Aeonian - Oikawa Toru x Reader

Ch. 09 - Coronation

The captain sat down next to me on the bench, a sheet of paper in his hand. "Is that the starting roster?"

"For today's game, anyway," he confirmed, handing me the piece of paper. "Honestly, Johzenji's never given us too much trouble. While I still want to win, and the first practice game is always important for morale, I think this will be a good day to experiment with some different players."

"Mm-hm," I hummed, not really listening as I read over the names and positions on the page. Right away, two names caught my eye. My surprise must have shown on my face, because he chuckled. He set his elbows on his knees, having to lean forward to do so, but looked back at me all the same - but more accurately, at the piece of paper in my lap.

"Surprised, are you? You shouldn't be."

"Of course I am," I argued. "I was surprised enough they made the active team, it's so competitive. But to be playing today..."

"Consider it a test," the captain said. "They're skilled, that's obvious. But we'll see how they do in their first official practice game against another school. Doing well in our own scrimmages is fine enough, but there will be a whole different atmosphere today."

I ran one of my hands into my hair, pulling it up and away from my face. "Yeah," I said, agreeing with him and looking around as the team all went around doing their warm-ups and basic drills. "I can tell."

True to what he said, there was a different atmosphere in Gymnasium No. 3, today. The players were excited, so excited it all compiled into a tangible, near-physical smog in the air. Even in their warm-ups there was less chatter, which was strange. This team was full of chatter-boxes anyway, and warm-ups were a great time to chat and catch up with the other players before the real work was to begin. Today, though...

I let my eyes trail across the gym, catching on certain players as they stretched and others as they performed drills. By one of the nets, I could see Toru setting for others to spike. With each one, though I couldn't hear what was said, I knew he was asking how the set was, and how he could do better the next time. As each spiker gave him feedback, he would nod and smile, and I knew he was committing it all to memory.

It was his job as a setter to pay attention to his spikers. It was his dedication to his craft that he maintained frequent communication with them.

I hadn't seen him do this since junior high which, realistically, wasn't terribly long ago. But then, he was the team captain, he was the leader they all turned to and as a setter, to be able to step back and allow the spikers to shine was the highest honor - it was what he wanted to do, it was what he trained himself to be good at.

Because he was a small fish here in an incredibly big pond with incredibly big fish, he hadn't gotten the chance to do this yet, not in the context of an actual game where he was the setter and not just a player in the position of setter for the purpose of a scrimmage between groups of teammates.

He was back in his element. He was where he always wanted to be. There was something alight in his eyes, something comfortable yet excited, daring yet reserved. He was prepared to set as best he could to allow his spikers to operate how they wanted. The spikers, of course, were in charge of the attack - he just had to get the ball in position so that they would have the best chance of being able to do as they pleased.

I smiled upon seeing him and didn't notice that Hajime was standing at my side until he spoke. "You're supposed to pay attention to the whole team, you know."

I nearly leapt out of my skin. "Haji. Don't sneak up on me like that." His only response was to lift one eyebrow. "They're all warming up, I can look where I please."