udai sorashi might looked like he was unbothered by all the negativities thrown at him, looking like a unbothered king he is. but, we never know exactly. he is too hard to read, except for people that have known him for so long. one of those people is coach washijo.
it was indeed a pitiful scenery for coach washijo. afterall, only him and several people knows what is sorashi's main drive in playing volleyball when the boy could easily succeeded in other field, the ones thus didn't burden his weak stamina.
washijo watches as ushijima and sorashi who are talking about the upcoming nationals with a too excited human tangerine in the background. the old man sighed when he saw the bruises that was slightly revealed because the arms support sleeves slightly lifted.
he must have pushed himself for too hard. the coach thought. he sighed as he recalled the memory when ushijima brought sorashi to watch shiratorizawa's practice back when the two players were only first years. actually if we did a little throwback when kageyama and hinata visited shiratorizawa, that wasn't the first time ushijima brought someone to the school. ushijima wakatoshi had brought sorashi, an outsider, to watch his practice.
coach washijo knew that sorashi is a great player. yes, he is far beyond everyone. an enigma that crashes the volleyball world with his amazing skill of copying someone's movement.
"sora-san, are you not afraid of ushijima-senpai's spikes?" hinata asked as he collected the scattered balls.
"why should i be afraid?" sorashi lifted his eyebrows and gazed at hinata, "i've been hit harder."
ushijima chokes on his drink, reon and tendou smirk knowingly meanwhile semi gasped and quickly covered hinata's and goshiki's ears (i don't know how he did it.)
"never knew that our ace is like that," reon shook his head as he kept his teasing smile.
"what do you mean, sora-sa—" goshiki was cut by semi's high pitched screech.
"no, it's nothing to worry about, goshiki." semi patted the first year's head.
"ah, i can't explain it," says sorashi.
"but i can show yo--"
"sora!"
rest in peace the first years' innocence. and now sorashi is running away from a very a n g r y semisemi.
"i'll behead you, sinner!"
"as if you are not a sinner!"
"sorashi!"
uh oh, mama semi is mad angry.
"i'm sorry, i was joking! flustered wakatoshi is cute y'know!" sorashi defended himself.
"but you don't have to tell them that kind of innuendo!" semi roared at the karasuno's middle blocker.
"uh, ushijima-senpai?" hinata called ushijima.
"yes?"
"what is—"
"no!" semi screamed as he dragged sorashi by the collar. we can see the soul evaporated from sorashi in a mist.
as goshiki watches the scene unfold, he asked reon, "sorashi-senpai is a very simple person, isn't he?"
"yeah, yeah, he looks like always living in the moment without worrying anything, right?" reon replies. he sighed and looked at tendou.
tendou looked back and then threw his gaze to goshiki, "but you are wrong!"
"he is an enigma— something that only people could understand," says tendou.
"eh?!"
"that's all we know," reon nods his head. "a genius like him is always hard to be understood."
the practice ended much later than they intended to. coach washijo was a beast of course, he demanded that the players let out their best efforts and won't stop until they reached their limits.
"coach, why the practice is heavier than usual?" sorashi asked coach washijo while still panting after the heavy grind. he is so grateful that he didn't faint at all today.
"you are going to nationals, aren't you." coach washijo replied without sparimg sorashi a glance.
sorashi whined, "but i'm not a regular!"
"then, it's time to be a regular,"
"so mean."sorashi scowled at the old coach. "i definitely should have not gone to shiratorizawa."
"why?" ushijima popped out behind sorashi.
"the fu— waka-chan!" sorashi gulped down hard. "don't surprise me like that!"
"i'm sorry. so, why?" ushijima asked again.
"you wanted me to faint in every practice?"
"but now, you are not,"
"it's— whatever you say, waka-chan." sorashi huffed.
all of his muscles are so sore to the point that he literally dragged himself to the locker room. damn that old devil, sorashi rolled his eyes in annoyance. luckily the practice has already ended and there aren't any additional practice or he might die right here right now.
he pulled his shirt off, grabbed his things and headed to the shower. sora walked in to the shower as he hummed a song.
"how tiresome~" sora sighed. he turned the shower's knob and immediately greeted by hot water.
the shower is so boring and because sorashi's muscles are all sore, he needs a lot of time to take a shower. man, even lifting a finger hurts so bad.
"what's the worst thing i can say~" sorashi sang loudly (and shamelessly, must to say he has a nice voice) as he shampoo-ing his hair.
"things are better jf i stay~" semi joined.
sorashi who still closes his eyes, grinned when he heard his friend's melodic voice from the stall beside him.
"so long and goodnight~" tendou joined in.
"so long and goodnight~" kawanishi pipped in.
"is this a normal occurence, ushijima-san?" shirabu asked the ace.
"yes," ushijima replied. "sora and semi are the vocalist of the bathroom's angels."
tendou bursted out laughing because of ushijima's words, "wakatoshi-kun, do you know how weird that sounds?"
ushijima shook his head while the others laughing their ass off.
"and if you carry on this way~!" sorashi sing harder onto his shampoo bottle. he took a dramatic breathe before continuing, "things are better if i stay!"
"so long and goodnight~" semi continues sora's singing.
"so long and goodnight!" kawanishi and goshiki shouted.
after they finished their shower —concert— sorashi decided to take a rest in semi's room for an hour or two before heading back to his house.
sorashi is lying down on semi's bed while semi is sitting on the floor, changing his guitar's strings.
"are you sure you wanna go home?" semi asked as he pulled the strings.
"yeah yeah, i have some problems outside school, so—" sora shrugged his shoulders.
"you are really a bad boy in disguise,"
"probably," sorashi groaned, covering his face in both of his hands. "what a pain in the ass, how could i associate with him."
semi half smiled, his eyes still trained to his guitar. "well, ask that to yourself."
sorashi screamed to his hand. "i fucking hate that jerk!"
"yeah yeah i know but don't scream!" semi warned.
two hours has passed by chattering their head off, and sorashi feels like he is too sleepy to go back home but he needs to be back. he tried to get rid the haze in his head by playing guitar with semi.
"so what's your plan for nationals?" semi suddenly blurted out a question out of the blue.
sorashi stopped strumming semi's guitar for a moment. he glanced at the third year setter for a moment before releasing a long sigh. "have a little faith in me will ya?" sorashi smiled. "i might don't have the best stamina but, i think i can pull it through."
"you sure a crazy volleball idiot, huh?" semi snickered at the silver headed (sorashi re-dyed his hair since everyone said he looks like bokuto) middle blocker. "but i'm really curious about one thing though,"
"and what is it?"
"you are an awfully skilled offensive player, why don't you pick an offensive role like wakatoshi?"
sorashi laughed at semi's remark, "well it was because karasuno needs more tall blockers." he stopped for a second, taking in a deep breathe. "and assisting my teammates to score is not bad either."
semi was taken aback for a momentarily second. he knows that sorashi is an aggressive player that heavily and focuses on spikes back in middle school. sorashi even got the title of kitagawa daichi's most precious jewel! so, he never thought that sorashi is willingly changed his playing style into the more soft one.
"the problem lies within the relation between me and my teammates," sorashi began to explain.
"y'kno', my teammates are not like wakatoshi nor tooru, it's so hard to adjust with them." sorashi shifted slightly on his seat, "our skill level difference was too far, making the team's dynamic disturbed."
"but they are not bad, i actually like them a lot."
"why so?"
it is because his teammates understand his struggles to blend in to the team. when sorashi tried his best to match the team's style, the team also tried to match sorashi. it didn't work most of the time but at some desperate times, sorashi could pull off some crazy stunts and being one with the team. and because of this, sora's speciality of copying movements getting more obvious. but again that kind of play really draining his stamina for too fast.
the first time he realized he could copy someone, he literally copied his brother's movement, leaving the old man ukai baffled. his height is already a weapon, and now he combined it by a brilliant jumping skill. sorashi with ease took the first spot with the highest reach point. unfortunately, that certain day, only in one set, he dropped down and didn't wake up for one full day. that's when he was aware that he got a really bad stamina.
old man ukai was aware of the real problems but he never really said it to sorashi. well c'mon, sora needed to step up his stamina game. with this sorashi would only thought about fixing his stamina. because let's be honest, whether he has that copycat skill or not, he is just like one level below kenma.
and one more problem is, he is quick to lose motivation in a match.
so this is like, bokuto's mood swing mixed with kenma's low stamina. it is sure not the best combination. the crows are the real mvps that they could bear this problematic ass.
after the long explanation, the room filled with silence again before sora broke it with a yawn, "i'm so sleepy, i think 'm going back now, ei-chan."
sora then stood up and grabbed his bag. he jumped up and down a few times to tone down his drowsiness.
"you can sleep here, y'know," semi mumbled. "it's so late."
"nah, i got things to do back at home."
and for a moment, sorashi forgot something that is lurking behind the shadow of miyagi.
"see ya, ei-chan." sorea waved at the setter which semi replied with a tired wave.
sora walked out from the dorm's complex and went out from the side gate. it was so dark that the only source of light is the gate's post lamps.
the air is awfully chilly tonight. it feels like there are a thousand needles stabbing sorashi's skin. the hoodie he borrowed from semi doesn't really helping at all but at least he is not totally freezing, right? sora's eyelashes flutters as he tried to get rid the drieness on his eyes. his cheeks are both red, caused by the low temperature.
i didn't faint after finishing washijo's hell practice recipe, i wonder why. sorashi wondered as he tilted his head upwards to the dark sky.
is it because he always running instead using a transportation? but it's kind of impossible. there is no way he improved so much in a short span of time.
what the hell is happening?
he also could do spikes better than before. the blocks were on point too.
and those diving receives too! he could do those for hundred of times without getting any blackout. everything is strangely perfect today.
he huffed. well whatever, that means I'm more than ready to crush tokyo boys.
and that haizaki bastard, sorashi sighed heavily.
he is going to show that good-for-nothing jerk that the one that being left behind is him.
;
"oh, tobio-chan?"
"idiot! have you forgotten where are we going today?" kageyama yelled at sora's face just right after sorashi opened his door.
"where?"
a giant irk mark appeared at kageyama's head.
"i'm joking, i'm joking, let's go."
sora closed the door and locked it. he then lifted his bags from the floor and proceeded to walk out of his residence.
"fgnaa, seriously, why bother picking me up?" sorashi yawned.
another irk mark appeared.
"you are the one who asked me to pick you up!"
sorashi laughed at the intense setter. "annoying you is always a fun activity."
kageyama sighed. sorashi is really a pain in the ass when he is excited for something.
when he is excited for something.
that's right, this is the most excited sorashi i ever seen in my life. a thought dawned upon the first year setter.
kageyama side-glanced the middle blocker. ha? nani the fuck is happening? he looked at sorashi in horror. it looks like there are flowers and sparkles surrounding him! but sora's eyes remained cold with dangerous glint flickers inside them.
scary, sorashi. scary. kageyama thought.
"you are not planning on murdering anyone, right?"
when sorashi heard that, his infamous bloodcurdling smirk appeared. kageyama shivered and prayed for whoever that will be against them in the first match.
"oh, by the way tobio-chan, where is hinata?" sorashi asked as he stretched his head.
"ha?"
hinata? kageyama frowned.
"where is my baby tangerine?" sorashi asked again.
kageyama face is indescribable. his mind blanked for a second and then he whisper-yelled. "oh shit, i forgot him at a konbini,"
"you, what?!"
now they are running.
run.
i know you heard the beat dropped.
*cough* anyway—
"when i was a young boy, my father took me to the city~!" sorashi sung as he run along with kageyama.
noticing that kageyama didn't respond him, sorashi nudged kageyama. making the young setter almost slipped.
"sora-san, have you lost your mind?!" kageyama screamed.
"just continue!"
"why are you suddenly singing?!"
"c'mon tobio-chan!"
kageyama snarled at the third year, he hates to say it but he has already been brainwashed by sorashi with his 101 pop culture shits. so, reluctantly, kageyama continues sora's singing, "to see a marching band."
"that's the spirit! i didn't teach ya english for nothing!"
kageyama grumbled under his breathe. sorashi is now in the state that he is has exceeded oikawa tooru's annoying self! and only the wrath of the fathers—iwaizumi and daichi—could snapped him back to reality.
a tiny flashback:
"try to remember from songs! i always do that," sorashi explained as he writes down some english words.
"but i'm not—"
"uh huh, i don't care!"
"i don't listen to—"
"well you should! i don't have the time to teach you everyday!"
kageyama rolled his eyes in annoyance, "so what's you recommendation then?"
"this!"
ah, what a pain in the arse. it was actually a band that sorashi really loves to death. what was that again? the carbondioxide love?
"i know you are talking bad about my chemical romance!"
"you—"
"i can't read mind but your face is obvious!"
"sora-san!" a scream can be heard from an alley in front of them.
they are both startled but sorashi quickly dashed to the alley, leaving kageyama behind.
"how the hell he can be that fast? what did i miss when i was away?!" kageyama mumbled as he stared his upperclassman that was gone in a second.
"shoyo!" sorashi screamed.
huh? what happened? kageyama thought.
oh well..
they found a stray kitten.
"it looks like kenma!" hinata exclaimed, his eyes shone with happiness. the little tangerine continues to nuzzle the cat meanwhile kageyama grumbling, saying that they are going to be late.
"we are going to be late, boke!" kageyama yelled as he picked off the stray kitten from hinata's hands.
"hey!" hinata yelled.
"c'mon, c'mon don't fight,"
"boke!"
"bakageyama!"
"stop!"
the two first years continues their bickers, ignoring the tired third year words. they keep throwing insults at each other and throwing punches. the freak duo was a few steps behind the 'i'm so done with this shit' middle blocker.
"hey hinata," kageyama called once they are near the entrance gate (and stopped their fight after getting scolded by sorashi and getting meat buns shoved in their mouth).
"what?" hinata replied chompped at the meat bun that sorashi bought for them.
"do you feel that sora-san is kind of different?" kageyama turned his head back to the front, watching the third year who is currently daydreaming right now.
"you've just noticed it?" hinata shot back, earning a shocked gasp from kageyama.
hinata chomped down his meat bun, finishing it in two bites. "um, mawbhe bwecaws he was pwaticwing wike cwazy," hinata replied, mouth full.
that's true. after the heavy training with shiratorizawa alongside ushijima, sorashi has changed a lot in many aspects. he looks like more— mature? but there is this one invisible thing that seems really off. his eyes glinted with expressions, a very subtle change that really shifted the atmosphere around him.
kageyama asked again how was the first year camp to hinata in which hinata excitedly told him about the details. what i mean by details are details. he began by how he snucked in to the camp, to a surprise visit from sorashi on day 2, until the way sora keeps practicing the basic of volleyball until his limbs are full of bruises.
"that's why he wear support sleeves!" is what tendou told hinata.
sora also did the heavier practice menu than the other. he ran 2 kilometres more, push up 100 more, serves 100 more, sit ups 100 more, et cetera et cetera; and the numbers always added up until sorashi could bear three full sets without almost dropped dead.
their conversation was overheard by their current ace, azumane asahi, and the third years (except sorashi because his head is still in the clouds).
"i think i'm going to suffocate by listening sorashi's training menu," says asahi, his face pale like a dead fish.
"me too," daichi paled. "he went practice with us and then with shiratorizawa everyday, what kind of a beast is he?"
sugawara laughed at the two pale faced player, "hahaha! what i know is, he got that brazil vibe."
"eh?" daichi glanced briefly at sorashi. "you are right, suga, he is back daydreaming again like after he came back from brazil."
"so, this is like a calm before the storm?" asahi asked his fellow third years.
"possibly." suga nodded in aggrement. "this is udai sorashi that we are talking about, he is unpredictable. but we are positive that this is will be the time sora released his pent up anger and frustration."
"yeah, that man never got angry though, always using his poker face." tanaka suddenly showed up out of nowhere. "i believe there is something inside him that is ready to—"
nishinoya pipped in with large grin on his face, "play volleyball with his 120%!"
.
.
a/n: this chapter is super boring sksksk i'm disappointed yet again in myself. but did you guys know that this chapter is a filler before the main events (the nationals). well, see you in two weeks in the nationals arc!