FORTY. GF-FORHIRE
━━━━┅━━━┅━━━━
"we're sorry for disappointing you, captain!" the nippon team— except ymari and utsui— bowed as soon as the captain entered the changing rooms.
seinaru blinked at them blankly, ignoring the sweat that slowly dripped down her forehead from running around too much during the last quarter of the game.
"huh?" she asked cluelessly.
ichigo was the first one to get up. she had a guilty look on her face as she cradled her right arm that got torn off it's hinges.
"sir! we understand that you're disappointed. we let you down. we're sorry that we disturbed your rest and we had to let you play. but we hope you understand that if you didn't sub in, we wouldn't have won, sir!" she bowed again, her brown hair covering her eyes.
seinaru just blinked at the team before glancing at utsui who gave her an encouraging nudge, as if to say, 'well?'
the captain looked at her team again and sighed. she put her hand on her hips before saying what was on her mind.
"i'm not disappointed." she said, blinking. "you're all stupid for thinking that."
the girls simultaneously shot up and looked at her with wide eyes.
"you're.. not?" nozomi slowly asked.
"she just said she wasn't, pay attention." utsui snickered, slinging an arm over the apple-loving girl's shoulder.
hanuka wasn't having any of it. she felt really bad that she had to let her captain play due to her incompetence. "but we disturbed your rest—"
"i enjoyed the game." seinaru walked off, slinging her bag on her shoulder as she made her way into the shower rooms to clean herself up.
she gave her team a backwards glance and a closed-lip smile before sauntering off.
"i hope you did too."
-
utsui soon followed after ymari who was on her way to the loo, carrying a large black gym bag that most certainly was not part of the nippon merchandise. in short, it was something one of them brought on purpose.
"i took your stuff with me before the game started, just like you asked." utsui fell into step with her good friend and captain.
the girl nodded, blankly staring into oblivion as they walked together quietly, the only sounds echoing through the empty backstage hallways were their basketball shoes clad feet's gentle pitter patter.
when they arrived at the women's loo, nobody was there. utsui locked the main door while ymari slipped inside a cubicle, now carrying the gym bag that utsui brought.
"do you need help dressing up?" she asked her captain as she looked at herself in the mirror.
"no." the girl called from the inside.
"who's this client?" utsui asked. "i've been wondering who they were, since you went to the extent of dressing up. are they also a vo—"
"he is." ymari answered. there was a lot of shuffling from her side.
"another volleyball player?" the brunette pondered, surprised. "is he one of the guys we gave presents to?"
there was a silent pause from ymari's side. "oh, no."
"hmm. can you a least drop a hint of what school he's from?" the girl couldn't help her curiosity.
"ah, you don't need a hint." ymari finally opened the door, revealing her in her all new girlfriend-for-hire glory.
she stepped outside the cubicle with her gym bag and went over to the mirrors, adjusting her wig. "he's from fukurodani, kotarō bokuto."
utsui blinked as she scanned her friend's appearance.
ymari was wearing a high waisted white pleated skirt, a white bustier top that revealed a bit of her stomach, a thin white cardigan, and a pair of white chunky high heels.
but that wasn't the icing to the cake. it was her natural looking pristine white wig that cascaded down to the small of her back in soft curls. it was parted in the middle and made her look like an alaskan barbie doll.
she opened a small case and took out a contact lens. in less than a minute later, her eyes were no longer heterochromatic. instead, they were a captivating shade of green.
utsui noted that ymari just put on one contact lens— on her blue eye, as the lens she put on matched her already green eye perfectly.
"you went all out, huh?" utsui grinned, whistling lowly. "you look hot, not gonna lie."
ymari snorted, something that no one heard often. "it was his friend's idea."
"who?" utsui's curiosity sparked as she looked at ymari with wide eyes.
"oh the guy from my birthday— the one who walked me back to the hotel. i saw you guys spying on us so i assume you recognize who he is." the captain shrugged, putting her things back in the gym bag.
"he and i went shopping together to buy things for this gig. he thought this look would be good."
utsui wasn't even shocked that her captain spotted the, she was more shocked that that was the guy who had brought her home that late on her birthday.
"did you do more than just shopping?" the brunette asked.
ymari zipped up her bag. "we talked."
"he also took me stargazing. well solstice gazing. he said he didn't want me to spend my birthday alone."
utsui nearly squealed but kept her cool. her friend was getting so much action these days it's so hard to believe!
"oh, did you enjoy it?" was her response.
"yeah.." ymari smiled a bit, looking down as her cheeks flushed a tinge of pink. "i thought it was very sweet."
that's it, utsui couldn't take it anymore.
"kiyaaaaa~!" she burst out, squealing, shaking her stoic friend.
"ymari's in looooveeee!"
ymari's eyes widened at her friend's statement, her heart skipping a beat at the assumption.
"no i'm not." she immediately denied, sighing as she tried to shrug off her friend's out of the blue outburst.
she then began to tell utsui off, "just because i liked it doesn't mean i'm automatically in love, you know? this isn't some fanfiction, or shoujo manga. besides, it was just something that happened on a whim. plus, it's his friend i'm dating, not him."
utsui just grinned widely at her friend. "i still ship it~"
"you ship me with everybody." ymari sweatdropped.
she then remembered the brunette's reaction once she eventually told her everything about each of her clients— except bokuto— the night after they had delivered her presents to everyone. utsui found her and kenma cuddling on her bed and was stealthy enough to be the one to help kenma out of the hotel without being seen by a single nippon member. that lead to ymari explaining everything to her.
"can you keep everyone away from me?" ymari asked, changing the topic. "my makeover isn't completely fool-proof. you have to make everyone steer clear of me otherwise things might get dirty."
"of course." utsui grinned.
"the front row passes and food stubs are with inko-san. can you claim my food and take them to me at the sub arena later?"
utsui nodded. "sure."
she then looked at utsui, handing the latter the gym bag.
"i'm counting on you."
utsui nodded, and then opened the bathroom door, exiting while her captain stayed back.
the captain soon stepped outside after a few more seconds. when the door closed, she took her phone out of the white sling purse she had taken out of her gym bag earlier. she was about to text someone she was supposed to meet when a voice disturbed her.
"seinaru-san?"
-
rintarō suna wasn't an idiot. he knew for sure that something was up the moment their team's setter, atsumu miya had an argument with itachiyama's ace, kiyoomi sakusa a few days ago at the ball.
he'd overheard the words, "that's if she's actually your girl" come out of sakusa's mouth with a mocking tone. and since then, his mind had gone haywire.
so it wasn't just him.
it wasn't just him who theorized against atsumu's relationship with seinaru.
however, when ymari seinaru walked inside the ballroom that night, with everyone's eyes trained on her, the announcer's words broke his heart and confused him more than it should have.
though it was quickly rebuked, the slip-up that ymari was taken didn't fall on deaf ears.
or rather.. that she wasn't taken.
with the way his words were taken back, the announcer implied that ymari was single— at least that's what suna likes to think.
either that, or her relationship with atsumu was just kept under wraps.
either way, it was confusing.
the entirety of inarizaki seemed to have let go of the announcer's mistake almost immediately— though they were all concerned earlier, the way atsumu handled things with sakusa and how the announcer rebuked his own words seemed to be enough to convince them that everything was a-okay.
but not for suna.
suna intended to find out what exactly was going on.
and he intended to find out as soon as he could.
he sighed, tucking his hands into his pockets.
he had just met ymari by chance an hour ago while he was having brunch. her personality was 100% genuine. eve in the game she played earlier. she destroyed her opponents because she might have despised the fact that her team was mocked and played around with.
she didn't seem to be the type that played around, sold herself to anyone, or just plainly didn't take relationships seriously. in fact, she deserved the "world's best girlfriend" title for her simple stunts of going to a different prefecture every weekend just to see her boyfriend.
she was the perfect girlfriend to atsumu.
but something just wasn't adding up.
"ymari's in looooveeee!"
the middle blocker was walking down the hallways of the gigantic gymnasium's backstage to find the bathroom when he heard someone squeal a familiar name.
'ymari?'
his brows furrowed in confusion when he spotted the girl's bathroom— the source of the noise.
it was wrong— he knew that.
this was the girl's fucking bathroom— of course it's wrong!
normally, suna was a gentleman.
but he wanted to find out if the ymari the girl squealed about was the ymari he knew.
because if it was, it could help him untangle whatever it was that he was trying to untangle.
"no i'm not." he heard a familiar voice deny.
his eyes widened.
it was her.
ymari seinaru— 'tsumu's girl.
what did she mean by— she's not in love?
he heard her confess to atsumu via phone call a few weeks ago that she was in love with him.
suna has a lot of questions.
after a short pause, she spoke again. "just because i thought it was sweet doesn't mean i'm automatically in love, you know? this isn't some fanfiction, or shoujo manga. besides, it was just something that happened on a whim. plus, it's his friend i'm dating, not him."
his brows stitched together in confusion as he whispered underneath his breath. multiple assumptions came rushing through his head.
she was dating atsumu.
he and seinaru did something on a whim— the breakfast date at hyogo before, and their encounter today.
could the friend she was pertaining to.. be him?
delusional. completely delusional this one is.
"i still ship it~" he heard someone tease ymari.
"you ship me with everybody." ymari's voice retaliated.
there was a slight pause before the captain spoke again.
"can you keep everyone away from me? my makeover isn't completely fool-proof. you guys have to steer clear of me otherwise things might get dirty."
'makeover?' suna's brows furrowed as he stepped away from the door upon realizing that he was pressing onto it too hard.
"of course."
"the front row passes and food stubs are with inko-san. can you claim my food and take them to me at the sub arena later?"
'sub arena?' suna thought.
"sure." the other voice responded.
"i'm counting on you." was what he last heard before the door opened.
he immediately turned the other way, which was luckily the boy's bathroom, while avoiding the girl's eyes.
utsui narrowed her eyes at him slightly before walking away.
suna recognized the girl as ymari's teammate who was a wnba trainee— according to ginjima. a few moments later, he then saw someone step out of the bathroom.
his eyes widened and his mouth dried up. he couldn't help himself from blurting out.
"seinaru-san?"
the mentioned girl, upon hearing her name, looked up abruptly— completely forgetting that she was in disguise.
her now emerald green eyes widened at the sight of her boyfriend's friend and teammate, rintarō suna.
she blinked twice, "suna-san..?"
she wanted to believe that it wasn't really him and that he didn't recognize her— but he was right there and he just called out her name for kami-sama's sake!
"did you hear anything?" she immediately asked.
judging from his facial expression, she realized that he did, in fact hear something.
she wasn't an idiot. she realized that he probably heard a part of what she and utsui were talking about. otherwise, he wouldn't have recognized her upfront. her look made her rather unrecognizable— even though it wasn't completely fool-proof.
the boy's mouth was agape. she was gorgeous. the clothing she wore was a complete contrast to what she was wearing earlier during the game.
she had white hair and green eyes!
he knew for a fact that her eyes were pure baby blue and her hair was pitch black. he saw it multiple times!
he paused.
no— her eyes.
at training in inarizaki, her eyes were blue.
at breakfast in hyogo, her eyes were— he gulped— her eyes that day were blue and green!
at the ball, her eyes were blue and green.
his eyes flashed as he went back in time, remembering what he saw.
at brunch earlier, her eyes were blue and green.
and now..
her eyes were green.
how could he have not noticed this before?!
and her hair— don't get me started about her hair!
"suna-san." ymari slapped his cheeks lightly to shake him out of his reverie.
suna blinked at the sudden stinging sensation on his left cheek, before looking at seinaru— who was now exactly his height thanks to the short heels.
she blinked at him blankly before letting out a small sigh. "you were spaced out for quite a bit."
suna's eyes widened again when he realized the exact situation he was in. "seinaru why—"
"i'd prefer if you didn't ask." she looked away with a light blush on her cheeks.
"i'm not gonna lie, i have a lot of questions. because.. none of this makes sense." suna trailed off, voicing out his thoughts once and for all. he then sighed. "but i'll keep them to myself for now."
she blinked at his bluntness. "thank you. i think i can answer them to my best ability in the future, but nowhere soon."
suna nodded, then visibly looking her up and down. "what's with the getup though? 'tsumu might not be able to recognize you at first glance."
"you said you'd keep your questions to yourself.." she also looked at her getup. "and it's none of your business."
suna bit his tongue to keep himself from asking more questions. they were enveloped in silence.
"you look very pretty." suna blurted out all of a sudden, making ymari look at him instantly.
"oh.." she blinked. "thank you."
"where can i find 'tsumu later?" she changed the subject.
"the third court— or probably loitering around somewhere." suna answered, his eyes not leaving her beautiful green ones.
"got it." she paused.
"good luck on your match." she bowed lightly, before getting back up. "i'll try to catch up and watch it."
with that, she turned away and left without another word.
suna, though perplexed and shaken from the encounter, with more questions than before, entered the bathroom to do his business.
-
"tsukki, where are you going?" yamaguchi asked the tall megane who suddenly stood up from his seat. "our first game starts after they finish setting up the nets."
kageyama gave him a knowing glance before huffing in place. finding out about tsukishima's involvement with ymari was still bothering him so much that even the tall middle blocker's small movements made him think he was going out to meet her.
"out." the megane answered before giving kageyama a side glance and turning away.
a tick mark appeared on the setter's forehead. so he was going out to meet her. but he refrained from getting up and following the megane. for all he knew the blonde might just need to take a shit. imagine if kageyama actually stalked him to find out that it's all he had to do— and that he wasn't really going to meet up with ymari.
tsukishima took the shortest route to the bathrooms— ymari's last text stated she was there. however, when he rounded the corner, he could hear some people talking that piqued his interest.
"where can i find 'tsumu later?"
his brows furrowed. that's seinaru's voice. he peaked around the wall and saw that it was a white haired girl in a all-white outfit, and an athlete from the famous contender, inarizaki.
his brows furrowed. why does this girl sound so much like the girl he was meeting up with?
"the third court— or probably loitering around somewhere." the boy answered.
"got it." the girl said.
then..
"good luck on your match." the girl bowed lightly, before getting back up. "i'll try to catch up and watch it."
tsukishima's eyes widened when she bowed. he caught a glimpse of her face.
it was her— ymari seinaru.
the boy turned away just as the girl started walking off.
tsukishima straightened his back and walked forward, pretending he hadn't seen a thing.
suna narrowed his eyes at the stranger— tsukishima— as they crossed paths. tsukishima felt his blood turn cold at the moment of intersection before both of them walked off like nothing happened.
seinaru finally took notice of the blonde megane and approached him. "you wanted to see me?"
"you look different." was his introduction, ignoring ymari's question. then a mocking grin made its way onto his face. "in a bad way.",
the girl narrowed her now emerald green eyes at him. "you have a game in less than ten minutes, kei. the least you can do is be a good boy so that kami-sama will bless you."
"i'm christian." tsukishima deadpanned. "and you are too."
"now don't go dragging my religion into this." the girl tsk'ed. her face then turned serious. "so why'd you want to see me?"
tsukishima blinked.
suddenly, he wanted to stop himself from saying whatever it is that he wanted to say when he remembered what he had overheard mere seconds ago.
seinaru was with an inarizaki player a few moments before they met up. and they were talking about this "'tsumu" guy that ymari apparently wanted to find later.
he knew ymari was a girlfriend-for-hire. if he didn't, he wouldn't have even gotten the opportunity to keep meeting her this way. but the fact that other people were also taking up her time, getting called her companion, getting the same privilege as him awoke a certain spark in him.
he felt.. protective— if that's even the right term to use.
possessive.. but it sounds a bit too strong.
ah..
selfish.
yeah, that's the word.
he wanted to keep her to himself.
not in any way, yandere.
he just..
it's complicated.
"kei?" ymari called, snapping him out of his reverie.
"why'd you call me out here?"
it's complicated.
but not complicated enough to confuse tsukishima of his intentions.
"i want you to cheer for me." he demanded.
ymari's eyes widened lightly at the sudden request. tsukishima wasn't one to ask for moral support— could it be? could he..
.. be nervous?
.. be having a panic attack right now?
"okay." ymari blinked, still in shock at the request. she then realized that she couldn't just keep loitering around especially in her attire and her current gig. "but i'm wearing—"
"i'll see you in the stands." tsukishima nodded, effectively cutting her off and turning away, leaving her there.
"well, he could have just texted me that." ymari sighed, her hand meeting her forehead.
my, what a tiring life.
-
five minutes later, the protagonist found herself walking into the vip section of the stands, right beside the national volleyball coaches, who apparently think that it's better to stand up than to sit in their actual seats.
"sumimasen, may i pass through?" she kindly asked, showing her vip pass to the attendant.
the attendant let her through immediately, recognizing her face despite the sudden change in appearance.
ymari's brows furrowed as she walked towards where she spotted her team. her disguise seemed to be useless. everyone just keeps on recognizing her.
she sighed, pulling out her white facemask from her bag and putting it on, in hopes that she wouldn't be recognized this way.
"utsui." she greeted once she sat down next to the brunette.
the girl's eyes widened upon seeing her. all the other players also took notice of her presence— thanks to her mask though, she wasn't recognized. to them, she was just a pretty girl that had maybe some type of relationship with utsui.
"y—" utsui paused, stopping herself as she almost mistakenly called her friend by the first name. she then stood up and dragged ymari to a secluded corner behind the nippon team that were now chatting lively.
she whisper-yelled. "what are you doing here?"
"is inko-san here?" she ignored the question.
utsui blinked. "no."
"hmm. a client wants me to cheer for him." the girl answered the previous question. she then pulled out her phone and started dialing a familiar number.
the brunette immediately recognized that the client must be kei tsukishima from karasuno, since their seats were directly in front of their current court.
"you can't exactly do that, y'know?" utsui said, whispering. "you'll be found out."
"eh." ymari shrugged, putting the phone to her ear when the number picked up.
"moshi-moshi?" the woman on the other end answered.
"i'm borrowing the cheer team. are they available today?" the girl asked.
utsui's eyes widened so much that it looked like they were going to pop out of her sockets, but her lips formed into a huge excited grin.
"holy shit—"
"sure. they're all yours." inko shimura answered, not really bothered by the sudden request.
ymari can get whatever the hell she wants today. after all, she won the exhibition game for japan just thirty minutes ago. who was inko to say no?
"i can make the arrangements. text me the conditions and i'll have them here as soon as possible."
ymari gave the a-okay and ended the call, sending the conditions immediately, and then looking up at her fairly amused brunette friend.
"shouldn't you be stopping me?" ymari prodded, raising a brow at her friend.
"eh, i'd like to see how this plays out." utsui laughed, wiping a non-existent happy tear. "japan's olympic cheer team.. cheering for karasuno. oh god, the press would have a field day!"
ymari couldn't help the grin that fell upon her lips. she too, was excited for the whole thing to play out.
she's a teen too, in case you forgot. she likes fun things.
"so you coming back to sit with me or what?" utsui asked.
"i actually have somewhere to be." ymari shrugged. "i just went there to check if people would recognize me with a mask, guess not."
"yeah, so you better keep it on." utsui nudged her with a grin. "i'll update you when the cheer team gets here, 'kay?"
ymari nodded, "sure."
and just as she turned away to leave, her eyes met tsukishima's who were filled with curiosity. she gave the boy in the court a cheeky wave and then left the vip area, now, with her mask, unrecognizable.
━━━━┅━━━┅━━━━