Hinata meets his idol, the little giant, except he's not what he expected him to be.

Or,

The Little Giant is a freakin' nerd like the rest of these volleyball dorks.

[I named the little giant Takahashi Hiroaki. Takahashi (高橋) means 'tall bridge' and Hiroaki (広朗) means 'widespread brightness'. Also, I like the works of the 20th-century Japanese woodblock artist by the same name. Thanks, art class.]

Hinata Shōyō was, to simply say it, ecstatic.

He was walking on the sidewalks of a town near his home. It was a fairly cool day, with the bright sun being opposed by several pure white clouds. It was just the right weather for Hinata to wear his volleyball jacket, which he wore every single time he could. Natsu once teased him that he'd marry it if he could, causing Shōyō to protest in a way that made their mother come in and tell them both to be quiet and go to sleep.

Hinata was nearly buzzing with excitement. They were going to nationals. They were going to get to play more and more sets and more and more games.

He was going to get to fly more.

He was texting Kenma, who was supposed sending him the dates of future matches. He briefly wondered if he'd be able to see them in person. Probably not, he surmised, since Tokyo was rather far and he had his own practices to attend.

They had taken the day off from practice for various reasons. One was that they were all exhausted from the match still. Every step made Hinata's legs burn with soreness, and, despite his tiredness, he hadn't been able to sleep that well due to sheer excitement.

Another reason was that Suga had been planning on attending a tour at a local university, and Daichi and Asahi decided to go with him. He could recall Daichi's announcement that he was also going, and how Suga and Daichi had, to the very definition of the word, peer-pressured Asahi to agree to come with as well.

He loved his senpai.

Also, Tsukishima was still technically injured. Despite him seeing a doctor and getting his pinky properly checked out, Suga and Daichi insisted he take a day or two of resting it so that it would be sure to heal fully.

Add in the fact that there were exams for the second-years coming up, and it was determined that it would be better overall to take the day off.

Normally Hinata would have continued to practice himself, but his mother had instantly taken advantage of the fact he would be home after school and had him run errands for her. He had groaned, but agreed.

So now he was walking through town, proud to wear the Karasuno jacket despite the fact he was in a completely different prefecture. Well, he wasn't exactly walking to be honest, but he was walking a fairly thin line between walking and skipping. It wasn't his fault - he tended to skip or even jump when he was too excited. Now, with a constant excitement and contentedness bouncing inside him, he couldn't fully hold it back.

(Nor did he wish to.)

His phone eventually buzzed, and he stopped in his journey to see that Kenma had replied with the dates of a various amount of matches. He lit up, once again exhilarated that the infamous 'Battle at the Garbage Dump' might actually happen in an official game.

"Excuse me?" A voice behind him asked.

He looked up to see an older boy there. He had black hair that was slightly less crazy than his, and black eyes that seemed to carry a trace of humor in them. He was around twenty, and just about ten or so centimeters taller than Hinata.

And he was slightly familiar.

The older boy looked him over curiously, "Are you…Karasuno's #10?"

"Yeah!" Hinata chirped enthusiastically, because oh my God someone from out of Miyagi recognized me! Does that mean I'm famous? I bet Kageyama-kun hasn't had this happen to him yet.

The boy smiled, holding out his hand in greeting, "I'm Takahashi Hiroaki - Taka, for short. I saw your poster when I was visiting relatives in Miyagi."

Yachi's poster! Hinata was now bubbling with joy more than ever, and he shook Takahashi's hand enthusiastically. "I'm Hinata Shōyō! My friend Yachi-san made the poster. She's like me - a first-year. Her mom's a designer." He explained, happy to give his friend credit.

Takahashi's eyes widened, "A first-year made that?" He said, surprise in his voice, "I could have sworn it was someone professional. Tell her it was really well done."

Hinata nodded, and Takahashi continued, "I used to play volleyball at Karasuno a while back. You guys made it to Nationals, right?" At Hinata's enthusiastic nod he smiled, "I wanted to catch the match against Shiratorizawa on TV, but I missed it."

"It was really close," Hinata said, "But we did it!" The energetic boy then caught a peek of a notebook with ink on it peeking out of Takahashi's bag, and looked at it curiously. "Do you draw, Taka-san?"

Takahashi looked down at the notebook, smiled softly and withdrew it. "It's a project for my art class," He said, showing Hinata a sketch of a mountain, "I'm going into sports medicine, but I want to do art on the side."

"Woahhh. That's crazy good, Taka-san! And you want to go into sports medicine? That's so cool! What position did you play at Karasuno?" Hinata said, words streaming out of him quickly.

Takahashi easily kept up, remembering a time when he wasn't so different. "I was a wing spiker," He told the boy. "I was kind of like you - smaller than the others, but I could still jump and pass their blocks."

Hinata's eyes widened as suddenly his mind was filled of memories from the other side. "It's an amazing feeling," He breathed.

Takahashi nodded, "There's no other feeling like it." Hinata could see a nostalgic feeling in his eyes, before his new friend apparently pushed the memories away. "What position do you play, Hinata-kun?"

"I'm a middle blocker!" He chirped, before adding, "But I still wanna be the ace someday!"

Takahashi laughed at his words, but not in a patronizing manner. "Don't let them say you can't. Y'know, I managed to become the ace at Karasuno too. It was harder with a height disadvantage but…" A knowing look crossed his features, "We're crows - we can find a way to fly."

Hinata looked at the boy with utter admiration. He really, really liked Takahashi. He was nice, good at drawing, and good at volleyball! Not just that, but he had been able to be the ace, despite being only a bit taller than Hinata.

Determination only filled him more now, and Hinata was grateful that his mom made him run errands in lieu of practice.

Errands!

He had to be home soon, he realized, or his mom would worry. "I forgot!" He suddenly exclaimed, making the older spiker look at him with confusion, "I'm supposed to be running errands for my mom, 'cause practice was canceled. It was nice meeting you though, Taka-san!"

Takahashi smiled kindly, "It was nice meeting you too, Hinata-kun." He hesitated before opened the notebook in his hands and carefully ripping out part of an unused page. Hinata watched curiously as he scrawled something down on it with a pen he produced from his bag, before handing it to him, "My phone number," He explained, "In case you hit a wall or something and you need someone to talk to. I hit a wall my first year, and having someone else who had already gone through it all would have helped a lot. I did have my coach and senpai though, but still."

Hinata took it gratefully, "Thanks Taka-san! Hopefully I'll see you again!" He called out, as he began to move.

Takahashi waved back, and Hinata turned as he continued on his way to the store. He stared at the number in his hands.

Now he was definitely buzzing with excitement.