Akaashi's 18th (and the events that followed...)

45. The Beautiful Game

This chapter is loosely based on 'Brazil' by Declan McKenna, if you wish to listen whilst you read!

Hinata wiped the sweat dripping from his brow and took a gulp of water from his sports bottle. Brazil was way hotter than he had anticipated, and he couldn't leave his cheap hotel room without applying an inch-thick layer of sun cream. It was good to get away, however, and a beach-holiday in a country sliced by the equator was a brilliant place to run off to. He still wouldn't go a day without volleyball practice. It had become as much of his daily routine as brushing his teeth - and far more enjoyable at that.

"Hey, Shoyo!" Davi, his newfound companion and, more importantly, his setter for the duration of his adventure abroad, called to him from the shore.

"Just coming!" Hinata stumbled over the sand to where his friends stood.

There was one other player on Hinata's team - to his surprise, a girl, Bella. On the opposing team, Luca, Rafael and Alandra stood ready and waiting for him, grins spreading wide over their sweaty faces.

Bella served cleanly over the net. "Nice serve!" Hinata called, and she rushed up to join him and Davi on the offence. Alandra set the ball to Luca, who ran to spike it...

Only to be met with Hinata's hands, his block scoring a point. "Nice block!" Davi said, and Bella clapped him on the back. "Where'd you learn that from?"

"I played for a high-school team back in Japan," he explained. "We trained every day there, so I got pretty good."

"Pretty good?!" Alandra exclaimed. "That block was amazing - I didn't know someone of your height could jump like that!"

"Heh, thanks." Hinata smiled, heat creeping up into his cheeks from all the compliments. At that moment, his ears pricked up as he heard a familiar voice in the background.

"Iwa-chan~!" Hinata's head whipped around, not quite believing what he was hearing. "Look, there's a game over there by the... Chibi-chan?"

"Is he a friend of yours or something?" Davi asked, raising an eyebrow as the two walked over to him.

Hinata shrugged. "We played against each other in high-school for a year. He knew the setter on my team really well, but they didn't really get on." He raised a hand to signal Oikawa over. "Grand King!"

"Do you all have strange nicknames for each other in Japan?" Bella furrowed her brow. "I've heard you talk about people as the 'King' and 'Grand King', or the 'Tiny Giant', and now this man is calling you 'Chibi-chan'."

"Believe me." Hinata scowled. "It's not an affectionate name. It basically means I'm small and cute."

"Sounds affectionate to me," she giggled slightly.

"Not when he says it," Hinata shrugged again. "Come and play with us, Grand King!" Oikawa looked apprehensive, but after Iwaizumi-san had muttered something in his ear, he sighed in defeat, both of them jogging down to the shore.

As far as the game went, Oikawa and Hinata were clearly both on another level to the villagers by the seaside, and had to be split into opposing teams to ensure a fair game, Iwaizumi playing with Hinata to avoid Oikawa having the further advantage of an ex-teammate with him.

However, the locals had something that neither Hinata nor Oikawa possessed at that moment in time. They were all playing happily, carefree as anything. They had no goals to drive towards, and were playing for the sheer joy of it. Hinata felt himself smiling more than he had in a long time, and Oikawa appeared to feel the same way, after laughing when he slipped during an attempted jump-serve, falling onto the sand on his bottom.