Hello everybody,

as I'm on the move tomorrow I thought it would be a nice thing to post today, so here you go.

I hope you have a great weekend

Sharry

Chapter 2

"Good morning, are you guys waiting for me?"

It was merely five past seven when Sugawara reached the gym. He was late because he had stayed up longer than expected studying and had to pack his schoolbag this morning.

As expected, their odd power couple of first-years as well as Tanaka and Nishinoya were already waiting close to the gym's entrance. Next to them stood Daichi and Kinoshita, waving at him.

"Why are you still outside?" He asked as he got closer.

"Well, yesterday I gave Asahi my keys and he isn't here yet," Daichi answered with a laugh, rubbing the back of his head. To his right Yamaguchi and Tsukishima appeared, both yawning in unison.

While unlocking the door Sugawara scrutinized their libero, but his concern wasn't necessary. Grinning like a fool, Nishinoya was explaining to a way too enthusiastic Hinata what kind of new, unforgiving, special training he had decided to subject himself to make up for his faults of yesterday.

Sugawara barely had time to open the door before the others rushed past him to set up the gym.

"Whatever Asahi did yesterday, it worked," he mused as Daichi came beside him, nodding thoughtfully.

"I still don't know if such a conversation was really necessary. Nishinoya won't crumble that easily; on the other hand it's always easier if you don't have to handle everything on your own, so I guess it was a good call from Asahi."

With those words their daily morning practice started and until quarter past seven all club members showed up - all except their ace.

Yet there were so many things to discuss from the last day that almost no one noticed at first.

"Sawamura-san, you know why Azumane-san hasn't shown up yet? He wanted to train a new attack with me today."

Kageyama had noticed. During the match yesterday, the setter had ended up in countless conversations with Asahi about things they wanted to try out during practice.

The captain knew Kageyama had been aware that something had been off the last evening. He had, after all, vanished as soon as possible, either because he had been very considerate or because he had tried his best to avoid drama that didn't concern him; both options seemed fairly possible.

"Nah, don't worry. He probably just overslept. Yesterday was a tough day on all of us."

Without replying, Kageyama lifted one eyebrow - which always slightly irritated Daichi – and rushed off towards Hinata, who had chosen this very moment to show his best imitation of Kageyama in front of Tanaka and Nishinoya.

Hinata realized too late that Kageyama was coming for him and was barely able to dodge the setter's iron fist.

Somewhat dissatisfied, Daichi watched the front door; the morning training was almost over, and Asahi just didn't show up. It was unusual for their faltering ace to miss even one workout; he was just way too scared of Daichi or losing his title to Tanaka or Hinata.

Sighing, he shook his head. Pointless headaches wouldn't get him anywhere.

"Okay folks, we should clean up now or we'll be late for class. Kageyama, Hinata, Nishinoya! Didn't you hear me? Stop it and clean up!"

They agreed, but within the same breath Hinata and Nishinoya kept begging for another ball, just one more!

"Don't worry about Azumane."

To his surprise, Kiyoko suddenly stood next to him.

"I'm sorry, what?"

The manager looked up from her clipboard and met his eyes in her usual seriousness.

"As you know, I couldn't make it yesterday afternoon as I had career counseling. Today class 3 has their appointments and tomorrow it's your and Sugawara's turn. I'm certain Azumane got one of the early slots and simply forgot to tell you because of the unexpected match yesterday."

"Yeah, you're probably right," Daichi laughed half-heartedly, while his eyes followed Sugawara, who jumped with the elegance of a ballet dancer to fetch a ball mid-air, before the setter turned around and scolded Nishinoya and Hinata.

However, Asahi didn't show up for practice after classes either.

He was sick, Mr. Takeda told them, and hadn't even made it to school.

The rest of them trained like always.

"What's wrong with you, Daichi? You almost looked cheerful when Takeda-sensei told us that Asahi was sick," Sugawara teased him while they practiced setting up.

"Not true," Daichi replied, before passing the ball to his setter. Daichi started running and jumped as high as he could.

As expected, the ball came to his hand in a perfect arc, Sugawara knew him just too well.

"I'm just a little relieved, that's all," he quietly confessed as he was back on the ground again, looking at his classmate seriously. "Honestly, I was a bit worried, but as long as he's just sick, he'll certainly be back by tomorrow."

"Azumane-san is not sick." In unison Sugawara and Daichi turned to Kageyama, who stood by the net next to them, having just played an equally perfect ball to Tanaka.

"Yesterday was his best performance I've ever seen, physically and emotionally. It's unlikely he feels great one day and is so sick the next one he can't even go to school."

Their young prodigy stated this so matter-of-factly that Daichi couldn't even get mad about the silent accusation. Not so much Tanaka who had heard their conversation.

"You seriously wanna say Asahi-san's not only skipping school but even practice?!" He yelled, grabbing Kageyama by the collar and pulling him close.

"You really need to sort out your priorities," Tsukishima mumbled from the other side of the net, where he and Hinata were receiving the balls.

"Wait a second," Sugawara interrupted their quarrel, "we all know that Asahi is way too much of a scaredy crow to skip school. If he's sick, he's sick."

Tanaka nodded generously, but Kageyama seemed far from convinced.

He opened his mouth to reply something, but suddenly trainer Ukai barked at them and reminded them that they were in the middle of training. Yamaguchi and Ennoshita were waiting for them, a grim grin on their faces and Narita behind them was slightly shaking his head with a subtle smirk.

As practice was slowly coming to an end, both third-years found themselves close to the trainer's bench, taking care of some documents with Shimizu. Mr. Takeda had already left because of a teacher conference.

"You guys are still worrying about Azumane, aren't you?" Kiyoko remarked astutely. Captain and setter shared a concerned glance. Sometimes they wondered if their manager was able to read thoughts.

"Nah, what are you talking about?" Sugawara tried to wave it away with a fake smile while Daichi shook his head and rubbed his neck.

"I have to admit I'm also a little bit surprised," she confessed smiling gently while watching the court. "During the past three years Azumane has never been sick. Yes, after that game against Date Tech he stopped coming to practice, but he never missed school, because he wasn't physically ill."

"Like I said, I don't think that Azumane-san's actually sick."

Startled, Sugawara jumped around, while Daichi and Shimizu looked up in surprise.

Kageyama stood at the far end of the bench, putting down his bottle. Sweat was running down his temples, but his eyes were calm and focused.

"Why do you keep saying that?" Sugawara complained. He knew that the first-year didn't mean any harm. Kageyama was just analyzing the situation with his annoyingly rational mind and expressed the results without any sugar-coating.

"Like I said," the younger setter replied, slightly annoyed, "Azumane-san was in such good shape yesterday, I doubt he's so sick today that he can't even make it to school. Of course, it would be different if he had been in an accident or something like that."

"Hey, don't jinx anything, okay?" Daichi cut him off.

"Kageyama is right!" The third-years turned towards the other side of the bench, where Hinata was reaching for the towel Yachi was giving him. Compared to Kageyama, he looked like he had rushed through a rainstorm, yet did not seem exhausted at all. "Asahi-san was really cool yesterday. Each of his serves was so fast and powerful, like whuff and then BAM. I wish I could serve like that."

"Not in a million years," Kageyama commented rudely, only to be attacked by Hinata.

"Well, they aren't wrong," Kiyoko agreed serenely, while the two first-years were picking on each other, with only the desperate Yachi between them. "I also noticed that Azumane was much louder on the field than usual."

Daichi and Sugawara shared another look.

That was true. Asahi was never as loud as Tanaka or Hinata, but even he praised good receives and called as often as he could for the ball.

Yesterday, however, it had been more, not just better communication, not just more flowing movements. His pure presence had been felt all over the court and this had just been a practice match where they had wanted to try out different things.

"He almost had the presence of a real ace," Sugawara whispered, but he didn't mean it as a little side swipe; he wasn't mocking Asahi. No, Sugawara slowly realized why he himself had been so calm yesterday.

Daichi nodded slowly, thoughtfully holding his chin.

"Now that you mention it... Usually Asahi feels a momentum quickly but he notes even faster when it flips over, yet yesterday he was the one who built up the mood."

"Indeed." Coach Ukai came over to them, obviously having noticed what they were talking about. "I am surprised that you realize that only now, even though yesterday Azumane was clearly no longer the Azumane we have known so far."

Those addressed looked up in surprise.

By now Tsukishima, Yamaguchi, and the second-years came closer as they noticed that their coach was talking in a serious manner, while Tanaka tried to free Hinata, who was tangled up in the net after Kageyama had thrown him there.

"At first I thought he was simply having a good day or was just not as nervous and insecure as usual, because you had already defeated your opponent before."

The team mumbled in agreement.

"But if I'm honest, I believe it's more than that," their coach explained. "Perhaps it's a good thing that Azumane is not there today; now I can talk openly to you without putting pressure on him, because yesterday our ace showed that he is far from reaching his personal limit."

Tanaka and Hinata couldn't prevent a loud "Oh!" while Nishinoya explained with a laugh that this certainly wasn't new to him; after all, they were talking about Asahi, their ace.

"But why making a fuss about it?" Tsukishima asked and lifted his glasses to wipe the sweat from his nose. "We're all training to improve, what's so special about our ace doing what's expected from an ace for once?"

"Tsukishima!"

The tall blond quickly made his escape from their smallest team member.

Ukai scratched the back of his head.

"Of course you're right, but what I'm trying to say is, that..."

"Yesterday Azumane-san showed his real potential as an ace for the first time."

Everybody turned dead silent when Kageyama interrupted their coach.

"Hey!" Daichi scolded him. "You can't just interrupt when and how it suits you!"

"It's okay Sawamura," Ukai waved it aside. "Kageyama is completely right and so is Tsukishima."

Nishinoya stopped chasing Tsukishima and pouted his cheeks while Ukai continued to talk.

"Azumane is indeed a good player, his strength is impressive, especially for his age, and aside from his frail confidence he has no big weaknesses; that's why he's Karasuno's ace. But being an ace is about more than just crushing blocks and scoring points. If you take a closer look at the other aces of the teams we know, you quickly notice that the really good ones among them are usually one of a kind; most of them are much more than just good players. Yet up until now Azumane had not been able to fill this unnamed more - until now."

He nodded to Kageyama, who folded his arms and watched the ground in concentration as he spoke.

"Azumane-san came to me during the first set yesterday and asked me to set up the balls for him inaccurately on purpose. I wasn't really fond of that idea and I didn't want to do it at first, but he said that training matches were used for trying out critical positions, so…"

"Now I get it!" Tanaka hit the open palm with his fist as if he had just solved a complicated mystery. "I thought your sets looked kind of weird yesterday, but since mine felt as good as usual, I just thought you had a bad day."

"I don't have bad days," Kageyama grumbled.

Laughing softly, Sugawara also folded his arms. "That's a cocky question to ask a setter. I don't want to imagine how exhausting it must be to set a ball intentionally badly, especially for you."

Kageyama waved it off. "At first it was difficult, but then I wondered how Hinata would set a ball and after that it was actually quite…"

"What?! Why me, of all people?!"

"Because your sets suck."

Their coach cleared his throat to interrupt the upcoming quarrel.

"Exactly, for Azumane such a self-confident - but also selfish - demand is not a given, because he is always concerned about everything and everyone."

"Unlike others," Tsukishima whispered, glaring sharply at some of his teammates.

"Yesterday he had been on point no matter what he did," Ukai continued, "but honestly I doubt it would be good for Azumane if he knew how much he could improve. But to put it straight, if he ever becomes able to be that good on a regular basis and learns to reach his true potential as an ace, then he..."

He didn't finish the sentence but looked at them all calmly.

Again, it was Kageyama who ended his coach's thought: "Then he could soon become among the best five aces in all of Japan."

Silence.

Even the team members who could never keep their mouths shut didn't know what to say, so Ukai took advantage of the moment and nodded slowly.

"Correct. We all know that with Kageyama and Nishinoya we have two outstanding naturals on our team, who embody a potential that is hard for average folks like the rest of us to ever reach. Our Hinata on the other hand is always full of surprises and maybe one day he can put his name among the list of overachievers as well. But I have to confess that until yesterday I would not have put Azumane on this list and I am pretty sure that - unlike Hinata or Nishinoya - he would not be spurred on by such praise, but would only feel the pressure to live up to those words."

Sugawara nodded in agreement, now looking even more serious than before. He opened his mouth to say something, but Ukai wasn't done talking yet.

"That's why I'm glad we can talk about that now without him here, so he doesn't feel the pressure," their trainer explained, regarding each of them carefully. "We're all aware that some of our positions are manned unusually and I think Azumane isn't an exception in that regard. Right now, some might still wonder why somebody like him can be our ace, but when he finally recognizes his potential and begins to expand it, he's in the position to redefine the requirements of an ace."

"Boah, that's so cool!"

Hinata's squeal shattered the silent tension that had wavered through the gym.

"And when I become the next ace of Karasuno, that means that I'll even surpass Asahi!"

"Idiot! You talk big but you can't even come up with a decent serve."

While Kageyama and Hinata continued their little quarrel, coach Ukai reminded the rest of them to approach the issue with caution, before addressing several other topics of the past game and emphasizing various aspects. However, Nishinoya's lack of performance was barely mentioned. Their coach felt no need to explain to the libero what he already knew.

Besides, it wasn't as if the past day was still looming like a dark cloud over Nishinoya. He had already accepted that even he was no machine and thus made mistakes. That was why he was not alone on the court.

Long after the sun had set, they began to clean up and everything was like usual. Well, almost everything.

Nishinoya, usually running and joking around with Hinata and Tanaka like a kid with too much sugar input, was taking care of his tasks in silent diligence, an almost unnatural smile never leaving his face.

"You seem to be in a particularly good mood today," Sugawara remarked with a laugh as they folded the net together.

"Yes, of course. You heard what Ukai said about Asahi-san. I've always known he's good, of course - and I mean not just good, but crazy damn good - but now to get confirmation that he can really make it to the very top ... Ukai didn't only say he could be one of the best, but among the best of the aces, so the best of the best, that's totally…"

"But you also realized we're not supposed to tell Asahi, do you? He would put too much pressure on himself and then lose his head," the setter laughed, before thoughtfully looking at the net in his hands.

"Yeah, but it's so cool right? And I'm so glad that yesterday turned out this way. Because honestly yesterday sucked, but I'm fine with that now, just because of Asahi-san."

"Nishinoya…" Sugawara mumbled worriedly.

"Nah, it's all good Suga-san. I mean, yesterday I was truly pissed off about all and everything, but Asahi-san talked to me and I kind of realized it's alright if I can't give 110% every single time I'm playing, because you guys will back me up on those days."

Sugawara watched Nishinoya in surprise; those were some high expectations the other one set up for himself.

"Of course I'm still the libero, so the defense is my specialty, but that doesn't mean my team members can't help me. I know you guys feel better because you know that I got your back. But honestly since yesterday I kind of realized that every single one of you also got my back and that feels really good."

Sugawara could barely hold back his tears over so much confidence and team spirit.

"I'm glad the conversation with Asahi helped you," he said calmly, instead of throwing himself into the arms of the libero and letting his tears run freely.

Slowly, they brought the net away.

"It really has," Nishinoya muttered thoughtfully, "Asahi-san was just incredible yesterday. I'm not even talking about his spikes or serves. The defense is usually not his strength but he was still able to catch for me more often than I wanted him to have to. But what really got me was how he stepped up for you guys when I couldn't. When I crumbled, he made sure to lift up the team's spirit and that was so awesome."

Sugawara agreed silently. Asahi was a coward and one of the first to fold under pressure. In addition, he was quick to realize when a fellow player was stumbling and was then usually too easily pulled along downhill.

But not yesterday - yesterday he had probably realised as one of the first that Nishinoya was not in his usual condition and had then stepped onto the court himself.

Yesterday, Asahi had been their backbone.

"You're right," Sugawara said with a smile, "I never thought that our negative goatee would rise to the occasion and take your throne of confidence and sovereignty."

"Oh, he's not there yet," Nishinoya laughed as they came back out of the equipment room and strolled towards the changing rooms. They had taken their time - Sugawara had found this conversation extremely important - so it was hardly surprising that the rest of the work had been done already.

"But you know, yesterday I really thought about how cool Asahi had become."

"Oh really?" The setter asked in doubt, but Nishinoya was dead serious.

"You should've seen him. He even interrupted me with his deep, manly voice, he even got loud and said some cool stuff like "For each of your mistakes, I'm going to score twice as many points, because that's my job as an ace", or "As long as you stand on the court with me, I'm ready to cover your back any time", or something like that. I was really impressed by him. He didn't back down, he stood there like a huge tree, yelling at me and lifting me up."

Sugawara was impressed. Yesterday he had doubted that it was a wise idea to leave the encouragement to her most insecure player, but apparently Asahi had done everything just right, had surpassed himself even there.

Grinning, Sugawara pulled his shirt over. He might not be allowed to tell Asahi that he had the potential to be the top ace, but he could probably praise him tomorrow for the good job he had done with Nishinoya. He could make sure Asahi would become a tiny bit more confident, perhaps enough for their ace to discover his true form.

Yes, he was already looking forward to this new task; a new strategy that he could also pursue off the field to help his fellow players and this team and tomorrow he would start with that.

But the next morning came and Asahi still didn't show up.