The Sun with A False Eternity

Tournament Updates

   Kageyama woke up the next Saturday and rushed to get ready. It was an important day, October 6th, the day they would be figuring out the lineup for the next phase of the tournament. He shoved breakfast down before racing out the door, eager to receive the news that could drastically affect the team's morale.

He headed to school as fast as he could without exhausting himself. He kept up a light jog to the spot he met Hinata, who was putting his bike in the rack.

"Hey Kageyama!" The ginger turned to face the taller teen after locking up his ride. Kageyama lifted his hand in a slight wave, too caught up in his anticipation to worry about carrying a proper conversation. Hinata must have sensed this, because without beginning his usual chit-chat he took off, rushing towards the gym without giving Kageyama time to respond.

The race was on. Kageyama extended his legs as far as they could go, desperate to catch up to the middle blocker. It was the beginning of October, and Kageyama could feel the air beginning to chill slightly with each inhaled breath. It wasn't much, but it was enough to signify that they were well into fall.

In the end, Kageyama's efforts weren't enough and Hinata beat him. They both collapsed to the ground, panting heavily in an attempt to regain their stamina. Multiple teammates passed by, which was strange since Hinata and Kageyama were usually the only ones there at that time, but Kageyama paid them no mind.

After a few minutes of resting Kageyama got back up and lifted his bag that he had chucked. He threw it over his shoulder and began to make his way to the club room to change. He was so preoccupied with thoughts on who they were going up against that he didn't bother to see if Hinata was following.

The teen methodically went through the rhythm of getting changed into his gym clothes, leaving his bag in the room and only bringing his sweat rag and water bottle.

Kageyama could feel the anxiety clawing its way up to his throat as he entered the gym, his eyes flitting around the room to take note of its occupants. The three third years were stretching in the corner. Asahi had his back to the tall setter so he couldn't see his expression, but Kageyama could see the excitement and nervousness resting on both Daichi and Sugawara's faces.

Next Kageyama turned towards the sound of voices, quickly spotting Yachi and Kiyoko chatting by the scoreboard. Takeda was lingering there along with Coach Ukai.

Nearly everyone is already here, Kageyama counted in his head. He didn't know what he was expecting, everyone must have been feeling as excited as he was. Kageyama stared at the club advisor for a little while longer, scanning the man up and down for any notice of the announcement.

Usually the team could have just checked online, but the list wasn't officially posted on the internet till the next day. So Kageyama paced impatiently, waiting for everyone to arrive in the gym. Soon more people started coming through the doors, including Hinata, who headed over to stand next to the setter. Kageyama noticed the teen could hardly keep his excitement contained, as he occupied himself with his habit of bouncing on his toes.

This was just one of the things Kageyama had noticed about the small middle blocker since the day they had met. Hinata had a lot of mannerisms that were unique to him, like the little movements he did when he became excited, or the odd choices of words he would use to describe things that made him happy. At first, Kageyama had thought everything Hinata had done was weird, but now, as he watched him in the middle of his antics, Kageyama realized they made him smile.

"Alright gather around!" The slightly husky voice of the coach called the team to the side of the gym. Kageyama quickly followed the instructions, the sound of squeaking shoes alerting that the rest of the team was doing the same.

There's still a lot of us in the running, Kageyama pondered as he sat down. There's no way to fully predict what team we'll be up against. The best we can do is hope that we aren't matched up with the strongest teams right away.

"Alright," Takeda took the front of the room, looking out towards his team. Kageyama saw him hold up a piece of paper, reading it over before speaking again. "I'm sure you're all dying to know who we've got first," he began, lifting his eyes from the paper.

"Who is it?" Hinata called out prematurely, causing Daichi to sigh. The teacher took a deep breath before announcing:

"Our first match is against Johzenji high."

"I haven't heard much about them, what are they like?" Sugawara spoke up after a few seconds of silence. Takeda fixed his gaze on the third-year setter as if contemplating his answer.

"Well, I was reading up a bit on all the teams we'd possibly be going against last night," he paused briefly to walk over to his stuff, pulling a notebook out of the front pocket of his bag. Kageyama stared at the little book, his curiosity climaxing. The adult returned to his position and continued:

"All the information I could find about their school is they're wilder than any of the other teams we've played. They're chaotic and unpredictable, completely different from the well-oiled machines that teams like Nekoma and Date Tech are. This may sound like we have the advantage, but I don't know if that's the case. Since they play so freely, they're also extremely adaptable. They're good at trying new things in the middle of a match, and nobody can compete with them in spirit. Their team consists of second years, all of their third years excepting their manager left after the last Interhigh tournament." Takeda read off his notebook without taking a breath, trying to get as much information as he could into the team.

Unpredictable, huh. Kageyama took a mental note of the teacher's words. They didn't sound impossible to beat, which made him hopeful.

"Is that all?" Kageyama heard the captain speak up from where he was sitting.

"Uh-huh," Takeda rubbed the back of his head and frowned slightly "sorry that's all I got. There were a lot of teams to cover so I didn't have time to get a ton of information on all of them."

"No no no that was amazing, thank you so much," the third year stood up and walked up to the front of the gym, lightly resting his hand on the teacher's shoulder in a gesture of appreciation. Takeda gave a small bow in thanks, then gave Daichi the spotlight.

The captain turned to face the team, and the excited chatter that had begun to surface at the announcement settled down as the team gave their full attention to the Daichi.

"Alright guys," the wing spiker looked out at the team, making eye contact with many of them, including Kageyama. In that moment of looking at each other, Kageyama could tell that the older teen was dead serious about whatever he was about to say. "I know we're all stressed, at least, I know I am. But we are a team. A good one at that. It's like Sugawara said the other day. Keep the same energy towards practice, and I do not doubt that we can win this."

The speech wasn't long, nor did it go in-depth, but Kageyama could tell it took its effect on the entire team; they were looking around at each other with the air of determination weighing down on them. Within a few minutes, the entire team was back at work. Something about it felt livelier than usual. Kageyama wasn't sure whether it was the announcements, the anticipation of the upcoming events, or simply all being together as a team, but everyone seemed like they giving it their all that night. It was one of the best practices they had in a while.