Fifty Bucks

1

The time of a practice match has finally rolled back around once more. The Inarizaki Highschool volleyball club was sitting on the floor of their gym stretching. They had been chatting idly for the past 10 minutes waiting for either their opponent or their coach to show up. Some of the first years were on the other side of the gym playing catch, trying to stay warmed up just in case they got to play today. The second years and third years didn't even try to keep their heart racing since it was a no-brainer that they would be on the court no matter what. The majority of them were starters so they never worried about whether they would end up on or off the court during their games.

"So who do you think we're up against?" Ginjima started up a different topic of conversation since their last one died out. This quickly caught all of their attention. There weren't many teams they could go against in Hyogo that would present as a challenge for them, so it had to be a team from outside of their prefecture. The real question they were all thinking of was how far outside of the prefecture.

"Maybe Shiratorizawa?" Akagi answered from the spot draped across Gin's shoulders. Ever since they started dating, the clingy-ness during conversations was astronomical. "Coach did say he loves putting us up against them." Miyagi and Hyogo were pretty far from each other. It could be an 11-hour drive depending on where in the prefecture you were located.

"But we always beat them anyways, are we even improving?" Osamu dropped his stretch and leaned back onto his palms. "We practically know everything we can know about them, and how they play."

"You're always improving." Their coach, Kurosu said as he walked into the gym, putting his phone away. The entire team straightened up as he walked in, knowing there was a possibility he heard their past conversations too. "And for your information, we've invited Itachiyama."

Itachiyama Institute was the best high school volleyball team in Japan. Inarizaki was second so that created some tension between the two teams. The team proved to be a struggle for them. Every time they had gone against them they had lost. During nationals, during training camps, and even during simple practice games. So hearing that they would be on their home turf made them more determined than they usually were. The feeling spread around the team and they quickly felt the need to play.

Suna personally loved going against Itachiyama. Their middle blockers were pretty easy to get to. Their main spiker, or ace, and libero on the other hand made his job a little harder than the average team ever could. Speaking of, their libero Motoya Komori was one of Suna's best friends. He also had a huge crush on him. The more he hung out with the Komori the more small things he noticed about him. The way his sky blue eyes lit up when he saw Suna during nationals and camps, or the way his small button eyebrows brought all of his expressions together. Their conversations were simple and smooth which made his feelings much worse.

"They're still an hour away, so you guys can do.. whatever it is you do." Coach Kurosu walked out of the gym with their secondary coach, Oomi, as the group of teenagers stood up from their little circle on the floor.

Over time they eventually spread out until they were walking around in pairs, talking about random things. Atsumu had been walking alongside Suna for the past 30 minutes. He wasn't complaining until the topic of conversation switched over to Itachiyama as the time of their arrival came closer.

"So how are ya feelin'?" Atsumu looked over at his friend, an expression of mischief coated his face.

"About?" Suna raised an eyebrow. He knew that whatever Atsumu was about to say was going to either be bad, or stupid. But he still gave him the chance to say it since there was nothing better for him to do.

He leaned over and quietly said into Suna's ear, "seeing Komori."

"How am I supposed to feel?" He shoved Atsumu away from his face playfully, but aggressively. "We talked last night."

"Are you guys datin' yet?" Suna just blinked at him, not answering. "What?"

"I despise you."

Before Atsumu could reply, their coach yelled at them to be quiet as their opponents walked into the gym. The highlighter yellow and green jackets were very difficult to mistake for any other team. The fluorescent colors seemed as if they would glow in the dark if the lights cut off all at once. Aside from their coaches, the first person to walk into the room was their third-year captain, Tsukasa Iizuna. When he was in his first year, he was awarded the best setter in the junior Olympics. But he was soon shoved off his throne when Atsumu graduated junior high. Followed by the rest of the third years were the most known second years on the team. Sakusa Kiyoomi and Komori Motoya. The two were a big part of Itachiyama seeing as they were the reason the school had been featured in magazines on multiple occasions.

The tall boy with curly hair was Sakusa. He was one of the top three hitters in the nation. He was known for his form and how hard he hits. His hypermobile wrist was his biggest trademark with how it made the ball spin upon impact. His spikes made them a tad bit harder to receive and that was why he was the ace of Itachiyama. After their games against them, Akagi would always say something about the burn of his forearms after picking one up.

The shorter boy with the small eyebrows was his cousin, Komori. He is the best high school libero in Japan. He was featured in volleyball monthly and was invited to the exclusive training camp, All Japan alongside his cousin. He used to be a spiker before becoming a libero so he is slightly taller than the average libero, standing at 5'10. He knows the tricks of a spiker after playing as one during middle school and he uses that to his advantage.

Komori looked around for a second before his eyes landed on Suna. He pulled on his cousin's sleeve and pointed over before they both waved. He waved back with a small smile before looking back to the two coaches who were telling them what to do. He was close with both of the cousins since they went to middle school together. He was born in Aichi, then moved to Tokyo where he met the two before landing in Hyogo to attend Inarizaki.

While he was spacing out for a second, he felt Atsumu grab his arm and bring him over to the court. He ripped his arm out of the other's grip and went to get into formation with the rest of the team.