The Killer Queen (haikyuuxreader)

23: weakness and strength

     tuesday, the fifth of march, 2013
     shiratorizawa gymnasium
JESUS CHRIST 7K

     "Alright ladies," began Captain Matsuda, "we're going to internationals, whether you like it or not."

     Everyone nodded, without any objections.

     "And we're going to do that by practicing just as hard as the boys. Because apparently they practice harder than us."

"Are you implying that we're going to be better than boys?" Asked Reina, not quite understanding the question, "because you sound like an ultra feminist."

     "I mean... they do have practices in the mornings sometimes," added Alisa, scratching the top of her head. "That could be one thing we could do."

     Matsuda nodded. "We'll have morning practices starting tomorrow then. All of the gyms are opened at six o'clock in the morning - let's all gather here at half six."

     "And could we leave the gym open after practice?" Shyly asked Megumi, "you know... for those who want to practice more."

     "Of course. But it's open anyway, just so you know." Captain Matsuda sighed. "Hopefully we'll make it. For the past few years, our team hasn't gotten to nationals. They boys have had all the glory. But we've got some promising members this year, so we'll get further than ever before."

     Everyone nodded, and you could feel Megumi's elbow nudging you from your left. You grinned and nudged her back. "You're the promising one here," you whispered.

     Megumi quietly snorted. "I didn't say that you were the promising one, narcissist."

     But before you could respond to that, Captain Matsuda coughed loudly and assigned everyone something to practice on. "We won't be having a practice match between ourselves," she had said, "because I want everyone to work on their weakness."

     After she'd assigned everyone something to work on, Matsuda turned to you. "(Name)-chan... you need to work on..."

     She seemed to be struggling on something you can improve on. "Captain, there's obviously something I need to improve on!"

"I know, I know! I've written it somewhere on here... ah! Here." She showed you the piece of paper - beneath your name, she'd only written one thing: posture. "It's very clear to me that you've never had proper coaching and you've taught yourself. Of course, everything you do is absolutely spectacular and you're doing everything well... but you look a little bit stupid when you're doing it."

You sweat-dropped. You looked stupid?

Matsuda continued, "your knees are all crooked and you shove your behind out a little bit too far. You look a bit chavvy when you do that. And, miraculously, the ball manages to get to the other side of the net even though your arms are all wonky! Either luck is constantly on your side, or you've discovered a rather unique way of playing volleyball!"

"Right, yes, that's enough. Stop with the insults." You weren't quite sure if you were joking with that or if you were serious.

"But anyway. Watch what the others are doing, and copy what they look like."

——

By the end of practice, you'd incorporated a bit of everyone into your posture. You bent your knees as far down as Alisa, bit your lip like Megumi, squinted like Chiharu and bent your arms like Reina (the ginger-haired girl). As there wasn't a mirror to look in, you decided that you looked really cool.