"Just kid."

Everyone expects him to live up to being the ace of a legendary team, succeeding the local "miracle boy" himself. He probably doesn't have a lot of his friends in his classes due to volleyball commitments and probably is shunned by other first years on the club out of jealousy. The only company he'd really have are his other teammates, whom he is trying so hard to impress. He doesn't want to let them down, he wants to do them proud and be worth all the effort they put into him.

He is a bit loud, brazen, tries to talk big but you can see how much he looks for his upperclassmen's approval. He's making promises, he's trying to show the team that he's not cracking under the pressure, that he can brush it off too. He's challenging ushijima to prove he's fearless, to prove he's not daunted by the task everyone is expecting him to accept.

Some might read that and think I'm saying he's crumbling on the inside, that this pressure is breaking him into nothing but I wouldn't say crumbling. Hell, I don't think Goshiki could ever actually crumble. I think part of him believes this sense of confidence. I would say, though, that there is a voice in the back of his head that tells him he's not enough. Everytime he messes up, it sits in the back of his mind, every point missed he feels it. He knows he's giving his all but he wants to give more.

I love Goshiki Tsutomu and he is so often treated like a pet peeve of arrogance or Shiratorizawa's "baby" but think of it like this: Ushijima hates baseless confidence. He hates when someone's bark is louder than their bite, we see how he views Hinata for a start. Do you think he'd ever encourage Goshiki so honestly if he didn't have the potential to enhance Shiratorizawa?

Do you think Washijou would've even glanced at him if he wasn't something? Do you think Shirabu would set to someone who wouldn't score? Do you think anyone in the team would let him mess up and geek out if they didn't believe, deep down, he was as good as them?

When my mum watched Haikyuu with me, she said she found Goshiki arrogant, annoying and immature: it infuriated me and I could never quite articulate how she has misread him so much. Maybe on the surface he seems that way but it's because it is all on the surface. He is constantly trying to seem cool, for the validation and respect of his senpais, who do not seem to understand that the praise is really what he needs.

When Hinata compliments him, Goshiki shone and he performed with flying colours. The praise was all it took for him to change his mind on a dime and play with them and, not to mention, he was the designated leader of that training camp for sure!

He was the one everyone had their eyes on and he was the most advanced - you could tell that these players respected him and I hope he knew it, I hope it gave him the confidence boost he'd been lacking for so long ever since joining Shiratorizawa.

It got slightly off track at the end but I hope you followed :') I love my boy lol