Monochromatic: Haikyuu Fanfic

Chapter 10: Protagonist

"Now, I just need to find the drinking fountains... It should be near the restroom..."

Fukui muses, her eyes scanning her surroundings with a sports bag in hand. It is filled with empty drinking bottles, ready to be filled. Sendai City Gymnasium, where the seasonal tournaments are held, is much larger than she had expected. She looked beyond, down the hallway that is packed with people of different builds and varieties of jersey colors - green, yellow, pink, violet to name a few. The crowd seems overwhelming for her, that she didn't notice that a kid is in front of her, nearly bumping into him.

The boy had fiery orange hair and he looks lost, and there is an edge to his pose that made gave Fukui a message that he was looking for the restroom as well. She gave him a cordial smile.

"A middle-schooler like you shouldn't wander around alone -"

The little boy forgets about his needs for a split second as practically hisses at her, eyebrows furrowed and he pouts.

"I'm not a middle-schooler! I'm a volleyball player!! See??!"

He turns on his heels, back facing her and points at the number plastered on his jersey... number ten... Fukui's slaps a hand on her mouth before she apologized frantically, genuinely meaning no harm.

"Ah! Sorry I didn't mean to - !"

"Oi! Hinata!"

The angry boy now froze in place. Stiffly his head turns around to see another boy who wore a similar jersey - except he's much taller, a dark aura emitting from him as he loomed over the boy whom he calls 'Hinata'. A girl, smaller than him, stands behind the tall boy, hands clutching on a notebook. The tall boy wears a scowl, nose scrunched up.

"Where do you think you're going? The match is about to start!"

It was then the girl speaks, tone flat and blunt. "Kageyama, if you keep that up, he'll most likely pee himself on the spot."

"I - I will not...!" The ginger denies. "Ayame! Make Kageyama stop staring at me like that!"

The girl - apparently goes by the name Ayame - pauses to consider, calculating eyes shifting from Kageyama then back at Hinata.

She shrugs her shoulders noncommittally.

Hinata has never looked so offended in his life.

Fukui feels like a fourth wheel in this conversation - stepping back as if to slowly fade away from the trio, who seem to be attracting attention because of the boys' yelling.

That feeling is short lived though, since Kageyama realizes the time crunch before the match and drags Hinata away by the collar, and the girl follows right behind them, but glances back briefly to spare Fukui an apologetic glance. Fukui awkwardly and dismissively waved back with an uneasy smile, not quite sure what to make of what just occured.

After a couple of directions given from other regular visitors of Sendai City Gymnasium, she finds her way to the fountains and refills the bottles one by one. Iwaizumi was right, it is not exactly an exhausting job but it's definitely a time consuming one. In a way, this job sort of reminds her of her manager days back in Tokyo, a wistful smile tugging on her lips.

"I wonder how they're doing..."

Fukui twists the faucet to a stop.

***

She makes her way back with a fairly heavy gym bag now, with water bottles filled up to the brim. However as she walks back into the court she sees Oikawa shortly chattering lightly with the girl she bumped into earlier - Ayame is it? And she looks around to see that the middle schooler and the scary boy happens to be one of the opposing team. Wait... does that mean...?

Ah! So they're in Karasuno! Fukui thumps a fist into her open palm, as if everything clicked into place.

Suddenly she hears loud screaming of the girls from above. She shifts her gaze again back at Ayame, and Oikawa's face are inches away from hers, his body leaning down to meet her eye level. A smug smirk charms his features in a way that made the girls squeal up above him. Ayame didn't look unfazed however, though she seems unsettled - as if Oikawa said something that threw her off. Fukui isn't able to pick it up in the midst of the noises.

Oikawa straightens his back then heads at the benches with a content smile plastered on his face. He notices Fukui standing in confusion a couple yards away and waves.

"Yoohoo! Umeko-chan! Over here!"

Fukui snaps out of her confusion and shares a quick glance at the Ayame girl before heading over to benches as well. She props down the bag with a sigh and glances back at the girl across the court.

A first year... She notices from her short height. Her stature is small yet slender, and she's quite cute in appearance too now that she notices it... Fukui mindlessly stares at Ayame, who is now sitting down beside the coach in the benches. Both wore an unsettled, nervous expression.

She looks like a shoujo protagonist...

Fukui turns her head to look at Oikawa beside her, and his gaze are also on the two from across the court, wearing a smile - sickly sweet and definitely edged with mischief.

Fukui raises an eyebrow at Oikawa, "what did you do to that poor girl, huh? Surely you're the cause of this."

Oikawa breaks his gaze and turns to face her, still wearing a the same expression. "Hm~? Let's just say I'm getting a date with that cute girl over there."

Fukui is about to say another remark in pity to Ayame's part in having to deal with him, but -

"Rolling...."

"THUNDER !!"

Yet again, the libero from the other team recieves the ball, and Fukui's irises shrank. The boy is short in height, tufts of his hair bleached at the front and it's spiked up in a bold fashion. He wears a prideful grin, eyes burning in determination. He was able to receive the ball with great precision and...

Fukui's mouth is gaped and turns back to meet Iwaizumi and Oikawa with shock and amazement written all over her face. Her eyebrows are still raised, speechless. With that libero's charisma, individualism, unique physical attrubutes, and that aura that surely speaks determination,there is not doubt that he's... he's...

Fukui gulps and paled up, her face darkening and gloomy. She's never known to cross these kind in this situation.

"the protagonist..."

Iwaizumi's face scrunches up in confusion andOikawa didn't hear her weak whisper, holding up a hand to cup his ear. "Did you say something?"

Fukui's expression looks so traumatic, like her soul has been suck out dry. It's no surprise that Fukui is odd in nature, but this is much worse than their predicament, and the severity of her gloominess is enough to somehow worry the two. She looks sick, as if nauseous and ready vomit. it There's no glimmer in her eyes anymore, and she looked at them with dead eyes.

"Iwaizumi, Oikawa, I'm sorry to say this, but..."

The two looked at her expectantly.

"You're going to lose this match."

Fukui's firm statement earned a horrified look from Oikawa, and Iwaizumi's hand immediately shoots up to the crown of her head, and with a vice grip, he began to squeeze - or rather crush Fukui's head. Veins are prominent on his hand and he smiled irritatingly at her.

"Ah - Ow! I'm just saying the truth! It's obvious that the other team is the protagonist! We're just side characters that they'll defeat on their way to finals! Trust me, I've read about these befor ah! - ow - ouch!"

Oikawa did nothing to stop Iwaizumi, instead he spared Fukui an offended look, his lips pulling to a frown. "Umeko-chan, stop jinxing us!"

"You've got a lot of guts telling us that..." Iwaizumi's grip falters and lets go of her head. Fukui rubs the pained spot with a sigh - Iwaizumi used to do that a lot in their youth, but now his grip definitely strengthened since then.

"Sports manga are never wrong, Iwaizumi." Fukui warns. "You'll see."