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When Hinata first heard of a certain highest jumper somewhere in Tokyo, he immediately went ecstatic.
Even though the aforementioned person is a basketball player, he cares only for the fact that this person—maybe, just maybe—could be the one. (Not in a romantic context) This said highest jumper is another miracle in the middle of evolving, surely he knows how it feels like to have taken a true form on midair. He often imagines if he were jumping not for volleyball’s sake—this includes basketball, in which he portrays himself taking the ball as his body moves to the flow of the air and slam dunks the ball before he drops himself and stands back on the ground.
But, really, even the strongest decoy couldn’t hold his curiosity and vivid imagination down.
"Eh? The highest jumper in basketball?" Daichi scratches the back of his head. "I haven’t really heard of him before, but there is one, probably. Tokyo is filled with very strong basketball players, that’s for sure.”
"True. In fact, some of the players belonged to a group of extremely talented prodigies called ‘The Generation of Miracles’," Sugawara states. "I believe any of you have ever heard of them?"
"You mean THE Generation of Miracles?” Noya immediately pipes up in excitement. “Those kids are nut-jobs! You know that some of them have crazy abilities, like formless shoots, copying techniques, or shooting from any range! They would be like ‘Guwaah!’ or ‘Gyapow!’ or-or ‘Ka-boom!’, imagine that!”
"It’s not like something explodes when they play," Tsukishima mumbles under his breath. "They’re probably just those kind of above average guys."
"Uwaaah, that is so cool! I want to meet them!" Hinata expresses his admiration. "But I really reallyreallyyyy want to see The Highest Jumper the most! Was he a part of them?”
"Hmmm, I dunno?"
"Why do we even have this talk, anyway," Kageyama huffs. "We’re here to play volleyball and to ace our rivals no matter the matches, not to see guys passing and dribbling balls to dunk them into rings."
"Hey, don’t be stiff about that, would ya?" Tanaka slaps his back rather hard (until the setter nearly coughs). "We still have 48 hours in this place and we just finished our first practice game. It’s not bad at all to check how these city folks play sports besides volley, right?"
As they walk through the streets, Hinata glances upon a group of high school boys in the court across him. The bright haired boy squints his eyes as he views the joy of basketball right in front of him—he could see them smirking and laughing as they yell taunts and pass the ball from one another. An upward curve unexpectedly rises from his face, since Hinata recalls of the feeling—but, really, he wonders if he were among them would be as fun as him playing with Karasuno.
Some of them are wearing jackets in black, white, and red, though Hinata couldn’t read the name embroidered in the front right side. The ball now is in the hands of one of the tallest boys there until the moment where he easily passes all of the players as his feet begin to take him to heights—
.
.
(As Hinata’s bright eyes captures the sight, he holds his breath slowly.)
I definitely know this kind of sheer excitement! This rather impetuous feeling you get when you feel the air sweeps your face and—
.
"Oi, don’t space out!"
Unfortunately, Kageyama decides to ruin his moment with a flick of his finger upon the decoy’s forehead.
"Owww, that hurts, you idiot!" Hinata protests. "Why would you do that?"
"I told you not to get your head filled with nonsenses," the setter replies sternly. "Come on, let’s get going!"
Hinata pouts as they go to a certain familiar restaurant specialized in okonomiyaki menus somewhere ahead of them.
~*~
The place is quite full after Karasuno walks in since they’re on the weekends. Of course, the second years (as well as Hinata and, not-so surprisingly, Kageyama) immediately grab the empty seats for four and ask for the menus (which brings Daichi scolding them for being impulsive). Yamaguchi and Tsukishima sit on the mat, a table next to Suga, Asahi, and Sugawara.
As greedy as they are, Hinata and Kageyama order three kinds of okonomiyaki for each of them as their senpais order four kinds. Hinata and Noya promise each other to share their okonomiyakis, Kageyama is being a prick about sharing his food, to which Tanaka glares at him for being an ungrateful and stingy bastard.
"Speaking of which, did you guys see the dudes playing basketball at the court across the street?" Hinata asks them, very thrilled. "I just discovered an amazing sight!"
"Woaaah, tell me, Shouyou!" Noya’s eyes sparkle as Tanaka creeps closer to hear the story. Kageyama scoffs, rather uninterested and annoyed.
"Is it just me or slam dunks are ten—no, twenty times more incredible to watch in person?” Hinata begins. “There is this reallyyyyy cool guy who made me go ‘uwaaah!’ when he received the ball from his friend and he was like ‘zoom-zing-za-zam!’ and ‘gyowaa!’ because he was so fast! He was so pumped up and I couldn’t help but I was feeling excited as well!”
"Sounds awesome!" Noya exclaims. "What does he look like, anyway?"
"He’s very tall, probably a little taller than Tsukishima," the bright-haired boy explains. "And also fierce! Though, I find his eyebrows weird… ugh. But, hey, I think he’s the coolest of them all! Do you know why?"
"Oh, please do tell," Tanaka grins.
Meanwhile, another group of people arrives in front of the door as their eyes sweep the place to look for unoccupied tables. Some of them are lucky enough to take the recently cleaned ones, while the others are hoping that somebody are close to finishing their dishes so that they could occupy more seats right away.
This also includes a certain tall male who seems to look very agitated with his jacket stained at the side with his shorter friend beside him in a straight face.
"I will pay you again for this, Kuroko…"
"I can’t help it, Kagami-kun—you could say that I was unlucky."
"Don’t justify your reasons similar to that astrology-obsessed four-eyed freak!"
Unfortunately, it is just only the two of them who doesn’t get any place left for them. Four of their teammates happen to sit next to the other side of Karasuno’s third years as they ramble of how they’re feeling nostalgic (and how coincidentally the table they’re choosing is the exact same as the one they were seated before). Curious, Sugawara squints to read the name on their jerseys, which is written as…
"Seirin?"
Daichi tilts his head to the side. “What’s the matter?”
"Ah, it’s nothing," Sugawara purses his lips. "Does that name sound familiar to you?"
"Seirin, you mean?" the captain raises his eyebrows. "It is said that they’re known to be the rising new star among high school basketball teams, especially in Tokyo. What do you think, Asahi?"
"E-eh?" Asahi nervously responds. "To be honest, I have no particular acknowledging in basketball teams… but they seem to be very interesting."
When Karasuno’s ace states his opinion, he carefully takes a look of each of the said team’s members—without actually noticing that one of them happens to be very threatened of him even though he sits from afar.
(“Something bothers you, Furihata?”
"I don’t know if it’s just me, but… I’m feeling very anxious of someone in this place.")
As Hinata keeps enthusiastic in telling the basketball player whom he adores before while they’re eating, Tanaka realizes of a casualty. Quietly he nudges Noya, who wriggles his eyebrows in confusion as the bald male cocks his head towards a certain someone. Noya couldn’t help but smirk. Seeing this, Hinata’s expression immediately averts to suspicion.
"Are you senpais planning on something?"
"Not really," Tanaka shrugs his shoulders. "We just happened to feel bored. Sitting here kills our asses, really."
"Yeah," Noya nods in affirmation. "Hey, uh, why don’t you tell us the rest of the story later? We’re gonna move away. Sorry, Shouyou!"
"WH-WHAT? But the story is—"
"You still have Kageyama, don’t be such a whiny little brat. Gotta go!"
Hinata’s face turns into exasperation as the second years quickly leave their seats. He then turns his face to Kageyama, who immediately interjects him harshly before he opens his mouth to beg, “No, I don’t want to hear it. Don’t talk to me.”
"But—"
“No.”
They keep eating in silence for awhile, though for some reason Hinata feels quite uneasy as the air around him goes a little colder. A presence comes near him, but he doesn’t acknowledge of what kind. Or maybe it’s just his feeling? Kageyama seems to look fine, his mind says as he glances the setter. He takes a deep breath and continues eating…
… not until he receives an eerie-toned query.
"Excuse me, are these seats taken?"
.
.
.
.
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"UWAAAAHHH!!!"
The middle blocker yelps and reflexively jumps to the side (while accidentally pushes Kageyama to the side, making him yell, “What the hell is wrong with you?!”) when he notices someone who has been there for awhile just to know whether they could take a seat for a meal. Apparently, the aura emits from the bright blue haired male, Hinata quickly concludes. He is not just as surprised as Hinata, but the orange-haired boy’s brain short-circuits as he realizes that he is also right in front of him.
Yes, that person who he has been talking about all that time before.
OH, MY GOD, IT’S THE HIGHEST JUMPER! HE’S HERE!
"Yes, please! Go ahead, we don’t mind!"
"Thank you."
Looking at Hinata’s beaming eyes makes Kageyama wonder what is on that shorter boy’s mind. He is rather starstruck, especially towards the starving looking tall redhead who orders numerous kinds of okonomiyaki (he makes it sound like he’s chanting a series of incantations, Kageyama thinks). He doesn’t really see what’s so interesting about him—he seems to be… extremely annoying. And a greedy heavy eater. And tall, obnoxious, with that branched eyebrows…
… wait.
.
.
.
"This really brings back memories, right, Kagami-kun?"
Kuroko Tetsuya, Seirin’s phantom sixth man, is having a rather pleasant meal as he fidgets the menu’s corners. Kagami Taiga, his utmost closest acquaintance, rolls his eyes as he answers his teammate reluctantly, “The last time we got here, we sat with two of your so-called infamous miracle friends. Yeah, that sounds nostalgic indeed.”
"Right in the same place," Kuroko adds. "Unfortunately, we don’t get to have an encounter with interesting people right now. It would be splendid if we did."
"I’m not looking forward to it."
.
.
.
… isn’t he, actually…
Slow on the uptake, Kageyama begins to realize. If he noticed before, he wouldn’t have let them order something in the same table as him right now. He could feel himself boiling from the inside, as his mind frenzies and his brain starts to fry itself. He stares the redhead piercingly, looking very aggravated.
Annoyed, the taller male scoffs at him.
"What are you looking at?" Kagami growls. "Do you have any problem?"
"Nothing," Kageyama replies indignantly.
"Nothing? Then why are you staring at me like that, you punk?"
"I just don’t like having you here, that’s all."
"Kagami-kun, please calm yourself down," Kuroko quietly says to which Kagami sighs; meanwhile, Hinata pleads his own teammate, "No, it’s okay, Kageyama! Please let him sit here with us, I haven’t even had the chance to talk to him! Just ignore him, okay?"
"… Fine, whatever."
.
.
.
"That table is ridiculous, indeed."
Seirin’s captain, Hyuuga, recalls a momentary flashback as he points over the table where the rookie duo sits. “It’s like having deja vu all over again,” he utters. “Anyway, where do those two come from?”
"Had no idea," Kiyoshi shrugs. "Do they even play basketball?"
"Maybe not, I guess…" Izuki curls his lips inwards. "And Coach, stop staring at them as if you were to expect an occurrence of chaos."
"You know what, guys, probably it’s just me… but I think it’s going to be interesting seeing them," Riko smirks as she glues her eyes towards Karasuno’s oddball duo.
.
.
.
"Umm, excuse me… Your name is Kagami, right?"
After a long silence, Kagami looks at the person who calls his name. He lazily mumbles a low-toned, “Yeah?” as he slices a large piece from his okonomiyaki and shoves it to his mouth. Hinata gulps nervously, his hands begin to shake in uncertainty. He keeps telling himself to calm down—he shouldn’t have his admiration to take complete control of him, otherwise he will lose his cool.
"Well, I just want to say that… you’re really incredible,” Hinata starts, brushing his hair to the side to make him feel a little relaxed. “I happened to see you play at the court before I came here, and your jump was mesmerizing. Eh… is that too much to tell? I-I’m sorry, you’re just amazing that’s all!”
Snap.
Kageyama’s hard grip resulting himself to break his chopsticks into two.
Some of the Seirin seniors choke themselves when they accidentally overhear Hinata’s expression of amazement. Tanaka and Noya giggle as they elbow each other and vaguely point their fingers to the strongest decoy. Sugawara smiles, Asahi is rather confused, and Daichi finally figures out what has been going all along. Tsukishima decides it is not a matter to be cared (although he would have been lying if he didn’t admit wanting to find out what the highest jumper looks like).
"Thanks," Kagami lightly responds after he takes a huge swallow. "Hey, do you guys come from around here?"
"No! We’re from Miyagi Prefecture, more precisely Karasuno High School," Hinata says. "We’re actually from a volleyball team and we’re here after a practice game. And by the way, my name is Hinata Shouyou! My friend beside me here is Kageyama Tobio."
"Nice to meet you, Hinata-san, Kageyama-san," Kuroko offers his hand, to which Hinata takes it steadily. "I am Kuroko Tetsuya, and the rest of us here are from Seirin High School. I believe you have recognized my friend here, Kagami Taiga."
"Oh, yes!" Hinata flicks his finger. "I first heard of him when someone told me about Tokyo’s highest jumper in basketball, which might also relate to… what was it again? Miracle basketball guys?"
"You mean ‘The Generation of Miracles’?" Kagami corrects. "Yeah, I happen to know them since they’re such a pain in the ass and—wait, what did you just call me?"
Hearing this, Kuroko discreetly grins as his mind immediately constructs a mischievous plan.
"You’re right, Hinata-san. Kagami-kun is actually Tokyo’s Highest Jumper,” Kuroko proceeds to explain. “The people belonged in ‘The Generation of Miracles’ are his close friends, as he often engages in one-on-one plays with them. You can call them the best of friends, if you prefer.”
"WHAT? IS THAT TRUE, KAGAMI-SAN?"
Suddenly, the whole members of Karasuno and Seirin team avert their gazes to the rookie odd duos.
"NO! No, Kuroko’s just making that up!" Kagami declines fervently. "He’s the one who’s actually friends with them since middle school!"
"I’m too ordinary to become friends with them. They never really notice me, anyway," Kuroko deadpans while sipping his drink. "Oh, and another thing you should know about Kagami-kun is that he is referred as ‘The Miracle Who Did Not Become One of the Miracles’ since he didn’t go to the same school as them. Despite so, his capabilities are on par to that of ‘The Generation of Miracles’, so you could say that he is one of the miracles, although uncredited."
"WOW, THAT IS JUST AWESOME!" Hinata blurts out boisterously. "Seriously, I mean, I have never seen anyone jumped so high and graceful at the same time besides ‘The Small Giant’… well, now that I have met you, you just captured me, Kagami-san! Like, literally!"
At the other side, Hyuuga covers his face with his hand to hold himself from laughing too hard, Izuki couldn’t hold his wide grin, Riko winks to the guys (“I told you!”), and Kiyoshi casually smiles. Mitobe eyes them as Koganei comments, “Wow, we sure met a lot of bizarre people lately, huh?” and the Seirin’s first year trio wonders why Kagami and Kuroko are so lucky.
"Eh… Thanks for saying that, I guess?" Kagami bewilders a little. "But, really, if it weren’t for Kuroko, I wouldn’t have known ‘The Generation of Miracles’—all credit belongs to him."
"No, the credit actually goes to you, Kagami-kun,” Kuroko disapproves. “I am just a shadow as you are the light. After all, you’re Seirin’s ace, and I’m just a member of the team who is willing to do my best to help us to become #1 in Japan.”
There is a glimpse of sparkle when Hinata’s ears catch the statement.
"Ehhh? You’re also the ace of the team?!" Hinata pipes up. "That is some major business of awesome going on! Actually, I want to become an ace of my team too!"
Snap.
The chopstick that was once split into two has become three as Kageyama grits his teeth hard.
As for the Karasuno team’s reactions, the second years fuss over the bet they have planned (“I told you he’s friends with ‘The Generation of Miracles’!” Noya asserts. “You better be buying me ice-cream tomorrow!”), Sugawara chuckles, Asahi scratches the back of his head awkwardly, and Daichi sighs in exasperation. Seeing Hinata, Tsukishima says to Yamaguchi, “I’m glad I don’t have to be around near them.”
.
Really, why does he have to keep talking to him like that? Idiotic shorty…
Kageyama has never disliked anyone as much as how he feels towards a certain third year captain of a rival team. Generally, he is not the type of person who is easily open and greets everyone with radiance and a smile; contrast to his rather annoying friend. But, then again, it is not as if he wouldn’t care if he were treated unequally, as in being someone with whom you would rather have a distance. First impressions haven’t always been easy for him.
Though, he has condemned himself that basketball players are one of his pet peeves.
Peering at Kagami, somehow it sends him burning deep down. His presence has brought him to a high amount of displease and discomfort, probably because Hinata is too busy pestering him all along? Even when the shorter boy initiated a conversation about ‘The Highest Jumper’, it made him very disturbed. Especially after Hinata states that Kagami is incredible, since those words are said and supposed to belong to him only.
… Wait, what?
"Hey, Kageyama, what are you—"
"Let’s go."
Suddenly, Kageyama grabs Hinata’s hand forcefully and proceeds to drag him away, ignoring Kuroko and Kagami who change their stares at him. “Wh-what the hell are you doing?!” Hinata berates. “We haven’t even finished eating yet!”
"I don’t care," Kageyama sternly answers. "I want to eat somewhere else."
Unfortunately for the middle blocker, the setter’s grip is harder than his own strength to keep him down. Kageyama pursues to take the orange-haired boy with all of his might as Hinata chants a yell, “Let me go!” and the whole restaurant wonders why they are even there to watch the scene, especially among the Karasuno members who get secondhand embarrassment. When he finally reaches the door, the setter pushes it to the side and goes out before closing it again.
Everyone waits.
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Schrack.
The harsh blowing wind, followed with drops of rain which slowly increases, eventually brings Kageyama and Hinata back to the restaurant. Upset, the taller male walks quietly while trying to ignore Kagami and Kuroko with Hinata tailing him from behind. Both of them sit in their original seats at their table again, picking up their chopsticks and continuing their meal.
As for the rest of the Seirin team…
"Don’t you think it’s familiar?" Izuki asks. "I think I have seen this scene before…"
"Without a doubt," Hyuuga states. "This is a deja vu after all."
"I don’t know what you guys are talking about," Kiyoshi laughs lightly. "But I think we just gained more people worth to remember."
He is not particularly wrong about that.
~*~
"I’m really sorry for all the fuss my juniors have made."
Daichi apologizes sheepishly when both teams have finished eating as they stand in front of the restaurant before leaving. He thinks it would be good if they gave a proper greeting and a more pleasant introduction to the whole team. Scratch that, Sugawara came up with the idea to do so just to fulfill his curiosity over the so-called rising star team, although previously Daichi prefers to let them off rather than dragging everyone down to the matter.
"They’re just excited to meet a lot of new people, that’s all," the captain explains with a chuckle. "Forgive us if we seemed to have made you uncomfortable."
"No, that’s okay," Hyuuga says level-headedly. "Although not so often, we enjoy new companies too. It’s nice having all of you here, uh… I’m sorry, where do you come from again?"
"Karasuno High, originated from Miyagi Prefecture."
Both of the captains then shake hands. “I’m Sawamura Daichi, the team’s captain,” the volleyball team leader introduces himself first, then followed with the man in the glasses, “I’m Hyuuga Junpei, Seirin’s captain. Pleased to meet you.”
In the mean time, Izuki perceptively commences a foreword about himself with an extensive pun-cabulary, as Noya is the only person who is quite amazed by Seirin’s vice captain’s wordsmith skills. Sugawara enjoys a hearty and peaceful conversation with Kiyoshi, while Tanaka tries to stare piercingly right at the soul to Mitobe. Trying to make a good first impression, Asahi decides to approach Seirin’s first years, but Furihata immediately yelps when he sees Karasuno’s ace coming towards his way (Daichi quickly sends him back before Asahi could even say something, of course). Tsukishima, though, is not willing to listen to any of Koganei’s outbursts as Riko describes herself to Yamaguchi as ‘having natural talent in cooking’ (to which the first year is concerned whether he should believe her or not).
As for the rookie odd duos, Kageyama is the only one who has no interest in engaging himself to any interactions.
"It’s very nice to meet both of you and the whole Karasuno team," Kuroko speaks composedly. "I hope we get to see each other again when you come over to Tokyo again."
"Of course!" Hinata grins. "I would like to see you play in a match soon! Probably with one of the miracles? And especially I would like to see the best jump you can execute, Kagami-san!"
"There’s no need for you to use honorifics, really," Kagami rolls his eyes. "And I can’t really promise you about the matches, though."
"I think Aomine-kun is willing to have one-on-ones with you and it would be a good play for Hinata-san to watch."
"Hell to the no, Kuroko."
The power forward takes a quick glance to the setter, who has been glaring at him all along. He could feel a large sense of threat coming from him, but in the end, why does he have to mind? Probably, one day, he could do something about him soon when they meet again.
At the end of the day, both teams walk into separate ways after gathering more acquaintances worth knowing.
~*~
"Karasuno, huh…"
Hyuuga exhales after they stop in front of the terminal. The dusk has arrived, time surely has passed quickly. As the bus will have arrived in ten minutes, Karasuno quickly becomes a main topic of the talk. “From the Miyagi Prefecture, right? Like from what we have heard in the bus before,” he confirms. “Do you remember what those guys looked like?”
"You mean in the red jerseys?" Koganei adds. "I think those guys are from a school called Neko-something."
"What an odd name for a school," Izuki comments. "Though, in my personal opinion, the name suits rather purrfectly for their nature."
"From what I have heard, they were once known as ‘The Fallen Champions’ as well as ‘The Flightless Crows’," Kiyoshi says. "As we all are, I think they’re onwards their way on becoming #1 in the country once more. Let’s just hope the best for them, since according to me they’re really good people."
"It’s nice getting along with others and hoping for their best," Riko purses her lips. "But we have more matters to be concerned about."
When the bus arrives, the sky begins to go dark as the lights begin to glimmer. Despite so, silence can never capture them, since Seirin couldn’t be more as lively as ever.
end.
~*~
Omake
"You finally get to see him, right, Kagami-kun?"
"What do you mean?"
“‘The Second Small Giant’. What do you think of him?”
"… I think his jumping abilities are just as amazing, as I much as I would like to know how he plays."
"Don’t worry, Kagami-kun. We’ll get to see them soon."
.