"Everyone, this is our new first year transfer student, Kageyama Tobio. Although it is late in the year, please be kind to him and help him adjust to the new school.
Kageyama looked around at his new school mates. They all seemed bored, except some of the girls were looking at him with the look of a predator. He always hated when girls looked at him like that, ugh.
The only exception to plethora of bored/predatory looks was the orange-haired, shrimpy boy in the back who was looking at Kageyama incredulously. Kageyama looked back. He was one of the boys Kageyama had yelled at that junior high match. He had said something about him wasting three years instead of practicing, and it seemed the boy remembered as well.
"Kageyama, go sit in the empty desk by Hinata, the redhead in the back." The professor commanded. Kageyama nodded and walked to the back of the class, trying to avoid looking at the glare he was receiving from this 'Hinata' kid.
"I really should apologize…" Kageyama thought to himself as he sat down and pulled 2 juice boxes out of his bag.
"Hey, Hinata right?" Kageyama started. Hinata practically growled at him.
"Hey King, if you're here to brag about your skills and tell me I'm wasting my time, then you had better turn around and go right back to where you came from. I don't need to hear it from you."
Kageyama was taken aback by the hatred in those words.
"I…um. Here." Kageyama tossed the juice box onto Hinata's desk, slightly blushing and looking up towards the teacher like nothing had happened. Hinata looked at Kageyama suspiciously, like he was going to poison him or something. He didn't touch the juice until Kageyama pushed the straw through his and took a big sip. After affirming that it was not, in fact, poisoned, Hinata too pushed the straw through the box and drank deeply. Kageyama felt himself get warm knowing that his apology had been somewhat accepted.
When lunchtime finally rolled around, Kageyama sat by himself with his tray of food. There was Onigiri and some salad, along with some sort of curry and Miso soup. The dessert was a cookie, and of course he had bought himself a juice to drink. The cafeteria was loud and smelly, and Kageyama was NOT a fan of loud and smelly places even before his senses suddenly spiked. Feeling very out of place, he decided to eat as fast as possible and then go to the library or outside to get away from the crowds. Suddenly, Hinata sat next to him.
"Hey." He said, placing his tray across from Kageyama.
"Um, hey…" Kageyama replied, nervously. He had never had someone choose to sit next to him before at lunch. Of course, he had never really been very open to other people and tended to exude an air of solidarity that most would not dare to approach. Of course, this Hinata kid didn't seem to mind.
"So…thanks for the juice. I'm sorry that I said those things to you on your first day. " Hinata managed to choke out. Kageyama nodded,
"Yeah, uh, I'm…..sorry….. for making fun of you last year." He replied.
"Apology accepted!" Hinata suddenly broke out into a smile. Kageyama tried to smile back, but to no avail.
"Ugh, I like your scowl better. You look evil when you try to smile." Hinata teased. Kageyama growled,
"That's my natural face, Idiot!" Hinata just stuck his tongue out. Suddenly a face popped out from behind Kageyama and glared towards him.
"Hinata! Is this boy giving you trouble?" Tanaka asked with what looked like it was supposed to be an intimidating snarl on his face, but it only ended up making him look stupid. Even without the strange keening noise he was making in the backround. Another boy walked up and slammed a book on Tanaka's almost bald head.
"Tanaka, stop it." Daichii ordered before sitting at the head of the table. Sugawara sat next to Daichii and Tanaka joined them, sitting next to Hinata and shooting Kageyama threatening looks whenever he thought Daichii was not looking (of course, Diachii saw him and would kick him under the table every now and then to remind him to be polite).
"Hey, you are the new kid that applied for our team, right? Kageyama Tobio?" Daichii asked. Kageyama nodded,
"How did you know that?" He asked. Daichii laughed,
"There was a picture in your file. I'm Daichii Sawamura,the captain of the volleyball club. This is Koshi Sugawara, setter, and this…..(here Daichii kicks Tanaka under the table for snarling again)….is Ryunosuke Tanaka, Spiker. You seem to have already met Shoyo Hinata, our decoy."
Kageyama nodded towards each of them. Sugawara was looking at Kageyama with an inquisitive look that made Kageyama feel a little awkward.
"You don't eat much, do you?" Sugawara asked. Kageyama looked at his plate. He had eaten the rice and some of the salad, but the rest was just unappetizing to him.
"Oh…uh I don't eat curry. I'm allergic to most seasonings." He replied. Sugawara nodded,
"Ok, how about we trade. You can have my rice and salad in exchange for your curry and soup."
Kageyama agreed and the trade was made. Hinata, feeling put out, asked to trade his onigiri for Kageyama's cookie, but Daichii refused to let him.
"You need to eat healthy for practice. You can't just give away all your healthy food and eat junk food." Hinata sighed and began to eat his onigiri. Kageyama put his cookie on a napkin and slid it over to Hinata anyway.
"You can have it if you want it. No trade necessary." Hinata immediately brightened and Daichii shook his head in defeat. Sugawara was still looking at Kageyama intensely.
"Your ears are pointy!" Hinata called out with a mouthful of cookie. Kageyama sat up straighter with a guilty look,
"What? No they aren't. They're just normal. Why are you looking at my ears anyway?!" He responded. Hinata shook his head and shrugged.
"I don't know, I just noticed them. And they are pointy, like elf ears or something."
"I don't think they are that bad. You have that trait that gives you slightly pointed ears, don't you?" Sugawara questioned. Kageyama nodded (better just go with that).
"Yeah, they've been like that forever." He responded. Hinata didn't look convinced.
"So are you thinking you're cooler than us just because of your…Ouch!" Tanaka was cut off by a sharp kick from Daichii. Kageyama looked down at the table.
Daichii cleared his throat.
"Well, I think we are going to go work on our group project for next period in the library until lunch is over. You two enjoy the rest of lunch." He said, standing up with his tray. Suga and Tanaka followed suit.
"It was nice to meet you, Kageyama." Sugawara said. Daichii nodded. Tanaka pointed two fingers at his eyes and then pointed them at Kageyama, but stopped when Daichi stomped on his foot.
"Ouch! What was that for!" He called out on the way through the door.
"Stop intimidating the first years!" Daichi replied. After they were gone, Hinata smiled at Kageyama.
"So what do you like to do in your free time?" Hinata asked, "I like to play volleyball, eat, and ride my bike around." Kageyama shrugged,
"I like volleyball too. I also like sleep." He replied.
"That sounds boring! Sleep is something you LIKE to do? I hate going to sleep because I could be having fun instead, but then I get all like "aww" and "yawn" and then the fun is over."
"Geez, this kid seems to have a lot of energy…." Kageyama thought.
"I don't have a lot of free time. I do school, then Volleyball, then I would usually have a job that I would work at until late. So when I had free time, I would try to catch up on missed sleep."
"OOOOH you had a job before?! Was it fun?" Hinata asked, excitedly. Kageyama shook his head.
"Nah, it was a pretty bad job. But it paid ok so that's all that really matters."
"You shouldn't think about it like that. If the job isn't fun then it is a waste of time. I mean, it doesn't have to be fun all the time, but you should look back at it and think that it was a good job. If you don't think you would be able to look back on something and think of it fondly then you really shouldn't do it." Hinata replied.
"Have you ever heard of 'Work hard, Play hard'?" Kageyama asked. Hinata nodded.
"That's what I try to do."
Hinata frowned,
"Well you should work hard and play hard, but enjoy both not neither." Hinata said. Kageyama scowled,
"What do you mean?"
"When I first met you, you didn't look like you were enjoying volleyball. You were always mad. If that is what play is to you, then you're confused. If you're mad about your play, and you aren't happy about your work, then what is the point of doing anything?" Hinata said.
"You don't understand anything." Kageyama replied, tartly. Hinata shrugged.
"Whatever. I'm going to go back to the classroom." With that, Hinata stood up with his tray and left Kageyama all alone.
"Did I just make him mad?" Kageyama wondered.