Unpolished Gems

Chapter 17

It was yet another day filled with practice as everyone waited for Hinata to finish up his receives before they went running. Although in [Name]'s opinion, he'd rather have the ginger keep going to stall them more time for rest.

"Keep moving your legs! You're not a windmill!"

"Yessir! One more!"

Keishin once again threw up the ball before spiking it on the first year's right. Being more aware now, Hinata was quick to react as he dived to the side and received it.

"Nice Hinata!"

"He's made five!" Kiyoko announced out loud before she started to pick up the stray balls from around the court.

"Okay, that's one time around for everyone. Next up is running!" [Name] sighed tiredly at the announcement before trudging along with his teammates out the door.

Lining up in a neat manner, everyone started to run at a decent pace. However, this seemed not to be enough for Hinata seeing as he began to accelerate in speed with a shout. Not one to lose, Kageyama was quick to follow and catch up with the ginger.

"Hinata, don't waste your breath shouting! You'll need that energy for later!" Daichi warned the first year while [Name] who was lagging a bit behind, could only stare in wonder at how much stamina the ginger had.

"Hey, where are you going?!" The seniors stared in worry at the fast pace Hinata was running. Despite their shouts of worry and concern, he still didn't stop and seemed to be in a world of his own.

Closing his eyes, Hinata continued to run with a few shouts falling from his mouth. After what seemed like forever, he finally stopped in shock once he noticed he was all alone.

"Nobody's following..." He said to himself as he looked behind him to check for any sight of his teammates. "Did I go the wrong way?"

"Meow~"

Hearing the small mewl, Hinata quickly turned around only to see a hunched figure sitting down near the fence not too far from him. 

A bright red jersey... that jersey isn't from these parts...

"Whatcha doing?" Hinata asked out loud without any sense that this stranger might be dangerous. Like the dumb but bright child he was, he started to walk closer to the stranger that seemed to startle at his sudden call.

"Um..." The teen with dual-colored hair seemed unsure of what to say as he avoided eye contact. "I'm lost.." He ended up admitting not a few seconds later with a meek voice.

"What? Are you from another town?" Due to his sudden appearance, the cat sitting near the quiet boy's leg started to scurry away from the ginger.

Shuffling closer to the side, the teen clad in red huddled closer to himself as he gave a small reserved nod. "Yeah.."

Hinata was a bit off-putted by the other's quiet nature before he noticed a familiar-looking game on his phone. A bright idea suddenly popped into his head as he crouched down near where the teen was playing on his phone.

"I know that game!" Hinata cheered loudly as he watched the familiar mechanics of the game he saw [Name] was usually playing.

"Eh? You do?" Interest was evident in the other's voice but he continued to remain calm and reserved as he seemed to shy away from the ginger's lack of personal space.

"Mhm! I have a friend that plays that game! He's really good at it too!" Stars were evident in Hinata's eyes as he remembered the first time [Name] actually let him play the game with him. It was quite frustrating since the other was clearly better at it than him but it was fun nonetheless.