— mad dog and puppy analysis thread

before we start!!!

tw // food mentions
- i literally. wrote this while rlly tired and i just talk a lot of bs and probably read some shit wrong and is incorrect abt somethings BUT I TRIED.

this light novel chapter starts off in kyoutani’s pov with him eating his favourite food, chicken which is from what i’m assuming is from the convenience store lawson while walking to volleyball practice. the beginning is basically a rundown of kyoutani’s backstory

( i.e. him not attending the club, the nickname mad dog etc ) and also goes on about his relationships with his teammates calling them annoying and how he doesn’t like them calling him mad dog or just names in general ( this will be vry important later on!!! )

it talks about how he doesn’t want to suddenly become soft or nice due to him returning back to the club and how that it didn’t matter if he came late if he worked just as hard. at the end of this bit of the story it mentions yahaba, the second year setter and how

he’s waiting for kyoutani. ( In the third gymnasium where the volleyball club is gathered, Yahaba Shigeru, a second-year back-up setter, clicked his tongue silently as he glared at the clock on the wall. )

as the story progresses kyoutani finds a dog while walking to practice

and how he reacts to the dog is honestly so sweet and pure despite him putting on a harsh or rough act when it comes to actual people. it’s canon that kyoutani has a pet dog so it’s safe to say that kyoutani is very much an animal person which means he

attracts other animals! this will be important later on. since kyoutani thinks that the dog wants to eat his chicken as a response kyoutani eats the rest of it in one go and pockets the packaging! this is a reference to his current concern ( Lawson's new "Kara Age Kun" is hard to

throw away. ) which is a very nice touch! he then quickly runs to pratice in hope to lost the dog. while running from the dog kyoutani has a moment about feeling bad because of a few memories. about how he’s fustrated, exhausted, confused. this shows that kyoutani isn’t a

heartless asshole who’s on his high horse, the truth being that he’s tired of being the center of complaints. how he just wants to quit at times and that the reason his desire to be a prick was because of how tired, how fustrated and how confused he was.

and in all this he doesn’t want to tell anybody this, he’s built up the mindset that nobody will ever understand him. while he was having his moment the dog had managed to follow him, because dogs are loyal which can be read as a metaphor of how though kyoutani find his teammates

annoying he stays loyal to the sport and eventually his team. he has a talk with the dog telling him how the dog’s cuteness wouldn’t get them any food and then runs off to practice. while running, kyoutani thinks of yahaba, how yahaba would think that it’s just some kind of

sarcastic mockery. this hints at the fact that kyoutani knows how yahaba thinks, how kyoutani understands yahaba.

kyoutani finally arrives at practice and the first person to talk to him was, of course, yahaba. yahaba scolds kyoutani about being late, asking if he was serious

about volleyball. kyoutani ignored yahaba’s scolding, getting somewhat hurt by it. he explains why he’s late and doing that he only looks at yahaba telling himself that he shouldn’t care about what yahaba thinks of him but he does. kyoutani cares about what yahaba thinks of him.

yahaba continues to talk about how he’s unhappy but gets shut up by watari. it was noted that yahaba’s nagging / them fighting wasn’t new but had improved from when they were first years which is very important because it shows how a relationship like theirs can change with a

little bit of hardwork and commitment. kyoutani notes that he supposes it’s better now that he hasn’t quit which means he’s aware of his and yahaba’s development.

they’re now doing spiking / setting practice and yahaba tosses to kyoutani and kyoutani spikes it with a lot of

power and ends up bumping into yahaba when landing which caused them to fight. yahaba tells kyoutani that he should start taking stuff more seriously which causes kyoutani to react harshly and say that yahaba should be the one taking it seriously.

ashamed, kyoutani says he’s

going home.

in response to this yahaba, out of anger, says that the team doesn’t need kyoutani and that their better off without him.

making his way back home kyoutani encounters the puppy again, he questions why the dog is so obsessed with him.

while doing so, a familiar

face is right behind him. kyoutani, somehow already knows that it’s yahaba. as if he knows that yahaba, despite what he said earlier, needs kyoutani.

yahaba asks kyoutani a question having his tone described as off hand which makes kyoutani nervous because he can no longer read

yahaba because of this. yahaba notices that the dog is abandoned and asks about it, having kyoutani nod as confirmation that the dog is indeed abandoned.

kyoutani takes notice of how yahaba voice raises a bit, his tone filled with shock and excitement when asking kyoutani if he

is going to take the dog in or not. yahaba follows with how their lives aren’t a shoujo manga and how he should stop fucking around with him ( this could be read at how yahaba has mixed feelings about kyoutani and doesn’t know if he should like him or not ) and in response

kyoutani tells yahaba to fuck off and calls him crazy and says that he should just leave kyoutani alone.

at this, yahaba doesn’t even take a second to blink and at that kyoutani mentions how that says a lot about their relationship.

yahaba goes on about how he doesn’t believe

kyoutani playing adorable puppy finder and asks him what goes on.

kyoutani goes on to think about how yahaba thinks of him which means that he’s aware of yahaba’s thoughts on him, which means he CARES about how yahaba thinks about him.

yahaba finds kyoutani as a fustrating

fellow but acknowledges the fact that kyoutani is amazing, how he’s skilled and strong.

yahaba, angry, asks kyoutani more about the dog. kyoutani says he’s not bothering.

yahaba then asks kyoutani if he’s trying to appeal to girls by telling them that they like which is

honestly the funniest shit ever. in which kyoutani responds with a what the fuck. this goes on for a bit before yahaba’s tone goes serious telling kyoutani that THEY should probably find somewhere to take the puppy and that they should leave. TOGETHER MIGHT I ADD. yahaba wants

to work WITH kyoutani in order to get the puppy to safety.

and at this, kyoutani responds with "does it involve leaving?" and that my folks, leads up to why i made this thread in the first place.

this paragraph is copy and pasted from the actual chapter itself :

'Yahaba grins at him now like he’s the funniest thing ever. Then he laughs. It’s an odd, almost foreign sound–he hasn’t heard Yahaba laugh in way too long, and it’s edgeless, and it’s amused as hell, and it’s just Yahaba all over again. And through all this, Kyoutani tries not to

pay attention to how weird this whole thing makes him feel. “Sort of.”'

and god am i gonna talk about this for a couple of paragraphs. in this specific piece of text.

in this paragraph yahaba grins at kyoutani’s question on if it involved leaving, then he laughs. HE LAUGHS.

to kyoutani this sound is almost foreign to him, odd. he hasn’t heard yahaba laugh in way too long which may be a small detail but it implies so much. it implies that kyoutani has heard yahaba’s laugh before, it implies the possibility that kyoutani missed yahaba’s laughter.

he recognises yahaba’s laughter as edgeless and amused. he recognises it as yahaba, recognises that it’s yahaba all over again.

and you know what yahaba’s laughter makes kyoutani feel? what yahaba’s grin makes kyoutani feel?

it makes him feel weird, as if this feeling was new

to him. like he wasn’t ready when the world gave him yahaba shigeru. why does kyoutani feel this way about yahaba’s laughter or smile is something i’ll always think about and keep close.

after yahaba responds with a short and simple "sort of" kyoutani says he ( really, really )

doesn’t like how yahaba said that.

yahaba tells kyoutani to stop glaring at him, calling him a senseless moron.

at this kyoutani is confused on why yahaba is so determined to piss him off, calling him a bastard.

yahaba mentions how the puppy needs to eat and how they should

get food for the pup. kyoutani snaps at this. "Sure, I can pull them out of my ass,"

and at this– yahaba snorts. and then he looks up at kyoutani, with curiousity? who knows. yahaba studies kyoutani’s face. his expression.

and because of that, kyoutani doesn’t date move because

yahaba does that to him sometimes. yahaba takes kyoutani’s breathe away. one wrong move and he won’t be able to breathe.

yahaba makes kyoutani speechless at times, whether for the best or for the worst.

yahaba then relaxes, he’s done examining kyoutani’s face. satisfied.

satisfied with whatever he found or didn’t see.

yahaba picks up the dog and puts it in the cardboard box, and then picks up the cardboard box containing the dog.

yahaba tells kyoutani that theyre leaving and that he should carry the dog, kyoutani obligies.

yahaba suggests

they bring the dog to the police or someone that could help them with the dog. kyoutani calls yahaba out of his mind but says yes to it anyways.

yahaba’s tiny hair fluff jerked around hypnotically as he nodded back at kyoutani, kyoutani finds it impossible to look away.

in the story, this interaction happens.

"Let’s go then, Mad Dog-chan.“

Kyoutani gives him a narrow look and makes a bitterly amused sound. "I hate that.”

and this, though small is very important to kyoutani and yahaba’s relationship because this was the first time kyoutani

ever spoke up about something that bothered him personally, yahaba was his first.

at this yahaba is concerned, note that the author used the word concerned. a word you use when you worry / care for someone. YAHABA CARES ABOUT KYOUTANI LIKE HOW KYOUTANI CARES ABOUT YAHABA.

kyoutani responds bitterly to yahaba saying "you never told us before" ( BECAUSE YAHABA IS CONCERNED ABOUT KYOUTANI. ) with a "nobody asked".

yahaba remembers that kyoutani said that he didn’t like oikawa calling him weird names which means yahaba listens to kyoutani, because he

CARES ABOUT KYOUTANI.

kyoutani is easy to let it go, thinking he’s been through worst.

yahaba wants to talk more with kyoutani, yahaba wants to get to know kyoutani better.

kyoutani is suspicious of yahaba but yahaba says that it was because he was bored.

kyoutani is still sus of him and tells yahaba to try again.

and this was yahaba’s response.

“Because you apparently want people to ask you stuff? And I think that’s cool. I can think of a lot of things to start with.”

i. think. that’s. cool. yahaba thinks kyoutsni is cool.

kyoutani refrains himself from saying something snarky or unkind to yahaba, he doesn’t feel like starting an argument with yahaba.

they’re walking to the police station side by side. they stayed silent, sometimes taking a look at a dog or exchanging quick glances.

yahaba attempts to start off a conversation with kyoutani but fails when kyoutani doesnt respond. yahaba scolds kyoutani which causes kyoutani to call him boring.

yahaba gets mad and tells kyoutani that he’ll be embarrassed when they become friends in the future and gets proven

wrong by everyone. yahaba wants to be friends with kyoutani.

after this they go to the police station and shit goes on. kyoutani gets angry at the policeman and they leave.

then they encounter a man, he gets into a fight with kyoutani.

they then encounter a group of girls, kyoutani scares them off.

but finally, they encounter a woman. kyoutani attempts to fight her off but she offers to find the owner for them. while she explains this yahaba calms kyoutani down.

the two finally allow the lady to take care of

the dog.

kyoutani felt sad that the dog left and yahaba knew that but yahaba told them and i quote.

“Everyone’s waiting. You caused some trouble for the senpais, and it wasn’t something you should have shown to our juniors, either. Just realize that you have teammates who are

waiting for you just like that dog has friends waiting for him, too. I think it was cute that you immediately tried to search for a rightful owner and it got attached to you. It’s so unlike you.”

yahaba canonically thinks that kyoutani is cute and that it was unlike kyoutani to

do something like what he did. yahaba was angry at how he had told kyoutani that. he thought in silence before kyoutani told them to go.

their last exchanged words before leaving were about eachother’s scent. how kyoutani thinks yahaba smells of dog and how yahaba remarked with

saying kyoutani smelt worse.

as they’re walking to school, they encounter a cat.

kyoutani tried to interact with the cat and yahaba pulled him away but the cat clawed at kyoutani, moving up on him.

at this yahaba asks why they’re always attached to you and kyoutani responds

how it’s not his fault.

yahaba’s reply is about how he hates how kyoutani is easily liked— despite how mean and harsh kyoutani is yahaba thinks kyoutani is easily liked. yahaba finds kyoutani alluring, a mystery ready to be discovered by yahaba and yahaba only.

— end thread!