Haikyu!
Higher
Chapter 27: Intelligence

If Tobio Kageyama had learned just one thing in school, it was that final exams absolutely sucked.

He had always focused all of his being on volleyball. All of his brainpower had gone to thinking about new strategies and ways to implement what he already knew. He'd always been so focused on the sport he loved so much that there was barely any room for academics.

But he had to do his best, if just for this year, just this semester.

He needed to pass all of his exams if he wanted to go to Tokyo for the training camp. He had a goal to achieve, and that required him to pass his academics, even if he just barely scraped by.

I've got to work hard…!

Only three days after her surgery, Aika had been discharged.

She'd settled back into her classes at Nekoma, catching up thanks to the notes Shibayama had given her while she was in the hospital. He'd offered her a sweet smile the day she returned and asked her if she was going to go to practice that afternoon.

Of course, she'd agreed. She'd been watching the practices for a while, but now that she was going to be at Nekoma for a few months, she was determined to keep her skills sharp. She wanted to improve her own skills as best she could, so she didn't let her boys, her Karasuno, down when she went back to them after a few months.

Shibayama had been agreeable, offering to push her around in her wheelchair. He did just that when it came to practice, leaving her next to the bench.

All of Nekoma were at least decently talented. None of them were, as she would put it, extraordinary in terms of their ability, but they worked incredibly well as a team, which was what made them so formidable. They were all part of one team, even though one of the more intimidating players was someone Aika had never seen before.

"Say, Shibayama, who is that?" she asked, referring to the tall, silver-haired boy who looked as if he was half Japanese, half something else. His eyes were even more cat-like than Kenma's, and he was so long and thin that he looked like even more of a beanpole than Tsukishima did.

Following her gaze, Shibayama nodded. "Ah, him? That's Lev Haiba. I'm surprised you haven't seen him around… but then again, most of his practice is spent running from Yaku," he replied with a laugh.

"Lev… Haiba? Russian?" She paused, furrowing her brow in confusion. "And why is he running from Yaku? Did he mention Yaku's height?"

The small libero only laughed. "He's a tall player, so he has a lot of potential. He just doesn't really listen to anyone, and his receiving is pretty terrible. Yaku has been working with him on improving, but Lev only really manages to make Yaku mad," he admitted, laughter in his voice.

Shaking her head, Aika turned back to the practice. "So, he's improved enough to stand on the same court during practices? I bet he'll be a force to be reckoned with." She quickly reached for her bag, which sat in her wheelchair, and pulled out a new notebook, one she'd bought especially for the move to Nekoma.

Shibayama watched curiously as she scribbled down new statistics, giving each Nekoma player their own page. Her work was neat, with all of the stats on each player being complete and, to his surprise, incredibly accurate. She had been able to tell what each player's strengths and weaknesses were just by watching the practice game in front of her.

"The one with the most untapped potential is definitely Haiba, but he's not the most skilled player." She was muttering under her breath as she watched the game, her pen dancing across the paper. "Overall, the player with the most skill is probably Yaku, although Ken is the most intelligent. As for Tetsu…"

She winced as the captain taunted Lev, who only teased him back, making Tetsu even angrier as he lost his temper. Both Shibayama and Aika sighed at the childish captain.

"Well, Nekoma is lucky to have you," Shibayama said with a smile. "We've all heard lots about you from Kuroo and Kenma, and we're looking forward to working with you, even if it is only for a few months. Especially now that the Interhigh here is starting."

Aika couldn't help the vicious smile that took over her face. "Oh, I'm looking forward to it. I'll make sure that you boys get to the finals, if not win." Cracking her knuckles in determination, she began to write down even more things that the Nekoma team could work on.

At the look she wore, Shibayama only blinked.

There was less than a month left until final exams.

Kageyama was pouring all of his free time, of which he had very little, into studying. It was painful, but he was using notes he'd gotten from Tsukishima and Yamaguchi to review his worst subjects. Which, for all intents and purposes, were all of the subjects he was taking.

As he sighed, leaning back in his seat, his phone, which sat on the table, buzzed. He looked over to it to see that he'd gotten a new message.

To: Tobio Kageyama
From: Aika Yamada
How's the studying going?
Anything I can do to help?
I sent Shoyo some of my notes.
I can give you copies if you need.
Here's what I'm doing now.

He couldn't help the smile that came over him as he read the words Aika had sent to him. Attached to the message was a picture of a notebook page with neat writing on it.

The writing was definitely Aika's. He recognized it from the amount of times she went over something in her notebook with him. She'd written out the notes she'd taken back in Karasuno for her math class, a class that Kageyama was far from doing well in. He couldn't help but smile, seeing that she was studying the same things as him.

Tsukishima was smart, but he didn't have nearly the best attitude. He was difficult to get along with, even though their teamwork was much better than it used to be. Even though he'd agreed to help them out with studying, he still wasn't very patient, and he was always judgmental.

Aika, on the other hand, was easy for Kageyama to get along with.

Ever since he'd seen her after her surgery, she'd been messaging back and forth with him constantly. They were talking whenever they could, and she was often asking him how his studying was going. Whenever he told her that he wasn't doing so well, she would send him pictures of her notes. More often than not, they were exactly what he needed in order to study even harder.

To: Aika Yamada
From: Tobio Kageyama
Thank you very much.
I appreciate this a lot.
The IH Tokyo is starting, right?
Good luck.

"Oi, King." There was that annoying voice again. "Who are you talking to that's so important?"

Not wanting Tsukishima to know about Aika helping him, Kageyama simply ignored him, pulling out his math notebook. "None of your business." He proceeded to find the page with the same topic that Aika had sent him, comparing her notes to his, finding that he'd copied down a whole bunch of mistakes by accident. He bit his lip, quickly changing certain things.

I wonder if asking her questions would be bothering her?

As if in response, his phone buzzed again.

To: Tobio Kageyama
From: Aika Yamada
I'm sure Nekoma will be fine.
I can't go, since I have therapy.
Please message me tomorrow.
I'm really bored.

He couldn't help the small chuckle that escaped his lips as he typed back a response.

To: Aika Yamada
From: Tobio Kageyama
Can I ask you questions then?
Math is really difficult for me.

As he sent it, he turned back to his notes, still ignoring Tsukishima, who was now lecturing Hinata on his idioms. Hinata wasn't doing too well in literature, which was, surprisingly, one of the only classes Kageyama was actually somewhat decent in.

He pulled out his math workbook, turning back to the pages that were about the topic he was now sure he understood much better than he used to. He'd gotten a lot of problems wrong back when they were studying it in class, as seen by the sheer amount of red marks on his book, but he was also sure he could go back and fix them.

As he looked over the problems, copying them down and redoing them, he made a mental note to ask his teacher tomorrow if they were right. He was sure that they were still somewhat wrong, but he caught himself several times on different mistakes he had made in the past.

His phone buzzed again.

To: Tobio Kageyama
From: Aika Yamada
Feel free to do so.
If math is hard,
I'm sure others are more so.
Do you need any other notes?

He quickly finished the problem he was working on and dropped his pencil, typing out another reply.

To: Aika Yamada
From: Tobio Kageyama
English is my worst subject.
Honestly, I'm not doing well in general.
But I think I'll be okay for the most part.
Your notes are helpful.
Thank you.

Hitoka Yachi hadn't quite known what she'd gotten herself into when she'd agreed to join the Karasuno Volleyball Team.

For the past three months of attending Karasuno High School, she hadn't really been much of a social person. She'd mostly kept to herself, choosing to focus on her studies and her aspirations linked to her graphic design dreams. Being part of a team wasn't something that she ever thought she'd do in high school.

But, if she was to be honest, it wasn't as bad as she thought it'd be.

At first, all of the tall, fierce Karasuno boys had been a bit intimidating, especially since Yachi was so small, but she soon learned that most of them were actually just a bunch of dorks.

The two who weren't so scary were the other two first-years, Hinata and Kageyama. They were practically opposites in the way of their personalities, and she'd found it easy enough to help them out with their poor English and studying skills. Both of them were easy to talk to, and she found that they were also opening up to her after so much time studying with her. Hinata was the most vocal, often speaking about the trip to Tokyo, a team called Nekoma, and a girl named Aika.

At first, she'd assumed that Hinata was dating that girl, since he was almost always talking about her, but she quickly found out that Aika Yamada was the team's assistant coach who was currently in Tokyo to get surgery and physical therapy, and was currently attending Nekoma as she recovered. She had been Hinata's best friend since middle school, and he missed her terribly.

She's probably a really nice person if she's Hinata's best friend, Yachi thought, unable to help herself as she thought of the boy who was as bright as the sun.

She also found that volleyball was pretty cool.

All of the boys constantly tried their hardest, playing incredibly well together. It was like watching a puzzle being put together, or a flock of birds taking flight. She couldn't help but admire them as well, knowing that they were all working so hard to improve, even though they were all impressive as they were.

As she thought all of this, she walked towards the vending machine to get herself a drink. She sighed as she remembered that she was just someone who didn't know much about volleyball, and never really amounted to much.

She rounded the corner and quickly paused, seeing Kageyama leaning against the wall, his phone in his hand as he typed something to someone.

It was the first time she was seeing him in such a casual way. He was always the one reminding Hinata to get back to work whenever the three of them were all studying together. He was always quiet and usually had a stoic look on his face. She was never really able to tell what he was thinking, since he generally seemed to be hiding his feelings, or he was just always serious.

But seeing him leaning against wall, his eyes trained on his phone's screen, she couldn't help but think he looked a lot younger than he usually did. His eyes were filled with happiness as he read whatever was on his screen, a slight blush on his face.

"Kageyama?" she asked, feeling bad immediately afterwards. His immediate response was to snap his phone shut and shove it into his pocket, his blush growing more present as he fixed his gaze on her, panic written all over his face. "S-sorry!"

He calmed down, seeing that it was just Yachi. "Oh, no. It's fine. Sorry. I was just talking to someone. Lunch is one of the only times I get to check my phone."

For a moment, Yachi paused, seeing that Kageyama was still holding onto his phone. "Were you talking to… um… I think her name is… Yamada? Oh, right! That's her name! Was it Yamada?" she asked happily, excited she remembered Hinata's friend's last name.

To her surprise, Kageyama flushed a dark red. "Y-yeah. She was just telling me good luck in the practice match today… and that Nekoma made it through round one." He was practically muttering, his voice so quiet that she could barely hear it.

"That's good! I'm glad she wished you luck. I'll be watching!" She paused, seeing Kageyama's face darken even further.

He bowed slightly. "Thank you. Also, Aika said to tell you she's looking forward to meeting you," he said, fighting back his blush.

"Eh?! You told her about me?!"

Shaking his head, Kageyama seemed even more embarrassed. "No, Hinata told her. But she also said I should make friends with you, so she said it was to try to get us to talk. She… she thinks it'd be good for me to actually make friends with one of the managers." He quieted himself, only to say, "Honestly, I'm not good at talking, but she wants me to tell you that she says hi, so… hi."

Yachi blinked in confusion before nodding in false understanding. "Well, tell her that I said hi back! I'm also looking forward to meeting her. I'm sure she's real nice, since you like her so much," she babbled excitedly. At her words, Kageyama only darkened even more.

Oh? He's blushing a lot, she noticed. Maybe… since Yamada isn't Hinata's girlfriend… maybe she's Kageyama's? Maybe that's why he's so red.

She, of course, chose not to comment on how darkly Kageyama was blushing, instead choosing to pass him and go to the vending machine for her drink. She kept an eye on him, though, as he pulled out his phone again, which had buzzed during their conversation. His blush only got darker as he read whatever Yamada had sent him.

Yachi stopped the giggle before it could escape.

Even the coolheaded Kageyama could lose his cool over someone he liked.