Quirkless Volleyball (Adopted)

Chapter 15

The practice for today was light, or at least, the physical part of the practice. However, the more important part of volleyball practice was studying the Aoba Johsai volleyball team.

"If anything," Coach Ukai said as he paused the tape, "Oikawa is going to be a difficult opponent, especially paired with Iwaizumi."

"Not only that," Daichi added, "but the amount of third-years on their team means more experience. Even them aside, they've got several good players with them that are in second and even first-year. I heard they even got a new player."

The projector with a slideshow then showed a picture of a boy with short blonde hair with two black stripes running through it, just above his ears. With light brown eyes that seem to radiate hostility and aggression, it didn't matter how tall or short he could be, there would be a noticeable presence on the court. 

"His name's Kyoutani Kentarou," Coach Ukai explained, "he's their new wing spiker, number 16, second year. He used to be on the team last year but quit."

Midoriya raised his hand, "What's his main attack? Does he usually spike straights or diagonally? Anything we should watch out for? What's his relationship with the rest of the team? How many videos do we have of him, from this year and last year? Is there any weird tendencies we can take advantage of? How many - "

"Oi, shut up, don't run your mouth," Tsukishima said. 

"Tsukishima! Anyway, Midoriya," Daichi said, turning to the green-headed boy, "we'll be watching several of their matches, three from last year and two or so from this year. Considering that you're one of our strategists, we'll be needing you to cooperate with Sugawara and Kageyama."

Midoriya nodded firmly.

"In any case, think of this as redemption from our last match against Seijoh," Coach Ukai continued. "We were beat by Oikawa's skills and strategy. There's no doubt on why he's captain and their setter. Let's watch the matches that we have, from our matches and other schools' matches against Seijoh and point out some things we notice."

For the next hour, they watched and observed, with Midoriya muttering quietly as he wrote in a notebook to transfer into his 'official' volleyball notebook about Seijoh. 

--------------------

"You know," Hinata said once practice had ended, "I'm jealous."

Midoriya turned to his childhood friend questioningly. "Of what?"

The two were getting out of the gym, it was already pretty late, even though the sky didn't show it. Hinata stayed silent for a few moments before answering. 

"You've got the chance to be ace as much as I do," Hinata began, "but you're more qualified. Not only are you a wing spiker like me, but you're smart. You can easily be captain, nevermind ace."

"Not all captains are ace though," Midoriya pointed out, "like captain requires you to be responsible and stuff but the ace requires you to have the physical strength. But the two are similar, if you look at it as - "

"See, this is exactly what I'm talking about!"

Midoriya paused, shocked at the appearance of tears in the corners of Hinata's eyes. "This is exactly what I'm talking about! You're so smart and observant, you know how to cheer up the room, you're strong, you're like me but more qualified! I can't even get a decent grade in Japanese, but you're excelling in both Japanese and English! Not to mention UA!" Hinata wiped any escaping tears with his sleeve. "If I become ace, it'll feel stupid! Izu-chan, you're obviously the better choice!"

It was silent as Hinata quickly tried to cover up any evidence of his breakdown. Midoriya watched him, his mouth open but nothing was coming out of it.

"Sho-chan..." Midoriya began, but Hinata gave him a look that made him fall silent once more.

"Izu-chan," Hinata started, "I don't care if you want to be captain, I know I'll  be bad at it. But when it comes to ace," he straightened up, "I'm going to get stronger and better so I can finally beat you at something!" 

With that said, the two walked back to Hinata's home and Midoriya's secondary home in silence.

--------------------

Midoriya stepped out of the portal he had made. Did Hinata feel worse than him? Why? Couldn't he see that this, volleyball, was his passion? For Midoriya, it was his hobby, but for Hinata, it was everything. Midoriya would be a hero, there was almost no time for volleyball when he went into the workforce, out in public. 

In fact, he didn't even take that into account, in his future. How would his almost quirk affect that? What if a crisis happened when he was in Hinata's world? What then?

Midoriya groaned, running his hand through his hair. This wasn't good. He'd have to make up with Hinata tomorrow, if he could figure out how.

Walking towards the entrance of the building, he looked at the clock, only to find out it was an hour and ten minutes since he left. Blinking rapidly, he tried to run out of the building and almost crashed into Aizawa. 

"Problem Child, where have you been?" Aizawa asked, raising an eyebrow. His arms were crossed and Midoriya had the faint idea that Aizawa might be mad.

"We were researching the other team - they got this new wing spiker named Kyoutani - and we were watching their matches to make observations so we can make some strategies, with Kageyama and Sugawara, who are setters then I didn't notice the time and then - " Midoriya started rambling, but stopped when he heard Aizawa chuckle.

He had rarely seen the man chuckle, or even smile.

"I was just messing with you," Aizawa continued and he rubbed the top of Midoriya's head. "But make sure you pay attention to the time, that's important." 

Midoriya nodded.

"Good, in any case, you shouldn't need to worry too much about training, I convinced Tiger to change your workout just a bit to improve your quirk rather than your body more. It should be helpful for your match, it's not like you're using the quirk there and you don't want to be sore during a match."

Midoriya nodded again before Aizawa walked into the building. He stared at the man's back until he turned a corner before going outside.