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It’s the first practice match of second year, and Hinata is vibrating in excitement as the volleyball team of Osato High School filters into Karasuno’s first gymnasium. Kageyama has long resolved himself Hinata’s insatiable exuberance and has even come to embrace it as motivation for himself.
He and Yamaguchi are carrying the net post when he sees them walk in.
They are first years now, but when he last saw them, they were second years in middle school, firmly entrenched on the sidelines of Kitagawa Daiichi’s mighty on-court team. The water fetchers. Spare parts. The guys who mocked Hinata and his team before their fateful tournament match.
Kageyama barely recalls their names, but he will always remember that moment, one of many burned into his brain from that day.
But he decides not to mention that he knows them at all. That was a different time, and he is a different Kageyama than the old King of the Court. Every morning, he wakes up and reminds himself that banishing his old self is a task he will have to complete every minute of every day.
The gym is set up quickly, and warm-ups begin shortly after. As expected, the opposing team gapes at Nishinoya’s Rolling Thunder (Kageyama still can’t believe how utterly cool his senpai is). Tanaka makes a loud joke about the name, Ennoshita tells them to line up and stop wasting time, and the whole team breathes a sigh of relief that Nishinoya is there.
Soon, they begin spiking practice, and that’s when Kageyama hears it. His name. His other name — the one he desperately tries to forget. Laughter. One of them even points at him, and Kageyama can’t move. The ball thrown to him hits his face, but he can’t even feel it.
His heart hammers erratically and it’s so very loud in his ears.
Somewhere in the back of his mind, Kageyama registers that Ukai is yelling at him to ‘set the damn ball’, but his fingers are frozen mid-set and his attention glued to those two former kouhai and their mocking tone.
He doesn’t notice that several more of his teammates have picked up on this, including the captain, but he does hear a new voice now.
“Why don’t you come over here and say that to my face!” Hinata shouts at the two first years.
Now Kageyama can’t hear anything but silence as he lowers his stupidly suspended hands and stares at Hinata, who his pushing up his already short sleeves and charging towards the other side of the net. “Don’t you dare call him that. You don’t know him at all!”
Kageyama’s mouth is hanging open, but no one looks more dumbstruck than the two who currently bear the brunt of tiny-but-ferocious Hinata’s rage. When Hinata, who is easily ten centimeters shorter than either of them, stops short of bowling them over, he points at Kageyama and says, “That isn’t the King of the Court. That’s Kageyama Tobio. He’s the best setter in the whole country, and he’s Karasuno now. If you don’t like it, you can leave. All of you!”
The only sound in the gym is the faint dribble of a neglected ball. Kageyama snaps back to attention and sees that Yachi is the one who dropped the ball because she is busy gawking at Hinata.
Something warm blooms in Kageyama’s chest, even when he recognizes the irony of the scene in front of him — so different than the first time the four of them had stood in one place. Hinata. The boy who will play volleyball with literally anyone who is willing (and sometimes unwilling) would rather not play than have a match against someone who calls Kageyama by that hated name.
He knows he’s blushing, but he can’t stop.
It’s with a heavy sigh that Kageyama follows Hinata under the net and puts a hand on his shoulder and says, “Hinata, you need to calm down.”
Hinata wheels around and glares at him. “Didn’t you hear them? How could you hear what they said and not be angry?”
“I’m . . . not angry?” Kageyama thinks out loud, and he realizes that he’s not.
It isn’t the first time Kageyama’s heard the moniker he loathes so much, and it won’t be the last. He knows that. But it isonly when he sees Hinata willing to throw an entire team out of the gym that he truly understands that he is not that person anymore and never will be as long as this ball of fire stands next to him on the court.
The strange air in the gym begins to dissipate when Osato’s coach grabs both of the boys who had razzed Kageyama by the backs of their shirts. “You two, run laps until you learn some respect.”
To his immense surprise, the team captain of Osato approaches Kageyama and bows. “I apologize for my kouhai. I’ve heard them say stuff about you before and I never stopped it, and I apologize for that, too. I saw your match last Spring High against Seijou, and there was no king on that court. Please allow us to compete today.”
Blinking at this bizarre turn of events, Kageyama manages to stutter out a reply. “O-of course. There is nothing to be sorry for as long as you try your best to win, because we’ll do our best to beat you.”
The captain smiles at Kageyama. “Right you are, Kageyama-kun. Now, how about we get back to business.” He extends a hand, and Kageyama gratefully shakes it so this weirdness can be put to rest.
Spiking practice resumes. “Nice kill, Kinoshita-kun!” Kageyama calls to one of their first years, his senpai’s younger brother. Next, Tanaka charges up with a lung-ful of gusto, and Kageyama gives him the right-at-the-net location the vice-captain loves.
Finally, in line, is Hinata, who looks at Kageyama with a heavy air of expectation and confidence and calls, “Sa koi!” Kageyama’s heart thuds in reply as he delivers the drop set that Hinata loves so much and he thinks to himself that he will never tire of that gleam in Hinata’s eyes.