READ THIS PLS
Well, I got my thinking all turned around on a couple of things! Time for a few explanations, alright?
I'll start with the question I got – why Chikara Academy? Well, I completely forgot that Ennoshita's name was Chikara (oops). Chikara is the Japanese word for power, capability, or influence. I kind of wanted to bring the strength of name to the Generation of Miracles, and that happened quite literally. See, in this, the GOM are good players, but they aren't the overpowered champions of everything because I need the plot to move forward. There'll still be something about their junior high days that I'm currently working out, it's just a matter of when I actually get to it!
Next – the positions of Chikara Academy.
Wing Spikers – Aomine Daiki (#4), Kise Ryota (#8), Nijimura Shuzo (#2), Haiziki Shogo (#7)
Middle Blockers – Midorima Shintaro (#6), Murasakibara Atsushi (#5)
Libero – Akashi Seijuro (#1)
Setter – Kuroko Tetsuya (#3)
And there lies my problem. I had Akashi say he was captain, right? So here's what I'm gonna do. Akashi has the #1 jersey, but he isn't the captain (because liberos can't be captains). Nijimura has the #2 jersey and acts as captain, but Akashi is the one everybody recognizes as captain. I mean, it's not like there haven't been captains that didn't have the #1 (Bokuto-bby). As for Ukai and Daichi's interaction in the last chapter, we'll just say that they assumed. Good? Good.
Oh, and I saw a picture that had Akashi in volleyball garb, so I'm stealing that as my uniform for Chikara. Colors are light blue, black, and white. For their practice stuff, we're going with black shorts, blue t-shirts, and black jerseys. I'll describe uniforms when they have an official match.
At the training camp, Chikara is like Karasuno – except invited by Fukurodani. They aren't from the Tokyo prefecture or the Miyaji prefecture. If it becomes relevant, I'll pick one out. But it's not relevant right now, so there.
Little reminder – Karasuno was introduced to most of the Chikara team last chapter
Let's go.
Karasuno Members' POV
The first full day of the training camp was met with excitement. After all, everyone was on top of their game today, rather than being exhausted from bus rides. Hinata stared over at the opposing team – Chikara Academy. It was a small team, they only seemed to have eight people. Maybe, the tiny first-year thought, they have people who didn't pass exams, too!
"Dumbass! There are no exams right now!" Kageyama smacked the back of Hinata's head, causing the abused to start fighting back. Soon enough, the two were in the middle of one of their common squabbles. Daichi groaned, resting his forehead on his hand as he finished stretching. Sugawara smiled at his captain before speaking, "Well, you can never say they lack enthusiasm."
"Yeah, but it's that enthusiasm that gets them into trouble when it's not focused."
"Then let's focus it, eh? Chikara Academy…"
Daichi hummed, before rising from his stretches and calling for the team to gather around the bench. Ukai stepped forward. "We don't know much about these guys, only what we gathered by seeing Nekoma's match yesterday. All their wing spikers seem pretty good, but #4, Aomine, stands out. He packs some serious punch with those hits and it wouldn't surprise me if he was their ace. They also have an insanely tall middle blocker, Murasakibara, I think, but it didn't seem like he can move very fast. The serves that #6 – Midorima - dishes out remind me of Oikawa's, maybe a little less powerful. That's the little that I saw yesterday, whenever I could sneak a glance over at the match. Anyways, let's go." A chorus of yells followed his speech as his players put their hands in the middle.
"Karasuno…. FIGHT!"
Daichi broke the huddle, moving towards the net to shake the captain's hand. He was fully expecting to see the short red-haired teen, but instead he saw the #2 (Nijimura, his brain supplied helpfully) headed his ways. A brief handshake, followed by a "Let's have a good match," and the captains returned to their teams. As Daichi returned to his murder, he could feel more than one pair of calculating eyes on his back.
Starting Line-ups:
KARASUNO HIGH – Tanaka Ryunnosuke (WS) (177CM), Nishinoya Yuu (L) (159CM),
Kageyama Tobio (S) (180CM), Tsukishimi Kei (MB) (188CM), Hinata Shouyo (MB) (162CM),
Asahi Azumane (WS) (184CM), Sawamura Daichi (WS) (176CM)
CHIKARA ACADEMY – Aomine Daiki (WS) (192CM). Kise Ryouta (WS) (189CM),
Kuroko Tetsuya (S) (168CM), Akashi Seijuro (L) (173CM), Nijimura Shuzo (WS) (179CM),
Midorima Shintaro (MB) (195CM)
"Tsukishima, nice serve!"
The ball flew smoothly over the net, only to be received by Chikara's libero. Kageyama narrowed his eyes, following the ball as it fell down to the setter. An impassive face gave nothing away, but his body spoke differently. A shift in his weight let the Karasuno setter read the motion. Hinata moved with him, jumping to block Kise. However, the sting of the ball bouncing off of their palms never came. Instead, the duo heard the sound of the ball smashing into the court. It was quiet for only a moment, before Aomine raised his arms in triumph and began doling out high-fives.
Turning around, Kageyama merged with the other five members of his team in the middle. Despite a point being scored so easily, he could tell that they were as excited as he was at the prospect of facing such a strong team.
Chikara was a strong team, there was no doubt about it. It seemed like each of the rainbow-haired players (as the crows had taken to calling them) had a specialty, yet were fairly well-rounded. Hinata had to push himself to the limit to get around the gigantic Murasakibara, whose lengthy limbs allowed him to act like a one-man Iron Wall (a match between Chikara and Date Tech would be very interesting to watch). Aomine had unbelievable power behind his hits and was usually able to find some way to score, even when Karasuno's wall was at its highest. Kise acted much the same, with a focused look in his eye as he watched the opposing team (Kageyama was slightly unnerved to see that those eyes were on him and Hinata most of the time). Their libero, Akashi, had a kind of intense calm throughout the match, always watching, always waiting. It didn't really seem to matter where exactly the ball was hit, because he was there most of the time. Ukai had been right about Midorima's serves. They didn't pack quite as much punch as Oikawa's, but damn if they weren't hard to receive. Karasuno had to fall back to Daichi and Nishinoya receiving them. And finally, the setter – Kuroko. Kageyama was getting frustrated because of him. After all, the genius setter prided himself on being able to read people fairly well. Yet the teal-haired setter was able to draw his attention to the player who wasn't going to score. As soon as a point was slammed down by a spiker, Kageyama would find himself glaring at the blank face. So, yeah, there was frustration. However, there also became a desire – no, a need, to prove that he could compete on the same level as this new threat – that he could be better than Kuroko Tetsuya.
A couple of years and several tournaments later, Hinata would compare it to the time when they first faced Nekoma – when Kageyama heard the words 'Kenma' and 'setter' in the same sentence.
Rivals.
None of Karasuno's new techniques were working out (which, was honestly to be expected, in all honesty) and they were mostly scoring points off of mishaps and luck. When those points were scored, Chikara was quick to take them back, never letting the crows score more than a few points in a row. In the end, the score finished as 11-25, the Academy's victory.
"Go."
"Go."
"Go."
Chikara Members' POV
Aomine almost cried with relief when the managers announced that it was lunch time. He threw his arms over Kuroko's shoulders, mumbling about how hungry he was. That was soon followed by a quiet, "You're always hungry, Aomine-kun," that came from his setter and then a "Quickly, we're going to have a short chat during lunch," from Akashi. Thankfully, the wing spiker was smart enough not to grumble about his interrupted lunch time and followed the rest of the team to the cafeteria. Once they grabbed their food (some more than others), they were seated at a table. Akashi glanced over at Kise, who then began to speak.
"So I watched Shorty's and Grumpy-face's set-up, or their attempt at one, at least. They're not really as synced as everyone says they are, honestly. It's like their personalities conflict or something. Anyways, if Kurokocchi can get the ball going fast enough, we might be able to do it. And then I'll be better than Aominecc-gah!" A tanned fist flew into the side of his head and Kise began to wail about how nobody appreciated him on the team. Akashi silenced him with a look and then picked up the train of thought that had been momentarily derailed.
"Tetsuya, Ryota, I want you two to work on that during individual practice this week. Use Gym 3, it should be empty."
"Yes."
"Alrighty, Akashicchi!"
"The rest of you, work on your weak points. Shogo, you need control where your receives go better. It takes away from the fluidity of the rally if someone else besides Tetsuya has to set it and gives our opponents an opportunity to score when it becomes a chance ball. And eat your own food."
"Whatever." A sneer came across the gray-haired teen's face.
"Atsushi, please work on your speed. We may not be in the same prefecture as Karasuno, but when we play in an actual match you need to be able to keep up with #10."
A lazy hum answered Akashi's order. Acceptable, better than the usual reaction Murasakibara offered normally.
"Daiki, you still have the tripled training regimen to complete, so I suggest you do that. If I hear any complaints, it might just last the entire week. Midorima, so long as the horoscope agrees, work on your serves. You have the control, but it would be beneficial to increase its power. Nijimura-san, you can work on anything you want. After lunch, our next match is Ubugawa High. Please remember that they have particularly strong combo attacks, so make sure you know where the ball is going..."
Gah! This was kind of a piece of crap. It's not very in detail with the match, because I still have to figure out how to write a volleyball match. And non of the other fics out there really help because they're all au. Don't get me wrong, I love them as much as the next person, BUT I NEED A REFERENCE.
On the subject of au, I have found, quite possibly, my favorite Haikyuu fic. It's called 'Glamour' on ao3 and it has made me cry several times there are different endings and they're all so painful and I need help.
See you when I get enough enthusiasm to write again?
Let's go for three reviews? Maybe?
Much luv,
Captain Jap