This A/N is going to be a bit long, so bear with me. This is my first fic for the Haikyuu fandom. It's slightly AU because the girls' volleyball team is not the one shown in the anime. ((edit from previous statement: I'm doing some dutiful research on honorifics because I just feel like I'm writing inaccurately if I omit them. PLEASE if you notice any errors don't hesitate to let me know. I appreciate the input)). Though I do have some knowledge of volleyball outside of what I've learned from Haikyuu, it's limited, so please let me know if you see anything that's not quite right! All mentions of asexuality and aromanticism (not very prevalent in this chapter, more so in the future) are based on my own experiences, and I hope I represent it well.
Haikyuu and its characters belong to Haruichi Furudate.
"Ama-san!" The firm reprimand from Jun, her team captain, was enough to drag Amaya's attention back to the game in time to leap for the ball, giving it a solid bump towards Lin before glancing one last time at the person who'd caught her attention. It was only because she'd felt his gaze on her. Intense brown eyes peered beneath a shock of dark spiked hair accented by a few bleached strands hanging nearly in his eyes. He was of a slight build, but Amaya was sure she'd seen him in one of her classes. He was newly a second year as well.
Izumi's spike sent the ball solidly into the ground on the opposite side of the net, and at Jun's bidding amidst the groans of the girls they'd been practicing against the team took a quick break, jogging to the sidelines to grab their water bottles. Izumi followed Amaya as she veered towards the strange boy.
"Hey, kid!" Amaya cringed at Izumi's yell. Her friend was very talented in a lot of ways, but keeping her voice down was not one of them. "What're you doing here?"
"Just checking out your team!" He grinned so widely his eyes clenched shut and a nervous hand reached for the back of his neck.
"Oh?" Izumi narrowed her eyes, peering down at the boy. It wasn't hard as he was a few inches shorter than she was. Amaya was all too familiar with Izumi's downward glare.
"Yeah, actually I was wondering if I could practice with you guys!" He was unaffected by Izumi's harshness, rare for someone who didn't know her well.
"You want to practice with us?" It was easy to see why Izumi was skeptical. After all this was the girls' volleyball team, and he was most decidedly not, despite his small stature.
"Yeah, well, you see, I'm on the guys' team, but I kind of got suspended from club activities for a month. They never said anything about the girls' team though!" He seemed incredibly proud of himself for having found that loophole. "I need to keep up with everyone, and I figured this would be better than nothing."
"Better than –" Izumi began to seethe but Jun silenced her with a hand on her shoulder. Amaya hadn't even realized Jun had appeared behind them.
"I don't see the harm in it," She began smoothly. "You're that libero, right?" An enthusiastic nod was her answer. "I'll let you practice with my team on the condition that you help teach my girls a thing or two about receiving. Amaya has been carrying them and I don't like it."
Amaya felt her cheeks begin to grow hot at the unintentional compliment. So this kid was a libero too. It wasn't that she hadn't tried to give her teammates a few pointers when it came to receiving, but it was difficult to explain the movements that came so naturally to her. It was much easier to just field all the difficult serves and returns herself.
"Well, sure, I can try!"
"So what's your name, kid?" Izumi had managed to lower her voice a few notches and she now seemed genuinely curious more than anything.
"Nishinoya Yuu, I'm a second year." He gave one of those contagious grins again.
"Really? You are?" Her skeptical glance earned her a glare. "So'm I, and these two." She gestured to Amaya and Lin who stood on either side of her. "I'm Kimura Izumi."
Amaya jumped at the sharp elbow Izumi stuck in her side. "I'm Yamada Amaya." She rubbed her side ruefully and gave Izumi a pointed glare.
"I'm Shizuka Lin." Lin accompanied her introduction with a small wave. Each of the girls followed suit, introducing themselves in turn.
"And I'm Akiyama Jun, team captain. Nice to have you with us." Jun finished. "Okay, girls! Time to get back to it! Nishinoya, you can be with Chiko, Emi, Mayumi and Kame. The sides'll be more balanced with a libero on each. I'll stick with these three." Jun took everything in stride, as though it was a completely normal occurrence for someone from the boys' volleyball team to become an honorary member of their team. Jun was a middle blocker, a solid player in many areas but not standing out particularly in any of them. Still, it wasn't difficult to see how she'd won the position of captain. She had been quick to fit into the new role.
She, along with Lin and Izumi, were the players Amaya had bonded the most closely with. It may be a little bold to say that they carried the team, but they were the four who had held it together the year before, and their bond had only grown stronger. They trusted each other unconditionally.
Jun started with the first serve, a solid shot slightly to the left of their guest. Amaya couldn't deny being incredibly curious about this libero Jun had seemed so in awe of. Perhaps she should have gone with the team last year when they went to watch the boys' match. She was expecting him to receive the serve; what she wasn't expecting was his exclamation of "Rolling Thunder!" as he did it. It caught her off guard, but not enough that she couldn't dive to bump the spike Emi sent over the net.
"Lin!" She yelled, pleased that the bump had flown in just the direction she'd anticipated. With her own team it was easy enough, because she knew full well what each spiker was capable of. The way she saw it, all she had to do was redirect their spike to use their own power against them. It took a little more doing, but with some observation she managed to do the same in matches against girls she'd never played against before in her life. Lin's toss to Jun was perfect, Amaya noted with a small smirk, but she wasn't unaware of Chiko and Mayumi ready to block the spike. She poised herself and, as she'd feared, the spike was returned over the net. It didn't matter, because she was ready. Jun had moved out of the way instinctively, clearing a path for Amaya to get her body beneath the ball. It wasn't a perfect save, but it was good enough for Lin to toss once more, this time to Izumi. She was just about ready to pump her fist in victory as Izumi spiked the ball when a blur thrust its palm beneath it, separating it from the floor by mere centimeters.
It was enough. Mayume recovered from her surprise quickly enough to toss to Chiko who Amaya realized with a leap in her chest was on the opposite end of the court. There was no way she'd get there in time. Izumi lunged for the ball, but her efforts were futile. Dancing brown eyes met Amaya's in a smirk. She couldn't stop her own eyes from widening in surprise. This guy was good.
The practice match went on and, unlike before, victory was not won so easily for Amaya and her half of the team. It became much more of a struggle to keep the ball in play and actually make points. The importance of a skilled libero was certainly not something to be underestimated. She sensed Jun was dragging out the practice match longer than she normally would, perhaps, but eventually she must have accepted the fact that they simply would not be able to get a comfortable lead.
"Okay, girls!" She finally clapped after Emi's spike bounced inches from Amaya's outstretched hand. Amaya's hand formed a fist and she pounded the court once in frustration before accepting Izumi's hand to help her up. "I think that's enough for today," Jun went on. "Remember, practice tomorrow, same time. Nishinoya!" He glanced her way. "Will you be joining us again? I saw some good stuff out there. I'm looking forward to what you can share with us."
"Count me in!" He grinned. "You guys aren't too bad. Kinda enjoyed playing with you, actually."
"That was awesome," Emi grinned at him, raising a hand for a high five. She was one of the three first years on the team, and with her height and vertical jump, there was no denying her potential for the wing spiker position. "It sure is something, actually being able to play a serious practice match. Usually those three over there blow us out of the water." She gestured to Lin, Izumi and Amaya.
"They've got great teamwork," The libero agreed. "Really trust their libero. That's what I like to see." Another mirthful glance was sent Amaya's way.
"Get to work, girls. We need to be out of the gym in half an hour!" Jun interrupted the banter and after a collective, "Yes!" from the team, the girls jogged to the supply closet.
"Hey, libero!" Nishinoya had somehow snuck up behind Amaya and practically shouted to get her attention.
Amaya turned, handing him a mop as he began to speak.
"That block-receive was amazing!" he gushed. "You'll have to teach me how you do that… Amaya, right?"
"Yup," She confirmed. "I can sure try to teach you what I know about block-follows, but I'm not the best at explaining things. I'll do my best…but only if you'll teach me the Rolling Thunder." She chuckled.
"You liked that, huh?" He smirked and Amaya couldn't tell whether he'd picked up on the teasing tone in her voice. "We're gonna get along just great. We can learn from each other, I think. By the time this month is over, we'll be unstoppable."
Amaya laughed. "I don't know about that, but it sure will be nice to have another libero around. That was one of the best practice matches we've ever had. Honestly, your receive on Izumi's spike was amazing."
"Thanks," he beamed. "She's your ace, right? She's got one powerful spike. Had me worried there for a little."
"Yeah. She just earned that title when our old ace graduated but we all pretty much knew it would be her. I'm feeling pretty good about our team as a whole this year," Amaya admitted. "I think we have a lot of potential."
Nishinoya tapped his chin thoughtfully. "I agree. Hope I'll be able to say the same for my team." He glanced at the clock on the wall, then whipped his head around to glare at it. "Uwah! I've gotta go!" He shoved his mop back into Amaya's hand. "Sorry!" He turned to jog off, raising a hand in farewell and apology. "See you tomorrow!"
"Uh… Bye!" Amaya raised her hand in a hasty wave, watching his retreating back and doing her best to process what exactly had just happened. She had just decided that the best way to describe Nishinoya was as a whirlwind when Izumi appeared at her side, pinneys bunched under her arms.
"Looks like you and that libero were getting pretty friendly," She teased, managing to jab Amaya in the side with an elbow despite her full arms.
"Izumi," Amaya began with a groan, only to be silenced by Izumi's quick rebuttal.
"I know, I know." She shoved a handful of pinneys to Amaya to toss into the proper bin. "You're ace and aro. You don't want any of that." Her voice was now tinged with sincerity. "But you know me. Can't leave well enough alone, and the temptation was too great. Forgive me?" Izumi faked a puppy-dog look that Amaya couldn't help but grin in response to. Amaya knew that beneath her harsh exterior Izumi was one of the kindest, most trustworthy people she knew. She may tease, but she knew when enough was enough. Amaya never regretted that Izumi was one of the few people she'd confided in.
"Yeah," Amaya conceded with a small grin before changing the subject. "You know, for once I can't wait for practice tomorrow."
Thanks for reading! My hope is to update this every few days, weekly at most.