Chapter 104 : A Strange Encounter

"You both Moved soooo fast my eyes couldn't keep up with yours! And you jumped like BAANG! And he avoided you in the air like SHAAA! And before I noticed, the ball went in like WOOOSH!"

Kise and Furihata looked at each other for a second, not knowing what to think about the boy who suddenly appeared with an over-friendly attitude toward them. However, one thing stood out the most about this boy, his strong accent and his weird hair color.

'Is that Tohoku-ben? Then, he is not a native of Tokyo, right? And what the hell is that? Orange hair? Is having colorful hair a popular trend now?'

For you who don't know, Tohoku-ben, just like its name, is a Japanese dialect that was used by people from the Tohoku Region, the northern part of Honshu. The region itself consists of six prefectures, such as Akita, Aomori, Fukushima, Miyagi, Iwate, and Yamagata.

Knowing that, Furihata at least could narrow down his origin, which didn't seem like useful information right now.

After a few seconds passed, Furihata shook his head and asked,

"Kid, what are you doing here? Are you lost?"

Hearing him being called 'Kid', the orange-haired boy scowled before he answered, "I am not a kid! My name is Shoyo Hinata, and I am a volleyball player from Karasuno High!"

Oh?

Kise and Furihata shared a look as they raised their eyebrows simultaneously. Maybe it was because they hung out with basketball players quite often that they find it hard to believe a boy who is about 160 cm said they are at the same age.

"And I am not lost either!" The boy, Hinata, continued, ignoring the ridiculous stares he received from Kise and Furihata. "This is the route that Senpai choose for our training session! I have been running about four laps now, and I saw you practiced alone earlier. I didn't expect you would be that good!"

Well, at least they got some basic information about this boy.

"So, you are from Miyagi, right?" Kise suddenly asked. "What are you doing here in Tokyo? Are you going to play in the national tournament?"

Furihata raised his eyebrows slightly. How did Kise know that the boy's high school is from Miyagi?

Meanwhile, the boy's shoulder slumped a little after hearing Kise's question. "Well, not really. We lost in the semifinal of our prefecture tournament." And suddenly, determination burned in his eyes. "But we are here to be better! We joined Fukurodani's training camp to get some experience! And in the next tournament, we would be the ones who are in the national tournament!"

Furihata nodded in approval. If your team is weak, you had to have the determination to work harder than anyone else. Suddenly, he grows some respect for the boy in front of him.

"Fukurodani, huh?" Kise hummed slightly. "Even though it is not the best, they are still a good team. Make sure you learn from them, and you will grow a lot after your camp."

And just by now did Furihata remember, before he joined the basketball team, Kise hopped from one sport club to another and got a lot of achievements in many sports. If volleyball is one of them, that would explain how the blonde knows a lot about it.

"Wow, you know a lot about volleyball, Blonde-san."

Furihata chuckled at the nickname that the boy gives to Kise. And judging by his grunt, Furihata knows that it was not the first time someone called Kise that.

"So, you are currently on your morning training session? Where are your teammates?" Furihata asked, decided to change the topic.

"They are way too slow!" The boy, Hinata, whined. "I mean, honestly, who needs full thirty minutes for five kilos run? Only me and one of my teammates finished this morning's run early, so we kinda have some free time here. Anyway, what is your name?"

Furihata couldn't help but chuckle, amazed at how this overly-friendly boy could make them both comfortable. He must have a lot of friends back in his home.

"It is Kise, Kid!" Kise grunted. "Don't call me blonde again!"

"And don't call me Kid again! I am a high school student, you know?"

Kise just smirked menacingly. "Are you sure about that, shorty?"

"You!" Hinata growled in annoyance. However, before he could do anything, Furihata decided to interfere.

"Okay, enough you two. For someone who doesn't like to be called a kid, you both sure are acting like ones."

"HA?"

"How could you, Furihatacchi!"

Furihata just ignored their protests and introduced himself to the orange-haired boy. "And you can call me Furihata, Hinata-san. Don't be so polite, I bet we are at the same age too."

"Really?" Now, it is Hinata who was surprised. "Are you both a freshman too? Then, why are you so tall? But then again, that jerk, Tsukishima, is also as tall as Kise-san, so, it shouldn't be too strange… But that is not fair, right? I mean, how the hell could everyone grow that tall? We are at the same age, goddamnit….." He mumbled the last part lowly.

Kise just smiles wryly at him. "Well, it is you who should be strange. Are you sure you are a high schooler? Did you forget to drink your milk when you were a child?"

"You!"

"Kise, are you sure, you are not the child one among us here?"

"Pfft-!"

"Oh, come on, Furihatacchi! You should be on my side, you know?!"

They joked and bantered around for a while until Hinata asked another question to Furihata.

"By the way, Furihata-san, I saw you played against Kise-san earlier, and I could tell that both of you are strong players. So, how did you manage to win against him even though he has a height advantage?"

"Hey, he hasn't won yet!"

Furihata ignored Kise's protest once again, turning his fullest attention to the orange-haired boy who looked at him with a curious gaze.

"Are you also facing the same problem?"

"Um!"

Well, Furihata could understand his struggle. Even though there are about a 15 cm difference in height between both of them (Furihata is 175 cm and Hinata is 160 cm), they both are still categorized as tiny players compared to the other players in their respective sports.

"Well, for once, you can straighten your basic skills."

"Basic?" Hinata tilted his head, couldn't quite understand what Furihata meant.

"Yeah, basic skills." Furihata nodded. "For example, in basketball, the most basic things you have to master first are how to dribble and how to score, because those two were the essence of the game. For the other fancy thing like reading the game, fooling your opponent, or something like that, you will learn it as you get more experience. But if your basic is not strong enough, how could you be good at your sport?"

Hinata didn't answer immediately, pondering what Furihata said.

"Basic skill, huh?" He mused. "What is the most basic thing on volleyball that I should master?"

"Well, that is quite easy." Kise couldn't help but chime into the discussion. "The essence of the volleyball game is to keep the ball from the floor, right? So, of course, the most basic thing you have to learn is how to receive the ball and pass it to your teammates. After you can do that, you will think, can you make your pass easier for your teammates to receive it? And what about when you are the one who receives it? How would you attack? Those are basically the three most important things I learned in volleyball; how to receive the ball, how to make it easy for my teammates, and how to attack. If you master those three, you will be alright."

Furihata and Hinata had their jaws dropped, clearly didn't expect a comprehensive answer from Kise.

"Wow, Kise-san, you are amazing! If I didn't see you play against Furihata-san earlier, I would think you are a volleyball player too!"

"Huh, of course, I am amazing! I was Teiko's ace in middle school before I played basketball, you know?" Kise bragged, not planning of being humble.

"Really? Is that true?"

Furihata had to admit, Hinata has a talent to manipulate other people. His admiration gaze and how he flattered Kise is way too dangerous, and it seems Kise didn't notice it as he was about to brag again.

"Of course, it is true! Unfortunately, I was just a first-year back then, so no one on the team liked me. They thought I was favored by the coach, which was true at that time! However, what could I say? Talented people would always be favored in society."

"Well, that's true…" Hinata also nodded in agreement, thinking of how his genius setter seemed to get away from a lot of problems because of his talent. And even though Furihata wanted to retort, he couldn't do that, as right now, he is still being favored by Riko a lot.

"Anyway, any more advice for me, Furihata-san? Kise-san?"

Seeing Hinata's expectant gaze, Furihata pondered for a moment before he spoke again,

"Always keep your eyes open. Observe all the things that happened on the court; such as your teammates' habits, their pass preference, their strongest and weak point, your opponent's habits, anything that you could think of. You will find it useful once you know how to exploit it."

"Hmm…."

"And you should also do it even when you are on the bench." Furihata continued. "Don't just shout and cheer your teammates like a fool. Use your time on the bench to observe the play as well. The point of view is quite different compared to when you play. So, you would gain a lot of interesting insights there."

"Watch and learn from the bench, huh?"

"And my last advice, if you are not confident with your chance to win, don't try to do it head-on. One quote I like is, if you are not 100 percent confident you can win the game, rig the probability into your favor. So, if you encounter a strong opponent, don't try to face him head-on. Your aim is to win the game, not to satisfy your pride by taking on every strong player on the opponent's team."

Kise winced at the last part, probably thinking about how he wanted to take on his former teammates head-on and how it could damage Kaijo's chance to win the game.

However, before anyone could speak anything, another unfamiliar voice suddenly came, breaking the silence among those three.

"OI, BOKE! WHAT ARE YOU DOING THERE?!"

When all of them turned around, they could see a boy, slightly shorter than Kise, looking at Hinata with a grumpy face.

"What the hell are you thinking, leaving us without saying anything? All the senpai are looking for you, you know! Be prepared to receive the punishment!"

Suddenly, all the color on Hinata's face drained in a second as the boy next to him mentioned punishment.

"Crap!" The orange-haired boy muttered. "I have to go! Thank you for your advice, Furihata-san! Kise-san! I hope we can meet again in the future! Bye!"

Without waiting any further, he ran pretty quickly, leaving both Kise and Furihata speechless on the spot. They keep watching as both Hinata and his friends vanished from their sight before Furihata lets out a deep sigh.

"What an interesting boy…"

"Yeah…" Kise nodded in agreement, his mind is still wandering on Furihata's last advice. "Actually, Furihatacchi, I also need to go right now. So, see you later, okay? Bye!"

Furihata could only twitch his eyebrow in confusion and irritation as he saw Kise leave the court immediately, leaving him alone now. He sighed tiredly, taking his ball from the ground and cleaning up his mess as he muttered,

'What a strange morning..'

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Author note :

Hey, everyone! I have been planning on making Furihata meets characters from Haikyuu, and I can proudly say I am quite satisfied with it. What do you think? Should I just make it as a side story to fill the gap between each Seirin's game or should I put more importance on it?

Also, if you want to support me more, you can visit my Patreon page on patreon(.)com/ZetaFaes

You can also read this fanfiction up to chapter 124 on that page. Thank you! :)

-Zeta Faes-