Chapter Text
Tobio woke up early every day.
It was a self imposed habit of his since he played volleyball more seriously in school. Waking up early wasn't a problem, so was sleeping in time. It's part of Kazuyo-san's teachings to him before he passed away--personal maintenance, he explained, and Tobio had followed this to the letter fifteen years later or so, not missing a single day.
Waking up early wasn't a problem, especially when that tangerine bastard was always goading him into getting to the gym first. Hinata had never failed to wake up early either, and Tobio guessed he still continued to do so wherever he was in Brazil right now. Tobio had a routine every morning, and while it was never a problem, he was more motivated to wake up due to his contests with Hinata, therefore it wasn't exactly a surprise to constantly think about him in some way every morning.
For three years straight, it was ingrained in Tobio to wake up, jump out of bed with the constant stream of consciousness of get to the gym before Hinata, before actually doing anything else. There was a routine: get up, go in a morning run, shower, eat breakfast, then sprint to the school as fast as he can.
Anyway, years later his routine didn't change that much except he had to cook his own meals now. It was a little difficult to adjust in his first year in Italy, but he still went to morning runs--albeit admittedly getting lost a lot the first few (actually it was more than just a few) months. He also added the occasional yoga in his routine after Hinata mentioned in a conversation in last year's games on taking up the exercise for flexibility and balance.
Tobio, being Tobio, decided that he wasn't going to lose in that either. Though he might have to concede that Hinata was just a tiny bit more flexible than he was. And really it's that ridiculous balance of his that helped him do all those equally ridiculous poses.
Regardless, Tobio's life was a routine and he liked it. It's a lot like practice drills, repetitive actions and movements until it's engraved in your muscles, the prefect toss, the perfect spike, the perfect receive. He didn't really appreciate curve balls--both in volleyball and real life.
So when he woke up feeling wrong all over one day with the blare of a familiar alarm, he was a little pissed after the general confusion. The room he was in wasn't unfamiliar, in fact it was too familiar. No, it wasn't a strange place, just wrong. As far as he was concerned, his ceiling wasn’t painted white. He wasn’t one to obsess with details unless it involved volleyball, but he’s been waking up to the same ceiling for more than a year now and it certainly wasn’t white.
Of course, the ceiling and the walls weren’t the first thing Tobio noticed. His awareness to his surroundings came later after all. No, the first thing he noticed was the distinct lightness of his body, something lacking. It was like waking up in the wrong side of the bed, or getting stiff neck except this time, it was for the whole body. He hasn’t felt so off balanced with his body since puberty with all the growth spurts still happening overnight. That surely took a toll on his balance.
Tobio was sure he was in the wrong room feeling like he was in the wrong body. He reached for his alarm clock on his bedside table—except it wasn’t there despite groping for it. There was a distinct lack of a bedside table—or any furniture actually. His walls were white, his curtains blue and it was definitely dimmer than the Italian mornings he was used to. Tobio shot up from his bed with a start.
White walls. Blue curtains. Distinct lack of furniture. The room wasn’t unfamiliar—in fact it was too familiar, but it was wrong. All wrong.
Tobio threw his duvet off of him. The still ringing clock was on his bedframe.
Yes, without doubt he was in his old childhood bedroom, which would be comforting if it wasn’t for the fact that he was supposed to be in Italy at the moment, enjoying his off season. He wasn’t scheduled to come back to Japan till next year, and even if he did somehow arrive in Japan earlier than he was supposed to, he was supposed to be in an apartment in Tokyo and not in his childhood home which was sold seven years ago.
What was happening?!
He walked to the bathroom. Breathing in and out.
No need to panic. There was a reasonable explanation for all this. He marched off to the sink. Right, he should wash his face and then go for a run. Yes, a run would clear his mind. Tobio splashed cold water to his face. Let’s be reasonable Tobio.
He reached for a towel and scrubbed his face dry.
Yes, deep breaths. Relax.
Tobio lowered down the towel, looked up and—
“HA?!”
There’s an explanation for this. There’s a reasonable explanation for this for sure.
How else would he end up staring at his younger self in the mirror?!
Tobio touched his face, prodding at his cheeks. God, look at all that baby fat left in him.
No, focus. This was a dream. This was a dream, and he was back in his bed in Italy, sleeping like a child. This crazy dream was due to over fatigue from practicing yesterday. Yesterday was a little bit eventful and he was so tired he was getting weird dreams. Yeah, that was it. He was going back to sleep and when he woke up, he was going to be back in no time.
Nodding to himself. Tobio slipped right back under his duvet and closed his eyes. All a dream. Nothing to worry about.
“—Tobio! Don’t you have to go to school? This is the first time you missed your alarm!”
Tobio blearily cracked an unsure eye open.
“Miwa-ne?” Tobio squinted at the face looking down at him. Behold, it was the face of his sister, frowning at him—a particularly younger version of his sister. Tobio looked around. The walls were still white and the curtains blue.
Shit.
“Are you sick? You haven’t caught a fever in forever!” Miwa exclaimed. “Hey you’re going to be late for school. Don’t you have morning practice to go to? Should you skip out today after all?”
School. Right. That meant he wasn’t dreaming. Tobio pinched himself to make sure.
Fuck.
Definitely not dreaming.
“I’m fine.” He was not. He was far from fine. He was a twenty five year old man trapped in a teenager's body. He was not fine at all. “What—what date is it?”
“Huh?” Miwa cocked an eyebrow. “It’s January 17.”
“No—the—the year. I need the year.” Tobio knew he sounded insane to his sister, but he needed to be sure.
“It’s 2013, dumbass.” Miwa snickered. “Anyway, if you’re planning to go, you should leave soon. You can still catch up if you hurry.” She said as she left Tobio’s room.
- January.
Tobio tried to remember. January meant the spring interhigh was over. 2013 meant…
Shit. This was ages ago and Tobio sucked with math. How old was he when it was 2013? It must be…
“First year!” Tobio exclaimed. God he was first year, just right after nationals. They’re preparing for the summer interhigh without the third years. Adjustment periods. Thank god they weren’t in the middle of a match, or going to be in one anytime soon. Tobio wasn’t confident that he’ll be able to play properly in this body. Jeez, even the way he walked was weird, the loss of his height sure affected his perception and balance.
Somehow Tobio managed to get out of his house and stumbled his way to Karasuno again—as jarring as that experience was, and thankfully muscle memory helped him to not lose his way. It was a little past seven and everyone was probably already practicing so he made his way to the clubroom, changed into his track suit and went to the gym.
“Um—good morning.”
Tobio murmured with a daze.
The people looked at him by the entryway, who probably looked like an idiot just standing there awkwardly. Can you blame him though? It’s been years since he stepped into this gym, seeing everyone like that.
Did they really look that young?
There's something stirring in Tobio's chest. Here he was again, in Karasuno's gym like he was a decade younger and not some middle aged man. If it weren't for Karasuno, he would have never reached where he was now, and he meant that truthfully. He was thankful to have gone here. It was a good choice. And for a moment, he could delude himself into thinking this was just another day of practice. That he was sixteen years old after all and not Ali Roma's starting setter in a different timeline, in a wrong moment in time.
“Ha! I win this time!”
Tobio glanced at the source of that high pitched voice, the stirring in his chest quieted down and thrummed even louder. It's like being trapped in a memory, reliving it in real time. Tobio hadn't seen him in nearly year, but that particular face? Tobio hasn't seen it in forever.
Hinata.
It was Hinata, the sixteen year old version of himself.
Hinata was laughing at his tardiness, being the jackass that he was. Tobio clicked his tongue. He didn’t need to look so smug. It wasn’t Tobio’s fault he woke up eleven years to the past, and was his voice this high pitched? God he looked so short, so tiny.
The thought made Tobio smirk. What a shrimp.
“O-oi. What’s up with that smile?” Hinata took a step back. Tobio sure was getting mixed feelings seeing this version of Hinata. Something like nostalgia and this sense of superiority crashed into him.
“Oi Kageyama! We thought you weren’t coming!” Nishinoya-senpai yelled, grinning wide.
“What’s the matter? Did the king forget to set his alarm?” Tsukishima snorted, hair still cropped short yet the same infuriating expression was in his face. This same guy was going to be a museum curator and a division two player. Fucking hell.
“Kageyama-kun. Go stretch for now. We’re going to do spiking drills later and we need you more now that the third years are gone.” That was Ennoshita-senpai. Right, he’s the captain now. Though Tobio was sure the third years would’ve still drop by occasionally to play.
“Right!” Tobio did his stretches, still trying to take it all in. This really was happening.
God, this body was so stiff. He probably should have done yoga earlier in his life, maybe this way he could cut the masseurs visit once a month instead. He probably should do something about his balance as well, and maybe the dexterity of his left arm. Hinata’s smug face when he does that left-handed spike was irritating, Tobio sure wanted wipe it out.
Wait, what was he thinking? Wouldn’t tampering with his skills now change the timeline?
Well Tobio was still going pro anyway, it’s not like anything that would happen now was going to change his future. He’d still find a way to go pro. Volleyball was volleyball, and so long as he got to play, he was fine. Unless he gets an injury. Better avoid that.
Though wasn't it a bit like cheating?
Well, what else was he supposed to do? Volleyball was all he knew. He'll figure it out when he needed to cross that bridge.
Would it change other people’s futures? He wasn’t so sure either. Maybe he shouldn’t do anything extreme for now. Besides, he wasn’t even sure how and why he got here.
Well he can't be expected to follow everything to the letter either. He could barely remember what they did this exact day. Just because he knew key points in his life, didn't mean he'd know everything, heck it's been a decade. He's twenty-five, how the hell was he supposed to keep track of what sixteen year old Kageyama Tobio did?
"Alright! Service drills first!"
Tobio finished his stretches and walked to the line for the drills.
"What?"
He could feel Hinata's gaze boring into him. He had that odd look in him, something that didn't usually appear in his face unless he was focused on something.
"Nothing." Hinata picked up a ball and started his drills. Tobio shrugged it off and decided to do the same. He needed to get used to this body.
Tobio threw the service toss. That felt good. Alright, now for the jump. His feet did a little run up, his heels dug to the floor. Arm swinging for the impact and--
Shit. What the fuck was that?
He fell on his feet. The ball bounced off the floor in pathetic thuds, and the whole gym was suddenly quiet.
"Oi King, that absolutely sucked!"
Damn that Tsukishima.
"Shut up asshole!"
How fucking embarrassing.
Tobio's face flushed. Of course he wasn't going to get it right immediately. His jumps were lesser in height and power with these scrawny teenage legs, his arms lost a lot of muscle too. That's going to affect the force on his serves. Damn. This was harder than he thought it was going to be.
"Kageyama...are you okay?" That was Yachi. Shit, should he just tell them that he was from the future? They were going to realize he's off anyway. They'll probably think he's crazy. Or worse they'll make him stop playing volleyball.
Tobio shuddered. That's a bad idea then.
"It's fine. I'm just feeling a little off." Tobio said through gritted teeth. "I'll get back at it. Excuse me." Yachi didn't exactly look convinced, but she opted not to argue anyway.
"You can tell me if you need something okay? Anything at all I'll do my best!" She cheered. Tobio wasn't one to say anything about that, so he just nodded along and went back to practice.
Tobio, in fact, didn't get it the next time. So he decided against jump serves for now, getting his hand and arm to coordinate and get used to it. After the twentieth try or so, he was getting the hang of it. Then jump serves. He was missing those too, the ball always out of bounds.
"Damn it." Tobio stretched his ankles and legs. His body wasn't coordinating fast enough. It was like learning volleyball all over again.
"Are you sure you're okay, Kageyama-kun?" Yamaguchi looked at him in concern.
"Yes." He replied between gritted teeth.
"Maybe you should take a break."
"No." Tobio snapped. Yamaguchi visibly flinched. "Sorry. It's better if I work on it instead."
He was starting to nail them around the fiftieth time. They lacked power and control though, but decent enough for his skill at this age and level. It was impossible to recreate his current ability with this body afterall. By the hundredth serve, he was more or less passable.
"Tsk."
"Alright, spiking and receiving drills."
"Alright."
Right, because Sugawara-senpai wasn't here anymore, they took more time to finish all five spikes. Nishinoya-senpai was there as well though but this was efficient. They needed to work in their receives now that Daichi-senpai wasn't playing in the summer inter-high.
Tobio stretched his fingers. Hopefully his setting wasn't affected.
"Alright!"
The sigh of relief Tobio let loose when the sets were still passable, was deep. They weren't division one player standard, but they were alright. Mostly. The tricky part comes next. Hinata ran in front of the net. A minus tempo quick for him.
Slow it down a bit. This wasn't the Hinata from a decade later. This was first year Hinata. The height of his jump, the speed of his movements. He needed to remember and recalibrate.
There!
"Ah?"
God damnit.
Hinata missed it by a centimeter, barely grazing his fingers.
"...sorry. That was too fast." Tobio wriggled his fingers. As he thought, getting the timing won't go smoothly. The only way to get better was to practice.
"Again."
Tobio adjusted the toss. This time it was too slow. Hinata had to use his leg to get the ball in time.
"Damn it."
"Kageyama--"
"No I'll get it next time. For sure." Tobio took a deep breath. He just needed to be aware of Hinata's presence. The height of his jump, the speed of his run. This angle. This position.
The sound of impact echoed through the gym. Perfect.
Hinata glanced at his palm. "Again."
Tobio was getting the hang of it now. By the time the five drills were done, Tobio was certain he got it mostly down.
"Nishinoya-senpai. If you please."
"Alright, leave it to me." Nishinoya set the ball for Tobio's turn to spike. Spiking wasn't a problem--save for a few stray outs. Goodness, he sucked. It's like he was Hinata from the start of the year. It was the vertical of his jump that was the problem. He really needed to fix that.
"Hey Kageyama," Hinata approached him just after his last serve. "You're acting weird today."
Shit.
"Don't worry about it dumbass. It's just an off day." Tobio shrugged off. It was a very off day indeed. He expected Hinata to argue, bit surprisingly all he did was hum thoughtfully, and that was that.
"Shit shit shit shit shit."
This was hell.
Why did he have to take modern lit again?! Actually why did he have to go to school again? He'd forgotten everything school related. He forgotten he needed to go to school.
It wasn't like his grades were high when he was still in school, but they can't be too low either or else he'd have another repeat of that Tokyo training camp incident. This was exactly why he didn't go to college. Holy fucking shit.
He managed to get through half the day unscathed, but just barely. It wasn't uncharacteristic of him to sleep through classes, but he did hope that when he woke up, he would find himself back to his proper timeline. But no such luck so far.
All he wanted was to start working on volleyball and maybe figure out how and why he was here. Time travel? Body switching? Did he jump into another universe? All this was hurting Tobio's head, and he wasn't smart enough to figure it out on his own. The best he could do was see how things played off and try not to change too many things till he figured out what was happening.
Anyway lunch break meant he could polish his body control. Somewhere second year, he and Hinata found a lose window that helped them break in when they needed extra practice. Ennoshita-senpai never found them out, but Yamaguchi sure was pissed when he saw them sneak in one day. He wordlessly handed them the keys, knowing they were going to arrive first anyway.
The problem though, was that it was usually Hinata who crawled through the window to open the gym, considering his smaller stature.
He could call Hinata for extra practice, but he figured he'd rather practice alone.
Well, whatever. He might as well try anyway. So he headed out to the gym, stopping by the vending machine for milk. Just as he approached the gym, Tobio could hear the slam of the ball ricocheting, sneakers squeaking and the thumping of feet on floorboards.
Tobio could discern from there that the gym was open for some reason and someone had beaten him inside. Well that made things easier for him. He didn't need to break into the gym after all. Curiosity got to the better of him and Tobio peeked inside to see who was practicing.
An orange blur was mid jump, hand in contact with the ball as it slammed down the floor.
Hinata was attempting jump serves.
Correction. He was doing jump serves.
In Tobio's timeline, Hinata didn't succeed in doing it till they were in third year, and even then his success rate was low. He didn't even attempt to practice it till the end of second year.
But now, Hinata was practicing jump serves. Did Tobio alter the timeline for coming here after all?
"Aghh! Out again!" Hinata yelled in frustration. "Stupid body. Stupid ball control. Stupid height." He muttered to himself as he picked up another ball in an attempt at another go.
"Oi! When did you start doing that?!"
"K-kageyama?!" Hinata jolted at the sound, dropping the ball.
"Since when do you do jump serves? I never saw you practice!" Tobio walked into the gym.
"Jump serves? I wasn't doing jump serves." Hinata laughed awkwardly.
Tobio raised an unamused brow. He's known Hinata by now to learn his tells, he has decades worth of knowledge in fact. Besides it wasn't like he was doing a good job of hiding it. Hinata certainly knew that Tobio was seeing right through him.
"Umm...I've been practicing? A-at the old coach Ukai's place." Hinata scratched his cheek. He was flustered and jittery. Why was he nervous? Was he hiding something? He acted like he was caught doing something illegal.
"Right." Tobio narrowed his eyes in suspicion. He might be an idiot, but never to volleyball and he was certain that this wasn't supposed to happen yet.
He knew better than say that though. This was Hinata, and the moment he ran his mouth, Hinata would never stop asking him. So instead, he changed the subject. "How did you get in anyway?"
"Ah yeah," Hinata laughed. "There's a loose window that I can crawl in. I discovered it last week and I've been practicing on my own lately."
Tobio did a double take. He wasn't supposed to know about that yet either. The time jump had probably messed things up, how much was this going to affect their futures? Or maybe this wasn't actually his past? He was absolutely sure he didn't dream his present though. That was too real to be a dream, and he doubted he could fabricate that elaborate of a dream. Even he knew he wasn't that creative.
Hinata grinned mischievously, oblivious to Tobio's dilemma.
"Don't tell Ennoshita-senpai and coach Ukai. Definitely don't tell Takeda-sensei, and we can both practice in secret. How's that, huh? I know you can't resist it Kageyama-kun." Hinata nudged at his side.
"Shut up." Tobio growled. "Let's go to practice. Hit some of my tosses." God knew he needed to get the timing right.
"Actually, I'd like to do some receiving."
Tobio stopped midway of picking up a ball.
"What?"
He clearly didn't hear that right. The Hinata from this year would never pass up the opportunity to hit his tosses.
"Receiving? I mean captain--ah Daichi-senpai isn't in the team now and our receiving needs work, so..."
Tobio stared at the Hinata before him. Obviously he couldn't remember every single detail, what exactly occurred today wasn't something he remembered. It's been a decade for fuck's sake, but did Hinata always sound this....mature? No, not exactly mature. He just wasn't as noisy as he was when he was in highschool. His movements weren't erratic and he wasn't jumping around as much. He looked relaxed, calm.
Did his mishap in nationals made him this wiser?
"Well?"
Tobio snapped out of his reverie to see an inpatient Hinata waiting for his reply.
"Yeah. I'll serve. You go and get them." Well, he still needed to recalibrate his body anyway, might as well.
Hinata grinned and ran to the other side of the court. Something about him felt off. It didn't feel like the Hinata he knew--well the Hinata he knew was about ten years older than they were now and he was currently playing for the Brazilian super league. The last he saw him was in Palallotematica in Rome for the FIVB World Cup. Of course it wouldn't be the same. It's just weird. This was both familiar and strange. This was Hinata but also not.
Tobio didn't know what to feel about it.
It was also weird because knowing what was going to happen to them in the future was kind of a weird out of body experience. Hinata was going to get better than he was now, and seeing him mess up was equally frustrating and hilarious.
"Ready?" Tobio yelled.
"Go for it Bakageyama!" Hinata yelled back.
Right. It's been a while since he saw Hinata eat dust. That stupid balance of his made sure he wasn't ever going to take knee when he received ever again. Well, Tobio might as well enjoy seeing him suck.
Tobio spun the ball in his hand, a pre serving routine. He tossed the ball high and smacked it to the corner of the court after the jump. Hinata was already bounding to that area, before pulling back.
"Out!"
Damnit.
It was just barely out of bounds. Stupid ball control. Stupid low vertical jump. Stupid scrawny teenage legs.
Hinata whistled. "It's been a while since I've seen that."
"Shut up! You couldn't even get a jump serve in!"
"Can too! I'll let you know I had some in!" Hinata spluttered.
"Whatever. Here's the next one." Tobio didn't wait for the other man to reply and served the ball. This time it hit the net.
"Okay I have to say, that sucked." Hinata cackled. "Don't mind Kageyama-kun!"
"I'm going to serve this ball right in your face jackass!"
This time the serve went through, and he was certain it wasn't going to be out.
In a blink of an eye, Hinata had found himself under the ball for a receive. It was a perfect A pass, headed right towards where the setter would be.
"Hmm." Hinata stared at his arms. "Wasn't that a little bit messier than your usual serves?"
"Ha?"
"You're not sick, are you?" Hinata continued.
"I'm not! Get your ass ready for the next one!" Shit. Was Hinata going to realize something was off about him after all?
Tobio served the balls before Hinata could think and talk about it. The more he's served, the more his accuracy rate went up. It wasn't Ali Roma standard, it wasn't Seria A level but it was better than what he's done this morning at the very least. It felt good against his hand.
However, Hinata was still able to receive it. Sure it wasn't a perfect A pass, but he hadn't let a ball die yet in all the twenty serves they've done so far. Had he always been this good at this time? Or was Tobio simply still uncomfortable with his body?
"Keep it coming, Bakageyama-kun." Hinata grinned.
Tobio clicked his tongue.
Even in this age Hinata didn't seem any less demanding.
He's gotten serving and spiking down by the time afternoon practice came around. Receiving was something that was instinctively ingrained in his body. That's the thing about it, it was difficult to learn but once you do it was difficult to forget. His spiking wasn't too bad, though they needed work right due to the sudden change of his height and jumping, but all around still decent.
His tosses though were a little bit of a struggle. They weren't bad, but they weren't good.
"Sorry. That was a little too low." Tobio wriggled his fingers. It really used to be as easy as breathing, he wondered why it felt so off. It won't be Seria A level, and his body's stability wasn't as good as it was without all that core muscle he'd built up over the years. Did he need to resign himself that tossing won't feel right for a couple of years?
"You know, it's really weird to see you off your game Kageyama." Tanaka approached him during one of their breaks. "Last week it was Hinata all over the place and now it's you. Are you sure both of you are fine?"
Hinata? What happened to Hinata last week?
"Last week?"
Tanaka raised a brow, pausing midway sip. "You forgot already? Didn't he serve a ball directly into the back of your head again? He kept messing up the timing of your quicks. His receives were solid though, but he was pretty much out of it for the entire week, you were yelling at him nonstop."
"What?" Tobio let the information soak. Hinata was feeling off the whole week, being clumsy enough that the whole team noticed.
"Yeah. It's weird cause just as Hinata had finally gotten himself together, you start acting weird." Tanaka laughed. "Well, even geniuses get off days too. Leave it to your senpai to pick up your slack." He patted his shoulder with a cackle and walked away to bother Nishinoya instead.
Tobio let his eyes wander to the orange haired kid, the younger version of his rival. God, he looked so young--they all did.
Hinata didn't look like someone who messed up a lot in the previous week. In fact, he was much focused, deep in concentration. Surely Tobio would have noticed something like that? Surely he would have written something about Hinata improving in his volleyball journal? He wrote all those analyses and reviews day by day, he would remember everything about the team's progress including Hinata's--most definitely Hinata's.
Wait--volleyball journal.
That's it. He should read them when he got home. He'd known then if anything in this timeline was amiss.
Practice ended with little mishaps, thankfully. He spent the whole time in a daze, trying to reconfigure his body. Everything else was a routine, afterall training wasn't really new. It's just the people around him that was off. And by the end of the whole ordeal, Tobio had also realized that this body's stamina wasn't what Tobio was used to, and thus he ended up even more winded out than usual.
Hinata practiced spiking with him after the training, as they usually did back then. Part of Tobio even missed it, he could admit that much. It's been two years since they've trained together after all. Standing on the Olympic stage, matches that felt larger than life, better people playing on the other side of the court. It's weird. It really was weird to see Hinata as a kid again. There's a certain disconnect to it.
"Your tosses weren't the same last week." Hinata said bluntly after smacking the ball to the other side of the court. He was staring at his red hand.
Tobio gripped the ball he was holding.
"It's just an off day. Don't worry about it." Tobio deflected the question that was obviously in Hinata's tongue.
"You're acting weird."
"Same as you last week." Tobio shot back. Hinata didn't reply. He could feel those eyes boring holes into the back of his neck. Hinata had always this larger than life presence, an existence that screamed 'toss to me'. His entire being was bright. His hair was obnoxiously orange, for goodness sake. It's impossible not to be conscious of him.
Tobio was not falling for it though. He was not biting the bait.
"Let's practice that quick once more."
Tobio wasted no time when he got home. Store bought onigiri would have to do for dinner. (Speaking of onigiri, Miya onigiri wasn't even in business yet. He'd have to wait for years before he'd get to eat it again.) He took out his journals and scanned them from the start for anything amiss.
So far everything had been how it was supposed to go. Nothing was amiss. From when he met Hinata, that loss in junior high, the day he arrived in Karasuno, the discovery of their freak quick, their first lost to Seijoh, the new quick, their win against Shiratorizawa. Everything was there down to the letter. Their national games, Inarizaki, Nekoma, and Kamomedai. Everything was accounted for.
Save for last week.
January 11, 2013
We were asked to rest from club activities since Nationals are over. Hinata refused to practice for the first time. He was probably still recovering from his fever.
That was where it started.
January 12, 2013
Started practice again. The third years still came to practice drills but stayed out of playing as a team to adjust to the new ones. Losing Azumane-senpai and Daichi-senpai takes a toll on offense and defense.
Hinata is missing all of our quicks, flubbing everything in the way. His fever is broken though. His vertical jump had gone even higher, but his balance is off. It messed up our practice the whole day.
Right.
January 14, 2013
Ennoshita-senpai officially became our captain.
Hinata was still flubbing everything. He hasn’t hit a single quick, his jumps are always drifting, and all of his serves were out. He’s acting weird.
January 15, 2013
There are a lot of holes in our defenses. Ennoshita-senpai and the others haven’t fully adjusted to the team’s play. We’ve been doing receiving practices for the mean time to make up for it.
Hinata served a ball again into my head. It’s ridiculous. Other than that, his receives have suddenly improved almost overnight. He was making less mistakes as well. Whatever was bothering him was probably gone. He can hit our quicks properly again as well.
January 16, 2013
Hinata is acting weird. Coming back from nationals made him weird. On one of the three vs three, he managed to receive my jump serve into a perfect A pass. He claimed it was a fluke. It would have been believable if he didn’t do it five more times into the game. He also managed to return Azumane-san’s spikes and serves.
He gets really quiet sometimes too, mostly during a match. He's shown game sense in the national matches. He's obviously moving with purpose now, but the improvement is ridiculous. It's almost like he's suddenly ingrained years of experience overnight. Beyond that, he also gets weird outside the court. I wonder if the attitude is related to his improvement.
I should observe this progress for future reference.
And all that was left was today. Today, Hinata did jump serves. They missed a lot, but they were able to pass through the net. The journal entries also proved that he was indeed receiving much better than before.
He was acting weird though, and if his oblivious teenage self manages to notice this, then it really must be bad. Tobio cursed his young self for not putting more details. It wasn't volleyball related, of course he wouldn't, but that was not the point.
Tobio didn’t know what it all was supposed to mean, and it didn’t bring him any closer to answering why he was brought back here. For now, all he could do was observe what was happening. With that in mind, Tobio showered and fell asleep.