New Heights (Haikyuu Fanfic)

Chapter 82: Semi-finals

We stand between the two arenas, hand in hand as our teams part ways.

"Semi-finals," I let out with a deep breath.

"And finals tomorrow," Bokuto says holding enough confidence for the both of us.

He turns me towards him, trying to pass some of that confidence onto me. He smiled wide, "You got this Baby Bird."

"I got this," I nod, making myself believe it.
I step up onto my toes and pull him into me, kissing him soft and light. I bring a hand to his chest, feeling his heat, it is strong and steady heart beat. He's so sure about everything, sure about us winning today and sure about the words that leaves his lips when he pulls them from mine. He's just an inch away when he whispers the words, "I love you Baby Bird."

And an easy smile pulls to my face as I say back, "I love you too Bokuto."

He kisses me once more than pulls me into a tight hug before he pushes back saying, "Go, win."

"You too," I smile stepping away.

He back steps a few steps before turning away from me and I from him. Today, we face Nekuma. Their girls team adapts, quickly. Too quickly. Meaning I can't pull everything out at once. They grow and learn and if we pull out all the stops first set, then they figure out how to counter all our moves.

They know my blocks and my hits. How sharp I can make a straight and how deep I can cut a cross. Aimi keeps them on their guard by mixing up the sets and the hitters. If you call it or not she's going to send it your way if she feels it's right.

Nekuma's strongest player might be there setter, always steps ahead of the game. This is Aimi's challenger. Me? I am her weapon and her shield.

Blockers have been locked on me. I don't blame them, but I'm not the only one who can spike. Three times now, Aimi has sent it left to another third year and right when they start to catch on, she sends it to me and I slam it down the middle.

Nekuma is tricky though, and that setter is annoying. She tips the ball over my block, lobbing it. The girls are too far away to do something, it hits the floor.

"Nekuma takes the first set," The announcers shouts, the whistle blows and the teams gather and switches sides.

Coach tries to reassure us, "Ladies. The game is not over. You were close, just keep that ball up and attack."

"Guys. I need some back up at the net. That setter has gotten 3 dunks on us and it can't stop that on my own."

"I'm behind you," Hina says, out of breath, head low. "I got anything you can't get to. We need to take this set."

We get back on the court, and we do just that. With a struggle we take the set. With exhaustion creeping up on us, as we make our way back to the court I tell Aimi. "Don't be scared. You once told me you run this court," I nod over towards Nekuma, "Show them that."

The game stays close. I cut a cross shot, powerful enough to fly off the receiver's arms and out. "Yes," I cheer.

The middle blocker looks to me, snarling across the net, "Your boyfriend teach you that?"

I roll my eyes keeping a challenging smile that my boyfriend did teach me. I don't bother keeping it a secret when I tell Aimi, "Aimi set me up." Though I do lower my voice to say, "Push it left."

She nods. Eyes locked to the other side of the net. Serve goes up. I get a touch on the spike. The receive is perfect.

Aimi send it to center but pushes it more left than usual. I roll my shoulders and goes in for the spike. The cameras better catch this because Bokuto will be proud.