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Mikaela-chan:
I'm sorry to hear about your loss in the quarter-finals of nationals. Congratulations to your team, they played very well over the past few days. For a first time appearance at nationals, you should be quite proud of what you accomplished.
In terms of your volleyball career, I've made contact with a reporter who wants to do an article about you. Not just about your injury and volleyball, but all about you: your background, family, friends, and everything that makes you who you are. I saw your interview with Miya Atsumu, which was a brilliant move on your part. You were popular before, but you're more so now. This interview is the icing on the cake.
Additionally, I have some news to share with you about your future as a volleyball player based on what I've learned from speaking with the committee. Let's arrange a meet up as soon as possible.
Regards,
Hujita Yanahaba
Mikaela scowled at the email. "You think I was trying to get in an interview with that idiot?" she grumbled to herself, glaring at her phone screen.
Hinata looked up from his phone. "What is it?"
"Nothing," she said with a sigh, her eyes lingering on the last full line of the email. I have some news to share with you about your future as a volleyball player. "Nothing at all."
She closed her phone and shoved it in her pocket. She'd think about it later.
Mikaela slept in the taxi back from the hospital.
She was physically, emotionally, and mentally drained. Between stressful games, a difficult loss, and being approached by more faces than she could remember, her brain and body were dead exhausted. By the time she and Hinata had returned from the hospital (just a fever, thank goodness), everyone had already eaten dinner and was winding down. Mikaela kept her head down for most of it, making sure to check on Tsukishima and ensure that he was okay after his leg cramp.
"I'm fine," he assured her, scowling. "The cramp went away within a minute."
"Okay," she said in relief. "As long as you're okay now."
Tsukishima shrugged. "Fine. I want to look over tapes of Kamomedai from the match."
Mikaela perked up. "Really? We can do that together, if you want."
"Sure," he said softly, smirking. "Great date night ideas."
"You- You'd be down for date nights?" she asked excitedly, grabbing his hands. "What else would you want to do? We could do more museum trips, or go see a movie, maybe go get dinner- wait, we should stay cheap, maybe an arcade? Unless- wait, would you want date nights?"
Tsukishima shot her an amused look, apparently enjoying her excitement. "I thought that was one of the requirements of being a boyfriend."
She shrugged. "Depends on who you date. Some girls yes, others not so much."
"So which type am I dating? One that wants to go on dates every other night and make my pockets hurt?"
Mikaela laughed. "Well, my idea of a good date is playing volleyball or curling up on the couch and watching volleyball videos. So I'd say I'm pretty low maintenance."
"Good, I don't think I could afford constant trips out."
"I'd cover some of it, moron."
"I'll hold you to that."
"Oh, get a room, you two."
They both turned to see Sugawara, with his arms crossed and a knowing smirk on his face. Mikaela sighed and rolled her eyes, dropping Tsukishima's hands. "With all due respect, Suga-senpai," she said with a grin, "we did have a room until you wandered in. And we're not even doing anything."
"We-" Tsukishima started, but Sugawara waved his hands.
"Just teasing you two. Don't forget, we leave pretty early tomorrow morning."
"We won't forget," Mikaela said quickly, tucking her hands behind her back. "Thanks for the reminder." Sugawara waved and said good night to both of them before vanishing down one of the hallways, leaving them alone again. Mikaela sighed to herself and turned back to Tsukishima. "I guess we should turn in too, right?"
"Yeah. One sec."
"What?"
Tsukishima leaned towards her and wrapped his arms around her back, pulling her in for a hug. Mikaela blinked in surprise before she let herself be pressed against his chest, welcoming how warm he was. She sighed, sinking into the fabric of his shirt with her cheek pressed up to his chest, and she felt him rest his chin on top of her head.
Mikaela never wanted to move. She'd had her fair share of hugs with Kageyama, sure, and they were warm and safe, yes, but this was different. The feeling of being wrapped up in Tsukishima's arms made something bloom inside her chest.
"Mikaela?" he whispered into her ear, and Mikaela felt chills roll down her spine. "Can I use a question?"
She didn't want to move, so she just whispered against his chest, "sure."
"Okay. Are-"
"Wait, how many do you have left?"
"Does it really matter?"
"Yes!"
"We're dating, Mikaela. I think we have to be honest regardless now."
His emphasis on 'dating' made Mikaela's heart thump loudly in her chest. "I know, but still," she murmured. "It's our... it's our thing."
He huffed in laughter, and she grinned against his shirt. "Fine. Three left?"
"Sure. So down to two after?"
"Fine. Is that all, your Highness?"
"Yep."
"Okay." Tsukishima pulled away from her, and Mikaela felt painfully cold until he took her hands and looked at her. "Are you okay?"
She blinked. "What? Yes. That's your question?"
He sighed. "You're so dumb sometimes. No, idiot. I mean after this chaotic couple of days." He reached up and brushed one of her bangs behind her ear, but Mikaela couldn't bring her eyes away from her face. "It's been a lot for everyone, and we're all exhausted, but... between your interview and Miya and such."
Mikaela couldn't think of what to say, so she stammered out, "I didn't know you cared."
Tsukishima rolled his eyes. "Just because I don't say it doesn't mean I don't care about you, dumbass."
"You just said it, though."
"Not technically."
"Dumbass."
"Moron."
"Idiot?"
"So?"
Mikaela exhaled slowly, and forced a smile on her face. "Yeah. I'm okay." He raised an eyebrow at her, clearly not believing her, and she sighed. "Well, kind of. I'm okay for now. I, uh..." The email from Hujita popped into her mind and she winced. "I got an email from the coach of Japan's female team. She wants me to do an interview for a magazine or something."
"Fun."
"Yeah. I think..." she trailed off. "I'm not going to do it. Social media's insane."
Tsukishima nodded, rubbing circles on the backs of her hands with his thumbs. "So?"
"I'll be okay," Mikaela concluded, smiling softly. "At the very least, I'm okay right now."
"Just okay?" he teased.
She squeezed his hands, beaming. "Better than okay."
"Good." Tsukishima leaned towards her, and Mikaela's stomach erupted with butterflies as he kissed her softly. "Get some sleep." With one last squeeze of her hands, Tsukishima let go of her and left, going down the same hallway that Sugawara had left through earlier.
Mikaela stood there by herself for at least a full minute, grinning like an idiot, before she sighed happily and went back to her own room.
Hujita-san:
Thank you for the opportunity, but I think I'm good. I think I've had enough internet excitement to last me a lifetime. Any news you have to share with me about my future as a player can be addressed in an email or an invitation to participate in your camp next year.
I'm half joking. I'll come down to Tokyo sometime and visit if you're willing to discuss my options. Just let me know when.
Mikaela Kaisha
The last two and a half months of school felt like a blur.
Despite all of their tournaments being over, Daichi decided to keep holding practices. They never really did drills of any sort, but they played long games and plenty of practice matches. Mikaela stopped watching and played with them. She and Kageyama would show up hellishly early (at the same time as Hinata, of course) and Mikaela started getting some quality practice in.
Ever since she'd gotten off the crutches, she'd been working at getting herself back in shape. Her cardio was okay (hobbling around on crutches was pretty damn exhausting) but her physical strength was a bit lacking, especially in her legs. She'd still worked on her arms in the gym, but her legs were weaker than they should've been.
Specifically, her jump. For her left-handed spikes.
"Again," she ordered Kageyama on one late Wednesday night in the gym. She winced and leaned onto her left leg, bending her right at the knee. The prosthetic flexed against the floor, where the fake ankle joint was. "Crap."
"Feeling okay?" he asked, furrowing his brow.
Mikaela nodded, biting her lip. "I'm fine with right hand spikes, because I have to jump off my left leg for that. But I can't get any height on my left ones."
"Because you have to jump off of your right," Kageyama clarified, "and you have no leg there anymore."
"Yeah, basically. No muscle to push off with."
Kageyama pursed his lips. "Well... is it something to do with your prosthetic? Could we look at getting you a new one?"
She sighed. "I don't know how much more that could do. The one I've got now is only a year old, and it's a custom one. It's literally half designed for volleyball. There's nothing I could do to give myself more jump strength."
"Could you get a prosthetic fully for volleyball?"
Mikaela shot Kageyama a glare. "Like Mom would go for that."
He shrugged. "She might."
They both paused for a moment. Mikaela was deep in thought. Was there anything that could be done? A large part of what made her a threat on the court was her ambidexterity. If she didn't have that... Well, she'd still be good. And it wasn't like she couldn't spike left-handed spikes, it was just that she could barely jump high enough to clear the net.
She shook herself, clapping her cheeks with her hands. "Let's go again," Mikaela said hoarsely.
Kageyama nodded. "Again."
Do it again.
The days dragged on, and Mikaela continued to practice. She brought Yachi in to a couple of their 'practices', and spent a while showing her the ropes. Thankfully, Yachi was now a lot more comfortable with the upper years on the team, and she looked like she was enjoying what Mikaela was showing her how to do. At one point, she asked if she needed to stalk people, and Mikaela had burst into laughter before reassuring her that she didn't.
The most progressive practice occurred on a typical Friday afternoon, in the dead end of February. Karasuno was in the gym, practicing like usual, but they typically ended sooner on Fridays, which was nice because Mikaela had an important date with Tsukishima tonight. She was warming up with Yamaguchi, bumping the ball back and forth, when she caught someone coming in the gym out of the corner of her eye.
Daichi greeted the guy- no, a girl?- at the entry. "Hey! Thanks for coming!" he said excitedly, jogging towards her. Mikaela frowned and nearly squeaked in alarm as the volleyball bounced near her foot.
"Sorry, Kaela!" Yamaguchi apologized, rubbing the back of his head.
She grinned sheepishly, grabbing the stray ball. "No, my bad, I got distracted."
Yamaguchi turned to where Mikaela had been staring and straightened up. "Is that Michimiya-san?"
"Wait, the captain of the girls' team?" Mikaela asked in surprise, standing up straight. Why is she here? Unless-
Daichi turned towards them, and nerves sprouted in Mikaela's chest when he locked eyes with her and grinned. "Mikaela! There's someone I want you to meet!" She smiled at Yamaguchi apologetically, but he waved her off and jogged off to join Hinata in his stretching circle. Mikaela took a deep breath and jogged over to the captain, who was grinning. "This is Michimiya Yui. She was the captain of the girls' team this year."
Mikaela stuck out a hand and smiled, determined to make a good first impression. "Mikaela Kaisha. Nice to meet you."
"You too," she said with a grin, and Mikaela was pleasantly surprised at how friendly she was. "Sawamura-kun has told me a lot about you."
"Good things, I hope," the manager joked weakly, and Michimiya laughed.
"I just heard that you wanted to know a few things about the team. You're going to be trying out next year, right?"
Mikaela's eyes lit up, and turned to Daichi. He shrugged and grinned, motioning for her to talk to Michimiya, and Mikaela could've hugged him right then and there. "Thank you so much, Captain," she said quickly, bowing to Daichi, before turning back to the girls' captain. "Yes! Yes, I just want to know more about the team and who's going to be captaining next year."
"For sure," Michimiya agreed. "Want to go to a tea shop and sit down for a bit?"
"Yes! Wait." She turned to Daichi. "Is that okay?"
"Go for it," he said, grinning. "This is more important for you, anyways."
"Thank you! Thank you so much." Mikaela turned back to Michimiya, grinning. "Just let me grab my bag."
"Of course," she said with a laugh.
She beamed, turning on her heel and jogging to the pile of backpacks. Mikaela pulled her sweater out of her bag and threw it over her head, rushing so fast that she nearly forced her head into the arm sleeve. "Kaisha! Where you off to?" Hinata called, bending so far forwards into his splits that it made Mikaela wince.
The manager tossed her backpack over her shoulder. "Going to go talk to the captain of the girls' team. We're going out for food."
"Have fun!" Hinata and Yamaguchi chorused, waving at her. Kageyama held up his hand in an awkward wave.
She waved back, and was about to turn around when she heard, "you better not be late tonight."
Mikaela sighed happily, turning to Tsukishima. He had a volleyball in his hand and was frowning at her, but there was smirk building behind the frown. "How could I ever forget?" she joked, heading over to him. "Don't worry, I'll be ready."
"You'd better be," Tsukishima grumbled. "If you leave me alone with those vultures, I'll go crazy." But he was smirking at her, which was enough for Mikaela to tell her that he was joking around. She pushed herself up onto her tiptoes and kissed him quickly, earning her several calls of "PDA! Gross!" from Hinata and Tanaka. Grinning, Mikaela squeezed his hand briefly before she turned away and jogged back to the entrance of the gym, where Michimiya was waiting for her. "Sorry," she said breathlessly, still grinning.
Michimiya smiled sheepishly, looking from her to Tsukishima. "No worries. All good to go?"
"Of course, sorry for the wait. Thanks again, Daichi."
"Take care, you two," Daichi said with a wave before turning back to practice. Mikaela and Michimiya headed out of the gym and the older girl took the lead, apparently having a tea shop in mind.
They weren't even thirty seconds from the gym when Michimiya turned to her, a shy grin on her face. "So, who was that?"
"Oh! That's Tsukishima Kei," Mikaela said, a silly grin popping onto her face. Dammit, she still couldn't talk about it without smiling like an idiot. "We've been going out for almost two months now. We've got a date tonight, so I need to be back at some reasonable time. He's coming to pick me up... 5:45, I think."
"That's plenty of time," she replied. "Congratulations! That's wonderful."
"Thank you!"
"What're you two up to tonight?"
Mikaela tried to think about how best to explain who they were meeting tonight, and with a smirk, she ended up settling for, "it's a meet-the-parents night."
Her eyes widened. "Wow! Big step."
"You could say that," she said with a laugh. "Where do you want to go?"
"I know this perfect little shop, not even two minutes from here," Michimiya said excitedly. "If that's okay with you." Mikaela nodded, and they walked while making small talk for another minute or so until they made it to the shop. It was a quaint little place with reasonable prices, so Mikaela ordered herself a hot chocolate while Michimiya ordered some sort of herbal tea. Once they'd gotten their drinks and sat down, Michimiya dove right into the conversation. "So! What do you want to know?"
Mikaela grinned. "Everything."
They ended up chatting for a little over an hour. Michimiya gave her the run down of the team, and Mikaela could hear her love for her teammates in her words. Although Karasuno had never done very well in competition, Michimiya made sure to emphasize how close knit of a team they were and how much she loved every single one of them. "Sudou's the captain next year," she said with a laugh. "She can hold a grudge, so don't get on her bad side!"
They continued on about positions and such, and Mikaela found herself trying to make up combination plays similar to what the Karasuno boys liked to do. Michimiya was enthusiastic about her ideas, and together they acted out plays using their empty cups and a couple napkins.
Eventually, they shifted from talking about volleyball to talking about boys. As it turned out, Michimiya had a bit of thing for Daichi. Mikaela enjoyed listening to her talk about him, and she shared some of her own stories about her and Tsukishima.
Speaking of which, Kahano hadn't taken the news very well.
Neither Mikaela or Tsukishima were overly comfortable with large amounts of PDA, so they typically restricted themselves to when they were alone. Lately, they'd started making exceptions for when they were around the team- they were basically family, it wasn't a huge deal- but they never did anything in school or in class. It was an unspoken rule between them, but they hadn't had any problems with it so far.
Apparently, someone had seen them holding hands while they were walking back from practice one day, and rumors spread fast. Mikaela had no idea there were even rumors circulating until Kahano had approached her at her desk before class started. "Mikaela-san, can I ask you something?" she'd asked.
"Sure," Mikaela had replied, and she'd thought it was weird that everyone else in class was staring at them but had initially brushed it off. "What's up?"
"Are you and Tsukishima-kun dating?"
That was when it had clicked for Mikaela. At this point, it had been a little over a month, and frankly she'd been surprised that no one had asked sooner. Sure, they avoided being affectionate in public, but someone had to see something at some point, right? "Us?" she'd asked incredulously, pointing between her and Tsukishima, who looked (for the most part) disinterested.
Kahano had nodded. "Yeah."
"Yeah, we are."
Apparently, being straight up was not the right way to go. Kahano had looked like someone was strangling her, because she was choking on her words and saying something along the lines of, "I thought you- you said that you didn't- but-" before Yuka had whisked her off the bathroom, glaring at Mikaela the whole time.
Well, Yuka and Kahano still didn't like her. She could live with that.
"Well, you should get going so you can get ready for your date tonight," Michimiya said pleasantly, snapping Mikaela out of her flashback. "This was a lot of fun! I'm glad I had the chance to sit down with you."
"Thank you so much," Mikaela said gratefully, standing up from her seat and collecting the garbage from the table. "I can't wait to play next year."
Michimiya laughed. "If you're as good as Sawamura-kun says you are, then I'm sure you'll take the team to new levels."
She flushed under the praise. "Thank you!"
They both went their separate ways as they were leaving the tea shop, and Mikaela picked up a jog to get herself home. She only had ten or fifteen minutes to get ready for when Tsukishima was coming to pick her up, and she wanted to look good. Tonight was important, and they were going out to a pretty nice restaurant. They never really did expensive dates, so this was a change of pace.
Mikaela shoved open the door, stumbling into her house. "I'm home!" she called, and her mom poked her head out of the kitchen.
"Isn't Tsukishima coming over in ten minutes?" she asked, frowning.
"Yep!" Mikaela replied, taking off for the basement stairs.
She heard her mother sigh in desperation, but the manager couldn't waste that kind of time. She sped down to her room and threw her jacket off, peeling off the volleyball clothes she was wearing and scrambling for something nice. Dammit, I thought I owned nice clothing, where is it? Mikaela scowled to herself, but her eyes widened when she found two of her nice shirts: a navy blue, off-the-shoulder top with long sleeves, and a black tank top with silver lining that could probably pair well with a jacket.
Dark blue was Tsukishima's favourite colour, right?
Mikaela ended up wearing black slacks and the navy blue top, and after a quick debate, she let her hair down. Brushing it out was a pain (she had a hell of a lot of hair) but she thought she looked semi decent, at least.
The doorbell rang and she heard her mom yell, "Kaisha! Door!"
"Coming!" she yelled back, tossing her hair brush onto her bed and heading for the door. When she opened it, she nearly froze up. Tsukishima was standing there in a green collared shirt and dark pants, with his hands in his pockets. "Wow," was all Mikaela could say, because holy shit her boyfriend was so hot-
He smirked at her. "Thanks. You look great."
Tsukishima didn't compliment her often, so his words went straight to her heart. Mikaela beamed, straightening up. "Blue's your favourite colour, right?" she joked, leaning up to kiss him on the cheek.
"Green's yours?" he asked softly, and Mikaela didn't think her smile could get any bigger.
"Hello, Tsukishima-kun," her mother said from the kitchen, pausing in her cooking.
They pulled away from each other and Tsukishima bowed respectfully to her mother. "Kageyama-san," he said, and Mikaela laughed as she noticed him choke on the 'san' at the end- probably reminded of Kageyama. "I'll have her back by eleven."
"It'd do you good to have her back before then."
"Mom."
"I'm joking. Have fun, you two."
"We will! Thanks Mom!" Mikaela grabbed her coat and threw it on, closing the door behind her as she left. Tsukishima took her hand in his and Mikaela grinned, squeezing his hand. "Ready?" she teased.
He sighed. "They're going to kill me, aren't they?"
"Probably."
"Yeah, let's get this over with."
She dropped his hand, beaming, and they started the ten minute walk to the restaurant that they'd been told to meet at. She hadn't exactly lied to Michimiya. This was still a very important date, and yes, it was a meet-the-parents thing- sort of. Tsukishima had met her mother a few weeks into their relationship, and Mikaela already knew Ayano, so those weren't a big deal.
No, these parents were going to be the biggest problem.
"What," Oikawa declared, stabbing his chopsticks into his noodle bowl, "are your intentions with our Mika-chan?"
"Oikawa," Mikaela scowled, crossing her arms. "Seriously?"
"Seriously," Iwaizumi confirmed, frowning at Tsukishima. "This is the most serious he's been about anything since qualifiers."
Tsukishima sighed, nearly snapping the chopsticks he had in his hands. "Tch."
Mikaela hadn't realized that informing Oikawa and Iwaizumi of her relationship was going to cause something like this. She hadn't even been the one to tell them, which was the funny part; Kageyama had accidentally run into Oikawa in town and when Oikawa had asked where she was, her poor naive cousin had said out with Tsukishima and hadn't realized that Oikawa had no idea. This led to an angry phone call of "how could you not tell me, Mika-chan!" and "you picked the robot, out of all of them?" in which Mikaela had to argue that Tsukishima was, in fact, not a robot and treated her very well.
Unconvinced, Oikawa and Iwaizumi had set up an interrogation night- sorry, a dinner.
"Is this really necessary?" Tsukishima asked with a tired sigh.
Oikawa looked offended. "Of course it is! This is Mika-chan's life and happiness we're talking about here."
"Oikawa, you're not in charge of my happiness."
"No, but we care about you," Iwaizumi clarified, leaning his elbows onto the table. "And frankly, we don't know a whole lot about Tsukishima here. And you can be pretty dumb sometimes, Mikaela."
"Fair enough," Tsukishima agreed, and she punched him lightly in the shoulder, scowling. "Look, the only reason I'm doing this is because you both mean a lot to her," he continued, his eyebrows knitting together. "Otherwise, I wouldn't be here."
Oikawa scowled. "You're not helping your case here, Four-Eyes."
"Says the one who was wearing glasses when watching the finals," Mikaela couldn't help but add.
"You don't get to talk here, Mika-chan."
"This is literally about me."
"Don't care."
Mikaela grabbed the ends of her hair and tugged, frustrated. "I can't believe you both," she grumbled, pulling the hair elastic off of her wrist. "I mean, I expected this from Oikawa, but you too, Iwaizumi?" She started gathering her hair up in a ponytail until Tsukishima reached towards her and pulled her hands down. "Hey!"
"You never wear your hair down," he said with a sigh, his eyes falling from the top of her head to her eyes. "It looks nice."
"Oh!" she squeaked, immediately snapping the hair tie right back to its spot on her wrist. Tsukishima's gaze trailed from her eyes to her lips, and Mikaela felt heat rush to her face. He smirked at her and turned away, looking back at the Aoba Johsai players. "Sorry," Mikaela forced out, trying to calm herself down as she turned back to face her senpais. "Where were we?"
Oikawa and Iwaizumi both looked from Mikaela, to Tsukishima, then to each other.
"Christ," the ace grumbled, picking up his chopsticks. "You two are gross."
Tsukishima snorted, about to say something (probably something snarky) so Mikaela kicked him from under the table. He winced but bit his tongue, instead using his chopsticks to shovel more noodles into his mouth. "Look," Mikaela said, ready to put the conversation to rest. "He makes me happy. He knows everything about me. Isn't that enough?"
"On the flip side, she makes my life miserable," Tsukishima remarked with a smirk, and Mikaela kicked him again. "So it's a pretty fair trade."
"Fine by me," Iwaizumi said, and Oikawa's jaw dropped.
"Iwa-chan! You're really going to let it go, just like that? This is Mika-chan we're talking about here, she's a delicate flower! We-"
("Delicate, my ass," Tsukishima grumbled, but Mikaela just grinned at him.)
Iwaizumi shut his partner up by poking him in the forehead with a chopstick. Oikawa yelped in protest. "Listen, Assikawa, I think Mikaela's smart enough to make her own decisions and decide who she wants in her life. Besides, it seems like he makes her happy, and let's face it, she's a grumpy person."
Mikaela snorted. "I'm a grumpy person? Have you met Tsukishima?"
Oikawa pouted, elbowing Iwaizumi. "Iwa-chan, what was the point of coming out here if you weren't going to help me scare Four Eyes a bit?"
"Free food."
"Free food?"
Iwaizumi cast him a sideways glance. "You were paying, weren't you?"
There was a collective pause at the table, broken by the waitress returning to their sides, smiling obliviously at them. "Will those be four separate bills?" she asked pleasantly, pen posed over her notepad.
Mikaela shared a sly grin with Tsukishima. "One bill, please," she said innocently, avoiding Oikawa's eyes as the setter's jaw dropped.
"One bill," Tsukishima agreed, grabbing her hand under the table and squeezing lightly.
Iwaizumi nodded. "One bill."
The waitress nodded in assent and left, probably to go pile their orders together. Flabbergasted, Oikawa couldn't even figure out what to say. Iwaizumi raised his fist at her and Mikaela eagerly returned the fist bump, enjoying Oikawa's desperation. "Iwa-chan, Mika-chan," Oikawa forced out, looking around the table with betrayal in his eyes. "Hell, even you, Four Eyes. Why?"
"Free food," Mikaela and Tsukishima said in unison.
"Watching you suffer," Iwaizumi added casually, slurping up the last noodles from his bowl.
"Oh, you all are evil. Fine, this one's on your senpai." He seemed to have finally recovered from being ganged up on. Oikawa huffed, crossing his arms. "Anyways. Treat her well, Glasses-kun, or else we will have problems."
Iwaizumi gestured to Oikawa with the chopsticks. "I think that's the first thing he's said that I agree with."
Tsukishima rolled his eyes, pushing his glasses up higher on his nose. "The amount of people that have threatened me is ridiculous," he said with a sigh, frowning at Mikaela. "You're friends with too many people."
She shrugged. "My bad."
"No one's threatened you yet, though. Does anyone care about my well being?"
"That's my job."
He glanced at her, and Mikaela grinned when she saw his lips quirk up into a smirk. "I guess it is."
"I'm going to vomit," Iwaizumi said, and Oikawa pretended to gag.
"My, are people jealous?" Tsukishima taunted, leaning back in his chair.
Oikawa spluttered indignantly, "I could get a girlfriend! Or boyfriend! I could get anyone I tried to!"
Iwaizumi snorted. "You'd be more likely to attract aliens."
Mikaela laughed, shaking her head as the waitress returned with the bill. Collectively, they all pointed at Oikawa, who sighed and accepted his punishment. The captain paid, they all put their coats back on, and started to head out of the restaurant. "It was good to see you, Mikaela," the Aoba Johsai ace said, grabbing her in a hug. "Sorry that Shittykawa kind of ruined it."
Mikaela hugged him back. "Eh, he meant well."
"I paid the bill, can't you at least pretend you enjoyed it?" Oikawa complained, opening his arms. Mikaela hugged him next, laughing to herself. When they pulled apart, the two both glared at Tsukishima one last time. "See ya, Mika-chan. You're coming to our graduation, right?"
"Yep," she said. "Wouldn't miss it."
They waved one last time. Iwaizumi and Oikawa left one way, and Tsukishima and Mikaela went the other way. "See, that wasn't too bad, right?" Mikaela asked, nudging her boyfriend with her elbow.
He scoffed. "They're ridiculously overprotective."
"Can you blame them?"
"Fair enough."
"I appreciate the fact they care, though." Mikaela linked her arm through Tsukishima's and smiled at him. "Thanks for going through with that, even if you didn't want to. I can tell you would've rather been anywhere else."
The blond shrugged. "I got free food. Wasn't all bad."
They walked together in silence. The plan was to head back to Tsukishima's place and watch movies (mostly cuddling) before Mikaela had to go back home. Something was nagging at the back of mind, and Mikaela pinched her lips together. "Hey, Tsukishima?"
"Yeah?"
"Does it bother you that I'm friends with a lot of guys?"
"Does it bother me?" he repeated, and Mikaela nodded, tightening her hold on his arm. "Are you planning on dating any of them?"
"No?"
"Then no, it doesn't bother me." Tsukishima huffed, adjusting his glasses with his free hand. "You're the manager of a boys' volleyball team, Mik. It's obvious you're going to have a lot of male friends, especially with a personality as charming as yours." Mikaela snorted. "As long as you're not going to date any of them, I don't care."
Mikaela sighed happily, snuggling into his arm. "M'kay. Thanks, Kei." He stiffened from the use of his first name, but judging by the smirk on his face, he didn't mind. "Also, I'm going to be cutting my hair."
Tsukishima raised his eyebrows. "Really?"
"Yeah. Can't have it too long for volleyball. Probably chopping it off at my shoulder," she added, using her free hand to show off where she was cutting it. "Gah, that's a bit short. Maybe I'll leave it a bit longer. It just can't be too long, you know?"
"That's a lot of hair off."
She grinned. "I have enough to donate while still keeping a good chunk of it, so I think I'm going to do that. Tobio's older sister's going to cut it when we go down into Tokyo tomorrow."
"For your meeting with Hujita-san, right?" Tsukishima clarified, and she nodded. "Wait, Kageyama has a sister?"
Mikaela nodded. "Yeah, she's a hair dresser in Tokyo. She lives with her boyfriend."
"You've never mentioned her."
"We're not close."
"Hm."
They walked the rest of the way to Tsukishima's house in silence, side by side. Mikaela had let go of his arm, so they weren't touching, but that was okay with her. She knew that as soon as they got back, she'd be cuddled into his arms fast enough.
Ayano said hi to both of them when they got back, stopping to hug Mikaela briefly (Ayano was like a second mother to her now) and leaving them the living room. Tsukishima popped in Jurassic World (one of their favorites) and raised an eyebrow. "You have a spare change of clothes?"
Mikaela glanced down at her shirt and pants. She looked back up, grinning sheepishly. "Nope. Didn't even think about it."
"Dumbass."
"Sorry, I was a bit rushed," she replied with a scowl as Tsukishima rolled his eyes at her, vanishing into his room. Probably getting changed. Mikaela sighed, sitting herself down on the couch and tugging at the sleeves of her top. She hadn't even thought about it; it had completely slipped her mind.
Something smacked her in the side of the head, and Mikaela was about to complain when she realized what it was. A hoodie? "Get changed," she heard Tsukishima call before his door slammed shut.
In awe, Mikaela held up what he'd thrown at her. A black hoodie and sweats.
His clothes.
Mikaela squealed to herself and practically skipped to the bathroom to change, happily slipping into Tsukishima's comfy clothing that was at least one size too big on her (she liked it better that way anyways) and sliding out of her fancier stuff. When she was changed and out of the bathroom, Tsukishima was already on the couch. When he looked at her, his face went bright red. Mikaela grinned. "Thanks," she said gratefully, squeezing next to him on the couch.
"You don't get to keep them," he said with a scowl, turning away from her.
She'd never seen him this red before. "I know, I know," Mikaela teased, cuddling into his side. "Thank you. They're really warm."
Tsukishima sighed softly, throwing an arm around her shoulders. "I know, they're mine."
"Stop being snarky and watch the movie."
So they did. They watched the first one, and when it was done, they still had over an hour until Mikaela's curfew. Mikaela was totally content to just doze off into Tsukishima's side when Ayano popped her head into the living room and told them that she had just got off the phone with Mikaela's mom, asking if it was fine if Mikaela stayed the night. Mikaela had no idea how, but Ayano had managed to get her mother to agree to that. After thanking Ayano repeatedly, Mikaela went back to her new favorite past time: cuddling with Tsukishima.
They ended up falling asleep on the couch with Jurassic World 2 playing in the background, but Mikaela wouldn't have traded it for the world.
"Mikaela."
She grumbled in response, shifting slightly in her spot.
A sigh. "Mik, my arm's asleep."
"Don't care."
Another sigh. "Mikaela, Kageyama's going to be here in ten minutes."
"Wh- What? What time is it?"
"Ten to ten."
Mikaela yawned and cracked open an eye, surveying her surroundings. To her delight, she was laying sideways on the couch next to Tsukishima. She had her head propped up on his shoulder, with his arm awkwardly tucked around her. One of her arms was draped over his stomach and the other was crunched into her side. One of her legs was over top of his.
She sighed softly, enjoying the moment, and then his words clicked. "Wait. Ten to ten?"
"I texted him that you stayed the night," Tsukishima said as Mikaela shoved herself up from the couch. "He said he'd be here at ten. He's going with you to Tokyo, is he not? And you're getting your hair cut by his sister?"
"Yep," Mikaela replied absentmindedly. "Where'd I put my clothes from yesterday?"
"Far table," he answered, and Mikaela spun until she was facing the table and snatched her navy blue shirt and pants up. "I've got a hair brush somewhere you can borrow. Your hair is a disaster."
She laughed. "Well, after today, I'll have less of it to deal with." She bit her lip and started heading to the bathroom. "I hope it'll look okay."
Tsukishima grabbed her wrist as she walked by, and before she could protest, he pulled her in for a quick kiss. "You couldn't look bad if you tried," he said softly, and something warm spread through Mikaela's chest. "Now go get changed. I want my hoodie back."
"R... Right," she forced out, a grin slipping onto her face. Mikaela stumbled into the bathroom and sighed, sinking against the wall and burying her face in Tsukishima's hoodie. How was it that his hoodie was warmer and comfier than every single one of her hoodies? Maybe it was a guy thing- Kageyama's sweaters always felt warmer. Sighing, she pulled the hoodie over her head and tugged off his sweatpants, pulling on her clothing from the evening before.
Mikaela opened the door to the bathroom, and Tsukishima tossed a hair brush at her. She caught it and tossed his clothing back at him. "Thank you," she said gratefully, dragging the brush through her mess of hair. "Your stuff was great."
"It was a size too big on you."
"That's what made it so nice," she argued, yanking the brush and wincing as it caught on a knot. "Anytime you want to let me steal something, I gladly will."
He rolled his eyes. "I'm sure you will."
A few minutes later, when Mikaela had her hands deep into her hair in an effort to put it up into a ponytail, there was a knock on the door. "That'd be Tobio," she said brightly, wrapping the hair elastic around her mess of black hair. "I'll see you tomorrow?"
"If I have to."
Mikaela laughed, kissing him on the cheek. "I'll see you tomorrow, then."
Tsukishima offered her a rare smile. "Bye. Text me how it goes."
She grinned, pulling the door open and grabbing her coat from the hook. Kageyama was at the door step with his hand posed at the door, ready to knock again. He raised his eyebrows. "You ready to go?" Mikaela nodded, zipping up her coat, and Kageyama closed the door behind her.
The train ride to Tokyo took longer than Mikaela remember it being every other time she had to go into Tokyo. The station was pretty crowded, and maneuvering through the throng of people was a bit annoying, but they still made it to Tokyo with plenty of time. They had over an hour until Mikaela had to meet Hujita, so Kageyama mapped out the way to the hair salon where his sister worked.
Miwa was kind but a bit distant, which was typical of her. Mikaela hadn't seen her in a few years, but she didn't look much different from what Mikaela remembered. Before Mikaela knew it, more than half of her hair was gone. Miwa had braided it up to the specified length for donation, which still left Mikaela with hair that went a few inches past her shoulder.
It was different, and Mikaela wasn't sure if she liked it yet. Regardless, she paid Miwa and thanked her. "Thanks, Miwa," Mikaela said gratefully, touching the ends of her hair. So short, oh my god. "It was nice to see you."
She lifted her hand in an awkward wave, forcing a smile on her face. "See you, Kaisha."
"We've got twenty minutes until your meeting," Kageyama said. He glanced at his sister. "Bye, sis."
"Stay safe, Tobio," Miwa called before she turned back to her station, going to clean some brushes.
Mikaela pursed her lips, glancing from Kageyama's sister, then back to him. He didn't seem bothered, but that kind of distance definitely would put a strain on their relationship. "You don't miss her at all?" Mikaela asked when they got out to the street, ready to catch a taxi.
Kageyama shrugged. "Not really."
"She's your sister, though."
"You're more of a sister than she ever was."
Mikaela paused, taking a minute for the words to register in her brain. Once they did, she grabbed Kageyama's hand and squeezed briefly as a taxi pulled up in front of them. He didn't seem to react, but Mikaela hoped he knew how much those words meant to her.
They took the taxi down to the Ajinomoto National Training Center, and made it there with ten minutes to spare. They waited in the lobby until Hujita came down to meet them, exactly on time. "Mikaela," she greeted, smirking at her. "I see you brought your cousin."
"He offered to come," Mikaela defended, glancing at Kageyama. "There's no problem if he stays, right?"
"Well, you'll just tell him all about it after, so I don't see why not." Hujita beckoned to them. "Come on, let's go up to my office."
Mikaela and Kageyama followed Hujita to the elevators, and then from the elevator down the hallway to her office. Mikaela fidgeted with the hem of her jacket, unable to keep herself still. When they got into the office, Hujita sat behind her desk. She and Kageyama pulled out the two chairs in front of the desk and sat down.
Hujita laced her fingers together and propped her elbows up on the desk. "I'm going to get straight to it. You can't compete with my team."
She paused, trying to digest the information. "Wait- Wait, but you said-"
"I'm aware of what I said and I apologize for giving you false hope, if that was the case," the coach continued, eyes flitting from Mikaela to Kageyama. "But there's no way I can get it bypassed, especially with the existence of the Paralympics."
"Paralympics?"
"The version of Paralympic volleyball involves playing while seated." Mikaela didn't like the idea of that, and Hujita must've been able to tell from the look on her face, because she smirked. "Yeah, I thought so. I'm sorry, Mikaela. However, I still feel like I can get a lot out of your playing and your play style. So, should you continue to improve, I'd like to consider you for the team."
Mikaela tried her best to stay calm and collected, but the offer was so huge that she couldn't keep herself still. "Wait, like Japan's national team? Team Japan?"
Hujita raised an eyebrow. "That's what I coach, yes."
She exchanged a look with Kageyama, who didn't seem that surprised. "But..."
"This is dependent on a lot of things." The coach frowned. "I'm not saying you're on the team. I'm saying if you're planning on improving and you're still aiming for that level of competition, then the best I can do is put you on the team but not let you play in any of the main matches. You'd be on the bench. Maybe, with the other team's approval, you could play in a couple practice matches.
"I'm telling you this because this is your best case scenario for pro volleyball," Hujita continued. "I'm not saying for sure that you'll be able to make the team. I have no idea with how your injury is going to impact your play. But I'm saying that if you impress me as much as I'm hoping you will, that's what I can offer you."
"Well..." Mikaela trailed off, glancing helplessly at Kageyama. He just shrugged. "That's the best I can hope for, given the circumstances," she said finally.
Hujita pursed her lips. "Great. That's all the news I had for you." She tilted her head towards Kageyama. "Keep doing what you're doing, kid. From what Fuki's told me, you're a shoe-in for the camp next year."
Kageyama straightened up. "Oh- Thank you."
Hujita stood up, and the cousins followed suit. She held out her hand and Mikaela shook it reluctantly. "You sure you don't want a quick interview?" Hujita asked, smirking. "I have the reporter on speed dial."
"Nah, I'm good," Mikaela said quickly, chuckling. "I've had enough of that for a while. You can tell them I'm going to play for Karasuno, though."
"I'll do that," she agreed, shaking Kageyama's hand quickly. "Thanks. Run along, you two."
They left the Ajinomoto National Training Center and caught a taxi back to the train station. Mikaela was quiet almost the whole way back, still digesting the information that she'd been given. She'd caught Kageyama staring at her a few times, and she'd avoided eye contact every time. She knew what he was thinking, and it wasn't something she wanted to talk about just yet.
It was only when they got off the train, back in Karasuno territory, did Kageyama finally ask what had been on his mind for over an hour. "So?" he asked. "What're you thinking?"
Mikaela thought for a second, then laughed. "I'm wondering why the hell we traveled over an hour each way into Tokyo for a five minute conversation."
Kageyama smirked. "Worth it?"
"No," she said immediately, blinking. "Not in the slightest."
He sighed, and Mikaela moved towards him and hugged him fiercely, blinking rapidly to stop the water from gathering in her eyes. He shuffled slightly, surprised by the sudden move. "It's not fair," he said quietly, and Mikaela had to squeeze her eyes shut. "You're one of the best players I know, and you're getting your chances ripped out from under you."
"It's not fair," she echoed into his coat, her grip around his rib cage tightening.
They were quiet for a moment before the manager started laughing, the sound muffled by her cousin's coat. "You good?" Kageyama asked, puzzled.
Mikaela let go of him and willed her eyes to dry, forcing a smile. "I will be."
"Want to practice?"
"Obviously."
That was all she was good for now anyways, right? Just practice.
When Karasuno's graduation rolled around, Mikaela managed to hold back her tears. It was heart-breaking, sure, and she was going to miss the stability and sense of comfort that they brought not just to the team but to her life in general. She'd hugged all of them, thanking each of them for everything they'd done for her, and she definitely got a bit misty-eyed when she was saying good bye to Shimizu.
It was even harder to stop herself from crying at Oikawa and Iwaizumi's graduation.
She felt kind of bad- Karasuno was her home, so she probably should've been more sad for them. But Oikawa and Iwaizumi had been a huge part of her life for the past few years, and knowing that they were out of high school and their volleyball careers were over was killing her. Hell, even Hanamaki and Matsukawa were making her cry. She would never be as close to them as she was with Oikawa and Iwaizumi, but it hurt all the same.
"Don't cry, Mika-chan," Oikawa said with a laugh, hugging her. His diploma was clutched in one hand and just looking at it made more tears well up in her eyes. "It's not like we even went to the same school."
"Still," she grumbled, pulling away from the setter and wiping her eyes.
Hanamaki grinned. "Oi, it's not so bad. We'll come watch your games." Matsukawa nodded in agreement, resting an elbow on Hanamaki's shoulder and leaning onto him.
"You won't have time."
"We'll make time," Iwaizumi argued, hugging her next. Mikaela tucked herself into his chest and curled in on herself, unwilling to move. "You remember what I told you when we graduated Junior High?"
She swallowed, suppressing her tears. "Something about volleyball."
"I said you'd be a famous volleyball player someday," he reminded her, pulling away from her. "Well, you're famous. And a volleyball player."
Mikaela smiled wryly. "Almost."
He grinned. "Almost. Won't take you long. And remember what you say?"
"Iwaizumi Hajime taught me everything I know," Mikaela said with a laugh, repeating what he'd told her three years ago. "Yeah, I'll be sure to mention that in my next interview."
"Oi!" Oikawa protested. "I'm sure I taught you something! Feel free to mention me too!"
"Same here," Matsukawa added. "Your blocking prowess comes from me."
"And your receives from me," Hanamaki put in, shaking Matsukawa's elbow from his shoulder.
She scowled, but couldn't get the sad smile to leave her face. "You all suck. I learned nothing from all three of you except how to harass my juniors," Mikaela joked weakly, crossing her arms.
"But are you not an expert in that now?" Matsukawa said with a cheeky smirk.
Hanamaki grinned. "You can't say we don't do our job well."
Mikaela laughed. "I guess so. I'm going to miss you guys."
"Visit any time," Oikawa said brightly, ruffling her hair. Mikaela scowled and swiped at his hand. "I promise I'll always have time for you, Mika-chan!"
"Call anytime," Iwaizumi added.
She smiled. "I will."
She was going to miss them. Despite being from another school, they'd made an effort to be active in her life and pick her up when she lost her footing. Although they said to call anytime, Mikaela already knew that it wouldn't be happening. University made a person busy, from what she heard. She knew she'd call. She'd think of them sometime and call to check up, but they'd be so busy with everything else, why would they make time for one of their juniors?
Mikaela sighed to herself. Sometimes, you've just got to let things go, I guess.
Time to move on. Time for second year.
HAIKYUU CHAPTER 387. ONE OF THE MOST RECENT CHAPTERS. IT RUINED ME. *spoilers inbound* I WAS NOT EXPECTING A KAGEYAMA BACKSTORY AND IT HAS THROWN ME THROUGH A LOOP. HE HAS A SISTER. THIS ISOLATED BOY HAS A REASON FOR BEING ISOLATED AND HE HAS A FRICKIN SISTER LIKE WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO NOW I'M 52 CHAPTERS IN I CAN'T CHANGE IT NOW HOLY CRAP
Anyways, I've edited my first chapter slightly to accommodate for this startling new information. Thankfully, Kageyama having a sister and a close grandfather doesn't change much of my story at all, especially since it seems like he has a very distant relationship with his sister Miwa and she's quite older than him.
Good lord why has Furudate done this to me. I'm such a mess.
(Also these chapters just keep getting longer and longer but I'm very unwilling to break these into two, even though I easily could. Yikes.)
NaomiM200: Thank you so much! You're so sweet T^T I know what you mean aha, sometimes it's a bit tricky to resist the temptation to turn this into a reverse harem- I have to remind myself that no, this isn't a romance fic, and no, a harem would only cause more problems than it would solve. XD I'm so glad you're enjoying this despite it not being your preferred genre! I never really imagined Mikaela and Kageyama's tight friendship being anything sort of supportive, I'm glad you can see it shine through, especially in the last chapter. Thank you so much for your review! :)
Zoreux: The colored art had me in shock, I still hadn't fully processed it and it was making my head spin T^T I remember reading the chapter with their loss and going "oh no how horrible" and being upset but when I really teared up was the chapter after, not even because it was the aftermath of the game and people were tearing up, but because it ended with a five year time skip. I was like "WHAT why are we going so FAST what HAPPENED" and I was thrown through a loop. Thank you for your review! :D
bbymojo: I'm getting a general consensus from the reviews that Akiteru was a highlight of the chapter XD I'm glad you enjoyed his reaction! Yeah, I thought the dinosaur collection bit was a nice touch ;) Thank you so much for your review! :)
Padgent: I hope you'll like the next couple chapters, then! I'm so glad, thank you so much for your review! :D
luvielle: I'm glad you liked that part! A lot of people seemed to enjoy Akiteru's reaction and I'm so glad, he's such an underrated character and I'm so glad I could give him more opportunity to shine :) Thank you so much for your review! :)
hannymae: I was relating to your review as you were talking about online classes because of the virus, but when you said that your class was still going on as you were reading/writing a review made me cackle because I'm writing this while my class is going on right now XD I was debating whether to change it to a win and have Mikaela catch the fever early, but it didn't feel right. There's only so much I can change before I feel like I'm straying too much from Haikyuu, if you know what I mean. Besides, I've got a personal headcanon that Fukurodani won Nationals XD Thank you so much, as always, for your lovely review! :D
gloriious: Thank you! Yeah, the time skip in the manga took a while for me to wrap my head around and I'm still kind of mad about it XD Thank you so much for your review! :)
Sayori1412: I know, it hurts me every time I reread it or write it... Hinata taken out by a fever in a match that they could've won. Still haunts me to this day. The next few chapters are my own interpretation (mostly) so it won't really be any spoilers (phew!) so I hope you'll enjoy those ones a bit more. Thank you so much for your review! :D
Averi-nova: Don't even get me STARTED on when this gets animated because I don't think I'll be able to handle it T^T I'm glad this is a good fic to reread, much appreciated XD I'm trying not to make too many OCs because I know that the more I make, the harder it is to keep track of them all. I'm using some names provided in the Haikyuu wikia page for some of the girls on the team, at least. Yep! I almost forgot about those two girls, and your review reminded me to put them in somewhere. Thank you so much for your review! :)
SupMyDudez: Akiteru's creeping his way into my favourite character list XD I'm so glad you enjoyed, thank you so much for your review! :D
jily shiper: I'm so happy I got to meet you too! XD Now is not the time to get super sappy! We still have at least four or five chapters to go! I'm glad you liked Akiteru and Tenma, they're both so much fun to write XD Thank you so much for your review, PM me soon! :)
ScarletSea: Me too! I've been writing this for over a year and I don't want it to be over just yet. Thank you for your review! :D
Swaggishima: Thank you so much again for what you're doing, I can't tell you how much I appreciate it T^T Tsukki's looking sooooooo good at 22 oh my goodness... Anyways, thank you so much for your review! I'll talk to you soon! :)
SoccerSarah01: Oh. My. God. You've rendered me speechless. I don't know what I can say other than thank you so much T^T You reviewed every chapter! That's some serious dedication! Thank you so much, you're so unbelievably kind. All of your kind words mean so much and went directly to my heart. :') Thank you so much, you seem like such a kind person and I'm looking forward to hearing from you more! :D
OverGlowed: Thank you so much! Yeah, ironically enough, I'm not a fan of reading OC stories (yet I've written some, yikes) so that makes me so happy that you're enjoying this one. Thank you so so much for your lovely review! :)
milkywayheartcupcake: ...Well, that's definitely a possibility. ;) Thanks for your review! :D
Guest: Aww, you're so sweet! Thank you so much! T^T Thank you so much for your review! :)
MackeReally: Thank you so much! That's the whole goal of writing, aha. Hard to reread without thinking she should be there. ;) Thank you so much for your review! :D
Anne Nonimus: Almost? ;) Aw, thank you so much! Thank you so much for your review! :)
Shadow Wolf 15846: Yeah me too, that part in the manga really hurt my heart. Thank you so much for your review! :D
Tribble. Chan: Aw, thank you so much! I've gotten most of her second year set out and written, and... well, it's a bit difficult for me to read without tearing up a bit. That's all the hints you get. ;) Thank you so much for your review! :)
Time for a time skip!... Sort of. I definitely won't be taking 52 chapters to get through Mikaela's second year, but I'm still going to look at smaller important parts in detail. More likely, the next three chapters will be second year and the two after that will be third year. Second year's looking pretty eventful. ;)
How To Fly With Clipped Wings has been cross posted to Wattpad by Swaggishima, and is going to be translated into Spanish! Thank you so so much again! If you want another platform to find this on, MissAz97 is their Wattpad username :)
Thank you for your continued support. I love you all. :)
