sugawara x reader || never alone

Chapter 19: You'd be Unstoppable - Training Camp Part 1

This chapter has a lot of analytical stuff hehe

You inhaled deeply, easing your mind into the practice game as if it were the real deal. You had been working hard for weeks, perfecting your receives and learning to time your spikes, sets, and blocks. You even conditioned your muscles to the constant workouts and saw your body become more athletic than it was before.

However, since you were still short in comparison to the other boys and your jump was not even close to the height of Hinata's, you were used to having people cover for you.

You were not a starter, well, not yet, but since the freak duo started arguing about Kami-sama knows what, the third years deemed you okay to play some practice sets. And this was your first one.

You've been so absorbed into the volleyball matches that you were able to drown out all the negative thoughts that spiraled throughout your head. You regulated your breathing. You had to bring up your team's spirit.

When you had said they were changing, they were literally evolving. But evolution doesn't complete overnight. They were completely out of sync. You had nothing yet to evolve upon, so you were... you gulped. Being left behind. Shaking your head, you stepped onto the court.

The score was clean, the set yet to be touched by the lingering negativity that surrounded Karasuno. They hadn't seen their improvement the way you did and their behaviors reflected that.

You turned back and smiled wearily, hoping that would be of enough reassurance to your tired friends. All these runs and diving lap penalties would start to affect your playing soon.

Then you focused your attention on your opponents. Fukurodani. You waved at the setter across the net. He smiled.

The pressure, surprisingly, did not affect you as you thought it would. The team would use this match to determine how well you play in real games, and this was one of the few you've participated in. But you weren't shaking. Heck, you were hardly nervous. It was like the whole world faded away.

While the boys sorted things out, they used this practice match as an experimental one.

You were the setter. Tanaka and Tsukishima were in the wing spiker position, meaning that they'd have to cover for your blocks a lot, and Asahi was in the back since you had practiced those attacks with Sugawara only yesterday. Daichi and Noya were in the back as well, ready to support the team with their steady receives.

"You got this!" The other setter cheered from the sidelines. He was probably excited to sub in for Noya later in the game, to test your in-game compatibility with you as a wing spiker.

You glanced around to analyze the court again. There was little to no speculation about your gender, thankfully, likely due to Tanaka, Noya, and Mohawk Dude (im so sorry i forgot his name lmfao)'s threatening faces. If anything, they were fawning over your beauty, talent, and overall perfection.

Again, you cleared your mind of everything but the game.

The opponent served. You watched in awe as Noya called out, "I got it!" and sent the ball right to you. His accuracy is unmatched. Yet you had to do the same.

You analyzed the ball. It was right at center position, an easy reach.

Now you analyzed the players.

Tanaka. Ready to spike. How was his behavior?

He seemed riled up. Probably not the best choice. Bokuto likely unintentionally intimidated him in some way. If he were to miss, it'd throw off the entire team's flow, even if it's just the beginning.