a chance, an opportunity | haikyuu

Chapter 1 - it gives you wings...

It was nearing 3am when a tired but cheerful boy stepped off of his flight and looked around happily.

Despite the dark and early hours of the morning, the airport and its surroundings were alive with people. There were a few convenience stores and shops opened, as well as the cars coming and going down the road.

As he exited the airport, Shun Hinata felt the cool spring breeze flowing around him. It spread a familiar nostalgic feeling through his veins.

Shun hadn't felt this since the last time he'd been in Japan.

7 years ago...

A small boy around the age of 6-7 years old ran around, smiling happily as he turned to meet the teary gaze of his brother.

"Shun! No need to worry! I'll take care of mom! You have to do good in your studies so that we can both help mom and dad later on!" the small ginger-haired boy exclaimed, his face breaking into a childish grin as he held his hand out to raise a pinky in front of his brother. "Promise me you'll be back in 7 years. You'll be the best in 7 years!" Shoyo spoke confidently, as if there wouldn't be anything stopping his younger brother (by a few months!!) from becoming the greatest at whatever he was going to do.

"Shoyo... I promise!" Shun cried out, wiping his tears to seal the pinky promise with his brother.

Their mother looked on with a sad smile on her face as their father pulled them all into one last hug.

Present day...

Today, he was back. Shun would make good on his promise to his brother.

Stretching slightly as he exited the airport he mumbled to himself, "It's good to be back in Japan."

As eager as he was to barge into his childhood home and surprise his mother and siblings, he hadn't forgotten that it was still too early. He didn't want to wake them at this ungodly hour. He couldn't rent a bicycle or scooter to get there either— and he sure as hell wasn't going to spend good snack money on a taxi. Besides, he needed rest from his 12-hour flight.

Despite getting in a few naps on the airplane, Shun was much too excited to be well rested.

Luckily for him, his father had helped him reserve a room in a nearby hotel to stay in beforehand while he made other preparations.

After a few minutes of walking, he reached the hotel and was greeted by a smiling receptionist. Shun walked to the elevator with his carry-on bags after receiving the room card.

Another uniformed personnel assisted him with the rest of his luggage until he reached the room. Thanking the man for his assistance, Shun shut the door and decided to take a warm bath.

After his nightly routine, he plopped onto the soft white sheets of the hotel bed.

Shun had always liked staying in hotels, they were always tidy and comfortable. He especially loved the beds, they were cold when you first laid in them but gradually got warmer the longer you stayed. The pillows were always fluffed and helped him relax more.

With a content sigh, Shun hugged a pillow closer to his chest and finally fell asleep.

When he awoke, sunlight filtered in through the glass windows on the right of his bed. Groaning, he felt around the bedside table to find his phone. When his hands met the familiar smooth, cold surface Shun immediately checked the time.

8:12 am

Shun had gotten approximately 5 hours of sleep. It wasn't ideal but he would deal with it as soon as he got his hands on some coffee or an energy drink... (who was he kidding? he hated energy drinks with a fiery passion— and the strongest coffee he's ever gone for was a bitter latte...)

It might be weird but Shun would always be tired after waking up from long periods of sleep, and be refreshed after a shorter period of sleep. It never made sense to him but his half-asleep mind didn't care for anything other than a double chocolate frappe at this point.. (AND NO!! Shun isn't weak for preferring sweet drinks over bitter ones...)

Yawning, he managed the energy to get up from bed and shuffled around arranging his things. His plan was to settle things a bit and then surprise his siblings and mother later that day or the next. Afterwards, he would stay at the hotel until he found a place near the school or his old home to rent.

He loved his family, but Shun wasn't the tidiest person and he didn't want to work his mom harder with an extra kid in the house.

Moving on from that, a grin slowly spread on his face as he thought of his family.

'I'd love to see the look on Shoyo' s face when he realizes I'm going to be here for good this time.' He thought to himself as he moved around unpacking more of his bags. He huffed as he stared at the opened luggage scattered around the hotel room. 'Why did I have to pack so many things with me..' Shun cried internally, sweating as he took in the sight of all his belongings.

When he finished properly setting things up it was 9am.

'That went faster than I thought it would.' He thought to himself, suddenly glad he refused to bring all of his belongings with him on the flight. He could almost imagine a bright flashing sign with the words: "Doesn't know how to pack or clean up after himself..." pointing right above his head. Shun shakes the strange thought away— shivering as he recalls his dad giving up on him when he saw the boy trying to pack all of his volleyballs with him...

("—t do you want for dinner?" A pause before he heard the door open and then-

"... Shun... are you trying to pack six volleyballs into the same luggage bag right now?" He can feel disappointment rolling off of his dad in waves without even turning to look.

"O-OF COURSE NOT!" He hurriedly shoves the bag underneath his bed even as balls roll out.

"... I gave you an allowance for volleyball supplies for when ya get back to Japan precisely because you can't bring ALL of your stuff with ya, kid." He can still hear his dad's obnoxious snorting as his old man went to start dinner...)

He shakes his head. Hmph! He'd buy a new volleyball right after he saw Shoyo, Natsu, and Mom again.

The orange-haired boy stepped towards the closet to change into new clothes. Shun went with a plain cream-colored sweater over a white-collared shirt paired with black pants. He never liked going over-the-top with his clothing but appreciated a good style for his day-to-day wear.

He stepped out of the hotel for the first time and took in his surroundings. There were even more people out now that it was day time.

Since school had yet to start, there were people of all ages on family outings, hanging out with friends, or on their way to work. Boy, he was NOT used to the rush hours anymore.

(Hey, at least it wasn't Tokyo... he remembers one of his last visits to Tokyo to see his grandparents... his dad was almost lost in the crowd with how hopeless he was at crowd navigation during rush hour, and his mom made fun of him for it the whole stay in Tokyo. Ehem! Moving on—)

Shun couldn't help but smile at the sight.

Humming, he walked towards the nearest convenience store to grab a snack and some coffee (sadly, not the frappe he'd been craving since earlier). Finally having some caffeine in his system, Shun felt more awake and relaxed as he slipped into a more aware state of mind.

Shun was sat on a bench outside the store he bought coffee from as he thought about the days to come.