Komaeda quickly noticed that the ice hockey team seemed to dislike him. The other teams did too, but the hockey players held the biggest grudge against him. He didn't know why though.
As he was eating lunch, a few of them approached him. "Hey princess," one of them said. "You're eating a lot. Are you hungry after a long day of doing nothing?"
"Huh?" Komaeda asked. "But I just did sports for three whole hours,"
"Three whole hours!" He laughed. "Are you guys hearing this? He did sports for three whole hours. Poor baby. Someone should let him do the easy work like ice hockey and basketball,"
"Is that what this is about? You think figure skating is too easy?" He asked.
"I don't think it's too easy, I know it is,"
Komaeda frowned. "It's not easy at all. I know I may not look as muscular as you guys, but that doesn't mean-"
"Blah blah blah. I don't care. See ya around." He pat Komaeda's shoulder and left with his friends.
Hinata watched everything go down, angry. He approached Komaeda's table. "Wanna sit with us?" He asked.
"Hell no!" Oowada shouted. "If he chose a solo sport, he has to deal with the consequences of that! We're all sitting with our teammates and so should he,"
"Why? We can have friends outside of our teams, you know?" Hinata told him and sat down with Komaeda.
"It's fine, Hinata-kun. You can go sit with your friends," Komaeda said sadly.
"Nah, I don't wanna. I'd rather sit with you,"
That turned out to be a mistake. In the locker room after the next basketball practice, his teammates confronted him.
"Why the hell do you wanna sit with that guy so bad?" Oowada asked.
"Because why not? He's really nice,"
"He's not one of us. We're a team. The others are teams too. He chose to be selfish and he clearly didn't work as hard to get here as we did," Oowada told him.
"Dude, you don't even know him. Stop talking shit about him!" Hinata defended Komaeda.
"He's a solo athlete. It's his fault he doesn't have friends or team spirit," Hagakure said.
"You too? I thought you wouldn't care about stupid stuff like this,"
"You just don't get it, Hinata." Oowada said before leaving. The others left too except Souda.
"...Do you care if he trains solo and isn't muscular?" Hinata asked him.
"Nah, I couldn't really care less," Souda told him. "I'm not gonna hang with him though, I don't want trouble with the other guys,"
"Are you gonna be upset if I do?"
Souda shook his head. "I won't tell anyone if you hang out with him. If you want the candy boy, go get him,"
"Thanks." Hinata grabbed his bag and they both left the gym.
Hinata had to walk a different way to get to his dorm room. On his way there, he heard strange noises and voices.
"Ah! Hey, stop it!"
"Stop whining, we're just joking around!"
"No, let go of me!"
Hinata walked to where the voices came from, concerned. He saw two hockey players and Komaeda there together. One hockey player hit Komaeda's behind with his hockey stick, which pushed him towards the other player, who, in turn, his his chest with his hockey stick, sending him towards the other player again.
"Leave me alone already... Ah! Hey, that hurt- Ow!!"
Hinata clenched his fists. "Leave him alone!" He shouted loudly.
The two hockey players and Komaeda all flinched in surprise. "Dude, we're just joking around,"
"Doesn't really seem like that to me! Get away from him right now!"
Scared, they ran off. Hinata was glad he was able to intimidate them. After all, they were two guys with hockey sticks against one guy with a basketball. They technically had weapons and he didn't.
"Are you okay?" Hinata asked.
"...I've been better,"
"Ignore them. They suck ass anyway." He put a hand on his shoulder.
Komaeda looked down. "It's fine... It's no wonder people don't like trash like me,"
"Huh? No, they're just assholes. It's not your fault,"
"You don't need to cheer me up." He smiled. "I'll be fine. I know I don't look like the rest of you guys, but I can handle quite a lot," He assured Hinata.