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

Chapter 29: The Nosebleed

Mikaela was too excited to sit still on their way to Sendai City Gymnasium.

It was finally October 25th- finally time for their playoffs. Why such a long break between qualifiers and playoffs anyways? When she had looked it up, she realized it was because the qualifiers were spread out depending on the area (there were a heck of a lot of teams, which led to a heck of a lot of playoffs) so the most recent qualifiers had just finished up two weeks ago.

The bus ride was tense, and Mikaela wasn't surprised. If they lost, it'd be the third years' last volleyball game. Regardless, she didn't expect them to lose: not to their first match, not to Aoba Johsai, not to Shiratorizawa. Not to anyone.

Their first match was against a school called Johzenji. From what she'd learned, the team had a reputation for horsing around on court and keeping things as enjoyable as they could. She'd even managed to dig up an interview with the coach from last year, when the Johzenji team had made it to the semifinals, and discovered that they liked to practice two versus two. She had detailed profiles on most of their players- some were a bit sparse in detail.

The bus pulled to a stop and she was one of the first to her feet, lightly punching Kageyama in the shoulder. "Ready?"

He shrugged. "Yep."

"You could at least sound more excited," she teased, practically skipping down the steps off the bus. "It's playoffs."

"Yep," Kageyama replied casually, and Mikaela sighed, falling into step next to Shimizu.

The team was oddly somber as they headed to the front door, jackets tight around their shoulders and heads down. Mikaela was eager to not be infected with the increasingly depressing atmosphere, but as she was about to tap Hinata on the shoulder, he took off, screaming at the top of his lungs.

"Oi! No getting a head start, runt!" Kageyama yelled, tearing off after him.

Mikaela laughed, and the depressing mood that had been suffocating the team seemed to vanish. "Sometimes it really seems that Hinata and Kageyama live on animal instinct," Yamaguchi muttered to himself, and Tsukishima grumbled something about comparing the two of them to insects. Sugawara and Daichi exchanged a look and grinned at each other. Tanaka and Nishinoya burst into snickers.

She turned to Shimizu. "They'll do great today," she said enthusiastically.

"They will," the older manager agreed. Shimizu smiled at her. "You seem awfully chipper."

Mikaela shrugged. "I'm just excited for the game, I guess-"

She stopped as she heard Hinata cry out in surprise. Mikaela and Shimizu glanced up in unison at Hinata, who was staring up at an older boy with a yellow jacket on and slicked-back hair. Red flags immediately popped up in Mikaela's head- Johzenji's school colour was yellow, and she recognized the boy from a good bit of social media stalking. She immediately glanced down at her notebook, flipping to her page for the Johzenji players, because she recognized this guy, he was the captain-

"Terushima Yūji," she said aloud, surprised.

Asahi turned to her. "What'd you say?"

She was about to respond when Hinata spoke up again, and Mikaela turned back to the conversation at hand. The Johzenji captain, Terushima, was glancing at the team, his eyes scanning the team. "Oh, you," he said loudly, pushing Hinata out of the way. "And that means- Hey, sweetie!"

For a moment, Mikaela thought his comment was directed at her, and she was about to panic until she saw Shimizu duck her head and glance away. He's met her before? He's met Hinata before? What's going on-