You outshine everything,
even the sun / at its zenith

POEMS FOR AKHMATOVA, MARINA TSVETAEVA

Life is full of lessons Yoshimura Mizuki learns the hard way. In no particular order, they are:

1. Not everyone is cut from the same cloth.

Some people are born brilliant while others have to work twice as hard. Mizuki was eight years old when she held a volleyball in her hands for the very first time and discovered that she has more talent in her pinky toe than most people have in their entire bodies. She was nine when she said told her parents this is what I want to for the rest of my life and they signed her up for every youth volleyball camp they could find.

From there, she followed in her sister's footsteps, eventually going on to lead the Aoba Johsai Girls' Volleyball Club to Nationals two (soon to be three!) years in a row. And even though they lost both times, placing 7th and 2nd respectively (the latter a loss that hasn't quite healed yet), Mizuki made a name for them in the world of high school volleyball. Carved a legacy for them that will last for decades, reminding everyone they are the Masters of the Court.

(Mizuki didn't realize it at the time, but her talent is not blessing so much as it is a curse.)

2. Heavy is the head that wears the crown.

An old saying, and maybe even a little pretentious of her to say, but it's true – though Mizuki does not wear hers as if it is as light as a feather. Dubbed one of the best high school volleyball players in all of Japan by her second year and nicknamed the Star of Seijoh for that very reason, Mizuki's crown is heavier than most. No one warned her the fate that befalls young prodigies like her, forced to carry the weight of their team on their shoulders. Seconds away from being crushed under a mountain of expectations they cannot possibly meet.

(It's only a matter of time before Mizuki cracks under the pressure.)

3. The higher you climb, the harder you fall.

This is a fact. This is science. The higher an object goes before it falls, the more gravitational potential energy it has, which is then converted into kinetic energy, which in turn increases the final velocity of the object. In Layman's terms, the object will accelerate to higher speeds the longer it falls. And the longer it falls, the bigger the impact is. Butterflies like her are fragile little things. Let the wind carry their wings and they can reach great heights, but their survival is dependent on their environment. They're cold-blooded creatures, meaning they use light from the sun to warm the muscles they use to fly. Take the sunshine away and you'll be clipping their wings, watching them fall, a feeling Mizuki is starting to know all too well these days.

(So maybe it is fate, then, when she meets a boy who just so happens to be sunshine incarnate.)

Yoshimura Mizuki / SETTER

Sugawara Koushi / SETTER

Nakanishi Ryouko / LIBERO

Moriyama Kota / MANAGER

Oikawa Tooru / SETTER

Iwaizumi Hajime / OUTSIDE HITTER

with appearances from

MIYAZAKI UME
NAKANISHI HIMIKO
HANAMAKI MACHI
TAKESHITA HINAE
OCHIAI TAKAO
TAKIZAWA SEIJI
YOSHIMURA KANAE
KAGEYAMA TOBIO
HINATA SHOUYOU

and

THE AOBA JOHSAI VOLLEYBALL CLUBS!

AUTHOR'S NOTE
Sugawars Koushi, my beloved boy. As soon as I started this silly little volleyball series, I knew he was gonna steal my heart.

Welcome (back) to LOVEBUG! This fic has been collecting dust on my account for over a year and a half now but!!! My old Haikyuu brainrot is back so don't be surprised if you see me publish more fics in the near future, because I think its time to revive the Haikyuu fandom on this hellsite.

I have a whole roster for the Seijoh Girls' Volleyball Club, but I'm lazy and didn't feel like coming up with an organized way to list them all, so I just listed a few of them here: Mizuki (setter/captain), Ryouko (libero), Ume (opposite hitter/vice-captain), Himiko (middle blocker), Machi (libero), and Hinae (setter). Not all of them are in the starting line-up, but if I had to choose I'd say they're the most important ones plot-wise.

I promise this story is a lot more lighthearted and happier than my other stories on here ( I mean, it's Haikyuu, so how depressing can I really make it?) but it does heavily include mental health issues like anxiety and panic attacks. I really want to tackle toxic high school sports can be, especially for burnt-out gifted kids like Mizuki. And to be honest, she is really struggling for a lot of the story, but she will get her happy ending, trust me!!!!

Lastly, this story is very volleyball-centric, but it won't be just me describing matches every other chapter lol. It will (hopefully) be a balance of introspection and action. Also, Mizuki and Suga being the best senpais and cutest couple ever

DISCLAIMER
This is a work of fiction made for entertainment purposes only. I do not own Haikyuu, all rights go to the original writer and creator Furudate. However, my plots and characters belong to me. Please do not plagiarize my work or post it to other sites without permission. Thank you!

CONTENT WARNING
This story contains themes such as toxic sports environments and depictions of different mental illnesses ( anxiety, depression, panic disorders, etc). Chapters will be tagged beforehand, but please read at your own discretion.

Without further ado, I present to you LOVEBUG!