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“CONGRATULATIONS!” The chorus of voices bellowed before the four impending graduates of Karasuno High School. “We believe in you!” The soon to be former classmates each dropped into a respectful bow, or in Tsukishima’s case a respectful, slight incline, while Takeda-sensei and Coach Ukai beamed on with pride at their flock of third-years. With graduation set to take place the next afternoon, the volleyball team had gathered together for one last celebration.
When Takeda-sensei originally floated the idea of hosting a small ceremony of their own to commemorate the third-years moving on, there had been a brief moment where Kageyama and Yamaguchi had panicked that each of their senpai had come down with some sort of terminal illness; which had caused Yachi to spiral as well when she heard the wheezed words of Kiyoko’s not at all accurate fate. Thankfully, the chaos only lasted a few minutes as it was eventually cut down by Ukai’s enormous baritone wail of, “Shut the hell up you dramatic pipsqueaks! No one’s dying, it’s just a party!”
Once all the nerves were successfully calmed, the planning stages had begun. A cake was ordered, confetti was purchased and the small gym, which had become almost like a sanctuary for several members of the team, was reserved to host the proper goodbye that each of them was entitled to. After their run at Nationals, everyone was faced with the reality that there wasn’t going to be a ‘next year’ for this team in particular. Karasuno would continue on, but this exact makeup, this group of individuals wouldn't be the same. Four faces that had come to symbolize a steady foundation and constant support would be missing. Instead, new faces would be joining their club, entering their huddle before matches, and likely seeing them as the new pillars of Karasuno’s Volleyball Team.
In some ways, it was a terrifying reality, but it was also exciting.
Music played in the background, going pretty much ignored by the occupants of the gym as they chatted with one another and simply enjoyed the atmosphere of each other’s company. When the evening had started to come to an end, Takeda had clapped his hands together until everyone’s eyes and attention were on him. Though the teacher was smaller in stature, there was no denying he commanded the absolute respect of his team. Each of them were acutely aware of how indebted they were to their sensei; the man who saw the passion and dreams of his students and became determined to make them a reality.
“Despite all of our time together, I can honestly say that I still do not know enough to call myself an expert in volleyball. There are still an alarming number of times where Coach Ukai explains something to you boys and I am completely lost and simply nodding my head along.” Takeda was blushing as he made the admission, although the reason for the blush was a toss up between actual embarrassment or the flask that Ukai had been poorly disguising in his pocket since the beginning of the night. If there was embarrassment, that was quickly washed away when the resident idiots of the team rushed to sympathize with their teacher and proclaim they had non-volleyball related moments at the school where they had done the same thing. “Well…” Takeda sighed, “that is a little concerning, but I’m going to let that go for now.”
Everyone shared a small chuckle at their sensei’s words before the man picked back up. “As I was saying, I do not pretend to know a lot about this sport but I do like to think that as a teacher, I know a lot about my students.” The smaller man moved so he was now standing before all four of the soon to be graduates, umber eyes brimming with tears of pride. “Daichi, Koushi, Asahi, and Kiyoko…I know that each of you are going to become good people, people that I will be proud to say were my students.”
The words were met with an immediate reaction from all of the third-years. While Daichi’s broad shoulders pushed himself into a wider and more confident stance at the assurance of his mentor, Kiyoko pulled her own body inward and her cheeks were adorned with the faint touches of a pink blush. Meanwhile, Asahi had practically begun sobbing to the utter delight of one Sugawara Koushi, who was using the excuse of laughing at his lanky friend as a means to camouflage the tears gently streaming down his own face as being at Asahi’s expense.
As Ennoshita looked around the room, he noticed everyone else had been affected by Takeda’s rousing speech. It hardly came as a surprise to the second-year student, given their sensei always seemed to know exactly the right words to say before a match to inspire his crows. Even if the metaphors used were a bit complex for their more simple-minded members, the essence of the delivery was enough to light a fire within the rag-tag group each and every time. So, the collection of muffled sniffles coming from a majority of his teammates and the boisterous declarations of love from Tanaka and Nishinoya that came as a result of Takeda’s speech were pretty much expected. As was a certain emotionally constipated blonde first-year trying to pretend he had remained stoic through the impassioned words by refusing to make eye contact with anyone that was not the beams of the gym ceiling.
“Do you think Takeda-sensei will say something like that to us next year?” Ennoshita was pulled out of his own musings by the words of Kinoshita, his fellow benchwarmer turned hero.
“Oh,” he shrugged, not really knowing exactly how he was meant to respond to his friend’s question. “I don’t know. I—I hope so, but…” Ennoshita gulped, fists clenching with a new found determination. “We have an entire year to earn it.”
“Yeah!” Kinoshita nodded, his light brown eyes narrowing with an equal amount of stubbornness that had become the primary character trait of their team.
This last year the two of them, and Narita, had allowed themselves to be overshadowed. For Ennoshita, it was almost a sort of penance, an atonement for running away from the sport he loved simply because it got hard. But in the upcoming year, things would be different. Their senpai weren’t going to be there to carry the load any longer, so there would be no room for complacency or an unnecessary journey of making amends.
“Yo, Yo, Yo, Daichi!” Tanaka cawed over the rest of the murmured voices of the team, drawing everyone’s attention to the Captain that had seemingly just made his way back into the gym with Kiyoko by his side. Normally, Ennoshita had Daichi’s wearabouts permanently clocked in any given situation. Despite Sugawara being the team’s vice, it was always Ennoshita that was acting as Daichi’s shadow. He was typically tasked with wrangling the likes of Noya and Tanaka, whenever the knuckleheads decided to wander off by accident, or more likely, on purpose. “What do you have there? And why were you off by your lonesome with Kiyoko?”
Ennoshita couldn’t help but smile at their next ace’s panic.
“Oh, you know,” Daichi responded with a devilishly handsome smirk on his face, “I just wanted to take her out to the courtyard so I could confess properly in the place where we first met. I thought a girl like Kiyoko deserved some romance behind the gesture.”
“WHAT?!?!?!”
With a crash and a clap, Tanaka and Nishinoya fell side by side onto the wood of the gym floor. If it hadn’t been for the chorus of laughter that had broken out between all of the third-years, Ennoshita wouldn’t have been surprised if their two terrors would have drowned in a puddle of their own tears.
“No, you idiots.” Daichi scoffed. “Kiyoko and I didn’t even meet in the courtyard.”
“And I’m not exactly Daichi’s type,” Shimizu muttered confidently. That itself earned another series of laughs, this time though only by Sugawara and Asahi and at the expense of one blushing Sawamura. “There there,” the manager giggled.
It was enough to bring a deflated Daichi back to life, although he rewarded the sarcastic pats on the back with a quick flick to Kiyoko’s shoulders. “Anyway,” Daichi sighed. “While torturing the two of you is rather fun, it isn’t the goal I actually had in mind. So just sit there and behave for a second.”
“Behave? Those two?” Ennoshita snickered. When all the eyes in the gym turned onto him, Chikara winced at his own idiocy for not realizing he had voiced what was meant to be a private thought. “Oh um…sorry Captain, go ahead.”
“Well funny enough, you were the one I wanted to talk to. Come over here for a second, Chikara.” Daichi extended a perfectly toned tan arm, one that had sustained more than a couple of bruises while perfecting his receives night after night, and invited the soon-to-be Captain by his side. “Come on, come on,” the older boy encouraged. “Coach Ukai brought meat buns, remember? I’m not going to eat you.”
For a moment, Ennoshita forgot that he was supposed to be moving. That was, until Kinoshita, being a brat and a pal all in the same motion, shoved the brunette forward into a near faceplant. Luckily, he had avoided slamming his face against the gym floor for no good reason and managed to shuffle over to his waiting senpai. “Ye-yes?” He stammered as he looked between Daichi’s knowing smile and the hand that he just now noticed had been mysteriously positioned behind Daichi’s back ever since Tanaka effectively declared their Captain’s arrival like a glorified herald.
“Do you remember our match against Wakutani?” Daichi asked.
“Of course,” the second-year responded. “I think it would be impossible to forget you losing a tooth and nearly getting concussed.”
When Daichi smiled softly, you couldn’t see the gap in his teeth that was still there as a result of that match but Ennoshita knew that when Daichi was really happy, he smiled with his entire face and someone who was really looking could make out the beginnings of an absence of filled space. Chikara had been happy when he noticed that Daichi hadn’t stopped using his beaming smile after losing his tooth. Part of him had been afraid their Captain would be insecure about the slight change to his features, but in true Sawamura Daichi fashion, there wasn’t really a thought being paid to anything other than volleyball and being a resource or support system for his team.
“Do you remember what I said after that match?” Daichi prodded further.
“Before or after Suga punched you in the stomach for scaring all of us?” Tanaka sniggered behind his hands, relishing in a moment where he got the chance to poke fun at his senior.
“I don’t believe that question was for you, Tanaka.” The Captain scolded, causing the wing-spiker to shrink back until he was practically hiding behind Asahi like a knight behind a large shield. “Chikara, do you remember?”
“You said something about wanting to rush back at first but then deciding not to rejoin the match because you didn’t want to disrupt the flow.” It had been one of the highest compliments that Ennoshita had ever been paid, because it had been Daichi effectively asserting his complete faith to carry in his place for the team.
“More or less, yes.” Daichi nodded. “I feel like I need to apologize to Yachi again, because I’m pretty sure I scared her the most. When the nurse gave me the all clear and gave me some cotton balls for the bleeding, I was practically sprinting back to the courts because I knew that I had everyone worried and I thought it was important that all of you saw that I was fine. I was afraid that my being out was going to throw all of you off either because of the worry you may have had or just because you weren’t used to a match without me. I don’t know if that makes me egotistical or—”
“It’s practical.” Ennoshita interrupted. “You are the team’s foundation. It makes sense that you were afraid of what your absence would mean.”
“I appreciate that.” Daichi grinned. “But the fear was completely unfounded. You managed to lead the team to victory while I was gone.”
“Not as easily as you could, senpai.” Ennoshita shook his head in disagreement. “We got lucky—”
“I’m going to stop you right there.” This time it was Daichi’s turn to interrupt him. “Because I have known you long enough that I can tell you are about to go on about how you quit the team for a bit of time, and I want you to know that no one here gives a damn about it. It’s an old song by now and it doesn’t change how anyone looks at you.”
“But I—”
“Hush,” Daichi commanded. “I will only be your teammate for one more night, so I am going to milk whatever authority I have left. Right now, I want you to listen. Okay?”
Ennoshita nodded his head, completely forgetting that there was anyone else in this gym besides himself and Daichi.
“I need you to understand something very important.” Daichi sighed. “There isn’t one correct way to lead, Chikara. Some leaders are naturals and stand tall without any fear in their bones, encouraging others around them to fall into line and simply follow.” Images of Oikawa of Seijoh started flooding into Ennoshita’s brain. The memory of a single finger pointing out to their Ace, a signal accompanied by the implicit trust to leap into the air and follow his Captain’s lead without a hint of hesitation.
“Others come into the position because they have a bright light about them that they don’t really have a control over. All they know how to do is be themselves and that attracts others to their side.” This time, Daichi’s words drummed up the face of Bokuto. He had heard Fukurodani’s setter, Akaashi, speak about Bokuto only once, but in that single conversation, the comparison that the normally reserved teen had drawn between their Ace and Captain had been to a shimmering star.
“And then,” Daichi took a step forward, placing his free hand on Ennoshita’s shoulder and giving a gentle squeeze. It was a touch that imparted both comfort and a level of understanding that Ennoshita hadn’t felt before. “Then, there are the leaders that have actually known adversity. The ones that have been beaten down to their bare bones before and thought they couldn’t continue. The kind that have learned humility and understand that true strength doesn’t come by doing things on your own.” Daichi’s brown eyes softened with pride. “You ran away when things got tough, I won’t refute that, Chikara. But you did something even harder than any practice with Old Coach Ukai could ever be, you came back and admitted you were wrong, and you devoted yourself to this team afterwards. No one here doubts the love you have for this sport and this club, so give yourself a break.”
Ennoshita felt the tell tale sting of tears brimming up behind his eyes at the words of his senpai. He had never thought himself worthy of such praise before, but the conviction behind Daichi’s entire presence was enough to stop him from questioning anything.
“I couldn’t have said it better myself.”
The second-year turned around to see Takeda-sensei standing there with both of his thumbs raised up in encouragement. The sight alone was enough to remind Ennoshita that the emotionally driven speech he had just been on the receiving end of was witnessed by his entire team. Though, as he passed over each face, he didn’t recognize a single sign of contradiction in the crowd.
“Hey, kid!” Ukai called as he came to stand behind their sensei. “As much fun as it is to see you making Specs proud by treating this like a literature class, how about you get to the point so we can wrap this up and get all of you home before we have a gaggle of angry parents on our hands?”
“Yes Coach!” Daichi moved the apparent package he had been hiding behind his back into view. “Please take this, Chikara. Kiyoko and I ordered it a couple of weeks ago, we based it on your current metrics, so hopefully everything fits.”
“Fits?” Ennoshita asked as he split open the package.
Tucked away in the plastic was what was obviously a jersey containing Karasuno’s standard color pallet for the majority of the players. At first, Ennoshita was confused by the gift, after all, the team didn’t normally receive their jersey until just before the beginning of the season. However, as he managed to pull the folded shirt from the container, Ennoshita’s eyes were met with the bold number one with the white line underneath to signal that this jersey belonged to the Captain of the squad.
With the most tender of movements, Ennoshita completely unsheathed the jersey from its wrappings and held it up for everyone to see and for himself to marvel at. “I can’t believe it.” He muttered to himself. This was it, this was real, he was actually going to be the next captain.
Moving to drape the fabric over his arm, Ennoshita’s breath caught in his throat at the next sight that graced him. “Senpai?”
Daichi was no longer standing before his teammate, instead, his body was now inclined in the same manner of respectful bow that had been issued to him earlier. Only now, he was extending that honor to Ennoshita, his junior.
“Senpai, what are you doing?” Chikara prompted. His heart was racing with so many emotions. He felt confused, honored, and a little overwhelmed by such a sentimental gesture. The sight of someone so monumental in his life bowing before him was dizzying, but Ennoshita couldn’t bring himself to look away.
“I’m passing the torch,” Daichi said from his knelt down position. “It’s your team now. Good luck, Captain.”