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require talking daily and seeing each other frequently. they will always remain important to each other 🩵

here’s my contribution to the haikyu!! magazine news - i see iwaoi’s bond as rooted in a kind of trust that cannot erode and a sweet sense of nostalgia. a relationship much too significant to die out, but also that doesn’t necessarily

somehow, calls with tooru never end in peacefulness. in fact, it is the complete opposite. abandoning the book that he was reading before, hajime sets out for the gymnasium. he might as well get a head start on training today.

something of that dream took them to where they stand presently. both hajime and tooru still refuse to do anything half-measure.

“great. take care, iwa-chan. don’t fall behind.”

“ah, never.”

when the goal of attaining nationals spanned wide over their heads, a dream that held their whole world in it.

hajime looks back on those times with intimate fondness—how young they were back then, how excessively hungry, inexperienced, arrogant, and headstrong.

“sure. we can do that.” hajime does not miss the reference to another answer which he gave during his interview for volleyball magazine.

admittedly, he would be earnestly happy to hit one of tooru’s tosses again; a reminder of their bygone high school days,

tried the method we discussed last time?”

“yes, that was helpful. i tried adapting it to my usual rhythm. it’s been working quite well for me. good work, iwa-chan.”

“that’s good to hear.”

“i’m coming to japan for a couple of weeks at the end of the season. wanna practice some drills then?”

hajime can visualize tooru’s puffed out chest and the triumphant glow in his eyes well enough. those ten years since graduation have flown by, but the smug look that tooru’s face can produce so effortlessly has barely changed since kindergarten. hajime huffs out a laugh.

“how’s training? have you

outside of the groupchat.”

“busy. the polar bears’ next match is in a few days, so we have no time to waste. how is it going in argentina?”

“very well, thank you—we’re seeing good results. and that’s an understatement.”

don’t get too cocky, you might regret it when our teams meet again,” hajime retorts, the warning sign underlying his upbeat tone easily perceivable to tooru.

“no, this is exactly what i wanted to hear.”

“o.k., glad we agree on that.”

“how’ve you been? i heard that we weren’t talking much

you said i was a hard worker and you went on and on about my perfect toss to you during that last game against karasuno in high school. and how you consider me a rival, how excited you were to play against argentina... i’m moved, iwa-chan.”

“on and on might be an exaggeration.

truth be told, hajime knew that it would happen—and the annoyed tone with which he greets tooru is not curt enough to disguise the smile that the old nickname draws out of him.

“you’re still as dramatic as ever, shittykawa. i take it you read the magazine?”

“of course, especially the part where