Chapter Seven: Versus the Great King

IT ALMOST SEEMED LIKE THE GYM CAME to a stand-still now that the Aoba Johsai captain had finally arrived for the match. Even if both teams were having their break in between sets, their attention was drawn to the official setter of the powerhouse school. His very presence seemed as though it demanded recognition, or at least he carried himself that way. The smug aura that surrounded him was not unnoticed by Karasuno. In fact, a few of them even seemed to be glowering at him for it. Well, it was more like just Tanaka, who didn't like the attention that the captain was getting from the girls who stood to watch the match.

Endo seemed to be the only one on the team that was a tad bit excited at the arrival of the other boy. Don't get him wrong, it was a bit unsettling to know that they'd have to face his monster serves now, but that made it a bit thrilling for him. He hadn't gotten to play against Oikawa all that much. Karasuno never made it far enough to play against Aoba Johsai at any tournaments. The only time he did get to see Oikawa was when they were in grades school and practiced with each other. If Endo thought about it, the last time he really got to see the cocky setter and talk with him was some time last year. And the last time he practiced volleyball with him was during their first year at their high schools. So, of course, he was excited at the prospect of getting to play against him and see how much he's improved. Not only that, but he was more than ready to show off how he's improved as well.

"Hey! You're back, Oikawa!" The Aoba Johsai coach said as the captain walked over, "How's your leg?"

The brown-haired third-year flashed an ok sign with a smile, "Perfect! I'm good to do regular practice. It was only a light sprain."

His coach shook his head, "Honestly, be more careful. They met our demand to produce Kageyama so we lose face if we aren't using our official setter."

"Sorry, sir," Oikawa apologized, he at least had the decency to look a little sheepish.

Just from one look at him, Sakura could already tell that she didn't like him that much. He seemed to be the overly arrogant type, which didn't sit well with her. It was one thing to be confident in your abilities, it was another to stuff it into someone's face. He definitely seemed like the type to do that. Not only that, but he scarily reminded Sakura of a certain blond foreigner on the team, and she wasn't looking forward to having yet another Endo around.

Then again, Sakura shouldn't judge just based on the vibe she was getting off of him. If he had a shitty personality or the personality of a saint, she wouldn't care. He's a player from a different team. He may be her brother's opponent, but as long as he didn't infuriate her by undermining her brother or otherwise annoying her, then she wouldn't care about Oikawa or what he does.

A girl from the stands suddenly yelled out, "Oikawa, please don't hurt yourself!" There was then a collection of giggles and shouts from other fangirls in the stands. The sound was infuriating quite a few people on Karasuno's team.

"Kageyama, who is Mr. Slim there?" Tanaka was obviously one of them as he gritted his teeth in irritation, "I am exceedingly displeased."

"That is Seijoh's captain," Daichi answered.

Kageyama stared at his former senpai with narrowed eyes, "Oikawa... is a super offensive setter. I'd say he's at the top of his class for attacks and team play." He then turned to the Hinata twins with a slightly troubled expression, "And he's extremely nasty."

"Worse than you?" Shōyō asked in disbelief, not thinking that there could be anyone worse than Kageyama.

Kageyama shook his head, "Maybe worse than Tsukishima." Said boy just looked over at the group with narrowed eyes. Why was he being brought up in this conversation?

Sakura squinted her eyes in thought, "Is that even possible?" She hadn't really met many people with personalities as bad as Tsukishima, but was it possible to be worse than him?

"He must be really bad!" Shōyō exclaimed at the same time.

Tanaka then asked, "You know him, so he's from Kitagawa First?"

"Yes," Kageyama answered with a nod.

Endo slithered himself over to the first-year setter and leaned against his shoulder. "Weren't you his kohai back then?" A wide smile grew to take over most of his face as he seemingly leered down at the younger boy. "His precious Tobio-chan?"

"How do you know that?" Kageyama asked skeptically.

The third-year just continued to smile cheekily. He wasn't sure why he hadn't put it together already. Kageyama was the genius kohai that he had heard Oikawa talk about for a bit. Why hadn't he figured this out beforehand? It should have been quite obvious! Then again, Endo didn't really hang around Oikawa when he was in junior high, so it's slightly understandable as to why he didn't know.

He could see how Oikawa had come to dislike Kageyama, as Endo could see how jealous Oikawa could be of the genius boy. From what he could tell, Kageyama was what Oikawa wanted to be. A young, aspiring setter who had a skill that he was most likely born with. Oikawa had to work hard for the skill that he had now, not just given it by the volleyball gods at birth. Still, this was the type of drama that Eno loved. Oh, he's glad that he ended up on Kageyama's team, his reputation would certainly bring about a lot of drama.

"Yoo-hoo!" The captain of Aoba Johsai called out to the other side of the court, gaining the attention of the Karasuno team. He waved at Kageyama with a smile, "Long time no see, Tobio-chan! Having fun being the king?" His teasing smile then dipped as he caught sight of the blond still hanging on Kageyama. His expression became strained, "Endo."

Endo smirked and disregarded the looks that he was getting from his teammates. He let go of Kageyama and leaned forward with his electric eye burning in amusement as they were pointed at the Seijoh captain. "How's the knee, Flattykawa?"

Oikawa stuck his tongue out at him and shook his head, "I'm not telling you!" He then turned to his own coach to talk with him and ignore the other third-year. His reaction earned a satisfied chuckle from the drama queen who ignored the stares from his team. He already knew he'd have to explain how he knew him, but he wasn't sure if he should tell them everything. No, a brief explanation should be fine, he thought. As much as he liked drama, gossip surrounding himself is something he doesn't likes to divulge people in.

"I learned how to serve and block by watching him," Kageyama explains, pulling the questioning stares from Endo and onto himself. "He is extremely good. However, focus on the game for now. We're going to take the last set."

"R-right on!" Shōyō stuttered.

Kageyama then turned to his senpai who was currently trying to send Oikawa his most intimidating stare. "Tanaka, stop trying to intimidate them!"

Sakura furrowed her eyebrows while walking back over to the bench. "Intimidate? It looks like he's constipated more than anything."

Her comment earned a small giggle from Kiyoko and a deflated Tanaka who tried to fire himself back up by shouting, "I'm seriously gonna kill 'im!"

Endo chuckled at his underclassmen and glanced over at the Seijoh captain. He watched as Oikawa went off to start up his warm-ups. Even from across the room, Endo could see with his keen eyes that Oikawa was favoring one leg over the other. "Ah, I haven't seen that moron in a long while." He tsked while putting down his water bottle. "He's always getting injured."

The game continued on, with points being exchanged and earned by each team. Though throughout the set, there were plenty of girls gathering around, worrying over their poor Oikawa. It certainly encouraged Tanaka to make some more spikes which got through most of Aoba Johsai's blocks. Kageyama and Shōyō did their own set and spike a few times, earning points. Kageyama and Tsukishima also made some crucial blocks while Endo made a few service aces. Overall, the third set was going well and in Karasuno's favor.

Wow, Sakura thought to herself as she looked at the score, match point... who would have thought.

Karasuno was now at match point. Only one more point before they won this practice match. A win now would definitely build up team morale and confidence. They could say that they won against the Aoba Johsai, one of the best volleyball teams in the prefecture. And who wouldn't want that opportunity? Granted there were still a few mistakes that were being made by Karasuno during this set, but it was a work in progress. Tsukishima and Shōyō's receives needed work as did some of their serving, but they were holding themselves against their opponents.

Though the mood changed once Oikawa was subbed into the game. He took the place of one of the team's first-year wing spikers, Kunimi Akira. It was his turn to serve. To say that Karasuno wasn't nervous was an understatement. The only ones who looked about ready were Endo and Daichi, though that could be attributed to the fact that they were the oldest on the court at the moment and good at recieves. That and Endo knew how to receive Oikawa's serves from practice, so he didn't have that much to worry about.

Oikawa, being the cocky teen that he is, stood at the back of the court to serve and pointed at one of the weaker receivers on the team. Tsukishima. Obviously, he was indicating that he was going to serve right to him. If it were anyone else doing that, Endo would have laughed and taunted them about having good aim, but he wouldn't. Oikawa had scary good aim, so there was no doubting whether or not he would actually do it. Without further ado, the captain threw up the volleyball and used a jump serve to hit the ball right where he had pointed. As he had predicted, Tsukishima was unable to receive the ball causing it to fly off into the upper level.

Everyone was in shock at the accuracy, including Sakura, even if it was for a moment. The indication of her shock was mainly just her eyebrows raising up just a bit and her lips opening up the slightest bit. "Yeah, I thought so." Oikawa said from the other side of the court, "I started watching midway through. You guys, Number 6 and Number 5..." Tsukishima and Shōyō blanched at being called out like that. "You're bad at receives. Are you guys first-years?" There was no way that Oikawa would serve anywhere near Endo, knowing that the blond could receive any ball that he served. A downside to having practiced with the drama queen when they were kids. So why not target the newer members of the team? "Okay, I'm going for another."

Once again he did his impressive serve at the same spot, causing Aoba Johsai to earn yet another point as Tsukishima couldn't revive it. "Tsukki!" Yamaguchi shouted in worry as he clutched onto the nearest person to him, which just so happened to be Sakura.

"Tch," She clicked her tongue and gently pushed Yamaguchi away from her as nicely as she could. "I'd appreciate it if you didn't latch on to me, Yamaguchi."

He jumped away from her, already seeing that he was pissing her off just a little. He definitely didn't want to upset her at all. "Gomen Hinata-chan!"

"Hey, you, Great King!" Back on the court, Shōyō started to jump around and shout at Oikawa like a toddler. "Aim for me! I can take it! Target me! Don't mess with me! Hit that thing!"

Tsukishima sneered from behind him, "Stop hollering! It's undignified!"

"Excuse me!" The orange-haired boy shouted at his teammate, offended. Even if Tsukishima was acting like an ass, as usual, Oikawa was definitely getting on his nerves a lot more. So he would just have to put up with the blond giant for the time being. "The thing about volleyball is... each and every guy on this side of the net is your ally!"

Tanaka smiled proudly and flustered to know that Shōyō was using his words, "What choice words of wisdom!"

"Okay!" Daichi stepped in as the captain to control the situation, "Fall back as a group. Tsukishima, get closer to the sideline."

Now Karasuno had set up to make sure that Daichi was in the middle of the court to most likely receive the serve once it came over the net. After all, he is their best receiver on the team at the moment. By also placing Tsukishima towards the sidelines it would increase the chance of Oikawa messing up his serve and maybe hitting it out of bounds. Endo wanted to argue that he should be placed in the center since he could actually receive the serve, but Daichi stuck to his plan. Endo wasn't going to argue with his captain about it, so he just stuck to the front of the net like he was told.

Oikawa served once again and proved that their set up didn't work, at all. Oikawa was easily able to hit it to Tsukishima again, though this time it wasn't as powerful as the last couple.

"Tsukki!" Yamaguchi cried out, causing Sakura to cringe at his shout.

"He made a pinpoint hit on the guy so close to the edge!" Takeda marveled from the sidelines.

Suga shook his head, "But the momentum has to be slower due to the emphasis on control!" This time, Tsukishima was able to receive the ball and return it. "It went up!"

"Tsukki, nice," Yamaguchi let out in relief.

Sakura eyed the ball as it flew over to the other side of the net, "Oops, a chance ball."

Aoba Johsai set up the ball as normal, already believing that they were going to get this point to tie the game. The ball was set to Kindaichi who appeared to have a clear shot. Only, Shōyō came out of nowhere to block it. It was just a one-touch, but it was enough for Kageyama to set the ball. With his impressive speeds, Shōyō spiked the ball onto the other side of the net. Oikawa was amazed, he had barely even moved before the ball went sailing past him. How interesting. He'd never seen anything that fast.

Everyone in the gym was in awe. How did Karasuno win this game?! "All right!" Tanaka shouted, celebrating their win as they collected themselves after that tiring game. They had done it, they won against Aoba Johsai!

Takeda plopped down onto the bench in amazement. Sakura and Suga turned to their teacher with eyebrows raised. Suga asked him, "What's the matter?"

"That was amazing," he breathed out.

"Oh, right." Suga smiled like a proud mother, "Today is your first time seeing Hinata and Kageyama's attack. Aren't they amazing? I mean amazing, even scary."

"It's terrifying," Sakura agreed monotonously earning a sweat drop from her senpai. Yes, it was terrifying and super effective. She could now see just how effective it is when put into a game against another team.

In the past, Sakura would be the first to say that she didn't think that Shōyō would get anywhere with his dream to be like the famed Little Giant. He didn't have a team for the longest time and barely any support. Though she kept her pessimistic thoughts to herself, not wanting to rain on her brother's parade. However, now, seeing that he was making a place for him on this team, that he had a killer combo with Kageyama, she had hope. She didn't want to admit how much hope it was, but it was quite a bit. She could feel that warm feeling in her chest, the feeling that crept on her whenever she was proud of Shōyō. Sakura was finally hopeful that Shōyō would go places with this team. That's all that she wants for him. To be successful. To be happy with what he loves. Only time will tell though and she'd be right by his side the entire time.

The team then ran up to the bench to surround Takeda and bowed to him, "Please coach us."

Takeda was confused for a moment and turned to Sakura and Suga for an explanation. Though Sakura didn't help as she just moved to stand beside her brother and faced him as well. Suga scratched the back of his neck, "Sensei, maybe give a critique or something."

"O-oh, I see." Takeda swallowed as he fidgeted slightly with the stares of his students pointed at him. He cleared his throat and tried to collect his thoughts, "Um... I'm just a beginner when it comes to volleyball, but... But even I can tell that something amazing is going on here." Daichi and Endo shared a glance, "We have some amazing first-years this semester. They were hard to handle in the beginning, but I learned something today. We're nothing if we don't cooperate. A chemical synergy happens when each one encounters the other... Even this very moment is giving birth to other encounters that will change the world. Maybe in some far, remote country. Maybe on the other side of the planet. Or maybe at an ordinary volleyball club, at an ordinary high school, in a northern countryside on a small island in the east. I think that encounters like that happened to Karasuno today. I know I can't prove what I say, but it's better than not believing. All of you will most likely become stronger. Much stronger!" His long and lyrical speech earned himself silence for the students that surrounded him. Even if it was long and not a critique of their playing, it was still just as inspirational. The teacher then panicked as no one really reacted to it. "Sorry! That was a little too poetic! Are you turned off?"

Daichi rushed up to reassure him, "No, no, no, of course not. Thank you."

"Thank you," the team then bowed to him in thanks.

"Oh, y-yeah." He laughed nervously with a light blush on his cheeks.

Sakura huffed in amusement, "I can see why you're a literature teacher, sensei."

---

With the game now over and clean up nearly done, it was time for Karasuno to head back to their own school. The crows made their way out of the Seijoh school gym together, still buzzing with the after-effects of their win. Shōyō was bouncing in place next to Sakura as he recounted the game to her in detail. Sakura just allowed him to, there was no way that she was going to ask him to stop his excited rant. If someone paid close enough attention, they could see the smallest of smiles on her lips as she side-glanced her brother. She tried to make it seem like she wasn't paying that much attention to him, and uninterested in his babbling. However, Shōyō knew that she was giving him her undivided attention, and that's all that mattered.

"Takeda-sensei complimented us," Daichi commented as he spoke with Suga and Endo at the front of the pack. "But frankly, if we were facing Seijoh and Oikawa in an all-out match, we'd be lacking."

"Spoken like a true captain," A new voice commented from in front of the group as they neared the gate of the school. They all looked up to see that it was the captain of Aoba Johsai himself, Oikawa Tooru who had seemingly waited for them. The brown-haired captain smiled artificially at them, "You know your stuff. Have you been telling them about me, Endo?"

The blond ran a hand through his hair with an arrogant smile that was quite menacing in the dim sunlight, "Don't flatter yourself, Loserkawa. I don't talk about you to others."

Shōyō jumped at Oikawa's appearance, "The Great King makes his entrance!" Most of the team was now ticked off that Oikawa had decided to show up. Endo appeared to be highly amused, the first-years and Tanaka looked thoroughly angered, and the others looked annoyed. Sakura's face scrunched up in a small amount of disgust. She found this a bit weird. Had he waited for them to walk out of the gate this entire time? That's creepy.

"You got a problem, dude?" Tanaka jumped closer to him with his intimidating expression on his face.

Plastered to his senpai's back, Shōyō tagged along to confront the Great King, "What do you want?"

Tanaka continued on with his intimidation attempt, though it didn't seem to be working at all, "Wanna fight, huh?"

"Wanna fight, huh?" Shōyō echoed. It seemed like Tanaka might end up being a bad influence on the little ball of sunshine.

Oikawa just continued to smile, as if he wasn't going to try and antagonize his opponents. "Don't be so hostile. You, little one."

"Huh?" Shōyō jumped at the captain having stated to talk to him.

"Your last one-touch and broad attack were amazing," Oikawa complimented the small teen.

"Huh?" It took a moment for Shōyō to process his words before he blushed, "Oh..." Sakura sighed and bonked her brother on the head, to try and get him to focus. Even one compliment on his skills and he becomes a bumbling idiot. Though he usually is an idiot all the time, so it shouldn't be surprising.

"Let's give it all we got the next time, right from the start," Oikawa started to say, "You didn't get to see our set up. Oh, yes, and we'll be improving our serves, too. It's true, your offense was amazing, but your receives aren't polished." He was clearly pointing out their flaws to try and annoy them quite a bit. The entire team wasn't exactly happy to hear that. "You'll reach your limit very quickly. I'm not the only one who hits powerful serves. The Inter-High preliminaries are coming up soon. Don't get eliminated, okay?" He then raised his hand and pointed at Kageyama with a smirk, "Because I... want to pulverize my dear underclassman, setter-on-setter, in an official match." He then spun around to glare at Endo with a fire in his eyes that burned just as brightly as it did while he was looking at Kageyama. "And you! I'm going to beat you like I always do, got that?"

Endo smirked cheekily as his eyes sparkled at the challenge, "We'll see."

Already getting angered by what Oikawa had been saying, Shōyō jumped over to Tsukishima and grabbed his jacket, to the taller boy's annoyance, "The receivers will train."

Tsukishima grunted and tried to pull himself away from the small ginger, "Hey, let go."

"Receivers don't improve overnight," Oikawa stated, "Ask the captain. He should know. There's not much time left 'til the tournament. I look forward to seeing you there." He turned to start walking back into his school gym, however, he paused. He saw something out of the corner of his eye. "Oh? Another chibi?" He caught another head of orange hair and was confused for a second as he raised a questioning brow. He looked between the apparent twins with interest and bent down slightly to try and be eye-level with the girl. Sakura couldn't tell if he was doing it just because or to make fun of her height. Either way, she didn't appreciate it. "Wow, you two look identical, are you as good as a volleyball player as your twin?" There was no way that he could not think that those two were siblings, well, twins. They were, as he said, identical. The only difference he could find between them was the dull look in the girl's eyes, which was slightly off-putting. Still, she'd probably just end up being like any of the other girls who swarm around him, right? Every girl that he came across fell for his charm, even the cold, tsundere type. She'd be no different, he thought.

The other orange-haired teen paused in her steps to follow after her brother's team. She sighed, yare yare. Sakura ignored the name-calling and turned to stare at the third-year setter in boredom. What was with volleyball players and being so cocky and annoying? She had yet to meet a single boy who wasn't annoying like this. Perhaps you just needed to be annoying to play volleyball? She smiled extremely wide at the older boy as it was pretty obvious that it was fake. Not only that, but her eyes were cold and unamused, "You can say all you want, Oikawa-san, but I know my brother's team will work hard to beat you." She stated bluntly as her brown eyes were sharp as she pinpointed Oikawa to the spot. Sakura was doing quite a good job of being intimidating, Oikawa may have even shivered under her gaze. She didn't even need to try and she could be quite the terrifying person. "Don't underestimate them, got it?"

Oikawa hummed in thought as if considering what she had to say. He had to admit, she was quite scary, though he was used to scary people like this thanks to being friends with Iwaizumi. Still, her straightforward words gave quite a bit of insight into what type of girl she is. The cold, tsundere type. How fun. Without saying anything else, the Aoba Johsai captain turned to walk back into his school's gym. He certainly had quite a bit to ponder over now with this new and improved Karasuno team.

Kageyama looked between his teammates before turning to Daichi, "Don't let him get to you. He likes to razz people like that."

"He really does get under your skin," Endo nodded his head as his eyes had yet to stray from Oikawa. His blue hues seemed to be glued to Oikawa's back as he disappeared from sight. All of this, the fact that Endo seemed to know the other captain, and that he was staring after him with such a knowing expression, just raised even more questions from his friends.

Daichi just chuckled, "It's true. We don't have much time before the Inter-High Preliminaries, but he should be coming back soon."

Shōyō tilted his head at his captain, "Who's coming back soon?"

"The Guardian Deity of Karasuno." Just those simple words brought an air of mystery and amazement to Shōyō. Who could have such a title on Karasuno's team? How good of a player could they be to gain such a distinguished title? Though Sakura couldn't help herself but think that things were going to get even more chaotic once this "Deity" came back to the team. She could only hope that it wouldn't get too hectic.

---

Now that it was dark, and Karasuno had finished their practice, it ws time for the team to clean up the gym. "All right, let's clean up quickly." Daichi told the team as they gathered around him and Takeda, "Then we're done. Good job today." He then sent them off to start cleaning up the gym together as he turned to talk with their advisor.

At this point, the Hinata twins were beyond tired. Both of them had seemingly run out of energy for the day. It almost seemed impossible for Shōyō since he always had an abundance of energy for everything that he ever does. However, he'd have to burn out at some point. Sakura being tired wasn't that surprising since she didn't seem to have as much energy as her brother. Most people would assume that she didn't because of her mellow and quiet personality, though they would never believe that she actually has just as much energy as Shōyō. She just doesn't use it as much as her brother. Shōyō jumps and runs around any chance he can get while Sakura conserves her energy at any chance she can. Though that didn't mean she was any less tired at the moment. Watching that practice game definitely tired her out.

Much like his sister, who may or may not be falling asleep at the moment, Shōyō was swaying from side to side. If he kept this up, he'd end up falling asleep leaning against the mop he had been using. "Hinata-kun, that's enough mopping." Ennoshita said as he made sure the obviously tired first-year didn't fall over due to his exhaustion, "Go home."

"Look at that Tsukki," Yamaguchi chuckled as he and his best friend mopped up the gym floor together.

Tsukishima snickered at the sight of Shōyō almost falling asleep while standing, "Amazing." He then took a glance over at the other Hinata twin who was doing the same thing as her brother. Though she was sat on the floor by the door almost falling asleep where she sat. He huffed, so maybe there was at least one similarity between the twins.

Endo leaned over the girl by the door with a tilted head. His eyes sparkled, "Look how cute Hinata-chan is!"

Tanaka jumped over as well, marveling at the cuteness of the first-year girl, "She's adorable!"

"You two have five seconds before I kick you in a very uncomfortable place," Sakura muttered tiredly with her eyes still closed, "One-" She barely even started to count before the two boys retreated, not willing to risk getting hurt by the small girl.

Endo made sure to use the volleyballs that he had been carrying as a shield for his crotch, which she most certainly had threatened. He pouted while scurrying away, "Why are the first-years so violent?"

Everyone was finishing up their clean up for the night. Of course, Sakura was no help since she didn't want or need to help them. She wasn't a member of the club so she isn't obligated to clean up after their practices and such. She's just the team photographer, all that she's concerned about was taking photos. Though at the moment she was wondering how she was going to get home since she's so tired.

It's way too late, she tiredly thought to herself, why do these practices run so damn long?

Though she didn't have to wait much longer since almost everything just had to be put into the closet. Then she would finally get to leave! Putting the mops that he and Tsukishima had used, Yamaguchi was almost done with his clean up. Though he did end up finding something in the equipment closet. "What's this?" He muttered to himself as he pulled out a wooden mop that was broken in half. He turned to the third-years also in the equipment closet with him, "This mop looks dangerous. Can I throw it away?"

Once Suga caught sight of it, he swiftly walked over and took the two pieces from him. "Oh, don't worry about that. It's all right." He stared down at the two halves sadly, a far off look in his eyes. "We can fix it, and still use it."

Yamaguchi eyed him in confusion, "Huh?"

Just entering the closet with the last of the volleyballs, Endo smiled widely. "Come on, Yamaguchi," he stepped in and grabbed his kohai's shoulders to steer him out of the closet, "we can finish up in here."

The first-year looked between the two with a raised eyebrow, thoughtfully confused. He had yet to pick up on the slight melancholy atmosphere that was slowly emanating off of Suga. Not only that but he couldn't see how strained Endo's smile was. Yamaguchi tilted his head, "Are you sure?"

Endo smiled brightly, his lips stretching into a smile that was far too big to be real, "Of course!"

With one last curious glance, Yamaguchi headed out of the closet to grab his things and meet up with Tsukishima. Still in the closet, Suga put down the broken mop in a safe place while Endo approached him. He placed a reassuring yet firm hand on his shoulder. "Those two'll be back," he told him softly with his fake smile now replaced with a small twitch of his lips. His expression, while not completely confident, still seemed to have hope in it. "They can't stay away forever, you know."

Suga nodded his head, "Yeah..."

---

The team soon went their separate ways to head home. Tanaka, Kageyama, Daichi, Suga, and the Hinata twins had headed out together and made their way down the hill. The single brain cell trio had wanted to head into the convenience store at the bottom of the hill to grab some food. So while they harassed the worker at the store, Sakura grabbed her and her brother's bikes from where they were chained up.

Now the group was walking down the dark streets to their homes, "But I gotta say... Nice Guy sure has an amazing serve." Tanaka commented, "We would've been in trouble if he'd played from the start. He's Kageyama's junior high senpai, after all... Huh? Wait a second." He turned to Kageyama as they all stoped to face the younger setter. "Why are you at Karasuno, Kageyama? The strongest school in the prefecture is Shiratorizawa."

Shōyō tilted his head with a mouthful of his food, "Shiratori?"

"Shiratorizawa," Sakura simply answered her brother with a roll of her eyes. He should know what the school is, not only because of its volleyball reputation but because of her.

"They're top in the prefecture." Tanaka explained, "They're a powerhouse school ranked among the top eight in the country."

The short boy nodded his head in amazement, "Oh."

Kageyama just stared at them plainly, "I didn't make Shiratorizawa."

"You didn't make it?" Tanaka exclaimed in confusion, thinking that an amazing setter like him would be able to get into Shiratorizawa.

"I never got a recommendation from them, so I took a general entrance exam." He explained, "I didn't understand the exam at all."

Sakura expected that much from him. She had to admit that the entrance exam seemed quite tough. Of course, she didn't have to take it since she received a full ride to the school. Though she had a feeling that even she might have trouble with the exam if she were to take it. However, she would still pass it in the end.

"That school is super hard to get into by conventional means," Daichi agreed, already knowing how rigorous and tough the school is along with the entrance exam.

"I guess the King isn't very good at studies," Tsukishima commented snidely as he and Yamaguchi walked past the group to head home. Kageyama bristled at the jab at his intelligence which caused Sakura to huff in amusement. She tried to hide it behind her hand since it was Tsukishima who had made the remark, she didn't need that beanpole to know that she found something he said funny. That certainly would inflate his stupid ego, and she didn't want that.

Yamaguchi snickered and walked alongside his best friend, "See ya."

"But why did you come to Karasuno?" Shōyō asked once Kageyama had calmed down from Tsukishima's comment, "Are you an admirer of the Little Giant, too?"

Sakura shook her head and took the power bar from Shōyō's hands to take a bite out of it, "Not everyone wants to be like the Little Giant, nii-san."

Kageyama shook his head, "I heard Coach Ukai is coming out of retirement."

"Ukai?" The Hinata twins asked in unison with matching tilted heads.

Tanaka nodded his head, as he pointed into the air strongly and exclaimed, "An outstanding coach who took unknown Karasuno to the spring nationals!"

"Wow!" Shōyō jumped at that while Sakura raised an eyebrow in interest.

Tanaka continued on his explanation. "The name "Ukai of Karasuno" is famous. They call him the coach in charge of vicious crows."

Sakura tried to imagine what kind of coach this would be. He would definitely be a no-nonsense kind of person, she thought. He wouldn't take any sort of excuse about someone's inability to do something in a game. There was one thing that she didn't envy athletes for, and that was having to deal with coaches like that.

"Second and third-years got some coaching from him. He was pretty Spartan." Suga explained with a bit of irritation in his voice. It seemed like even the reminder of all the back-breaking training that they had to do. He looked over at the first-years to see that Shōyō and Kageyama looked jealous at the training that they got with the crow coach. "Why do you look so envious?" He sweatdropped, "Coach Ukai was going to officially come out of retirement, but... he collapsed."

Kageyama's expression hardened, "But I figured, no matter what school I attended, I'd be up against high school students like me. There's no reason why I couldn't win."

"Quit being a sore loser." Tanaka chuckled, "You can act cool about it but you failed just the same."

Kageyama grabbed Shōyō by his jacket, as the tangerine had been snickering as well, and held him up over the ground. "That's not true, and I'm not acting cool about it. We did defeat a top four team today, didn't we?"

"True, 2-1 against Seijoh." The second-year nodded his head in thought, "I was able to score one free, too, thanks to Hinata-kun's decoy."

Shōyō saluted, "Thanks."

"But how was your debut match for you?" Tanaka asked the ball of sunshine as Sakura punched Kageyama's head to get him to drop her brother. Kageyama did as she wanted but glared at her for having hurt him. She just stared at him blankly showing that she didn't care that she may have hurt him. Besides them, Shōyō remembered what it felt like on the court. The sting on the palm of his hand from when the volleyball had hit his hand still lingered. The reminder of the exhilarating feeling of actually scoring points for the team brought joy to him in the cool Japanese street. It was his first match, and he sure hoped it wouldn't be his last, he loved it so much. Though Tanaka decided to drag him down from his pedestal for a moment, "Well, you really went crazy in that first set."

Kageyama joined in on it as the two loomed over Shōyō, "You scored as many points as you lost, so don't get complacent."

"Why must you say things like that?" Suga exclaimed as Shōyō deflated at their words. As much as it was hurtful, it was also true, Sakura thought.

"That's right. We're lacking in a lot of ways." Daichi said wisely, "Today's victory was by the skin of our teeth."

Shōyō jumped up in enthusiasm, "I-I will practice a lot!"

"Oh, yeah." The captain sweatdropped at the boy's energy, "Individual level-upping is important, too. But Karasuno, as it currently stands, is fundamentally short of members."

Kageyama nodded his head as he started to think out loud, "That's true. We need a libero, especially for defense. And we need an ace spiker who can battle three blockers all by himself."

"A-Ace?" Shōyō raised his hand, "That can be me."

The dark-haired setter scowled at the boy, "I told you, you're the best decoy." He turned to the third-years, "But didn't you say the "Guardian Deity" is coming back?"

"Yeah," Daich nodded.

Suga then spoke up, "We're not powerful, but we're not particularly weak, either. We had outstanding players in the past, too. But we were never able to apply to their strengths effectively." Tanaka and Daichi silently agreed with that fact, "But if all of us unite, and we also have new strength coming from our first-years... If we're able to connect all those strengths together..."

"...we could definitely go to the Summer Inter-High, the national tournament." Daichi continued for him as the morale of all the boys started to grow just a little bit at their vice-captain and captain's wise words, "It won't be a distant goal. It can actually happen."

Shōyō's eyes sparkled, "The Summer Inter-High Tournament! I've heard about it!"

"But that person who's coming back..." Kageyama tilted his head, "where has he been all this time?"

The upperclassmen all appeared to become slightly sheepish at the question. Tanaka was the one to answer, "He was suspended for one week and banned for a month from club activities."

"A delinquent?" Shōyō gasped, "He's a delinquent?"

"No... he just gets too fired up. He's a good guy, for real." Tanaka reassured them, which caused Sakura to raise an eyebrow. What kind of guy would this Deity have to be for Tanaka to say that he gets too fired up? Tanaka continued on, "And not only that, he is... a player we could say is Karasuno's unique genius. But I guess he's not the only one anymore, since we have cocky-as-hell Kageyama with us." Said setter narrowed his eyes at the second-year as the twins snickered at him.

"Call him "senpai" when he comes back, Hinata-kun." Daichi commented as they turned to head off, "You'll make him gleeful like an idiot, like Tanaka."

Tanaka deflated at his captain's words, "Like an idiot?" The group then started to walk once again, except for Shōyō who was lost in thought. He was already starting to think about what this Deity was like, he couldn't wait to meet him! Tanaka eventually called out to him and broke the orang-headed boy out of his thoughts, "Hey, we're leaving you behind."

"Oh. Coming!"

Suga then turned to the quiet girl of the group who just continued to walk alongside them with her bike. She had barely said anything during this entire conversation. He had chalked that up to just being apart of her personality. Through these few weeks that he's known the other Hinata twin, she certainly was on the quiet side, unlike her brother. He quite liked that about her, since she usually is the level-headed one to keep Shōyō under control. "Hinata-chan?"

"Hm?" She turned to her grey-haired senpai with a raised eyebrow.

Suga gulped slightly at the vacant look in her eyes, "Why did you come to Karasuno?"

Sakura shrugged her shoulders and continued to look forward, barely giving him a lingering glance, "Nii-san decided on Karasuno, so I came here too."

"Didn't you get a scholarship somewhere, imouto?" Shōyō asked as he hopped over to walk beside her. His eyes were wide and curious as he remembered how excited their mother had been that she got a scholarship. He didn't remember what school, but he knew it had to be good since his mother was extremely, extremely excited for Sakura. Then she was also extremely disheartened that Sakura didn't accept it.

She nodded her head, "Yeah, but I didn't accept it, obviously."

"What school was it?" Tanaka joined in on the conversation as he grew to be interested as well. It's not like Sakura divulged anyone in herself. The only one who knows things about the girl is her brother, so of course, he's going to be interested in hearing about her. All of the boys were, including Kageyama. He tried to act indifferent, but he was also listening in on the conversation earnestly.

"Shiratorizawa."

"W-what?" The boys exclaimed together at Sakura's monotone answer. After they were just discussing how dificult it is to get into that school and she was acting as though it was nothing. They all knew that she was in advanced classes, but just how smart is this girl to think that getting into Shiratorizawa was nothing to freak out over?

Tanaka jumped at her, "So you got into the powerhouse school! Why didn't you say?"

"You didn't ask me." She stated plainly and clicked her tongue, "I got an academic scholarship from them." There was no way that they could think that she got accepted into the school based on a sports scholarship or recommendation. She is by no means a sporty person. Sure she could run fast, like her brother, but she had no power when it came to volleyball or any other sport. She couldn't jump as high as Shōyō, she had a decent amount of stamina, and she has little to no technique. The only good thing that she might have that's good while in a sport is her game sense. Though she'd actually need the athletic ability to apply those strategies. She pursed her lips as she thought back to her short visit to the powerhouse school, "Though it was too far away and I'd have to live on campus if I did chose to go there."

Kageyama eyed her for a moment before scoffing, "And you can't be too far from your doppelganger, huh?"

"I guess," Sakura snippy said already feeling her stomach churn at his tone, "Besides I met a few guys there and they're definitely too annoying to be around. They're probably worse than Tanaka." The second-year blanched at her words and what she was insinuating. Though the others seemed to find it funny.

Daichi and Suga chuckled at her words as the captain asked, "Worse than Tanaka?"

"I know seems impossible, but it's true," she nodded her head as she thought back to the few people that she had the pleasure of meeting on her tour of the school. She supposed that that was another reason why she was glad she followed Shōyō to Karasuno. Then she wouldn't have to deal with those guys.

"I'm not that bad!" Tanaka exclaimed in offense.

Sakura smirked ever so slightly, obviously enjoying the banter between them all as she huffed in amusement, "Sure, sure."

---

After bidding the other team members goodbye, the twins had started their long ride home. Eventually, the Hinata twins had finally gotten home after their journey over the mountain. Surprisingly, the ride home was a tad bit quieter than usual. Most of the time, Shōyō would talk to Sakura about their days. He would rant on and on about a difficult assignment or maybe something Kageyama said to him, but not this time. Sakura was unsure what he was wondering about in that messy brain of his, but she didn't worry about it.

Unknown to her, Shōyō had been mulling over what she had said earlier. She chose to go to Karasuno because of him... As much as he loves having Sakura with him at school... Wouldn't she have wanted to go to Shiratorizawa? It's a far better school in nearly every aspect. He certainly didn't like the idea of not getting to see Sakura every day like usual, but to give up such an amazing opportunity didn't seem all that logical to him. Here he is thinking logically about her actions, isn't he suppose to be the impulsive one? How was he the one thinking logically about this? So their ride was silent beside their heavy breathing and occasional curse from Sakura as she nearly veered off of the road a few times due to her tiredness.

Eventually, they made it home and greeted their mother accordingly as they settled in. "Did you really come to Karasuno because of me?" Shōyō finally asked as they entered the main living area. Their mother was already in the kitchen cooking up late dinner for the twins while Natsu was most likely already in her room asleep.

"Well, yeah," Sakura stated as if it were the most obvious thing ever as she pulled off her shoes. She looked over to him to see the troubled expression on his face and raised an eyebrow, "Why do you sound upset about that?"

Shōyō tilted his head, "You had the chance to go to a really good school, imouto, but you came to Karasuno..."

"Karasuno is a good school too." She pointed out, already seeing where he was going with this, "It's definitely not on the same level as Shiratorizawa academically or athletically, but you know I don't worry about that stuff. I'd rather be with you than surrounded by a bunch of stuck up strangers at that rich kid school. You know I can't make friends that easily."

Shōyō still had a bit of a bad feeling about this. She gave something up to go with him. It didn't sit right in his stomach. She may have deprived herself of certain things that she wouldn't get at Karasuno. All he wants is for Sakura to be happy just as he is, and if she was sacrificing some things to make him happy, he didn't want her to be held back because of him. "It still would have been a good opportunity-"

"No," she grunted with a tone that strongly called for the end of the conversation, "I just didn't want to go, okay?" She stomped off to their bedroom with the sick feeling bubbling in her chest. She didn't like how Shōyō was questioning her. How he was pointing out how she dictated her decisions based on what he does. She didn't know if he realized it or not, but he was pointing out how Sakura sacrifices certain things to be with him. She plopped down her bag onto her bed and sighed sadly while biting her bottom lip. "...and I didn't want to be alone." She finally voiced up the real reason why she didn't go to Shiratorizawa, why she gave up the scholarship.

How pathetic was that? She was so unwilling to change, too scared to be separated from her twin, that she gave up a perfect opportunity to go to a prestigious school. She was too scared to be alone and left behind by her brother to make her own decision and go to another school. What would have happened if she did decide to go to Shiratorizawa? Would she and Shōyō have grown distant since they would be away from each other for so long? Would he end up forgetting about her? Would their relationship have been affected? Though she wouldn't chance it. She would not give even the idea of her losing the close bond that she has with her twin a chance to manifest. So she didn't take the offer, she chose to follow Shōyō and make sure that she was right next to him like she was used to.

Sakura huffed at her own patheticness and started to pull out her school work. She needed a distraction, right now. The teen didn't want to think about her own flaws, her inability to make her own decisions that were different from Shōyō's. It was always about Shōyō for her, she never thought about herself. Maybe she should, now that she was in high school. It was a time to reinvent herself! Though until then, she had an English assignment to focus on.

---

Sakura laid her head on the desk she was sitting at as she stared at her camera in front of her. The lens glared back at her as if it could see right through her, it could see all of her secrets, all her fears, everything she tried too hard to hide. That might be a reason she hated having her picture taken. She would much rather be behind the lens, to take the picture and capture a moment in time than be the one captured.

Her cheek was pressed up against the desk as she listened to the excited chatter going on around her. Everyone in the photography club was more than ecstatic to start working on their gallery for this month. People already had ideas about what to do about it. She heard some third-year girl say that she wanted to take photos of her new boyfriend, a second-year said he would like to take pictures of his new pet. A second-year boy said that he wanted to take a picture of his house, which his family had just moved into, and another second-year said they were going to take pictures of the store that their family had just opened up.

Everyone had something, or at least an idea, of what to take a picture of that was related to the idea of "new beginnings" or "rebirth". Yet Sakura didn't have much. All that was new for her was that she started school at Karasuno, yet she felt like that wasn't enough. Sure, if she took a picture of the school and explained why it was new to her, she would probably be original in this idea since she was the only first-year a part of the club. However, it felt so... superficial to her. It was an easy idea for her to grab onto and she wanted her first photo in the gallery to be... meaningful.

"Something got you down, Hinata-chan?"

Sakura turned her head to look up to find the president of the photography club, Shimada Emi, standing beside her with a large smile. The brown-haired third-year leaned against the desk the younger girl was sitting at and peered down at her green eyes. Sakura cleared her throat and sat up slightly, "Nothing, senpai. I'm just thinking about what to do for the gallery."

"Ah, yes, I remember the first gallery that I participated in." Shimada sighed in wonder, nearly getting lost in thought about her time as a first-year. Though she shook her head to focus on the present, she waved her hand dismissively, "You don't have to worry about it too much, all right. It's your first one, after all, don't think too hard about it."

Sakura considered her words for a moment before staring down at the camera in front of her, "But isn't that the point, to think hard about what you put in the gallery, to make it meaningful?" She looked back up at Shimada to see that she startled her slightly with her sentiment. She knew that she was right, to some degree. When an artist displays their art, no matter what medium, they always want it to have some sort of deep meaning, right? So why would now be any different?

"Well, I guess yeah, but you really shouldn't stress about it!" Shimada chuckled lightly and scratched the back of her neck, "What I mean is... That what you put into the gallery should be what you find meaningful. Don't worry about if anyone else will think it's meaningful, or if they think it's good." Shimada ruffled Sakura's short hair playfully and sat down on top of the desk. She did her best to try and calm the first-year down. She could already see the frown on her face starting to form and didn't want her kohai to feel down about this. "Only focus on what you want."

The younger girl considered her senpais words and glanced away from her in slight embarrassment, "...What if I don't know what I want to do?"

Shimada considered her struggle for a moment before an idea struck her, "Think simply, what's new to you this year?"

Sakura thought pretty hard about that for a second. High school is new to her, but she really didn't think that was a good enough idea. Other than that, there weren't that many new things apart of her life. Though she supposed there was one thing that was new to her that she had been around for the past few weeks. She pursed her lips, "The volleyball club, I guess."

"There you go!" Shimada exclaimed happily, which caused Sakura to cringe, "You can take a picture of the team or something!"

"But that's not..." Sakura trailed off.

Shimada tilted her head, "Not what?"

"It's not really... mine?" The younger girl sighed and tried to think of what to say about this. It took a moment for her to try and collect her thoughts about it. Shimada is already starting to become a good friend, at least, as close as a friend as Sakura would allow. She didn't want to divulge all that much about her, however, she had a feeling that if she wanted help she needed to at least tell Shimada something. Sakura finally came up with some sort of explanation, "I mean, it's not my team, it's Shōyō's... and I want to take a picture of something that's new to me, you know."

Shimada nodded her head and placed a hand on her chin, "I totally understand." She stared down at her kohai to see the slightly troubled expression on her face. Shimada could tell that there was more to this than Sakura would like to say. She's only known the first-year for a short while, but she has grown to like the girl. The third-year could easily tell that Sakura had trouble with making friends. This was obvious from how Sakura liked to keep to herself and never went out of her way to talk with others. She didn't seem to try and make friends in the club, which Shimada had thought was because everyone else in the club, which was only like five other people, were all second and third years. Still she was glad that she had opened up just a little bit, it warmed her heart to know that Sakura was willing to open up to her, even if it was just a little bit. She smiled softly, "You know, you have a little while to think about this, you don't have to make a decision right here, right now. You can decide this later." She then brightened even more, if that were possible, "When I can't think of what to enter into the gallery, I like to think about the things that I enjoy the most. I love baking! So I take my mind off of photography for a bit and bake cookies or something. Then I can come back to the gallery later with fresh eyes."

"That's actually a good idea..." Sakura thought about it for a moment. Her senpai's words seemed to be good advice. She is overthinking the gallery ever since she was first told the theme of it. Shimada was right, stepping back from the gallery should calm her down and take her mind off of it for a bit. Then once she came back to it later, she might have a better idea of what to do about it.

"So?" Shimada exclaimed in eagerness which broke Sakura out of her thoughts, "What do you enjoy the most?!"

Sakura monotonly answered, "Photography."

Shimada processed that for a moment and blinked, "Hm, anything else?"

"I don't know..." The younger girl slumped down in her chair. She didn't really have any other interests. She always had her focus on Shōyō and what he did, so she didn't have many hobbies. Though really it was just volleyball. Shōyō drowned himself in volleyball the same way Sakura drowned herself in photography. The only other thing that she really ever did was study, but she wasn't sure if she should do that to take her mind off of photography. Shimada was most likely referring to things that would calm her down and relax.

Shimada pursed her lips in thought, "How about we try something different... Why do you like photography?"

Sakura raised her eyebrows in confusion, "Huh?"

"Since you love photography, maybe thinking back to why you like photography, you'd be inspired on what to do for the gallery."

She tilted her head in thought, "I guess that could work."

"Great!" Shimada smiled brightly and jumped up in excitement. She was extremely glad that she was able to help her precious kohai in her troubles. The third-year could only hope that Sakura came to her again if she needed any help

Sakura huffed in amusement as the corners of her lips lifted slightly, "Thanks, senpai." She found it quite funny how excited Shimada was getting about this. She seems like such a kind person, and Sakura was glad that she had Shimada around to talk with. Maybe... just maybe, Sakura could confide in Shimada a bit more. A friend. Perhaps Shimada Emi could become Sakura's first true friend.

Shimada's smile was a warm as the sun, which may or may not has helped Sakura feel secure. "No problem, Hinata-chan!"

Soon enough, the club came to an end, and Sakura and the few other club members bid each other goodbye. Shimada locked up the club room while Sakura was the last the leave and headed towards the gym where her brother was. Just like any other day, she would have to wait for Shōyō to finish up his volleyball practice before she would have to head home. No matter how much she argued that she could do it on her own, Shōyō would not let his sister ride her bike home alone. Curse her protective older brother!

Though on her walk to the gym, Sakura started to wonder about the gallery. She thought back to what Shimada had suggested being inspired for the event. Why does she like photography so much? Well, at face value she would say she likes capturing a moment in time, whether it's good or bad. To keep that moment in time forever encased in a photo has fascinated her since she was little. Well, it's fascinated her since the beginning of middle school.

As she walked through the chilly air, she remembered the first moment she held a camera and took a picture. The more she thought about it, she sighed heavily as she remembered who had gotten her into photography. She didn't know the woman's name, and yet she had impacted Sakura's life that it was laughable. It was a one-time meeting, but it changed the course of Sakura's understanding of life so much.

It gave her a hobby to have, something that Shōyō didn't have. It was her own. She supposed this was the first time that she got the idea of being different from her brother. Sure, back then she didn't look identical to her twin, but even then she never left his side. This was the first time she got a taste of individuality. She finally had something to call her own that didn't involve Shōyō at every moment.

So maybe the reason that she like photography was because of how it was one of the only differences between her and Shōyō. It gave her an identity that she could have for herself. Though how would she show that in a photo? As Shimada had said, she doesn't have to think about how a photo's meaning would be seen by others, instead just focus on how it was meaningful to her.

She was broken out of her thoughts when she finally made it to the gym to find the boys still practicing. Lazily strolling in, she greeted Kiyoko and Takeda before sitting and waiting for the practice to end. Sakura watched the boys continue to practice their receives, blocks, and spikes. Shōyō's skills really showed on this team, she thought. Her brother was fast and could jump high, however, she knew that he lacked in some things like blocking and serving. Though even if he wasn't the best all-around player, Sakura was happy for him. To have this team, these guys to help him improve his skills was all she ever wanted for her brother. Well, that and the ability to play as many games as he could. In her seat against the wall, if the boys had been paying attention, they would have noticed the small smile on her face as she watched Shōyō get yelled at by Kageyama.

Sure, it was a good thing to want your sibling to succeed, especially with such a close relationship that the twins had. However, to completely focus on your sibling and not even think about yourself was a bit problematic. Though now, she was going to fix that now that they were high schoolers. She wants to be different, she wants to be her own person. So to do that, she'll focus on her photography. To do that, she has to find her inspiration from why she likes photography. She'll figure that out soon enough.