ONLY ME || Haikyuu x Male

CHAPTER TWENTY

Ren hated meat.

It was something that he'd established a while ago. Being a vegetarian didn't particularly disrupt too much of his life. He cooked most of his own meals anyway, but it was a little awkward at group gatherings.

Such as the training camp barbecue.

Ren hung back in the crowd as all the other teams raced forward to get their hands on the meat that the coaches had provided. He bit into his rice ball, a tad terrified at the intensity with which the players fought over the food. Tobio was sticking close by him, and though he was scarfing down his food like a madman, he still seemed much calmer as compared to some of the other maniacs around them, which brought Ren a small amount of relief.

From the crowd, Ren spotted a head of black and white hair making its way over, and before long, Bokuto had stopped to stand in front of him, arms crossed and a bright grin on his face. "Tensai-kun! I'm glad I caught you before we all said goodbye!"

Ren smiled, tilting his head. "Oh? Why's that?"

"Just wanted to congratulate my fledgling on coming so far! When I first met ya, you were so delicate, and now look at you! You've played so well these past few days, I couldn't let you leave without telling you."

Bokuto stepped forward, pulling him into a spine-crushing hug. He managed to move his arm out of the way in time so that his rice ball wasn't destroyed, but that didn't mean that the embrace was any less uncomfortable.

"Thank you, Bokuto. You've done a lot for me, and I'm really grateful." Ren patted the third-year on the back, which only prompted for a tighter hug. He really meant it though. Bokuto had become something of a mentor to him, and the advice that he'd gotten really had been beneficial. It would help him through the rest of his volleyball career, and that was something that he couldn't not be thankful for.

Bokuto eventually pulled away, wiping a stray tear from his eye. Ren sighed at the sentimentality of the older player, but didn't comment on it. "I look forward to playing against you one day soon, Tensai-kun! Then maybe you'll show me just how good I've really made you."

Ren rolled his eyes, though he laughed. "Of course, Bokuto. I'll see you on the court."

~~~

It seemed as though the days passed too fast, and before Ren knew it, the Japanese National High School Volleyball Tournament Miyagi Qualifiers First Preliminaries had arrived.

What a ridiculously long name.

They'd arrived at the qualifiers gymnasium a short while ago and were now seated in a corner of the stands, waiting around for their first match to start. Unlike the interhigh prelims, Ren didn't hear any nasty gossip about his team this time. Instead, all the whispering he caught were of praises directed towards them, from Tobio's beautiful setting to his own intensity on court.

But of course, gossip never mirrored reality. Even though they seemed to be feared by everyone around them, some of them were still acting as though they were a low ranking team, from Tobio yelling at Hinata for eating pork bowls for breakfast to Asahi insisting he was about to throw up from anxiety.

Ren was just sitting beside Sugawara, calmly tying his shoes and watching chaos unfold before him. Despite his surroundings, this was possibly the calmest he'd ever felt before a game. His breathing was even and his heart was beating at a normal pace. He was fully confident that after all of that training that he did at the Tokyo camp, he'd be an individual powerhouse on court for the following games. He swore it to himself that he would be.

"Hasegawa, are you nervous? Everyone else seems a little on edge, but I can't tell what you're feeling at all." Sugawara spoke up, his voice light but still with an air of questioning.