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Three brackets down. This year, Seijoh’s Volleyball team isn’t as good as it had been but their captain, Yahaba Shigeru, still thinks they have what it takes to face up to Shiratorizawa. However, first, there are still obstacles in the way.
“Simplicity and fortitude. Heh, they still haven’t changed their banner!” Watari pointed out to their opposing school’s supporters setting up for the match. Yahaba looked over to the supporters wearing bright yellow shouting encouragements and waving flags.
“Hm. So this is the unpredictable team.” Yahaba mumbled more to himself than anything.
His attention was brought back to the court when he saw his ace crossing to the other side. Half the team sighed in annoyance, and the other half were first years that didn’t want to show any attitude towards their senpais.
“Hoe don’t do it-“, Kyoutani went under the net. “-Oh my god.”
“Thank you for that helpful commentary Kunimi-kun.”
“No problem m’captain.” Yahaba wondered how that boy kept a completely blank face all the time. He seemed like the kind of guy to find himself hilarious.
“Is.. is anyone gonna” Watari gestured in the general direction of the other team, and by extension, Kyoutani.
Yahaba snapped and marched off to retrieve his teammate while the rest of the team were stretching. He made his way over and grabbed Kyoutani’s shoulder and yanked him away from the opposition.
“Save the intimidation for the court, and warm up with the rest of them.” Sternness wasn’t something Yahaba had a lot of, as he had learnt most of the leadership he knew from Oikawa-san, but he had enough. Kyoutani grumbled in response, but with a light push he retreated back to their side of the court.
“I do apologise for him. Sometimes he likes to suss out our opponent before matches… if he thinks they’re competition enough.” Yahaba smiled, another asset from Oikawa-san.
“Oho? We’ll take that as a compliment then.” Johzenji’s captain made himself and his teasing smirk more visible, which didn’t make things easy for Yahaba. Terushima had the delinquent look, but that only made him look hotter than he already was and it took everything Yahaba had in him not to stare.
“We’ll see if his intuition was right on the court.” Yahaba said and strode off with a believable confidence.
Watari was nearly laughing when he approached his team and Yahaba strained to keep his face neutral.
“Did you see his tongue piercing then?”
“E-excuse me, the what?” Yahaba was not prepared to be victimised by body modifications, but here he was.
“I saw him facing off with the orange one from Karasuno outside of the toilets as we were coming in. I caught a glimpse of it then.”
Yahaba made a strained sound.
“Get your head in the game, captain!” The snarky comment came from Kindaichi this time. Yahaba twisted around to address them.
“He made me say it! He just didn’t want to do laps as punishment!” Kindaichi defended, pointing back at Kunimi.
“Snitch.”
“Well I have news for you two-“
After the two second years got back from their little warm-up, they lined up to greet Johzenji.
“I should warn you, intuition doesn’t get you far when you’re playing Johzenji”, Terushima said cheerfully as the two captains shook hands under the net.
“We’ll see about that.”
-
Terushima was right. Playing with Johzenji was a complete whirlwind of impulse and action. With them, there was no think, just do. Their unpredictability sure did give Seijoh a hard time, and after Johzenji took the second set, it was indistinguishable who would win in the end. Luckily, Watari picked up Johzenji’s last combo; otherwise they would’ve lost the last set. Yahaba was glad that he had that ability to get in the zone when playing volleyball, the one where nothing matters but the ball, your teammates, and the floor on the other side of the court.
“That… was the most physically demanding match I’ve ever played,” Watari breathed out.
“Hmm. Looks like even Mr energy-for-days is worn out,” Yahaba added, nodding back to Kyoutani who was panting heavily.
“Granted, this was his first full match.”
Kyoutani seemed to notice he was being talked about, so he moved over to the other two third years. He made a grunting sound, which Yahaba interpreted as ‘hey how did I do?’
“You did great.” Watari said, slapping him on the back.
Coach then called everyone to thank the crowd, and after bowing to their supporters, they turned to face Johzenji again.
“Thank you for playing with us!”
Yahaba lead his team through the halls of Sendai city gym and out to the buses. After getting knocked down in the second to final round by Date Tech, he was more than ready to just fall asleep on the bus so he could recharge. But a sharp feminine voice happened to demand his attention.
“I can’t believe I have to do this for for you. OI! SEIJOU’S CAPTAIN-SAN!”
Yahaba turned to see a girl in a bright yellow tracksuit, unmistakably Johzenji’s manager, shouting at him. He looked at her in confusion, and she beckoned him over. He swivelled his head to check with his team and Watari shrugged.
“We’ll wait for you.” He seemed confused himself.
“Um, hi?” he said after jogging to the other team. They had probably stayed to watch either the match with them and Datekou, or Karasuno and Shiratorizawa, which would explain why they were still there. The rest of their team was packing their own bus, and the girl was leaning against a pole by herself, but after a quick glance Yahaba couldn’t see the captain.
The girl looked behind her and sighed, pressing a hand to head.
“Goddammit Yuuji, you are a seventeen year old, not a pre-schooler. Manage your own life.”
Was that his name? Yahaba hoped that was his name because then a) that would mean he’s about to encounter him again, and b) it also means he could search him online when he got home.
“Shhh, I’m not here remember Misaki!”
“You’ve just blown your own cover idiot. Now you have to face him yourself. I’m leaving, goodbye.” Misaki held her hands up in surrender and swiftly made her way to her bus.
“Am I intimidating or something? Because I don’t intend to be. Huh, where are you actually?” Yahaba looked around behind the pole but no one was there.
“Hi, um-“, Yahaba jumped a little when he turned to see Terushima directly behind him.
“Ah! I’m sorry I didn’t mean to-.“
“Dude. You seem very out of character, what happened? You look like you’ve seen a ghost or something.”
Terushima laughed a bit and did that thing that boys do, where they hold their neck and Yahaba didn’t think he was going to live a peaceful life if hot guys like him kept doing that.
“Well uh, I get nervous sometimes? Most of the time I’m super confident but like, sometimes I’m the complete opposite and my brain is like ‘okay Yuuji time to act like a hot mess’ and I’m like ‘no what the hell’ and I am babbling I’m sorry-“
Yahaba couldn’t keep the laughter in. Not only was this guy really cute, he was also a total loser on the inside.
“So why did you get your manager to call me over?”
If Terushima thought he was a hot mess before, well.
“Oh I just wanted to ask, uh, if you wanted to hang out sometime? You seem like a- a really cool guy, and I think we could- um- here’s my number, text me bye!”
And he was off, running to catch up with him team. Yahaba himself appeared cool and collected on the outside as he walked back to his own team, but on the inside he had just the same amount of excitement.
-
To: Terushima Yuuji
is this terushima?
From: Terushima Yuuji
you have to change my contact name to cool guy it’s important do it for science
To: Terushima Yuuji
is this the same guy i was talking to 10 mins ago?
From: Terushima Yuuji
FOR SCIENCE
From: Terushima Yuuji
dw
yuuji the hot mess is gone and cool guy™ is here to stay B)
Maybe Yahaba would forgo sleeping on the bus.