Days in the Life of a Nekoma High Schooler

The Sole Candidate

"One."

The rota's changed again, and this time Kuroo and Kenma are on the same side.
1-0.
2-0.
2-1.
3-1.

Kenma's side is winning so far. I rummage through my satchel for a spare page or two in a notebook to scribble some effective quicks and attack and defence patterns that I've seen so far.
I bite my lip as I try to recall their movements visualise their intentions. It's gotten into a bit of a habit for me since Tuesday's session to note down the player's movements and each member's strengths and weaknesses. It was Kuroo's idea.

9-8 to Kenma's team. The match is slowly but steadily starting to heat up.
10-8.
10-9.

Although it's only a tiny inkling, I feel that Kuroo is glancing to the side at me every so often, perhaps trying to read my expression.
I guess he really is desperate.

I think that it'll be a good way to exercise my brain for once to analyse players, and I think that I've started to like volleyball (maybe I should've paid a little more attention to those lessons in middle school ...). I can see that they've all got skill. Mm, I think that I'd like to become the manager.

But I know that I only properly know Kuroo and Kenma ... I do know Shibayama, and I know who Yaku and Yamamoto are, but I can't say that I'm comfortable with them ... I also have a feeling that I end up quibbling with Kuroo too much and become a distraction ... Can I actually be helpful instead of be a burden to them all? If I joined, I'd need to be cooperative and resourceful, after all ...

17-18. Kenma's side's losing now.

I'd better do this before the match ends.
Before I can turn back, I start walking towards the coaches.

"Um, excuse me, Coach Nekomata, Coach Naoi," I begin to say hesitantly. The two of them smiled knowingly and gestures for me to sit beside them. I sit on their bench.

"Well, you might already know this, but Kuroo asked me to consider the position as the manager of this club, and I'd really like to, but I'm not so sure if I'm good enough for the role ..."

"First off, you're too tense." Coach Nekomata's immediate reply surprised me. "You don't need to speak that formally around us - being relaxed around us would make it much easier for you to be comfortable with everyone."

"Thank you ..."

"So, you want to be the manager, but you think that you might be an annoyance to us?"
I nodded.

"Well, I've seen you writing something in your notebook since Tuesday. I'm curious to see what you've been writing in it. Can you show me?"

I meekly hand him my notebook, which was already smudged with silvery-grey graphite fingerprints.

"What? All week you were doing maths formulas in this book?!" Coach Naoi was staring at me as though I had suddenly turned into an alien. "You like maths?!"
"Yeah, it's okay, um, but—"

"Never in my life have I met someone else who likes maths! Okay, Yukimura, if you ever need help on any maths homework then come to me!"

Now it was my turn to stare at him. What.

"Okay, uh, thanks. I just wanted to say that, no, I haven't been doing maths during practice, and my volleyball notes are at the back of the book, I didn't have a spare notebook so I used my old maths one ..."

Coach Nekomata was already flipping to the back. I nearly facepalm myself from embarrassment. My notes are much messier than my maths formulas, because I was struggling to keep up with watching their movements as well as drawing the tactics.

"Yukimura, you drew these without asking Kenma or Kuroo about them? You worked them out yourself?"

"Yes ..."

He chuckles. "I can tell that you're not that experienced in volleyball, but you're good at analysing. I guess you're not Kenma's relative for nothing. It'll be good to have two different points of view; one from the court, another to the side."

"Do you think that I can be the manager?" I look up from the notebook with hopeful eyes.

"Well," Coach Nekomata smiles, "you can be the manager by name, but in reality you'd be half manager, half strategist. Is that okay?"

"Yes! Thank you! I'm glad that I can put myself to use!" I bow to them before returning to my original seat away from the coaches.

"Oh, and another thing," Coach Nekomata called.

I turned round.

"Yes?"

"Next time, keep us company." He pats the spot where I had sat when I showed them the notebook.

I smile. "Okay!"