A/N: Hello, readers! Welcome to another chapter! Yachi is finally introduced! Enjoy!

edited on july 2nd, 2021 @ 3:57am

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CHAPTER NINETEEN - DIRECT SUNLIGHT

AFTER TAKEDA STATED THAT HIDEAKI'S four teammates were going to need to study for the upcoming exams, the four started panicking, which caught the black haired male off guard when they started yelling. Tanaka and Nishinoya started to run off.

"Hey, there's nowhere to run! Ennoshita, grab them!" Daichi called out as Ennoshita nodded and got in front of the other two second-years.

"Got it!" He assured, grabbing the two.

Hideaki glanced over and flinched when he saw a pale and panicking look on Hinata's face. "Fail... Fail... What counts as a failing grade?" He questioned, making Hideaki and Sugawara stare at him.

"That's your first question?" Sugawara replied back, as Hideaki just watched everything unfold.

"Kageyama isn't breathing!"

Hideaki looked over to see that Kageyama being all pale as paper and unmoving as a statue with Yamaguchi freaking out over him. "Since we said we were going to continue club activities, we have to at least make decent grades." Sugawara stated with a sigh of exhaustion as Hideaki watched Ennoshita drag Tanaka and Nishinoya over to them.

"You shouldn't fail." Tsukishima grins down at the two second-years.

"Nope." Ennoshita agreed, smirking as well.

Hinata was the first to speak. "M-Maybe if we beg the vice principal..." He asked but Hideaki cut him off.

"Why don't you try really hard and not fail the exam?" Hideaki stated as Tsukishima nodded in agreement.

"Even if we get the vice principal's permission, if you have to take supplementary classes, those will take priority." Takeda informed, making Hinata gasp dramatically as if his whole world came crashing down.

Hinata suddenly grabbed Ukai. "Coach!" He exclaimed, desparate for help.

"W-Well, this isn't something you're gonna be able to avoid as a student." Ukai stated with a sheepish look, as he didn't meet Hinata's eyes.

"But..." Hinata started to whine, but was interrupted by Ukai.

"You need willpower! You need to believe you can do it!" Ukai encouraged as Hinata still looked panicked.

"Philosophical stuff? No, that's fine. Please teach me!" Hinata exclaimed as he begged the coach to help him out.

"Hinata, I didn't really want to bring this up..."

Hinata looked up at the coach who was staring down at him with a serious expression.

"...but do I look like someone who got good grades?"

Hinata gasped like everyone was against him as he falls to his knees. Everyone watched as Hideaki frowned a little, he sighed and walked up to him.

"Hinata, I'm sure you don't have to worry this much about it." Hideaki tried to reassure him.

Hinata turned and stared at him. "I've never got a double-digit score on any of my quizzes. Will I still be okay?" Hinata asked innocently. Hideaki blinked at him.

"Is... Is he serious?"

Hideaki twitched his eye, and just backed away as Hinata continued to have a vacant expression. Hideaki couldn't help but glance over to Nishinoya and Tanaka, to see how they were doing, only to jump back when they were on their knees praying.

"Hey! Stop it with the bodhisattva faces, you two!" Sugawara yelled at the duo, coming up beside them.

Takeda suddenly had a panicked look as he must have concluded that the four were helpless, unless a miracle happened, it made everyone panic.

"Sensei, pull yourself together!"

"Ah, the sound of anguish."

Hideaki sighed and dead panned at his four teammates. "Idiots. They're all idiots..." He thought as he was getting annoyed with all the commotion.

"Get ahold of yourselves!" Daichi yelled, making Hideaki look at him. "We still have time until exams start. There's no way Karasuno could bring our best without these four idiots! Not a chance!"

The four stared at him, or more like Tanaka and Nishinoya had questioning looks at Daichi's words, with Hinata having a blank face trying to wake up a passed out Kageyama.

"I don't know whether to be happy or sad..." Tanaka mumbled as Hideaki noticed Daichi had an intense aura around him.

"We're gonna do this. We're all going to Tokyo!" He declared as Hideaki rubbed his temples from all the yelling.

"I swear, my teammates are all on crack..." Hideaki thinks to himself.

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"Listen up, you guys. The first new rule from now on..." Daichi spoke as everyone moved to club room, Hideaki had his top off, which exposed his abs, but he could care less at the moment. He was trying to locate his other shirt.

"...is that you will not fall asleep in class!"

Hideaki heard the four tense at those words. "That's the first priority?" Asahi mumbled, glancing over. Hideaki was busy trying to look for his shirt.

"Where did I put it?" He thought.

"Pulling an all-nighter with nothing but guts keeping you going... screwing up in your classes and in club... It's all absolutely unreasonable!" Daichi said making the four flinch at his words.

"Right..." They all whimpered.

Hideaki sighed and continued digging in his bag. "We're heading out." Tsukishima informed.

"R-Right, good job." The others said as they leave.

"It will be all right. I mean, you guys passed your high school entrance exams." Sugawara stated with a calm and assuring voice.

"Suga!" Tanaka had cried out, happy to hear that Sugawara had faith in them.

"If you fall asleep in class, you'd better be prepared for the concequences."

Sugawara's words made Tanaka gulp as the calm aura around Sugawara turned dark in a matter of seconds.

"Kageyama..." Hideaki heard Hinata whisper, which caught Hideaki's interest as he looked over with raised eyebrows to see him whispering something to Kageyama. Hinata whispered until Kageyama scowled and snapped.

"What? No!" He announced at whatever Hinata had suggested.

"You have no right to be picky. If we fail the exam, we can't go on the trip! It's Nekoma! And all the powerhouses in Tokyo are gonna be there, right? You're okay with not being able to go? You told Ushiwaka that you'd become the best setter!" Hinata went off, as Hideaki watched the duo in slight amusement.

Kageyama stiffened then scoffed as he turned away. Hideaki was curious as to what made Kageyama so annoyed but decided it was best not to question it. He heard his phone buzz. He took his phone out, seeing there was a text from his boyfriend.

Tōru 💙:
> Aki-chan! What do you say we hang out? It's been a while since it's been just us.

Aki-chan:
Sure. Practice just ended anyway.  <

Hidekai dropped his phone in his bag and dug deeper, finally finding his shirt.

He placed the black shirt over his body and zipped up his volleyball bag, swinging his bag over his shoulder.

"I'm leaving." Hideaki called out. Everyone said their goodbyes as the black haired male headed out of the club room.

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Hideaki used his key that Oikawa gave him to enter his house. Oikawa came out of the kitchen, a piece of milk bread in his mouth.

"Aki-chan, do you—"

"No."

"But I haven't even—"

"I unfortunately know what you're gonna ask, Tōru." Hidekai interrupted him.

Oikawa would constantly make him — and sometimes even Iwaizumi — watch space and alien documentaries with him when they were younger, and would still do it if the three of them were hanging out.

Yeah, he didn't really want to deal with his alien-obsessed boyfriend.

Both of them headed upstairs as Hideaki laid on Oikawa's bed as Oikawa quickly joined him. Hideaki immediately cuddled closer to the brunette.

Oikawa ran his hand through Hideaki's black locks as both of them enjoyed the silence.

Hideaki really loved moments like these with Oikawa, when they can just enjoy each other's company.

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The next school day was exhausting for Hideaki, and he wanted nothing more than to go home. He was in the club room with everyone else, packing his volleyball bag.

It was the end of the day, and Hideaki was surprised to see that Tsukishima had agreed to help out Kageyama and Hinata out with their exams. Though, he somehow guessed that Yamaguchi was the one who convinced him.

"All right, let's get the next one over with." Tsukishima sighed, Hideaki glanced over at Sugawara to see him helping out Nishinoya with his own exam work.

"Hinata, what's the first answer to question six?"

Hinata grabs the paper to see what the options are. Hideaki continued putting away his stuff in his bag, Hinata was silent as he stared at the paper, and he finally looked up.

"Iron clubs?" Hinata responded, Hideaki raised an eyebrow as he got curious and walked over.

"Ow, his eyes!" Yamaguchi winced at the response.

"Hey, how could you do that to the demon?"

"Were you thinking of "a demon with an iron club?"

Once Hideaki was close, he gestured for Tsukishima to give him the paper, which he does so as Hideaki took a scan through it.

"Enter the appropriate phrase within the parentheses to complete the proverb. This proverb expresses that even ruthless people can show compassion or even cry at times. Even a demon's eyes can fill with... iron clubs?" Hideaki thought, reading it. He twitched his eye a little at Hinata's answer.

"Did you not read the question?" Hideaki spoke.

"I-Izuki-san..." Hinata muttered, not liking the attention.

"You probably saw the word "demon", didn't read the rest of the question, and just wrote the firs thing that came to mind. You really are a simpleton." Tsukishima teased as Hinata scowled and shakes a little, Hideaki gave the paper back to Tsukishima.

"Yeah, you need to calm down. You're too careless." Kageyama added as Hinata snapped.

"Why do you guys always give me unneccesary comments?" He hissed as Hideaki grinned in amusement.

Tsukishima then looked over at Kageyama and slammed his hand down on the setters work. "You're one to talk, Kageyama. Aren't you even worse off than Hinata overall? You should at least memorize English vocabulary by yourself!" He scolded as Kageyama scowls a bit.

"Why should Japanese people be able to understand English?" Kageyama replied, unaware of the importance of English.

"Learning English is pretty important and useful skill to have, Tobio. I mean, what if you got lost in an English-speaking country and needed help with directions?" Hideaki replied as he scoffs and blushes in embarrassment.

Tsukishima clicked his tongue and turns away. "Then you should give up on going to Tokyo." He spoke as Kageyama growls a bit.

"Kageyama!" Daichi announced as everyone stared at their captain, he then started doing hand signals to Kageyama.

"Quick Set B."

Daichi does more.

"A, C, time-lag in front of the setter, left side back row attack, D, parallel, semi, time-lag behind the setter." Kageyama continued to list off the signals that he knew by heart. Everyone sweat dropped at him while Hideaki just sighed.

"Man, that's fast!" Yamaguchi mumbled.

Daichi stops the signals and smiles. "How long did it take you to memorize those?" He asked as everyone turned to Kageyama for his answer. Hideaki answered for him.

"They taught those signals back at Kitagawa Daiichi. It was one of the first things that they taught the first-years, if I remember correctly." Hideaki informed, with Kageyama nodding in agreement.

"Then, I won't let you use "I can't memorize the words" as an excuse." Daichi informed, his tone was serious which sent shivers down everyone's spines, and they all gulped.

"I-I can't lose to Kageyama!" Hinata suddenly exclaimed, standing up with a determined aura.

"All right, let's go to my place after club on Saturday." Tanaka spoke as Hideaki saw Nishinoya nod in agreement.

"Got it!" He grinned as Hideaki saw Hinata stare at the duo.

"I'm not gonna lose to them, either!" He announced as Hideaki shook his head at his words.

"And I said you need to calm down..." Tsukishima added.

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Hideaki was at the gym with everyone, as they were doing volleyball practice, Hideaki was doing some jump serves with Nishinoya until a familiar voice spoke from the door.

"Hey, do you have a moment?" Kiyoko spoke up, making everyone look over.

Hideaki walked on over, getting closer to see what Kiyoko had to say, but then noticed another girl behind her. The girl steps out from behind Kiyoko, she was shaking and looked nervous.

She was a petite, young girl with blonde hair that goes slightly past her chin and light brown eyes. She also wore a colourful star hairclip on her left side ponytail.

"So, you found a new person!" Hinata had announced, as the new girl jumped and shakes again in nerves, the others came over wondering what was happening.

"Um, she's joining the club on a trial basis as the new manager." Kiyoko explained.

"I-I'm Yachi Hitoka!" She greeted, her voice loud but also laced with nerves.

Daichi looked at her gently with a smile as did the others, well everyone except for Tsukishima and Kageyama.

"Seriously? That's awesome!" Sugawara added, grinning happily.

"Nice job, Shimizu-senpai!" Hinata praised, excited about the new girl.

"You're a first-year?" Asahi asked but his appearance made the girl anxious.

"I-I'm in Class 1-5, sir!" She informed. Hideaki held back a snicker as Asahi looked at her in panic, knowing he might have frightened her.

"Asahi, back up a bit. You're scaring the poor girl." Hideaki instructed pushing him lightly away.

Hideaki then saw Yachi look at Sugawara, Tanaka, and Nishinoya, but she was more focused on Nishinoya and Tanaka to which she flinches at their stare. Sugawara who at first was confused but then noticed the second-year duo and placed his hands on their faces.

"Hey! Don't stare like that! It's rude!" Sugawara scolded, as if he wanted to ease Yachi. Asahi smiled lightly.

"Thank goodness. Now there'll be a manager next year, too." He stated as Hinata nodded in agreement, happily.

"Yes!" He exclaimed.

Hideaki saw Yachi look at them in panic, he could tell she wanted to say something as Kiyoko soon came to her rescue.

"She hasn't actually joined yet. I asked her to do this today at the last minute, so she just came by before heading to her committee work. She just dropping by to introduce herself." Kiyoko explained.

"I-It's a pleasure to meet you!" Yachi greeted, bowing at them, everyone did the same to her.

"Same!" They all announced, their voices loud which made her jump at their actions.

"Could you not surround her until she's more comfortable?" Kiyoko asked, as everyone blinked at her in confusion.

Yachi had soon stepped outside the gym. "S-Sorry for the intrusion." She said, then gently closes the gym doors and headed off.

Hideaki sighed, wondering how a nervous girl like her would fit in with a bunch of volleyball players who were loud and chaotic.

"She'll get used to us eventually... I hope." Hideaki noted in his head.

"Shimizu... so you were looking for a new manager?" Daichi spoke, looking over at Kiyoko, who nodded in response.

"Yeah... I didn't think we got enough of a response when we tried to find people in April. I thought it was important to find someone to carry on as a manager especially with Karasuno getting so much stronger." Kiyoko stated.

Hideaki jumped back when Tanaka, Sugawara, Nishinoya, and Daichi started to tear up, Hinata was blushing red as Yamaguchi, Tsukishima, Kageyama, and Hideaki all stared at the others.

"Shimizu!"

"Kiyoko!"

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The next day, it was raining at school. The lunch bell had rung, which made Hideaki sigh as he got out his ramen.

"Yo, Izuki. How's volleyball been?" Hideaki looked up and spotted one of his classmates, Sato Tsubasa, walking towards him and sitting down across from him.

Sato Tsubasa was the ace for Karasuno's basketball team. Hideaki was somewhat close with him, but they weren't exactly counted as friends.

"It's been going well. We've been training for the Spring High." Hideaki answered. "What about basketball?"

"We lost in the finals against Johzenji. Which is understandable. Johzenji's basketball team are monsters." Tsubasa replied as he sighed. "You know, Izuki. It's a shame that you play volleyball. The basketball team could use someone with your eyes."

Izuki chuckled as he twirled the ramen noodles with his chopsticks. "Basketball is more Shun's thing." He commented.

"Oh, I almost forgot. Your younger brother attends Seirin, right? My teammates were talking about how they won the Winter Cup against Rakuzan. So the coach has been trying to get a practice match with them." Tsubasa stated.

"All I can say is, they're a pretty interesting team." Hideaki informed.

"Izuki-san!"

The black haired male turned and found Kageyama and Hinata entering the classroom. "What are you guys doing on the third-year floor?" Hideaki asked.

Hinata bowed. "Would you help tutor us, senpai?" He asked. Hideaki turned to Kageyama who also had a begging look, but Hideaki sighed and shook his head.

"Sorry, Hinata, Tobio. I'm not really good with teaching others." Hideaki replied. They both frowned at him but nodded in understandment as they exited the classroom.

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It was finally the end of the day, Hideaki had arrived at the gymnasium and greeted his teammates as he went to do some practicing. As they were all practicing, Hideaki heard Hinata yell, "Yachi!" He announced, making everyone turn to see the girl that Kiyoko brought over at the door, shaking in anxiety.

Hinata however just runs and holds out his English sheet that he got tested on that same day. "On the English quiz we had this afternoon, there was questions you taught me earlier! I got a whole third of them right!" Hinata exclaimed.

Hideaki was expecting the girl to shake and stammer at Hinata's bubbly personality, but to his shock, he sees Yachi smile happily instead, as she and Hinata jump in unison.

"Wahoo!"

"That's amazing, Hinata!"

Hideaki was standing beside Asahi, Sugawara, and Tsukishima as they watched the two interact. "Hinata's so good at communicating... They're already buddies." Sugawara noted with chuckles, Hideaki couldn't help but nod in agreement.

Daichi had soon called them to gather around as they were doing some warmup practices. As the team was stretching. Hideaki was in the middle of stretching his arms when he jumped in surprise when Yachi was yelling.

"I'm so sorry!" She announced, making Hideaki look over and sweat drop to see her on her hands and knees and bowing to Ukai who looked around in a panic.

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Hideaki watched the ball go up in the air. "Left!" Tanaka exclaimed as Kageyama sets to him with perfection.

"All right!"

"Nice, Tanaka!"

"Don't open up the block space!" Ukai shouted at Sugawara and Yamaguchi.

"Right!"

"Next!"

Ukai throws the ball as Daichi slid down and saved it. "I need to hear you guys!" Ukai exclaimed. "Left!" Hideaki heard people call out as he saw Kageyama set the ball to him. However, Hideaki got blocked as the ball bounces out of the lines.

It was about to hit Yachi, Hideaki widened his eyes, he would have stopped the ball but she was on the other side of the court, thankfully though, Hinata went over and luckily received the ball on time.

"Nice, Hinata!" Sugawara praised, as Yachi stood in shock. Kiyoko went over to Yachi to check up on her, but Hideaki was just relieved that Yachi didn't get hurt.

The game continued on as the ball got blocked once more, going out of bounds again. Kiyoko however just smiled and lightly slapped the ball back into play. Hideaki noticed Tanaka and Nishinoya look at Kiyoko with love clearly shown around them. Hideaki didn't bother to listen to them, but he did smirk in amusement when Ukai smacked them to get serious and have their head in the game.

As the game goes on, Hideaki watched Tsukishima jump up, and Kageyama sets to him, however, he got blocked, but it was fine since Nishinoya dived down in time to save the ball, as Kageyama sets again to Hideaki. In which the ball goes past the blockers.

But then, of course the ball got saved as it went up in the air.

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Once practice was over, Daichi called out to the team. "Gather up!" He yelled as everyone surrounded Takeda. "So, this is rather sudden, but Ouginishi High School requested a practice match tomorrow, and I accepted. They were very interested after seeing us at the Inter-High preliminaries." Takeda announced as everyone looked interested in this. Hideaki just stood next to Sugawara.

"Don't forget the regret and bitterness of losing to Seijoh." Ukai spoke, making Hideaki narrow his eyes. "However, you don't need to hold on to the feeling of losing. Hurry up and wipe that away!" Ukai exclaimed, Nishinoya and Hinata jump high into the air.

"Yeah!" They all announced in determination.

"Is Ouginishi really strong?"

"It doesn't matter who we're facing."

"All right, let's do this!"

Hideaki sighed and smiled to himself. His teammates may be loud and chaotic. But he did love their determined energy.

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A/N: Another chapter done! Hope you enjoyed!

Word Count: 3576 words.