reconciliation

chapter one and only

Life without your best friend is like trying to chew bubblegum with no teeth. For one, it's almost impossible, and what's even the point? You don't have teeth, so there's really no satisfaction to it. Seriously, just rolling gum between your gums.

Forget all that, we're getting off-topic here.

Besides, Noya shouldn't be thinking about this - there are about ten minutes until the game is over and they either go out with a loud, booming uproar of a bang, or they go out with a measly little pop. Karasuno's on the losing edge at the moment, 34 to 31, and as per usual, a whole third of the team has given up hope. For some reason that nobody can put their finger on, Nekoma keeps blocking with incredible power. Even Hinata and Kageyama can't pierce through their defense.

And, as per usual, Noya's the one who gave them the usual pep talk at halftime, the 'c'mon, guys, we can do this, we just need a little motivation and some teamwork'. After all, that is what volleyball is mainly about, aside from competing and winning - teamwork.

Noya's been finding that harder and harder to believe, personally. Yes, he loves his team with the passion of a million flames, and yes, he loves each and every member, but no, it's not the same without Asahi.

Back in his second year, when Asahi was a third year, Noya felt the oncoming sense of dread and partial anxiety nearing the end of the season. It got progressively worse just thinking about it, swirling around in his gut at four in the morning. The first day he ever really thought about it was the loss against Aobajousai (the fourth to last game). Karasuno wasn't specifically in their element that day; although everyone on the team was doing what they could, Asahi was really the only reason they were able to stay afloat and salvage some points.

That night, although Noya's not the one to look down upon their losses, although they hadn't lost that hard (it was 27-24), although he knew he still had three more games and a whole possible future with Asahi, Noya couldn't help imagining what his third year was going to be like without his ace.

Speaking of that.

Everyone from Karasuno is in position, waiting anxiously for the change of tide that might never come while the new guy walks up to the line.

Ichijiro Komoshita. Noya has no beef with the guy - in fact, he thinks he's great, he's got great confidence, good speed, precision, power, and pep in his step - but he's just not Asahi, and Noya really can't forgive that. That's exactly the thing, too, is that Noya has literally only known Komoshita for about four months, and he just can't warm up to him suitably enough ... because he misses the original ace of Karasuno.

Karasuno has been around for many, many years; it's a story Coach Ukai always tells them, about all the past setters and middle blockers and liberos and defense specialists and coaches and managers. So when Noya really, really thinks about it, when he shrugs his own feelings off, when he just ignores the weight of not having Asahi, just for a moment, he realizes that if there was even one instance where a second-year libero was best friends with a third-year ace, and what would happen that very next year, and how that libero would feel about their ace leaving —

Yes, exactly like Noya does. They miss the 'original ace of Karasuno' because that person was their ace, and their ace only.

So, Noya doesn't feel like he's being particularly dramatic about it. He can feel how bad everyone misses Asahi although he's usually just a phone call away ... when he's not doing homework or doing extra credit or doing volleyball or working at finding a job, so, never, is what Noya wants to say.

His salty thoughts are interrupted by a hand-on-volleyball collision followed by in-unison squeaking that could only be described as rubber shoes leaping off a smooth wooden gym floor. Evidently, Komoshita has begun, and the so-called 'Iron Wall' from Nekoma is holding its title.