Brainrot Time: Chiba Ryuunosuke as a volleyball player AU
So I wrote this last December when I was rewatching Haikyuu for old time’s sake…
Personally it’s because volleyball is such team-oriented and mental sport, which I think would be the perfect sport for Chiba to unlearn his burden-shouldering and help-refusing self, even by the time he’s in junior high.
It’s basically those scenarios when the teacher persuades the lonely kid to join club activities to mingle with others and etc. Chiba ended up choosing volleyball since there aren’t that many kids playing there who have strong personalities, which would logically make it easier for him to ease into the sport without being overwhelmed in a way. This was in 3rd grade.
Of course, he ended up liking it lol to the point he wanted to continue playing in junior high… or even by the time he’s in high school.
This is an AU where a men’s volleyball club exists in Kunugigaoka so for assclass setting’s sake, Chiba went there instead.
Chiba got picked for the Libero position because although his serves, tosses, and attacks were good enough, his receives are much better. Considering that receiving in general is very difficult to become good at, especially when most volleyball players are hyper focused onto the flashy skills like spiking and etc, Chiba being noticeably good at receiving is enough to get him the Libero position.
The Libero is said to be the most selfless out of all the positions - they can’t attack or whatsoever - all they can do was to keep the ball up in the air so that their teammates can score points. A libero’s efforts tend to be overlooked by many since it’s usually those who score points in the end that get the spotlight… I feel like this position really suits Chiba’s character the most, that’s why I chose it.
It doesn’t matter how many times a spiker gets blocked. As long as someone can keep the ball from touching the ground, they can still keep trying until they get that point. The reason why attackers can comfortably fight in mid-air was because they knew that they have someone guarding their backs. That is the role of a Libero.
The kungigaoka men’s volleyball club doesn’t have star players like their baseball club does. But while the team doesn’t have any outstanding players nor do they make flashy plays, but because they are so “connected” and well in-tuned with each other, opponents tend to have trouble scoring against them. They just have no holes in their offense and defense. They’re just a very solid team - a rare quality in a volleyball team that allowed Kunugigaoka to become one of the known powerhouse schools in Tokyo (Junior high level btw).
Also Chiba keeps his hair off his face, either tying it up or pushing it back with wax, especially when he’s in a match where the ball can go anywhere in milliseconds so he has to be extra attentive. I just don’t think he really cares about such trivial thing like his eyes intimidating people anymore at this point, especially since there are way more scary-looking volleyball players than he is and yet they are just as respected because people are more focused towards their skills rather than their looks, and Chiba liked that a lot.
He would also see no point in keeping his bangs in front of his face at school since everyone would’ve already known what his eyes look like at this point. So he just kept it naturally parted to how… however his hair wants to be parted when he runs his hands though it I guess lol
I think because Chiba would unlearn things that were holding him back much earlier than in canon, he would then naturally be more confident by the time he’s in his 3rd year There’s a mutual dependency between him and his teammates on the court (relying on him to guard their backs and them scoring that point to make sure his efforts weren’t in vain), so Chiba learns early on that it’s okay to ask for help and rely on others when you’re stuck.
…that would also mean that there is no way that Chiba would drop to Class E. He has always been smart and good at studying, the only thing that really pulled him down was his reluctancy to ask for help, which what caused him to flunk his biology grades. But since that’d be fixed in this AU, there’s no reason for his grades to get pulled down enough to be dropped to Class E.
Tbh we never really get those kind what-if AUs where a 3E student never dropped to Class E… I’ve always wondered hoe different they would’ve turned out if they stayed in the main campus as 3rd years
Also because Chiba joined the volleyball club here, there’s no Lead Guitarist-kun drama and the band DREAM wouldn’t even come to be… Daisuke probably wouldn’t even join the Light Music Club since Chiba wasn’t there to wow him…
If canon Chiba is already social enough to get along with most of 3E, Chiba in this AU is a legit social butterfly haha. His loud and chaotic side would likely be more prominent since he has less worries, and he’d be a lot more vocal with how he cares for the people he’s close to.
Chiba and Miho have always been in Class C since their 1st year. Don’t be surprised that they end up becoming friends despite being in different clubs. He’d likely meet Eiji through Miho… he still wants to deck him since that’s how revolting he finds him.
And don’t get me started on how Chiba and Kaho would instantly click ajsgsjsksj they’d be so close because Kaho would be like: “oooohh handsome dependable libero~ ” and Chiba would just find her enthusiasm towards him endearing (and touching even). Then boom, perfect chemistry haha
Also in this AU, Kaho takes tennis more seriously cause not only did she find herself really liking it, she is THAT competitive. She loves that rewarding feeling when winning a match after a long series of efforts. It’s not unrealistic to say that Kaho just has the advatange to become good enough to qualify for the championships for Singles among junior high schools in Tokyo (not necessarily win it though).
Just imagine them supporting each other whenever one of them has a match, be it a practice or an official tournament. You know, a healthy emotional support system between two positive-minded active people who are likely to fall for each other in the long run ahehehehe
The whole Seo problem would NEVER happen this AU, since Chiba would have enough backbone to make him back off.
Being a student from Class 3-C, Chiba as a main campus student would probably give little to no shit about Class E lmao. He has his own things to worry about so why would he bother with them when he could just mind his own business instead? He finds the assembly bullying a nuisance so he doesn’t really bother joining in the harsh poking. He’s in a comfortable place so there’s no need to push his insecurities onto people below him ー a student from the normal Class C indeed!
If Chiba had a former teammate who dropped to Class E, he wouldn’t mind talking to him. They were teammates, after all. He had seen his worth as a player and that quality won’t magically change just because the poor guy couldn’t keep his grades up. That doesn’t change the fact he was once a teammate that Chiba had relied on to score points many times before. He has that respect.
…so yeah, Chiba would be having it so much better in this AU if I were being completely honest.
It’s 3E you’ve gotta worry about here… cause how different things would turn out for them in terms of assassination, if their super accurate sniper was never with them from the very beginning??
Product/s used: Dolly Wink Liquid Eyeliner - Deep Black
From@dreaming-of-assclass’s association post about Chiba, because she really called it with the eyeliner since the way I draw his eyes these days makes it seem like he’s wearing one lol
Along with some sprinkles of my own personal headcanons that complement the style I’ve been going for him
I only tried putting these together to compare my consistency in drawing Chiba’s face…
But then I was reminded of the twin AU I made for fun over two years ago
It wasn’t in depth as I usually write my AUs cause it was just a casual thought. But there’s Ryuunosuke (龍之介), the older twin who’s more confrontational, and Riku (俐虎), the younger twin who’s more passive. They’re both still gentle, helpful, and observant - it’s just that they have contrasting ways to show their kindness. Also different interests, strengths, and friend groups - cause one attracts extroverts like a moth to a flame, and the other finds it more comfortable when people aren’t too high energy.
Yeah, it means that Ryuunosuke’s entire existence is always a threat to Riku’s serenity lol
I think a funny thing I thought about was that Okuda is afraid of Ryuunosuke, and yet is good friends with Riku for some reason. Definitely not because of Ryuunosuke’s eyes, cause he and Riku literally share the same face
Prominent headcanon: Chiba has a wide collection of beanies and he especially likes them big and comfy.
As for the cat beanie… let’s just say it was a gift he ended up liking more than he thought he should
If there’s an actual sunshine line up in assclass, can we please PLEASE officially add Chiba??? My gentle bundle of joy was done dirty by lerche. Just because he looks mean doesn’t mean he’s incapable of radiating happiness
Brainrot Time: How I wish the sniper duo’s future was handled instead
I’ve said a lot of things on my discord these past few years that I wish I should’ve posted here, because I think they really serve as good ideas or just something to ponder over.
But this one I am sharing with you all because… I am still salty to this day, everyone
I’ve been a Chibahaya fan for a goddamn long time, but even during that period, it was a strong petpeeve of mine whenever one of the snipers is treated as nothing else but a mere half of a pairing. And I am not talking about fandom content here, because that’s already a given.
I am talking about the sniper duo chapter in the graduation album.
Traits that make Chiba the ever capable and independent person he has always been were literally retconned, as we see him in the first few panels barely waking up from last night’s depressing drinking session cause he wasn’t getting hired. And then we have Hayami - who had to put herself aside, once again, so she could save his ass from unemployment… just to become his secretary at the end.
Like how is that any different to what she’s been doing in middle school, which CAUSED her to drop to Class E may I add???
I get that Matsui wanted them to be partners still in their adulthood, and I do like that the snipers had kept in touch to a point that they still meet up after all these years. But the way he handled this just felt cheap right off the bat and is disrespectful to their characters.
Especially since Hayami has always been inferior to Chiba. Making her Chiba’s secretary right after the only instance we’ve seen her doing better than him, is doing nothing but adding insult to injury.
And I don’t like that.
In my take, Hayami gets the spotlight as she hustles her way to finding her place and discovering more of herself. We get to see more of how capable and incredibly skilled she has always been, which I think would have been a great follow up to how she greatly shined in the Civil War arc since she wasn’t being outshined by Chiba.
Also note: Chiba had asked her to merely help him out with setting up his own firm, since Hayami knows her way around the business side of things because that was her major in university. Whether Hayami gets to work in his company or not is entirely up to her, but I doubt that Chiba would allow her to carelessly put herself aside for him, not when there’s plenty of better opportunities for her to take.
Would’ve been great to see how they have grown as their own persons but I guess we can’t always have nice things
POV: You are Okajima trying to persuade everyone why it’s a good idea to jump between tall buildings during the brightest and busiest time of the day.
So I will call this trio the “self-sacrificing big brothers from big families whose character arcs revolve around learning that it’s okay to ask for help and that you don’t have to shoulder everything on your own”
They’re frenemies at best and a threat to humanity at worst. Anywhere in between is a rare occasion.
Frenemies in a way that they almost never agree with each other when it comes to trivial things.
Basically, Chiba finds American pop music generic and boring while Nakamura finds metal and hardcore punk too noisy.
And they fight over it. A lot.
It all started when Chiba mentioned that he dislikes Charlie Puth’s music. Nakamura was offended and soon, war broke out.
The class had to watch, utterly baffled, as Chiba and Nakamura went to have a somehow well-articulated screaming match that lasted about 10 minutes before Korosensei had to break them off.
Literally the only artist who releases music that both of them liked enough to not start arguments is Simple Plan.
Korosensei had once attempted to unofficially implement Philosophy class during homeroom time to help the class further develop their communication skills. But soon reconsidered when Nakamura and Chiba began fighting for having opposing opinions on a topic once again.
Honestly speaking, if not exhausting, their arguments can be pretty enjoyable to witness, especially with Chiba’s sarcasm, Nakamura’s wit and their… diverse choice of words.
Hence, half of the time, they argue simply for wanting to keep each other entertained.
Although he doesn’t really crack jokes, according to Nakamura, Chiba’s comedic timing with his sarcasm is impeccable. (His dry responses to Okajima’s dirty jokes are what’s making them funny in the first place.)
Nobody in the class knows who exactly coined Okajima’s newest nickname “Oka-kin”, but for sure it’s either one of these two.
If they had partnered up instead for the test of courage back in Okinawa, it’d be a long series of running and screaming. Nakamura reacts strongly to being spooked, while Chiba absolutely cannot handle horror at all.
They’re both quite active on social media, especially on twitter. If you’re mutuals with both their accounts, almost everyday you could see Chiba cussing her out on a tweet, because she likely had forced him to see something he didn’t like on his homepage.
I’ve drawn these three a couple of times before already, but not in a more rendered illustration. So here they are, in a dressed down version of their winter uniforms to accommodate with the rising temperature in the Class E building.
So I was rereading the manga to refresh my memory since it’s been a while and I just realized something…
Looking at how consistent and fitting the speech pattern here is, until we got to that panel of Chiba being used as the example (and no, that is not Isogai. The antenna’s missing).
The paneling itself strongly suggests that Chiba was the one speaking the whole time (and it makes sense, since he is among the most matured in the class and his high observation skills are among his defining traits).
And Chiba’s very talkative in the manga, people.
And this fucks me up, knowing that in the anime adaptation, all of his speaking lines were redistributed to the more popular characters
It would’ve been a great follow up to how he’s beginning to trust his friends even more than he already does, that he’s willing to speak out his thoughts unprovoked and especially voice out his personal concerns (since that’s where his communication issues centers around).
At a later point of the school year, everyone in Class E knows what Chiba’s eyes look like.
Except for Sugaya.
When he attempts to guess what they look like for the umpteenth time, the whole class spectates. But the cheeky ones chose to mess with him by purposely giving him all the wrong hints.
Chiba was not amused at all when he later saw a drawing of his face with Korosensei’s beads for eyes.
I know the math jacket is probably not a blazer (tho I am blaming Maehara in the official art wearing a math blazer for clogging my brain), but I just simply wanted to challenge myself since other kinds of long-sleeved tops are much easier to work around with, no matter how tacky they are
Can we talk about how in the few seconds that the kids had to get into position, Chiba decided “yeah I know we’re on a time crunch but I want to threaten this guy with a decorative axe” like what a legend
I’d also like to belatedly add that Chiba is a skinny emo middle schooler in a lime green button up and whatever the fuck those pants are and he hasn’t even gotten the damn gun yet but he still has the audacity to pose like that
Sugaya: ATE AN ENTIRE FUCKING LEMON, HE DIDN’T SQUEEZE IT INTO ANYTHING, HE DIDN’T EVEN CUT IT INTO PIECES, HE DIDN’T EVEN SKIN IT, HE JUST SHOVED THE ENTIRE THING IN HIS MOUTH AND SWALLOWED, I HAVE NEVER SEEN ANYTHING SO HORRIBLE IN MY LIFE
