Carry the Day

Chapter 4: The match

The ball whizzed passed my field of vision, slamming onto the other side of the court. The sound of cheers echoed through the gym. I scrunched up my nose as Tanaka-sepa-- Tanaka pulled his shirt off and swung it around. 

"He blew that first year out of the water." Kinoshita said. 

I scoffed and crossed my arms as I watched Tsukishima. "Oi, titan! I told you to make those words come true!" I yelled.

The guy turned to look at me, eye twitching. "Why don't you stand here and block-- Oh right, you can't." He said. He narrowed his eyes at me with a smirk on his obnoxious face.

Daichi-senpai placed his hand on his hip with a smile. "Maybe you two shouldn't have razzed Tanaka." he said. 

Tsukishima scoffed as he stared at Tanaka yelling while I simply stuck my nose in the air and turned my head away. Shimizu-senpai blew her whistle as the others made Tanaka put his shirt back on.

The game resumed and Tanaka received the ball nicely. Out of habit, my eyes zoned in on his form and studied his technique and abilities. 'His receive is good, but he should bent his knees just a bit more. It will give him more stability.'  I thought.

The ball flew up in the air, right into Tobio's awaiting hands. He tossed the ball up in the air as Hinata made a run for it. The ginger jumped up. My eyes widened and my jaw went slack for just a moment before I composed myself. 'He jumped like that last time as well.'  I thought, recalling our junior high match.

Hinata slammed his palm against the ball and the ball was slammed down. Just not on the good side. Hinata's eyes widened as he landed on the ground, staring at the ball that rolled at his feet before looking up at the titan peering down at him with a smirk. 

A smirk grew on my own face as I clapped slowly. "You sure can jump, ginger." I said. 

"You surprised me the other day as well. You sure can jump." Tsukishima said. "If only you were 30 centimeters taller you would've become a superstar." he said. He turned around and walked off, a mocking grin on his face. 

As the game continued, Hinata kept getting blocked by Tsukishima, though Tanaka seemed to be scoring just fine. I gave Tsukishima a look-over. Besides being tall, I could tell he had sufficient knowledge of blocking. I watched as he stood with Yamaguchi, his shoulders relaxed and a bored look in his eyes.

My eyes narrowed. He was in no way a winner; He didn't have the attitude. I gritted my teeth as the game resumed and he simply kept jumping, not even trying to put some effort into it. I clenched my fists when I saw him looking over to me and smirk at my angered state. 

Tsukishima turned to Tobio and said, "He's constantly getting blocked. You should try your King's toss. The toss that decimates his enemies..." 

"And decimates his own teammates as well." I said. I stood up and walked over to Yamaguchi and Daichi-senpai. I handed Yamaguchi a bottle of water. He smiled in appreciation, but I simply disregarded the gesture.

I sat back down at the sidelines and watched as Yamaguchi was up to serve. Immediately, I found his position to be incorrect. The way he was going, he would hit the ball either too early or too late, which meant the ball didn't have the full height it needed to get over the net.

Yamaguchi threw the ball in the air and slammed his hand against the ball. It zoomed straight over the court and into the net. The boy flinched a bit at his mistake and turned towards Tsukishima, who scoffed at the boy. 

Yamaguchi rubbed the back of his neck. "Sorry, Tsukki." he said. He wore an apologetic smile as he was ignored by his friend.

'How can that guy even have friends at all?'  I thought, looking at Tsukishima. 

Tobio picked up the ball that had rolled onto their side of the court. "We don't need a speedy attack. We can win without it." he said. He made his way to the backline and bounced the ball in his hands.

"Go, killer serve!" Hinata exclaimed.

I tilted my head as I watched Tobio throw the ball in the air and jump after it. I analyzed his form, which was seemingly perfect. The only fault I could find was the amount of power he put behind his serve. Though it was a lot, I had seen serves that were way more powerful than this one. My eyes snapped over to the other side of the court, where I saw the captain moving.

He flawlessly received the ball and sent it to Tsukishima, who set it to Yamaguchi. They scored, because Hinata must be one of the worst receivers in history. My eye twitched as I watched the ginger's arms and posture. I took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "You've got to be kidding me..." I whispered.

Tobio scoffed and looked at his opponents as Tanaka walked up to him. "Daichi-san's weapon is his solid receive. They've got serious defense." Tanaka said.

"Did you think we'd let you score a few points?" Daichi-senpai said. A smile was still displayed on his lips, but the way he spoke almost sounded mocking; Almost. "I don't have outstanding talent, but I've done this a few years longer than you. My recieve is well-integrated into my body." He said. 

Then he got back into a receiving position and let a small smirk slip onto his lips. "Don't think you can get past me that easily." he said.

"Now I see why this guy is the captain." I said. I placed my hands behind my head and crossed my ankles. "He's a calm, collected, all-round player with the ability to make everyone listen to him." I mumbled.

I glanced at Tsukishima, who looked back at Tobio. "Hey, King. Maybe you should start getting serious." he said.

Hinata glared at him and asked, "What's your problem?" "You haven't stopped getting in our faces since the other day." he said.

I sat up and lifted a finger in the air. "I can answer that. Titan here is simply an obnoxious, arrogant, lanky--" I said.

"You're the exact same!" Hinata yelled. He looked between me and Tsukishima. "The two of you have serious problems." he said.

"I agree. He/She does." Tsukishima and I said in sync. We looked at each other and narrowed our eyes. I put a hand on my hip as I stood up from the ground. If you had a knife, you could've cut the tension between us. You know those lighting strikes? Yeah, that kind of tension.

"What's that King's Toss anyway?" Hinata asked suddenly.

I looked at the small boy and smirked. "It's Tobio's nickname... given by yours truly." 

And that's the end of chapter 4! Thank you all for reading and leave a comment, give me some constructive critism if you want to. I'm always looking to get better. I hope the story will get better with time, the chapters will get longer starting chapter 13 or so. Yes, I've already written that much beforehand.

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Until next week!