make a spot for himself. He still has a lot to learn as a player, but she wants to have faith in him as a player. Hopefully he gets there eventually.

Nekomata grunted after staying silent for so long, “This ain’t good.”

They continued on with practicing and it was blatantly clear that Lev and Kenma were not lining up properly. It’s happened time and time again. Kenma would set the ball for Lev but it would be off by a few inches. It’s not that Kenma wasn’t a good setter or anything like that, it was most likely just because the two weren’t lined up yet. After all, Lev’s arm length was a bit longer than Kenma is used to. Add in Lev’s inexperience and the two were not working that well together. They tried once more and Lev missed the spike again with the ball completely missing his hand.

“That was close, right?” Lev asked while looking at the setter like an excited kitten.

Kenma deadpanned, “No.”

He gasped, “Whoa, really?!”

“That wasn’t close at all.”

“Really?! Can we try again?”

“No.” Kenma droned out.

“Why not?!”

Kenma grumbled, “Because you’re just going to miss again.”

Yua laughed at the pair’s banter. She could tell that Kenma was more than annoyed with Lev. The younger boy does have a personality that does not mesh well with Kenma’s, basically at all. Beside her, Nekomata grunted as he appeared to be contemplating something. Yua glanced over at the older coach with furrowed eyebrows, “What’re you thinking, old man?”

Nekomata just glanced at her with his aged eyes before calling out, “All right, that’s all for today.”

So everyone worked together to clean up the gym after a somewhat productive practice. Yua helped Kuroo with the net and took it down as they chatted lightly. Yua hummed, “I feel like Kenma is going to have a lot of fun with Lev.”

Kuroo glanced over his shoulders as Lev challenged Yamamoto. He chuckled, “Obviously.”

“Let’s just hope they can work together eventually.” She shrugged her shoulders, “it would be a bit upsetting if they couldn’t work it out, you know.” Having a team that worked well together on the court is obviously important. If the setter couldn’t even work with one person, well, things might fall apart. She wasn’t sure, but Yua also didn’t wanna find out.

Her friend hummed next to her, “give it some time.” He ruffled her hair, to her chagrin, “they’ll figure it out at some point.”

Once everyone finished their jobs of cleaning up, their coach called out, “Gather round!” So everyone did just that and surrounded their coaches to hear what they had to say.

Nekomata started by saying, “Two Saturdays from now, we’re going to welcome our neighbors, Kunihira High School and do a practice match.”

“At this time of year?” Yaku asked in confusion, “But our training camp with Fukurodani is coming up, too. That’s rare.”

Nekomata nodded his head and continued, “And… Lev, you’re going to play in that match.”

Everyone was in shock at that bit of news, “What!?”

“That’s what you were thinking!?” Yua exclaimed at the coach with her mouth agape. How the old man thought this was a good idea, Yua wasn’t sure. Yea Lev was a decent player, but he has a long way to go before he could be considered a starter. He’s a first-year, and while first-years can be starters, Lev was still new to the sport and needed to learn a lot more.

“Really?!” Though Lev was over the moon about this turn of events. He smiled widely, “Just leave it to me!”

Naoi leaned down to the older man, “Er, but coach, Lev’s still having problems getting tosses, so I’m not sure if he’s…”

“Kenma.” Nekomata didn't even seem to be listening as he just turned to the teen, “Make some time and give Lev some tosses.”

Kenma pursed his lips, “I can’t.”

“What do you mean you can’t?!” Lev gasped.

“That’s all.” Nekomata smiled, “Do your best.”

All the boys plus Yua bowed, “Thank you!”

Everyone was still in a bit of shock over the news. The only one who really got over it quickly was Kuroo who shrugged his shoulders, “You heard him.”

Lev stood tall over all of his teammates and had a bit of a smug expression on his face. “Should’ve seen this coming.”

Yamamoto just stared at him with his hands on his hips, “You’re so cocky.” Right, if anyone was going to be cocky, it was going to be him! After all, he is the ace of the team!

Yua shook her head at her underclassman, “You can be arrogant when you’re actually a starter, stringbean.”

Lev just continued to smile, “You’ll see, Yua-senpai, I’ll be a starter soon enough!”

“Sure, sure.” She won’t hold her breath over that just yet.

The next day, practice was going pretty normal. This time though, everyone was keeping an eye on how Kenma and Lev were working together. It was like everyone paused in their own training to watch whatever was happening. After all, it was more than interesting to see if the beanstalk was going to actually succeed this time.

Lev was pumped up as usual, “Let’s do this!” There was next to nothing that could get his spirits down.

They lined up for Lev to spike the ball. Kenma set a perfect toss for him, hoping that he would hit it. As there was no way that he could mess this up. Though that wasn’t the case as Lev still missed it and it just ended up hitting the top of his head instead. While Lev appeared to have confidence and power behind his moves, it was nothing but a farce. He still has so much to learn about volleyball.

“Hey, it went in,” Inuoka blinked and was somewhat impressed.

Yamamoto just laughed at the failure, “Nice headbutt!”

Lev wasn’t affected by the teasing though as he just turned to them, “That was my personal time difference attack!” Everyone just stared at him in disbelief. There was no way that he just used that kind of excuse…

On the sidelines, Yua just shook her head and wrote down some bullet points in her notebook. After being the team manager for a while, she’s grown to be really good at making her own notes and such about the boys. They’re definitely not the neatest or most comprehensible, but she can translate them easily, so who cares. Lev was obviously the one she was writing most about now. 

She keeps track of their strengths and weaknesses, their relationships with the other boys, and any other tidbits she thinks the coaches could use. It’s all important things to take note of. Though she’s known all these boys for quite a while and knows a lot about them, Lev is the newest one. So she has quite the learning curve when it comes to figuring out how the newbie will mesh with everyone else. She sighed heavily while finishing up her scribbles in her notebook, hopefully she can get it down eventually.

“Yeah, he’s definitely some kind of special…” Yaku commented in uncertainty. 

Naoi shook his head, “All of you, stop gawking at him and get to practicing!”

“Right!”

 The whole team had gone about their normal routine after practice which meant heading to the local 8-Eleven for snacks. Yua’s chip bag crinkled as she munched on her snack which was provided by Kuroo. She leaned over Kenma’s shoulder to watch his screen as he played the same game from that morning. Even still, she couldn’t understand what he was doing, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t watch him. Which was just watching him fail and fail again.

Kuroo also was glancing over every once in a while to watch, “That’s gotta be hard, you’ve been stuck on the same level.”

“I know.,” Kenma grunted while mashing the buttons.

Besides him, Yua pursed her lips, “Even the great gamer Kenma can’t get past it, it must be impossible.” Kenma’s eye twitched at Yua’s comment as he focused on the game. He’d prove that he can get past this level, just so he can avoid his friends teasing.

“It’s gotta be rough dealing with Lev,” Kuroo commented to Kenma while eating the popsicle Yua insisted on buying him. There obviously was a parallel that could be made between Kenma’s difficulty with this game and also his ability to work with Lev. After the past few days, both of these scenarios have caused him a great deal of issues.

Kenma didn’t look up from his console as he replied, “Yeah. I haven’t dealt with him much ever since he joined.”

Kuroo nodded, “I can imagine. You two are like oil and water. It’s hard to see you two meshing together.”

“We don’t even have to imagine,” Yua chuckled. It’s evident to everyone, except maybe Lev, to see how difficult this was for the setter. Sure, Yua knows how it can be a bit difficult for Kenma to get along with certain people but this just seemed extra difficult.

Just as they were saying that, the other boys, including Lev, all came out of the shop with their own goodies and made to sit down with them. They all started to dig into their after practice meals and snacks and talk idly about things.

Lev seemed to be energized just as he was at the beginning of practice. Which is a feat since most of the boys are usually tired beyond belief after a long practice. “Just watch.” Lev said excitedly as he cracked his chopsticks apart, “I’ll be ready by our next match.”

Yaku sweatdropped, “Seriously, where the hell does your confidence come from?”

“That’s one of life’s many mysteries,” Yua hummed which got a chuckle out of some of the guys.

“I’ll work even harder so I can become a starter!” Inuoka declared strongly. Yua cooed from her seat at how adorable the middle blocker is. He has to be one of her favorite first years, he’s just so full of fire and cuteness, in her opinion.

Lev leaned into his personal space with a smirk, “Well, I’m gonna be the ace, not a starter!”

Yamamoto, the actual ace of the team, called out, “You don’t call someone who can’t play any defense an ‘ace’!”

“But if I work hard these next two weeks with Kenma-san…” Lev looked over to their setter for approval, “right?”

Kenma boredly replied, “It’s hard to set the ball for you because you’re so sloppy. It’s not like I’m Karasuno’s setter.”

Yua shook her head, “I don’t think anyone could be like that monster.” Kageyama still haunted her thoughts with how pin-pointed his sets were. Yua has a running theory that he must have given up his soul to have such skill. It’s really the only explanation in her mind.

Lev tilted his head in confusion, “Huh? Who’s that?”

“They’re our eternal rivals I talked about yesterday.” Inoka explained, “You know, the Battle of the Garbage Dump.”

He brightened in remembrance, “Ah, Karasuno or whatever from Miyagi.”

The team all started to reminisce in the game they played against the crows. The lasting friendships that they also made were in their minds. Those crows sure were something. Yua likes to believe that she made some friends, especially with Hinata Sakura. Oh, that first-year sure is interesting to her, as well as her brother. The little demon who could keep up with Kageyama’s tosses. Both of them were quite scary.

“They have some insane first-years there.” Yaku broke Yua at her thoughts, “A middle-blocker shrimp that hits with his eyes closed and a setter that can perfectly match him.”

“Huh…” Lev blinked.

“That shrimp doesn’t have any of the basics down.”

“Is he shrimpier than you, Yaku-san?” Lev asked innocently. Though all that did was end up with Yaku getting annoyed and hitting Lev over the head… again. 

Yua laughed at the display in joy. She leaned over Kuroo and flashed Lev a smile with a thumbs up, “Good job, Lev!” This first-year really is learning quickly about making fun of their libero. One of her favorite pastimes, honestly.

Lev rubbed at his bruised head, “But if that guys a starter, then I can…”

“I think you suck more than he does, Lev.” Kenma cut him off and commented.

“Huh!?”

Kuroo smirked, “I wonder how they’re doing.”

Meanwhile, in Miyagi, the Karasuno team was hanging out at Sakanoshita Market like they usually do after a long day of school and practice. Endo was munching on a meat bun that he had bought in his coaches shop. Currently, he was watching as Tanaka failed and failed again at a video game that he had brought. Endo doesn’t play video games, but it didn’t mean he couldn’t find entertainment from watching his friends rage at the game.

“Damn it!” Tanaka shouted in despair, “I lost again!”

Asahi, Kageyama and Shōyō came walking up to the second-year after getting some food from Sakanoshita Market. Shōyō tilted his head and asked, “Whatcha doin’, Tanaka-san?”

He explained in frustration, “Playing the game I borrowed from my sister.”

“Oh, that super popular one,” Asahi said. Endo leaned onto his shoulder and offered to share his meat bun, which Asahi accepted.

The rest of the boys came over to see what was going on.  “Come on, Tanaka.” Daichi shook his head at his underclassmen, “Someone who works at the school is right in front of you. Put the game away.”

“Huh?” Ukai grunted from behind them, “As soon as practice is over, this doesn’t concern me.” So he just continued on with his work and let the boys continue with their shenanigans. Not like he really cared about the teens playing some video game, so long as they stayed quiet.

Shōyō blinked in recognition as he leaned down to see the game, “Hey, this is the game Kenma was talking about.”

“I keep losing to this thing no matter how many times I play.” Tanaka groaned.

Endo chuckled, “just get better then.” That earned him a heated glare from the slightly younger boy.

“I’d like to see you try rich boy!” Tanaka raged at him. Though the blond just laughed at his misery. Not like he’d actually play the game or anything, since he doesn’t like games all that much.

“Ryu!” Nishinoya exclaimed while standing over his best friend with determination emanating from him. He smirked proudly, “I’ll get revenge for you!”

So Nishinoya took a turn to play the game, though with the same outcome as Tanaka. Despite his best effort, Nishinoya was still met with the defeated screen. His ego was just slightly hurt after that defeat. So that was 0-2 for the boys, and it didn’t seem like there was any end in sight. 

“He got hit with every single attack,” Tanaka blinked.

Shōyō nodded his head, “That’s actually sort of amazing.” 

“Way to go, genius libero, I guess,” Asahi chuckled.

Kageyama placed his hand on his hip and stared boredly, “So you just have to cut down the enemy without getting hit, right?” To the other’s it almost sounded like he thought he could do it easily. Though Kageyama can have a tendency to be cocky sometimes.

“Heh.” Tanaka scoffed, “Easier said than done, my friend.”

Though Kageyama took that as a challenge with a large smirk. He was then next up to take a crack at the game. It became apparent that he was having issues with it just like the other two. He was becoming far more irritated every time he messed up until he finally ended up just losing to the game. Which certainly hurt his ego a bit as he started to yell, “You jackass! Who the hell do you think you are?!”

Tanaka was just about ready to take the game from him in case he broke it in anger. Which wouldn’t be all that surprising. The older boy stared in worry, reaching for his game, “Hey! I just said I was borrowing that!”

Suga said, “I guess the same thing that happens in volleyball happened…”

“So this is Kageyama’s true nature,” Shōyō smirked at the other boy’s demise.

That definitely didn’t help the situation as Kageyama raged, “I’ll kill you, Hinata!” The poor orange-haired boy jumped in fright.

“Come on, now, Kageyama. You know you end up the loser if you get mad.” Daichi said wisely, “Give it here.” So now it was Daichi’s turn to try out the game. However, his defensive take on the game was not giving him any sort of advantage, it was basically a stalemate. “You see that? It’s my impregnable defense!”

The other boys all just blinked at him. Well, besides Nishinoya who was still frozen over his loss and Kageyama was sulking off to the side. The two of them were not going to get over this loss so easily.

“Well, yeah, you’re not going to lose, but…” Suga trailed off as they watched him still playing. The game was now deadlocked with Daichi’s tactic, and there didn't seem like there was going to be an end. 

Tanaka blinked at the strange play-style, “Is that even fun?” While Daichi wasn’t dying… it just seemed boring to just stand there.

So now all the boys were giving the game a try since Daichi wasn’t getting anywhere with his “impregnable defense”. Next up was Asahi who was definitely not enjoying the game. Instead of going with a tactic like Nishinoya’s attacking or Daichi’s defensive take, he decided to just run away. “Stay back! Please!” Asahi screamed in fear, “Get away! Stay away!”

“It wouldn’t be much of a game if it didn’t,” Suga shook his head.

Daichi sighed, “Yeah, I knew this would happen.”

Endo chuckled at the frightened boy, “You really are just a scaredy cat.” Asahi just continued to scream until he eventually was caught by the boss and killed. Endo ended up patting Asahi as the ace caught his breath after all that screaming. 

“Hey!” Shōyō shouted eagerly, “Can I play next?”

Now it was Shōyō’s turn to try out the game. He was jumping around while playing it which was a bit of a strange sight. Tanaka blinked at the boy, “What are you? A five-year-old that just got his first game?”

Eventually, Shōyō lost, which certainly ruined his mood, “This is so hard…”

Nishinoya then placed a hand on Shōyō’s shoulder, “It gets your blood boiling… because it’s difficult, right?”

“Yeah!” He exclaimed, now pumped up again, “One more time!”

Tanaka slid over quite annoyed, “Hey! It’s my turn next!”

“You get to play at home, Ryu! Let me get my revenge!” Nishinoya shouted.

Diachi crowded around them as well, “No, leave it to me!”

Asahi joined in, “M-M-Me, too! Me, too!”

“Wait! I should get a turn!” Kageyama jumped over, ready to try again like the other boys. All the boys were now huddling around each other, all of them desperate to try to play the game again.

“You’ve got no chance, Kageyama-kun.” Shōyō snickered.

“Hinata, you little jerk!” Kageyama shouted as he started to attack Shōyō. Though the little shorty was ready for it and ran away, “Stop dodging me!”

Due to all the commotion, Ukai came out of his shop more than annoyed with the group of rambunctious boys. “Shut up!” He shouted at them, “Hurry up and go home for dinner!”

“You heard the old man,” Endo commented as he easily took the gaming console from the others, to their annoyance, “time to go home!”

Yua brushed aside some of the strands of hair that escaped her ponytail. It was a bit of a strange day, after all, the boys told her that Lev had arrived to practice first. Lev of all people! The one who was usually the last one to show up to practices was actually there before anyone else. How strange.

She just supposed that he must have been excited to practice. He really is much like an excited puppy. After he had been told by their coach to work closer with Kenma, Lev seemed to be more than eager to take advantage of the demand. Kenma seemed to be the one in the pair that wasn’t so happy with it. He didn’t say it in so many words, but Yua could tell just by his expressions. She’s a Kenma whisperer in that aspect.

Though now in the middle of their current practice, Yua was watching as the boys were working on their spikes. “Hell yeah!” Yamamoto shouted after his own strong spike.

“Nice kill!”

Lev was up next and he was just as energized as usual. His eyes were alight with a childish glee as he stepped forward and shouted, “Get me the perfect toss!” Kenma was visibly a bit more annoyed now that he had stepped up. Yua could see that from a mile away. So the silver-haired boy ran up for the toss, but it completely missed his hand, once again. Lev just stared at the ball that was now rolling away. “Huh? That’s weird.”

“Lev, you’re putting too much force into it.” Kuroo advised him, “Keep your eye on the ball.”

“Okay!” So they tried again, but with the same result. Though Lev didn’t seem all that deterred, if anything he looked more than excited to keep trying his best. “Kenma-san! Could you do the tosses a bit faster?” From her seat on the sidelines, Yua could see that Kenma was far more annoyed with this situation.

She sighed under her breath, “This isn’t going anywhere.”

Swaying from side to side, the Nekoma trio were riding the train back to their homes after an extremely long day at school. Yua was just about falling asleep on Kenma’s shoulder while watching him play his game. The intense battle that he had been engaged in over and over again was keeping her awake though. Every once in a while he would exhale hardly through his nose when he failed his objective, which kept Yua from falling asleep completely. Meanwhile, Kuroo was watching them with a small smile as he took in Yua’s exhaustion and Kenma’s determination and frustration over his game.

“Well?” He asked, breaking Kenma shortly from his concentration.

Kenma just continued his attempt at defeating the boss, “What?”

“Lev’s pretty interesting, huh?”

“Well, you don’t have to actually deal with him.” Kenma grunted as he explained, “His timing when he jumps is different every time, so is his point of impact. I have no idea what kind of tosses to give him.”

Yua hummed tiredly, “Now that’s surprising. You adapt pretty quickly to just about everyone.” Which is true, it only takes Kenma a single practice or two to usually get used to someone and their abilities. Seems like Lev is just a special case.

Kuroo leaned down to watch Kenma continue to struggle with his game, “You still can’t beat that enemy?”

“Its attack is super strong and he takes me out instantly,” Kenma grunted.

“But once you beat it, it’s all over, so don’t you get more fired up when it’s an enemy you can’t beat?”

“But it’s no fun if you can’t beat it, either.”

“Can’t you just attack it before it attacks you?” Kuroo asked, “They say offense is the best defense. That thing’s tail was glowing right before it attacked.”

Kenma blinked in surprise, “What? No way.”

“What? You didn’t notice?” Kuroo smirked, “I figured you’d notice something like that. I guess even you can’t see when you get worked up.”

He huffed and turned back to his game, “I’m not getting worked up.”

“You are, though.” Kuroo smirked.

Kenma grunted in denial, “Am not.”

“You are.”

“Nope.”

“Both of you shut up,” Yua groaned loudly and flopped herself onto Kuroo’s shoulder this time, “I want to nap.” So the two boys just quieted down, for their own sakes after all. A grumpy Yua is not a Yua that they would wish to deal with. So they just continued to travel home in content silence.

The same thing seemed to happen the next day. While the boys were going about their normal practices, there didn’t seem to be any progress with Kenma and Lev’s ability to sync up. Yua was making notes in her notebook on all of the boys, but certainly kept a close eye on 

“Those two are having a hard time getting in sync.” Naoi commented to himself, Yua and Coach Nekomata.

Yua grunted in agreement, “Kenma is usually able to get use to anyone’s rhythm, Lev is a special case it seems.

After yet another failed toss, Lev just stared at Kenma. He stared at the setter from different angles, getting strange looks from everyone else. His eyes brightened, “Kenma-san’s noticing me! That must mean he’s finally acknowledging my talent!”

Yamamoto deadpanned, “He’s just mad that you’re not progressing at all.”

“Huh!?” Lev exclaimed in shock, “Are you mad, Kenma-san?”

“Yeah, half of it’s anger,” Kenma softly said.

Yua and the two older men stared at the interaction. Nekomata seemed more than pleased with the developments, while Naoi was slightly concerned still. “Is he really going to be okay?” The concerned man asked.

“No need to rush.” The coached said wisely, “He’s progressing like he should. Now, we just have to make sure it sticks.”

Yua nodded her head, finishing her scribbling with a slight smirk, “which means practice, practice, practice.” She then shouted out across the court, “oi Kenma, toss 20 more to Lev!” Kenma groaned at the order, though he knew better than to argue against her on something like practice. Lev was over the moon with it though. He seemed ready to do 100 more if it meant he could get to practice with Kenma more. Though they’d stick to just 15 for the time being. Yua stood up and made sure her ponytail was tight, “I’ll toss to the others, you two work together for a short while.”

“Whatever,” Kenma grumbled.

Yua’s brow twitched at his disrespectful tone, “What was that?”

He just grumbled something else under his breath, making sure that she couldn’t hear him this time and responded back to her with a “Yes, Yua.”

The boys had gone off of their usual running route. This usually gave Yua time to organize her notes, talk with the coaches and help them with any sort of practice routines she thinks would work best. Just like any other of the boys, she’s a valuable member of the Nekoma team. She isn’t a player, but she has the athletic mindset and comes up with good routines and workouts that she suggests them to do.

Or during this time she would take her own little break. Sitting outside the gym doors while waiting for them to come back let her think to herself. Volleyball certainly wasn’t the only thing that she thought about. She has other interests… It just so happens that volleyball is a big part of her interest at the moment. 

Her mind wandered like a lost child to topics such as her homework assignments to the new clothes she wanted to buy. Or even what she was going to make for dinner to whether she thought Kuroo or Kenma would wanna hang out at her house. They’re basically an inseparable trio after all. If you find Yua, Kuroo and Kenma will no doubt be right behind, and vice versa. They’re her best friends after all. Though there was the sad realization that Kuroo would graduate soon and the trio would become a duo. She knew she was going to be sad about it, but it wasn’t like they weren’t going to talk anymore. Yua would make sure of it. Besides, her cousin would definitely make sure that it wouldn’t happen. He’s used to corralling a certain rambunctious boy to do what he needs, so he’d keep an eye out for Kuroo too, even if he was younger than Kuroo. That reminds her, she should really call him soon, they are having the camp soon! Oh, she can’t wait to see everyone there.

Though thinking about the camp, she wondered if Kenma and Lev would starting being able to sync up by then. Sure it would be a while before the training camp, but still. She couldn’t help herself but wonder. Still the struggles that they were having at the moment were slightly amusing to her. Kenma hasn’t really faced a challenge like this in quite a while. Seeing him try to get through it is interesting to her. His frustration over it was quite a bit of entertainment for her.

Breaking out of her thoughts, Yua watched as the group of boys finally came running back towards the gym. As soon as they got in range of the door, a couple collapsed to the ground to catch their breath. She got up and started to hand out some stuff to them. Kuroo just walked up to a smiling Yua smirked at her as she got some things together.

“You guys took longer than usual,” Yua commented as she handed out some towels and water to the boys.

Kuroo took the offered towel and whipped off the sweat from his face, “It’s because of those two.”

Finally seeing the stragglers coming up after them, she got a good look at their appearance. “What the fuck!?” Yua screeched as she saw the blood residue on Kenma and Lev’s faces. “Why do you two have bloody noses!?” She rushed over to them to check them over for injuries. How they ended up like this, she didn't know. Though her aggressive mother-hen attitude took over now as she started to look over their injuries.

Kenma grunted as she fussed over his face like a worried mother, “It’s Lev’s fault.”

“Hah?!” She blanched as her expression became gloomy. Her darkened features were now pointed at the tall first-year, who bristled at the menacing look now focused on him. 

Lev jumped and waved his hands around in panic, “Yua-senpai! It’s not what you think!”

“What the fuck did you do, you bitch!?” She screeched as she cradled Kenma close to her, “How’d you hurt him!?”

Kenma rolled his eyes and sighed. He whacked Yua in the stomach, stopping the girl from continuing her rampage, “Yua, calm down. It was an accident.”

Yua groaned slightly and held her stomach in pain. Though she quickly straightened herself as her expression did a 180. She smiled like normal, “Oh. Well, let’s get you two cleaned up and checked out!”

Lev was trembling as he stared at his senpai in fear, “You’re quite scary, Yua.” Her quick change in emotion was just slightly unsettling.

She just continued to smile blissfully, “I know.”

Back in the gym, they were lining up to do their spike practice once again. The boys needed to warm up a bit since they were having their practice game today. They went down the line through everyone and eventually they got to Lev. After a little bit, it was decided that Kenma and Lev would work together for the time being. Yua once again took up the roll of setter for the others, just so they weren’t sitting around doing nothing.

After yet another pathetic miss, Kenma grabbed another ball from the cart next to him, “Here’s the next one.”

“Hey, our match is about to start!” Naoi tried to intervene, but was stopped by Nekomata. Just from his expression, those around him could tell that he knew something was going to come of these practice spikes.

Handing a ball to Yua, Yaku shook his head, “He’s selfish and impossible to understand. But…”

“Let’s do this!” He jumped up and it was like everything was in slow motion. Unlike the awkward movements of Kenma trying to set the ball to Lev and the tall boy reaching for it, the ball was near perfect. It left everyone in shock! They finally did it! Kenma and Lev finally synced up! After the thunderous sound of the ball hitting the court floor, Lev turned to look up, “The ace…" His green eyes shined just the light as he turned to his teammates, "has opened his eyes!”

“Holy shit,” Yua breathed out as she shared a look with a smirking Kuroo. “Looks like they figured something out.”

“Okay.” Kenma said, in his monotone voice, “One more.”

Lev was over-excited about the prospect of another awesome spike, “I’ll hit as many as you like!”

They tired once again, but it didn’t seem like they lined up like before. As all the ball did this time was bonk Lev on the head and was nowhere near his palm. So was it a fluke?

“So it was totally luck!” Yamamoto laughed loudly.

Though all that did seemed to light a fire in Inuoka, “I can’t lose! Kenma-san, can I go next?”

“Hey, no fair!” Yamamoto seemed to whine, “The senpai gets to go first! Kenma, toss to me since I’m the ace!”

“Hey!” Lev exclaimed, “This is my practice!”

“No, me!” Inuoka joined in on the bickering.

Naoi seemed to be a tad bit annoyed with the arguing, “Guys! We’re about to do a match!”

Yua watched them all fight over getting a toss from Kenma with a chuckle. “Looks like they finally got somewhere.”

Kuroo nodded his head, “seems so.”

The two looked like a pair of proud parents as they watched Lev gush over his amazing spike and the others fighting over getting a toss from Kenma. “Greetings!” The collective voices of a bunch of boys called out, “Thanks for having us!” It was the team that they were meant to have a practice match with. So they all got set up for the game. Yua made sure that everything was set up with the water bottles, her notebook, and towels. This will definitely be an interesting practice game after that revelation from Kenma and Lev. Hopefully they could

“All right, let’s do this!” Kuroo exclaimed, after giving the team his usual peptalk.

All the boys agreed, “Yeah!” Yua smiled widely, she was definitely ready to see just what her boys would do with this game.

With the murder of crows, They were still bickering over the video game. No progress was made in the game even though they have tried multiple times to get somewhere with it. It was just impossible!!! Currently, it was Kageyama’s turn again, and he was just getting the same result as he was beforehand.

“You dumbass!” Kageyama grunted as he aggressively played and still lost, “Damn it!”

Tanaka sighed in disappointment, “I guess it’s no use. I don’t think we’re gonna beat it.”

Passing by the group of his teammates, Tsukishima snidely laughed at his failure, “I guess you really do suck at everything other than volleyball, Your Highness.”

Yamaguchi praised his friend like he normally does, “Tsukki’s great at video games, too!”

“Shut up, Yamaguchi.”

“My bad, Tsukki!”

“Oh, really?” Kageyama’s eyebrow twitched, “Then let’s see just how good you are.”

Shoyo jumped up, “Hey, hang on. It’s my turn next. I get to go first.”

“You just played!” Kageyama sassed.

“We already went through everyone again! And your turn is done!”

“I’m not done yet!” The two then proceeded to fight for the game.

Tanaka watched from the sidelines, more than concerned for the safety of his sister’s console. “Hey, stop that, you two!”

Though they just ignored him as they continued to fight each other for the game. “Huh!?”

Shoyo exclaimed, “You just died!” 

“This turn doesn’t count! Tsukishima got in my way!”

“Damn it! I told you I’m borrowing that!”

“Nuh uh! You just died! Let go, jackass!”

Behind them, Daichi was slowly growing annoyed with all the shouting and fighting. It was really starting to get on his nerves, which was shown by the gloomy expression that came over his face.

Endo cringed in amusement at the familiar look, “someone’s pissed off daddy Daichi.”

“Hey, stop!” Asahi advised the others, noticing the scary expression on their captain’s face, “Daichi’s gonna lose it!” Though Endo just laughed at the warning, knowing that they were too far into their argument to notice. That’s usually how Kageyama and Shoyo got.

“You let go!”

Then it was like slow motion, the video counsel having slipped from Shoyo’s hands and flying from their grasp. Everyone stared in shock and horror as Tanaka’s life flashed before his eyes. No doubt his sister was going to kill him for this! As it flew through the air, it surprisingly was heading straight for an unsuspecting Sakura, who was heading over to meet up with her brother. Her club had just ended and she really wasn’t too surprised to hear that the boys were arguing with each other over something. Though she wasn’t expecting to find a console flying right towards her. She had quick enough reflexes to at least try and catch it, which was successful. She then caught the console, albeit somewhat clumsily, before it could crash to the ground and most certainly great.

All the boys stared at her in amazement, as if she was an angel from heaven after saving the game. She blinked at them and then at the gaming console in her hand before raising an eyebrow. “Do I even want to ask?”

“Imouto!” Shoyo just about cried as he ran up to cling to her, “you’re a hero!”

Nishinoya and Tanaka joined in on the crying and tried to cling to her as well. Though she sidestepped the duo and let them fall to the ground. The only ones she’d let cling to her like this is her brother and sister, no one else.

She just blinked at his over dramatic behavior and looked to the other boys, “Why?”

“These bozos were fighting over this game since none of them could beat it.” Endo explained to her as he leaned down to her height. He clicked his tongue, “And you just saved them, most likely being yelled at by multiple people.”

“What game is it?” She asked as she looked at the console. She tilted her head as she stared at the game over screen and recognized it. “Oh, Kenma was talking about this.”

“I’m sure just like your brother you would be able to beat it,” Tsukishima said, completely unprompted but that’s usually how he is.

Sakura’s eyes narrowed as she glanced at him from the corner of her eye. The wide brown irises shined in the light as she saw the smirk on his face. So she took up the challenge. Sakura parked herself on the ground and started to play the game. All the boys huddled around her, even Tsukishima, but he tried to seem like he didn’t care. She made it look like child’s play. They exclaimed shouts as they watched her have a few close calls. They were basically biting their nails, more like just the troublesome duos were, and cheered when ever she got the upperhand.

After a short while, and encouragement from the boys around her, Sakura smirked in satisfaction. Tanaka gaped at her, “Y… You beat it!” Everyone was silent for a moment as they processed it, the screen clearly displaying her win. Then they all simultaneously bursted out into cheers over her success.

Shoyo’s eyes sparkled for what seemed like the millionth time, “WAH! AWESOME!”

Kageyama was both slightly impressed and annoyed over her win. After all, he was certain he was the one who was going to win it. “You were just lucky,” he ground out.

She just shrugged her shoulders and smirked smugly at Tsukishima who seemed surprised that she had won the game. “I don’t get why it was so hard,” Sakura scoffed as she gave the console back to Tanaka. She then waltzed away, leaving the impressed and bewildered boys behind her.

Chapter Text

THE DEFEAT AGAINST SEIJOH WAS STILL FRESH in Karasuno’s mind. While it was disheartening, it was also inspiring. The team was fired up to face them once again and beat them! So they were starting their practice with just a bit more fire under their feet. They still had another chance to win against Oikawa and his team. That meant there was plenty of practicing to do until then.

Currently, they were having a short game between each other. Endo stood off to the side as he watched his teammates go through a practice game with each other. He had already played a short game while playing against Nishinoya, which was certainly tiring. That boy could never let a ball hit the ground if he could help it. It made things frustrating for Endo, which is why he was more than happy to have a short break besides Kiyoko.

“So who do you think it would look best on, hmm?” 

Kiyoko pursed her lips, “Suga.”

Endo stared intently at the gray-haired setter and tilted his head back and forth in consideration. “I suppose,” he clicked his tongue, “though my vote would be for Daichi. I really think blue is his color.” The two were discussing the newest designer outfit that he had just gotten the day before. It was quite a pretty and elegant suit that was a nice navy blue. Though it  just reminded Endo of what it was for. After all, his father had gifted it to him in order to wear it to his first official meeting when he joined the company under his apprenticeship. Oh, how Endo was so ecstatic with that.

The two pictured Daichi in the suit and considered it. Daichi definitely would look good in a suit, both of them could agree on that. Or maybe even a uniform, who knows? Oh, they can dream. Shaking out of their thoughts, Kiyoko continued to scribble some notes down as they observed the others.

All throughout the practice, everyone was challenging each other. They were blocking, passing, spiking, and diving to their best ability, and it seemed like everytime they missed or succeeded they were more than ready to do better the next time.

The last few points were played, the white team was the one who ended up winning. 

“All right.” Ukai called now with the game being over, “That’s it for today.”

“Let us play one more set, please!” Shōyō shouted as he ran up to Ukai.

The coach blinked, “Huh?”

“Please!”

“Guys, playing until you drop isn’t the answer. Captain, you need to tell these guys-” He turned to Daichi, only to see that all of the other boys had the same expression(sans Tsukishima). It appeared that they weren’t going to be stopping just yet. “You guys…”

So they played one more set, to all of their agreement. By the end of that one, the boys were tired. It was one thing to have the motivation to keep playing to get better, but exhaustion was going to catch up eventually. The only ones who seemed to defy that were the troublesome duo. 

“Kageyama!” Even while letting out small puffs of breath in fatigue, Shōyō turned to the setter, “You can still go, right? Give me some tosses!”

Of course, Kageyama was up for it, “Right.” 

Tanaka sighed as the two raced over to the net to try some more, “You guys are still gonna practice?”

“Hey!” Daichi said, “We’ve still got to clean up, so that’s enough for today!”

The first-years sighed, “Right…”

So they all set up to do their stretches and clean up the gym. They put the balls away, took down the net, and paired up to do some cooling down. Endo had paired up with Suga and started stretching together.

“Ow, ow!” Asahi whined as the libero pushed down just a little too forcefully on his back. Sure, he needed to stretch, but didn’t need to be turned into a pretzel, “Hey, Nishinoya! Ow!”

“Hey,” Suga said as Endo did the same for him, “make sure you cool down properly.”

“Looks more like Noya’s trying to snap Asahi in half,” Endo chuckled at the distressed expression on the ace’s face. 

The door suddenly slid open loudly as their club advisor came barreling through. He accidentally flopped over onto the floor, concerning everyone who was surprised by the loud entrance.

Everyone came rushing over to see what the fuss was about. “Sensei?”

“Take-chan?” Tanaka asked in concern.

Ukai also asked, “You okay?”

“W-We’re going, right?” Takeda asked, disregarding their worry.

“Where?” Shōyō blinked.

Kagayama stared at him with wide eyes, “Your nose is bleeding!”

Adjusting his glasses over his bloody nose, Takeda exclaimed, “Tokyo!” That caused everyone to stare in shock. 

“Tokyo?” Shōyō asked, which earned a nod in confirmation, “Tokyo? You mean…” he blinked before shouting, “Nekoma?!” 

In Tokyo, Kenma sneezed. Yamamoto shouted in disgust, “Gross!”

“Tissue!” Yaku exclaimed, already having them ready for Kenma to use. Ever the team mom.

Kagayama asked, “A practice match?”

“Yeah! But it won’t just be Nekoma this time.” Takeda started to explain, “The Fukurodani Academy Group. It’s a group of schools from the Kanto region that includes Nekoma. Apparently, they hold practice matches all the time. This time, because of Coach Nekomata, Karasuno will also be able to participate in their practice matches.” All of the boys oohed and awed at that. They couldn’t imagine meeting so many powerful schools. Playing with them would definitely prepare them for the teams they would face going forward in their tournaments.

Ukai stepped in to explain even further, “Groups like that are created through relationships built up over years, so it’s not easy to get in without connections. We’ve got to make sure to thank Coach Nekomata. And Sensei, too, who I’m sure kept persistently asking him.”

“No, I didn’t, really…” Takeda waved his arms around, “Your name helped a lot, Coach Ukai.”

“Thank you,” the boys all bowed at their teacher in thanks.

Their teacher smiled, “Over the years, we’ve lost our connections with other schools in the prefecture that we were once close with. There are many schools where the coaches that were once close to the former Coach Ukai are now gone. We shouldn’t miss this chance!”

Everyone cheered at that, “Yeah!”

Fire started to burn around Kageyama as he thought back to the cat's setter, “I’m going to be able to see that set up in person again.”

Elsewhere, Kenma shivered, unknowingly being mentioned by Kageyama, “Maybe I caught a cold… I’m getting chills.”

“Hey!” Yamamoto shouted, “We’re right before a match!”

Nishinoya jumped in the conversation, just as fiery as usual, “This time, I’m going to protect us ‘til we win!”

“Yeah…” Yaku shivered alongside his setter, “It might actually be a little cold today.”

Yamamoto turned to his upperclassmen in worry, “You, too, Yaku-san?!” There had to be something going around if both of them were saying that!

Tanaka joined in on the shouting, “We’re gonna take down that City Boy Alliance!”

“City Boy…” Tsukishima tried to keep his snickers to himself.

Yamaguchi was doing the same, “...Alliance?”

“I’m feeling hot!” Yamamoto shouted, seemingly tearing his uniform off, “I’m burning up!”

“Yamamoto, shut up,” Kuroo said boredly.

From his spot, Shōyō was just about bursting with energy at this news. He pumped his fists, “This time, I’m going to break through for sure!”

“Um, the only thing is, their prelims for the Inter-High start this weekend, so it won’t be right away.” Takeda pointed out, “Also, at this point, we’ve only received the invitation. There are some agreements we have to work out, but I’ll tell you all about the details another time. But it seems that all of you are…”

“Of course!” Daichi nodded.

All the boys jumped up happily and chorused, “We’ll go!”

“I’ve got a staff meeting,” Takeda said while looking down at his watch, “so I’ve got to get going. Ukai-kun, I’ll leave the rest to you.”

Ukai nodded, “Sure.”

“Thank you!” They all called out as Takeda took his leave.

“It’s going to get busy.” Asahi chuckled lightly. He already knew that everyone was going to put in even more work just so they could compete with the schools at the camp.

Daichi grunted, “Yeah.”

“You’ll be busy, too, Shimizu.” Suga commented and looked at their manager, “This’ll be your first long trip with us.”

Endo clicked his tongue, “don’t worry, I’ll keep those pesky guys away from you, Kiyoko.” Ah, what a gentleman.

“Don’t say something like that, you’ll start sounding like Nishinoya and Tanaka!” Daichi laughed.

Endo stuck out his tongue, “I’m not a perv like them.”

Kiyoko just smiled cutely, “I’ll do my best, too.” The boys just stared at her and her adorable nature. Obviously quite taken with her at that moment.

“Come on!” Ukai called, breaking them out of their trance, “Hurry and clean up, then go home!”

“Right!” They all called out before doing just that.

Sakura walked through the halls of the first-year classrooms. Everyone was buzzing around, going to eat lunch with their friends or get some studying done in their free time. She was heading to find her brother with her lunch held in hand. Apparently, they mixed up their bento boxes that morning. She would much rather have the lunch she packed herself that morning, instead of whatever Shōyō had thrown together. He always packed some of the strangest things for his lunches, and she didn’t want to imagine what he had for himself today.

As she headed down the hall, there were whispers and murmurs all around her as she headed closer to Shōyō’s classroom. Something must be going on, she thought to herself. She got closer and found that it was Kiyoko who was the center of attention. The goddess of a student was standing in front of a tomato red Shōyō. Sakura raised an eyebrow at the scene since she never would have thought of Kiyoko coming down to this part of the school. Wonder what she’s doing here, Sakura thought.

As she approached, Sakura could hear the angelic third-year ask her brother, “Do you know any first-years who aren’t in a club?”

Sakura came up to her star-struck brother and her senpai, “You’re looking for a new manager?” Shōyō just about jumped at his sister's voice, still a bit in awe of Kiyoko’s appearance at his classroom. Though that changed when he saw that she had his lunch in her hands.

He seemingly brightened at the sight of his packed lunch. “Imouto, ah, thanks,” He said as he took his lunch from her, “I have yours here!” He went into his classroom and went to grab hers as well.

The older girl nodded her head, “Yes, after this year, I want to make sure that there’s a manager to take my place."

That was understandable, Sakura was well aware that the team would not be managed correctly they had the possibility of falling apart. Especially with the likes of the troublesome duo. Not to say they couldn’t take care of themselves but… they just needed quite a bit of help. She pursed her lips while standing in front of Kiyoko, "Hmm, have you found anyone?"

"No, so far everyone I've asked already has their own commitments to other clubs." That was a bummer. Time was running out on finding a successor for the position.

Sakura pursed her lips in thought. Did she know anyone that might take up the offer? Her blonde haired friend then popped into her head. She had been talking about trying to find a club to fit in, after all… "I may know someone who may be a good candidate."

"Really?” Kiyoko brightened at that, “Do you mind introducing us after school?"

She nodded, "Sure. I'll bring her to your classroom sometime."

"Thank you, Sakura.” Kiyoko bowed towards her, “I appreciate this."

Growing hot at all the attention that the action was garnering, Sakura scratched her cheek in embarrassment, "No need to bow, really senpai. It's fine, besides it's not like I'm saying she's going to agree. All I'm saying is that she's been looking to join a club, and being manager might interest her."

Kiyoko smiled, a flowery aura surrounding her, "Still thank you."

More than red-faced at her senpai, Sakura muttered, "Yea, yea."

“Here, Saku!” Shōyō came bounding back out with his sister’s bento in his hands. “I might have eaten a bit of your rice, but everything else is in there.” He smiled widely, as if proud of himself for not eating her entire lunch.

Sakura raised an eyebrow, “uh huh, I’ll be taking your rice as compensation.” 

Changing into his workout clothes, Endo listened to the boys as they talked about the magazine that he had brought in. As soon as he caught a glimpse of who was mentioned in it, he knew he had to show them all. Not only would it be interesting to read what it said, but it would no doubt be funny to see the team's reactions.

Tanaka shouted out at the sight of the arrogant photo presented to him. “Oikawa’s featured in Monthly Volleyball , and it even has his picture.” It just wasn’t fair!

Endo chuckled, “I know, right? Honestly, it isn’t even that good of a picture,” he nudged Shōyō’s shoulder, “paparazzi-chan could definitely take better pictures than that, doncha think!”

Shōyō nodded his head rapidly, “yea, she definitely could!”

“Well, he’s good enough to play in a national league.” Suga said from over Tanaka’s shoulder, “So, what does it say?” 

“Um…” Tanaka started to read from the magazine, “‘Oikawa’s favorite food is milk bread. His favorite saying is, ‘If you’re going to hit it, hit it until it breaks.’”

“What the hell is that?” Suga

“That’s so… I don’t even know what to say to that,” Endo blinked, not knowing what to think about Oikawa’s favorite saying.

“Who cares?” Nishinoya growled, obviously irked, “That’s completely useless!” 

Tanaka continued on with the article, “Looks like Seijoh wants to take down Shiratorizawa, so most of the third-years that were regulars are still there.” He became fired up while nearly tearing the magazine in half, “Come on and bring it, Seijoh!”

“Bring it!” Shōyō echoed him just as worked up as ever.

Suga then came in and wacked Tanaka away from the magazine, “Hey! You’re gonna rip it! For crying out loud…” He picked it up to a random page and perked up, “Hey, it’s Ushiwaka.” It was a professional photo of Ushijima Wakatoshi, and on his uniform was the Japanese flag. 

Shōyō blinked in surprise, “Japan?” 

“Hey!” Diachi said from the doorway with Asahi behind him, “Get out here already. We’re going for a run.” 

Endo plucked the magazine from Suga and presented it to his captain, “you’ll never guess, Daichi!”

He pointed to the photo of their ultimate obstacle as Suga explained, “Ushiwaka’s in the Youth World.” 

“What?” Daichi and Asahi said in shock.

“Youth World?” Yamaguchi asked.

Tsukishima was the one to explain it to him, “Simply put, he’s representing Japan in the under 19 age group.” 

“Only one high school can represent Miyagi in the spring tournament.” Daichi started to explain to everyone. “For us to go to nationals, we’ll have to defeat Ushiwaka and Oikawa.” Everyone was now determined after hearing news like that. It was no doubt going to be a large obstacle to get over, but they weren’t going to go down without a fight. “All right! Let’s go running!”

The boys all shouted, “Right!”

Gathered around at the bottom of quite an infamous hill, the volleyball team were lining up to get through their run for the practice. “Here we are.” Tanaka said as they all stared up at the road they were about to run up. “Karasuno’s famous Heartbreak Hill.”

Endo groaned loudly, “do we have to do this? Can’t we just… not?”

"Don't be such a baby," Suga laughed at his misery.

“All right! Ten dashes uphill to the halfway mark! Two at a time! Ready…” First to line up was Ennoshita and Tanaka who took off after Daichi clapped. “Ready…” Next was Yamaguchi and Tsukishima, “Tsukishima! Run like you mean it!” He scolded and continued on with counting the boys down. Next was Kinoshita, Narita, and Endo. Though Endo did not look at all pleased with having to do this. He certainly hates running. “Ready…” Daichi clapped and the trio was off, “Ready… Ready…” Eventually it was time for the troublesome duo to go, since they were second to last. Just like everything else between them, Shōyō and Kageyama turned it into a competition between each other. So once they were told to go, they took off like rockets.

At the mid way mark up the mountain, all the boys who had gone first took a breather. Some were more winded than others, but they got the exercise they needed, so that was good. 

“Hey, good job, Tsukishima.” Ennoshita encouraged the first-year as he came up to the group. 

Endo was leaning over his knees, trying to take in large gulps of breath. He sure likes playing volleyball with his friends, but the exercise that comes with it was always so tiring. Why couldn’t he just sit on the sidelines, be a benchwarmer and sit there while looking pretty? Was that so much to ask for? Breaking through his thoughts was the obnoxious yelling of Kageyama and Shōyō as they came running towards them. Then they ran straight past them as well, not even slowing down a little bit. 

“Hey!” Tanaka shouted after them, “Where are you guys going?!” Though they were too invested in their race that they didn’t even see or hear them and just continued on running.

“Pretty sure we can just let them go.” Tsukishima commented bordley, watching the duo run off on their own. What complete idiots.

Endo huffed and puffed through his words, “T-They… really need to… stop making everything… a competition.” He held the stitch in his side as he did his best to stay upright. Though the ground was looking quite inviting, maybe even comfy enough to lay on.

Enoshita patted his upperclassmen on the back, “you okay, Endo?”

“Yeah, just give me a second.” The blond nodded his head and took one large breath,“I… I hate running.”

Shōyō and Kageyama were found eventually. It was quite the scene once they got back. The two were chewed out by Daichi for not listening and such, which earned chuckles from the likes of Tsukishima, Yamaguchi, and Endo. They were taking some delight in seeing the terrified expressions on the two’s faces. Daichi really was scary when it came to things like this. A terrifying father, one that you would never want to anger.

Though Endo found it more than interesting that they talked about meeting the Ushiwaka while on their detour. He certainly wasn’t surprised to know that the pair had challenged the star ace after only a few minutes of talking. Their big mouths were going to get them in trouble so much. Endo wasn’t sure if he loved or hated that about them. Time could only tell which.

After that though, the team was all sitting in a half circle around their coach and teacher. They had a few things to go over about the camp and anything else it seemed. “Ahem…” Takeda cleared his throat. “As for our series of away games in Tokyo, for the time being, it’s planned for next month. Because they are away games, we will need permission for your parents or guardians, so I’ll hand out those forms later. We also have tentative consent from the school, as well. However, as you are aware, you have final exams starting next month. Right?” A few of the boys froze up at that reminder. Looks like they didn’t seem to remember about them, oh no. “So, I think you know what I’m getting at, but if you fail any subjects, supplementary classes will be held that weekend. Which means you won’t be able to go to the away games.”

Endo took in the expressions of Shōyō, Kageyama, Tanaka, and Nishinoya and snickered lightly. “Looks like some of us are going to have some difficulty,” he, not so quietly, whispered to Asahi. He wouldn’t say he’s the best student around, but he could confidently say he could pass all of his classes and tests in order to go to the camp. Did he have faith that these four would be able to? Maybe. Though it will be more than entertaining to watch them try.

Chapter Text

“YOU DO REALIZE THAT YOU HAVE FINALS next month, right?” Takeda asked, focusing on the four idiots, “Right?” From the way that they looked away from him, it seems like they forgot and definitely aren’t prepared. “So, I think you know what I’m getting at, but if you fail any subjects… you will have to take supplementary classes.”

At the reminder of that, panic started to set in for them. Nishinoya and Tanaka took off sprinting, thinking that running away would help their case. Which it certainly wouldn’t.

“Hey! There’s nowhere to run!” Daichi shouted out as they tried to escape, “Ennoshita, catch them!”

The other second-year stepped into action, “Got it!” He grabbed the two by the backs of their shirts before they could even get a taste of freedom. At this point, he’s become an expert at wrangling these two idiots around.

Shōyō was in complete shock, “Fail… Fail… What counts as a failing grade?” 

“That’s your question?” Suga blinked at the poor, confused, and panicking boy.

Besides them, Yamaguchi stared at their frozen setter and started to worry, “Kageyama’s not breathing!” The poor setter boy was as stiff as stone as his mind was blank. This seemed to be the worst thing ever for him.

“Since we said we were going to continue club activities, we have to at least make decent grades.” Suga stated one of the most obvious facts. Yes, in order to stay in a club all of them had to prove that they could balance their grades and the club in a healthy manner. If not… then they would have to solely focus on their school work. Any normal student would know that, but not these volleyball idiots, apparently.

An amused smile was starting to grow on Tsukishima’s face as he watched them freak out. Growing to enjoy how those four were squirming  at the reminder of their grades he said, “You shouldn’t fail.” 

“Nope,” Ennoshita agreed while holding up the backs of Nishinoya and Tanaka’s shirts.

Shōyō jumped over to Takeda desperately, “M-Maybe if we beg the vice principal…” 

“Why don’t you try really hard and not fail the exam?” Tsukishima asked.

Takeda sighed heavily, “Even if we get the vice principal’s permission, if you have to take supplementary classes, those will take priority.” 

The dream of going to the Tokyo camp was crumbling right in front of Shōyō. He turned to Ukai and jumped at him, “Coach!” 

“W-Well, this isn’t something you’re gonna be able to avoid as a student.” Ukai said shakily.

“But…”

“You need willpower!” He tried to motivate the boy, “You need to believe you can do it!”

“Mind over matter?! No, that’s fine.” Shōyō bowed, “Please teach me!”

“Hinata,” Ukai grunted, “I didn’t really want to bring this up, but do I look like someone who got good grades?” Well, no one was going to answer that since… he didn’t really look the part.

Endo shrugged his shoulders, “looks can be deceiving?” Though Ukai just gave all of them a hollow expression since it didn’t seem like that statement applied in this situation.

Suga stepped up to the upset boy and did his best to reassure him, “Hinata, I’m sure you don’t have to worry this much about it.”

“I’ve never had a double-digit score on any of my quizzes.” He stated, “Will I still be okay?” 

“Whoa, that’s actually impressive!” Endo exclaimed in wonder. He’s had his fair share of bad grades, but never in the single digits! That just seemed like an impossibility, did he even answer any of the questions? “You’re definitely screwed!” That just seemed to cause Shōyō to freeze up even more.

“Huh?” Suga blinked at that piece of information. Behind him he then noticed Nishinoya and Tanaka praying for a miracle. “Hey! Stop it with the bodhisattva faces, you two!”

The boys then started to wail in anguish. Endo was both amused and getting a headache from their screams of terror. As they freaked out, a few boys basked in the chaos, and others stared worryingly, Takeda had started to mutter to himself in a trance, “They can do it if they try. They can do it if they try…”

Ukai slightly panicked at the disoriented expression on Takeda’s face, “Sensei, pull yourself together!”

There were only two who seemed to be getting joy out of this turn of events. Tuskishima was one of them as he smirked evilly at the distress now swarming around the gym. He relished in the discourse surrounding him, “Ah, the sound of anguish.” 

Endo also seemed amused with the entire situation. Which shouldn't be a surprise since it’s been shown time and time again that he revels in situations such as this. “God, the way they're squirming over this is oh so entertaining.” He chuckled loudly, “the panic is almost refreshing.”

“Get a hold of yourselves!” Daichi exclaimed, attempting to rally all the boys together, “We still have time until exams start. There’s no way Karasuno could bring our best without these four idiots! Not a chance!” They all stared at him in slight confusion as the four boys did their best to pull themselves together. Kageyama was still shell-shock as Shōyō had to hold him up.

“I don’t know if I’m flattered or insulted…” Tanaka trailed off.

“We’re gonna do this…” Daichi said menacingly, “We’re all gonna go to Tokyo.”

Getting the boys to calm down took a little bit. Though Daichi and Suga were able to corral everyone back to the club room to get ready to leave. Ukai had to help a still disoriented Takeda back into the school since the teacher was still anxious over the four unprepared boys. So they all finally got into the club room as Daichi grabbed Shōyō, Nishinoya, Kageyama, and Tanaka to kneel in front of him for a scolding. 

“Listen up, you guys,” He started to say, “The one thing that you’re going to promise me right now… …is that you will not fall asleep in class.”

Asahi glanced over, “That’s the first priority?”

“Staying up late through sheer willpower. Screwing up in your classes and in club. It’s all absolutely unreasonable!”

They all muttered, “Right…”

“We’re heading out,” Tuskishima said as he and Yamaguchi made their way out.

“R-Right.” They all called out, “Good job.”

Suga looked at his underclassmen with a soft, reassuring smile, “It’ll be all right. I mean, you guys passed your high school entrance exams.”

“Suga-san!” Tanaka stared at their upper-classmen in awe.

Though Suga’s smile took on a more menacing undertone, “If you fall asleep in class, you’d better be prepared for the consequences.” 

Endo slung his bag over his shoulder, “I’m rooting for you guys,” he said, surprising a few of his friends. But he ended up just shrugging his shoulders with a smug smile, “I’m betting a solid 15,000¥ on you failing.”

It’s not that he thinks the others aren’t smart… They just weren’t book smart. Studying may not come easy to a lot of people, even he can struggle with it. However, these four were the biggest volleyball idiots that he knows, so who knows if they’ll be able to study right. Volleyball seemed to be one of the only things on their mind, so why not make a bet with a high chance of getting some money. 

“Who did you make a bet like that with?!” Nishinoya shouted in annoyance. How dare the rich boy flaunt his wealth over them but also have doubt in their ability to succeed. Endo casually just pointed to a sheepish Asahi. That shocked them as Nishinoya yelled at his friend in surprise and disappointment, “Asahi!??”

The poor guy started to sweat under the heated stares of his friends. “I-I bet that you guys would do good!” 

Endo slung his shoulder over the nervous Asahi as he started to sweat about joining in the bet. Asahi did his best to explain things through his stuttering words, but Endo just started to move them towards the exit. Endo sang as the pair left, “I’m ready to win my bet~!” 

Yet another uneventful day, Sakura thought to herself as she exited the school building. Really the only thing that wasn’t that boring for her was when Kiyoko came to the first-years talking to them about finding a future manager. Her classes were nothing to really focus on since they were quite easy today and more or less just review for the upcoming exams.

Exams are by no means any students favorite thing, they just create stress and issues for some kids. However, while Sakura didn’t think that she enjoyed them, they weren’t as stress-inducing for her as say her brother. Well, that’s not a fair comparison, her brother is not a studious student to begin with. She has no doubt that he’ll be coming to her for help with studying. Her brother can be clever, but by no means is he book  smart. They always joked that Sakura was the one to get the brains while Shōyō got all the brawns when they were born.

She made her way across the courtyard to where she and Shōyō kept their bikes. Both of them were still there, so that meant Sakura would have to wait for him to get out of practice. Though she didn’t have to wait long when there was the loud sound of Shōyō yelling at the sight of her. 

“IMOUTO!”

Sakura nearly jumped at the loud shout, “Huh?” She turned around to see that Shōyō was running up to her with Kageyama quickly behind him. They definitely were racing over to her, but she would expect nothing less.

Once they got close enough, Shōyō instantly grabbed her in a tight hug and started to beg, “Please, help us study so we can go to Tokyo!” The puppy-dog eyes that he was flashing her had already sealed the deal since there was no way Sakura could say no to that. Even Kageyama, who looked less than happy to be in front of her, had a feeling of desperation around him. Sakura blinked at the pair for a moment, before smirking lightly as she realized why they were like this. 

“So you can’t go to the camp unless your grades are good?” It’s the only assumption that she could make. The team has a camp coming up, exams are soon, and she knows supplementary tests would be the same day as the camp. So it’s a logical assumption to make.

Kageyama scowled, “Don’t sound so smug.” He hated having to ask people for help like this. Practically, begging her for any help at all so they don’t fall behind in their beloved sport. Sure, he’s fine to ask someone to help study. He may be prideful but when it comes to his studies he’s okay with asking for some help. However, when it comes to Sakura, he just knows she’s going to make a big deal about this. Which she most definitely was.

“Watch your tone, king.” Sakura tutted coyly, “I have no problem helping Shō-nii, but I have no obligation to help you.” There was no doubt that she was going to help her brother study, as a sister it was sort of in her job description. However, the King was a different story. They never really see eye-to-eye on things, and have a rocky relationship as it is. So why would she want to 

Shōyō jumped up at that fact, “So you’ll help us?!” His sister truly is a godsend!

“Say, please.” She said before placing a finger on Shōyō’s lips to stop him from her brother begging, “Not you.” Sakura turned her leer onto Kageyama, “ You .”

Kageyama narrowed his eyes on her. Yup, there she goes. Oh how infuriating it is to see her holding this over his head. Though if he wanted to get to the camp, he was going to need all the help he could get. One of their top classmates was definitely a good idea. Though why it had to be someone like Sakura, he would never know. He gritted his teeth, as if it pained him to say it, “ please. ”

She smiled condescendingly, “All right. I’ll help.” It seemed like that was satisfactory enough for her. She didn’t really expect some extravagant groveling from him or anything, so this was the best that she was going to get. “Though I am a rigorous tutor. I will make sure that you learn what you need to do no matter what, got it.” The two nodded in agreement. Though Shōyō was the only one that knew what he was signing up for with Sakura’s tutoring. “Good, but no complaining about how I tutor you.” Either they get the help that they can from her the way she can give it, or nothing else.

Kageyama’s scowl seemed to deepen at her declaration, but he couldn’t argue. He scoffed at her before turning to lead them down the mountain. “Whatever.” Yeah, she certainly is an infuriating girl.

“So? I’m guessing a good time to study would be during break time.” Sakura suggested as she and Shōyō followed after him.

Shōyō nodded his head rapidly, “yes! And at home too please!”

“Yea, yea I know. Though not him.” Sakura pursed her lips and nodded her head at Kageyama. “I’m not letting him anywhere near my room.”

Shōyō’s eyebrows furrowed, “It’s our room.”

“When I’m helping you study, it’s mine .”

“Unfair!”

The trio traveled down the hill, talking over their schedule of studying and good places for it. Though there was one thing that popped up while they were talking. Well, more like someone. Tsukishima. Sakura wasn’t pleased to hear that the two dummies also wanted to get help from him. Though she wouldn’t totally blame them for it. They needed all the help that they were going to get, and if she can’t help them in a certain subject, then someone else might. It just so happened that someone else was most likely going to be Tsukishima. How annoying. Speaking of which, they caught sight of the blond beanstalk and Yamaguchi heading home themselves. Ah, a perfect opportunity to ask him to help out.

“Tsukishima!...” Shōyō shouted out, startling everyone at how loud he was. Though he made sure to add on the honorifics, “san Help us study. Please.”

“What?” Tsukishima blinked, “No.” What else were they supposed to say? That he would outright agree with helping them. He doesn’t like them all too much, so what would he be gaining helping them at all?

Though they weren’t going to take no for an answer. Shōyō continued to beg, “Just, like, less than an hour each day! Or tell us how to study…”

Yamaguchi looked between them and offered a small shrug of his shoulders, “It wouldn’t hurt to do that a couple minutes before or after club.”

Sakura let out a small laugh, though it sounded more like a scoff than anything, “Doubt he’d be kind enough to help out anyway.”

Tsukishima narrowed his eyes at her, “And you are?”

“Looks like you’ve learned something new once again.” She asked with a false, sweet smile.

Tsukiahima just rolled his eyes at her. Her sarcasm was not that appreciated. Oh, how he could so go without having to hear it. “Hey, I don’t think it’s fair that you’re having the shrimp ask for the both of you.” He asked smugly as Kageyama had yet to say anything. Just like with Sakura, Tsukishima was acting the same way “What do you have to say, big guy?”

“Kageyama, ask him,” Shōyō urged him.

The setter was having a flashback to just a few minutes ago when Sakura did the same thing. It was unsettling how similar the two were, he thought. Begrudgingly Kageyama grumbled under his breath, “Please teach us.” Though it wasn’t like anyone could hear him all too well.

“What?” Tsukiahima bent down and obnoxiously cupped his ear.

“Please… teach us how to study.”

“I don’t think I quite heard you.”

Kageyama then intensely bowed down, his head nearly touching the ground as he shouted, “Teach us how to study!”

The door to the Sakanoshita Market slid open violently, startling the teens as Ukai yelled at them, “Shut the hell up! You’re disturbing the neighbors!”

“S-Sorry!” Shōyō and Kageyama stuttered out.

Tsukishima grumbled, “Why am I getting yelled at?”

Once Ukai had returned to his shop, the teens realized it was definitely time to go home. It was getting late, and Sakura knew they needed to get home before their mother started to worry.  “Let’s just go, I’m hungry.” Sakura said as she mounted her bike, “See ya, Tadashi.” She swiftly started to pedal away, only saying bye to the only one she tolerated.

The boy smiled at her, “bye, Sakura!” Though his smile became slightly awkward when he noticed Tsukishima glaring at him.

The quiet day was a perfect time for some studying, which is what Sakura had told her brother. Well, she gave an excuse for every day being a good day for studying. No matter how annoyed or put off Shōyō might have been about missing out on practicing outside, he knew that she was just doing this in his best interest. Though He had to say that the studying that she was doing was… helpful. Yes, she was quite demanding of him with her tutoring, she was working with him to help him as much as she could. At this point, Sakura is aware of Shōyō ‘s strengths and weaknesses and was doing her best to help him strengthen them while also overcoming or avoiding his weaknesses.

So that’s where Shōyō found himself at the desk in their shared bedroom, his notebook opened up as he copied some notes that Sakura had given him. Sakura was also in the room, working on her own studying and homework while keeping an eye on Shōyō to keep him on task. She’s aware her brother could get distracted easily, so making sure he isn’t going to get absorbed in something else.

She laid on her stomach, her books out in front of her on her bed as she was finishing up the last of her math homework. Not only that but she had to start coming up with some ideas about what she would do for the next gallery. Since Shimada had hinted at them talking about it for the next club meeting.

Ever since the first gallery that they had, Sakura had found herself enjoying the galleries and exhibitions that they’ve had. Some were small and just the photography club. Others were in collaboration with other clubs like the Art club, which usually had more people who came to see it. The photography club was small and not that interesting for outsiders, in all honesty. Though the art club, well, everyone knew the art club and loved to see it. Perhaps because there were a lot more mediums of art within the club than just one like photography. 

The sound of a phone buzzing went off. Sakura raised an eyebrow at it, knowing that it wasn’t her phone since it’s on silent. So of course it was Shōyō’s. However, her eyes narrowed since she had been adamant to him about keeping his phone on silent and away from him to minimize distractions. Since she is well aware of how he could be easily distracted.

Shōyō looked at his phone to see whatever text he had gotten. It certainly seemed to fill him up with excitement since it was great news. Talking to Kenma was quite exciting, especially about the upcoming training camp. Though his determined and motivated emotions were stunted as he was hit on top of the head. Sakura scowled behind him and quickly snatched his phone out of his hands in his disoriented state.

“What’d I say,” She harshly said, “no phones while studying!”

Shōyō whined, “It’s Kenma.” As if that was going to justify his disregard of one of her rules for his studying.

Their door then opened up as their little sister came bounding into the room. Her bright smile lit up the room as the childish energy consumed her siblings. There was no doubt that she wanted to play. She bounced around happily, completely dispelling the brewing argument between the twins. If it’s one thing that Natsu is a master at, it dissipates any discourse between the two. She smiled largely at the two, “Ni-chan, onee-chan, let’s play jump rope!”

Their mother then called from down the hall, “Nat-chan, the twins are busy studying.”

She pouted, “Aw…”

“Come on Nat-chan,” Sakura sighed while climbing off of her bed. “I’ll play with you.” The last thing that she’d want to see is her little sister upset about not getting to play with someone. Besides, she quite likes getting to loosen up a bit and play games with Natsu. She’s quite the adorable girl, and Sakura adores her.

The little girl cheered, “Yay!”

As Natsu skipped as she started dragging Sakura away by her hand, Sakura turned to her brother, “You focus on studying,” she waved his phone around in her hand, “I’m taking this.” So she was led off by their little sister to join in on some jump rope while Shōyō was left to study.

Though just as Sakura and Natsu were making their way outside they heard their brother shout out, “All right! I’m gonna go to Tokyo!”

“Shōyō, be quiet!” Their mother scolded him. The two sisters shared a look, Sakura rolling her eyes lightly while Natsu giggled.

When it came to be the next day, Sakura walked alongside Yachi as they headed towards the third-year classrooms. It took a bit of convincing to get Yachi out of their classroom and on their journey to find Kiyoko. Sakura knew that Yachi was anxious about talking to their upperclassman about the position in the club, but she was hoping that she could work her way through it. Everyone has their vices and flaws, but she had a feeling that Yachi would at least give it a chance. 

“Yachi. It’ll be okay.” Sakura said, staring at her friend in worry. The poor girl was fidgeting around to the point that Sakura was worried that she was going to pass out or something.

“But it’s a third-year! A friend of yours!” Yachi exclaimed, earning some looks for the other kids they walked passed. “What if I say something wrong and then she doesn’t want to talk to me and then you decide that I embarrassed you so much that you don’t want to be my friend anymore and-”

Sakura cut her off, “Yachi, that isn’t what's going to happen.”

“Are you sure?” The girl asked as she nervously bit her nails.

“Yes.” She said strongly and let just a small smile to grace her lips, “I’m not going to stop being your friend, all right. It will take quite a bit for that to happen.” Since Yachi was one of her only friends in her class, it wasn’t like she was going to drop her over something simple like this. Sakura certainly wasn’t shallow like that.

Yachi blinked owlishly, “Oh, okay.” She was well aware that Sakura really only had her as a friend in their class. Though that didn’t mean she thought Sakura would leave her if she messed it up with this third-year manager. Yachi values talking to Sakura every day and sharing lunch and their breaks with her, she definitely would not want to lose that friendship.

“There she is.” Sakura said as she walked over to the beautiful third-year. “Good morning, Kiyoko.”

Her senpai smiled at them, “Good morning, Sakura.”

“This is my friend Yachi Hitoka.”

The beautiful teen smiled widely at the younger girl, “It’s lovely to meet you.” 

It seemed like Yachi had become star-struck now with Kiyoko looking down at her. Though once she realized that she had to give some sort of greeting she stuttered out, “N-Nice to m-meet y-you!” Which then prompted her to give a deep bow, which startled Kiyoko at how sudden it was.

Kiyoko glanced over at Sakura for a moment at the strange greeting from Yachi. The orange-haired girl just shrugged her shoulders at her senpai. So Kiyoko just continued, “Sakura mentioned that you were looking for a club to join.”

Yachi nodded her head stiffly, “Uh, oh, yeah!” Sakura just raised an eyebrow at Yachi’s nervous behavior. She knows that her friend has difficulty with her anxiety about certain situations and overthinking a lot. Sakura just hoped that if Yachi decides to take this on, it could help her work through it. She knew sometimes to work through something you can put yourself in certain situations out of your comfort zone.

“The boy’s volleyball club will need to have a new manager next year since I am graduating.” Kiyoko explained as she handed Yachi the manager  “This year they did quite an amazing job during their games. Even at the Inter-High prelims, they were neck-and-neck with Aoba Johsai, who actually made it to the finals.” Sakura was half listening to Kiyoko since she already knew this. However, she noticed the far off look on Yachi’s face, which caused her to raise an eyebrow. Was she paying attention? Sakura wondered. “Though we do have quite a few troublemakers, but I’m sure you’ll find that they’re a team you want to root for. So, why don’t we try a trial membership?”

“Huh?!” Yachi jumped, getting dragged out of her thoughts since she zoned out during everything Kiyoko said. She nervously shouted out, “Sure!”

Kiyoko smiled widely, “Really?! Thank you so much!” She exclaimed while grabbing her hand, “Then I’ll come by again after school.”

As Kiyoko skipped away happily at the new development, Sakura looked over at Yachi and her dazed expression. Sakura deadpanned, “Did you hear anything she said?”

“...no,” Yachi coughed out sheepishly.

Sakura shook her head in amusement, “Don’t worry, I’ll catch you up, come on.” So Sakura started retelling what Kiyoko’s had said as they headed back into their classroom.

Kiyoko had come to collect Sakura and Yachi once classes were over. While Sakura could have easily brought Yachi there on her own, she knew that Kiyoko wanted to give Yachi a good impression and explain more things on their walk over. Not only that but Kiyoko is just an extremely kind girl.

All throughout their short walk towards the gym, Yachi was nervously fidgeting with her hands, but listening attentively to every word Kiyoko said. Sakura walked beside them while keeping quiet and letting Kiyoko take charge of the conversation. After all, Kiyoko was the one who had to teach Yachi what she would need to know to be a manager, if Yachi took the position. 

Eventually, the trio of girls made it to the gym entrance. Sakura made sure to give Yachi her silent support through looks and gestures, which seemed to work just slightly. Yachi was not exactly an anxious mess over meeting new people, or else their first meeting would have been a bit more awkward, Sakura knew. However, with the job of a manager possibly hanging over her, Yachi was just over thinking what was going to happen if she messed up at any point or disappointed Kiyoko.

Soon enough they made it to the door of the gym. The team was already practicing their passing and spikes when the girls got there. Though there was no way that any of them were going to miss Kiyoko’s appearance. Though once they noticed her they also noticed the two others along with her. While they weren’t surprised to see Sakura there, the blonde-haired girl was someone new. That was definitely causing Yachi to tremble just slightly, having to be around all these new boys and how intimately tall some of them were.

“So you found a new person!” Shōyō exclaimed.

“What’s up?” Tanaka inquired.

Nishinoya joined in on the questioning, “What’s going on?” 

Kiyoko glanced at the nervous Yachi, “Um, she’s joining the club on a trial basis as the new manager…”

Now with all of the boys starting to gather around the girls, Yachi stumbled out a greeting, “I-I’m Yachi Hitoka!”

“Seriously?” Suga said happily, “That’s awesome!”

Shōyō was bouncing around at all of this new news, “Nice job, Shimizu-senpai!”

Asahi bent down to greet the new coming, “You’re a first-year?”

Though that only made Yachi panic a bit since she thought Asahi was not a student but instead an older man. She stuttered out, “I-I’m in Class 1-5, sir!”

Daichi made sure to put himself between them, in case Yachi becomes even more scared, “Asahi, back up a bit.”

“Huh?” Though Asahi was a bit oblivious to why he had to do so.

“You’re scaring the poor girl,” Endo chuckled while patting his friend on the back in sympathy.

It seemed like Nishinoya and Tanaka were more than intrigued to see the new girl. Though their way of expressing this, just staring at her intensely, was doing nothing but scaring Yachi just slightly. “Hey!” Suga exclaimed and pushed the two away. “Don’t stare like that! It’s rude.”

Even if he had been pulled back slightly to not frighten Yachi too much, Asahi was still excited with this new development. “Thank goodness. Now there’ll be a manager next year, too.”

Shōyō nodded, “Yes!” Though that just caused Yachi to jump slightly in nervousness.

“Sh-She hasn’t actually joined yet,” Kiyoko was quick to correct them, “I asked her suddenly today, and before work with the membership committee, so she’s just dropping in to say hi today.”

Yachi bowed her head to the group, “I-It’s a pleasure to meet you!”

“Same!” All the boys around her respectfully did the same. Though that just caused Yachi’s nervousness to spike even more as she jumped. Sakura made sure to place a hand on Yachi’s shoulder, hoping to calm the poor girl down just a bit. She just wanted to make sure that her friend knew that she was there to try to calm her down if she needed it.

Kiyoko stepped in, “Could you not surround her until she’s more comfortable?”

Sakura’s eyebrows furrowed, “You guys are creepy when girls are around.” It was almost like they had never been around too many girls at one time. She knew that a few of them were a bit… dumbfounded when it came to girls, but it shouldn’t be too bad. It made her feel protective of the only friend from her class. After all, if they scared her off, what if Yachi decided to avoid her or something. So she did her best to subtly stand in front of Yachi as she rolled her eyes at them, “Please don’t scare away my friend.”

Tsukishima decided to make a jab, “You have a friend?” Which only earned him a deadpanned glance from her and nothing more. Not like she was going to give him any real acknowledgement. Which ultimately frustrated Tsukishima just a bit, but he kept himself quiet for the time being.

So Yachi saw that as an opening to leave the gym for the day. She smiled politely at the new group of people, though it did seem a bit strained, and left, “S-Sorry for the intrusion.”

“Shimizu.” Daichi said to their manager, “So you were looking for a new manager…”

“Yeah. I didn’t think we got enough response when we tried to find people in April.” The third-year girl said, “I thought it was important to find someone to carry on as manager, especially with Karasuno getting so much stronger.”

Her inspirational words and determined expression, the boys all bursted out into tears at her dedication to the team. As they all shouted out to her in awe.

“Shimizu-san!”

“Kiyoko-san!”

“So have you thought about it?” Sakura asked as she slurped on some ramen. It was now lunch time the day after Yachi was introduced to the team. Sakura wouldn’t admit it, but she was intrigued, to say the least, about whether Yachi was actually going to join the team as a manager. While on one hand, she wouldn’t want to subject Yachi to having to deal with some of the rambunctious boys of the team, on the other hand, Sakura would like to have another girl around the team. Sakura is around the team plenty so she figured that her presence would help alleviate some of the nerves.

Once Sakura had met up with her brother yesterday, he wanted to know everything about Yachi. He already knew that Sakura had a friend in her class and general information about her, but certainly wanted to know more. It was slightly annoying for Sakura, at least at the beginning. Though after a while she liked getting to talk to someone about her friendship. After all, Sakura doesn’t have too many people to talk to about her relationships besides the photography club to a certain extent, Yachi and her brother.

Sakura just kind of really hoped that Yachi was swinging a bit more into accepting the position of manager. Since she was around the team so much, it would be a nice change of pace to have someone new there.  Having another friend, who Sakura actually enjoyed being around, on the team was a guarantee that Sakura would have more fun while around the club. Not to say that she didn’t, but with the likes of the annoying Endo, infuriating Tsukishima, and the troublesome quartet, it would be a nice balance to have someone sane on the team. Not only that, but it meant the team had another supporter. They didn’t have too many people who came to watch the games and cheer Karasuno on, so perhaps having an added person, especially a manager, could help with the team morale. At least, Sakura hoped so.

Sipping on her juice box, Yachi shrugged her shoulders, “I have. Though I’m not sure. It seems like a confusing job to take on.”

“It’s not that confusing,” Sakura said, “you just have to wrangle in those volleyball-idiots from time to time.”

“But I don’t know much about volleyball.” Her eyes started to become wide as some thoughts bombarded her, “What help would I be to the team? What If I get something wrong and then it ends up with the team losing or something? I could never face them again!”

Noticing that Yachi was starting to become overwhelmed, Sakura made sure to attempt to calm her down. “Hey, nothing like that would happen, trust me.” She said, already trying to stop any sort of overthinking that Yachi might have about this. “If you don’t know about volleyball the team will happily teach you what you need to know, I’m sure of it. I can even help you if you need.”

Despite not being a volleyball player, or really a part of a team, Sakura knew plenty about volleyball. While her brother played the sport, he wasn’t exactly too versed on what rules are in certain situations. So she took time to learn what was important. The rules, the positions, and anything else she deems necessary. 

“You will?” Yachi asked, appearing to be genuinely touched that Sakura would help her out. She’s known Sakura only for a little while, and knows that she doesn’t always reach out to people or to help them, so it was touching to realize that Sakura would help her with this.

Sakura coughed lightly, a bit embarrassed now that Yachi had become so sappy all of a sudden. “Obviously.”

“Yachi-san!” A sudden shout broke the pair from their conversation. Coming into the room was Sakura’s brother and the gloomy setter, to the surprise of the two girls. “Pardon us!” Shōyō said as he came into the room, “I’m Hinata Shōyō from Class 1! This is Kageyama.”

The setter nodded his head in greeting, “Hey.”

“H-Hey,” Yachi stuttered out after an unseen internal panic.

Sakura eyed the two of them while placing down her lunch, “What are you two here for?”

“We need help studying,” her brother explained. “Imouto, can you help us right now!”

She shrugged her shoulders, “I guess, though I was in the middle of a conversation with Yachi.”

“Oh, Yachi-san, do you like studying?” Shōyō asked her eagerly.

She just shrugged her shoulders, “I don’t hate it.”

“Could you teach me this English?” He asked her, “You should ask her, too, Kageyama!”

Kageyama gruffly said, “Please teach us.” Sakura has to admit that it was easier for him to ask Yachi for help and not her.

“If we fail any tests next month, we won’t be able to go to the Tokyo away games,” Shōyō explained, “so we’ve been having the tall guy with glasses named Tsukishima help us…” An annoyed expression crawled onto their faces as they thought back to Tsukishima and his methods  of teaching. “But lately, he’s getting irritated because Kageyama and I are so stupid.”

Kageyama grumbled, “I’m not scared of him.”

“Fooled me,” Sakura commented sarcastically, earning a glare from the boy.

Shōyō continued, “But it’d be better for someone to teach us nicely!”

“And I don’t?” Sakura asked, slightly offended.

Kageyama deadpanned at her, “You are only slightly less condescending than Tsukishima.” Sakura would have contradicted him, if she didn’t think that it was slightly true. Though she still hated having been compared to the bitchy blonde giant.

“I-If I’m good enough…” Yachi stuttered out.

“Really?!” Shōyō jumped into her face happily.

“Don’t feel pressured to help these two out,” Sakura said reassuringly to her friend. “They’re already getting a lot of help, if they fail now, it’ll be a miracle fueled by their own stupidity.” 

Yachi sweat slightly at Sakura’s insult. She hasn’t really seen how Sakura interacts with her brother, since this is only the second time meeting him. However, she could definitely feel that Sakura was a bit more on the harsher side with him for certain things. She just slowly nodded her head to Shōyō, “Yeah. But I wonder if I’ll be able to teach in a nicer way than the tall guy with glasses…”

The two boys in front of them shook their heads as Shōyō said, “You definitely don’t have to worry about that.”

So the group all gathered around Yachi’s desk. The girl was sharing her notebook with the boys who were more than happy to look it over and copy it down. It was certainly very organized. A bit different from how Sakura organized her notes, a tad bit more color to it as well. Dare the boys say they were even easier to follow.

“Wow!” Shōyō exclaimed, “I see! Wow!”

Yachi became bashful as the boys gushed over how organized her notes were, “Oh, it’s nothing…”

“Your notebook’s really easy to look at, Yachi-san.” Shōyō praised, “You’re great at drawing, too!”

“My mom works at a design firm, so she’s always been picky about things like this.” She then started to write in his notebook, “Oh, if you leave a space here, it’ll be easier to fill in later. Also, if you limit the number of colors you use, it won’t get confusing. And… I’m sorry! I was writing all over your notebook!”

Though Shōyō wasn’t put off at all, he was intrigued with her work, “Oh, I see… You’re amazing!”

“I-It’s n-nothing… nothing…”

Even through her silence, Sakura was watching the boys copy the notes. Though it seemed like they weren’t copying everything to a T, at least in her opinion. “You’re writing it wrong, King.”

“Eh?” Kageyama’s eyebrow twitched at her speaking up.

She took his pencil from him, to his chagrin, and started to write, “this is a compound sentence, so there’s a comma.” The boy just grumbled under his breath before snatching the pencil back from her. Sure, she wasn’t as bad as Tsukishima to a degree, but she still talked down to him at times like an idiot, even if she was being somewhat helpful.

Yachi nervously chuckled at the atmosphere around Kageyama growing gloomy, “Sakura is a bit better at English than me, her notes would probably be better.”

“I gave them my notes,” Sakura pointed out, “but I’m starting to wonder if they actually look them over to study. At least there’s no oral exam, or they’d be screwed.”

Kageyama glared at her, her obvious superiority about her English skills looming over them. He mumbled, “And you wouldn’t?”

She deadpanned, “No.”

“You can speak English?” Yachi asked with a tilted head. She knew that Sakura was intelligent, but she didn’t know anyone at the school who was completely fluent in English.

“Yes.”

Her eyes widened, “Fluently?”

Sakura just shrugged her shoulders, “My English is good enough to get me by.”

“Ne, but imouto,” Shōyō started to say, “you can speak it really well. You had full conversations with our teachers all the time. Oh, she's really good at Korean too!”

Sakura pursed her lips at the reminder, “I don’t remember too much of that though.”

A thought then popped into Shōyō’s head, “Didn’t you only learn it because you liked-”

“Shut up, no one asked you.” She definitely didn’t want to get into how she had a bit of a k-pop phase while in junior high. So she just bonked her brother on the head to stop him from speaking.

Changing the conversation, Yachi started, “So, Hinata-kun…”

“Just Shōyō’s fine.”

“Do you not like studying, Shōyō-kun?”

“I hate it.” He gruffly confessed, though that wasn’t surprising. “Sitting for a long time like this sucks.”

“So you’re trying really hard so you can go to Tokyo?”

“Yeah!” He became happy talking about the upcoming camp, “We’re gonna have practice matches with all the strong schools from Tokyo!”

Yachi smiled at the upbeat turn of his mood, “That’s amazing. I’ve never been that serious about anything before.”

“There’s this school called Nekoma High School in Tokyo, and the setter there is super-smart.” Shōyō started to explain a bit more in depth, “And then like their leader has a really spikey head… He’s really big and seems like a bad guy. And there’s a guy that’s totally awesome at picking up one receive after another like foom .” 

“The libero from Nekoma is awesome.” Kageyama commented, “He’s on par with Nishinoya-san.”

“There are a lot of amazing guys! Not just in Tokyo, but in our prefecture…” Sakura continued to listen to her brother’s explanation and could see that it was going over Yachi’s head. She’ll have to make sure to go over volleyball terms and such later with her. “There’s the Great King from Aoba Johsai, Ushiwaka, who’s known as the undefeated champion, and Date Tech has the Iron Wall who’s 190cm tall!”

“190 centimeters?!” Yachi yelled before blinking at the boy, “Um… Hinata, are you a manager, too?”

“Why?” He asked.

“Oh… I thought only tall people played volleyball and the club was full of tall guys.”

There was a short pause as Sakura snickered into her hand and Shōyō took a second to jump up. “I may be short, b-but I’m a regular!”

Yachi froze in shock, since she just judged someone based just off of his height. She nearly threw herself under her desk as she shouted out, “I’m so sorry!”

“It’s okay.” Shōyō reassured her, “I’m used to it. Even if I’m not big, I can fly!” Yachi stared up at him with wide eyes. The determination that he had in his stance was palpable enough for her to see. He really was 

Kageyama broke her out of her thoughts, “Hinata, don’t you need to copy this down?”

“Oh, yeah.” He then quieted down and started to finish his copying. “Everyone’s so big and they look strong, but when we’re in a match, I feel like I’m taking those people on. It’s exciting. It’s nerve-racking.”

Yachi blinked at his determination. It was inspiring to hear something like that. She smiled, “That’s amazing, taking on people like that. That makes you a Little Giant, Hinata.”

At the name, Shōyō jumped up, “Huh!?”

“What!?” Yachi jumped anxiously at the sudden shout.

“You know who the Little Giant is?” He asked, “Did Sakura tell you?”

That certainly confused Yachi as she had no clue what he was talking about. “Huh? Uh, no. I, uh… Don’t you call Japanese players that when they’re fighting with much bigger foreign players in sports?”

“Oh, right.” Shōyō calmed down and deflated slightly, “Yeah, I’m gonna be the Little Giant.”

Kageyama then said, “Hey, Little Giant that’s not gonna make it to Tokyo, hurry up and copy this.” Which Shōyō quickly did.

Sakura started to munch on her food again as she watched them finish up copying. If she were being honest, she’s glad that there was someone else helping with her brother’s studying. She honestly was surprised when Tsukishima agreed to help, even if it was only for a few minutes each day. She was convinced that he’d just laugh in their faces and leave them high and dry. It confused her a bit, but she was more than grateful for it. Which was not something she would admit to out loud. That beanstalk would just hold that over her head for who knew how long. Now with Yachi added into it, she was certain that her brother would do well. Sakura admires Yachi since she is very intelligent and well-rounded. Sure, the blonde was a bit jumpy and anxious a lot, but that didn’t detract from her smarts. Sakura was more than glad to have her as a close friend.

Eventually, the break period was almost over, and the boys had gotten the notes copied, it was time for them to part ways. Sakura and Yachi followed the two boys out to say goodbye.  Standing outside the door, Shōyō asked, “Will you help us study again?”

“Sure.” Yachi nodded, “Teaching you guys helps me remember the material, too.”

Shōyō then started to aggressively shake Yachi’s hands, “Thanks! Thank you, Yachi-san!”

“Oh, no,” Yachi said nervously at the aggressiveness, “it’s nothing…”

“See you in club!”

Yachi waved at the two as they left before her smile dropped. Her appearance now becoming drained, “What is this? I feel like I’ve been left out in direct sunlight for a while.”

“That happens when you’re around my brother for too long.” Sakura explained to her with a shrug of her shoulders.

Yachi looked to her as they headed back into the classroom, “you weren’t kidding when you said you and him weren’t alike.”

Sakura couldn’t help but chuckled slightly, “I told you.”

School came to an end and all the students started to make their ways to their clubs or escape home. After their class ended, Sakura and Yachi headed to the gym. Basically the entire time, Sakura had been doing her best to explain things about volleyball to her. She talked about the positions, basic rules, and explained who the Little Giant was. Even from the way she spoke about the past middle blocker from Karasuno, Yachi could tell that Sakura knows nearly everything about him. The obsession that Shōyō had with the Little Giant was something that Sakura took seriously, in Yachi’s opinion. It was heartwarming to see her invested in her brother’s hobbies and interests. 

“Remember,” Sakura started to say, “it’s okay if you don’t know anything, Kiyoko will help you.” She did her best to prepare Yachi for what was to come, but she knew that Kiyoko would be there to help further.

Yachi nodded her head as if she was heading off to war, “Right.”

Sakura smirked, “I know that you’ll do good.”

The two walked up to the door and were instantly bombarded with a bright ray of sunshine jumping at them. “Yachi-san! Imouto! This afternoon’s English quiz…” He showed her the quiz that had a score of 21. “Some parts you taught me were on there, and I got a third of them right!”

“Wahoo!” The two cheered and jumped around before Yachi praised Shōyō. “That’s amazing, Shōyō-kun!”

Sakura smiled just slightly at how happy the two of them were. Still, 21 isn’t an acceptable grade just yet. Sakura thought to herself in slight amusement and worry. Yes, it’s better than what he normally might do, but there was still a way to go before he could successfully pass their exams.

She cleared her throat to get the bubbly pair’s attention, “Well, have a good practice.”

“Do you have club today, imouto?” Shōyō asked with a small tilt of his head.

“Yes,” she nodded, “technically it’s just about every other day, but I’d rather come to your practices.” Shimada was very relaxed on the club attendance as most of the time they don’t have all too much to do. The only times everyone is required to go is when they have a gallery coming up or some similar event to go over about. Honestly, it’s a bit of just a glorified hangout between friends, in Sakura’s opinion. Yes, she would love to go to every club meeting, but she just was still having some trouble leaving Shōyō’s practices. It’s too ingrained in her routine to be at his practices everyday that she was having some difficulty pulling herself away from them.

There seemed to be an emotion that flashed in Shōyō’s eyes for a moment before it was gone as if it didn’t happen. He just smiled at her, “Have a good time at your club then!”

“Have a good practice,” she said before giving Yachi a reassuring squeeze on her shoulder. With that, she lazily walked off to head to the photography club. Shōyō watched her go with his smile, though it did slip off a bit. He didn’t know that her club was every day. Had he known that he might encourage her to go more. Then again he had to wonder, would he be okay with not having her around for his practices either. Just as much as Sakura is used to being at the volleyball team’s practice, Shōyō was used to her being right on the sidelines. Though he can’t think about that right now, he has to focus on practice.

Walking into the club room, everyone was in their normal spots as usual as Sakura got comfy in her spot by the window. Her fellow clubmates were already in the club room talking to each other. Wada was sitting on top of a desk, talking animatedly about something. If Sakura had to guess, it was about something that she surely wouldn’t be interested in.

The group all greeted Sakura in their own ways as Wada smiled at their youngest member. “Hinata-chan, you’re just in time.” 

Ito rolled her eyes, obviously annoyed with whatever Wada had already been talking about, “Yeah, you almost missed out on Wada going on and on about his new girlfriend.”

Wada smiled wistfully, “And what a beautiful girl she is.” Whoever this girl was, she must have been pretty amazing for him to swoon like this.

“And isn’t this girlfriend number five this year?” Ito sassed with a raised eyebrow. It’s known to everyone at school that Wada is a popular guy, which means plenty of love confessions, and who is he to turn them down. Especially when they’re from girls he is even slightly interested in. Sure, at this point he’s dated most of the girls in his grade and a couple third-years, he’s just an interesting guy.

Though that didn’t stop Wada from smirking at her, “Jealous?” 

“You wish!” She scoffed at the absurdity of that question. After all, why would she be jealous of someone like Wada Katski?

Yokoyama leaned over to Sakura and stage whispered, “She’s definitely jealous.”

“Yea, I don’t want to hear about your girlfriend,” Shimada said, leaning over to her underclassmen. She smiled, it appeared a bit teasing, as she looked down to Sakura, “I want to hear about why Sakura’s here! Did you miss us!?”

“No,” Sakura scoffed, “of course not.”

The club president just cooed, “Come on, admit it, you missed us.”

“Perhaps,” Shimada brightened at Sakura admitting that, “I did miss seeing Mori-senpai.” Shimada then deflated.

“Though it is surprising,” Yokoyama commented while pursing their lips, ignoring the depressed Shimada. “You don’t usually come to club on days like this. Normally, you’re here just when we tell you to be and have something important.” 

“You make it sound like I’m a slacker or something,” Sakura scrunched up her eyebrows.

Mori giggled lightly from her seat across from Sakura, “When it comes to attendance, you are.”

Sure, she didn’t come to club all too much, but she was there when it counted. Sakura justified her lack of attendance for the club by the fact that they didn’t have all too many important things to do. She viewed days like this as just a time to be lazy with the club and talk. She pursed her lips, “Well it’s not like we have much to do.”

Wada leaned over with a smirk, “How would you know if you aren’t usually here on days like this.” He had her there.

“Do we have something to do?” Sakura raised an eyebrow, challenging them on the notion.

Shimada jumped up in excitement, “Indeed we do, today is ‘learn more about Sakura day!’”

Said girl blinked in confusion, “Huh?”

“We would love to get to know you more Sakura!”

“Yeah, you come in here only every once in a while and it’s not like you talk all too much about yourself.”

Sakura couldn’t help herself but shift uncomfortably, “There’s nothing too interesting to talk about me.”

“I beg to differ,” Shimada said, now plopping herself onto the table that Sakura was sitting at. “What have you been up to? What have you been taking pictures of? Any new projects? What about the volleyball club? Finally decided on which boy is cute enough for you?”

Sakura huffed, “none of them are cute!”

Mori intervened before they scared Sakura off, “In return, you can get to know us more.”

Sakura looked at the five in front of her and their eager expressions. They obviously just wanted to be closer to her as club mates and friends, which Sakura knew was a good idea. She had decided recently that she should officially distance herself from Shoyo and making her own group of friends is one part of that. So she could use this moment to achieve that. It was just that… it seemed to be easier said than done. 

She glanced away, either in embarrassment or anxiousness, and grumbled out, “I guess that it’s okay.” The others cheered, “but no talking about the volleyball club! None of them are cute, I am not and would never be interested in any of them!” Shimada, Wada and Ito deflated at that piece of information, since they wanted to get all the juicy bits of Sakura’s life. Though that didn’t mean they weren’t getting anything from her. “I’ve been thinking of working on a portfolio a bit more,” she explained, “taking it a bit more seriously so I can use it later on, I guess.”

“That’s pretty smart,” Ito tapped her chin in thought, “we should all probably do something like that.”

Sakura deadpanned, “you don’t already?”

“We will now!” Shimada exclaimed, “it’s a great idea for all of us, I’d say.”

Everyone agreed with that sentiment. At least now they would have more to do with their lazier days in the club. You would think that they’d have some sort of activities to do when not having to worry about galleries. Sakura thought to herself as she watched them talk about the ideas for portfolios and how to go about making them. Perhaps she could suggest some things to Shimada and Mori about projects that they could do. Though for that to happen, she would have to come to the club a bit more often. Watching the other teens talk with each other made Sakura realize that it didn’t sound like such a bad idea. So in that moment, she came to the decision that she would come to the club more often and socialize more often. It might just do her some good.

Chapter Text

JOJI ISN’T SURE HOW THE NEWS WAS going to go over well with his parents. Though no matter what they say, more like his father, he was going to go. It’s his final year at Karasuno, he’s going to do everything exciting with his friends. A Tokyo training camp? Yea, it will probably be tiring, but it’s an experience that Joji is more than happy with going through with his friends.

He has been to Tokyo plenty of times. Though to stay for a volleyball training camp was new. Not only that but the schools that he had heard from coach Ukai were some that he hadn’t heard of before. He couldn’t wait to see what kinds of guys went to those schools. After all, he quite liked Nekoma, who’s to say he won’t like Fukurōdani or Shinzen. The only downside would be that he couldn’t go around Tokyo and hang out there. What a bummer.

Getting home, his mother greeted him warmly and inquired about his day. They talked for a while over some tea before he went to his room to get some homework done. As he wrote out some of his math homework, his knee bounced under his desk. Joji might not admit it out loud but he was nervous. Talking to his family about the things he wants to do was always a toss up of emotions for him. On one hand, he was confident enough to do what he wanted, and wouldn’t be convinced to not do it. However, he was also insecure about what they would think about what he wanted. Things had been chosen for him for so long and making the decision for himself was usually a toss up. It wasn’t until recently that he was allowed to make them for himself. Even then he doesn’t do anything too drastic, really just staying in the volleyball club and going to Karasuno were the biggest ones that he had made. Perhaps he wasn’t given the chance to do it, but he didn’t make too many.

Soon enough, Joji found himself at the dining room table starting to eat his meal. As usual the dinner was more or less silent. Every once and a while, Eliza would attempt to make small talk but it never really led anywhere. Joji’s stomach was tied in a tight knot as he thought over how he was going to say that he was going to the camp. His mother would most likely be supportive to an extent, of course unless his father convinced her otherwise. Joji loves his mother dearly, but she can bend quite easily to the things her father wants. She could  be far too passive when up against her father, in Joji’s opinion.

The tense atmosphere wasn’t helping Joji with his plan to explain the camp to them. It really would only help contribute to his father’s disagreement to the idea. He knew that his father would not approve of the trip, but it wasn’t like Joji cared that he already knew what his father thought. The only way that he was going to get through this night was getting straight to the point. After all, even if Joji was going to make his own decision no matter what his father said, he still was allowed to know Joji’s plans.

“The team is heading to a training camp in Tokyo soon,” Endo started to say while munching on some dinner. His mother had made a wonderfully delicious plate of salmon for them tonight, and Joji loved it. Well, he loved anything that his mother cooked or baked, since she’s quite an artist in the kitchen, not just with her own art.

Eliza turned to him with a sweet smile, “Oh, really? That sounds like fun! They’ve never done a training camp that far away.”

Joji smiled at that, “everyone is really excited about it.”

Though through their happy moment, Hideaki himself had to cut through it with a knife. “I’m suspecting that you wish to go.” The room became chilly as they continued to eat. Eliza did her best to ignore the feeling that was wafting around the room, but that was hard with Joji starting to match the chilled atmosphere with his own slowly growing anger.

The normal anger that Joji got when his father made comments such as this was simmering under his skin. He hoped that tonight would be a night to get into another argument with his father, but he knew that he would be wrong. Joji held his father’s gaze with sharp eyes and didn’t waver, “Yes, I’m going.”

Eliza’s sunny disposition tried to break in between the two men, “How long is it?”

“A week.” Joji said monotony.

“I think it sounds wonderful, you could learn a lot-”

“You should not go,” Hideaki cut her off

Even though Joji wasn’t surprised with the denial, that didn’t mean he wasn’t any less angry and annoyed. He narrowed his eyes even further, “What?”

Hideaki knew that he was going to get “There’s no need to busy your time with a sports camp that will do little to benefit you in the future.”

Joji stared at him with a tight smile as he laughed humorlessly, “Why do you think you can control that, hm?”

“These… silly distractions from your future-”

“Distractions?” Joji scoffed in disbelief, “These aren’t distractions for anything.”

Hideaki shook his head, obviously becoming frustrated with this, “You chose to join this club in spite of what I want for you.” Why was his son being such a hassle? Over this club that he deemed unimportant. Hideaki is a practical man, and he didn’t deem it practical to be in a club that he didn’t see contributing to Joji’s future plans.

Joji just stared at him with a dumbfounded look. Was his father even hearing his own words? He blinked owlishly, “What you want for me? What about what I want?”

“Please,” Eliza said, trying to intervene before things got too out of hand, “let’s not fight about this.”

Though Hideaki wasn’t going to have any of that right now. After all this seemed to be a very important topic to talk through. “Eliza, it’s time we had this talk with him about any distractions that he has from what’s important.” He loves his wife, but from his point of view she babied their son far too much. Joji is becoming a man in the real world and he needs to face the facts. He stared down his son from across the table, “Do you even enjoy volleyball? What’s the point of busying precious time with silly things like playing a sport when you could be focusing on bettering your skills for your future in the company?”

Joji’s eyes twitched in annoyance, “A company that deals with the therapy and production of athletic prosthetics definitely has nothing to do with sports, huh?”

Hideaki sighed heavily, “What I mean is instead of going to a sports camp that will not have any benefit to you, why not stay home and study on medical practices to use during your time at the company. While having an understanding of the sport is a nice sentiment, the medical aspect of it is imperative to understand.” He could see his son’s reasoning about actually playing a sport, but that wasn’t necessary for their line of work. Even so, in Hideaki’s mind what’s more important research for the business would be to study medical techniques and practices not just playing one sport for years.

“And what if I want to have fun?” Joji asked, his teeth starting to grind, “Am I allowed to have fun?! I’m in high school, I should be having fun with my friends, right?!”

“Fun has nothing to do with your future-”

“MY FUTURE!?!” Joji exclaimed, his voice dripping in disbelief and bemusement. He had hit his boiling point it seemed. Sure, he’s put up with his father, and argued with him most of the time and all of it had finally hit its end. Joji started to seeth, “Stop trying to control every aspect of my life! I thought I would get to be left alone for the entirety of my high school career, that you wouldn’t interject yourself into every decision that I made, but it looks like I was wrong.”

Hideaki seemed slightly shaken at the shout and rant. Though he brushed it off, since he’s used to the angered exclamations from his dramatic son. He cleared his throat, “Well, I have to. You don’t look at the bigger picture.”

“I don’t want to look at the bigger picture, not now.” The boy scoffed, “Ever since you forced us to come to Japan, I was never allowed to be a kid, never allowed to have fun. Back in France, I could be a kid, I could play games, make mistakes, have fun . But the moment you dragged me here, you forced every decision you thought was best for me down my throat. The freedom that normal children have is something that I was never allowed.” 

Joji remembered all the times he was told ‘no’ to playing with the only friends he had, to going to places like zoos or parks, all because his father didn’t see it necessary. He didn’t have a childhood like a normal kid should have, he wasn’t allowed. All because of his father’s blinded view of his child’s life. It frustrated him to no end and while he did his best over the years to portray that frustration to his father, Joji always got nowhere with him.

“You were not a normal child. You were-”

“I WAS A CHILD !”

The dining room was nearly silent except for the heavy breathing coming from Joji. He was nearly shaking as he glared down at his father, the man almost looking shocked at the outburst. He’s seen his son mad at him, but this was a rage that he hadn’t ever experienced. Eliza appeared to be extremely upset at the palpable anger brewing between the two men.

“Mon chéri…” Eliza started to say softly, more than worried with how things were going to go. This was more intense than any argument that she has bared witness to. It felt heavier than anything else. She hates this. Hates it so much.

Joji didn’t even look at her as he commanded, “Mum, please go.”

“Joji-”

“This is between father and I.” He said sternly, still not looking at her. Whether that was because he didn’t want to or couldn’t work up the courage to, is clear. He let out a deep breath, “You don’t need to be dragged into it again.”

Hideaki also silently urged her to do it with a quick glance in her direction. He didn’t need to have her here since, in his mind, she wasn’t going to help either side with her indecisiveness. Even if she wanted to stay, Eliza could see from the hardened expression on their faces that they weren’t going to budge on the idea. Yes, she hates seeing her husband and son argue, but this felt heavier than the normal argument. So she left them to deal with whatever differences they needed to. She just hoped that it didn’t end up being a much bigger issue in the end.

After Eliza left quickly, all that remained was Hideaki and Joji in the dining room that was slowly becoming colder with each passing second. Neither man appeared as though they were really going to say anything. Hideaki didn’t seem to know what to say at all and Joji’s mind was racing so fast that he didn’t know where to start.

Hideaki sighed heavily while leaning back into his chair, “I never wanted this to upset your mother.”

Joji scoffed, “Well, we’re far beyond that point now. Years beyond that point. All because you wanted to dictate what I do in my life.”

“You don’t even know what you want in life.” Hideaki stated harshly, knowing that he was most certainly in the right about this. After all, he’s seen his son grow up not grasping onto anything to stick with it long. Though it’s not like he realized that it was due to anything he could have done while raising his son.

Joji bit the inside of his cheek to stop himself from making any loud outburst again. “That’s because I was never given a chance to explore things about life. Things that could interest me or that I might like to do in the future!”

Hideaki stared at his son for a long moment. Taking in those words. He didn’t really think about it like that, though how could that be wrong? “All to make sure that you focus on the future.”

“A future that you can’t even be sure that I wanted!”

A beat of silence passed between them. This had to be the longest time that either of them had spoken to each other. Due to Joji avoiding his father and Hideaki being too busy to be home to talk with his son. So it was like they were finally coming to a new revelation with things about this. Joji never would think about what reasons his father would have with forcing his decisions down his throat were anything else than selfish. The idea that Hideaki would think of anything other than himself or his business would never cross Joji’s mind. Though staring down his father with a heated glare and seeing how Hideaki’s eyes were starting to soften caused Joji to pause slightly.

In his own mind, Hideaki was starting to realize just how far he has pushed his son away. After all these years, the effort that Hideaki thought he was putting into helping his son in the future was all for naught. Forcing Joji to lose something as precious as his childhood had affected him, hurt him so much. Hideaki should have realized this sooner. It shouldn’t take his son shouting and screaming at him for Hideaki to come to this conclusion. This was far too overdue, he realized.

“I know.” Hideaki finally said, his tone just being slightly softer than usual, “I know that I have made mistakes when raising you. I should have been there for you more. I said some things that have hurt you. I should have been a more attentive father. Though I did it all for you.” He did his best to try and stress this point to him, since that was the only reason in his eyes. After all, he values his son more than anything in this world. How had that been misconstrued at some point? “I want you to be successful and not have anything to jeopardize that. All I wish is for you to have the opportunities that I never had as a child. Doors were never opened and remained shut until I forced them open with my achievements in business. It was tough and difficult and I don’t want you to have to struggle for it. I can see now that I was going about this the wrong way.”

It took a moment for Joji to process this. It certainly wasn’t something that he would have thought about his father doing. Maybe when he was a child he believed that his father wanted what was best for him, but growing up he felt like that was not true. His father proved time and time again that he didn’t care all too much about Joji’s thoughts and his interests, so he didn’t care what he thought. Though to now hear that all this time his father thought he was doing what was best for him… It just made Joji even more annoyed.

“Why didn’t you realize this sooner?” Joji asked, close to shaking at his fathers admission, “After everything that I’ve told you, after what mum has told you, you’re only now seeing the issues?”

Hideaki had the decency to look even slightly ashamed for his words, “I’m sorry.”

“You could have saved us so many hurt feelings, especially for mum. She was always put in the middle of this and had to pick sides. Go with her teenage son who just wants some freedom in his own life, or go with her demanding husband who’s got his head so far up his ass that he can’t even realize that he’s the reason his family is so torn!” That had to be another thing that pissed Joji off quite a bit. His mother had been in the middle of all of this for years, and Joji didn’t like that things couldn’t have been better for her not to worry about them. Though that never was going to happen, was it? Joji stood up from his chair leaning across the table to stare his father in the eyes. The anger emanating from him seemed to be keeping Hideaki in his spot as he stared at his son. “I have spent years thinking that you thought of me as nothing but your replacement. As soon as I became of age you’d train me to take your spot in the company and nothing more. I was nothing but a tool for you to use once you could no longer work with your company. And I tried, I tried when I was younger to live up to your expectations but nothing was ever enough for you.” He harshly spat, “I wasn’t smart enough, I wasn't devoted enough, I wasn’t focusing enough. So yea, that discouraged me quite a bit. I wasn’t enough for my father, who I thought of as my hero!” Joji wasn’t sure, but he thought he could feel hot tears trailing down his cheeks, though he ignored that. “Then every time I tried to venture out to explore things on my own like art or volleyball or anything not related to the company I was scolded and told to forget it. Do you know what it does to a child to constantly be put down for trying new things, things that I was proud of for a time?” Hideaki’s face lost any semblance of it’s stoney expression as he took all those words in. If Joji really thought about it, his father started to look… broken. Though Joji continued to rant, “So I don’t think you should be surprised that I “rebelled” against you when I made that deal with you to attend Karasuno. So yes, I’m angry with you for your instance to constantly keep having your input in my decisions. I’m angry that I never felt like my life was my own. I’m angry that you never even seemed to love me!” He was breathing heavily, getting so much off of his chest was certainly draining. At this point, he knew that he was crying openly. The only ones who had really seen him cry was his mother and Asahi, being this vulnerable with his father was never a thought to him. How was that possible? Just how broken was their family? He swallowed thickly, “but I can’t hate you. You’re my father, I can’t hate you like I want to. I still love you but it’s… it’s hard to just forgive what happened.”

There was so much to take in there. So many emotions, so many regrets. Hideaki was having trouble processing it. How does he respond? How could he make up for this? These years of pushing his son away and forcing him to view him as a selfish father. How had things become so horrible for them. How were they going to fix this?

“I’m sorry for everything. I just…” Hideaki rubbed the bridge of his nose. He was unable to look his son in the eyes, unlike when he usually scolded his son for something like shouting and arguing. Though his avoidance of eye contact may be because of just how upset Joji appeared to be. Hideaki has never seen his son cry, he didn’t think his son was capable of it since he was a child. Hideaki himself wasn’t much of a cryer either. Though at this moment he nearly felt like crying, for how emotional things had become between them. He tried to continue on through some choked words, “I wished to give you a stable job once you were old enough, a comfortable lifestyle for when you grew up. So I wouldn’t have to worry about you being lost in life.”

Joji stared at his father through his blurry vision. This was something. An apology was a start, he thought. Though just how far was an apology going to get them? He sat back down in his chair and stared at his untouched meal. “I appreciate the apology. But if this is some… manipulation tactic to convince me not to go to Tokyo, it’s not going to work. I’m going.” He said stiffly, with no means of arguing with his decision. “You think that you know me, that I’m not interested in volleyball, but I am. I might not see it as something that I’ll do as a career or that I’ll do in college, but I enjoy it. I like it enough to stay on this team, to be a part of it for three years. I am dedicated to this team, whether you believe it or not. You don’t know what I want, I suggest working on learning how to find that out, like a normal father should.”

Even after all the ranting and revelations, Joji still wasn’t going to trust his father. The apology was nice, but Joji wouldn’t put it past his father to do something like this. After all, it would take more than just a long talk to undo all the years of neglect and hate. It would take a long time to make up for those years and for his father to learn how to do better.

Hideaki just nodded his head stiffly, agreeing with that idea. He had plenty to make up for and had to learn how to properly parent his son. Though what would that do now? After all, his son is almost an adult. He had missed out on so much.

Nothing more had to be said as Joji just climbed to his feet and swiftly made a beeline for the exit. He barely even glanced at his mother who was standing right outside the dining room. She obviously had been eavesdropping on the argument, though Joji didn’t care. He just wanted to go to his bedroom and reflect on how much he just dumped onto his father.

He climbed up the stairs and clumsily made his way into his bedroom. Joji instantly plopped down onto his bed, more than content with trapping himself in the comfy confines of his bed and sleeping through the night.

He wanted to be alone. Sure, there was a part of his mind that felt like it wasn’t the best idea. There was no need to be stuck in his thoughts all by himself. It would do him no good to end up going down a road of self-loathing and annoyance towards his father. Though he didn’t think it would be a good idea to unload all his emotions on someone again. It would be better if he just stayed like this for a while. To help him process everything properly.

Staring blankly at the ceiling, Joji didn’t know if he should cry or not. He felt like progress was most likely made with his father. That he probably could understand where Joji was coming from with how he was treated all his childhood. Though who knew if it went anywhere. His father was a stubborn man, which is where Joji got his stubbornness from. Joji could only hope that things got through to his father. It was better now or never.

Down in the dining room, Hideaki sat in his seat, having not moved an inch since his son left. It was taking much longer than he thought to calm down from everything that was said. He had wanted to talk to his son about what was going to come in the future, but Hideaki didn’t think it would end up like this.

Yes, revelations were made, but he didn’t think that they were all too good. He hadn’t even realized that it was that bad for his son. Joji had many grievances with how Hideaki wanted to get him ready for his future, but Hideaki didn’t think they had hurt him like this. Had he stolen his childhood from him? No. That couldn’t be right. 

Hideaki always told himself since he learned of Eliza’s pregnancy that he would be a good father. He would do everything he could to provide for his family. He missed out on a lot due to him being at work, but he was doing that to better the life for his family. He worked to get money, to secure the perfect life that he knew his wife and child deserved. Then while Joji was born he knew that he had to create the perfect path for his son. A straight pathway into a secure job that would help Joji live a life that he deemed luxurious and befitting of his pride and joy. How that ended up becoming something that Joji himself despised was not in Hideaki’s plans.

A gentle hand placed itself on his shoulder. It was a comforting touch that Hideaki had memorized years ago. It nearly broke him to have her comfort him as he sat in the dining room after that spat. A part of him loved that his wife was comforting him after such a jarring argument, but a part of him didn’t think he deserved it.

“I didn’t realize,” he said softly. He looked up to his wife, his eyes nearly brimming with tears. This had shaken him so much, Eliza could tell. Though she’s glad that it happened. 

She sighed heavily, “We tried to tell you. But you kept your plans at the forefront of your mind. Nothing could ever get through to you.” As much as she would like to comfort her husband to stop any pain that he might be feeling, she has to be truthful. Now with everything out in the open, she has to be a bit more harsh when it comes to going over this.

He looked up at his wife with a near broken expression, “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” She got out, her own eyes tearing up, “I should have tried more to get you two to understand each other.”

He shook his head, taking her hand into his own, “No. No. This is my fault, you’re as much a victim as Joji.” He was able to recognize at least that. Which made him feel even worse that he had done this to his wife, one of the last things he would ever want to do. “There’s… a lot that I have overlooked, a lot that I need to learn.”

“And I’ll help you.”

All Hideaki wanted was to set his son up with a kingdom of his own. Though he has an understanding now that he didn’t do it in the right way. That was one step in the right direction. It might be progress in this family, all that could happen now is waiting to see just how Hideaki would make it up to his family for all these years. He wasn’t going to just abandon the idea of his son taking over the company, but he knows that he should be more considerate when it comes to Joji’s opinions. He just hoped that it wasn’t too late.

Chapter Text

BY THE TIME NIGHT CAME, SAKURA CAME out of the school to meet up with her brother and Yachi at the gym. It was dark out and her own club had finished quite some time ago, but she used the time after that to study some more. With exams coming soon, there was always a need to keep up on her studies for it. Though now with night finally shadowing over the school, and just about every club finishing up, Sakura needed to meet up with her brother to go home. Also check in with her friend to make sure that the practice went well.

“Yachi-chan,” Sakura said as she moseyed over to her friend. The blonde jumped at her sudden voice, being dragged out of her own thoughts abruptly. “How was it?”

She laughed nervously, “It was… a bit overwhelming.”

“That’s understandable.” Sakura pursed her lips, “None of the guys gave you a hard time, right?”

Yachi smiled a bit at the worry that her friend had for her, “No, no, it was okay.”

“That’s good.” If they did, she would certainly be first in line to reprimand them for it. The absolute last thing that she needs is for them to scare Yachi away from her. If Yachi decided to not be friends with Sakura based off of a bad interaction with the team, Sakura wouldn’t know what to do. Then again perhaps she was overreacting a bit with the possibility of Yachi just leaving her because of this.

As the two were talking, the goddess of a manager came out as well, “Oh, Hitoka-chan. Are you done changing?” Kiyoko said, changing her shoes and noticing that Sakura was also there. “Sakura-chan, how was your day?”

Sakura shrugged her shoulders, “fine, nothing too special.” 

“I’ll walk with you both, so hold on a sec.” Kiyoko said politely, “I’m going to change, too.”

Yachi jumped, “No, it’s okay. I actually think I should be walking with you, or something, or…”

“Don’t worry about it.” The older girl then walked off to get herself ready to go, leaving no argument to be made from Yachi.

Sakura chuckled lightly at the conflicted expression on Yachi’s face. “Kiyoko’s really nice, you’ll have to get used to it.”

From the open window, Yachi and Sakura could hear Ukai and Takeda talking in the gym. “What’s wrong, sensei?” Ukai asked, “Why the serious face?”

Takeda sighed heavily, “Oh, well… Apparently, the bus we were supposed to take for the away games in Tokyo was booked by another club, so it doesn’t look like we’ll get it. It looks like it’s going to cost us a lot more than expected, so I was trying to figure out what to do.”

“I’ll try talking to a few more alumni.” Ukai thought out loud, “I’m sure this problem’ll come up again in the future.”

“I apologize. I’ll try reaching out, as well. Well, if all else fails, I do have some savings.”

Ukai jumped at that, “No, no, no. You need to save that for your future wedding, or something. And don’t do that with your hand!”

Yachi and Sakura shared a look with each other. In a seeming telepathic moment, the two came to the same sort of wavelength. There had to be some way to raise some money for the club, but where were they going to start?

“Yachi-san!” Shōyō suddenly shouted as he came over to the two girls. The poor blonde jumped at the shout of her name, “Yachi-san, are you gonna be our manager?”

“Uh, um…”

Shōyō smiled at her eagerly, “You will, right?”

Sakura stepped up to save Yachi from her brother, becoming a barrier between them, “Don’t pester her, Shō-nii. It’s only been one practice.” As if Yachi would have made her decision after one proper day with the team. The last thing she needed was for her brother or any of the other volleyball idiots scaring Yachi off. No need for Yachi to start worrying too much and have a panic attack right now.

Though it didn’t seem like the other boys were going to help the matter either as the two-year idiots were coming up to the group. It was Tanaka who started by saying, “Hey, first-year girl, hey!”

“We hope that you will join the Karasuno High School volleyball team.” Nishinoya said seriously.

Yachi blinked, “Huh?”

Tanaka continued on with a smile on his face, “When you’re around, Kiyoko-san talks a lot.” 

Sakura shook her head and muttered to herself, “of course that’s why.”

Daichi and Suga then came up from behind them, the majority of the boys having finished changing. The captain bonked the two idiots on the head with a reprimand, “What kind of invitation is that, you idiots?!”

Suga attempted to amend any offense, as usual,  “Sorry these guys are so stupid.”

“No, not at all!” Yachi exclaimed, “Um… I’m flattered. I’ve never tried to do something on my own, or had someone need me for anything… Even in drama club, I’ve only been an extra. Like Townsperson B or a tree.” Everyone tilted their heads at that. Though she continued on, “So when Shimizu-senpai worked so hard to recruit a Townsperson B, like me, who has no experience or knowledge of volleyball, I was really happy. But I’m sure I’m not much-”

“I totally get how you feel.” Tanaka started, a passionate expression on his face, “Even if Kiyoko-san said, ‘I’m going to steal money from you, so follow me.’ I’d still follow her.”

Nishinoya gaped at his heroic friend, “You’re so manly, Ryu!”

“That’s definitely not healthy,” Sakura stated with a slightly concerned yet disgusted expression.

Endo commented with a hum as he passed by with Asahi, “Toxic, even.” 

“Uh, I think that’s a bit different.” Yachi commented.

Though that didn’t matter or register to Shōyō or Nishinoya as the orange-haired decoy exclaimed, “That sounds sorta awesome!” Suga just stared at his bald friend in disbelief, how can they really be this stupid?

“Looks like Tanaka’s saying something again.” Asahi said, amused by his friends.

“Oh, that reminds me…” Shōyō started as he rummaged through his bag for his phone. He held it up for them to read and saw that it was a text from Nekoma’s setter, Kenma.

To: Hinata Shōyō

From: Kozume Kenma

Subject: None

We made it through the first round. This week is round two of prelims.

“Damn!” Nishinoya just about screamed, “Nekoma’s so awesome!”

Tanaka joined in as the trio started jumping around, “I’m getting fired up!”

Sakura leaned over to Yachi who watched the boys shouting with a bit of concern. She stated, “they get like this most of the time, well… all of the time.”

With it now being the next day, Sakura was nervously tapping her fingers on the crook of her elbow. Ever since school had ended, and she decided to walk Yachi to the gym for the second day, she had been nervous. She had to talk herself up to what she had wanted to do right now. Though it should be simple, she just had to ask Yachi something, what was so nerve wracking about that?

She cleared her throat as they made it to the gym doors, “Um, so Yachi.”

“Hm?” she hummed, turning to her friend.

Sakura pursed her lips glancing away for a moment, “I was wondering if you wanted to study a bit this weekend.”

“Oh,” Yachi nodded her head, “yeah of course!”

Sakura let out a relieved sigh, “Nice, okay. Is your house okay? It’s probably closer to the school than mine.”

“That’s perfect! How about this Saturday, is noon a good time?”

Sakura smiled happily, “That works.” The giddy feeling that came over her about finally having a friend to hang out with out of school. She’s never had anyone to do that with. She hung out with the photography club a couple times to get snacks and boba after club, but hanging out with someone at their house seemed different to her. “Shōyō will probably tag along, since he needs all the help he can get.”

“Oh, that’s fine.” Yachi nodded her head, not having an issue with others coming. “Kaygeyama might come too, him and your brother have been working well enough together to study.” Yachi explained happily. Which she found more than inspirational since the two were determined to do their best to get to Tokyo.

“Sadly.” Sakura let out a sigh, before turning to leave, “I’ll see you later then.”

“See you!”

Now sitting around the tables of the club room, the photography club all had their attention on their president. Shimada stood with a broad smile on her face as she presented to them with an air of whimsy around her. Thankfully, since her friends were used to it, they weren’t choking on it at the moment, but if she kept this up, they would soon. She was bouncing on the balls of her feet, “Well for the next big gallery I was thinking of doing something on Heroes and leaders!” Shimada exclaimed, more than excited to share the news with the club. Though she’s always excited to share any news with her club.

Wada blinked at her as she stared at them expectantly, “Meaning…?”

“I would think it means people who are heroes and leaders, duh,” Ito explained, as if she were talking to a toddler.

“So you want me to take a photo of the Prime Minister and call it a day.” Wada asked dully, thinking of the prompt shallowly. It didn’t seem all that interesting to him, not too much artistic style to it like he usually includes. He’s not the type of photographer that loves adding more artistic styles to his work. He finds portraits boring, not necessarily wanting to work with people for such work.

“You could if you want.” Mori explained, “We were thinking more of people you idolize in your own life who are your hero or a great leader, not just people who are in power like the Prime Minister.”

So not just a leader in position and name, but a leader in inspiration, or a philosophical aspect. Sakura thought to herself.

Wada pursed his lips and shrugged after a moment of thinking, “Hmm, I could work with that.”

Yokoyama teased with a sassy tone, “You can’t take pictures of yourself.” They all know that Wada may not be exactly the cockiest person out there, but he has his moment, and they would definitely think that he’d take a photo of himself and say he’s his own leader. Though they supposed that could work, still goes against the idea of going out of your way to find something to photograph.

He seemed more than offended that the comment was pointed in his direction, “I wasn’t gonna do that!”

Ito deadpanned, not believing him as far as she could throw him, “Really?”

“Shut up.” He grumbled at the playfully scrutinizing stare from his friends.

Shimada laughed at the banter before saying, “You’ve got time to figure it out, since we’re not doing the gallery until after exams. Focus on your academics for now, then we’ll finish up the planning for the gallery.”

Sakura paused for a moment as the thought circled in her mind. She wouldn’t say she definitely considered someone to be a hero of hers. A leader she might consider would probably be Takeda or Ukai, since they do quite a good job of wrangling the volleyball club. Even Daichi is quite a good leader with how he keeps them in check but also has a tight friendship with everyone. A hero is a different story to her. If someone saved her life then they’d be her hero, but she’s never been in danger of that sort so there wasn’t anyone to consider in that regard.

Wada’s face suddenly appeared in front of Sakura, startling her slightly. He poked her cheek, which earned him a slap, “You’re thinking quite hard, I can see the smoke coming from your ears.”

“Leave her alone, Wada!” Ito groaned from her seat, “Don’t bully the poor girl.”

He raised his hands in surrender, “I’m not bullying, just concerned for her brain, must be overthinking something again.”

Sakura scoffed and crossed her arms over her chest, “I’m not overthinking.”

Yokoyama leaned down with a wide teasing smile, “Sounds like something someone overthinking would say.”

“No doubt you’re overthinking the gallery topic, don’t sweat it.” Wada continued on, not backing down despite Sakura’s light glare, “You did amazing for the first one, the pictures you’ve shown us lately are amazing, and we’re not even focusing on the gallery until exams are done, so you’re fine.”

She just sighed, “Yeah, yeah.” Perhaps she was overthinking it a bit too hard. She has to focus on exams coming up, that was certainly the most important thing at the moment. Sakura knew that she has a tendency to think too hard about something, especially when it’s something outside of her comfort zone. Photography, while it’s a hobby she enjoys, is not something that she has full confidence in. She was getting there, slowly but surely, though it would still take a bit of time. Though she’ll focus on something that she is confident on, and that’s her studying.

Now that school was over, Endo had joined up with his clubmates to head to the clubroom. His day had been agonizingly boring, nothing too entertaining to give him life during his classes. As always, the only highlight of his day was getting to hang out with Asahi during break time, but nothing else was exciting. So now he was walking into the club room with his friends

“Kiyoko seemed more than excited earlier,” Endo commented as he changed into his practice clothes.

Daichi nodded his head, “She’s excited to have a new manager around.”

Finishing putting his shirt on, Suga laughed lightly, “I think most of the team is.”

“When we saw her the other day, she was quite adorable, no?” Endo asked, “Skittish, but definitely cute.” He’s not really the type of person to talk to anyone outside of his grade, the only exception being the team. So he’s never heard of this girl before. Still on the first meeting, Endo didn’t think there was going to be any issues with her. Besides maybe her being a tad bit… scared about meeting the team. Though who knows.

With his brown eyes hardening to look at his friends, Daichi made sure to state firmly, “No one scare Yachi-san off, okay? We have to make her feel welcomed.”

Endo chuckled, “Better tell that to Thing 1 and Thing 2, they might scare the poor girl away.”

“Which ones?” Asahi asked with a tilt of his head, “Nishinoya and Tanaka or Hinata and Kageyama?”

Endo pursed his lips, “Nishinoya and Tanaka. Hinata and Kageyama are tweedle dee and tweedle dumb. Though at times it can change.” They all laughed a bit at that before finishing up. With all the boys now dressed up, they headed down to the gym and started their warm up. They set up the net, got the balls, and anything else that was needed.

Eventually, the two managers came to the gym as well. “Ouginishi will arrive in four and a half hours.” Kiyoko called out to the boys while tying up her shoes.

They all shouted in response, “Right!”

Noticing the skittish new girl, Endo decided to walk up to them. He has to make a good first impression, after all. If this girl was going to be coming onto the team as a new manager, it would be best to get in her good graces. He approached and saw that she was fiddling with her fingers nervously. He plastered a charming, disarming smile on his lips and leaned down to her slightly. 

A shadow loomed over Yachi as she finished. Yachi jumped at the tall boy leaning over her with a devilish looking smile. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up as she stared up at his illuminating eyes. To be honest, it looked as though a devil was leering at her, analyzing her every movement. Like any slight movement she made was being recorded into his mind to use for later use.

“You look familiar,” he muttered smoothly, “I can’t put my finger on it.”

Yachi’s wide eyes stared at him, “O-Oh.”

“Yachi, Yachi.” Endo tapped his chin in thought, the girl’s name ringing bells in his mind, “What does your mother do for work?”

The girl answered a bit hesitant with the attention of Endo on her, “She’s a graphic designer.”

“That’s where I know your name from!” He exclaimed, causing Yachi to jump up in surprise at the shout. “Your mother has worked for my father’s company before. She does amazing work. No doubt you are the same way.”

Yachi laughed nervously, now realizing that this third-year was expecting a lot of him now. “I-I hope so.” She wasn’t sure what company his father has, but she’ll probably find out at some point. She was just a bit too intimidated by his height and sharp eyes to ask. Yachi was already overwhelmed by all the chaos that was starting to ensue due to the boys warming up, so she didn’t think she’d be able to work up the courage to ask Endo at the moment.

Endo just winked at her and marched off to help finish setting up. That devilish smile now haunting Yachi as he left her to her thoughts. He had met her mother once before at a social function for his father’s company some time ago. She seemed like a nice woman, very much focused on her work and proud of it and Endo loved her style. What a small world , he snickered to himself. What were the odds of her daughter being at his school and also joining his club?

“That’s Endo Joji,” Kiyoko explained, since he hadn’t done it himself.

“Endo?” Yachi tilted her head. She’s heard plenty about the third-year boy from other students. She knows that he likes gossip and drama, instigating it sometimes, though she never has seen it in person before. Yachi wonders if she’ll see it today. 

Kiyoko gave her a kind, reassuring smile, “don’t mind him too much, he isn’t all that scary.” Yachi bristled, having realized that her fear and hesitation about him was able to be seen so easily. So she apologized to Kiyoko, quickly trying to explain herself for her slight. 

“Thank you for having us!” The team that was going to have a practice mat was here. A formidable enough looking team, no one too extraordinary appeared to be on the team at first glance. 

Daichi rallied them all together, “Gather round!”

“Right!”

Both teams lined up across from each other for a proper greeting. Yachi observed them all, intimidated to see even more tall boys coming into the gym. How someone would be that tall never ceased to amaze her. Though if she was to be a part of the team, then she would have to get used to it, she supposed. “Bow!”

“Let’s play!” Everyone shouted out.

Each team took a little bit more time to warm themselves. Endo was doing some last minute stretching, knowing that he wasn’t going to be put into the game. Even if he was, it probably wouldn’t be for too long so what was the point? Any chance he could take to not get too sweaty, Endo would take it.

“We’re gonna start soon,” Daich called out, “so get changed!”

“Right.”

So the boys all got their uniforms so they could get ready for the practice match. As they were getting changed, Suga noticed that Shōyō was attempting to put on his shirt backwards. “Hinata, that’s backwards.”

“Like Jamila,” Tanaka laughed.

All the while, Yachi was freaking out, a blush bright on her face as she became flustered. After all, she’s now having to see the boys all taking their shirts off to change into their jerseys. Kiyoko apologized to Yachi, “Sorry, you’ll have to get used to this.” Though that didn’t do much since the poor girl was still freaking about being around them, her cheeks keeping the red hue no matter what.

Now dressed in his uniform, Endo chuckled lightly at the poor girl. Though he understands where she’s coming from. “Don’t worry about it, Yachi-san, more often than not they’d be embarrassed being around a cute girl.” He wasn’t sure if his comment helped calm Yachi down or not, since she just got even more red. Though he hoped that it had helped a little bit, even if she embarrassed her in a different way.

Nishinoya noticed a new accessory on their ace, “Asahi-san, that string in your hair is awesome!”

“String?” He blinked and sheepishly said, “It’s a hairband. Well, I guess I feel confident if you say that, Nishinoya.”

“Straighten up.” Daichi scolded the slouching boy as he slapped him on the back.

Tanaka came over, “Trying to change your image, Asahi-san?”

“No, the other day…” He explained, “Kiyoko said my hair braid was tight enough to make me go bald. That’s why…” Nishinoya just bursted out laughing, the image of a bald Asahi now in his mind.

Endo ruffled Asahi’s hair lightly, “could never imagine you without your luscious locks.” If there’s one thing that Endo loves about Asahi, it’s his hair. No doubt in his mind, it just makes him look so… good.

“I need to be careful, too,” Tanaka said, the worry of him losing his hair now on his mind.

Yamaguchi stated, “There are some hot bald guys, though.”

“I’m not bald!” Tanaka denied rather loudly. 

Tsukishima raised an eyebrow at his upperclassman, “Aren’t you going to get into your uniform, Tanaka-san?”

The bald teen shouted, “I’m about to!”

Endo jabbed Asahi in the side with his elbow as he snickered, “He’s not done showing off to Kiyoko.” They all knew he was just attempting to flex and show off to Kiyoko. He wasn’t exactly subtle about it.

The whistler blew, now warm ups were over. Ukai then called all the boys over, and they were finally ready to start the practice game against Ogi Nishi. So they huddled up together, “This is our first match with another team since the Inter-High prelims.” Ukai said, “You haven’t forgotten your frustrations for then, have you?”

“Right!”

“All right, go out there and raise some hell!” Ukai shouted with a smirk.

“Right!”

So the game began with the usual starters and usual benchwarmers. They were all ready to refine their team even a little bit more with a team in this practice match. There were a few mistakes that were made, but they could be easily rectified when analyzed later. Ogi Nishi was a decent team to play against, but they certainly weren’t a team like Aoba Johsai or Nekoma. They posed a good enough challenge but nothing extravagant. Karasuno was doing well against them.

Even throughout the game, Yachi noticed that there were quite a few of the boys who were sitting on the sidelines. Endo was one of them. She would have figured that third-years would be on the court, considering she would think they’d be a bit more skilled, but perhaps she was wrong. Sugawara was even on the sidelines, so maybe she was incorrect in her assumptions. Though when she looks at them, Yachi notices the look in Endo’s eyes. Sharp blue eyes, no longing or jealousy in them about having to be on the sidelines. Sugawara had that expression on his face from time to time, obviously wishing that he could be on the court, but there was an underlying acceptance. Like he knew that it was better for Kageyama to be on the court at the moment. 

Endo though… Endo was not bothered about having to be put on the side. Like he didn’t care about playing or was as fired up about this as the others. Yachi had seen that all of the boys were so passionate and dedicated to these games, especially Hinata and Kageyama. However, Endo seemed to be the only one of the team who was… content with his benchwarmer status. She thought that they were all going to be like this, after running into so many of these boys being quite rambunctious and loud about volleyball. Though Endo is different. He was supportive from how he cheered for his friends, but by no means seemed ready to get on the court himself. She could only wonder why.

Words weren’t exactly becoming jumbled just yet, which meant that Sakura had plenty of time to keep studying. It might be late, Shōyō might already be nodding off to sleep, but Sakura was still going to stay awake and study. She yawned a bit, her eyes becoming a bit droopy now that it was getting a bit later. While her brother would say she’s studying a bit too excessively, like usual, she would argue there’s always room to improve her study habits. Besides, nothing wrong with going over her work at least a few times. Though in the midst of her revisions, Sakura received a text. She doesn’t really get texts from anyone besides her family and the few others who have her number. And when she saw that it was from Yachi, Sakura thought that it was time for a short break.

To: Hinata Sakura

From: Yachi Hitoka 

Subject: Idea

Do you think you could help me with something?

To: Yachi Hitoka

From: Hinata Sakura

Subject: RE: Idea

With what? Nothing illegal, right?

To: Hinata Sakura

From: Yachi Hitoka 

Subject: RE: Idea

WHAT? Of course not!

To: Yachi Hitoka

From: Hinata Sakura

Subject: RE: Idea

Just checking. What is it?

To: Hinata Sakura

From: Yachi Hitoka

Subject: RE: Idea

I was thinking of designing a poster, to help raise some money for the club. I’ve started a bit so far, but I think you can help me with it. 

|File attached|

Sakura clicked the photo that Yachi had sent her, and saw that it was a rough sketch. An idea of a poster that Yachi seemed to have thought up to help with getting money for the club. It was a good idea, Sakura thought, just needed some refining. Sakura sent her reply;

To: Yachi Hitoka

From: Hinata Sakura

Subject: RE: Idea

You’re quite the artist, Yachi. I like it so far.

To: Hinata Sakura

From: Yachi Hitoka

Subject: RE: Idea

You’re the club photographer, do you think you can get a photo like this?

Sakura thought for a moment, trying to picture just about every shot that she might have taken in the past few weeks. Though with how Yachi drew what she wanted in the composition, Sakura felt like she had exactly what Yachi had envisioned.

To: Yachi Hitoka

From: Hinata Sakura

Subject: RE: Idea