Another school day had come to an end at Nekoma High School, dictated by the sound of the bell. As teachers walked out of their classrooms, the students lingered behind to gossip with their friends or began their classroom duties with their classmates. Various first-years ran through the halls to arrive at club early, slowing and apologizing when a third-year stopped them. Outside, the sky was clear and cloudless, the sun shining brightly as if it was a spotlight, presenting Nekoma as the main act. It was just another day at school as it always had been.

"Hey, Yuki!" Inuoka caught up to Shibayama on his way to the clubroom. His uniform was already messy, his tie loosened from its knot. "How's it going? I'm going to try jump serves today. Do you want to help me with that?"

Shibayama turned to acknowledge his friend and fellow first-year, noticing the eager glimmer in his eyes. He nodded and looked down to avoid focusing on the badge covering Inuoka's cheek. "Sure. I'm not really good with serves though so I might not be able to help…"

"That's okay! You're a libero but that doesn't mean you don't know what a good serve is and what isn't!" Inuoka laughed cheerfully. He flung open the door to the clubroom, greeting the second-years inside. "Afternoon, Yamamoto-san! Fukunaga-san!"

"Afternoon!" Yamamoto greeted back. Fukunaga's greeting was lost in the ace's louder voice. "Hurry up and get ready or else Kuroo-san is going to get mad. We'll go first!"

"We'll be there soon," Inuoka reassured them as they headed out. Shibayama noticed the slight limp in Yamamoto's gait and recalled how energetic he was. He hadn't been able to participate in practice all of last week because of an ankle injury but now it seemed like he was ready to get back to spiking.

"Let's get some onigiri after practice," Inuoka said, glancing at Shibayama as he finished changing into his shorts and T-shirt. He folded his uniform and stacked them in a neat pile to place inside his bag. "I bet Kuroo-san and Yamamoto-san would come with us if we ask them."

"Oh. Okay." Shibayama nodded. "That's a good idea. Maybe we can ask everyone else too."

"Sure! I bet they'd come. It's been a while since the whole team went to get snacks after practice." Inuoka smiled. He rummaged through his backpack to take out a new bandage. "Do you mind helping me with this?"

"No, not at all…" Shibayama took it from him. He looked away when Inuoka gingerly peeled off the old bandage, revealing a cut on his cheek. Fortunately, it had been a shallow cut but still inflicted pain every now and then. It was just another injury alongside with the others littering his body.

He positioned the bandage over the cut and carefully lowered it in place. Inuoka ran a finger over it to secure it. "Thanks! Let's get going!" he picked up his court shoes and flew out of the clubroom. With a small smile to himself, Shibayama collected his knee pads and court shoes before following.

Inside the gym, the second-years were already practicing their serves. Kai was off to the side securing the net, Coach Naoi on the other side doing the same thing. Kenma was rolling a bin of volleyballs toward the second-years with a yawn. Kuroo was speaking with Coach Nekomata by the equipment room and Lev was nowhere in sight. It was possible he was late because of a test before practice but his excuses usually didn't matter since he was always late. It looked like just another day at practice.

"Here goes!" Inuoka tossed his ball high above him and took a few running steps. He jumped and promptly fell back down when the ball bounced off of his head. "Ouch! Not bad, right?" he called out to Shibayama.

He wasn't sure how to respond to that other than the usual sayings. He settled with, "That was a good throw. Maybe wait a bit before running?"

"Okay!" Inuoka picked up another ball from the bin and marched toward the wall to start again.

"Incoming, Shibayama!" at the sound of his name, he turned and raised his arms to receive Yamamoto's serve. He winced when it hit an old bruise. "You okay?" Yamamoto called out.

"I'm fine," Shibayama replied. He went on to receiving Fukunaga's serve, followed by Kenma's. Kai joined them shortly, stopping to give advice to Inuoka for his jump serve rather than serving himself. Lev arrived just in time for Kuroo to call them to gather up, which spared him from Kuroo's wrath for a few more minutes.

Nekomata surveyed the semi-circle his players formed. Kuroo stood straight, doing his best to appear as a captain despite his right arm being in a sling. Kai stood beside him, closed cuts and bruises littering his arms and legs. Fukunaga had similar healing injuries as well. Yamamoto stood slightly unevenly to take some of his weight off of his injured ankle but his expression was as fierce as always. Inuoka had a bandage on his cheek, his arms and legs also littered with cuts and bandages. Kenma's eyes were looking downward, his hair falling over the bandage on his head. Lev and Shibayama didn't have any visible marks or bandages but their expressions were tired and haggard. All of their expressions were tired and haggard.

"This might not want you wanted to hear but we'll be having a practice match against Fukurodani two days from now," Nekomata said. "Tomorrow's practice will be shorter so you can rest longer for it. Today, take things slow and don't injure yourselves farther."

"Coach, a practice match right now isn't the best idea," Kai pointed out. "We barely have enough players for a full team and Kenma isn't well enough to endure an entire set, let alone two or three."

Nekomata's eyes danced over to Kenma. "What do you say to that, Kenma? Will you be able to play two days from now?"

"Maybe," he mumbled. He had suffered a harsh blow to his head and although he was recovering quickly, he still had dizzy spells here and then. "I hope so."

"Now is precisely a good time to have a practice match. It's been two weeks since the accident and almost all of your injuries have healed. If you can endure your pain now, you can win any match in the future. Make sure you help each other and take your time. Don't force yourself to do more if you can't go on."

"Right," his players responded in unison. Nekomata nodded at Naoi to carry on with practice and the coach started directing them to line up for spiking practice. Kuroo, having a broken arm, sat down beside Nekomata to observe the team.

"Don't feel bad," the elderly coach told him. "You have three more weeks until your cast comes off. From then until the beginning of the spring tournament, you'll have plenty of time to strengthen it."

"I'm not worried about that." Kuroo frowned. "I'm more worried about Shibayama."

"Is that so?" Nekomata turned to call out to him. "Shibayama! Can you come here for a second?"

For a brief moment, everyone stopped, including Kenma, who was ready to toss a ball but caught it instead. Nekomata very rarely called for any of them during practice. It only happened when he was angry at one of them but even then, Naoi would coach them since that was his role.

Shibayama stiffly marched toward him, his back straight stiff, arms dangling by his side. "Y-yes, Coach?" he squeaked. Kuroo stifled a laugh and stood up to lend Naoi a hand (or arm) in cleaning up the stray balls.

"This match will be your first official one in a while isn't it?" Nekomata remarked. Shibayama nodded stiffly. "Do your best. Your receives are improving significantly."

"T…T-thank you very much!" Shibayama bowed, touched by his coach's praise. Although everyone on the team were excellent at receives, a libero had to be even better than that. His expectations for receives were higher than everyone else's. "I-I'll do my best!"

"I know you will. You're only a first-year but your skill level is above the expected level. You'll make Yaku proud."

The young libero immediately deflated at his senpai's name. Yaku was one of the best liberoes Nekoma had ever had. Following his footsteps and becoming a good libero after him was a daunting challenge. "I know I'll never be half the libero Yaku-san is," he murmured, "but I'll do my best."

"Shibayama!" Kuroo called out. "Come help me!"

He glanced at his coach, who gave him a nod forward. He hurried to help his captain, his eyes occasionally darting over to the cast resting in its sling. A stab of guilt attacked him but he pushed it away roughly, picking up the last few balls remaining before the spikers could go through another round. "Shibayama, how about you try receiving?" Naoi asked him. "Lev, you can block. Inuoka will block after you."

"Okay!" Lev ducked under the net to stand on the other side with Shibayama. He raised his arms, ready to block. "Please cover for me, Shibayama!"

The first rotation of spikers successfully thwarted Lev's blocks, which gave Shibayama more practice with block-follow. Kuroo occasionally shouted at Lev to correct his positioning and timing, his tone growing more and more irritated each time.

"Nice save!" Lev said over his shoulder when Shibayama received Kai's spike. The ball sailed over the net though so it wouldn't had given them a chance of attacking, if anyone was. Naoi signaled them to switch and Inuoka swapped places with Lev. "Give me a toss, Kenma-san!"

Kenma gave him a short nod before collapsing onto his knees, an arm cradling his head. Lev dropped his ball and hurried to kneel beside him. "Kenma-san, are you okay?" he asked as the rest of his teammates gathered around him.

"Yeah," Kenma mumbled faintly. "I'm fine. Just dizzy…"

"Help him to the bench," Naoi instructed. "Shibayama, get him some water, please." Fukunaga and Kai supported Kenma on both sides to help him walk over to the bench. Shibayama hurried to grab one of the water bottles sitting on the stage, fetching the first-aid kit when Kuroo asked him to do so.

He handed the water bottle to Kenma, taking a step back to stand beside Inuoka. Kenma took a small sip of water and leaned his head back against the wall with his eyes closed. "Better?" Kuroo asked. "I can get you an ice pack if you need it."

"Take a break," Naoi told him. "If you feel better, you can join us again but don't push yourself." He turned to face the guys. "Back to practice. I can set for now. Kuroo, keep an eye out on him." He hurried back to the court, placing his jacket on the next vacant bench.

"You should've said something earlier," Kuroo said to Kenma. "It wouldn't have been a problem for Coach to set instead."

Kenma mumbled something under his breath. He opened one eye, noticing Shibayama walking away. "Thanks for the water, Shibayama," he said loudly enough for the libero to hear. Shibayama turned, surprised. He nodded and jogged to get back into position again.

Practice resumed. Naoi was able to sync with his players effortlessly and Inuoka was able to block one of Yamamoto's spikes, which made Lev jealous of him. Shibayama dove to receive Fukunaga's spike, missing it by a centimeter. It rolled harmlessly out of bounds as he pushed himself off the floor, letting out a breath. Yaku-san could've gotten that, he thought to himself. As he brushed his T-shirt straight, he remembered what Yaku had told him on his first day of practice.

"Nekoma focuses on connecting, which means receiving. When we were first-years, our receives were awful but Coach Nekomata came back and made all of our practices focus on receiving. When our receives are done well and go to the setter, we can do any attack. The same can be said when the opposite happens – when the opponent attacks and we receive it, the ball is still in play. Even when we can't attack with it, we'd still have another chance if our receives are solid."

Yaku had turned to look at him, a small, timid first-year who had been at Nekoma for only a few days. The gleam in his senpai's eyes was filled with resolve. "If we're known as the kings of receives then that makes you and I the emperor of receives, right?"

Kai's voice snapped him out of his memory. "Shibayama, your elbow is bleeding." Alarmed, he raised his elbow, noticing the skin had been peeled off, probably from when he had dove for the ball. It was only now he was registering the pain. "You best get a bandage for that."

He nodded, hurrying off the court to head toward Kuroo, who was already searching for a bandage and antiseptic wipe inside the first-aid kid. He sat down and raised his elbow to inspect the damage. It was a small scrape, nothing to worry about. Kai was only overreacting because any small injury could become fatal.

"Here. Help me open this." Kuroo handed him the antiseptic wipe. When the top had been ripped off, he removed the wipe and dabbed it over the scrape. Shibayama winced but the sting faded quickly. "You can put the bandage on yourself."

"Okay. Thank you, Kuroo-san." Shibayama stuck the bandage over the wound. His eyes lingered toward Kuroo's sling again. "Um…will you be able to play in the practice match…?"

"Not for another three weeks." Kuroo shook his head. "That's when the cast comes off but even after that, it'd take a while before I can start blocking again. Coach Nekomata thinks I'd recover in time for the spring tournament but I don't know about that." He raised a shoulder in a shrug. "Lev and Inuoka are improving. You are too, Shibayama. You'll be able to play in the match this time."

Shibayama nodded. It wasn't as if this was his first official match ever. It would be his first high school practice match. He had participated in Golden Week and the various training camps but Yaku was the official libero for Nekoma. He was just a first-year.

"You're lucky you weren't injured severely," Kuroo added. "I wouldn't have accepted Bokuto's request if we didn't have a setter or libero but you guys are tough. You can fight through this."

After a short break, practice carried on for another hour and a half before Nekomata called it a day. Kuroo led them in their usual chorus of thank-yous, before working together to put the net and equipment away. Naoi and Nekomata closed the gym after them so they could change and go home.

"Hey, do you guys want to get some onigiri?" Inuoka asked as he swung his jacket on. He was still dressed in his T-shirt and shorts, not wanting to change. The rest of his teammates were changing back into their uniforms.

"I could go for some onigiri," Yamamoto said. Fukunaga nodded in agreement.

"Sorry, Inuoka, but I have something to do tonight," Kai said apologetically. "Maybe next time."

Kuroo swung his bag over his shoulder, his expression thoughtful. "Visiting hours at the hospital are still on so why don't we go to the hospital and visit Yaku?"

"That's a good idea!" Lev said excitedly. "We haven't visited Yaku-san altogether in a while. Let's go! We can bring him some of his favorite onigiri too."

Shibayama zipped his bag closed. He shouldered it and turned, looking apologetic. "Sorry, Inuoka," he said apologetically. "I just remembered my mom is waiting for me to come home tonight. I'll have to go another time too."

"You hadn't gone to visit Yaku-san before though," Inuoka pointed out. "Don't you want to see your senpai?"

"I do, it's just…" Shibayama bit his lip nervously. "I'm not…not a big fan of hospitals. That's all. I should really go now. See you tomorrow." He slid the door shut behind him on his way out.

Guilt weighed his every step toward home. The truth was, he couldn't bring himself to see Yaku because of how guilty he felt. None of this wouldn't have happened if they didn't listen to me. Yamamoto-san was right. We should've listened to him instead because Yaku-san and Kuroo-san would still be playing with us. It's my fault we're not going to win the spring tournament.

"I'm home." He closed the door behind him, slipping his shoes off to put them on the shoe rack. His mother appeared at the doorway holding a knife, a smile on her face.

"Welcome home, Yuki-kun. How was practice? Are you hungry? You're home earlier than usual," she remarked. "Did your coach let you leave early?"

"Practice was fine. A lot of us are still hurting so we didn't do much," Shibayama admitted. "They let us go home to rest. I wanted to…to come straight home instead of buying something with the team."

"I'll get you something to eat then," his mother said. "Haruka is waiting for you to come home so you can play with her. If you have homework though, make sure you do that first."

"Okay. Thanks, Mom." He climbed the stairs to his room, flipping the light switch on. He took his school supplies out to place on his desk and then his volleyball equipment on another table. His younger sister marched in holding the spare volleyball he had that she stole when she started elementary school.

"Onii-chan! Let's play volleyball!" she chirped. He smiled at her and ruffled her hair a bit affectionately.

"How about after I eat?" he said. "I don't have any homework to do so let's play later."

"Okay!" she tossed the volleyball up and down in her hands. "Will you teach me how to receive properly? I want to be a libero just like you!"

Shibayama blinked, unaware of his sister's passion for volleyball. "Are you on the team, Haruka?"

"Yeah! But the teacher teaches everyone how to do things so we don't get to practice receives as much," she grumbled. "That's why I want your help, Onii-chan!"

"I'll help you later," he promised. He stretched his arms over his head, wincing when he straightened his arm with the injured elbow. "Do you like your team?"

"Yeah! Everyone is really nice. A lot of them already play volleyball so I have to do my best too," she said. "I want to play in a real match and save a lot of balls!"

He listened to her ramble on excitedly about volleyball and her team. He watched her, envious of her innocence and freedom. She already had an advantage over the other kids who may just be starting since she had been practicing with him at home. As she got older though, there would be a lot of kids who could be even better than her. She may never get a regular position depending on where she went and how she played in the future.

When he had first applied for Nekoma, he hadn't thought about the volleyball club at all because it was still mediocre in terms of strength. In the back of his mind, he knew he wouldn't be a regular right away because there had to be a regular libero and there was no way he would've been better than him. He was right the moment he saw Yaku perform during that first practice. The third-year was experienced, intelligent, and a player that Nekoma needed. Shibayama knew he would have to earn his place gradually as a regular and train hard to fill the hole the previous libero would leave.

Never had he thought he would get the position like this.

"Onii-chan? Onii-chan, Mom is calling for you." Haruka tugged at his sleeve. He snapped out of his reverie, a surge of guilt sweeping through him. He looked down at her. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Haruka. Sorry. After I eat, let's practice volleyball." He stood up to exit his room, his cheering sister following after him. He turned the light off and closed the door before galloping downstairs to eat.

It had just been another day. Another day without Yaku.

A/N: Hello! I'm sorry if you were looking forward to the other story I promised to write - Seijoh vs. Dateko - but when I got the idea for this, the words flowed easier than the other story. This'll be my January story and next month, you can definitely expect Seijoh vs. Dateko!

My sister loves with Yaku and Shibayama and she wanted Shibayama to be able to play on the court so my immediate logic was: injure Yaku, let Shibayama play. I want to try writing angst so I hope this will be something I can be proud of. (I don't think this would be really angsty. Don't worry so much.) So this story has been inspired by her. Again.

I'm estimating this would take about 4-5 chapters of this size so it won't be take long. Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy the angst (I guess?)!

Reviews are always appreciated!

Haikyuu! does not belong to me. I am merely a fan.