Archive of Our Own ^beta

Shoyo Hinata landed in Brazil only a few months ago. For the most part, he knew he was having a good time. A great time, even. He had run into Tooru Oikawa amidst his beach volleyball training, and he even managed to find a somewhat stable job to fund the small apartment he was staying in. Everything was going wonderfully for Ninja Shoyo, really, they were. But there was some part of Shoyo that just couldn’t accept this new chapter of his life. When he looked past the summer sun, beach waves, and volleyball sessions, all Shoyo saw was a foreign city with quite literally no one and nothing to familiarize himself with. No matter how happy he was, there was always a part of him that longed for comfort. Consistency. That… was never how it was for Shoyo. He found thrill in the unknown, whether it be opening his eyes for a quick attack or travelling for self-discovery and killer volleyball moves. There was always something exciting about the concept of ‘new’ – and it wasn’t like Shoyo was regretting his trip to Brazil, but he also kind of was. Really was. But also, not at all – but also completely, and… he just kept going back and forth with that train of thought for the next 10 minutes.

At the end of the day, Shoyo’s apartment was empty. He never bothered to decorate it, under the impression that it would be a waste of his already extremely limited amount of funding. His room back home was full of trinkets and jerseys of various volleyball players, not to mention some posters of music artists and the like. His room in Japan screamed ‘Shoyo Hinata’. His apartment in Brazil screamed ‘the most boring man alive who’ll die before he finds love’. Kei’s words, not his. And for the very first time, Shoyo couldn’t help but agree with that comment when Kei ever so snarkily decided to type it out in their text forum.

Shoyo plopped down onto his bed, gazing over his phone that wielded zero notifications. Everyone was busy with their own lives in Japan, planning their own separate hangouts and doing whatever they could to not… completely distance themselves. That whole issue was a can of worms that Shoyo wasn’t around for – the poor guy was missing out on both the good and the bad! Anyhow, Shoyo stared at the wallpaper for a good few minutes, a group of his batchmates in their third year at Karasuno. Tobio was… Tobio, Tadashi had his signature smile, Kei looked as though he hated life, and Yachi was just happy to be there. Shoyo struck a pose he found funny at the time, and that sense of childlike wonder was pretty much everything that Shoyo was lacking right about now. Even if he at least tried to act like everything was perfectly fine, the reality was that Shoyo was… somewhat miserable, at the very least. Volleyball didn’t feel the same way it once did. He missed his friends. He missed his family. He missed the smell of red bean bread fresh from the convenience store. He missed the squeaking of his sneakers on the court, but most of all, he missed home. Japan. Where greatness waited for him, one plane (or many) away.

Shoyo’s barren apartment was adorned with his suitcases untidily stacked in the corner. They’d been collecting dust, considering that Shoyo had not touched them in months. Yet, suddenly, this dust was disgustingly pestering and ever so bothersome to Shoyo. He grunted as he sprung out of bed, wiping away all the dirt and grime that gathered on the suitcases. He kneeled down and looked at them, before darting his head to the closet with… very minimal amounts of proper clothing. He overprepared for the heat, unfortunately. There was something that urged him to then open his closet, take out his freshly ironed tops and shorts, shove them in the suitcases, and then unpack them and put them back in their original positions all over again. He was taking his thought process a bit too literally, much to the dismay of the part of him that urged Shoyo to live his moments in Brazil to the fullest. But the part of Shoyo that wanted nothing more than to return to Japan was internally cheering for this small action, booing when Shoyo pulled himself together and… didn’t give in to the urge to book the next flight to Japan.

He’d planned Brazil for so, so long. It wasn’t just something he’d done on the fly – no – Brazil was something that Shoyo took the time to think about, to discuss, to really look deep inside himself in the mirror and see whether he wanted this or not. The Shoyo of all the way back then decided to go through with it, to really embrace his wings and soar even higher, reaching heights completely unheard of. Brazil was one of his most significant aspects of his journey to professionalism. He learned independence, techniques that he never once set his eyes on because he could… always just rely on others. But now, he was completely and totally alone. In terms of his improvement, this was great news. In terms of the fact that he missed everyone more than anything, this was tragic. When he looked in the mirror, he felt as though he saw a completely different person. This felt both freeing and terrifying all the same, yet it wasn’t a feeling he was unfamiliar with at all.

Still, home is where the heart is. Not where the body is. And his heart was in the realm of volleyball, the realm of the court – the realm of the rush he felt when he jumped. Not the realm of his broke life in Brazil. Again and again and again, he just repeated how much he missed Japan to him, himself, and no one else. But he knew he couldn’t leave, no matter how much he felt as though he wanted to. He promised himself to return to Japan with something new to his name, something to show everyone after spending so much time away and telling literally no one besides his family. He knew he wanted to play volleyball. In order to do so, he needed to be the best damn man he could possibly be. He needed to take care of himself, to do new things, to see and discover and learn all that he could if it helped him with his future. His promised future. The future he dreamed of ever since he was thirteen, looking up at the Little Giant on a technicolor TV screen. The future that wasn’t only his to claim, too. The future that one little girl admired – a future that this girl wanted to follow. The future that she too had just started to pursue, even in the absence of her dear big brother to cheer her on in person. Instead of moping around about the fact he was miles away, Natsu decides to call him. Would this be one of the priciest additions to the phone bill? Sure, but it was worth it. Natsu giggled and kicked her legs as she laid on her own bed, waiting for Shoyo to pick up.

Shoyo shrieked when he suddenly heard his phone ring. He grabbed his phone and answered without even having checked who was calling him, hitting his head against his bedframe in total shock. The booming voice of Natsu was twice the surprise to him, but it wasn’t one that was unwelcomed at all. “Shoyo, Shoyo, Shoyo! I made it to Niiyama High! You know, that one with the BEST girls’ volleyball team in all of the Miyagi prefecture? That Niiyama! That one! THE NIIYAMA! ME! NATSU HINATA! I’ll be just like you, Shoyo! I know my middle school team didn’t achieve a LOT, but we still did something! You know? I know you know! Why am I asking?! AAAHHH!” rambled Natsu, going on and on about what she’s achieved while he was away. From getting accepted to Niiyama to a sweetheart of a boy that Shoyo instantly hated, he sat dumbfounded at all the information she was pouring out on him. “F–Forget everything else, Natsu! You’re joining Niiyama’s volleyball team? I thought you said it was just something to take up your free time in middle school! I mean – I’m proud of you and I couldn’t be more happy that you’re telling me and that you made it so far and that… you found… that boy… but when did you ever – like, ever – think of going this far with volleyball?!” asked Shoyo, albeit he too was sounding like a madman with the way he ranted to his sister in response to her own list.

Natsu let out a gasp so loud that Shoyo could hear it phone or no phone all the way in Brazil. Soon, she burst out giggling and put her phone on speaker – occupying her hands with a volleyball as she tossed and caught it over and over. Unaware of this fact, Shoyo did the same while processing the sudden catch-up session with his little sister. “Weeelll, yeaaaahhh! At first it was just a hobby, but when my big brother is so hype that he’s talked about even when he’s all the way in Rio? I think I started to see where all this volleyball craze came from. I really, really loved playing with you when you were in highschool, so whose to say that I won’t love playing with other people? With real stakes, a real team… The works and more! Maybe we could start a Hinata generational legacy of pro volleyball players, HAH!” admitted Natsu, pouring her heart out once again. While this might’ve been obvious to her friends and their parents, this was totally new to Shoyo – even more foreign than the streets and drums of Rio. He paused for a few moments, volleyball still floating up and down in his arms as if it were muscle memory. “So, you’re playing volleyball because of your big bro? And because you just wanna have fun as a pro? That’s super cheesy, Natsu! As is everything you do!” teased Shoyo, affectionately, really. Even if his words were a bit playful, he was thrilled on the inside. He wasn’t in any sort of league team, and he already had the president of his fanclub right there! But on a more serious note, the fact that she admired him so greatly really… meant a lot more than he could put into words. Words that he didn’t unlock and would have to ask Yachi about later.

“Oh, shut up, Shoyo! I bet you’re squealing and spiking 50 volleyballs all at once over there in Rio, just because you’re so happy. Speaking of which – how’s everything going? I saw your picture with that Oikawa dude, and I gotta say… You’re real lucky over there! New friends, Romeo, good food, festivals… I wish I could play beach volleyball with you over there!” monologued Natsu, talking about all the things she’d be doing if she were her big brother. Of course, all she spoke about was volleyball and the fact she’d be out of her house more than she’d confine herself inside. When Shoyo mentioned that he didn’t do much besides work and play volleyball, Natsu completely and utterly lost her mind right then and there. “Shoyo. Shoyo. SHOYO! You’re yammering on about being homesick and then you say you literally don’t go out? Or hang out with people? You’re free to do as you please, and you’re still confining yourself to a schedule that serves you more harm than good. Mr. Ninja Shoyo, if you’re so slick, GO DO SOMETHING FUN! BESIDES VOLLEYBALL! IT’S NOT THAT HARD!” lectured Natsu. She really honed in on the fact that Shoyo needed to do new things if he wanted to learn, to discover. Why was a 15 year old giving him advice? This was absurd. He both loved and hated every minute of this. Wow.

Natsu huffed and puffed, letting the volleyball roll down on the wooden floors. She held up the phone to her lips, smirking after leaving her brother speechless over her completely perfect and unmatched words of wisdom. “Seriously, big bro. Just have fun while you can before you’re back here! New kinds of fun, stuff that’d make you miss Rio when you’re back in Japan. Because, when you’re back here, all you’ll be doing is playing volleyball with me! You hear?!” screamed Natsu, leaving Shoyo to laugh as a response. “Alright, alright! I get it! Shut up and… do whatever it is you do! I’ll take what you said to heart if it means you just cut all this out. Who calls their brother just to lecture him, huh? Ever think of my feelings?” asked Shoyo, playfully once more. “All I’ve been doing is thinking about you! Now I’m gonna go practice! Good-BYE!” said Natsu, hanging up the phone afterwards.

Shoyo stared at the ceiling and let his own volleyball roll off the bed as well. He looked at himself in the mirror again, letting out a wide grin instead of an exasperated sigh. What kind of role model would he be if he was miserable all day, after all? And like any good role model, Shoyo dressed up and left his lonesome apartment. He had no idea what he was doing, or where he was going, but it’d probably figure itself out. Or he’ll get lost and hate the fact he listened to his sister. Who knows? That was the fun of it!