Metanoia [Ushijima x reader]

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Metanoia - the journey of changing one's mind, heart, self, or way of life Ushijima x Reader fanfic Story starts during middle school wherein the rea...

drama femreader haikyu haikyuu haikyuuxreader oikawa oikawatooru romance shiratorizawa tooru ushijima ushijimawakatoshi wakatoshi xreader

Chapter 14 : The Long Week Begins...

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By IROIHS

You repeatedly mumbled as you walk, your body feeling somewhat sluggish as you moved at a snail's pace. Your mind constantly imagining scenarios that would play at your 13th attempt to apply as manager, your speech for later getting more and more nonsensical every time you practiced. No one could really blame you for that, with Ushijima and their team captain, Gin, bluntly turning you down with every attempt; it isn't much of a mystery why your confidence is slowly deteriorating.

A week has passed since that dreaded first day of class where Ushijima singlehandedly spiked your dreams into oblivion. His words breaking your spirit when he identified you as "not needed" without so much as a hint of hesitation or pity in his voice. "I must be a masochist though..." you thought as you walked out of the building with the volleyball club's gym coming into view. Despite hearing ice-cold words and rejections left and right, your stubbornness surprisingly got the best of you allowing you to push your pitiable self to keep on applying though you made sure that your presence at the gym would be kept at its absolute minimum so as not to bother the other members.

You repeatedly let out deep breaths trying your hardest to calm yourself down as you stood in front of the gym. Your hand reached out for the handle when you suddenly heard noise inside. "Did they start already? That's early," you pondered while looking at your wristwatch. Gently, you slid the door open just enough for you to peek through. Placing your hands on the doors you leaned forward, trying your best to catch a small glimpse of what was inside. "I can't see..." you groaned before leaning even closer trying so hard to sneakily peep. Then all of a sudden the door slid wide open.

Gravity began to work. Your eyes gradually widened with each millisecond. You can feel yourself falling but you can't do a thing about it. During this tiny moment, along with the instant realization that your face will high five the floor, you can hear someone yelling "timber!" The wait was over in only about half a second. Your body has now contorted in what seemed like a weird dogeza as you sprawled out on all fours. The pain from your face was just about enough to make you pass out when a sudden yell made you jerk your head up a bit. "YOU'RE LATE!" the voice bellowed.

The echo made by the voice magically made your body sit up, scaring you to the point that fear has overtaken the pain you are feeling from your fall. As your eyes focus to the people inside the gym, you can see an old man probably in his late 60s wearing the Shiratorizawa's VBC official tracksuit, his white hair slicked back and his thick gray eyebrows furrowed looking at you with annoyance. It didn't take you a second to determine who the elderly person in front of you was. Your voice trembled as you spoke. "W-Washijou... Tanji."

"Well? How long are you going to keep gawking? Hurry up and get changed! Practice is starting!" he gruffly said before walking away, his words leaving you dumbfounded as you sat on the gym floors. You picked yourself off of the ground and walked towards the coach. "W-wait! Ummm... Does that mean that I'm...""Not yet," the coach said as he stopped walking. He peered over his shoulder, his gray eyes staring directly into your (e/c)-colored ones as he spoke, "get changed first and I'll explain to you later." You gripped the hem of your jacket happily before bowing respectively "YES!" you loudly said feeling excitement run through you wondering if your stubbornness finally pulled through.

"Finally..."

***

You could feel your body growing smaller by the second. Your face instantly going pale the moment you got back to the gym after you changed your clothes. Your hands tightly held together as you were barely able to hide your fear of the situation. Slowly, you tried to lift your head but you instantly regret doing so. You didn't expect that the difference in height was this great. 20 centimetres is no laughing matter, but you find yourself laughing sadly at how pathetic your 160 height is, compared to their 180... And above...

"Introduce yourself, now." The coach said, snapping you out of your thoughts "I-I'm (l/n) (f/n), from Class 1-5. N-nice to meet chu!" you said nervously. "Not again!" you screamed internally, wanting to hide in a small locker or whatever to hide your shame as you can hear some of the team members hold back their laughter. You bit down on your lower lip, the heat rising to your cheeks as embarrassment took a hold of you.

"Well you heard who she is... she'll be acting as the manager for the week but..." his voice suddenly took on a deeper tone; the air that surrounded him began to turn menacing as he glanced at you. His next words, however, suddenly made you feel like you were walking on a tightrope. "... If she fails to show me that this team needs her as much as the team needs our regulars then she will have to FORGET about any future plans of joining us. Isn't that right (l/n)?" from the tone of his voice you knew that he was already testing you. Emphasizing the word 'forget' does not help too, but you know that he has a point, and you answered him with a whisper "yes, sir."

"What was that? Speak up!" his voice louder this time. Fear of what may come instantly drew itself on your face, your facial expression making a few of the members sigh in disapproval obviously thinking that whatever effort you were to make would be a waste. Judging by their facial expressions you knew that you were on your own, Tendou and the others wearing the same look as that of Ushijima's. You weren't needed.

You looked down on your feet as you let out a shaky breath. With trembling hands, you gripped the hem of your P.E jacket mumbling inaudible words to yourself. After psyching yourself up for a second or so, you lifted your head back up to face them, the expression on your face catching some of them off guard as no traces of your lifeless face were left behind. Now, instead of the glum face you showed earlier, a bright smile donned your features and a determined gleam was present in your eyes as you voiced out a better response "YES! I'll do my best!" you said bowing once more.

The coach watched you with intent eyes allowing a small smile to form on his lips. "Coach Akira will brief you for a few minutes on what you need to do" he said, his usual stern look once again plastered on his face as he said so. You replied with nod and watched as he instructed the team to start running laps around the court. You walked over to the tall male wearing the same tracksuit as the coach, feeling thankful that he at least treated you nicely.

"And that's about everything... since we had a few recruits this year we'll be doing a practice match later on, the first years and Ushijima will be playing against our regulars" you nodded as you continued to write down on your notebook. "Ah! One last thing, be careful of stray shots!" he said with a smile before walking away. You thanked him before bowing, your eyes strained on the coaches back before you moved your gaze to the court watching as the players began warming up for their practice match. "This is perfect" you thought, the practice giving you the opportunity to write down notes and observations in regards to each player. You stood right next to the two coaches, pulling out a second notebook from your bag "I won't let this chance go to waste!" you thought.

***

~ (f/n)'s third day as manager

"She's actually doing quite well isn't she?" Leon said as he wiped the sweat from his brow. Yamagata hummed in response as he walked over to Leon, the second years sitting together at one corner of the gym as their 10 minute break started.

"It's not enough" Ushijima scoffed as he took a sip from his sports bottle, his eyes strained on you, watching as you handed towels to the players.

"There you go again... (f/n)-chan is helping in easing the load though. Also we finally got a cute manager for once so what does it matter?" Tendou nonchalantly says as he leaned against the wall while sitting down, his legs sprawled out in front of him as he began to stretch his long limbs.

"Tell that to the coach... the fact that she even got a chance is a miracle in itself, she only appears to Ushijima and Gin-san right? How did the coach even know about her?" Semi noted as he sat next to Tendou, one of his eyebrows raised while his hands are crossed in front of him. Semi's words caught their attention making them look at the blonde. "So you're saying someone from the team told the coach?" Semi nodded at Leon's question and the four of them began to move their eyes to the tall ace that was absentmindedly drinking from his sports bottle.

"Anyone from this school can easily do the same thing that she is doing. If she keeps this up by the end of this week, she would have proven nothing," the tall ace just said with a shrug after he finished drinking, making Tendou laugh.

"Wakatoshi-kun, who knew you were such a tsundere~" Tendou teased catching his attention. He looked over at his teammates with a confused expression.

"Well, Wakatoshi is the only one other than Gin-san who can persuade the coach. Despite that rough exterior, you're still a really nice guy, huh, Wakatoshi," Leon said with a nod, Semi and Yamagata nodding along with his statement.

Ushijima blankly looked at them as the four looked at him with a teasing grin. "What is it?" he asked making Tendou's smile go from ear to ear "if Wakatoshi-kun is that interested in her then I, the great Tendou-sama shall back off!" Tendou proudly proclaimed as he stood up, dramatically wiping away the makeshift tears from his eyes before sauntering over to Ushijima. "It'll be our secret!" Tendou grinned while patting the ace on his shoulder. Ushijima simply looked at him with mild annoyance and curiosity. "What're they talking about?" he pondered.

***

You stretched your arms high up in the air while letting out a sigh of satisfaction. It was the end of your third day as manager and despite the multitude of tasks you were doing, you felt incredibly happy to be of some bit of use to the team. "But..." you mumbled as you recalled the looks the other players were giving you while you were working, "I guess I haven't done as much as they wanted," you weakly chuckled. You heaved out a heavy sigh as you walked out of the locker rooms with only the moon as your source of light in the seemingly empty school.

The halls sent shivers running up your spine as the surrounding was seemingly slowly being enveloped in a somewhat ominous atmosphere. "I need to hurry," you thought to yourself as you fast-walked towards the faculty room to return the keys to the gym. You let out a breath of relief when the faculty room was in sight. You rushed over to the door when the coach's voice suddenly made you stop in your tracks, "WHAT?! What's the meaning of this?! WHY DON'T WE HAVE ANYONE TO PLAY AGAINST THIS SUNDAY?!" The sudden noise almost made you faint but his words caught your attention making you walk closer to the faculty door while your heart tried to calm itself back down. As silent as you can, you pressed your ear against the door as you tried to listen in on the coach's conversation.

"The various schools and colleges we have connections to already had plans. It seems like everyone's starting to prepare since Golden Week is coming soon. They probably wanted to see how much their players have grown before deciding a training regimen just like us." Coach Akira explained with a sigh. "Not to mention that we also couldn't get much out of the alumni, as their schedules are conflicting with ours, and with themselves, so it's also hard for us to get them to gather," he continued on.

You could literally picture in your mind how much the coach is seething in anger at the other side of the door. You flinched when you heard the coach yell again in frustration, repeatedly screaming profanities while Coach Akira desperately tried to calm him down. "Practice match..." you thought, feeling the gears in your head begin to work when all of a sudden an idea struck your mind and you proceeded to open the door dramatically.

"Coach!" you said, catching both of the men's attention. A determined look etched on your face as you stared at the two coaches. "What is it?!" the coach asked as he continued to take deep breaths, irritation still present in his voice despite how breathless he had seemed to look, his eyes wondering what the hell you were suddenly doing there. You could've sworn that his heart rate have had increased by the hundreds making you wonder how he didn't collapse.

"I can schedule the team a practice match!" you announced, your words seemed to catch him off guard as his face began to calm down a bit, leaving an incredulous look on his face as he motioned for you to continue. "I can schedule a practice match against the alumni from both Chu-Dai and Nittaidai..." you said with a smile. Silence began to envelop the three of you when all of a sudden the two coaches let out a sigh, Washijou soothing his forehead as he groaned in frustration. (for more info on the schools please refer to the author's note at the end of this story 🙏)

"Both of those are considered as a powerhouse school in the college levels with players strong enough to play for the country, just getting the regulars themselves to play against us is unfathomable since we're still a high school team and yet you plan to reach out to their alumni..." Washijou said as he sat down on a nearby chair. "YES!" you replied, your eyes brimming with confidence despite how much your body quaked in fear. You knew it was hard to believe, no matter how strong a team Shiratorizawa has become, trying to get Japan's top two to play against them when even several colleges could not would seem impossible for anyone.

The coach let out another sigh as he crossed his arms in front of him. He stares at you intently, occasionally tapping his fingers on his elbow as he pondered on what he should do. It was impossible but the glimmer in your eye made him wonder if you actually had connections to the two schools. He never liked gambling but the look in your eye made him feel like he should dive in.

"Do as you wish..."

***

~ Shiratorizawa's Group chat ~