Descending |Haikyuu!! Reader x Various|

.9.

Practices were a weird experience from then on.

Kageyama dedicated a considerable chunk of his individual training time a few times a week to getting the best results together. Tsukishima continued his occasional tutoring lesson with the two promising first years with either Hinata, Tanaka or I spiking. The mock games were rough, as the vollies began to last for longer amounts of time and our defense continued to improve.

Ennoshita started planning our Golden week training camp with Ukai, Takeda-sensei, and Yachi, which he couldn't seem to stop talking about in class. That seemed to pump everyone up even more. Ukai began to focus on serving practice, and, before long, all of the third years, sans Noya, obviously, could serve an adequate topspin. Yamaguchi nearly never screwed up his floater, probably due to his ridiculous will not to be a hindrance, and Kageyama started to aim into precise areas with his jump serve.

Probably the most surprisingly, Hinata actually asked Kageyama to teach him the jump serve.

Needless to say, the attempts were painful to watch. I tried to tell Hinata that he'd have to practice for months to succeed even half the time. I knew he'd be an insane weapon, what with his jumping power, could he master it. Sadly, I didn't think it would be during my time as a member of the team.

Upon my first time saying this to him, he only tilted his head curiously, managing to look extremely unsettling.

"Inter-highs are a few months from now. I'll learn before then." He stated, and I couldn't help but be impressed by his determination, making a mental note not to underestimate him.

In fact, Karasuno was making to have all of the inter workings of a powerhouse school. If we weren't lacking in such a critical field, I'd feel even more confident in our team.

That weak field was, quite predictably, firepower.

Ennoshita and Kinoshita were about average in power, and Tanaka was the only real cannon on the team. Both Hinata and I only made up for our severe lack of strength by avoiding contact at all times. Sadly, Noya could receive both of our spikes from the right angle.

It was my idea to start strength training days. Noya had, through unknown means, got us two days in the weight room a week. I suspected it was because Karasuno's baseball team hadn't been winning at all this season, but Tanaka guessed the 'sexual favors' route.

"(Boy Name)! How much can you do?" Hinata cheered up from his position on the leg press. Currently, he was doing about five kilos more than my best, and didn't seem to be stopping anytime soon.

"That doesn't really matter, Hinata. Do you think you should go higher?" I brushed it off to avoid embarrassment, and helped him add another five.

"(Boy Name)! Did you want a turn?" Tsukishima's monotonous voice came from one of the benches. He sounded oddly bored for someone who was dripping sweat.

"Yeah, you spotting?" I answered, grabbing my towel and making my way to the bench press.

"If I must. So, you can do like, the bar, right?" He gave the amused grin I was starting to get used to as I sank onto the padded metal.

"Haha, clever. Go ahead and put on ten." I muttered, swatting his arm lazily.

I was halfway through my first repetition when I looked up at Tsukishima.

My cheeks were suddenly enflamed, reacting heavily to the oddly gentle gaze Tsukishima was giving me. He looked down at me, not flinching away from my look the way I did. He continued to observe me, with an expression my wishful mind labeled as affectionate.

"Is something wrong?" He asked, a little hushed. He sounded oddly vulnerable, but his eyebrows quickly sunk back into the snarky expression I associated with him. "Too heavy?"

"Shut up." I muttered, but I hadn't quite achieved the hostility I wanted.

"Wow, Tanaka! That's so cool!" I heard Hinata flattering from the other side of the room, yelling as I finished my set. I sat up to watch as Tanaka showed off for the second-year, pulling himself up repeatedly on the chin-up bar.

"That's forty, Tanaka. Maybe you should take a break?" Ennoshita said, sounding completely done with the muscle head. Said boy dropped from the bar, laughing.

"I'm not even tired!" He panted, earning quite a few shaking heads.

And in the few weeks between the beginning of school and our training camp, I was sure our team had grown more than Karasuno ever had. Ukai wouldn't stop grinning during our practices, which effectively creeped out Hinata.

By the time Nekoma contacted us for a practice match, I was confident we could win. Their captain, apparently a friend of Hinata's, sounded extremely bored on the voicemail he left on said second year's phone the day before our training week.

"So, yeah, if you guys want to come and have a match we're free then. Bye, Shōyō." The voice bid farewell, and Hinata snapped his phone shut.

"Did you hear how excited he was?! This is gonna be epic!" He punctuated his gushing with a particularly energetic jump. I was surprised to see the others nodding in agreement.

I caught Kokowa's equally confused glance, wondering just how mundane Nekoma must be if that was an excited message.

"Oh, you guys are gonna love these guys!" Tanaka told me, throwing an arm around me heavily, "They're the worst!"

"Right. That isn't a contradictive statement at all." I murmured, shoving the sweaty nerd off my shoulders, laughing as he tried to give me a noogie.

"Its true, though. They're our biggest rival and best friends in the country." Ennoshita said as he tried to help me fend off the combined forces of Tanaka and Noya, who were hell-bent on holding me down for mass destruction of my scalp.

"Haha! You've let your guard down!" Tanaka yelled, leaping at me with knuckles ready as I tried to reply to Enno.

"You've had it too good for too long, (Boy Name)! We've practiced too hard for your hair to still look so perfect!" Noya called dramatically, held back lazily by our captain.

"Tanaka! You're the worst!" I complained as he overpowered me and his fingers met my hair. After a moment, my scalp was tingling and my hair was beyond ruffled.

"Wow, Mr. Perfect looks a little less poised like this." Tsukishima muttered, snapping a quick picture before I could fix my appearance.

"Tsukishima, you bastard! Delete it!" I whined, jumping up to try and take his phone.

"Too late, it's already been sent to my entire contacts list." He smirked, looking much to attractive than was good for my thumping heart.

"Oh, no. Now I have to hunt down a whole two other people." I grouched as I gave up and came down from my tiptoes.

"Ooh! Tsukishima, maybe we should treat that burn before it leaves a mark." Noya laughed joyously, unperturbed by the middle blocker's glare.

"Alright, alright. Time to clean up. We have a training camp to start tomorrow. If a single one of you shows up with less than eight hours of sleep, I'll make you run laps for the first hour of gym time!" Ukai yelled, met with general panic.

'What a team.', I thought affectionately as we scrambled to pack up and head home.