Chapter 3

Hinata's alarm went off and he woke up in a flash. Today was the day that would mark the start of a new chapter in his life. It would be a slight divergence from how things were meant to happen, but he wouldn't have it any other way. Because this would mark the fact the whatever happened next would a new journey.. and he couldn't wait for it being.

It was 5:30 in the morning. He quickly freshened up and went downstairs with the ball. His didn't want to wake his family up and he made sure he was as quiet as possible. Their match was at 10:30 a.m. and school didn't start until 8:30 so he still had some time left. He would meet his team at school and make it to the tournament venue within 9 a.m. He went to his usual spot and started hitting the ball against the wall to try receiving as many as he could. This was the only way he could think of to get his receives in a better shape before the match. He gradually increased the force and speed of his hits as he slowly got used to receiving it. He knew the basics now.. he was confident about getting it into passable shape before the game. It would have to make do for now.

He had been somewhat naive before, as he had refused an opportunity to learn and train simply because he was shy about joining the girls volleyball team for practice and was afraid that.. if he did join them.. everyone would make fun of him. That was really stupid. He'd certainly change the error of his ways in the future. The first thing he'd do at school after this tournament is take that teacher up on his offer, and join the girls volleyball club to train with them. Only an idot would reject the opportunity. He would now join simply on principle.

Contrary to what his friends believed, his game sense and awareness was actually pretty good. He just didn't have anybody to teach him about the game before. But now that the problem had been somewhat solved, he would get better as the game went on, and he'd put his reflexes and athleticism to use and try to do things he just didn't know how to before. He was serious about using this as a learning opportunity. He was confident that in doing so he'd be able to achieve his real goal.

His aim was to make Kageyama take notice of him seriously and capture the attention of his future teammates at karasuno as well. Just this time.. it wouldn't simply be because he was a short kid who could jump really high.. it would also be because of the fact that he had solid potential.

Keeping that in mind.. he continued to practice until it was time to go home. After he had washed up and got ready, he finished his breakfast, wished his family goodbye and left for school.

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Hinata and his team reached the tournament venue and saw that a lot of teams had already arrived. He was giddy with excitement. This had been a dream of his and it was finally happening. To experience this for himself definitely felt different from having a vision. He looked around everywhere with cheerful expression plastered on his face.

His friends Kōji and Izumi were getting intimidated by the teams with tall players. They really looked like a kids in front of them. While he would have felt the same way before.. for some reason.. he just didn't feel that way anymore. He didn't even have pre match jitters or stomachache. It almost felt like he was fully prepared for an exam and wasn't afraid if something came out of syllabus. It was a weird assessment but that way the only way he could describe it.

Other people started to take notice of them too and started talking among each other.

"Hey.. look at that team.. are they really here to play? They look like an elementary team" #1

"Haha.. You're right. They don't even have a libero. I feel bad for them. It would feel like they're getting bullied" #2

They heard some of the whispers. Kōji looked like he wanted to say something back but Hinata asked him to ignore it.

"Don't worry about it. In the sport of volleyball we definitely look like an elementary team. To play volleyball.. a person being tall is taken as common sense as it's a sport where height gives a player an advantage so it's natural for people to think that height is an important aspect. While that's definitely true.. people sometimes tend to forget that height isn't all there is to the sport. Now it's our job to remind them of that fact" he said and continued to look around without losing any of his enthusiasm.

Izumi and Kōji didn't know how to respond.. they never expected a response like that from him in the first place. He was usually the first to snap when someone made jabs at him and his height.

"Aah" "Aah" both of them responded.. not having anything else to say.

They went to the designated court to start to stretch and warm up. Just as they were beginning, their opponents arrived as well.

As soon as Kitagawa Daiichi arrived whispers broke out all around them with people pointing at the Kita-ichi players and talking among themselves. They were talking about how Kitagawa were the favourites to qualify and that they had a genius setter who was known as 'King Of The Court'. They looked at their opponents, Yukigoaka with pity.

As Hinata expected, his team heard that and were intimidated but he was able to calm them down and then excused himself to go to the bathroom.

As he washed his hands and left the bathroom he saw three kitagawa players leisurely filling the bottle and laughing among themselves. He remembered this scene. It was also here, that he had his first confrontation with Kageyama in the dream.

They were busy making fun of his team.. just as he remembered. Just this time.. he decided to knock them down a peg.