A/N: I just want to point out that this is based off a volleyabll anime soo I have to include some volleyabll itself in it. If you don't want to read it then I guess just skim through it till the end. But I do recommned reading it :)
Oh also! I decided to switch Niiyama's captain from middle blocker to setter since I feel like it would flow better with the story. Now on to the chapter!
"Hey how did your game go?" Iwaizumi speaks on the other end as I was sitting down in the facility hallway leaning my back against the wall.
"We won," I casually respond no sorts of excitement in my tone.
"That's amazing! But you don't seem too excited for that," He laughs lightly.
I let out a deep breath closing my eyes as I try to relax my body.
"It's not that I'm not excited. Of course I am. I mean it is the finals and winning this match will allow us to advance to the second round of the Spring Tournament. But the team we're facing..."
"It's the girl who you had a bad past with at Nekoma, isn't it?" He quickly finishes my sentence already knowing what I was going to say.
"Yup," I open my eyes slightly thinking through whether or not I should tell him about the interaction I saw between Ito and her about 'their plan.'
"Don't stress Naka. You'll be fine and with our match against Shiratorizawa starting a bit earlier than yours hopefully I can watch you play. I'll be there to cheer you on,"
I couldn't help but break out into a small smile as I visualized the thought of seeing Iwaziumi in the stands cheering me on.
"Hmm thanks Iwa-Chan you really made me feel better,"
"No problem Naka, like I said I'm one call away. But I've got to go, our match will be starting soon."
"I know I know, good luck! I'll be rooting for you in my head!"
I could hear his faint laugh on the other end and my smile widened even more.
"Oh and Naka-Chan?"
"Hmm?"
"Once we both win I have something important that I want to tell you," He says a bit nervously.
"Alright Iwa-Chan,"
With that I hang up the phone and couldn't help but think of what the boy wanted to talk about.
Maybe I should tell him how I feel about him after the match?
"Hajime Iwaizumi huh," The all too familiar voice rings in my ears and I glance up to meet Kimura my smile instantly disappearing.
"How did yo—"
"He's pretty cute huh? His setter friend seems more like your type to be honest. Surprised you chose the ace though," She hums glancing up at the ceiling before looking back at me.
"Shouldn't let him get too close to you Ren. You're just going to cause him trouble in the long run," Kimura almost commands me as she kneels down to my level. "I know him and your buddies on your team mean a lot to you. But they'll run away from you sooner or later once you let them down."
The grey eyed girl brings her hand to my head patting it to which I instinctively swat it away glaring at her touch.
"Good luck beating us today," She smiles before standing up, "It sure is going to be an interesting match," The ace adds before walking back towards the gym doors.
I could only mutter words under my breath as Kimura still had power over me.
"You'll be fine. Just focus on the game,"
—
"So that's Himari Kimura huh," Akari mutters as she watches the opposite hitter hit a powerful spike on the other end.
"Yeah that's her," I study Kimura's nearly perfect form as she falls to the ground on her feet, "she's gotten a lot better for sure since I last saw her play."
"Alright girls huddle up," Coach calls all of to the sideline to which we huddle up in a semi circle.
"So this is our last match of the tournament and with this win we'll be able to claim the title of the Miyagi Prefecture Interhigh Preliminaries winners. As well as automatically making it to the second round of the Spring Tournament,"
Coaches words couldn't help but make me smile as I thought of how close we were to winning this.
"But of course to get such a title we have to face the best team in the prefecture, Niiyama. Not only do they have a top 3 setter in the entire country but a new ace who is almost as good as our ace," To this coach glances at me to which I give her small nod.
"So all I could tell you girls is to play your hearts out and remember that you're not alone on this court. Got it?" She looks around us to which we all say "yes coach!"
The whistle suddenly blows as the ref signals both captains to come to the center.
We all watch as Hina walks a few steps before turning around.
She looks me in the eyes to which I tilt my head slightly confused as to what she was doing.
"Come with me Ren," Hina extends her hand to me.
I look at her hand before looking back at Akari and her who were both giving me a look.
Not wanting to fight it I accept her command grabbing her hand in mine as the setter pulls me towards the two other girls.
Hina and I are both met up with the girl I met before, Ichika and of course Kimura who only eyes me quite creepily.
"Alright girls I'm going to flip a coin and whatever it lands on gets to choose to receive or serve first. Niiyama your choice," The ref turns to Ichika.
The ref flips the silver coin in the air before catching it with their hands flipping it on their palm.
"Tails," She smiles at the ref.
She lifts up her hand looking at the coin, "Tails it is. Do you choose to serve of receive?"
Before Ichika could answer Kimura whispers something into the captains ear not breaking her gaze off me.
The captain smiles at Kimura's words taking a quick glance at me before looking at the ref.
"We choose to receive,"
"Alright. Now shake hands if you please too and play a safe match girls," She gestures to us four.
Hina extends her hand to the captain to which she does so as well shaking her hand.
"Let's have a good match," Hina smiles at the captain to which she does so back.
Really not wanting to make any sort of contact with Kimura I decide to only watch the two captains speak a few words to one another.
"I really hope you do well today Ren," Kimura suddenly leans in so that only I could hear her words, "don't want to mess up for your team like before."
The girl extends her hand at me, "It's polite to shake it back Ren,"
I look down at Kimura's hand hesitating for a second before having the confidence to grab it in mine shaking it quickly.
"I hope the best for you too Kimu. Can't end up getting benched like back at Nekoma," I smugly smile at her before pulling my hand and turning back to my teammates.
I could almost feel the grey eyed girls anger building up from my words only making me regret what I just said.
Damn it Akari for provoking me to say something like that!
Akari on the other hand, as if the girl heard my words was glaring at Kimura before giving me a wide smile.
"Alright let's do this girls!" Hina shouts to which we all cheer back as we get in position.
Of course being the same position as Kimura, I am right across from her.
She only smirks at me as we wait for the ref to blow the whistle to signal the start of the match.
Once doing so Ito serves it over landing in the liberos arms to which she bumps the ball perfectly to Ichika.
I only watch Kimura as she stands still not moving her body the slightest.
Why wasn't she jumping?
Suddenly the grey eyed girl bolts insanely fast to the other end to which I try my best to follow her exact footing.
"Ito!" I shout as Kimura jumps on her end, the toss coming directly her way.
Not being able to make it for the block I move a step back as I wait for Kimura to hit it my way.
The opposite hitter swings her arm back almost showing how hard she was going to hit the ball before spiking it with the most power I have ever seen from her.
I could only try my best to receive the ball but fail as it stings slightly on my forearms, it going out of bounds.
1-0 Niiyama
"When did she get so fast?" I mutter under my breath as Kimura reaches the ground gracefully.
"Nice kill Kimu!" Ichika high-fives the ace to which she only nods returning the gesture.
"It's alright girls, we got the next one!" Akari says to which we all nod in response.
As the ball rolls to Niiyama's side the sever waits for the whistle before hitting it over and towards Aoi.
Aoi bumps the ball towards Hina who's already ready to set the ball.
Ito, Akari and I prepare to spike the ball as we wait for Hina to set it in one of our directions. It going to Akari she slams the ball down only for their libero to pick it up.
Watching Ichika then Kimura once again the grey eyed girl begins to move around with me this time following her on her tail.
As the setter was about to toss it her way she suddenly moves her right hand to the side knocking it over to our side.
"It's a dump!" I shout as Akari and I dove for the ball only for it to fall to the ground again.
"Damn it," I mutter as another point was awarded to Niiyama.
I look up from the ground to see Aoi lending her hand to Akari and I to which we grab it as we get up.
"Those two make a great team," Akari says as she watches the two talk about their next play.
"Yeah they do. But us 6 make an even better one," Hina looks at Akari, Aoi and I, a smile on her face.
With that the game continues us gaining momentum as we trailed behind Niiyama.
The score was now 23-19 with Niiyama close to game point as I just hit a left handed spike.
"I will never get tired of seeing you spike with both hands," Kimura says as my feet make contact with the ground.
I only glare at her in response before moving back to serve the ball.
Taking a deep breath I bounce the ball a few times before waiting for the ref to give me the signal.
Once doing so I toss the ball in the air aiming for the spot I wanted to hit at before making
contact with the ball.
I watch as it goes over to the back right where Kimura was standing.
"Out!" She yells moving slightly to the side.
Out? There's no way that the ball is going to go ou—"
The ref blows the whistle as the lineman points the flag up signaling that it was out of bounds.
"Gomen!" Is all I could say as Kimura perfectly predicted that my ball was going to go out.
24-19
Next it was her serve.
I already knew that Kimura had been practicing on her serves when I think back to the times where she would go to practice by herself.
Of course she would lie a good amount of the time but I knew for a fact that she had gotten better.
I watch as Kimura bounces the ball a few times before spinning it in her hand.
Tweet!
At that moment she tosses the ball up not doing her regular jump serve technique.
She was doing a jump float serve?
At the contact of her hand on the ball it comes directly in between Sakura and I as we watch the ball float back and forth between the two.
"I got it!" We both shout but only watch as the ball falls to the ground as both as us didn't receive it.
That was the end of the first set.
Niiyama's audience erupts in cheers as they see the scoreboard go to 1-0.
"Alright girls come here!" Coach calls us to which we all jog to the bench grabbing water as well.
"So as we can see this team seems to consist of sets and spikes between their setter and ace. So if we can just mainly focus on those two such as adding an extra person to a block then we can shut them down."
"Also Ren-"
"Yes coach?" I give her my full attention as I wait for her to continue.
"I need you to give Kimura a run for her own money,"
My eyebrows furrow up in confusion as I wait for coach to explain more.
"She has been making you chase after her for every possession so you do the same. Don't be afraid to use your left hand more as well since it's the one advantage you have over her. Got it?"
"Yes coach!" I give her a firm nod as I take one last chug of my water bottle before setting it down on the bench as the starters and I walk back to court.
Once the ref blows the whistle Kimura bounces the ball a few times before tossing the ball in the air as she performs another jump float serve.
The ball once again comes in between Sakura and I to which I move out of the way to let her receive the ball.
Almost perfectly she bumps it Hina's direction as the movement of the float serve messed up her hit slightly.
Alright, let her follow you.
Looking for Kimura who was already watching me intently I begin to run to my side of the net as I swing my arms back preparing to jump off the ground.
Kimura does the same as she was already in the air waiting for me to hit the spike.
Quickly I cut in the left direction as I move to Ito's side who moved at the sight of me as I jumped in the air. Being met up with the one blocker on Ito's side I quickly spike the ball with my left hand.
The ball hits slightly off their blockers fingers but not enough for it to block my ball as it goes straight down onto their side.
"Nice kill Ren Ren!" Akari high-fives me happily to which I laugh at her energy high-fiving her back.
"Huh no wonder I lost to you last year," A voice mutters beside me and I turn slightly to see Ichika glance at me for a second before looking back at her teammates.
That's when it clicks. She was nominated for female player of the year last year. No wonder he name sounded familiar.
"Alright girls let's keep this up!"
For the rest of the second set we almost dominate Niiyama as I was able to figure out Kimura's movements and do ones similar to hers.
This resulted in us winning 25-23 as Ito hit down a spike that hit thier middle blockers fingers going out of bounds.
I could almost see the anger in Kimura's eyes every time I was able to receive her spikes or block them. Almost reminded me of the time she confronted me after the game last year causing shivers to run down my body.
Jogging to the sidelines I grab my water bottle drinking it before grabbing a towel to wipe off the sweat on my face. Glancing up at the stands I see mum and Haru who are both smiling at me whereas Obachan was only sending me a death glare.
Such a great grandmother!
"Just keep doing what you all have been doing this last set and we can come out with a win. Due to Ren being able to watch their aces movements she's been receiving less tosses her way so make sure to pay attention to their other hitters."
With coaches words we perform our team cheer before walking back on court for the last set.
Glancing in the direction of the ace her once stoic face changed into a more of a glare. She looked as if she was going to murder someone. That of course is until she caught me looking at her and even deepened her death glare.
I widen my eyes slightly at her as I let out a shaky breath before looking back at the center of the court.
With that the third and final set started as Sakura served the ball.
With my eyes now locked on Kimura I watch as she doesn't even move a single step watching her own teammates intently.
"Kanoka!" Ichika calls their wing spiker as she jumps up spiking the ball in my direction.
Not fully paying attention to her and only Kimura I receive the ball a bit shakily as it goes up in the air.
"Gomen!"
"It's alright!" Hina says as she sprints towards the ball setting it to Akari.
Following Akari the middle blocker spikes the ball down earning a point for our team.
"Nice kill Akari!" Sakura says giving her a slap on the back.
As the others cheer I could only look at Kimura as she had a frown on her face as she watched my teammates praise Akari.
For the next few rallies we were able to gain points as well as Niiyama, them a bit behind as their main scorer, Kimura seemed to have received less and less sets.
With the score at 18-13 Niiyama calls for a timeout as they were slowly falling behind.
"This is weird," I mutter to myself as I watch our opponents huddle up in a semi circle as they talk about a game plan.
"What is?" A voice says from behind me and I'm met up with Ito who was also looking at them before looking at me.
"Kimura... she's changed. Ever since the start of the third set the powerhouse herself has just almos... died,"
"Seems like Himari," I can almost here Ito mutter under her breath as she looks at grey eyed girl on the other end of the sidelines.
Should I ask Ito about what I saw earlier? I thought to myself.
"Just don't get distracted Naka," Ito suddenly says breaking my thoughts as I look back at her, "Be careful."
Before I could question Ito's words the ref blows the whistle as the timeout ended.
With it being my serve I hit it perfectly in my pinpointed spot on the back left but is dug up by their defence specialist who sends it in Ichika's way.
Keeping my eyes trained on their wing spiker this time I almost forget about Kimura who's feet were already off the ground as she delivers a perfect cross shot, landing just in bounds.
18-14
"Don't lose interest in me now Ren," She smirks at me.
With Niiyama now serving, the ball is sent in Sakura's direction who hits it in Hina's direction.
Doing what I've done for the past set I begin to run back and forth as I try to trick Kimura, but this time she actually seemed to have caught up to me as I spike the ball only for it to get blocked by her and Ichika.
With that one block Niiyama began to catch up to us as we also gained points as well but at a much slower pace.
Kimura was able to block almost all my hits with the new help she suddenly got from Ichika and their middle blocker.
24-24
The score was now even as Ichika pulled a setters dump.
"Girls calm down, we got this," Hina says eyeing all of before looking back at Ichika who only gives her a small yet fake smile.
Their outside hitter Kanoka serves the ball to which Ito receives it. With our new play in mind, Sakura sets the ball from the back line towards Hina who spikes it down earning us a point.
25-24
Just one more point.
Deciding to look at up at crowd my eyes immediately lock with those familiar green ones a smile coming to my lips.
Iwaizumi on the other hand only slightly gives me a smile as he waves at me.
I couldn't help but notice the glint of sadness in the boys eyes as we stared at each other.
They lost didn't they.
A small frown comes to my own face as I could only imagine how sad and angry the ace must feel losing again to Shiratorizawa.
"Oi Ren pay attention!" A voice breaks me out of my gaze as I look to coach giving her a small nod.
With that Sakura serves the ball to their side to where their libero was. Watching Kimura we all wait for the libero to bump it in Ichika's direction till she suddenly jumps up slightly, setting it?
With Ichika already in position she spikes it down on our end Sakura unable to dig up the ball.
"I can't believe they just copied us," Akari grumbles angrily as it was now 25-25.
With Kimura now serving, she performs a perfect float serve that seems to be going out of bounds.
We all call it out but last
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