𝕀𝕟 𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕂𝕚𝕟𝕘'𝕤 𝕊𝕙𝕒𝕕𝕠𝕨 Tsukishima x Male Reader

Part 9: Aoba Johsai

"We've gotten a practice match arranged with Aoba Johsai's volleyball team later this week." Takeda exclaimed. 

A-a practice match? With Aoba Johsai? A-are you kidding me?!

"The only thing is that apparently the team captain of Aoba Johsai wanted to have Y/N and Kageyama both playing throughout the practice match. I'm not really sure why, but I happily accepted these terms. You guys could all really use a chance to have a practice match with another team, and Y/N and Kageyama are great players, so I'm sure that this should hopefully be for the best." Takeda smiled, unsure of how much pressure and dread I was now feeling. 

I had to play throughout most of the practice match, and what made it even worse was that Kageyama would be playing as well. He always made sure that it looked like I messed up during practice, even though he purposefully would set the ball too high for me the spike it properly. Kageyama was trying to make me look bad to the entire team, and now he would find some way to make me look bad to another team, if I didn't make myself look bad enough already. What made this whole situation worse was that it was Aoba Johsai, the one and only school which two certain upperclassman of mine attended. 

Tooru Oikawa and Hajime Iwaizumi. Two of the people who I would absolutely hate to disappoint, which was hard not to do considering how much of a disappointment I am in general. The two of them would always try their best to help me get better at playing volleyball whenever they had free time. Oikawa would help me with my sets and my serve, while Iwaizumi would always help me out with getting better at spikes and passes. That was during a point in time when I actually found volleyball somewhat enjoyable, but once they both had to start attending high school everything just starting tumbling downhill. 

I sighed, Takeda-sensei had already agreed to the practice match, so there was no way for me to get out of this. 

"You okay shorty?" Tsukishima asked. Shorty was his nickname for me, only because I was shorter than him, and I wasn't even that short. I mean I was shorter than Tobio but I was still taller than Hinata, so it's not like I was even the shortest person in the room. 

"Y-yeah I'm fine I guess. And will you stop calling me that, I'm not even that short!" I said softly. 

"Nah, I think I'll keep calling you shorty, I mean it does suit you pretty well. And you're obviously not actually okay right now, so are you nervous about the practice match or something?" Tsukishima responded, even if he didn't seem like the type to care about someone else's emotions, he seemed to be pretty good at reading people. 

"I guess you could say that, I mean I never even agreed to this, so either Takeda-sensei agreed on my behalf, or Tobio agreed on my behalf." I sighed. "It's annoying, but I guess I can't really do anything about it now, so I'll just go along with it." 

The team then had to continue on with practice, and I could feel the pit in my stomach growing more and more as practice went on. I was extremely nervous and even though I was not willing to admit it, I have a feeling that it was written all over my face. Most of my teammates were saying encouraging things to me each time I did something well, which was really nice but I felt like they were just pitying me because of how nervous I must have looked. 

The rest of the week flew by, with the dread and pressure on me building up ever so slightly with each passing minute. By the time that our team was about to head to Aoba Johsai for the practice match, I felt sick to my stomach, and my face was slightly more pale than it usually was. Most of the team didn't seem to notice, which means I was hiding it well, but Sugawara and Tsukishima noticed it almost instantly. The two of them were definitely concerned, and Tsukishima even made me sit with him on the bus ride to Aoba Johsai. 

Once we got to the school, I stuck by Tsukishima's side while we were trying to make our way to the gym. He didn't seem to mind, and I honestly just didn't want to get lost or be left behind by the rest of the team. I was extremely nervous, and what made me even more nervous was when I noticed two Aoba Johsai students coming up to us. I didn't hear or even pay any attention to them, so I couldn't tell who they were, I was too busy overthinking and panicking about the whole situation.

I was zoned out until Tsukishima nudged my arm and we went to the gym with the rest of the team. Before we could start the practice match, I noticed that Oikawa was not located among all of the players from Aoba Johsai, but I did notice Iwaizumi standing over there. Iwaizumi seemed to notice me as well, and he gave me a gentle smile and a wave, and I waved back to him. Iwaizumi had somehow gotten more handsome and more muscular than he was when I had last seen him, but I hadn't seen him in two years so I guess it wasn't too unusual that he had changed. 

We were all instructed to get warmed up, and then the practice match began. The starting line up was:
Daichi - Middle back
Kageyama - Right back
Tanaka - Left back
Hinata - Left front
Tsukishima - Middle front
Y/N - Right front

I was the starting setter, and not Kageyama, and now I was seriously worried for my safety. Kageyama had the starting serve, so if he wanted to he could totally forfeit the point and slam the ball into the back of my head. If this wasn't a practice match with another school, then I'm sure he would do it with no remorse. Luckily, he served the ball to the other side of the net, where Aoba Johsai's libero was easily able to receive it. 

The libero sent it directly to the setter, who set it right to Iwaizumi. Tsukishima went to block, but he didn't get there in time. The volleyball was slammed down, but Daichi was able to receive it. Daichi sent the ball right to me, and I set it up for Tanaka to hit it. I didn't send it to Hinata because I didn't want to pull out the quick attack right at the start, if we saved it for later then we would be able to surprise them more. 

Hinata seemed disappointed that the ball wasn't sent to him, but Tanaka was able to hit it over the net, scoring our team the first point in the practice match. 

The match went on for a little while, and Aoba Johsai was able to gain a slight lead. By now we had almost done a full rotation so we were one position to the left of our original position, so Tobio was currently in the best spot to set. This time, when our team received the ball, Tobio set it right to Hinata, who was prepared to hit it as fast as he could. Hinata jumped up and slammed the ball onto the opposite side of the net, scoring our team a point once more. 

Aoba Johsai seemed shocked at the sudden development of Hinata being as fast as he really is, but it just made the game all the more exciting. I, and the rest of my team, was determined to win this game. Even if was only a practice match, it was still a match and we were ready to give our all. 

Word count: 1323

A/N - I don't fully remember exactly how this practice match goes, so I made/am making up the majority of the actual playing myself.