Nine Lives

Life Nine: Part Four

Before long, it was time for the special 'Trashcan Showdown'. Since the practice game between the adults and the Volleyball team, Benjiro had become an unofficial coach to the team. He typically spent his time working with his brother or Asahi. Mostly because he felt like they needed the most personal help at the moment. Asahi was still getting confident about playing again and Shōyō was just all over the place because he was so hyper and excited. It had been a lot of fun.

Benjiro let out a loud yawn as he walked besides Keishin through the doors of the gym at Nekoma. While he was excited to meet the catty team, he was pretty tired and if he had the chance Ben would fall asleep on the bench and sleep through the long games. Keishin nudged Ben to wake him up more as the two coach's from Nekoma started to walk over. The old man and the coach that was there when the two of them were in school, Nekomata and then the younger coach that had been part of the team when they were in school, Naoi.

"Man eight years huh? What's the deal with that hair Ukai?" Naoi smirked in greeting. His eyes then went to Benjiro "I see you two are still joined at the hip."

"Yeah well maybe you should try something new Naoi." Keishin said. The group glared at each other before breaking down in snickered. They all shared a group hug before pulling back.

"Naoi Naoi guess what!" Benjiro whispered as he cupped his hand to one side of his mouth and leaned forward like he was about to tell him a secret. "Keishin finally cracked."

"So you two are together then?" Naoi laughed and shook his head at the two in front of him. "It's about time. Nekomata and Old Ukai never thought he would man up." He teased Keishin who was glaring at the pair.

"Keishin Benjiro" Coach Nekomata called out to the two new coaches.

"Coach Nekomata?" The two males smiled at the old coach. "It's been a while."

"Still the spitting image of your grandfather aren't you boy." Nekomata smiled widely as he walked over. "Did I hear that right? You two are finally together?"

"Yeah." They both answered. Keishin was nervous about it while Benjiro had a wide smile.

"Tell your grandfather that he owes me 2000 yen." Nekomata snickered which caused Ben and Naoi to laugh while Keishin just glared.

Takeda then walked forward and started talking to Nekomata. Benjiro wandered away from the group adults and started walking around the gym. It was the first time he got to see the Nekoma team in person, well the members that were on the team during the anime. His eyes instantly went to the cinnamon roll, kenma then to the team captain, Kuroo. Because of his history in this world, Nekoma's team had a bigger place in his heart then it did from just watching the anime. Living the rivalry first hand was much different then just watching it.

"Your Hinata Benjiro right?" Ben turned to see Nekoma's vice captain, Kai Nobuyuki.

"Yeah that's me." Benjiro grinned as he stopped walking as Kai walked up to him with Kuroo. Their interaction from the anime reminded him heavily of how Keishin and himself had acted in their third year. "Kuroo and Kai right?"

"Whoa you know our names?" Kuroo grinned. "Does that mean you still play volleyball? We watched some of your games when you were in your third year."

"That was eight years ago" Benjiro chuckled as he shoved his hands into his pockets. "You two have been interested in volleyball that long?"

"Yeah" "of course!"

Benjiro grinned brightly as he dove into a conversation about Volleyball with the two third year students. A few other members of Nekoma had wondered over to listen in to the conversation. That was until Nekomata blew a whistle and drew everyone's attention back to the court. Benjiro left the students sides and walked back to his partner.

"You seemed in your element over there with Nekoma." Keishin smiled. Keishin would never let anyone know but he really enjoyed coaching the Karasuno team with Benjiro. Benjiro was really great with the students and seemed to know what needs to be worked on. Without his help, Keishin was sure that he wouldn't have made it as Coach.

"Kuroo and Kai watched us play when we were in our third year. Can you believe that?" Ben grinned as he leaned back on the bench as he sat down.

"Really?" Keishin hummed.

"Yeah. They remind me so much of us. They make a great team." Benjiro smiled as his eyes traveled over to the Nekoma team. Keishin nodded before standing up and calling the team over. He then looked back to their team as they huddled up. "Hey you guys." Ben stood and walked over to the huddle. Everyone looked at him and straightened to show they were all paying attention. "I have been paying attention to a few of their practice games. Keep a close eye on player 1, 5 and 7. I'm not saying that the others aren't a threat but I have a feeling those three will be our biggest problem with Tobio and Shōyō's combo."

"1 5 and 7.." Shōyō repeated as his eyes traveled to the over team and skimmed the group for the numbers. "Hey 5 is Kenma!"

"You know him?" Tobio asked.

"Kinda.." Shōyō said while rubbing the back of his head.

"Kenma is their setter. He watches people closely and knows how to read them." Benjiro said glancing over to the other side before looking back to his team. "The team is well rounded, just keep an eye out." He patted Kei's back before leaving them.

In the anime they did a really good job of showing how intense the matches were. But nothing could compare to actually sitting on the side lines of it. Despite them getting a slight hint about team Nekoma, the crows still last against them. It was closer but Karasuno High still ranked lower against Nekoma in skill. The crows had a lot of work to do but Benjiro was looking forward to working along side of the talented group of students.