His Warrior Queen: A Haikyuu!! Novel (Tsukishima x OC)

Chapter 93: Rising Up

Nakano watched, pacing around the gym, as her boys began warming up for their second game in the National Tournament.  

We're going up against the second seed in our second match, she mused, a small frown coming over her features, how unlucky could we be?  Drawing the number two team so early in the bracket!  Are we really ready for this?  Can these boys handle playing against a team like Inarizaki?

The strawberry blonde shook her head to clear it, realizing that these kinds of thoughts were in no way helpful.  She thought back to Shoyo's reaction to the matchup last night - he'd been so excited, so eager to take on a strong opponent.  He's almost never sick before matches anymore, she realized, that fear has been replaced by the drive to prove himself against ever stronger challengers.  She couldn't help but smile as she watched Hinata bounce around, getting warmed up physically as well as mentally.  He's so ready...they're all so ready.  They've earned their place here.  And if, at the end of the day, Inarizaki is the stronger team, I guarantee we'll have no reason to hang our heads.  The boys will leave everything on the court.  There will be no lingering 'we should haves.'  Every single one of them is here to give their best effort, even the boys who spend most of the game in the bullpen, she thought, looking fondly at Sugawara.

Nakano turned at the sound of a voice that clearly did not belong to her own team.  She couldn't help but laugh a little as Kageyama both tore down and talked up Hinata to Miya Atsumu, and the ginger's facial expression morphed along with his teammate's words.  At the same time however, she moved towards her best friend, feeling a little protective.  Why the heck are you here, Miya, she thought, a hard edge coming to her eyes, I don't need you trying to get inside the head of our setter before the match.  Not that you can, anymore.  Kageyama isn't the same guy you met at training camp a month ago.  But still.

"Miya-san," Nakano said, the tone of her voice rather frosty, "Can I do something for you?"

Atsumu raised his hands, palms out, as if to show he wasn't armed.  "Just here to say hello to yer setter, Coach Ogawa.  I promise I'm not here to mess with anyone's head."  The smirk on the boy's face was a most self-satisfied one.

"Oh, I know you're not, Miya-san," Nakano replied, her bright blue eyes flashing, "It's not like you'd be capable of doing that to any of my boys anyway.  I just wondered if maybe you'd gotten lost, or something like that.  You look like the kind of boy who gets easily distracted, Miya-san.  And we certainly wouldn't want our opponent to have to start the game without their setter, now would we?"  

The pair stared at each other, and the room suddenly seemed to crackle with the energy coming from the two.  Daichi looked around, certain that Kuroo had just walked in.  Yamaguchi elbowed Yachi and pointed over toward their coach, chuckling behind a hand.  Kageyama just looked back and forth between the two setters, wondering if he should say anything, or if that might actually be more dangerous.

Atsumu broke the stalemate, laughing and bowing to the girl with a flourish.  "It's clear you're a good coach, Ogawa-chan, and you know how to play the mental game as well.  It's a shame...the good ones are always taken.  Are you sure you've got a boyfriend?"

"She's sure," Tsukki said, coming up behind the girl, golden eyes trained on the smiling young man from their rival team, hand slipping around Nakano's waist, "Trust me on that one."

Atsumu looked up at the lanky blonde middle blocker.  "Dating the tallest guy on your team, too," he said softly, "Why am I not surprised."

"See you on the court, Miya-san," Tsukishima said, making it very clear that he was expecting the older boy to leave now.