Spring, Monday
Karasuno High
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(L/n) (Y/n). Ah, man. What a legend.
Okay, legend was a bit of a stretch...
At Karasuno High, you were the most popular person there. Annddd you hated it.
Well, you were a little ashamed to admit that the attention and praise didn't bother you, but the reason you were so popular was absolutely ridiculous.
At first, it was because you had gone to Shiratorizawa's middle school. You had some money and popularity because of your background.
But then it morphed into something else. Girls started fawning over how attractive you were. You became friends with some of the guys. And next thing you knew, you were popular for your "good" personality, looks, and background.
You, a second year, were currently being confessed to by a third year girl. She was kind of cute actually. You zoned out through most of her confession.
"(L-L/n)-san?"
You snap back to attention, making sure to lay on the charm so you don't hurt her feelings.
"I'm really sorry, Princess," you say, unable to remember her name. Gently, you grab her chin and tilt her face up, getting dangerously close. "Will you ever forgive me," you breath out, your voice seemingly filled with sorrow.
Her eyes widen, cheeks flushed. She nods, her breath taken away at the beauty of your smile her words produced.
"You're the best, princess," you whisper, planting a kiss on her forehead. It was routine at this point. Girls would confess, you'd turn them down gently, kiss their foreheads, and send them on their way.
Tanaka happened to see the interaction. "(L/N) HOW DARE YOU DEFILE A WOMAN LIKE THAT YOU BASTARD," he screams, launching himself at you.
You smirk and grab him out of mid air, arms wrapped around his waist. "Aw, glad to see you too, Ryu," you tease, making a kissy face.
He screeches like a little girl and escapes from your arms, hiding behind his upperclassman Suga, hissing at you like a cat.
Daichi was there too, chuckling softly at the scene. Suga placed his hands on his hips. Uh oh. Mom mode. You're in trouble.
"(Y/n), what did you do," he asks in a You're-in-trouble-so-answer-honestly tone.
"Gave my friend a hug. Is that so bad?"
Suga sweatdrops. "Geez, Tanaka. You're so dramatic." He walks over and holds his arms out for a hug.
Tanaka's jaw drops in betrayal. Not you too, Suga-san.
You wrap Suga in a hug, smiling as his fluffy hair tickled your neck. The silver haired male pulls back, giving you a blinding smile. "Nice to see you again, (Y/n)."
"You too," you say, booping his nose. "Kōshi," you add just to tease him.
He blushes and playfully swats your hand away.
Daichi walks forward and snags your shirt, picking you up and throwing you over his shoulder. I don't know how he did it, considering you were taller than him, but he did. "Quit it. You're wasting time," he says.
You weren't complaining though. The view was great. But you had to complain a little otherwise he would know exactly what you were doing.
"Daichiii," you whines. "Put me down!"
"Nope."
"Whyyyy?"
"Because."
"Fine." You smirk and bring your hand down, shocking the three of them at the loud slap.
Tanaka starts laughing his ass off, using Suga as a clutch so he didn't fall. Suga laughed too but if he was being honest, he was a little jealous. Daichi literally dropped you on your head, his face red as he tried to cover it with his hands. "You little shit," he mumbles.
You stand up, brushing off dirt from your uniform. "That's what you get for carrying me like a sack of potatoes. Although," your famous smirk creeps into your face. "I have a feeling you kind of liked it." You winked.
Then you had to run for your life as he chased you, but you noted he never denied it.
Eventually, the four of you regrouped, all previous actions forgiven (but DEFINITELY not forgotten )
As you were nearing the gym, the conversation turned to their new first years.
Oh, by the way. You weren't on the team (even though they tried to convince you a million times), you were a manager with Kiyoko.
"Man, who woulda thunk that Kitagawa Daiichi's star setter would come to us, right?" Tanaka said, his hands in the back of his pants for some reason? Somebody get this man some pockets... "I betcha he's a smart-mouthed little brat though."
"Oh, come on. Stop trying to intimidate everyone."
"I-I'm not trying to intimidate nobody! I swear!" Tanaka defends. You sigh and place a hand on his shoulder, which he shrugs off almost as soon as you put it there.
Wait.. did he say Kitagawa Daiichi?
"Good afternoon!" A boy with familiar black hair chimes from inside the gym.
"Yo." Daichi, Cool as ever.
You noticed an adorable little.. tangerine?? off to the side, obviously excited by the sight of his upperclassmen.
Daichi and Suga smiled at Kageyama, while Tanaka stood in front of you and made a weird face. You decided to keep quiet until Kageyama noticed you.
"You're Kageyama, right?"
"Sir!"
"Good to have you," Daichi says with a friendly smile.
"Wow, you've grown since last year."
"Come on, Suga-san! First impressions are important! You gotta step up and show this snot nosed little first year best all that third year dignity stuff!"
"Tanaka, quit making faces!"
You watch as the tangerine fidgets, obviously wanting some attention too.
"Hello, sir!"
Nothing. You honestly felt bad for the kid.
"Um.. hello!"
Meanwhile, Daichi was asking Kageyama how tall he was.
Finally, they recognized Hinata and gave him the attention he wanted.
"So you both come to Karasuno..!"
"Um?" Hinata tilted his head cutely.
"We watched your match at last year's tournament," Suga explains.
"Yeah! You were short and kinda sucked at a lot of stuff... but you got guts, and I like that!"
"Um! Th-Thank you, sir!"
"You've got some pretty impressive jumps too," Suga says.
"But it doesn't look like ya grew too much, did ya," Tanaka says with a grin, comparing their heights with his hand.
"Y-Yeah, I didn't really get any taller... but! Even though I'm short, I can fly! I'm going to be Karasuno's new ace!" He was so determined and cute.
"Hey now! Just walked in the door and already you're the ace? You got some nerve, kid!"
"What's wrong with that? It's good to have goals. Right?"
You noticed he seemed really nervous so you stepped in and placed a hand on his shoulder. "It's alright. These guys are actually big softies." You give him a smile.
Angel?! Hinata blushed slightly but his attention was grabbed by a snarky comment from Kageyama.
"Hold it. If you're declaring yourself ace already, that better mean you actually got good since then." You were kind of surprised he hadn't noticed you yet.
"Keep messing around like before.. and you'll just flush another three years down the toilet," he continued.
"What was that?" Oop- hinata be angry.
"Hey, kageyama. Did you really have to put it that way?" Daichi asked.
"Heh. Bet he doesn't have many friends." Tanaka adds. He had no idea how right he was..
"Huh? A fight already? Isn't that a little quick?"
"Did you really expect anything else from people like them?" You answer Suga's rhetorical question, throwing an arm around his shoulder casually.
Hinata clenches his fists in anger, remembering his one and only game. "Yeah, I did my best... and all it got me was that ugly loss.. but.. you have no right to make it sound like everything I did was meaningless!"
The two glare at each other and Daichi sighs. "Listen, guys. You do realize that you aren't opponents anymore, right? You're teammates now. Volleyball is a game that's all about connecting. The important thing is working together to—"
"I challenge you. Right now!" You gaped as hinata interrupted Daichi. That was a big no no.
"Hey!! Daichi-san isn't done talking yet!"
"At what," kageyama questions.
"At volleyball! Duh!!"
"How are we supposed to do that one-on-one?"
"Huh?! Uh.. like with passing and stuff?"
"How can you win or lose at passing?"
"Shut her yaps and listen!!" Tanaka yells at them.
You looked over just as the vice principle walked in. "It's awfully noisy in here." He says, his annoying voice making your skin crawl. "This is the volleyball club, right? No ones fighting, right?"
"Gah! It's the VP!"
"Vice principle," Suga whisper yells at Tanaka.
"I mean, the vice principle!"
"Fight? No, no! Of course not! It's just a little er, friendly rivalry," Daichi covers as Suga nods nervously to back him up.
"You two! Ease off!" Tanaka says to the first years, trying to get them to stop. "The VP loves to label stuff problem behavior any change he gets! Are you listening to me?!"
You sigh and grab Tanaka's sleeve, seeing that their efforts were useless and something bad was obviously going to happen.
"Serve."
Kageyama looked confused. "Hey!!" Tanaka yells at them while you drag him away.
"You serve. I'll return them, all of them. Cuz last year I only managed to receive one."
They both seemed to be reminiscing about something.
"I haven't been doing nothing. I've practiced hard and got help from lots of people. My teammates, the girls' team, the housewives club... I'm not who I was last year."
"You aren't who you were.. huh. Good." Kageyama didn't realize how scary he could be. "Because I'm not who I was either." He.. could you consider it a smile? More like a smirk maybe?
Kageyama walked to the other side of the court, throwing the ball up.
"Hey! You really should knock it off..." Suga trails off, sighing. You pat his head and observe the two first years.
"All right, you two. That's enough of that."
"Are those two first year students?" God his voice was so annoying.
Your eyes widened as Kageyama did a jump serve, the ball zipping straight for Hinata's face. You, Tanaka, and Suga warily stare at Kageyama in slight fear and admiration. A smirk comes to your face. Good job, Kageyama.
"What the heck! How is that different from last year?" He was still a jerk though...
Hinata stands back up, determined as ever. "One more."
"Guys!"
"Hrm. Not listening to their captain's orders is problematic." Your eyebrow twitched. You wanted to smack his villager sounding ass into next week, but you knew you couldn't.
You turned your attention back to Kageyama as he served again. To your surprise, Hinata managed to get right in the way of the ball. It bounced painfully on his arms and—
You watched in fear as it bounced off his cheek, flew trough the air, and hit the vice principle in his ugly face. His toupee flew off and landed on Daichi's head.
"Daichi!" You yell out, looking at the wig on his head.
"Huh? That was a toupee?"
"You just noticed? Everyone figured that out during the entrance ceremony!" Hinata tells Kageyama, their rivalry forgotten for a moment.
"Aha-hem!! You two.. bbfff! You two shut up now," Tanaka tries to scold them but it doesn't work because he's laughing.
"Tanaka, you shut up too!!"
Meanwhile, the vice principle and daichi both looked like they were ready to kill someone.
"Sawamura, come with me for a moment."
You and suga sweat drop, scared of the repercussions.
Half an hour later
"Fortunately, there will be no official punishment, and we aren't required to apologize."
The five of you sigh in relief.
"However.. all of you pretend none of this ever happened. You saw nothing. Now as for you two—"
"This is your fault for screwing up so bad. You suck! You're not who you were last year? Hah? Yeah right! Now I feel like a dope for believing you. Scrub!" Kageyama interrupts Daichi again, his words unnecessarily harsh.
"Y-you don't have to go that far!"
"Hey, guys?" Uh oh. Scary mode activated. "Listen. Could I have your attention for a sec?"
You step in front of Suga and Tanaka, shielding them from Daichi.
"I have no idea what made either of you choose to attend Karasuno but I'm sure you both came here looking to win."
"Right!"
"Of course."
"A few years ago.. Karasuno's volleyball team was one of the top in the prefecture. One time we even made it to nationals. Nowadays we aren't weak, but we aren't all that great either. At best, we'd squeak into the top eight schools. Other schools have taken to calling us.. 'The fallen champions' and 'the clipped-wing crows."
"Yeah, can you believe it? I wanna find the guy who came up with those dumb names and have a word with him," Tanaka chimes in, stepping out from behind you.
"I still remember the year when Karasuno qualified for nationals in the spring tournament. Students from the nearby high school... some of the same kids I'd pass by on the street.. went to Tokyo to play in a huge stadium against the best of the best for tens of thousands of fans. Just the thought is enough to give me shivers." Outside, crows picking at some trash cawed loudly. "We're going to go there again." The crows take flight, appearing in the doorway behind Daichi for a moment before disappearing into the sky. "Never again will we let them call us clipped-winged crows."
"Lots of teams say they're going to nationals because they figure they might as well dream big," Kageyama says.
"Hey!! Idiot! What're you—" Tanaka was cut off by Daichi.
"I know. Don't worry." His expression turned dark. "I'm dead serious."
"You fool," Tanaka whisper yells at Kageyama, shaken up from Daichi's face.
"But to do that, all of us have to come together as a team," Daichi says. "And I'd rather not have the vice principal giving us the hairy eyeball. Listen. I'm not saying you two have to be each other's new best friend. Yes, in middle school the two of you may have been on opposite sides of the net.. but here you're on the same side. You need to realize and accept that you're teammates now. Got it?"
The first years were obviously terrified.
"No matter how talented you are as an athlete or how earnest and Gung Ho as a rookie. Anybody who fights with their teammates and brings down the whole team is not welcome here," he says, throwing their application forms in their faces and shoving them outside.
Then, to your surprise, he grabs your sleeve and throws you out there with them.
"Until both of you learn how to be teammates from (L/n), you are hereby forbidden from participating in all team activities.
"WHAATTT?!" The three of you yell as he slams the gym doors shut.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So I wrote idek how many years ago at this point. I have the first all finished, it goes to like 58 chapters or smth. I decided to publish it here, even tho this site isn't the most popular. I'll try to keep the a/n's to a minimum from this point on. Expect chapters on the weekend for sure, but I'll prob end up posting sporadically during the week whenever I feel like it. Enjoy!