Ukai had told the bizarre news to the team, making them all wordless. " They said they'd bring him here tomorrow ,"

" How... Why... Why did they even do that?!" Asahi shouted, letting his anger at the camp and his concern for his friend out.

Practice was off, no one could foucus or sleep. Not human? Barking? Rampages?

Next Morning *

A pickup truck pulled in as close as he could to Karasuno's volleyball stadium. It had a black tarp over a sizeable box in the back.

All of the team came out, as the two men in the truck unloaded the coverd box onto the ground. They could all hear a feirce growl coming from it.

Without anymore than glancing at Ukai, one of the men yanked the tarp off.

Everyone's hearts dropped and sank.

Inside the cage lied a growling, vicious beast, with merciless eyes and glistening fangs. Although it was muzzled, it showed as much fangs as it could. It looked like a completely dark-brown short-haired German Shepherd, with a little patch of orange on the forehead.

" Th-Thats... Noya...?" Tanaka was the first to muster up any words.

The dog growled more at this, clawing the cage bars and yanking its head around.

" We're still working on a way to turn him back." One of the men said, as the other got out a bage from the truck.

" Here's some supplies..." The other said, sounding like the sobbing guy on the phone from yesterday.

" Whoever was the Libro's closest friend has to try to make him remember something, and gain trust."

The two left, placing the cage outside by the rec rooms, saying they'd update them if they get news on how to fix this.

Karasuno's Volleyball team looked at the growling, vicious dog, wordless. Any time they tried to get closer to the cage, the dog banged its head against the walls of the cage in anger and clawed at the bars.

No practice that day. No one could. No one wanted to.

That night, Asahi stayed when the others left, sitting as close as the dog allowed him to to the cage. He put his hand out to the cage bars so it could sniff his hand. Claws slashed down on it instead, slicing three long cuts on the back of his hand. They weren't deep, but it still hurt.

He tried putting his hand near the cage, showing a volleyball, talking to it, but nothing worked. Nishinoya was gone. Day after day and night after night, he tried. Eventually, the dog let him sit closer to the cage and let him put food next to it. He fed it Nishinoya's favorite: Anything meat.

Although they were slowly bonding and the dog wasn't as aggressive, Asahi could tell it wasn't Nishinoya coming back, it was a dog bonding with its master.

It was the weekend. School was out. Some of the others had camps to go to, and Ukai went to the Libro training camp, leaving Asahi to vist. And that's all he did.

Trying desperately to not loose hope, he, for the first time, he opened the cage door. At this point, the dog allowed him to pet it, so Asahi slipped on a collar and leash to make sure it wouldn't run. It felt very weird walking your friend on a leash. Asahi led the dog into the volleyball stadium, wondering if that will trigger any memories. When he showed it a volleyball up close, the dog stared at it. Dead eye death stared the thing.

Asahi wondered if it was bringing back memories, so he tossed it in the air to do a serve, but the dog charged after it, yanking the leash and Asahi, tackling and biting it.

It was nice to see playfulness instead of aggression, but Asahi painfully knew it wasn't Nishinoya. It was a dog playing with a toy.

He released the leash, so the dog could run around free in the staduim.

" Nishinoya " Asahi unconsciously called the dog that.

The dog had somewhat learned its name by now, and it glanced over.

Asahi threw the ball up into the air, then ran after it, jumped up, and slammed it to the ground. It felt like one of the best jump serves he'd done in a while.Something changed in the dogs eyes when it the ball smacked the ground. Its ears perked straight up, as it seemed like it was taking in the scene for the first time.

"Something wrong?" Asahi asked. He knew it couldn't exactly respond, but he always talked to it.The dog, its eyes now sparkling, turned to Asahi. Its eyes widened, and it instantly stood up and ran towards Asahi. He noticed the dog wasn't mad, for it had the most joyful and excited expression as it pounced on and down Asahi. It stood atop him, wagging its tail crazily and hopping on its front legs, barking excitedly.

Asahi noticed the change in its behavior and eyes and suddenly knew. It was Nishinoya.