*Flashback*
Before Bodhi had ever met Tatsuki Washio that fateful summer, a couple of months before Bodhi Hamada was involved in a Volleyball Australia media campaign, focusing on the up-and-coming volleyball stars of Australia, and who better than the Maverick himself.
"Do I really have to do this?" Bodhi asked the media person. He didn't know what else to call her.
"Yes, you do, Mr. Hamada. Given your high profile and influence, you need to take this on. The people deserve to know the future of Volleyball Australia is in good hands," They replied for the umpteenth time with the same explanation.
Bodhi knew he was a damn good Volleyball player but to this extent? All he is is a runner-up silver medalist, damn Kensington took away those gold medal dreams with that damn read blocking of his. And to think he had to do this a week after the loss too.
"Mr. Hamada, look at it this way, the sooner we take all the promotional shots the sooner you can leave and get back to whatever it is teenagers do nowadays," she said.
"Fine, but why is it just me? Surely Cahill is good enough to join me?" Bodhi asked, he was referring to his teammate who he played with at the Commonwealth Games.
"We did ask Hayden to participate in the shoot, but he had another commitment. Supposedly." She told him.
Hayden Cahill alongside Bodhi was the other up-and-coming star in Australian volleyball. Bodhi who was undoubtedly the powerhouse of the future Cahill, was the Yin to Bodhi's Yang. Cahill was known as a defensive stalwart, and when he wasn't playing beach volleyball, he was a libero for his High School and was considered the best in the nation. His receives were the cream of the crop and his ability to position himself wherever the spiker aimed to hit made him a force to be reckoned with.
His usual prowess though suffered on the beach courts, seeing as how he couldn't get in position fast enough to make the receives.
He had made the team through sheer skill alone despite not moving the best in the sand. One thing he promised Bodhi he would get better at playing in the sand and would also aim to improve on the court as well.
"Yeah right. Mate just wanted to go on a date probably, tch!" Bodhi said. Let be known here and now that Hayden Cahill was an absolute player. Bagging girls left and right and the occasional dude, the man had the unlimited rizz.
"Whelp can't do much about it now! Now get changed the photographer is nearly ready and we still have to get you to hair and makeup," the lady told him.
"About that, do I really have to wear this? It's literally just a pair of shorts? Where's my tank?" Bodhi asked. He was only given the national team shorts and nothing else to wear.
"Well…I have no clue!" she cheerfully replied. "But can't you play without one anyway?"
"Well, you can but, I don't want to get burned. Skin cancer sucks ya know," Bodhi said matter-of-factly.
"Yes yes. The shoot won't take long, hurry now!" she told him, ushering herself out of his tent.
With a sigh, Bodhi got changed into the green and gold shorts made for the national team and made his way out onto the beach where the shoot was going to be held.
"Yes, Bodhi yes! Looking absolutely superb darling!" somebody told him from behind a camera. "I'm Barney Johnson, the photographer and director for the shoot. You've arrived just on time, your co-star is just getting changed as well, she'll be out momentarily!" Barney told him, turning back to the staff around him and ordering them to get everything ready.
"She? What? I thought it was just me!? Nobody said anything about a co-star!" Bodhi complained, but it all fell on deaf ears, as everybody around him was in a flurry of motion getting everything prepped and double-checked.
Bodhi decided to just go and sit in the sand and wait for them all to get ready. As Bodhi found a nice patch of sand to pop a squat on. His co-star for the shoot had just finished and made her way out of her tent and saw him sitting down, just a little way away.
"Oh! Are you Bodhi? I'm the one participating in the shoot with you! I'm Alisa Haiba!" she said all bubbly-like.
"Yeah? Nice to meet- fuck!" Bodhi started before his attention was suddenly diverted away from the speaker to the green and gold bikini she was wearing. And it was safe to say we all know where the teenager's attention suddenly went. "H-h-hi, Bodhi! Alisa yeah? Pleasure!"
Bodhi who had been annoyed at having to do this at all was all of a sudden not as annoyed anymore.
"Yes, pleasure it is! Let's do our best today!" She replied, once again in a bubbly tone. But Bodhi sure as hell wasn't going to complain as when she talked, she tended to bounce in place. Bouncing a few other things.
"Yep, let's do it!"
"Bodhi! Alisa! It's time to start darlings!" Barney yelled over to them. "Now for this first shoot, I want you to…"
~Break~
As the afternoon wore on Barney had become more and more happy. At first, he was hesitant to take on this shoot. Having a jock of all things as his muse was bad enough, but when the agency sent over a rookie model for him to use it made it all the much worse!
Let it be known Barney was all for photographing models as long as it involved the runway and big, beautiful dresses. Not these sports shoots that were only ever about the sport and the athletes, nothing about the pure artistry that was fashion!
Barney however was proven wrong this fine Saturday afternoon as not only was the boy, Bodhi Hamada holding his own, but the rookie model Alisa Haiba was anything but. She was a complete natural at modelling. For one she was breathtakingly beautiful, her long sandy blonde hair matched well with her vivid green eyes. And her tall body was perfect as it didn't look out of place with frankly, the monster height Bodhi had.
Her assets were also something that would make any man kneel before her. But through the interactions he had with her, she would never be able to do that, she was way too kind and bubbly.
"That's a wrap, darlings! Great work today everybody," Barney began. "Let's pack everything away and head back to the agency to get everything sorted. Bodhi, Alisa, I would happily work with you both again anytime!"
"That would be amazing Barry!" Alisa cheered happily, her Russian accent coming through a little as she got Barney's name wrong again for the umpteenth time today.
"It's Bar-ney darling, we'll work on it," Barney sighed, correcting her again.
"Don't know if I'll ever do this again, but it wasn't too bad," Bodhi said. Barney knew what he was doing and had made the process super smooth and likable.
The three chatted some more and Barney gave both of them his business card should they need a photographer and he left shortly after to pack up all of his belongings, leaving the two models for the day alone.
"You were like natural out there Bodhi- милый!" Alisa said.
"Nah mate, if anything you were the natural out there. The camera just loved you," Bodhi replied honestly. She was a natural after all.
"Oh? That's a relief. Today was my first shot," Alisa said a little less bubbly than usual and more like it was a relief she had done well.
"No way, you're lying right?"
Alisa just shook her head. "Nope! Today was the first!"
"…Could have fooled me, babe," Bohdi said, not quite believing her, but in the end her innocent look told him all he needed to know. She couldn't lie to save her life.
Must protec.
"Well, I have to go. Got schoolwork to finish and all that jazz. Maybe see you around Alisa," Bodhi stated, turning around and making his way to his tent so he could get changed.
"Wait one second Bodhi-милый!" Alisa said, quickly running away to go and grab something Bodhi gathered.
"Damn…" was all Bodhi could say as he watched her run away. It had no right to look that hypnotic.
"Here!" She said, slightly out of breath, holding a camera of her own. "Take a photo with me! I want to remember my first!"
Bodhi was about to make a classic "That's what she said joke" but couldn't as Alisa attached herself to him, pulling Bodhi's head down to her chest and snapping the photo. Bodhi was too stunned to speak as he had no doubt just seen nirvana.
"Bye-bye Bodhi-милый!" Alisa said, turning around and making her way back to her tent, a faint dusting of red across her cheeks.
"…The fuck just happened!?" Bodhi said aloud to nobody.
Alisa Haiba.
What a strange girl…
Beautiful too…
~Flashback End~
Back to the courts, where one Bodhi and Lev were currently faced off. Bodhi told the story of just how he had met his sister.
"…So yeah, we were literally just doing a shoot together. You do know she's a model, right? I had to leave quickly and couldn't say goodbye to her, I guess she wanted to give this to me," Bodhi finally finished. Picking the photo up and looking at it.
The smile on her face was still just as beautiful as he remembered.
Good times Bodhi thought.
"Well, that settles that then. She wanted you to have this and to be honest, I thought it was a stretch I would ever see you. But she did say you were part Japanese and maybe I would find you when I came to play for Nekoma. Lucky, I found ya!" Lev said happily. "I'll have to let her know I did."
"Yeah, do that mate, I'll text her later," Bodhi replied.
"Alright it's time to get the match started!" the referee said, this time it was Naoi, the assistant coach from Nekoma.
Both teams made their way to their respective benches and the starters made their way to the courts.
The line-up for Nekoma remained unchanged. Lev who Bodhi had been talking to, was standing in the subs group. While Bodhi himself was standing on the left side of the court at the front, facing across from rooster head.
"I'm gonna eat you up rookie," Kuro stated, smirking at Bodhi.
"You do that chicken shit, I taste great!" Bodhi replied easily.
"Oho, we got a fellow practitioner of banter, do we? This'll be great," Kuro replied, his smile growing.
The whistle blew, cutting off the conversation between the two as Nekoma served the ball over. For this game, Aoba Johsai was running with a purely offensive unit.
Setter: Oikawa
Wing Spikers: Bodhi, Iwaizumi, Mad Dog.
Middle Blockers: Matsukawa, Motomu
Libero: Naoki
(Motomu was from the special movie and was stated to be one of the third years who stayed after the Interhigh, Naoki is the name I came up with for the other libero. He doesn't have one)
Naoki went for the easy receive and made an A-pass towards where Oikawa was standing. Naoki had always been a more defensive-minded libero, compared to Shinji and despite being in the same year as Shinji, he was chosen as a starter. Naoki believed he was better at receiving, but due to Shinji being able to do a stable jump set, which allowed for a more diverse attack strategy. But with the overhaul, the coach was doing to the systems, it allowed for other players to shine.
Naoki would make his desire known to all to become the starting libero. Even if it killed him.
Oikawa having not moved from his starting spot, smiled gently. He really did like getting Naoki's receives, they were always right where he wanted them. And while he would admit Shinji was a good libero, adding to the offence. Naoki truly was the better receiver.
With these new systems in place, maybe Naoki would take over as the starter. Time would tell obviously.
Oikawa quickly took in his surroundings, noting every player's approach and decided to shake things up.
"Motomu!"
Oikawa did a first-tempo toss toward his fellow third-year. One of seven third years that stayed after the Interhigh.
Motomu grinned eagerly as he sped up and leapt towards Oikawa's toss. And like usual it was perfectly placed.
Slamming his hand into the ball, Motomu smiled as it made its way into the right corner, only for his grin to disappear as the opposing team's libero made an absolutely superb save, getting the ball up and over towards where their setter was. It wasn't an A-pass though and could barely be called a B-pass. But the two-tone setter got under it and gazed to his right.
Motomu who had been grinning moments before quickly focused again, clearing the thoughts on a missed spike. He noticed the setter's eyes and made his way left in preparation, only for the setter to send it the other way toward the dude with a mohawk. Motomu fumbled for a moment, but it was enough for the block to only be a two-person one, lacking the middle blocker.
"Aww yeah, Kenma!" Yamamoto yelled, whipping his arm through the air and hitting the ball down the line.
The ball crashed into the floor, and Yamamoto cheered some more.
"*fwee! Point Seijo!" Naoi said through gritted teeth.
"What! No way! It was in!" Yamamoto roared in defiance.
Somebody whistled catching his attention, Bodhi who had, pointed towards the net that was gently bobbing up and down.
"Yamamoto we've told you to not get overzealous! Cool down, the games barely started!" Naoi said.
Seijo was lucky Mohawk hit the net, as none of them were close to the spot he attacked. This game was going to be a lot tougher than they initially thought.
"Seijo's serve!"
Author Note:
Alright, here again, lads and lasses. The reason why I didn't post yesterday was because my professor decided it was a great idea to move the lab that was scheduled for Friday to be moved to yesterday. This means I not only lost out on writing time but didn't get home until midnight…
Fuck that guy…
Anyway, hope you enjoyed this one. Next time will be the entire game between Seijo and Nekoma. Will Bodhi get flashbacks to a certain Brit?
The next chap will be on Friday!
Also, been rewatching Ace of Diamond and that may be my next book. Would you guys be interested in that? Something along the lines of either pitching at Ichidai or Seido, but as Furuya himself. SI if you would. Dunno not anytime soon though.
Later skaters!
-Dadaelus19