It's finally the day! Second of June and that means Interhigh Prefecture Preliminaries are here and who else could be more excited than Hoshikin? He's never seen highschool matches in Japan, barely played with two teams and moreover he's thrilled to see that Shiratorizawa is on opposite groups from Karasuno. They'll surely meet in the finals, there can't be any other way especially with that dynamic duo he came to love as they played together a lot more this past month. His team is in block B on the second part so their first match is after the break, which gives everyone a free morning, but the brunette couldn't feel busier. He promised Tobio and Shōyō that he'll watch their match so he woke up early in the morning to finish working on a project his father forwarded to him.
"Agghhh!!! Verdammt! I'm late." the boy curses while running past the front gate and heading towards the court.
He already sees a group of fangirls right in front of the door with signs and all kinds of lights in their hands. *How would they know I'm coming here early?! I don't have time for this now!* He curses again in his head while trying to look as inconspicuous as possible, pulling on his hat while trying to look the other way. *Phew! There's a guy signing their things so hopefully they won't notice me.*
But unfortunately just as he speeds up to move past them, one starts screaming his name and pointing in his direction. What he found funny was definitely not the high pitched scream that probably ruptured his drum, but the annoyance of the guy that was previously worshipped by those girls. The very tall and slender has a similar build to Hoshikin plus a very attractive face so for sure he was used to all of that attention, especially if he's at least a half good volleyball player too.
The brunette couldn't help but mock the man who was shooting arrows towards him, playfully sticking his tongue out before running to the gym so he could meet his friends before the match starts. He avoids all of the teams that are warming up on the halls and sneaks in the court where he quickly spots the black uniforms.
"Tobio~ Shōyō! Hiiiii!!!" he cheers, waving enthusiastically at the two boys that are practicing their passes in a corner. He bows at the coaches and the beautiful manager before greeting the rest of the team and then hugging his best friend. He and the tyrannic setter came to be very close, after all those love talks and training together they just found that there's a lot of common points.
"Hoshi! You're here! The opponents look a bit scary but we'll kick their asses! You just watch! We'll win and then play against you!" the childish enthusiasm is contagious as always but that's definitely Hinata's charm.
"You better! I'll be waiting for you in the finals but till then you gotta pass this match! Give them hell~" the international smirks, glaring at the rather normal looking team on the other side of the net before finally making his way to the tribunes so he can watch.
He sits right in front but quickly he notices a team with a neatly arranged white and teal jersey that sits at his left, all strangers to him except the pretty boy that he met outside with his fangirls. His jaw clenches up the moment he locks eyes with the brunette but he confidently gets up and walks towards his seat to finally greet the super star.
"You must be Hoshikin Hätz, volleyball prodigy that recently came to study in Japan." he greets in fluent English with a sneaky smile and closed eyes, definitely not showing his hostility
"And you definitely have the advantage here. I'm at loss about who you might be besides a very pretty boy." the younger answers, switching the language to something easier and returning the smile. He honestly is grateful to meet new people, but this time the annoyance is ignored as the caramel haired teen sits down next to him.
"Oikawa Tōru. What brings a celebrity like you to this match? Your match is hours from now and your team seems to have yet to arrive." the setter finally seems to let go of his judgement for a second when he sees how Hoshi's eyes light up before answering.
"My best friend is playing! I had to come and watch his match. Plus I've been visiting Karasuno for a while, we promised to meet each other in the finals. How come your team is here? Playing against them next?" he's genuinely excited for this match and his friends, which somehow ends up melting that coldness in Oikawa.
"My cute kouhai is playing so I came to watch him. He's the setter." he answers, rolling his eyes in a mocking way and sighing.
"Tobio? That's interesting, he never mentioned you being his senpai. Heh, let's play a game then. Who do you think he'll pass to first?" he asks, looking down at the court where both teams are ready to begin the match.
"Who else other than that shrimp? They do their quick attack and demoralize the other team." Oikawa confidently answers as the ball is thrown in the air.
"Oh yeah? Then let's watch Tanaka-san. Maybe he was your kouhai, but I believe Tobio has grown. He'll surely pass to a wing spiker." he finishes saying just as the ball raises high towards the setter and he carefully passes it according to Hoshi's prediction.
"Tsk. Congrats. Looks like you know him better." the sour expression is showing that more than anything else, Oikawa hates losing, a true king of the court.
"Hehehe don't be sad, this match is already won anyway. I'll even make another guess. They won't even use that attack you're so scared of. But that's just a lucky guess, gotta go and warm up for my own. Let's meet again on the court, it's going to be a match we'll enjoy for sure!"
"Leaving before it's finished?"
"Well...My boyfriend's here. Can't make him wait now, can I?" he winks then waves his hand, savoring the flushed expression on the setter's face as he quickly runs down the stairs.
The teen heads to the bathroom so he could change into his white and purple jersey then hurries to the court where the whole team is already getting ready. The crowd cheers when he opens the doors, enthusiastically waving their wands and signs. People from all over the prefecture came to see him, after all it is his debut match in Japan. His grandpa already got annoyed with him being so late, smacking the back of his head and sending him to warm up immediately.
Hoshi steps closer to the team captain, almost leaning in for a kiss that he's gotten used to for the past month but Ushijima acts quicker and takes a step back. There is a mixture of panic, sadness and maybe a bit of disgust on his face as he avoids his eyes, looking at the crowd. Luckily Satorou saves the moment and comes to bump into Hoshi under the pretext of stretching, but the brunette already feels a bitter taste in his mouth. *So this is still a secret... He's just ashamed of it.* dark thoughts sneak into his mind for the rest of the warm-up, but the referee finally signals both teams to take their positions and he puts back a fake smile on his face.
The strategy for the preliminaries is simple enough. They start with either Ushijima or Hoshikin to score a bunch of points really quickly and demoralize the opponent then play their best for the rest of it.
"What kind of game do you want to play? I can end it with just servers." he laughs, doing his best to pretend like he's not bothered at all by what happened and just focused on the game.
"I'll serve first then you go second. Let's end it quickly." the captain says as the ball is tossed to him and just as fast the first serve is already on the opposite side of the court.
The atmosphere felt cold when everyone saw how powerful that ball was but unfortunately that's not what scared them in particular. No, there are worse things that simply make them wonder if they should've come here to begin with. Wakatoshi isn't using his full power yet and there's still Hoshikin left to serve. If they make enough points to count them on two hands then it's already more than expected. Shiratorizawa is unfairly strong this time and they all felt it.
This couldn't even be called a match, let alone a fair one. It is a butchery and if the opponents would've been at least slightly better or more competent then maybe the prodigy would've held back and let the audience enjoy it, but unfortunately it wasn't the case. Ushijima is also ruthless, not because he had anything against the match itself but that's just how he's always playing. After 10 consecutive serves that no-one dared to stop they take a break to try and regroup. Hoshikin didn't even bother to leave the court, he was playing with a ball while others left to drink some water. Everyone already knew they're gonna win, the opponents had already given up so there wasn't much else to do.
Both teams regroup and they get back to serving, when Ushijima hits for the third time the libero manages to receive the ball, badly and completely losing his balance but at least the ball is in the game. No-one actually expected that so the blockers are slow to react as the ball falls down and hits the floor, finally a point scored for the others. It's now time to rotate and for the opposite team to serve. The hit is a normal one, barely passing the net and in return is slammed on the floor before they even realize. Shiratorizawa rotates too now and the opponents couldn't help but look at their captain in fear and desperation. They wanted out. It's all just going to be humiliating for them now. The first serve comes, not his signature fast serve that's close to the world record, instead it was a normal jump float which doesn't spin at all, but they couldn't get it. After that a series of seemingly normal serves come, the final one finally being the spike serve that everyone is so terrified of.
First half of the match ended with 25-1, the whole stadium silent after it. This isn't a match anyone gets to enjoy, there is no fun in playing like this and it sucks the whole enjoyment from volleyball to see this. To actually give them a good spectacle, Ushijima and Hoshikin should be benched and let the rest of the team play, at least like that the gap between the teams wouldn't be just painfully unfair. For the break Hoshi sits on the corner, a bitter taste left in his mouth after the round they just played. Surprisingly, the captain from the opposite team approaches him and before the referee tells him to go back, the brunette stops him so they could talk.
"We know we're going to lose, but why aren't you playing at your best?! Why aren't you taking us seriously?!!! Are we so pathetic you don't even want to bother?" he yells, clearly mad that the player had to hold back and just served some simple balls that made them look like fools. Everyone stopped and turned their attention to them now, some were pitying them, some were annoyed they barely got a point, some were just there for the drama.
"Yes, you are weak and you couldn't get those balls but what's the use of serving anything difficult? Do you just want to save face? Sure, everyone will say that there's no way you can receive a ball at 120km/h or just a high one that disappears from your view, but what's the point of that? You should've come here to learn something, to try and be better at volleyball so I'm serving like that in hope that you are watching and learning how to receive or serve something that is close but just above your current level. Isn't that more important than appearing pitiful in front of a crowd and playing victim?"
Everyone in the court fell silent. There is no-one that dares to speak over that, they all just watch how the shock on the boy's face slowly turns into sadness as he bursts into tears and falls down to his knees. "A-Ari-Arigatou gozaimasu." it feels like one last breath and for the people that aren't right next to him it was impossible to hear but Hoshi pats his shoulder and turns back to his team so they could start the second round.
Things are obviously different now. Everyone is fired up and now the match truly begins. Hoshikin has the first serve and again it's a jump float, almost the same as the ones he served before but this time a bit slower. He then switches to a few straight line serves and some net-ins, with each ball he hits the opposite team taking notes of what they could've improved. After 24 points they still didn't lose their spirit and are trying their best to touch the sneaky balls. And finally it happens, the libero has his eyes stuck to the ball and quickly moves his limbs towards the best receiving point as his wrist pushes it back in the air and towards their setter.
"N-nice receive!" his captain yells as he jumps up and spikes the ball, scoring the very first point they feel like it's truly worked for.
The happiness is totally different from what they were used to. This time it feels like they conquered the biggest enemy there is and won. The next serve didn't even matter, Ushijima, not reading the situation as usual, spiked the ball before they could regroup but at least it could finally be called a good match. Everyone lines up proudly and bows down, thanking the crowd and the staff before finally exiting the court. Just as he is about to go catch up with his boyfriend, Hoshikin is stopped by the captain of that team. He signals the rest to go ahead so they can talk peacefully.
"Thank you for today! I really learned a lot from this match and next time we play I'll surely be better!" the teen confesses, truly admiring the one who today opened a new path for him. It definitely warms up Hoshi's heart to see that burning flame for volleyball and he can't help but smile at how sweet this was.
"Sure! Let's meet again on the court~" he winks and waves his hand before finally making his way out and checking the time.
Just as he opens the door, before going to the rest of the team he starts running towards the other gym. *Tobio's match should be finished now too, let's see how it went before leaving.* he thought as the black team exits the other hall and they bump into each other.
"Hoshi? What happened to your match? Was it canceled?!" the younger teen yells as he looks around confused.
"No-no! We just finished too, it was a quick one since the opponents are beginners. We ended both sets with 25 to 1 so it was done in just a couple of minutes. You won too, right? Who are you playing against tomorrow?" he says, calming the other down and the rest are in shock. They did expect Shiratorizawa to crush their enemies with huge score differences, but 25-1 seems like too much.
"That must've been a terrifying match... But it only means we're one step closer to facing each other. We're playing against Date Tech and we're going to win. No matter what we'll win!" this time it is Daichi who speaks up, proudly looking at his team and fully prepared for what's to come.
"Oh that's the spirit! We have to meet in the finals so don't you dare lose before that! I don't know who we're playing against tomorrow, but I heard they only have first and second years so I'm not sure I'll participate. I might come and watch your match if I'm free." he nods, ready to have fun tomorrow while playing or watching volleyball no matter what.
"You're going home? Want to practice a bit more?" Kageyama asks, but he suddenly notices the captain that they're only seen on the articles about the national team approaching.
"Hahaha, that would do me some good, but I have to go home and take care of some documents for my father. Maybe tomorrow! And best of luck with your match in case I don't get to come in time!" he gives Tobio a quick hug as usual then waves to the rest and starts running back, seeing Ushijima coming to get him probably.
"Who was the guy you just hugged?!".....and he's mad.
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Verdammt- german for damn, usually said when annoyed