REINCARNATE

24, more than volleyball.

What is passion? Throughout her career, y/n had heard, many times over, the words "it's my passion" from the mouths of her teammates and idols. It was a person's love for what they do, an artist's passion for creation is art, a scientists's passion is discovery, but what about athletes? What did passion look like for an athlete?

"Thank you for holding the team together, I'll take it from here." Y/n gazed deep into Rina's eyes.

"B-but we lost that set-"

"I know, but we still have another chance and I promise I won't let it slip away. You were pretty incredible, I genuinely don't think I could've done better." 

The little libero's eyes glowed at y/n's praise, "Show'em who's boss!"

Y/n laughed and took her rightful place as starting libero, the crowd cheering its approval. 

'That's right, I have no reason to be afraid. This is my home turf.'

Taking a quick sweep of the audience y/n's eyes fell on a group of boys wearing black jerseys, Kenta was with them too. She waved to the twins and stuck her tongue out teasingly at Akagi, grinning at Kenta's proud face. Y/n locked eyes briefly with Suna who leaned back into his seat and smirked, jerking his head towards the net.

'I know I'm good looking but you should really keep your eyes on the game in front of you.'

 'Shut up.'

The whistle blew, signalling the start of the final set. Y/n breathed, tapping into her cold and collected rhythm. The opposing server started with a hard jump serve that aimed straight for the service line but y/n was there, bumping it up like it was nothing. She felt a lot steadier after her talk with Suna and focussed now on broadening her senses, playing on instinct and initiative. The ball soared beautifully towards Mae who set it into a quick for Rio, scoring them the first point.

The fifth set was always the most stressful in a five-set match, it also went much quicker as it ended at 15 points instead of the usual 25. This one in particular was probably one of the most intense games y/n had ever played in her life, neither side was ready to back down. The narrow cut shots still rained down on y/n but every time a teammate was there to call it out and she was already moving.

U18 Girls 4 - 3

4 - 4

"Y/n! Cross shot to your left!"

"I got it!"

9- 8

"Free ball!"

"Himari just kill it!"

12 - 12

As the points rose the gap stayed shut, y/n felt like everything was moving in slow motion. She could clearly see the players moving around her, hear the people screaming out for their favoured teams, track the wing spiker's hand angling for a straight.

Rio received the first touch but it was off and Mae called for help. The ball was flying back towards the net and Y/n's body moved on instinct. She chased the ball down, planted a foot right behind the attack line and jumped, reaching for the ball that threatened to go over.

'I'm not just a libero, I'm a setter too. I can set quicks, pipes, and shoots when I have to. Liberos don't belong in the air, but the setter in me knows I can do this as long as my feet don't touch the ground before the ball leaves my hands.'