"You know, I feel like time has been going by a bit too fast."
You sighed, stretching forward as Kaneko and Sasaki nodded in agreement.
"I think that's because we didn't play the first day and just spent it watching other teams." Sasaki said, both you and Kaneko nodding along.
"Yea, I think so too." Kaneko nodded, standing up as Sasaki and you followed.
"Do you think we'll get a rematch with Hisamitsu this time around?"
You looked at Kaneko, pressing your lips together as you shrugged.
"They're in our bracket but we'd be playing them at finals if we both reach that high." Sasaki said, dropping her phone back into her bag as you and Kaneko hummed, following your senpais as they started walking out to the halls.
"Well, it's whatever now." You shrugged, stretching your arms up as the cheering of the gymnasium started flooding your ears. "We have to focus on beating Iwaki first."
You walked into the gymnasium, the cheering ten times as potent as it was outside, the blaring lights making you squint as you adjusted to them.
Sasaki and Kaneko nodded, glancing up at the cheering section as they waved down at you all.
Normally, you'd have smiled up at them and waved back, but your head was elsewhere. Your eyes were focused on the libero from the opposing team. Ozawa Tomoko, your roommate from a few days ago.
It was nerve racking enough to see another All-Japan attendee in the opposing team, more so when they're a second year. The same second year who you had observed through a majority of the training camp and she to you; but not only was she alone scary, if not her whole team.
They were in the top four of Japan alongside Shiratorizawa's girls' team. Iwaki Girls' High, a constant powerhouse team who has not dropped from the top eight for the past eleven years. A feat much greater than Shiratorizawa's constant battle with Niiyama, an unpromised outcome every game.
Either way, this game alone will determine who gets to advance to the best eight, and who stays in the best sixteen.
"Oikawa!"
You flinched, looking up at Kojima wave his hand in front of your face, the rest of the team looking at you with concern etched in their features.
"You okay kid? Do you need to be subbed out for a bit?"
You shook your head, smiling coyly up at the coaches and your teammates.
"No no, I'm fine. Sorry, I guess I was just zoned out for a bit there." You reassured them, Kojima continuing to talk as Aoki came up next to you, touching your forehead and asking you small questions as she gave you water.
"Okay, just double checking, but are you sure you're okay Oikawa?" Kojima asked as Iwaki's warmup time was reaching its end. You nodded, Kojima humming as he looked at Aoki who nodded again before he sighed.
"Alright then, let's go warmup before setting up. We'll start like usual, I'd like Oikawa to serve first this time around too."
You all hummed, looking up at the buzzer when your time started counting down; running out onto court and starting your accustomed warmups.
"Number seven, bringing the soccer world's quick feet into the volleyball world since last year. The girl who's quick on her feet, Ozawa Tomoko. Second year libero, 166 cm."
You ignored the commentators chatter as you waited in line to spike Nakamoto's set, hoping she wouldn't make you hit something unexpected to 'scare the competition' like in the past. You jumped in your spot as you kept your body warm, letting yourself zone in the commentators chatter once more.
"Next up we have Shiratorizawa Academy. Number one, captain, Nakayama Mieko, an all rounder middle blocker. Number 2, recipient of three best setter awards, a calculating setter who never misses the chance to pay back what she's received; Nakamoto Yuri."
You lightly snickered at the second one, your attention back on the warmups when Mori ran up, making you the next one to go. Mori spiked the ball down in a quick, both her and Nakamoto looking back at it roll away before high-fiving one another.
She turned back to you, smiling widely as she murmured something to Kojima, both of you running up at his mark.
You sighed, turning back to see the ball flying towards you as you set it up for Nakamoto, setting it high enough so that you'd have enough time to jump. You lunged to the side at your jump, Nakamoto setting the ball back to you as you spiked a straight, holding your smile back at how straight that straight was.
You landed, high-fived by Nakamoto as she ruffled your hair, sending you back to the end of the line as you giggled with her.
They kept spiking, everyone going another round until you were upfront again, watching Mori jump up as Nakayama leaned in and whispered into your ear.
"Shoot this one to the stands Oikawa, remember like the one from the Karasuno game?"
You nodded, loosening up your limbs as you ignored the commentators starting on your introduction.
"Number eleven-"
You ran up, Nakamoto nodding once at you as you planted your feet on the ground swinging your arms up to give you an extra boost as she waited for the ball to drop.
"Wing spiker, Shiratorizawa's up and coming ace-"
Nakamoto set the ball to you as you watched it glide over to your palm, forcing yourself to relax your arm but strengthening it at the same time.
"And an all-rounded player with a promising future and a fan base which only keeps on growing-"
You puffed your cheeks, slamming the ball down as hard as you could before starting to drop with the resonating boom of the ball. Everyone watching as the ball glided up to the opposing teams cheering section, one of the cheerleaders catching it with a squeak.
"Oikawa Y/N!"
You landed gracefully, puffing a small breath up to move a stray hair out of your face. Kojima immediately barking out the name of a different drill.
"You said she was your roommate?" One of the Iwaki third years asked Ozawa, turning to her as she nodded. The third year smirked, looking back at you jog towards them for a stray ball. "What a small world."
Ozawa ignored her, walking up and stopping the ball with her feet before bending down to pass it back to you.
"Thank you Ozawa-san!" You smiled brightly, slightly bowing as she hummed, sending you back to your team with a smile. Her smile promptly dropping when she turned back to the third year starter, locking eyes with her as she smirked.
"Well, at least she's got a cute side to her."
...
"...Will the swans be able to advance to the top eight, or will the defending wolves be able to hold them down and advance to their repeating position?"
You twirled the ball in your hands, breathing out as you looked across the court, deciding where to serve first.
"Oikawa Y/N who racked up continuous heaps of service aces in multiple high-pressured games will take the first serve."
The ref blew the whistle as you raised the ball in front of you, breathing in one last time before throwing it up.
"Well then."
You followed after it, jumping up as you puffed your cheeks, bringing your hand up against the ball at a familiar strength before sending it blasting over to the other side of the net.
"Let the game begin!"
Iwaki v Shiratorizawa
0 - 1
...
"Ah! Oikawa-san!"
You and your brother both stopped in your tracks, turning to look back at a girl jogging up to the two of you as she waved her hand.
You sipped on your juice with your free hand as she approached you as you and your brother waited to cross the street, naturally holding each other's free hand.
She stopped in front of you, evening out her breathing as she smiled up at Tooru, not giving you a second glance apart from the lingering gaze on your interlocked hands.
"Oikawa-san." She repeated, falling into conversation with Tooru as you stood to the side, mindlessly sipping on your juice as you waited for your brother to finish.
You don't know who this girl is, but she's pretty, fangirl or not.
She has light brown hair with lighter highlights, all of her hair falling gracefully over her shoulders in a soft curl, her bangs adorning her face and giving her more of a cutesy look.
Overall.
She's definitely your brother's type.
You sipped the last of your juice, gurgling as you noticed that your juice was empty, meaning that Tooru had exceeded his socialization time.
"Tooru." You whined, pulling on his hand as he stopped mid conversation, looking down at you pout as he sighed, glancing at your empty juice.
"Alright bunny, I'm going."
The girl flinched at the nickname, not letting her smile drop when Tooru looked back at her. "Sorry Kuroki-chan, we have to go..."
"Can I tag along?" She asked, Tooru stopping as he glanced down at you shrug before looking back at the Kuroki-chan from before.
"Yea sure, bunny, text the guys to let them know."
"I don't think they'll care." You shrugged, pulling at his arm as you urged him to start walking.
You reached the karaoke place after an excruciatingly long time, at least it felt like a long time for you. Especially since you were basically third wheeling, all the way through your brother not letting go of your hand once, instead he fiddled with your fingers to hide his nervousness. If cracking your fingers and making you suffer in silence could be considered as fiddling.
Yet throughout the whole walk, the sweet seeming Kuroki-chan never bothered to ask for your name, nor your relationship with Tooru or where you were going.
Though judging by the cold glances she'd throw your way, she definitely wasn't thinking that you and Tooru were related.
In a way that'd make her even worse...
You shook off the thought as you slipped out of Tooru's hold, calling out to Iwaizumi when you saw him waiting for you outside.
"Haji!" You said, giving yourself a pat on the back for thinking ahead and texting Iwaizumi to wait outside for you.
He turned towards your voice, instantly smiling as he set his arms out, catching you in his arms with a twirl.
You giggled, looping an arm through his as he began leading you to the karaoke room, both of you ignoring Tooru whining in the back.
You shook your head, looking up at the ref call for a time out as you cursed yourself for getting distracted over a familiar face.
Even so, you glanced back at the girl standing in front of you, only a net separating you two.
She has light brown hair, and a small face similar to the girl from a couple days ago. Her eyes also seemed to hold the same cold gaze the others did.
Why am I even thinking about her?
You asked yourself, groaning lowly as you watched the ref check over one of their blockers fingers, calling over people you were too distracted to identify as you fell back into your memories.
"Who even is that?" You asked, sitting back as you leaned on Matsukawa's shoulder, Hanamaki reaching up to feed you a grape.
"It's this chick who's been hitting on Oikawa for a while now." Matsukawa hummed, not wanting to shrug and cause you any discomfort.
"He seems to be interested in her too, since he's been flirting back." Hanamaki said, shrugging as he threw a grape up in the air, shifting under it to catch it.
You hummed, flinching when Tooru tried to hit a high note but failed miserably. "I don't think she likes me." You said, both Matsukawa and Hanamaki turning to look at you with bewildered expressions.
"Shouldn't she be trying to impress you? I mean you are the sister."
You shrugged, snickering lightly as you sat up. "Meh. I don't think she knows."
Hanamaki raised a brow, glancing back at her as she recorded Tooru, giggling brightly. "She's real stupid then."
You puffed out a laugh, shaking your head as you reached for a grape.
"If she asks, deny it. Tell her I'm like Kawanishi Y/N instead." You hummed, ignoring their confused expressions as you popped the grape into your mouth. "I'll tell Iwa too, but I wanna see how long she'll last."
"Oi!"
You were brought back out of your trance by a voice, looking up to the owner of it.
"Pardon?" You asked, deciding to not drop your manners on National television, even if the cameras couldn't catch the audio.
"You know who Oikawa Tooru is?" She asked, narrowing her eyes as you let your expressions loose.
You grinned at her, nodding once as you glanced at the boy jogging up to wipe the floor. "Yea, I do."
Her gaze turned into a glare as she clicked her tongue. "Don't get between his and my cousin's relationship if you know what's good for you."
You glanced at Ozawa in the back, having just overheard her senpai's words and being slightly taken aback. You smiled brightly at her, looking back at the third year with the same smile.
"Make me."
Before she could retort, the ref blew the whistle, putting the game back in motion as you shifted to your position, glancing back at Mori when she called your name.
"What was that about?" She asked, hoping to make the conversation quick as you heard Nakamoto bouncing the ball in the back.
"She told me to stay away from my brother if I know what's good for me." You said, smiling as you caught her scowling from your peripheral vision. "Yea, I know."
...
"Y/N!"
You hummed, jumping up as you looked at the two blockers who had jumped up to block you, one of them being the cousin of Kuroki-chan.
You grinned at her, puffing your cheeks as you spiked straight at her fingers, sending the ball flying off court as she landed with a hiss.
Iwaki v Shiratorizawa 1-0
19-25
"Nice Y/N-chan!" Nakamoto cheered, pulling you by the shoulders as she ruffled your hair, pulling you along to the bench. Not missing the glare the third year gave you as she returned it, all while keeping your eyes forward.
You walked over to the bench, high fiving your teammates and coaches as they began going over strategies, Matsuno passing you and Nakamoto a bottle and towel.
Kojima continued talking over strategies, pointing out specific plays and players as he hummed, reaching his final discussion point with a sigh.
"And finally, that Kuroki third year." He pressed his lips together, running a hand through his hair as Nakayama spoke up.
"She's been targeting Y/N."
Kojima nodded, crossing his arms as he held the clipboard under his armpit. "Yea, we've been lucky to not experience it before, but it's not rare to see a player specifically target one of ours." He looked at you, sighing again as he tapped on his arm. "Though it's normal to target the first years, I don't get why she's adamant on getting to Oikawa. Especially after she keeps on picking up her spikes and getting past her blocks." He shrugged, setting his clipboard down as he looked back up at the starters.
"You all can figure out between yourselves how to handle it, if anything it's going good for us since their ace is so hyper focused on Oikawa. It won't be promised that it'll continue on, but still." He hummed, looking over all of you with a nod before turning to Aoki.
Nakamoto looked up at your teammates with a blank face.
"I say we target her so that she cowers in fear for targeting our little first year." She nodded, the other third years along with Mori and Okada nodding in approval.
"Yuri-san, that's not necessary-"
"No but it is!" Goto set a hand on your shoulder, her face blank. "We can't be letting some Fukishima girl bully our little Y/N-chan!"
"It's Fukushima, Utano-san. Also, I'm not little!"
"Now now, Oika-chan, let your senpais be senpais." Okada hummed, setting a hand on your other shoulder as you looked up at her with a blank expression, about to retort before the whistle interrupted you.
You sighed, jogging back onto court as Sasaki and Kaneko threw finger hearts at you from the side lines.
...
"That's just straight bullyin' at that point." Atsumu snickered, the other Inarizaki players humming in agreement. They had all decided to follow after the twins and go watch your game, even Kita was excited to see you play.
Yet they arrived half way through the second set, slightly grimacing at the blatant targeting you were getting from one of the Iwaki Girls' third years. The twins and even Kita murmured about it as they shot icy stares at the girl.
Yet entering the third set, your team has been aiming most if not all of their attacks on the girl which was targeting you.
At least you had time to rest between spikes since only that third year was targeting you; but she only got a break when you were spiking, since you aimed elsewhere.
The targeting was so obvious, even the commentators had picked up on it, not being able to curve it or play it off either.
"Kuroki Nozomi, third year wing spiker was targeting Shiratorizawa first year Oikawa Y/N last set, and it seems like her senpais weren't happy about it at all." They snickered, watching Osaki spike a heavy ball towards Kuroki. The spin too much for her as it flew off court. "The Shiratorizawa girls' volleyball club is known for being competitive, along with their distaste towards losing. On multiple occasions they have used their opponents' attacks against them, which seems to be the case here. Only that instead of one player targeting another, it's the whole team targeting one player alone."
Hoshiumi snickered, stuffing his hands in his pockets as he looked at you crouch to receive the ball. "Serves her right."
"Who? Y/N? That's unfair, isn't the other girl a third year? To be picking on her so harshly simply because she's a first year isn't very-"
"No Sachirou!" Hoshiumi cut off Hirugami, both of them looking at the third year shakily receive a spike from Okada. It started floating back to the other side, Kuroki not having enough time to even apologize when Nakayama jumped up, spiking the ball down at her again. Landing with a small huff as it bounced off her arms and out court. "That Iwaki third year."
Iwaki's coach immediately called a timeout, letting you sigh in relief as you walked over to the bench.
"Well that's one way to deal with her." Kojima shrugged, Nakamoto grinning in return. "I have no complaints, the constant targeting gives us easy points, so keep up with the good work." He nodded, turning back to Aoki as she hummed.
"Don't go getting comfortable now, keep up with the fight and keep your heads clear." She said, glancing at the scoreboard.
Iwaki v Shiratorizawa 1-1
13-19
"Yes ma'am!" You all called out, Aoki lightly snickering as she sent you back to the court when the whistle blew.
You walked onto court, glancing to the side to see Kuroki being subbed out for one of their second years, glaring at the ground as they ran in opposite directions.
You puffed a breath out, walking to the end line as you caught the ball, twirling and bouncing it as you felt her glare locked onto you.
You glanced up, holding the ball in your hands as you smirked, mouthing her words back to her. "Know what's good for you."
"Pft, serves her right." Tooru clicked his tongue, leaning back into his seat as they watched the game being projected on the board in front. Hanamaki snickering in agreement as they watched you step back behind the end line. None of them registering the door opening in the back.
"What was her name again?" Iwaizumi asked, leaning forward on the desks as they saw you lift the ball in front of you, breathing in as you concentrated on the court before you.
"Ku... Kuroki Nuzumi or Nozomi... something like that." Matsukawa shrugged.
"Kuroki Nozomi, I think she's a third year." Hanamaki hummed, all four of them holding their breath as you threw the ball up, running after it before spiking the ball over; sighing in relief at the service ace.
"That's even worse." Tooru huffed, his scowl faltering as he smiled at your closeup showing up on screen. You who were drenched in sweat, your hair sticking up from random parts of your head, clutching your fist as you cheered. "I get it's volleyball, but come on, she at least has to know when to give up when bunny keeps on picking up her spikes."
"It's like if they had beef or something." Hanamki mumbled, both Iwaizumi and Tooru snickering as they waved him off.
"Bunny doesn't do beef." Iwaizumi said, leaning on his hand as he gave Matsukawa and Hanamaki a lop-sided grin. "If people say they do, it's just one sided. She dislikes you and that's it, not enough to have beef though." He shrugged, glancing up at you landing from another serve.
"I think the only one she's admitted to having beef with was some Tokyo boy, but it didn't last long." Tooru hummed, scratching the back of his head as he pouted. "I found her making him a handkerchief though, she also found out he's Hispanic or something so now she loves him." He shrugged, flinching when he felt a hand rest on his shoulder, about to give them a piece of his mind before he buffered. Turning into a blushing mess as he locked eyes with the owner of the mysterious hand.
"Ah, hello Kuroki-chan."
You huffed, holding yourself up with your arms as you glanced back at the ball roll away. Slightly pissed they had cut off your serving streak at only five points, though not letting it show.
Goto snickered, holding a hand out for you as she helped you up. "Nice hustle Oika-chan."
You hummed, murmuring a small thank you before walking back to your spot, lifting a brow at the sudden pitch server.
"What's she doing back in there?" Tendou scowled, Reon and Yamagata snickering at the side.
"She's a stubborn one, I'll give her that." Semi hummed, leaning on the railing as they saw her prepare for her serve. "Do you think she'll try targeting Oikawa again?"
"Trust her." They stilled, looking up at Ushijima leaning on the railing beside them. "She can do this."
They nodded, looking back down at the court when the sound of Kuroki spiking the ball over reached their ears.
Goto leaned to the side, picking up the serve with a huff as she bumped it up to Nakamoto.
Nakamoto stepped under it, sending it to Okada on the far left in seconds.
Okada spiked the ball down, slightly gritting her teeth when she saw Ozawa pick it up with ease.
Iwaki started setting up for a play, though not finished as their setter jumped up and spiked it down at Nakamoto.
She grumbled, bumping it to Osaki as she set it up to Mori as best as she could.
Mori jumped, managing to connect as she spiked the ball down at Kuroki, grinning in delight at the glare she shot her way. Though before she could celebrate, she started moving to the side, watching as their setter set up a quick for their middle blocker.
She jumped up with Nakamoto, managing to get a finger on it as she glanced back.
"One touch!"
You ran back and to the side, praying it wouldn't reach the other court as you lunged yourself forward, bumping it back with one arm as Nakayama yelled from the sidelines.
"Connect!"
Nakamoto rushed under it, crouching in an unnatural position as she set it up to Osaki running in from the side.
Osaki puffed her cheeks, spiking the ball down with a loud bang in a cross shot.
She landed seconds after Nakamoto had stood up straight, you slowing to a jog as you looked at the line ref pointing at the court with the flag down.
The cheers of the crowd reached you before you had finished registering the last point. Sasaki and Kaneko jumping at you as they marveled at your last play. Your other senpais passing by and complimenting you on it too, all of you walking back to the bench as Kojima snickered in content.
He fist bumped Osaki, then Nakamoto, then you, before fist bumping the rest of the team.
"Good job out there today girls... and congrats on making it to the top eight."
Iwaki v Shiratorizawa
25-20
19-25
14-25