[Chapter 4]
The bus was cramped and hot, and smelled exactly like how Nishinoya had imagined it to be - layers upon layers of sweat.
Completely used to the relatively luxurious buses Shiroyama had provided their team with, she sat stiffly on the edge of her seat. She had hardly slept a wink, so she sighed and closed her eyes, trying her best to relax in the midst of loud yelling coming from all sides.
I will beat Oikawa
I have to beat Oikawa
This is my best chance
Before he's able to play in sync with his teammates
Nishinoya opened her eyes and mouthed the words to herself, and to be honest, at this point she was just mindlessly repeating them. Not like there was much use anyways, all that mattered would happen on the court.
Taking a cautious lean back into her seat - was that a spring poking into her back? - she closed her eyes again, trying to clear her mind and enter the pre-game mental state. All this would just be a waste of time if she couldn't manage to play to her best ability.
Annoyingly, her teammates were being quite loud, and for a few moments, Nishinoya found herself missing the relative peace she and her previous teammates had shared before; everyone inside their own small world.
"Hinata, your stomach hurts?! Now?! Really, couldn't you have been sick last week instead?"
"Ugh this always happens when I get nervous!"
"Tch. What's there to be nervous about."
"Shut up Bakayama! I know you're just as nervous!"
She shook her head in frustration and groaned. There was absolutely no way she would be able to achieve some inner peace and calm her nerves with the way she kept unconsciously listening in to what the others were talking about. Giving up, she wearily blinked her eyes and looked around. From what she knew of the neighbourhood, they were nearing the Aoba Johsai campus.
Looking down, she noticed that her hands were shaking slightly. Immediately she berated herself.
Get a hold of yourself Nishinoya Yuu. You are not, and will not be, a pathetic weakling.
There. She'd passed the line of no return. Nishinoya was now officially inside the Aoba Johsai gymnasium.
The bus ride had been long and uncomfortable, but in her worry time had seemed to fly by, and before she knew it the Karasuno High volleyball club had been standing outside the modern gymnasium belonging to Aoba Johsai.
Taking a look around she noted down where all her teammates were.
Hinata, Tanaka, and Kageyama had run ahead of the others, and were currently staring in wonder at the sleek and new volleyball courts which the school boasted.
Tsukishima was walking beside Yamaguchi, Sugawara, and Daichi, all of them making their way into the changeroom provided for their team.
Nishinoya, having been the last member of the Karasuno team to enter the gym, frowned, and quickly walked to the girl's changeroom across the court.
Weirdly enough, there didn't seem to be any regular members of the Seijoh team warming up on the multiple courts. Perhaps they were changing as well, but she would've expected them to at least take the advantage of extra warm up time.
No… no what was she thinking. Of course they wouldn't, because which of them would even have a doubt that Karasuno, a relatively unknown team would manage to defeat them.
She angrily yanked open the door to the girls change room and walked inside.
"Good morning Nishi-chan"
Oikawa the f**king bastard that he was, stood leaning against the wall, smirking at her.
"Get out Oikawa. I need to change and I don't have the time nor the will to talk to you"
"It's not like I haven't seen you shirtless before Nishi-chan. Go ahead, do whatever you planned to do. I'll wait as long as I need to talk to you."
"Please leave, or I will have to report you"
Oikawa let out a small chuckle. Of course there was no way any report from a non-school student like her could harm him in any way.
Nishinoya bit her lip to the point of it being slightly painful, and finally turned around and stalked to the other side of the changeroom (not that it was that far away, considering there weren't any dividers).
With Oikawa's stare on her the entire time, she changed as quickly as possible into her uniform and walked to the door, avoiding him as much as possible.
He knows how uncomfortable this is making me. Relax. He's probably just trying to throw off my game before the match even begins.
Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, she firmly pulled on the door, ready to enter the court.
And of course, it didn't budge. Oikawa had his hand above her head, holding it shut.
Fed up with him, Nishinoya finally whirled around to face him.
"What the f**k do you want, Oikawa"
"To understand why you seem to hate me so much, Nishi-chan"
The Libero took a small step back in shock, and opened her mouth a tiny bit.
Oh
She closed her mouth and turned around again.
I don't want to answer, I wish so much that I was somewhere else right now, somewhere as far away as possible from Oikawa. However… I owe him an answer. It's his right to feel confused, the last time I saw him in person I snapped and ran away.
But how do I explain? How do I get him to see how all of their horrible actions and thoughts and attitudes just built up, until it became too much.
It was a good thing that she was turned away from him, or Oikawa might have caught the slight shaking of her hands, or the gloss over her eyes that showed impending tears.
"It's nothing personal against you, Oikawa. I just don't wish to associate with any of you, at least for the moment." Nishinoya couldn't have been more thankful that her voice came out relatively steady.
She laughed bitterly inside her head. Well if his goal was throwing me off, he's succeeded.
"Why?"
A cold, simply uttered word.
"Our last game, the one against Kuroo and Kenma. It was probably so insignificant to you that you don't remember. But that was the final straw for me. All of you changed so much, none of you even enjoy playing this sport now, and I HATE IT SO MUCH"
Her face scrunched up in pain.
"As I said, Oikawa. I don't hate you, I hate what you stand for and what you do"
Nishinoya heard the brown haired setter take a step back, and took that opportunity to escape the changeroom and head onto the court, where all her teammates were waiting.
The Libero casually rubbed her eyes to get rid of any traces of tears and composed herself.
Time in the future to think about the past. The present is for the present.
Not even sure why that had popped into her head suddenly, she vowed to reflect on her conversation later.
"What took you so long?" Daichi asked.
"Oh sorry, I was just preoccupied in my thoughts" she replied, laughing it off.
Moving further into the court, Nishinoya sat down and began to stretch, and after the blow of a whistle relaxed into her receiving stance and got ready to do the standard warmups.
The ref blew his whistle to signify the captains shaking hands, and all the players who had been previously warming up, gathered on the court.
Nishinoya narrowed her eyes. Barely half of the players facing them were regulars. Did Seijoh underestimate them that much?
"Where's Oikawa?" She yelled angrily.
The Aoba Johsai coach calmly walked over to their side of the court, while the ref blew his whistle again.
"Oikawa-san requested to play, but I decided that since he has a slightly bothered ankle, he should not be bothered to play in a match which will last tops half an hour" he said, all the while sneering nastily.
Nishinoya sneered back
"Do you know who I am?"
The coach looked at her. "Nishinoya. Libero."
Nishinoya snarled at the utter disrespect in his voice, and thought back with a bitter laugh. Didn't Oikawa promise me a immediate regular position if I transferred to Aoba Johsai. Guess it wouldn't have worked out anyways
"I suppose we'll have to show you that you need him and the rest of the regulars here to even have a chance at beating us" she replied.
He shrugged and walked back to the other side. "We hear that all the time"
Nishinoya ignored the urge to throw something at his back, and instead clenched her hands and turned back to her teammates.
Surprisingly when she met Daichi's eyes she saw the faintest glimmer of respect. Silently his eyes thanked her for standing up for the team.
Without a word, Nishinoya instead wrinkled her nose and turned her head away.
Whatever.
This time when the ref whistled it was to signify the beginning of the game.
Their opponents had won the coin flip, and so one of the two players who she recognized as regulars got ready to serve.
It wasn't bad, she thought, as the ball whistled towards the end line.
But it's easy.
Nishinoya lunged abruptly and easily sent the receive to the optimal position above Kageyama, who immediately jump set the ball to an already airborne Hinata in perfect minus tempo. Unprovoked, her eyes found the Seijoh coach watching from the bench with clenched teeth and she couldn't help but smirk.
It was Hinata and Kageyama who everyone was looking at astounded, but she felt a small sense of pride in being the foundation for making it happen.
Because goddamnit the spotlight would never truly be on her, but she would have to satisfy herself with silently knowing that it was her who made it happen.