Haikyuu X reader

Chapter 5- Endurance

Hey you guys I'm so sorry for not updating. My mental health is all over the place and volleyball is starting up again. I don't wanna make excuses for myself, but I'm not gonna be the person that regularly updates because I have other things going on that I have to put priority to. Thank you for understanding and I hope you enjoy what I can put out there.

(Y/N)'s POV
That was pretty fun. Two blocks in a row wasn't too shabby.
Except for the fact that my team didn't really appreciate the fact that I stole their block. They weren't going to get it if I didn't go. They were a whole foot away from the ball.
"Let me get those," one of our middles, Koko, growled.
"The coach put me in charge of the red head,"I said. "It's my job to get those." I gratefully accepted a water bottle from one of our managers.
"That's right." The coach interjected. Koko seethed. "I want (Y/N) to get those hits. I want you to focus on everyone else, got it?"
Koko nodded, visibly annoyed.
I felt someone watching me, so I turned around to the other side of the court, where the little red ten was staring at me. I decided to have a little fun and smile deviously, which made him even more mad. I shook out my hands to taunt them, but immediately regretted it when that reminded me of my finger dislocation.
He was the type of player that if he doesn't land the points, he lets that affect his play subconsciously, and eventually he doesn't get set anymore. Subconsciously was the key word.
Another pair of eyes looked at me. Then another. Soon that whole team was staring right at me. I stared right back. These boys were determined to beat me, and only me. But there's a dozen more reasons that our team was in the national championship last season, and I'm only one of them.
They've suddenly narrowed their focus to me, and only me. So they'll miss the rest of my team.
And they did miss the rest of my team, by a lot. We won 25-9, Little Red's hits only scored three points, and that was when I was in the back row. I blocked his hits seven times until they stopped setting him altogether. Even though I was feeling pretty good, I didn't get one set. It was a small victory for me that no one else could block Little Red.
Nekoma was a little harder, although we still won 25-21. I realized about halfway through the set that their success was their setter. He was insanely smart, however he had no drive, so it was easy to aim for him and count on the fact that he wouldn't run.
Their setter was both their greatest strength and their biggest weakness.
It basically went that exact same way for the rest of the day. The only team we lost to was our own boys team. And even then, it was still pretty close at 25-22.
That was our last set of the day, so we ran in the evening, which was a little cooler than during the day. However it still sucked.
"I did not care for that," Nanami wheezed, trying to catch her breath.
Koko scoffed. "It was fine for me."
"That's because you have long legs, you tree."
Everyone filed inside once they had caught their breath. I came in last. This may come as a bit of a surprise, but I actually have almost no endurance. I'm small, athletic, fast, and have absolutely no lung capacity.
So when I went back into the gym to get my water, the rest of the team had already pretty much left. Yeah, I'm that bad.
Only Karasuno's boys were left. They weren't really practicing though. At least not as a team. Their libero, from the screams I heard, I think his name was Noya, was setting to himself against the wall. There were a couple guys working on serves, and Little red and the setter were on a completely different court, practicing the quick attack.
I noticed that the tall blonde one was gone. But he never seemed super into the games, so I wouldn't really expect him to stay for optional practice.
When Little Red noticed me, he stopped.
"Hey Kageyama, it's that girl!"
The setter stopped to look at me too. He tried to stop Red from running to me, but failed.
"Hinata!"
I waited for him to come up to me, and he halted to a stop.
"You're the crazy blocker girl!"
"Yes?"
"Well you are, right?"
I looked around, and now the rest of the team was watching.
"Don't crowd her Hinata," said a guy with grey hair and a soft voice. He didn't play during the set.
"But she's so cool!" My attention was turned back to Hinata by that comment, and I felt myself blush.
"Well you're not wrong," said the tall bald one. He adjusted his glasses. "Not even I can block Hinata's hits."
I walked over to a bench to get my water bottle, my attention still on the boys.
"What's your name?" If people were emojis, Hinata's face would be the one with the starry eyes.
"I'm (Y/N). I know most of your names I think. Really the only ones who were on the court at all. You guys are pretty loud."
A couple rubbed the backs of their necks.
"Yeah, sorry about that," the captain said. "We're still working on it."
I shook my head. "No, no. I think that a loud team is always good. I'd never get mad at someone for being too loud during a game. Although you guys do actually need to communicate about the ball more instead of just screaming each other's names."
"Yeah, we're working on that too. I'm Daichi, third year and the captain of these weirdos."
He held out his hand to shake, and I took it.
"(Y/N), second year."
"YOU'RE A SECOND YEAR?" Hinata reminded us of his presence by voicing his disbelief. "BUT YOU'RE SO GOOD! HOW DID YOU GET SO GOOD?"
I shrugged. "I don't know. I practice. A lot."
"BUT NOBODY CAN GET THAT GOOD AND STILL BE A SECOND YEAR!!"
"You're that good and you're a first year."
That shut him up. He stopped bouncing in an instant and looked around.
"Come practice with us."
"What?"
I couldn't believe it. Nobody had ever told me to practice, not even my own team. And this wasn't a request either, he needed me to practice with them.
Everyone else nodded.
"Please come practice with us!" They all bowed in unison, as if they had practiced this a million times. My eyes widened.
"O-Okay, just please don't do that again!"
So we practiced. It was as if I was part of the team, people were giving me high fives and congratulating me. I knew everyone's names but the time it was over, including the grey haired one.
Sugawara was one of the sweetest people I had ever met, and I felt so bad that he didn't get to play, but the ambitious, number oriented side of me said that Kageyama was statistically better than he was.
I like to stick to the number part of me, because that's the part that doesn't care about the attitude on the court, only the skill. That's the part of me that will put the best players on the court, no matter what their chemistry.
My coach is like that too, or else I definitely wouldn't ever play.
Yachi was timid for a volleyball manager, however Kiyoko looked like she had seen this a million times before. She had this stoic look about her, as if she was bored, or trying to show that she was calm. She and Yachi mostly put balls in play during drills.
Toward the end of practice, we really just played six on six, with me as the Suga's middle blocker. They wanted Hinata to adjust to the blockers that were fast enough to track him, because at Nationals (if they got there, which at this point, it's a stretch), there would definitely be people who could completely shut him down within minutes.
I blocked him over and over again, however, I was slowing down a bit. As I said before, I have limited endurance. Hinata was still miraculously going strong, even after having played already and run up that stupid hill a dozen times.
My blocks gradually switched to one touches, and when Daichi noticed me getting tired, he called the practice.
"Alright, that's enough for tonight! We should get some food, and then we'll start tomorrow early."
"I'm starving!" Nishinoya whined.
"Me too," someone else said. I was hungry too, but I didn't know if I was ready to eat with these guys yet. If any of the rest of my team saw me, they'd for sure get the wrong idea.
Hinata bounced to where I was drinking my water.
"You're gonna get dinner with us right?"
My goodness, this kid wouldn't let up.
"I don't like to cut in on team time unless I'm invited."
"But I'm inviting you."
"Yeah," Tanaka yelled from across the gym, "You should come eat with us! I'm sure you're pretty hungry too."
I was starving.
"If you guys want me to."
The team pumped their fists, cheering. This was a nice little thing just for me, no mean girls to worry about, no practicing by myself. Just me and a few guys spending time together playing volleyball.
So we ate dinner, mostly not talking and just scarfing down food. Whenever we did talk, it was mostly Hinata and I chatting about how fast we were.
"Everyone else is so slow," Hinata said. "Just run faster."
"Well everyone else is a giant compared to us. They just move slowly."
"Well being short is a lot better than being tall."
I knew he didn't mean that. He said it as a joke, but there was jealousy beneath it. I knew he'd prefer to be tall and have it easier, than being short and have to constantly work to stay ahead. He'd put that height to good use. Speaking of...
"Hey, where's your tall blonde guy?" I asked.
"Oh that guy," Hinata's mood changed like that. "His name is Tsukishima, and he's a giant turd."
I giggled. "He's that bad huh?"
"You got that right," Tanaka through a mouth full of food. "He's super salty and doesn't really like the rest of us."
"Is that why he's not here?"
"Yeah probably. I don't think he really likes volleyball either."
"Honestly he seemed kind of bored during the set today. Like he was forced into doing it."
Hinata shrugged and went back to eating.
When I finished I stood up to address the team.
"I know that this probably wasn't really a big deal to you guys, but I thank you for letting me practice with you today. It meant a lot to me."
I bowed, and everyone nodded in response, looking unsure of what to say. I didn't know what to say after that either, so I walked away. I needed a shower anyway.
This really did mean a lot to me, and I hoped that maybe we could do it again before the week was over, but I was definitely not the kind of person that asks to join a practice. They'd have to ask me before I did anything. And I hoped that they would.
For my sake.

Hope you enjoyed! Especially because I was too lazy to edit or do research on this thing. So I hope this story isn't too out of order. 😅