Haikyuu - I Am A Different Hinata!

All the Karasuno players could be seen inside the gym, and it seemed like the current training session was a rotation of serves. Asahi was now concentrating, holding the ball, and then jumping to execute a jump serve that went straight toward Nishinoya, who easily received it, making Asahi pull a dissatisfied face.

"Asahi-san, what kind of weak serve was that? With that, you won't be able to score an ace against any decent libero!" Nishinoya warned.

"I know that... I've been too focused on improving my new time-difference skill that I stopped developing my serve..." Asahi said thoughtfully.

"Actually, that's not entirely bad. If you keep trying to learn and improve too many things at once, you might not get anything right!" Hinata observed, walking up to Asahi.

"Hinata's right... but we also shouldn't focus solely on one thing and forget to train the rest. What we need is balance! As some say, 'not too much to the sea, not too much to the land,'" Daichi said, approaching and handing out water bottles to all the members to start their break.

"Hey, Hinata, the school you went to in middle school was Yukigaoka, right?" Narita asked.

"Yeah... why?" Hinata asked, confused by the sudden mention of his old school.

"We were looking, and it seems they qualified for the middle school nationals, which are happening here in Miyagi Prefecture!" Kinoshita, who was standing next to Narita, explained.

"Wait! If Yukigaoka qualified, does that mean Kitagawa Daiichi lost?!" Kageyama asked, extremely surprised.

"From what we know, ever since you faced Hinata last time and he put on that memorable performance, even getting injured, it attracted more members to Yukigaoka, which barely had a proper club before. That made them competitive, and a rivalry formed between Yukigaoka and Kitagawa Daiichi because of your match!" Kinoshita explained.

"But that's not what he asked, you idiot!" Tanaka complained, slapping Kinoshita on the back of his head.

"Hey! Why'd you do that?!... Anyway, since the nationals are happening in our prefecture, Miyagi gets the benefit of having two schools represented, which are Yukigaoka and Kitagawa Daiichi. So, they didn't lose!" Kinoshita finished, his voice tinged with dissatisfaction from the slap.

"So that makes sense with what I heard..." Sugawara said.

"The qualifying matches all happened in the same stadium, probably because others will be occupied with this national tournament, which should end right around the time the matches to choose Miyagi's representative—the ones we'll be playing in—start..." Sugawara continued.

"You're right! Since you all have the rest of the day free, if you want, you can go check it out. After all, next year the third-years won't be here anymore, and we'll need more talented recruits!" Ukai said with a mischievous smile.

"He wants us to scout the newbies for him..." Asahi whispered with a small smile.

"Then it's decided! We'll go watch some of the national matches!" Hinata declared, eager to see how much Yukigaoka's volleyball club had improved.

After that conversation, practice resumed, and the Karasuno players trained a bit more on receives and spikes before wrapping up. As planned, the Karasuno members decided to go watch some of the middle school national matches, with Takeda helping by arranging a bus to take them right to the gym where the games were happening. It wasn't as crowded as a high school national tournament, but there were still quite a few people.

"Hey! Aren't those Hinata and Kageyama from Karasuno? What are they doing here?" said a boy with glasses.

"Not just them—it looks like the whole Karasuno team came to watch the games!" observed another boy.

"It's fun getting attention and not having people call us the 'fallen crows' or 'wingless crows' and all that!" Tanaka said, smiling, satisfied with the reaction.

"I have to agree! And it's all thanks to our hard work and the results we've achieved by making it to the finals against Shiratorizawa!" Daichi said, also pleased.

"HINATA-SENPAI!" a male voice called out from behind Hinata, who turned around to see a tall boy wearing Yukigaoka's classic uniform, now with a yellow jacket.

"WHO ARE YOU?!" Hinata asked, confused, unable to remember who this guy was.

"I'm Daisuke! Don't you remember me?" Daisuke asked, smiling. He looked almost like a different person from last year, when he had bangs that completely covered his eyes, paler skin, and a gloomy aura, speaking only when necessary. Now, he was smiling, with messy hair and bangs falling over his face.

"Oh, it's you?! I didn't even recognize you—you look like a different person! How have you been? And congrats on making it to nationals!" Hinata said, genuinely happy.

"I'm doing well, and we're feeling confident. But none of this would've been possible without your teachings last year, which helped me improve my personality and become more active. Plus, your fame brought in new members."

"Well, I'm glad I could help the team grow!" Hinata said.

"Alright! I have to get back to my team and start warming up. Don't worry—we won't disappoint you, and we'll win the first two matches!" Daisuke said, smiling as he turned and headed toward the court.

"Wow! Who was that guy? He's almost as tall as Asahi!" Sugawara commented.

"Yeah! He must be really good!" Tanaka observed, impressed.

"Hmm... I don't remember him," Kageyama said, trying to recall who that player was.

"He was on my team when I faced Kageyama, even though he looks completely different now. He was good back then, but nothing extraordinary. I'm excited to see how much he's improved!" Hinata said as they headed to their seats to watch the games.