"Oikawa-Senpai, I wanna try to do a freak quick." The words echoed around the gym having successfully stunned both the captain and the vice-captain leaving them to stare in disbelief.
Yoshiaki, the boy who spent the entire 3 set match against Karasuno trying and failing to catch up to Hinata's freak quick, was now asking, no, demanding to try and pull off the very move he had failed to counter.
"come again." Oikawa murmured not entirely trusting he heard the boy right, had he gotten enough sleep last night?
"me and you are gonna practise the freak quick every day until we get it right so we can beat Karasuno." The first year was never this assertive, what had happened in the short time between yesterday and today that changed him so much?
"but the main threat is Shiratorizawa, we could beat every other school in the prefecture with our eyes closed." Oikawa mused, even Iwaizumi who wasn't sold on the idea of having Yoshiaki and Oikawa practise the move had to admit that Oikawa's reasoning was stupid.
Before Iwaizumi could step up and set his best friend straight Yoshiaki shook his head slowly "maybe for the past few years, but this year is different, Shiratorizawa may be the main threat but they aren't the only team we need to beat to make it to nationals, Karasuno pose a threat just like Shiratorizawa do." Yoshiaki remained carefully expressionless but spoke with conviction.
"no."
And in a single word, a single response, Yoshiaki's blank face fell into a saddened frown, a frown that held something the first year thought he'd never feel toward Oikawa, animosity.
Why was he so narrow minded and hell bent on Shiratorizawa?
Was he really incapable of looking at the obstacle presented right in front of him?
"why?" Yoshiaki asked lowly, surely there was a reason, maybe Oikawa was looking out for him.
"because it'd be a waste to do something purely because you have a grudge on Karasuno; a team that poses no threat to us." Oikawa's voice held a hint of spite, Iwaizumi wanting the best for the team put a hand on his friends shoulder, but as if he wasn't even there the other two continued arguing.
"what do you mean Karasuno don't pose a threat?" Yoshiaki was clearly reaching boiling point as he clenched his hands into fists, Iwaizumi highly doubted this would get physical but that wasn't the point of those fists, "they beat us!" Yoshiaki reminded, he held onto that loss for better or worse, as did Kunimi, both had given absolutely everything they had for that match only to lose.
"we lost because I wasn't playing since the start." Oikawa's mater of fact response earned the surprise of the first year as his body lost the tension it held prior, the boys arms sagged in front of him as if they weighed double the boys weight and his jaw hung low as his eyes swirled with mixing emotions.
"wha-" Oikawa took a step leaving Iwaizumi's hand to fall limply to his side as he watched his friend approach the confused first year.
"we lost because I wasn't on the court." He repeated, Yoshiaki blinked and shut his mouth, looking down to hide his face beneath the curtain of his hair.
Oikawa was right, they did lose because he wasn't there, but the way he said it spurred so many negative emotions within Yoshiaki.
"what about next year then?" he asked quietly leaving Oikawa to stop in front of him, the captain tilted his head in confusion.
"huh?" Yoshiaki raised his head and looked his senior in the eyes silently repeating the question "what happens after this year doesn't matter to me." He stated with a shrug.
"now who's the one with a grudge?" Yoshiaki joked bitterly "you're here to simply win your ongoing grudge match and leave the rest of us." Yoshiaki continued to monologue, he was more speaking to himself as if piecing together what he knew about Oikawa "you don't even care if we go to nationals so long as we beat Shiratorizawa, do you?" Oikawa shrugged.
"of course I want to." He spat out "I want two things in this world, to beat Kageyama and to beat Ushijima, its that simple." Yoshiaki's glare intensified signifying that he didn't like the answer he was given.
"its all about you then huh?!" he yelled getting in the captains face "what about the rest of us? What about the team?!" Oikawa took a step back to distance himself from the child throwing a tantrum in front of him "you don't care so long as your goal of going to nationals is achieved!" Oikawa returned the boys glare.
"that's everyone's goal!" he defended only to have Yoshiaki continue in his tirade.
"no its not!" he claimed "we don't want to just go to nationals!" the door behind the first year opened to reveal not only his sister but the rest of the team as well, they all remained silent as they watched the argument from the door, it was reaching its climax quickly.
"the rest of us want to win nationals!" the first year proclaimed loudly, he hadn't even noticed the rest of his team behind him, both literally and figuratively.
His bold declaration earned many nods and cheers among the team, the loudest coming from Nishimoto and Kindaichi.
"but all you care about is what you want." Yoshiaki growled angrily, Iwaizumi found this to be the perfect time to end the fight and stepped between the two.
"alright that's enough from you two!" he yelled as he pushed both boys back "both of you have to cool off, neither of you are right, or wrong," Iwaizumi's voice held a certain fondness as he lowered his arms and looked between the two, "you both want what's best for the team but have different ideas for it." He summarised.
Of course there was more to it than just that, but Iwaizumi was right.
Both of them wanted the best for the team, they just had different thoughts about what that was exactly, they each saw the others reason as being selfish, just a way of reaching their goals with little regard for the team.
Oikawa saw Yoshiaki's idea as just a trick for him to get what he wanted by beating Karasuno, he thought that was all Yoshiaki wanted, and believed that would be all his idea would achieve.
Yoshiaki saw Oikawa as a self centred prick who wanted to half bake everything and leave it at that, whatever happens didn't matter to him as long as they made it to nationals.
Neither was right or wrong, and neither was willing to admit any fault in the divide their argument caused.
Iwaizumi heaved a sigh, that was almost two weeks ago now and the interhigh qualifiers are right around the corner, seriously of all the times the two could fight they chose now.
They were lucky if Yoshiaki actually came to training, and when he did he was alienated, alone, it was sad to see, Oikawa was also on edge, clearly the stress of the situation was getting to him, that eventually leaked into the rest of the team.
They lost every practise game since the argument.
Yuko was also put under extreme stress as she tried to remain neutral and professional but clearly the divide in the volleyball club was affecting more than just the club.
Iwaizumi chuckled, the chuckle was void of any kind of mirth, it was bitter.
Funny how fired up the two were just before the argument.
Another week passed and the stress and panic remained, in fact it doubled.
They only have one week to sort themselves out.
So Iwaizumi stood up, as the vice captain should, and arranged a temporary solution, himself and Watari would try and get Oikawa to a point where he was at least okay being in the same room as Yoshiaki, and Kindaichi and Kunimi would do the same for Yoshiaki.
Nishimoto decided to stay out of the situation to save himself the stress it would no doubt bring.
So that's how the current situation came to be, Oikawa, a third year in high school was presently throwing a temper tantrum befitting of a pre-schooler on the side of the road while Iwaizumi desperately tried to calm his friend down.
Watari recording the entire thing didn't help whatsoever.
"Oi Jerkawa would you just listen to me for a second?!" Iwaizumi yelled before slapping the pretty boy across the face with the same power he would spike a volleyball with, it left Oikawa's eyes spinning and Watari on the floor in a fit of laughter.
"owwww." Oikawa groaned his protest.
"you don't have to agree with the guy, none of us agree with either of you fully, but you cant exclude him like you have been, whether you like it or not he's a useful tool for us to use to make it to nationals." Oikawa scoffed.
"doesn't matter now, he had his chance against Karasuno and blew it, all he needed to do was win that match and none of this would have happened." Iwaizumi was shocked to hear his friend sound so cruel, Oikawa will never be a particularly nice person but he wasn't usually this mean either, especially to a junior.
"so help him achieve the goal he messed up, and let him help you achieve one of your goals." Iwaizumi glared at his friend in sincere anger, he never thought his friend could be so harsh to a kid.
"we don't need him to beat Karasuno and you know it." Oikawa said with a pout leaving Iwaizumi to deadpan, this whole thing was equivalent to an elementary school fight.
He just hoped things were going better for the first years.
"are you gonna play during the qualifiers?" thankfully the conversation the first years were having was much friendlier and well spirited, if a bit awkward.
"of course I am, I want nothing more than to win nationals, id much rather do that with you guys instead of watching from the stands." Yoshiaki gave a small smile filled with determination.
"even if you have to play with Oikawa?" Kindaichi's question was met with a grimace from the wing spiker.
"I messed everything up didn't i?" he asked as his gaze fell to watch his feet move in a rhythm as they continued walking.
"I'd say the blames 50-50." Kunimi reassured his friend with a smile, his smile soon gave way for a dead serious expression "you two just gotta get over yourselves." Kindaichi nodded in agreement.
"I just wish he'd consider you guys more." Yoshiaki admitted, Yuko rolled her eyes.
"both of you think the other is being selfish, why can't you both just see that you have a common goal, only difference is your approach." The group of four stopped as Yoshiaki face palmed, to his right Kunimi rolled his eyes and to his left Kindaichi gave a smile filled with confidence.
They had successfully won Yoshiaki over, unfortunately Iwaizumi could only bring Oikawa to tolerate the first year.
The next day Yoshiaki entered the gym after taking several deep breaths to calm his anxiety, all eyes were predictably on him, what he didn't predict however was to see how relieved everyone seemed.
He and Oikawa didn't come to an agreement, or reach a conclusion, but they were willing to put there differences aside for now, this fragile relationship was far from ideal.
Yoshiaki wasted no time and bowed deeply before his clubmates, his friends, his only friends in the entire school.
"im sorry for being so inconsiderate!" he yelled out, once again it echoed around the gym, Nishimoto approached him with a smile and put his hand on his shoulder reassuringly.
"all good, so long as you play your best." Yoshiaki smiled gratefully at the second year before entering the gym fully.
He walked with confidence, not because he was confident they would win, but because he was confident that they would lose.
They barely prepared for any obstacle ahead, be it the finale obstacle or the one directly in front of them.
In the argument to change the others ideals the two boys merely made it so they were fucked either way, with no ones ideals being focused on, for the worse this time, but potentially the same will happen next qualifiers, but for the better.
Happy new year!