the duality of sand, and what it means to begin again
their brief time together in brazil highlights how relationships and one’s perceptions of another change with time, age and experience. hinata, who used to be intimidated by the imposing grand king, is now seeing him laugh, trip and stumble in the sand. hinata, who in oikawa’s eyes was clumsy and unskilled, is now teaching him how to play beach. it’s seeing the other at their most vulnerable, this openness that allows them to connect with each other in a way they never would’ve been able to if they were both still in japan.
it was practically fate they met each other at the right place, right time. both of them being what the other needed the most. oikawa cheering hinata up in the depths of his loneliness and homesickness. hinata helping oikawa remember volleyball is fun. oikawa who was struggling to get somewhere and hinata reminding him of where oikawa had been before he’d ever gotten anywhere.
the way it was hinata, who started with nothing, who reminds oikawa what it felt like when he started out. hinata, who we watched build and establish his roots throughout the series, that reminds oikawa of his own. hinata shouyou from the concrete who reminds oikawa the grand king what it feels like to begin again.
there’s the symbolism of sand, its unsteadiness that forces you to get back to your roots, to start anew. for something that’s soft and has so much give, it mercilessly doesn’t let you get away with anything, yet is forgiving and gentle as you work to build yourself back up again, stronger than before. “relearning from the ground up, one more time.” it’s relearning what it means to truly connect to one other person because in beach, you only have one other ally on the same side of the net. both in beach and right now on the other side of the world, hinata and oikawa are the only allies the other has. both in beach and right now in brazil, this partnership is merely momentary-what does it mean to connect when the other is all you have?
hinata reminds oikawa the exhilaration of learning something new, being a beginner at something again, and feeling driven to get better at it. for oikawa, brazil-hinata-was a reset. being able to play with no pressure, to lose yourself in the game, to lose the game itself, all for the sake of just playing. that simple-minded goal of trying something you just learned again and again until you get it being your sole driving force, game scores themselves be damned. it doesn’t matter. not here, not right now.
only in those fleeting few days, in that one moment they were able to play these roles for each other. in brazil, only during this transient moment, they were both able to exist outside of their preconceived notions of each other. this unspoken acknowledgment between the other that japan oikawa and japan hinata are as far away as their home country itself. once opponents, now teammates who learn what it means to trust in someone else in a foreign and unforgiving realm.
the way both of them were feeling stuck and unmoored in foreign countries but it was happening upon the other through a chance encounter that helped ground each of them within this uncertain point of time in their lives. brazil was a brief interlude that was so ephemeral but helped give both of them the comfort and confidence to keep moving forward in their journeys to the top with renewed vigor.
they both remembered what it feels like to confidently take on a challenge, because you are invincible when you start at the bottom, when there’s nowhere else to go but up.
they both reminded each other of home, and what beginnings feel like. both reminded each other why they came here, so far away from home. they put themselves through these hardships because at the end of the day they love this sport. they fell in love with it before and through each other, fell in love with it again. through the other, they remembered that volleyball is fun.
