Haikyuu Oneshots And Theories

You Should've Gone To Shiratorizawa... -[NISHINOYA THEORY]

This is a theory chapter, not a oneshot! It is just gonna be me rambling about my thoughts in a mostly cohesive way. Hopefully... Warning, there will be spoilers.

[OVERVIEW:]

Nishinoya Yu is first introduced to us as "the resident genius of Karasuno" and as "Karasuno's' Guardian Deity". This means that, like Kageyama and Tendou, he has a natural sense of volleyball. In his first on-screen appearance, he picks up Kageyama's' serve and passes it straight to the setter position. Despite saying Kageyama's' serve was good, he made it seem effortless.

It wouldn't be too much of a stretch to say Nishinoya is possibly the best receiver seen in Haikyuu. He easily picks up hard balls and is not afraid to back down from a challenge. Noya also learns how to receive blocked balls and we see him regularly dive for a blocked ball. He also has just as much energy as Hinata, which is always useful.

[WHAT IF NISHINOYA JOINED SHIRATORIZAWA?]

Nishinoya has a reputation from middle school for being an incredible libero, something often mentioned in flashbacks or by background characters. If he went to Shiratorizawa, it would be thanks to a sports scholarship or recommendation, so he wouldn't have to take the entrance exam which is a good thing, because his grades need a lot of work.

He'd probably form a relationship with Tendou similar to his relationship with Hinata and Tanaka, seeming as they're both incredibly energetic and sporadic, so he obviously wouldn't be starved for friends.

During practice, he'd probably work very hard. In 'Haikyuu! To The Top' Kinoshita is seen accidentally getting stuck constantly serving jump floats to him as he pressures himself to improve in time for nationals, so there's no doubt he'd make people like Semi serve at him for hours.

Personally, I think Noya would try to prove to Yamagata that he's the better libero. We see how he reacts to liberos on opposing teams being good, I believe having a rival team member on or above his level would definitely make him feel very prideful and desperate to prove his worth. This would probably result in the two having a very deep rivalry, both forcing the other to improve, similar to the relationship between the Miya Twins, who both want to be better than the other.

At first, Yamagata would definitely be on the starting line-up but Nishinoya would probably and regularly take his spot in practice matches as Coach Washijo began to decide who to put on the team. During the first Interhigh prelims, Yamagata would probably make the starting line-up. However, during the Spring National Prelims, I think he would've put in Nishinoya.

It's not like Nishinoya wouldn't be allowed on the team as a first-year. We know that Goshiki is just a first-year but a regular for Shiratorizawa, a powerhouse school often going to nationals with one of the top-three aces as their captain. It's not a stretch to say that Nishinoya would definitely make the cut.

However, looking at Coach Washijo, he doesn't seem to like small or weak guys on his team. It is possible that Nishinoya could speed up his hesitant change of mind that originally begins when watching Hinata play in Season Three. The similarities he saw in Hinata might be seen in Nishinoya and he'd start to loosen up on his very straightforward, narrow view.

On the other hand, though, Nishinoya probably would never have learned how to make a libero set or rehearse digging blocked balls so much.

[THE OUTCOME]

Let's say Nishinoya convinced Coach Washijo to make him the starting libero and he became a regular. Overall, Shiratorizawa's' defence would be almost airtight.

To combine Tendou's' guess blocking with Nishinoya's' reliable and accurate receives, it would be hard for any team to land a ball in their half of the court. Shiratorizawa would easily become one of the most feared teams on a national level and would be a favourite to win nationals every time. With Ushijima's' attack power, Goshiki's' line shots, Shirabu's' reliable sets, Tendou's' kill-blocks and Nishinoya's' digs on top of that, they'd be nearly unstoppable.