Mikaela was more freaked out about the finals than she was willing to admit. The bus ride was even worse than the last one- the tension levels were the highest she'd ever seen them, and the ominous sinking feeling seemed to swallow the team whole.
"Nervous?" she asked Kageyama as the bus pulled to a stop.
He shook his head. "No, why?"
"Because any sane person would be nervous right about now," Mikaela joked, punching him lightly in the shoulder. "The fact that you're not is making me nervous."
Kageyama frowned. "Why would you be nervous?"
She groaned, moving down the bus aisle and down the steps. "I think you're going to be the only one on this team that isn't nervous at all."
"If you say so," he muttered. She paused once she got off the bus and waited for Kageyama to join her. They walked side by side with the rest of the Karasuno team towards the gymnasium entrance. "Are you nervous for your surgery?" he asked.
Mikaela shrugged. "Yeah, I guess. Oh, did I mention that Mom's not coming?"
Kageyama stiffened. "She's not? Why?"
"Work, obviously." Mikaela bit her lip. "I don't really care either way-"
"Wait- Kaela, your mom isn't going with you?" Yamaguchi asked, sliding up next to the pair of cousins. He frowned. "Who's going to be there with you?"
"I am-" Kageyama started, raising her hand, and Mikaela swatted at his hand.
"No. No way are you coming. You're staying with the team for the closing ceremonies and going home like everyone else." Mikaela jammed her hands into her jacket pockets. "I'll be fine. You can come up and visit after you go home and get a good night's sleep. This is a five set game, you're going to be exhausted."
Hinata popped up on the other side of Kageyama. "Wow! We get to play five whole sets?"
"Or you could beat them in three," Mikaela suggested with a grin.
Hinata nodded eagerly. "I'm so pumped!" His smile fell. "Wait, are you going to be in the hospital alone?"
She shrugged. "Oikawa and Iwaizumi are walking me to the train station," a collective shudder fell over the group at the mention of Oikawa's name, "and Kuroo's picking me up when I'm there and taking me to the hospital."
Yamaguchi blinked. "We're putting your life in the hands of Kuroo from Nekoma?"
"That's a bad idea," Tsukishima remarked, sliding up to the other side of Yamaguchi.
She glared at him. "Since when were you a part of this conversation?"
"Do you have Kuroo's number?" Kageyama asked. She shook her head. "How's he know when to pick you up?"
"I told him the time," Mikaela said quickly, not wanting to spark any arguments of the sort, not right before their game. "He knows where." She turned her head towards Hinata, who was typing furiously on his phone. "Shoyo," she said, frowning, "what are you doing?"
"Texting Kenma."
Tsukishima (curse him and his height) peered over the orange-haired boy's shoulder. His blank face morphed into a smirk. "Well, he isn't lying," he said coyly, glancing at Mikaela.
Her jaw locked. "Shoyo, what are you texting him?"
"You'll say no," he mumbled, slinking away from the group.
"You're doing it anyways!"
She leaned forwards but Kageyama cut her off, glancing at his teammate's phone. He raised his eyebrows. "Ah. Smart."
Tsukishima snorted. "Shrimp's got a grand total of three brain cells, he's just lucky that one of them is happening to function at the moment."
"What is going on?" Mikaela hissed, bypassing Kageyama and snatching at Hinata's phone. She cursed his good reflexes as he ducked out of the way, weaving around Yamaguchi and causing Mikaela to nearly trip over the pinch server's feet. Kageyama grabbed one of her arms, keeping her from falling. "Shoyo, I swear, if you don't show me what you're doing right now-"
"Something wrong over there?"
The first years collectively raised their heads towards Daichi, who was standing next to Sugawara and Asahi in front of the gym entrance with a peculiar expression on his face. Mikaela supposed that they must've looked a little weird: Hinata was hiding behind Tsukishima, of all people, Yamaguchi was scooting backwards, Mikaela was tipped forwards, and Kageyama was stretched in front of all of them, clutching Mikaela's arm and leaning towards her.
"Nothing, Captain," Tsukishima said casually. "Mikaela's just as riled up as always."
She shot him a glare. "I am not-"
Her phone dinged with a message. Nothing unusual. However, what was unusual was everyone's reactions: Tsukishima, Kageyama, Yamaguchi, and Hinata all shrunk back from her and held their breaths collectively.
Mikaela frowned and pulled out her phone.
Unknown (9:39): Hey, Temper-san~
"You gave Kuroo my number?!"
"Well, technically, I gave it to Kenma-"
"Yeah, and you asked him to give it to Kuroo-"
"Not helping, Crappy-shima!"
"Shoyo!"
-------
Mikaela Kaisha (9:42): Never text this number unless it's an emergency.
Kuroo Tetserō (9:43): So... text you all the time ;)
Mikaela Kaisha (9:43): You're so dead.
-------
The Shiratorizawa cheer section was insane. There were more cheerleaders than Mikaela had ever seen in her life. Takinoue and Shimada had rounded up a formidable group of two dozen people, but they had absolutely nothing on the Shiratorizawa cheer section. Two of Hinata's school friends had joined them in the stands, but Mikaela couldn't remember their names.
She handed her notebook off to Shimizu as the team warmed up on the court. "Everything I've got is in there," she said solemnly, her fingers clasped tight on the book's binding. "I hope it'll be useful."
Her senpai smiled. "Thank you, Kaisha. I'm sure it will be."
Mikaela beamed. "No problem, Shi- Kiyoko! Kiyoko."
Shimizu smiled at her once more, then turned around to go talk with Takeda. Mikaela grabbed a stray volleyball and tossed it back into the cart it belonged in before looking towards the Shiratorizawa side of the court. She recognized the boy with spiky red hair from multiple videos online- Tendō Satori- and when she accidentally caught his eye, he grinned wildly. She tried to move her gaze somewhere else and ended up meeting Ushijima's eyes.
He held her gaze before nodding at her. She nodded back. The super ace turned away and went back to warm up.
Mikaela wished the Karasuno boys luck one last time, hugged Kageyama, Hinata, and Yamaguchi (Tsukishima wouldn't dare come that close to her), waved to the rest of them, and left the gym to go and find the stairs up to the stands. She found the small Karasuno cheering section and grinned when she saw who else was there. "Akiteru!"
The familiar blond boy turned towards her and his face split into a smile. "Kaisha! What's up?"
"You know each other?" Saeko asked, looking between the two of them.
"You could say that," Akiteru said with a grin. Mikaela glared at him and he mimed zipping his lips closed.
Shimada and Takinoue were already locked into the game. "This is nothing new for Shiratorizawa," Takinoue explained, tightening his headband, "but this is Karasuno's first time in the finals. Their first time in center court. Asking them to stay calm and collected is a bit much."
Mikaela snorted. "Have you seen them at all? When are they ever calm or collected?"
Saeko laughed. "True that!"
"So this is their first best-three-of-five game too, then?" Akiteru mused, leaning on the rail. Mikaela was stuck in between Saeko and Akiteru, so she was looking back and forth as they both talked.
Shimada explained to Saeko was a best-three-of-five game was and the older Tanaka's mouth dropped. "Holy crap, that's going to exhaust them!"
"Kageyama and Hinata probably won't even notice," Mikaela pointed out.
The whistle blew to signal the start of the match, and Daichi was up to serve. His serve landed out, so Shiratorizawa was up next. The player got a let serve, and even though Tsukishima called Tanaka's name, both Tanaka and Asahi went to dive for the ball and paused, unsure of who would get it. It ended up in a campfire, scoring another point for Shiratorizawa.
"Kei, speak louder next time!" Akiteru hissed, his fingers clamping around the railing.
Mikaeal grinned. "Actually, that's pretty good for him. He used to not say anything at all, and now he's started calling things out."
Akiteru paused. "Really?
"Yep," she assured him. "I mean, he'd much rather it not be him, right?"
He laughed. "Well, you're not wrong."
Mikaela wasn't surprised when Sugawara started yelling at his team to calm down, and she actually started laughing when the referee gave Suga the stink-eye. Snickering to herself, Mikaela leaned back, nearly bumping into Akiteru, and watched as Daichi received the next serve and Kageyama set it up for Tsukishima. Shiratorizawa received, and their setter put the ball up for Ushijima.
Mikaela was in awe. His form was practically perfect.
He spiked the ball hard enough that Mikaela could clearly hear the contact from where she was in the stands. Nishinoya immediately slipped into position to receive, and this was the moment Mikaela had been waiting for.
-------
"Mikaela! Tomorrow we face Shiratorizawa, right?"
She laughed. "Yes, Nishinoya, Coach literally just explained that."
Nishinoya frowned and crossed his arms. The team had just returned from their match against Aoba Johsai and had started discussing strategy for tomorrow, when they would face Shiratorizawa in the finals. "Practice," he insisted.
Mikaela raised an eyebrow. "Lefty shots?"
"Yep!"
Not wanting to completely tire Nishinoya out before their game the next day, Mikaela decided to keep their practice time to a minimum. It wasn't like Nishinoya needed practice anyways; his receives were nearly perfect, which was a humongous improvement from when they first started.
"Tomorrow," Nishinoya declared as he bumped another volleyballs, "when I receive Ushiwaka's spikes, I'll be able to do it because of you."
Mikaela flushed. "Oh, come on. You're giving me too much credit. You would've handled it fine."
The libero grinned. "Not without you!"
"You're one of a kind, Nishinoya," she said with a laugh.
His smile lit up the whole room. "Of course!"
-------
She and Nishinoya had been working on receiving left-handed spikes since the training camp two months ago. They'd tried it from various angles and different levels of power, and although it seemed like he'd gotten the hang of it, he always wanted more practice. This was the moment of truth.
The ball hit Nishinoya's arm and went straight up in a perfect arc.
"Yes!" Mikaela screamed, grabbing Akiteru's arm as Nishinoya rolled backwards and Kageyama moved in to set. "He got it! That was perfect!" Kageyama put the ball up for Tanaka, who punched it through and got Karasuno's first point.
"What was so cool about that?" Saeko asked, puzzled.
Mikaela wasn't even looking at her. Her eyes were following Nishinoya as the team complimented his receive. The libero turned up to the stands and pointed at her before clenching his hand into a fist.
She beamed and held out her fist right back at him. That was all you, Nishinoya.
"Wait, you taught him how to do that?" Akiteru asked. "Receiving left-handed stuff?"
"Not really. We just practiced it a lot."
"Is it that much different?" Shimada asked.
Mikaela nodded. "Yeah, it's got a completely different spin that normal spikes do."
"You're a lefty?" Akiteru pressed.
"...Yes."
"No, you're not," Takinoue argued, lowering the megaphone in his hands. "When you had your notebook, you were writing things down with your right hand, weren't you?" Mikaela nodded. "So you're not a lefty?"
"But she said that she and Nishinoya practiced them together, so it makes sense that's she a lefty," Shimada pointed out.
Saeko frowned, crossing her arms under her bust. "But she wrote with her right!"
"Right!" Takinoue agreed.
"Left?" Mikaela threw it, just to make the conversation more confusing.
Akiteru groaned. "Kaisha! I thought you were a righty!"
"Ambidextrous."
The group sighed collectively, glad to finally have an answer for their dilemma. The game rolled on, and although the score wasn't as close as Mikaela would've liked, Karasuno was dangling behind by three or four points at various points in the set. Mikaela exchanged quick comments with Akiteru as the game went on, talking about his brother and how logical he was, or how Karasuno's defense was starting to come together. Hinata was finally starting to settle into the game when set one ended, 25 - 21. Set two was starting and it didn't look good for Karasuno.
"Your brother's actually gotten a lot better," Mikaela remarked.
Akiteru turned to face her. "Really?"
"I wouldn't say that he's as hooked on volleyball as the rest of the team, but I think he's starting to enjoy it, at least," she said as Karasuno pulled off a synchronized attack to score the first point of set two. "I mean, he's still as miserable as ever, but it's gotten better."
"I think I have to take some of the blame for that."
Mikaela paused, glancing up at him. "Blame for what?"
"Why he's so against getting attached to volleyball," Akiteru clarified, sighing.
She knew there was some bigger reason that Tsukishima wasn't as into volleyball as everyone else, but Mikaela had never dared to ask- Tsukishima was a very closed-off person and she didn't want to risk ruining their friendship. She hadn't considered that maybe Akiteru would've been the cause. "Oh?" she mumbled, turning back to the game.
He nodded. "Has Kei ever told you?"
"No," Mikaela admitted quietly. "We're... We're not that close."
"Really?" Akiteru asked, surprised. "I'd say he's closer to you than just about anyone, besides Tadashi, of course."
It took a second for Mikaela to comprehend that Tadashi meant Yamaguchi, and when the statement finally sunk in, she perked up. "Really? You think so?"
"Well, yeah. Didn't you convince him to play twenty questions a while back?"
She laughed. "Yeah, he's got seven questions left at this point, I have four. He never lets me forget it." They both had sporadically used their questions since they had started their game a few weeks ago. Mikaela had a bad habit of using her questions to get the answers for complicated math problems that she didn't understand out of Tsukishima. He used his more sparingly, like the one time he asked her what snack she wanted after she had refused to tell him because she didn't want him to pay for her when they were out with Yamaguchi.
He grinned. "He doesn't voluntarily share information with anyone. I'd say that's a win." They wallowed in silence until Akiteru spoke up again. "I was the ace on my team in Junior High," he started, watching Tendō roof Hinata's spike. "I loved every second of it. Kei came to see every game." He sighed wistfully. "I went to Karasuno and I didn't even make it on the roster, but I couldn't bring myself to tell Kei. I lied, every day. I told him practice went well, or that we won a game, and then we'd go to the backyard and practice."
Mikaela held her breath.
"I told him..." Akiteru trailed off briefly before continuing. "I told him that he'd scare me if he came to my games. Eventually, he thought he'd surprise me and show up to a game with Tadashi. Let's just say he saw me cheering the team on instead of on the bench and it sort of crushed him after that." He laughed bitterly. "Sorry."
They watched in silence as Tendō roofed Kageyama, which surprised Mikaela, but it wasn't the right moment to comment on it. "Tsukishima just takes a while to trust people, is all," she mumbled quietly.
Akiteru hummed in agreement. "I'm glad he's got friends like you and Tadashi to watch his back."
"He doesn't consider us friends," Mikaela said quickly, and that was the moment when she realized she was genuinely upset that Tsukishima didn't see them as friends. Only acquaintances. Shit, I must've sunk really low if I'm upset that that idiot doesn't consider me a friend.
He frowned. "What're you-"
"Look," Mikaela interjected, eager to change the subject as she pointed at the court. "Karasuno just took a time out, and Kageyama got roofed by Tendō three times in a row. He's totally zinging one over his head this point."
"You think?" Saeko asked, leaning forwards. Sure enough, Hinata's quick spike went straight over Tendō's head. "Huh, you're good."
She shrugged. "He's a sore loser." A thought occurred to her, and she turned to Saeko. "Were you eavesdropping?"
"Nothing I haven't heard before, hon," Saeko assured her. She clapped her on the shoulder and Mikaela nearly flinched. "It's cute that you think you're not friends, though. Even if he doesn't admit it."
Mikaela finally relented. "Okay, well, we're friends, but we're not that close or anything." Lies, lies, lies. The only person I'm closer with than him is Kageyama.
Saeko pondered her words for a minute as Hinata nailed a slide attack, making the score in the second set 11 - 11. Mikaela heard her sharp intake of breath and cringed as Saeko cried out, "oh my god!"
"What?" Mikaela snapped, fed up with the intrusions.
"You like him!"
"What?!" Mikaela and Akiteru chorused in unison.
Saeko's grin stretched all the way across her face. "You- Girl talk. Akiteru, shoo."
"But I-" he protested lamely. Saeko glared at him, and Mikaela was impressed by how much ferocity she threw into her glare. "Fine," Akiteru grumbled, moving to stand on the other side of Shimada and Takinoue.
Tanaka's older sister beamed and turned back to Mikaela. Her grin widened. "You're bright red, hon."
"I am not," Mikaela protested immediately, completely positive that her face was as red as a tomato. "I don't like him."
"You sure about that?" she mused as Ushijima nailed a spike so hard that the volleyball flew into the stands. "You seemed pretty disappointed when you mentioned that he didn't see you guys as friends."
She shrugged unconvincingly. "...Maybe I just want to be friends."
Saeko raised an eyebrow at her.
"I don't know," Mikaela conceded, slumping against the railing. "Maybe?"
She laughed, patting her on the shoulder. "Boys, hm? Always confusing." They both paused to watch Tsukishima block the opposing team's delayed spike, making the score 16 - 15 for Shiratorizawa. "Look, I'm not going to ask what you see in him or why you like him or whatever-"
"I don't," she protested feebly.
"-I just want you to acknowledge it," Saeko continued, shrugging. "It's better than going on in denial."
They watched the rest of the match in relative silence as the realization began to sink into Mikaela's head. The set continued on- it was 20 - 20. Okay, so maybe she looked at Tsukishima a bit more than anyone else, but that was fine, right? Nothing suspicious. Besides, he was incredibly annoying, and he was always looking for a way to bother her. In all fairness, she bothered him just as much; that was just because she liked pissing him off. He made her laugh, and she tried her hardest to make him smile or let him open up a bit. Nothing wrong with that, right?
A service ace from Asahi tipped the score to 23 - 22 for Karasuno, and Mikaela cheered along with the rest of the Karasuno crowd, but her mind was somewhere else. Sure, she stayed over at his place twice a week, but it wasn't like anything ever happened. She stayed on the couch, he went into his room to study, she didn't talk to him again until the morning. Besides, he'd seen her multiple times in her pajamas and messy bed head, there was no way he'd be attracted to that. Just because he always seemed to look good no matter what he was wearing or what he was doing didn't mean she liked him.
Shiratorizawa's setter did a setter dump to put them at set point, but Mikaela just hummed to herself: first available opportunity, Kageyama was going to do a setter dump right back at him. Sure enough, two points later, Kageyama's setter dump worked perfectly, putting the score at 25 - 24 for Karasuno.
Her heart was in the game, but her mind was pondering the puzzle that was Tsukishima Kei. Sure, she looked at him a lot, and his opinion was a little bit more important to her than it should've been, and sometimes she got a feeling that maybe he felt the same, and-
Shit.
"Shit," Mikaela said aloud.
Saeko laughed. "There ya go."
"Oh no," she mumbled, nearly smacking her head off the railing as she sunk down. "No, no, no- shit- oh my god, I like him."
On the court, the score was 26 - 25 for Karasuno, and Shiratorizawa called a time out. Shimada, Takinoue, and Akiteru immediately started bouncing theories and strategies between each other, but Mikaela wasn't having it. Saeko was too busy laughing. "What tipped you off?" she teased.
Mikaela's eyes lingered on Tsukishima as he took his glasses off of his head briefly to wipe the sweat away. "I guess... Maybe..." She huffed. "I hate feelings."
"I understand," Saeko said quietly, and Mikaela couldn't help but wonder what kind of experiences she had had in her past.
The score climbed. Shiratorizawa was up 27 - 26, but then Kageyama and Hinata pulled off an insane quick attack that dragged the score back up to a tie. Mikaela was at her wit's end- this game was so ridiculously close and she was stressed beyond belief.
Karasuno managed to pull ahead, 30 - 29. They're already hitting thirty points. They must be exhausted.
Then it happened.
Shiratorizawa's setter rushed the set ever so slightly. Mikaela straightened up, her eyes trained in on Tsukishima as he moved up next to Asahi to block. At the last second, Tsukishima shifted his arms to the space that Ushijima was trying to punch the ball through. The volleyball hit Tsukishima's arms and fell to Shiratorizawa's side of the court.
He blocked Ushijima. The set was theirs.
"Yes!" Mikaela screamed, her voice lost in the sea of yells coming from the Karasuno team and the people who had come to watch. "Oh my god, yes! He blocked him! Saeko! He-"
Saeko was grinning as widely as she was, but her eyes were trained on the court. Mikaela followed her gaze to where the Karasuno team was congratulating Tsukishima. As if on cue, he glanced up at the stands. Mikaela flashed him a thumbs up, grinning as widely as she could. He didn't say or do anything, but his mouth twitched in a smile before he moved towards his bench.
Mikaela sighed happily. Saeko cackled. "Yep, you're screwed."
"Saeko!"
HELLO, GUYS!
Sorry for being late.
Today you'll have 4 chapters to read! Is the Karasuno vs. Shiratorizawa match + a little about the main story!
Some interesting chapters are going to come! It's making me soft...
MANGA READERS! How are you feeling? For me, the ending was soooooo good. I'm not complaning. Did you cry? I did. A LOT.
Be safe, eat well and read a lot!
Love you guys!