Queen of Crows // On Hiatus

To their rhythm

Takai walked across the gym with Kageyama and Yamaguchi flanking either side of her. She'd never admit it out loud, but she felt a little more at ease, having them with her. She had been worried she'd have to walk in alone. She made eye contact with Coach Ukai. They'd spoken before; there was no reason for them to say anything right now.

"Don't be late tomorrow," was all he gave, along with a nod. "Today we're just going to scrimmage. Before we start, we'll have a technical practice tomorrow." Ukai lifted his clipboard to read from it. Shimizu and the little manager, Yachi, stood with him. Another man with curly dark hair and glasses, who Ukai-sensei had introduced to Takai as Takeda Ittetsu the other day, was also with them. As she, Yamaguchi and Kageyama approached, he smiled at her and waved.

She waved back, a little startled. He seems friendly...

The others were all sitting on the floor in front of Ukai, and they turned their heads as she stopped. Daichi waved to her, too. Kishomaru, not sure of what else to do, waved back. Yamaguchi went to sit beside the really tall boy, Tsukishima, and Kageyama went to sit with Hinata. Kishomaru's eyes scanned the rest of the group. She remembered most of their names—Nishinoya, Tanaka, Narita, and Kinoshita, Asahi, Suga, Kageyama, Ennoshita, and everyone else—but she was scared to sit with any of them. She made sure she her poker face was still intact, but she plunked her butt down right where she was, a good five feet away from everyone else.

She stared at her ankles, unable to make eye contact with anybody. She was so nervous. She could almost feel the draft in the room though her t-shirt. She bit down on her bottom lip. She could barely breathe.

"Ah, Kishomaru?"

Her shoulders jumped. She slowly looked up, making sure her eyes only met Ukai-sensei's, even though she could feel everyone else looking at her.

"Y-yes?"

Ukai was smiling at her. "You don't have to be so nervous, Kishomaru. We all love volleyball as much as you, so there's nothing to be worried about."

"We're happy to have you!" Yachi piped up. The little blonde looked nervous too, but determined nonetheless. "Welcome, Takai-san!"

"It's good to have you!" Yamaguchi added, grinning at her over his shoulder. He elbowed Tsukishima beside him. "Say something," he whispered in the tall boy's ear.

Tsukishima turned his head slowly. His brown eyes met Takai's dark ones. Behind his glasses, they were piercing and accusing. But his expression was one of indifference​. It looked like Takai's mask to her.

"It's good to have you," he finally said.

This set off a chain reaction. Everyone started throwing in their own welcome, and someone started clapping. Soon they we're all whistling and clapping for her.

"You're so awesome, Takai! I want to be like you when I grow up!" Tanaka suddenly shouted, rivers of tears flowing down his cheeks.

"She's a first-year, you dumbass!" Noya laughed, punching his friend in the shoulder.

Her face flushed; her mask slipped off. She was blushing. In front of all these boys. The moment of glory was all too long and too short all at once.

"Alright, alright, enough, you hooligans, settle down," Ukai barked. But even Takai could see his faint smile. Ukai adored his team. "I was talking about, um, tomorrow's practice. Technicals. Spikers group is going to be Hinata, Tanaka, Ennoshita and Kinoshita."

I wonder why he didn't say my name with the spikers...

"Blockers group is going to be Tsukishima, Narita and Asahi. And setters group will be Suga, Kageyama...and Takai."

Setters group?! I'm not a setter! That's the only thing I don't know how to do!

"Suga and Kageyama...I'm not going to make any changes to the line up right now. So close your mouth, Kageyama." The boy's jaw slammed shut. Laughter rippled thought the sitting boys. Plus Kishomaru. "I talked it over with Takeda and that's what we decided. We'll monitor her progress through you, so do your best."

"Yes, sir!" Suga said, drowning out Kageyama's weaker, "Y-yes, sir."

"But that's for tomorrow. Today we'll scrimmage. First game, single set. Team One will be Suga, Yamaguchi, Tsukishima, Asahi, and Takai and Nishinoya. Team Two will be Hinata, Kageyama, Tanaka, Ennoshita, Daichi, and Narita. Warm up and let's get started!"

"Yes, sir!" All the boys thundered, excited. They all stood up. Kishomaru stood, a little less sure. Ukai-sensei sure had thrown her into this and left her to sink or swim. She had no idea how the flow of the practice went. It can't be that much different then the girls' practice. Though it has been a few weeks.

As she warmed up with the guys, she found herself following into their rhythm. It wasn't that much different like she thought. Her mind wandered.

Ukai-sensei wants me to set, huh? He must have been to tell that I haven't set before from watching me hit somehow. But he put me and Tobio on different teams today...he wants Kageyama to read me and he wants to give Suga a chance to set a spike for me too. From what I've seen from their videos, if Hinata and Kageyama are a pair, then Suga and Asahi-san are another pair. Kageyama also likes to use Tanaka for surprise plays once the other teams start to read Hinata too much. Suga likes to switch to reverse-defensive plays with Nishinoya to make points if he can...

She glanced out of the corner of her eye at the others, running through all the plays she watched in her head.

Wide shots can get around Daichi, even if he's on guard, but I'll have to use it wisely with him. I can surprise him with my flat straight. I want to try a narrow on their defense, too. And of course, I want to see their crazy quick up close.

"Hey, Kishomaru! Over here! We're on this side!" Noya called. Kishomaru spun around, face flushing. She'd been so distracted she'd done her knee drives all the way the other wall instead of stopping halfway like the rest of them did.

"S-sorry," she breathed, jogging over to join them.

They gathered in a huddle. "Alright, for these scrimmages, we get to choose our lineup, so here's what I'm thinking," Suga said, wrapping one arms around Kishomaru's shoulder and another around Tsukishima's to draw them both closet into the group. We'll start, clockwise, with me, Tsukishima, and Takai in the first row, and Asahi, Noya, and Yamaguchi in the back row. Asahi, you'll serve first. I want you in the back so we can use some of your back row spikes, okay, so be ready." Across from Kishomaru, the big guy nodded. "Takai, I'm going to use you to death, so surprise me, okay? You'll be our wild card," Suga said. He turned his head toward her and gave her the sweetest smile she'd ever seen. "You'll be going head to head with Hinata, and he can do some crazy things to, so give him a run for his money."

"Y-yeah," Kishomaru managed.

"Tsukishima, you'll cover Takai, okay? If she can't break through, help us get it back in the air. You too, Noya," Suga moved on. "And Yamaguchi, you'll get to shake things up at the end with your serves, alright? I might use you for some decoy work too, so prepare yourself."

"Yes!" Yamaguchi grinned, excited.

"Keep your eye on Kageyama and Daichi. They've probably got some good plays put together, too. They have wiggle room with so many spikers. Kageyama has a lot of options, and I have learned we should always be wary of him when he gets like that. He's too much of a genius to try to go toe-to-toe with him, but we have lots of strong pieces to go at him with. Let's win this, okay? Then I can rub it in Daichi's face later," he added, grinning deviously.

"Let's do it!" Everyone shouted then, minus Kishomaru. She wasn't in their fast-paced rhythm yet, but she had the feeling by the end of this game she would be.

She felt a tingle of excitement. She was on the court with a strong team. She was going to get to hit.

Her inner fire flickered to life. She was going to get to destroy another ball. She was going to be able to jump, burst through the clouds and gaze upon the horizon, escape, jump higher than her pain could reach.

She was ready. She glanced at Tobio over her shoulder.

Bring it.