𝐒𝐏𝐈𝐊𝐄!! ✧ o. shotaro

four

failure and new friendships.

the crowd was dead silent.

sakusa had made yet another unbelievably fast spike with a flick of his wrist. the ball had slammed so hard into the ground, causing the sound of the impact against the floor to echo throughout the venue. the other matches happening had paused for a second, taking in the raw power sakusa just exposed.

nanako could feel the echo ringing in her ears. her right hand went completely limp, dropping her ballpoint pen on her notebook. but her left hand gripped onto the red notebook tighter, creating wrinkles on the previously smooth paper.

eyebrows furrowed, nanako quickly glanced at the scoreboard. with each team taking a set for themselves, this third one was the final decision-maker.

and since it was the last one, the set seemed to go on forever.

"and itachiyama is, once again, at set point!"

her eyes landed on the nekoma high cheering section, where akane held her megaphone's handle tightly. although she was simply watching a game, she always acted as if she was a player.

her facial expression mirrored the current line-up's. fatigue was visible on both the players and the audience as the set's points kept on building up.

sakusa seems unfazed by the crowd's sudden silence, though, and tossed the ball around as he prepared to serve. at the blow of the whistle, the outside hitter immediately threw the ball up in the air and began the rally with a powerful serve.

kai quickly covered the spot sakusa aimed for: right near the edge of the court.

"nice dig, kai!" yaku praised, following up by passing the ball to kenma.

the setter had sweat dripping in almost every part of his body and his eyes very visibly expressed tiredness. nanako pursed her lips--this was what the coaches were always worried about. if kenma played too hard in a game, he would have no energy to do anything and the team's "brain" would be worn out.

kenma set the ball to fukunaga, who smoothly hit it straight to an empty spot, only to be dug by itachiyama's libero: komori motoya.

the ball headed straight to the team's setter and captain, iizuna tsukasa. kuroo, kai, and shotaro stood in their usual stack-block formation on the right, covering sakusa's range.

but iizuna set the ball to their opposite hitter, sending it straight across the net. yaku quickly covered the ball and sent it straight to nekoma's one and only setter.

kenma's golden eyes which were once filled with fatigue shot a sharp look at shotaro, who immediately understood what the setter meant. within a millisecond, kenma's eyes gazed across itachiyama's blockers and landed on kai, the tips of his fingers adjusting to the left.

he could feel a gust of wind as the blockers shifted towards kai, causing sweat droplets to run down his forehead faster. before anyone could notice, kenma switched the position of his fingers and set the ball towards shotaro in the first tempo.

shotaro immediately reacted in mid-air and raised his right hand. with one swift arm movement and puffed-up cheeks, the outside hitter spiked the ball just centimeters away from the corner of the court.