[Chapter 2]
"It's scary… I can't even imagine any possibility apart from winning."
Swinging an arm across her chest and hooking onto it with her other arm, Nishinoya took a deep breath. The three on three match which Kageyama, Hinata and she had challenged their seniors to, was starting in a few minutes. Faintly, she could hear Hinata complaining that he hadn't had enough time to practice, but Nishinoya shook the notion out of her head.
Just like in any match, there's nothing to do anymore except warm-up and trust in the abilities of both your teammates and yourself.
They would win. Nishinoya couldn't even imagine any other possibility. This was the first step on her path to defeat her teammates, and she would not fail.
Sending a bright grin to where Hinata was now clutching his stomach, Nishinoya reassured him.
"Hinata-kun, I know you probably didn't have a Libero back in Junior High, but my role is to have your backs. I'll receive any serve, and I'll save any of your spikes that get blocked. You can trust me!"
For a second she thought it had been too cheesy, before suddenly Hinata gasped, stars seeming to shine in his eyes. "Noyaaaa-chan!!" he yelled, jumping onto her and almost choking her with his enthusiasm.
"Dumbass." Kageyama snorted. But even the arrogant setter seemed to relax a bit more.
Someone near them snorted. Turning around, Nishinoya caught sight of Tsukishima, the tall first year with glasses.
"You're not going to win, King. Even if your little Libero over there can somehow get the ball back to you, I'll just keep blocking the shrimp. A team is only as strong as its weakest link"
Hinata growled, removing his arms from around her and standing up again, his forehead all wrinkled up in irritation.
"Stupidshima! I'll hit past your stupid blocks! Just you wait!" the orange-haired boy yelled, now charging at the gangly blond and grabbing a hold of his jersey.
Tsukishima's eyes widened in mock fear as he tried to throw the short spiker off of him. "I'm going to catch short germs!" he cried. "Get off!"
Hinata just got angrier at this, while Kageyama snickered at his two teammates.
"Dumbasses", the setter said.
"He, I don't think the King knows any other insults apart from Dumbass" Tsukishima quickly shot back, finally managing to shake Hinata off.
Oh no no no. This is a battle that I don't plan on losing.
Lightly grabbing Kageyama's arm and pulling him towards her, Nishinoya quietly whispered a comeback in his ear.
"Say that 'your ass must be jealous of all the shit that comes out of your mouth'." She said.
Kageyama grinned, an expression that looked quite wrong on his naturally grumpy face, before opening his mouth to speak.
"Tsukishima you dumbass. I only call you that because your ass must be jealous of all the umm… bleep that comes out of-"
Nishinoya cut him off, laughing. "What the heck, Kageyama. Can you, like, not swear or something?!"
Kageyama looked insulted and yelled back. "I'm just being polite, since there's a lady nearby."
Nishinoya gasped in mock surprise. "So now I'm a lady? You didn't act like it with how you insulted me yesterday after being thrown out of the gym!"
Kageyama snickered triumphantly. "I didn't mean you, I meant Shimizu-senpai" he said, pointing to the raven-haired third year manager walking into the gym.
Opening his mouth to speak again, Kageyama was cut off by a large hand clamping down on his head.
"Now, now" the team captain said slowly with a scarily calm smile on his face. "All of you will stop fighting, or do I need to remind you that people who won't work together aren't needed."
Nishinoya shivered, feeling a chill run down her spine as Daichi looked directly at her.
He already dislikes me because of my arrogance yesterday. A nameless captain who prides himself with his receivers… this dislike stems from jealousy. It's because I'm better than him.
Inwardly Nishinoya sneered, the dislike was mutual then.
"Yes Senpai! Sorry Senpai!" Kageyama and Hinata yelled at the same time, both of their eyes closed in fear.
The ominous air immediately lifted, the captain changing moods entirely. He ignored the fact that she hadn't apologized.
"Good! Then let's get the three on three match started. My team will be serving first."
Tsukishima, Yamaguchi, and Daichi all made their way to the opposite side of the court, Tsukishima grabbing a volleyball along the way.
It's finally my first challenge. I'll win and win and keep winning.
As all six of the players got into position on the court, Nishinoya tilted her chin up and closed her eyes, in a way that was almost reminiscent of a cat. Blinking a few times before staring across the court at their opponents, she wriggled her fingers a few times.
"Bring it!" She yelled loudly at Tsukishima, who was preparing to serve.
From all the way across the court, Nishinoya met the tall blonde's eyes, studying his form.
A normal serve then. This should be simple.
Tsukishima smirked back at her, dribbling one of the volleyballs a few times before he tossed it into the air, aiming directly towards her.
She scoffed.
As if I'd fail at receiving as basic a serve as that.
The blue and yellow striped ball was hurtling towards the outer line of the court now, was it going to be out or in?
The ball kept spinning for a few moments in Nishinoya's eyes before she suddenly tilted her head.
"Out!"
The ball bounced exactly once before coming to a stop. Their temporary referee -who had introduced himself as Ennoshita- lifted his flag in the air.
Correct.
Hinata shouted loudly, jumping up into the air to high-five her. Nishinoya smirked at Tsukishima's pissed expression.
They would win this.
And of course, since Nishinoya had finally put her mind to something, nothing was allowed to go right.
It was ten minutes into the game and they were losing.
Hinata was trash at spiking. Sure, he could jump high, but when compared to Tsukishima's naturally superior height it really made no difference. Up til now, every single spike except one had been blocked by the glassed blonde.
And that one spike had gone out.
Rushing and diving to block-follow yet another spike, Nishinoya instead of sending it to Kageyama once again, instead hit it up and let it roll off the net onto the other side of the court, hopefully buying her some time to pull herself together and providing a much needed break from diving all over the court.
The one lesson she had learned up to now, was that Hinata could and should not be trusted to safely receive the ball. She would have to work on that with him.
However, luck was on her side, and with Daichi and Yamaguchi both having backed away to prepare for a possible spike, Nishinoya's simple hit over landed on the ground, bringing the score up to a tie.
Kageyama instantly called for a time out, gesturing for both Hinata and Nishinoya to gather around him.
"Our strategy isn't working. Hinata can't seem to get any spikes in." The black-haired setter said, frowning deeply while examining his hands as if they were the reason that Hinata couldn't get any spikes in.
Nishinoya glared at him. "Your hands aren't the reason Hinata isn't scoring, your brain is. Think Kageyama!"
"I am thinking! Why don't you try too!" Kageyama snarled back at her.
"Liar! If you really were thinking, you would have realized that Hinata can't win against Tsukishima in a battle of height."
"Well what else am I f*king supposed to do?" Kageyama yelled.
"Oh, so I guess the 'no swearing in front of a lady' rule no longer matters anymore, does it. Such an impolite boy" Nishinoya scoffed.
Damn it. Why am I being like this? I thought I promised to myself that I would try to be a nicer person after realizing what our team did to others.
Opening her mouth to apologize, Nishinoya hadn't even gotten a word out, before Kageyama lunges at her, sending them both tumbling to the ground, and making a jolt of pain race down her spine.
Nishinoya punched Kageyama in the face. "Get off me!" She hissed.
Kageyama growled and pinned her down under him. "Don't insult me as if you're better just because your team beat me in junior high" he yelled darkly.
Nishinoya turned her head to the side, refusing to meet Kageyama's eyes. "It's shows that I'm superior to you just in the fact that you say "me" instead of "my team" and act as if you're the only who's playing on your side of the court" she scoffed. "I guess the title of King was well given."
"Don't. Call. Me. That."
"I'll call you whatever I want. There's something wonderful, named freedom of speech."
Kageyama slapped her, her face slamming painfully into the hard ground.
Nishinoya threw him off her and punched him right in the nose, causing blood to start flowing out.
Faintly she could hear voices yelling at them to stop, but all that mattered to her at the moment, was getting to Kageyama. Getting to Kageyama, and teaching him through pain that a strong desire to win didn't matter in the face of overwhelming strength and skill.
She could feel strong arms holding her back as she tried to reach where Kageyama was sitting on the floor from where she had punched him, holding onto his nose with both hands.
To her surprise, it wasn't the angry captain caging her in, but the silver haired third year who up till now had remained mostly quiet.
"Nishinoya. Kageyama. Can I talk to you both outside for a moment."
"I understand that you both have a difference in views, but fighting won't get you closer to receiving a spot on this team."
Nishinoya's eyes widened abruptly. "Oh god… the captain saw that."
Kageyama seemed to realize what she meant, and immediately bowed his head down to the silver-haired boy who had introduced himself as 'Suga'. "Sorry!" He cried.
Nishinoya repeated after him.
Damn it. I need to be Libero.
Sugawara looked at them both coldly. "You don't need to apologize to me, apologize to each other and the captain when you get back inside. However, that is not what I wanted to talk to you both about."
"What is it?" Nishinoya asked rudely. If this third year seemingly didn't care, then she didn't need to waste time when she should be trying to get a spot on the team inside the gym.
Sugawara ignored her, and instead spoke to Kageyama. "Look, I know that you're very skilled at setting, probably way beyond me, but as advice from setter to setter, I need to tell you that the spiker isn't supposed to try and match you. You're supposed to match the spiker."
Kageyama looked at him, eyes narrowed.
"All I'm saying is that you're not taking advantage at all, of Hinata's naturally quick speed and reflexes. In fact, you're completely muting them with your sets" the silver-haired boy finished, waving them both back into the gym.
As they entered the large space, Nishinoya made a show of bowing out an apology to Kageyama, although her teeth were clenched.
Making their way back on court, Kageyama's nose having stopped bleeding, Nishinoya whispered something into the setter's ears.
"You can pinpoint set right… Easy… just bring the ball to where Hinata is going to hit it."
Kageyama glared at her. "It's not easy" he growled, but nevertheless he made his way over to Hinata and started talking to the orange-haired boy.
Nishinoya smirked, her back still in pain from where Kageyama had tackled her.
It's worth a try.
It had worked.
That was the only thing going through Nishinoya's mind as she watched the ball bounce for the second time on the other side of the court.
Hinata had jumped, and she had seen that moment of hesitation in Kageyama's eyes, before suddenly the ball had contacted with the ground and the point had been theirs'.
Watching silently as Hinata landed on the ground and stared in shock at his hand, Nishinoya suddenly felt all too familiar pangs of jealousy.
Why is it that I always want what I can't have? I want to be able to spike like Hinata, I want to set like Kageyama. But I can't…
Others looking at her might have been jealous themselves. Nishinoya bit her lip, she'd chosen to be Libero, back when she could have chosen anything else.
Bitterly, she inwardly scoffed.
The grass is always greener on the other side… (until you go there for yourself and find out it's astroturf)
Hinata bounced over to her. "Did you see that, Noya-chan?! Did you see that?! I hit the ball all like boom and whoosh."
Nishinoya put on a smile. "Yeah. Nice job Hinata!"
Since when have I started doubting my own decisions so much. I choose to become a Libero, I choose to never be able to spike, to set, to serve. Now I need to live with it.
Kageyama nodded curtly to her as well. "We're going to win now."
The raven haired setter caught the volleyball that had been tossed to him, and made his way over to the court edge.
"Nice serve."
"Go Killer Serve, Kageyama-kun!"
Nishinoya bent her knees and settled into the receiving position instinctively, the movements having been driven into her muscles by hours upon hours of practice.
Ha… I'm such an idiot, having thoughts like these during a match. Right now the only thing I should be focused on is winning. I guess I'm just not like Hinata and Kageyama, such simpletons when it comes to volleyball that the complete desire to win takes over their entire mind during a game.
Not like there was even the slimmest possibility that they wouldn't win now, not with all three of them performing well.
25:18
The win had been relatively easy after Hinata and Kageyama had created their new quick, with their team breaking away and earning consecutive sets of points, Tsukihima being unable to block almost all of the orange-haired boy's spikes. But looking at the scoreboard, another scoreboard similar to this one instantly flashed into Nishinoya's mind.
25:6
"You."
It was Kageyama, emotionlessly staring at her. Nishinoya looked back tiredly. "What do you want?" she said.
"We won. I'll play setter and you'll play Libero. Happily ever after." Kageyama replied. "So why do you look as if we just lost?"
"It's not your business, Can't-mind-his-own-beeswax-yama-san"
"Fine, whatever. I shouldn't have bothered to care."
Nishinoya left the gym right after that, ignoring Sugawara and Hinata's questions for where she was going and pleas for her to stay a little longer.
Despite what Daichi had said the first day, Nishinoya knew that Karasuno needed her, if they even wanted to stand a chance to go on to nationals.
Oh well. We won today's match.
I'm going to be Libero.