CHAPTER 2
Being the manager of a volleyball club was not an easy job.
There was a lot of running around involved, along with making sure the players were doing their exercises and also ensuring that none of them were playing with injuries. In case a player was injured, it then became the manager's job to get them to the medical office. And it was also the manager's job to gather data on their opposing teams.
But being Aoba Johsai's manager was another task altogether and that was why Misaki was having a hard time finding someone who could take over after she left school.
There was no shortage of applications though. There were so many to look over that Misaki was beginning to have to take them home to look them over. The coach had specifically warned her to look over one thing though. Any mentions of the name 'Tooru Oikawa' or any reference to him was an instant red-flag. As much as she hated to admit, that was the best filter and helped in narrowing down the applications.
Misaki was walking towards the gym, one hand holding a stack of applications, the other hand on her bag. She was deep in thought, pouring over an application. It was good, much better written than any of the others she had read through, but then as soon as she read the sentence, 'To see our amazing setter play and be close to him, as well as the team', she let out a small groan and stuffed the application in her bag.
"At this rate, I'm not going to find a manager," Misaki pinched the bridge of her nose, releasing a frustrated sigh.
"Umm, excuse me, Misaki-senpai?"
A small voice spoke from behind her and she turned around, almost bumping into the person. It was a girl, a first year by the looks of it, and she was holding a club application form in her hand.
"Yes? Is there something I can help you with?" Misaki spoke kindly, sensing that the girl in front of her was nervous.
"Uh y-yes, my n-name is Yuki Nohara " The brown-haired girl stuttered, holding out the club form towards her. "P-please consider when you are choosing a new manager for the volleyball team, Misaki-senpai."
"Oh, okay."
Misaki gently took the piece of paper from her hand. The girl appeared shy, but she was also more well-mannered. Especially more than Oikawa's annoying fangirls who had been ambushing her for the past week to beg her to make one of them the manager.
She barely glanced at the form before meeting Yuki's eyes. "Well, it all seems to be in order. I'll be narrowing people down, so in case you get called, know that you're in my top three choices."
"Y-yes, okay!" Yuki replied, a little loud. She bowed, thanking Misaki profusely before saying bye. She suddenly stopped in the middle of her walk and turned back towards the older girl. "Um, just one more thing. I'm not really shy or anything. It's just you kind of intimidate me a little. I hope that doesn't offend you."
Misaki's eyes widened slightly, but a smile appeared over her face. "Well, you don't have to be intimidated by me. I'm pretty nice, except for when it comes to dealing with the idiots in the team. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to run, I'm going to be late for practice. But see you around."
Misaki waved at the girl before rushing towards the gym, holding the stack of papers close to her chest. Running around with a stack of papers...that was such a fun job. (Yeah, she was being sarcastic. But only a little.) Though she couldn't lie. The stupid shit she saw the team members do really made her day, so she was glad that she was the manager. (But that stupid Oikawa...he...uggh...he was a whole other thing)
As Misaki stepped inside the gym, she felt all her senses suddenly go on high alert. The practice was going on in full swing and everybody was working hard. Some of the first years and second years were doing laps around the court, the others were practising their spikes, and Oikawa was practising his serves with the rest of the third years on receiving.
"But that stupid Kyoutani isn't here again..." Misaki mumbled under her breath. Kentaro Kyoutani...he was probably the rudest person on the team. Even if he had some amazing skills, he barely bothered to show up to practices and when he did, he always ended up picking a fight with someone. She barely tolerated him; but then again, she barely tolerated Oikawa so that was that.
Misaki sent a tiny wave towards Kunimi and Kindaichi, who suddenly seemed surprised, but then they waved back before continuing to take their laps around the gym. Hanamaki and Matsukawa both grinned at her; she grinned back, shooting finger guns at them.
Oikawa was serving again, doing one of his usual, powerful serves and as always Misaki was insanely jealous of his form. 'He doesn't have to look perfect every time he does that, does he? But goddammit, his form is just stupidly perfect.'
In her moment of distraction (admiration), Misaki didn't realise that Oikawa had messed up the serve and neither did she realise that the ball was heading towards her. And then it smacked her straight on her nose, the loud noise echoing throughout the gym. The practice came to a screeching halt as everyone ran up to her, even the coaches.
Misaki stumbled a little, before catching her balance by grabbing onto Matsukawa's arm since he was the closest. Her face suddenly felt extremely hot and when she touched her nose and pulled her fingers away, they came sticky with blood. "Ow, my nose..."
"Misaki-senpai, are you okay?" Kindaichi asked, sounding a little worried.
"Eek, your nose is dripping blood," Yahaba pointed out, making a face.
She glared at him, making sure to keep herself steady. She let go of Matsukawa's arm before she turned to look at the stupid captain who had hit the ball to her face.
Oikawa instantly looked fearful and worried. "I'm so sorry, Misa-chan! I didn't mean to hit you with that ball! I'm so sorry!"
Misaki sighed, making sure her nose remained covered. But she was not going to let him get away scot-free. With the sweetest smile on her face, she looked at him. "You better run now, Tooru."
"Uh oh," Matsukawa remarked. "She said the first name."
"He's dead," Hanamaki added, stepping back from their manager, who was now surrounded by a fiery aura of anger.
"I think it's best for our safety that we all step back," Iwaizumi said, motioning for everyone to move away.
Without warning, Misaki ran after Oikawa. With her free hand, she grabbed one of the balls on the ground and threw it at his head. It was highly amusing, seeing their captain being chased around by their manager, but nobody was laughing because Misaki could really be scary. The first years, meanwhile, looked incredibly confused while the coaches were facepalming themselves. They were definitely used to all this, having seen this exact scene many times before.
"Um, is it okay for her to be running around like this?" Kindaichi questioned, looking at the third years who had varying degrees of smiles on their faces. He definitely didn't remember Misaki being like this back at Kitagawa Daiichi.
"Trust me, this has happened before," Hanamaki said. "And every time it does..."
"Every time it happens again, this scene is repeated," Matsukawa added. "We've learned it's best to just let her chase him around."
"If it were me, I would be beating the hell out of him," Iwaizumi said plainly.
"Don't you already do that?" Yahaba said.
Meanwhile, Misaki had already caught up with Oikawa and was holding onto his arm, panting heavily. He was apologising profusely, bowing his head, begging for her to not hit him.
"It was totally my fault! I apologise! I'll buy you all the ice-cream you want, Misa-chan. Please don't hit me!"
"I'm not hitting you, Oikawa."
"You aren't? Well, that's a..."
"I'll give you a warning though," Misaki mustered up her sweetest, most evil smile and Oikawa shivered, feeling chills going down his back. "The next time one of your serves hits me in the face, I'll kill you, Don't care if you're the captain or our setter; I'll kill you. Now, I'm going to go to the infirmary and get myself checked out."
"Yes ma'am!" Oikawa said, saluting the girl who was already walking away from him, a dark look on her face.
Misaki exited the gym, grumbling and growling. Oh, she was still mad alright and she was so not letting Trashykawa get away with this. She would stand by her earlier statement. Being the manager of a volleyball club was definitely not an easy job because it came with things like a ball to your face and a broken nose.
'So selecting a new manager is sure going to be fun.'
Thankfully, Misaki's nose wasn't broken, but the nurse advised her to stay in the infirmary and rest. So instead of going back to practice like she usually would have, she ended up sleeping away in the infirmary for the remainder of it. When she woke up and checked the time, it was already evening and by all her guesses, the practice was already over. She politely thanked the nurse, put on her jacket and exited the infirmary only to be met with the sight of Oikawa dressed in his sweatpants and jacket and holding both their bags in their hand.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Misaki asked, crossing her arms. "I thought you liked practising longer."
"Well, I wanted to practice more," Oikawa mumbled, still looking at her with fear. "But then I realised that Misa-chan's nose was bleeding really badly and it made me feel bad. And also, Iwa-chan hit me too and forced me to leave early and check up on you."
"I'll have to thank him for that," Misaki muttered, tapping her fingers on her chin. Her nose still hurt, but the bandage on it had definitely worked to lessen the pain. She looked at Oikawa, eyes narrowing at the expression on his face. Was he actually being sincere for once or was it just an act?
"Listen, if you are apologising sincerely, then you better buy me the ice-cream you promised. My nose still hurts, you know."
"I will do exactly as you say, Misa-chan!"
"Choose your words carefully, Captain."
"Eh?! What is that supposed to mean? Don't tell me you're secretly planning to murder me?"
"Trust me," Misaki said, patting his arm. "If I wanted to murder you, Iwaizumi and I would have already done it a long time ago and hidden your body so that no one would find it."
"You are so mean, Misa-chan!" Oikawa whined, making a pouty face.
"Yeah, yeah. Just get me my ice-cream, pretty boy."
Only when Misaki was back home would these words sink in. 'Did I really call Oikawa "pretty boy"?'
Yes, Misaki, you called Oikawa a pretty boy 🤭🤭
After not being able to write anything for a while and taking a break from writing in general, I've finally written something that I can be proud of. I'm still on break, writing-wise, but hopefully, it should end by this week since I'm hoping to work on all the half-written chapters I have for most of my fics.
I hope you all enjoyed reading. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!