A/N: This book is at 4K votes holy shit. I really do not deserve the love you guys are giving me. It's insane. Enjoy the chapter!

edited on march 17th, 2022 @ 2:33am

════ ∘◦ᵒ 𓅓 ᵒ◦∘ ════

CHAPTER FORTY-SIX - HUNGER

"IS SOMETHING UP WITH KAGEYAMA TODAY?" Hitaki asked, noticing that Tobio was in some sort of trance.

"You mean physically? No, I can't think of anything."

Hitaki hummed in thought. "Come to think of it, when Kageyama was in junior high, he caused a buzz with a headline like, "A Promising Genius Setter in Miyagi Prefecture!" I thought he'd fulfill that promise in his third year of junior high, but I didn't hear about him at all." The man stated.

"'Genius,' huh? I'm not sure what the actual definition for genius is, but I personally think they're the furthest away from perfect. That's what makes them interesting, though." Hitaki admitted.

"Hey, is your brother okay?" Matsuda asked Takashi, noticing that Tobio was sort of out of it.

Takashi glanced over before frowning. "He'll be fine." He answered.

Though, he wasn't so sure himself.

════ ∘◦ᵒ 𓅓 ᵒ◦∘ ════

Back in Shiratorizawa's gymnaisum the next day, another practice match was going on as the ball was currently up in the air.

"Free ball!"

Kunimi gets ready to set the ball as Hinata widened his eyes. "This is... a fake set!" He realized. Kunimi then tosses the ball over on the other side of the net.

"Not so fast!" Goshiki thought, receiving the ball.

Both Goshiki and Kunimi looked at each other challengingly. "He actually read that!" Kindaichi thinks to himself.

"Get the last!" Tsukishima called out, tossing the ball up in which Goshiki runs forward and spikes it.

He looks back to Tsukishima in irritation. "The toss was too low and sloppy!" He complained.

"Sorry." Tsukishima apologized. "I know I suck at overhand passes."

"Watching Tsukishima get yelled at is new." Hinata thinks to himself.

"There are only two of you on the court. There's no one to cover for your mistakes." Anabara thought as Hyakuzawa received the ball and Hayashi tossed it up.

"They should aim for Hyakuzawa when they hit it back over. He's easier to break then Kunimi."

"But if Hyakuzawa is the one getting the ball first, he's going to be the one who hits it last." Hinata argued. "If he can get a high set, he'll probably hit it over. He's really good at hitting high tosses."

"He doesn't seem that great at defense, but he's got plenty of stamina." Koganegawa pointed out.

"And he's got a long reach, so even when you think you're getting a hit in..." Kindaichi began. Tuskishima spiked the ball as Hyakuzawa receives it. "he'll touch the ball."

"Thanks to Hinata, he really is relaxing." Goshiki thinks to himself.

"Get the last!" Kunimi called out, sending the ball over.

"That's definitely not an easy ball to hit. Should I step back rather than trying to jump for a block? No, but Hyakuzawa's... gonna go for that spike!" Tsukishima thinks to himself, before jumping up to block him.

Tsukishima moves his palms backwards, blocking Hyakuzawa's spike. "One touch!" He shouted towards Goshiki who receives the ball.

"Nice one!"

"Nice follow-through!"

Tsukishima gets into setting position before tossing the ball over towards Goshiki. "Crap... It might've drifted." He thought.

"That's fine. That's plenty." Goshiki told himself, jumping up and spiking the ball past Hyakuzawa in which Kunimi was late on receiving it.

"Hell yeah!" Goshiki cheered.

"Nice kill!"

Both Kunimi and Hyakuzawa looked distressed while Hinata looked irritated, clenching his fist. "Tsukishima... Nice toss..." He complimented.

"What's with your face, then?" Tsukishima questioned.

"After seeing you do actually do some serious setting, I got super hyped, but super frustrated as well." Hinata replied.

"Well, thank you for being so detailed and honest." Tsukishima muttered. "It wasn't even that good."

Hinata rushes over towards Kunimi with two towels in hand. "I... I also... need to be able to do everything, too." He thought as he began wiping the floor.

TWEEEET!

"All right, then... Because Coach Saito from Shiratorizawa Academy is, er... not feeling well, and Coach Miura is currently busy assisting with the All-Japan Youth Camp in Tokyo, we'll be doing a joint practice match." Anabara announced.

"What's wrong with Saito-sensei?" Goshiki whispered over towards Shirabu.

"He ate some bad oysters." Shirabu responded.

"And so, the third-years and alumni from Shiratorizawa will be playing against you again." Anabara continued on. "Today's the last day of your five-day camp. Do your best to make this match a better one than last time."

"Whoa! All of Shiratorizawa!" Koganegawa exclaimed. "Chances like this don't come often! Kunimi! You think so, too, right? That's what you think on the inside, right? Let's do our best!"

The sound of volleyballs hitting the court could be heard as the whistle blew. "By the way, Karasuno's #10 was ball boy the last time we came by, too, but... Why isn't he playing?" Semi questioned.

"Ah, well..." Goshiki began as he smiled sheepishly. "It's sort of a long story. First off, he wasn't actually invited to this training camp."

"Huh? What's that supposed to mean?"

TWEEEET!

Hinata walked over towards Ushijima eying him closely as Kindaichi spiked the ball past two blockers. Ushijima saved the ball as Semi tossed it towards him, in which Ushijima spikes it down, sending the ball down onto the court.

"Ushijima-san!"

Hinata was seen running over towards Ushijima. "Can I ask you a question?" He asked.

"Hinata's actually talking to Ushiwaka." Kindaichi commented.

"He sure has guts."

"You're from the same school." Kindaichi told him.

"Huh? I mean, he's hard for us to approach as well."

"When you're receiving the ball, what are you thinking?" Hinata questioned.

"Are you sure you don't need to ask Ushijima-san for advice? Who knows when he'll be by next?" Shirabu asked Goshiki.

"I-I... I don't know about asking my rival for help..." Goshiki responded as Shirabu gave him a death stare.

Rival? What are you talking about?
You should probably get rid of that unnecessary pride.
This is why you're second best,
you bowl-cut brat.

"You don't have to lecture him that much with your eyes..." Semi commented.

"If anything, in the matter of taking initiative, you're definitely one step behind Karasuno's #10." Shirabu informed.

Soon enough, Goshiki was standing right next to Hinata.

"U-Ushijima-san!"

════ ∘◦ᵒ 𓅓 ᵒ◦∘ ════

Back at the Tokyo Training Center, another practice match with the National Team was going on as Tomita jumped up to spike, doing a feint in the process to avoid being blocked by Hoshiumi and Sakusa.

"It's a feint!"

"Got it!" Komori reassured, diving down to save the ball.

"Nice!"

Tobio then began running forward. "Kageyama!" Hoshiumi shouted out, tossing the ball up towards him in which Tobio spikes it down onto the court.

"Nice kill!"

"Yeah!" Both Hoshiumi and Atsumu cheered. Tobio turned around as Hoshiumi and Atsumu gave him a high five.

"Kageyama's doing great on the left side, and Hoshiumi's a great setter."

"Yeah, he can play any position." Hitaki agreed.

"This position shuffle game is great!"

The ball was spiked as Tobio crouched down to receive it. "I'm on a roll. Everyone else is so good that I feel like I'm rising to their level." Tobio thought.

"Nice!" Hoshiumi complimented before he tosses the ball over towards Sakusa.

"Man, that was good." Tobio thinks to himself, smirking as he did so.

Sakusa spikes the ball as it drops down onto the court.

"Good shot!"

"Hey! You just doubted my set, didn't you?" Hoshiumi accused.

"I just took a second to make sure." Sakusa replied.

"Hoshiumi-san is a really great, well-rounded player."

"This is their time of discovery. We don't know what kind of potential we'll see from them and we don't know what the players themselves will realize. In the end, they're talented enough that they're going to produce results eventually. But despite being in a high-pressure situation, I want them to enjoy volleyball." Hitaki looks up at the ceiling.

"'Take your time' might just sound like really run-of-the-mill advice. But I mean... Taking your time really is important."

The ball goes past Komori and Tobio as Hoshiumi crouched down to receive it. "Miya!" He called out.

"Yeah, yeah." Atsumu said, running forward and getting into spiking position. "All righty, then... Here you go."

Atsumu tosses the ball over towards Tobio, who swung his arm, spiking past Fukuda and Yamada, the volleyball slammed onto the other side of the court.

"Yes!" Tobio cheered.

"Nice kill!" Atsumu told him.

"Really good setters can even bewitch their spikers. They can make them think that they've suddenly gotten better and stronger than before." Hitaki continued on.

"We've got a great crop of setters this year. Setters who can easily take Takashi's place when he retires."

The comment from the man made Takashi's eye twitch in irritation. "Don't put me in the retirement stage yet. My contract is still good for a few more years." He mumbled to himself.

"Taka-chan's doing it again..." Miura whispered over to Matsuda.

"He always gets defensive whenever someone brings up retirement to him." Matsuda whispered back.

"I can hear you!" Takashi shouted at his two friends in irritation.

"I hope that the spikers who have been hitting the balls Kageyama and Atsumu have been setting up suddenly get confused when they go back to their teams."

════ ∘◦ᵒ 𓅓 ᵒ◦∘ ════

"Well? How did being a spiker feel?" Atsumu asked Tobio, who was stretching.

"It was fun." Tobio responded. "Your sets were really easy to hit."

"Right?" Atsumu agreed. "Anyone who can't hit my tosses just sucks. Maybe you'd better off being a spiker rather than a setter, Tobio-kun."

"Why do you think that?" Tobio asked.

"Your face is really tense when you're setting." Atsumu replied.

"I'm pretty sure that's because you called him a Goody Two-Shoes."

"But you looked like you had a lot of fun playing on the left." Atsumu continued on.

"I see." Tobio responded. "But I'm a setter."

"Yeah, I figured as much." Atsumu nods his head. "Say, you're related to Kageyama-san, aren't you? The Olympian?"

"He's my older brother." Tobio responded.

"Oh? Interesting." Atsumu stated before standing up.

"Um, Miya-san..." Tobio began as Atsumu hummed. "What'd you mean by "Goody Two-Shoes"?"

"Exactly what it sounds like. You're serious, honest, and an all-around good kid." Atsumu responded before walking away.

Later, everyone gathered around the Hitaki. "Great job training at a training camp in an unfamiliar gym with players you aren't used to. I know that this was to get you started on your youth team activities, so there's a lot of fumbling and feeling things out. But I hope you don't think of the practice you've done here as different from the practices you'll be doing with your teams when you get back. It'll be great if we can all improve." He spoke.

"Let's all keep doing our best. That's all."

"Thank you very much!"

Tobio was kneeling down, tying his shoez "Tobio-kun, see you again at the Spring Tournament." Atsumu told him.

"Yeah." Tobio replied.

"See ya." Komori said, walking behind Sakusa while Hoshiumi just stared at him in which Tobio slightly bowed.

"See you soon, Kageyama. Do your best at the Spring Tournament."

"Yeah."

"Which way is the station?" Tobio suddenly asked once the two were outside of the training center.

"I'll just go with you."

════ ∘◦ᵒ 𓅓 ᵒ◦∘ ════

"Yeah! I get to play volleyball again tomorrow!" Hinata cheered. "I'm gonna hit so many balls!"

"Ugh... I just finished training camp, and I have to play volleyball again tomorrow?" Tsukishima complained.

"What the heck are you talking about? There's less than a month until the Spring Tournament." Hinata reminded him.

"What? Taking breaks is a part of our training, too..." Tsukishima informed.

"Hey!" Koganegawa shouted out. "Tsukki! Let's exchange email addresses!"

"Huh?"

"Hey, Goshiki! I need your email address!" Koganegawa shouted.

"Email address?" Goshiki repeated.

"You were the only ones that I didn't have!" Koganegawa said, pressing a few buttons on his phone. "Okay, I'll send you mine, so make sure you add me!"

════ ∘◦ᵒ 𓅓 ᵒ◦∘ ════

Tobio arrived to early morning practice the same time as Hinata. The two had a stare down before running towards the club room.

"Heck yeah!" Hinata cheered.

The duo were panting and on the ground. "Hey." Tobio spoke as Hinata looked at him. "What were you doing for the last five days?"

"I was a ball boy." Hinata responded.

This made Tobio smirk. "Hey, do you have the key to the club room or the gym?" Hinata asked.

"No."

Hinata searched through his bag, taking out a volleyball as the two passed to one another.

"But yeah, the best player there was Goshiki." Hinata was saying. "Oh, but Kunimi... and Hyakuzawa... The guy who's two meters tall. He was super huge. What about you? Meet any awesome players?"

"Yeah..." Kageyama answered.

"I'd hope so. I'm sure lots of them would end up in Monthly Volleyball." Hinata said.

"There was a Little Giant there, too." Tobio informed. "He was 170 cm tall, give or take. I've never seen him in Monthly Volleyball, but without a doubt, he was one of the best players even out of all the amazing players there."

Hinata widened his eyes in shock. "He was about a hundred times better than you." Tobio continued on, making Hinata irritated.

"Did you really have to tack that on?! Couldn't you have just ended it with, "he was one of the best players there"? Did you really need to say that last thing? I think not!"

"Hey, I figured you'd be here. Y'know, you didn't have to start fighting the moment you saw each other again." Tanaka informed, swinging the gym keys around his finger.

"Hi!"

"What do you guys even have to fight about? You sure are impressive." Tanaka claimed.

"Hey." Tobio spoke, making Hinata stop in his tracks. "You can fly even higher."

════ ∘◦ᵒ 𓅓 ᵒ◦∘ ════

A/N: Another chapter is finished! Thanks for reading!

Word Count: 2349 words.