Hinata smiled as he returned to the serving spot, overhearing Kageyama's apology. One of the linesmen tossed the ball to Hinata who caught the ball. He took another deep breath, resetting himself before tossing the ball up again and hitting it towards the back-right player. They recieved it cleanly towards where Kageyama was.
Hinata tutted to himself as he moved in court. He kept his eyes on the spikers who were running for the ball. 'Left side wing spiker starting their run up, middle half way through their run up for quick, setter in the front row for possible dump.' Hinata thought as he slowly leaned forward.
Kageyama glanced at Hinata's team before glancing at his own. 'Their opponents were smaller so their block would be lower than what they're used to, so that's why we should-' Kageyama jumped up and tossed the ball to Kindaichi, the set being first tempo and floating to Kindaichi. 'go for the middle!'
Hinata's teammates hesitated for a little bit before jumping up for the block, their timing slower than the quick. Kindaichi spiked the ball down hard, it was the first time he hit such a nice ball from Kageyama.
But as soon as the ecstacy of spiking Kageyama's set came, it disappeared as Hinata appeared, diving towards the ball. He recieved it up high and ran back, getting his run up distance. He started his run up and made sure to catch the eyes of the blockers. 'I'm going to hit, even if you know Izumin is an amateur, I will hit any toss!'
Izumi noticed Hinata's faster run up and remembered what Hinata said. 'Set faster, set others' Izumi thought to himself as he glanced at Koji. He jumped up to the ball. "KOJI!" Izumi yelled as he set the ball to Koji, the toss was high but a little far and short from the left side of the net. One of the blockers jumped reactively to Hinata's decoy.
Koji watched as the ball floated over to him. He shuffled back. 'Run up,' Koji began his run up 'for a header.' He pushed off his right foot as he stepped left, right then left. He jumped off the ground and hit the ball hard, smacking the ball into the 2 man block.
It was soft blocked and then recieved by Kitagawa-Daiichi. Kageyama then set the ball to his left side hitter who spiked the ball towards one of Hinata's first year teammates, bouncing it off of him and scoring the point. The first year fell back and hissed in pain, a red mark being left on his right forearm.
Hinata clapped his hands, "Don't mind, we'll get that point back from them." He said as he helped his teammate up. He saw the red mark on his kouhai's arm. "Mori-kun, is your arm ok?" He said as hovered his finger over the mark. Mori nodded "I'm fine Hinata-senpai, the ball just hit off of it. I tried to pass it like you did but it sucked."
Hinata laughed a little before patting his kouhai on the back. "I'm glad I inspired you, it may suck now but repitition will help. Be ambitious." He said before going into position.
/
Kitagawa-Daiichi rotated to serve, with Kageyama in the serving spot. Hinata stuck his tongue out in excitement, watching as Kageyama tossed the ball up before hitting a jump top spin serve. 'FAST!' Hinata thought as the spun towards him in an instant. He hopped back an inch or two, getting behind the ball as he recieved the ball high, his forearms stinging a little from the impact.
Izumi set the ball high again, third tempo as usual. Hinata ran up to spike the ball again, however he noticed that the blockers didn't jump at the same time he did. 'They slowed down their block timing?' Hinata thought as they then jumped. Hinata's world began to slow down as he looked for the spot to hit. The area behind the blockers shone bright as Hinata tipped the ball over the blockers, however his tip motion was a little obvious.
Kitagawa-Daiichi's libero dived to the ball, digging it up. "Kunimi!" Kageyama shouted as he set a slow, third tempo set for him. Kunimi looked at the ball confused. 'He's not gonna rush me?' Kunimi thought as he felt an urge to spike the ball. It wasn't a fast set that made him run and exert energy, he could take his time. Kunimi ran up and spiked the ball, tooling Izumi's block and scoring them another point.
Kageyama served again, the ball was heading towards one of the first years who attempted to recieve it. "AH!" They shouted as they managed to get the ball up before falling down on the ground. It skewed to the left side of the court, away from Izumi.
"KOJI!" Hinata yelled as he sprinted to the ball, getting under it. 'Remember, floaty ball, give Koji time.' He said to himself as he tossed a set to Koji. Kageyama's eyebrow rose in surprise. 'That's a nice set.' He noted, there wasn't a lot of spin on it, the position was far from the net but so was the spiker so thats fine. The main property on the set was how floaty it was, it held in the air for quite a bit.
Koji mentally prepared himself for the set and ran up. 'My spiking technique, or whatever Shoyo calls it, is lacking. But if I follow his advice, then I could do this!' Koji thought as he jumped, heading the ball. The header gave the ball an unreal spin and caused it to spin off the block and onto the ground of Kitagawa-Daiichi's court.
Everyone watching the match roared in shock. "WHAT THE HECK!?" "DID HE JUST HEADER THE BALL?" "IS THAT ALLOWED?!" The crowd exclaimed. Hinata ran up to Koji, "W-WHAT? HOW-WHY?" He questioned, shaking his friend. "I diiiiiid whhhaaaat yoooou saiiiiid" Koji replied, mustering a reply as Hinata shook him. Izumi laughed while the first years looked in awe.
Kageyama's team took about 3 seconds to understand what had just happened. "Yukigaoka sure are full of surprises huh?" Kindaichi said, with Kageyama, Kunimi and a few first years nodding. "Their captain can set too, he's definitely the best on their team. However, an amazing player is still one player, six players are better than one." Their captain then said with a smile, inspiring his team to keep pushing.
/
Hinata and his teams' momentum began to slow down as the score was 23 to 20. The first years were starting to get tired, they had a few attempts spiking the ball, but they always got blocked by Kitagawa-Daiichi. Sometimes Hinata would be there to keep the ball in play and score but they'd usually lose a point from it. Koji did more of his 'Header' spikes but they became useless after the 4th time due to the blockers getting used to the timing and course it would take.
Izumi felt the most tired, while basketball training helped with his overall fitness, he could feel himself getting sloppy. Setting, blocking, jumping, long rallies, trying to keep up with Sho-chan. It was exhausting for him. "This is way more tiring than basketball Sho-chan." He whined, getting a small laugh from Hinata. "Are you having fun though?" He asked, to which Izumi nodded, a smirk on his face.
Kageyama noticed Yukigaoka was running on fumes. Their captain was fine, but the others were going to their limits. No matter what they did, it wasn't enough for them to help their captain. One of Kageyama's teammates then served the ball towards Koji, who recieved it and sent it to Izumi. "Sho-chan!" Izumi yelled. Hinata looked to Izumi, seeing the determination in his friend's eyes, he sped up his approach. 'Quick, for Sho-chan'. Izumi said as he set the ball at first tempo to Hinata, who spiked it in the far right corner.
Hinata smiled before he noticed the referee awarded the point to the opponents. "Tsk, double touch huh?" Hinata said as he tapped Izumi on the shoulder "Don't mind Izumin, that was a nice first tempo set" He comforted Izumi, who's doubts began to seep into his mind. Hinata shook his head as he ruffled Izumi's hair, "I said don't mind Izumin, mistakes happen. There's no need to chew yourself up about it. Anyways," Hinata's gaze went cold as the aura of warmth he used to exude disappeared. "we haven't lost yet."
This sent chills down Kageyama's spine, he understood what Hinata said, the match is never over. Unless the ball falls on the court, you don't give up. It was Izumi's turn to serve the ball, he under arm served it towards Kunimi, who recieved it and sent it to Kageyama. Kageyama then set it to his captain, who spiked it towards Hinata.
He passed the ball to Izumi, "Here Sho-chan!" Izumi said as he tried to set the ball to Hinata, however the ball slipped out of his hands, going to the right side of the court. Izumi looked in shock as he messed up the set. Kageyama witnessed the mistake, 'He definitely didn't mean it, the lack of experience and pressure must have gotten to him.'
His eyes widened as he noticed an orange floof of hair begin to run over to the ball. Kageyama's instincts screamed at him to move, which he did. He sprinted over to the ball, where Hinata was already lifting off of the ground. Kageyama noticed something as he got ready to block, 'Their captain is lower than before, his one legged jumps must not give him as much height!' He shouted to himself before jumping up to block.
Hinata watched as Kageyama tried to block his spike. As Hinata's world began to dim, he could feel the options he had were limited. Due to the speed of himself, the set and the blocks position, he couldn't tool it as his arm swing would miss the ball due to the need to rotate in more. A tip would be too slow and would cause him to miss the ball. A small sliver of light appeared on the court, close to the end line. Not the ideal spot but it was his only option.
Hinata spiked the ball towards the area of light before the world began to move normally. He then fell on the ground, tumbling into the nearby borders. He groaned as he rolled onto his back, he'd feel that in the morning. His teammates ran over to him, concerned for his wellbeing. "Sho-chan!" "Hinata-Senpai!" "Shoyo!" they all exclaimed as they helped Hinata up.
"I'm fine guys, I swear" Hinata said to calm their nerves, he then looked up at the referee and sighed. "I knew that spot was iffy." He said as the final whistle blew, the ball was outside of the court. The teams lined up ate the base lined and bowed to eachother before walking to the net and shaking eachothers hands.
/
A few of the Kitagawa-Daiichi players complimented Koji on his header spikes, which caused the boy to blush. The first years of each team conversed with eachother, Izumi talked to some of the bench players, gaining some insight into some volleyball tips.
Meanwhile Hinata and Kitagawa-Daiichi's captain shook hands. "You took us by surprise. We may have won in straight sets, but the points you scored kept your team afloat. You have my respect." he then looked around "And thank you for helping Kageyama-kun, we were never able to get him to change his ways, but somehow you could. Thank you." He said to Hinata, who scratched his head in embarassment. "It was nothing, I just saw that he needed some help."
"Um shrimp-kun?" Hinata felt a shock of anger and turned to the voice. It was Kageyama, who was taken aback by Hinata's slightly angry expression. "My names Shoyo Hinata! Not shrimp-kun!" He exclaimed before shaking his head. "What's up Kageyama?" He said as he looked at the genius setter. "I..." Kageyama paused, he was never really good with words. "Thank you." He said plainly.
Hinata smiled, he was about to reply when Kageyama held his palm up. "You are my rival now! That set you did, it was cool, I'll give you that. And your jump serve was nice. But in high school, we'll see who's better and stays on the court!" Kageyama exclaimed. Hinata smirked, holding his hand out to Kageyama. "I'll see you then Kageyama." Kageyama shook Hinata's hand. "You bet Hinata." They nodded before both teams went their seperate ways.
As Hinata and his teammates left the arena, Hinata turned to his 5 teammates and bowed. They 5 students felt a little confused by Hinata's action before they saw tears fall onto the ground. "T-THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR HELP! WITHOUT YOU ALL, WE WOULD HAVE NEVER BEEN ABLE TO COME HERE!" He stood up straight, wiping the tears from his eyes. His teammates froze in shock before tears fell from the eyes, they all cried for a while.
/
And so life went on, at first Hinata believed that the first years would give up volleyball after the tournament but to his surprise, they asked if they could join him when he went to train. He gladly accepted and brought them to the local women's recreational volleyball team he trained with. There they got a grasp on the fundamentals of the game and began to paint their once blank canvases with the experience of playing volleyball.
With Izumi and Koji, Hinata studied school subjects with them. He was fine with topics such maths and english, however Japanese literature and writing in kanji (in all forms) was a struggle. Thankfully with help from the other two, Hinata began to grasp the language better and better. In exchange for helping him with school work, he helped Izumi and Koji with their own sports.
Izumi was a point guard/shooting guard on the basketball team. He had to improve his shooting against tall blocks so he asked Hinata to jump up and block his shot. At first Hinata did a run up for the jump, which added to his vertical but Izumi shook his head. "Sho-chan, most basketball players aren't able to get the full approach into their block attempt. They'd only get one, two or even no steps before jumping. Try to do that."
Hinata nodded, his stationary jumps weren't as high as his regular jumps but he'd try his best to help his friends. Izumi tried shooting again while Hinata jumped to block him. As the practice on, Izumi noticed something. Hinata's blocks became more and more... intimidating. As if a cage began to encircle Izumi before SMACK! Izumi was blocked by Hinata.
Izumi looked at the ball as it rolled on the floor. With a smile, he turned to Hinata. "I'm going to take a page out of your book Sho-chan, again!" Izumi exclaimed as Hinata gave a sly grin before resetting himself. They continued for hours.
For Koji, Hinata practiced being a goalie for him. Koji wanted to practice his penalty shooting, Hinata thought this would be great practice for his form reading, reaction speed, one legged jumps, muscle cordination and ball spin reading. As he trained, Hinata realised how intense other sports can be. He played a little football in Rio but his main position would've been a poaching striker who only hit headers. Playing as a goalie was a new but fun experience.
Aswell as all these practices, Hinata would exercise on the side. His body was still developing so he didn't push himself too hard but he focused on giving himself a strong foundation. He started with weighted plyometrics to help is vertical, then strengthened individual muscles using weight exercises. After that, he worked on strengthening the durability and flexibility of his joints. The better he prepared his body, the longer he could play for. Availability is the best ability.
/
The day came for Hinata's graduation, after recieving the little scroll/certificate from his teachers, he headed to the school gym. It was empty but he remembered the times he spent practicing in here by himself or with his friends. A knock on the door pulled him from his thoughts. He turned to see his three kouhai standing behind him.
Hinata waved "Hey guys, I guess this'll be the last time I'd see yas, atleast for a little while." He said with a soft smile. The three first years nodded as tears began to well in their eyes. "We just wanted to thank you Senpai, for all you've taught us. We were noobs at volleyball, but after meeting you, you gave us the confidence to learn. You inspired us Hinata-Senpai!" They all said as they bowed to him.
Hinata witnessed their sincere gratitude and smiled, holding his hands together as a sign of thanks. "I'm glad I did, my young volleyball padawans. Now, keep growing in skill, expand your knowledge and make Yukigaoka's volleyball team a force to be reckoned with!" He exclaimed as he held out his fists for a fist bump, which the first years gladly returned.
Hinata walked out of the school and towards the gate when Koji and Izumi ran past him before turning around. Hinata smiled as he saw his friends wave at him. "I'll see yas whenever I see yas Izumin! Koji!" he shouted, waving back at them as they then left.
This is it, it's time to go to highschool...
To Karasuno!