Losing is Winning

Chapter 7

"I met with Oikawa."

The other end of the line was silent. Long enough for Tobio to give his phone screen a scrutinizing look. "Why?" Sugawara blurted.

Well... Tobio hesitated. He wasn't sure why he had asked his former captain for advice—the person he should have least expected to get help from. But Oikawa, despite their discrepancies, had always been a good player whom his teammates trusted.

Subconsciously, his hands found the hem of his duvet he was sitting on to toy with. "I thought he could help me."

"Oh. Did he?"

The casualness and sincere interest in Sugawara's voice put Tobio off. "I don't know," he admitted. "That's why I'm calling."

"Okay," he said, ending on a higher note. Tobio took that as a sign to continue.

"Remember in Tokyo where you agreed when I said that trying the quick attack with Hinata's eyes open would be pointless and a bad idea?"

"Yes..." Sugawara sounded wary.

"Is that really what you think?"

The line stayed silent for a few seconds. Tobio's fingers closed a little tighter around the phone case. "It is what I thought at that time."

Tobio swallowed. "So now you think that what I said is wrong?"

Sugawara sighed, and there were rustling noises coming through the speaker. "What did Oikawa tell you, Kageyama?"

At once, the words Tobio had wanted to utter got stuck in his throat. He cleared his throat. "He... said I'm a coward for not trusting Hinata. That I'm dictating Hinata to do only what I think is best... and"—he took a deep breath—"that I'm going back to how I was in middle school."

"And do you think he is right?"

Tobio traced a crease in the fabric beneath his fingers. "I don't know."

"Hm." The line fell silent once again.

On edge, he let go of the duvet and instead hugged his knees to his chest. "Sugawara?" he asked after a few seconds of static silence.

"Yes?"

"What can I do to change?" he asked, his eyebrows drawn together in a helpless frown. When Sugawara didn't answer immediately, he added, "I... I don't want what's happened with my old team happening with you guys too." The subdued tone was all too apparent.

"Changing your attitude takes time, Kageyama, we all know that. And you already grew a lot, otherwise you'd never called me—or had gone to Oikawa," Sugawara said. "Changing yourself, it's like... like having braces," he started to explain, and Tobio looked at his phone in confusion. Braces? What did his teeth have to do with that? But Sugawara continued without missing a beat. "It takes months, but as long as you work on it, there will be results at the end of the day, you know what I mean?"

Still a little taken aback, Tobio made what he hoped would be an affirming noise. He had no idea what Sugawara meant.

"If you really worry that you'll scare us away at some point," Sugawara said, his voice low with sincerity, "let me assure you that we'll let you know if you're overstepping before it comes to that."

Tobio hummed, teeth digging into his bottom lip.

"You don't believe me, do you?" Sugawara inquired.

"No, I- I do..."

Sugawara chuckled. "We all know you well enough by now; we won't desert you just because your ego grows too big on you. We might not be prodigies like you, but each of us are secure enough in our skills to weather whatever you might come up with. And we will let you know before the situation can escalate. Does this make you feel better?"