The Smallest Of Crows

Chapter 14 - The Prefectures (3)

Ennoshita was caught up in his thoughts as he was walking across the court to get to his spot. He became self-conscious of being the substitute for Daichi, knowing how great he is, he couldn't even compare himself with how much of a hardworking captain Daichi was. He seemed in deep thought, as the others noticed how much trouble Ennoshita was causing for himself, deciding to help him ease up.

"Ennoshita-San, is it fine if we use a quick attack first?" Kageyama questioned the boy as he looked over at his underclassman and slowly nodded.

"Oh..uh, sure" he replied.

"Chikara!! Their #1 usually hits toward the outside! Remember that!" Nishinoya exclaimed.

"Uh..Right" he said, now looking at the libero.

"Um..." there was another voice that made Ennoshita look over and see Tanaka. His expression was full of guilt as he slightly bowed. "I'm sorry..." he said.

The next in line captain stared at the winged spiker before he gently patted his shoulder. "What are you so sorry for? It was bound to happen, even if not now then later. What's most important is, if you can take it away Asahi" Ennoshita moved out of the way as Asahi stepped up.

"We're glad that you're okay!" the timid winged spiker exclaimed.

"Ah, right" Tanaka smiled at this.

"Oii!!!" another voice yelled. They all looked as they saw their female coach as she smiled at them.

"Good luck you guys! I believe in you Tanaka-Senpai!!" she exclaimed before raising her hands and resting the tip of her fingers on her head to make a heart with her arms as she gave them a closed eye smile.

'An angel...' the boys all thought as they saw their cute coach cheering them on.

"Alright then guys, let's get out there and win this!" Ennoshita exclaimed.

"Yeah!!" The boys cheered.

The referee blew the whistle as they all got into position. Karasuno was going first as Ennotshita was serving.

When they started the game again, they weren't doing so hot as Wakutani was slowly catching up. As the match continued, Ennoshita started to be a bit hard on himself, wondering if he was even fit to be captain. Soon, the memory of him and the rest of the 2nd years walking home together started to play back in his mind.

"We'll be having the third years leading you guys all the way to spring finals. During that time, make sure to find your next captain to lead this club." Coach Ukai said while rubbing off his sweat with a towel as he looked at the 2nd years.

"It'd be best to figure it out now than later, so you know who to look up to later" Y/n chimed in with a smile while taking a sip from her water bottle.

The second years were now walking home together as they were thinking about what their two coaches said.

"A captain huh?" Tanaka questioned.

"It's obviously going to be Ennoshita, right?" Noya said with a smile while looking at his friends.

"Wha- Me??" He looked at the short male in shock and confusion.

"Well, yeah!" He said before finishing his ice cream with two bites. "I have a hunch that it'll be you!"

"Besides, you can handle the first years pretty well." Tanaka grinned and hit his friend on the back, making him go forwards a bit.

"Yeah but..I ran away..."  he replied while looking at the ground, remembering when he started to skip volleyball practice when the old Coach Ukai used to coach them.

"You came back though, right?" Nishinoya stated. He looked at him as the libero smiled at him. "That's what matters" he said before looking at his popsicle stick. "I WON!! I'm gonna get myself another one!!" He exclaimed with a grin and ran off

'Me being the new captain, huh..?' He thought.

Opening his eyes, he came back to the present as he had a stern look. "LETS GOOOOOOOOO" he yelled out as the game started. His teammates looked at him before smiling and nodding.

The boys started to get back in the groove as they were now at 23 points. The referee blew the whistle so Karasuno could put in their pinch server, Yamaguchi. The two childhood friends switched places as it was quite clear that the boy was scared out of his wits.

"Hey, Yamaguchi...You doing okay..?" Ennoshita questioned.

"I should be fine" Yamaguchi said, a small smile appearing as he recalled the small encouragement the blonde told him as they were trading places.

"Good..because I think I might just puke.." Ennoshita made eye contact with the green haired boy as he did in fact looked sick, seeming very pale.

"Wah! Do..do you need a docter!?" He exclaimed, now worried for his teammate. The whistle was soon blown to notify the players to start the game.

Yamaguchi went out of the court and took a deep breath. As the whistle was blown again to tell him to serve, he jumped a bit before throwing the ball in the air. Seeing that he threw it too low, he started to panic inside before he did a small running start before jumping and serving it to the other side.

As the ball flew over their part of the court, it hit the net, causing the green haired boy to get flashbacks of what happened when he was made to pinch serve before. But thankfully, instead of the ball not making it on the other side of the court, it tipped to the opponents team as it fell onto the ground as some of Wakutani's players tried to save it, but to no avail.

Yamaguchi was soon given another volleyball as he doubted himself. He confused the audience by doing a regular serve instead of a float serve. Even though both teams had to fight over who should get the point, Karasuno won in the end.

Both teams soon went over to the benches so they could take their break. While taking their break, a loud voice could be heard, as an obviously mad coach started to make his way towards Yamaguchi.

"Yaaammaaaguuchiiii!!!!" He yelled out while marching his way angrily towards the freckled face boy.

Quickly, Ennoshita went between his coach and teammate while looking his coach in the eyes. "Um, I think he's the person who knows better than any of us" he said.

Yamaguchi's eyes started to water a bit as a shoe was thrown into the fake blonde's head which only confused some of them.

"Dumbass!!" A voice exclaimed causing them to look over to see their female coach with only one shoe on as she hopped her way over on one foot over to the three males. "Get out of here you ass!" She scolded her brother.

"Hah!?" He retorted back as she picked up her shoe and hit his arm with it.

"You heard me!!" She yelled back. Putting her shoe back on, she started to push her brother away, huffing a bit. "Jackass..." she muttered before she went over to the other two boys. "I got it from here Ennoshita" she smiled at the second year as he only nodded and excused himself. The brown haired female stared at the green haired male as he only stared back, a bit tense and anxious on what she's going to say before she sighed. "You-"

"I'm sorry!!" He exclaimed and bowed to the girl at a 90 degree angle. He stayed tense as she looked at him, a soft smile making it's way to her face before she made him stop bowing and gently cupped his cheeks.

"Put more faith in yourself" she told him, her smile not leaving her face as his eyes started to water again until he had to wipe away his tears with his arms.

"Okay.." was all he said as she pulled him into a hug, him hugging her back as he cried into her shoulder.

The others watched as their coach consoled their teammate, seeming to be telling him something while rubbing his back.

Keishin on the other hand sighed, rubbing the back of his neck "She spoils them too much.." he said.

Takeda hearing this only made him chuckle. "I think it's a nice touch" he said.