The Third Miya: Isuma

XXXV

April 24th, 2021

Everything people say about your junior year (11th) being the hardest year of high school is a big lie because 9th grade is way harder. I have been lied to. No one warned me about this.

Also, Riseki Heisuke is a first-year on Inarizaki. He played during the Karasuno/Inarizaki match as a pinch server. He's the #14 ^^ who messed up real bad and then their cheer squad started booing smh he's such a sweetheart how dare they🙄

Isuma was really tired of Atsumu's sudden decisions.

For their match against Kaiso, Kita, Isuma, and their coach had told him to use jump-floaters the whole time. He'd been listening perfectly... until the middle of the second set. Up 'til then, everything had been going smoothly. They'd taken the first set without allowing Kaiso to reach the double digits.

The score was 19:06 when he messed up. The referee blew the whistle just as Kita murmured, "Atsumu, no..."

"What?" Kosaku asked. "He's not doing a jump-float."

Kosaku almost asked how he knew- Atsumu hadn't even taken a step yet- but he stopped himself. "Why shouldn't he?"

"He's done this before. Kaiso's servers are amazing... right now, he's frustrated knowing he can look better, yet he's stuck with doing the same thing over and over again."

Kosaku stared at Kita, but he didn't elaborate. "...so, aren't you going to stop him?"

"It's too late now. And even if I could, I wouldn't. He'll hear it from all three of us later." Kita's eyes flicked towards the bench; the coaches and Isuma had all just sighed, evidently having realized he was switching up his serve.

Atsumu threw the volleyball up in a high arc and ran up then jumped- the sound of his hand hitting the volleyball echoed throughout the gym as a tremendous roar.

The volleyball blew past Kaiso's players- and then kept going. It slammed into the wall, and then, swerving, flew towards the bleachers. A startled middle schooler caught it; after a brief second of silence, he awkwardly held it up. "Um...?"

Isuma sighed and shook her head; Atsumu was being scolded by Akagi, Aran, and Omini at the same time, while Osamu was laughing off to the side. Kurosu Sensei murmured something under his breath. "He's doing extra practice for that tonight."

The other coach said, "Jump serves."

"A hundred of them," Isuma added.

Kita heard them and called, "Two hundred."

"Deal." Kurosu Sensei agreed; all four of them turned towards Atsumu at the same time. As if sensing his future punishment, Atsumu flinched. "Ugh, no..."

Osamu laughed even harder at his brother's fate. "Shut up, 'Samu!"

"How many serves has he missed today?" Their coach asked. Isuma glanced at her notebook. "...two. One of his jump-floats in the first set was out, and, well... this one was really out."

"What about Kaiso?"

"Like you said, they focus on their serves more than anything else. Their #7- he's a second-year- tried to do a few jump serves earlier."

He nodded. "I remember. Take a few notes on their first-years too. They're the ones we'll need to watch out for next year."

"I will." Against her will, her hand went to her forehead- it had been hurting ever since they'd arrived, and she'd been trying to ignore it- mostly so no one else would notice- but it was growing worse. She shook her head and turned back to the coach, who was still talking. "Sorry, what were you saying?"