Hello! I just found Haikyuu a few weeks ago and I'm absolutely obsessed, it's not even funny anymore. So I decided to write a fic because why not it's more fun than stuff for school and quarantine is boring. So here I am, I guess. Anyway, This story is gonna start from Season 2 of the anime (I've skipped the first episode, so this fic technically starts from Season 2 episode 2, but whatever), I'm probably only gonna follow the anime (and OVAs) because I haven't read the manga and I'm still waiting for Season 4 episode 14. I can't think of any major canon pairings there are in Haikyuu off the top of my head, but I will take suggestions for where this story goes and pairings and such. Also the story switches POVs a lot, so beware of that. Anyways, enjoy!

~CavaKel

(P.S. Bolded text in quotations is non-Japanese speech, usually English. Other languages are also specified immediately afterwards.)

I do not own Haikyuu, just my OC.

-Hinata POV-

Hinata couldn't focus.

He was like that on a normal basis, of course, but now he was even more unfocused, and wanting to pass his exams and go to the upcoming training camp in Tokyo was only partially the reason this time. It got to a point where he was spacing out during afternoon practice, and barely noticed his surroundings until a ball smacked him in the face full force.

"Hinata, that's the 3rd time today that you've spaced out and gotten hit with a ball. What's wrong?" Coach Ukai asked as he pulled Hinata off of the court.

"Oh, nothing," he replied, smiling, "I'm just excited."

"For what?"

"My cousin's coming to Karasuno tomorrow! She's been home for a week or two already but we wanted to give her some time to get settled and recover before she started school."

"Wait, you have a cousin?" Tanaka asked, butting into the conversation.

"Yeah! We were like siblings when we were little, but she moved to America in elementary school, and she just came back recently. Her big brother lives in Tokyo but he's in college and too busy, so she came to live with us."

By the time he finished talking, most of the volleyball team had joined the conversation and Nishinoya and Tanaka had started asking questions.

"Really? Is she pretty?"

"What year is she in?"

"Does she play volleyball?"

"Woah, calm down you two. You'll probably find out tomorrow, seeing as that's when she'll be coming here." Coach Ukai said, "Now get back to practice, we need to start preparing for the spring tournament."

The two second-years grumbled, but walked back onto the court to resume practice.

-Kaida POV-

Shoyo came home a bit later than Kaida thought he would, puffing a bit from having to bike the whole way. She was not looking forward to having to do that tomorrow, but on the bright side the auburn-haired girl didn't have to wear crutches and a boot anymore, so she could actually bike to school now if she was careful about her broken wrist. Her aunt, Shoyo's mom, greeted him from the living room, and after waiting for Shoyo to finish dinner Kaida walked out of her new room to greet him as well. "Hey Shoyo! How was school?" She asked.

"Pretty good, I was a bit distracted, though. I got hit in the face with a volleyball."

"Ouch. Are you okay? What happened?"

"I'm fine, it happens a lot when I get distracted."

"What were you distracted about?"

"I was excited about you going to Karasuno tomorrow. Are you excited, too? You'll be biking with me, and I leave really early because I have morning practice and you need to sort out your schedule and clubs and stuff."

"Sure. Other than the volleyball hitting your face, how was practice?"

"Oh, it's great! I get to go, like whoosh! And then the ball goes kapow! And then Kageyama and I do the new quick and it goes like boom!"

Kaida managed to piece together a bit of what he was saying as he rambled on about volleyball, and when he stopped talking she asked, "Kageyama? Who's he?"

"He's the setter for the Karasuno team. He's kinda mean and scary and calls me dumbass a lot, but he's really good at volleyball. And then there's Asahi, he's big and some people think he's scary but he's actually not, and then there's Tsukishima, he's meaner than Kageyama…" he kept going, describing everyone on the team, before he paused to look at her. "Say, Kai, do you wanna join the team?"

"I would, but I'm a girl, and I'm pretty sure boys volleyball is for- well- boys."

"You could be our manager! Kiyoko-san is our manager right now, but she needs some help and she needs someone who can take over next year when she graduates."

"Okay, sounds good, but what does a manager do?"

"You'd be really good at it! The manager is like the behind the scenes person who hands out drinks and also works with the coach and stuff with stats and analyzing plays and stuff!"

"Yeah, sure. How about I stop by during afternoon practice tomorrow and take a look? Could you ask Kiyoko-san for me?"

"Sure! I'll do it during morning practice! You'll get a map when you sort out your stuff in the morning I think, so you'll be able to find the volleyball gym after school."

"Alright, sounds good."

"Thanks, Kai!"

Kaida biked with Hinata to school the next day, which took a bit longer because she still had a knee brace and a cast on her wrist, but they managed. After all, that was why they had left twenty minutes earlier than Hinata usually did. They parted ways when they reached the school, Kaida heading towards the school and the administrative office to sort out her schedule while Hinata went to the club room to wait for the rest of the team to show up.

Kaida had to admit, she was nervous. What will my classmates be like? Will they be judgmental because I'm an American? Will I be able to keep up even though I got here really late? What if they teach completely different subjects from what I learned in America? Will the difference in grade separation change the curriculum? Why the heck didn't I think of these questions while I could have asked the people at the administrative office? She kept thinking and worrying, and almost missed her classroom when she bumped into a wall. Huh, she thought, Was I walking that fast? The wall was so far away last time I checked. Then a voice came from the wall. "Who are you?" The voice asked.

"It speaks?" She muttered in English. Then she looked up. Crap. That's not a wall.

She had bumped into a tall blonde boy with glasses and headphones. He was flanked by a freckled boy with dark greenish-black hair, who was laughing quietly at her previous English comment. "Oh! I'm so sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going." Wait a minute, she thought, blonde, glasses, headphones, beanpole. Is this the Tsuki-something dude Hinata talked about? The asshole one?

"Whatever. You didn't answer my question."

"Sorry. Kaida Minasaki, first year, class four. Nice to meet you."

"Did you just flip your first and last name?" asked the green-haired boy.

"Sorry, I haven't lived in Japan for a few years, I forgot, Is it last first or first last?"

The blonde boy looked at her like she was stupid. "Your last name goes first, then your first name. Most people refer to each other with their last names."

"Ah, okay. Sorry about that. Then I'm Minasaki Kaida. Pleased to make your acquaintance."

The boy looked at her weird again, then said, "Well anyway, it seems we're in the same class. Nice to meet you." Then the two boys walked into the classroom to her right.

She guessed that this was her classroom, too, so she followed them and stepped foot in the room just as the final bell rang. The teacher noticed her at the door and motioned for her to come in, everyone going quiet as she went to stand in the front of the class. All eyes were on Kaida now, and she had to admit she was a bit scared, not to mention quite nervous. She took a shaky breath and then started talking.

"Hello, my name is Minasaki Kaida, I was born in Japan but I just recently transferred here from San Diego, California. I hope to share a wonderful school year with all of you."

Kaida bowed slightly, but before she could get out of the spotlight and find an empty seat the teacher said, "Minasaki-san, could you repeat that in Japanese, please?"

Her face flushed as some of her classmates laughed, and then she repeated her introduction, making sure she spoke in Japanese this time. When the teacher dismissed her, she walked to the nearest empty seat, which happened to be right next to the blonde boy from earlier —oh joy— and sat down, taking out her notebook as class began.

-Tsukishima POV-

Tsukishima could tell that the new girl was strange, to say the least. It turns out she shared most of her classes (except English, apparently she took a different language due to her fluency in English) with him and Yamaguchi, which, unfortunately, meant that he would have to put up with her strange ways for longer than he had expected. As the classes dragged on, he noticed that whenever there was note taking to be done she was constantly writing something in her notebook in some sort of unintelligible shorthand, and every once in a while she would toss her pencil at her left hand, shake out her right, and then continue writing with her right hand while shaking her head, muttering something in English that sounded like "force of habit". He also noticed that each subject seemed to have its own neatly labeled notebook, each with the number 1 in a corner as if there were more notebooks to be used for the same purpose once one ran out. Not that he was paying attention to her or anything, he just noticed these things out of the corner of his eye whenever he heard her muttering to herself. He sighed as she dropped her pencil again and returned his attention to the teacher, taking notes the normal way.

-Kaida POV-

After the botched introduction fiasco classes went quite well, in Kaida's opinion, with the exception of her forgetting that her left hand was out of commission at the moment, tossing her pencil at her cast, and then making a quiet comment about force of habit. By the time the lunch bell rang her right hand was a bit sore from writing twice as much as it usually did, as she usually switched between both hands while taking notes (who cares about different writing styles? She would rewrite and reorganize them at home later anyway). During lunch she was crowded by her classmates wanting to know about her hobbies, her life in America, if they could be her friend, and so on, which was much more attention than she was expecting. Yes, it was a better type of attention than what she had feared, but it was still extremely tiring, and being used to being invisible didn't help either. After lunch she sighed in relief at not having to answer too many more questions about her life, and continued the task of taking minute-like notes for the rest of her subjects.

The last bell rang, and she exited the classroom with map in hand, trying to find the volleyball court so she could meet up with Shoyo. However, she had not expected the gyms to be numbered and had forgotten that her navigation skills were absolute trash, so she ended up lost in the school hallways. She once again bumped into someone while her eyes were focused on the map, and she looked up to apologize only to find a tall guy with a goatee and a bun staring down at her. She jumped and stuttered in English, "Sorry, sorry, I didn't mean to bump into you, Sir, I- I got lost and wasn't paying attention..."

"Man, Asahi, how many times are you gonna scare underclassmen like that?" The short-haired boy standing next to the goatee man said jokingly.

"Yeah, Asahi, apologize!" laughed a silver-haired boy next to them.

"I- I'm sorry," the goatee man, Asahi, stuttered out an apology, looking genuinely more startled than I felt. "I don't mean to scare you, I'm sorry."

"It's alright," I said with a tiny smile. "Um, I'm a bit lost, do you guys know where the boys volleyball team practices?"

"Oh, we're heading there too," the short-haired boy said. "You can follow us, if you'd like. You've navigated yourself into the third-year hallway."

"Alright," she replied, and the four headed out of the school building and towards the gyms.

-Kiyoko POV-

As afternoon practice began, Kiyoko noticed that the three 3rd years were late, which was unusual of them, but as soon as the thought crossed her mind the trio appeared at the door. Daichi walked over to her and told her that there was a girl outside waiting for her, and she walked out of the gym to meet her. The girl she greeted at the door was short, at least compared to the volleyball team, probably standing at only about 160 centimeters tall. Kiyoko couldn't help but think that she looked a bit like Hinata. She had similar hair, slim build, and brown eyes, although the girl's hair, which was up in a braid, looked more auburn than orange. Overall, she seemed like a muted, darker, possibly even quieter version of Hinata. "Hello. I am Shimizu Kiyoko, I'm the Karasuno Boys Volleyball Team manager. Hinata mentioned you were interested in applying for the position as well?"

"Yes, I am," The girl replied quietly with a small bow.

"Alright then." The older girl paused. "You and Hinata look similar, are you two related?"

The girl nodded. "We're close cousins," she replied.

"What's your name?"

"Minasaki Kaida."

"What do you know about volleyball, Minasaki-san?"

"If you'd like you can drop the honorifics, sorry, I'm not quite used to them yet. I used to play volleyball when I was in elementary school, and I kept watching and analyzing volleyball through mi- junior high school and the first year of American high school, but I've never played competitively."

"I see, so you're familiar with the rules. Hinata said he already told you about the manager position and what you will be doing. So I take it you're sure about being a manager, Minasaki?"

"Yes, I am," Minasaki replied with a nod.

"Very well. Then are you fine with meeting the boys? They can be a bit… much at times."

"Sure, lead the way."

Kiyoko smiled and then walked into the gym, calling for the team's attention. Minasaki followed her in at the same time that Daichi called for everyone to move nearer to the door. Kiyoko stepped out of the way and Minasaki walked further into the room with a shy smile. The two adults on the bench looked over and smiled at Kiyoko, glad that she had found a new manager, and most of the boys were staring at her with a bit of curiosity, especially Tsukishima and Yamaguchi for some reason. Well, Tsukishima looked more annoyed than curious, but that's not the point. "Um, she will be serving as manager with me," Kiyoko said, motioning towards the other girl.

The room went unsettlingly quiet for a few seconds, and Minasaki looked over at Kiyoko, who looked back at her, unnerved at the silence. She watched as the boys regarded the younger girl, some of them narrowing their eyes and turning to look at Hinata, then back to her. Minasaki looked around the room nervously, then jumped when Nishinoya loudly asked, "Hey, Hinata, she looks kinda like you. Is this the cousin you were talking about this morning?"

"Cousin? She looks like she could be his sister!" Tanaka remarked.

Suddenly the room was no longer quiet. A few of the second and third years were congratulating Kiyoko on finding a new manager so quickly. Tanaka and Nishinoya started bombarding Minasaki with questions, and Kiyoko noticed that all the noise and attention was causing the girl to shrink into herself a bit.

Ennoshita grabbed the two rowdy second-years by their shirts and dragged them back a few feet, and Minasaki sent him a small smile in thanks. Then Daichi clapped his hands and said, "Everyone, give her some space, you're probably scaring her. Let her introduce herself."

The new manager nodded and cleared her throat before she started to speak, her voice quiet but still audible to everyone in the room. "Hello, my name is Minasaki Kaida, I will be in your care. Nice to meet you all." She gave everyone a tiny, nervous smile.

"It's nice to meet you, Minasaki-san," Suga said, and the team all bowed at the same time with a loud "Hai!". The girl jumped at the sudden exclamation, but quickly calmed down.

"You're a first year, right?" Asahi said, moving to the front of the group.

"Yeah, I'm in class 1-4," Minasaki replied.

"Nice, Asahi, I thought you would scare her by accident!" said Nishinoya, who jumped up onto Asahi's shoulders.

"I mean, he did earlier, but that's not the point." The younger girl remarked quietly. Kiyoko heard the comment and smiled softly to herself, wondering when it had happened. Daichi laughed at her remark, and she jumped as if she hadn't been expecting someone to hear her.

"I've never seen you around before. Did you transfer from somewhere?" asked Nishinoya.

"I moved here from California about two weeks ago, transferred here today." Minasaki said.

"Oh? Why so late? I thought American school was still in session this time of year," asked Ennoshita.

"School's still in session, I just needed a fresh start. I would have been here 2 weeks ago but my transcript got lost somewhere in the transfer between countries, so they had to take some time to sort that all out."

"Why a fresh start? Did something happen?" asked Tsukishima.

"Needed to hit the reset button, the game was broken." The auburn-haired girl said quietly. Before he could respond, she turned to face Kageyama, who began asking her rapid-fire questions with a strange, almost scary look on his face.

"Do you play volleyball? Do you know the rules? Will you be analyzing plays and stuff?" the boy asked.

"I used to play, but never competitively, and I've been analyzing people and plays for years. It's less of a skill and more second nature to me, so regardless if I'm supposed to I probably will anyway to some extent," Minasaki replied. "You're Kageyama, right? The not-so-scary and mean scary and mean one? Hinata told me about you two and your quick attack. That'll be fun to watch."

At her "scary and mean" comment, Tsukishima burst out laughing, making a sarcastic comment about "the King". Kageyama looked like he couldn't decide whether to strangle Hinata or Tsukishima, and Minasaki laughed quietly at Hinata's terrified expression. Then she was crowded once again by Tanaka and Nishinoya as they tried to find out if Hinata had told her anything about them, too, and she began to shrink again. This time it was Suga that dragged them back and scolded them, "Stop crowding her! She's not used to it yet, you can tell she's uncomfortable!" The two second years apologized sheepishly, but once the vice captain's back was turned they resumed staring at her, causing the girl to ever so slightly back away in discomfort. Sugawara noticed and turned back around, smacking both boys upside the head before turning to Minasaki and apologizing for their behavior.

The boys resumed practice, and Kiyoko approached Minasaki. "Do you want to help with practice today?"

"Sure. What can I do?" The new manager replied with a small smile on her face.

Kiyoko directed her to go pick up stray balls on the court from practice earlier at the same time that the team decided to play a practice match. As the match went on, Kiyoko couldn't help but notice that whenever Kinasaki looked up to watch the game, her eyes lost their earlier warmth, which was replaced with a cold, calculating stare, and occasionally Kiyoko would see the other girl's lips moving as her eyes moved with the ball. It was almost scary how fast the change was. Mental note: Minasaki when she's pissed off is probably terrifying, the older girl thought to herself.

-Kaida POV-

Kaida's first day helping the volleyball team practice turned out to be more interesting than she thought it would be. She got to witness a practice game and watch Hinata and Kageyama do their quick attack, and she also got to discuss techniques, tactics, and analytics with the two adults and Shimizu, something she liked to do despite her hatred for statistics and anything math-related.

As she walked with Hinata, Kageyama, and the other two first years down the hill to the Sakanoshita store, Hinata and Kageyama started to complain to Tsukishima about how he was too harsh when teaching them stuff. She went to plug her headphones into her phone when English was mentioned, and her ears perked up. "English?" She asked, pushing her headphones down to hang on her neck instead.

"Yeah," Hinata said dejectedly, "We need to study and pass all our exams in order to go to Tokyo, but Kageyama and I are terrible at studying and Stingyshima here won't teach us English."

"I can help you with English," Kaida said, with a smile.

"Really? You can teach us?" Hinata asked excitedly.

"Of course. I lived in America for 4 years and English was my favorite class apart from art, why wouldn't I teach you English?"

"Oh, right. I can't believe I didn't think of that before. And we wasted all this time begging Tsukishima for help!" Hinata exclaimed.

"Art? What, do you finger paint or something childish like that? It would make sense," Tsukishima asked.

"I draw, shut up. It's one of the only things I take pride in myself for. Anyway, what was it you were saying about Tsukishima tutoring you two? Did you really think that would work?"

"I thought it was the only option! I forgot you were fluent in English and panicked!" Hinata said.

Kaida laughed. "Did you never consider that your American cousin wouldn't help you with English during the past two weeks when all she did was unpack and worry about catching up in school?"

Hinata groaned in frustration. "I never thought about it. We wasted all this time-"

"Well, you don't have to waste any more time, do you? I'll help you study whenever you need me, seeing as I transferred too late to be given exams and I should be finished with all my makeup work by tomorrow night. The offer extends to all three of you, too, not that Tsukishima would need any help in the first place."

"Thanks, Kai! You're the best!"

"It's my pleasure. I get something out of this, too."

"You do?"

"Yeah, I want to continue the family tradition. Plus, helping people study helps me remember the material, too."

"Family tradition?" Tsukishima asked.

"Most of the Minasakis are teachers. My grandfather was a college math professor in the US, both of my parents were teachers at the same high school in Sendai before they moved to Tokyo and then to America to take care of my grandparents, and my brother's studying to become a high school English teacher in Tokyo. I want to be a teacher or professor, too, but I'm not sure where or for what subject yet."

"Huh. That's a lot of teachers. Does that mean you always get help with schoolwork?" Kageyama asked.

"Not always. My parents had to take a lot of time outside of work to do grading and lesson plans and stuff, and they were always busy. I only got help from my grandparents because they were retired, and my mom couldn't really help me because she was a music teacher and sucked at math just as much as I do," Kaida replied.

"Why do you keep talking about your family in the past tense?"

She pretended not to hear him, pushing her headphones over her ears before picking up her bike, and started walking it down the street. "Hey, Shoyo, is it alright if I head home early?" She asked, her voice stiffer than she would have hoped. Once she heard his confused reply saying yes, she could, she jumped on her bike and rode off. She didn't dare to answer Tsukishima's question. At least, not yet.

Hello again! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, I'll probably post another one in the next week or two (although based on previous experience it is possible that I won't, but I think I'm too dedicated to this fandom drop out of it even temporarily like I did with my previous fic). No promises, though. I got my brother to beta-read the story, too, so that's good. Anyway, stay tuned for the next update, feel free to leave reviews if you'd like to suggest where the story goes or any pairings you might want to see. Thanks for reading!

~CavaKel