ONLY ME || Haikyuu x Male

CHAPTER SIX

The burn of having to stand on the sidelines with the rest of the substitute players hurt Ren more than it should have. Of course, he hadn't been expecting to play right away, but he'd been a starter all of last year despite his difficulties. To have to be demoted to a backup player was definitely a hard blow to his confidence, even though he'd sort of been expecting it.

What hurt him more, however, was the fact that Sugawara was also a substitute player. Sure, Kageyama was skillful, but the silver-haired boy had been the setter for as long as Ren could remember. When the coach had first informed him that Kageyama was the starting setter, he hadn't been able to suppress his gasp of shock that'd caused all twelve of the other players on the team to stare at him for an uncomfortably long amount of time. He'd apologized profusely, of course, but it still nagged at the back of his brain, knowing that a setter as talented and deserving as Sugawara would have to sit out. And now, actually seeing him have to stand and cheer for his teammates roused a great sense of sympathy in Ren, and he found himself shuffling closer to Sugawara as the starting lineup hurried onto the court.

"Sugawara-senpai, how come you're not mad about not playing? You're an amazing setter, and the more experienced one. Shouldn't you be on the court, and not Kageyama?"

A wince flashed over Sugawara's face, and Ren hurried to apologize for his brashness, but he was cut off by his senpai's even tone. "I want to be on the court just as much as anyone else on this team, but I understand that right now, the skills that Kageyama has are more useful to the team than the ones I do. I'll play again someday, but for now, I'm content with just watching."

Ren peered at Sugawara, a little surprised at the response he got. He'd never truly realized how mature the older boy was. Suga was obviously a little bummed by the fact that he was benched, but his head was held high and he still cheered on his kouhai, who was now his competition. A feeling of admiration began to bloom in Ren's nervous heart, and he was speaking before he was even aware that he'd opened his mouth.

"I see. You're really awesome, Suga-san. I know we're both just backups right now, but I hope that we can play together on that court once more. When that time comes, I promise that I won't let you get hurt again."

Sugawara glanced over at him, eyebrows slightly raised. "Oh..I wasn't expecting that, Hasegawa. But thank you for the compliment. And I know how hard it is, trying to forgive yourself for what happened. For what it's worth, I don't believe you've done anything bad to me. In fact, I'd love to play with you again. Like we used to."

Ren smiled, albeit a little uneasily. Memories were rushing back into his mind from the days before he'd fucked everything up, but he was barred from responding by the referee blowing a whistle, signifying the start of the match. Forcing himself to turn away from Sugawara, Ren fixed his gaze on the game. Karasuno was starting out strong, able to stand their own against Nekoma. But of course, Nekoma was known for their impenetrable defense, so it was a lot of back and forth and back and forth.

That is, until Hinata flew like a jet to the opposite end of the court and slammed the ball down so fast that Nekoma didn't even have time to react.

The last time that Ren had seen the first-year's quick attack, he'd managed to receive it, so he'd never really seen the true effect of it. But now, watching Nekoma gape at Hinata, he himself was starting to feel surprised by the speed of the quick. Just seeing all those other amazing players frozen in shock, it was spine-chilling.

"And that, Hasegawa-san, is the impact of the first-years. Terrifying, isn't it? God I hate overachieving juniors." Ennoshita had his arms crossed, and though his grumble was rough, there was pride shining in his eyes.

Ren laughed, nudging his fellow second-year. "Come on, Enno. You like 'em."

"They're arrogant, egocentric kids. Of course I like 'em."