On My Mind

1: Left Behind

To be completely honest, Hinata Shouyou was rather simple minded. He knew what he wanted in life, so that is what he did. There were not too many layers to him, he was pretty up front about how he felt about everything. And "everything" usually translated over to "volleyball" for the redhead. Afterall, the beloved sport was always at the front of his mind. Sure, like everyone, Shouyou thought about other things. He reluctantly tried to think during school, and enjoyed spending time with his family and friends.

However, at the end of the day everything circled back to volleyball. He had to finish this question to go play, he would play with his sister and then go practice, he would text Kageyama and see if he wanted to toss the ball, etc. The same thing had happened this past week as he desperately studied in order to go play volleyball in Tokyo against Nekoma and the other powerhouse schools. He had to ace these tests, or he would never grow stronger, he would never be the best!

But these classes were just so boring! Shouyou didn't care about them, why should he try and understand them?! But he had to, for volleyball. The first year was nearing the end of his last exam, racing against the clock. He had studied for English more than anything else and was fairly confident. He would ace this for sure! Just before time was up, Shouyou finished. With a sigh of relief, he handed in his exam. However, as the teacher was taking it he had noticed that the last answer was one off. Weird... hopefully it was the only one.

The ambitious first year's dreams were shot down quickly, as he later found out that he had not only failed English, but two other exams as well. This was quite literally his worst nightmare: he was missing out on improving at volleyball. To make it worse, when he met with the team Shouyou discovered that everyone else had managed to pass. He was going to be left behind...both in terms of the trip and in terms of skill. If only he had cared about school a little more...

"Ah, Hinata, don't look so down! There will be other chances, I promise!" Suga tried to comfort the first year.

"What if you came up after exams?" Tanaka suggested. Shouyou perked up momentarily until Tsukishima spoke up.

"No, this idiot failed three tests. So he has two retakes tomorrow and one the day after." the tall boy pointed out. Shouyou went back to glaring at the floor. This was so stupid! He needed to go, it wasn't fair! The redhead was broken from his thoughts when a wail reached his ears. He turned with the rest of the group to see Ennoshita and Nishinoya enter the gym. The shorter boy's fists were clenched and he was glaring at the floor in the way Shouyou just had been.

"Bad news?" Daichi asked in concern. Ennoshita sighed.

"Nishinoya failed one of his exams and has to retake it tomorrow." he explained to the team.

"So did this dummy, but he failed three." Kageyama gestured to Shouyou. Nishinoya's head snapped up to look at the first year before the libero ran over and threw himself onto Shouyou.

"Shouyou, you too?! This is so sad!" Nishinoya yelled as the two toppled over. Tanaka stomped over and glared at the two yelling boys.

"Noya! You promised you'd be in Tokyo with me! What will we do now?" Tanaka pouted. The libero looked up with an innocent shrug.

"Guess the rest of you will have to get better at receiving." He smirked, instantly started another argument in the club room.

The next morning came far too soon, and Shouyou's mood had not improved. Just hours before he had woken up, his teammates had taken off towards Tokyo. Meanwhile, Shouyou was stuck getting ready to go to school and take supplementary exams. The high schooler reluctantly dragged himself out of bed and got dressed before hurrying down the mountain on his bike.