Mizuki Sayeko had never been fond of the whole 'soulmates' concept, not when her past warned her of the side-effects of falling too deep into the lucid, hypnotising trap. With piercing gazes, a stone-cold heart, would her soulmates ever get through...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
STANDING BESIDE HER TEAMMATES, they watched as Fukurōdani's match progressed. Mizuki bit her lips, her arms folded gently over her chest. Their opponents were targeting both Bokuto and Akaashi. They knew that in order to crush the ace, they had to take out Akaashi from the equation.
She managed to pick up on what Bokuto said, reading his lips carefully. "Up till now, I've been 'an ace that is coddled by the rest of the team', but–" he turned towards his teammates, metaphorical owl wings spreading behind him–"in a few days we're all going to say goodbye to each other and go our separate ways, so it's about time I became just, 'an ace'."
Mizuki smiled, her finger running along her jawline in consideration to his words, processing them through her mind.
"Just an ace, huh?"
After that, it seemed that the whole team was inspired by his words and Fukurōdani was slowly climbing its ways to the top. But Mizuki could tell that Akaashi was getting really affected, especially after the illegal hold — having prolonged contact with the ball. So, she wasn't surprised when Bokuto recommended he be subbed out. Not because he was weak. Akaashi just needed to relax, clear his head.
Bokuto turned to glance at Mizuki and she nodded, reassuring him that he had done the right thing. When his teammate comes up to him to protest, Bokuto interrupted him with a lighthearted honest answer, "Akaashi's not a giant baby like me, so he's not going to fall apart just cause he got benched. He's going to come back we shortly, all cool and collected, you'll see."
Mizuki's lips quirked upwards.
"I mean, this is Akaashi we're talking about here."
He was right.
The second set came and it seemed Akaashi got rid of his negative thoughts. He had been pressuring himself, wondering what others would do. But he wasn't Kageyama or Miya. He was Keiji Akaashi. Fukurōdani's setter. He just had to focus on the ball in front of him. That's it. Every time.
Fukurōdani managed to take the second set, however, Mizuki began to worry about Bokuto in the third. He was exhausted.
"Our match is about to start, Sayeko-san," Asahi informed.
"If it's not too much of a problem," she started, not tearing her eyes away from her soulmates. "I'd like to watch this till the end."
Asahi glanced between the game and Karasuno's analyst, noticing how intensely she watched her soulmates battle it out with the opposite team. He smiled softly. "Of course." And then left.
My moon is watching me, Bokuto thought, tightening the muscles in his back, jumping high in the air and swinging his arm back to spike. I can't stop until the end. He slammed his palm against the ball, hitting before the line and earning another point for their team.
