How to fly with clipped wings (English ver.) HAIKYUU!! FAN FICTION

Chapter 65: The Last Fight

4/4 CHRISTMAS MARATHON

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The evening before the finals.

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Dinner was uncomfortably quiet.

The food had been laid out, but no one had taken much. A few of the girls started pushing food onto their plates, but Tsukishima didn't feel particularly hungry. He wondered if Mikaela was hungry. She'd been dead exhausted when they got back and Kageyama had literally carried her to bed, but if he just went to check on her out of nowhere, he'd be outing both of them. Plus, if she was sleeping, then he wouldn't want to wake her. She needed the rest, but she needed food too.

Someone stood up, and Tsukishima tipped his head to see Hinata standing. He was debating making a snide comment when he heard him say, "Coach, can I take some food to Kaisha?"

"Sure," Ukai replied, nodding, and Tsukishima was mildly surprised Kageyama hadn't offered first. He glanced at the setter, only to see the setter staring right back at him, so he scowled and turned back to his food.

Hinata got up from the table with two plates of food and left. Yamaguchi nudged Tsukishima's arm. "If he doesn't come back in a few minutes, that means she's awake, and we can go too," he said quietly. He raised an eyebrow at him, but the captain just scowled. "Oh, shut up, Tsukki, I know you want to see her."

"I didn't say anything," he grumbled, turning back to his food. He felt his cheeks heating up.

Yamaguchi hummed in reply, and he looked like he was about to say something else when there was a bang. Everyone jerked their heads up to Somi, who had slammed a fist on the table. There were tears gathering in her eyes, and she had her chopsticks clenched so tightly in her other hand that Tsukishima wouldn't be surprised if she snapped them.

"Somi?" Hiba asked, frowning.

"It's not fair," she snapped, her voice weak. "Mikaela, she- we pushed ourselves so hard."

That seemed to set something off at the dinner table. A few of the girls looked like they would start crying again, and Tsukishima wanted to groan. There was only one girl he ever wanted to deal with crying, and she was sleeping in her bedroom right now. It was an understandable feeling, though: they'd played an insanely exhausting game and had a frustrating loss. Still, there was nothing to be done now. No point crying about it.

To his relief, Ukai spoke up. "You all played a tough game, and that was a tough loss," he agreed. "The only thing you can do now is keep your heads up and prepare yourselves for your game tomorrow."

Somi still looked frustrated. "It's not even that," she said with a scowl, wiping at her eyes. "Mikaela, she- she did everything. They forced her to. She worked so hard, we- we should've done more. To support her."

"She's only human," Yamaguchi said quietly, tapping his plate with his chopsticks. "She's got a limit. Just like you do."

"Coach is right," Hiba agreed, patting Somi on the arm. "There's nothing we can do now."

The setter jerked her arm away, and Tsukishima was surprised by the sudden ferocity in her tone. "We won seventy-six points in that game," Somi shot out, and all conversation at the table immediately died, "and do you know how many she scored? None of us would, because we don't have a manager- that's her job. She does everything for us."

"Somi," one of the other girls whispered.

"She scored or caused twenty-six of those points," she finished firmly, punctuating her point by pressing her chopsticks into her plate. "That's a whole set's worth. And she spent most of set three receiving everything. And did you see the top ten plays today?" Somi swiveled in her seat, eyes searching out one of the other girls. "Taki," she said, her eyes landing on the tall girl at the end of the table. "Tell them."