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Beautiful. Stunning. Watching them practice was almost relaxing when they reached a rhythm. Their bodies in constant motion; Yachi took in each player’s form. From the bags beneath their eyes and the slight shift of their footing before they push off and leap. She smiled, wiggling her fingers shyly when one of the players looked towards her.
Yamaguchi improved so much since last year. The teen wasn’t playing in every practice game they had so far, as they still had him as a pinch server against schools that wished to play with them on their own court. Coach had used that excuse to rotate around the regulars as well, testing out first years in their positions to give them confidence and to see their true potential.
The freckled teen’s cheeks and ears coloured as some of his teammates teased him for catching their manager’s eyes. “So Yachi-chan, what do you think of the team so far?” The Coach crossed his arms over his chest, eyes staring out at the students as they played their mock game against each other.
“T-they’ve improved from last year, though there’s always room for more. That first year, Kagami-kun I believe, is very good in his receives though he can work on his spikes. And I think that we might be able to start looking to see if we can get some more serving aces.” The coach nodded, eyes squinting as he studied the players.
“Yata and Yagami might be able to pull it off. I’ll ask them about it after the practice match against Nekoma in two weeks. They need to get into the flow of receiving and blocking before I throw a new twist in.”
Out of the five first years, only Kida was a setter. Poor kid was still wide eyed and nervous at all these new moves and quirky characters. Yachi had to refrain herself from hugging the poor boy to her and petting his pretty blond hair.
Kagami was a defensive player, very rough and tumble like Noya. With the two on the court at the same time it was too much fun to watch, it became less of a sport about the air and more of what was happening at everyone’s feet.
Yata didn’t stand out much, a quiet boy that seemed to take after the rationality route similar to Tsukishima though his height was often against him in full out blocking the others spikes. He was good at soft blocks though; he always tended to touch the ball at the very least. And Yachi had seen in the spring tournament from last year just how much that could reap in with the rewards.
Yagami was a very friendly player, all smiles and long flowing limps. He was excellent at adapting, which annoyed their own player as well when even in practice the boy’s style would inconsistently change. If only Yagami would be able to control that and then it could be turned into a weapon.
Lastly was Rin. Just Rin. He didn’t like them calling him by his last name, so the ice blue eyed first year was just Rin. Yachi wasn’t all too sure about the boy; maybe he was holding himself back, maybe he just testing them still. But Yachi felt that this wasn’t what Rin could do. He could do more than what he showed.
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With Tsukishima back from his heat it made deciding where to sit lunch now difficult. Yachi didn’t like sitting with Kageyama and Hinata for too long (or too often) during lunch because their personalities were very draining. This poor little introvert couldn’t compete with the hyperactivity that surrounded Hinata, nor how the boy brought out the energy in Kageyama.
But her fretting was all for naught, the pair had found her class and led her out of the school with their own lunches. Finding a nice little seat on the grass in the shade, Tsukishima silently pulled his headphones over his ears and pulled out his phone. “Don’t mind him,” Yamaguchi smiled at her, “he’s been like this since grade school. He likes the company but feels bad that he doesn’t feel comfortable, or doesn’t really know how to make small talk.”
Yachi pulled the clip from her hair, adjusting her hair again before clipping it back into place. “And he has Kuroo-san now too. I don’t blame him for wanting to talk to him as much as he can.” Being in a long distance relationship had used to sound so romantic to her before she saw just how hard it could be. Sure, it was still plenty romantic in the sense of the longing and waiting for one another. But it now just left a bitter taste in her mouth every time she saw the blond boy pull out his phone and perk up at the text that awaited him.
Yamaguchi smiled at her, setting a perfectly circular homemade peanut butter cookie on her wrapped lunch. “My sister and I made cookies last night and they’re really good actually,” his freckled cheeks colouring at the small sound of excitement that escaped the blond haired girl as she picked up the baked good.
“Thank you!”