Seido's Lovely Manager (Miyuki Kazuya x Female OC)

8. Illusionary Hero

A/N: Short chapter ahead!

That night, while Emi was practicing with Akaashi, Bokuto, and Kuroo, who decided to join them later on despite rejecting Fukurodani captain's invitation earlier, until they saw Tsukishima enter the gym.

"Oya?" Akaashi said as he saw Tsukishima.

"Oya oya?" Bokuto joined looking at Tsukishima with a smug smile.

"Oya oya oya," Kuroo also said walking towards Tsukishima.

"Tsukishima-kun!" Emi greeted the boy, happy he changed his mind on practicing. Yamaguchi-kun must have said something to him, she thought still with a smile.

"There's something I'd like to ask you. May I?" Tsukishima said.

"Yes, you may," Kuroo and Bokuto said in a smug voice.

"Both of your schools are occasionally considered powerhouses right?" Tsukishima ask.

"I guess," Kuroo said irritadedly.

"Even if you were able to make it to the nationals, winning there would be difficult, right?" Tsukishima asked.

"But not impossible!" Bokuto exclaimed angrily while Kuroo 'tsked' at Tsukishima's question.

"Now, now, let's hear him out," Akaashi said calmly.

"Akaashi-san is right, besides, Tsukishima-kun is just saying this as a hypothetical situation," Emi added in order to calm both captains.

"I am actually curious about this. Why do you try so hard?" Tsukishima asked, "Volleyball is merely a club, and maybe you'll get to write, 'I worked hard in my high school club' on you resume, right?" Tsukishima continued.

"Merely a club?" Bokuto mocked, "That almost sounds like someone's name," Bokuto completed.

"Oh, like Merliah Club?" Kuroo added sharing the same thought as Bokuto. Emi, Akaashi, and Tsukishima look at them with a nonchalant face as the two of them continued saying nonsense.

"Should I say something?" Tsukishima asked.

"No. There'll be no end to it," Akaashi and Emi said together. Emi, as she hung out with the trio for two nights already knew how close Kuroo and Bokuto were to each other. She even found amusing that although both had completely different personalities, they sometimes were able to share the same braincells, this, was one of those situations.

"Say, Specky!" Bokuto said turning his attention back to Tsukishima.

"It's Tsukishima."

"Say Tsukishima-kun, is volleybal fun?" Bokuto asked looking at the boy curiously.

Tsukishima thought for a moment before answering, "No, not really...."

"Maybe that's because you suck at it?" Bokuto straight up told Tsukishima, "I'm a third-year and I've been to nationals. I'm better than you. Way better than you," Bokuto said.

"You don't have to tell me that," Tsukishima told him.

"But I only recently started thinking that volleyball was fun," Bokuto said, "Ever since my straight spike became usable in matches, I've found it fun. I've always been good at landing cross-court shots, but blockers started stopping it. I got frustrated and practiced the hell out of the straight spikes. And, at the next tournament, I didn't let the same blockers touch the ball at all. I hit it right past them, just that made me feel like my time had finally come," Bokuto concluded letting out a laugh, but looked straight at Tsukishima, "It's all about whether or not you have a moment like that. What happens in the future, if you can win the next match, it doen't matter. Crushing the guy in front of you and the exhilaration of giving 120% are everything. Well, that's what it's like for me. It might not fit anyone and everyone. I don't really understand why you say it's merely a club, but I don't think you are wrong. But if you ever experience that moment, that's when you'll be hooked on volleyball," Bokuto finished his speech as he pointed towards Tsukishima.

"I didn't know Bokuto-san could give such a beautiful speech," Emi teased the boy.

"It's really surprising coming from Bokuto-san," Akaashi joined the girl making Kuroo let out his hyena laugh.

"Emi-chan! Akaashi! You guys should be nicer to me!" Bokuto whined, but let out a smirk, "Okay, I answered your question. Now help with blocking," Bokuto told Tsukishima pulling him into the gym.

"Now, now. Hurry, hurry," Kuroo joined.

"Come on, Tsukishima-kun! It will be fun to practice with them!" Emi told Tsukishima who had no choice but to join the quartet and practice with them.

===

"Eek. That number four is really intense again today," Hitoka said as she saw how strong Bokuto spiked the ball. It was already the next day, and Fukurodani had a practice match agaisnt Karasuno. Coah Ukai saw that and called a time out.

"Even is you're not able to stop number four's spikes, at least try to touch the ball," Ukai told the team.

"I see..." Hitoka said, "Even is they aren't able to stop it, if it hits their hand, the ball loses momemtum?" Hitoka asked unsure.

"Yes," Emi told her friend, "There are two fundamental ways of blocking. There's the soft block that's used in order to make the ball easier to receive, and the kill block that's used to completely shut the ball out."

"Kill? As in, killing something?!" Hitoka asked.

"Yup!" Emi answered.

"We don't have to stop it?" A voice said suddenly calling everyon's attention.

"No. If you're able to actually shut the ball out, that'd be perfect," Ukai said smirking.

"Tsukishima-kun seems to have changed a little," Kiyoko noted.

"Ah, yeah. A certain someone inspired him to get out of the nest," Emi said as she remebered what Bokuto said the night before and how Kuroo gave Tsukishima some intructions on how to block. She watched as Tsukishima's arms moved foward in attempt to block Bokuto's spike only for the latter to change the spike to a tip and smiled. I guess, I don't have to be worried about him anymore, she thought to herself.