Guardian and Ace

Walking to school for morning practice I was excited for dinner to arrive tomorrow as Mahiru will be coming over to cook. We exchange numbers to communicate better as I might need to tell her that I might be late for whatever reason and can't eat together or vice versa. I saw the list she gave me and decided to buy them tonight after school when I finished practice.

Arriving in the gym I was able to only see Kageyama and Hinata and I quickly gave them a greeting. While stretching I saw Kageyama serving the ball towards a bottle, maybe trying to improve his control after seeing Oikawa do his serve yesterday. I also had the same idea and wanted to practice my serves too. As I finished stretching I saw a short person walk into the gym rushing to receive Kageyama's serve. His posture was one of the best I have ever seen, once he received the ball he halted the rotation of the ball giving a perfect pass to the setter.

"We have gotten some pretty amazing members huh" He spoke while admiring Kageyama's serve.

"Whoaa someone shorter than me!?" Hinata approached the person and was excited that he finally met someone shorter than him. I walked over to them alongside Kageyama to see who he was.

"You who served what junior high did you go to?" The guy asked and Kageyama told him. He was surprised as it was a championship school who he lost to before. He looked towards me and narrowed his gaze. He began to walk around me staring me down which confused me.

"What school did you go to? You look familiar." I told him my school and another shocked expression appeared on his face.

"No wonder!. You were that guy with the strong annoying hits that always went around the blocks and you had a guy with a bowlhead on your team. I really wanted to strangle you everytime you hit since it was hard to see where you would aim at." Hearing his answer I suddenly remembered a libero who always passed Tsutomu's hits which made him extremely frustrated.

"Ahh I remember you now! So you're the "Guardian Deity" of the team. I can understand the title now seeing your skills as a libero."

"Noya-san you came back!" "Welcome back"

As we were talking the other members started to come in and happily greet him back. He excitedly approached our beautiful female manager which earned him a slap to the face

"So what about Asahi did he come back?" Asking this question the other members turned quiet. "That coward!" he yelled out angrily seeing the reactions of the members.

"Can I ask who Asahi is?" I asked out loud as it looked like he was an important player seeing the reactions of the people around me.

"He is our team's ace or he should be." Nishinoya answered with a frown. My eyes twinkled hearing that this team had an ace.

"Is he a strong player?" I asked Nishinoya, wanting to see if I learn more about Asahi.

"Yes he is a very strong player who is able to break through many blocks! It was just because of one game we were unable to do anything and he took all the blame on himself…" He looked towards me.

"You may be a strong hitter but I will say that Asahi even now takes the title of ace on this team!" His eyes showed conviction, making me wonder even more how powerful Asahi really is.

"That's good. Competing against someone for it is much better to me than being given an empty title. I will look forward to meeting him." I showed a huge smile as the anticipation of facing a highschool ace grew. Nishinoya nodded, looking satisfied with my response but still feeling like Asahi will win regardless. He left as he didn't want to participate in the practice without Asahi.

Hinata followed him out wanting to ask him to teach him how to pass

"Haruto you always seem to get excited when you meet a strong player.. Are you some kind of pervert?" Kageyama asked me this with a straight face. Veins started to grow on my forehead and I began to chase after Kageyama who ran away from me.

***

During lunch time I went alongside Hinata and Kageyama to the third-years classrooms so we could meet Asahi.

"Are we in the right place? Haruto, are you sure you know where you're going.." Hinata asked me while trying to hide from the glaces being directed towards us. I stayed quiet and looked at a girl near me who was staring at us.

"Hello, do you mind telling us where we can find a person named Asahi?" I gave a friendly smile to her while asking my question. She blushed and stuttered telling me that he was in the classroom next door.

""..."" the two guys gave me a blank stare seeing my actions. We arrived at the door and a tall guy with a bun and a scruff on his chin appeared and he was followed by Sugawara.

"You guys! What are you doing here?" Sugawara asked us.

"Well we wanted to meet.." I turned my head towards the person beside him. Seeing my stare, Sugawara introduced us to Asahi.

"Ah so you guys are the new members. I heard you guys are pretty good." Asahi gave a small smile.

"Yea it's nice to meet you too. Will you be coming to practice now? I really want to see how Karasuno's ace plays." I said quickly with big eyes. Asahi was slightly overwhelmed by my energy but he gave a small defeat smile.

"Sorry but I'm no ace" he quickly said goodbye and walked away. I stood still and watched his back. Sugawara apologized for Asahi and we said that we didn't mind. We returned back to class talking about our first meeting with our team's ace.

***

Walking through the entrance of the school the next day I started to go home after practice making my way towards the supermarket to quickly grab a few things for Mahiru tonight for dinner. On my way I noticed a tall guy with a bun also walking, I jogged up and greeted him.

"Hey ace it's a coincidence seeing you here."

"Ah it's you from yesterday.. I told you again I'm no ace." he remembered me and replied back in the same defeated tone from yesterday.

…

We walked in silence feeling the breeze hit our bodies giving us a cool touch.

"Do you really not want to come back?" I asked him in a normal tone.

"Yeah I'm sorry.. The scene of me hitting the ball and getting blocked repeatedly is still fresh in my head. Losing that match due to me not getting a hit in is all my fault letting the team down… I wasn't able to break their blocks myself.." Asahi said back in a defeated tone.

"It goes without saying that you cannot win the game on your own. We can only touch the ball once making the reason why there are six individuals on the court." I replied to him. He looked at me while I still looked ahead.

"Getting blocked over and over is fine. Making mistakes are fine. Swing as many times as you want since you would always have someone behind you, ready to get the ball before it falls. That's why we have six players, each one of us having a role to play on the court." I turned to him.

"There must be a reason why you get called an ace right. Since you were able to show them that in a game you are the one who can be trusted the most with the final ball." I smiled at him

"Plus isn't it the best feeling, feeling the ball in your palm when you hit. That's also why I like hitting the best haha."

(I remember that feeling very well…) Asahi looked at his palm with a reminiscent expression on his face. Remembering the times he went up to hit the ball.

"I'm sorry if it feels cheesy for me to say all that even though we just met yesterday haha." I awkwardly scratched my neck while apologizing.

"No, I should be thanking you instead for the encouraging words.."

"You are welcome anytime to come to practice. I really want to see and play against you since Nishinoya keeps on telling me that I won't be the team's ace since you're here." I began to chuckle remembering how he kept on showing off how good of a player Asahi is at practice earlier.

"So that's what he's saying during practice when I'm not there huh." Asahi began to chuckle hearing what happened during practice. We began talking about Nishinoya until we had to part ways.

I quickly said goodbye to him as we went our own ways. I quickly tried to get to the supermarket and to my apartment as fast as possible excited for the dinner coming up.

Asahi was walking his way home deep in thought. Looking at his palm he closed his hand. He began to think about his future actions in the volleyball club.

***

Yippee I hope you guys liked the uplifting chapter. Haruto just wants to play against strong players so he can improve so having a person called an ace near him can make him excited to play… He's not a pervert alright Peacu.