ため野矢の: Because of Noya

感心する Admire

"Well.... The raven-haired boy, number 9, right? He's tall, but not too tall. We can rule him out of a libero and possibly a blocker as well. Only from a spike standpoint, his hand positioning and ball control looks too much like a setter. That's what I'm assuming."

For me, that's the most I've said to someone in a month.

"WOOOOAAAA!!~. You're not wrong, Ms.....?"

"....Nakemura.. Kameko Nakemura."

"Ah, Nakemura-san! Well, you're spot on for Kageyama Tobio. He's our genius first year setter, and you have yet to see more of what he's capable of later on. Number 1 is Sawamura Daichi, our solid receiver and captain of the club. Next, Tanaka Ryonosuke, number 5. He's our go-to spiker for power. Number 3 is Azumane Asashi, Karasuno's notably powerful ace. Tsukishima Kei is number 11, and he's our sly and clever blocker. Yamaguchi Tadashi as number 12, our pinch server who has yet to work on his jump float serve. Now number 10, Shoyo Hinata, is our middle blocker and spiker. Oh, and my name is Keishin Ukai, Karasuno's boys volleyball coach."

Ukai-san explained as he pointed out the players and their roles, as well as his own name for starters. All of the players seemed to be covered... All of them.....
Except one.

"Say, Ukai-san, what about your libero?"

"Oh! Yes, how could I forget! Number 4 is our libero. His name is Nishinoya Yū. The short kid's got incredible talent, so don't underestimate him!"

Ukai-san laughed heartily

Ah..... I knew I heard Nishinoya-san's voice when I walked in. It had to be him, nobody else. As I turned my head back to the game with Coach Ukai sitting next to me, I looked on for a bright orange jersey indicating a libero- and I found it.
Just as a spike was hurtling towards the ground, I saw the short boy rush with incredible speed towards the ball only 2 inches away from the ground. Throwing his hand, and his body, underneath the ball, with a fairly small fist, he hurled it straight back up. Afterwards, he gave an enthusiastic yell of achievement as the other players started working.
He was absolutely amazing in my eyes.
I watched play by play of him, ones where he ran from one side to the other side of the court,where he missed a few times and yelled curses, where he even fumbled over his own feet.
He caught my attention immediately, and it definitely wasn't because his jersey stood out from the rest.

"Oi! Keep your eyes on other players!"

Startled and embarrassed, I turned to look at Ukai-san giggling mischievously at me. I scoffed and turned my head back. If he was thinking I saw Nishinoya-san in THAT way, where I barely even knew him, he would be way beyond wrong. I only saw him as an effective player on the court, no where else.
I ripped my attention away from number 4 and turned it towards the raven-haired boy... Kageyama-kun, was it? His aura was enough to attract anyone's attention, volleyball player or not. I watched a few plays of him, and I was way beyond surprised to say the least. His ball control and precision was...
Too scary.
I couldn't tell if it was human or not, but from my own experience as a player, he seemed like a king. No, a God. I can't imagine how long and how much time he's put into this..... I would never understand how he would do it.
Just as the ball landed viciously on Kageyama-kun's side, he scoffed angrily and beckoned for Hinata-kun to come over. They whispered only a tiny bit to one another before the whistle blew and they scurried back to their positions. This time, Hinata seemed very,VERY, excited for something. When the play began, it wasn't long before Kageyama-kun had the ball way above him. His attention seemed to be focused on Tanaka-san, who was calling for the kill. Tanaka-san jumped, but no ball was at his hands ..... Or anywhere near him.....
I heard a loud thud of a volleyball to a wooden floor as I turned my attention to the opposite side of the court, where the ball rolled lazily out of the designated white lines.
What happened? What was that? Did I see anything correctly? Where did that come from?
With my eyes as wide as quarters and my mouth slightly agape, I turned to look at two jubilant players, Hinata-kun and Kageyama-kun, give a yell of accomplishment.
Did.. Hinata-kun hit that? Kageyama-kun definitely had the ball, but when? And where did it go? It seemed like utter magic to me.
I rubbed my eyes and payed closer attention to that number 10: I had to see that play.
And for sure, it happened.
When Kageyama stood in to fire a kill, it was almost like the ball never touched his hands. Instead, like a bullet that I could barely see, it darted towards Hinata-kun, who was supposed to be on the opposite side of the court. How did he get there so quickly? I didn't even see him bolt!
With closed eyes.. CLOSED EYES?! Hinata-kun once again drove the ball perfectly over the opposite side of the net.
That was not a quick. That couldn't be a quick. That was way beyond what somebody would call a quick. What was it? I never saw anything like it in all of my years playing volleyball.

"It's like a monster right?"

Ukai-kun finally said after I examined the God-like play.

"How.... How is that possible? How did they do that?"

"Hinata and Kageyama are our two most powerful weapons on Karasuno's team. In fact, Hinata is supposed to be our decoy. But something tells me that soon, he'll be seen as an actual player, not a nuisance. Kageyama brings out the best potential in him-so their relationship is like the heart and veins. Hinata is the vein that keeps the heart pumping, while Kageyama is the heart, or the absolute control of the team. It works perfectly, as well as for the others. Hinata manages to carve a way for his other teammates, making them more dangerous and powerful for others."

I awed at Coach Ukai-kun's admiration for his team. But as much as I wouldn't like to admit it, I admired them as well. They seemed like an interesting team, but it wouldn't look like it at first glance. That would be the beauty of their team in my opinion, but I'll keep it to myself. When the match ended with a 2-0 set win (Kageyama and Hinata's team won, no doubt about it.), the players started to clean up the gym area and pack up their belongings.
That was my cue to leave as well, so I got up off the top row of black bleachers and made my way down.

"WAIT!"

I heard a voice echo in my direction as I was getting ready to make a silent exit. I turned around to see Karasuno's libero pointing at me, with a very compelling expression on his face.

"WHAT DID YOU THINK?! OF THE GAME?!"

I frowned a bit. Did he have to yell out every sentence that came out of his loud mouth? It was quite irritating.

"Um..... I thought it was fine, I was kind of surpr-"

"HUH?! I CAN'T HEAR YOU!"

I could feel my face distorting into an unattractive scowl. Boy, did this libero get on my nerves.

"THERE ARE... There are still... Things you need to work on."

I said, regaining my composure that I almost completely lost. I did manage to say the last few words a bit harshly, and I did feel a bit bad.
Even worse, I had most of the team looking at me now. Amazing. I just really wanted to go home... What did I throw myself into?

"What do you mean by that? What kind of stuff?"

Nishinoya-san said a bit.. Less loudly than before, his finger now slowly lowering. He looked kind of hurt, but as bad as it sounds, I was happy to finally have him simmer down, even if it had to be like this.

"Well, um......"

I said, shyly looking down to avoid the gazes of the Karasuno players who were slowly inching towards Nishinoya-san to listen to what I had to say.

"...I shouldn't be one to criticize, but I did play volleyball all through elementary school, although I wasn't amazing...And I noticed a... Few mishaps I guess. Like, too many spikers are focusing on kills and not feints, the blockers don't look like they've had a lot of experience read blocking, the serves need some work..."

Oh my god. What am I saying?! I sound too much like a coach!! What position am I in to say these things? Oh, any God, please help me right now. This is the most embarrassing thing I've said so far.

"I agree!"

Ukai-san said, emerging from the crowd of players I didn't see due to the fact I was looking down while saying my critique (and blushing madly).

"We need you on this team, Nakemura-san! Please be our assistant manager!"