ριℓℓσω//Haikyuu!!

36(11)

The walk to the bus seemed like a walk of sadness and tiredness for us. I wish we lived closer to these teams, they're fun to play practice matches with.

Once we reach the bus, we give our final waves of goodbyes and leave.

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"All right, now get out of here!" Coach kicks us out of the gym once practice ends for the day.

Their prelims start tomorrow, but luckily their first match is a bye.

"Hey, Padema. We're going to see the old Coach Ukai. Wanna come?" Hinata invites me as we're walking down the road together.

I give Daichi a look to seek his approval.

"Bring her home safely." He tells Kageyama and Hinata then walks away from us.

"Coach, Kageyama and Padema want to come too." Hinata tells the current Coach Ukai when we arrive at his shop.

"Hm, fine, but they're gonna be cramped in the back. The old man is making me bring boxses of groceries for him too.

We go to coach's little car and load the groceries. Kageyama and I had to, squeeze in the back together.

Things have been pretty normal between us, although there's been an unspoken tension that's occurred ever since we both basically admitted feelings for each other.

Playing with some tall guys during the camp, didn't even come close to matching with how scary that one conversation Kageyama and I had that night.

We arrive at the place. I've never met the original Ukai, but from what I've heard, he's a wild house that likes to throw his grandson around.

"Oh, munchkin, you've brought friends today." An old man wearing his sweatshirt only to his neck, exposing his tank top, says to Hinata.

Munchkin?

"This is Tobio Kageyama and Padema Sawamura." Coach introduces us.

"Nice to meet you." Kageyama and I say together while bowing.

He takes a second to analyze us and walks around us in a full circle.

"Hm. You guys play?" Ukai asks us.

"Yes. Kageyama is our setter and Padema plays a middle blocker and libero for the girls team." Coach answers for us once again.

"I want them to answer you idiot!" Ukai shouts at coach and, well, throws him. Did not expect that part to be true. "So, you guys came for some practice?"

Kageyama and I nod our heads.

I can feel that he is also terrified at the moment, not wanting to get thrown.

"Practice what you want." He gives a seemliness answer and walks away to his grandson.

He is not at all what I expected.

"Kageyama let's work on the quick attack." Hinata orders and he gets some little kid he knows, to throw the ball for him.

I honestly didn't even know what to do.

"Oh, why are you still standing around?" Ukai asks me, once walking back over.

"I'm not quite sure to work on, sir." I tell him. I don't know these people like Hinata does.

I don't have a partner to work with.

"Middle blocker and libero eh?" He eyes me. I nod at him, unsure of what answer he was looking for. "Libero I can see, but you're no taller than short stuff over there."

I shake my head at him, knowing Hinata's actually taller. I'm as tall as Noya honestly.

Not my greatest achievement.

"Well, let's get some receiving for you." He tells me and gets a ball. I quickly follow after him.

He starts hitting the ball down at me. Slowly building up for harder hits after every return I give him. I can hardly keep up with this old guy.

We kept this going for a while until he finally called it quits. Both of us out of breath.

"You boys have games starting tomorrow, right? You should probably wrap it up soon." Ukai tells the two that haven't stopped.

They begged Ukai to get at least one more shot in.

"You know..." I overhear a lady talk. I look to my right and see two girls that must work here of something, talking to each other. "I think this is the first time I've seen the tall boy."

"I heard they asked to borrow our court until we start up. Turns out they just didn't get as much practice as they wanted today. Apparently he's the setter on Sho's team." The other girl says. Wow, they look like they're older than us and even they know Hinata. "I've been watching them play ever since I got back, and I gotta say, they're not very good."

I roll my eyes at her judgement and step into the conversation as Hinata and Kageyama get ready for their attack.

"They may not have shown it earlier, but those two are some of the highest skilled first years I've seen." I tell them.

We watch them finally master their quick attack, which left everyone shocked. I grin to myself, thinking about what the girls said before.

"Next time, you shouldn't judge someone's skill after a few minutes of watching. Some things just take time."