The Devil Who Can Stop Time: Haikyuu x Reader

Ch 27: How Not to Disappear

You meandered your way over to the court, humming casually to yourself, as though it were just another normal day and you hadn't just infiltrated a scrimmage between the prefecture's top school and a nearby college. From what you'd seen during warmups, the college boys were certainly good, but they weren't exactly a whole other species. Their ace, though strong, wasn't a match for Ushiwaka, and their setter was less precise than you'd gotten used to with Kageyama. Still, their receives were incredibly stable, allowing that setter an almost infinite amount of room to work with, so they more than made up for it. Plus, he seemed smart enough to diversify his attacks against an opposing team. The only question left was whether he would be brave enough to use you.

"What the? You're not supposed to be here?" You glanced back to the other side of the net to meet the curious eyes of a very tall redhead.

"The team invited me to play with them, and I said yes," you shrugged. Not entirely true, but it's not like you were lying either. "Why, afraid that a guy a foot shorter than you is gonna be the reason you lose?"

A wide grin broke out over the redhead's face. "No way! I was just curious, that's all. You're way more interesting than I thought, though. What's your name?" He leaned in closer so that his face was almost touching the net.

You paused for a moment, a quick debate running through your head. You didn't want anyone to know you were from Karasuno for fear that they might kick you out before you could play. And after your team's half-way decent performance at the Inter-High, they might've started scouting your team enough to at least recognize a full name when they heard it. Of course, you didn't exactly stand out amongst your teammates, but that Washijo bastard might've taken an interest in you regardless. You'd only met him once or twice when you were younger, but it wasn't exactly difficult to figure out that he had some kind of vendetta against short people.

"(M/N)," you finally answered curtly.

"Ooooh, the mysterious type! I like it!" The redhead drawled. "Tendou Satori! But don't worry, I'm sure you won't have any trouble remembering!"

You smirked, shifting your weight to rest largely on your right leg. "Is that so?" You hummed. "Well, I guess we'll have to see about that during the game. Do your best not to forget about me, ok? Granted, you might not have the best luck trying."

Tendou recoiled a bit, his eyes lighting up. That was such a weird thing to say! He kinda liked this kid!

The whistled blew, your team being allowed to serve. It didn't even take you until the pass went up to start shifting towards the left side. You'd done a lot of work scouting Shiratorizawa, and it was less than difficult to find their weak spots. Although Ushijima was an incredible player and often scored regardless of the plan and set-up, their setter had absolutely no mind for strategy. He prioritized his ace above absolutely everything, and each time he got flustered, he started making mistakes. Their team was ridiculously unbalanced overall, too. If it weren't for their famous middle blocker, they probably would have lost a lot more games than they had until now. After all, no matter how good of an ace he is, he can only be in front half the time. Washijo had gotten unfairly lucky with this team.

The set went up and, as you predicted, headed straight towards Ushijima. You jumped up high to meet him head-on alongside one of the college players. And then, as though your arms had the constitution of a piece of tissue paper, the ball blew past them like they meant nothing.

You touched back down with a slight wince, glancing at the large red spot that now decorated your arm. You'd been expecting this somewhat, but not to this extent. This guy definitely lived up to his name. You glanced up at Ushijima, who was already staring back down at you.