Disclaimer: I do not, in any way, have any ownership of Haikyuu or its characters. The only things in this story that I can claim ownership over is the plot and the original characters.
This has not been edited.
Captivation:
Part I
Chihiro keeps her gaze at the sky, watching as the hues of orange and red start to bleed into the expanse of blue. After a few moments, her gaze is then directed to the once-white buildings around her, now veiled with shades of oranges, yellows, and reds. In its last moments, the sun casts a somber light upon the school grounds, presenting her with a sight whose beauty is both regaled and cast aside.
Truth be told, she's seen multiple sunsets over her fifteen years of living, yet she can say, with absolute certainty, that she's loved every single one.
This one, in particular, covered the school with a gentle light that she tries to commit to memory. It was a sight to behold, after all.
Initially, it was a normal Thursday afternoon.
Classes for the day have concluded. At this point, students either went home or lent themselves in various extra-curricular activities. Her elder brother, Haruto, belonged to the latter population, while she, herself, fancied being part of the former. However, since their parents wanted both of them home at the same time, they were always left to compromise.
Since Haruto is preoccupied with a council meeting, she is left with no choice but to wait.
Typically, she didn't mind it. For Chihiro, the act of waiting entailed hiding away in a remote corner of the school, away from the after-school populace. Then, she would sketch away on her notebook, trying with her utmost capability to pour life onto a blank paper canvas. Today, on the other hand, proved to require a different definition of 'waiting' altogether.
Whenever she places her pencil on paper, inspiration continuously slips through her fingers. She'd draw a line spanning across the page, yet it would always end up crooked somehow. She'd try to the school building, yet for some reason, she couldn't get the perspective right. She'd try to shade in an old sketch of a tree, but it just didn't work—it was all shades of wrong.
Thus, she decided to abandon a useless endeavor in favor of going for a walk around campus. A change of scenery seems favorable in place of losing her mind, after all. So, she makes her way around the school, watching the skies cling onto the last moments of twilight.
As she turns around the corner where the vending machines are, she hears the sound of giggling. Sparing a glance in their direction was enough for her to realize two things. One, the sound of giggling originated from a group of girls and two, they belonged to a different year level. She gets one step ahead of her before she hears the words 'first-year' and 'volleyball team'.
Chihiro wasn't one for rumors. However, being a first-year student herself and the fact that it was barely two months into the school year…
'How curious.'
Immediately, she turns towards the vending machines and reaches into her blazer's pocket, pretending to mull over her purchase. She keeps an ear open as alternates between counting her coins and reading the drink labels.
"You have to believe me!" A girl with a high-pitched says, voice filled with enthusiasm, "He's amazing! Won an award for volleyball during junior high too!"
One of them sighs. Chihiro hears different sets of footsteps start to move. "Well, he has to be. I mean, you're dragging us all to the gym just to see him."
"Hey!" High-pitch exclaims, just as the footsteps start to become distant. "You're coming by choice."
A new voice chimes in, grumbling, "By choice, she says. What part of this is by choice?"
Dropping the act, Chihiro looks off at the direction they went. 'Curious-er,' she decides, then and there. Against her better judgment, a part of her itches to follow. 'A first-year student, huh?'
She hums as she pockets the spare change, debating whether to go or to leave it alone. As if sensing her dilemma, a gentle voice suddenly enters her thoughts, saying, 'Curiosity killed the cat, my little zayka.'
'Then,' she thinks to herself, ignoring the bittersweet emotion ensnaring her heart, 'To death we go, mama.'
When she sets foot in the gym, she finds herself blinking in shock.
A crowd composed of girls stood by the balcony-like platform, talking amongst themselves. Chihiro blinks rapidly as she fights the instinct to backtrack and leave. She already made her way here and she refuses to be intimidated into leaving. So, she takes a deep breath, tries to steel her nerve, and moves to occupy an empty spot close to the door.
She leans against the railing, eyes scanning the court below. She is then instantly greeted by shirts of differing colors in place of the school's signature teal and white. Afterwards, she glances at the scoreboards and is surprised to find that she arrived in the middle of the game.
'Must be a practice session.'
Her eyes flit from person to person, and to both her amusement and dismay, no one immediately stands out. There were a few familiar faces here and there, but there were none that called her attention. As a result, she is left to wonder if the boy that the girls earlier were gossiping about was worth noting.
On the other hand, judging by the sneaking glances in her direction, it's quite easy to deduce that she stood out like a sore thumb. Having naturally blonde hair wasn't exactly commonplace in Japan, much less in one of its prefectures.
The noise of idle chatter falls into a hush. Seeing her seemed to surprise them, it seemed, if the sudden silence was anything to go by. A beat passes, with disbelief hung in the air. She almost smiles at how the chatter picks itself up a moment later, rekindled with a viciousness akin to that of a wildfire.
'How predictable.'
For a second, she feels like a child again—
"Didn't you hear?" A woman asks.
Her eyes are both pitying and condescending
As a saccharine-coated smile plays upon her lips,
"She's the daughter of a wh—
—before she remembers to breathe and pretend. Chihiro pretends. She pretends to be deaf, all to ensure that the familiar sound of murmurs fails to reach her ears. She also pretends to be numb, as though she was impervious to the sensation of pointed gazes striking at her back.
The situation didn't call for it, but sometimes she also pretends to be both blind and mute. Chihiro was good at that—pretending.
'Really, don't they have anything better to d—'
A shrill whistle cuts her thoughts short as it resounds throughout the gym. In the blink of an eye, the whispers become nonexistent as everyone's attention zeroes in on the boy moving to serve. He bounces the ball once, just once, and the hushed squeals and giggles around her intensify. This instance pushes her to come to a realization.
'Ah. So this is that boy.'
Chocolate.
That was her first impression of him. Looking at his profile, she'll admit, she can see his appeal. While his features, in particular, weren't striking, there was an attractive youthfulness on his face. He is good looking, yet she doesn't think his face to be enough to garner the attention of all the people on the platform.
She sighs, somehow finding herself disappointed, and moves to leave the hall. 'This was a waste of time, wasn't it?'
Then, a sudden sharp movement in the corner of her eye catches her attention, effectively halting her movement and causing her to look at the source.
Chocolate-hair serves.
And for a moment, Chihiro was breathless.
In her opinion, his face was subpar in comparison to this. Pretty faces were a dime a dozen, yet this was the equivalent of being the needle within a haystack.
The manner by which he moves was a sight to behold. He moves with purpose and intent, not wasting a single movement. There was a grace behind his stance, akin to that of a predator waiting for the opportune moment to strike. A sense of certainty was present in his gait as well, one that betrays confidence only attainable with hours upon hours of practice and repetition.
The crowd cheers.
And just like that, the ball zooms over the net. It heads towards the opposite court's backline with quite a speed and ferocity, that she is left wondering if it was possible to retrieve. A chuckle escapes her lips as an older-looking male somehow manages to recover the ball. The ball is tossed high up in the air, and she is surprised to find herself leaning forward in anticipation.
A moment of stillness and silence envelops the hall, all eyes trained on the ball in mid-air. A beat after the ball hits its highest peak, its descent starts, and the court becomes the epitome of movement. Her eyes widen at the sight it presented—it was both a chaotic and an organized mess.
'Yet,' she thinks to herself as she watches someone set the ball, 'It was alive.'
She was no stranger to volleyball; she's even played some games due to gym classes, yet looking at the sport right now, she might as well be seeing the sport for the first time. Her gym class's most intense volleyball game can be considered as child's play when compared to this. In an intense succession, sets are made, smashes are delivered, blocks become an annoyance, and balls are barely saved. Players on both teams dive, jump, leap, run, and throw themselves across the court, all to ensure that should the ball fall, it would be on the court opposite to theirs.
Chihiro inhales sharply.
It was alive. It was so, so alive.
She grips the railing in front of her, eyes flitting from one player to another as she follows the ball. Her hands continue to fidget and just as someone smashes the ball once more, she is consumed by a feeling of restlessness.
Idly, she wonders what that meant. All she knew was that something was telling her not to miss even a single moment of the game, lest she wanted to live with regret.
A tall person dives after the ball, resulting in it being thrown in mid-air once more. Chocolate-hair moves after it. Then, he tosses the ball to a spiky-haired boy.
She blinks in surprise at the familiar face. 'I've seen him before… but where?'
Spiky-hair jumps as the striped ball is tossed to his direction, swings his arm, and unflinchingly slams the ball down on the opposite court. Gazing at his form, she comes to a conclusion. If Chocolate-hair moved with a deadly grace, Spiky-hair moved like a taut but a well-oiled machine. She wonders which would prove to be more dangerous in the end.
A second later, the sound of a ball hitting the floor echoes loudly throughout the gym. In a blink of an eye, the rally is brought to a close. Not a single person manages to recover the ball, and somehow she understands. The ball, moving with that muchintensity and velocity looked like it would tear her arm off. Simultaneously, a lightbulb goes off in her head.
'He's from my class!'
Just like that, Spiky-hair becomes Classmate-san and she is left to marvel at the fact that her classmate is a person of skill.
Classmate-san and Chocolate-hair look at each other once, as though affirming something, before looking away as the rest of their team approaches them, with smiles painted on their faces. She chances a glance on the opposite team and is surprised to see that despite losing a point, smiles graced their faces as well.
And suddenly, a realization hit her.
'A point.' She blinks rapidly as the people around her cheer. 'All this effort was for a single point.' As she lets out a huff of disbelief, she found herself haphazardly applauding the team. Chihiro looks at the team's faces, at the smiles on their faces despite the obvious signs of weariness. 'And they didn't look like they minded either.'
The same feeling of restlessness courses through her veins, but this time, she finally recognizes it enough to name it.
Envy.
She inhales sharply at the thought. Looking at the faces of the team, it became evident what she coveted. The players each moved with a drive and determination that was foreign to her, along with a passion and energy that she never found herself to possess. Along with that, they all stood on the same court, chasing after the same goal, working together to be able to perform seamlessly. She exhales. For a moment, she wonders about what it must be like.
The cheers grow louder, effectively bringing her back to the present. Chocolate-hair looks towards the balcony, and the cacophony of cheers increases in volume, yet again.
Wincing at the noise, Chihiro halts her clapping in favor of leaning away. Judging by the expression on Classmate-san's face, she wasn't the sole person to find it annoying. However, unlike her, Classmate-san says something to Chocolate-hair, resulting in the latter smiling at the former before saying something back.
She deduces it to be nothing good if the scowl on the former's face was anything to go by. The exchange, on the other hand, leads her to entertain the thought of the two being quite the pair of friends.
Then, without much preamble, Chocolate-hair turns to smile at the audience gathered on the balcony before surveying the crowd with his eyes. Chihiro doesn't move nor does she look away, and thus, inevitably, their eyes meet. She raises an eyebrow as his eyes move to look at her hair.
Seeing as there was a wide distance separating the both of them, Chihiro is robbed of the chance of seeing what lurks behind those eyes of his, but she could read the confusion coming from his stance. She's been subject to that for far too many times for her to mistake it for something else, after all.
Truthfully, she doesn't mind that. Having flaxen-colored hair amidst a sea of dark-haired people is like throwing a yellow glow stick into the dark of the night. Adding the fact that they weren't in a tourist-hub like Tokyo, it's impossible for her to not be noticed; her hair color alone was screaming for attention.
What she does mind was that his confusion leads him to look at her longer than he looked at the rest of the crowd. The girls in her immediate vicinity were starting to notice, and a different kind of murmur starts to reach her ears. Still, she continues to meet his gaze, nonetheless, refusing to be the first to falter. At an early age, she's learned that if people stare at you like you were an animal in a zoo, it was only polite for you to return such a courtesy.
Thankfully, the sharp sound of a whistle permeates throughout the gym and the attention is brought back to the game, nipping the chatter in the bud.
Chocolate-hair moves to serve.
He bounces the ball on the floor—once, twice, and thrice—before closing his eyes to seemingly center himself. Chihiro waits, keeping her eyes locked on his form, drinking in the moment of stillness. Then, he opens his eyes, spins the ball between his hands, and tosses it upwards in the air. He moves after it, then, just as the ball descends, crouches down in preparation of a jump.
When Chocolate-hair does jump, he swings one of his arms back and hits the ball once it enters his reach.
The ball, once again, zooms across the court, and it dawns to her that this all takes place in a matter of seconds.
'Almost like firing a gun.'
No one recovers the ball.
The crowd cheers once more and another is whistle is blown. She grips the railing tighter as she watches, rooted to the spot.
Chocolate-hair moves to serve again—
—her hands itch for a pencil.
Captivation plants the seeds of a dream.
Author's Note:
Hello!
So some major changes revealed are the following:
One is that the story starts earlier. Upon revisiting and updating my intentions, I deemed it impossible to tell the story I wanted in the span of a year. This leads to the story to start earlier, which in turn, leads to the next change—characterization. The characters are younger, which leads to them being different from the original story. The last change revealed is names. I'll be changing the names of Chihiro's siblings as time, I actually spent time thinking about the most appropriate names for them.
I'd also like to take this chance to say that if you've taken the time to reread the story, you're amazing and I sincerely thank you. Also, I do read reviews and would love to know how my writing fares in comparison to the original chapter.
Ciao!
LuceyLacie
P.S. The chapters will get longer, but for introduction's sake, this chapter was short.