LET ME DOWN SLOWLY ⸻ sakusa kiyoomi.

𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐲-𝐨𝐧𝐞 | games day

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GAMES DAY !!

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ajinomoto training center !

THE NEXT MORNING CAME WITH Atsumu, Hoshiumi, Motoya, Sakusa and Kina skipping breakfast to sleep in, exhausted from the games and the drama of the previous night's cockroach fiasco. Every one of them (except for Sakusa, who blamed his cousin for this misfortune) blamed Sakusa for their exhaustion.

After lunch and the long, almost dreary training sessions came with the whole of the Youth Training Camp gathering with the four coaches in the sixth floor court of the training center — the biggest court of the centre, that even division three, two and one players would stop by to practice at times.

That perked some of the five up, the most noticeable ones being Atsumu and Hoshiumi, who were chattering on about team tactics and set-ups as they strolled into the large court, where some of the other students were already warming up and using the courts.

The familiar sounds of volleyballs bouncing off of skin and floors filled their ears, and it wasn't long before they themselves also went to get balls after warming up to start practising. The court slowly filled up, with students from the same schools interacting with one another and being introduced to other groups, the talk dying down as the whistle was blown and they stood before the coaches.

For once, there weren't any direct instructions, but a rather free-formatted plan that would definitely count as a sort of day-off from the gruelling training.

"The lottery system —" the coach pointed at the large screen with a display of everyone's name and a button reading tap to order groups — "will decide the teams that you'll be assigned to for the next three hours. The two main courts in the middle will be used as game grounds, while the remaining two on the sides will be used as practice courts. The winner of the game will stay on each court, and by the end of the three hours, a winner will be decided by the two teams who survive. The winning team will be given free ramen vouchers, so if you like ramen, that's a goal to work forward to."

Murmurs of appreciation and hopes of being placed in the same team passed through the students — a general air of excitement that buzzed around a bunch of broke high schoolers for free ramen and the thrill of beating teams to stand at the imaginary podium.

The screen of the large display transitioned into a bleak black for a moment as the button was pressed, and the forty-two players in total were sorted into six groups of seven. There was some mess in the court as new faces were sorted into groups and groans rang in the air as power duos were brutally separated by the lottery website. Eventually, with yet another lottery, Team 4 against Team 5 and Team 3 against Team 1 were the starting lineup, and Teams 2 and 6 were given the courts to prepare.

Let the games begin.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

tsukishima kina !

Huh.

The groups were formed, and now I turned to face the rest of my teammates, who would form Team 3 with me. Gathered in a circle around us were a few familiar faces and some unfamiliar ones from the boys' side of the group who I had not met before.

Atsumu, Fukushima Ashima, Ashido Touma — second year from Torayama High, Hoshiumi Korai, Akiyama Momotaro — first year from Torayama High as well, Yamashiro Fuyumi, and I made a team — and other than Ashido and Akiyama, I knew everyone else somewhat decently (with the exception of Hoshiumi, whom I had only met yesterday).