Misconception and Other Tragedies | Kagehina

Still Rivals

Kageyama's POV

~~~

"Hurry up! These balls aren't gonna clean themselves up, you know!"

Kageyama Tobio groaned as his body screamed in protest, bending down to pick up the volleyballs littered across the practice court. The team's next match against the Black Jackals was in four days, and their coach was working them harder than ever; after being miserably defeated by their rivals last time, losing just wasn't an option.

Kageyama was excited, as always, for the game. Not that he wasn't excited for every game. It was just that games against the Jackals were different.

Sometimes his teammates asked him why he got so hyped for these games. Well, Kageyama assured them, it had nothing to do with one player in particular, who he may or may not have known for ten years. Definitely not one with unnaturally orange hair. Or extreme jumping ability. Named Hinata. Nope, not at all.

...

Okay, it had everything to do with Hinata.

Two years. Two of the most horrifyingly isolating years of Kageyama's life. Just after high school graduation, his one good friend had stopped talking to him. He almost reverted back to his middle school tyranny, but the spikers on the Schweiden Adlers proved to be good enough, some even able to handle Kageyama at 100%. None of them were Hinata, though.

Kageyama had learned to live with it. Of course there wasn't another Hinata out there, but why should he care? A spiker was a spiker; as long as the job got done, he would be satisfied.

"Kageyama."

The setter paused on his way out the gym door and turned to the voice, instantly recognizing it as Ushijima Wakatoshi's.

"Yes?"

"Our next game is on Friday."

Kageyama nodded, a little bit confused. He had learned to just roll with Ushijima's bluntness, but it still caught him off guard a lot.

"Yes."

"And we are playing against Hinata."

Um.

"Yes. Your point?"

"I do not want you to let him win like last time."

Let him win? Let him win?

Kageyama almost exploded.

"What? Is that seriously what you think? That I'm letting him win?" He'd raised his voice more than he meant to, but there was no going back now. "I'm trying my hardest against him. I want to beat him more than anyone! Why the h–"

"I apologize," Ushijima interrupted him. "I only thought that..."

"That since he's my friend I would go easy on him?"

The brunet shifted uncomfortably, his eyes no longer meeting Kageyama's. "Yes."

Kageyama's frowned faded, his normal, neutral expression reappearing. "You couldn't be more wrong. Hinata and I are probably the most competitive people in Japan."

He readjusted his bag on his shoulder.

"Besides, Hinata isn't the only reason the Jackals are winning our matches. If you weren't so busy scanning the stands for God knows who, maybe you wouldn't be half a second late to spike. Like you always are."

With that, Kageyama left the gym, a stunned Ushijima staring after him. It may have been years since he and Hinata had spent a proper day together, but Kageyama could still quip anyone in an instant. He had learned from and practiced on Hinata for three years straight. He was determined to make it so that the next time they spent time together outside of the court, they'd slip right back into their usual passive-aggressive (affectionate) banter.

Because, of course, they were still rivals.

That was a fact. 

~~~