#kiyoko endo

[anamon-book]

煮もの　遠藤きよ子 日本の味シリーズ1 佼成出版社 装幀・レイアウト＝中村哲夫、表紙カバー絵＝宮田雅之

[hayatoseyepatch]

Congratulations on 500!!! I only recently got into wind breaker (July), and you were one of the first blogs I followed!!!

If it's still open, I'd like to do the matchups, but if not, then please just accept my sincere congratulations on the milestone! And thank you for letting us read what you write 😊

About me:

My pronouns are she/her. I find it hard to describe my personality since I tend to mirror the energy and demeanor of the people around me. I'm not sure it's particularly legitimate, but my mbti is INFJ-A (though the feeling/thinking split is close to 50/50). My big five results are: high neuroticism (though I don't believe I have a tendency to show this outwardly), low-medium extraversion, high openness, high agreeableness, and high conscientiousness. (If you haven't done it, I believe it is more scientifically sound, and it's quite fun! My results in graph form and the test itself can be found: https://bigfive-test.com/result/66b8c2752eba3fccae9fa8d0). At university I studied Physics and Philosophy, which I'm very proud of, but the imposter syndrome is persistent. I like reading and learning (currently reading Butter and A Very Short Introduction to Organic Chemistry), cooking/baking, and have tried lots of things but gravitate to things I can do at my own pace, and in a peaceful environment, prioritising process and precision (e.g., yoga, pole dancing, tai chi). I like singing and dancing (I dream of a partner who will do these with me). I am passionate about trying to do something that makes a difference (though, figuring out what exactly, and how, is proving to be a challenge). I can be stubborn, curt, harsh, and guarded/reserved, but am supposedly very soft on the inside (my older sister describes me as a sea urchin). I'm very playful and teasing (I worry that I can occasionally get a bit too mean with this) and a bit silly, but also have been described as serious, attentive, and caring. I am very short (in the words of Sabrina Carpenter, "five feet to be exact"), and Filipino/British, though I wish I knew more about Filipino culture. I drink wine and cocktails. Aesthetically, I have long dark hair, a similar beauty mark to kiyoko from HQ, and dress like Gillian Anderson in her autocomplete interview (but with simple pearl jewelry instead of her cute choker). Foibles-wise, I am comically bad at video games and opening letters without destroying the envelope. For serious ones, I am always worried that I am not good enough and not capable or knowledgeable enough but also that I think too highly of myself, and that I lack sufficient control over uncomfortable emotions.

Fandoms:

I am most familiar with wind breaker, haikyuu, so I would be more than happy with a match from those (but I also like blue lock).

My favourite tropes:

I'm not sure what counts as a trope, if I'm perfectly honest, but I think slow burn, hurt/comfort, fake dating, enemies to lovers.

As far as types go:

I like characters that are generally on the taller side, though anyone 20cm taller than me or more hahaha. I like when men are not threatened by things considered "feminine" (like earrings, skincare, girly pop music, or wearing pink to Barbenheimer). It's difficult because basically all of the non-villain fictional guys are this, but someone thoughtful, understanding, open-minded, who would want to put in effort, and who can be a bit silly. Other than that, I tend to be drawn to the characters that I can see myself in or the ones that are kind of completely the opposite (himbos, or the Kaiser-type hahahaha). I would prefer a male match, if you can think of one that would fit.

Favourites:

In haikyuu my favourites are atsumu, akaashi, bokuto, kuroo, kageyama, and Kita. (Suga and hinata are also up there). In wind breaker, honestly they're all so precious but if I have to pick it'd be umemiya, suo, and kaji. In blue lock I like reo and kaiser.

Icks:

No one from KEEL or Noroshi please (that really is it; I do like endo but I couldn't dare get between him and Chika, it'd be at my own peril).

I hope that wasn't too much, and if it is or if you're not doing matchups, or if you simply don't want to slog through all that, then please skip and just accept another congratulations!!! 🎉 💕

Stop anon!! I’ll cry, hearing I was one of the first blogs you followed makes my heart MELT. Thank you for sticking around and enjoying my stuff it means so much!! (ᴗ͈ˬᴗ͈)ꕤ

I match you up with Ren Kaji from Windbreaker!

⤜♡→ I feel like Kaji needs someone closer to matching himself in personality. Your personality fits in so well with his own, your shared interests and preferences were what drew him to you. A friendship eventually blossoming into a relationship just seemed so natural for you both.

⤜♡→ Your love for singing and dancing is something so appreciated by Kaji. His own love for music and his use of it as a calming tool, he (with your permission) would ask you to record yourself singing for him to listen to in your absence. Your voice giving him more comfort than any melody ever could.

⤜♡→ Your interest in cooking and baking is greatly appreciated by Kaji. He realized he was in love with you when you made him his own lollipops for the first time. (He was ready to get down on one knee already.)

Kaji didn’t know he had gotten himself into this predicament. At first he just wanted to get Kusumi and Hiragi off his back, the two of them badgering him about exploring romance. Just wanting to see their friend happy and not so closed off and alone all the time. Similarly, Tsubaki had been pestering you about the same. You two had kept in contact since your Furin days the both of you getting along through similar interests and personalities. You both were often seen as harsh and reserved. The both of you had found solace in each other back then, eventually developing a friendship. Your love for singing and dancing aligning with his love for music. He was one of the few people you had graced with your talents back then. So when you were complaining about Tsubaki’s persistence in “outing yourself out there”. He also confided in you about his own friend’s antics to get him in a relationship. So the both of you decided to kill two birds with one stone. You both would pretend to date each other and get your friend’s off your backs.

The idea had seemed foolproof at first. The both of you enjoyed each other’s company, were in the same friend circle, and wouldn’t push the other further than the other was prepared for. But somewhere along the line, the lines drawn in the sand got blurred. Kaji would catch himself carrying the facade over into your time alone. Holding your hand, holding you in his arms, pressing tender kisses to your temple or the top of your head. Both of you always brushed these moments off as force of habits from being with your friends earlier that day. But what Kaji couldn’t brush off was the racing of his heart in his chest. The itch to have you in his arms whenever you were near. The urge to finally press his lips against your own, growing weary of only feeling your hair, or your temple, or your cheek. So one night as he arrived to your apartment he leaned down, popping the lollipop from between his lips to lean down and press a kiss against yours. The both of you had long melted into the kiss before what was occurring hit you both like a freight train.

You were the first to pull away, resisting the urge to slip back into the embrace when Kaji chased your lips for a moment. His own eyes snap open, an apology on his lips as he slams the sucker back into his mouth. He looked ready to run, ready to retreat into his apartment, before hearing him murmur a “fuck it” under his breath. Before you could blink his lips were on yours once more. Pulling away only after you both were desperate to replenish the air in your lungs. He looks at you, his eyes intense. “I love you, these past months made me realize we work so well together, recently this wasn’t fake anymore. Not to me and if you don’t feel the same that’s okay I just needed to let you kn-“ His words were cut off as you initiated the kiss this time. Your actions speaking louder than any words ever could. He was just grateful that he would finally be able to call you his and it not be a lie.

Extra: Kusumi smirked when Kaji came clean to him on the phone later that night, telling him he “had no clue, but was happy for him regardless”. He’d definitely have to thank Tsubaki for his pestering of you like he had asked, knowing the both of you would start fake-dating only to fail miserably. But hey, you two didn’t need to know that.

[moonchild-things]

Chapter Thirty-Six: Greed

Summary: Shōyō Hinata loves volleyball! There is no doubt that all he really thinks about is volleyball. His sister, however, isn’t the same way. Sakura is ready to start her first year of high school at Karasuno with her twin brother and doesn’t really want to do anything, unlike Shōyō. Though she can’t help it when she gets dragged into the antics of the volleyball club.

Word Count: 7057

Blog Masterlist | Red Herring Masterlist | Last Chapter | Next Chapter

A/n: Woo! Another chapter :)

---

ENDO’S ARMS WERE CROSSED OVER HIS CHEST as he stood with the rest of his team. After waking up and eating a hearty breakfast, they had made quick work of getting into the gym to start their warm ups. They wanted to get started with their practice games as soon as they could. He was still quite tired even after having Nishinoya yelling in his ears to get up. He had stayed up a bit later than the other boys, for no reason in particular. Endo just couldn’t sleep. Though he had to do his best to wake up with how hyped his teammates were to redeem themselves after the abysmal games that they had the day before. God, what he wouldn’t do for a coffee right now.

“Gather round!” Ukai called out to the team, “Our first game today is with Nekoma. How did we do yesterday?”

Kiyoko looked down at her notebook, “This will be our third set overall with Nekoma. Yesterday, we played two sets with them. The scores were 17-25 and 19-25, both our losses.” Some of the boys cringed at the reminder of the losses and the soreness after having to do the penalty. Most of them still had sore arms from it, which Endo was certainly the loudest complainer about it.

Ukai nodded, “Simply put, we haven’t won a single set. But if we calm down and go out there in full force, Hinata and Kageyama, this is your first Nekoma set in a while, isn’t it? Go show ‘em what you’ve got.”

The two nodded their heads, “Right!”

So the boys got onto the court and were ready to play the first game of the day. They could only hope that they could have a few breakthroughs today against the cats. It would certainly help their morale while also giving them the motivation that they would need to push forward. Only time would tell, at the moment.

Meanwhile, Sakura shuffled through the hallway towards the room that the coaches and teachers had been using to sleep. Ukai had told her that Tanaka’s older sister had maybe drank a bit too much last night and would need someone to wake her up. Least she ends up sleeping most of the day away. Sakura knew that she didn’t have anything else to do, so she agreed to do it. 

Perhaps there was a part of her that agreed so she would have a reason to avoid being on the court for some time. It just meant that she prolonged running into the captain of the owls. After last night, Sakura wasn’t sure if she wanted to have another run in with Bokuto. Or even any of the other boys from Fukurōdani. She had the feeling that he went blabbering to his teammates about her and her history with Sato. What she wants to avoid as much as possible is them questioning her about anything surrounding that guy. Though she brushed it off, there wasn’t any need to think about it right now.

Sakura came into the room to see that the older woman was barely awake. She was holding her head, certainly working through the beginnings of a hangover. Sakura blinked at her, “Good morning, Tanaka-san.”

“Eh?” Saeko blinked lazily as she tried to come into complete consciousness. After having drank too much with the teachers last night, it was obvious that she would have a bit of trouble getting herself ready. She turned to see that little giant wanna-be that she drove up yesterday. Though as her eyes finally adjusted, she saw the bored expression on the girl’s face and realized… this wasn’t that little shrimp.

“Ukai wanted me to make sure you were awake.” Sakura explained, her arms now crossed over her chest.

Saeko still stared at her a bit confused, “you’re that kid's sister, right?���

“Yes.”

She tilted her head, “I was expecting you to look a bit… different.”

Sakura’s eyebrows furrowed, “We are twins, identical twins.”

“Still would have thought you would look a bit more different,” Saeko just shrugged her shoulders like it was the most obvious statement ever. Sure, Saeko knows that they are twins and would look similar, but she wasn’t expecting a near carbon copy of that little shrimp. She thought that they would have some differences in appearance, maybe Sakura would have longer hair, maybe a different style of clothes, just something to differentiate themselves. The only thing that she could see that really seemed to convince her that this wasn’t just Shoyo was the fact that Sakura appeared to have a resting bored expression.

Sakura just stared at her for a long moment, “Okay?” She wasn’t sure what to think of the older woman. Sakura kind of figured that she would be similar to Tanaka, so perhaps a bit difficult to handle. Though she’s just waking up, there probably was still time for Saeko to prove Sakura’s theories right.

Saeko stretched with a loud groan, “what time is it?”

“Around 9am.”

“Ah! Why didn’t you say so!?” Saeko shouted, causing Sakura to cringe, “I’m gonna miss Ryu’s game!”

Sakura watched as the older woman hurried, getting herself as presentable as she could as quickly as possible. It was almost impressive to Sakura to see her getting ready in such a speedy manner. Soon enough Saeko had taken care of her things, and the pair headed out of the room together. They made a little bit of small talk, but there wasn’t all too much to be said. As sisters of players on the team, there wasn’t really too much that they could talk about. At least in Sakura’s mind. Saeko was at least six years older than her, so Sakura didn’t think that there was a topic of conversation that they could really delve into, which she was fine with. She wasn’t necessarily looking to be friends with someone as old as her. So menial small talk will have to do.

By the time that Sakura and Saeko were coming back into the gym to watch the practice matches, they came in to see quite the sight. Asahi had been jumping for a toss only for Shōyō to come soaring through the air, also aiming for the ball. Everyone watched as the two collide, the pair shouting out at the sudden contact in surprise. Though thanks to the size differences between them, Asahi was barely affected by Shōyō smacking into him. Shōyō was the one who was pushed down to the ground harshly. Everyone blinked in a mix of confusion and slight concern at the collision. 

Finally recovering over his shock, Asahi stared at the fallen boy in horror, “U-U-U-Uh… Wh-Wh-Wh-Wh-”

Before he could even get any words out properly, Shōyō was quick to get on his knees and bow to the ace. “I’m sorry! I was just staring at the ball…” He was babbling so much that it was a bit hard to understand him, “I’m sorry! Are you okay? I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!”

“I-I’m perfectly fine…” Asahi said shakily.

The rest of the boys were watching the interaction with amusement. Tanaka chuckled, “Hey, be careful.”

“No matter what,” Nishinoya commented, “Shōyō’s gonna be the one that goes flying.”

“Pay attention to your surroundings, you idiot!” Ukai shouted at the orange-haired boy, “Why do you think everyone’s calling the ball, you dumbass?!”

Endo pursed his lips like he just ate a lemon, “at least neither of them are hurt.” The thought of Asahi getting hurt certainly didn’t sit well with him. He really couldn’t care less if Shōyō got hurt, especially if it meant that Asahi was the one hurt instead.

Kageyama slid over to scold him as well, “Moron! Hinata, you moron!”

Shōyō grew shy, “Right… I’m sorry.”

Sakura just blinked slowly at the events that unfolded. She hasn’t seen her brother do something like that before, so it was a bit surprising. She wasn’t sure what he would have been thinking. Was he distracted? Did he get greedy? Sakura couldn’t pin-point it at the moment. She’ll have to ask him later.

She was punched lightly on the shoulder as a laugh came from the woman next to her, “your brother sure is eager, huh?!”

Sakura just nodded lightly, “you have no idea.”

So the rest of the game was played out. Sakura had left Saeko to do whatever it was that she wanted to do up in the stands to watch the game. She certainly wanted to watch the rest of the practice match with Kiyoko and Yachi on the bench. Sakura wouldn’t get too many opportunities to sit courtside to watch her brother’s games, so she’ll take what she can get. 

One thing that she noticed, which was hard not to, was that Nekoma’s newer member of the team was quite a difficult opponent. Which makes complete sense to her since he’s not only one of the tallest guys she’s ever seen in person, but he was agile. He also worked well enough with Kenma, a trait that I’m sure the pudding-haired setter appreciated. After hearing more about Lev last night, Sakura figured that he was going to be quite the difficult opponent. However, seeing it now, she realized just how bad it was. Considering Lev could counter Shōyō’s quick freak pretty easily. She wasn’t sure how that was affecting Shoyo all that well. Sakura could imagine that it was… far more than disheartening for him.

Though at one point, everyone could hear the proclamation that Shōyō made mid game, “I’ll stop closing my eyes.” It shocked just about everyone. Up until this point, he never kept his eyes open for the freak quick with Kageyama. So why all of a sudden now? “I can’t stay like this.” He explained, “I can’t keep hitting quicks that are set just for me.”

Kageyama stared at him for a moment, considering his words. “You can’t, and that’s why we learned normal quicks.” He finally said, “I don’t know what’s going on with you right now, but if you have something to say, I’ll listen to it later. But if you’re gonna do that right now, I’m not going to set to a guy who I know will miss.”

They continued on with the game, a new atmosphere taking over Karasuno. One that not everyone picked up on, but noticeable enough for those with a keen eye. Sakura didn’t know what this could mean for them as a team. Evolution was good, but getting to the point where it works would be challenging. Having tension on the team could mean little to no good. Especially considering that Shōyō and Kageyama already have their pre-existing feud with each other. Though this just felt more than that. 

Yachi noticed something she found a bit concerning after that exchange. “I wasn’t imagining the tension between Hinata and Kageyama-kun, right?” She looked at Sakura and Kiyoko in concern. She certainly didn’t think that it was good to have two players be so tense with each other.

“Yeah…” Kiyoko trailed off as they watched the intensity in the boy’s plays, “But it’s not just Hinata and Kageyama. Ever since Hinata and Azumane bumped into each other, they’re all on edge.”

Sakura pursed her lips, “I think they’ve realized that Shōyō is… greedy.” Her brother is always ambitious about his skills and needs to be taken seriously on court. He might not outwardly show it, or people might not expect it, but Shōyō had the potential of being greedy. It wasn’t greed for attention in the normal sense, but just a greed to grow stronger, to become this unstoppable force in a sense. The next little giant. Perhaps the rest of the team realized this, and are stepping up to the challenge. Partaking in a bout of friendly competition while on the court. Constantly pushing each other to show off who’s better. In the end it could only mean something good for the team as a whole. If they all push to be better than each other with their individual skills, but keep track of working on their teamwork, the team can only benefit as a whole.

The last point that Nekoma needed to win was earned, which meant that Karasuno had to do yet another penalty lap. Sakura thought that she would accuse them of being masochists since they kept doing these penalties. Though she knows that they’re trying their best, or at least most of the team is.

To say that Sakura was surprised by the outcome of the game against Nekoma would be a complete lie. She figured that they weren’t going to win, even if it got close at certain points. Still they lost 18-25, it wasn’t a complete sweep but it wasn’t that much of a nail biter. 

Now that the game was over, Daichi called everyone over, “Gather around!”

They all stood around their club advisor and coach as Takeda stood to give them a speech as usual. “You guys are the weakest team out of all the teams here.” All of them thought about how they really couldn’t say that he was wrong. Takeda continued, “If we were to have an official match with any of these teams, they would be a troublesome opponent. Are we going to view them as mere opponents, or teachers that we can absorb techniques from? The fact that you are weak just means that you have room to grow. There’s nothing more exciting than that.”

All the boys bowed, “Thank you!”

So with the game over now, and their penalty lap taken, the boys were allowed a moment of reprieve before they continued with their next game. Though at this point, after the game they just played, they really were the weakest team here, and that weighed heavily on just about all of them.

Walking over to Asahi as the boy was taking a swig from his water bottle, Endo planted himself to sit on the floor beside him. He could spot the weary expression on his best friend's face. He was more than aware that Asahi was probably contemplating how the team was going to get to nationals now, and how things were definitely heating up within the team itself. 

“You know, you’ll get wrinkles if you keep your face like that,” Endo commented as he poked Asahi’s cheek. 

Asahi sighed heavily, “We really can’t win against these teams.”

“Well, they’re all at a different caliber than what we’re used to.” Endo raised an eyebrow, “Makes sense that we can’t stand up against them just yet.”

“Still,” Asahi took a glance in the direction of where they saw Shoyo, Kageyama, and Suga had gone. “We’re all having issues with something.”

Endo appraised his friend with pursed lips. “The team will work things out,” he shrugged his shoulders, “You think that this bunch of guys are just gonna roll over and give up? No, no. They’re going to try their damndest to make things work.” He supposed that was one thing that he could definitely admire about his teammates. Most of them had this level of determination that seemed impossible for most people. 

The corners of Asahi’s lips turned up lightly, thankful for Endo’s attempt to reassure him. “Yeah,” he breathed out, “I guess you’re right.”

“Plus, I know what you’re thinking.” Endo leaned over closer to Asahi, getting into his personal space. “Our little decoy is very ambitious, but I know he won’t out shine our amazing ace.”

There may or may not have been a little shiver that went down Asahi’s spine due to Endo’s close proximity, but he did his best to brush it off. “I won’t let that happen, I will do my best to get better, just like he is.”

“That’s the spirit!”

Eventually, the boys all came back from their short little break. A few of them made revelations with new ideas in their minds and were more than ready to see what they could do now. With the next game being against Fukurōdani, Sakura couldn’t really avoid Bokuto at this point. Right before the game started, and the boys lined up, the eccentric captain came bouncing over to her with a wide smile. 

“Hinata-chan!” His smile was nearly blinding to her as he pumped his fist, “I’m excited to play against your brother today, I know it’ll be a great game!” 

Sakura blinked at him, already knowing that she would have to warn off a headache if he kept this up. “Yeah, it’ll be cool to watch you guys play.” 

She was still a bit apprehensive about him. Well, she’s most likely going to be apprehensive of the Fukurōdani team since she now knows that Sato goes to that school and apparently the team knows him. Who knows what he could have said to them about her, since by Bokuto’s account, Sato likes to talk about her a bit to others. While she wanted to keep her distance from them, Bokuto wanted to be friendly to her, she supposed. In a sense she could understand, if she had been hearing about someone and finally got to meet them she would be curious.

Another boy from the Fukurōdani team then came walking over. He had black, slightly curly hair, green eyes, and a kind expression on his face. “I’m sorry that he is bothering you.” Just from that statement, Sakura could tell that this boy had to deal with Bokuto a lot.

Sakura blinked at him, “Yeah, you’re fine.” She bowed slightly to him, “I’m Hinata Sakura, nice to meet you.”

“I’m Akaashi Keiji.” He returned the bow, before starting to usher Bokuto to the court. “Now, come on, we have to line up.” So the two headed off, with Bokuto loudly telling Sakura to watch him play.

At least Bokuto has someone to reel him in a bit, Sakura thought to herself as she watched both teams get ready to play. Though going up against a top five ace, Sakura didn’t have all that much optimism about Karasuno winning the game.

---

By the end of their matches, Karasuno really had solidified their stance as the worst team there. They really only won a few of their games, but nothing really notable and they were always won with a hair length of a lead. Really, that still weighed on them all. Then again the only thing they could do was work to get better as individual players and as a team. Eventually they could show all these teams, everyone, that the fallen crows were no longer. 

So now it was time to head home. The boys were loading up their things into the bus and were saying their goodbyes to their friends from the other teams. Sakura was just finishing helping Kiyoko carry a few things to the bus when she could feel an overwhelming presence heading in her direction.

Yua came bouncing over to Sakura. Just from looking at her, Sakura could tell that the girl was itching to give her a hug or something. It was surprising that Yua was holding herself back. Maybe she realized that Sakura wasn’t exactly comfortable with it, which Sakura actually appreciated. “I’ll miss you, Hina! Make sure to text every once in a while or I’ll come visit.” The sickly sweet smile on her lips showed that she would completely follow through with visiting Sakura at any point.

Sakura just stared at her, unsure of what to say, “...okay?”

Akaashi then came walking up to them, the same kind expression on his face as when he had pulled Bokuto away from Sakura. “You don’t have to do anything you don’t want. My cousin can be a bit aggressive about things like this.”

Sakura blinked, slightly surprised, “She’s your cousin?”

“Yes!” Yua(full name Akaashi Yua) jumped over to hug him into her side, “Keiji is my little cousin.”

Akaashi just nodded slowly, “Not very little, only younger by a few months.” He didn’t seem bothered at all by Yua’s clingy disposition 

Yua just sang, “Still younger.”

Sakura took a closer look at them and tried to see if she spotted any similarities between them. While Yua had straight brown hair, Akaashi had slightly curly black hair, they had similar green eyes, the same button-like nose, but that’s where the similarities ended. Then again, Sakura thought, they’re cousins not siblings so they probably wouldn’t look all that similar. Still she never would have thought that the eccentric Yua was related to the mellow Akaashi. Though anything was possible around here, Sakura supposed.

Nothing much else had to be said. Yua just reiterated that she wanted to talk more to Sakura as said girl climbed onto the bus. She crawled into her seat besides Yachi and was more than ready to either read or nap on the way back to their school.

“So how was your first training camp with the team?” Sakura asked as she got herself comfortable in her seat by the window.

Yachi couldn’t help herself but smile brightly at the question. “It was actually really fun! I thought that it would be super scary with all these tall guys around, but it wasn’t that bad.”

Sakura smiled, “Glad you had fun.”

---

Sakura yawned loudly, now standing next to Yachi and Kiyoko as the team gathered around. The sky was nearly pitched black, the only lights around were the dim lamps around the school campus and the twinkling stars. She wasn’t sure how she was going to cope if all of the training camps were like this. Leaving super early and coming back super late. At this point, she would have to force Shōyō to let her leave when she would like.

“All right, everyone.” Takeda said to the group, “Good work.”

“Thank you!”

“So, as I mentioned, tomorrow there will be inspections in the gym, so there’ll be no club activities. You’ve all gone a long time without a break, so please enjoy it.”

The group all dispersed and headed to the club room to finish their last chores before leaving. Endo was babbling about finally getting a break and wanting to go out on a lunch date with Asahi. Which caused the ace to start getting flustered and stuttering himself. Though no one really took notice of them since everyone just wanted to get home.

When Kageyama and Shōyō finally came back down after settling things in the club room, Sakura saw the look in their eyes. Great, she sighed heavily, looks like we’re not leaving anytime soon. Which she was correct about. The two had wanted to keep practicing a bit longer. So she couldn’t leave either.

Walking past the gym, Yachi noticed that the gym lights were still on and there were people inside. Peering inside she saw that it was Shōyō, Kageyama and Sakura still there. “Huh?” She blinked at seeing them setting up the net again, “You guys aren’t going home yet?” 

Sakura huffed, “they’re obsessed with their sets. So we’re not leaving any time soon.” It was late. Sakura wanted to get home to get a quick dinner and sleep. Studying wasn’t even on her mind, which was a first, as she was too tired after today. However, now her brother and Kageyama had agreed to practice a little further which meant that Sakura had to stay as well. Curse her brother not wanting her to head home by herself. 

Shōyō noticed her in the doorway and smiled, “Yachi-san, if you don’t mind, could you throw us some balls?”

“Huh?” She blinked, “Can I do that?”

Sakura just shook her head, “Don’t ask her to do that, I can do it.” She looked to her friend, “You can go home, Yachi, if you don’t want to stay late like these idiots.”

Yachi just smiled, “Oh, I don’t mind!” She could stay to help those two and also save Sakura’s sanity from deteriorating any further tonight.

“If you’re sure.” Her friend just gave her a thumbs up. The last thing Sakura would want is to have Yachi dragged into staying later just because she felt pressured to by these bozos. She’s used to dealing with them like this, so she wanted to make sure that Yachi knew she could leave.

So they set up pretty quickly for the first set, “Let’s do this!” Shōyō shouted. Yachi was the first one to toss the ball up, and it was more than baffling to see that after Kageyama’s set, Shōyō missed. All of the teens were surprised by it. Though Shōyō was more than  ready to keep trying, “One more time!”

So Sakura and Yachi took turns tossing the ball to Kageyama so he could set it for Shōyō. They were trying as hard as they could to get any sort of improvement with this one specific spike. With Shōyō’s eyes being open, Sakura would think that he would be able to hit it a tad bit easier, though after seeing so many missed hits she had to admit that her thought was wrong. Shōyō was distracted by actually seeing the ball. Perhaps he was overthinking where he would actually hit the ball, Sakura thought. The sound of the volleyball hitting the ground in defeat after not even being touched by her brother was going to replay in her head over and over. It was giving her a headache already. 

Sakura could tell that they were becoming frustrated. The air was palpable with the tensions between the two boys. At some point, she felt like it was difficult to breathe. She knew that they were having issues with the spike, since they hadn’t been able to make any progress with it the entire twenty minutes that they had been there. There were a few times that she wanted to tell them to just give up right now, since nothing was working, but she held back. 

Though constantly pushing themselves to improve and only getting the same results over and over and over again, something was going to give. Which it certainly did.

Kageyama had finally hit his breaking point when he glared at Shōyō with an intensity that Sakura wasn’t sure she had seen from him in a while. He ground his teeth together, “Instead of practicing an attack we’re not sure you’ll ever be able to do, you should be working on the attacks we’ve been using, as well as serving and blocking!”

Shōyō was a bit out of breath as he responded, “But if this quick doesn’t work, there’s no point in me being on the court.”

“And I told you, your will isn’t needed for that quick! I’ll give you tosses that won’t be stopped by blocks!”

“But then I’ll never get better!” 

Sakura and Yachi shared a glance with each other, realizing that things were heating up possibly a bit too much. They’ve seen the boys fight before, argue plenty of times, but this just seemed far more emotionally charged than usual.

“The prelims for the spring tournament start next month! They’re right around the corner. What do you think will be an effective weapon for us?” Kageyama grabbed the front of Shōyō’s shirt, pulling him closer as he shouted, “A complete quick or an absolutely useless quick?! Huh?!”

Yachi was watching the exchange, realizing that a palpable anger was taking over the gym, “N-No fighting, guys. Calm down, Kageyama-kun. You, too Hinata…”

“It’s late, let’s just all go home,” Sakura amended, trying to cut through the tension.

Though the boys just ignored them as Shōyō just shouted, “I want to be strong enough to compete by myself!”

Nothing was going to stop the boys from continuing their argument as Kageyama became even angrier. He started throwing Shōyō around, “Your selfishness is going to destroy the team’s balance!” Kageyama shouted before throwing Shōyō onto his back.

Sakura scowled, “Hey!” As much as she agreed with Kageyama about focusing on other skills that Shōyō should improve, there didn’t need to be any fighting like this.

From the sidelines, Sakura and Yachi watched with growing concern. Yachi did her best to try and defuse the situation again with shaky words, “L-Let’s all… Let’s all be friends, o-okay?!”

Nothing was getting through to the pair. It was as if they were in their own little world and neither Sakura or Yachi mattered. Kageyama just gruffly said, “I’ll toss to anyone who’s essential to winning.” There was a brief flashback in Sakura’s mind to the last time that Kageyama said nearly the same thing. It even made her a bit annoyed, but the statement was still understandable in her eyes. They should focus on who and what would help with improvement and success. Though she silenced that part of her mind. She has to be a bit more optimistic about this, she was working to be more hopeful so she couldn’t think like this anymore. Kageyama broke her out of her thoughts, “And I don’t feel any different now.” 

That didn’t help the situation at all. Shōyō’s face just became a bit red, anger taking over as he rushed to his feet, “Kageyama!” Despite being small, he obviously was fast and had a surprisingly good grip. He tackled Kageyama around the waist and definitely wasn’t going to let him go.

“Damn it!” Kageyama yelled as he tried to pry Shōyō off of him, “Let go!”

Shōyō was going feral at this point, “I won’t let go until you give me a toss! Give me one!”

Sakura turned to Yachi, “Go find Daichi or someone!”

“R-Right!” So Yachi took off, sprinting out of the gym to find an upperclassman to deal with the troublesome duo. This had gone too far.

Kageyama tried pushing him away, “Don’t be ridiculous!” 

“That quick was stopped!” Shōyō growled, “Today, and during the Seijoh match!”

Kageyama became enraged, “Are you trying to say that my toss was at fault?”

“No! That’s not it! It was perfect! It was spot-on! And yet, it was stopped! If I don’t get better, it’s not going to work on stronger opponents, either!”

“You idiots, let go!” Sakura shouted, “You’ll hurt each other!”

She tried her best to put herself in between the boys, not wanting them to continue this. While they weren’t exactly fighting, as in throwing punches or something a bit more violent, they still could hurt each other. The last thing that either of them need is to get hurt. They run the risk of not being allowed to play due to injury. 

Just as Sakura was able to pull the two apart just a little bit, she was hit upside the head. She certainly isn’t someone who cowards away at just a little bit of pain, but the hit to the side of her head gave her pause. She squealed a bit before tripping over her own feet and holding her head in pain. At her exclamation, the two boys stopped to see what they had done. Well, more like what Shōyō had done. After all, he was the one to have struck her accidentally. 

Her chocolate eyes watered slightly as she tried to regain her composure. A mortified expression washed over Shōyō’s face as he realized who he just hit. He had flailed his arms around to make sure that he kept a good hold on Kageyama and didn’t even think that he might hurt someone else. Seeing the tears in the corners of her eyes, Shōyō’s heart suddenly seized as his world stopped. He hit his sister. He hurt his sister.

“Hey!” Tanaka then shouted while sprinting into the gym, “Stop it, you two!” Though the scene of Sakura holding her head on the ground with a harsh grimace on her face caused Tanaka to pause. With seeing their photographer on the ground he certainly became far more upset. So it didn’t take him much thought to throw a punch at both the boys.

It was a bit of a blur to Shōyō. After getting a good hit from Tanaka, and told to clean up the gym, he noticed that Sakura was gone. As much as it made him panic a bit, he wasn’t sure if he should face her. Though he was more than prepared to rush right to her to make sure that she was okay and apologize.

The twins had roughhoused with each other before, it comes with the territory of being siblings. Especially with twins. However, they never had fights that were physical or actively tried to hurt each other. Accidents happen, sure. Though this was just a bit different. Sakura was just trying to stop them from hurting each other, and in return she got hurt herself. While it wasn’t his intention, Shōyō still harmed her.

Tanaka told them off, which caused both boys to feel quite embarrassed with themselves. After all, Tanaka isn’t usually one to tell someone off for any kind of delinquency. They did start to feel a bit embarrassed about what they had done, though they kept that to themselves. Kageyama made sure to clean up as quickly as he could once he got a bandaid on his face after Tanaka’s punch. He left silently, not willing to look anyone in the eyes. Shōyō did the same, however, he offered to walk Yachi to where she needed to go. If he was going to do one thing right tonight, it was going to make sure that his friend, and Sakura’s best friend, was getting home safely.

They didn’t say all too much during their entire walk. There was a silence that neither were certain if they should break it. There were plenty of things that could have been said, but was it really the time to bring it up?

“I-I’m just going to the bus stop over there, so I’m fine here.” Yachi finally broke the silence between them, “Thanks.”

Shōyō turned back to her and said, “I’m sorry, Yachi-san.”

“N-No worries!” She waved her hands, “It’s fine… I’m totally fine.” Though she had to wonder how Shōyō was or even Sakura. After tonight, she didn’t know what how the twins were going to 

“In my first and final tournament in junior high, we were destroyed by Kageyama.” Shōyō started to explain, “I vowed revenge when I got into high school and of course I ran right into him. He was even worse than I could have imagined and we went through a lot, but once we started playing our matches, I felt like we understood each other.” He reminisced about his dear rival, “It wasn’t that he was the first friend I’d made. He was a partner.” His statement brought tears to her eyes, realizing just how Shōyō saw his relationship with Kageyama. Shōyō continued, his voice even becoming a little wobbly, “Sakura has been my biggest supporter, ever since we were little. I want to make her proud, and I push myself for her most times. I want to be the big brother she can never doubt or be ashamed of. I think I might have done that tonight.” He looked to Yachi, noticing that she was swept up in his emotions as well. He did his best to smile, “Every moment she cheered for me, despite her doubt in my situations, I have cherished so much. I hate that I hurt her now.” He let that hang in the air for a moment before climbing onto his bike completely. “Well, see you later.”

“Yeah…”

So he rode away, leaving Yachi in tears over how he viewed his relationships with Kageyama and Sakura. Even he was tearing up quite a bit at this point. All the way home, his mind was going in circles with how he was going to apologize to her and his fight with Kageyama. Now there were two messes that he made he would have to amend. By the time Shōyō got home, he felt extremely anxious about seeing Sakura. He loves his sister, and he hates himself for what he did, accident or not. 

When he came inside, everything was generally quiet. His mother greeted him when he came in and he could hear his baby sister, Natsu, laughing about something in her own room. Shōyō walked into his shared bedroom to find that Sakura wasn’t even there. Her school book was sitting on her desk, but Sakura was nowhere to be found. His heart clenched slightly as he threw his things on his bed before tumbling out of his room. He came back out into the family room where his mother was sitting on the couch, watching his frantic moments.

She raised an eyebrow at him, “Everything alright, Shōyō?”

“Where’s Sakura?”

“She’s in Natsu’s room,” his mother explained, earning a sigh of relief for Shōyō. He thought that maybe she didn’t come home after not wanting to see him for what he did. If that were the case, he was certain he didn’t know what he would do. His mother appraised him for a moment before saying, “She said that she wanted to sleep in there for the night. Natsu was more than happy with that but it made me wonder why.”

From the inquisitive gaze of his mother, there wasn’t much that he could hide from her. So it was either tell her what happened or not. Though his mother will find out things eventually so why not just tell her now. He stuttered out, “I-I hurt her by accident.”

“Sakura did seem a bit upset when she came home, you better apologize then.”

“Yeah,” he gazed down the hall to where he could hear his sisters happily playing some sort of game together. “I will.”

---

“What?” Disbelief colored Asahi’s voice as he stared at Tanaka, “They got into a fight?”

Tanaka had just finished explaining the fight he had to break up last night between Shōyō and Kageyama. He retold his heroic actions of stopping the boys from fighting in front of the girls and then doing his best to tell them off for it. The group of boys were standing on a landing of a staircase during their break time. Tanaka had made sure to go find the third-years to explain everything to them as soon as he could. Since they didn’t have practice in the morning, as today is their day off, he had to wait until he could find them during school hours.

Suga shook his head, “There’s been tension between them ever since the training camp.”

“I wonder if they’re gonna be okay, considering the spring tournament’s coming up.” Tanaka wondered out loud. Which was something important to consider. If their freak duo didn’t work well together on the team, what would happen to their chances to get into nationals?

Endo tapped his chin while humming, “And you said that Sakura was hurt? Man this is not the kind of drama I was hoping for with those two.” The last thing that he would want to hear about is someone getting hurt. Especially if they were someone that might be considered a friend to him. A fight is one thing, a fight between two people that he knows well enough is another thing. Especially when they get hurt. Violence is not usually the answer, in Endo’s opinion. Sometimes, it could be justified, but a silly dispute over a volleyball play not working wasn’t the time for it.

Asahi knocked him in the shoulder, “Don’t just focus on the drama, Joji.” The blond just raised his hands in surrender, backing down for the time being.

Leaning out the window, Diachi asked, “But this isn’t the first time they’ve ever fought, is it?”

The group considered it, knowing that the boys did have their little fights and arguments every once in a while. The two would make everything a competition and had little spats with each other. Though that’s just how their friendship was, everyone thought. This time it just seemed like it went a little overboard. Suga pursed his lips, “Come to think of it, they were fighting even before they turned in their membership applications.”

“What? Seriously?” Asahi asked.

Endo chuckled at the reminder, “Oh you should have been there, that day was a bit hectic.”

“The first day, they blew off the Vice Principal’s toupee,” Suga said, stopping himself from laughing at the reminder, “and they even got shut out of the gym by Daichi. It was ridiculous.”

Tanaka shrugged his shoulders, “Well, that also means they’ve gotten over those things, too…”

“Right?” Daichi straightened up, “So I think we should just believe in them and wait.” He had faith in his teammates, even Shōyō and Kageyama, so he hoped that they could work this out. 

Endo raised his hand, “is anyone else just wondering where Sakura is, or is it just me?”

They all shared a look, already knowing that they all were in fact thinking about that. Sakura could be quite a scary girl, but they still had a concern about how she was hurt in some way during the boy’s fight. Not only that, but it was a fight with her brother. That certainly would cause plenty of issues between the twins.

“I am a bit worried about her,” Suga said, his voice starting to bleed with concern, “how bad did you say she was hurt?”

“She left pretty quickly,” Tanaka sighed, “I didn’t get to ask her, but she was crying a bit.”

The picture of the usually bored, annoyed, judgemental Sakura crying popped into all of their heads. It seemed nearly impossible, but everyone is capable of crying, right? Still it didn’t sit right with any of them to hear that.

“Should we try to find her and see if she’s okay?” Asahi asked urgently. Thinking that it was a good idea. All he wanted to do was check in on her, after all.

“We’ll ask when we see her.” Daichi said, already seeing the look in their eyes. “Something tells me that she wouldn’t appreciate us all trying to look for her.” Sakura was not the type to talk about her emotions, especially with anyone on the team. So he didn’t think that she would appreciate having a group of boys sending out a search party to see how she feels.

Endo pursed his lips with a sigh, “Maybe.”

---

Blog Masterlist | Red Herring Masterlist | Last Chapter | Next Chapter

Soooooo...

Looks like there's a bit of an issue between the twins now. I definitly know the direction I'm going to take this. Thankfully, these next few chapters I have had them outlined for months now, so I already have some of it written and planned out to a T! This'll be fun to do.

Well, it now has been revealed that Akaashi Yua is Akaashi Keiji's slightly older cousin! There wasn't necessarily a real reason as to why I never mentioned who her cousin is. I think when I first wrote her in I just forgot to write in her full name. Then I was debating just who I wanted her cousin to be. The first incarnation I had of her was Oikawa Yua, but I figured I had enough characters having some sort of connection to him. So I didn't see it as a good idea to give Oikawa a cousin. Akaashi seemed like a good idea, we'll have to wait and see how this pans out lol

I'm currently doing a Black Clover marathon since I have to catch up to like episode 102. It's definietly an interesting show, I quite like it. I haven't really started watching a new anime for me in a while, so this one is quite refreshing. Since I usually just rewatch Haikyuu or Saiki K over and over again lmao

Well, let me know what you thought of that chapter! Until the next one, my friends~

[kattra]

What I'm Reading

SEPTEMBER READS The Whispering Skull by Jonathan Stroud ** A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher ** The Hollow Boy by Jonathan Stroud What Feasts at Night by T. Kingfisher The Creeping Shadow by Jonathan Stroud ** M Train by Patti Smith (NF) 

OCTOBER READS Her Dark Lies by J.T. Ellison  Good Girls Lie by J.T. Ellison The Saturday Night Ghost Club by Craig Davidson 

NOVEMBER READS Our Crooked Hearts by Melissa Albert The Clackity by Lora Senf ** The Nighthouse Keeper by Lora Senf 

Graphic Novels: Spy Family Vol.11-12 by Tatsuya Endo ** Komi Can’t Communicate Vol.20-25 by Tomohito Oda **  My Hero Academia Vol.27-31 by Kohei Horikoshi **  Assassination Classroom Vol.1-6 by Yusei Matsui  Kimi ni Todoke Vol.1-6 by Karuho Shiina Witch Hat Atelier Vol.1-3 by Kamome Shirahama ** Ephemera: A Memoir by Briana Loewinsohn 

(86 books read / 100 books goal)

currently reading:  The Loneliest Place by Lora Senf Thirteen Witches: The Memory Thief by Jodi Lynn Anderson Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa Everything You Wanted to Know About Indians But Were Afraid to Ask: Young Reader’s Edition by Anton Treur (NF) (decolonize - a call to action)

* - re-read // ** - 4+ star-rating (recommended) GN - graphic novel // NF - non-fiction // P - poetry SS - short story collection // AB - audiobook 

TBR: Girls Like Girls by Hayley Kiyoko (AB) Yellowface by R.F. Kuang  Lily and the Octopus by Steven Rowley Don’t Let the Forest In by C.G. Drews The Whispering Dark by Kelly Andrew The Bad Ones by Melissa Albert Watership Down by Adams/Sturm/Sutphin (GN)

WHAT ARE YOU READING? :D

Find me on: GOODREADS | THE STORYGRAPH

[fragilelunar]

2023 Reading Wrap Up

General Stats:

Total Books Read: 105

Pages: 25, 224

Time: 194.17 Hours

Average Rating: 4.31 Stars

Library Books: 41

Books Owned: 14

5 Stars: 38

hello! for my first post on this new blog I figured I'd do a little wrap up of my reading from last year!! Tiny bit of back history to give y'all before I start doing monthly wrap ups and things. I always make my reading goal 50 books so that I can easily hit it and then just vibe the rest of the year btw!!

anyways!! here are all the books I read last year and my ratings of each:

Finale - Stephanie Garber ✭✭✭✭

The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row - Lara Love Hardin, Anthony Ray Hinton ✭✭✭✭✭

The Inheritance Games - Jennifer Lynn Barners ✭✭✭✭✭

Unmasked: My Life Solving America's Cold Cases - Paul Holes ✭✭✭✭✭

Aquicorn Cove - K. O'neill ✭✭✭✭✭

Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute - Talia Hibbert ✭✭✭✭.5

Doughnuts and Doom - Balazs Lorinczi ✭✭✭✭

The Severed Thread - Leslia Vedder ✭✭✭✭

Anya's Ghost - Vera Brosgol ✭✭✭.5

The Hawthorne Legacy - Jennifer Lynn Barnes ✭✭✭✭

The Final Gambit - Jennifer Lynn Barnes ✭✭✭✭

Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism - Amanda Montell ✭✭✭✭

Babel - R.F. Kuang ✭✭✭✭✭

Save Yourself! - Bones Leopard ✭✭✭✭✭

Blink - Christopher Sebela ✭✭✭

The River Has Teeth - Erica Waters ✭✭✭✭.5

Hold Back the Tide - Melinda Salisbury ✭✭✭✭

Atari and Tika - Efa ✭✭✭✭

Goblin Slayer Vol 1 - Kumo Kagyu ✭✭✭.5

Goblin Slayer Vol 2 - Kumo Kagyu ✭✭✭✭

The Memory Eater - Rebecca Mahoney ✭✭✭✭✭

Legends & Lattes - Travis Baldree ✭✭✭✭

Amari and the Great Game - B.B. Alston ✭✭✭✭.5

Thanks a Lot, Universe - Chad Lucas ✭✭✭✭.5

Coming Back - Jessi Zabarsky ✭✭✭.5

I Wish You All the Best - Mason Deaver ✭✭✭✭✭

Heartstopper Vol 1 - Alice Oseman ✭✭✭✭✭

Heartstopper Vol 2 - Alice Oseman ✭✭✭✭✭

Heartstopper Vol 3 - Alice Oseman ✭✭✭✭✭

Heartstopper Vol 4 - Alice Oseman ✭✭✭✭✭

Chaos & Flame - Tessa Gratton, Justina Ireland ✭✭✭✭

Heart, Haunt, Havoc - Freydis Moon

The Feeling of Falling in Love - Mason Deaver ✭✭✭✭✭

Ana on the Edge - A.J. Sass ✭✭✭✭

Hell Followed With Us - Andrew Joseph White ✭✭✭✭✭

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes - Suzanne Collins ✭✭.5

Solitaire - Alice Oseman ✭✭✭✭✭

Nick and Charlie - Alice Oseman ✭✭✭✭✭

Radio Silence - Alice Oseman ✭✭✭✭✭

Belle of the Ball - Mari Costa ✭✭✭✭✭

Devil on Her Shoulder - Cédric Mayen ✭✭✭✭

City of Vicious Night - Claire Winn ✭✭✭✭

SpyxFamily Vol 1 - Tatsuya Endo ✭✭✭✭✭

Joe Hill's Rain - David M. Booher, Joe Hill ✭✭✭✭

Small Nozomi and Big Yume - Sou Hamayumiba ✭✭✭

Girls Like Girls - Hayley Kiyoko ✭✭✭✭

Cursed - Marissa Meyer ✭✭✭✭

I Was Born for This - Alice Oseman ✭✭✭✭✭

Threads That Bind - Kika Hatzopoulou ✭✭✭✭✭

Mooncakes - Suzanne Walker ✭✭✭✭

Ellen Outside the Lines - A.J. Sass ✭✭✭✭✭

Always Human - Ari North ✭✭✭✭

Out of the Blue - Jason June ✭✭✭✭

The Backstagers Vol 1 - James Tynion IV ✭✭✭✭.5

The Backstagers Vol 2 - James Tynion IV ✭✭✭✭✭

Dear Mothman - Robin Gow ✭✭✭✭✭

The Alchemy of Moonlight - David Ferraro ✭✭✭✭

Fake Dates and Mooncakes - Sher Lee ✭✭✭✭✭

The Backstagers Vol 3 - James Tynion IV ✭✭✭✭

So This Is Ever After - F.T. Lukens ✭✭✭✭

Bruised - Tanya Boteju ✭✭✭✭✭

Spell Bound - F.T. Lukens ✭✭✭✭.5

Sensory: Life on the Spectrum - Schnumm, Bex Ollerton ✭✭✭✭✭

Gender Is Really Strange - Teddy G. Goetz ✭✭✭✭✭

If You'll Have Me - Eunnie ✭✭✭✭✭

Fourth Wing - Rebecca Yarros ✭✭.5

Ode to My First Car - Robin Gow ✭✭✭.5

Save Me! (From Myself): Crushes, Cats, and Existential Crises - So Lazo ✭✭✭✭✭

Soppy: A Love Story - Philippa Rice ✭✭✭✭

You're Not Supposed to Die Tonight - Kalynn Bayron ✭✭✭

Rebent Sinner - Ivan Coyote ✭✭✭✭

The Bone Shard Daughter - Andrea Stewart ✭✭✭✭

Legendborn - Tracy Deonn ✭✭✭✭

The Bone Shard Emperor - Andrea Stewart ✭✭✭✭.5

The Spirit Bares Its Teeth - Andrew Joseph White ✭✭✭✭✭

Open Throat - Henry Hoke ✭✭✭.5

Girl Juice - Benji Nate ✭✭✭✭

Flavor Girls - Loïc Locatelli-Kournwsky, Eros De Santiago ✭✭✭✭

The Love Report - Béka ✭✭✭.5

Last Chance Books - Kelsey Rodkey ✭✭✭.5

Red Rising - Pierce Brown ✭✭✭✭

Where Darkness Blooms - Andrea Hannah ✭✭✭.5

Bittersweet in the Hollow - Kate Pearsall ✭✭✭✭.5

Dead Women Don't Tell Tales - Adrian J. Smith ✭✭✭.5

The Black Cat & the Vampire Vol 1 - Nikke Taino ✭✭✭✭

Mortal Follies - Alexis Hall ✭✭✭✭

The Hundred Years' War on Palestine - Rashid Khalidi ✭✭✭✭✭

The Black Cat & the Vampire Vol 2 - Nikke Taino ✭✭✭✭

These Violent Delights - Chloe Gong ✭✭✭✭✭

The Brothers Hawthorne - Jennifer Lynn Barnes ✭✭✭✭

Squire - Nadia Shammas ✭✭✭✭

The Companion - E.E. Ottoman ✭✭✭✭

Unfamiliar - Haley Newsome ✭✭✭✭

Something More - Jackie Khalilieh ✭✭✭.5

Turtle Bread - Kim-Joy ✭✭✭✭

Our Violent Ends - Chloe Gong ✭✭✭✭✭

Lore Olympus Vol 1 - Rachel Smythe ✭✭✭✭

Lore Olympus Vol 2 - Rachel Smythe ✭✭✭✭

Minor Detail - Adania Shibli ✭✭✭✭✭

Unfamiliar 2 - Haley Newsome ✭✭✭✭

Lore Olympus Vol 3 - Rachel Smythe ✭✭✭✭

Freedom Is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement - Angela Y. Davis ✭✭✭✭✭

Lore Olympus Vol 4 - Rachel Smythe ✭✭✭✭

Us - Sara Soler ✭✭✭✭.5

(titles in italics were ARCs!)

[dear-indies]

fcs alts for hayley kiyoko? found some of her old racist tweets saying the n word and other stuff that rubbed me off the wrong way

She’s half Japanese so here are some suggestions:

Devon Aoki (1982) Japanese / English, German. 

Sonoya Mizuno (1986) Japanese / English, Argentinian.

Naomi Watanabe (1987) Japanese / Taiwanese.

Joanna Sotomura (1987) Japanese / Polish, German, other.

Ōta Rina (1988) Japanese / Russian.

Meisa Kuroki (1988) ¾ Japanese and ¼ Brazilian.

Loveli (1989) Japanese / Filipino.

Akari Endo (1989) Japanese / Dominican Republic.

Kimiko Glenn (1989) Japanese / German, Scottish, Irish.

Bianca Mitsuko (1989) Mexican, Japanese, African-American.

Kai Morae / kaimorae on IG (1989) ¼ Japanese ¾ African-American.

Rola (1990) Bengali Indian / Japanese, Russian.

Mitski (1990) Japanese / Unspecified American.

Noémie Nakai (1990) Japanese / French. 

Mori Hikari (1992)  Japanese / Unspecified American.

Fairūzu Ai (1993) Japanese / Egyptian. 

Saila Kunikida (1994) Japanese / Italian, Russian.

Priyanka Yoshikawa (1994) Japanese / Bengali Indian

Britni Sumida (1994) Japanese / German.

Lyrica Okano (1994) Japanese.

Asami Zdrenka (1995) Japanese / English, Danish, Irish.

Yuki Kato (1995) Japanese / Indonesian.

Yagi Arisa (1995) Japanese / French.

Reina Hardesty (1996) Japanese / White. 

Natalie Nootenboom (1997) Japanese / Dutch.

Ayumi Roux (2001) Japanese / French. 

 Queer/gay suggestions since Hayley is a lesbian, normally I’d list only lesbian suggestions but I couldn’t find many there queer/gay suggestions in general!  

Higashi Koyuki (1985) Japanese - lesbian.

Makimura Asako / makimuuuuuu on IG (1987) Japanese - lesbian. 

Mogami Moga (1989) Japanese - bisexual.

Anna Akana (1989) Japanese, Native Hawaiian, possibly English, Irish, German, French, and Chinese / Filipino, possibly Spanish - bisexual. 

Rina Sawayama (1990) Japanese - pansexual. 

Jen Ruggirello (1993) Japanese - lesbian. 

Aqua Parios (1996) African-American / Japanese - sexually unlabelled but is dating a woman. 

PELI / peli4649 on IG (?) Japanese - lesbian. 

Non-binary suggestions!

Jes Tom (1990) Japanese / Chinese - trans non-binary - they/them

Emma Sulkowicz (1992) Chinese, Japanese, Ashkenazi Jewish - non-binary - they/them.

Nakayama Satsuki (1998) Japanese - non-binary - they/them.

[alexatthemoon]

[ANNUAL EVENT] -In Other World-

waaah one year was passed! My God!

Okay okay for this year the theme is alternative world! I'm my God it was not easy!! I want to gave up of this theme :(

honestly I have gave up more and less of the theme, what I have done is not 100% of my initial idea

My explainations:

For the first time the first drawing will be part of the main theme \o/

The groups is separete as I wanted lol so how is an alternative world they history can change a little so the friendship too, but others still the same!

in the end I have changed a little of the friendship, most of characters still with the same friend, what change is "they know the others out of this drawing"

This time will not have one drawing for one character some of them will apper more than one time

Hisashi and Sith  make me want to cry D:

At day 4 there will be more drawing and I'll post it random times. (? I idk if I'll have much drawing to do it)

Last year I posted the pics every midnight, but that's not a good idea anymore. But since this is for my sister's bday and I know she wants to see to see as soon as possible I'll post every midnight in my tumblr.

So here goes the list:

06/05 (05/06) - Rudy and Kenshin "With You"

07/05 (05/07) - Isabelly "Heaven Sound"

08/05 (05/08) - Belian, Courtney and Sigmo "About Beauty"

09/05 (05/09) - Klaus "Valarie"

10/05 (05/10) - Akaji and Leone "A Good Time"

11/05 (05/11) - Anthony and Blood "Shhh"

12/05 (05/12) - Sis, Thony, Night and Naoki "Conected"

13/05 (05/13) - Raphael "A Little of fun"

14/05 (05/14) - Flicka and Clannera "Always Together"

15/05 (05/15) - Klaus "You will not belive"

16/05 (05/16) - Lucius and Mischief "It is time"

17/05 (05/17) - Alcione, Nikki and Mike "Good Friends"

18/05 (05/18) - Kalevi, Sunny and Fuzhu "Wake up the sun is here"

19/05 (05/19) - Daichi, Hayato, Pehleq and Soul "I can do better"

20/05 (05/20) - Gael, Galis, Endo, Liz, Yoshino "Bright Sun"

21/05 (05/21) - Sith "Freedom"

22/05 (05/22) - Ashley, Hisashi, Tobias, Courtney "What drink?"

23/05 (05/23) - Jyrki and Hades "I made it"

24/05 (05/24) - Ano and Hisashi "I don't know you" (NOT DONE YET)

25/05 (05/25) - Yuzuke "Just more one"

26/05 (05/26) - Kuragari "With much Love"

27/05 (05/27) - Hisashi "Alone"

28/05 (05/28) - Miyumi - "Relaxing"

29/05 (05/29) - Relliane and Leicy "Second Chance"

------------------------NOT DONE YET SO THIS CAN CHANGE--------------------------------------------

30/05 (05/30) - Damn "Leave me Alone"

31/05 (05/31) - Virgil and Vicent "Vicent, please, no."

01/06 (06/01) - Jamey "???"

02/06 (06/02) - Kiyoko and Satsuke "Look That Up"

03/06 (06/03) - Malphas and Foxy "What is it?"

04/06 (06/04) - Slash and Yuzuke "Home"

04/06 (06/04) - Emery and Hendrik "???"

04/06 (06/04) - Malphas, Kiyoko Ling Su and Miyumi "Game Time"

04/06 (06/04) - Kazuaki and Rudra "???"

[ao3feed-daisuga]

Haikyuu Managers Fic (Title is a WIP)

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/hVx5Ora

by The_Enby_With_A_Plan

We don’t focus on the managers of the teams, so I decided to take it into my own hands and write about the managers.

Also, most of them are OC’s b/c we don’t get names (I’ve searched this up).

The few tags I missed b/c tag limit:

Terushima Yuuji/Daishou Suguru Terushima Yuuji Daishou Suguru Usagi Takahashi Ai Miya Mihoko Yamazaki Asuka Aoki Chika Nakano Kagami Endo Aina Suzuki Kaida Akaashi Shoko Fujita Kaoru Ota Midori Yamaguchi Rinako Ogawa Natsuki Ikeda Jimin Mori Akako Nakajima Seki Kondo Miku Ennoshita

Words: 681, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

Series: Part 2 of Haikyuu Fics

Fandoms: Haikyuu!!

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: F/F, M/M, Multi

Characters: Shimizu Kiyoko, Yachi Hitoka, Hinata Shouyou, Kageyama Tobio, Sawamura Daichi, Sugawara Koushi, Azumane Asahi, Nishinoya Yuu, Ennoshita Chikara, Tanaka Ryuunosuke, Tsukishima Kei, Yamaguchi Tadashi, Kinoshita Hisashi, Narita Kazuhito, Bokuto Koutarou, Akaashi Keiji, Sakusa Kiyoomi, Miya Atsumu, Suna Rintarou, Miya Osamu, Ojiro Aran, Kita Shinsuke, Kuroo Tetsurou, Kozume Kenma, Morisuke Yaku, Haiba Lev, Shirabu Kenjirou, Semi Eita, Tendou Satori, Ushijima Wakatoshi, Koganegawa Kanji, Takanobu Aone, Futakuchi Kenji, Goshiki Tsutomu, Usagi Takahashi, Ai Miya, Mihoko Yamazaki, Asuka Aoki, Chika Nakano, Kagami Endo, Aina Suzuki, Kaida Akaashi, Shoko Fujita, Kaoru Ota, Midori Yamaguchi, Rinako Ogawa

Relationships: Shimizu Kiyoko/Yachi Hitoka, Hinata Shouyou/Kageyama Tobio, Sawamura Daichi/Sugawara Koushi, Azumane Asahi/Nishinoya Yuu, Ennoshita Chikara/Tanaka Ryuunosuke, Tsukishima Kei/Yamaguchi Tadashi, Kinoshita Hisashi/Narita Kazuhito, Bokuto Koutarou/Akaashi Keiji, Sakusa Kiyoomi/Miya Atsumu, suna rintarou/miya osamu, Ojiro Aran/Kita Shinsuke, Kuroo Tetsurou/Kozume Kenma, Morisuke Yaku/Haiba Lev, Shirabu Kenjirou/Semi Eita, Tendou Satori/Ushijima Wakatoshi, Koganegawa Kanji/Goshiki Tsutomu, Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru, Kindaichi Yutaro/Kunimi Akira, Yahaba Shigeru/Kyotani Kentaro

Additional Tags: Usagi Takahashi through Miku Ennoshita are OC’s, They (minus Miku Ennoshita) are all managers of different teams, This is my take on the other team’s managers, they are all best friends, They meet up every other week and gossip about their teams, Some chatfic elements but mostly a regular fanfic, Vacations, POV Changes

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/hVx5Ora

[moonchild-things]

Chapter Thirty-One: Let’s Go To Tokyo!!

Summary: Shōyō Hinata loves volleyball! There is no doubt that all he really thinks about is volleyball. His sister, however, isn’t the same way. Sakura is ready to start her first year of high school at Karasuno with her twin brother and doesn’t really want to do anything, unlike Shōyō. Though she can’t help it when she gets dragged into the antics of the volleyball club.

Word Count: 3438 

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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

“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.

---

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[moonchild-things]

Chapter Forty-One: Umbrella

Summary: Shōyō Hinata loves volleyball! There is no doubt that all he really thinks about is volleyball. His sister, however, isn’t the same way. Sakura is ready to start her first year of high school at Karasuno with her twin brother and doesn’t really want to do anything, unlike Shōyō. Though she can’t help it when she gets dragged into the antics of the volleyball club.

Word Count: 5244

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A/n: I wrote this instead of focusing in my film + editing class. Oops?

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SAKURA LOVES TAKING PHOTOS. SHE HAS FAR too many SD cards with gigabytes upon gigabytes of photos. A lot were family photos of birthdays and other celebrations, many were from trips that she took, others were quite random of things she found interesting, and just as many were of people in pain. By people, it really was just her brother. When it came to timing, Sakura was always good at getting a photo of a volleyball hitting her brother in the head, him falling on his ass, or some other sort of misfortune. She has folders dedicated to it. Ever since she’s been joining the volleyball club to their practices she’s got a few of the other boys in the same predicament. From the infamous serve to the back of Kageyama’s head, to Nishinoya face planting into the wood floor, or Endo tripping over his own feet, Sakura has many photos of the boys like that.

So when it came time for their penalties, it was a no-brainer that Sakura would be taking photos of their pain. She is a sadist, there was no denying that. So while Yachi and Kiyoko prepared some water bottles for the boys, Sakura stared down the lens of her camera near them as she snapped photos of the team sprinting up the hill.

They screamed and panted as they ran up as fast as they could. She was able to capture snapshots of their pain and determination. Desperation was also sprinkled in their expressions as well, just a bit. Sakura took photos quickly, already telling herself to show these to them later to poke fun at them. 

As she was snapping pictures of the last few who were trudging up the hill, she noticed how Shōyō and Kageyama were keeping their distance from each other. Yachi had explained to her how the two boys still showed little to no sign of making up. Sure, they still practiced together, but their argument was still weighing heavy on them. Sakura hoped that it would get resolved eventually. 

While Sakura still didn’t necessarily like the King, she knew that him and Shōyō working together was important. She can’t see herself being friends with him, ever, but she at least was willing to be cordial with him for her brother’s sake. She and Kageyama had come to an understanding just before this camp to at least be nice to each other to a certain extent. They are the freak duo, they are the pair who could do some astonishing stuff on the court together. The two really needed to work out whatever it is that was bothering them in order to improve, in Sakura’s opinion.

The rest of the morning continued on with Karasuno playing against Nekoma. Sakura was pacing around the gym, not really having anything to do, and idly taking pictures where she saw something interesting. Meanwhile, Kageyama set a ball to Shōyō as he went up against Lev’s block. Though there was something different about the toss that Kageyama gave him. At least, from Shōyō’s point of view there was. He wasn’t able to hit it straight on, so instead had to feint the ball over Lev’s hands, which still got them the point. While the others congratulated them on the point, Shōyō looked annoyed as he spun to Kageyama.

“Hey!” Shōyō shouted, “You held back, didn’t you?!”

“Held… back?” Kageyama gave Shōyō a bone chilling stare, “Me? With volleyball? Say that again.” He grabbed the shorter boy’s shirt as they both glared at each other. Tension was certainly starting to rise as the two didn’t seem like they were going to back down.

Daichi walked over to them, “Hey, come on.”

“Excuse me. Can we get a time out?” Takeda asked, which was granted.

Shōyō huffed, “That wasn’t the falling toss.”

“Huh?” Yamaguhi blinked as he turned to his best friend, “It wasn’t?”

Tsukishima shrugged, “No idea. You probably need animal instincts to tell.”

Endo crossed his arms over his chest, “I think only freaks like them would be able to tell.”

“Don’t stop it, Kageyama!” Shōyō shouted as he was held back by Tanaka. It looked like Tanaka was hanging onto the scruff of a feral puppy who wanted to chase after Kageyama. If Endo had to be honest, it was quite funny.

Tanaka growled, “I said, ‘gather round’.”

From across the court, pausing in steps, Sakura watched the interaction with furrowed eyebrows. She honestly didn’t know what to think about what was going on with them. Probably something only they would understand, she thought to herself.

---

Overall, by the end of the day, Karasuno still had to do plenty of penalty laps. They were making mistakes, though everyone could tell that there was some sort of improvement with just about everyone on the team. Though the biggest concern at the moment was the freak duo. Their outburst on the court had caused a few questions to rise, especially with Ukai, who wondered why Shōyō would be upset about Kageyama trying to do that toss. It was just another hurdle that they would have to get around.

“I’m so done today,” Endo dramatically yawned as he stretched his sore arms, “my arms feel like jelly.” He’s used to working out plenty, but this was just torture.

Daichi nodded his head as he watched his friend grab his water bottle, “Don’t overwork yourself, Endo. If you want you can-” He didn’t even get to finish as Endo just started marching out of the gym.

Endo waved over his shoulder, “You don’t even have to finish, I’m already going!”

Asahi chuckled at the quick escape that his best friend was trying to make. “I suppose I’ll head out early too.”

So the boys all said their ‘see you laters’ and ‘good jobs’ as Asahi and Endo headed out together. As the pair started to leisurely walk back towards their dorm, Endo sighed, “Those guys are crazy about practicing so much. It makes me exhausted just thinking about it.”

“Most practice makes you exhausted,” Asahi chuckled lightly.

“Still.” He shrugged, “They’re definitely crazy for practicing night and day. They’re monsters.”

“Practice has been going well though.”

Endo groaned, “If by well you mean penalty after penalty after penalty. I swear my lungs are going to die if we have to do another dozen penalties.” He let out a long sigh, “Though things are going well, I suppose.

Asahi cringed in agreement, “Those definitely aren’t fun, yeah. Though I can see it, we’re all getting better!”

As the two talked, they continued their walk to the dorms where they would take a quick bath before heading to bed. A nice warm bath certainly sounded like a perfect idea in Endo’s mind. Since it would help with his sore muscles. Though only a few more days, and their training would be over, that was something to look forward to.

“Well, I suppose you are.” Endo arrogantly ran a hand through his blonde hair, “Of course, I don’t need to improve, I’m just perfect as is.”

Asahi laughed, “Yeah. Whatever you say, Joji. Though Daichi would say that you should work on your dives and spikes.”

He earned a raspberry in reply, “he would complain about anything. ‘There’s always room for improvement,’ he would say.” Endo smirked, “Your spikes are getting so much better though.” 

“Thanks.” Asahi hummed as he finished changing. He turned to watch as Endo pulled off his own shirt to change into something comfier. As he did, his mind wandered. If things did keep going the way that they were, there was a bigger chance that they would actually have a chance at going to nationals. Of course, Asahi has faith in all of his friends, he didn’t doubt that they would all try their best. Though he wondered about Endo. Yes, he knew that Endo had declared he would help them get to nationals and didn’t really have his whole heart into winning since it didn’t totally matter to him. However, Asahi knows that to help him, Endo would put his all into it. Not only that, but Asahi knows that Endo wants to prove his family, mostly his father, that he was dedicated to volleyball to a certain extent. 

It was difficult to understand, Asahi knew. Endo is a rich boy who could have everything and anything he wanted. However, Asahi knows that even if Endo was a bit materialistic, he values relationships above everything. Not having that relationship with his father hurt him, that was pretty clear to Asahi. Hopefully, when they go to nationals (because it was when, not if) then it could help Endo with improving their relationship. Asahi doesn’t know every detail, but Endo has told him plenty about his father. He’s never met Hideaki Endo, though he’s heard enough through Endo to know that he doesn’t particularly like how he treats his son. So Asahi knew that Endo wasn’t going to win for himself, not really. He was going to win for his friends and to prove his worth to his father. All the while, Asahi knows that he’s going to help Endo just as much as he was going to help Asahi.

“Distracted by my handsome face are you?”

Asahi blinked at the striking blue eyes that were now staring back at him. He really didn’t realize that he had been staring at Endo the entire time he was thinking. He jumped, “Wh-What?!”

Endo smirked while sliding over to his friend, “You’re staring a bit hard. What are you thinking about?”

He gave out a nervous laugh at the sudden close proximity, “I was thinking about how amazing it would be for both of us to go to nationals.”

“Oh, yeah, yeah. Very exciting.” There was a spark in his eye that was lit, which Asahi noticed. It had a sort of determination and spitefulness in it that caused chills to race up and down Asahi’s spine. Endo’s smirk widened even further, “Can’t wait to shove our win in my father’s face. I can already imagine the look on his face. He’ll have to congratulate me for it.”

After getting over the tingle that ran through his body, Asahi realized he liked that look on Endo’s face. More specifically, he liked determination. In Asahi’s mind, it just made Endo look… well, like Endo. He smiled, “We’ll be ready for it then.”

---

Thankfully, Sakura had been able to get a good night's rest the night before. She had evaded anyone she deemed annoying and stuck to Kiyoko and Yachi to help with anything they needed. Sakura was lucky to escape to their room for some early sleep since she knew that there were a few volleyball idiots who were probably searching for her last night. Not only that, but the next morning she got to eat her breakfast with relative ease.

That morning, watching Karasuno continue to lose set after set was slowly becoming boring to her. While she knew that there were a lot of learning curves for the team as a whole, she would have thought that they would get lucky to win at least one or two sets. Though here she was, watching as the crows marched out of the gym for another sprint up the hill.

They are making progress, Sakura thought to herself, though when will their individual progress start to fall in line as a team, I wonder. 

It’s great to see them all get better at receives, spikes, and blocks, but their combos were what was going to make or break them as a team. They needed to get their synchronized attack down, Nishinoya had to perfect his serve as a libero, and the freak duo had to get their quick down pat. As soon as they started putting their plays together, they would become a well oiled machine, in Sakura’s mind.

She watched them still lose their games but slowly but surely start catching up in points. The gaps were starting to get narrow. That could only mean something good, in her mind. After all, she’s been wanting to look on the positive side at this camp. Sakura can still be pessimistic about their abilities at the moment, but she can still say that they are improving.

Letting out a sigh, Sakura exited the gym after all the boys broke off into groups for their own little practice sessions. She started to walk along the walkway, towards the cafeteria when she could feel a presence looming over her. It almost made a sense of dread run down her spine. Though the sweet voice that hummed over her just caused annoyance to take its place instead.

“Hina-chan,” Yua slid in front of the shorter girl with a large smile. 

Sakura stared at her blankly before walking around her, “I don’t want to be dragged to the gym.”

“Awww, but it would have been so fun.” Yua pouted as she followed after Sakura like a lost cat. “You can be such a spoil-sport sometimes you know.”

“I just don’t want to be in a gym when I could be sleeping or studying.”

Yua shook her head. How someone could just sit around studying a whole bunch, even while at a training camp like this, baffles her. Though she just continued to bounce alongside Sakura. “Oh! I have an idea,” she said, “let’s hang out. We can get to know each other better!”

Sakura sulked, “I would rather be alone…”

“Man, you and Kenma really are similar.” Yua thought out loud, “Though come on, we can hang out for the rest of the night. Maybe grab dinner together and then head to the dorms. Besides, that’s where you were going anyway, right?”

Well, Yua had her there. Sakura was going to go back to the cafeteria for a quick bite, have a bath, study a bit, then head to bed. So it wasn’t like Sakura could really escape Yua at this point. Especially when said girl was now skipping happily besides her as they headed to the same place. Throughout their walk Yua just hummed to herself, not saying anything else, which Sakura was grateful for.

The two girls headed into the cafeteria where a few other people were already eating their own dinners. Sakura grabbed her meal and sat down, with Yua following right behind her. The orange-haired girl’s narrowed eyes drifted over to Yua every once in a while as they munched on their food. She found it a bit suspicious that the older girl was up to something. After all, ever since Sakura has met her, Yua has never really been this quiet.

“I can feel you looking at me,” Yua hummed, which caused Sakura to jump just slightly. “And I already know what you’re thinking about!”

Sakura just pursed her lips, “I doubt it.”

“You must be wondering just how I’m able to be this quiet for this long.” It brought Yua a bit of satisfaction to see that Sakura was a bit baffled that she did know what she was thinking about. Yua proudly puffed her chest, “Some would say it’s a miracle. Though I would say it’s years of practice.”

Sakura turned back down to her rice, “Well, I’m glad to see that you have some self control then.”

“I will take that as a compliment.” Yua said with a sweet smile, “Though I gotta say, you really are a lot like Kenma. Quite reserved, a bit harsh, but still a softie at heart.”

Perhaps that’s another reason why Yua wanted to get to know her more. After all, she and Kuroo had done pretty well with bringing Kenma out of his shell, so Yua was going to do the same for Sakura. First thing first was to get to know that girl after all. All Yua knew about Sakura was that she had a twin brother, they both went to Karasuno and that Sakura has an interest in photography. So now she had to learn more!

Sakura deadpanned, “Okay.”

“Which is why I’m going to force you to be my friend!” Yua said with a large smile, one that was starting to disturb Sakura a little bit. “It worked out with Kenma, so I have no doubt it’ll work the same with you.”

The younger girl stared at Yua for a second with a cringe, “I don’t really respond well to people forcing me to do anything, you know.”

“Well, now I know a little bit more about you. Besides, we should learn more about each other! To be friends we should know things like our likes, our dislikes,” Yua then bent down and whispered, “our crushes.”

Sakura’s eye twitched, “Not this again. I don’t have a crush on anyone. Let alone be infatuated with someone as despicable as Tsukishima.” Why Yua had suddenly gotten that idea in her head, Sakura would never know. Then again, she doubted she’d understand anything that Yua thinks.

Yua smirked as if she had just figured something out. “I didn’t say his name.”

Sakura just blankly stared at her like she was an idiot. “But I know you were talking about him since you were annoying me about it yesterday.”

“Oh, right.” The older girl blinked, “Still, I think that you two will work well together. Eventually. Trust me, I’m a bit of a love guru.” Yua cleared her throat, “Anyway, I suppose you should get to know me too!” “I’m a second-year, obviously you knew that, and I’ve been the Nekoma manager since the start of this year. Kenma and Kuroo are my best friends. I’ve played a whole lot of sports, I just love being athletic. Oh! I also love coffee. Any kind of coffee is my kind of coffee!” Sakura blinked at all the information that was suddenly dropped on her. Yua smiled at Sakura, “Do you like coffee? You seem like a coffee type of person. Probably black coffee.”

The other girl shrugged her shoulders, “I don’t usually drink it.”

“Ah, well, if you ever want to go to Tokyo, I can take you to this little cafe! Honestly, their coffee is some of the best in the whole world!”

So the two continued to chat a bit. Yua tried to engage Sakura as much as she could learn what she could. She found that Sakura was a bit easier to get to talk to once they started going. As much as Yua loves Kenma, she knew that it could be like pulling teeth with getting him to talk. So perhaps that was one difference between them, which she appreciated a lot.

As they continued to talk as they finished up their dinner, walking back to the dorms and getting ready for bed. They strayed from topics like their favorite colors to who they found the most annoying at camp, or what their schools were like to their hobbies. Overall, Sakura was slowly, very slowly, finding Yua not as annoying as she was before. Yes, Yua talked a lot and was being a bit invasive when trying to learn about her, but Sakura knew how to keep her answers brief.

The rest of the night, basically up until the girls fell asleep, Yua did everything she could to learn as much as possible about Sakura. By the time the other managers trickled in to also go to sleep, they were dragged in the questioning as well. It was safe to say that by the end of the night when the girls grew too tired to talk, Sakura had gained a few more friends. Something that she didn’t mind all that much.

---

It was the last day of the training camp. There was an air of satisfaction and exhaustion all around the dorms. Most of the boys were satisfied with all that they had learned while playing in this camp, but they were just as tired. In the girl’s dorm room, the Karasuno managers and photographer were gathering their things and packing them away. 

“I'm sure you must be pretty tired, Hitoka-chan.” The beautiful manager said, “Are you okay?”

Yachi blinked at her senpai’s question, “Yes! I'm sorry!”

“Today's the last day, so let's do our best.” Kiyoko said with a soft smile.

Yachi nodded her head, “Right!”

“Come on, let’s get some breakfast.” Sakura commented, “we’ll need our energy to deal with the boys.”

So the two girls left Kiyoko and headed out of their room. They made idle chat about their time at the camp while heading downstairs. Yachi’s experience was a bit nerve wracking with the responsibilities that she had been helping Kiyoko with. Sakura was content with how everything went at this camp. After all, she made up with her brother and came to an understanding about what she wanted to do after this. Plus she got some good pictures of most of the boys at the camp.

“Morning, Hinata-kun!” Yachi exclaimed as they descended the last flight of stairs.

The ball of sunshine smiled at the sight of the two girls, “Ah, Yachi-san, imouto. Morning! Man, I'm starving!”

“You are always hungry,” Sakura commented.

“Oh, yeah… You sure are full of energy this morning.” Yachi said, “You were up practicing late, too, weren't you, Hinata?”

Shōyō sheepishly scratched the back of his head, “Yeah, but I just woke up.”

Sakura sighed, “I told you not to be out too late.” If it weren’t for her, Sakura knows that her brother would be staying up late just about every night. Then he would end up having a horrible time trying to wake up. That was something she always tried to avoid with him. Since she was quite a terror in the morning already. 

“Sorry.”

“How are things shaping up?” Yachi asked.

Shōyō’s eyes sparked, “I'm practicing something super awesome right now, so look forward to it!”

“‘Super awesome’...” The tall blonde giant snickered as he passed the trio.

“What the heck, Tsukishima?!” Shōyō scowled at his fellow middle blocker.

“Nothing.”

As he continued to walk passed, Tsukishima couldn’t help but glance at Sakura a little bit longer than he would like to admit. He had surprisingly instantly noticed when she hadn’t been at the gym last night. Since he had a feeling that the others had as much a fascination about her the same way that they did with him. So Tsukishima had thought that she would have been dragged to the gym just as she had been before. Though he hadn’t seen her there at all. It wasn’t like he cared or anything, it was just a little something that he noticed. Her words had stuck with him a bit from the other day. How she described his spot on the team and even complimented him a little. Tsukishima really wasn’t sure what to think about it. While he would brush off whatever people had to say about him on the team, Sakura’s words and insinuation were ringing in the back of his head.

“Hey! Someone wake Yamaguchi up!” Tanaka shouted, knowing that the poor boy was still snoring in their dorm room. His shout broke Tsukishima from his thoughts as he realized that he and Sakura had been staring at each other for sometime. So he just shook his head and continued to walk towards breakfast.

---

Games were in full swing by mid day. All the boys were tired as they played their games. It was a significantly hot day out today, a bit of a disadvantage for the athletes. Since running around in this heat was annoying. Off to the side, Nekoma regrouped as they took a water break between their games. Obviously, they had won their game a little bit before, so they thankfully didn’t have to do any penalties. 

“Hmm…” Yaku hummed in dissatisfaction, “We can't seem to win against Fukurodani much.”

Yua showed the group of boys her clipboard, “I’ve got the stats from the camp, of course Fukurodani is on top.” She kept track of how many wins and losses each team had. So it was no surprise to see that a powerhouse school with one of the top aces was dominating the camp.

“As we thought, looks like Fukurodani's at the top right now.” Yaku sighed heavily as the whistle to another game blew, “Looks like Ubugawa and Karasuno finished.”

It wasn’t much of a surprise to see that the crows were the ones to loose. It would be more of a surprise to see that they won! Though the score was 25-23, a pretty close gap. Karasuno’s captain shouted, “One round of diving receives!” Which they all started doing like diligent soldiers.

“They have a strange dignity around them when they take their penalties.” Kuroo said as

Kenma watched them, just watching their penalties was making him tired. “Including the last away games, they've done more penalties than any other team. I definitely couldn't do it.”

“Whoa! Karasuno's Shrimpy's gotten really good at diving receives!” Yaku exclaimed as they watched Shōyō dive. Which was true. Ever since the first penalty, the little ball of sunshine was starting to get better at diving correctly on the gym floor. One would probably get better if they had to do the same thing over and over and over.

“‘Shrimpy’?” Lev started with a light chuckle, “Yaku-san, you're not much taller than Hinata.”

A shadow covered Yaku’s eyes as he turned to the tall boy. “Lev, stand over there!” He shouted as he kicked Lev in the back quite hard. The poor first-year shouted in pain as he was knocked down by the smaller boy.

Besides them, their teammates just shook their heads at the display. Kuroo sighed, “There was no saving him from that. Lev!”

“I told him not to mention Yaku-san's height… That fool.” Yamamoto said while shaking his head.

Though besides them, Yua just laughed, “Man, I love seeing how feisty our little guy is!”

“You’ll be next, Yua!” Yaku shouted at her with a menacing finger pointed in her direction as he stood over a whimpering Lev.

Huffing and puffing, the Karasuno team all sat down on the hardwood floors as they collected their breath. After having to go through another difficult game and yet another round of penalties was taking a toll. Especially on Endo. He certainly is quite fit and athletic, but even he has his limits. Ukai had been subbing him into the game even more and more so he was really starting to sweat through these games. He supposed it made sense. He couldn’t just be a bench warmer with no skill, he needed a little bit of skill in case he did get subbed in an actual game.

“Damn it.” Tanaka groaned, “We basically kept losing all the way to the end.”

Endo was laying flat on his back with his chest pumping quickly, “I think I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.”

Daichi stood in front of his panting team with a determined expression, “You guys need to keep doing your best and survive.” They all looked at him in confusion, “I just happened to hear this, and I was going to keep it quiet…”

“Wh-What is it?!” Tanaka exclaimed, hanging off of Daichi’s every word.

“When all of these practice matches are over…” He paused dramatically, “Apparently, the coaches are going to treat us to a barbecue.”

Tanaka, Nishinoya, and Shōyō were in shock as they processed that news. Their eyes dilated at the thought of some delicious food like that. The image of some succulent meat was now at the forefront of everyone’s mind.

“Bar…”

“...be…”

“...cue?!” The three of them plus Kageyama then broke out into a dance, with watering mouths. 

“Meaty meat, meat, meaty meat!” Tanaka sang.

Shōyō continued with the melody, “Put 'em together, you get meat and meat!”

“Meaty meat, meat!” Nishinoya belted.

“Hooray for meat! Energy times a hundred!” The three harmonized, “Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Meat is god! Meat is god!”

Sakura watched them dance around with a raised eyebrow. She thought to herself, they really are a weird group. Though she did smile a little bit at the wackiness of the boys. Let it be known that Sakura did find the boys annoying at times, but they were entertaining all the same.

Sakura walked over to her brother and handed him a water bottle. “You guys are doing pretty good today.”

Shōyō smiled at his sister, “Thanks!”

Standing up from his seated spot against the wall, Tsukishima sneered, “I'll be looking forward to that super awesome thing.”

Shōyō bristled, “Just watch, you jerk!” He and his sister gave Tsukishima matching glares as he lumbered off to find Yamaguchi, no doubt.

“But… I really want to see that new quick soon,” Yachi confessed as she stood beside Sakura.

“Me, too.”

Yachi blinked, “Huh?”

Shōyō then jumped up to his feet as he waltzed over towards his setter, “Kageyama! I want to hurry up and hit that falling toss!”

He stared at his duo for a long moment. A tension appeared in his shoulders for a quick moment before it dissipated, “Don't rush. As long as I'm missing the tosses, it won't be any practice for you.” Yachi gaped at his words since she remembered what he had said during one of their arguments. She turned to Sakura with her wide eyes as the orange-haired girl was just as surprised, though not as outwardly expressive.

“I was thinking this yesterday, too, but you're really creepy when you worry about others.” Shōyō said, “I get it, but hurry up and give me tosses! I want to hit them!”

Kageyama’s eyebrow twitched, “That's why I'm practicing so hard, you dumbass!” He then tossed Shōyō like he was a ragdoll across the court.

Getting back to his feet, Shōyō shouted at Kageyama, “How long are you going to make me wait?” Though he didn’t earn much of a reply from the setter, since the gloomy king just glared.

Sakura watched the interaction, a bit of tension leaving her body that she barely even noticed was there. Had she really been worried about how her brother and Kageyama hadn’t really seen eye to eye with each other? She supposed so. Time and time again, she keeps having to remind herself that while she doesn’t necessarily enjoy Kageyama’s presence, he was an integral part of the team. The freak quick was important, and she was at least happy to see the two weren’t at each other’s throats. Or at least not at each other’s throats more than usual. This camp was really a time for issues to be resolved between everyone it seems.

The whistle blew as Karasuno gathered around their coach. Ukai started off, “Anyway, try to work the new things you've all been practicing into this match.”

“Right!” The boys shouted.

“Also, I say this every time, but put pressure on Fukurodani's #4 when he hits.”

“Yeah!”

Ukai smirked at them, “In the end, this training camp was filled with penalties, but you guys should definitely feel different now than you did in the first away games.” Each team member did improve in some way, Asahi’s spikes were stronger, their synchronized attack was pulling together, and Tsukishima’s blocks had become stronger, just to name a few improvements. Overall, every one of them had improved in one way or another, which excited them all. “Let's get an awesome win here and go eat some delicious meat!”

“Yeah!”

---

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[moonchild-things]

Chapter Six: An Interesting Team

Summary: Shōyō Hinata loves volleyball! There is no doubt that all he really thinks about is volleyball. His sister, however, isn’t the same way. Sakura is ready to start her first year of high school at Karasuno with her twin brother and doesn’t really want to do anything, unlike Shōyō. Though she can’t help it when she gets dragged into the antics of the volleyball club.

Word Count:

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"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 threw 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 after 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 students 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 non confrontational 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 Tsukishima 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 immeasurable amount of excitement, "there he is."

[moonchild-things]

Chapter Four: The View From the Summit

Summary: Shōyō Hinata loves volleyball! There is no doubt that all he really thinks about is volleyball. His sister, however, isn’t the same way. Sakura is ready to start her first year of high school at Karasuno with her twin brother and doesn’t really want to do anything, unlike Shōyō. Though she can’t help it when she gets dragged into the antics of the volleyball club.

Word Count: 5945

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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 running 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!"

[dear-indies]

I had no idea that Hayley Kiyoko did that stuff ... could you recommend some alternate face claims for her please? I'll be looking for some myself but I'd love some help if that's okay!

Abe Erie (1987) Japanese.

Hatakeyama Chiaki (1988) Japanese. 

Nichole Bloom (1989) Japanese / Irish. 

Anna Akana (1989) Japanese, Native Hawaiian, possibly English, Irish, German, French, and Chinese / Filipino, possibly Spanish.

Rola (1990) Bengali Indian / Japanese, Russian.

Todo Hiro (1990) Japanese. 

Rina Sawayama (1990) Japanese. 

Porin (1990) Japanese. 

Sofi Bevan (1991) Japanese / Unspecified Australian.

Miya (1993) Japanese. 

Nakada Minori (1994) Japanese. 

Britni Sumida (1994) Japanese / Unspecified American. 

EndoNina (1994) Japanese. 

Lyrica Okano (1994) Japanese. 

Yup'in (1994) Japanese.

Asami Zdrenka (1995) Japanese / English, Danish, Irish. 

Suzuki Yurino (1996) Japanese. 

Aoki Honoka (1996) Japanese. 

Turnbull Ayumi (1996) Japanese, New Zealander.

Natalie Nootenboom (1997) Japanese / Dutch.  

KouketsuHibiki (1997) Japanese. 

-C