The Unfamiliar Player | Kei Tsukishima

8 (八): Practice

5/1/2020 (72- 71 Days)

Karasuno played against Nekoma. [Name] couldn't help but notice a silver- haired, giant on Nekoma's team.

"He's half Russian. His name is Heiba Lev." Whispered Takeda- sensei as he noticed her stare.

"Ahh, I see." Nodding, she then looked at her cousin and Hinata. As she watched the game, it was quite hard for Hinata to make proper spikes as Lev- san was able to touch the ball in the slightest.

If anything, he even would just stand and his height alone, blocked the ball.

"You held back, didn't you?" Hinata yelled at her cousin, fists clenched.

"Me..? Holding back in volleyball?" Tobio said, his stare alone sent chills down her spine.

Standing up, [Name] was immediately worried as her cousin walked closer to Hinata. "Tobio- kun! Tobio- Stop!" She called, from the sideline.

Trying to ease her cousin. Takeda- sensei stood up and asked for a timeout. Hinata tried to step forward but was held back as Tanaka grabbed the back of his shirt.

"Calm down, already!" He said but was clearly ignored. "Don't you dare fight here!" Hinata's expression was livid as he wanted nothing but to smack Kageyama.

Tobio looked down and tensed. 'Did I subconsciously back down just now?'

He started to turn away but Hinata called out to him. "Don't stop, Kageyama!"

Tanaka had enough as he tried to talk sense. "I said, gather around!" Trying to get Hinata towards the group as there was supposed to be a time- out.

"Tobio, just come here." [Name] called out, clearly distressed. Finally, her cousin turned and walked towards her.

"Are you calm now?" She asked, as he just looked at her and shrugged.

Later that night, she saw as Kageyama refused to practice with Hinata. He also denied using the new quick during matches.

"What?" Hinata asked, clenching his fists.

"You're the one that told me not to stop, aren't you?" He said, turning his head to look at him.

"There's no point in both of us practicing right now." He grumbled and continued to place bottles on the ground, two steps apart.

"Okay." Hinata answered and ran off, asking Kenma to give him a toss.

___

Waking up early, [Name] got ready and went to the cafeteria to cook the food for everyone. Going into the kitchen, she went and got vegetables, a rice bag and pork. Setting them onto the table beside her, she tied her [hair color] locks into a ponytail and washed her hands.

"[Name]- chan, you're here already?" Turning, she saw the managers of Fukurodani, Yukie and Kaori.

"Hai, I thought that I should hurry since I know some of the guys have already woken up." She smiled, sheepishly.

"Ah, I'll help! What do you want me to do, chef?" Yukie asked, smiling.

"Can you please wash and cut up the vegetables?" [Name] asked, earning a 'Yes, ma'am!' from the manager. Kaori walked to the fridge to get tofu.

"I'll make tofu soup." She informed [Name] as the girl nodded and began to make pork cutlet.

Kyoko appeared next, as she went and got the rice bag, deciding to make plain and fried rice. Soon, Eri from Ubagawa High and Mako, from Shinzen High, appeared. The girls cooking eggs and making some bacon. Slowly, the guys started to file into the cafeteria.

The smell of food hit everyone's nostrils and filled the air. The guys started to line up to the table as [Name] started to put out the paper plates and tableware.

Looking up, the girl spotted her team members and waved at them. "Good morning!" She called, smiling at Suga and Nishinoya.

"Good morning [Name]- san!" Nishinoya chirped as the girl giggled.

Tsukishima couldn't help but scowl at the encounter. "Tsukki, are you alright?" Yamaguchi asked, the middle blocker shrugging it off.

As [Name] gave out plates to all the boys, she earned many 'thanks' and 'good morning' calls. "Thank you for the food, [Name]!" Asahi said, as he took the paper plate from her.

"Oh, it's no big deal! Plus I'm not the only one! Thank the other girls, too!" [Name] replied, motioning towards the girls serving the food to the guys infront of him.

"Will do!" He agreed, as he went to get his breakfast.

___

After the practice matches were over [Name] decided to help her cousin by tossing the ball. Each time, the ball went to the right, infront or behind each bottle, he tried to toss to.

"Damn it." He cursed as he put his hands on his knees to breathe.

"Kageyama, try to visualize it instead of trying to hit the bottle. Visualize a spiker, not a bottle." Keishin- sensei advised, before motioning [Name] to throw another one.

As she did, Tobio let out a breathe and tossed the ball, which landed perfectly on-top of a bottle, knocking it down. [Name] smiled at her cousin, encouraging him to make more tosses.

She felt happy to see her cousin relax and ease up. She noticed him stressing over many details and pushing himself too hard. Although she couldn't say anything herself, back in America, she did the same thing.

She practiced receives and tossing the ball in the air, hitting it as much as she could. Her role as a libero, she needed to be consistent and quick to be able to position herself, and passing the ball to the setter.

Keishin- sensei excused himself as he left her and Tobio to practice. "You could be a manager." Tobio said, looking at his cousin when they stopped to rest.

"Yeah, but I'm only staying here for a little bit.." She trailed off, smiling sadly.

"Why can't you stay? You told me that Oba- san and Oji- san were already having troubles finding a proper house." Tilting his head, he looked at his cousin for an answer.

"Because my mom has family in America. Her mom has lung cancer and would like to stay with her until she departs. And the fact that she struggles with speaking Japanese.." [Name] bit her lip and looked down.

"It's never too late to learn new things, plus I'm learning English. So I'll talk to her." Her cousin replied before drinking some water. 'Maybe.. just maybe.'

****
Kenma: "Vote and I'll give you a toss.."