𝚕𝚎𝚐𝚊𝚌𝚢 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚢 𝚐𝚒𝚊𝚗𝚝 [𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯]

36 - SEMIS

Sakusa sprayed Yusei's hand before shaking it, which caused him to make a face as he wiped it on his shorts until his hand was dry. "Right in the middle of the court too." He scowled, glancing back to see the ref wiping up the liquid.

They were about to play Itachiyama; both sides were revved up and ready to go. Their fans were calling out their cheers, the Anaguma segment being led by Arinori and Shino.

Reijiro stood with Kanai in front of the bench, clipboard in hand. The starting players stood in the regular lineup as Yusei and Sakusa sized each other up like middle schoolers, Nishi and Komori sweat dropping.

Once the line ups were checked and approved, the ball was given to Itachiyama and the up referee blew the whistle. The ball flew over the net, hard, and it was almost an ace but Akagi managed to get a hand on it.

"Way to go! I got cover!" Yusei hollared, running after the ball and stopping it just before it could have touched the wall. "Last hit!" he yelled, which Yakoya followed up with and sent it over with an underhand pass.

"Chance ball!" Itachiyama's libero called, receiving it beautifully. Smirking darkly, Yusei's eyes darted to the setter, then between the hitters.

It's going to their middle, he realized. And, to make it even more devastating, he called it out. Right as the setter jumped to toss the ball, "It's going to the middle!" he informed.

The setter's eyes widened, but it was too late to change where he was going with it. Yusei looked as evil as his nickname implied.

The ball was shut down by Yakoya, giving Anaguma the first point. "Too easy." Yusei drawled as he narrowed his eyes at the other team's setter, who snarled angrily. "Careful, might actually turn into a dog with that kind of noise."

"Go serve it up Jiga-kun!"

"Yeah!" He responded, bouncing the ball. Once the whistle was blown, Jiga did his top spin serve, but Komori got it up. Their setter went for a back set, which was a major mistake. Yusei shut them right out.

With two points under their belt, Anaguma was on a roll. And they stayed that way, throughout the rest of the first set. Never letting Itachiyama have a break, not even a single hole was visible.

And that's how they ended it. 25-16, it was time for the second set. But that was not so easily won.

Yusei would score, then Sakusa would take it back. Back and forth, neither taking the lead or falling behind. The audience was in awe at the rallies; they were intense and long.

Both teams were dripping with sweat as they reached into the thirties. It was all most of them could do to get to the ball a few feet away.

It was Ozaki's serve, and the pressure was unimaginable. They were tied up at 34, which was all the more stressful because if he missed, Itachiyama would be in the lead. Taking a breath to calm himself, he held the ball and looked to the other side.

We'll win this.

The whistle blew, and he served. It was a net ball, resulting in an ace. Anaguma went up in cheers, one more point!

But Itachiyama had different plans. The next point, Sakusa practically murdered the ball. Him and Yusei held each other's gazes challengingly, their eyes basically saying "I'm going to win and you're going to admit defeat.".

Climbing into the forties, Anaguma was once again at set point. The people in charge of the tournament regretted not setting a cap on the score to keep it under forty, but what was done was done.

Yusei was serving, all of the power resting with him. Air left his nose as his eyes closed, a smirk appearing on his lips. And then, he ended it.

Anaguma won with a service ace, at 43-41. They had finished off their greatest rival in straight sets, and now they were off to the finals. "Good luck tomorrow!" Komori smiled at Yusei as he and Sakusa stood in front of him. "We'll be there cheering for you!"

"I appreciate it." The demon king nodded, and a second later was called away by his team. They left for their victory dinner, paling around and goofing off the entire way there.

"Well now, they should be good opponents."

"They did just beat a team we can't even win a set against, so yeah no shit."

"Shut yer trap! I didn't ask you!"

"Guys hurry up, we have a game to play!"

"Hai, hai!"

~•~

Yusei yawned as he made his way down to the vending machine. He was hungry, and it was three AM so it's not like he could pester one of his team mates, all of whom needed their sleep. Hearing his stomach growl, the demon king groaned. "Oh, so it's not just me."

Yusei's eyes shot open at the voice, which belonged to a male with--what looked to be--dyed grey hair. He was dressed casually, so Yusei didn't recognize him for who he was. Osamu's eyebrows went up when he registered who was in front of him, but they quickly went back to normal as he offered him some food.

"I'll get my own, thanks." he declined, walking past him. He looked surprised, but didn't question it as he ate a riceball.

"Osmau, hurry up with those snacks!" A new voice demanded as Yusei grabbed his food from the machine. He glanced over at him, the name not really meaning anything to him.

His eyes were already on him, finding the dude in front of him to be weirdly different from how he had been described to be. Osamu didn't have time to be lost in his thoughts as his twin brother came out of nowhere and grabbed one of the snacks out of his hand. "Thank you."

"You could have waited until I got back to the room."

"You weren't moving!" Atsumu paused, noticing Yusei which made his eyes narrow. "Hello Udai."

"Hi." Both males did the white-eye-circle look as he walked past them, not bothering with conversation. Once he got over his shock, the setter pouted.

"Man, that was way more anticlimactic than I wanted it to be!"

"Good." Osamu grumbled, heading back to the room with his complaining twin brother following him.

Meanwhile, the demon king had reentered his hotel room and sat down in the chair, quickly devouring the snack. Kataoka had heard him leave, so when he returned he had originally planned to ask him where he had gone, but got his answer from the food in his hand.

Yusei soon rejoined everybody on the bed, Kataoka scooting over to make more room for her. If the ace noticed, he didn't comment as he quickly got comfortable and was drowning in Z's a few seconds later.

The middle blocker chuckled, that was his demon king.