After you were castigated by your lovely seniors, it turns out that they did not continue that rematch that day, well how could they after that incident with you, instead they were going to redo the match, much to Tsukishima's dismay, "ugh, why are we even playing again..." he mutters quietly to himself, but because you standing right beside him you heard what he said, " Hehe already forfeiting Tsuki?" You giggle giving him a side glance.
Tsukishima stares at you, his eyes look as if they were sharpened, dark and an unsettling gaze, examining you meticulously, you felt a chill going down your spine as if the air in the room got heavy and cold, seeming as if the two of you were the only ones in this room, what was this frightening stare.
Tsukishima suddenly exhales heavily, letting out a small groan as well, "I...I'm just....just don't do something like that again!...okay?" he gets stuck with his words at first but his voice transitions to a more tender and soft voice, unlike the normal character of the Tsukishima you know.
He proceeds to lift his big hands placing it on your head and patting it gently, then he calmly walks away as if nothing happens.
You stare blankly into the court trying to comprehend what had just occurred, you then feel your face getting a little flush at the unexpected contact from the tall (tsundere) boy, unconsciously touching the spot where he pats you, 'I guess that's his way of showing that he is concerned' you thought to yourself then smiling at the small gesture he did.
You look at the direction he walked away from, and there he was standing with the boys huddling together to discuss the game, but as you watch them you realize that Tsukishima was glancing back at you.
You give him a small smile and wave, but then he quickly looks away, although you could see a little tint of red on his cheek, causing you to chuckle.
"What are you laughing about?" you see Sugawara walking up to you, "Oh nothing Suga-senpai, just a personal joke is all," you say to him but Sugawara knew that that was not the case, he gives a side glance to Tsukishima, his face darkening a bit, but quickly composes himself, reverting to his motherly personality.
"SMMMMASSSHHH!" Tanaka slams the ball down with the great amount of strength, causing the ball to deflect off of Tsukishima's hands, Hinata squeals in glee, although he has already seen this before, the resonating sound is what causes the two of you to focus on the game that was beginning...
. . .
"How do you guys know how to do a fast attack?" Tanaka asks in amazement.
'Fast attack?' you thought, 'I remember doing those attack a lot...but, woah... they actually did a fast attack...' you ponder in a surprising state, but as you stare in admiration your methodical mind starts forming training regiments so that they can improve on making their form better and increasing their senses in the court.
'it seemed that Kageyama had instinctively responded to Hinata's voice and motion, and made a perfectly accurate toss' squinting and deep in thought, ' other than his bad attitude Kageyama has the abilities and experience, sooner or later he should be able to learn that with Hinata's reflexes and agility, he will be able to hit a fast attack!'
You snap out of your daze when you see Kageyama dragging Hinata to the side, concern for Hinata's life, you walk over to them, "Look if you can't hit you dodge." Kageyama explains, "use all the athleticism and reflexes you have to hit my toss" Kageyama instructs Hinata while Tanaka looks at Kageyama confused, "huh?? That's how you are going to explain it?" He questions.
"I got it..." Hinata claims as Tanaka freaks out at the back stating that he does not understand at all, the two of them only turn around and declare, "We'll give it a try!" Tanaka being sceptical of Kageyama, he then asks, "...Weren't you upset the last time we played?"
"I was... never upset to begin with..." Kageyama states in a blunt but unsure way, resulting in Tanaka to freak out yet again, "LIAR!!!" He shrieks louder.
Hinata then starts to freak out and degrades himself, "Ughh! I can't hit it!" pulling his hair and looking dejected.
"No Sho-kun! I believe you can do this," you say as you grab Kageyama and Hinata's hand, causing the both of them to go 'UWAH!!' on the inside while blushing profusely on the outside, " With Kageyama's skills and you hyper reflexes and agility, the two of you may just create an explosive attack, but Kageyama compared to Hinata you are far more skilful and experienced than he is," you say explaining to them simply.
Hinata becomes even more depressed when you stated that he was unskilled and less superior than Kageyama.
"You took the words from my mouth [Y/N]-chan," Sugawara says, picking up the volleyball and walking over, "Although Hinata has good speed and such, your tosses are cancelling out Hinata's speed, he is inexperienced and unskilled," he states matter-of-factly, making Hinata even more cynical.
"He's not like those talented junior high players you had played with....but he's got potential," he concludes, which causes Hinata's mood to spring right back up.
"With your skills, you....er... should be able to bring out Hinata's ....um inert skill..." Sugawara struggles to say so you decided to save him, "In short, he trying to say, you can perfectly utilise Hinata's abilities with your sharpened skills and bring out the best of each other," you say as Sugawara nods.
"I'm a setter just like you and I was so impressed last year, outstanding sense and ball control," his tone softens into a sad one as he looks away, "you can even judge the blocks and movements of your opponents, that's something I'll never have..." he admits in looking down with an envious gaze of Kageyama's skills.
"Don't be so hard on yourself Suga-sa-" Tanaka yells but you put a hand out to stop him and shook your head, he glances at Daichi and he also shakes his head, he then backs down.
"You've got technique and passion, you've got a good eye for things, you can understand your teammates!" he says tossing the ball back to Kageyama while he walks back to the side, you catch up to Sugawara and pat him on the back, "Suga-senpai, you know, whatever you just said applies to you too?" you say truthfully while gives you a confused expression.
"For you to say that to Kageyama, means you have a good eye yourselves, helping out your juniors shows that you can understand your teammates," you explain, "meaning you have just as much passion and skill too, your amazing Suga-senpai!" You say with a sincere heart and a genuine smile.
Sugawara was stunned at first, staring at you with bewilderment, but then flushing and returning you an enticing smile that just seems so genuinely sweet with just the right touch of shyness that unexpected warmth rushes through you, your heart beating rapidly, 'HOW CAN HE BE THIS CUTE!' you thought as you dramatically fall onto your knees.
"Eh?! [Y/N]-chan are you okay?!"
"No senpai I think you just gave me a heart attack..."
. . .
The game resumes and suddenly, you feel the whole atmosphere of the room change, you turn to Kageyama to see him analysing the court, his eyes scanning everywhere.
As Daichi served the ball, Tanaka receives the ball, quickly running forward, you see Tsukishima and Yamaguchi getting ready to block Hinata again, so as the ball went up and you get ready to see what Kageyama will do.
You start to sweat at how intense Kageyama was, you feel the game move slower, it was as if you can feel his stress and thoughts of the game, 'where will the ball go? How will he move? Where will he jump?' all these thoughts rushes through your brain as if you were in Kageyama's shoes, playing the game.
Maybe that's what makes you such a good player in the first place, one of your special abilities as fans used to say, the ability to put yourself in the position of others or having empathy for both your team and the enemies.
All of a sudden, Hinata at an astounding speed sprints to the front of the net and took the leap of faith, upwards. Kageyama dashes forward, aiming the trajectory directly positioned in front of Hinata's smashing hand.
Hinata spikes the ball with aggressive and powerful strength, it hit the other side of the court.
...
"HOLY FUCKING SHIT!!!" You yell in exhilaration, "THEY DID A FAST ATTACK! THEY FUCKING DID A-" as you screech in joy, literally bouncing around, Sugawara slaps his hand onto your mouth, giving you quite the deathly smile, "my, my, [N/N]-chan I did not know you have such a DIRTY mouth, shall I clean it for you?" You started to turn pale from the intense darkness that is of Sugawara senpai.
Though you also wonder how he was going to clean your mouth...wait what...
"S-sorry senpai...old habit from... a friend," you mutter quietly while he pats your head and telling you repeatedly 'Oh it's fine!' although he is aggressively rubbing your head, completely messing up your hair, so that tells you otherwise.
You look back at Hinata until something clicks in your brain, "Wait a minute... Sho-kun...he... HE HAD HIS EYES CLOSED!!!!" You exclaim loudly causing everyone in stare at you in shock, it was weird to see the small girl who was usually gentle and cheery becoming vulgar and rambunctious, but other than that they were in disbelief at what you had informed.
"WHAT?!" Kageyama, Tsukishima and Tanaka blurt out giving looks of consternation, "Um... what exactly do you mean?" Tsukishima composes himself quickly from the shock and asks.
"Hinata's eyes were closed right from the beginning when he jumped to when he smashed," Daichi elaborates "which means Kageyama accurately directed the ball into Hinata's hands when he was not looking!" Daichi concludes.
Your mind officially was blown, you just lay down on the floor and look up to the ceiling, even when you were playing with your old team they weren't as precise as Kageyama or as trusting as Hinata, 'those two really do have the talent, skills and abilities, and with more practice, this duo may just exceed expectations!' you thought as Sugawara, Shimizu and Ennoshita were trying to bring you back to reality.
. . .
As the game continues you see Kageyama and Hinata's quick attacks improving, it was amazing, the spikes getting quicker and quicker, they seem to be thoroughly enjoying themselves as well, you then see Tsukishima starting to get serious, 'So he does like volleyball... if I can figure a way to push him out of his shell or find out why he holds back and convince him somehow, he will show dramatic progression too!' you thought, watching the boys getting more into the game.
The game ended promptly after Kageyama and Hinata's fast attack discovery, you see Hinata smiling in ecstasy, at most rumbling with joy, then you watch him fall flat to the ground.
'Hahaha although you have freakish stamina, you will still be tired at the end,' you thought, grabbing towels and water bottles
You went over to a debilitated Hinata, who was on the ground with his butt in the air, handing him a towel and bottle of water, you then hug him, which startled him, "W-wha [N/N]-chan?" he starts to stutter, burst into bright res, failing his arms in the air, "I told you Hinata! I knew you could do it!" you reassure him of his doubts earlier on, stating that he could not hit the ball.
You then quickly backed away realising how sweaty he was, your shirt's front was drench in his sweat, you sigh but stood up and smile at Hinata then you went towards Kageyama.
At that moment, Hinata knew what that warm tingling sensation in his heart was, as he looks in your direction, he saw someone who was strong, someone who believes in him, someone who was amazing, someone who will support him.
The feeling he felt for you, admiration for a true friend.
As you walk over tired Kageyama, who was clinging on the net and squatting, looking pretty (thicc) exhausted from the game so you hand him a towel and a water bottle as well, "Kageyama, you don't have to always rely on yourself anymore, as a team we have to work together, but most importantly, let's have fun!" you offer a hand to pull him up which he obliges to.
You walk back to the three seniors who were having a serious discussion.
"Well... I was sort of hoping for this," Daichi states while imagining Kageyama and Hinata holding sticks and flailing about, but of course, only the readers can see that am I right?
Daichi rubs his chin and nods his head, "which thinking about now it is weird to refer it as 10 + 10" he admits, trying to figure his words.
"Yes! Yes! That's right! But instead of a plus sign, you got a 10 × 10!" You exclaim with much enthusiasm, eyes sparkling at your amazing friends, " in which you got 100 per cent power," Sugawara completes your sentence while staring at your adorable excitement, which is a little creepy so like stop staring at her, please.
"Pretty much..." Daichi says and nods his head in agreement to what the two had said, but also staring at Sugawara who is staring at you and you are staring at the just ended match, how meta.
You are then suddenly greeted by a comedic scene of Hinata jumping rapidly around Tsukishima and Yamaguchi, trying to get a handshake out of them, which he soon manages as he was able to grab Tsukishima's hand.
Tsukishima then stares at his hand petrified as if the devil had cursed him or something.
You start to giggle, covering your mouth to stop yourself from laughing, but you fail miserably as everyone takes notice of you howling in laughter, the first-years reddened in embarrassment while your seniors blush at your cuteness.
Daichi goes up to the Tsukishima and Yamaguchi to talk to them about something then you saw Hinata and Kageyama handing their application forms to him, which made you smile at, "I'm glad..." you mutter quietly.
"Glad about what?" Sugawara answers from behind.
"ACK! Suga-senpai your still here? You scared me..." you say in surprise, seriously is like Sugawara is everywhere you go, "How could you forget about me [N/N]-chan," he starts to fake cry which you laugh at his actions.
"I'm just glad they manage to work together as a team, I hope they will trust each other like that in the future..." you say in a soft voice remembering the incident, which you are slowly getting over.
Sugawara only stares at you but smiles, you were not like the first time you met, you are slowly changing and realising that it is time to move on from the past and face the future instead.
He hopes that one day you will share your problems with him and the difficulties you had faced, he wants to be there for you, but he knows that he is not the only one who feels the same way.
He was proud of you.
This was your redemption.
Well, the beginning that is.