Chapter 13: Flower

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The gymnasium is silent.

At this moment in time, after the very last whistle, Fukui along with the girls stare in disbelief at what is before them. The gym's air feels heavy, heated and mixed with the smell of sweat. Some of the girl's faces are ones of triumph and shock, while the fewer others, despite initially cheering for Oikawa, stood speechlessly in an odd mixture of disdain and disappointment. The numbers in the scoreboard stands the same:

31-33.

Aobajousai wins the game by a hair.

Fukui's grip on the the straps of her backpack clenched - her exhilarated smile from earlier now gone, replaced with a dissatisfied frown.

"I still can't believe it..." One of the girls breaks the silence with a low murmur, "even with that freak quick, Oikawa-kun managed to overpower that really good setter..."

Fukui hummed in agreement, and then turns to the girls, deep in thought and placid. "Even with all those fancy bold moves number nine can pull or that freakish jump by ten..."

She remembers the words her friend back in Tokyo once said, loud and clear:

"... In the end, the one who lets the ball touches the ground loses."

It's no surprise she knew that, seeing that Nekoma proved to possess strong defenses - she remembers Kuroo telling her about the concept of ' flow like the blood in veins' - or whatever he pep-talks about. Even so, as simple as the words may seem...

"It was a good game," One of the girls admitted lowly.

"For us." Fukui agrees, but then turns her attention to Karasuno on the court. "Not for them."

While Oikawa and the rest wipes their sweat and congratulate one another, the other side remains still. The boy with orange hair and number nine looked the most distraught of all - they haven't lifted their heads off the floor - on their hands and knees in complete, utter, denial.

There is a single clap.

The sound echoes throughout the gym, waves resonating from Fukui. With genuine respect and admiration, she continued to clap slowly, sure and strong.

At first, the girls spared her a confused look, because who in the world cheers for your cousin's oppponents? Even so, seeing Fukui's unfaltering firmness in her applause, despite everyone just staring at her, she continues to repeat her unrhythmic pattern of claps. Unsurely, another girl joined in, weakly, but still present.

Soon, the other girls clapped along - and by the time Karasuno gets up to leave, the whole stadium is filled with applause.

***

"Whaddaya think, Ume-chan? I was good, wasn't I? Wasn't I?" Oikawa prods the girl at the bus, eyebrows raising profusely.

"You're alright," she says, and Oikawa can't help but pout. "I have to say, you work really good with your team. Especially Iwaizumi."

"So are you gonna go to our next game? We're going against Shiratorizawa and you get to see more Iwa-chan action -"

"Nah. Too much work. I told you it's just a one time thing." She replies exasperatingly as she unzips her backpack open, fingers hovering above the leather bounded sketchbook.

It's quite funny, she thinks, seeing those two boys share a strong bond. They're like the push and pull. Yin and Yang. Warm sunlight on an April morning and the tiny specks of snow sprinkling down the skies in early December.

Personalities entirely different, yet somehow they piece together, compliment and cooperate. Just like...

Fukui's inspiration lightbulb flickers brightly:

How a cactus needs a flower.

In the end, the ride was bumpy, snore infested, and definitely drowned in the scent of worn out athletes with sweat-sticked skin. Despite all of this, the ride was peaceful, with a pencil in left hand and her trusty sketchbook propped on her lap.

The missing piece to her cactus was - and most importantly - the flower.

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