Seven high-school boys huddled around the convenience store freezer, internally debating which ice-cream they would buy with their somewhat limited allowances. It wasn't uncommon for them to stop by the Foothill Store after practice, but lately they'd been frequently joined by their new club supervisor, Takeda.
He was small, thin, had unruly short black hair and wore wire-rimmed glasses. He had an air-headed sort of smile that made him seem dim-witted yet he was in fact quite knowledgeable, citing entire sentences or paragraphs of poetry or histories as encouragement speeches prior to matches. He was, after all, a teacher.
However, his knowledge about volleyball in the beginning had been poor to say the least. He had improved considerably after very persistently pestering Ukai Keishin to be team coach. A blond haired, cigarette smoking man who looked like a delinquent but was actually quite soft-hearted, though occasionally sharp-tongued. His family owned the convenience store, and being both the manager and the volleyball coach at Karasuno he had a packed schedule. Though he sometimes complained, his passion for volleyball was second-to-none.
Takeda-sensei had put a substantial amount of blame on himself after their loss at the inter-high preliminaries, saying things like 'if I'd just been able to come up with better plays' or 'if only I could have helped devise counter-attacks.' Of course, no-one on the team felt the need to blame their sulking sensei except the man himself. It was due to this self-deprecation and will-to-improve that had Takeda-sensei visiting coach Ukai's store.
The bespectacled, mousy man balanced precariously on a rickety stool that Ukai had brought out from the back of the store, sitting at the wall-end of the customer side of the counter. He gazed avidly at the static image of a volleyball match he'd seen more than a dozen times as it played out on the ancient analogue TV. It was at odds with the contrastingly modern DVD player attached to it. Ukai had put aside the shoujo manga he had been reading, focusing on the informal lesson. Without warning he paused it. "Did you see what happened there?"
Takeda-sensei look perplexedly between Ukai's expectant gaze and the frozen image on the screen, shrugging his shoulders apologetically after a moment. Reaching forward for the remote, Ukai rewound slightly, pointing at one of the players. "Don't worry about not seeing it before, I only just noticed myself, but y'see this guy here's position?…" Ukai disguisedly consoled whilst proceeding to explain to his attentive student. He occasionally cast somewhat bothered glances at the students still loitering around the freezers, noisy as a flock.
The teens had finished evening practice not 20 minutes ago, and their sweat-dampened hair still clung to their scalps, faces flush from recent exertion. They were still in their gym shirts printed with their team name, 'Karasuno,' on the left side above their hearts.
They chattered and jested amiably amongst themselves, in no particular hurry to leave the air-conditioned store. The had begun betting on how much longer it would be before coach Ukai finally got fed up with their nonsense and exiled them. Until tomorrow afternoon, at least. They'd be back.
Standing apart from the group of seven were two other team-mates, who seemed annoyed to say the least at being persuaded to join their team for ice-cream. It was normal for Tsukishima and Yamaguchi to hang back from the camaraderie.
At first the tall, blond, bespectacled Tsukishima had always managed to slip away and not be with the team longer than the necessary practice hours, so the fact he was there at all showed immense personal growth. His unassuming fawner, Yamaguchi, was a little kinder and had probably only avoided the rest of the team because of his closest friends' example. He followed Tsukishima everywhere. Yamaguchi was an ordinary looking boy; brown-haired, gangly and face sprinkled in freckles.
Some stage earlier the pair had already chosen and purchased their lemonade popsicles. They were already down to the last few centimetres, sticks nearly completely exposed and prizes already revealed. Tsukishima had won a 2nd popsicle, and not wanting it he handed the bare stick to his companion, promptly shoving his hands in pockets as if he'd been itching to do so. Yamaguchi beamed and the tall blond, as always, feigned ignorance with a pouty sigh.
Looking at the group, with a click of his tongue Tsukishima huffed "geez, you guys take so long to pick. We're done, so we're leaving. Don't expect me to hang around tomorrow either." With that the blond sauntered out of the store with Yamaguchi in tow, who waved farewell back at the rest of the team. Daichi, the coffee-skinned team captain, having caught the wave responded in kind. He commented to ash-blond vice-captain Sugawara sceptically "is it just me, or did Tsukishima actually say something like 'see you tomorrow?'"
Sugawara chuckled in that gentle manner he had, replying "I suppose so. Could have said it a little more nicely, but we'll have to settle for now. I mean, considering he always used to leave without saying a thing, that is if he even tagged along." Daichi nodded in agreement before snapping at his team, not unkindly, "really though, hurry up already! Some of us take study seriously!"
Buzz-cut Tanaka chipped in with an aggravated growl, "not those other three traitors who decided to go on a group date! A date! That pisses me off so much! They weren't even considerate enough to invite the handsome moi!" Everyone on the team repressed chuckles, which only seemed to infuriate hot-blooded Tanaka all the more. Just as he was about to add something else in an attempt to quell his team-mates laughter, likely to only set them off more, Sugawara interrupted "maybe they thought you'd take all the spotlight. Everyone needs their own fun, sometimes." The setter was obviously suppressing laughter as he spoke, but Tanaka seemed satiated by the words.
"Well… yeah, out of the goodness of my gentle heart I'll let this one pass! Just you watch, I'm going to make them so jealous when I have girls flocking to me next valentines! Booyah, payback time!" After that and some extreme eye-rolling on his team-mates parts, nearly everyone zoned-out Tanaka's verbal fantasizing of opening his locker to an avalanche of chocolates and love letters, even though valentine's was still months away. Tanaka's obsession with getting a girlfriend was something they were well-accustomed to and had heard about more than a million times.
After Daichi's prompting, the rest of the team finally settled on what they were getting. Orange-haired ball-of-energy Hinata, however, whined "I like all the flavours, this is so hard to choose!" With a glance from Daichi Hinata deflated somewhat. "Hmm… I guess I'll go with a Golden Gaytime."
With bland derision, charcoal-haired Kageyama snickered.
Hinata, going pink with embarrassment and annoyance barely spoke the first syllable of an indignant reply when Kageyama shrugged and half-sighed "I might get one of them, too."
Puffing his cheeks out with a disgruntled pout and no longer having any reason to be annoyed, Hinata cast Kageyama a curious look. Kageyama just grumbled as if reluctantly admitting one of his darkest secrets "it is actually pretty good, especially the biscuit crumbs." The short spiker brightened with an "I know right? It goes so well with the chocolate and vanilla ice-cream!" and proceeded to grab a second Gaytime, tossing it to Kageyama who deftly caught it. Hinata had already begun making his way to the counter, rummaging through his backpack all the while when he suddenly froze. With an increasingly distressed expression he finally stilled as if giving up with a great realization. With a face as if he'd just been told he couldn't play volleyball ever again he whined "I… I think I left my wallet in the classroom," ready but unwilling to return the ice-cream to the freezer
Kageyama's brows pulled together slightly, seemingly about to say something when Nishinoya noisily interjected "No need to worry, Hinata. After all, Noya-senpai is going to pay for you today!" as he exuberantly pet Hinata on the back. Hinata delightedly beamed "Thanks, Noya-senpai!" as he gazed at his ice-cream and Nishinoya with pure happiness and admiration. The gel-haired libero chuckled, flicking his blond fringe aside with a wink and smoothly bragging "it's only natural, seeing as I'm such a great senpai." Hinata's head bobbed in enthusiastic agreement with a chirpy 'Noya-senpai!' as Nishinoya slid the cash across the counter to Ukai, paying for both his and Hinata's ice-creams. His face scrunched in barely repressed sorrow as he thought 'dammit, now I'm broke. The lengths I go to…'
Tanaka, having witnessed this exchange, broke his tirade about girls to pester Hinata, eagerly offering to buy something else his junior wanted in exchange for being called '-senpai.' The collective internal sigh was almost audible.
Asahi was the last to pay, still conversing with Daichi and Sugawara about organising a study session for their literature class. Everyone who'd been waiting for the trio moved as a horde to exit at once, Ukai's joking 'good riddance!' chasing them out before he continued explaining something to Takeda-sensei, gesticulating. Probably some tactic.
The small gathering stopped a short distance up and across the road at a bus-stop, unwrapping the crinkling plastic to devour the contents. Nishinoya ventured over to Asahi, who was the only one actually seated, noting casually "you got chocolate. Well, it is your favourite after all," with a warm grin.
Asahi's shoulders seemed to come up around his ears as if trying to shield himself, definitely not making eye contact with the libero and otherwise not responding. Feeling the tic of annoyance at his temple, Nishinoya plonked down on the opposite end of the bench as far away from the shrunken giant as possible, trying to convey how displeased he was without drawing attention from his other team-mates.
He violently bit into the ice-cream, making his teeth ache, but at least it distracted him from the way Asahi was plainly ignoring him and had been for more than two weeks. Just the thought made a crease form between his brows.
If you asked anyone to describe Nishinoya Yuu, some words that come to mind would be optimistic, bubbly, energetic, strong-willed and tough.
However lately if you looked closely enough it was pretty easy to notice the forced quality to his too-wide grins and exuberant laughter. He looked to Asahi in his peripheral vision, suppressing the nagging desperation and frustration and no longer enjoying the taste of tangy-sweet strawberry.
'Gotta keep smiling. Come on, Yuu, you can do it.''
So when Hinata yelled "gwaa! Brain freeze! Brain freeze!" he seized upon it, lifting the heavy corners of his mouth into a grin as Kageyama scowled at the smaller boy and retorted "eat slower, dumbass, it's your own fault you've got brain freeze, don't go shouting about it. You're not getting any sympathy from me."
Hinata pouted, looking mildly upset before he amused himself by poking Kageyama between his eyebrows and teasing "you're going to get wrinkles if you keep frowning like that!"
Kageyama swatted his hand away, in a clipped tone replying "I would say you're going to get dumber if you keep being such a dumbass, but it's already impossible for you to get any dumber. If we were talking in wrinkle-terms you'd be a dried prune, because they're impossibly wrinkly, just like you're impossibly idiotic."
"Kageyama, that's so mean!" snivelled Hinata. Soon enough he seemed to be over it, pondering aloud around a mouthful of ice-cream "ah, but you're a prune, too, right baka-yama?"
Kageyama then proceeded to crush Hinata's skull while giving him a death glare, unrelenting to the smaller boys yells of "ow ow ow!" until he yelled "sorry, sorry!"
The third-years chuckled at the antics of the pair, even Nishinoya felt a little amused despite his downtrodden state at the way Hinata dashed to hide behind Tanaka. Of course, the buzz-cut smirked righteously. Kageyama continued to glare daggers at Hinata as if Tanaka didn't exist, and Hinata ducked out momentarily, poking his tongue with a 'blegh!'
Somewhat cheered up, Nishinoya brightly exclaimed "oh man, but this really hits the spot. It's so warm today." His main intention was to get Asahi to at least acknowledge that he'd said anything, but sneaking a glance sideways, it was a failure. His smile faltered, but when he noticed Sugawara's narrowed eyes as if searching for a hidden meaning he plastered it back on, hoping the ash-blond hadn't found anything strange. It wasn't implausible that Sugawara had observed that miniscule moment of weakness, but if he did, he didn't say anything about it. Instead, he added on to what Nishinoya had said. "Good point actually, about it being warmer. Summer is pretty close now, so we'll need to be more attentive to how much we drink. It's important to stay hydrated in summer, especially because we're doing a lot of physical activity."
"Another good point," Daichi begins, whole group now listening, "it's nearly dark, so if you plan on hanging around a while more just make sure you don't stay out too late. Our practice matches may be next week, but that doesn't mean you can exhaust yourself this week by staying up too late or over-preparing."
"Besides, it's dangerous, to stay out on dark streets" added Sugawara, smirking at something private. Nishinoya, being mostly outside the circle of friends, noticed the tiny elbow Daichi poked into Sugawara's side as if he were saying 'shut up.'
"That too," Daichi affirmed, casting Sugawara a warning glare as he and Tanaka climbed onto the newly arrived bus with "I'll text you about the study session later Suga and Asahi. See you all tomorrow at 7a.m."
When the bus disappeared, Sugawara smiled "don't worry, you won't have to get up so early every morning all next week. He wanted it to be a surprise, but we get a recuperation day and a half before the match. There'll be a morning practice next Friday, but none in the afternoon. Better be prepared for some super intense practice before that, though. Remember to keep up with homework, too."
There was a chorus of pained groans at that. They could only imagine how fierce training was going to be if they were going to get a whole two days off. It was on every face. 'They're demons.' Hinata was more visibly distressed at the reminder of homework, and Kageyama, though not as expressive, seemed just as distressed. Sugawara chuckled at that. "Well then, I guess I'll head off, too. Have an essay due in two days," he explained.
As if Daichi and Sugawara had been the glue holding them there, the group began to disperse.
Sugawara went alone, heading toward the more populated area near the centre of town. Heading home was the only time many of them ever saw Sugawara without Daichi by his side.
Hinata walked down the road alongside Kageyama, walking his bicycle on one side and talking animatedly to Kageyama on the other, feud from a few minutes ago forgotten. Kageyama had this look on his face that said he'd much rather be anywhere else but he seemed to be listening to Hinata's every word.
Neither Nishinoya nor Asahi had moved from the bench yet, and trying to avoid the heavy atmosphere that settled over them, Nishinoya decided to watch the oddball duo until they were out of sight. He vaguely noted that Kageyama had already walked past his house, only a short 200 metres from where his upperclassman sat, continuing on by Hinata's side. They stopped where the road forked another 50 metres up. One road continuing further into the residential district and the other going steeply downhill, appearing in the distance as it wound up the side of the mountain, path barely visible now that dark had nearly fallen.
They continued to talk for a minute or two, and that was normal enough. Hinata mounted his bike in preparation for take-off, obviously nearing the end of his tirade about which ice-creams were good and why. Nishinoya could vaguely hear Hinata's voice even from this distance, and there was no mistaking what happened next.
Even from this distance Nishinoya could clearly see how Kageyama reached out to Hinata, grabbing his arm and unbalancing the smaller boys bike. The first thing that went through his mind was a joking 'Oh great, Hinata must have said something to piss him off again.'
What Nishinoya didn't expect was Kageyama drawing Hinata even closer until the bike slipped from under him as he over-balanced, Kageyama catching him whilst swooping his head down. Sure, they'd head butted one-another on plenty of occasions when fed-up with one-another, but this was so obviously different. Hinata didn't go stumbling backwards clutching his forehead and shrieking. Instead, he went rigid, then seemed to meld against Kageyama.
Dumbstruck, reeling and frankly ashamed at seeing something he shouldn't have, Nishinoya quickly focused on his shoes. He only then noted in his peripheral vision how Asahi seemed even more tense than he had been before.
Unable to settle after what he'd just seen but curiosity overwhelming him, Nishinoya peered back at where Hinata and Kageyama still stood. Hinata was pushing Kageyama away, not seeming to really mean it judging by the fact Kageyama's hands were still at the smaller boys waist, and by the nervous laugh that echoed up to Nishinoya and Asahi. Hinata reached up with one hand between them, flicking Kageyama playfully in the forehead, this time reaching his own face up to meet Kageyama's, it seemed, reassuringly. Kageyama let go and Hinata picked up his bike, remounting it. He waved over his shoulder as he pedalled away furiously. Kageyama's figure seemed frozen, almost as dumbstruck as Nishinoya was feeling while watching this play out. After Hinata disappeared from sight, Kageyama did something extremely amusing.
He pumped his fist as if silently shouting 'yes!'
The first year duo had been completely oblivious to their surroundings, senpai watching on in silent astonishment. Yet after looking around as if now of all times was when he needed to make sure no-one could see, Nishinoya could pinpoint the moment when Kageyama realised his mistake. While it had darkened quite a bit, Asahi and Nishinoya were still visible to Kageyama, who obviously saw them, turning his head down and practically running to his house.
Face red with his own embarrassment and Kageyama's second hand embarrassment, overcome with the pregnant silence in the bus-stop, Nishinoya grasped at straws for anything to say, finding nothing but jumbled words. "So, uh… interesting development, don't you think? I… You… I mean, what do you think about, y'know? K-kissing… and stuff…" he finished lamely, mentally face-palming.
Asahi shot upright out of his seat, frantically squeaking out "I-I'm gonna go home now!" while stumbling over his own feet as he hurried away, leaving Nishinoya to flop back against the bench, dejected and covering his eyes with his palms as if he had a migraine.
'Goddammit… shit… what a dumb thing to say. He's been avoiding me since after we started… being a couple. I don't even need to ask, of course he doesn't want to kiss me, he doesn't even like me that way, after all. Dumb, dumb, dumb! Ah man, now I just feel bad.' Nishinoya worried. 'I know we agreed to date, but… if it's like this… ugh, I bet he wants to break up but doesn't want to hurt my feelings or something. I bet he never really liked me in the first place. It's all my fault, I should never have said anything. He only agreed out of obligation or some shit 'cause he's too nice to say no' he grouched glumly, standing like his shoulders were weighted down as he head for his own house. 'I should save myself all this… emotional trouble… just end it, for his sake too. He's obviously uncomfortable.' His recurring thought once again ran through his distraught mind. 'He probably only agreed because I asked, spur of the moment thing. Dammit.'
'I wish he liked me as much as I like him.'