New Beginnings (HaikyuuxTPN)

Episode 1: The End and The Beginning

Shoyo pov

"Sho-chan, wait up." I hear Izumi call, but I don't stop because of how excited I am. It's my first volleyball game! An official game! I'm so excited. I run through the building to get to the courts.

"It's huge!" Excitement in my voice. I take a deep breath. "The smell of Air Salonpas!"

"Sho-chan you're too nervous." I hear Izumi say. Followed by Koji saying, "They'll think you're a country hick." I stop in surprise. I was really nervous. But when I was nervous I would always just tell myself I was excited so I didn't hesitate because in battle one second is all it takes to lose your life. I know that all too well. "B-but I've never been in a real tournament before. Three years later and I'm finally here." I say, falling back on the cover story I made. I told Koji and Izumi that I had gone to a different middle school before going to my current one because telling them I didn't go to school for over half my life would raise suspicion and suspicions lead to questions that I don't want to answer. So as much as it pained me to lie to them I did it to keep them safe.

"It's sure been a struggle to get here." Koji comments. I watch all the other teams warm up in awe. I'm really happy to be here.

"Izumi, Koji, thanks for being here as helpers," I say, truly grateful for their help.

I see Koji blush in embarrassment as he says, "Stop it."

Izumi follows by saying, "Our tournament's already finished so," I interrupt him out of excitement, "First-year students, you too, thanks. It's a miracle the three of you are here." I truly couldn't have done this with them here. 

"Oh, yes. We're total amateurs but," Tatsuya starts to say before being interrupted by Koji.

"Don't cry Shoyo," he says.

"I'm not crying." I snap back.

"You're super tearful," Izumi says, backing Koji up.

"Um... Hinata-senpai, we should get started." Saiya said.

"Come on captain, get on the ball," Izumi said.

"That's right. You dragged us here, we don't even know the rules." Koji calls.

"I know that," I say. I said I would brief them on their position and rules before the tournament but that never happened. We made dates to brief the rules, but we always got sidetracked before we could get to anything useful. "We made it all the way to the tournament, we have to win."

"What? You think we can win with our last-minute picked team." Izumi says surprised.

"Of course," I say. I was able to defeat the odds before, doing it again should be easy.

"What's our opponent Kitagawa Daiichi like?" Koji asks.

"I don't know," I replied. "But we're going to do it." It would be a lot easier to win if Norman was here because he is really good at making strategies. "Whoops sorry!" I get interrupted in my thought as people approach from behind me.

"Come on," Izumi says, pulling me to the side. I watch the people walk by and all I can think about is how tall they are. After the people pass by I hear people cheering. I run out to see people clapping for the team that just walked by, Kitagawa Daiichi.

"We're playing against those guys!" Koji shouts. "What's this king stuff?"

"Don't worry about it," I yell louder. As their captain, I need to keep their spirits up. "Who cares how lanky they are, I'll shoot past them."

"That's right, Sho-chan jumps are amazing," Izumi says. I was internally grateful for that because it gave our players some confidence back.

"We're counting on you," Izumi says.