Chapter 6: Frustration

The next day, Yuzuki was left to watched the volleyball match between Karasuno and Nekoma only up by the railing. She could hear each side talking to their team, but couldn't make out what they were saying, not that she cared. "Kiyoko told me that they lost twice to these guys yesterday," She thought to herself as she scanned the other team, "I hope they'll be alright." She was resting her head in her palm when a boy from the Nekoma team looked up at her. Yuzuki froze as he made eye contact with the boy with ombre hair. She looked away and saw the tall boy from the night before standing at the net as well. "His head almost reaches the top of the net from here…" She thought to herself when he looked up at her and waved. She waved back with a smile before looking back to the team she came to watch. She heard Hinata shout 'Bring it!' just as they were about to start.

The game started and Yuzuki's eyes followed the ball as it moved from one side of the court to the other. It was only the first point, and she could sense the intensity on the court from where she's standing; each team had the same look in their eyes. She yawned, and before she knew it, the point stopped. Hearing the whistle, the raven haired girl looked down at the court and saw the ball behind Hinata on the ground. "What just happened?" She stared dumbfounded as the Nekoma team cheered amongst themselves.

The next point, Yuzuki watched a little closer and saw Lev taunt Hinata from across the net. The hairs on her neck stood up as she suddenly felt a little irritated as the ball was served again. Tanaka received it and Kageyama got ready for the set. An orange blur went across the court as Hinata bolted for the net and jumped. Instead, Asahi got the spike, but it was tipped by the guys at net, including Lev. "One touch!" He shouted behind him. Yuzuki was kind of leaning a bit forward against the railing as the point was played out. Lev spiked the ball and ended the point.

The score was 2-3 when a time out was called. Feeling her throat start to feel dry, Yuzuki walked to a vending machine. She entered her money and pulled out a water bottle. "The boys seem to be having a bit of trouble out there…" She mumbled as she unscrewed the top of the bottle and poured water into her mouth.

"Oh, are you from Karasuno then?" Startled, Yuzuki started to choke on her water for a second as she turned around. A boy much taller than she was stood behind her with grey and black streaked hair. He held himself proudly, but looked down at her questionably. She nodded sheepishly, then he smiled at her. "Awesome! I'm Bokuto Kotaro, ace of Fukurodani!" He pointed at himself with his thumb with a permanent smile.

"I'm Shimizu Yuzuki…" She presented herself uncomfortably. His confidence was kind of intimidating.

"Are you a manager or something? If so, shouldn't you be out there?" He asked her with his bright golden eyes. Yuzuki just shook her head as she screwed on the top of her water bottle.

"I'm just a normal student, I'm not part of the club."

"Then you must really like volleyball then!" He exclaimed with a grin, "I guess you like the slam and the whoosh!" He started making sound effects and Yuzuki just tilted her head up at him.

"I don't…" She started, "…understand." He froze and looked at her dumbfounded with a 'eh?'.

He got extremely close to her face. "You're here and you don't know about the slam and the whoosh?!" Yuzuki leaned away from him nervously. He was about to say something else when another boy came up behind him. He had black hair, squinty green eyes, and a bored expression. "Akaashi! This is Yuzuki, she's from Karasuno!" Bokuto introduced her. The other boy just looked her over and shrugged, walking away. "Hey, Akaashi! Don't be rude!" Bokuto seemed to forget about the young girl's presence as he rushed after his friend. Quick to get away from the shouting and the excitement, Yuzuki quickly headed back to her spot in the railing.

"Wh-Why does that keep happening to me lately?" She thought nervously as she returned to the match between Karasuno and Nekoma. She came back and could sense the tension on the court, and it wasn't like before. The tension only came from Karasuno's side. "Something happened while I was gone… but what?" Everyone looked stiff and Hinata started getting less and less hits from Kageyama as the game progressed. "Damn it…" She thought gripping onto the railing and gritting her teeth as she watched the team continue to lose points. "This is why team sports are pointless…"

When the set was over, the Karasuno team started doing their slides across the ground and there was still something in the air, but she couldn't tell exactly what it was. She quickly made her way to greet the team when she noticed that they were exiting the courts. However, when she arrived, they were already gone. Whipping her head around, she ran through the halls to look for them, dodging people until she ran into Asahi's back. She rebounded and fell backwards onto the ground.

"Ah, Yuzuki-chan." She looked up to see smiling faces, but she could tell they weren't really that happy. "Why are you running?" Sawamura asked her as he reached down to help her up. She accepted his hand and only looked around.

"Where is Hinata and Kageyama?" She asked, looking up at the boys as they sighed and pointed to a door behind them. The door lead outside and it was cracked as she approached it with the coach beside her.

"Before I knew it, we lost the last set with Seijoh," Hinata's depressed voice stopped everyone that heard it, including Yuzuki as she was standing behind Coach Ukai near the doorway. "When I realized it, the ball that was hit was behind me, and on the floor." It sounded as if he was remembering something painful. Yuzuki just stood silently still and listened to her friend on the other side of the wall. "I'm the one who lost, so I don't want you to apologize, Kageyama." Irritation covered his words. "I want to fight in mid-air until the last moment."

"Fight?" Yuzuki balled her fist. Nishinoya called to her as she turned away and ran in the opposite direction. She wasn't looking where she was going as she ran in a full rage. "Why does everyone here love volleyball so much?" She asked herself, "What does everyone want to fight?!" She ran until she was too exhausted to run anymore.

She was leaning over her legs when she heard a familiar voices behind her. "Yuzuki!" She stood up and turned to see Kageyama and Hinata racing up to her, almost running into her. They leaned over and panted over their knees before lifting their heads to be eye level with her. "What's the matter?!" They asked in unison. She looked at them with her blue eyes wide and baffled. "They're worried about me? They just lost… and after what they just talked about." "Why were you running?" Hinata looked up at her with his big brown eyes and she couldn't look away. She could feel Kageyama looking down at her as well when she saw the rest of the team behind them start to approach. "What the heck is up with these guys?"

She waved her hands in front of her nervously. "N-Nothing's wrong, I just felt like running-"

"Don't lie." Kageyama growled down at her, pulling on one of her cheeks. "You can't fool us!" Yuzuki started to whine and he instantly backed off when she started to tear. Holding his hands up when the rest of the starters started to glare at his back. She held her cheek while she whined and he started to feel a stabbing in his chest. "I-I-I'm sorry!"

"You made her cry." Hinata growled at him, holding up a fist ready to fight. Kageyama held up his hands to defend himself.

"I-I-I said I'm sorry! I-I… It's just-"

"I don't get you guys…" They heard Yuzuki mumble. They all looked up at the girl as her bangs covered her face with a shadow so they couldn't see her expression. She looked up at them with a furious expression as she shouted, "I don't get it!" Then she stormed off without saying anything else. Leaving the boys completely white in the face with confusing.

Kiyoko just sighed and looked after her sister as she ran. "She's alright, she does that from time to time." She tried to explain, but when she looked over at the second and third years, they were teary-eyed.

"Y-Yuzuki-chan…" Asahi whined lowly.

"… is angry with us…" Nishinoya finished.