Chapter Text
The energy felt electric, and the air smelled of air salonpas. Shouyou bobbed on his heels, looking past the shoulders of his teammates to look at all the other cool opponents milling about them.
“Move it, Hinata,” snapped a 3-B upperclassman, shoving him forward.
No one else in his team looked as excited as Hinata felt. Of course not. Kunugigaoka wasn’t about jittery excitement. They lived only to win.
“Everyone else here is super tall,” a 2-C teammate noted, lips pressed thin. “And there’s a lot more of them, too.”
“We don’t do well in volleyball tournaments, do we?” a fellow 2-D teammate asked.
Everyone froze up. Just for a second.
Their captain, from 3-B, clapped a hand on the 2-D teammate’s shoulder. “That’s not a good outlook to have! Defeatism like that is E-Class behavior!”
If anything, the atmosphere turned icier. But the 2-D teammate made a face, and someone from 2-A laughed shrilly. The moment passed.
Baseball and basketball was huge in Kunugigaoka. Volleyball? Not so much. The team was tiny when Hinata had joined in his first year, and had shrunk further in his second year. With his height, that was the only reason he was allowed in the starting lineup.
Which wasn’t to say that Shouyou didn’t work hard for the spot. He worked harder than anyone else, to keep up and then surpass their athletic abilities – to hold his own despite his height. He was obsessed with volleyball. It was all there was to life, if you asked him.
Kunugigaoka was a school built from success. They lived to overwhelm the rest of the world with their own greatness (ignoring E-Class, where the ones who couldn’t cut it were shunted off). Loss wasn’t needed. It wasn’t acceptable.
Shouyou’s heart was pumping. He was in the air, flying more than jumping. The ball cracked against his palm. It was good hit. A great spike.
The whistle blew.
The referee held a hand out towards the opponent’s side.
Ringing overtook Shouyou’s ears as he stared at the point where the ball had landed from his spike. Right outside the line.
That day, in their very first match of the day, Kunugigaoka lost against Kitagawa Daiichi in a match that didn’t even last forty minutes.
Shouyou couldn’t peel his feet off his spot on the court. He could feel the collective glare of his coach and other teammates, burning into his back. He couldn’t face them. Not after he made them lose.
Sure, it wasn’t like they would have survived if Shouyou had let the ball go, with nobody else to get it on the other side of the net. But it didn’t matter – Shouyou was the one to blame.
“You!” snapped a voice on the other side of the net. Shouyou blinked, looking up. It was the uptight setter from the other team. Before the match, Shouyou had heard people calling him a genius. Kageyama Tobio. He braced himself, as the setter continued. “You’re wasted on Kunugigaoka.”
Shouyou bristled, ice shards in his veins. How dare he? They tried! So what if it wasn’t on the level of their prestigious school’s stellar reputation??
A hand clenched onto Shouyou’s shoulder. A teammate from 2-D. Yanking him back to the line.
They bowed. And it was fine. He was just getting started! Now that he’d gotten his first taste of the court, he would work five times harder. Next year, Shouyou would dominate-
On his final grade report, damnation was stamped in bright red ink: “Demoted to 3-E”.
“My name is Karasuma Tadaomi. I’m from the Ministry of Defense. What I’m about to say is extremely classified. … I’ll cut straight to the point – I need you all to kill this monster.”
[…]
“Nice to meet you. I’m Hinata Shouyou!”
“Pfffthahah! I’m Hinata, too!! Okano Hinata.”
“Seriously? That’s amazing!”
[…]
“Ah, bad grades, huh? Sucks. We’re not like those punks we were tossed in with. This was just bad luck.”
“But we’re all still in E-Class, aren’t we? So why does it matter how we got here?”
“…Damn. Ya got me there.”
[…]
“Hey, Hinata, get your gun! We’re taking potshots at Sensei!!”
[…]
“Ugh, 3-E trash. Crawling onto our campus.”
Schink.“You wanna repeat that?”
“Karma, put the knife down! Use a pen, at least!”
[…]
“You may be small, Hinata, but you’ve got immense potential, with your determination and athleticism. I’ve been observing people who are short and still participate in height-dependent volleyball and basketball on the world stage. You can fly, if you know what you’re doing.”
[…]
“Wanna help me practice my pitches, Hinata?”
“Sure! If you’ll toss to me, later!”
[…]
“All of you, considered the lowest of Kunugigaoka, are going to be in the top 50 of this year’s rankings. Maybe I was overzealous in the first term, but now I truly believe in you.”
[…]
“Huh, I thought ‘Sociability’ was a euphemism for ‘Seduction’. How the hell did you score so high?”
“Hey, that’s really rude! And I think it’s more how easily we can gain someone’s trust? I think Bitch-sensei mainly used the results of the roofie class.”
“That tracks.”
[…]
“We can’t just let Sensei die! There’s got to be another way. We can find it!”
“I- I agree with Nagisa. He’s never given up on us, why should we give up on him?”
[…]
“With this, you will know the true worth of a human life. My children. Class 3-E; congratulations on graduating.”
Hinata Shouyou; Final Report —
(Designated Alias:- Orange Jumper)
Stats:-
Physical strength: 3
Mobility: 5
Sociability: 4
Close-range assassination: 2.5
Long-range assassination: 3.5
Academic ability: 1.5 (Final Rank: 41 out of 187)
Characteristic skill: 4.5 (Volleyball)
Distinctions:
- Top 8 in Marksmanship
- Top 5 in Public Operations
There was a medal crammed in the back of Shouyou’s drawer. It came with a certificate of appreciation from the Japanese Prime Minister, and another one from some United Nations official. Shouyou never cared to look too much into it.
His class had saved the world. It was only right for them to be appreciated for it. Shouyou understood. That didn’t mean he wanted to remember what he’d done to get it.
3-E was only one year of his life. And it had turned his whole world on its head.
Shouyou wondered what he would be like, if he had never let his grades slip enough to end up in E-Class. He probably wouldn’t keep a knife in his shoe everywhere he went. Definitely wouldn’t have firearms in his room. Absolutely wouldn’t be as good at school as he was.
Despite his heavy heart, there was a spring to his step as he went through the halls.
Without Koro-sensei’s help, would he have been able to pass Karasuno’s entrance exam?
But he had. He had passed the entrance exam, when everyone else said that 3-E was destined for failure. He’d learned to people-watch, to aim for the kill, to fly.
He was ready to play proper volleyball, for the first time in two years.
The gym door scraped open. Someone was already there. A tall, dark-haired boy. The silhouette alone was familiar.
“You!” Shouyou cried, pointing at him.
Kageyama Tobio – preparing to serve, nearly dropped the ball on his head – and whipped over to glare at Shouyou.
Shouyou skipped over to him, “What’re you doing here?” he hadn’t gone to see volleyball tournaments last year, but he’d heard that Kageyama was headed for great things. “Thought you’d be headed to Aoba Jousai. Or- or Shiratorizawa!”
Kageyama pouted. “I didn’t pass the entrance exam for Shiratorizawa.”
Koro-sensei had encouraged Shouyou to take the entrance exam for Shiratorizawa. Just to have that option, even if he had his heart set on Karasuno. It hadn’t been that hard.
“Oh, well, you’re here for the volleyball team, right?” Shouyou said – rhetoric question eliciting a hum of confirmation, pulling Kageyama further into the conversation, thanks, Bitch-sensei! – “Me too!”
“Thought you quit after you lost your very first match,” Kageyama said, a critical eye sweeping over him.
Shouyou’s ears burned. He wasn’t a coward who would quit after one loss. It wasn’t his fault he was put in E-Class. Stop looking down at Shouyou-
Pause. Focus. Sort through the emotions to grasp crucial information.
“You remember me?” he asked Kageyama. Sure, he’d declared after the tournament that he would defeat Kageyama, but that was two years ago!
“I expected better of you. Too much, apparently, after all that talk.”
Shouyou glared. “I have gotten better! So much better!!”
Kageyama raised an eyebrow, then turned to pick the volleyball up again. “Let’s see about that. Uh… what’s your name?”
Great, so he wasn’t as memorable to Kageyama as Kageyama Tobio had been to him.
Directly behind Shouyou, he could hear footsteps along the walkway connecting the gym to the main building. Three people. Moderate height? Sedate pace. Talking between themselves.
“-not again. Would you stop trying to intimidate everyone you meet?”
“Hinata Shouyou,” he told Kageyama, turning around to greet the people before they entered.
It was three teen boys. Shorter than Kageyama, but far taller than Shouyou. All wearing black tracksuit jackets. Karasuno volleyball team members, he knew without even seeing the back. One of them was making a weird face.
“Hello,” Kageyama said politely, when they properly came into view.
“Hey, hey, hey, what’re you guys thinking you’re doing?” the upperclassman with the weird expression sneered. Check his stance; arms not properly braced, footing unstable. This was just a try-hard.
One of the other two yanked him back and smiled pleasantly at Shouyou and Kageyama.
“Are you Kageyama?”
Or, well, just at Kageyama.
The three began laying out Kageyama’s reputation. It was the same annoying garbage from second year of junior high. In fact, it seemed to have gotten worse. Now he was being called the King of The Court. They didn’t acknowledge him. His training had drilled in the importance of melding into the background, waiting for the right moment to strike.
What was the right moment, here?
He remained rooted to the spot until, finally, the dark-haired upperclassman looked at Shouyou. “And you’re the applicant named Hinata, right? I’m sorry, I don’t recognize you from anywhere.”
“Hinata Shouyou!” he repeated from a few minutes back. “I went to Kunugigaoka Junior High!”
The three’s eyebrows raised.
“Woah, that’s a great school,” the dark-haired upperclassman said.
“Doesn’t have much of a volleyball team, though,” Suga – the gray-haired boy, identified by another of the upperclassmen – noted. All three of them looked at Shouyou, analyzing him. Quite literally measuring.
The shaved-head upperclassman didn’t even hide it, using a hand to show how Shouyou barely reached his nose.
Shouyou puffed his chest up. “I may be small, but I can fly!! Just you wait, I’ll become the ace of Karasuno!”
Something moved in his periphery. Log the movement; Kageyama.
The shaved-head upperclassman snorted. “You’ve got balls, when we didn’t even see you in Kunugigaoka’s team last year.”
Shouyou’s face burned. “It- I was pulled from club activities because of my grades! But I have it under control now, I promise! And I’m better than ever!!”
“Not that you could get worse,” Kageyama muttered. Shouyou glared at him.
“I want you to play me; that’ll show you my progress!”
“How do you want us to play one-on-one?” Kageyama raised an eyebrow. Imperiously. As if Shouyou was stupid for suggesting it.
Before they could devolve into squabbles, the Vice Principal entered.
Stay calm. There’s a time for action and a time for patience. If you’re going to act out, don’t get caught.
Shouyou held it together until the Veep swept out of the area. Then he snapped; “Passes! Serves!! We can compete on those!!!”
“I have a jump serve,” Kageyama said. Again with that pompous tone. All of the upperclassmen looked impressed.
“I have one too!” Shouyou replied hotly.
“Yeah, okay,” Kageyama had the nerve to look disbelieving.
They ended up on opposite sides of the volleyball court. Shouyou got the first ball. He backed away, feeling the ball under his fingertips. Visualize, visualize, visualize. He chanted the advice in his head.
Think of the ball as a gun or a grenade. Scope out the target before you pull out the pin. After that, you have mere seconds to get to a good angle – choose the high ground, something only you can own. The first serve was always a warning shot; make yourself known as a threat right off the bat.
BANG.
He opened his eyes just enough to look at the empty hardwood floor on the other side of the net. Then dropped onto the ground to watch the bouncing away to the far side of the gym. Kageyama stood, arms hanging at his sides, watching the ball.
“That was inside!” Suga called.
“Dumbass! You threw it on the opposite side of the court from me! How the hell was I supposed to receive that?” Kageyama snapped.
“You’re just a sore loser!” Shouyou called back.
“Hahh??? I haven’t even served yet! Receive a ball yourself before deciding you won!”
“But that was very impressive, Hinata!” Daichi – the other upperclassmen had identified each other over the conversation – commended. His eyes were shining.
Shouyou grinned. Yeah, it felt good to be back on the court. And he wouldn’t be getting off it anytime soon. He would serve and spike and toss and receive-
Kageyama’s serve ricocheted off Shouyou’s arms, hit his chin, and toppled onto the ground.
Tanaka snorted.
“So you’re not all talk. Just some talk.”
Give him a break. Why would he want to catch grenades?
“Still, you’ve got a great foundation already. Receives take time to learn and etch into your muscle memory,” Suga encouraged. “It’s good to have you both in the volleyball club!”
Finally!! The Karasuno High Volleyball Club!!!
When he’d gotten that grade report, with the red stamp of ‘E’, he’d really thought this future had gone up in smoke. And yet here he stood. All thanks to- to-
“Eh, are you crying?!”
“Sh-shut up!”
Tadashi joined the volleyball club alongside Tsukki. It was meant to be a fun thing, just something to do in high school.
The other first-years did not have the same opinion. To Kageyama and Hinata, it seemed that volleyball might actually be oxygen.
“We always do a 3-on-3, to welcome the first-years,” Sawamura – the team captain – explained. “Since we only have four first-years, one upperclassman will be placed on either team.”
Tadashi looked over at where Kageyama and Hinata were exchanging passes rapidly, arguing all the way. Actually, Kageyama might be reciting poetry about the setter position? Freaks.
“Those two are going to be annoying to play against,” Tsukki muttered. “Personality wise, I mean; they’re way too uptight. Tactically, the King’s going to burn their cohesion to the ground.”
“Who says you’ll be playing against them?” Sawamura asked brightly.
“Well, we’re childhood friends, they’re childhood friends, makes sense to pit duos together, right?” Tadashi guessed. A noise of outrage from across the gym.
“We’re not childhood friends!” Hinata marched over to them.
Kageyama followed after, looking indignant, “You weren’t listening to anything I was saying! Wait – what did you call us?”
Tadashi felt like he had activated some trap. “You two are just so in-sync, you must know each other for awhile.”
“We met once two years ago,” Kageyama explained, glaring at Tadashi witheringly.
“Then again yesterday,” Hinata followed up. “He’s good at volleyball, but I’m going to prove I’m better!”
“In your dreams!” Kageyama snarled.
“Volleyball idiots,” Tsukki said sagely.
“So I was thinking!” Sawamura continued, “It really does seem like you are split into two duos. Let's shake up the status quo and begin developing new bonds! Kageyama, Tsukishima, and me versus Yamaguchi, Hinata, and Tanaka.”
Oh, boy…
The captain of the team and the two tallest players here – including a well-known setter. The odds were stacked severely against them.
Tadashi looked at the small tangerine. He certainly looked full of energy, and Kageyama didn’t dismiss his current talents. But would that make up for his small size?
“Hi,” Hinata greeted, crossing over to him, as the two teams began strategizing. “It’ll be great working with you, Yamaguchi-kun, Tanaka-senpai!”
Outside of Kageyama’s influence, he actually seemed pretty normal!
“Same here, little dude!” Tanaka cheered, holding a hand out for a high five. Hinata grabbed his hand and clenched it until Tanaka squeaked out, “Sorry! I was trying to be ironic! Because you’re great!”
“Being great alone isn’t going to be enough,” Tadashi warned. “Tsukki’s smart. He’ll pick up on our patterns quickly and block us. His height is nothing to joke about in a spike. And with Kageyama and Sawamura-san, that’s a calculated, well-balanced team. What do we have? Personally, I’m a blocker.”
“Spiker,” Tanaka supplied.
“Also spiker!” Hinata waved a hand excitedly.
Tadashi stared. “Is that a wish for the future, or…?”
“He’s got an insane vertical!” Tanaka backed up. “His jumps go like BOOM.”
Boom?
“…Okay. We don’t have any setters or good receivers. This isn’t going to end well unless we plan carefully.”
“A machine gun is better than a spear and shield, though.”
Tadashi could feel his eyes bulge as he looked over at Hinata. “…What?”
Hinata didn’t blink. “The court is a battlefield. We need to end every rally as quickly as possible, and in a game of speed and precision, more artillery is better than building dugouts and fortifications.”
What?
“You’re… surprisingly violent, Hinata,” Tanaka patted the first-year’s shoulder, a little hesitantly. “But I’m loving the enthusiasm!”
Tadashi tried to look past the nonsense analogy. “Is your ‘strategy’… attack, attack, attack?”
“And aim for gaps to get them to exchange friendly fire!!” Hinata cheered.
“Campfires. You mean campfires.”
Hinata nodded vigorously. “Right.”
It wasn’t much of a plan. None of them were setters. And Tadashi wasn’t as good of a blocker as Tsukki. But there was something to be said about their offensive-heavy plan. The others were also still meshing together, and their best talents needed good cooperation. On the other hand, Tadashi’s team wasn’t relying on each other nearly as much.
For one thing, Hinata would go after any toss, no matter how bad it was. And he would get it over the net. Tanaka wasn’t too far behind in that sheer doggedness.
They were neck-and-neck for the first set, but Tadashi’s team managed to swoop it at 28-26. The second set went even better in their favor, as Tsukki and Kageyama’s cooperation splintered further.
Tsukki always had a grudge against naturally talented people, even though he pretended he didn’t care. Especially when they were a bit uppity. Their personalities clashed impossibly. And when they began losing?
“Great going, king. Maybe throw a set I can hit, next time.”
Yeah. It wasn’t going well. But Tadashi was winning, so who was he to argue.
At 13-7, Sawamura called a timeout and pulled them away. Sugawara joined the huddle and gave them additional feedback.
“You guys get the feeling that they’re getting preferential treatment?” Hinata asked.
“Because we’re perfect as is,” Tanaka bragged. Tadashi doubted that. It seemed more likely that those two were being singled out as having the most potential. No offense to Hinata.
When they came back, Tsukki and Kageyama were eyeing each other stiffly.
But they began playing better. Kageyama threw his tosses higher and slower for Tsukki. It made it easier for them to read his positioning, but they didn’t have the receiving ability to do anything about it. The gap was closed between them. Then they pulled ahead.
Tadashi’s team followed closely, of course, until regaining the lead after an exhausting, long set. 31-30.
Sawamura served. The rally stretched. Back and forth, back and forth, just keep the ball in play, dig it up, get it over the net, watch the spikers, the ball could go to any of them-
Kageyama tipped the ball over the net. A setter dump!
Tadashi felt exhausted. Drained to the core. Waited for the ball to hit the ground. There was no way he was going to last the next rally, forget about the next set.
A flash of orange, darting forward and then up. A pair of hands planted onto the ball and sent it toppling to the other side of the net.
The smacking of the ball was loud in the gym. Everyone stared.
“Whoo!!! Go, Hinata!!” Tanaka pulled Hinata into a headlock.
Kageyama panted, sweat coating his skin. “How did you read that-?”
Hinata was also breathing heavily, but he summoned a smirk. “You called a setter the command tower. Something that crucial is equipped with its own security force. Intercepting communications is easy.”
“Dude that means nothing. Just say it normal,” Tadashi tried to advise him.
“No, no, it sounds cooler this way,” Tanaka insisted.
They all began to wind down, chugging water bottles and exchanging feedback. It was only at that point did Hinata seem to gain self-awareness, blinking.
“Oh, sorry, I- That was weird, right? I was explaining things weird? It’s- ideas can sometimes feel gwahh, you know? So I use metaphors I’ve learned.”
“It’s cool, don’t worry!” Sugawara assured. “Whatever works to help communication.”
“You already seemed like the type to play way too many shooter games as a kid,” Tsukki told Hinata, smirking. Hinata glared.
“You got lucky with that last receive,” Kageyama told Hinata, pulling his attention away. “You only managed a handful of lucky digs before this. Practice your receives more.”
“We’ve been practicing that since yesterday!” Hinata whined. “I wanna spike! You saw how I could hit any terrible set Tanaka-senpai and Yamaguchi sent me! I could easily hit every set Tsukishima missed!”
“Hey!” Tadashi, Tsukki, and Kageyama said at the same time, equally offended.
However, Kageyama was the only one to follow up with; “Sure! Get on the court now!”
They had just played for more than an hour straight. Hinata sprang to his feet, vibrating with excitement.
Tsukki was wrong. These weren’t volleyball idiots.
They were volleyball monsters.
Aoba Jousai had offered them a practice match – the first school that had wanted to play against them in the entire time Ryuunosuke had been at Karasuno.
Of course, they were clearly only doing it because of Kageyama, which was a punch to the ego, but whatever. He’d show them what happened when they underestimated Karasuno.
The most pressing worry Ryuunosuke had was that this was Hinata’s second match ever. The first one in years. And his general demeanor made it obvious how nervous he was.
When they’d gotten on the bus to go to Aoba Jousai, he’d looked distinctly green.
“I get stomach problems when I’m nervous,” he had explained, queasily. “Can I get a window seat?”
Everyone had been completely fine about that. Suga had given friendly encouragement about how Hinata had no reason to be nervous – his spikes, already impressive, had become incredible with the insane synergy he had with Kageyama. But that didn’t seem to get through to him, no matter how much Hinata smiled thinly.
As the trip continued, he’d gotten quiet. It was weird.
Ryuunosuke leaned over the seat in front of him to check on Hinata. The first-year had his eyes closed and was twisting his hands around. Flicking fingers around, until settling down into a finger gun between two clasped hands. Held it for a few seconds. Then separated and started again.
“You doing better, kid?” Ryuunosuke asked warily.
“Readying my mindset for the kill,” Hinata replied, voice subdued. Almost meditative, if Ryuunosuke could believe that Hinata was capable of meditation.
Should they have a talk about how many video games Hinata played? This felt concerning.
So it turned out. That a lot of Kitagawa Daiichi alumni went to Aoba Jousai. As in, the very first people they met on the campus included a former yearmate of Kageyama’s. And he did not like Ryuunosuke’s underclassman.
“Ah, it’s the Great King of the Court! What dictatorship have you built in the nest of clipped crows?”
Ryuunosuke rolled up his sleeves and went to put them in their place. It didn’t take much to scare them off – okay, so Daichi dragged him away, but he felt like he made an impression!
On his part, Kageyama just kept his eyes to the ground and walked past. Funny, just a few minutes ago, he’d been trying to beat the nervousness out of Hinata, and now he wasn’t even going to defend himself!
Wait. Hinata. Nervous. Stomach problems. Now missing.
“He’s in the bathroom,” Narita said, when Ryuunosuke asked around.
“Right! I’ll just go and give him a pep talk on the way to the gym!” Ryuunosuke decided.
“You better not make it worse!” Suga called after him.
When Ryuunosuke found which bathroom Hinata had run off to, he walked straight into a confrontation between their tiny spiker and the same two Seijou players. Damn, were they harassing Hinata too?
But before he could intervene, he processed the conversation they were having.
“His spikes and serves are killer, and his blocks and receives are annoyingly precise,” the two ranted in perfect, creepy unison.
Oh. Right. These people didn’t like Kageyama. And Hinata spent a third of every practice complaining about Kageyama. The two would be getting along like a house on fire. “But it’s his sets that are the worst/best!”
Hinata made a questioning noise. “You think he’s… bad at setting?”
“Of course. You haven’t had to hit those monsters, have you? He doesn’t want people to be able to hit it. He wants pawns that will jump to his ridiculous standards without even a word of communication. He’s a tyrant, through and through.”
Hinata was quiet.
“You weren’t just being jokingly competitive before, were you?” he said finally. “You really hate Kageyama.”
“Obviously. He’s unbearable enough off the court, it gets worse on it,” the Turnip Head hadn’t caught on to the fact that he was losing sympathy from Hinata faster and faster.
It was like he blinked, and the scene shifted. Hinata crossed the distance between him and the Turnip Head, somehow circled around to stand behind him, and then pressed something narrow and tipped with silver at the guy’s throat.
Turnip Head yelped, and the silver thing followed the movement of his adam’s apple.
“Don’t talk about my friend that way. If you couldn’t survive on the court, that isn’t his problem,” the same low tone he liked to drift into sometimes, a thousand times creepier when you knew Hinata, but still eerie without the context. Then Hinata drew back and made a determined frown. “We’re going to show you what Karasuno’s capable of, with Kageyama as our control tower!!”
Then he marched off in the other direction.
At this point, Ryuunosuke had to step in; “You’re going the wrong way, Hinata!”
“Ah- whoops!” his underclassman flustered and spun around. As he hurried over to Ryuunosuke, he fiddled with the silver rod in his hand, which he could now see was a pen that Hinata was capping.
Ryuunosuke wondered if he should acknowledge that. Maybe congratulate Hinata somewhat for stepping up for a friend. But Hinata had never called Kageyama that to his face, and he was always a bit of a weirdo, so maybe that wasn’t the right call?
In the end, he just held out a palm. Hinata gave him a wordless high-five.
“Let’s crush these people!” Ryuunosuke cried, charging into the gym.
“Yeah!!” Hinata cheered.
And then they did crush them.
They won against Aoba Jousai. Even when the Grand King appeared at the last moment, they still managed to scrape out a win.
It was a high Ryuunosuke had never felt before. They’d defeated the second-best team in Miyagi. Next was Shiratorizawa.
“Don’t get ahead of yourself. They were not taking us seriously,” Daichi chided.
“How did you know what I was thinking?!”
“You were making that too-smug face.”