𝚕𝚎𝚐𝚊𝚌𝚢 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚢 𝚐𝚒𝚊𝚗𝚝 [𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯]

29 - FINAL

"So these shrimps beat Ubagawa?" Yusei asked as he and the Anaguma boys shagged for Tsubakihara. "I don't see it."

"Dude they're almost all as short as you!" Jiga snickered, holding his stomach as he laughed. Yusei deadpanned.

"Wow, insulting your king like that, seems like you don't wanna live anymore."

"We're fighting the guys in yellow and blue. Yellow and blue!"

"Apologies." Yusei said, his gaze going back to the court. Tsubakihara did seem to be pretty good, but it was mostly because of their stability, their setter, and their ace. However, Yusei glanced back at his team as they chatted, we are better.

His teammates shared his confidence as they had their seven minutes on, all loudly cheering for each other as the Anaguma stands were lead through the Demon King cheer. They were all on fire, their spikes all powerful and hitting the floor with a lingering sound.

After both line ups were introduced, they lined up on the endline and bowed.

"Thank you for the game!" the two sides said, and then jogged to the net to shake hands. Yusei had already picked out his targets, muttering them to Jiga as they headed back to form the line up. Both sides made faces at each other; it was mostly Jiga, Ozaki and Akagi that were making the faces on their side, while Tsukioka, Echigo and Atema were the face makers for Tsubakihara.

After checking the lineups and waving the liberos on, the down ref gave the signal that all was well to begin, so the up ref put the whistle in his mouth and held out his hand. It was Tsubakihara's serve, so when the whistle was blown, Echigo served it.

Yusei recieved it almost mindlessly, his face appearing with a frown as he thought about something no one would ever know. Echigo cursed, hurrying to his base as Nishi got under the ball. Glancing backwards towards Ozaki, Nishi set a back quick, only for it to be shut down.

"Ah my bad! I made it too obvious!" Nishi groaned as Ozaki patted him on the back. The Tsubakihara players smirked, thinking they had this in the bag if that was how it was going to be the whole game. However, they missed the glint in Nishioka's eyes.

The next point, Nishioka glanced at Jiga, but instead set a back quick for Ozaki. It was on the line, and no touch. "Nice kill!" The bench called as the two high fived, it being a side out. They were at 1-1.

"Get us some points, aye son?"

"You know it dad." Jiga and Yusei slapped hands as the first year jogged to the endline to serve. Standing at the net, Yusei started snickering as he looked at Tera, who glanced at him with confusion swirling in his eyes.

"S-sorry it's just... how much gel is in your hair?!" Yusei burst out laughing, making the ref sigh and tweet his whistle as a warning. "I said I'm sorry!"

"Knock it off." Nishioka slapped him upside the head, bowing to the ref slightly. Smirking as he saw that Tera was definitely paying attention to him now, he kept shaking his shoulders to insinuate that he was laughing as Jiga top spinned his serve. He managed to get two aces before they got it up, shaky but still up.

"Cover!"

"Tera!" Echigo called, underhand setting it for him. The ball was high, a perfect one for the ace. Tera glanced at the line before starting his approach, so Yusei whistled.

Confusion covered Tsubakihara's side of the court as Akagi shifted to the line, Nishioka switching with him as the two blockers jumped, giving Tera line. Falling right into their trap, he shot line, but Akagi got it up so beautifully that Yusei wiped away a fake tear. "All you Nishi!"

"Got it!" Nishi called, running up to get it and setting a shoot for Yusei, who was already in the air. Landing right in front of their libero as he dived, the ball bounced away as Yusei landed, his signature smirk lighting up his face.

Tsubakihara's players suddenly felt a wave of heat, and for a split second, they were surrounded in flames. Looking to the other side, all of Anaguma was standing beside one throne. On it, with one leg slung over the other, horns on his head and a crown cresting them, sat Yusei Udai.

"Demon King.."

~*~

"Dude I was bored all game, they literally only stood a chance because of their ace." Yusei complained, his hands on his hips as he stretched his back. They had won in straight sets, 25-21, 25-18, 25-18. To say they dominated was an understatement.

"Yeah, I was kinda surprised." Nishi admitted. "They definitely don't hold a candle to Bokuto and Fukurodani."

"True that, Bokuto's much stronger, and a little scarier." Kataoka joined in, rested his arm on top of Yusei's head. He didn't seem to mind, just standing there and the three continuing to talk until it was time to head back to the high school.

"Well done today guys. I'm proud of each and every one of you, so keep it going strong. We have inter high in less than a two weeks so we're going to be practicing our asses off, got it?" Kanai told them after they had arrived back at Anaguma.

"Yes sir!" the team chorused. Yusei yawned, Jiga mimicking a second later. The team headed to Ozaki's house, telling their parents on the way that they would be staying over again. Interhigh was two weeks before school restarted, which meant that Yusei would be leaving the week after inter high.

Damn how he was going to miss Anaguma and all of his friends.

Wait a second, when did I start thinking of them as friends? He asked himself. A second later, he got his answer as he looked around. His teammates were all chatting animatedly, laughing and smiling and radiating positive energy.

Akagi had his arm slung around his shoulder, talking with Miyake as they walked. Yusei realized that he had begun to register the warm feeling has his home, which didn't make his teammates his friends, but more his family.

Stopping dead center of the street, Yusei looked down. Everyone noticed this and asked what was wrong. "What's the hold up?" Jiga asked, and as soon as the ace looked back up, he reeled back. Tears were streaming down his face as he tried not to make any sound.

"I don't wanna leave you guys." He croaked, swallowing. "You guys are my home, I know I'm never gonna find anyone that accepts me and completes me like you." He put his hands over his mouth, and a second later he was being hugged on all sides.

"We don't want you to leave either. How do you think we feel about losing our demon king huh?" Kataoka was also crying, almost all of the second and third years were.

"We love you dammit, you're our leader. But it's not up to us." Nishioka agreed.

"I'm never letting anyone call me the demon king, I'll forever be demon prince because only you deserve the title as ruler of hell." Jiga pitched in, dragging his arm across his nose as he let some tears slide from his eyes.

"I'm so glad I have you guys, I'm sorry for letting you down like this." Yusei sobbed, burying his face in Kataoka's chest.

"You're not letting us down! Not in the least!" Akagi sniffled angrily. "Stop blaming yourself dumbass!"

"He's right," Sanada agreed, wiping his eyes. "It's not your fault, none of us can do anything about it. We should just make the most of your time left, just like we planned."

"Mhm.." It took a few more minutes for the team to calm back down, mostly Yusei since he was still bawling his eyes out. "Sorry for making a scene." Yusei mumbled shyly, rubbing his arm as they continued on their way to Ozaki's.

"Nah it's fine, finally got to see your vulerable side." Nishioka smiled at him. "I'm happy you trust us enough to show us now."

"Of course," Yusei returned the smile, "You guys are my family."

(IT WAS NOT MY INTENTION FOR THIS TO BE AN ANGSTY CHAPTER ENDING BUT HERE WE ARE AND I APOLOGIZE IF I MADE ANYBODY CRY, CAUSE I CRIED TOO SO AKKKKK OKAY BAI-}

Merci~