Hinata hated English class, he couldn't understand why he had to learn it when everyone spoke Japanese. He glared at the textbook below him that was written in a foreign language. The boy rubbed his temple, he could recognise the letters but barely knew what they meant. He knew a few phrases like "Hello" and "My name is..." but that was the extent of his knowledge. During junior school, Hinata barely payed attention in class, especially in English. At first, he thought it would be cool to learn English because he would be able to read American comics or listen to foreign music and understand. Then, when he tried to pay attention in class; it was a whole new, alien concept. "It's the weird words..." He tried to reassure himself, whispering under his breath. Why are there so many different ways to pronounce things? Why is bomb pronounced bomb but womb was pronounced like room???
Hinata groaned and shook his head. "Hinata, please recite the text at the top of page 58." The voice of his teacher pierced through his consciousness. His worst nightmare, trying to speak English in front of everyone was coming true. He jolted up and stared at the words. "Recite the following aloud with a partner-"
"No below that, Hinata. Read it with Kageyama" The teacher stated, causing Hinata to fumble around, embarrassed. "S-sorry." Hinata looked over to his tall friend, who looked half awake- barely noticing what was going on. The orange haired boy stared at his friend. Kageyama flipped open his textbook. "What page are we on?" He whispered as the teacher looked on at them impatiently. They had to read a conversation between two colleagues in a workplace scenario.
"Hello, good after...noon" Hinata started, looking at his friend with little confidence in his voice.
"How are you." Kageyama replied monotonously. "It's a question, Kageyama. The question mark acts the same as the question marking particle we use in Japanese." He nodded his head.
"How are YOU?" He repeated, stretching his words a little too dramatically.
"I am good. What is the...whether...like for tomorrow?" Hinata struggled at pronouncing the word. The two sounded like robots. "Hinata, it's weather. Wheth-er is used in sentences describing a choice or two options." Hinata sighed again. "It's too hard, sir." He grumbled.
Kageyama scoffed as if, he too, didn't share the same skill level as Hinata. "Maybe think about something other than volleyball for once. Idiot." His best friend didn't miss an opportunity to insult him ever. "Shut up, Stupidyama. You think you're so good at English." Hinata grabbed his textbook and flipped to a random page and pointed at a random word. "What does this word mean!" He demanded, challenging the boy in a whisper-yell. The word was arrangement. "Arrangement." Kageyama replied. "No! What does it mean?" Kageyama lowered his brow. "Do you even know what that word means in the first place?"
"I'm asking you what it means! You don't even know, do you?" Hinata hissed. "It means..."the plan or preparation of a future event"!" Hinata announced with false victory. "Dumbass! You're looking at the definition in the book." The smaller boy tossed the book back down on the table. "I was only double checking." He crossed his arms. "You're shit at lying." Kageyama leaned back in his chair and looked away, resting his head against his hand. "Arrangement is probably a word that never gets used anyways, useless word." Hinata huffed, blowing his bangs out of his face. It seems that the duo had to compete against each other in everything; including incompetence.
-
Lunch passed slowly. The two usually spent their time practising passes with each other but Hinata had knocked the ball over of the fence. Kageyama was not surprised when Hinata tried to dig but ended up sending the ball backwards. It rolled off his wrists and went flying onto the roof where it kept going until it fell off and over the school's back fence. The two boys tried to chase after it and climbed the fence but got caught by the lunch monitor several times. He gave them empty threats about detention before walking off, waving his obnoxious finger at them.
At the back of the school was a forest of wild weeds that surrounded piles of unused building supplies, like random concrete slabs and a set of old soccer goals that was looked worn and rusted from age. The two tried to peer through the fence in hopes of seeing where the ball went; to no avail. Kageyama slapped the back of Hinata's head, causing him to lose his grip and fall onto the grass. "Good job. You're lucky that was just a random, old ball we found." His friend muttered like an old woman as Hinata rubbed his sore backside.
Now, they sat drearily on the bench next to the vending machine. Kageyama stood up and gawked at the selection of drinks. Hinata stretched out on the bench, feeling the carvings in the wood from past delinquents before his fingers touched something with a strange texture which caused him to pull his hand away in disgust. He looked over at his friend, mentally debating with himself on the drink he wanted. "Kageyama, I'm bored." Hinata huffed and rolled around. The sun was shinning on his face, he shielded his eyes with his fingers. He squinted and watched Kageyama insert change into the big, white vending machine. The setter didn't respond, still indecisive about what flavour milk he wanted.
"Hurry up, you only drink yoghurt." Kageyama grunted and picked the yoghurt; Hinata was right. He'd always debate between strawberry and chocolate milk but then always went back to the classic yoghurt drink. The milk box fell to the bottom on the machine with a clunk and Kageyama reached for it, poking the top with the straw. He pushed the tiny spiker aside and sat back down on the bench. "Shut up." He responded. The two stared off into the courtyard, radiating boredom. Kageyama had a brooding, natural gaze that scared almost everyone away from the pair.
Hinata especially, couldn't handle sitting down for more than five minutes. He jumped to his feet. "Let's go find the others!" He suggested. "Why?" Kageyama asked lazily. "To hang out with them, what else??" Kageyama had a weird look in his eyes, screaming that he didn't want to move from his spot. The boy sucked on his drink, leaning against the brick wall. "You can go, I want some peace and quiet." Hinata punched his friend in the arm, causing him to give a death glare. The punch didn't faze him. "You're the one who started eating lunch with me first!" Hinata squinted back remember how Kageyama just sat next to him one day during lunch, slurping his milk box loudly. He didn't say anything and just took his spot on the bench, and it was like that ever since. From there, they naturally found an old volleyball and would practise with each other during their break.
Kageyama just loudly slurped his yoghurt to Hinata's disgust. "Fine, I'll go find Noya-san. Better than talking to Boringyama." That's good. Hinata thought, complimenting his own nick-naming skills. He had a plethora of names he would call Kageyama every day. The tangerine walked off as Kageyama threw his empty carton of milk at his orange head. It bounced off and Hinata didn't seem to notice. He headed back inside the main building.
Hinata wasn't sure where everyone would be. The school wasn't massive like Seijoh but, it wasn't that small either. He climbed the stairs to the third floor where the third-year classrooms were situated. As he walked up the stairs, he passed crowds of fellow students talking among themselves. They blocked the halls and the small boy had to weave around them. He reached the third-years class and curiously peaked in. Several students were already gathered inside, tables pulled together as they ate lunch together. Hinata nervously scanned the room for his upperclassmen friends. He walked to the next classroom where he found Sugawara, Daichi and Asahi eating lunch together. They were facing each other and laughing, Kiyoko stood by their table, leaning on the windowsill while poking at something in her lunchbox. She looked as cool as ever.
Sugawara felt a chill go down his spine and shivered before noticing Hinata staring holes into him. The younger boy was too anxious to step foot in the classroom. The seniors were so much larger and taller than him, some even looking older than Asahi. Sugawara waved him in, smiling. Hinata gulped and rushed over to their table like an injured fawn.
"What's up, Hinata?" Sugawara picked up a steamed bean from his lunch box with his chopsticks and took a small bite from it. "Have you seen Noya-san?" Hinata fumbled at his fingers. "Oh." Sugawara chewed and covered his mouth with his hand. He swallowed and replied. "Um, Asahi? Where would Tanaka and Nishinoya usually be?" The grey-haired setter looked over at Asahi while he fixed his headband. "Um...they're probably throwing rocks at something...or looking at porn magazines." Asahi replied quietly and looked back down at his phone. Hinata was surprised how close Asahi was with Nishinoya, especially considering how opposite they were. Daichi cleared his throat, looking at the nervous boy. "Have you looked behind the gym? They eat lunch behind there a lot." Hinata nodded thoroughly and sprinted out the door, sweating from social interaction. Dachi rubbed his head and laughed. "Does he know we're his friends? He was so scared coming in here." Sugawara nodded. "It's probably Asahi, he looks so scary. Hinata stared at the back of my head for at least a solid minute." This caused Asahi to stick his head up "Eh?? I'm not scary!" he cried.
-
Hinata ran through the school, almost colliding with other peers as he recklessly turned corners and took the stairs two steps at a time. He jumped off the rest of the steps and headed towards where he came from. Kageyama was still sitting in the same spot, it seemed like he was yet to move. The boy had his eyes closed and his head was resting against the wall, he was already asleep. Hinata walked down the bricked path to his second home; the gymnasium. Gingerly, he went around the back and looked for his second-year friends. Like Asahi described, they were sitting by a green electricity box under the shade of the building. Nishinoya was holding a magazine and pointing at pictures as Tanaka gawked in awe. Thankfully, it was just a foreign celebrity magazine and nothing more. The pair were too distracted and didn't notice Hinata sit down besides them.
"Dude, look how hot she is!" Tanaka exclaimed and pointed at a photo of famous singer in a pale blue two-piece swimsuit. The article was a collection of candid shots of celebrities spotted at the beach. Tanaka pointed at a photo of David Beckham and his wife Victoria Beckham holding hands while walking through the shore. "What about her? Oh, and wassup Hinata." He added, nodding at Hinata.
"Hey, Shouyou." Nishinoya looked up at him before returning his attention to the magazine. "She's hot. Though, I'm not gay but David Beckham is even hotter. I want a body like that, is that what soccer players all look like?" Nishinoya blurted out, causing Tanaka to give him a weird look that he shook off. He didn't say anything. "You sure bro?" Nishinoya didn't look at him and gave him a blunt "Yeah." Hinata could feel the awakward tension in the air. "I think so too, Noya-san." He spoke up. The libero looked up at him, meeting his eyes. "Right, Shouyou?" He laughed.
Nishinoya was staring at the photo a little too long and Tanaka flipped to the next page. They began to fawn over an article about Billie Eilish. Hinata looked at the article written in English, he couldn't read anything, and he assumed his friends couldn't either. The girl on the page had interesting hair, it was green and black. Hinata had never seen anyone in his town with brightly coloured hair. It looked strange to him. He didn't listen to much music either, so he didn't know anything about it.
"How did you get an American magazine? Can you read English?" He asked as they turned the page to see a gallery of sports cars. "Oh, Ukai gave it to me ages ago. It's kinda old." Hinata noticed how folded and crinkled the pages were when he had a closer look. The date at the bottom of the page said "2017". "And no, I can't read English to save my ass." He laughed loudly.
"Speaking of Ukai, he told me that he wouldn't mind me working with you again." Hinata ears perked up at this. "He said I could have all the Gari Gari-Kuns I want if I do all the lifting for him. You know how I am with Gari Gari Kun," He passed the magazine back to Tanaka who flicked back to the page with the bikini girls. "Really? Wow, that's so good." Hinata exclaimed enthusiastically. "That's if you don't mind me being there too- "Hinata cut him off "Of course you can Noya-san! It's so much easier when you're with me. You carry all the boxes because you're strong as hell!" He gushed, shaking the boy. Nishinoya almost glowed from the compliment. "Of course, I'll help you as much as you need, Shouyou!" He dramatically flexed his bicep and laughed, grabbing Hinata in a head lock. Hinata laughed as Nishinoya rubbed his head but didn't choke him like Kageyama would. Hinata grinned and looked across at Tanaka who gave him a small, but amused smile