Imagination

16. Spectator

Oikawa

The bus ride to the sports complex was incredibly boring, with absolutely nothing interesting occurring on the way. I had my headphones plugged in for most of the ride, not even acknowledging Iwa's presence as he sat next to me. He didn't seem to mind it, since this was one of the rare times where I just didn't feel like talking or doing anything to bother him.

My goal was nationals, and I was going to get there no matter what. With my teammates by my side, we can totally crush every single team in the gym we were now approaching ever so slightly. The rush of adrenaline was going to kick in once a good team actually went up against us, and I was hoping for that critical moment.

I did wish it to be Karasuno, but I couldn't really choose my opponents, now could I? Sure, we're in the same bracket, but if they screw up even once, I wouldn't get the pleasure of destroying little Tobio. That would suck, not going to lie. He really was the one person I was going to overthrow one day, and prove that even if he was a natural prodigy, hard work always comes before just pure talent.

"The bus will be arriving shortly! Please get ready to disembark everyone!"

I popped one headphone out of my ear, and watched everyone grabbing their messenger bags off of the floor. I was inclined to do the same, and followed suit as Iwa grabbed his.

The bus pulled into a spot just a few seconds later, and everyone began to stand up. I was stationed in the back row with Iwa, Makki, and Kindaichi, so we all had to wait a bit until we filed out of the vehicle in an orderly manner.

My feet walked down the steps of the bus rather slowly, and the sun hit my eyes as I hopped down onto the pavement sidewalk. It was a beautiful day for playing some games and crushing some worthless opponents. With the sun in the sky and my physique in pristine condition, we really had no chance of losing any games today.

With a heavy sigh, both of my coaches went through our times for the games, and explained some more pointless safety rules. I didn't really bother listening, but snapped back into it when Iwa smacked my back a bit too hard. It was as if violence was always his first option.

"We'll be having just one game today, so give it all you got. Depending on whether Karasuno manages to beat their two opponents, we have quite a selection before our second game tomorrow. Alright, everyone follow us!" Coach Mizoguchi ushered us all to walk behind him and Coach Irihata, and we did as we were shown.

I dragged a bit behind everyone, casually browsing through a few photos on my phone. No one seemed to notice that I was lagging behind, so I was in the clear for now.

As I scrolled through my camera roll for a bit, my emotionless expression quickly turned into a happy and bright grin.

On my screen were about twenty pictures of Kaori's adorable face. She had stolen my phone sometime during one of our study sessions, and took a whole lot of burst photos of herself.

I couldn't help but chuckle at her cuteness, and found myself staring longingly at a photo I had taken of her in the kitchen. If I remembered the moment correctly, she was baking sugar cookies then, but evidently burned half of them unknowingly. I still feel bad for just laughing at her as she tried to turn off the oven and take out the black crispy cookies.

I sighed in spite, closing my eyes and shutting off my phone.

My team was now filing into the building, and I rolled my eyes lazily as I followed with them.

But right as I almost walked in, I was stopped by yet another obstacle in my way. However, this one was a lot more interesting than anything that had occurred today. And by the look of it, I only had one of my teammates to see where I was going.