Archive of Our Own ^beta

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Yasufumi Nekomata had a terrible habit of taking in strays.

Proved by 3 cats lounged in his living room, a greying pup who slept at the foot of his bed, and his… peculiar taste in friends when it came to Ikkei Ukai, he certainly had a habit of taking in any stray that crossed his path. Yasufumi was not a man to let anything suffer needlessly when he had the available resources to fix whatever was wrong, either.

He didn’t give his help away for free or without reason, but he wasn’t the kind of man to hesitate in the face of a person in need. It’d started small in his high school years when he made friends with any person who dared sit at his lunch table and handed his yearbook to every soul he passed in his senior year, and continued until he was a senior in life, as even now he was pleasant with most he met, if not a bit competitive and sarcastic, never unkind unless there was a reason for it. It was what had pulled him to teach volleyball at Nekoma high instead of retiring, deciding he had a few more years in him before he’d ever consider stepping down.

And he’d tell any person to this day that was the best decision he’d made in his life.

He’d grown to love these kids, every class that passed through him like foster kittens placed in his arms to heal and help grow, Yasufumi had found his place here. This year was no different.

He had his current third years, the ones who were about to move out from under his wing, Tetsuro Kuroo, Nobuyuki Kai and Morisuke Yaku. He was harshest on these three, yes, but he knew they could take it, knew they knew he wanted to prepare them for whatever future they wanted in whatever way he could. He’d already been with these three from their unsteady beginnings on his team from their first year, watching them grow and mature and choose what they wanted in life as their adulthood grew closer, but he’d always made sure to tell them his heart and his home was always open for them if they ever needed him someday.

His second years were a mixed bunch, but that didn’t mean he welcomed them any less. Taketora Yamamoto, Kozume Kenma,and Shohei Fukunaga, his three second years , were wildly different personalities with different needs, he’d learned them over the year he’d had them previously, learning how harsh he could be with one over another and learning bits of their lives, determined to help them however he could. And just as he did his third years, hed told them when they joined his team that he was always there, always just a knock or call away if they needed him.

But now it was time for his new group of kittens, the new first years.

He stared down at the little paper on the clipboard in his hands and at the three young men who stood in front of him.

So Inuoka, Yuki Shibayama, and Tamahiko Teshiro. The three newest to his-

Before he could even finish getting their names another ran in slightly late, Lev Haiba, he assumed from the paper in his hand.

He didn’t mind, it was the first day. Listening to the young man who towered over his peers apologize like a guy half his size made him laugh as he glanced at the door to make sure no one else was coming in running late.

No one was, but he spotted just a glimpse of two girls in the hallway that intrigued him, standing out from the rest in the same way his team did, almost. One was absolutely tiny, probably no taller than five foot two, with black hair and eyes of pure and vivid gold, loudly chatting about potential clubs, while the slightly taller one with white hair and both eyes of a cloudier, closer to grey, blue color followed behind nodding along.

But at that moment, it didn’t read to him as anything as he looked away from the door without more than a small thought of acknowledgement as he looked back to his new team members, preparing to give them their introduction speech and test their base skills.

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About two weeks into the year had he spotted those two girls again, this time standing in his office right before practice.

The shorter one with black hair introduced herself as Akira Hakamada, a bright smile on her face as she handed him a big bundle of papers he realized were an application he’d never put out.

“We are here to ask to join the volleyball club as managers! The girls team is full and has only one manager position open and I want to stay with my friend because she’s anxious, so we asked around and the head master said you might have availability and printed these!” Her smile was infectious, the kind of girl Yasufumi was sure the team would love, other than maybe a few of his more quiet members.

His eyes drifted to the slightly taller, thinner girl next. White hair pulled back into a short ponytail that seemed a little shaggy and her clothes a little less form fitting and more oversized, which combined with the anxiety set off yellow flags in his head, though he chose not to make assumptions. She seemed to notice his eyes and sheepishly mumbled a small, “Y-Yeah what Aki-chan said..”

Akira, who had picked up on her friend’s discomfort, slapped a hand on her back that almost made her stumble forwards a few steps, and grinned at Yasufumi seemingly to cover the slight tension in the room. “Sorry about her, sir! She’s got a big heart but she’s a little shy! Her name is Namiwa Nekomaru, but I just call her Nami!” Yasufumi noted the two seemed close, clearly friends of some sort as he nodded to her words.

Yasufumi looked over the printed papers, a mix of applications (which were notably from a few years ago before Yasufumi had even started coaching, as after he started he took away manager applications as his team self regulated) and records between the two girls.

Despite being the taller of the two, Namiwa was younger by a few months, placing her a single grade behind Akira, who was a second year. Akira’s grades were on the higher side of average, with her best classes being english, japanese literature and history, while Namiwa’s were notably exceptional for her age, with her strong suits being in science, mathematics and home economics. Akira’s behavioral record indicated a few pretty bad fights with no written causes for them, and Namiwa’s were clean aside from 2 or 3 instances of theft from the cafeteria, both of these strange record patterns for seemingly quite polite and kind girls made those yellow flags return, but he didn’t acknowledge it more than deciding in a split second he was going to bring them into the team as managers despite his lack of actual need for such a thing.

“You girls will start your duties on Friday,” Yasufumi smiled to them both kindly, softening his eyes especially for Namiwa as she seemed more nervous than most, “...please come in at 6am sharp with your eyes open and a paw or two to lend!” He laughed at his own subtle pun about the school’s name, watching them for reactions.

Namiwa actually seemed to get the joke, shoulders relaxing and a small nod coming from her, and though it took Akira a moment, soon she had joined in his laughter, though he noticed something about her. While Namiwa stuck to clothes that didn’t quite fit her right, too big and a little long for the season. Akira did the opposite, her clothes a little small and thin for the early fall outside, and with that he noticed that she had a small bruise on her wrist, though she seemed to naturally cover it without even thinking about it.

Right then Yasufumi knew he’d taken in his two newest strays, and now he needed to figure out what they needed to heal and thrive.

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Friday morning had come faster than expected but slower than Yasufumi had wanted, as he was eager to get to know his new students and introduce them to the team.

It was shockingly Namiwa who showed first, head bowed and hands folded politely in front of her skirt as she gave a small, polite, “...good morning Nekomata-sensei, I do hope I am on time.” She sounded nervous despite the fact that she was here even before the team, and he laughed softly to try to ease her tension.

Yasufumi made no move to touch the fragile student, but he softened his chuckle and his smile, quipping quietly; “If you’re late then all of these cats would be running laps for skipping practice!” Her small smile in response was enough to make his morning just a little better. “Come on, I’ll show you what I want you to do, since you’re already here.” He nodded for her to follow, and Namiwa gave a curt nod and trailed him on his heels, though her steps were a little unsteady.

Yasufumi showed her to the bench on the side of the room and handed her a notebook and pen, happy to give her a task he thought she’d have an easier time understanding and an easier time doing with her anxiety rather than tasks that would put her super close to the team at first, “Your job is going to be tracking how many things each player misses by jersey number. No need to worry about learning all their names on the first day….” He had Namiwa open the little book showing inside that he’d labeled a few days in advance and written categories such as ‘Spikes’, ‘Receives’, ‘Blocks’, and ‘Other’, “...I just want you to log what you think is important in the other category, whether it be things they do you have questions about or concerns about, or other types of attacks you think they are specifically messing up on.” He was kind as he waited for her to respond.

“...so.. Other could be things like cross shots? Or other attacking styles? What about blocked ball retrieval, w-where would I put that sensei? I-In receives or other?”

Namiwa mumbled her words so quietly he strained to hear her, but he felt a sense of intrigue at the fact she seemed to at least somewhat know her stuff, plopping himself down on the bench beside her, weight dropping heavily onto the metal, keeping distance as not to scare her, but putting himself down at her level where she was more likely to speak with him (a habit he’d picked up while trying to speak with the socially anxious Kenma the previous year).

“What do you want it to be? If you want you can tear out the whole 3 pages I labeled and make new ones, since you seem to know your stuff.” He gave her a small grin. “Don’t hold back, this old man can take a hit to the ego. I certainly thought you knew less than you do, so it’s only fair you think I’m a little strange not including more categories for you.”

Namiwa’s eyes had gone a little wide at the idea of tearing the pages out, almost flinching as she quickly muttered that she would make them work, sheepishly pulling an almost empty thing of white out from her bag to cover the words on the paper and make her new categories.

That behavior was strange, surely, but Yasufumi didn’t have the time to dwell on it as the doors swung open and Akira plus a few others came practically barreling into the gym in a mix of excitement and words, so instead he just nodded and patted Namiwa on the shoulder before getting up, earning himself a slight flinch but another, hesitant little curt nod back.