Adventures of a Somewhat Manager (Haikyuu OC Fic)

Let Me Join!!

"Nice receive!"

"Set me!"

"Back here!"

"Nice receive!"

"Chance ball!"

"Ahh, sorry!"

Ichiya internally groaned and rolled her eyes as Aya-senpai, once again, failed at passing the ball. She didn't have anything against the third year, but really, that ball came right to her, and yet it still went way off. It's not like this was the first time though, and complaining wasn't gonna do anything. So as usual, Ichiya Ikuko had to swallow her words and force out, "Don't mind!" along with the rest of the team.

Sometimes, Ichiya wished she had chosen a different high school - one with a more serious volleyball team. At first, she thought Karasuno's girl's team would be that good, especially after hearing about the history of the boy's team. She thought that their successes would've been just as good on the girl's team, but of course not. She never got that lucky.

"Let's go Ichiya-chan! Hit a nice serve!" their captain, Michimiya, called from her spot in the front row.

If it were a real match, Ichiya would have no problem scoring point after point during her serve. The same went for any other team that went against them. Aya was on the other side of the net. The front row players weren't doing anything to try and hide any open space on the other side, giving Ichiya a clear view. If she wanted, Ichiya really could just aim at her every time, but she knew that really wasn't the nicest thing to do, so she gently served it over to the middle.

As a libero, Ichiya really wouldn't be using her serves in a real match, but in practice, they let her do it if she wanted, and she appreciated that.

The ball went up, a little shaky, but it went up. The pass was a little off the net, forcing the set to be a bit off, and it was obvious who they were gonna set. Their wing spiker was ready, already transitioned off and prepared for the approach and the swing--

And the ball came over.

"Ah, sorry! I contacted the ball weirdly, my bad!" the setter cried.

Once more that practice, probably the seventh time, Ichiya had to bite her tongue and wheeze out, "Don't mind!" along with everyone else.

They were only thirty minutes into practice. Only ninety to go.

***

It was sad to say that every practice was that way. Ichiya used to look forward to practice after school, the morning practice not enough to satisfy her. But after seeing everyone else on the team, she realized that it wouldn't really be as fast paced as she was hoping for.

That's why it was almost a blessing when she caught a glimpse of Shimizu Kiyoko walking down the hall.

"She's so pretty..." the girl next to Ichiya whispered, probably unaware that she even said that out loud.

Ichiya did her best to hold back a snort, because, well... it was true.

She almost continued on as if nothing happened, until she heard, "Shimizu-senpai?!" from someone down the hall. She's heard that voice before. She felt guilty admitting to it, but everyday, she'd watch the boy's volleyball team in the other gymnasium for the first few minutes of practice - especially since no one would really care if she was late or not for practice.

"Oh! Hinata," Kiyoko's voice softly chimed through the hallway.

"Hinata... Hinata..." she murmured to herself. "Hinata... Oh! Hinata!"

The sudden outburst caused the blonde girl next to her, Yachi, to shriek, jumping a little in her seat.

"Oh, sorry, Yachi-san."