Chapter Text
The corridor was filling up with eager chatter and resounding footsteps. [Y/N] felt a little lost, although she knew almost everyone was headed in the same direction. It was bewildering to see students even leaving the school grounds. They could do that?? Her eyes chanced upon the raven locks swishing, half-head above the crowd, and subconsciously followed him. At least the mad rush is not as bad as Tokyo…
Within moments she had already lost sight of Kageyama. She let out a sigh; she would see him again later anyway. The cafeteria was packed. Realising she was unconsciously holding her breath, she shakily exhaled and paced over to the ticket machine. Acutely aware of the line behind her, she punched the first button that caught her eye, “Kitsune Udon”.
Ah. I kinda wanted the curry rice…
Having collected her meal tray with the ticket, she scanned the sea of students for a ray of hope. Her eyes lit up at the chance spot in the corner and beelined it there. Actually this kitsune udon is perfect, I needed something comforting… [Y/N] swiftly cleared her tray to utilise the remainder of her lunch break to explore her school grounds. Her legs were subconsciously leading her to the gymnasiums.
Bam! Beep-kerthunk- The familiar mechanical droning followed after the drop. She rounded the corner and was greeted with the sight of Kageyama crouching down for his gun-gun yoghurt. He froze, hand still outreached into the depths of the pick up box. For reasons unknown, [Y/N] froze too. The silence was deafening as they maintained eye contact for that few milliseconds. Kageyama coughed into his fist before pulling himself back to height and promptly made himself scarce.
… It’s almost like he was scared of me.
The laughter escaped her in sputters. It felt as if a taut string had loosened from that encounter alone. The rest of the day passed fairly uneventfully. Until she was facing the 2nd gymnasium doors, clenching her bag straps; She had asked around for where they usually practiced. She tried to loosen her hands in an attempt to dissipate the nerves but they went right to gripping the hem of her skirt. Her lips pursed.
I can’t do it. I can’t. I can’t go in—
“Hmm..? Are you here for the volleyball club? The girls are in Gym 1– AGHH!”
The shock of orange filled her vision. Her eyes widened as she raised a finger at him.
“AH! The #10! Uh… HINATA…-san…”
They both stood unblinking and slack-jawed. “You’re.. Aren’t you from Nekoma??? Wait, don’t tell me- are you here to join us??”
“Actually- yes- maybe…” her voice trailed off because as certain as Hinata made it sound, she wasn’t so sure of it herself anymore.
“COME IN, COME IN. We’ll figure it out once you’re inside” He positively beamed; it was hard to say no to that big grin. Practically pushed from behind, she found herself standing at the entrance of the 2nd gymnasium.
It was unnerving how their eyes locked on to her as she stepped in cautiously. Felt like absolute déjà vu from this morning. She caught herself glancing through the space for a familiar face but the only ones she recognised were Hinata and Kageyama—oh no he’s walking right here—
“Oei Hinata, what’s she doing here–”
“Stop glaring at her! Why do you hafta look so scary”
“H-huh, oh. Sorry.” his furrowed brow softened at the remark. Seemed like that glare was one of his default settings. “Hold it BOKEh did you just call me scary?”
“Settle down you two.. So, who is this?”
A clean-cut, amicable boy approached them. The younger looking boys ( they looked like first years ) peered from behind him. [Y/N] swallowed hard.
“I’m–!“
“AGH! ITS THE NEKOMA MANAGER!”
“Ryuu, she wasn’t the manager remember BUT YEAH THE NEKOMA GIRL WHAT’S SHE DOING HERE!!”
All heads turned to the loudmouths, then back to the girl rooted on the spot. She seemed desperate to flee right there and then.
“ALRIGHT, stop intimidating the poor girl and go warm up. Sorry, nice to meet you. I’m Ennoshita Chikara. The captain. Um, sorry, Nekoma-san I’ll be right back with you in a minute” he shooed the noisy bystanders away.
Haha, he has it rough alright. No but really what AM I doing here…
An image of a blonde middle blocker flashed unbidden in her mind and she slapped herself to force the thought away. Who should walk in right then but the lanky teen himself? Tsukishima had an expression akin to spectating someone who grew an extra head. He paused for a millisecond, and walked right in wordlessly. The day was truly rife with frozen moments.
Once again, [Y/N] contemplated her impulsive behaviour and was about to make a run for it—“IS EVERYONE HERE, ok GATHER ROUND FOR THE BRIEFING” It was met with shouts of acknowledgment and hurried shuffling to where the intimidating-looking coach, and bespectacled advisor stood. Heart palpitations getting the better of her, she attempted to inch away from the crowd—
“Uh. By the way who is that girl over there.”
[Y/N] flinched. She creaked her head to find the lot of them staring at her crouched visage; not unlike that of a cat that had been caught in the act. It was unlikely she could escape unseen now. She caught Tsukishima with his mouth slightly ajar, but it looked like he decided against his inner thoughts and closed it shut.
“Coach Ukai!! She’s—I don’t know her name —Sorry!! She wants to join as a manager!— I think…” Bless his soul, Hinata finally broke the ice.
“A NEW FEMALE MANAGER?! YAMAMOTO IS GONNA LOSE IT!!” guffawed Tanaka. “VIVA FEMALE MANAGERS!” He gleefully (and loudly) pranced around with his partner in crime, Nishinoya. The first years (possibly, she was only 80% sure) looked on in utter confusion. Ennoshita looked on helplessly. “There you have it. Takeda-sensei, could you please help her with the club registration while I wrangle the zoo animals.”
“Ah-! Of course. Uh, how do I address you again?”
Startling, she returned to reality and found that she met the teacher at the same eye level as her.
“Yes, ah— I’m [Y/N]. Nice to meet you, thank you in advance.”
“No problem at all, let’s head to the office. I’ll need to print it out. You can meet the current manager too, she’s helping me with some printouts.”
“—Okay!”
Takeda gestured for her to enter first when–
Bump — followed by the sound of papers flapping to the ground and the dismayed shrieks of a student rang through the corridor. “OHHHh my god I am sooo sorry, please forgive me!” The blonde strands of hair whooshed up and down.
“Yachi-san it’s alright… let’s pick them up shall we?”
“Takeda-sensei! I thought you were at the gymnasium. I’m so sorry was I taking too long?? The printer jammed and I was panicking trying to figure out what happened–“
“No-no it’s okay, I was just bringing [Y/N]-san back here to fill up the member registration!” he chuckled. Yachi’s eyes widened, her head swivelled left to right. Her hands sprung to her mouth and she inadvertently let go of the sheets she was clutching.
“I-I... am I going to have someone to help me now...” Tears welled up in her eyes and she clutched [Y/N]’s hands in her own petite pair. “Thank you—Please thank you… Ah–”. Yachi hastily grabbed the stack from Takeda’s hands (he had been silently picking them up during the whole thing). “I’m so sorry sensei I’ll head to the gymnasium first. See you later [Y/N]-chan!”
Yachi sped off before she could reply. Takeda lightheartedly smiled. “She’s got the right spirit but she can get a little too flustered sometimes!”
—————————
The squeaks of the balls on the parquet flooring greeted them as they returned. Karasuno volleyball club was fully in session. Groups of them practiced in different sets of drills as Coach Ukai barked out commands. [Y/N] felt a thrill of adrenaline; different as it was, it felt like the Spring Tournament was replaying before her.
“WATCH OUT–!”
The ball whizzed past her by a hair’s breadth as she instinctively jerked her head to the side. They were all dumbfounded, including herself. Did that really just happen?
“[Y/N] are you an esper, that was so cool~~!!”
“OEI HINATA HOW DARE YOU IGNORE MY TOSS–”
“[Y/N]-CHAN I KNEW YOU WERE SPECIAL THE MOMENT I SAW YOU–“ Tanaka and Nishinoya clasped their hands together as if in prayer.
The hall erupted in chaos once again. Ukai groaned heavily and skulked off the court. Takeda seemed torn between getting them to settle down or keeping to the sidelines. [Y/N] was at the crossroads again, it wasn’t too late to pull out now. She barely signed the form moments ago, there was nothing stopping her from leaving. Except maybe the rambunctious horde of boys now gathered here, bombarding her from left to right.
“YOU ALL, that’s ENOUGH! Look at Coach, he’s sulking at the side now.”
Ukai pricked up his ears. “Uh, Ennoshita-kun I’m not sulking, but thank you..”
“Captain, I just need to know—[Y/N] what are those reflexes, were you in a sports club before?” Hinata pleaded. The immediately deafening excitement was overwhelming at her admission of being a former volleyball member in middle school.
“I want to see you play! Can I?! Please Ukai-san!” The coach grunted his assent.
“Um, I’m not very good at it though… But I do have a request. I want to try receiving—uh—Kageyama…-san’s serve?”
Her statement earned a chorus of oohs and ahhs. She wondered if she was being too forward for saying so; it was a fact that she sincerely wanted to ever since she saw his service aces back in December. The team fixated on Kageyama, eagerly awaiting his response.
“Okay let’s do it.” his blue eyes glistened in the overhead lighting.
Everyone watched with bated breaths as Kageyama and [Y/N] took their places on the opposite sides of the net. She could see Yachi visibly trembling as she clutched her clipboard.
I’m so sorry Yachi-san… She steeled herself for the incoming meteor. “Kageyama-san! Don’t hold back just because I’m a girl! I want to receive it at your usual strength!!”
Kageyama broke his stoic character for a mere moment before returning to his usual manner. “Okay. Here it comes.” He jogged and leapt into his beautiful form— SMACK-WHOOSH-THUMP—
“Sorry it’s short-!” she exclaimed by force of habit.
Kuh- that was embarrassing–
“SHOYO!” the libero deftly jump-tossed her receive. “AALRIGHT!” In true Hinata fashion, he spiked the ball clean over the net. “WHOAAA THAT WAS SO COOL! Noya-san nice toss!” He bounded over to the back where she was still frozen in shock.
“[Y/N]-CHAN NICE RECEIVE! I can’t believe you actually caught that guy’s monster serve! Even the powerhouse schools have some trouble with it at the start!” She let out a hesitant chuckle, and distinctly heard Kageyama across the court mumbling something about more serve practice.
“Haha King, it looks like you’re out of practice. Must feel bad to have your serve received by a GIRL.” Tsukishima’s snarky drawl echoed through the court.
He had without a doubt hit a nerve, was he implying that she received it on a fluke? “Oi Tsukishima, what’s that supposed to mean?” she retorted. Her initial demeanour completely forgotten, [Y/N] was now positively fuming at his single remark.
The blonde cocked his head at her acid tone. “I only meant it in a way that scientific studies have proven the biological male gender is irrefutably stronger than females. And anyone here could agree you did have some trouble with that receive, you called it yourself”. He laughed mockingly.
“Ah, but I guess physical limits aside you’re also in the same class as that idiot so you’re not that far off probably.”
The captain pinched his nose bridge and exhaled with his very being. The boys looked torn; they understood the reasoning, but they were also mildly intimidated by the new (potential) manager at this very moment.
Seething with rage, she took a deep breath to steel herself. Unfortunately it didn’t dissipate the anger as much as she would have liked. She glared at him as hard as she could and crossed her arms, her fists still balled up.
“I bet any of those FEMALES in the Nationals could beat your ass. So what if you made it the Top 8? And are you trying to say I’m stupid? Just because you’re sooo good at blocking so you’re really smart or something? You’re a real piece of work; ALSO your receives and serves are average at best anyway.”
Her outburst elicited all manners of gasps and whistles. Tsukishima was silent, however his stony expression spoke volumes. Regardless, he wouldn’t have gotten a word in anyway owing to Ennoshita (literally) getting between them.
The poor captain was at his wit’s end, the term had barely started and he had to handle a team conflict already. It brought back some memories of when Daichi had to wrangle the, now, 2nd years.