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There was something majestic about Mythra’s form in flight. A perfect arc to her body, giving her just that extra moment of airtime. The way she used that arc to snap her body forward, slamming the ball down into the opposing team’s court. As always Nia was in awe at the sight of the ball bouncing so hard that it soared up into the stands, startling the watching fans.
A roar of excitement went up as the point was counted. Mythra had already landed, as graceful as ever, and high fived her sister. No matter how perfect a jump, Mythra couldn’t have taken advantage of it without Pyra’s gentle, but precise setting. On the other side of the net the middle blocker across from Mythra, Inuhachi High’s Patroka, was swearing up a storm.
Patroka was dragged away by her team’s libero, Obrona, a girl with an annoying lisp. Up in the stands Nia could see Patroka’s step-brother Akhos laughing at her. He always came to her games, but it seemed like it was only to give her a hard time. Having seen Mythra and Pyra up close with each other and their brothers over the past few years really made her grateful that her sister was easy to deal with. Pyra was sweet enough, but if Nia had a brother like Malos she’d probably have pulled her hair out by the roots.
Off the court Nia had plenty of time to observe, since this rotation didn’t put her back in. As Nekoma’s libero, playing opposite Obrona, she rotated on and off throughout the game. As much as she enjoyed being on the court it was a delight to see Mythra soar from this angle. With her long blonde hair tied up tightly, only a few wisps escaping her hairband, and dangling in mid-air during one of her absurd jumps, it often seems like Mythra was as weightless as a beam of light.
“C’mon Coach! Lemme wear it! It’ll stay on, I swear!” Pandoria was trying to convince Coach Brighid to let her wear yet another in a long series of ridiculous tiny hats. No matter what she said, they always came off in the middle of the game. Nia couldn’t decide if Pandoria really believed what she said or if she was just messing around. As usual their team’s manager, Morag, was forced to push Pandoria back onto the court before the Coach’s fiery temper got the best of her.
Coach Brighid was extra focused today. Not only was this an important game on their road to Nationals, but she had a long standing rivalry with Inuhachi’s Coach. Coach Vess and Coach Brighid had apparently been teammates years ago, but Nia didn’t know much more than that.
“That set was so perfect Pyra! I wish I could do that.” Nia rolled her eyes at Crossette. Or maybe more at Pyra, who was shyly accepting the praise. That girl was always slinging compliments in Pyra’s direction, but Pyra never seemed to catch the hint of what Crossette was really looking for.
Mythra slung an arm around her sister’s shoulders and grinned broadly at her. “Hey, set me up a good one! I wanna slam one down right in their stupid ace’s face. That’ll rattle ‘em.”
Always competitive, Mythra liked to try to bully whoever on the opposing team was considered the ace. Sort of like proving that she was the stronger ace of the two. Surprisingly it often got results, making the other team’s ace behave erratically. Unfortunately, Inuhachi’s ace Dahlia had nearly as sweet a personality as Pyra. There was no way Mythra would get that girl to snap.
The next serve went up, a ferocious one courtesy of Poppi. Nia had never once seen Poppi flub a serve. Or anything else really. She could repeat virtually any maneuver on the court with such precision that you’d have thought she was a volleyball robot or something. At least until you saw her bust out one of her ridiculous victory dances. Poppi was just...weird. Her chubby little brother Tora, her biggest fan, was somehow even stranger. Nia was grateful she had never met their parents.
The rally was long, with both teams managing to receive and return multiple times. Patroka and Obrona were amped up by the previous missed point and their team’s setter Kosmos seemed determined not to let Nekoma get any momentum going. Finally Inuhachi put it over, with their usually aggressive spiker Vale going for an uncharacteristic feint that caught the Nekoma team off guard.
Nia took a deep breath and hopped up and down, getting her blood pumping again. This next rotation would put her back onto the field. Timed specifically to line her up against Kosmos, who was by a wide margin the other team’s best server. With her cold eyes and serious expression Kosmos seemed to always be as perfectly precise as their Poppi. Having that kind of thing on her own team was reassuring, but facing it down was a different beast entirely.
She gave Pandoria a high five in passing as they swapped with each other, Pandoria going off the field and Nia coming on. If she could receive Kosmos’ serve and get a nice high return up for Pyra, they might be able to quickly take back the serve. Cutting Kosmos off before she could get rolling was crucial.
Pyra flashed her a smile as she came onto the court and Mythra, as usual, gave her a determined grin. “You ready?”
“Damn right.” They braced themselves and Nia let out a deep breath, then inhaled. She could feel her lungs expand with the intake and her eyes focused on Kosmos. It was fun to watch Mythra from off court, but now it was time to get serious.
Kosmos spun the ball in her hand, held it out as if measuring the distance, and then took a few steps before tossing it into the air. She primed her body and...there was a powerful crack. In what seemed a split second the ball slammed down into the corner of their court, whizzing past Nia’s face so fast she could have sworn it ruffled her hair.
“Tsk...damn it,” said Mythra. “No touch, huh? Just as ridiculous as ever.”
Nia glanced over her shoulder at where the ball had impacted. It would have been something to admire if it hadn’t just blitzed past her. “Guess I should be used to that by now, but she isn’t one of the best servers in the prefecture for nothing.”
“Don’t worry everyone, just stay focused and we can do it!” Pyra was as warm and encouraging as ever. Nothing ever seemed to get her down.
With a quick reassuring breath Nia reached up and tightened the ribbons in her hair. It was a habit at this point. Sometimes she missed her long hair, but it just wasn’t practical for volleyball. Mythra was the only one on the team who kept hers long, although Nia’s had once been much longer than even Mythra’s. Mythra used to idly bat at Nia’s twintails from her seat behind Nia back in their middle school homeroom. Then she’d have the audacity to call Nia cat-like.
Now they were all cats. Junkyard cats. That’s what people called the Nekoma volleyball teams. Scrappy, tenacious, and maybe even vicious.
Looking across the court at Kosmos, who was lining up her next serve, Nia couldn’t help but make a comparison. ‘If we’re all junkyard cats, what’s that make her? A top tier show dog?’
Still, Kosmos wasn’t for show. On the other hand...neither was her wind up motion. With a sly grin Nia took one and a half steps to her left and let her body relax. Tension would slow her down.
Kosmos’ jump serve rang out like a cannon, fast, straight, and true. Nia slightly adjusted her position and received the ball underhanded, sending it soaring up into the air. Her wrists stung from the impact. ‘If you use your serving ritual to aim a shot, don’t be surprised if somebody catches on!’
Mythra charged in for the kill and Pyra obligingly...set the ball in the opposite direction to Crossette. Crossette responded with one of her blazingly fast cross shots. Obrona received it with a bump and Dahila sent it sailing gently.
Kosmos rocketed forward from the backline and jumped powerfully into the air. From where she stood Nia was almost as impressed by that leap as she would have been by Mythra. Almost. Kosmos’ spike was as brutal and precise as her serve. The ball jolted forwards like a bolt of lightning, right at Mythra’s face. Because Mythra was still moving toward the net like she was about to jump for a spike.
With the absurd reaction timing Nia had grown used to seeing, Mythra jerked her head to the side and the ball hurtled past her. Right to Nia, who had positioned herself behind their ace. A nearly lateral bump receive sent the ball right to Pyra who set it right toward the net. Directly at the spot Mythra was already jumping towards.
Mythra caught the set with a focused downward spike that was so sudden and such an odd angle that it left Patroka flat footed and stunned. The ball hit Inuhachi’s court and bounced twice.
Their blonde ace whirled and pumped a fist into the air, shouting with glee. She pivoted and gave her sister a high five, before turning back to Nia and flashing her a huge smile. “Nice one!”
“Oh, uh, thanks.” Nia paused. She had reacted automatically, but now that she had a moment to think something felt odd. “Say, how’d you know it was fine to jump? You could have been leaving the ball unguarded.”
Mythra brushed Nia’s objection away with a wave of her hand. “Of course I jumped. I knew you were right there behind me. And since you were there, I knew you’d set it to Pyra and I knew she’d get the ball to me. Seemed pretty obvious.”
Nia scratched her head in confusion. “Hang on, how’d you know I was directly behind you? That wasn’t the position I was in when you first started running.”
Their ace strolled forward and stopped directly in front of Nia. “How’d I know? Because you’ve always got my back.”
Nia opened and closed her mouth several times, stunned. The answer was as cool as it was incredibly stupid. Exactly the kind of straightforward answer she should have expected from Mythra. Brimming with confidence on the ground and in the air. No matter the obstacle Mythra seemed to leap right over it.
“You…”
“Yeah?,” said Mythra.
“You’re kinda crazy, you know that?”
Mythra leaned down and whispered into Nia’s ear. “That’s what you love about me, right?”
Nia’s cheeks flushed a bright red, even as Mythra pulled away and extended her fist out. With a deep sigh Nia accepted the fist bump. “Fine fine, you win. So, how are you going to get one over and tie us back up?”
Mythra paused, and then tilted her head up to look towards the ceiling. “Guess that’s just as easy an answer as your last two questions.”
She reached up and pulled the hairband off, sliding it onto her wrist and letting her golden blonde hair tumble free. The smile she flashed at Nia was brilliant and blinding and glorious.
“I’ll fly.”