Four Unexpected Fates

Training Camp 1.0

"We're basically developing at this point, and we don't know the limits of our potential. Even if we felt those limits we would still keep aiming higher."

-Daichi Sawamura, captain of Karasuno High School boys' volleyball team (Haikyuu!)

So within a month of the competition ending, we had a training camp after school hours but since I was in a private school and classes ended at 3.20pm, June and me had the privilege of ditching afternoon classes for an entire week. I was both excited and scared for the training camp because we would be training with the boy representatives for the under-18 category along with the other categories and after what I had seen during the competition, they were insane.

"Well, at least we can ditch classes," June murmured as we went to the training site. The courts being used were the ones I normally had evening group sessions with Mr. K so I was glad I sort of have the home court advantage this time. June was just staring out of the window, her earphones jammed into her ears as we rode in her car. I didn't know what to say to her since I wasn't exactly close to her to call her a close friend but she was the only one who actually talked to me in class.

"So how is this training like?" "We train from 2pm to 6pm for the next six days with intensive training from the best coaches in town. They try to see who would be good for the doubles matches and pair them up so that they can train and get used to each other before nationals." My heart pounded as the word 'nationals' registered in my mind. I never thought the day would come that I actually did well in something! "You don't have to worry about being paired up or anything since you're the reserve and most of the time, you don't even have to play."

Something in her voice made my stomach a bit queasy and she seemed to lack all the joy and excitement she had of me getting onto the team a few weeks ago but I decided to not press her any further since she still looked a bit pissed about the fact we had extra homework to do to make up for our missed classes so we rode the rest of the way in silence. When we arrived, I saw the throng of people bustling at the building that served as reception/ changing rooms. Now that we had the entire tennis division here, we took up residence in the front foyer to rest and deposit our stuff.

June left me to grab my stuff and went to join her friends at the entrance. I felt a little jealous that she was so close to them, especially the guys because studying in an all-girl school for the past eight years of my life really messed up my ability to mix with the opposite gender. Not to mention I had zero inkling of what would make a good conversation. "Yo!' Aya called from behind and I nearly barreled into the wall from shock as she came over, waving as she set down her stuff.

"So this is your first training session eh? Don't worry. You'll get used to it in no time," she grinned as the head coach, Mr. Dong, aka Mr. D, called for us to assemble. The under-15 girls group was right next to us and they began to chat with June and the others, leaving me to brace the long speech ahead. "So this is what its like to be the new kid on the team," I groaned to myself as the head coach clapped his hands, his huge stomach bouncing. "Come on, guys! Start off by running 5 laps around the courts! Then you can get into the stretches and start your games! Come on, hustle now!"

"How the heck that guy can even be the head coach when he can barely move?" I whispered to Aya, the only person who seemed to actually treat me like I was visible when we're at team practices. "You know, all the politics involved just makes things more complicated then they are. Mr. K is the better choice but he's just serving as the assistant for the time being," Aya said before turning her attention to running. After we ran five laps, we did ten minutes of stretches, some of them I never wanted to do ever again but had to do so for the next six days.

Once we were done, Mr. K called us over and told us what would happen that day. "You'll pair up with Aya and see if you two can sync with each other," Mr. K said as he continued to pair the others up. I was glad that I had a familiar face as a partner and I prayed that Aya would be able to bear with how bad my playing was. Once we got into our groups, we went off to start practicing in the grueling heat.