Sunshine...?

4

It was only just now that you finally see what you got yourself into. You thought Hinata was fine, better than fine actually. You thought there wouldn't be a single problem with your sunshiny friend. But, boy, were you wrong.

"Your receives suck! I'm not sending you a toss until they're average. Right now, it looks like you just wasted the last three years of your life." Kageyama was laying into your friend, not holding back with his words. He was being brutally honest.

Other than for his speed and jump height, Hinata sucked at volleyball.

Even you were good at the sport. You played in gym class, so you were able to play like an average player. You never would've thought that your best friend would suck so bad at something as basic as receives. "Shoyo, why don't you and I try receiving again? Then, we can work on your serves and blocking."

I suck. Why do I even bother? I should just kill myself. My arms hurt, and I'm useless. I can't even do a simple receive. I can't even push myself to work through the pain. Who cares that my arms have been cut open? Who cares that I'm currently bleeding into bandages? I need to get better. Stop being so useless, Shoyo. Actually do something good for once. Stop relying on everyone to do all the hard work for you. The short boy hid his emotions, pretending to be angry at the setter. "Just send a toss my way! I'll do everything else! It's not fun to constantly receive!"

You sigh, shaking your head. You hold a volleyball close to your chest, looking worriedly at the most important person to you. "Shoyo, I know how you feel. I can send you a toss before we leave. For now, can you please just bump the ball back and forth with me. We need to make sure you can receive well. It'll be helpful for you in your match."

Tanaka nodded along to your words. "I'd listen to the girl, if I were you. In real practice, we work on our receives a lot. We have to be good enough with ball control. It matters a lot while playing. With Daichi as an opponent, we all need to make sure our receives are good. His are the best out of everyone currently on the team."

Kageyama was glaring at the ginger. "I won't send a toss to someone that's not useful. Get better with your receives, and then I'll be willing to toss to you. Until then, don't expect me to give you whatever you want. You're lucky that girl is so kind. I wouldn't even look in your direction with how shitty you play."

You frown at the tall boy. "Don't be so rude! You need to be nice, and give proper encouragement to your players in order to get the best out of them. I promise to send a toss to Shoyo if he can work on his receives just a little bit more."

Kageyama turns to you, almost glaring. "Then stop with the receiving back and forth. You should be serving at him with everything you've got. That's the only way to make sure that his receives get better. Don't try babying him just because he's your friend. If you want him to get better, then actually get serious about working with him. Stop taking it so easy, give him more so he works harder to finally show some results."

You huff out a breath, turning to your friend. "Get into a receiving position, Shoyo. I'm going to make Kageyama regret ever being rude to you. I'll spike the ball in your direction. Make sure to keep it in the air, and try sending it back to me to the best of your abilities."

Hinata nervously looked at your irritated face. He nodded, swallowing the saliva that built in his mouth. "Bring it!"

With as much strength as you could muster, you slam the ball at your friend. You watch with wide eyes as he falls onto his ass, the ball having gone to his left and hitting the wall. You quickly run to get it, catching it in your hands before it could get to the court. You let out a sigh, worriedly looking at your friend. "Are you ok, Shoyo?"

He groans, feeling an intense pain in his arms. He never expected you to be able to hit the ball that hard, he was completely unprepared for it. He stands back onto his feet, giving you a strained smile. "Yeah, just didn't know you could hit that hard." He scratches the back of his head. "Let's try that again. I'll get it this time." He gets back into a receiving position, a determined look settling onto his face.

You look at the other boys that were in the gym, who looked stunned. "Haha, yeah. Gym class at Shiratorizawa's middle school was harsh. They made all the students do a lot of strength training. Just to pass gym class, you needed to be able on an athlete's level. Are you sure you can handle me constantly hitting the ball at you like that? I can take it easy and work you up to be able to handle a stronger hit."

Hinata shook his head. "Give me everything you've got. Kageyama's right. I won't make any progress if I don't push myself harder. I can handle whatever you aim at me, now that I know what you're capable of doing."

Even though you were uncertain, you gave him an understanding nod. "Ok. Just, let me know if it starts hurting."

The boy had no intention of letting you know that he was currently in pain. Hinata wasn't going to let you know he was reaching the limits of his body. He was going to keep pushing himself. There wasn't a lot of time that he would have to work on all of this, so he needed to give it everything he's got while he still has the chance. He gives you a nod, letting you know that it was ok for you to send the ball over to him once again. This time, he couldn't fail. He needed to get this right quickly. If he wanted to get someone to toss to him, he needed to show that his receives are getting better.

You take in a deep breath, slowly letting it out. Then, you hit the ball with everything you had. You watched as the ball zoomed towards Hinata, making you get worried about whether or not he would be able to handle it. This time, however, he was able to keep it from going to the sides. It went straight up in the air, curving slightly. The ball hit the floor about a meter away from where Hinata received it. It wasn't exactly how you all wanted it to be, which was supposed to go back to you, but this was progress. You were just happy that it went up and forward instead of bouncing off him and heading to either his left or right.

You were able to get the ball as it was bouncing in your direction. "Good job, Shoyo! If you keep doing things like that, you'll seriously improve with your receives in no time! How about I send a quick toss your way as a reward?"

Hinata shook his head, shaking the pain out of his arms. "No. Give me another. I can do better than that."

His response surprised you, since you knew he really wanted to spike. Nonetheless, you did as he told you. You kept spiking the ball at him, having him work on his receives. This morning's practice went by without Hinata spiking a ball even just once.