Chapter III: Between Giants and Shrimps
You stood in line right at the end of the students and sadly right beside Nao whom kept eyeing you and silently snickering whenever some first year among you mentioned your height. You'd show them! You could be just as good as them if not better! Plus, you had a trick up your sleeve and one that was perfect for the spot you were aiming for. Wing spiker. The only spot you knew was currently open on the first string and the position you were strongest in. You had talked with your brother before and the three third years that had left were himself, Sugawara Koushi, and Asahi Azumane. He had already been replaced as captain by Ennoshita which had been a majority rule, Sugawara hadn't been part of the first string after Kageyama came in, which only left Asahi left to be replaced. It had been decided that they would wait to see what the first years had in store for the team before they picked a replacement especially since they had all been surprised by both Hianta and Kageyama when the two had come in the previous year. The coach and captain moved along from boy to boy asking them their name, position, year, though most of them were first years a few second years did show up once or twice in the crowd of them you noticed. No third years though, but that wasn't much of a surprise to you given that third years were already well into their own clubs by this time and unless a transfer came in, which was unlikely, no third years would come along.
"Akihiko Nao, setter, and first year!" the boy beside you spoke up before bowing lightly to the two males in front of him. Your eyes were soon pulled away from him though and toward the two second years Hianta and Kageyama though the later one seemed to be surrounded in a rather dark aura as he eyed the first year beside you while gripping tight to the Volleyball in his hands. You barely heard the threatening whisper of the word 'setter' escape his lips.
"Woah! How tall are you?!" Hinata spoke up from his spot in front of the rest of the First years as he eyed the dark haired boy.
"188 centimeters," the boy replied before rubbing at the back of his neck as the orange haired male eyed him with something of…excitement…mixed with a bit of jealousy?
"You're almost as tall as Tsukishima was when he joined!" Hinata squeaked up once more and you could feel your annoyance growing. Yeah, yeah, the boy was tall…so, what, who gave a damn about height? You glared over toward the towering boy beside you.
"That's enough, Hinata. How about you?" an older blond male asked from in front of you having moved on from Nao. You could only assume he was the infamous Coach Ukai that your brother had spoken so highly about.
"S-Sawamura Daisuke, Wing Spiker, and first year!" you spoke up and mentally cursed yourself for stuttering. The gym seemed to go eerily silent for a moment and you could feel the eyes of every member on your team staring down at you.
"Are you…perhaps…-," Ennoshita began to start a question, but you quickly interrupted him with a swift bow.
"Related to Sawamura Daichi, yes! I am his younger…brother!" you spoke up pausing for a moment to mentally remind yourself that you were indeed a male right now. If you hadn't had all the attention before you definitely had it now. The gym seemed to be silent for a moment, but that silent only lasted so long before two loud voices spoke up yelling "Sawamura-san!" rather loudly. You swore your ears were ringing.
"We're going to be able to say it again Noya!" the one you recognized as Tanaka said while looking toward the shorter male beside him. The blond streak in his hair quickly gave him away and you knew him as Nishinoya Yu, the guardian deity and libero of the team. Oh jeez, they were loud, but they quickly shut up the moment they caught Ennoshita eyeing them with something of a glare and intense aura.
"Ignore those idiots. Also, give your brother our best regards when you see him again," the coach spoke up while Ennoshita dealt with the two loud mouths in the background. You smiled lightly toward the coach before quickly nodding your head barely noticing the first year beside or the coach in front of you blush lightly at the girlish smile you put on. Was it possible for a boy to have such a cute and feminine little smile? The coach nodded his head somewhat before scoffing lightly and then turning away from you, but turned once he stood front and center of the new Volleyball recruits.
"I'll be honest with you all. Our first string is currently looking for one wing spiker since we lost an extraordinary ace last year! You all have just as much a chance as our second years to earn that spot. That being said though a lot of you probably won't even make second string since we seem to have grown quite a bit in popularity," Ukai spoke up while looking over the several students before him...this was probably the only problem with winning Nationals. The recognition Ukai's team now had was ridiculous and he couldn't believe how many people had flocked to this team…is this how Shiratorizawa felt?! "I'm going to ask you all to line up. Kageyama here will be setting the ball for you all and we'll be having Tsukishima and Hinata here blocking! Try and see if you can get a spike through them," Ukai spoke up with something of a smirk on his lips as he moved to the sidelines. All you could think about was how he must have been a secret sadist since you knew damn well Tsukishima alone would have been more than enough to stop any spikes, but sure, let's throw in Hinata for overkill! You sighed lightly as you got into line and rubbed the back of your neck.
"Are you sure you're a boy, Sawamura-kun?" the cellphone tower in front of you spoke up while glancing behind him to catch a quick glimpse of your annoyed face. The first spike happened and you heard the groan of frustration from the first boy obviously having failed to get the spike though.
"Oi! What's with the disrespect?" you said, but clearly ignoring the boys question about your gender; however, that hardly seemed to bother him and he simply shrugged his shoulders much to your frustration. Another boy couldn't get a spike through, but this one actually dared to ask for another shot. He was quickly turned down by the coach who ordered him to stand with the other males who hadn't passed. The next boy was soon approaching to perform a spike and much to your delight it didn't seem like Nao wanted to talk with you anymore. 'Good riddance…' you thought to yourself while glaring up toward the skyscraper of a first year. What the hell did his parents feed him anyways? Was he related to Tsukishima or something? God, he was so annoying.
Nao's turn soon came up and the squeal of a few girls from outside quickly pulled not only your attention, but several other members of the court. You recognized the girls from your first period class and watched in annoyance as Nao waved and winked over toward them. You swore you weren't the only one currently oozing out something that could only be described as a murderous aura. Ennoshita was currently holding back Tanaka and Noya from attacking the pretty boy. Ukai was slamming the gym doors closed and glaring back toward the violet eyed boy and most of the first years were boring holes into his back.
"Will you stop flirting already?! You've been doing that since first period!" you called out from behind him before raising a foot to quite literally kick at his ass with the same annoyed expression resting on your face. The boy glared back toward you intent on telling you off, but a scoff from the captain drew his attention back to the task at hand. He sighed lightly before nodding slightly toward Kageyama as if telling the dark haired second year that he was ready. Nao quickly took off, running toward the net and keeping an eye on the ball before jumping up and preparing to spike the ball with all his might. You don't know if you were the only one to notice, but the boy seemed to have something of a nasty glint in his eyes. Was that excitement? You watched as his arm swung down only to lightly tap the ball and watch it drop on the other side of the court between the two blockers and the net. You swore everyone in the gym seemed to freeze staring at the tall boy as he and the other two landed on the ground. Hinata and Tsukishima glared toward Nao before Hinata finally broke the silence.
"You were supposed to spike, not feint! That doesn't count!" Hinata spoke up pointing accusingly toward the boy whom only shrugged his shoulders.
"As if a spike was going to get through you two and also…I'm not here to show my worth as a wing spiker. I'm here to be the setter," he said glancing toward Kageyama whom was surrounded in something of a scary aura in under a fraction of a second. The coach's whistle was blown pulling everyone's attention toward the blond male.
"Regardless, you were told to spike. Start running; five laps around the gym," the older man spoke ignoring the way Nao seemed to whine in annoyance before starting his run. Once all of that settled, all eyes seemed to turn toward you and you quickly felt your heart leap into your throat. Oh boy, this was nerve wrecking, but it wasn't something you hadn't dealt with before.
"Kageyama-senpai, do you mind if you make a toss that goes less 'woosh' and more 'guah'?" you asked using your arms to try and express the kind of toss you wanted. The setter seemed to understand though and his; as well as Noya's and Hianta's eyes lit up at your antics.
"Who would have thought Daichi-san's brother would belong to your species?" Tsukishima spoke while glancing down toward the brightly colored haired second year beside him with something of an annoyed look. The second year beside him only glanced toward him for a second before childishly sticking his tongue out toward the older male. "Ready Sawamura-kun?" Tsukishima spoke up while looking over toward you which only caused you to blink in a bit of surprise before sending him the same girlish smile you gave Ukai earlier. Yeah, there was definitely no way that was the smile of a boy. At least not an ordinary boy…you were clearly a trap. You nodded your head quickly and watched as the ball flew into the air. Kageyama's arms outstretched waiting to properly set it for you. You could hear your heart beating in your ears and you're pretty sure you forgot to breathe for a second, but it didn't matter. You had to ignore all that. You ran forward keeping your eyes trained on the ball and Kageyama before leaping into the air.
You flew.
And then you raised your left hand bringing it down with all the force you could muster. The ball went to the right and Hinata's finger's barely grazed it before it landed on the ground behind him. You gave him a bright grin as the three of you landed safely on the ground.
"You're…left handed?" Tsukishima asked and watched as you flipped your hair up to look at him with something of a grin spread across your lips. You held up the peace sign before nodding your head excitedly.
"Yep!" you answered happily right before two bodies almost tackled you into the ground excitedly shouting 'That was so awesome!'
