MECHTA ❨ haiba lev ❩

mechta [ twenty ]

[ TWENTY ]

"Mi-chaaaaaan!"

The first thing Minari heard once she stepped inside the gym was a loud Haiba Lev calling out her name. The girl flinched, almost covering her ears if Lev had not smiled at her and ruffled her hair.

"Good morning, Minari," Lev greeted, as he appeared in front of the sleepy girl.

"Good morning, Lev. Where's the others? You're quite early," Minari said, her eyes scanning the area.

Some athletes from other schools were already either chatting or stretching since they weren't complete yet. Both Shinzen and Ubugawa nearly had perfect attendance while Fukurodani, Nekoma and Karasuno probably had some guys sleeping in. The girl chuckled at the thought.

"Some are still sleeping while guys like Yaku-san went jogging," Lev informed her, sitting down on the floor so the girl sat down next to him.

"Guys like Yaku-san? Third years?" the girl asked, stretching as a small yawn escaped her lips.

"Yeah. You're still sleepy. Um... Y-You can put your head on my shoulder." Lev offered, stuttering which she found quite cute if it weren't for her own cheeks blushing.

Trying to pretend she wasn't embarrassed or shy at all, Minari leaned her head on the tall guy's shoulder which was surprisingly comfortable. The half-Russian's cheeks were undeniably getting warmer as well, but he tried to shrug it off.

"I-I'll wake you up as soon as mostly everyone's here," Lev said, so Minari smiled and muttered a quick thanks before closing her eyes.

As the girl dozed off to a nap, Lev licked his lips in nervousness. Normally, if it had been Yaku or any of the guys who slept on his shoulder, he wouldn't have been this nervous. But it was Nase Minari, and he was afraid that his shoulder wasn't comfortable enough.

Even Inuoka who was by the side with Hinata was snickering at the taller one's situation. The orange haired sunshine then looked at his friend, curious about the relationship of Lev and Minari.

"They're really a couple?" Hinata asked, and Inuoka laughed before nodding.

"You should have seen how Lev followed her around like a lost puppy. They finally started to make it official when she helped him with his receives. She was like, if you receive 20 of my serves or something then I'll go out with you. But he didn't, and then she went to him and told him she was going to date him anyway," Inuoka said, shaking his head in amusement.

"That's cool! But why does he have to get everything? The height and all, including a nice girlfriend. By the way, Kenma seemed like he was a tiny bit uncomfortable when we talked about Lev," the orange haired said, muttering the last sentence but Inuoka still heard it.

"Well... we all thought Kenma liked Minari first, but he gave her up for Lev since he didn't want to ruin his friendship with her. Something like that, I guess. Anyway, he's pretty chill about it now," the brown haired replied, shrugging his shoulders.

"She seemed too fond of Lev when she talked about him last night," Hinata said, his eyes drifting to a now asleep Lev.

"She always was amused by Lev's actions. Even called that reckless skyscraper a tamed kitten. I mean, how?" Inuoka chuckled, shaking his head.

The two first years chatted with each other, talking about different things either related to volleyball or not. Lev and Minari, however, were both asleep sitting by the wall but no one woke the two up since the practice games haven't started yet.

After a few more minutes, all of the teams and their members finally arrived and the practice games for the morning started. Minari was woken up a few minutes earlier by Lev, who seemed to have been woken up harshly by Yaku.

"It's Fukurodani versus Nekoma. Tell me more about what the team should improve after the game," Coach Nekomata said, eyes trained on his team.

"Yes, coach," Minari replied, sitting down next to the coach while focusing her eyes on the game.

The ball was thrown up for the serve, the members from the other side of the court readying themselves for the receive. While watching them play, Minari felt a mixture of feelings. Sure, she did miss playing but she also loved watching people play on the court knowing that they love the sport as much as she did.

Lev was right, it wasn't the end of her dreams. Helping others reach the same dream she had was also just like trying to reach her own dreams. Besides, he reassured her that his dreams weren't only his but now theirs to achieve.

Just recalling the conversation she had with the seemingly playful Haiba Lev made her smile. There really was more to him than what he was labeled as.

"Lev, stop flailing your arms around, for goodness's sake!"

"Nice block!"

"Nice kill!"

Minari smiled. The boys were having fun, and at the same time learning from how to handle their opponent during the practice match. There was nothing more she could ask for, other than seeing them smile as they played the sport they loved so much and clawing their way up to victory. She wanted what was best for the team.

Soon after, the practice match between the two schools ended and the loser had to do their drills. The first year manager discussed with the coach about the possible changes they could do about the team, standing away from the others.

Just as the other coach excused himself to take a drink, Coach Nekomata turned serious and called Minari.

"Nase, can I talk to you about something?" Coach Nekomata asked, folding his arms across his chest.

"What is it, coach?" the girl asked, smiling up at him.

Nekomata sighed, not knowing how to say the words he wanted to tell her as direct as possible. Minari tilted her head to the side, curious about what the old coach had to say.

"Break up with Haiba,"