Soaring
Summary: Shizuka will never be made to feel beneath anyone, especially men. A freshman at Aobajosai High, already made a name for herself in middle school having carried her mixed team to nationals as their captain. When she makes a bet with Oikawa that she loses she must move to a different school. She vows to go to nationals no matter what; even if that means playing on the boys team!
Okay, so I've recently started watching Haikyuu! and so far I love it! I'm currently watching it on AnimeLab, which goes up to 31 episodes and I'm just over half way through them. I haven't even started watching Season 2, obviously. But I had this idea pop into my head a few hours ago and it wouldn't go away, so I decided to just go with it, despite needing to update my Bleach fanfic. Basically, instead of focusing on the men's aspect of volleyball, I will focus on the women's, however while I wrote in the summary that Shizuka will join the men's team, I'm also just tempted to have her make the girl's volleyball team great. So like a real girl power fanfic, lol. I'm not quite sure how this will go so I would love it if someone could give me some feedback (or better yet, be my beta for this fic) so please review or PM if interested! Also, I don't think that Tooru comes off as a misogynist prick but well I need some sort of opponent for this to work, so he'll be slightly OOC. Like I said, I'm only like 16 episodes through Season 1. Without further ado...
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Inhale. Exhale.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Inhale. Exha –
"Just serve the ball already, Shizuka-chaaaan!" an annoyingly haughty voice called out, breaking my intense concentration.
Immediately my grey eyes snapped open, glaring daggers hot enough to sizzle a hole into the net. They landed directly on the chocolate brown head standing in the position of setter, and I felt a surge of anger bubbling in my chest.
"You're so cute when you glare at me like that, Shizuka-chan!" the older boy called out, his voice dripping with that condescending tone he always used on me. The pit in my stomach grew blacker with every passing second.
People in the crowd murmured, the astonishing acoustics of our massive gym making it possible for their harsh words to bounce off the walls.
"Hashira-san is so lucky to have Oikawa-san talk to her!"
"She's so easily riled, isn't she? I don't know why, it's just a game."
"Hashira-san takes the game very seriously though. I heard she was in some top team for her middle school's mixed team and they even went to Nationals!"
"I still can't believe they gave away the captain position to some first-year."
"That's because nobody else wanted to be the captain. I heard the girls volleyball team didn't even participate in games until a few weeks ago."
"Would you blame them though? Our men's team is the fourth best in the prefecture and then there was that thing..."
"You're right. Good thing nobody even cares about girls' volleyball."
I had to win this. This moment was crucial for me. Glancing around at my fellow teammates, who took uncertain peaks at me, probably thinking about how prone I was to taunts – especially when they came from a particular senpai. I could see on their faces how unsure they were of this; it was my idea to hold a practice game against the boy's team. It was my own ego that had landed us in this place, facing off against the boy's over some silly comments Oikawa had made about our team. My team was already looking tired and we weren't even halfway through the first set. We had scored three points, while the boy's team were up another ten. Because this was our first time playing against anyone at all, we were uncoordinated, sloppy and slow. Most of the girls could barely remember what positions they were supposed to be in. Our two reserve players were more for show than anything, and probably wouldn't be able to receive any balls hit their way. The only other person I could count on was Erica. I stole a glance and when she met my eyes, she nodded firmly. It was time.
I blocked out all of my senses, all of my instincts, and focused solely on the sound of my heartbeat again.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Inhale. Exhale.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Inhale. Exhale.
At some point, the drumming against my ribcage slowed to a soft pitter-patter and my breaths became shallow and soft. My eyes had shut tight, as they always did when I stayed in this moment too long. It was these moments of calmness that made me remember why I started playing volleyball in the first place. Nothing else mattered but the rubbery feel of the ball at my fingertips, as light as a feather, and the slight slip of my shoes on the polished court. This was it.
Without hesitation, I launched the ball into the air before me, and as soon as I felt the weight from it leave my hands, I burst into a running leap. I was able to jump a good few metres into the air due to my aptitude at high and long jump during summer athletics, and for that split-second before my hand smacked the ball over the net with force alarming for such a small girl, I was soaring. While the calmness was why I started playing, the exhilarating thrill of not being beneath anyone was what kept me playing.
The boys were obviously shocked by that, and hadn't assumed they were up against any real challenge facing us. That was their first mistake, as they all stood by and merely watched the ball bounce off their side of the court and hit the back wall, the sound echoing throughout the building. Their second mistake was believing that I hadn't trained my members very well. Though many didn't want to train and exert much effort, the team were able to receive quite well – mostly because they were upperclassmen. Keeping the ball in play was the most important factor after all, and as I had told them constantly throughout training it was receiving that they would need the most. Everything else could be left up to me.
And so they did. I continued to accept their chance balls with my own ferocity and smacked them back into the court whenever possible. I had trained my team, bar Erica, to rely on me. I was their pillar, their bridge. I would be the one to not only support them, but carry them all the way. That was my responsibility when I took on the position of the captain, and I knew that. Everybody had told me it would be difficult – more than difficult. It would be mentally, emotionally and physically draining, but that was fine. I would bear it all. It was my fault my team were here right now. It was my stupidity that had landed us in this bet a month ago.
"Okay so is this everyone?" I held the clipboard, a sliver of hope in my tone. Only five people, not including Erica and I, sat on the floor of the gym in a small circle. They nodded.
"Right. So my name is Hashira Shizuka, and this is Erica Jones. We are both freshman, but I would in particular like to humbly thank you all for relenting this year's position of captain to me despite the age gap. I understand that Tamura-senpai was the captain for last year, but unfortunately because of her mental health she was unable to continue that position this year."
Many of the team members stole looks at each other, and I sensed a shift in the mood. They were all upperclassmen – the only freshmen were Erica and I – and had been here last year to witness the captain's and class president's meltdown at the end of year speech. It was apparently something to do with the volleyball team that had made her go crazy, and judging from the reactions I saw flittering over everyone's face, I could tell there was something that the vice principal hadn't mentioned.
"A-Ano, Hashira-san, I realize that you probably don't want to hear this but we don't think that being captain is a very good thing for a freshman like you."
There it was. I opened my mouth to say something, before Erica cut me off.
"Don't say that! You don't know Shizuka; she's an excellent captain! And she isn't so easily scared!"
I placed my hand on my bestfriend's arm, and she calmed down, "what would make you say that, Kiri-senpai?"
The members glanced around nervously, before she spoke up.
"Well, you see… Nanami Tamura was a great captain too. She was so cool and calm and composed. She would always be able to say the right thing to get us to get in the spirit of the game. We weren't doing too bad last year, and had been winning quite a few games. We made it past the first round of the interscholastic tournament. But then she started… ah, ano… she started having relations with the captain of the other volleyball team – the boy's captain Oikawa Tooru. He didn't like that we were getting popular and were rising up, so he spilt all of her deepest secrets and got her banned from playing volleyball and her title as class president evoked. She had grown up in a bad environment and worked so hard to get into this private school and she really loved playing volleyball so much. It was so hard on Nanami that she just had a mental breakdown at the last assembly. And Oikawa… well he was just standing in the front row laughing at her. He said it wasn't a women's place to challenge men. And then after that most of our team left because they had only joined the team in hopes of catching his attention. After hearing about that, nobody wanted to join this year or be captain or even play games."
I was silent for a moment, and they must have taken that for reluctance.
"Gomenasai, Hashira-san. We all know how hard this must be for you; coming to this school with your prestigious background only to find that we can't play anymore – hey, where are you going?!"
I stalked over to the opposite end of the courts, striding through games of basketball and badminton, much to others protest. My eyes were trained on one spot only, unmoving and unaware of anything other than the boiling of my blood under my skin. It was as if the air was sizzling around me, like I was a volcano rising up from under the sea and instead of parting for me, the sea of boys simply evaporated in my wake. They all disappeared. Only one person stood before me – a tall boy with a head of chocolate brown hair, speaking to a few kouhai. Noticing that the freshman had stopped talking and were staring behind him, he turned to see what the commotion was.
I didn't even reach his shoulders, but I was done with being looked down on. I was expecting him to be surprised to see me, but instead he smiled. It threw me off a bit – his smile wasn't genuine and I knew straight away that he was aware of who I was, if my gym uniform and the clipboard that was threatening to break under the pressure of my grip wasn't an inclination. As soon as I saw that sickening smile, I knew I would have to break it.
"Ah, if it isn't the new captain of the girls' volleyball team! Coming to visit me so soon? Nanami-chan waited at least until half way through the year before –"
"I challenge you to a game."
His smile faltered for a brief second, probably not having suspected my reply. "Don't be silly – you just formed your team today and it's your first day as captain. There's no way your amateur team can beat the fourth best in the –"
"Are you afraid of being beaten by girls, Oikawa-senpai?"
By this time, my team had finally caught up and were demanding what I was doing. Erica just stood to the side, arms crossed over her chest and sighing, a smirk playing on her lips. Meanwhile, some of the boy's on his team were telling him not to do this again and to leave the poor girl's alone. I wouldn't have any of it.
"I challenge your team to a volleyball game. Next month." With my clipboard, I pointed at Oikawa with a look of determination on my face.
The team just laughed away, but their captain just stood in silence, gazing at me as though I was an interesting piece of art that he had to purchase.
"I agree to your challenge, Shizuka-chan~" he grinned, drawling out my name. "But, if you lose, you have to disband the team and never play volleyball for this school again."
Okay, so this is just a tester chapter to see how well people respond to the idea. If anyone has any feedback, you know what to do!
-ForTheLoveOfLiterature01