Haikyuu Creature Collection

Playing Hero (Issei Matsukawa)

"Save me, Little Manager-chan!"

I didn't even get a chance to react to his words before Oikawa held me in front of him. If he was going to ask me to rescue him from Iwaizumi, then he could at least call me by my name. I knew for a fact he knew it and it was pretty annoying that he never used it. It was always "Little Manager-chan" or "Cutie Manager-chan." And sadly because of that, the entire team adopted it as my official nickname and refused to call me by anything else.

All I could do was sigh. "Why am I always the human shield?" I sighed. Always, always I ended up being the one people would hide behind. Unfortunately, a majority of the time it was Oikawa using me as a shield against Iwaizumi. And every single time, the ace had a good reason to want to hurt the setter. Or at least one that would be considered acceptable.

Right now I didn't know what he'd done, but I really didn't care. My gaze shifted over toward the team's other third years. Hanamaki appeared to be missing, but I wasn't worried. He was an incubus and Incubi can be summoned from time to time by a magic-user. That must be what was going on now, which was unlucky for me since he was usually the one to rescue me from Oikawa.

Iwaizumi looked quite pissed and continuously tried to get around me to get at Oikawa. Oikawa, being a smart guy and very much afraid of Iwaizumi when he was angry, kept moving around and holding me like a shield to protect him from his best friend. Clearly, things were not going to be over with anytime soon... or so I thought.

From somewhere on the other side of the gym, a volleyball came flying in our direction, very precisely colliding with Oikawa's head. The impact was just enough to break the third year's grip on me, but before I could turn around to make sure he was okay, a hand grabbed my own and tugged me away from Oikawa mere seconds before Iwaizumi managed to get his hands on the setter.

I didn't really get a look at the guy's face until he'd gotten me outside and turned to face me. Issei Matsukawa. This Kitsune was a guy I didn't know that well, as he wasn't the most social guy except with the other third years. Really, I only knew as much as I did because of the other third years. He wasn't a bad guy or anything, in fact he was a pretty decent guy. A bit on the quieter side, but a good guy.

Matsukawa smiled at me a little. "You looked like you needed a hero and Makki was busy, so I had Kindaichi help me out." I had a feeling that he'd more or less bribed Kindaichi into hitting a serve straight at Oikawa's head since the first year had a lot of respect for the captain, but I'd say it was worth it. Saved me from a very annoying situation, so I really owed him one.

"Thanks," I smiled back at him. "So how did you convince Kindaichi to help you play hero?"

The Kitsune only gave me a grin. "If I told you, would you agree to help me fulfill that little deal?"

Normally I'd be a bit skeptical of such a deal, but I knew that Matsukawa was a guy that I could trust. I nodded after a moment, agreeing to help him fulfill his part of the deal, though I had yet to learn just what it was. Though once I'd heard what it was, I was instantly questioning my decision.

"I told him I'd convince you to go on a date with him."