WildFire

30

You had kind of forgotten that phones existed.

You had not expected a surprise text from Hinata since he hadn't contacted you for the last month except for the occasional message check ups on you. You appreciated those check-ups from Hinata, since to you, it really showed how much he values your friendship together.

You just wished it didn't go like this:

Hi [Name]!

Hi

How are you?

Good, how are you?

Good!

That was literally it. Just that, repeated every once in a while.

But earlier that day, the tangerine-like boy had texted you, asking if you wanted to come to their first practice match. You were surprised that he had one so early, because the school he went to–Karasuno–didn't seem to be very strong. Not many schools would want to play with them.

You had agreed, excited for Hinata, so you had called off your practice that afternoon.

Hence why you were now at the entrance of Karasuno. It was smaller than Aoba Johsai, but it was still fairly nice. You had gotten a bit lost on the way, so you were late. You hoped Hinata wouldn't mind–if you could ever find the gym where they were playing.

"Hey–you!" some student you didn't know pointed at you. "You're not from this school!"

You glanced subconsciously down at your Aoba Johsai uniform, then back at the student that had just yelled at you with a suppressed smug expression.

"Oh, my friend invited me to see the volleyball practice match with Karasuno," you informed. "Err–where is the gym they're playing in?"

The guy huffed, then gestured at a nearby building. It was large, but not multiple stories like most of the other buildings in the school. Only two stories were constructed for the gym. The tan walls weren't particularly outstanding, but it still looked really cool for a school you'd never heard of from anyone but Hinata.

"Right," you murmured quietly. "His idol played here. The Little Giant, was it?"

Now thinking about it, you realized you were rather an idiot. Why hadn't you heard the shouting from the gym, even if you were outside, the yelling was loud enough for you to have guessed that a game of volleyball might've been taking place.

Your eyes widened–if you could already hear evidence of a game...uh oh. You were very, very late.

You ran to the side door in a hurry, and pulled open the heavy door that halted your entrance. Inside, you prayed that Hinata wouldn't be disappointed about how awfully tardy you were. You didn't want the precious sunshine to be genuinely hurt by you–or actually, anyone.

The game halted as soon as you stumbled through, the volleyball bouncing awkwardly away from the people as they all turned to stare at you with confused, blank stares.

You bit back a curse–you had literally gone through the effort of running an extra few meters to go through the side door, just hoping you wouldn't cause a scene. Yet here you were, the coaches, the players, and the managers all staring at you with judgemental expressions.

"[Name]-chan!" Hinata shouted in excitement as he seemed to recover his wits. The ginger bounced towards you in delight, his body radiating elation, "You came!"

You froze as he wrapped arms around you, surprised by the affectionate gesture–though you really shouldn't have. You returned the hug slowly, and replied, "I got lost on the way here–sorry. How are you doing?"

You then finally studied Hinata's opposing team: a group of tall boys (with the exception of the libero) in turquoise and white, with a lime green on top, and more than one of those few were staring in surprise at you, as if they recognized you and didn't think you would be here.

Hinata didn't seem to notice your surprise and answered your previous question, "We're winning, but their captain came back after spraining his ankle...and..."

That was enough.

You were certain they must've been having a hard time receiving Oikawa's dangerously powerful serves.

After a few seconds, you recognized their libero. He had gotten an award for one of the best junior high liberos, so you had obviously heard about him. Why he was at this obscure school, you didn't know, but you were sure even the famous Nishinoya Yuu was struggling with Oikawa's serves.

You had also recognized another person on Hinata's team: a dark-haired man with a scowl forever plastered onto his face. He had been the captain of Kitagawa Daiichi, the all famous setter that yelled at his own teammates.

"It's okay," you reassured Hinata. "Focus on winning. And congratulations on making it to the startling lineup! I hope I'll see your school name at the Interhigh and the Spring Nationals."

Hinata nodded fiercely, and ran back to his spot while apologizing to his teammates while you found your way to the upper benches for the audience–not that there were many.

After you settled, you found the eyes that had been staring at you the moment you had set foot in this Gym. The otter-like brown eyes were narrowed at you and somehow held a feeling of betrayal that was mixed with a stronger feeling of confusion.

Ah, you thought. I probably should have told him.

He seemed to be asking, "What are you doing here?"