CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

      The day was here. The Miyagi Prefectural Spring high Prelims were finally beginning.

      Yuki felt nervous as she sat next to Misaki on the bus. It was quite a strange thing to feel jittery, when she was not the one playing on the court but a rather long talk with Misaki last night, she learnt the feeling was shared. After all, volleyball is a very intense sport where anything could happen in the blink of an eye. It wasn't too hard to get completely immersed in a game.

      But that wasn't the only reason she was nervous. This tournament...this tournament would be the final one for all the third years...their last and final chance to go to the Nationals. Just thinking that made Yuki more anxious. All the third years, including Misaki, had put in so much effort in whatever they did for the team and just overall in general. They really deserved this chance. And the team itself had worked hard-enough.

      Yuki knew their team's calibre matched those at the national level. Probably similar to teams like Inarizaki and Itachiyama, about which she had heard from her volleyball loving cousin. Seijoh had to win. They had to.

      As they arrived at the Sendai City Gymnasium, the bus stopped and parked. The team started to deboard, with the coaches telling everyone to make sure they were taking everything with them. Yuki and Misaki were one of the last to leave, stepping right behind Kyoutani.

      The skies were rather clear today, colored a bright blue and a few clouds floated through it. A good omen, Yuki thought. 'Clear skies, clear minds right?'

      Sighing softly, she followed the rest of the team as they walked towards the stadium. Judging by the looks that were being sent their team's way, Yuki knew the other teams were clearly intimidated by them. And maybe that was a good thing because she felt a little reassured by that. Be intimidated. Be scared. That'll cause the teams to be distracted and then mess up their play. A strangely dark way of thinking, but somehow that's where Yuki's mind went.

      Once they were inside the team and in the waiting area allotted to the team, Yuki released the breath she was unintentionally holding. Since their first match of the tournament wasn't for another thirty minutes, the team slowly scattered out of the area, probably going around to check the other teams or whatever other matches that had started.

      "You good?"

      Yuki almost jumped when she spotted Misaki in front of her. She had a slightly concerned look on her face and offered Yuki a comforting smile, handing her a tissue at the same time.

      "Thank you," Yuki answered, taking the tissue and wiping her hands, which were surprisingly sweaty. "I don't exactly know why I'm nervous but I guess here we are."

      "Don't worry, it'll be fine," Misaki said, smiling once again. "Just believe in our team. All the boys are gonna do amazing. Trust me, this first match is in the bag."

      Feeling slightly reassured, yet nervous at the same time, Yuki nodded. "Let's just see how things go."

     "Yup. And it'll all go well."

      *

      Seijoh easily won their first match on the first day against Dewaichi High, with straight sets and a score of 25-20, 25-23 in their favor. And now, on the second day, the whole team was scattered across the stands, watching all the ongoing matches. But mostly, everyone had their eyes on the ongoing Karasuno vs Wakunan match.

      Yuki didn't know much about Wakunan beyond what she and Misaki had researched on them. She did know that their captain, a little on the short side, was a pretty skilled all-rounder and was pretty good at doing block-outs. It would be interesting to see how Karasuno dealt with this team.

      Suddenly around them, there seemed to be a minor commotion as the audience broke into curious chatter.

      "What's going on?"

      "What's wrong?"

      "He collapsed."

      'Someone collapsed in the stadium? Who-?' Yuki leaned forward, as did Misaki, and both of them looked at the Karasuno team members that had gathered up in a group near the net, bringing the game to a temporary stop.

       In the row ahead of them, Iwaizumi looked up from his bag and glanced out at the stadium. "What's going on?"

       Standing, with a slightly wide-eyed look on his face, Oikawa said, "They collided. Right after they hit the ball back over the net, number five, the bald guy and the captain crashed into each other. It looked like he hit his head pretty hard."

      "Seriously?" Even Iwaizumi sounded a little concerned.

      Yuki winced internally. That must have been too painful, especially if it was a collision leading to a head injury. Concern rose up inside her too and she really hoped the captain (Sawamura-san, was it?) wasn't hurt too bad. Next to her, Misaki had a pretty similar expression.

      'I hope he's okay,' Yuki thought as the fallen captain slowly stood up, clutching at the side of his head. The two coaches from Karasuno rushed towards him, checking on the extent of his injuries. Even from the distance she was at, she could clearly see a visible injury and a slight swelling on his cheek.

      "That might be it for their captain in this match," Oikawa stated. "Though that's up to the coach."

      "It'd be scary if he had a concussion," Iwaizumi added as he put on his jacket.

      "True that," Misaki also spoke, as she leaned forward, trying to get a better look. "He needs to get that injury checked out as soon as possible."

      "Baldy from Karasuno is pretty strong mentally during a match," Oikawa suddenly spoke up, sounding surprisingly grave. "But that's only when he's backed into a corner. I wonder how he'll hold up after knocking out their pillar. If they lose this match, it'll probably be the captain's last."

       All of them watched as the captain was slowly walking away, side by side with the manager and the coach of Karasuno.

      "He's walking on his own, so I think he'll be fine," Iwaizumi said.

      ' At the risk of sounding heartless, what about the match?' Yuki thought. 'Do they even have a player who's on the same level as their captain?'

      And as though their thoughts were temporarily connected (which was not a good thing. At all), Oikawa voiced out a similar thing. "But the problem is the match. Who is going to lead the team in his place?"

      "The second setter, maybe?" Misaki said.

      "Unless they have practiced together often, a setter who is skilled enough in both offense and defense to take in a wing spiker is hard to find," Oikawa stated. "But I'm not sure if Karasuno has a wing spiker that can take the captain's place."

     Looking down at Karasuno, though, Yuki realized that they had already picked their replacement. It was a boy with black hair, wearing the number 6 jersey. And she had no idea who he was.

     "He played in the practice match, right?" Oikawa asked, a mildly curious look on his face. "How was his play?"

      "I don't remember much about him," Iwaizumi replied. "But he does seem like he can handle things well."

      "Karasuno doesn't have many players," Oikawa said. "They probably don't have anyone else."

      'Practice match? I don't remember any practice match with Karasuno?' Yuki thought intensely, narrowing her eyes.

      Seeing the look on her face, Misaki smiled slightly. Leaning closer to Yuki, she whispered, "There was one, right before you joined. Remember how the coach mentioned that we had to defeat them this time?"

      "Ahh, I see," Yuki nodded, mouthing a silent thanks. The older girl just grinned and sent her a thumbs-up."

      Down in the stadium, the match finally restarted as Number 6 (what was his name?) performed a serve that was received easily by Wakunan's ponytailed guy.

     'Let's see how this goes now.'

     *

      "Shiratorizawa is only five points from winning."

      Akio, one of Seijoh's non-starter players, entered the waiting area, leaning against the door. Yuki's ears immediately perked up as everyone now looked at Akio.

      "Let's go," Iwaizumi firmly declared. Oikawa nodded in agreement.

      "And the match between Karasuno and Wakunan," Akio continued. "Doesn't look like it's going to end soon."

      "I wonder how it'll play out when Karasuno's captain is out of action," Iwaizumi said.

      "Just because a super receive is flashy," Oikawa started to say. "It doesn't mean it's good. What if the ball that has always gone up for them suddenly doesn't go up anymore? They will feel that slowly and surely. I think now they're really feeling the heat."

       Oikawa's words made a shiver go down Yuki's spine. The way he spoke was certainly intense and befitting of the captain.

       It was Seijoh's turn to be on the court again and now their match was against one of Miyagi prefecture's powerhouse schools, also known as the Iron Wall, the Date Tech High School (shortened to Dateko). But unsurprisingly, Seijoh was currently winning, having taken a lead in the first set.

      The cheer squads of both were very loud, their cheers clashing loudly.

      Even from the stands, Yuki could feel the intensity of the match. Especially after Dateko's new setter, Koganegawa, if she was remembering his name correctly, did a fantastic block and an amazing setter dump (it was more of a spike, rather) after so many fails. But still, his skills still looked amateurish. And compared to Oikawa, he was definitely a weak player.

      The match went on. Volleyballs tossed from one side to another with a speed that would make anyone's heart race.

      And then it was finally the last point. Yuki watched with bated breath as she clutched at the front of her jacket. The final point of any game; whether you were the manager, or watching as a spectator or you were a player in the match; was always the most intense part.

      The ball was in the air, tossed towards Iwaizumi, by Oikawa. And as though the three tall blockers weren't even there, he smashed through the block, his powerful spike easily landing on the opponent's side of the net. There was silence for a mere few seconds, till the whistle rang out, signalling the end of the match and Seijoh's victory.

      Yuki jumped in joy, along with the rest of the team that was in the stands. This was another victory for the Seijoh team. She hoped and believed, and knew, that they had a chance of victory for their next match too.

      The tournament was, hopefully, going to be theirs. 

Who's gonna tell her? 😔😔😔

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL!! SENDING POSITIVE VIBES TO EVERYONE FOR THIS YEAR!! 💖💖

this chapter was originally supposed to be posted yesterday (i.e. 31st December) as the last update of the year, but I couldn't finish it on time and so it's become the first update of any of my stories for 2021. It's a bit on the shorter side and slightly boring too, since it's mostly set during the canon episodes where I didn't know how to include Yuki and Misaki + writing the entirety of the matches would be too much.  The next  chapter though, that's gonna be intense becausewe all know what happens. 🤧🤧

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Let me know your thoughts in the comments!

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