Tsukishima's POV
"What if it isn't worth it?" Akira suddenly asked. Everyone looked at her, worried and confused by what she said.
"What do you mean?" Kageyama asked.
"When I first saw a badminton match, it was amazing and horrifying at the same time," she said. "The team that won was so happy. It was like a weight was lifted off of their shoulders and they were celebrating their win. The other team was defeated and looked at the court as if it betrayed them. The expressions on their faces were gloomy, I can't imagine how horrible they must have felt that time."
"So you're scared of losing?" I asked her. She looked up at me and I saw the fear in her eyes.
"I'm scared of risking everything," she said. She wasn't hiding her anxiety anymore. Her hands were clutched tightly together and she looked nervous.
"You're not really risking everything," Yachi said, trying to calm her down. "Whatever happens, you tried your best and worked really hard! You have next year anyways-"
"No, we don't," Akira said. "If we don't even place in the top three, the funding would get cut off and we'd be disbanded again. It would be extremely difficult to ask for the team to keep playing next year! When I begged them to let me start the club again, I was told that we should at least show good results to show them that it was worth it and they made the right decision or else-"
"Akira," Kageyama suddenly said, interrupting her. "Why did you want to get the club back up in the first place?"
What's the King up to?
"I... I wanted to play..." Akira muttered, looking down at the table.
"You wanted to play badminton," he said. "When you saw that match, something inside you made you want to try it out for yourself."
"Yeah... Just watching the match was exciting and the team that won looked so happy-"
"So why are you so worried about losing? Focus on what you want and set those risks aside. When you play, you play to win. When you get on that court, that's all that matters. Worry about everything else once the match is done."
"You're being quite straight forward," Yamaguchi said, letting out a laugh.
"Oi, Tsukishima's glaring at you," Hinata said.
"I wasn't," I told him.
"You were! You were looking at him with this angry look on your face!"
"Maybe he's angry because Kageyama's making a move on Aki-chan!" Yachi told Hinata. Everything turned into banter and Akira was just laughing at us as we argued.
"Well it's good to see you smiling again," Yamaguchi told her.
"Thanks," she told all of us with a wide smile.
"Aki-chan, just carry that smile to your games and you'll do fine!" Hinata said.
How cheesy.
Sugawara's POV
"Daichi!" I yelled as I ran down the halls. I finally caught up to him and he looked at me with a surprised expression.
"What's up?" he asked.
"We can't make it to Aki's tournament!"
"What?!"
"What did you say?" Nishinoya asked, walking up to us.
"Take-sensei said that the team we were supposed to have a practice match with moved their schedule to the day of Aki's tournament," I explained to them. "There's no other day that they'd be available and it would be disrespectful if we just cancelled!"
"But what about their tournaments?" Nishinoya insisted. "We have to watch them!"
"It's their first tournament after all," Daichi followed. "We have to support them."
"What's going on?" Ennoshita asked, approaching us. Narita was right behind him. "I heard our practice match got bumped up."
"We won't be able to watch the badminton tournament?" Narita asked.
"WHAT?!" Hinata and Kageyama yelled, running to us.
"Is there a problem?" Yamaguchi asked, walking up to us as well, tailed by Tsukishima. The rest of the team saw us and we were all in the middle of the hallway, fretting over the schedule.
"Uhh...." We turned and saw Akira staring at us. "Why's the entire team here?"
"Aki-chan, our scheduled practice match got bumped up to the day of your tournament!" Hinata said, freaking out. "We won't be able to watch you!"
"Oh..." she muttered, clutching the hem of her skirt.
She's nervous, huh?
"What time does your game start?" Tsukishima asked, suddenly speaking up.
"Uhh, it starts after lunch," Akira said. "The stadium only has space for two courts and we'll be in the second batch for the preliminaries."
"Then we just have to wrap up our match quickly and try to make it in time," he said. "Can we do that?" he asked Daichi.
"If we can finish the match early, then yeah, we might be able to make it," he answered. The team suddenly cheered up and everyone had a smile on their face, including Akira.
"We'll come and watch you play," Tsukishima said. "Promise."
"PROMISE~!" the team echoed. Akira burst into laughter.
"You guys are being too noisy, we might get in trouble!" she said. "Hurry up and get back to class, break time is almost over!"
Jiro's POV
It was a Friday and it was our last chance to practice before the tournament tomorrow. Akira was extra focused and put her all into the drills.
"Do you think she's nervous?" I asked coach.
"How could she not be?" he said. "She just started playing and her first match is tomorrow. I wouldn't doubt that she's a nervous wreck right now. She hides it well. Go on and call her, let's take a quick break before we do our last drills and clean up."
I walked towards the courts with her towel and water bottle.
"Break time," I said. She stopped and sighed, walking over to me.
"Why are we taking a break? The match is tomorrow," she said, walking with me to the bleachers.
"Because you need to calm your nerves," I told her. "You need to relax a bit! I know you're nervous but if you tire yourself out too much, you won't have any energy for tomorrow!"
She laughed at me and drank some water. We both knew she'd have plenty of energy, possibly enough to win all her matches.
We had a good chance of getting into the finals. The other schools had no idea what was coming for them and as far as the rumor mill ran, people believed we were only a bunch of kids who wanted to play badminton for fun. No one took us seriously... yet.
Akira wasn't the only one doing well. Eri and Mariko's synchronization was on point and their strategies from their tennis days stuck with them. I was doing pretty good as well, not as good as Akira but I can hold out on my own.
We might win tomorrow...
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