The morning school bell felt like a sharp dividing line.
It separated the heavy, intense focus of the gym from the loud, normal routine of school life.
First period was Classical Japanese.
Hinata slumped over his desk, his eyelids as heavy as lead. The teacher's steady reading sounded like a blurry, far-off lullaby.
Every part of his body screamed with soreness. His arms, covered in dark red marks like they'd been burned with a hot iron, stung with fiery pain.
But even under all that exhaustion, his spirit felt more awake than ever.
When he closed his eyes, flashes of morning practice played over and over in his mind.
The whistling wind of Kageyama's arm swing, the fast spin of the ball, Kei's ghost-like footwork, and those words burned deep into his soul.
'As long as it's still in the air, I can handle the rest.'
"I... I can fight too," Hinata whispered.
A goofy grin spread across his face.
Sitting a few desks behind him, Kageyama was in a strange state, too.
He wasn't sleeping or spacing out.
He sat up straight, his eyes locked on the chalkboard, but his stare was blank. His brain was working faster than ever before.
'Use your side vision to find me...'
'A setter is the biggest liar on the court...'
'Use your brain as much as your talent...'
Kei's words were like stones dropped into a quiet lake, sending ripples through his mind.
Since he was a kid, everything he learned about volleyball was about being stronger, faster, and sharper.
In his world, power and skill were everything.
But Kei had shown him a whole new side to the game: tactics, mind games, and trickery.
Kageyama shifted his eyes.
He kept his main focus on the center of the chalkboard but used the corners of his eyes to watch the cherry blossom petals falling outside the window.
He tried to feel that split control, the strange sense of his brain tracking two different things at the exact same time.
It was hard.
So hard that it made his forehead sweat.
But he loved it!
He could feel the door to a brand new world slowly opening.
...
Lunch break as the cafeteria buzzed with noise.
Sugawara carried his tray over to Daichi and Tanaka. He had a troubled look on his face.
"Daichi, Tanaka!" he whispered.
He still looked shocked from what he'd seen that morning. "You won't believe what I saw today!"
"Oh? Did those two idiots fight again?" Tanaka asked with a mouth full of fried chicken.
"No, the exact opposite!" Sugawara's voice was full of shock. "They didn't fight. They didn't even argue. The gym was quiet. Hinata... Hinata was getting hammered by Kageyama's serves. He was covered in bruises but still gritting his teeth and holding on. And Kageyama wasn't just letting out his anger. It was like... he was following orders."
"Orders?" Daichi caught the keyword right away and put down his chopsticks.
"Yes, orders!" Sugawara nodded hard. "The one giving the orders was Kitagawa Kei!"
Tanaka nearly spit out his rice. "Huh? That skinny kid who looks like a strong breeze could knock him over? He ordered Kageyama around? And with Kageyama's bad attitude, he actually listened?"
"It's true!" Sugawara thought back to the scene. "Kitagawa stood on the sidelines, giving them calm directions. He taught Hinata how to read the ball, and he taught Kageyama how to serve. It felt like he wasn't a first-year our age at all. He acted like... a veteran coach."
Daichi fell quiet.
He remembered how Kei had stepped in yesterday to break up the fight.
At the time, he just thought the new kid was very calm.
Now, it looked like there was a lot more to him than anyone guessed.
"What shocked me the most," Sugawara went on, "was that no matter how wild Hinata's receives were, Kitagawa got to them as easily as taking a walk in the park. Then he bumped the ball up with perfect form. That kind of defense... I've never seen anything like it."
Tanaka sucked in a sharp breath.
The teasing look on his face changed to pure hype. "So, the three-on-three match this afternoon is going to be pretty fun?"
Daichi didn't speak.
He tapped the table with his fingers.
Kitagawa Kei.
That name quickly changed in his mind from a quiet new kid to a massive threat.
This threat might just be the exact spark they needed to wake Karasuno up!
...
Out in the hall, Hinata and Kageyama dragged their tired bodies to a vending machine to buy milk.
"Hey, Your Majesty," a lazy, mocking voice called out from behind them. "Seeing you and that shrimp looking like you're about to pass out, your secret morning practice must have been real tough, huh?"
Tsukishima and Yamaguchi had walked up behind them.
Hinata went stiff.
He felt a flash of anger, but he was too tired. He didn't even have the energy to yell back.
Kageyama didn't even bother turning around. He grabbed his milk, twisted off the cap, and took a drink.
For the first time, he felt like he had no time for Tsukishima's teasing.
His brain was still working out the math of setting a ball using only his side vision.
"Oh?" Tsukishima's eyes narrowed behind his glasses.
The angry blowup he expected didn't happen.
That surprised him.
He took a step forward and looked down at Hinata's bare arms, spotting the dark red bruises clearly.
"Wow, you guys play pretty rough," he chuckled, his tone dripping with snark. "How does it feel to be trained by His Majesty? Pretty fun, isn't it?"
"You jerk..." Hinata gritted his teeth, ready to charge at him, but a hand pressed down hard on his shoulder.
It was Kei.
He had walked over with a bottle of water in his hand. He didn't look at Tsukishima. He just spoke to Hinata in a calm voice. "Save your energy for this afternoon."
With that, he walked right past Tsukishima like the tall boy was just thin air.
There was no fight and no anger as he just completely ignored him.
And that cold brush-off hurt a lot more than yelling back ever could.
The smirk froze on Tsukishima's face.
He watched Kei walk away, then looked at Hinata, who had calmed down from just one sentence.
Then he looked at Kageyama, who was still lost in his own world.
For the first time, a strange spark of annoyance flared up in his chest.
Something had changed, and he didn't know what it was.
...
Afternoon.
The gym.
Sunlight poured through the high windows, leaving bright squares of light on the floor.
The air smelled like dust and sweat.
Everyone was there.
Daichi clapped his hands loud to get their attention. "Alright! Now we start the Karasuno Volleyball Club's classic event—the first-year three-on-three match!"
He glanced at a very hyped-up Tanaka, then swept his eyes over the first-years.
"Since you guys have some bad blood to work out," his eyes stopped on Kageyama and Tsukishima, "we'll set the teams up exactly how you asked."
"Kageyama Tobio, Hinata Shoyo..." Daichi paused, his eyes landing on the boy stretching quietly in the corner.
"Kitagawa Kei. You three are one team."
This setup didn't shock Tanaka or Sugawara at all.
They knew exactly what their captain was doing. He wanted to tie the three problem kids together and see what kind of sparks flew.
Tsukishima let out a quiet scoff.
'The King, the shrimp, and a the rookie? That team was a complete joke.'
"And for the other team," Daichi called out, "Tsukishima Kei, Yamaguchi Tadashi, and Tanaka Ryunosuke!"
"Alright!" Tanaka slammed his chest with a huge grin.
He made a slicing motion across his throat at Hinata and Kageyama. "First-years, get ready to get crushed by your senpai!"
The fighting spirit caught fire in Hinata and Kageyama's eyes at the exact same time.
"Sugawara and I will be the refs," Daichi said to wrap things up.
The players split up to warm up on their sides of the net.
Hinata hopped in place. The hype of the match made the sore ache in his body fade away a bit.
He looked over at Kageyama, who looked back.
Their eyes met.
The usual glare was gone, replaced by a silent trust they couldn't even explain.
Kageyama's eyes shifted to Kei.
Kei had just finished stretching and was watching him with a cool face. Then, hiding his hand from the other team, he held up one finger.
'Freak Quick Attack to Hinata.'
That was the hand sign they'd practiced this morning.
Kageyama's heart gave a sudden jolt.
He got it right away.
Kei wanted to use their best weapon on the very first point to scare the other team!
He took a deep breath and gave a firm nod.
Tweeeet!
Daichi blew the whistle to start the match.
"Match start! Tsukishima's team to serve!"
Yamaguchi stepped nervously to the serving line. He hit a normal, easy overhand serve as the ball floated high over the net.
"I've got it!" Hinata yelled, running forward.
Using the messy stance he'd drilled a hundred times that morning, he barely managed to bump the ball up.
The ball flew wild, heading straight toward the net.
"Chance ball!" Tanaka yelled, already moving up to block it.
Tsukishima moved to the net, too.
A snarky smirk rested on his lips as he watched all of Kageyama's possible setting paths.
But just as everyone locked their eyes on Kageyama, an orange blur shot out from the back row like an arrow!
After making the pass, Hinata used every ounce of his speed to sprint to his favorite spot on the court.
Kageyama's mind was clear.
Kei's morning lessons still echoed in his ears. He didn't stare at the ball, and he didn't even stare at Hinata. He just flicked his wrists and sent a blazing fast set toward an empty spot in the air.
A split second later, Hinata appeared in that exact spot like magic.
He jumped and swung his arm hard and his eyes, his eyes were squeezed completely shut!
BOOM!
The ball flew so fast it was hard to track.
It blasted right through the gap in Tsukishima and Tanaka's messy block and slammed down onto the floor!
The entire gym fell silent.
Everyone, including Daichi and Sugawara by the net, stared at the court with their jaws hanging open.