Fly (Keishin Ukai) - COMPLETED

25 - Team Growth

"YUKI, YOU'RE HERE!" Yú yelled as she entered the gym. He ran over to her. "Did you do it?" he whispered, "did you talk to him?"

"Yeah, I did, t-thank you," she smiled and ruffled his hair.

"WHOO HOO!" He cheered, jumping up and punching the air. "NOW YOU CAN SHOW EVERYONE YOUR JUMP SERVE!" Her cheeks grew red as the team looked over to them. It was apparent he had already told them about it before she got there.

"Uh - I-I-"

"Would be good practise for you and Dachi to receive it, and could be good for Asahi to learn from," Keishin walked in and added. She looked to him, surprised.

"Are you s-sure?" Out of everyone, Yuki thought he would be the last one to support her."Yeah, just don't get hurt, okay?" She smiled and nodded. He walked over to the boys to set them up. She walked over to the edge of the court. Suga passed her a ball. She bounced the ball twice before looking up. Daichi and Yú were on the other side of the court in their ready stance. Both were smirking as they waited for her incoming hit.

Yuki glanced to the left quickly, everyone's sights on her. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She wondered if this is how she felt when serving in a match. All focus on her, waiting in anticipation. The pressure would not be the same as in a game, but she did not want to mess it up, not when Yú had spoken so proudly of her.

Her eyes shot open, and she held the ball out. Keishin blew his whistle. Her eyes found where she was targeting, in between Daichi and Yú. They would have to communicate to get the ball, and that way, it would at least give them a chance to try and receive it. She threw the ball into the air. One-step. Two-step. Three-step. JUMP!

Everyone's eyes stayed on her as she shot into the air. Despite Asashi seeing it before, he still was just as starstruck as everyone else. Kageyama's jaw dropped, Tuskishima seemed unbothered but was secretly impressed, and Keishin smirked. Yú was unphased by her action, already seeing it before and was the first to move, Daichi seemed too in awe to register what was happening. All eyes stayed on the ball as it flew past the net, Yú got behind it, smirking, thinking he would stop it, but when the ball hit his arms, it flew up, and far out of bounds, even in a match no one would be able to get it.

For a moment, it was silent. Yuki stood tall with a grin. Her breathing slightly faster than usual. She looked around and saw herself standing centre court. Hundreds of people in the audience, all standing and clapping. The banner 'Fly' stood out to the left. Saeko was cheering loudly in the front. Not much further down was Old Coach Ukai, smirking, his arms folded over his chest, and beside him was Keishin, clapping and cheering loudly. Old Coach Ukai faded and in his place stood Tanaka, his jaw hanging open.

"THAT WAS TOTALLY AWESOME!" He yelled. The rest of the team agreed, praising her on her serve. She looked to her red hand, unable to get rid of her smile, before closing it into a fist.

After that day, the boys respected her far more than before. It was never that they disrespected her, but more now they listened more intently to everything she said. The following week was filled with training and working. If she were not working at the store with Keishin, she would be somewhere working with the team. Sometimes she was with Hinata and Old Coach Ukai, helping with his spikes. Other times she was with Asashi, helping his serves, Yú would be there too, improving his receives and starting working on his sets. He wanted to be able to set for his team if Kageyama or Suga ever touched the ball first. It was not something that would happen often, but if I did, it was always great to have a back up such as that.

When there was nothing to do at the store, Keishin and Yuki would look through footage of any and every volleyball team, going from professionals teams to high school teams they would play against in the prelims. Karasuno needed more tricks up their sleeve, and the two were getting excited with ideas. They got some of the team together and showed them a video of a 'synchronise attack'. It is when the whole team would run at the same time for a spike. It was a powerful tool if done correctly because the opposing team would not know who to block, but it does have a flaw. If the spike was blocked, there would be no one to dig up the rebounded ball. It was a risk, but a risk worth taking.

Surpinsgly enough, Yuki found herself working with Kageyama a lot more than expected. He was a setter after all, and she usually was a spiker, she did not think she would be much help, but Keishin had told her that Hinata and Kageyama had a fight of sorts, and she could feel the tension between them. Right now, he did not have his usual upbeat friend, and the last thing she wanted was Kageyama getting into his own head. So while Keishin was helping the others, she threw the ball for him to set. At first, he too was surprised to see she was helping, he was sure she would be more useful for helping others, but he did not complain. After seeing her jump serve, he wanted nothing more but her advice and help.

"It's okay, go a-again," she would say multiple times to him as he started to grow frustrated every time he missed. He was attempting to do a set that would help Hinata spike better. She liked to call it the 'float drop', where it would stay in the air for a moment, giving time for the spiker to analyse where to hit it before dropping straight down. It was an incredibly hard thing to do for any player, and Yuki found it admirable that he was trying to learn it to help Hinata. If the two could combine their new skills, she had no doubt they could get to nationals.

"Kageyama, it's okay." She walked over to him, they were just over ten minutes in, and she could see he was already losing his nerve. "Try p-picture a wall where the water bottle is. And try to get as close to t-the wall as possible, but don't hit it. Stop the ball i-inches before it, okay?" Kageyama gave a stern nod. She hoped that imagining something more physical would help him understand where the ball needed to go more. It was hard enough as it is to do the set he was attempting, but also trying to imagine where Hinata would be was even more challenging. A wall was simpler, easier to see.

"You g-got this." He nodded again as she passed the ball to him. She watched closely as his eyes glanced to where he wanted to set. His hands cupped the ball, and his arms bent down before launching it behind him. Yuki had not meant to hold her breath, she had watched him do the same thing a hundred times now, but this felt like the one. It sped to its peak, then suddenly slowed, the ball still spinning, but floated in the same spot for a moment, before dropping to the floor, and hitting the water bottle.

"YES!" They both cheered. Yuki ran over and gave him a high-five.

"Good job!" She told him grinning and ruffling his hair. That was the first time she felt proud like a coach. He had been struggling to do it for a few days now, and she could see his frustrating building. "Again?"

"Again."

Slowly but surely his sets were becoming more consistent, and on the last day, he asked her an unexpected question.

"Can I try set for you? Using this technique? I've haven't tried it in any matches yet, and wanted to try it with someone before Toyko." Yuki was taken back. She was not sure why, but she felt a ping of pride hit her chest. Kageyama was rather particular, he wanted only the best, and for him to ask her to hit his set, she finally realised how he saw her.

"S-sure, but only a few, everyone w-will be here soon for some games." He agreed, and they took their positions. She passed the ball to him and started her run; he set it, she watched it and jumped at its peak. For a moment she was awe, the ball just sat in the air for a second, allowing her time to think clearly on where to hit it. It was only a moment, but for people like her and Hinata, it was enough to give them the edge in mid-air battle. She could see the court clearly, and if there were any blockers she was sure she could easily get passed them.

They did a few attempts, some of hits sets were too long or too short, but she was always able to hit them nonetheless. It was not perfect, but Kageyama was getting better, and to finally set the ball for an actual person was progress in itself.

The rest of the team arrived just as the two did their final spike. "Good job," she told Kegayama before walking over to Keishin as he entered the hall.

"How did it go?" he asked her.

"Good, he asked me to h-hit some of his sets. Hopefully, that'll help him out when it c-comes to actual matches." His eyebrows scrunched together. "They were just some sets, nothing d-dangerous," she reassured him, though his stern expression did not let up. "Stop worrying so much," she giggled.

"I can't help it!" He replied, his face softening when he looked to her. "I just don't want to get hurt. Is that a bad thing to want?"

"No, it's sweet." Part of her wanted to go on her tiptoes and give him another kiss on the cheek, but she stopped herself. The time she did it in the car last week was entirely on instinct; she had not meant to, it's like her body took control. However, she realised he did not seem to mind it, and she wondered what if he did see her as a friend before, but now they spend more time together, he saw her as more? She craved for the answer but did not want to be distracted from the team. What if she kissed him and he rejected her? She would never live down the embarrassment, and the awkwardness would take away from Karasuno.

"Now, that it's summer vacation, we can practise from morning to night!" Takeda started, the boys had just finished their practice match against each other. "And starting tomorrow, we'll return to the Toyko away games. This time, we'll be there for a solid week! This is the first and last long-term training camp before the spring tournament prelims. Let's make the most of this opportunity, so we have no regrets entering the spring tournament prelims!"

"YEAH!" The team cheered, including herself. The speech even got her excited, and she was not even playing.

The last week she had grown a lot closer to the team. She had spent a lot of time with them individually and in groups. She wanted nothing more but to see them succeed; they had passion and drive that motivated her to work harder every day. She learnt from them as much as she learnt from her. As silly as it sounded, they taught her what it was like to be part of a team again. She had been with Karausno for a while now, but being with the boys for hours on end, talking, laughing and playing, something about that week clicked differently.