Archive of Our Own

Yachi stared at the doors to the gym. She could do this. It wasn’t any different than it had been last week when she was here before. It was the same gym, with the same nets, the same balls, and the same people. 

Well, mostly the same people.

Because that was the kicker wasn’t it, that everything wasn’t the same. That everything had actually irreparably changed forever because now she was a second year and the third years were gone and the team was different and now there would be someone new and— 

And now there would be someone missing . 

A really important someone. Someone that Yachi had relied on so heavily last year, and had taught her all the ropes, and was now working in a town far away from Karasuno and the team and far from- from- well. Far from Yachi. 

And Kiyoko had told her that she had nothing to worry about, that she was a natural at being a manager (a lie, they both knew she had put just as many hours into studying this as she did her normal schoolwork) and that if Yachi ever needed something she could always call. But Yachi knew that would only bother Kiyoko, would only burden her, and that was the one thing Yachi had always hated to be, a burden. So before the summer had ended and their team had officially disbanded, she had promised herself that she would never call Kiyoko for anything but to reassure her that everything was amazing and perfect and that Yachi was just as good at this as Kiyoko believed she was. 

She wasn’t, of course. But Kiyoko didn’t need to know that. If Yachi hadn’t already convinced her what she was actually like, then she would work hard to maintain the illusion. 

So here she was, ready to take that first step. All she had to do was suck it up and walk into the gym. Her metaphorical and literal first step were the same, a nice coincidence. Something that her literature teacher would point out to the class if this was a book. Not that it was a book, or if it was a book, definitely not one worth reading, especially if Yachi was the main character. Not many books about Townsperson B, even if Hinata had convinced her that there wasn’t anything particularly wrong with that. Maybe not a full book then but a snippet of someone else’s book? Or maybe a full chapter, a chapter for her about overcoming and succeeding and helping the team reach victory and being impressive for those 20 pages.

And then the book would move on and Yachi would be done with her time in the spotlight and the reader would continue reading about their beloved main character and Yachi would sit here and let herself fall to the back of their mind.

Yeah, she could do that.

But first she needed to actually get into the gym; can’t really manage a team if you’re not even in their gym. Especially a volleyball team, or at least an indoor one? Outdoor volleyball probably doesn’t use gyms, does it? Maybe she should ask Ukai or Kageyama, they would know about that. Or maybe Hinata? Then again—

“Yachi?” A voice from behind her asks.

 Yachi jumps and emits a sound so high she hopes only dogs can hear it.

 She turns around and feels the blood leave her face when she sees Ennoshita looking very startled behind her. 

“Iwasn’tskipping—”

“Yach-” 

“I was just trying to encourage myself to go in! I was really about to go in! I wasn’t just not going to come, I wouldn't skip such an important day!” 

“Yachi I know—”

“Not that I would skip any other days either! All days of practice are important ones and as the only manager I know better than to skip—” 

“YACHI!” Ennoshita puts his hands on her shoulders, “I know you would never skip. Even if you did, I know you would have a great reason to. Don’t worry about it. I was just going to ask why you were standing outside the gym.”

Yachi snaps her mouth shut and nods. Right! Of course! Ennoshita wouldn’t think she was skipping, Ennoshita was nice! Even if Tanaka and Noya told her that he was secretly terrifying. He had been nothing but kind to her, and usually seemed to understand her worries more than anyone else did.

“I just—!” She winces at the volume of her voice and lowers it a bit, “I just wanted to give myself a minute to... to make sure I was ready?” 

Ennoshita nods in understanding, “I get that, I might need a minute myself. I think I’m going to die of nerves.”

 Yachi’s eyes widen, “Really? But you look so calm!”

Ennoshita chuckles, “I keep telling myself maybe if I look calm long enough I’ll actually be calm, but I don’t think it’s worked yet.” He glances at her, “Guess we’ll have to pretend to be calm together.”

Yachi nods. She could pretend to be calm! Maybe not for a long time, and she already knows that it doesn’t actually end up making her calm, but for the beginning of practice... she could manage. 

“I think I might still wait out here for a little longer though,” She adds quietly, because while she could pretend to be calm it still felt like her heart would beat out of her chest if she walked in now. 

Ennoshita gives her another one of his sleepy smiles, “Don’t worry about it. We’re both pretty early anyways, so I doubt there’s anyone here yet anyways.” 

He walks past her and opens the door as he says this and Yachi watches him jump as Hinata’s unmistakable voice yells “CAPTAIN!!!!” from somewhere inside the gym. 

Yachi hears Ennoshita mutter, “Of course Hinata and Kageyama are here I don’t know why I expected anything else,” to himself as he regained his bearings. Then he pauses and squints into the gym “Wait, neither of you have a key. Who let you in?”

“Tanaka,” Kageyama answers calmly.

“And where is Tanaka now?” 

“Scaring the freshman!” Hinata answers happily, followed immediately by a squawk as Kageyama hits him. 

“We weren’t supposed to tell him that!” Kageyama hisses, and Yachi moves aside for what she already knows what’s going to happen.

“What?! I told him he couldn’t do that on the first day!” Ennoshita groans and whirls around, stomping out of the gym and back into the school, presumably to find wherever Tanaka was intimidating the newbies.

Yachi closes her eyes to the wind that hits her as Ennoshita rushes past her and thinks to herself that maybe everything is the same as it was last year. It’s this thought that finally gives her enough courage to walk into the gym, waving shyly as Hinata yells a greeting.

Kageyama greets her as well, a small nod and a ‘hello’ that Yachi mimics. She knows he seems calm on the outside but the way his hand twitches when Hinata passes the ball to him, and the glint in his eye tells her otherwise. 

She starts setting up what Hinata and Kageyama missed in their haste (which is less than expected but still quite a bit). She hums to herself as she gets the rest of the nets out and narrowly dodges a stray ball from whatever Hinata and Kageyama are doing now. 

She squints over at them. What were they doing?

She bit her lip, trying to decide whether to ask them or not. On the one hand she knows Hinata would jump on any opportunity to explain something about volleyball, his volleyball especially, as he made it more and more personalized to his own play style. But on the other she did still have to finish setting up, with the new first years yet to arrive, and Ennoshita and the second years still out recruiting, she wanted to do her part.

She pauses, Ennoshita was a third year now wasn’t he. It was Ennoshita and the third years. Oh god, she was the second year now, her first year status officially ripped from her clutches. 

She grimaces at the thought of being referred to as a second year, the insecurity that she was ready to face this year hitting her all over again. 

Tanaka and Nishinoya had seemed so ready to be second years when she met them last year. Her initial impression of their confidence only confirmed later by Hinata who agreed they were the “ultimate upperclassmen.” But she couldn’t help but relate more to what she had heard about Kinoshita’s approach to being a second year: reluctant acceptance.

She sighs as she remembers Kinoshita’s attempts to avoid being called to the bench last year. At least she didn’t have to worry about that, and with no other prospects for manager having approached them yet, she wouldn’t have to worry about having any direct juniors either. 

She shivers at the thought of having a first year manager shadow her. She was ready to collapse at the thought of being a manager alone, thinking about having to train someone would give her a heart attack. She would think about that when someone showed up for the position. 

She gasps. Wait, couldn’t a first year try and apply now? They were recruiting after all, and that didn’t just mean players! Kiyoko had recruited her last year after all, and while it wasn’t at the beginning of the year, it meant it was possible! The team was expecting more applications this year because of how far they made it last year, but didn’t that mean they could get more manager applications too?

If they got more applications for manager would they just accept all of them? It wasn’t exactly hard for Yachi to get into the club last year, and if they did get a lot of new people would Ukai just accept more managers? Her eyes widen in horror as she imagines a mini army of Karasuno managers. A mini army of managers for what would have to be a normal army of volleyball players. The main difference between this being that at least the players would be led by Ennoshita, who knew how to deal with people. Yachi on the other hand... 

“Yachi?” A soft voice asks, startling her out of her visions of Karasuno’s future volleyball army. “Is everything okay?” 

She looks up to see that Yamaguchi and Tsukishima had walked in already, with Yamaguchi giving her a worried look.

She quickly waves him off, “Yeah! Yes! Everything’s alright! Just wondering how many new people would show up today.” 

Yamaguchi perks up at that, “Oh yeah! I saw Tanaka and Nishinoya handing out flyers by the front gate today! I think we saw at least five people take a flyer, right Tsukki?” 

Tsukishima shrugs as he walks towards the court, “Probably. Maybe we’d get more if Tanaka didn’t look ready to gut the other sports teams for trying to recruit too.”

Yamaguchi laughs a little but reaches out to try and push Tsukishima, “Give him a break, I’m sure most of the people looking to join probably already know about the team.” 

“Oh? Someone’s feeling confident now, huh?” Tsukishima raises an eyebrow as he dodges the push, hurrying closer to the court. “What happened to worrying about no one caring that we made it to nationals?” 

“I told you that in a moment of weakness, I’ve recovered,” Yamaguchi huffs, and Yachi finds herself giggling. 

“Does that mean you want more people to join then?” Yachi asks, genuine. 

In the past Yamaguchi had shown the same hesitance towards his role on the team that Yachi had. The same general anxiety that they had been able to bond over to an extent, but something last year had changed for him and she had seen him grow in confidence since then. But he still had his moments in the same way she did, was there really no hesitance to getting new members from him? 

“I do!” Hinata calls from the court, immediately followed by an “ack!” as the ball he and Kageyama were tossing back and forth hits him on the top of the head. Old habits die hard, she supposed. 

“She wasn’t asking you, idiot.” 

Hinata glares at Kageyama, “I know that! But I can still be excited to get new people! I’m going to get to be a real upperclassman! The team is about to get way more interesting!”

Kageyama says something Yachi can’t hear, but it’s enough to set Hinata off. Yamaguchi expertly ignores them as he turns back to Yachi.

“Hinata basically said it, I think the idea of getting new people kind of freaks me out, but I can’t help but be excited too.” Yamaguchi’s smile grows, “The team is about to be handed a bunch of new opportunities. No matter what, that’s going to be interesting.” 

Yachi’s eyes widened in understanding, she had been thinking about this the wrong way! If the team was a machine last year, then this wasn’t about becoming an army, but integrating new parts into the machinery wasn’t it? Polishing what’s already there and introducing upgrades with new parts? That was a much more reassuring way to look at it.

“Not that we’ll know much about it until later though,” Tsukishima adds casually, “Considering newbies don’t get to come until practice after school.” 

“That’s right!” Yamaguchi gasps, “Ahhh I totally forgot that, now I’m going to have to wait all day,” He sighs. “I think the anticipation might kill me before then.” 

Yachi’s eyes widened, she forgot too! She would have to wait until later to see any new people who wanted to join! She couldn’t decide if that was better or worse. She still had this practice to try and get back into the swing of things but she wouldn’t have her fears confirmed or denied until later. 

She puts a hand to her chest. This was too much for her heart.

The day goes by excruciatingly slowly after that. Ukai had shown up to practice and they had all scrambled to start, letting him know the third years (still hard to say that) were still out recruiting. Afterwards, they had all gone to class like it was a normal day and Yachi had tried her best to pay attention in her classes instead of letting the looming feeling of dread overtake her. 

During lunch she runs into Hinata and Kageyama handing out flyers by the gym, both waving at her as she walks up. She accompanies them for a bit, leaving with them once Yamaguchi and Tsukishima come to take over for the second half of lunch. 

“Did you see, Yachi! We handed out a bunch of flyers about the team! Some kids even knew who we were already!” Hinata cheers happily, “I’m sure the team is going to be super strong this year!” He smirks at Kageyama, “A bunch of them were setters, so you better stay in shape if you don’t want to get replaced.” 

Kageyama scowls at him, “You’re the last person I want to hear that from. You’re the most likely to get switched out.”

Yachi takes a bite of her lunch, letting their bickering wash out the anxious thoughts in her head. She had learned better than to interrupt them too much at this point, they were better about knowing their limits while arguing nowadays. If anything it was relaxing now; a new kind of white noise. 

It’s not until after lunch that what Hinata says really hits her. He had said that since new people applied that Kageyama could get replaced. Not that he was wrong for saying it, Kageyama had taken Suga’s spot last year.

But, Kageyama had said the same thing back to Hinata, and in theory she knew any of them could lose their starter spots to the rookies. But did that go for managers too? She had never heard about anything like that, but it was possible wasn’t it? That someone with amazing manager skills would apply and take her spot on the bench as the main manager. 

Would they have better note taking skills than her? She still wasn’t great at shorthand, having to explain to Ukai what some of her notes meant from time to time. Speed was never her forte. Maybe their shorthand would be perfect and completely understandable? Would they remember to fill the water bottles more often? Would their overall note taking be better? Maybe they would have better stationery? Some of Yachi’s highlighters had been dying recently. And her lines weren’t as straight as they used to be. In fact she could see now that one of the boxes she had drawn around a section of notes was a little lopsided. Would this amazing first year manager be one of those people who always drew perfect straight lines? 

She tries to go back to focusing on the class, remembering that Ukai wasn’t the kind of person to replace people over stuff like that (probably). She bites her lip and starts writing down what the teacher is saying about grade expectations, her thoughts plagued by dried out highlighters and wobbly lines for the rest of class.

She walks up to the gym after class with an aged weariness on her shoulders. She stares at the doors, already hearing the excited chatter from Nishinoya and Hinata, she still didn’t know how they made it here so quickly. She puts her hand on the door handles, remembering what Ennoshita told her that morning. He wouldn’t have comforted her if he was ready to replace her right? Ennoshita would want her to be the main manager, or at least still be the team's manager, even if it was the secondary one.

She takes a deep breath, doing her best to push down the wobbly lines she knows she’s going to see in her nightmares and try to emit the same aura of calm Ennoshita had that morning. Remember what Yamaguchi had mentioned about the new opportunities the team was getting. They weren’t here to scare her, they were here to be part of the team. Even any new managers, not here to replace her in the machine, but instead be integrated next to her. She breathes out and opens the door. 

Inside Hinata and Nishinoya were already running around, the nets mostly set up. Kageyama and Yamaguchi were setting up the last one, Tsukishima standing stoically next to Ennoshita as they watch Tanaka and Narita talk to some boys Yachi doesn’t recognize.

She gulps. Right, of course some of the new members would be here already, they were supposed to be here anyways. She looks around, no Ukai yet, probably still at work. She goes to the next best thing, walking over to where Takeda is intensely writing notes into his notebook on the bench, a small stack of papers next to him.

“Takeda-sensei?” She says quietly.

He starts, blinking at her in surprise once he registers where she is, “Hello! What can I help you with Yachi?”

“I was wondering if there’s anything you need done right now? Hinata said he would fill the water bottles with Nishinoya for today, so I’m done with prep.”

Takeda hums, looking at his pile of papers, “Thank you for offering Yachi, I could use some help organizing the applications before Ukai gets here. We’ve got a few more than we did last year, could you start writing everything down so we can get a better idea of our new team roster?” 

“Of course!” Yachi replies quickly, sitting down on the bench and taking the applications piled neatly next to Takeda. “Just year and position?”

“That would be perfect. It might be worth it to re-organize the team roster completely if you have the time, we’re looking at some possible position changes after... some requests. So we might need to adjust for that.”

Yachi blinks up at him, people had wanted to switch positions? She glances at the boys again, all excitable around the new freshman, someone had asked to change positions

“Yachi?” Takeda says, giving her a concerned look. “Would you rather not remake the roster now? It can probably wait a bit anyways, we don’t have any upcoming matches for the next week or two.”

“No! No, it’s fine! It would probably be better to have it done now, even if we do end up adjusting it,” Yachi shakes herself out of her thoughts, “I just... I didn’t know anyone wanted to switch positions. Can I ask who I should be ready to change?”

“Oh! That’s right, they are pretty new decisions! We must have lost the time to tell you. The first is Kinoshita, who is switching to middle blocker officially, he and Ukai decided on it together since Kinoshita seems more intent on being a pinch server and being able to be rotated out if we want him to.”

 “Okay,” Yachi says, nodding as she makes the note in her journal.

“This one actually hasn’t been decided yet since we haven’t had the chance to run it by him yet, but Yamaguchi is probably going to get switched to a wing spiker.” 

Yachi felt her mouth open into a little o, that was new wasn’t it! She had always assumed Yamaguchi would stay as a middle blocker. He’d told her it’s what he’d been playing for as long as he could remember, she wondered if he would be open to switching. 

She adds a note next to where Kinoshita’s was.

“Anyone else?”

Takeda hesitates for a second, “The last one is Hinata, he told Ukai he wants to be a wing spiker.”

Yachi blinks up at him, Hinata?

“He wants to switch? He was doing really well as a middle blocker wasn’t he?” 

Takeda sighs, smiling a bit as he looks over to where Hinata and Kageyama were unintentionally terrorizing one of the freshman.

“Well you know Hinata, ‘really well’ isn’t enough for him. He’s already planning his future in volleyball and when Ukai suggested against switching, Hinata accused him of being afraid of change,” Yachi gasps at that and Takeda lets out a little laugh, “’Accused’ might be the wrong word for it, but you know Hinata. He can be very blunt when he wants to be.” 

“He actually said that to Coach Ukai!?” Yachi asks, feeling a little hysterical at even the idea of being that brazen with him. Sure, she knew he was a good person now but part of her still can’t forget her initial reaction to seeing him, and thinking one of Kiyoko’s admirers had it out for her. 

Takeda laughs again, “More or less, and while he has his moments of maturity, Keishin is still only 27 you know. He agreed, right after tearing Hinata a new one.” 

Only 27? Yachi thinks to herself, then quickly bats the thought away, that was rude!

“Yikes,” Yachi says instead.

“Oh I wouldn’t worry too much about it, Ukai doesn’t do much more than yell when it comes down to it, I think he was more worried that Hinata was right.” 

Yachi sighs, Hinata’s fervor for volleyball might really be something beyond her reach. She remembers when she overheard the Inarizaki captain at nationals, talking to one of his teammates about ‘monsters,’ maybe he was onto something. 

“Well at least Coach Ukai wasn’t too hard on him, I can’t imagine saying something like that to a teacher...” 

“Haha yes, well. I did have a... talk with Hinata about treating our instructors respectfully afterward,” Takeda laughs humorlessly, the glare of his glasses shining directly at Yachi. “But yes, he bounced back quickly.” 

Before Yachi can say anything in response to that, Ukai walks in and Takeda smiles one last time before leaving her to the applications. He greets Ukai and the two walk over to where the rest of the team had just finished setting up. 

Yachi starts looking over the applications while Takeda and Ukai watch over the chaos of the gym. She counts over how many there are, frowning a bit as she reaches the end. Only eight? It was more than last year but... she had definitely expected more. 

No, no, she should be grateful for the applications they did get! Last year they had only gotten four first years, so this time they had technically doubled! She was sure there were more people out there who wanted to join, maybe they were just... shy! Or too young to come to Karasuno yet. Hinata had said that he watched the original Karasuno nationals match in elementary, so maybe there were others like him! 

Then again if they were in elementary now it’s not like Yachi would ever be on the same team as them, but still! She wouldn’t be ungrateful for who had decided to apply.

She starts writing down names. She didn’t recognize the names of the first few middle schools, but she had never been well acquainted with any school outside her own, so that wasn’t too surprising. She shrugs and moves on. She pulls out the next application but before she can read anything past the first name Ukai calls everyone over to the bench.

She jumps as she hears him call to the rest of the team, looking up to find that he and Takeda had somehow worked their way back to her. Takeda smiles at her again, nodding at her open notebook and applications littering the bench. 

“Sorry, did I startle you?” Ukai asks, startling Yachi again.

“No! I mean— a little, but! It’s okay! I was just focused on copying these down.” 

Ukai nods as he glances at her notebook and the names and positions scribbled down, “Oh wow, one step ahead huh? That looks really nice, thanks Yachi. We really would be a mess without you. “ Yachi opens her mouth to object, she’d barely done anything this year! But before she can, Ukai continues, “We’re going to start with introductions before practice today since we have a bunch of new people, want us to introduce you? Or you can introduce yourself, if you’re feeling up to it.” 

Yachi stares up at him in surprise, was it that obvious she was worried about the new freshmen? She had tried her best, but maybe they could all tell she was faking? She was probably worse at pretending than Ennoshita was, maybe even the first years could tell she was scared of them. 

“Ah, sorry if that was overstepping. We know new people can be a lot for you so I thought it might be easier if we introduce you first so you can go at your own pace with talking to them,” He rubs his neck and even Yachi can tell he probably wants a cigarette to offset the awkwardness. “If not, feel free to introduce yourself when we come to it.” 

Oh. Oh, they noticed? Well, it’s not like Yachi had ever been entirely subtle about her anxiety... Ennoshita had definitely noticed, making the team walk it back when they were too excitable for her. But Ukai had always seemed more on the outside of it, kind of? Maybe?

She’s not sure where she’s going with this. 

“Yachi?” Takeda says, giving her a worried look. 

Right! Response! Responding! Responding to people is good. Important to conversation!

She would think about this later (probably).

“Oh! It’s not overstepping, thank you for considering me! I think, I think it’s a little better if you introduce me? I wouldn’t want to mess up...”

Ukai nods, “That’s fine, Kiyoko did it that way too, right? Not too different then.”

Yachi felt a shock hit her then, Kiyoko had been the same? But Ukai had turned to face the team, all gathered around the bench and waiting expectantly. She looks to Takeda, who only gives her a warm smile and turns to face the team as well.

Okay, another thing for later then (hopefully).

Yachi stands up quickly as Ukai begins speaking, welcoming everyone to the team and telling them that they were going to start with introductions before getting practice underway.  

Ukai introduces himself and Takeda, and Yachi manages to get out a strangled ‘Hello!’ when they get to her and very pointedly ignores the wide eyed stares of the first years. It had been something Kiyoko had warned her about, that a lot of boys had never had managers before and would have to get used to it.

She hears someone let out an ‘ack!’ and turns and sees one of the freshmen shying away from where Tanaka had lightly chopped him on the head. Tanaka says something to the first year, and the two return to normal. Right, Kiyoko had said they’d have to get used to it, but she had told her that Tanaka and Nishinoya would probably ensure it wasn’t a problem. 

Sure enough Nishinoya noogies another one of the first years who had been staring and things quickly go back to normal. Huh. 

What had it been that Kiyoko said at graduation, the both of them watching as the rest of the team had dog piled the other third years. Yachi had made some comment, something about the team being pretty rowdy. 

“That’s true,” Kiyoko had said, laughing a bit. “But you know you’re part of the team too right? So am I, so we must be pretty rowdy ourselves.” 

Yachi doesn’t even remember her response to that anymore, too caught up in Kiyoko’s mischievous smile and at the idea that  either of them could be rowdy . Yachi had stammered out something about not really being part of the team, or how she shouldn’t actually count. 

Kiyoko had raised an eyebrow at whatever it had been that Yachi said, “Don’t let the team hear you say that. I promise they consider you as much part of the team as anyone else.” She had said, grabbing Yachi’s hand and bringing it up to their faces, “They know you’re there to help them. So they want to help you too, you’re a part of them,” Kiyoko had clasped their hands together, “Even if it means being a little rowdy sometimes.”

Then before Yachi could say anything else Kiyoko had taken off running towards the dog pile, dragging Yachi behind her, and threw the both of them on top of it.

Yachi looks back down at her hand now, gripping her notebook like her life depends on it. She takes a breath and lets it out slowly, they want to help you . 

Ennoshita is the first to introduce himself, one of the benefits (drawbacks?) of being captain. His presence manages to quiet the room, all eyes being drawn to their newly appointed head. He doesn’t falter, and Yachi wonders if this confidence really can just be pretend.

But when the introductions move on to Tanaka, Ennoshita’s posture falters and he lets out a breath that deflates him. He sends Yachi a knowing look, and Yachi wonders if maybe Ennoshita missed his calling as an actor. 

The rest of the team gets through their introductions without incident, the closest thing being Yachi seeing someone almost jump when Kageyama introduced himself. It’s only when they get to the first years do things start to get out of control. 

Before Ukai can ask which of the first years want to introduce themselves, one jumps from where he was standing to get their attention. 

“I can introduce myself first!” He almost yells, and Yachi is sure this person must be Nishinoya and Tanaka combined. “My name is Tokita Azuma! I’m a first year wing spiker and I’m from Kitagawa Daichi and I came to Karasuno to follow Kageyama-senpai!”  

Yachi blinks. It feels like the whole team is quiet. 

“Oh,” Kageyama says, “Thanks.” 

The gym explodes after that.

“Is all you have to say ‘Thanks’!? What kind of response is that!” 

“Kageyama! Where’s your enthusiasm!”  

“This kid can’t be real.” 

“Maybe he and Hinata will fight to the death for the right to be Kageyama’s favorite spiker.” 

“I don’t have a favorite spiker though?” 

“Okay guys let’s calm down we still have to let the rest of them introduce themselves—”

“Uwah! I’m so jealous! I want someone to follow me!”  

“Weren’t all your underclassmen first years when you were a third year? They don’t even have a chance of making it this year.” 

“I say we should—” 

“HEY!” Ennoshita yells, effectively quieting the whole gym.

“You’ve never met him,” Tanaka whispers to one of the first years, “but we call that the ‘Daichi Yell.’”

“Thank you for introducing yourself Tokita,” Ennoshita says patiently, “Would anyone like to go next?”  

Nishinoya raises his hand, Ennoshita sighs, “Would anyone new like to go next?” 

“I can?” Another first year offers, and the gym shifts their attention to him. 

Yachi assures herself that Tokita was probably the most drama the team would find. After all, Kageyama had almost never mentioned his time in middle school and what had been discussed hadn’t been... great. Or very good at all really.

So this was a big surprise, and there was the fact that well, Kageyama had been someone’s senpai at some point hadn’t he? It made sense, it was unavoidable for any of them. But— she glanced at Kageyama, for some reason she really couldn’t picture it. 

It was understandable that they would have such a big reaction then, but now to get a big reaction they’d have to top being Kageyama’s underclassmen, and apparent fanboy. Yachi could not even begin to think of what could be more surprising than that. 

Plus, she had gone over most of the applications already, she probably hadn’t missed anything else. 

She glances up from her notes, cringing a bit as she realizes she missed the name of the boy who was speaking, she would have to check his app later. She hoped he hadn’t noticed, it was already the first day and she wasn’t listening to them! She bit her lip, she had to stop thinking so much, her mom had already told her but here she was spacing out again. 

“I’m a libero,” The boy continued, and Yachi reassured herself she was definitely going to listen to the rest of his introduction, “And I’m from Shiratorizawa Junior High.” 

Yachi blinks. 

The team blinks. 

The coaches stare. 

Then the gym bursts into a cacophony of confused and excited yells and Yachi sighs, resigning herself to the chaos. She’s not sure why she expected any differently. 

But as she watches Hinata and Noya try and tackle the new libero, Ennoshita and Yamaguchi doing their best to stop them, she felt herself smile. She couldn’t imagine this team being anything but a little chaotic. 

Kiyoko’s words ring in her ears again, and Yachi bites her lip. She would be a little chaotic this year too, she was part of the team. 

She was. 

Hinata glances at her from the edge of the crowd they’d created around the Shiratorizawa Junior alumni, and smiles wide. He points at the boy in the center of everything and mouths Shiratorizawa!!!! Like Yachi hadn’t also been there while he introduced himself. Yachi feels herself smile back, nodding rapidly.

Then Ukai snaps, and yells at them to calm down before he starts off their first practice of the new year with extra laps around the school.

The rest of the introductions continued without much fanfare, while some of the introductions had still been a bit surprising (another boy from Tsukishima and Yamaguchi’s middle school, proudly stating he’d followed his upperclassmen as well, had caused a bit of a stir) they managed to keep themselves mostly calm. Ukai started practice and Yachi let herself get caught up in writing down stats for practice and making sure water bottles remained filled and there were enough towels available for those who wanted them.

Before she knew it, practice was over, and Ukai was calling them back to the bench. Telling them they’d done well, and reminding them of the practice schedule.

“One more thing,” He continues, “We’re having a practice match with Datekou in three weeks, I will be creating a new starting roster for it. I don’t want you to take it too seriously but just remember that your practices have an impact on my decisions. I hope you all take it as motivation to do your best,” He glances at Kageyama. “Without pushing yourselves too hard. This roster isn’t my final decision for the rest of the season, so remember to keep doing your best regardless.” 

They respond with a loud “Yes!” and run off to start putting everything away. 

Clean up takes longer than usual, and Yachi finds herself ready to leave, the exhaustion from being concerned over practice the entire day starting to hit her. 

“YACHI!” Hinata yells from across the gym, and Yachi’s sure she jumps about three feet in the air. 

“Hi-Hinata!” She yells back, trying to re-energize herself for whatever it is Hinata wanted to talk about. 

She wonders how he manages to have so much energy, waking up so early and biking here only to do more physical activity... She’s not sure how he manages. 

“We’re bringing the first years to go get meat buns! Ennoshita’s paying! Come with us?” 

Yachi glances down at her bag, knows she already has homework and notes she needs to review and correct from the day. Normally she wouldn’t go with them, either too busy with school or homework or design. 

Part of the team . 

“Okay!” Yachi calls back, and mentally starts replanning her night as Hinata cheers and runs to the club room to let the others know. 

She nods to herself, she was going to do her best this year. 

The first two weeks before the practice match go by surprisingly quick. Yachi finds herself... not quite disappointed, but definitely a bit surprised at how quickly the team falls back into their routine. She had expected everything to be different once the third years were gone, once she didn’t have their reliability to fall back on (some more than others).

But now that the year had started and they were back to what they knew, she had found herself watching their practices with a sense of... familiarity, almost. It’s not exactly the same, the team could never be exactly the same again. The team hadn’t even stayed the same while it had the same roster last year, having new people only solidified it. 

But it was still... practice. It was still volleyball. 

Well that felt like a bad way of putting it. She had known the whole sport wouldn’t change just because four people had gotten older. They had all known that. 

But... maybe she had expected it to? Even if only a little bit? At least a little bit.... 

Volleyball hadn’t changed for them. Yachi hums, watching Kageyama and Yamaguchi pretend they couldn’t feel their newly reinstated underclassmen staring holes into the back of their head. Kageyama’s serve went straight into the net, Yamaguchi’s floated out of bounds. Neither first year watching seemed like they cared as they cheered. 

Maybe they had changed for volleyball?

She sighs, writing down another note in her notebook. Yamaguchi had officially switched to wing spiker, but he had seemed a bit confused by the offer. He was still working on his receives, but Yachi had noticed that he still watched the middle blockers practice like he was unsure about his decision. 

She wonders what it’s like to worry about things on the court.

She shakes it off, she had her job and the players had theirs. They worked as a team when they were all able to accomplish what they had to. If she really wanted to learn how to play she’s sure the team would offer to show her... 

Ukai interrupts her before she can think about that more. 

“Hey Yachi,” He prompts, “Can I talk to you about the practice game?”

Yachi nods, wondering what it could be about. They were only one week out, and they hadn’t mentioned anything about needing more money... but maybe something had come up? One week wasn’t a lot of time... but maybe she could try and design a poster and raise the money before they left?

Ukai laughs, “I can already see you thinking. Don’t worry there isn’t anything bad, I just wanted to ask you about some logistics for the match. Their manager wanted to talk to you about letting the match be a full day event and planning to get food for both teams so they can eat together properly. We know the teams are friends so we think it’d be a nice way to start the season.” 

“Of course!” Yachi responds quickly, “I think it’d be great! I’m grateful she wants me to help out, I’m sure the team will appreciate it a lot!”

Ukai smiles and claps her on the shoulder, she tries not to jump. She doesn’t succeed, because she sees Ukai notice her reaction and wince a bit, 

“Oh sorry, but thanks! I’ll let their coach know, I’m sure their manager will be excited. It seemed she had wanted to talk to you anyways. Is it alright if I let other managers know your contact information in the future too?” 

“Ah, well. I guess it can be kind of hard to get in contact with other managers,” Yachi admits. “We can really only talk in person since we don’t really know each other's contact information. It would be kind of nice to have an easier way to get into contact... So I wouldn’t mind,” Yachi fiddles with her clipboard, some of her best memories so far had been made working with the other managers during golden week. 

Did those managers graduate already? She’s pretty sure both of Fukurodani’s were third years, did they even have a manager now? 

Ukai hums, “That makes sense, I guess I’m lucky since if I need to talk to a coach I can just call their school. I’ll ask Oiwake about it.” 

Huh? 

“Uh! It’s okay! Don’t worry about it too much!” Yachi says quickly, but Ukai was already walking off, yelling towards where Nishinoya was bringing the first years through receiving practice. 

Yachi sighs, feeling herself deflate a bit, Well, it probably wouldn’t come up again at least. 

A day later she gets a message from Dateko’s manager, introducing herself and asking Yachi if her team has any allergies. 

Oh my god , Yachi thinks, do we have any allergies? 

Yachi realizes she actually doesn’t know. After agonizing over as much as she could remember anyone saying while eating, she accepts that she has no memory of anyone even mentioning allergies. She sighs, typing out a quick reply. She introduces herself first, trying to repay the respect, then slowly admits she’d have to ask Takeda for information on team allergies. 

Dateko’s manager responds quickly, and Yachi wonders if she’s on lunch now too, and tells her that first, Yachi can call her Mai, and second, that it would be no problem. She sends more information about what the coaches had supposedly planned for the day, then what they had planned to order. 

Just let me know if there are any issues! Mai sends after, As long as we know more than a day beforehand I’m sure we can change things if there is one. 

Yachi hurries to respond, trying to read, type, and eat at the same time. She had just checked the time, and she would be lucky to finish her lunch now if she didn’t start eating quickly.

Okay! She responds, trying not to drop her phone. 

Oh! Mai continues, I also heard your coach mention that you said you think it’d be nice if the managers had an easy way to contact each other. I totally agree! I have some of the other managers' contact information, would you be okay with me putting you into a groupchat? 

Yachi cringes as she reads it. Of course Ukai had actually told them. She wasn’t lucky enough for him to have dropped it. She wants to say no, but the way Mai says it makes it sound like a good idea... It might even end up being helpful in the future. If Yachi was right Mai was in her third year of being a manager, already having done it alone as well. She fiddles with her phone, trying not to choke on her mouthful of rice as Mai texts again. 

If not that’s fine too! I just think it could be helpful since I know there are a few of us that have questions from time to time! I know I did when I started haha.  

That cinches it for Yachi. Even if she never had the confidence to end up asking a question in the chat, maybe someone else would? 

I think it’d be great! Yachi types, taking another mouthful of rice. Thanks for offering to! I had mentioned it but I didn’t really have a way of actually putting it together. 

Then the bell rings and Yachi mourns the last third of her lunch as she packs it up and runs to class. She feels her phone buzz again, but decides not to check it again until after class. This might’ve been her interaction quota for the day.

She ends up having to wait until after class and practice to check the text, Kageyama and Hinata pulling her into an early start. She can feel her eyelids drooping as she walks to the train station and pulls out her phone, wondering what Mai’s last message had been. 

Awesome! It read, You have some great ideas Yachi, even if you don’t always have a means of enacting them I hope that doesn’t stop you from voicing them! 

Or at least voicing them to me haha. 

Ah there’s the bell! Bye for now!  

Yachi feels her eyes widen. People had told her before that she’d had good ideas, but Yachi had never really thought too much about it. Especially since she usually wouldn’t say the ones she wasn’t confident in. Or ones she couldn’t do herself. This was the first time someone had said something like this to her. 

It felt... nice. 

She smiles a bit to herself, putting her phone back in her bag. Maybe this would turn out okay. 

A week (and some awkward questions about the team's dietary restrictions) later Yachi’s able to meet Mai in person. Mai is just as cheerful in person as she is over text, excited and happy to get to talk to Yachi face to face. 

The day went well, the only upset having been Dateko’s reaction at seeing Hinata off the starting lineup. Once the game had started though, they moved on quickly, more focused on winning. The boys had been properly surprised about the ordered food and being allowed some extra free practice time on the Dateko campus. Hinata hadn’t hesitated before heading over to practice with Aone, and Koganegawa had quickly latched onto Kageyama, and by extension, Tokita.

It had been a good day, and at the end of it Mai had smiled at her and told her that she would be starting the group chat soon, having acquired the numbers of almost every manager in their area. Yachi had been a little surprised, Mai had definitely put a lot of work into this, she wasn’t even sure how many schools there were involved in volleyball here, let alone how many managers.

But then Takeda called the team to the bus, so Yachi nodded and thanked her, and got on the bus, ready to go home and fall asleep. 

Two days later Mai had started the group chat and Yachi tried her best not to be too anxious about it. 

It had been fairly tame, most of them didn’t know each other after all, and past a short introduction she could tell many of them weren’t sure what to talk about. Mai obviously knew a few of them already, holding some easy conversation but after that... nothing. 

It was a bit anticlimactic. 

Normally Yachi is sure she would have been stressed over the lack of interaction, but now... well now she did want this to be a resource for them. Even if they were from different teams she’s sure this could be helpful if people were open to asking questions. 

She wanted this to work. 

But she can still feel the anxiety of sending something weighing on her, the fear of saying something wrong. She can’t imagine Mai being mean about a genuine question, but she didn’t know what the others even looked like. She had no idea where to start on what would be acceptable to ask.

She glances at the chat, the last message having been sent yesterday. Maybe that was something someone else was struggling with too? 

She would give it another day, she tells herself. She would come up with a question over the course of the day and if by tomorrow night no one had sent anything... she would send something. She nods to herself, she would. 

She spends the entirety of the next day checking her phone and trying to come up with the perfect question to ask. It gets to the point where her teacher catches her, and threatens to take her phone away.

The team can tell she’s distracted too, the other second years sending her confused looks, and Ukai and Takeda not asking as much of her as they normally would. They have to repeat themselves a few times to get her attention, and at one point Takeda tells her she can go home early if she’s not feeling well. 

That’s more than enough to bring her out of her own head, determined not to bother the team with this. It didn’t concern them anyways, this was a manager thing. So their manager would deal with it. Hmph.

Her determination has almost completely faded by the time she gets home though, and she can feel the dread creeping in as she checks the chat for the eighth time in half as many minutes and still seeing no new messages.

She tries to gather her courage as she sits on her bed staring at her phone, it would just be one message. She tries to remember what Asahi had told her last year about overthinking. He had mentioned a new technique that had started helping him, thinking of the worst thing that could happen, the best, and the most likely. 

The worst was obviously everyone making fun of her. The best was probably... everyone responding, and it causing them to create more conversation. Then they would keep talking all night and become best friends. She feels herself giggle at that, unlikely, but it would be nice. 

The most likely... She didn't get a response immediately because it was kind of late, but tomorrow maybe one or two people respond and answer. Maybe it encourages someone to send another question later in the day or the day after?

She takes a breath and releases it, then types out her question and sends it.

She stares at her phone for two minutes before turning it off completely and burrowing herself in her sheets. She would see what the response would be tomorrow, for now she would sleep. 

If she could. 

It turns out her worries were unfounded because she falls asleep almost as soon as she closes her eyes, dreams of sentient text bubbles and phones filling her mind. Kiyoko is there, for some reason.

The next morning she’s able to leave her phone off until she gets to the train station, where curiosity finally gets a hold of her and she opens it. 

She sighs as she sees five new messages, biting her lip as she opens them. 

Her question had been asking the more experienced managers what it was like to sit with the coaches during an actual match. She had been interested in it to begin with, since Kiyoko had filled that role for the team last year, but had never gotten around to asking about it. 

Surprisingly the first response was not an answer, but instead another manager saying she had the same question. Yachi feels a happy shiver run up her spine, so the question was helpful! Someone else had even been wondering about it! She checked the name, scrolling up to the introductions. 

It was Johzenji’s new manager that had sent that, and Yachi nodded to herself in understanding. So Johzenji’s other manager had graduated. She wondered what Runa was like, she could vaguely remember someone in an orange tracksuit standing in the stands during that game, eyes watering once Johzenji had lost. She hadn’t cried though, not even when their manager had given the team a closing speech and goodbye.

Yachi could understand that. She hadn’t wanted to cry when Karasuno lost, or when Hinata had collapsed. She had wanted to stay strong, wait until the team had the energy to cry too.

She ran her thumb over the screen, Runa huh…

She reads the replies, humming as another person sends a message, relating to one of the answers another manager had given. She smiles and pockets her phone. 

A week later, Runa messages privately.

The group chat had been used a bit more since Yachi had asked about being on the bench. There had been a few responses, which had prompted stories about people’s weirdest experiences during a game, which had prompted reactions, and Yahci had been satisfied. They still didn’t use the chat every day, but definitely more than before, and she could accept that. 

So she’s a bit surprised to see a message from Runa. 

This is Yachi right? The message reads, It’s Runa from Johzenji! I was just messaging to ask if you guys could pencil us in for a practice match next week? 

Yachi blinks at the message, wasn’t that more of the coach’s job? Had Yachi been slacking by not setting up practice matches herself?

Yes, this is Yachi! She confirms first, then taps her screen idly as she thinks on what to say. As she knew they were free next week, but maybe Ukai had something planned? She wouldn’t be able to confirm anything until asking him some time tomorrow. 

I’m sorry, I’m not sure yet. I can ask our head coach tomorrow and let you know then? 

That’s great! No worries, I know it’s a bit last minute. Our head coach is out sick, but if your coach wants to discuss more he can call the school and they’ll connect him with our assistant coach! 

Okay great! Yachi responds, humming as she reads. That made sense, she was probably reaching out since her head coach was out sick, and it was more convenient for her to text someone instead of making her coach call someone now. 

She tries to remember Runa’s face as she goes to bed, she manages to remember the shape of her bangs and the grip her hands had on the bar as she watched her team lose, before she drifts off to sleep.

“When?” Ukai asks the next day. 

Yachi glances down at her phone, realizing she... didn’t actually know that. 

“Let me ask,” She says, quickly texting Runa. 

Ukai nods, looking a little amused. 

“She says next Thursday? Apparently their original opponent canceled on them, and they were supposed to drive out that day anyways.” 

“I don’t think there should be a problem, playing against Johzenji should help us out anyways. They’re unpredictable in a way we’re not really used to, I like matchups that put us on the ropes.” 

Yachi nods along as she types a confirmation to Runa, who responds excitedly and thanks them. 

“She says thank you,” Yachi relays, still texting.

Ukai chuckles, “Well it’s no problem, we were probably just going to do drills anyways, so this works out for us.” He glances at her, raising an eyebrow as he smiles, “So getting in contact with the other managers has been pretty good?”

“Oh!” Yachi jumps, looking up from where Runa had been sending her the times they would get there and when they could leave (she was really prepared!), “Um! Yes! It has been. Mai put us in a group chat.”

“Well that’s good, I hope you guys get along well. I’m sure it’ll be good for all of you.” 

Yachi nods, “Yes!” 

Ukai smiles, “that wasn’t an order Yachi.” 

Yachi nods again, but she’s already back on her phone, mentioning what might be an easier route to get to the school, and where they could stop to get snacks. So she misses it when Ukai lets out an amused breath, and  chuckles to himself. 

“Seems like it was a pretty good idea,” He says.

Yachi is not sure how but she and Runa manage to keep texting well into the time after practice has ended. Yachi isn’t sure when the conversation had shifted, going from route and shop recommendations to general conversation on their favorite foods but she is woman enough to admit she’s terrified. 

The conversation is going,,, really well actually. Which means Yachi is only getting closer to ruining it. Probably. 

But Runa doesn’t seem to mind when Yachi isn’t quite sure how to respond, or when she takes a little longer to respond so she can properly articulate her thoughts. And they are able to keep their conversation going until Yachi realizes it’s 10:30 at night and she hasn’t started her homework. 

She sends a hasty goodbye to Runa and starts pulling her books out of her bag. She pauses as she hears her phone buzz again, and gives herself one last minute to see what Runa said before she goes to work. 

Ahh you’re right!! I haven’t started either! Goodbye for now!   

Yachi’s phone vibrates as another message from Runa comes in. 

See you Thursday!

Yachi smiles to herself happily, she was excited for Thursday to come.

Thursday comes and Yachi’s heart has climbed so far up her throat she feels ready to choke on it. 

Her worries had only been building since Runa had started texting her, each new message feeling like another brick on the jenga tower Yachi felt one pull away from toppling. Even when it was just about the practice match and if Ukai wanted to talk to their assistant coach, Yachi felt like she was one misstep away from letting Runa know she was a mess.

Johzenji had gotten to Karasuno early, and Runa had texted to let her know. Told her that the routes Yachi had suggested had worked well. When they had gotten off the bus Yachi felt like she was going to vibrate through the floor. 

Pretend to be calm, pretend to be calm. Runa probably wasn’t anywhere near as worried as Yachi was. Runa had been able to text her the whole week without seeming awkward, something that had left Yachi in awe. Even Hinata could be awkward sometimes, and Runa was able to converse like it was nothing. It probably helped that she and Yachi had similar interests, a picture Runa had sent of her new stationary set having been enough to keep them going for an hour and a half. 

But, cute hiya kitty washi tape wouldn’t save her now, and as Yachi does her best not to stare at Runa during warm up she assures herself that today would go well. 

When Hinata rolls into the Johzenji bench halfway through the second set, Yachi wants to say she’s surprised, but she isn’t. Playing against Johzenji drove the team to crazier moves than usual, and Ukai still hadn’t put Hinata in as a starter in a practice match yet. It only made Hinata more fidgety to wait over a set to get put in, and against Johzenji that energy could only be channeled into one thing, chaos. 

So if anything, Hinata almost bowling over Runa and her Coach is probably fairly mild on the list of possible things that could go wrong. At least Hinata didn’t actually hit Runa or her Coach. Yachi tells herself, cringing as Runa and her coach go running from Hinata’s path of distraction. 

“Keep going!” Hinata calls, ready to run back on the court. 

No, Yachi thinks, Definitely stop. You almost rolled over my friend.  

They don’t. Obviously. Yachi wants to bury her face in her hands. 

It doesn’t end there, a stray ball from one of Tsukishima’s receives forces Runa to duck away or risk taking a ball to the face.  One of Yamaguchi’s serves gets received... over the net and straight towards Johzenji’s bench. Their first year libero gets put in and doesn’t get out of the way of the path of one of the spikers quick enough, leaving him back pedaling away from Ennoshita 

...straight at Runa. 

By the end of the first match Yachi has lost at least 5 years of her life, and Ukai takes one look at her and sighs. 

“At least we won.” 

Ennoshita takes one look at Ukai and Yachi and calls for the team to do a lap of flying falls.  

Yachi sighs, watching Runa pull her hair back up into a ponytail. She had done it after the first time the game had come a little too close to her, but over the course of the second and third set it had become messy again. 

Yachi wonders if she should say anything to her, maybe apologize. But that wouldn’t be right, it’s not as if her team had meant to keep putting her in the line of fire. Still, maybe Yachi should say something... 

“Hi!” Runa says, shocking her out of her thoughts. When had Runa gotten there? “Um.. that was quite a match wasn’t it?” 

“Y-Yeah!” Yachi agrees, “I think going against your team always brings out the most in us.”

“It’s definitely the same for us,” Runa agrees, looking out at where her team is trying to strategize a new attack that involved throwing their setter. “But um... They are a little on the wild side as is.” 

“So are we,” Yachi admits, fiddling with her hair. “But uh, I think this time we were a little more... in your face? Then usual...”

 Runa actually laughs at that, “That’s true, but I didn’t mind! It kept the tension high.”

Yachi smiles, “Nothing like constant risk to keep you invested?” 

Runa laughs again, “Definitely.” 

Conversation gets a little easier after that, the both of them commenting on the next match and keeping a wider berth from the court. 

“Have you ever played?” Runa asks at one point, when Yachi gasps as Nishinoya manages to save a ball with his foot again. 

“Oh! Um... no. I was never really involved in sports, or clubs, or really anything outside of class.” 

“I can understand that,” Runa replies, “I was a pretty loyal member of the going home club until high school, Hana was the one who asked me to join though. And she seemed so excited at the idea that I couldn’t even think to say no.” 

“That’s what it was like for me! Kiyoko asked me to join, and I had seen her asking other people, and she was so pretty,” Why did Yachi mention that? Maybe if she moved on fast enough Runa wouldn’t notice? “an-and! I said yes before I even really thought about it.” Yachi sighs, watching as Kageyama makes a sign at Tokita, who nods loyally. “But I’m glad I did, even if I didn’t know anything about volleyball.” 

“Me too,” Runa says. Then jolts, “I mean! I’m glad I agreed to Hana. But I’m also glad you agreed! I’m glad we met? And you’re really good at being a manager!” 

“So are you!” 

“But you’re better!”  

“No way!” 

Runa laughs, “I have a feeling we could keep that up for a while,” She holds up a hand, “Let’s agree we’re both good managers?” 

“Agreed,” Yachi says, before realizing that she’s included in it. 

She blinks at their clasped hands. Maybe she could accept complimenting herself. Just this once. 

Yachi is ready to settle back into their match commentary, but Runa speaks again. 

“Have you ever wanted to play volleyball?” 

“I mean...” Yachi feels herself fidgeting, “Yes. I guess. I know the guys would want to teach me but... I don’t want to disappoint them? Or hurt them! I’ve already managed to hit someone in the face before...”

Runa snickers, “Really?”  

Yachi sighs and nods, “So I guess I just don’t really know about learning... I think I’d feel a lot of pressure.” 

“I get that... I know my team would love to teach me too but uh...” Runa glances at where Terushima had managed to punch the ball hard enough it almost hits the ceiling, “I’m not sure how well I’d handle it...” 

The words are out of Yachi’s mouth before she can stop them, “We could learn together?” There’s a pause, and Yachi hurries to fill it. “and ask the group chat! I’m sure others would want to learn! Or maybe they already know how to play!”  

“Yachi... that’s an amazing idea! Let’s ask right now!” And before Yachi can do anything Runa has her phone out and is typing out a message. 

“Huh?” 

A week and a half later Yachi finds herself on the way to a park 20 minutes from her house, with a volleyball her mom bought her four days ago. 

She tightens her ponytail with determination. 

She had no idea what she was doing. 

Runa is already there when she arrives, waving excitedly as Yachi walks over. 

“Wow you really got a ball! That’s great!” Runa smiles, “We have two more people coming, but then we should be good to start! I charged my phone completely so we could watch videos to help us learn! I’m sure today we’ll be great!” 

Yachi weakly agrees. Then she takes a breath and smacks the ball between her hands like she had seen Kageyama do before. She winces, ouch. But it was okay! Because today she would do her best!

Three hours later Yachi was exhausted and was sure her arms were about to fall off.

“How do they do that all day,” One of the other girls pants out. 

“How do they do it voluntarily? ” A second one asks.

There’s silence for a minute, the four of them trying to catch their breath from where they were splayed on the ground.

“So... see you guys next week?” Runa asks. 

“Oh, you know it.” 

“Definitely.”

The three of them look at Yachi, she takes a deep breath.

“SEE YOU NEXT WEEK!” She yells, and they all laugh and cheer. 

That is somehow, the energy she maintains until the interhigh tournament starts. She isn’t able to go practice every week, but now her days are filled with texts from her new friends. Texts from Runa, especially. Then practice, texts and outings with the team. Working on new posters to raise more money and promote the team. And on one dramatic day, a text from Kiyoko announcing she and the third years would be attending the Interhigh tournament.

She had run breathlessly to the gym that day, waving her phone in the air. She had run in only to be met face to face with Ennoshita, holding up his own phone with a text from Daichi. Kageyama, after some needling, admitted she had received a text from Suga, and Nishinoya brandished one from Asahi.

Tanaka had apparently been put in a group chat where they had sent a picture of the Sendai gym and the words, “Be there or Be SQUARE.”

Probably Suga’s doing.

It only makes the air heading into the Interhigh that more exciting. They were seeded this time, and it was a weird change to have so much time to prepare. Kageyama had been caught muttering something about how being a seed meant playing less, but Hinata had just told him they’d get to play more at nationals. Kageyama had smiled at that, and it had only made them more excited. 

It felt like nothing could stop them. 

So of course they lost. 

They lost hard.

Dateko’s ranking had taken a beating last year, having lost to Karasuno and Aoba Johsai last year, both times earlier than expected. It seemed that this year they were determined not to make the same mistake. 

Karasuno’s wings are clipped the first day in their first match, losing two sets in a row. The Dateko captain had been ruthless, and Ennoshita seemed like he was taking it harder than any of them expected. 

Kiyoko found Yachi wandering the halls of the gym, trying not to cry. Telling herself to be strong. 

Be strong , Yachi told herself as Kiyoko walked up to her. Be strong , she says as Kiyoko puts a hand on her shoulder. Be strong, she whispers to herself, as Kiyoko opens her arms and Yachi falls into them and cries. 

“I’m sorry,” She whimpers, knowing her tears must be ruining Kiyoko’s jacket. “We lost.” 

“It’s okay Hitoka,” Kiyoko says softly, running a hand down her back. 

“I wasn’t good enough, I didn’t do enough research on Dateko’s new team.” Yachi cries. 

“You were amazing, Hitoka. But sometimes you lose even if you’re amazing.” Kiyoko hugs her tight, “You’re not alone, you’re part of the team too.” Kiyoko squeezes her, “What will you be after this loss?” 

Kiyoko lets Yachi cry a little longer, before finally leading her back to the rest of the team. Letting Yachi stop at the bathroom to wash her face. 

Yachi watches as the team gets Yamaguchi, Kageyama, and Tsukishima to try and lift Ennoshita on their shoulders. Cheering the higher they manage to get him each time. Ennoshita fighting them the whole way, blush riding high on his cheeks. 

Yachi smiles, she thinks they’ll be… okay. 

The loss throws them all off balance for a while, but life went on. Yachi is a bit more subdued, grateful that Runa does not mention the loss past a small condolence. Johzenji makes it into the top four again, only getting knocked by Shiratorizawa in the third set after a deuce. Yachi congratulated her. 

No way! Runa had said, We wanted to win!

Me too. Yachi replied.

And if she cried a little more in bed that night, well no one had to know.

Karasuno went back to practicing twice as hard. All of them remember the shadow that had loomed over them during the Dateko match. The Iron Wall that had been rebuilt better than anyone had ever seen it. Yachi hears Ennoshita mention he sees Futakuchi’s smirk in his nightmares. Yachi shives, she could still barely get the ball over the net for a serve, she couldn’t imagine trying to get over that block. 

Mai had been politely smug in their group chat. Accepting their congratulations on making it to nationals gracefully, and only bragging the littlest bit. 

Yachi thinks she can’t be the only one chomping at the bit for a rematch. 

Mai’s intermittent photos of her team in Tokyo get interrupted when she sends a picture of a small list of applications with a simple ‘lol.’ Telling them that she now had a full roster of people who wanted to replace her when she graduated. 

Gather your disciples early kids!  

Runa brings it up later, messaging to ask Yachi if she had considered accepting any manager applications this year. 

We didn’t get any , Yachi tells her. 

What!! I was sure people would’ve applied after you guys made it to nationals!! 

Yachi sighs, not even nationals was enough for her fellow students it seemed.

Runa continues, Well, I’m sure you’ll get one soon! Do you think you’d accept it?

She sends another message before Yachi can respond. Is that why you guys only had a few new kids? I just thought you guys were crazy harsh about who you put on the bench!!!

No way! Yachi responds, We love new people! Our coach loves having all the options. We just didn’t get that many... and out of the ones we did get most of them didn’t even mention the fact we went to nationals. Did you know we got a libero from Shiratorizawa Junior?

What! Runa sends back, and Yachi giggles imagining the gasp Runa must have let out. No way!!

And they continued texting about the new Karasuno roster for the rest of the night. Runa’s original question forgotten.

Yachi is forcibly reminded of it the next day, because after joining Karasuno she had accepted that her life would never know peace.

She walks into morning practice happily, her last conversation with Runa had put her in a good mood. The words coming so quickly they had eventually given up and resorted to calling each other. Yachi smiles, it had been... really nice. 

Her mood is ruined when Ukai hands her a paper. 

“What’s this?” She asks, reading it. Her mouth drops open. 

It's an application for club manager. 

She mentally curses Runa. 

“This isn’t my area of expertise, so I thought I’d let you decide,” Ukai says simply. “If you want the help, great. If not, I can tell them we aren’t accepting applications and to try again next year,” Ukai says calmly. “If you want to meet him, he handed me that this morning. Not sure where he got it though. But he might still be around.”  

“I- Um-” 

“Give it some thought alright?” Ukai asks, rubbing her shoulder, and Yachi nods slowly. “Thanks Yachi.”

Then he turns around and calls for the beginning of practice.

Yachi deals with this situation by shoving the application as deep into her bag as it can go after practice and trying to forget about it. 

But it spends the rest of the morning burning a hole through her. She feels like her bag must be 10 pounds heavier. And she couldn’t forget about it even if she tried. 

She finally breaks during lunch. 

You brought this into my life , Yachi types out, as she takes a picture of the top half of the application (it would be rude to send all of it wouldn’t it?) and presses send.

Barely a minute passes before Runa responds, her text filled with exclamation points and congratulations. Yachi isn’t sure what she feels, looking at the application, but whatever she was feeling, she was feeling a lot of it.

She hesitates before responding. Runa had told her repeatedly that she wanted to know Yachi’s concerns, but Yachi didn’t want to bother her. Runa obviously saw this as a good thing, a good opportunity, And why wouldn’t she? Runa had grown more confident over the first half of the season, Johzenji had only improved over the break and Yachi could tell she was happy that they got back into the top four. Karasuno had... suffered this tournament, and Yachi wonders if that was part of the reason her confidence had as well. 

She sets her shoulders and quickly types out, what if I get replaced? And hits send before the regret can hit. 

Luckily Runa seems to understand the need for speed in this situation, because she responds before Yachi hits the third stage of grief. 

What!!! She types, and Yachi can imagine her expression and smiles. Karasuno wouldn’t replace you! You’re great at what you do! And youre part of the team!! They love you too much to do that.  

If Yachi feels her heart constrict a bit at the last part, nobody else had to know.

You forgot the apostrophe in the second “you’re”  Is what she types back.

Hitoka.

Yachi feels her face burn. She called Runa by her first name because Runa insisted on it, telling her Kuribayashi was too long to say, but Runa had never called Yachi Hitoka .

Runa continues before Yachi can think too hard on that, Let’s meet up after class! You can tell me about it in person, and we’ll have more time instead of trying to fit it into lunch break! Do you have practice after class?  

Yachi feels the urge to tell Runa not to worry about it, to tell her she didn’t need to go out of her way to talk to her. That Yachi would be okay, that she didn’t want to bother. But... but she knows Runa means it, means the aid she offers. Means it because she cares. 

Because Runa cares about... her. 

Yachi can feel her face getting even warmer. 

So Yachi doesn’t ask Runa to forget about it, doesn’t tell her not to bother. She’s sure that Runa would ignore those requests anyways, maybe she’d even come here if Yachi tried not to meet in person. She laughs a bit at the thought, Hana had definitely rubbed off on her.

No, Yachi replies, I can meet up ... but if you’re busy don’t worry about it too much! 

I’m free!!!! Runa responds quickly, obviously not ready to let Yachi get out of this. You can’t get rid of me that easily!

I would never want to, Yachi’s body types out and sends, completely without her permission. 

She gapes at the message in horror, what did that mean! Why did she send it! Could she delete it? Runa had definitely seen it, but maybe she would forget it? 

Oh , Runa sends, and Yachi starts considering her options to move out of the country.

Well good! Because we’re going to meet up at that cafe by your house today. Non negotiable.  

Yachi lets out a groan, thankful Runa hadn’t read too much into it. Yachi wasn’t sure herself why she had sent it, why it had felt like second nature to send that. It was at the very least, embarrassing, and at the worst... 

Well, she wouldn’t worry about that for now. 

Okay , is what she sends instead. Putting her phone back in her bag, trying to bite down a smile. 

The application, lain across her desk, doesn’t seem as intimidating anymore.

Runa manages to surprise her by waiting for her at her stop on the train. 

“How did you get here!” Yachi asks as she runs up to her, “Didn’t you just get out of class?”

Runa sends her a shy smile, holding a finger up to her lips, “Don’t worry about it too much,” Then she takes Yachi’s hand and leads her onto the train.

Yachi tries her best to keep herself from blushing too hard. 

They talk about school and practice on their way to the cafe, and Yachi’s grateful that Runa isn’t immediately diving into the topic at hand. Yachi can already feel herself relaxing more, even as the cafe comes into view and she knows she’ll have to voice her concerns soon. 

Runa is kind enough to wait for Yachi to finish her story about how Hinata had scared one of the first years today, having accidentally hidden himself too well among the equipment in the storage closet. Their orders arrive during the story, and Yachi lets the sweet cake distract her from the application in her bag. 

“Okay,” Runa starts and Yachi mourns the rest of her cake, “So why do you think you’ll get replaced?” 

Yachi sighs, pushing the remains of her cake around the plate. 

“I just... The team is so amazing, you know? Kageyama is already being considered for the national U-19 group, Tsukishima’s smart enough that he’s able to go up against spikers that are way scarier than anything I could ever face. Tanaka has grown so much as our ace, and Nishinoya’s so innately talented that I’m not sure I could even describe it. And that’s not even getting to Hinata, or Ennoshita, or the people on the bench!” 

Runa’s brow furrows, “And that’s a... bad thing?” 

“No!” Yachi says quickly, “No, it’s wonderful! But I mean, they’re all amazing and... well.” 

Runa nods, trying to prompt her to continue. 

Yachi sighs again, staring at the destroyed cake on her plate, “It’s just hard sometimes, I guess. To know they’re all amazing and I’m... me.” 

Runa’s brow relaxes a bit, and Yachi sees understanding fall over her features. She continues before Runa can comment on that. 

“I know! I know I shouldn’t compare them to me! I know that Townsperson B can be strong too! I just, I wonder how strong you can really expect a Townsperson to be, you know? Or how long they’re supposed to be strong for? I guess I’m just.. worried. Maybe this new manager is going to be as amazing as they are, and where does that leave me?” 

“Townsperson B?” Runa asks first. 

“Oh!” That’s right, Runa had never heard this story before, hadn’t been there last year. Yachi wonders how it could be that she’s only known Runa for a few months, “Um, this is kind of hard to explain... Haha... do you remember those plays we used to have to put on in school?” 

Runa nods, still confused.

“Ah well, I never really got an important role in them. One year I was Townsperson B and I guess I just. Well I guess I just thought it fit. It wasn’t the lowest role, like being a rock or a tree, but I wasn’t the main character. I wasn’t even a main side character. I was just. Townsperson B. Not at the bottom, not at the top, just... somewhere in the middle.” Yachi bites down on her lip, she hadn’t told anyone outside the team about that. Not really. “Sorry if that doesn’t make any sense.” 

Yachi risks a look up at Runa’s face, trying to gauge her reaction. Would she think Yachi was weird? 

Yachi’s surprised to see Runa’s face scrunched up in thought. 

After a second Runa gasps, and Yachi jumps at the noise. 

“I was messenger A!” Runa exclaims, and Yachi blinks at her. “In the plays! I was messenger A. I think another year I might have been servant 2...?”

Yachi tries to remember the play they had put on, had there been a messenger in her plays? Messenger A implied the existence of a messenger B. She couldn’t even remember if there had been messengers. 

Runa continues, “Then again being a messenger kind of sucked. I didn’t have many lines, but because the main character always responded to the letters they would make me stay on stage the whole time ! Way too stressful.” 

“For the whole scene?”  

“Yes! Even— even when they dimmed the rest of the stage to let the main character read the letter out loud they wouldn’t let me off!” 

Yachi can imagine it, having to stand on the dark stage and trying not to be seen, but not really having anywhere to hide. She chuckles at the idea, having to deal with that would have killed her. 

“Why?” 

“Who knows! They put way too much organization into those sometimes.” 

“You know... maybe being Townsperson B wasn’t the worst I could’ve gotten. I think having to just stand there might have been too much for me... knowing everyone could still see me, but I’d just have to sit there until we moved on.” 

“It was terrible,” Runa agrees, nodding solemnly.

Then she peeks up at Yachi and giggles a bit, Yachi can feel a smile at the edge of her lips.

And it’s not funny, not really, but now she’s trying to picture what she would’ve been like back then, essentially left alone on stage. 

She’s grown enough to admit she would’ve been a complete mess. Maybe she still would be. 

So Runa’s giggles grow a little louder, and Yachi feels her own smile grow until she’s giggling too. Then they’re both sitting there giggling, over nothing that was really funny at all.

“Thank you,” Yachi gasps out, trying to catch her breath. “I think I needed that.” 

Runa smiles at her, and Yachi catches herself staring at the curve of her lips. 

“I’m not sure if it helps but I want you to know I can understand where you’re coming from,” Runa says softly, “My team and I... we’re pretty different.” 

Yachi nods, Johzenji had gotten a bit more serious about volleyball since last year, but their loud demeanor hadn’t changed much. It definitely clashed with Runa’s more soft spoken personality.

“It’s hard to feel like I’m part of that team sometimes, es- especially since a big majority of them are third years and most of the second years haven’t gotten to start yet, so I found myself having to put more effort into interacting with them,” Runa turns to the window, “I think just doing that helped a lot more than I expected it to. The second years started talking to me more, and since I have to talk to Terushima pretty regularly anyways, soon he started talking to them too. Now the team communicates a lot more, not just with me, but also with each other and the coaches. By the time we got to the tournament we felt like a proper team, and by then... I felt like I was part of it, and that they knew I was part of it.” 

Runa turns back to Yachi, shy smile back in place, “I’m not sure what I’m trying to say I guess. But I know you put a lot of effort into your team too. I don’t think any of us would have actually considered trying to learn some volleyball basics together if you hadn’t mentioned it. I know you spend time with them outside of practice too, and that you’re friends with them. You help them raise money to go to camps in Tokyo, you help them keep contact with teams they’re friends with, you organize their stats and equipment. And if something small like me talking to the people on the sidelines more can bring our team closer together I can only imagine how your efforts have brought your team closer together.” 

Yachi is a little horrified to feel her throat close up and her eyes start to water. 

“I- Um—”

Yachi is cut off as Runa grabs her hand over the table, gently urging her to put down her fork and pulling Yachi’s hand towards the center of the table between them. Pulling Yachi’s hand closer to her. 

Yachi is sure her face must be beet red. 

“I know just words don’t always help, but maybe you could think about your team too, you know?” Runa uses her thumb to open Yachi’s hand where it had been closed in a loose fist, running it over the palm of her hand. “Do you really think they would want to replace you? Could you see any of them supporting the decision?”

What Yachi can see now is her hand being held by Runa’s, and Runa’s fingers on her own, and her thumb still rubbing circles in Yachi’s palm. It had to be some sort of relaxing exercise Runa had picked up, she’d mentioned something like that once hadn’t she?

She’s ready to spiral into these thoughts, wondering how much blood could rush to her face before she passes out, when she finally glances back up at Runa. She pauses.

The tops of Runa’s cheeks are red, and so are the tips of her ears. She’s rubbing Yachi’s hand and her hands are steady, but Yachi can see the tremble of her lips. She’s staring down at their hands, refusing to make eye contact. 

Runa’s nervous too. 

So Yachi doesn’t spiral. Runa’s reaction (she’s nervous ) grounding her a bit. She takes a breath and releases it, and closes her eyes, trying to think about what Runa had said.

Would any of the team agree to replacing her? A small part of her wanted to say yes, that even if they were friends, she would get replaced gradually over time, without fanfare or drama, and before they knew it Karasuno would have a  new main manager. 

But Hinata wouldn’t have let that happen. Nothing was ‘no big deal’ when Hinata was involved and he was too loyal to his friends to let her simply fall into the background. He would throw a fit, of one kind or another. Yamaguchi too, maybe not on the same level of energy as Hinata, but she couldn’t see him just.. forgetting about her. 

Even Kageyama and Tsukishima, though not as talkative as the others, would both interact with her regularly. She and Kageyama had even come up with an accidental hand shake, formed when Kageyama had tried to fistbump her and Yachi had tried to high five him and it ended with Yachi slapping Kageyama’s fist. 

The third years were pretty fond of her as well, and Tanaka and Nishinoya wouldn’t want a replacement. She couldn’t see Ennoshita wanting one either, especially since they continued speaking regularly about the stress of being captain and the stress that comes with being a manager. 

The first years had undoubtedly become fond of her, all of them waving excitedly at her when they saw her in the halls. Or asking her to help them practice when they needed something.

What had Ukai said? When he had handed her the application? It was up to her wasn’t it? Her choice? That’s not what someone who would replace her would say. 

Yachi opens her eyes again, “I don’t think they would want to replace me...” 

Runa tightens her hand for a second before releasing again, sending a warm pulse through Yachi. 

“I’m glad,” She says, “That you’ve built up that trust with your team.”  

Yachi nods. She can still feel some doubt inside her. A little bit that maybe she carries around a little too often. But thinking about her team and how close they’ve gotten, thinking about her friends , that helps lighten it a bit.

“Thank you,” Yachi whispers, letting her fingers curl over Runa’s.

Runa smiles at her, “Or course, I’m happy you told me. Especially since I think you’d be great at teaching someone how to be a manager! The Karasuno team won’t know what hit them.” 

Yachi feels herself smile, nodding.

“I’m happy I told you too,” Yachi says quietly and Runa squeezes her hand again. 

“Know you can always talk to me okay?”

“Okay.”

“And um,” Runa suddenly grows fidgety, hand clenching and unclenching in Yachi’s grip. “I... I’m not sure if I totally understand what you meant by Townsperson B. But I understand that you’re just as amazing as the rest of your team, even if you don’t always feel like it. You might not feel like you’re doing as much as the rest of the team, but you are, and we can tell. I can tell. That you’re amazing,” Runa hesitates for a second, looking down at the table before saying, “That I think you’re amazing.”

Yachi feels like her heart stops, she feels like she might have stopped breathing. Her face can’t possibly get any hotter, and her hand suddenly feels too sweaty in Runa’s grip. But she also feels like if she pulls away now she might die. Before she can say anything and ruin the moment though, Runa continues, looking back up at her. 

“You make Karasuno better! And you might not have won this tournament, but we still have the next one! And we’re all excited to see what you’ll do, because we know you’re team,” Runa shakes her hand, “We know you are going to do something that blows us all away. So I’ll see you there!” 

Yachi feels the energy change, and she lets herself be disappointed for a second before letting the sense of competition leak into her too. Feels it seep into her veins as she clasps runa’s hand back and shakes it as well. 

“We’re going to win,” Yachi says seriously, because she knows the rest of Karasuno, the rest of her team is saying it too. 

“No,” Runa says, and Yachi blinks in surprise. But then Runa’s smile turns a little sharp and her grip tightens, “ We’re going to win.” 

And Yachi feels her smile grow until it might split her face in half. If this is how the boys feel when they declare themselves to their rivals, when they tell each other they’re invincible, she can tell why they do it so much. Because sitting here, with half a slice of cake left on her plate, hand clasped with Runa’s, she feels invincible.

She feels amazing .