Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

THIS WAS UNCANNY.

⌜ • ° + ° • ⌝

The whole of the Karasuno men's volleyball team thought as they gathered around the newest release of the long-awaited issue of the volleyball magazine.

"...girls shall be accepted this year?" Sugawara started reading, picking up the magazine from the circle of boys who were taking a break from their rigorous training.

They had just lost against Seijoh in the third round of the preliminaries and received news that Seijoh in turn, had lost against the team that held the third top ace: Shiratorizawa. Vowing to take on the challenge once more, with the promise of taking their upperclassmen to nationals in the upcoming Spring Tournament, they practiced, very hard.

This was one of their practice sessions, with their coach relentlessly making them do dive receives, block drills, and even spiking exercises; all in attempts to making the team stronger, enough to be the best in Miyagi.

With that said, the boys weren't robots, and not all of them had the ineffable amount of stamina like the orange-haired tangerine whose vertical jump has gotten better the past few weeks; they were resting, sitting in the middle of the gym with their towels wrapped around their necks, and water bottles scattered across the floor.

Their coach and captain had gotten a call, therefore leaving the boys to a much longer break that they didn't know they needed.

Surprisingly, it was Kiyoko who brought upon the volleyball magazine, saying something along the lines of an interesting announcement from the Japan Volleyball Association.

"GIRLS?!" Nishonoya and Tanaka perked up at the familiar word. Very much curious as the pretty setter continued on reading.

"Seems like the association's bored, they're accepting women to play in men's high school teams this year," Sugawara concluded. This caught the attention of everyone, voicing out how unbelievable it was for that to happen.

"That's weird, why would they do that?" Voiced Kageyama, forehead scrunched in confusion as his brain tried (but failed) to think of any reason why the association would do such a thing.

Sugawara shrugged and continued skimming the magazine for more information.

"It seems that they wanted to ride on the trend of women empowerment?" His voice turned into a murmur at the end of his sentence, genuinely confused.

"Oh! I heard from my mom! It was about that protest against women in sports! Man! The league was going crazy, it didn't know how to handle the insane amount of backlash!" Hinata cut in, shocking the whole team with his knowledge on something remotely different from volleyball--bordering political, and his choice of words.

"Hah, the shrimp actually knows something." Tsukishima teased.

"Hinata..." Tanaka started, displaying a very bewildered expression.

"You sounded smart just then..." Nishinoya finished, earning a blushing Shoyo from the backhanded compliment.

"I-it's just because my mom won't shut up about it!" He pouted.

"If it's a backlash, then is this their way of compensating? What a lot of bull--" Sugawara cut off Tsukishima, not wanting curse words to be apparent in the gym.

"What do you mean?" Tadashi asked, confused why his blonde friend showed some kind of interest to political matters.

"Yeah, isn't this actually kind of good for them to do?" Asahi hesitantly added, not absolutely sure of what was going on, but felt like he had to make a contribution.

Tsukishima rolled his eyes.

"Look, it's strategic. It's basically the middle of the season. Women playing volleyball are already in teams for the upcoming Spring Tournament. If they had merged the tournament, that would be a different story; but they deliberately decided to let girls have the option to join the men's league knowing full well that nobody's going to," He looked at his flabbergasted teammates.

"Did you understand all that you simpletons?" He scoffed.

"HAH?! WHY YOU COCKY LITTLE--" Tanaka had gotten up from his seat and started chasing the blonde middle blocker, who only smirked in return.

Sugawara nodded, understanding what Tsukishima meant.

"Well, it doesn't make a difference then--" His thought was cut when the gym doors suddenly opened, revealing his coach, the captain and a small looking girl with a very large beaming smile.

"Everyone gather 'round," Daichi instructed, looking a bit conflicted.

Sugawara noticed this and mouthed if the captain was okay, to which Daichi responded with an amused shrug, making the setter confused about the news that was to come.

"Everyone this is L/N Y/N." Ukai introduced the girl, sighing, but with a hint of an amused smile; already feeling tired from their earlier interaction.

The girl's smile got even wider, if that was possible; and displayed a 90-degree bow indicating respect.

"Hi!" Good god her voice was booming.

"My name's L/N Y/N! I'm looking forward to playing with all of you this year! Please take care of me!"

⌞ ° • + • ° ⌟

Chapter Text

"COME ON SENSEI."

⌜ • ° + ° • ⌝

A brown-haired girl pleaded, hands together in a form of a prayer; begging her homeroom teacher slash advisor of the men's volleyball team to let her play for the year.

"I even got my captain's permission! I really want to play in the Spring Tournament, so please let me!" She pouted, unknowingly releasing her cute aura that makes people melt, including Takeda-sensei.

He sighed in amusement. He had known the girl as one of his students in homeroom; she always seemed so bright and cheery, greeting him every day with a booming voice. The girl belonging to class 1-2, was an obvious indication that she was not as bright as the other students, having only volleyball in her head most of the time.

Instead of homework during study periods, he would catch her watching volleyball reruns on her phone, and even countless stacked papers about various spiking and blocking exercises and techniques. Her bag was void of books and instead filled with notebooks indicating her and her team's statistics; and she was always seen carrying her gym bag filled with, what he thought was a volleyball and more clothes for practice.

He would even see her practicing during breaks--sometimes with her upperclassman or captain, but mostly alone; practicing by a wall, spiking and receiving as if her life depended on it.

She breathed and lived volleyball, that much was obvious.

Therefore, it was a little bit unsettling when the usually cheery girl was downcasted for a whole week; she seemed so out of it, barely greeting the teachers when she passed them, and even barely showing a smile that wasn't forced. It wasn't until he heard of the recent loss of Karasuno that his student's dejection seemed to make sense. It didn't help that he also heard the news of the women's volleyball team not joining the Spring Tournament; to put it simply, he kind of pitied the small girl; she reminded him so much of another sunshine that would live and die for volleyball.

So, in the depths of his heart, he kind of expected this situation to happen. Once the volleyball association made a very sudden announcement of the eligibility of women to join the men's team for the said tournament, he knew that he should have predicted the small girl barging into his office right after school, with stacks of paper to prove the association's decision, to beg him to join the Karasuno men's volleyball team.

He released a combination of an exasperated and an amused sigh.

"I'm not so sure about that L/N-chan." He began, careful not to hurt the girl in any way; but she needed to know the truth--the risks and the limitations.

"We just have a few more months before the Spring Nationals, are you sure you can blend in with the team in that short amount of time?" He asked.

The girl was silent for a few seconds, seemingly thinking, before nodding vigorously.

"I can do it! I'm going to train harder than everyone else so I can keep up!" She looked at him with much determination and much tenacity than he ever saw at the girl before.

"I can jump very high! And my spikes are not that bad! I've been practicing really hard!" She continued, desperation now lacing her tone.

"L/N--" He tried to interrupt her, but failed as she continued, her eyes now downcasted with a hint of tears glistening her eyes. 

"Please sensei, please let me join. This might be my last chance at playing volleyball, anyway." She glanced away from the teacher.

This much surprised Takeda, was she quitting? Her next words cleared his thoughts though, but let him felt immense sympathy for the girl who only knew how to love the sport.

She kept her head down. "Michimiya-senpai told me there might not even be a women's volleyball club next year; turns out the administration's going to pull out the funding because we apparently weren't winning anything anyway." She muttered and sniffed.

By this point in time, Takeda knew more than anyone just how much the girl loved volleyball.

Therefore, Takeda had two choices: Reject the girl and crush her spirits; or accept the girl into the team, risking their dynamics and chemistry. Takeda thought hard, and glanced at the girl who ran all the way right after the bell rang, printed countless stacks of paper to prove her eligibility to join, and even cried in front of him; all for the sake of playing volleyball.

Before he was a coach or an advisor, Takeda was a teacher; and he believed that his students, especially their growth come before anything--and that included winning. For the nth time that afternoon, he released an exasperated sigh, but now with a small smile tugging at his lips.

"Okay." He softly answered, smiling fondly.

The girl's eyes widened, as she roughly brushed the tears that escaped her eyes.

She showed him the biggest smile she could muster before slinging her arms to the older man.

"WAAAAA, THANK YOU SO MUCH SENSEI! YOU'RE THE BEST!" She shouted, animated tears and joy running down her face. Takeda simply patted her back, chuckling softly.

Yeah. He decided,

His students definitely came first.

⌞ °   •    +   •   °   ⌟

Chapter Text

"WHAT?"

⌜ • ° + ° • ⌝

Ukai was bewildered. It was like he was delivered the news that his store was going to be taken away by some titan from an anime he recently watched. He and Daichi were called by Takeda to come into the faculty room, something about some important news. He thought it would be an update for the training camp in Tokyo, or even an announcement from organizers about the team match-ups. What he didn't expect, however, was the news that they were going to have an additional member--a girl at that.

Besides him, Daichi was of the same state; seemingly looking at Takeda as if he was growing a second head.

Their mouths hung open as both waited for the teacher to explain further; trying to pay no mind to the girl who was still obviously beaming, looking at them with absolute glee.

Takeda rubbed the back of his neck, glancing away from their stares, and laughed nervously.

He knew they were going to react this way, so he had to ease the situation into them slowly.

"A-ano," He started, stuttering.

"T-The volleyball association recently announced the eligibility of women to join high school teams; nobody thought anyone was going to join because it's in the middle of the season, but well; I guess L/N-san is the exception." He sighed and gave a soft smile.

Takeda explained the whole situation to both men, stating how the girls' volleyball team wasn't going to join in the Spring Tournament this year, and how this was possibly the brown-haired girl's last chance at playing nationals. He stated details very carefully and noticed how there seemed to be a sense of understanding present in both men's eyes.

With this, Takeda then put his hand on the back of the girl and pushed her forward, urging her to introduce herself.

Taking this as a sign, Y/N walked forward and bowed.

"Hi, coach! Captain! I'm your new member!" She pointed at herself with an extravagant pose and showed her complete set of teeth in one big smile.

"L/N Y/N…" Finally out of their trance, Daichi mumbled her name as if he heard it somewhere before.

Then it clicked. She was the boisterous underclassman that Michimiya would always brag to him about--the energetic first year!

"You're L/N Y/N, right? Member of the women's volleyball team?" Y/N visibly brightened at this.

"YES! And your Daichi! Captain of the Karasuno's volleyball team! I'm looking forward to playing with you! I've heard so much about you from Michimiya-senpai! About how your receives were always BLAAAAAA and GUUUUUUSH and WOOOOOOOOSH! I've seen your reruns, you guys were great! Especially when--" Y/N tried to blabber to her senpai about how amazing he was, when Ukai cut her off; noticing how Daichi was slowly inching away from the compliments of the small girl, a blush evident on his cheeks.

"Tell me, something kid." Her attention was shifted to Ukai.

"Yes, coach!" She imitated the military pose, earning amused glances from the three gentlemen.

"Are you sure you can keep up with boys? The training is going to be rigorous for a girl." He asked.

He wanted to test how determined this girl was, as the boys' volleyball team was going to be a completely different environment than what she was used to all these years; and since they were all aiming for nationals, bummers and losers should not take any position in the team--even if they were a mere bench warmer, everyone has to have the spirit to win.

Her smile shifted; her eyes looked deadly.

The three men visibly flinched from the sudden change in her aura.

Y/N simply tilted her head.

"What does my gender have to do with keeping up? All I have to do is work hard, right? All I have to do is persevere until I win." Her gaze remained deadly; tenacity oozing through her light-brown pupils.

He sweat-dropped; he was reminded of the same small tangerine monster that had exactly the same expression.

He sighed and let out a chuckle.

"Okay, if you say so."

He stood up, and with him followed Daichi.

They stopped at the entrance of the faculty before turning back.

"Come on then, kid. Let's go meet the team."

⌞ °   •    +   •   °   ⌟

Chapter Text

"NICE RECEIVE!"

⌜ • ° + ° • ⌝

Daichi shouted; complementing the receive while still keeping his eyes focused on the ball.

The scoreboard showed 20-23, in favor of their team.

After the very surprising entrance of their new recruit, they opted to continue practicing. With the conclusion that they would assess how the girl plays in the sport just a bit later.

The team was expectedly shocked at first, as having a girl join their team was a bit uncanny; but after they went through the same explanation that Takeda gave both Daichi and Ukai; they at least seemed to understand how the situation unfolded itself.

A round of fast introductions was made as they opted to quickly play a practice match, having their water break dragged on for so long; but they did promise to talk to the girl properly after their match. They did, however, let the girl sit on the sidelines first, to observe how the chemistry and dynamics were within the team. Y/N beamed and obeyed immediately, sitting beside Kiyoko--whom she now knew as the manager, as if she was a benched player.

The game began not soon after; and as such, the eyes of the girl immediately shifted, making some of the members shiver as she observed and pierced through their playing.

As the ball arched upwards towards Kageyama; the setter slightly glanced at the orange-head's way as he tricked the blockers into marking him, leaving Tanaka wide open to spike a point.

"SHAAA" Tanaka cheered and high-fived both Hinata and Kageyama, albeit the latter reluctantly.

They then heard a booming voice, accompanied by the sound of a wood scraping the floor.

"WAAAA! Tanaka-senpai, you went WOOSH! SO COOL!" All their heads snapped to the direction of the benches, where they could see the brown-haired girl standing, beaming with glee as she mushed about how cool her senpai was.

Tanaka blushed deep red; scratching his nape in embarrassment but chuckled loudly.

"YUUSH! Your senpai is so cool!" He gave a thumbs up in her direction, to which the girl agreed with a vigorous nod.

The game continued on; the other members now fired up to show their own set of skills to the new recruit.

Being the great libero that he was, Nishonoya easily received Kageyama's serve, sending it over to Sugawara; who set it high enough for Tsukishima to do a feint.

"It's funny how you still fall for that," Tsukishima teased the freak duo for failing to block him.

Before they can even retort, however, they heard a comment from the side that made them hunch to their stomachs for laughing too hard.

"Wow! So the french fry call also do that!" Y/N spoke innocently, earning a glare from Tsukishima and a laugh from all the other members.

"She-she called you french fry!" Hinata wheezed, mentally thanking the taller man for not introducing himself so Hinata could fake the new recruit into calling him names.

Tsukishima narrowed her eyes at the girl.

"Oh yeah, we'll see what you can do later, shrimp." He scoffed.

The girl, instead of taking offense, displayed a wide smirk. "Okay! Whatever you say french fry!"

This time, it was Yamaguchi who served; failing to do the float serve he's been practicing on, his serve turned into a normal one, which was then easily received by the captain.

The ball arched into the hands of Kageyama once more, with two spikers running up to the net, anticipating his set. Hinata then glanced sideways and made eye-contact with the brown-haired girl, as if telling her to watch him; before closing his eyes and hitting the ball that Kageyama so carefully pinpointed in his direction.

The team, having experienced their quicks so frequently paid no mind to this; but a certain player was buzzing with excitement at what she saw. Her lips were trembling, and her eyes shining in nothing but amazement.

In a very boisterous voice, she shouted: "SUGOOOOI!"

The volleyball team looked at her with mild surprise but was replaced with a gentle smile, understanding her amazement at the freak quick that stole their breaths away the first time they saw it too.

The girl was already jumping excitedly.

"The ball went WOOOSH! And Hinata-san went SHIING, and then BAM! SO COOL!" She made exaggerated moves as if spiking a volleyball, making the boys sweatdrop as they were reminded at yet another person who acts like that.

Speaking of that person, Hinata already went outside the court to talk to his--what he thought to himself was, a new friend. They were making exaggerated motions with their hands while jumping repeatedly.

Tsukishima visibly irked, taking his water from the manager and gulping a large amount. The first set had finished: 21-25, in favor of the opposing team; and while losing wasn't anything new, he was still annoyed that the new girl called him a french fry. Must be the other shrimp's doing. He thought.

"Are you okay, Tsukki?" Yamaguchi asked, noticing his friend's scrunched-up expression.

Tsukishima sighed. "I feel like there's going to be a new simpleton in our team."

On the other side of the court, the captain smiled amusingly as he watched the two rays of sunshine interact with one another.

"So this is what you were conflicted about huh." Sugawara came from beside him, gazes still locked at the girl, who was now apparently bothering their first-year setter, asking him to set for her just like how Hinata did when they first met.

Daichi nodded. "When the coach and I talked to her, she seemed so determined; she reminds me so much of Hinata it's actually a little unsettling." He let out a small chuckle.

"The resemblance is there, that's for sure. But how are we so sure she's going to be good for the team? I adore Hinata but even he offers up some skills." Sugawara reasoned. Musing how determination enough wasn't going to bring them to nationals, they have to have at least decent skills too.

"Well then, let's find out for ourselves, shall we." He smirked.

"L/N-san." He called.

The girl stopped from talking to her newly-befriended senpais who absolutely thought she was adorable and ran to Daichi. She mocked another salute.

"Yes, captain!" She beamed.

Daichi smiled, "It's time for you to show your skills. You're going to be subbing me in the second set."

He was half-expecting the girl to be at least nervous; but what he saw just reaffirmed his suspicions on the girl's personality.

She smiled viciously.

"Yes, captain!"

While the team absolutely thought the new girl was cute; She was small, she was friendly and she was even loud. She got them to feel comfortable around her very quickly, not hesitating to make small talks and rounds of introduction.

Therefore, most of the boys really felt that the girl could easily fit well within the team.

But that didn't mean they were going to go easy on her.

After all, they were here with the promise of bringing their upperclassmen to nationals; and they weren't going to stop until they've reached their goal.

The points were now 10-13, in favor of the vice-captain's team.

It took a little while for Y/N to blend well with her team. She got in a decent amount of spikes, and more decent receives; but she has yet to show her specialty: BEING A DECOY.

Y/N let out a breath of air, focusing as the ball curved upwards into the hands of the setter.

She analyzed her surroundings and got into thinking; Narita-san was too far from the net--he would be too obvious if the setter gave the ball to him, making him easier to block overall. Tanaka-san was open, but there were two blockers marked at his spot; Kinoshita-san had been the one to just touch the ball, which meant--

She cut her thoughts short as she sped through from her position all over to the other side of the net; when she reached just about the border, she made brief eye contact with Kageyama and smirked, before she jumping and extending her arms as if she was going for a spike;

The other team was surprised at this--at her speed and at her vertical jump, and tried desperately to block her; knowing full well that with her peak, it would be too easy to score a point; but the ball was already rolling on their side of the net before they can even realize what happened.

Turns out, Y/N had deliberately made herself a decoy so Hinata could have a clear opening for their freak quick. She knew Tsukishima was marking Hinata despite being on Tanaka's side in the court, and there was Asahi waiting in the back as well; so she thought she needed to do something in order to shift the attention away from the tangerine and make a clear point.

She landed gracefully on the floor, taking deep breaths. The court was silenced.

Out of every volleyball player the team has encountered, they only knew of one person that could make freakishly agile movements in the court; but now, this girl with a striking resemblance in personality also had the same capability as their orange-head teammate. They were flabbergasted.

"SUGEEEEE!" Hinata broke the quiet atmosphere, gushing over the opening that she created for him.

The wall had never been so clear before, as it was always Hinata who tricked the blockers; but to have someone trick them for him, was a whole new experience.

In the benches, Ukai and Daichi shared a knowing look and smirked.

They knew,

That there was a new monster on the court.

⌞ °   •    +   •   °   ⌟

Chapter Text

●╭╮╭╮╭╮ALL ABOUT L/N Y/N╭╮╭╮╭╮●

∘₊✧───basic───✧₊∘

✿ name: l/n y/n

✿ birthday and zodiac sign: birthdate [zodiac sign]

✿ gender: female [she/her]

✿ race: japanese

✿ language: japanese

✿ class: middle-upper class

✿ grade: first-year at karasuno high

∘₊✧───appearance───✧₊∘

✿ hair: color - brunette (brown)
length - shoulder-length
hairstyle - usually worn into braids

✿ eyes: light brown

✿ height: 155cm [5'1"]

∘₊✧───personality───✧₊∘

✿ mbti

enfp- L/N Y/N is as energetic as she can get. she could be dubbed as the second hinata, always being enthusiastic about anything and everything. she is almost always loud and beaming, showing a very bright smile that could be mistaken as the sun; it doesn't help that she greets anyone who she comes across with, with a very booming voice. very carefree when off-court, but very very serious when playing the sport she loves. 

✿ skills/ hobbies

the girl lives and breathes volleyball. she started playing when she was eight, and despite not getting any taller, the girl still continued on with practicing and joining various women's volleyball teams in her junior high and even winning various awards by the time of her graduation. she eventually joined the women's volleyball team in karasuno, not being able to go to shiratorizawa because of her grades. she felt disappointed when the captain decided not to push for the spring nationals; she always felt that the team was disheartened and tried her hardest to lift their spirits up, but the sport did not seem to resonate with them as much as it did with her. hearing the announcement, however, she opted to join the volleyball team instead; at least for this year. anything to play more volleyball!

✿ grades
hates all subjects except pe and arts

●╭╮╭╮╭╮ALL ABOUT L/N Y/N╭╮╭╮╭╮●