That middle blocker emerges from the shadows during the second set when Hinata comes onto the court. He blocks out 3 in a row before Coach Ukai calls a time-out. I feel my brows furrow together as I watch him trot off the court.
"What you just witnessed was called guess blocking. When a person blocks based on intuition without hesitation. Naturally if your instinct is wrong, you screwed up and there's no coming back from it. Keep his movements as an irregularity in mind. Don't overthink and get stuck," Ukai looks to me.
"You basically said it all, keep an eye on his movements and find patterns. Defense is going to be a huge part in today's game. So Nishinoya, Daichi, and Tsukishima," I make eye contact with each of them as I say their names. "Keeping that ball from touching our court is your only concern. Keep judgments quick and don't hesitate,"
I address the entire team, "I know you can do this. Show them you can too," I cross my arms with a smirk. The players look around at each other with like-mined grins and smirks, "OSU!!"
The whistle blows but I yank Tsukishima back for a moment. "Oi," he looks back and down my hand wrapped around the crook of his elbow. I look him dead in the eyes, "Remember training camp and give it your all," he scoffs and turns without a word.
Kageyama immediately starts reading Tendou and tuning his tosses. Asahi gets a couple of nice kills before subbing Tsukishima in for Hinata. He steps onto the court and that Guess monster latches on to his prey.
"Oh~! The ordinary one!" he taunts. I see the blond's eye twitch in annoyance. "Hey, don't get riled up," Daichi reminds. The middle blocker doesn't respond with words. Instead he blocks out Tendou's spike.
"Hey, I'm the ordinary one,"
"HELL YEAH!" yelled the team
No, rile him up. He'll only get better. I think with a cocky smirk. "Your one-man time differential might fool our wild card," he glares down at the crimson-haired blocker. "But it won't work on me, so go right ahead," Tendou's vein pops out on his forehead.
"Y'know I knew the Karasuno first years were a pain in the ass but you really take the cake!" he grumbles. Our blond megane puts on a blinding smile and replies with a sinister "Thank you,"
~~~
"ARE YOU AN IDIOT?! YOU HAVE PLENTY OF CHANGES TO LOOK AT GIRLS WHEN YOU ARE DATING!" I nearly jump out of my seat when Shiratorizowa's coach bellows at the mushroom. The first-year, clearly not knowing what was going on, replied, "Yes!"
"He's appeared, the demon coach," Ukai buries his face in his hands. "Why are there so many old monsters around us?" I blink a few times, still taking in what happened. I think back to former Coach Ukai and Nekomata.
"Those geezers have been doing this since the dinosaurs. I mean come on," I shoot back as I lean into the bench. Takeda-sensei sputters out a laugh. I can't help but smirk.
~~~
He's a different person that court. He's ruling it side by side with the rest of the team. In fact, he win the second set with his final block outs. Of Ushijima at that. Tsukishima is one of the only people who has blocked one of the ace's spikes.
I can feel the frustration radiating off of Nishinoya when Ushijima's spike launched right off his arms. "Chihiro, you've played with Ushijima, right?" Ukai turns to me and I nod. "What was it like for you?"
I slide across the polished wood trying to save that damn ball. I takes all my willpower to not storm right off the court and leave my team behind. This practice match is borderline torture to me. I hate these back and forth games because I can't tell if I'll win or not. I pick myself off the ground as sweat plagues my face. I could feel every muscle in my body screaming for me to stop.
We've been playing non-stop for 3 sets that all went into overtime. The whistle blows and I bend into position. Again. Our setter looks at me and blinks twice, indicating a syncro attack. I skitter across the court and up to the net with the rest of my teammates. The ball was set to me this time and I slam it with all the force I could muster.
But it was received. And when power-trip spiked, I was jumped to block it out. All I did was jam my fingers and made it go out of bounds. The rest of the set my hands shook and my fingers gradually turned purple. Dammit.
"I hated every moment of it. There was no stopping with him. When the girls' team played against the boys', it was always a game of push and shove. Much like how this game is. It drove me crazy which also maybe a reason I quit the U18 team. Because being there was already a pain enough but also with moving to Miyagi and everything that went down volleyball wasn't fun or stress relieving," I sigh out.
~~~
We lose the third set and win the fourth. So it all comes down to the fifth. The team is exhausted, I know that all too well. I don't dare switch up the player more than Sugawara with Kageyama for fear they would never forgive me.
"Sugawara," I call out. He turns to me with a content expression. I hold out a shaky thumbs up, "D-do your b-be-best," I stutter out. His eyes widen. And he sends me a thumbs out right back and a blinding grin.
Third POV
"Aw, I want encouragement from Kiyoko and Chihiro!" Nishinoya groan to Tanaka. Sugawara beams as he enters the court. The third-year setter eases the conscious of the whole team with his presence.
Chihiro calls Kageyama over to the bench beside her so he can rest. I tosses a towel over his shoulder. He looks over in confusion.
"Y-you need to wipe off your sweat s-so you don't g-ge-get too cold while downing wa-water," she looks away with pink cheeks.
'Chihiro is a Tsundere?!' Kageyama thinks. 'I mean it'd make sense. She isn't really that good with encouragement. Giving and receiving. Hm'
~~~
Chihiro notices a slight tremble in Tsukishima's fingers. She didn't know whether or not to take him out since this is such a critical time. When he taps the ball and holds his hand she knows immediately. She stands up and calls for a player switch. "Tsukishima," she calls out. Ukai handles subbing in another player.
He approaches her, still holding his hand. He uncovers it slightly. She sees the familiar purple fingers and blood. "I'll take him to the infirm-!"
"Don't worry about it, I will," Chihiro cuts Kiyoko off much to everyone's surprise. "O-Okay, Ukai says, knowing she has a reason. He knows she probably needs a mental break. Kiyoko wraps some cloth around his bleeding hand as he walks side by side with his coach.
The crowd murmurs in response. Not only is he hurt but a coach is taking him instead of the manager. The said coach remains quiet, basically holding her breath until she exits the main stage.
Tsukishima's POV
Why did she decide to accompany me to the infirmary in place of Kiyoko? She sighed in relief as the gym doors shut behind us. "Sorry," she mutters. I raise an eyebrow. "Hm? Why?"
"I'm sure you'd rather our manager here but I just needed to get away from Ushijima for a minute," she ducks around the corner into a relatively empty hall. "You're not the one playing him," I mutter.
"Kei!" I spin around to see my older brother. A frown finds its place on my face. "What are you doing here, nii-san?" I ask impatiently.
"I came to see my brother in all of his glory of course! That injury doesn't look to be too bad..." Akiteru trails off. "Why would it be? I'm just glad I am getting a break," and with that Chihiro and I leave.
She slides open the infirmary door to a single sports medic in a room full of injured players in beds. "Great another," the medic says under his breath. "What happened?" he asks, cutting to the chase.
"Blocking a top ace's spike," he grimaces and grabs my hand. I hiss in pain as he looks me over. "Do you know how to bandage his fingers? My hands are a bit full" he looks at Chihiro. She nods. He smiles at her, "Great, bandages are over there," he quickly sets my pinky, painfully albeit, but quick before returning to the other patients.
"Go sit over there," she points to a wooden stool close to the window. "I'll be back in a second, just stay there," she says before whipping around the corner and out the door.
I sit there silently and look around the room. Wonder what the hell she's doing now. She's honestly just as unpredictable as shrimp. Just much smarter.
She whips back in just as quick as she left with a drink in her hand. She glides over and cracks open the lid. "Drink," she commands, handing me the pinkish-red drink. Strawberry, hm.
I hold the bottle in one hand as she bandages up the other. "Might as well take full advantage of this break," she says as she carries back medical supplies and dumps them onto the counter.
Chibi-chan gingerly removes the cloth from my bloody hand. She presses a small piece of gauze on the cut to make it stop bleeding. Once it does, she puts a bandaid on the small cut before starting to wrap my fingers. "Alright, this is going to hurt, just not as much as setting it did," she warns. I raise an eyebrow.
Pain shoots up my arm as she wraps my pinky and ring finger together. My hand jerks back but she keeps a good grip. "I know, I know. Just give me 30 more seconds and I'll be finished with your pinky," her eyes are trained on my hand.
She cuts the bandage and starts on my index finger. "Say, how do you know how to do this Chibi-chan?" I ask out of curiosity. She doesn't lift her gaze for but a second. "Oh, I've been in you position right now more than twice,"
"Huh?" she finishes my index finger and starts wrapping over the previous wrappings and joining them together. "The U18 teams used play against each other all the time. Ushijima used to dislocate half the teams' fingers especially mine. After the first three times, they designated me with doctoring any other fingers that he messed up because I've seen it enough times. He's not a bad guy off the court, but on... I can't stand the look of him," She finishes and looks over her work quickly.
She holds up her right hand. "He's the reason my pinky is bent inward," I look at the weird angle her finger sat on her knuckle. I grimace, thinking of how many times he must have dislocated her fingers.
She hurriedly puts up the supplies and beckons me out the door. "Let's go," I dash down the hall and she follows suit. She swings open the door and we both run to the sidelines. "TSUKKI!" Yamaguchi shouts from on the sub it box.
First POV
The game only heats up from the time Tsukishima enters the court. Of course we are at in overtime back and forth getting points. I can feel how tired both teams are. Ushijima especially, he's on his last leg. I gnaw on my lip in a mixture of excitement, anxiety, and second-hand adrenaline.
I'm definitely getting them a gift after this crap. Hopefully a nationals good luck gift, but I can't speak too soon. I might jinx it. I knock on the wooden bench for good measure. My heart still remains inside my throat as they continue with a long play while us at match point.
The ball goes back and forth. Spike, block receive spike. Spike receive spike again. I feel sweat on my brow as tensions only rise. But in a blink of an eye, Hinata spikes the ball down and...
We win.