Haikyuu - I Am A Different Hinata!

Seven boys can be seen in a circle apparently discussing something, with the orange-haired boy leading the conversation:

"Guys, whether we like it or not, our team's average height is very low, so most of the time our blocking will be easily overcome, except when I'm at the net along with Daisuke."

"What are you trying to say, that we're all dwarfs???" Sekimukai asked.

"That too..." he said in a low voice.

"You bastard!" Sekimukai said irritably.

"What I'm trying to say is that's why I'm putting so much emphasis on receives. Because if blocking won't be our team's strength, we need receives as a way to keep the ball in play... Of course, we'll still be at a disadvantage having weak blocks, but we can't let that get us down. We'll play with the cards we have. Let's train!!" the boy shouted.

"YES!" everyone shouted in response.

So everyone began their respective training, but before Daniel started his own, he supervised the others to give more tips.

He observed a set that wasn't totally perfect from Izumi to Sekimukai in position four of the court, who surprisingly managed a good diagonal attack that went towards Suzuki, who managed to receive it.

"Looks like making Suzuki the libero was the right decision. He's been quite consistent so far. He might have hidden talent or something," he thought.

"Tsk, it's still not good," Izumi said quietly while thinking about his set.

"You're evolving! Just keep up with our training!"

"Right..." Izumi said, a bit more motivated.

"I think it's time to focus on my own training... As I planned, I'm going to focus my training on serves since it's something I can do alone without depending on others. Besides just getting aces and securing points, I can force the opponent to make difficult receives and awkward attacks," he thought.

"Since I started training my serve, I believe I understand where I'm going wrong, which is in the approach that was incorrect, making me unbalanced in the air. So I started always putting my dominant leg in front and then taking the first step with my left leg, then right, and finishing the jump with the left leg, making my serve much more consistent. Now it's just a matter of repetition." The boy was immersed in his thoughts when the gym door opened and revealed the figure of the supervisor they had talked to days ago.

"Well guys, I didn't need to do this because it's not my job, but since you don't have either a coach or a manager, I thought it necessary to give this news. As you asked me to register your team for the Junior High Athletics Meet, your first opponent and the bracket just came out,

and it will happen in three months," said the supervisor while sticking the paper with some tape on the gym wall.

Everyone gathered to see who their opponents would be, and a tense atmosphere settled in:

"So, we're facing Kaminawa Junior High. Does anyone know anything about them?" Sekimukai asked.

"I have no idea," Izumi said.

"Actually, I do," Daisuke said with his usual indifferent tone.

"From what I know, they're a balanced team but without any well-known names," Daisuke said.

"What do you think, Hinata?" Izumi asked.

"At this point, anything will be a surprise for us, so all we can do is prepare as much as possible in these three months we have," he thought while feeling relieved about not having to face Kitagawa Daiichi right away. Observing the bracket, he could see that they would only face them if they passed through the two First Preliminary matches and the first round of the Main Preliminary, so they would meet in the quarter-finals.

"Thank you very much for letting us know, supervisor."

"You're welcome," the man said while turning to leave.

All the players gathered again in a circle to discuss the new topic that came up:

"No panic, right... we still have two months," Sekimukai said.

"I agree, we just need to follow our training regime as we're doing, right Hinata?" Izumi said.

"Actually, no..." the orange-haired boy said looking at the ground.

"What do you mean?" Izumi asked.

"I didn't know the tournament was so soon, so just practice won't be enough. We need real game experience. If we stay only with practice and theory, the experience factor will be crucial to our defeat!" the boy said.

"But what can we do? I doubt the school would provide funds for us to go to other schools for a friendly match, and I also doubt others would bother to travel to play a friendly match with a weak team like ours. Unfortunately, that's our situation," Sekimukai said.

"I had thought about that, and my idea was to ask for a practice game with the girls' team," the boy said.

"WHAT? What kind of advantage would we get training with them..." Sekimukai said confidently.

"In our current situation, any experience would be of great help, and they have much more of that than you do, besides the fact that if we look at the height difference, it wouldn't even be that big, excluding Hinata and Daisuke," Izumi said.

"Alright then," Sekimukai said, a bit embarrassed with the truth being thrown in his face.

"Then it's decided, tomorrow we'll go to the captain's classroom and ask her for this practice game."

The break bell rang, and three boys can be seen talking to a girl with light brown short hair falling on her shoulders.

"Hi, are you Yumi Sasaki, the captain of the girls' volleyball team?"

"I am," the girl said, looking at the group.

"My name is Hinata Shoyo, captain of the boys' team. We would like to have a practice game against the girls' team to gain some experience in real games."

"Oh, so you're the new boys' team. I wasn't expecting such a tall guy..." the girl said, blushing.

"So, what do you say, can we play tomorrow?"

"Sure!" the girl said smiling.

"It's set!"

The three returned to their classrooms and waited for the break to end.

"Without disrespecting the girls' team, but I don't think I'll be able to go all out, especially with my new serve weapon, but it will certainly be very good for the other members," he thought, happy with the team's progress.