Chapter Text
FIRST YEAR
“My name is Suna Rintarou and I play as middle blocker.”
That was the first full sentence that Suna had said since he had arrived at Inarizaki’s gym. However, that wasn’t what made his soon-to-be teammates perk up. Suna could deduce that at least some of the upperclassmen had already seen him play and were recognising him by name.
However, regarding his fellow first-year colleagues, Suna had no idea why one of the twins beside him whipped his head around the line to stare.
“Ya speak weird.”
No, you all speak weird. But Suna chose to ignore him.
“Which school didja come from?”
I was getting there. Suna turned to face him. Instead of the glare being correctly received, his brother smacked him with the back of his hand for him to get back in line.
“Ouch! What did I do?”
The dark-skinned second-year - names weren’t Suna’s forte - sighed deeply and murmured to himself, “This is gonna be a great year.”
“You wouldn’t know my school,” Suna spat, calmly. “I came from Aichi.”
“Ohhh, you’re the scouted kid,” one of their senpais started. “I thought ya were familiar.”
“Scouted?” the twin asked, and Suna could see the sliest grin grow on his face.
Suna didn’t have the patience to answer him.
“Do we’ve to explain to ya what that means, Atsumu?”
“Nah. I know it.” The twin - Atsumu, apparently - finally got back in line, his posture straight, and that smile still on his face. “I just wanna see if he’s gonna be that good.”
His eyes slanted to Suna; Suna turned to stare at the wall ahead.
This is gonna be a great year, indeed.
How is inarizaki, sunarin?
That was the text that revived his middle school volleyball group chat. Suna stared at it for a while.
He didn’t know what to say. It was hard to describe a whole new school, especially since he didn’t know what he thought of it all on the first day. Of course he hated the fact that he was constantly lost and feeling like a foreigner on his own country, but at the same time, it was a promising fresh start.
His teammates didn’t care about that, though.
its okay
He was pondering what to describe of the facilities or the people, but a torrent of questions ensued.
Is their gym that much better than ours?
Have u met the team yet??
Not everything has to be about volleyball, guys. You’re in a dorm, right?
oh how is the dorm?
Made any friends yet?
LOL its sunarin we are talking about
It was true. Suna wasn’t exactly friendly, and he was already at a disadvantage, having come from outside. For example, the twins from his volleyball team already knew a good part of their senpais.
But Suna could interact with teammates just fine. This group chat was the proof. Still, he wasn’t sure of how much effort to put in it. Because his fellow first-years were... a lot.
He texted back a response.
I really hope Inarizaki team is as good as they say, bc their attitudes are insufferable
That incited some laughing reactions. Except for one.
Ooooooh you miss us so bad
Which was a joke, but maybe, deep down, he did, just a tiny little bit.
Suna had really thought he would be late, but by some miracle he managed to find the classroom in time. He stopped by the door to fix his clothes and took a glance around.
His classmates were scattered around the room, chatting in groups. Most had come together from the same middle schools probably. There were a few more scouted kids, who he had seen on reception day and around the dorms, but none of them played volleyball and he wasn’t going to fraternize with the enemy.
He forced his gaze away, trying to find a less crowded place where he could settle in peace.
His eyes caught someone familiar. Alone. Near the window, looking out to the street, chin on his hand, completely unbothered.
Not just alone. He was too lonely-looking, really. Unnaturally so. As if missing half of...
Ah.
Suna walked up to the guy. He didn’t seem to take any notice.
“Which one of them are you?” Suna asked.
At last, he tore his attention from the window.
“Are you the spiker or the setter?”
Suna could see recognition dawning on the boy’s grey eyes.
“The spiker,” he replied after a pause.
“Thank goodness.”
So Suna plopped down on the seat beside Osamu without asking, stretched his legs and took his phone out, making time until the teacher arrived.
That was how it all started.