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joining the azuma pharmacy green rockets meant change. tsutomu knew that. and yet…he still wasn’t quite sure how to handle said change at all.
for one, there was the change in skill level. sure, the shiratorizawa boy’s volleyball club was intense. after all the powerhouse’s motto was “intense force”, it would have been ridiculous if they were anything but intense (like johzenji’s volleyball club. what on earth was their blonde captain even doing back then? tsutomu doesn’t know. he just knows it definitely did not follow “simplicity and fortitude”.)
but now he was playing professionally for a division 1 team. and just the thought sounded more intense than ushijima’s serves, shirabu’s cold glances and coach washijo’s scoldings combined.
leaving his purple shiratorizawa jersey marked with the number 8 for a green one marked with 22 had felt like tsutomu was giving up a part of himself.
he misses his old teammates, no matter how hard he tried to make himself believe he didn’t.
he misses when the third years, who didn’t have a sense of personal space, would randomly come and lounge in his room like they had nothing better to do.
he misses bantering with shirabu about things like volleyball to ridiculous things like the way they cut their hair. the two were in their early twenties now and neither of their bangs got any straighter than they were in high school.
he misses the late night hangouts after tiring practice drills and the long bus drives for away games. each full of laughter and joy.
the members of shiratorizawa’s volleyball club were like his family. tsutomu wasn’t used to not seeing them everyday. he hadn’t gotten used to not seeing them everyday since they all graduated really.
tsutomu no longer lived an the school dormitories of course, so the teammates that were always just a few steps away were now miles away.
he only ever saw his former teammates, at the max, twice every month. maybe more if they were playing in the v. league like yamagata and reon (and of course ushijima) and less if they were somewhere far away, like their two middle blockers. tendou, who was in france of all places, and taichi who was in tokyo and hardly had time (and money unfortunately) to come down to miyagi.
new teammates, new coach, new places.
joining a new team meant that the one setting to him wasn’t going to be shirabu anymore. which he tells himself is fine. he’s played with other setters before. but shirabu’s tosses were his favorite to hit.
it meant coach washijo was no longer around to be constantly scolding him. normally, most would happy to be away from that angry old man. goshiki had no idea why he wasn’t.
tsutomu was on his own.
well technically he wasn't. he had a dog who he loved very dearly, but still. that wasn't the point.
being away from the people he was closest to made him feel more alone then ever.
he exhales slowly as he stood outside the green rockets’ locker room. now wasn’t the time to be hung up on the past. after all it wasn’t like he wasn’t ever going to see them again…he’ll be fine right? joining a new team couldn’t possibly make him miss his old team more than he already did.
tsutomu’s hand gripped harder on the cold door handle before pushing it open, and before the choppy haired wing spiker could even take in the room, he immediately bent over to a 90 degree angle.
“g-goshiki tsutomu! 22, outside hitter! it’s a pleasure to be working with you all!” he says rather hastily.
at this point he was expecting to be surrounded by new voices returning his greeting but was surprised when only one voice spoke up.
“ah..yer the new guy then?”
goshiki raised his head…there was only one person there? he glanced around the room a bit nervously before his eyes eventually landed on the guy in front of him. the younger immediately tensed up.
wakatsu kiryu. he was another one of the top three hitters in japan, just like ushijima. he was intimidatingly big and could hit super hard. his gaze felt cold and his voice was deep…this guy was basically a second ushijima. were all the top aces like that?
tsutomu was on edge now. he had never played kiryu before since he was already a third year when shiratorizawa didn’t make nationals, thus he didn’t know much about him at all. however the younger could tell just by looking at him that he was going to be just intense as his seniors.
what was he going to do next? was he going to scold him like shirabu? was he going to tease him like how tendou used to? ah no…what if he started yelling like coach-
“ya don’t need’a be so tense y’know? goshiki right? i’ve heard good things about you from wakatoshi-kun.”
“…eh?”
“after wakatoshi-kun graduated he left the entire team to you, and you were only what? a second year? first year? in charge of a team like shiratorizawa. it’s impressive.”
“a-ah…thank you kiryu-san…”
the younger mumbles. tsutomu was flustered. kiryu heard of him? the wakatsu kiryu…he felt a bit proud of himself.
“oh? ya know me?”
“y-yeah! you were like ushijima-san back then…one of the top aces in japan..”
kiryu laughs. “yeah. that was me. guess it isn’t a surprise ya know me when ushijima was yer teammate back then. ’m not as out there as they are though, so ya dont need to worry too much. i’ll be looking forward to working with you.”
timeskip about half a year later. tsutomu still misses his upperclassmen.
so much so that he’s able to find little bits of them lingering on his new teammates.
kiryu, whom he had assumed was more on the rough side, was actually very gentle (on court at least. he was anything but gentle when spiking the tosses that came his way) and caring. it was pleasantly surprising that’s for sure. the older reminded him of reon, who would always walk him back to the first year dorms late at night and would remind tsutomu to eat well and get proper sleep.
sokolov, their middle blocker, was more like taichi. he was pretty quiet and didn’t speak much unless needed, however when spring came around all you would hear from him was sneezing. tsutomu specifically remembers the time taichi had accidentally sneezed in the middle of serving and missed horribly, shanking shirabu right on the head. the younger hopes he’s dealing with his allergies a bit better now.
of course there were people like their setter, notoya, who threw even easier and cleaner tosses than shirabu did (but tsutomu couldn’t tell him that, let alone even think of it. he likes to keep his peace). and their libero, kasumi, who was a lot similar to tendou if anything. he had a big presence on the court and was very cheerful even during more stressful times.
since joining the green rockets, the headstrong wing spiker has felt more at ease than he did when he had first joined the team. in fact, his new teammates hold just as big of a part in tsutomu's heart as his previous teammates did. the memories tsutomu made with the shiratorizawa volleyball club weren't replaceable. and despite not physically playing with his old teammates anymore, their presence and linigering memories were still there in fresh tsutomu’s heart.
and he couldn’t have had it any other way.