𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐞 | 𝐤.𝐭𝐨𝐛𝐢𝐨

nineteen

INTER-HIGH TRACK&FIELD PRELIMINARY FINALS

"ganbatte, miyazaki-san!"  "we'll be there to watch you later!"

ayako looked up and smiled at the sight of the volleyball team standing outside the gym, waving at her.

she waved back. "thanks, guys! i'll do my best!"

the track team was about to leave the school for the last meet they were having this week-the inter-high preliminary finals.

karasuno didn't have many athletes left still running. majority of the group that had cleared qualifiers had gotten knocked out at the semi-finals two days back.

ayako and hayashi still remained at the top of their events, though.

ayako had dominated the 800m again, clinching a new meet record of 2.08.75.

only a couple of milliseconds faster than her previous timing, but she shrugged it off.

"for someone who went on a hiatus and came back with a timing of 2.12, then cutting that by 3 seconds in a span of a week, is amazing enough" quoting hayashi, after she'd told him about how she still wasn't satisfied with her time after the semi-finals.

for now, she'd just have to deal with the fact that beating the national best might not be as easy as it previously was for her.

"miyazaki-chan, we're leaving soon!" yamamoto called out, snapping her out of her daze.

"h-hai!" she quickly picked up her things and hurried onto the coach, flashing one last smile at the volleyball team.

"you're sure close with the volleyball team, were you their manager or something before you joined the track team?" hayashi dryly commented.

ayako gazed out of the window, watching as the pack of boys headed back into the gymnasium, as the coach slowly turned out of the school.

"nope, i'm their photographer-still am, in fact."

"eh? you didn't look like the type who'd be into photography," the boy pointed out, somewhat surprised at the fact the athletic girl next to him was into something like taking photos.

ayako scoffed. "how does a 'type' of person who's into photography look like then?"

hayashi shrugged. "i don't know...glasses, maybe? and constantly carrying a camera around, someone who hates sports...y'know the opposite of you?"

"don't judge a book by it's cover, i guess," she pointed out. "also, if i didn't need to bring spikes for track, i would still be carrying my camera with me. but now it's just too heavy."

"woah, there's really more to you than meets the eye, huh? i thought you were a all-about-track-and-nothing-else kind of person," the latter chuckled.

"think that's more of you, hayashi-san."

-

finals are supposed to be shorter than qualifiers and semi-finals, but it still feels like an eternity until its my event.

the girl grumbled in her head, and decided to go get a drink.

she headed down from the stands, finding her way to the vending machine through the crowd of people everywhere.

she threw in a couple of coins, before retrieving her yogurt drink.

"long time no see, ayako miyazaki."

a voice coming from her right made the girl jump.

ayako turned, and immediately froze.

she'd recognize that face anywhere. miho yamazaki.