Natsu Hinata
Chapter 1: The First Time
In a small house in Miyagi Prefecture, a petite girl with wild short orange hair stood before a messy table with a proud expression on her face. The girl, Natsu who recently just turned 9, was clutching a handful of cash in her small hands. She took her pink bag and put the money inside while at the same time reaching towards some food and water on the table.
She was going to cheer for her brother's first competition!
Although she was young, Natsu understood that this was a very important occasion for her Shoyo. After all, in 3 years of middle school, only now did he managed to join a competition and the little girl know that she will not miss it. Even if her parents did not allow it (Shoyo had looked happy though) because she has school and no one had time to escort her there.
So there was no choice but to go there on her own.
Natsu was 9 but she was a smart child (unlike her Shoyo). She already knows her way to the stadium through an internet search (Thank you, G**gle) and had informed her teacher that she was too sick to go school. The orange-haired girl had always been a good student, thus the teacher did not suspect anything, merely wished her to get well soon.
Her family did not suspect a thing. Mom had early shift so after cooking breakfast and giving the siblings good-bye kisses, she left the house. Shoyo had been too high strung about the upcoming match that he had basically blocked everything around him. Today, after hastily eating his breakfast, he rushed off shouting he needed to practice more.
The girl was left alone in the house, but it was to her advantage. Stuffing her face full of food, she glanced at the time. She still had time therefore she tidied up the utensils before leaving the house.
"Yosh, let's go!"
The walk to station was a short trip. The competition was held the next town over so Natsu had to take the train there. She made sure to act natural, as if she had done this every day. But she couldn't hide her nervousness, her expression was stiff. Thankfully, no one noticed.
After some struggle, Natsu finally managed to buy a ticket from the ticketing machine. Soon, the train arrived.
A child sitting alone in a train garnered a few worried looks however none actually approached her. The person in question was focused on the view outside the train's window excitedly. After what seemed like a long time, the train stopped and Natsu hurriedly got out of the train.
Standing outside of the station, the girl took out a piece of paper and a cap from her bag. After confirming the location on the paper, she wore the cap to cover her face and walked toward the direction stated. After a 10 minutes' walk, the surroundings slowly became much livelier, filled with laughter of teenagers with different uniforms all walking to the same direction. Soon, the town gymnasium could be seen.
Natsu stood before the building, her face lighting up.
"I really did it!" She whispered excitedly to herself.
Natsu walked inside however she was faced with a dilemma. She did not know where her brother's team was supposed to compete. In the end, she had to get direction from middle school girls nearby.
"Um…Nee-chan, do you know where the match between Yukigaoka and Kitagawa Daichi is?"
"Eh, we're going there ourselves." One of the girl smiled at her.
"Then, can I join you?" Natsu beamed at her.
"Sure."
Suddenly one of the girl spoke, "Little girl, are you here alone?"
Natsu paled. What to do? What to do? Internally saying sorry to the girl, she uttered a white lie.
"No, I came together with Nii-chan. But I got lost while returning from the restroom."
"Ah, I see."
The rest of journey was silent as the teenagers did not engage Natsu in a conversation. When she saw the court, Natsu said thanks to the girls and swiftly walked away to stand in front of the railing beside some students in black uniform to watch the match.
Natsu immediately spotted her Shoyo due to his bright hair color. She almost called him. Thankfully, she remembered that she had come here without anyone knowing so she covered her mouth with her hand to remain quiet. Instead, she silently cheered for him in her heart.
And so the match started.
Unfortunately, Natsu did not have much knowledge about volleyball so she could not quite understand how the match was progressing. But judging from the way others around her had reacted, she knew that it was not a good result.
You can do it Nii-chan
"It's true that Yukigaoka's No. 1 is putting a huge effort but them being a tight spot won't change." One of the people beside Natsu commented.
Yukigaoka's No.1…that's Nii-chan!
"What do you mean by that Nii-san? Is Yukigaoka losing?" Natsu turned to look at the person.
The one who commented, a short haired man with large build looked at her with surprise. The two beside him, a grey haired man and a scary bald man also turned to look at her. They looked at each other for a brief second before the grey haired man crouched down and smiled at her.
"Yeah, they are losing pretty badly. But are you alone?" He asked.
Natsu ignored him to focus on the match. Her eyes stared worriedly at Shoyo. The grey haired man scratched his head at being ignored and after having a silent conversation with the other two, he resolved to ask again after the match.
Around that time, the ball flew to the other side of the court where there was no one. Suddenly a blur of orange and the ball was spiked hard to the opposite court. However, it was an out. Unfortunately, that was the end of the match.
Yukigaoka lost.
"UWAAAA, THAT LAST ONE WAS A REAL SHAME!" The bald scary guy shouted in frustration beside her, greatly startling Natsu.
Natsu didn't stick around to listen to what the man with large build replied. Instead she rushed out of the building. Her eyes red. She had saw Shoyo's expression and she knew if she stick around she would bawl her eyes out and probably started shouting at the opposite team. But she can't do that because then she will be discovered.
'Even though Nii-chan did his best and his last jump was amazing too.'
Inside the train back home, Natsu's emotions had calmed down. As she watched the scenery blurred by, a sudden thought emerged. While she can support Shoyo as it was now, she felt that because of the lack of understanding of the sport, she could not give it her all. So the best thing to do in order to give her maximum support was to learn about the sport.
'I'll ask Nii-chan when i get home."
"Suga, where did the little girl go?"
"Eh? She's right here...Hm? She's gone!"
"S-S-Suga-san, maybe that was a ghost!"
"Don't be ridiculous, Tanaka!"
AN: Basically this fic was created because I wanted to see Natsu support Shoyo in his matches. Haha, even if it's secretly. And I realllly want her to meet with Shimizu ahahaha. Can you imagine the cuteness.
Don't expect constant update.