HAIKYUU LEMONS!

Ukai

"Oh-! N-No! I'm already a third-year, so..."

"Hinata, calm down! She's my friend! She just transferred here!"

"Nice to meet you!" The orange-haired guy, Hinata, exclaimed while the other three simply nodded politely and offered their names. I returned the nods and smiled at Hinata, his overzealous attitude slowly becoming contagious.

"Hey, what's all this noise about? We have receiving practice today, remember?" A voice from behind me spoke up.

I whipped around to see- The convenience store clerk?! But what is he doing-

"Coach Ukai! I've been making progress with the jump floaters! Yamaguchi is a great teacher!" Hinata yelled, loud as ever.

Coach? So he works two jobs? Huh. Interesting.

"Hi there. Who are you?"

I snapped back to reality to see his tall frame leaning over me, brows raised in curiosity. Ah, so he really wasn't paying attention.

I quickly explained why I was here and he shrugged, expressing his indifference to my presence. But apparently, that indifference was not shared with his job of coaching the volleyball team like it was shared with me and running his store. As I watched the balls fly across the court, I could hear Ukai pointing out the rooms for improvement concerning his players and the team in general, with the occasional praise and 'good job' where it was due.

It was mesmerizing, really, seeing them handle the ball with such nimbleness and speed. I became engrossed in their practice match, often finding myself cheering for Hinata whenever he scored a spike.

"Shoyo~~~!" I jumped as a small ball of energy erupted from the entrance to the gym, landing in front of Hinata and placing him in a chokehold in a playful manner.

"N-Noya senpai! Tanaka senpai! What are you guys doing here?"

"Volleyball practice, of course! Why else would we be here?" The second guy, Tanaka, said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"You already graduated, so you should just stop coming back." The tall blonde, Tsukkishima, said monotonously.

"Aw, Tsukki, that's not very nice." Yamaguchi said.

Ukai chuckled and said it was okay for them to practice with us, but it was to be after this practice match. I ended up witnessing a rather intense match, staying at school long after the sun had set. I was barely aware of the quickly passing time as I watched Tanaka slam the ball down, arms snapping downwards and eyes wide with exhilaration.

After the match was over, — Tanaka and Noya won, to which Tanaka yelled: "Your senpais have still got it!" — I helped Yachi put away the equipment, despite her saying that I didn't need to.

"It's a bit late, do you guys want to grab something to eat at my store?"

"Hell yeah!" Tanaka and Noya yelled in unison, then rushed to put the last of the balls away.

"You can come, too, if you want." Ukai nodded to me.

"Thanks." I smiled and exhaled in relief. The less time spent at home the better.

Our whole group walked down the road lined by trees and bushes to Sakanoshita. The whole way there, Tanaka and I chatted about his college life, my experience here at Karasuno, and many other things. He taught me how to shake the vending machines the right way to get the most snacks, and where the lowest walls were in the school should I feel the need to skip.

"Tanaka, don't go giving her ideas." Ukai opened up the store and looked back at us, a slight frown between his brows.

Everyone piled into the store, each getting something they wanted to eat. I sat down at the table with Yachi and we pulled out our homework while munching on meat buns.