ㄒ乇卂匚卄 爪乇 - 𝕄𝕚𝕪𝕒 𝔸.

¹ ⍴rᥲᥴ𝗍іᥴᥱ mᥲkᥱs ⍴ᥱr𝖿ᥱᥴ𝗍

"Y/N, YOU HAVE TO GET THE BALL! THOSE ARE WASTED POINTS! YOU HAVE TO IMPROVE YOUR TECHNIQUE!" My coach was yelling at me once again. "ONE MORE TIME." I was doing the same drill for the 50th time now. Someone serving the ball on the other side to the new first years who were taking turns in passing the ball to me and me running after the horrible passes, trying to set them to the opposite hitter. The ball came from the other side and basically fell on the first year's arms but she just couldn't pass it up into the air. The ball flew 2 meters behind her and it was not even high while I was already sprinting after it. "YOU HAVE TO RUN FASTER." I barely got it and tried setting it to the opposite hitter. I was actually pretty proud that I still got it. "DON'T DO AN UNDERHAND SET! DO IT WITH YOUR FINGERS! MY GOD ITS REALLY NOT THAT HARD!" She sighed loudly for everyone to hear how disappointed she was in me. "If you can't set overhand you are simply too slow." She explained in an annoyed tone. "You have to become faster, Y/N. I can't have my only setter being the slowest on the team. Well, not the only setter ig, Mika could set too... Maybe you two should change positions. But you can't jump either... Urgh this is so annoying." She mumbled the last part as she was walking away from me. How I hated to be treated like this. I knew I had to improve on setting after bad passes but she really never was satisfied. I looked at Mika who gave me a sad smile. "You guys can play a game 6-6 if you want to. I have an appointment in half an hour that I have to get to. Just lock the gym afterwards will ya?" "Yes coach!" We said in union. And with that she left the gym. I could feel the pressure on my shoulders become decrease with every step she took away from the gym. Away from me. This had been going on for 2 weeks. Last year I was only someone who would set occasionally in practice games but never in the really important ones. The setter from last year was brilliant which is why I didn't care much. But now that she's gone, coach really expected me, someone with limited experience, to play just like her. Thankfully my teammates were awesome. I got along really well with all of them except for 2 maybe. I've known Mika since kindergarten. She was my best friend and my opposite player on the court. She supported me during these hard practices by speaking up to our coach, telling her the set wasn't bad or the pass was even worse and to maybe correct that one first. I really loved her for that. I didn't know why I couldn't do that at first but somehow I realized I was scared of her. At least enough to be quiet when she's yelling. She was a good coach but just really strict when it came to me.

My teammates and I divided us in two groups to play a normal volleyball game with two sets to win.

After we cleaned the gym and put away the net, we went to the changing room. I was thinking about how I could improve when Mika suddenly sparked an idea. "Y/N, don't be sad about todays training. I think you did great honey. Regarding our coach I don't think, you can change her but I think I have a brilliant idea that can help you improve!" I looked at her with expectant eyes. "We should go watch the boys team practice. Their setter is really good! Maybe you can ask him for a few tips?" "Hmm, the watching part does sound like a good idea. But don't you think he's gonna charge me for tips or something. I've heard he's quite hard to be around." I voiced my concerns. "Don't worry, I'll be by your side. Just ask him. I don't think he'll bite you." She said confidently. "So when do you want to go watch them?" "Right now? After showering? Are you free?" "Sure." We went into the showers to wash our sweat drained hair and sweaty body. It felt so good. After training we were allowed to wear our own clothing, so we could avoid getting our uniform wet. Mika and I always wore some sweat pants and a hoodie with our hair put up with a hair clip at the beginning of the school year or in winter when it was still cold outside in the evening.

We walked into the gym opposite to ours. Our teammates already went home so it was just Mika and me. We went upstairs to get a better view. A few other people, mostly girls, were standing there watching. The players of the boys volleyball team were kinda popular, especially the twins.
The team was doing a defense drill for the kind of situation when a ball was blocked by the other team. It was just basic digging practice but with the twist that the person who passed the ball had to get up and bring the ball that was set to them by the setter over the net.
"Y/N, see! There's the setter, Miya Atsumu." Mika pointed to the blond haired boy who was setting one ball after another perfectly. I was in awe. It was so impressive to watch. "You should really ask him to help you." Mika said. "But what if he doesn't want to help me?" "We'll kidnap him and force him to!" She explained very motivated. Some other people gave us a few weird looks but I just laughed. Mika was simply the best.