CHAPTER THREE
"Welcome to the team, Yuki."
In the end, from the three candidates Misaki had chosen, she ended up going with the stuttering brown haired girl she had met in the hallway. Out of the three candidates, Yuki had been the only one who had some experience with volleyball and neither did she mention Oikawa's name once. She was also kind-hearted and had such a soft persona that Misaki immediately felt the need to hug her and call Yuki her 'unofficial' sister. (whatever that meant; sometimes her brain thought of the weirdest things)
"Thank you!" Yuki answered, bowing her head profusely, her bag slowly falling off her shoulder before she steadied it. "Thank you so much for selecting me as the manager! I hope I don't disappoint you!"
"I'm sure you won't," Misaki looked at the girl with a smile. "Now, since there's still some time left till practice starts, I'm gonna give you the copy of the team roster and a basic introduction of our players. And then later, you can meet them properly."
"Y-yes! As you say, Misaki-senpai," Yuki said.
"Awesome. Let's find an empty classroom first," Misaki announced, holding onto her bag a little tighter.
Since it was a Saturday and only those who were part of a club were in school today, it didn't take long for the two to find an empty classroom. They sat in an empty classroom on the ground floor, pulling down two chairs. Misaki sat across from Yuki and took out the team roster from her bag along with a pen.
"Right," Misaki said, tapping the cover of the team roster with a pen. "Let's start off with the team introduction. First of all, there's our number 1 player. Tooru Oikawa, who I am guessing you already know."
"I know about him a little bit, I think," Yuki replied awkwardly. "The girls in my class talk about him a lot."
"Of course, they do," Misaki mumbled, rolling her eyes. She looked back at Yuki, continuing her introduction. "He's around 184.3cm tall, which is 6 feet 0.6 inches if my maths is correct. He's our setter and does some really incredible tosses. But his serves are really incredible too and I'm sure you'll be in awe of them if you see them. As a player, he is probably one of the best I've seen, though don't tell him I said that. It'll give him an ego-boost."
"R-right," Yuki said, sending an awkward thumbs-up towards the older girl.
"Personality-wise though, he's kinda sucky," Misaki said thoughtfully. "He tends to flirt with everything in sight and has so many fangirls. If Oikawa ever flirts with you, let me know. I'll hit him for you."
"You don't have to do that!"
"Please, I'd hit him for the low price of absolutely nothing. He's just an annoying little kid sometimes."
"This is Tooru Oikawa we are talking about right?" Yuki asked with a hesitant tone.
"Oh Yuki, just you wait," Misaki declared with an amused smile. "Just you wait till you meet him. Anyways, he also loves milk bread and aliens very much so if you ever see him being mopey, just hand him his milk bread or some alien movie and he'll immediately cheer up. He can be very simple-minded sometimes." She finished with a mischievous glint in her eyes.
'Milk bread? Aliens? I am so confused,' Yuki thought to herself. But, out loud, she said, "You know him really well, don't you, Misaki-senpai?"
"Yup," Misaki nodded. "Him, Iwaizumi and I live close to each other and we ended up becoming friends through volleyball when we were kids. Oikawa and I also share the same birthday so it was kind of a given that we would be friends."
"Oh, I see," Yuki replied.
"Everything's there in the team roster, except the bit about his personality; that's just my own explanation. So don't worry in case you don't find something in there. I'm always here to answer your questions."
Yuki nodded. Misaki then proceeded to continue with her explanation of the team, their playing stats, their playing stat and of course, the players' personalities. As a manager, she had come to learn that knowing the likes and dislikes of her teammates was something that couldn't be overlooked. Especially on a team that had drama queen Oikawa on it. And also, the duo that was, Hanamaki and Matsukawa (the 'meme team' as Misaki called them) who spammed the team group chat with shitty memes. Thankfully, the first years they had this year were pretty normal.
"Here, take this," Misaki said, pushing the team roster across the desk and towards Yuki. "I have another copy at him plus I have all of this memorized so I don't really need it. Keep it with you and if you want to make changes or add something, feel free to do that."
"Oh, thanks! I'll keep this safe," Yuki replied. She put the roster in her bag, looking back at Misaki. "Are we going to the gym now?"
"Yup, we are. But first, we're gonna drop these bags of ours at the girls' changing room and take only our clipboards. If you don't have one, don't worry. I think I might have a spare one in my locker," Misaki said as she took out her, looking at the time on the screen
"You're really reliable, Misaki-senpai," Yuki said, slightly in awe. "No wonder our volleyball team functions so well with you. I really want to be like that too"
"Well, I can't take credit for that," Misaki blushed slightly. 'That's it. Yuki, you are officially my sister now.' "It's a team effort, really. Plus, you should know how to whip the team into shape even if you're not the coach."
"Right."
"Now, enough talking. Let's go to the gym so that you can properly meet the team."
As they neared the gym, Yuki could feel her nervousness increasing. She silently hoped that she wouldn't end up doing something stupid and embarrass herself in front of the entire team. Suddenly, Misaki patted her arm.
"Don't worry," The older girl said. "It'll be okay. The team doesn't bite. Though Oikawa might try to flirt with you so watch out for that. Oh, and he'll also probably give you a nickname that he won't stop calling you."
'I really have to watch out for that? Is Oikawa-senpai really that bad?' Judging by the look on Misaki's face, he appeared to be like that. Yuki hadn't seen him around campus that much seeing as she used to keep to herself or stay in the classroom to talk to her friends, but when she did see him, he was always surrounded by a group of girls who appeared to be his fangirls. 'Is that what makes Misaki-senpai mad? Do those girls disturb practice? If so, do I have to deal with them too.'
Yuki no longer had time to think about that. As soon as Misaki opened the doors, she stepped inside and Yuki followed behind her. Very slowly, that is. She took in the sight of the gym, taking in the vastness of it all. It was much bigger than the gym that her middle school volleyball team had and the team was much bigger too. (Judging by the size of the team roster, that was a given)
"Oi, everyone! Come here for a second, please!"
Yuki jumped slightly at the loud tone of Misaki's voice, but managed to steady herself in time. The whole team had already assembled in front of them in a line and some of the players were looking at her curiously. She recognized Kunimi from her class who seemed surprised at seeing her in the volleyball gym.
"Everyone, this is Yuki Nohara," Misaki said, pointing towards Yuki. "Starting today, she'll be joining us as our second manager, so make sure you give her a warm welcome."
"Welcome to the club!" The team all yelled together, almost in sync. Some members were a little late, their greetings coming afterwards. But Yuki didn't pay attention to the mistake and bowed.
"Thank you so much for having me!"
The team split into groups after that with some of them (the second years, she guessed) gravitating towards Misaki, while some of the third years, including the slightly intimidating-looking Iwaizumi-senpai and the captain himself walked towards her.
"I'm guessing Misaki has already given you a brief introduction, so I'll keep it short. My name's Hajime Iwaizumi and these two are," He motioned towards the duo standing behind him.
"Takahiro Hanamaki," The third year with light brown hair spoke first. "Nice to meet ya."
"Issei Matsukawa," The tall, dark-haired third year waved at her and grinned. "Pleasure to have you with us."
"Uh, the-the pleasure's all mine," Yuki replied in what she hoped wasn't a too awkward tone.
"Hey, you guys; stop hogging our new manager," There he was; the team captain Tooru Oikawa. "I wanna introduce myself too."
Somehow, Yuki could already sense a flirtatious remark coming from him. Would it be weird to think he had those vibes? It wouldn't, would it? And besides, Misaki-senpai had told her he liked to flirt with everything in sight. And her hunch was correct because the next sentence out of his mouth was a flirty remark. But she was already ready to answer.
"I'm sorry Oikawa-senpai, but you are not my type," Yuki replied in a polite tone. It was silent for a moment and as her answer sunk in and the whole team just burst into laughter. And not normal, calm laughter, but raucous laughter like the team had been possessed by the spirit of hyenas. Yuki turned towards Misaki with a confused look, but the older girl was in the middle of a serious laughing fit, leaning against Iwaizumi who was practically in the same state
"Our new manager is perfect," Hanamaki was snickering loudly. "Someone finally said it. Thanks for that, Yuki!"
"You're welcome?" Yuki answered, still a little confused at the team's behaviour. Had her statement really been that funny? It wasn't like she was lying; sure, Oikawa-senpai was pretty, but he just wasn't her type.
"You guys are so mean!" Oikawa whined loudly, throwing his hands to his sides as a child would do. "Stop laughing!"
"I don't think I've ever seen you rejected so politely, Trashykawa," Iwaizumi replied with a wide grin. "I think my respect for you tripled in like an instant, Yuki. And you, Misaki found the perfect manager."
"Don't thank me," Misaki said. She looked at Yuki, grinning as she shot her a thumbs-up. 'Well done,' she mouthed.
Yuki, now, felt less nervous than before. She had heard rumors about how the Aoba Johsai volleyball team was a very serious team, but seeing them laughing like a bunch of idiots at what she had said, just dispelled those rumors in an instant and also made her feel like a heavy weight had been lifted off her.
She had a feeling she would get along with the team very well.
no author's note for this chapter; but here's what I'd like to say. #BLACKLIVESMATTER
please do check out the link I'm placing in the external link (it's also there in my bio) for resources, petitions that you can sign as well as places you can donate to. I know this is just a fic, but it doesn't feel right to me to post this chapter without talking about all that has been going on. It's the least I can do as someone who doesn't live in America. So, remember to take action and don't say silent when atrocities are happening around you.