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i.
The preliminaries for the Inter-High: in a lot of ways, it’s the same as last year, full of nerves and wary looks at the black uniforms and Tanaka scaring people. No one threw up, not that Hinata knows of, but a couple of the first-years look queasier than normal. He and Yamaguchi exchange a sly, knowing look.
They’re warming up when Noya and Kinoshita catch sight of them.
“Oh my god—Asahi-san!” Nishinoya positively screeches and Kinoshita drops the ball he’d been ready to toss to him.
“Guys, the third years!” he shouts, as if Noya hasn’t alerted them all, and half of them trip over themselves to wave and shout up at the four Karasuno graduates hanging over the railing (who are waving and shouting just as hard, if not harder).
“Kiyoko couldn’t make it today, so make sure you get through ‘till tomorrow!” Daichi calls, grinning hard. Ennoshita grabs Tanaka before he tries to leave the court to rush to the stands.
“You should have told us you were gonna come see us!” Noya scolds, because they hadn’t been warned, and it’s the first time any of them had seen any of their competitive matches since they’d graduated. Emotions were already high; Hinata’s not the only one who sniffs, just so glad to see his senpai again.
“We wanted to surprise you,” Asahi calls down. Yui and Suga look a little like proud, teary parents.
“It’s only the preliminaries for Inter-High. Stop with the show,” Tsukishima tells them, but the fact that he’s spoken up says a lot on its own.
Suga pretends to burst into tears.
“Lo-ook at how cute their first-years are!” he says with a fake sob into Yui’s shoulder.
They win their first match two to zero. Hinata’s hard-pressed to remember many matches the team had been so consistently happy.
ii.
“Kiyoko-saaaaan!” There is actual crying on the second day, when Kiyoko first arrives. Tanaka, Noya, and Yachi are in a huddle, trying to hold in their weeping. Ennoshita looks very embarrassed. Kiyoko looks faintly pleased.
The new first-years are a little less caught off-guard the second time. They’re catching wise to the team sentimentality.
“Good luck today,” Kiyoko tells them with a fond smile, and the poor first-years are startled all over again by the way the rest of the team burst into touched tears.
iii.
It’s strange, battling through the teams they’d faced last year; half of them are hollow shells, the other half are completely new. Shiratorizawa seems to be hobbled without Ushijima. Aoba Johsai’s strategy is so dissimilar they’re like a completely different team.
It’s Date Tech that defeats them in the finals. Their new iron wall is terrifying, and Hinata can’t help but think of how the situation echoes the past, even before he came to Karasuno.
But it’s not as bitter as some defeats have been. That's something.
Aone nods to Hinata and shakes his hand, maybe almost smiling. A bit.
Their new setter bounces over and bows several times to Hinata and Kageyama as he formally introduces himself.
“Good job, Dateko!”
They look up to find the trio of their graduates hanging over the railing. “Nice job shaping up Koganegawa, Futakuchi!” one of them tells the group. The captain purses his lips but flushes at the compliment.
Hinata’s about to slink away—maybe their own graduates will do something to soothe their bruised pride—when one of them, the old captain, calls down to him. “Your spikes are as terrifying as ever, 10-kun.”
“Oh, um, thanks,” he says and Aone nods again, solemn but strangely respectful. Hinata leaves them with a smile.
iv.
It’s weird that they always do better in the Spring High than Inter-High. “That’s to be expected, dumbass. We have more time to train between then and now,” Kageyama tells him, scowling. “Of course we’ll get better.”
They’re up against Shiratorizawa in the finals. Again. They seem like they’ve found their groove without Ushijima, and that makes Hinata nervous, but it’s nothing they can’t handle.
But there are still surprises in store for them.
The first is that Ushijima himself is on the Shiratorizawa side, the first time Hinata has been able to positively identify him from a distance in his team's stands. He isn’t like their own graduates (someone had managed to convince Kiyoko to bribe Tanaka and Noya with a hug should they win, and Suga was trying his damnedest to bribe the rest of them with food), supportive and loud and somewhat parental. He just watches over his team. It’s scary.
The second, more confusing surprise comes in the form of a realization a beat later.
“Aren’t there more girls than usual in our stands?” Kinoshita asks dreamily.
“I was just thinking that,” Ennoshita agrees.
Noya, again, spots them first and lets out a screech. Hinata follows his outraged point and the Seijoh graduates are the last people he expects to see. “The G-Grand King?!” he squeaks and Kageyama’s head whips around so fast it’s a miracle he didn’t snap his neck.
Oikawa is reclining in the front row, feet propped up, next to Hanamaki. Iwaizumi and Matsukawa are standing and leaning on their elbows on the railing.
Iwaizumi gives a little wave.
Ennoshita and a confused Hinata wave back, mostly on reflex.
“What are they doing here?!” Noya hisses.
“It’s because we’re up against Shiratorizawa,” Kageyama replies curtly.
“Even if Ushijima-san has graduated, I’m sure the Seijoh graduates still treat it as one of their rival schools. Just be flattered we have more people cheering for us,” Ennoshita advises, and they drop the subject after that.
But Hinata catches himself looking over at them every time he’s swapped for Nishinoya. Suga and Daichi have made their way over, chatting pleasantly, if not a lot. It’s so surreal to see them together. As the match wears on, and they head into their fourth set, most of the graduates are completely into the game, shouting encouragement for Karasuno and snarling at every one of Shiratorizawa’s points.
“I’m going to have nightmares about hearing them cheer for us tonight,” Tsukishima deadpans.
Yamaguchi’s called in to serve instead of Hinata, and both he and Hinata have a heart attack when Oikawa’s voice floats down to them, “Nice serve.” It’s probably a conditioned response to hate and fear those words coming from a Seijoh player.
Hinata shuffles over to the bench, wondering about his own nightmares that night, and then looks up and wishes he could take a picture of Tsukishima’s outraged expression.
v.
“Kenma, we have to play against each other.”
“Well, we’re both here to win as many matches as we can, so…”
“No, you have to promise me you’ll keep winning until you go up against us and then you can lose.”
“I… don’t think that will happen.”
If both Karasuno and Nekoma win all of their games, they would face each other in the semifinals. It’s a longshot but Hinata has to be on the Karasuno team that finally manages to play Nekoma in an official match. And he really wants Kenma to be on the Nekoma team, too.
Their first match is against Shinzen. It goes into the third set, Karasuno hanging on by the skin of their teeth. Not here, not yet, Hinata thinks.
“Heeeey, Tsukki, what sort of block was that?!” they hear from the stands halfway through the set.
Tsukishima is scowling (and Yamaguchi looks very confused) up at the Nekoma graduates hanging out on their side of the stands, jostling for positions in the front. Hinata and Nishinoya wave to them as their team rotates for the next serve.
Two points later, it becomes apparent that Daichi and Kuroo have made it their personal mission to become the loudest cheerers in the building. They pretty much succeed.
vi.
“Why do you keep showing up to cheer for us?” Tsukishima asks, rather rudely, before their second match starts.
“I’m just so excited to see you play,” Kuroo drawls in a flat tone. His voice is a little hoarse from his earlier screaming match with Daichi.
“What about your own team?” Kageyama clarifies, just a hair less rudely.
“We’re cheering for you guys between Nekoma’s games,” Yaku tells them. “And we’re just as excited as anyone else for the Battle at the Garbage Dump.”
“We’ve been cheering for Nekoma a little, too,” Suga adds.
“Heeeeey did I miss this match?!”
None other than Bokuto skids up to the railing and immediately throws his arms around Kuroo. Tsukishima looks more and more annoyed by the second. Yamaguchi snickers. “Nah, man, just in time. Hey, Daichi, ready for another round of a cheer-off?” the ex-captain of Nekoma asks, grinning.
“You know it,” Daichi shoots back with his own smirk.
“Thank you for your support,” Ennoshita tells them with a smile.
“You better earn it!” Bokuto replies, pointing imperiously down at them.
They hit a lucky break; their second match is a little easier than their first had been. They were just a bad matchup for the other school. It’s a little intimidating having three old captains shout themselves hoarse for them, but at the same time, Karasuno had been doing well enough on the whole that Hinata finds he could get used to huge arenas and legions of screaming fans.
vii.
He feels like his chest may burst when they’re finally standing across from Nekoma’s red jerseys. Hinata catches Kenma’s eye and the setter gives him a small nod and smile. Daichi and Kuroo have already started, except with the added bonus of cheering for their own teams, despite the fact that they’re all still sitting on the same side.
Yui brought pompoms for herself and Kiyoko and both of them have their hair up, Yui with fuzzy barrettes and Kiyoko in high pigtails. Asahi is scaring several of the nearer people who don’t already recognize him from earlier games, although his own hair is in twin buns and Yui has given him a pompom, too. Saeko has her hair pinned back like Ukai, and she somehow managed to sneak in air horns. Their very own cheerleaders. It’s cheesy and a little embarrassing how happy it’s made everyone.
“Better than anyone else’s!” Tanaka proudly declares. His sister is already drowning out both Daichi and Kuroo with her horn and the match hasn’t even started. The referee glares up at her.
“Keeeeiiiii, Tadashiiii, good luck!” Tsukishima’s brother calls down, trying to time his own yells between the others’.
“I told you to stop coming to my games,” Tsukishima mutters, but Yamaguchi is waving with both hands back at him, pleased as punch.
Hinata scans the crowd, picking out other familiar faces—people from the neighborhood association, a couple teachers, the old coach Nekomata next to old coach Ukai (Hinata waves excitedly)—but he finally finds who he’s looking for about halfway up in the seats: a mop of orange hair seated between his parents.
Hinata beams at his family and gives them the most excited wave of all.