Spiking Cupid || Various!Haikyuu x Reader

Chapter 1

Rising Star (Y/n) Retires After Injury

You had to give it to the journalists, it was a good header. It caught your attention and even made you go "oh damn, deadass?" Skimming the article, you hum as you read through it. They certainly didn't leave anything out: mentioning your parents' occupations, your accomplishments as a student and a player, and your unfortunate injury.

Honestly reading the article should have sent you into tears, made you cry in front of everyone on this train. Maybe at first, it would have, but now? You were fine. If anything, you were relieved. The injury sucked—an ankle fracture— but it was only temporary; with a few months of physical therapy, you could have gone back to playing in no time. Yet, when you were given the option to, you said no. Your mom was shocked, clearly upset about you giving up the career she was working hard to promote. Your dad didn't say much about the event, only holding your hand as you made the decision.

It was unexpected really. During the qualifiers, you had saved the ball, practically throwing yourself to give it to the setter, but at your body's expense. As you tried to stand up, you fell and your team had to call a timeout. Upon further examination, it was determined you had fractured your ankle and that you needed to be pulled out of the game. Your team won, but the look on Akira's face when she heard about you retiring told you that to her, it wasn't worth it.

It was difficult to go back to Hisamitsu, not because of anything bad but because you felt like you didn't belong there anymore. You had gone to win with Akira, to make sure your team won Nationals. However, staying there didn't feel right. Everyone looked at you with sympathy, sad to see one of their star players no longer on the court. Heck, if you were them you would probably give yourself the same look.

So as the first-year at Hisamitsu ended, you decided to ask your parents for something. It took a lot of courage; you had already given up volleyball, what could be worse? With your dad on the phone and your mother in front of you, you asked if you could transfer to Karasuno. You wanted to go back to Miyagi, to attend school with Kiyoko like you had done as a child.

That leads to where you are now, getting off of a train as you look for Kiyoko among the crowd. Spotting the girl standing towards the back, you grin and run up towards her. Throwing your arms around her, the two of you share a hug in silence.

"Are you sure?" Is the first thing she says. She wanted to know if you were willing to give up playing; that you would give up your career just as it was about to take off.

"I am." You would always love volleyball, but right now you wanted to take a break from it. At least for now. Maybe one day you would get back to it, but right now you wanted to do something else.

"I'm glad to have you here." Kiyoko pulls back and smiles at you. The two of you hadn't hung out in so long, it would be good to make memories again.

"I'm glad to be here."

"You want me to what?" You ask, your legs crossed as you sit outside with Kiyoko.

"I want you to help me manage the boy's volleyball team." She repeats and you wave your popsicle, as you were being sarcastic. The girl knew you were joking, but she just wanted to stick it in your head.

"You do realize I came here to get away from that, right?"

"You came here because you stopped playing, but are you done with volleyball?"

Taking a bite out of the popsicle like the savage you are, you think about it. Were you really over volleyball? No. Though you quit the sport, you still held it close to your heart. You watched your previous games, even going as far as watching foreign teams put their games up on Youtube.