The squeaking of your bike pedals blocked all other noise. Early morning air brushed across your face as you pedaled down the street. Karasuno High School was only a small ways away from the bookstore where you lived, so you liked to bike there.
In a few minutes, you pulled up to the school. You were never at school this early. Aside from one teacher walking into the main building, there was no one there. It was unsettling.
You checked your watch. It was almost 7:30, so their practice would have started already. You locked up your bike and jogged across the lawn.
The reality of the situation didn't quite hit until you were standing in front of the door to the gym. You hadn't played sports since you were six, so you weren't sure how this was going to go. To be frank, sports people scared you, volleyball players most of all.
They were all so tall and terrifying...
You shook off the thought and opened the door to the gym before you could lose your nerve.
The sound of sneakers squeaking on wood floors and volleyballs rapidly hitting the ground filled your ears. Trying not to draw attention to yourself, you quietly stepped into the huge room.
A volleyball net was set up in the middle of the room. There were several boys lined up on one side. A blonde, tan man looking to be in his twenties was tossing volleyballs to them, and the boys were slamming them over the top of the net with impressive speed.
"Asahi!" the man shouted, tossing a ball into the air.
You didn't see who hit it, but the ball came at you in a flash of red, green, and white. It bashed across your face before you could react, and you fell back against the wall, bleeding violently from the nose. As you clutched your face, one thought and one thought only flashed across your mind.
This was a mistake.
This was a mistake.
This was a mistake.
The boy was the first thing you noticed when you opened your eyes. He had a brush of stubble running across his chin, and his long brown hair was tied up in a neat bun. He was built like a full grown adult, with a well sculpted figure covered in muscle. Ordinarily, he would have looked like a drug lord, but his dark brown eyes were so filled with panic that he just looked like an over-sized, anxious puppy.
A silver haired boy stood next to him, also watching you. He was tall, though not as tall as the other boy. His eyes were large and innocent looking, and they had a hazel-brown hue that looked like the color of leaves in autumn. Both of them looked to be about eighteen.
The silver-haired boy handed you what looked like a wet cloth. "Here. Use this for the blood. She's up!" he called, his voice echoing across the gym.
You obediently wiped your face off with the cloth. You touched your nose gingerly; thankfully, it didn't seem to be broken.
The man-bun boy looked down at you. "I am so, so sorry!" he said. "I didn't mean to—"
You held up a hand to stop him. "How long was I out?"
A serious-looking boy (you shouldn't be calling them boys, you realized; they were too tall for the word "boys" to apply to them) with short, spiky brown hair, said, "Only around thirty seconds."
"Which is good, since we were about to call the nurse," the silver haired-boy cut in.
"Are you okay?" The boy—sorry, teenage male—with the bun asked.
"Yeah..." You nodded. "I think so."
"I'm so sorry," he said again.
"It's fine," you said. "I doubt I would be able to hit the ball at all, let alone with that much force!"
That just seemed to make him more flustered. "I'm Azumane Asahi," he said, "but everyone just calls me Asahi."
The silver-haired boy said, "I'm Sugawara, vice captain. Nice to meet you!"
"I'm Daichi," the serious looking boy said. "I'm the team captain."
"Nice to meet you!" you said.
Two boys excitedly darted past Asahi, Daichi, and Sugawara. They were both shorter than you, which came as a bit of a shock. You only stood at around 5'5, so you had been expecting for everyone to be taller than you.
One of them had wild, curly locks of bright orange hair and shining brown eyes. His eyes had little crinkles around them, as if he smiled so much that his face decided to make a permanent reflection of that.
The other small boy had slanted, hawk-like eyes. His hair stood straight up; a small tuft of it in the front was dyed blonde.
"Are you the reporter?" he asked excitedly.
"I'm a journalist," you corrected. "But yes. I'm Y/N L/N."
"I'm Nishinoya!" the boy said.
The red haired boy popped up behind him. "Noya-san, don't hog the attention!"
Nishinoya stepped back. "Ah, yes. This is Hinata; he's a first year."
Hinata furrowed his brows. "You don't need to say it like that!"
You smiled. "It's okay. I'm a first year, too!"
A black haired boy with dark eyes stepped up behind Hinata. "Boke! Hinata, boke!" he said under his breath, giving the first year a slight whack on the head. He looked familiar, but you couldn't tell why...
"Ow, Kageyama!" Hinata shouted.
"Oh!" you said suddenly. "I know you! You're the milk boy!"
The entire room went dead silent. You immediately flushed. You hadn't meant to say it.
Before the milk boy (who's name was apparently Kageyama) could say anything, loud snickers erupted from the back of the room.
"'Milk boy,'" a boy said, his voice choked with laughter. "Oh, that's priceless!"
His blonde hair was short and straight, and it clung slightly to his forehead and ears. The white t-shirt he was wearing stuck to his chest, revealing a thin, muscled build. Behind his glasses, his yellowed eyes gleamed with amusement. You weren't truly intimidated by him, though, until he straightened up to his full height. He must have been at least six feet tall!
Another boy who was only a bit shorter than the blonde one stood behind him. A small strand of his grayish-green hair stood straight up in the air, while the rest pointed downwards at awkward angles. He was scrawny, but not overly so.
"And who might you two be?" you asked, trying to keep your tone cool and contained.
"I'm Tsukishima," the blond boy said.
"I'm Yamaguchi," the slightly smaller one said.
You wanted to say "Nice to meet you," but you weren't sure that it was.
Instead you said, "I'm Y/N."
Tsukishima smiled slightly, lips parted as if he wanted to make a sarcastic comment. "So we've heard."
A few more team members came up behind Tsukishima and Yamaguchi.
One of them clamped a hand on Tsukishima's shoulder and said, "Hey, Tsukishima-kun, don't scare her away before she even starts here!"
This one had wide eyes that flitted around, taking in everything as if he were just waiting for an excuse to fight. A thin line of fuzz covered his scalp, and it only added to the rough, unsettling look caused by the rest of his face. He was smiling, but it seemed too wide to be sincere.
Tsukishima angrily grumbled something about how stupid senpais are, but he moved out of the way nonetheless. Yamaguchi trailed behind him obediently.
"I'm Tanaka!" the almost-bald boy said, pointing a thumb at himself. He waved his other hand at the three boys behind him. "This is Ennoshita, Kinoshita, and Narita."
Ennoshita was a neat, black-haired boy. "Hey!" he frowned at Tanaka. "I can do my own introductions."
"Yeah!" Kinoshita agreed. He had short, spiky blond hair.
Narita nodded in agreement. He looked like a softer, thinner version of Tanaka.
Tanaka grinned at them. "I know."
A tall, black haired woman stepped around Tanaka. Her delicate features made her look like a beautiful flower.
Tanaka jumped towards Kiyoko, Nishinoya following closely behind. "Kiyoko-san!" they shouted excitedly.
You smirked at their smitten, schoolgirl-like expressions.
Kiyoko adjusted her glasses, her face expressionless. "I'm Kiyoko Shimizu, one of the managers. I assume that you are the newspaper club representative?"
Tanaka sighed dreamily. "I love it when she ignores me."
You gave Kiyoko a small smile. "Considering that I am wearing a newspaper club jacket, and have already said that I am from the newspaper club, that is a more than fair assumption." Only once the words were out did you realize how rude you sounded. You immediately started to apologize.
From the corner of your eye, you heard Tsukishima laugh. "Someone's salty."
Noya elbowed him. "You're one to talk, Salty Bean Pole."
He stiffened. "Don't call me that, shorty."
"What did you say?!" Nishinoya yelled at him. "Get down here so I can lecture you!"
When Tsukishima made no effort to lean down, Nishinoya ran up to him and leapt onto his shoulders. He leaned into Tsukishima's ear and started rapidly shouting at him.
Kiyoko led you over to the edge of the room. There were two people sitting on a bench.
You recognized one as the man who had been tossing balls to the players. He had a large mouth that was fixed into an amused smile, and big, dark eyes. A black headband held his dirty blond hair in place.
You hadn't seen the other man before. He had anxious eyes that were only amplified by his thick glasses. His curly, thick hair framed his slightly chubby cheeks.
"Hello," the blonde man said. "You're Y/N, I take it?"
You nodded, not trusting yourself with words. If you spoke, you would probably make some sort of smart comment and get detention.
"I'm the coach," he said. "Ukai Keishin."
"I'm the faculty advisor!" the other man said. "Takeda Ittetsu."
"Thank you for allowing me to sit in on your practices," you said, trying to sound sincere.
Coach Ukai smiled, looking almost as evil as Milk Boy did when he smiled. "Oh, it's no problem at all. Maybe we can get a bigger cheering section if you can give us more publicity."
"Maybe," you said.
He gestured to the back of the room. "Have a seat anywhere," he said.
You managed to gather up enough energy to smile. "Thanks."
Trudging towards the back of the room, you rubbed your nose and cheeks. That volleyball was probably going to leave a bruise.
After you found a seat against the wall, Coach Ukai gestured for the boys to gather around him. "I'm going to split you into teams," he said. "I want us to play a practice game. We can show our new guest just how good we are."
You shrank into your jacket, shoving your hands deep into the pockets.
"Asahi, Kageyama, Hinata, Ennoshita, Kinoshita, and Yamaguchi on this side. Narita, Nishinoya, Sugawara, Daichi, Tsukishima, and Tanaka on this side," he said.
The two teams split up. Kageyama had the ball, and he stood behind the line.
"Kageyama, nice serve!"
He tossed the ball into the air, then ran up and hit it over the net. The ball sped towards the ground, but Nishinoya darted in and hit it. It spiraled into the air.
Sugawara darted towards the front of the net. Tanaka and Daichi both jumped towards the net. You weren't sure who he was going to toss it to. When the ball came down, Sugawara tossed it to Tanaka.
"TAKE THIS!" he shouted. He hit the ball with the center of his hand, and it shot forward with frightening speed.
It bounced off of Yamaguchi's arms and shakily made its ascent.
"Sorry!" Yamaguchi shouted.
"It's okay!" Kageyama said. He stood near the middle front area of the court, just like Sugawara had.
Suddenly, Hinata was up in the air, spiking the ball over the net. Tsukishima and Narita tried to jump to catch it, but it burst through their fingertips. It hit the ground with a deafening slam. Every eye in the room turned to you, gaging your reaction.
Up until that point, you hadn't been paying much attention to Hinata. He seemed too small to be able to do any damage. But you knew that he had been across the court only moments before. Not to mention that his hit had blown straight over Tsukishima's and Narita's block.
You sat up a little straighter in your seat.
That was a powerful hit, you thought to yourself. How does that work, exactly?
Hinata threw his hands in the air. "YEAH!"
Kageyama hit him over the head. "Stop getting so excited about it!"
Hinata rubbed the back of his head. "Ow... Kageyama..."
"Don't get angry at him," Sugawara said sternly. "He just loves spiking."
"Spiking?" you murmured.
And then it hit you almost as hard as that volleyball had.
You didn't know how to play volleyball.
Hello again! It's been a few days since I updated, and I'm sorry about that! i hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I'll try to update as soon as possible.