"Why the hell is there a girl here?" The new guy grumbled, scowling at me.
What's this guy so grumpy for?
Oikawa chuckled playfully. "C'mon now, Mad Dog. That's no way to greet our guest. This is Toshiko. Say hi."
I waved at this 'Mad Dog' guy and tried to show that I was friendly. He just kept glaring, almost like he was sizing me up. Iwaizumi barked at him, "Kyotani!"
The boy looked like he wanted to yell back, but was overpowered by the prowess of his senpai. He mumbled a curt 'hello.'
So his name is Kyotani. He's a crabby guy...
"Well then!" Toru interjected himself into the conversation again. "If we're all done with introductions, let's cut the stalling and get started. Mad Dog, warm up on the sidelines before joining your team."
"Teams..." I muttered to myself. "Wait, so does that mean...?"
"Toshiko! What position do you want to play on your side?" Oikawa grinned. "You're with Kindaichi-kun, Yahaba, Matsukawa, and Kyotani."
There was an ill-tempered 'Hah?!' That echoed across the gym. We all turned to Mad Dog who was angrily stomping towards his captain.
"No way I'm going on the team with the girl!"
What does that matter...? Asshole.
Oikawa was taken aback and looked to Iwaizumi for a brief moment. The both of them sighed and gave in to the fiery aggression spilling from the 2nd-year.
"Fine. Hanamaki? Will you...?"
"Sure. Why not?" Kyotani's replacement ducked under the net and joined my side, the rest of my teammates followed suit. Matsukawa and Hanamaki smirked at each other and celebrated being put on the same team. They all looked at me - STARED at me really. I fidgeted with the bottom of the slightly over-sized shirt.
'Why does everything feel so awkward today?!'
"Um..." My voice peeped out. "Why are you guys staring at me like that?"
"Didn't you hear Oikawa?" The Matsukawa guy sneered. "He put us on your team. That makes you the captain, does it not?" He draped an arm over my shoulder and gestured to the other three. "So, Little Captain, what position would you like to play?"
"You're asking me what I want first?"
He put his other hand to his chest. "Well, I'm a middle blocker. So's that kid right there." He lowered his voice and leaned in closer to me, pointing at Kindaichi who flustered from our sudden attention. "Hanamaki is an outside hitter. And Yahaba there is a setter. Whadya say, boss?"
"Hey! Matsukawa! Don't get so friendly with Toshiko! You'll stain her innocence." Oikawa whined from the other side of the net. I couldn't help but laugh as I wiggled out from underneath Matsukawa's arm. It didn't take long for me to figure the dynamic of our team.
"This works out great, actually." I said, getting their attention and calling them to a huddle. "I'm an outside hitter too, so I think we have all our bases covered for offense and defense. Which works out great for my goal..."
"What's that?" Kindaichi asked. I just smiled and turned to the other team, cracking my knuckles.
"We'll do our best to not let their ball touch our side of the floor!"
.
.
.
"AGH! What the hell?!" Mad Dog cursed after one of his hits was blocked. By me. It was only the second time I was able to do that the entire scrimmage, but I think the fact I did it at all or even touched his hits was making him mad. All according to plan. I could feel him glaring at me as I was praised and celebrated by my teammates.
"Nice serve, Toshiko!" Kindaichi grinned widely at me from the front row, I nodded back happily. As I prepared my serve I went over my analysis of the game so far, knew exactly who to serve it to.
"This should be karma for not wanting to be on the team with the girl." My voice grumbled out before I launched the ball over the net straight towards Kyotani. They tried to keep him out of the serve receive, he seemed like more of an attacker anyway. Luckily my spot-serving had been improving since I moved from the states.
He practically barked with seething rage as he shanked the pass. There was little to no attempt to calm him down and I got ready for my next serve. Doing the same thing a few more times until Iwaizumi swooped in and returned the serve. Everyone could feel how hungry Mad Dog was for the hit. He wanted revenge, I knew he was going to send it hurdling my way in the back row. In a flash I planted my feet on the back line and aligned myself with the brash hitter. He reeled back and slammed the ball down, there was a split second where I noticed the ball flying higher then my forearms. There was no time to let it fly out of bounds.
So I passed the ball off my chest.
Man! Did it sting! The pass didn't even go the right way either, we lost the point. I did that all for nothing! While my teammates fretted over my well being I could hear Oikawa snickering from across the court. He tried to act all innocent when I confronted him about it too.
"Sorry it's just... that was the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen. That would've been madness if it actually worked out for you guys." I waved him off, but my attention was pulled to someone else shouting for me on the other side. Mad Dog.
"You! Girl."
"I have a name, Kyotani."
"Whatever. What are you doing?"
"Huh?!"
"Why won't you let the ball touch the ground?! Huh?! Every single time I've tried to make a point you keep that from happening. It's pissing me off!"
Serves you right...
"Bet you regret not being on this team don't ya?" Matsukawa teased.
Hanamaki joined in slyly. "Yeah, you were so confident about it before, Mad Dog. Still think being on 'the team with the girl' is a bad thing?"
"Yeah..." Kindaichi peeped, standing closer to me. "What they said."
The way the boys sided with me made me feel more confident, I stood taller and pointed at my teammates. "People who underestimate me tend to have a hard time." After saying this to him I shot a glance at the girls in the stands who were listening and watching closely. They stepped back from the railing trying to hide from me. "If you had stayed on my team you could be making points against Oikawa."
"Hey, what the heck Toshiko?" He whined.
"Since you think it's 'so bad' to be on a team with a girl I decided your team won't make any free points. I want to keep the volleyball from having any free part of our floor. Hope you can try to beat that, Mad Dog."
He grunted and turned away from me, getting into position as Oikawa prepared his serve.
Oh crap. Oikawa's serving.
"You know I can't let that comment slide right?" He laughed and pointed at me all the way from the back line.
I laughed back. "Bring me your toughest serve, Oikawa. I'm not scared."
"A brave little one, aren't we?" He chuckled and stood back. I breathed and steadied myself as he tossed the ball for his killer jump serve. Like a rocket that thing shot off his hand. Even when spot serving his power was incredible. I knew if I didn't focus really hard that the ball would soar off my arms and give them a chance ball. My biggest goal at this moment was to back up my confidence.
My breath hissed through my teeth when the ball collided with my forearms, the speed making them sting.
C'mon, take away the momentum...!
At the moment of impact I rolled backwards and did just what I hoped for! What a lucky shot! I took away the perfect amount of power from the serve to set up Yahaba nicely. And thanks to Kindaichi we got the point back! Oikawa and Iwa gawked at me as my teammates surrounded me, patting my head and giving me boyish praise. My grin was spotted by Toru through the crowd. I thought he'd be annoyed but funny enough...
He just smiled.
xxx
"Great practice, Toshiko. Thanks for joining us."
"Thanks for having me, Captain." I grinned as I browsed for my own snack at the convenience store. "It was a lot of fun!"
"I'm glad! Although, I'm sure it would've been better without those girls bothering you... I'm sorry."
"Ah, Kindaichi told you about that? Don't worry, I'm okay. I can't believe you have fangirls!" I teased. "Anyway, you found everything you want right? I said I'd buy." The plastics crinkled in my hands as we made our way to the counter to buy the food we got. Him and his five milk breads! When I pulled my wallet out to pay for my snacks, his hand covered my own.
"You can put that away now, I'll pay for yours." There was a cheeky grin pasted on his cheeks as he saw my shock. Can't say I was complaining though. We happily ate outside on a bench as we watched the sun go down.
"You've got some nice serves." He spoke with food stored in his cheek. "But you could be even better with a jump serve."
My stomach flipped thinking about the game at the inter high tournament. "I know how to jump serve... Kageyama taught me."
"Ha! No offense to my precious junior, but he doesn't seem like the type to be very good at teaching. I bet I could teach you to do it better!"
"Well he taught me well enough for me to get it!" I defended Tobio before a long pause, thinking about Oikawa's offer. "... How would you even be able to teach me though?"
He bounced close to me on the bench with a child-like twinkle in his eyes. "Come to our practices for the rest of the week! I can teach you there. You got nothing else going on, right? I know you said you were keeping your distance from some people at your school, so this works out perfect."
I mulled over his offer, checking my phone and seeing an avalanche of texts from Shouyou. Some were apologies for the fight. Some asked me not to be mad at him. Then the last mentioned that he got to meet the old coach Ukai.
I'll call him later...
"Yeah I did say that. I'm still not gonna tell you who it is or why!" He put his hands up in surrender at my declare.
"But," I continued. "But I think I'd like to come to more of your practices. Just this week before the Tokyo training camp, okay?"
With the biggest grin on his face, he wrapped my pinky with his own in a flash and looked me dead in the eyes. "Great! I promise to teach you to jump serve so well, you'll blow away those people at the training camp! Deal?"
I leaned back from the shock of his declaration, of his actions. But his enthusiasm was contagious.
"Okay! Deal!"