Inarizaki's Hidden Foundation

Ch. 2 - A Puzzle

The day goes by pretty slowly, mostly because first days of school are always going over the logistics of the class, the syllabus, and all that boring stuff teachers are required to cover.

The last bell rings and Mina pulls you towards the gym, which she of course already knows the location of.

"C'mon, c'mon! Osamu told me he'd meet us there and introduce us to the head coach!" she says excitedly.

You let yourself be dragged for a bit, knowing she will run out of steam in 3, 2..

"UGHHH!" Mina groans, stopping to pant for air. "Why is it so far!"

You laugh seeing her struggle. She was never the most athletic person in the room yet she was so gung-ho about watching and dictating sports. You on the other hand are not that into sports but you really like games and things that have to do with strategy. Plus, you have great observation skills and hand-eye coordination so you can pick things up in sports really quick because of that. As a result, though, you've been mistaken for being athletic.

"It's legit right there, Mina," you say. "Catch your breath before we go in so you don't seem like a mess."

I point to the gym, which is a few yards away. You can hear sneakers squeaking on the gym floor from here. In all actuality, you're not real excited to meet the team because you don't even plan to join to be a manager. You're just being a good friend and going to support Mina and make sure she doesn't entirely embarrass herself.

Once she breathes normally again, she puts on a determined face and says, "Ok, let's go!" She leads the way into the gym and you follow her in.

The scene that unfolds before you is intense to say the least. All the volleyball players are at least 5"10 and even though they're just practicing, it's like they're playing for real with how fast they move and how hard they slam down the balls. Of them, Osamu Miya spots us and heads over.

"Hey, Mina-san! Y/N!" he calls, waving. "Glad you made it. Come with me, I'll introduce you to our coach."

You both follow him to the older man standing by the net, shouting comments and orders to the players. Osamu gets his attention and says, "Coach Kurosu! These are the girls I mentioned earlier who are interested in the manager positions, Mina and Y/N."

The coach of Inarizaki is a beast of a man. Standing at about 6"2 with an intimidating stare, he has quite a domineering presence in the gym. As he looks Mina and you up and down, you have the strongest urge to cackle, your nervous outlet that only ever comes out once in a blue moon when you are especially scared or anxious.

"Hi, girls. I'm Coach Kurosu but you can just refer to me as Coach. You are welcome to just observe today. I'm still unfamiliar with the job description for managers since it's our first year implementing the positions as they are now a requirement for every volleyball team," he explains.

You nod in response, relieved to just get to watch but Mina says, "I actually know a thing or two about manager-ship. I've watched many volleyball teams play and practice in the past, all of whom had managers. Usually they take notes on the players' progress and things that they can work on. And of course there's the usual handing out water, towels and helping to setup and cleanup. If it is okay with you, I think Y/N-san and I can try to replicate what they do during practices today."

The Coach raises his eyebrow slightly, clearly surprised that Mina knows as much as she does about high school volleyball teams.

"Oh, well if you're that confident in it, then sure I'll allow it."

She brightens and gives you a big toothy smile. You on the other hand are disgruntled and just give her side-eye that screams, "B*tch, what the f**k."