"sorashi, you will substitute hinata," ukai called. sorashi snapped out from his daydream.
"alright." sorashi put on his left leg support sleeve and stood up. when he passed hinata, he caught a glimpse of sadness written all over the short middle blocker's face. sora really wanted to ask what's wrong but he needs to be on the court, so he reluctantly walked away from the human tangerine.
sorashi stood beside kageyama. they are not in the best term but they have made up at the first day. therefore, it shouldn't be much problem. sorashi has played a few games with the team too, and he synced very well even though he is still not stable with the dynamic. his endurance is way better than before, which was so surprising to the team.
"ne kenma, who is that silver haired guy?" the nekoma captain asked his setter.
"i don't really know but shoyo said he has killer serve, so watch out." the shorter male answered.
the whistle was blown, both team put their focus to the game. their eyes trained into each other but, the cats' keep glancing to the unfamiliar karasuno's player.
nekoma serve's kind of unstable which daichi easily picked up. kageyama share a look with sorashi, sorashi only nodded as a reply. the first year setter tossed the ball to sorashi a little bit too close to the net. kuroo followed sorashi's movement in attempt to block the upcoming quick attack.
sorashi clicked his tongue is annoyance, there's no choice than do a super narrow cross shot. he finger crossed that this will succeed break through the nekoma's captain block and wait, why there is a silver haired giant too?
whatever. sora thought. he jump sideways, fuck i'm too far. but a legend he is, he still smacked the ball down with so much force that everyone was caught off guard.
the ball wasn't hit properly though, sorashi cringed looking at his own hand. "sorry i didn't hi--"
"nice kill!" tanaka roared.
"i didn't--"
"nice kirruuu!" nishinoya screamed.
"i--"
"nice kill!" sugawara yelled from the sidelines.
"urusai!" daichi stopped the team's chaotic screaming battle.
sorashi deadpanned watching his team turned into chaos while kageyama looking at his fingers with wide eyes. "nice toss, tobio," sorashi quickly said and walked away.
but at the end of the match, nekoma still won the game. it was nice though, everyone seems tried to find their own way to overcome the pressure in a match. it's so satisfying to see everyone polishing their own skills and blending everything into one. even though karasuno is still a big mess right now, but sorashi really hopes, everything will be worth it in the end.
"ne, sora-san," a quite voice called to him. sora only hummed in response.
"can you toss for me?" hinata asked bluntly. sorashi only blinks in confusion. but he accepted the request nontheless.
they stood in the not so cramped gym away from the team. sorashi is exhausted because of the constant jumping from earlier matches, his legs are sore and his head is kind of light.
sorashi wiped his sweaty limbs slowly as he waited for hinata doing his things. then he saw yachi passing by the gym, he quickly shouted to gain the first year attention. "hitoka-chan!"
the first year jumped and shivered when he heard a masculine voice shouted her name. "please don't kill me!" the girl trembled.
sora cocked his head slightly to the side, confused why his manager is scared. "it's sorashi, hitoka-chan," sora said.
"oh, so-sora-senpai! w-what can i-i help- help you?!" yachi stutered her words.
"can you help throwing the ball, please?" sorashi smiled softly at the short first year.
yachi blushed furiously when she saw a beautiful smile painted on her senior's face. "o-of course!" yachi answered timidly.
not long after they conversed, hinata is back from whatever bussiness he had and swiftly stood on the court. sorashi only sighed at the orange haired boy, "don't expect too much, i'm not a setter."
"it's okay, sora-san!" hinata beamed.
yachi threw the ball to hinata, which he received not so good but succesfully bounce up to sorashi. sorashi put his hand upwards on the air as he get ready to toss the ball.
once he felt the ball hovered his fingers, sorashi jumped a little to toss the ball to hinata, which hinata hit it with his eyes open. it wasn't good, maybe because hinata's reflex is a little bit off? sorashi doesn't know for sure.
"woah! your toss was so easy to hit!" hinata said while looking at his own palm. he then averted his gaze towards the expresionless senior. and with a big smile, hinata said, "mou ikkai!"
sorashi was beat. his muscles are all sore. he is kind of regretted helping hinata earlier that day but, he was so eager to test one of his skill after brazil.
he felt like a thousand needles are piercing through his body. sorashi is so sure that tomorrow morning he can't move a thing. he huffed by the thought of it, maybe he shouldn't push himself to the limit.
he is currently sitting among his team on the cafetaria's table. he finishes his food quickly only to plop his head on the table. he burried himself on his arm fold and sighed.
"..enjoying the game."
tenma's voice rung on sora's ear, his eyes shot open. when the words of his brother being chanted inside of his head he suddenly felt so lightheaded. "fuck." sora breathed.
"sorashi!" sugawara gasped. he stared at the silver haired boy with fire behind his eyes.
"sorry suga, 'm so tired." sorashi groaned. he leaned to the person beside him without caring who is that.
"sora-san you can sleep on my shoulder anytime!" the person yelled on sora's ear.
sora smiled weakly at the libero, "thank you noya, you are the best." he then propped down his head on the libero's shoulder softly.
;
the next morning, sorashi's thoughts became reality, his sore limbs can't move at all. he sighed, this is what happened when you don't used to jumping constantly in six sets a row. the team is getting ready meanwhile sorashi is only staring at the room's ceiling, unable to move. he glanced at the captain with a sorry look, which only responded by a shook of head.
the boys have left the room, leaving sorashi behind. of course they left after bringing him food and other necessities for the knocked down middle blocker. sorashi sighed in annoyance, he is quick to be exhausted but being knocked down and in alot of pain like this is a rare occurence for him.
ukai entered the room with an irk mark on his forehead, "i told you to not practice until late night, you idiot." ukai massages his temple and sighed. sorashi only gave the older man a forced smile.
"i heard from yachi-san you tossed for hinata last night," ukai opened a conversation.
sorashi raised his eyebrows, he turned his head back towards the ceiling. "yeah, what's up with that?"
"hinata begged me to change your position into setter for a day." ukai facepalmed.
"eh?!?!"
later that day, sorashi is back on his feet. his shoulder slumped with disgusted expression painted on his handsome face when he realized, ukai definitely made him to be the setter for a day.
"you'll pay for this, keishin." sorashi said in annoyed tone.
"please, sora-senpai!" hinata screamed with tears welling in his eyes.
"o-oh yeah yeah, don't cry." sorashi panicked. he patted hinata with wide eyes. kageyama who can only watched the whole ordeal gripped his bottle water a little too hard, that he spilled the water to his shirt.
they are against ubugawa this time. kageyama's expression is so sour, he sits on the bench beside coach ukai with a scowl. he thought he will be the starter but *insert a clown emoji*, sorashi will be the setter for the whole match.
sorashi is no different from the number 9 setter, he wore a scowl to on his face, only changing it into a smile when hinata looked at his way. daichi sweatdropped at the sight, he is so done with the team but he can't do much except accepted the reality of this harsh world.
the match started with karasuno doing the first serve. "sorashi, nice serve!"
sora dribbled the ball a few times before he positioned himself to do a jump serve. the ball was thrown up and in a blink of eyes the ball has reached the backline of the opposite side of the court.
everyone jawdropped for the 976196th time in this fanfiction. it took a whole solid one minute to proccess the event before they went riot. shouts and screechs echoing through the gym.
"you teme, you look so cool!" nishinoya screeched and pounced at you with tanaka nodding his head aggressively.
sorashi laughed at the antics of his friends. his eyes closed into a crescent moon shape, he grinned at the chaotic second years. "i tried my best," sora said still with a grin.
hearing no response, sora opened his eyes and saw everyone flabbergasted. "uh, guys?" sora waved his hand. "what's wrong?"
"did you just laugh?" daichi asked with red face. sora nodded slowly with a frown on his face.
"you just laughed! this is the first time we see you laugh!" suga exclaimed excitedly.
sorashi scratched his neck, "really?"
the match continued with another killer serve from sora. but the third service was received by the libero of the opposite team.
"chance ball!" daichi was ready to receive but sora ran passed him.
"shoyo!" sora yelled.
he turns the first touch into a set? kageyama thought. he felt like he is watching his former captain. as much as he wanted to despise that man, he admitted that oikawa tooru is a great setter.
hinata run across the court, he slide jumped and smacked the ball down with ease. "nice kill!"
;
the only problem karasuno is facing is the longer sorashi stood on the court, the sloppier he is. they should know when is the perfect time to use him in a match or they'll go back to the lost-streak era.
it's only been one set, sorashi has already panting heavily on the bench. his hair damp by sweats, body bend down as he tried to catch his breathe.
he never been a starter, and this is killing him slowly for sure. and being a setter is too exhausting for his own liking. sorashi's breathe began to quicken as he gripped his hair as an attempt to ground himself.
what if i'm not enough? sorashi thought.
his surroundings is getting blurry as his ears become deaf. his breathe ragged as if he was running from something big.
what if i was chosen to be a setter for a day because i'm not enough in my original position?
what if-
what if-
and everything goes black.
the last thing he heard is his brother's words, "..enjoying the game."
.
.