Chapter 2: Chapter Two: Karasuno High School’s Volleyball Club
SAKURA TAPPED HER FOOT AGAINST THE FLOOR impatiently. Though really it was also in nervousness. She had been searching for the photography club for a few minutes before finally finding it. The president of the club was currently talking with a few other people about what exactly the club would do. Apparently they do take pictures for the yearbook but then those pictures get sent to the actual yearbook club and let them deal with them. They also take pictures for the newspaper as well, but they do more than that apparently. The club holds exhibitions every month of the pictures that the club members have taken. They focus on learning how to take the perfect picture and how to edit. They also had some of the best software and equipment to use for photography. Overall, it sounded pretty promising. At least it was better than doing it alone which Sakura had been doing since she could hold a camera. Plus getting to actually show off her pictures instead of just keeping them for herself sounded kind of nice.
"Are you thinking of joining?" The president walked over to Sakura.
The president looked like a nice girl. Obviously a third-year who was quite pretty with long light brown hair cascaded over her shoulders with bangs that swayed in front of her bright green eyes. She was at least a few inches taller than Sakura, which wasn't surprising considering most people were taller than her. She had a kind smile plastered on her round pale face as she approached the first-year.
"...I guess," Sakura muttered.
The girl continued to smile sweetly, "that's great! I'm Shimada Emi, president of the club."
The younger girl nodded her head in understanding, "Hinata Sakura."
"So how about it? We're always ready for new club members!"
Shimada was quite an enthusiastic person. She wasn't on the same level as Shōyō but still above average, Sakura supposed. It wasn't anything she couldn't handle though.
"Hm," she hummed and raised an eyebrow, "do we get to take pictures of other clubs, like the boy's volleyball club?"
"Oh, want to take pictures of those boys, do you? Got a crush on one of them?" Sakura bristled at the accusation as Shimada continued on with hearts in her eyes, "I can't blame you, just about all of them are adorable!"
The first-year shook her head frantically, "No! My brother is joining the team, I was just thinking about getting to take pictures of him, that's all."
"Alright," Shimada giggled, "well, we do have to take pictures of the other clubs, one or two people are assigned to each one. If you want to join, you can be assigned to take pictures of the boy's team. You'd just have to go to each game and such with them."
That fact alone was probably a deal-breaker for Sakura. She'd get to hang around Shōyō even when he was at his club. Plus being in her own club would give her a chance to make friends of her own instead of just befriending her brother's friends. High school was a time to reinvent oneself, after all.
Sakura pursed her lips and shrugged her shoulders lightly, "Yeah, it sounds cool."
It seemed impossible, but Shimada's smile widened, "Awesome!" She scurried around to grab an application for Sakura. "Here you go, fill this out!"
Sakura nodded her head and started to fill out the application which only took a minute or so. Once she finished she handed it to Shimada who was ecstatic to have another member of the club. Photography wasn't exactly the most popular club at Karasuno. There was interest in it and there was a decent amount of members, but the number of new applicants had been decreasing yearly. So having any new members was one of the best things that could happen.
Now officially a member of the photography club, Sakura spoke with a few of the other members, new and old. She acquainted herself with them and was glad to say that they were all tolerable people. So now with her position as a new member and the boy's volleyball club photographer, Sakura started to make her way towards the gym. There was just one problem, she wasn't exactly sure where to go.
She was in a new school after all and didn't know the layout yet. Sakura did her best but ultimately was just wondering around aimlessly after about fifteen minutes. At this point, the only way that she would find the gym and her brother would be to ask someone.
Just then a beautiful girl with shoulder-length, straight black hair, the clearest skin that Sakura had ever seen, and a slim figure started to walk down the hall. She must have been an upperclassman from the way that she walked around with confidence. Confidence that none of the first-years had and was somewhat difficult to replicate. Someone who was familiar with the school, like this upperclassman, might know where the volleyball club meets. Seeing no other choice, Sakura decided to ask for directions.
"Uh, excuse me?" She approached the girl.
The girl turned to her questioningly and smiled kindly to the younger girl. "Yes?"
Goodness, even her voice was smooth and heavenly. "I'm looking for the boy's volleyball club, but I don't know what gym they're in. Can you tell me how to find them?"
"Of course," the girl smiled, "I was just heading there myself. You can come with me."
Sakura nodded her head, "Thanks, I'm Hinata Sakura."
"Shimizu Kiyoko."
---
Meanwhile, in the gym where the boy's volleyball club were supposed to meet up, Shōyō was arguing with the King of the Court himself. Well, he didn't like being called that apparently. Kagayama made that quite clear. Shōyō was easily able to get on the former king's nerves. Though it seemed that both of them were quite frustrated with each other.
Their tense atmosphere was broken when they heard a few voices approaching the gym. "Who knew that the setter from Kitagawa First would end up at our school?" The first voice said.
"He better not be too cocky," A second voice exclaimed, "or I'll have to pound him."
A third voice sighed, "Give it a rest, Tanaka, you don't have to threaten everybody."
"What are you going to do about it? Huh? Yeah, that's what I thought."
A fourth voice scoffed loudly, "He'd probably just beat your ass if you did end up in a fight. You are quite weak after all."
"Why you-!"
"Uh, hello," Kageyama said as a quartet of upperclassmen entered the gym. The four of them were wearing the Karasuno Volleyball uniforms which consisted of a black jacket with black pants. Each of them was quite tall with slight smiles on their faces. Well, two out of the four had kind smiles on their faces.
The first was a silver-haired boy with slightly paler skin than the others. He didn't appear to be threatening or intimidating at all. His eyes were a light brown color that seemed to greet the first-years warmly.
The second one next to him was a guy with brown hair and also brown eyes. While he had a kind smile on his face, there also appeared to be a spark of leadership in his eyes. It was quite obvious that he was most likely the captain of the team.
The third guy had a shaved head and his eyes were narrowed at the two newbies. He had this sort of crazed look in his eyes that just screamed how crazy he was. Though his appearance alone would make someone think that he may be a delinquent, yet that was quite far from the truth.
The fourth looked a bit different than the others in the scense that he appeared to be a foreigner. He had blond hair with the right side of his head shaved. It was quite obvious that he put a lot of effort into how his hair looked as it shined slightly due to the gel in it. He had crystal blue eyes that held a certain sort of mirth in them as he pinpointed the newest members. His skin was softly tanned like the sun had given him a brief hug. His thin lips were also pulled up in a large smirk, unlike the other two who actually smiled or the one who was trying to intimidate them.
"Well, well, well, now what do we have here-" Tanaka Ryūnosuke, the second-year with a shaved head, said as he made a face that he thought would intimidate the younger teens. Though all it really did was make him look ridiculous.
Sawamura Daichi, the brown-haired captain, grabbed the back of his jacket and pulled him away, "You Kageyama?"
"Yeah," the boy answered as he was approached by the four.
"It's nice to meet you."
"Pretty tall aren't ya." Sugawara Kōshi, the silver-haired teen, commented in awe.
"First impressions are everything, Suga," Tanaka explained to the vice-captain. "You're a third-year so you have to establish dominance," He then pulled a face that he believed to be intimidating at the setter. Yet again he only looked ridiculous.
Daichi shook his head lightly, "Stop it, Tanaka. You look stupid."
The blond third-year, Endo Joji, laughed loudly, "he always looks stupid!"
As they were introducing themselves to each other, Shōyō walked around the older teens to stare at the back of their jackets. He stared in awe at them as he grasped the reality of the situation. He really was going to be joining the Karasuno volleyball team. The same team that the Tiny Giant had been on!
"Hey, guys-!"
"So how tall are you?" They disregarded him and didn't even see that he was there. Oh, the curse of being short.
"Six feet," Kageyama answered plainly. Meanwhile, Shōyō was still trying to gain their attention as the boys exclaimed their amazement at the King's height. Seriously, was he really that invisible?
Fed up, Shōyō exclaimed, "Hey!"
They all went silent as they looked down to see the orange-haired teen. "Huh?" Finally seeing the other first-year was there, Tanaka pointed at him, "Hey, it's you! You're the shorty!"
The other four's eyes widened in recognition. After all, they couldn't forget about the small junior high schooler who had jumped to heights that seemed impossible for someone like him. Daichi glanced down at the other paper in his hand. "Wait a minute, the other applicant goes by the name of Shōyō Hinata. I guess that's you. It's just kind of surprising, that's all. But, well, hey you guys both chose Karasuno."
Shōyō tilted his head, "Guess so."
"Didn't mean to freak you out." Suga smiled kindly, "It's just you made a big impression last year."
Tanaka nodded his head along with him, "Yeah, you were tiny and all over the place but you really had some spunk."
"Even I thought you were impressive," Endo said mindlessly with a hand on his chin in thought.
"Wow, thanks a lot!" Shōyō beamed.
"And not to mention that jump of yours," Suga said.
Tanaka walked up to the short kid and sized him up, noticing that there wasn't much of a difference in his height from last year. "It's too bad you haven't had a growth spurt yet though."
Shōyō groaned, "I know! I may be small, but I've got talent. I'll be Karasuno's ace before you know it!" Kagayama's eyes widened before he scowled at the spit-fire. His ambitions were far too out of his reach, the setter thought. Unless Shōyō had improved significantly over the year since their first game as opponents, there was no way Hinata was going to become the ace.
Tanaka laughed, "Hot damn, already got your eyeballs on the ace position do you? Somebody's got cojones."
"Well, there's nothing wrong with shooting for the stars, is there? Right?" Suga asked with a closed-eye smile.
At the encouraging, hopeful words, Shōyō grinned widely, "Yeah, I'll do my best."
"Okay, then," Kageyama started from behind the ball of sunshine with a harsh tone, "now that you've sworn to become the ace, you better be prepared to back it up. If you're not careful, you'll waste another three years."
Shōyō's eyes narrowed as he turned around, "Excuse me."
Daichi let out a sigh, "Was that really necessary, Kageyama?"
"I did everything I could, I did." For a moment, Shōyō thought back to that first game he got to play against Kitigawa. The team that he had to back him up and what they had gone through. "Look, I've done a lot. Stop putting me down."
The two of them had a bit of a stare off at each other. Shōyō glared up at the setter who just returned the stare with annoyance flashing in his eyes. The rivalry that had been born between the two the year prior was still kicking. This was certainly going to be a problem if the two of them were meant to be on a team together.
Endo smirked at the petty argument between the two. Oh, he loved drama like this, he lived for it. Watching the two underclassmen have this little fight between each other was quite entertaining. Barely in the club and the two are already giving him a show. The blond was no stranger to drama and such, as he was one of the biggest drama queens at Karasuno. He thrived off of this sort of stuff. Oh, he could already tell that this year was going to be extremely fun!
"Relax, guys." Daichi said scratching the back of his head, trying to be the voice of reason, "You know you're not enemies anymore, right? Volleyball is supposed to bring people together-"
"I want you to play me, right now," Shōyō exclaimed as they ignored their captain.
"Whoa watch it punk," Tanaka glowered, "don't you know Daichi is talking to you!"
The two still ignored the team as Kageyama continued their conversation, "What are we going to play?"
"Volleyball!" Shōyō shouted, "What the heck else is there?"
"How do you plan to play volleyball one-on-one?"
"...Like passes and stuff."
"How does anybody win at that?"
"The kid's got a point!" Tanaka shouted.
Daichi did his best to keep his composer, however, his smile was growing tight as they bickered. His patience was wearing thin with these first-years, and he already knew that these two were going to a handful to deal with. He certainly had his work cut out for him as captain this year.
"What's all the noise in here." A new voice asked from the doorway. Entering the gym was the vice-principal himself in all of his fake hair glory.
"Oh, turds! VP!" Tanaka exclaimed harshly.
"Be quiet!" Suga reprimanded him.
"Why don't you be quiet!"
"Shut it," Endo hissed, hitting Tanaka on the back of the head.
The older man ventured further into the room garnering all of the teens' undivided attention. Well, besides Shōyō and Kageyama who were still glaring at each other. "Are you boys fighting in here?"
"No, we're just working as hard as always, vice-principal." Daichi smiled, trying to hide the fact that there was some sort of discord between the newbies. "Right?"
Tanaka turned to the first-years to explain to them in a not so quiet whisper. "We gotta watch ourselves around the vice-principal, that guys always waiting for us to slip up."
However, still lost in their own world and rivalry, Shōyō and Kageyama continued to fight, "Serve it to me. I can handle whatever you send."
"Dude!" Tanaka shouted.
"Listen, jerk, I only received once serve from you last year." He grimaced at the memory. "Granted it was with my face but since then, I've practiced with everyone I could. I am not the same person I was."
"Hm, not the same person, huh?" Kageyama asked before walked over to the abandoned volleyball and picked it up. He pointed at Shōyō dramatically, "Well, I've improved a bit in the last year too."
"Alright, alright, that's enough smack talk, you guys." Daichi tried to defuse the situation before they were punished by the VP for something or other. How was he going to be able to control these boys if all they were going to do was fight like this?
"They're both first-years aren't they?" The VP asked in disapproval.
Kageyama readied himself on the other side of the court as he bounced the ball. Shōyō also prepared himself in a receiving position. He wouldn't let Kageyama get to him now. Shōyō would prove that he had risen to the challenge to better himself, to improve his volleyball skills.
"Get ready," Kageyama said before throwing the ball up into the air. A jump serve!? The king could do jump serves now? He certainly had improved since their last meeting. With an immense amount of force behind the serve, Shōyō had to dive out of the way before the volleyball could hit him in the face which caused him to fall to the floor.
"Whoa!" Tanaka marveled as he and the others stared in awe. "Not even I can catch that."
"Pathetic." Kageyama scoffed, "How is that any different than last year?"
The initial awe of the serve wore off as Shōyō's expression hardened. He jumped up to his feet with determination in his eyes, "One more try."
"Okay, now cut it out." Daichi tried again to stop them only for it to fall on deaf ears.
"I see the new recruits have no respect for their captain." The VP drawled out unimpressed.
Endo snickered, "Man this is great!" His statement earned a smack on the back of the head from Suga and a disapproving look from Daichi. He just shrugged his shoulders innocently.
Kageyama threw the ball up again for another jump serve. Instead of falling out of the way, Shōyō used his speed to get to the ball. He had some good reflexes, though he lost control of the ball when it hit his forearms. It went straight up into his face and bounced off towards the spectators.
Unaware, the VP turned to Daichi, "If this keeps-"
He didn't get to finish his statement as the volleyball slammed into his cheek. This caused his toupee to fly off of his bald head and land right on Daichi's head. Everyone stared in shock for a moment before Tanaka and Endo tried to stop themselves from dissolving into laughter.
"Oh, man, that was a toupee?" Kageyama asked as he walked over.
Shōyō snorted, "You're just now figured that out. I noticed it at the entrance ceremony."
"Dude, shut up." Tanaka did his best to keep his snickering to himself but was failing. "It's not even that funny."
"You shut up, moron!" Suga yelled at the second-year who had to hang onto Endo to stay standing.
"Captain," the VP said emotionlessly, "a word please."
---
"Luckily we're not in trouble, he doesn't even want an apology," Daichi said to the team as they all lined up in front of him. They all let out a sigh of relief at that. They certainly dodged a bullet after that. "But we have been sworn to secrecy." He then addressed Hinata and Kageyama, "And as for you two-"
"If you had handled the serve it wouldn't have happened in the first place," Kageyama gritted through his teeth to the shorter teen, completely ignoring Daichi. "You're the same clutz you were last year. I can't believe I thought you'd be a challenge."
"You don't know when to quit do you?" Hinata asked with a glare.
Growing fed up with their childish behavior, Daichi shouted, "Can it!" Which instantly silenced the two gaining all of their attention. "There's something I want to tell you. I don't know your reasons for coming to this high school, but I assume you came to win."
"Yeah!" Hinata answered instantly.
As did Kageyama, "Yes, obviously."
"Up until a few years ago, Karasuno's volleyball team could compete with the best of them. They even made it to nationals once. But these days we're eighth in the prefecture. Not terrible, but not good either. And people talk, they call us the Wingless Crows." Daichi started to reminisce, "I remember when Karasuno played in the spring high national tournament. I was a student at a nearby school who happened to be in the neighborhood. Watching them fight those tough opponents in that huge gym in Tokyo, it gave me chills." Hinata remembered the same thing happening to him on that fateful day while headed to the park. "Let's go back one more time!"
An image of playing on the court, the same court that the Tiny Giant had played on, passed through Shōyō's mind. How amazing would it be to play on such a stage! That was his ultimate dream, to be just like his inspiration and it seemed like his new captain had the same idea.
"The nationals, huh?" Kageyama asked with a slight scoff. "Plenty of high schools talk about making it there one day, doesn't mean they'll go."
"What?! You little-"
"I know what you mean." Daichi cut Tanaka off, "but I'm dead serious. If we wanna get there, we need to be a cohesive unit. That means no more run-ins with the VP for one thing. It's not like I'm telling you to be best friends or anything like that. I know back in middle school you two might have been adversaries on opposite sides of the net, but let me be clear, you're on one side now and you need to make peace with that. Is that clear?" He flashed them a terrifying glance that caused shivers to travel up the boys' spines. Daichi placed a hand on each of their shoulders. "I don't care how good you are or how determined you are to play hard. Anyone who lets a petty rivalry get in the way of the team's success gets the boot!" He slammed their applications into their faces now that he had pushed them both out of the gym door. "You two are banned from participating in club activities until you learn to think of yourselves as teammates." The metal doors of the gym then slide shut in their poor faces, locking them out of the club. It took a moment for them to process what had just happened, but when they realized they were not allowed in the club the two first-years screamed.
---
Sakura followed after Kiyoko lazily as they walked through the school. After sharing a few words with Kiyoko, Sarkua found out that she was the team's manager and dealt with most of the behind the scense stuff for them. She even told her about what the team was like and who was on it. Useful information to use since she'll probably be spending a lot of time at their practices.
She explained to the third-year that she was the photographer for the club, and Kiyoko was quite happy to hear that. Despite loving all the boys on the team, she really would like to have another girl around. Some times, they could just be too much, especially Tanaka and Nishinoya. Kiyoko could only hope that having Sakura around for a few practices or games would give her a chance to have a girl friend to hang out with than just the boys.
"Keep talking short stack!" A shout greeted them as they approached the entrance to the gym. To Sakura's dismay, the one who had yelled, was the King of the Court himself, Kageyama Tobio. It was no surprise that he had been yelling at her brother. Oh, how terrible it was to find out that they were going to the same school as that arrogant prick.
"Excuse us," Kiyoko said to the two boys who had suddenly been mesmerized by her beauty. "We need to get through."
The teens moved out of the way to let Kiyoko walk between the two of them to enter the gym. Sakura walked over as well, though she stopped to look between her brother and the king with narrowed eyes. "Why am I not surprised you two are out here?"
Kageyama and Shōyō were still slightly distracted by the upperclassmen to really pay any attention to Sakura, so she just shrugged her shoulders and walked behind her senpai.
"Hey, Kiyoko!" Tanaka jumped over to them once the door was open. "Thanks for your hard work. Oh, let me get that."
Kiyoko shook her head lightly, "No thanks. I can carry it myself."
"Okay then, you look super gorgeous today." Kiyoko just walked away from him without replying. The ignored teen hugged himself as he visibly shivered, to Sakura's confusion, "Oh, man, She's so pretty when she ignores me."
Sakura ventured further into the gym as Suga closed the doors, once again not letting the two first-years into the practice. The orange-haired teen kept her distance for a moment and silently observed them. They certainly looked like a good group of volleyball players, she thought. Tall, lean, and athletic, the perfect combination for a volleyball player. Though she wasn't sure what the team was like now or how they played. After all, they were once a powerhouse school. One would suspect they were at least somewhat talented. Though it's a shame that they fell from that. The Wingless Crows indeed. She would just have to see how they practiced.
Just as the team was going to start a few practices runs, Sakura decided to speak up, "Hello."
The sudden voice drew the team's attention and startled them quite a bit. Standing just to the side of the door was an identical copy of the little ball of sunshine that was just thrown out of the gym by the captain. The team stared wide eyes at the teen who casually standing looking back at them with a raised eyebrow.
"Hinata, how did you get there?" Suga gaped at the sight of the teen.
Endo stared for a long moment before rubbing his eyes as if he had something in them, "am I seeing double?" While the girl in front of them certainly looked like Hinata, he could instantly tell that she was not a boy. He wasn't wrong about this. Endo could definitely tell the difference between a guy or girl, quote him on that.
Tanaka bounced over to her in shock and started to poke her in the cheek, "you're like magic!"
Sakura raised an eyebrow and pushed the second-year's hand away from her face with a scowl. The terrifying look that crossed her face caused a shiver of fear to strike the older boy. To say that Tanaka was frightened by the small girl was an understatement. "Don't touch me, baldy," Tanaka shouted out in offense at the name but was disregarded by the others. Sakura turned to the captain and vice-captain with a bored expression. "I'm Hinata Sakura, that idiot you probably tossed out is my twin brother."
Seeing the mistake that they made they smiled apologetically to her. Daichi scratched the back of his head in embarrassment, "Sorry about that, Hinata-chan."
She shrugged her shoulders indifferently, "no worries."
"It's nice to met you!" Suga smiled towards her kindly.
"Same, I guess." She waved her hand vaguely in the direction of the door where they could hear the two idiots bicker with each other. "I don't know what Shōyō may have done, but I apologize for him, he can be an idiot." Her scowl seemed to deepen even further, "it doesn't help that the King is here as well." The four upperclassmen shared glances with each other. The venom that dripped from her voice as she said the setter's nickname, it was obvious that she is not a fan of Kageyama's.
"Well, let's hope that those two can get over their differences and become teammates," Daichi said encouragingly to his underclassmen.
"Yeah, let's hope," Sakura said, though there was an obvious amount of doubt coating her words. "Anyway, I'm in the photography club, and apparently I'm assigned to take pictures of you guys and stuff. Just so you know. " She shrugged her shoulders.
Endo walked over to her and leaned down so that he could try to be eye-level with his underclassman. "A photographer now, eh? We've got our own paparazzi now," he ran a hand through his hair with a large smirk. "I'm sure you'll find I'm a perfect subject for photos, Hinata-chan. I don't have a bad side." He then stuck a few poses which earned himself a few laughs.
Sakura rolled her eyes, "yeah, yeah, sure."
"Well, I'm Sawamura Daichi--"
"The captain, yes I know," She deadpanned and waved her hand in the general direction of the lady-manager. "Kiyoko-senpai already told me about you guys on the way here."
"Kiyoko talked about me!" Tanaka exclaimed as hearts formed in his eyes.
Sakura eyes the overdramatic teen for a moment before nodding her head. She certainly understood what her senpai meant when she described Tanaka as "over the top".
"We're about to start practice," Suga said approaching the younger girl, "you can stay and watch if you want."
His kind smile caused Sakura to purse her lips and look away. Consideration for the option buzzed around in her head for a moment before she nodded her head. "Sure, I guess I'll take some pictures while I'm here."
What better way to pass the time. After all, her brother certainly wasn't going to leave the school if he was locked out of the practice. She could already see him trying to peek through the windows. So instead of riding back home by herself, she might as well as see how the volleyball team works together. It would definitely give her a better idea of what would be the best method to take pictures of them.
So Sakura pulled out her camera and stationed herself on the sidelines. Occasionally she would help Kiyoko if she saw that she needed help with something or other. Other than that, she stayed out of the way and snapped a few pictures and was content just watching them. Sakura could tell that the team worked well together, they were just missing a few pieces. A libero would be a good addition to the team, maybe another wing spiker or ace, but other than that they were strong, she observed.
Throughout the practice, Endo seemed to be the one who was acting up the most for the camera. It was like he wanted to make his poses more appealing than functional for practice. He was scolded by Daichi for it a few times after he had missed a few sets. She made sure to stay out of their way as she took pictures and analyzed their playing style.
While Sakura wasn't a volleyball player, she understood the game enough. Having Shōyō as her brother forced her to learn nearly everything about the sport. She knew every position, what they did, different attacks, and almost every term related to the sport. In her own conclusion based on her knowledge, she thought that the boys in front of her had potential. The team was rough around the edges for sure, but what team wasn't? Either way, she could see her brother possibly reaching his dreams with this team. At least, she hoped so.
---
Night had fallen and darkness covered the nearly abandoned high school. The volleyball club was most likely one of the only clubs still at the school besides maybe one or two others. Everyone was thoroughly exhausted after the practice that Daichi had put them through. He wasn't kidding when he said he wanted to go to nationals this year. The captain wanted to work his team into shape to actually get there this year.
"Good work everybody!"
The boys started to clean up the gym, putting away the net, collecting the scattered balls, etc. Sakura gathered her things and put them in her white messenger bag and slung it over her shoulders. The practice gave her the perfect opportunity to take action shots of the players and figure out who was the most photogenic. She had to admit, she at least enjoyed watching them a little bit.
It was also a plus that the boys were kind and tolerable. Well, the majority of them were. The team themselves were a very positive bunch. There are worse people that she's had to be stuck around. So having to deal with them wasn't a problem.
Sakura could already tell that Tanaka was probably the most troublesome of the group and a complete goofball. If he wasn't celebrating his skills by taking off his shirt and whipping it around, then he was ogling Kiyoko from afar or declaring his love for her very loudly. Sakura had no idea how Kiyoko dealt with this! She was just glad that Tanaka wasn't doing the same thing to her. There had already been enough attention drawn to her when she had to be introduced to the team, there was no need for Tanka to start gushing over her. Though Sakura was able to catch him saying something along the lines of "Hinata-chan is small and adorable". She just glared at him for that which effectively shut him up for the rest of the practice, to her knowledge.
Another pain, Endo liked to be the center of attention, which was proven to how many times he tried to pose for a picture("Hinata-chan! Make sure to get one of my good side!" "Shut up, Endo and focus!"). Sakura could tell that she wasn't going to like having to deal with him and his attention-seeking personality. Though that wasn't the part that really irked her. His crystal blue eyes always had this spark in them that unsettled Sakura, for some reason. Though she was easily able to hide that fact from everyone. His gaze, whenever he did look at her, was so... accusatory. Like he expected her to say something about him. What did he think she would say? Did he think she would say something about his athletic skills? His arrogance? Either way, she tried not to dwell on it for long.
Daichi could be a pretty intense captain and did his best to keep the team on task and motivated. He did his best to control the more unruly underclassmen, and honestly, was like the dad of the team. Sakura admired his level over leadership as it seemed like the team knew that they had to listen to him as their captain. He had the confidence level that a captain should have. In himself and his team.
Suga encouraged the team to improve their skills if they needed to, a total mom in her opinion. He was the setter of the team which made scense since a setter was the control tower of a team. He basically had the responsibility of pacing the team and keeping them alert. Something that she thought Suga could do quite easily after seeing him control the ball so flawlessly while practicing.
Narita Kazuhito is a pretty mellow guy, someone who certainly wouldn't get on Sakura's nerves(unlike Tanaka or Endo). They had only shared a few words of greeting before he had to get back to practice, but she knew that they would get along. The second-year has a shaved head much like Tanaka, however, he didn't look like a delinquent or as intimidating. He was a second-year, just like Tanaka as well, though they were drastically different from each other, Sakura observed.
Another second-year on the team was a boy who had a light brown shade of hair that reminded Sakura of Izumi. Sakura got to talk with this boy, Kinoshita Hisashi, a bit during practice drills, and he seemed to be a slightly nervous guy. He wasn't anxious in general, but just in his playing style, Sakura supposed. He was kind to her at least, that's all she cared about at the moment.
Ennoshita Chikara was a second-year who seemed to be able to handle Tanaka's craziness the best. He was most likely the buffer between Tanaka's insanity and reality. Ennoshita kept him grounded, for the most part. The brown-eyed, dark-haired upperclassmen always had a kind smile on his face(except when he had to deal with Tanaka) and an air of maturity that some second-years don't have. If she didn't know, Sakura would have thought that he was a third-year.
The manager of the team was a complete sweetheart. Kiyoko has the patient of a saint to be dealing with these boys. She was also obviously a hard worker with all the chores and such that she did for the team. Though Sakura had to wonder how much work she really did as the manager, guess she'll get to see if she hangs around to take pictures of them.
Her thoughts on the team carried a bit from person to person, but overall they were nice. Tanaka and Endo could be a bit much at times, but she'd live. Though now that practice was over, everyone was ready for some rest after their first practice back. "You know what, I bet those two goofballs are thinking right now," Tanaka started as he pulled on his jacket, "that if they can beat us then they'll make the team, right?"
Suga shrugged his shoulders, "Yeah, sure. But all they really have to do is cool off and prove to everybody that they've learned their lesson."
"Did you see those two?" Endo scoffed as he pulled on his jacket, "I highly doubt they'd do that."
"Captain!" The troublesome duo outside shouted which prompted the team to jump in shock before sliding open the doors. "We challenge you to a match!"
"I stand corrected..." Endo drawled out with pursed lips and arms crossed. Next to him, Tanaka laughed loudly as the boys continued to go on their challenge for the team.
Hinata stood strong in front of the upperclassmen, "If we win, you have to let us join."
"Guys, I'm psychic!" Tanaka exclaimed before wincing as he was hit on the back of the head by Endo.
"Now, we want to prove that we finally understand how to play together as teammates." Once again, the two spoke together as if they had been practicing saying it together this entire time.
"How many times did you rehearse that?" Suga asked in amusement.
Sakura watched the interaction from behind the upperclassmen. She was more than happy with not interfering in whatever plan her brother and Kageyama wanted to do. Despite both of them disliking each other, she knew that neither of them would want to admit defeat or be kicked out of the club. After all, both of them were completely volleyball crazy.
Tanaka continued with his laughter that had subsided slightly after Endo's cuff to the back of the head. "This is gold, I can get used to having these clowns on the team!"
"If you lose?" The captain asked with his arms crossed over his chest.
The first-years gasped slightly before Kageyama spoke up. "Then you get to choose the penalty."
"Huh?" Daichi tilted his head with a raised eyebrow. It was an interesting proposition from them. In honesty, he expected them to do something like this to prove themselves to the team. However, he didn't expect them to challenge them like this. He then started to explain, "Club application form, here's an idea we have two other first-years joining the club soon, you'll play against them in a three-on-three match. We do this game every year with our new club so we can get an idea of how they play."
Shōyō's eyebrows furrowed as he pointed to himself and Kageyama, "But if it's going to be three-on-three, then who's going to be our third player?"
"Tanaka, you're with them. Make sure they behave alright?"
"Oh, man, why me?" Tanaka complained as Endo patted him on the back in sympathy. Though he was slightly glad that he wasn't chosen to help them. As much as Endo loved seeing people bicker with each other, Hinata-kun and Kageyama were too much.
"Well, you seem to like them." Daichi shrugged his shoulders.
"Don't drag me into their mess!"
The captain sighed, "That's too bad. I was thinking you'd be the only one tough enough to keep these delinquents in line."
Hearing that, Tanaka perked up. Stroking his ego obviously helped persuade him into doing just about anything, which is something that Sakura filed away in her mind. "Aw, well, why the heck not. When you put it like that! Just stick with me, little man!"
"Anyway," Daichi brought back their attention, "here's the penalty if you lose; for the remainder of my time here at Karasuno, Kageyama cannot be the setter."
At his declaration, Kageyama's eyes widened. Not be the setter? How could Kageyama Tobio not be the setter on the team?!
Shōyō looked up in thought, "Is that the only penalty we have sir?"
"If the setter's aggressive, self-centered and driven by his own ego, the team can't win," Daichi said bluntly which caused Kageyama to glare at him, "What? I'm not saying I'll reject your application to join, I'm sure you'll be well suited to a different position."
"NO WAY, I'M A SETTER!" Kageyama screamed angrily.
"Then win the game." The captain deadpanned, "You're the one who thought you could win without help, right?"
Shōyō bristled, noticing that he hadn't even been addressed by the captain. It was like all that mattered was the great and powerful King of the court, not him. "Hey, uh, but what about me?"
Shōyō was ignored once again as Daichi continued on. "We play on Saturday."
"Come on! I'm over here too, you know?!" The orange-haired boy jumped up and down to try and be noticed. Sakura raised an eyebrow at her twin's desperate attempts to be noticed as she glided around Suga to approach her brother and stand next to him.
Tanaka waved his hand with confidence, "Don't worry, your cool upperclassmen will show you the ropes-"
Suga grabbed the back of Tanaka's jacket before he could finish and dragged him back inside before sliding the door shut with a farewell, "See ya."
"Bye-bye Hinata-chan~!" Sakura scowled at the blond third-year as the doors slid shut.
The doors shut in the first-years faces once again. Shōyō sighed and plopped down on the stairs in seeming exhaustion. Though after having to go through all of that, Sakura gave him the benefit of the doubt. She leaned against the side of the building with an uninterested aura surrounding her. The most frustrated out of the trio was obviously Kageyama, who stomped on the ground, "Damnnit."
"What's wrong?" Shōyō asked the former king, "Are you mad because you're the only one who gets penalized? Even if you're not the setter, I bet you'd figure out a different position just like that. Plus, spikers are cooler than setters anyway. They get to go up and slam the ball!"
Shōyō was just doing his best to try and make the setter feel better. However, it didn't seem like that it was working so much. That was pretty obvious from how Kageyama's shoulders were shaking in anger. Sakura would have said something since her brother was oblivious to it, but she elected not to. Since seeing the King frustrated entertained her.
"SHUT UP!" Kageyama screamed as his anger finally erupted. He spun around and grabbed the front of the shorter boy's shirt. There was a moment where Sakura contemplated getting in between the two of them. After all, she would do anything to make sure that nothing and no one hurt her family. However, she had a feeling that Kageyama wasn't going to really hurt her brother. He was all bark and barely any bite when it came to something like this. So he let it slide, for the moment. Kageyama continued on, "The setter is the team's control tower plus, it's the position that gets the most contact with the ball. It's the greatest position there is because you get to be the ruler. Without the setter to toss the ball, there wouldn't be any spikes for you to hit."
"I know, but even though the setter as an important job you don't really stand out very much, do you?" Shōyō asked as he squirmed in Kageyama's tight grip.
Kageyama rolled his eyes and sighed heavily before letting go of the short teen. He stared down at Shōyō with dark narrowed eyes and his hands on his hips. It almost looked as though he was disappointed in him. "I'm guessing you've never seen a major volleyball tournament in person, have you?"
"No."
"And you?" Kageyama turned his narrowed eyes to the girl leaning on the wall of the gym.
Sakura was slightly surprised that he even addressed her. She thought he was just going to ignore her existence completely, which she would have been fine with. Though now that he has taken to talking to her, guess she'll have to engage with him now. Especially since he'll probably be around her since he's on the team.
She shrugged her shoulders, "I don't care enough to watch it."
Kageyama narrowed his eyes at her, as if asking her why she wouldn't care about volleyball since it was all he ever thought about. He turned back to Shōyō sharply, "You can't tell by the angle they show on tv but pay attention to the end of the court. From there you can see how fast the setter tosses the ball. It flies straight across the court, the ball passes right in front of the face of the other team's blocker, then just when you start to think, 'no way! He's never going to hit that one!' There's a spiker just waiting to strike and he smashes the ball just in time."
From his words, Sakura could tell that he was extremely passionate about volleyball, just like Shōyō. The only real difference in their love for the sport was that Shōyō wanted to be the ace and Kageyama, the setter. It made her think that these two were more similar than she previously thought. Yeah, they're both volleyball-crazy, but Kageyama is arrogant and controlling while Shōyō is humble and shy, at times. Yet they both had this burning passion for the same sport, and they would do anything just to play it. Including teaming up together to ensure they get to join the club.
"Y-yeah," Shōyō stuttered.
"The spiker's job may be flashier but the spiker can't get through without the setter to get the opponent to block and break the wall." Kageyama explained with so much passion lacing his voice. "It's the most important, cool, and challenging position on the court, okay?"
The orange-haired boy pursed his lips, "Yeah, sure, fine, I get it. You wanna be the setter."
Their minds flashed back to the penalty that their soon-to-be captain set for them, which caused Kageyama to grunt. "Damnnit! What with that guy?"
"All you have to do is win. You seemed pretty confident when you challenged them to a match earlier."
Kageyama seemed to think for a moment, his thoughts sticking firm to the idea that he would only set to Tanaka on Saturday. "Okay!" He suddenly exclaimed, "We've got until Saturday to work on your crappy receiving."
"Crappy?!" Shōyō bristled at the accusation, "But we can't get into the gym."
"Ahem," The three then heard Tanaka in the gym. Suspiciously, he was talking a tad bit louder than normal as he seemed to angle himself to face the window. "I forget we start practice at 7 AM tomorrow, don't we?"
"Uh, yeah, is that a problem?"
Tanaka quickly tried to cover his suspicious and loud question, "Ah, not at all. Anyway, do you think the vice-principal's nappy rug made it out alive."
"We're not supposed to talk about that," Daichi deadpanned to the younger boy.
Endo piped up with a chuckle as he remembered what happened only a few hours ago, "it was still funny though."
"Endo."
Outside, a plan that the first-years came up with silently was mutually agreed on. "Alright then, 5 AM," Kageyama said curtly before the two boys started to walk off beside each other. Sakura watched them with a small smirk, seeing that the competition between these two was certainly going to entertain her for a while.
Shōyō nodded his head, "Don't be late."
"I won't."
Sakura watched in annoyance as the two idiots started to race each other to the exit of the school. She would let the two of them run on their own, there was no need for her to chase after them. Especially since they were far faster than her. So, she just lazily started to walk after them, with her bag slung over her shoulder and her brother's in her hand. He would realize that he left his bag at some point. Might as well as be a helpful sister to her impulsive brother.
---
Sakura yawned loudly as she sat on the stairs leading to the gym. It was five in the morning and she was not happy. Mornings are tough for her as it is, but being woken up at about four just to get here on time was something that definitely made her grumpy. She didn't even have to come to this! This was Shōyō's thing and had nothing to do with her. Sakura would much rather be sleeping in for another few hours instead of sitting on the stairs to a locked gym. Yet here she was. All because Shōyō said that it: "wasn't safe for her to ride her bike by herself and as the older brother, he has to keep his imouto safe!" She had such a caring brother... good grief.
"Should have seen that coming," Shōyō said defeatedly as he tried to open the gym doors, "it's locked."
"Okay, let's go through the window," Kageyama said casually as if he hadn't just suggested committing a crime.
Shōyō turned to him with wide eyes at the idea, "Are you crazy? We'd end up getting expelled."
"Let him do it, Shō." Sakura mumbled out while leaning on her knees, "If he gets expelled, one less pain we have to deal with." Kageyama glowered down at her which she returned with one with equal ferocity.
There was then another pair of footsteps heading in their direction as a tired voice spoke up, "Man, 5 AM is too early."
"Tanaka-san?"
The second-year yawned loudly as he approached the trio. "You got two hours, and then beat it." He flashed the gym keys he had volunteered to take the other night to the teens.
Shōyō's eyes sparkled in admiration, "You're awesome!"
"Thank you!" Kageyama exclaimed.
Sakura deadpanned, "It's cold, let us in."
Tanaka laughed loudly, almost sounding insane in Sakura's opinion. "Yeah, who's your hero first-years? Call me Tanaka-senpai!"
"Tanaka-senpai!" Shōyō and Kageyama chorused.
"What was that?!"
"Tanaka-senpai!"
"How about you, Hinata-chan?" Sakura just pinned a glare on the older boy which caused him to freeze up. Like hell would she call him senpai right now. She was far too tired for any of this. He chuckled and turned to the door to open it. "Okay, punks. Let's get cracking."
Though it seemed like things were certainly not going to start out on a good note since the boys were already starting to bicker. "Get out of my way," Shōyō exclaimed as the two boys fought to even walk through the door. "I'm going to be the first one on that court!"
"You can't be first if Tanaka is already on it, dumbass!" Kageyama yelled as he pushed against Shōyō.
"Then why don't you let me go!?"
Tanaka groaned, already knowing that this was probably going to be the longest two hours of his life. "We don't have time for this."
Fed up with their childish behavior, Sakura pushed the two bickering boys which caused them to fall on the floor tangled together. She scoffed down at them with narrowed eyes as the annoyance was clear in her eyes. Lightning stuck behind her as she glared at her brother and his new teammate on the ground, "stop being annoying."
Shōyō bowed his head from Sakura's narrowed eyes, "sorry, imouto."
Kageyama looked up at Tanaka apologetically. "Sorry, boss, we've got a long way to go on those combinations."
They turned on the lights of the gym to get ready for their first practice. Sakura situated herself to sit by the entrance and pulled out some work to do for school. It wasn't like she had much to do, but she needed something to pass the time. Besides, it's not like she was completely interested in watching her brother and the former king fight with each other. Honestly, they were like an old married couple!
"Wow! Check it out!" Shōyō marveled as he stared around the gym.
"You were just here yesterday..." Tanaka pointed out lamely.
It didn't matter that he had been here already, Shōyō would always be in awe at the same gym that the Tiny Giant practiced in. Not only that but his first real practice with high school volleyball players. Not that practicing with Koji, Izumi, or Sakura wasn't good. It was just different getting to do with other volleyball players who were also trying to improve their skills instead of people just trying to be stand-ins. Either way, Shōyō was ready to get to spike some real sets!
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
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