Snapshot (Haikyuu Fanfiction Series!!!)

21. Cats v.s. Crows

Sakura POV
(May 6th - 8:50 am)

"Today's the match between the cats and the crows. You better show Nekoma how much you guys trained these past few days!" Natsuki shouts to the team.

"Yosh!" They all shout back to her. Natsuki doesn't notice it, but every day she acts more and more like the team's coach. She really enjoys being in charge of this team. I smile at her devotion to the team and tighten the grip on my camera. This is the perfect time for me to get pictures of the team against their archrivals.

We walk up and stand across our opponents. Nekoma boys' volleyball team. "Line up!" Daichi orders and everyone gets into a line. Nekoma does the same.

Everyone stares at each other, while Tanaka and his look-alike glare at each other. Hinata, on the other hand, is just gaping at the player in front of him. The boy he's staring at avoids eye contact....I don't blame him. Hinata's eyes are piercing through his soul.

Natsuki notices and smacks Hinata's head. "Don't gawk at that person, they'll feel awkward about it!" she angrily shouts, pointing at the boy with blond hair and black hair at his roots. Everyone stares at her with an awkward silence.

"Uhm..." Daichi clears his throat to change the mood, "Greet your opponents."

"Let's have a good game!" both teams greet each other and bow their heads. After that, the tension subsides and everyone heads towards the gymnasium for their match. Hinata engages in a conversation with the shy boy from earlier. Are they actually friends? I walk over and then see Tanaka and his twin, the guy with the mohawk, having a glaring contest with each other.

"What business do you have with our setter?" The scary Mohawk boy says in an intimidating voice.

"Right back at you...What business do you have with our first year?" Tanaka taunts the Mohawk boy.

"The hell is that?" The Mohawk glowers at Tanaka.

"You wanna rumble, city boy?" Tanaka glares back at him.

Geh! I don't want to mess around with those two. I try to avoid them, but end up bumping into Natsuki and Shimizu.

"The gym is that way," Natsuki says and takes her hand out of her pocket to point to the gym. She grabs my shirt collar and heads towards the gym. My face turns pale as she drags me to where I was trying to avoid.

"What are you doing?" I shout at her as I squirm trying to get out of her grip. Why won't she let me go? I try to loosen her grip on me, but she's just too strong. Does she not notice what's going on?! Eeekkk!!! We're getting closer to them, I don't want to go anywhere near them right now!

"I'm making sure you don't get lost. Besides, Sugawara will probably do something about that," Natsuki sighs and what she says is true when I see Sugawara and a player from Nekoma scolding the two of them.

The strange Mohawk guy directs his attention from his teammates and opponents to us as when we pass by them. He flinches when Shimizu walks by. "Female...Beauty..." And she nods back in response. Is he a love-struck idiot?!

"Yo, Hinata, Sugawara, and Nekoma peeps," Natsuki greets them and turns to Sugawara, "I'm going to the vending machine to get myself a drink. I'll arrive in the gym in a couple of minutes," she tells him, leaving the Mohawk staring at her. "Is something wrong?" She scowls at the Mohawk guy.

"A-Another b-beauty...." He stutters.

"I'm just going to pretend I didn't hear that," Natsuki sighs and is about to walk away.

"Wait, Natsuki! Don't just leave me," I whisper to her, pulling on her sleeve. I don't want to be by myself with these people.

"I want something to drink, so I'm going ahead," Natsuki says plainly and walks past me. I, on the other hand, stand there not knowing what to do. I don't like being near people...Mostly people like him.

"Beauty!" He loudly says as he looks at me. This guy is one serious creep, I don't even think I'm even close to beautiful compared to Shimizu and Natsuki. I don't have anything about me that stands out... He probably has no experience with girls.

"Alright! Female managers!" a player says from behind the Mohawk guy.

"We win yakisoba bread!" the player and another player next to him say, and they high-five each other

"I'LL MAKE YOU REGRET THIS!!!" Yamamoto runs away with tears in shame. Regret what? Is this guy nuts? We're just three girls...He's like another Tanaka except with a mohawk.

(A few minutes later)

"Sorry I'm late, I had to get a drink," Natsuki apologizes to Coach Ukai who's a bit frustrated that the reason she arrived late was due to two cartons of milk.

"Anyways, sit down next to Sakura and Shimizu for now," Coach Ukai sighs.

"Good luck on your game, Noya!" I happily wave to him from the bench.

"Thanks, Sakura!" He smiles and quickly comes over to me and whispers in my ear, "I have my good luck charm with me. The popsicle stick you gave me, remember?" he chuckles and waves to me as he runs to the court.

I blush as I watch him leave with the rest of his team. I can still feel the lingering warmth of his breath. His lips were practically touching my ears. I shake my head to cool myself down. What I really can't believe is how he still has the popsicle stick that I gave quite some time ago. Knowing him, I thought he would have bought a soda popsicle by now. I giggle. Nishinoya can be really cute sometimes.

The match starts with Hinata's Nekoma friend as the server. He hits the volleyball to the corner and Asahi hits it back, but it ends up being a weak receive.

"Kageyama, cover it!" Someone yells and Kageyama runs to the ball and sets it. Hinata, quick as lightning, does a spike with his eyes closed and scores a point.

Wait--his eyes were closed?! I know he's a good spiker...But with his eyes closed! How does he know where he's hitting the ball? I gape in surprise, but it wasn't just me. Nekoma's entire team is shocked by that quick.

"That's one of Karasuno surprise attacks," Natsuki smiles, "this battle is not going to be easy, so let's see what they can do."

I stare in amazement at the game that takes place before my eyes. This is the first real game I'm watching and it has so much action. I turn on my camera. Time to capture some of this action!