The Red String Of Fate (IwaOiKage)

Chapter 14: Interhigh Prelims Part 1

(A/n Okay so um— I was too lazy to watch actual inter-high match, so the chapter is on my memory and self-creation, so I'll not be diving into detailed perspectives from each character as I did during the 3v3, the max parts this will have are 3, hope you enjoy.)

[Kageyama]

". . . Kageyama. . ." A voice called as Kageyama tiredly moved his head on the uncomfortable seat. ". . . Kageyama."

"Ole~!" 

Kageyama snapped awake as Seijou's cheer group enunciated Oikawa's serve. "Kageyama?" Sugawara shook his hand in front of his face.

"Yeah, I'm awake," he responded, yawning and rubbing his eyes.

"I was gonna wake you up but left the job for the cheers," Sugawara said in dismay as Kageyama immediately peered at the stadium to see Oikawa serve again. 

"What's the score?" He asked, not shifting his tired eyes off Oikawa's serve.

"twenty-two to seven," Sugawara responded, then hit him on the shoulder. "That's the first thing you ask after waking up?"

Kageyama had drifted off to sleep while waiting for Seijou and the team against them to come forth; unfortunately, the team that was going to play against had injured one of their middle blockers in a previous match, causing almost a fifteen-minute delay.

Oikawa served again; this time Kageyama observed the footwork; unlike him, Oikawa took fewer steps. His trance snapped as the referee blew a whistle, indicating Seijou won 2-0. 

"OLE!" The cheer group burst out cheering again as Oikawa laughed and hugged his teammates, ruffling Kindaichi and Kunimi's hair.

It hit Kageyama with a pang of slight guilt that he never made his teammates smile, nor in middle school, or high school. . . Oikawa really was better than Kageyama, right?

Just as Kageyama was going to get up, he and Oikawa suddenly locked eyes, the tension between them building up.

"Oi Kageyama!" Hinata yelled, running up to him and grabbing his arm, pulling him towards the exit as Oikawa and his eye-contact remained intact. "Didn't know you liked Great King's face that much," Hinata mumbled as Kageyama had been successfully dragged out of the stadium.

"EYY! KAGEYAMA! WHY ARE YOU ZONING OUT, AGAIN?" Tanaka asked, running up to him and grabbing his other free arm. "C'MON!"

Without having much resistance against Hinata and Tanaka dragging him by the wrists, Kageyama sighed, the eye contact with Oikawa was almost like an indirect attack in a video game; more like a slow-down attack sent by the opponent.

Even with all the commotion around him, he seemed to only focus on two things, Kindaichi and Kunimi's smile, and the eye-contact; never had he ever seen Kunimi smile so softly in a game in the past two years-

"Hey KING!" Kageyama swirled around to see Kindaichi and Kunimi running towards him.

He looked at Daichi, who just shrugged and held up five fingers, indicating five minutes; grabbing Hinata and Tanaka, he left the three alone.

"SO-" 

"I just wanted to say, 'good game, my fellow opponent,'" Kunimi cut Kindaichi off.

"Same to you too, try not to lose," Kageyama's face had a light smile on them—a small, genuine smile-

"HUH?!" Kindaichi pushed past Kunimi and stared at Kageyama. "DO IT AGAIN!"

Kageyama looked at Kunimi, who just shrugged and sent a small smile back to him, "just do what he says, or else he's gonna pin you down to it."