How to fly with clipped wings (English ver.) HAIKYUU!! FAN FICTION

Chapter 5: The Practice Game

Mikaela arrived at the gym at 4:30 for Karasuno's practice game against Ouginishi High School. She was wearing her new jacket- God, it was so comfortable- and long black track pants. When she got there, some of the boys were already warming up, and Shimizu was waving at her.

"Could you set up folding chairs on that side of the court, Mikaela?" she asked. "Eight of them?"

"Sure," she replied, hauling away folding chairs to set up the court. Her head was buzzing- she was really looking forwards to seeing Kageyama and Hinata's killer quick.

"Mikaela-san!" Hinata called out. "Do you need help?!"

She shook her head. "No, I'm fine. And just Mikaela."

Mikaela's eyes widened as Hinata smacked himself across the face with both hands, huffing. "We absolutely won't lose," he said, the aura around him changing from exciting and friendly to serious and dark in less than a second. She blinked, then grinned. The tiny boy had such a strong drive to win.

"Mikaela-chan!" she heard someone yell. Mikaela turned around and saw Yachi running towards her, carrying a camera and dressed in a pale collared shirt and pants. "I came!"

"Thank you so much," the black-haired girl replied, smiling. "And just Mikaela is fine." Shimizu nodded at them both- Mikaela had proposed her idea to the manager, who had run it through with the coach and teacher and had agreed.

Yachi smiled sheepishly, and just before Hinata could bombard her with questions, Daichi called them over to line up. Shimizu gestured for Mikaela to join as well, and Mikaela couldn't help but notice how tall everyone else on the other teams were. Volleyball players were huge. When she played, she was decently tall- standing at five foot seven. Boys were a completely different level.

Everyone started warming up, and Mikaela ran around with Shimizu, helping set everything up. Then, Daichi called, "We're starting soon, so get changed."

The boys all murmured in assent, and to Mikaela's surprise, starting stripping off their shirts right in front of her. Her face flushed red as Shimizu whispered, "You'll get used to it." But Mikaela didn't know if she'd ever get used to it. Some of them were easy on the eyes, too... She shook herself as they finished changing into Karasuno's signature dark blue and orange.

"They're all so disorganized," she murmured aloud, smirking.

Shimizu laughed. "Yeah, but when they play, they sync together really well."

Mikaela watched. The line of the volleyball court almost seemed to be an alternate universe- on one side, the team was loud, funny, and goofy, and when they passed the line, the atmosphere changed and everything got serious. She watched the ace's spikes and the vicious power behind them with awe. Daichi's receives were incredibly dependable and stable and always managed to get to the setter. Nothing she could do, of course.

And then Hinata moved so fast she nearly missed it. He was up in the blink of an eye, and Mikaela watched in fascination as Kageyama's set sailed straight under his palm. She beamed wildly- Kageyama was matching up with someone, for the first time.

"A delay of even one step," Shimizu murmured from beside her, "and they'll already be unable to catch him."

"His speed is incredible," she agreed. Then, she frowned.

Shimizu watched her. "What is it?"

"The only problem is," Mikaela said quietly, "Hinata doesn't have much choice of what he's doing when he spikes. I'll bet other teams catch on quickly, and as fast as it is, it becomes easy to predict the ball's course."