Chapter 23
"L/n, wake up, we are here." I hear Akina say while she lightly shook me
"Here?" I asked in a questioning tone, while I lazily rubbed my eyes
"Inter-High Preliminaries," Akina said while I finally looked up at her and added, "I can't believe you slept the entire bus ride."
"I was tired," I say with a yawn while I stand up
"F/n, are you sure you are healed enough to play today," Akina asks me worriedly and I smile at her to reassure her.
"Come on, we are heading inside."
"Akina, I will be fine. If anything happens I will ask to be taken out, and that's if I play." I say and we both walk together off the bus
We head together as a team towards our locker room, as we pass people I hear the same mumbles.
"Weren't they pretty popular during middle school? I wonder why they chose Karasuno."
"I wonder if she is actually going to play after her accident."
"She is probably here just for looks."
"I have decided-" I mumble to Akina who glances over at me "We are going to win, no matter what."
-
I looked at the uniforms we all wore, black jersey and shorts, with white details, and Karasuno boldly on the front. The body and side-stripes of the uniform are black, and their backs have small white triangles highlighting the shape of the shoulders.
While Nozomi has a contrasting jersey in white with black details, because she is the Libero.
"You got your middle school number?" I asked while I noticed Akina's number was three
"Did you not look at your number before putting on your jersey?" She asked while pointing to my stomach, causing me to look down.
"You did this on purpose!" I accused while I looked back up at Akina
"We have always been three and four. You were supposed to be three, but because you didn't like the girl you would have to stand next to, you convinced me to take three."
"Come on let's huddle up." We hear Yui call us and we joined the others
"We have 45 minutes until the game starts so let's make the most of it," Yui says while she placed her hand in the middle of the huddle, and we all follow her lead and place our hands in the middle.
"Karasuno, Fight!"
"FIGHT!" We say together and drive our hands into the air above our heads
"Let's win this," Akina said confidently and I nodded
"Yea," I said while we all started to head towards the court
"My knee pads!" I say while I turn on my heel to get them "I'll be right back!"
I quickly make my way back to the locker room, to find my knee pads. And head in the direction I thought I had come from.
"L/n?" I hear called and I turn to investigate, to meet a pair of blue eyes.
"Oh, Hey Kageyama," I say with a small smile
"What are you doing here?" He asked
"I'm lost," I say and he sighs
"The girl's court is that way-" He said pointing in the direction I came from " And it should be the first set of doors."
"Thank you!" I say while I turn around, but a tug on my arm made me stop
"L/n, be careful," Kageyama says, earning a smile from me
"No worries, I'm not going to drop dead during a volleyball game."
-
I looked at the other team whose jersey's read "Shirato Girls."
"L/n, where were you?" I hear someone ask while I quickly start putting on my shoes
"Sorry I got lost," I say while I finished tieing my shoes, and quickly start stretching
"After you're done stretching, let's get some spikes in before the game." I hear Akina say and I nod while I continued to stretch.
-
The whistle blows loudly and the ball is served into play. Hearts pump blood faster and bodies tense.
The other team's girl tosses the ball into the air before hitting it our way.
"Mine!" I hear Yui shout while she dives across the floor for the ball.
It flies perfectly in the air to Akina who glances at me before setting it my way.
"F/n!" I hear Akina yell while I jump into the air before spiking the ball to the other side of the court
The crowd "oohs" unprepared for my powerful spike which soars over the net by a mere inch. The rest of the team jumps up from their seats on the sidelines, as the ball hit the ground.
"Nice!" I hear Akina say while she gives me a high five
"Nice save, Yui!" I say while we rotated, putting me in the back
The ball is tossed to me, and I glanced up at the other side wondering who I should it to.
"You got this L/n!" I hear my teammates cheer while the whistle is blown.
I toss the ball into the air before I jumped, I drove my hand towards the ball trying not to make it spin.
I watched as the ball glided across the net and the other team struggled to get the ball, resulting in our point.
" Alright F/n, another one." I hear Akina say while the ball is tossed to me again.
I got through 2 more jump float serves before the other team figured out how to deal with it.
"Chance ball!" I hear someone yell while the ball soared above us
"I've got it!" I hear our libero say, while I started my approach earlier this time
"I'm here!" I yelled, drawing the attention of the blockers causing them to jump where I was at.
Akina flawlessly set the ball to Yui who in return spiked the ball down
We continued to gain points, losing a point every-now-and-then, and before we knew it the end of the first set had come.
We walked to the other side of the court with water bottles in our hands, and beads of sweat of our foreheads.
"Now to take the second set!" I said excitedly while Yui came over to me
"L/n, we are going to have you sit out for right now," Yui said and I gave her a confused look
"Why?"
"So you can rest, we will win this set too. You have to be ready to play in the next game." Yui said and I sighed while I sat on the bench.
"Fine but only this once," I said earning a smile from the captain
-
The second set was quickly in our hands, and I watched from the sidelines. I glanced over at the other team's coach, who was talking to a player they hadn't put in yet.
"That's-" I started to say when I realized who it was, and I urged our coach to call a time-out but she didn't listen to me.
'Chi Himari, an amazing and talented player. Can almost play anywhere on the court, but her main position is an Ace.' I thought to myself, while I remember the defeat me and Akina had against her last year.
The light brown-haired girl walked to the sidelines, with a card in her hand.
"Changing out players in hopes they can catch up." I hear our coach say while she walks onto the court and starts talking with her teammates.
Akina glanced back at me worriedly before going to talk to our captain, before returning back to her position.
And just like I thought our worst nightmare began, one by one she began to pry our points away until set point.
"Come on you guys!" I yelled trying to hype up my team, who looked worn out
I watched as the ball flew in the air before getting spiked down to the ground once again, but on our side of the court.
The other team began to celebrate while they grabbed their water bottles and headed towards our side of the court.
"Akina?" I called in a questioning tone, to the blonde-haired girl who looked exhausted
"Let's get this set back." She said while we began to walk towards the other side of the court"But to do that we will need L/n."
"You should have just left me in there," I complained while we set our stuff on the bench
"Say that after we win," Yui says while we began to walk onto the court again.
-
"I've got it!" I call while passing it to Akina, who sets it to one of our players, earning us a point.
'Matchpoint one again, but in our favor.' I think to myself while I stared at the board that read 31-30
"You got this!" I called to Akina who was serving the ball
The ball flies over to the other side, which is quickly received by their libero
"I'm open." I hear Himari call for the ball while our blocker jumps up to black her
'It's a feint.' I think to myself while I push what little energy is left in me
I sprint halfway across the court to get to a ball that is now descending from its highest point in the air. It's still another three feet away from me and I know if I don't dive for it I wouldn't get there in time.
Trying not to slam my knees to hard into the ground I fall and lift one arm. I then get the ball just before it hits the ground.
Now I finally hit the floor and slam my side into the ground, my jersey is the only thing to protect my side from the pain that I know is coming.
I quickly get back up while I watched the ball nearly scrape over the net, and fall to the other side.
With one bounce, the silence that filled the room was now filled with roars of the crowd.
"F/N!!!! WE WON!!!" Akina yelled while she ran towards me, and we all began to celebrate.
"Let's go, the next team needs to warm up," Yui says and we all quickly pack up our stuff and leave the gym
'I wonder if the boys are playing.' I thought to myself
"We have an hour before our next game." Yui reports then add "I'm going to go and watch the boys game until then. Make sure you all get water in you and relax. We all deserve it." She says before walking towards the boy's gym
"Let's get something to eat before we head towards their game," Akina said while she started to look around for something to eat
"What makes you think I want to go and watch the boys?" I asked while I followed Akina
"Because Kageyama will be there." She says while we wait inline
Once we get our food, we head towards the Boy's gym.
"Wow, they are playing against Date Tech," Akina says while we walk into the gym, and go and sit next to the rest of the team.
We all watched as the boys took the first set, and I noticed Kageyama staring up at us.
"I bet you he thinks we lost," I tell Akina
"Or he is just staring at a certain someone."
-Time Skip to After the Girl's game-
Author's P.O.V.
The bus ride home was silent. Everyone was awake, but nobody dared to talk.
Akina stared down at her fingertip, wondering what she did wrong. While her partner could do nothing but stare out the window, and remember what just happened not too long ago.
-
"L/n! Get the last one!" Teammates yelled as the y/h/c-haired girl jumped into the air to spike down the ball, only to be blocked by the other team spikers.
"Shake it off, get the next one," Akina told F/n who just nodded while she was almost caught in a daze by the other team.
Yui nervously looked at the scoreboard, it was the game point in the other team's favor.
"Come on we got this, girls!" Yui tried to encourage the team, while other team prepared to serve.
"Don't let the ball hit the ground!" Rang through the gym while the ball reached their side of the court.
"I've got it!" Nozomi yelled while she received the ball, sending it towards Akina
"L/n, get the last hit!" Yui yelled while the number 4 girl started her approach late
'I didn't match with the ball.' She thought to herself while she jumped and attempted to get the ball to the other side, only to be blocked once again.
It felt like silence priced the room for the Karasuno girls, while really the crowd broke out into a roar.
"L/n." Akina called out to the girl who just stood there and stared at the ball.
"Come on we need to go change," Akina said while she began to pack up her things, leaving the y/h/c girl by herself.
The world continued to move for everyone else, except her. She slowly dragged her feet to pack up her things and leave.
She slowly walked down the hallway so she could change out of her uniform.
"L/n." She heard her name called, causing her to turn towards the boy who was behind her
He looked worriedly at her, while she stared blankly up at him.
"I wonder-" She started drawing the blue eye-boys attention towards her
"If I never met you, would we have won?"