The reason that keeps me alive - BokuAka [English Version]

Chapter 13

In exactly forty-eight hours they would know the winner.

But right now they were still facing their first obstacle:
The Nekoma.


"We're going to stick exactly to what we've trained for. I don't want to see any experiments." The trainer gave Bokuto, who had the Nekoma in his sights, a serious look. "And please keep yourselves in check. We know the Nekoma, but that doesn't mean we have a better chance because of that, because logically they know us too."

The referee blew his whistle and the boys lined up.



The match went quite well - with two sets won, the Fukurodani took the victory and thus entered the final.


After getting ready, they sat down in the stands of the hall where the Nohebi and Ittachiyama match was taking place.
Akaashi leaned against Bokuto's shoulder, noticing the ace tense up.

"Well, I always have a little hope," Konoha said as he ate a banana.
"Well." Komi leaned back in his seat. "They're in the lead."

At the same moment, the crowd cheered.
"And there's their match point."
"Did you have to verschreint dav like that?"
Komi took the banana from his hand and took a bite himself.
"HEY! THAT WAS MINE!"
"Tough luck."
"Could you shut your mouths for once?" asked Washio, visibly annoyed.

Bokuto rose and left. Akaashi looked after him for a moment, then followed.
In the toilet he stopped and poured water over his face.

"Bo?" Akaashi had his hands buried in his jacket pocket, leaning against the wall, watching his friend remain silent.
"Hm."

Actually, he wanted to encourage him - but instead he walked up to him and kissed him as he turned off the water.
"We make a strong team," he whispered.

Bokuto smiled a little and hugged Akaashi to him, burying his head against his shoulder. "I know, Akaashi."
Akaashi grinned at him, their lips touching.

The door of a toilet opened and automatically the two disengaged from each other.

It was a man in his late thirties, he was a little taller, and as he entered the room with the sinks, he eyed the two boys in the mirror, especially Akaashi, who was leaning back in his place against the wall.

Akaashi noticed that. And he felt uncomfortable. "Is something wrong?" he asked.
The man shook his head slowly, a small smile appearing on his face. "No. You just remind me of someone." His grin widened, the confusion on Akaashi's face grew, and Bokuto's scepticism could literally be read off his face.

"Oh yeah?" Akaashi didn't take his eyes off him.

He nodded as he dried his hands.
Then he left the room.

Bokuto's eyebrows drew together in confusion as he stared at the door. "What was that now?"
Akaashi raised his shoulders. "I have no idea."
A laugh escaped them before they made their way out as well.

Once everyone was together, the team made their way to the shelter.
They were just coming through the entrance hall when Akaashi recognised the man from earlier at one of the entrance doors - next to him a woman with a small child, around ten.
Something tightened inside him.

This woman, she looked familiar to him.
But he did not know where he knew her from.


And that kept him busy for a long time, which Bokuto also noticed.
He sat down next to him and reached for his hand. "Are you still thinking about it?"
Akaashi nodded.

An awkward silence ensued, which Bokuto finally broke once again. "Can I ask you something?"
Akaashi looked him straight in the eye. "Sure."
"If you don't want to talk about it, just say so, okay?"
The setter nodded again.

"I've known you for so long now, but you've never said anything about your..." He hesitated. "You've never mentioned your mother before."

Akaashi looked away, leaning his head against the wall. "There's not much to say." Pure emotional chaos just erupted inside him, outwardly there was no trace of it. "I don't remember her. She died when I was little." To distract himself a little, he played around with the sleeve of his long-sleeved shirt. "The only thing I know about her is that I supposedly look like her. At least that's what Dad always says."

Gently, Bokuto stroked his arm. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"
"It's okay. It was ages ago." The second grader produced a soft smile, infecting the older man. The latter wrapped him in a hug, and Akaashi snuggled against his warm body.



"So this could have been in the afternoon for all I care." Konoha stretched and yawned loudly.
"You're not the only one," Bokuto murmured.
"Yay."

When everyone was finally together, the coach made it clear that he had a quick errand to run, but that the boys could go into the building already.

And they did.

Dozens of people were already gathered in the huge entrance hall, all talking wildly and loudly to each other, you could hardly hear your own words.
"This is off to a good start."
Bokuto reached for Akaashi's hand.

"Ohh, there they are already!"

He didn't have to think about who was speaking. There was not the slightest chance that he would ever forget that voice.

All the team members stopped, and Akaashi could already hear the brown-haired boy's gleeful laugh.
"You guys are really persistent!" Torio giggled again.
"Shut up!" Konoha was going for him, but was stopped in his attempt by Washio.
Torio's giggles died down, and instead he now buried his hands in his yellow and green club jacket, and a mocking grin appeared on his face.

"Ohh...so that's them?" A minimally shorter, red-haired boy stood next to him, whom Akaashi didn't know. He must be new to the team, because he was also wearing the yellow-green club jacket of the Ittachiyama. "I kind of...well...imagined them differently."

"Shut up, Koyo, that's what I was going to say."
"You hold it."
"Jeez, both of you shut your mouths!" shouted Bokuto.

"Why? Did you guys get scared?" Koyo put on a grin that just resembled Torio's.

"No, we-" Bokuto's speech was interrupted by another boy who stepped out from between them and made Torio and Koyo bow.

"Please accept my apologies." They stood up straight again, and Iizuna let go of the two. "These idiots don't get that you don't do things like that."
"Ouch..." whined Koyo.
"By 'go ahead', I didn't mean you should harass the opposing team." Iizuna folded her arms in front of her chest.

"No one went ahead." Koyo was still stroking the back of his head.
"So?"
"What and?"
Torio nudged the younger man with his elbow.
Iizuna rolled her eyes and grabbed the two by the jacket to push them further.

"Sorry again for the disturbance," he said to the Fukurodani, not looking at the team.

"Who was the shorter one? I don't remember him at all."
"Is a first year and middle blocker. I'm surprised he's even allowed on the field with a team like this, his receptions are miserable, just like his serves, and he only hits sometimes with a lot of luck," Sarukui explained. "I don't know why he was ever used."
"Maybe there's something special about him."

Akaashi looked after the boys, who were pushed on by their captain. "You guys are so embarrassing!" he shouted a few times.


The tension was great when everyone had gathered.
It wasn't just the many spectators that made Akaashi nervous, and even if it sounded strange, he felt he was being watched.

They were just discussing the last little things for the upcoming match, and Akaashi noticed how tense his friend was, and how he kept glancing over at the opposing ace.
"Bokuto."
He turned to him.
"We can do this."
The referee blew his whistle for the end of the review period, and everyone lined up.

Bokuto and Sakusa stood fairly close to each other, and Bokuto's look at him seemed almost frightening.

"Brace yourselves."
Sakusa looked at him emotionlessly. "Uh-huh?"
"Do you actually possess any emotions?!"
He looked away again. "No."
"You-"
"Bokuto!"
At Akaashi's shout, the captain flinched briefly before turning away.

The whistle for the start of the match sounded.

The Ittachiyama had the first serve - with Torio.

Still from their last match, the Fukurodani knew that he had very strong serves and were able to respond accordingly.
Konoha was able to take the ball and played it straight to Akaashi.

Think. Reflection.
Bokuto is still too agitated.
Konoha took the ball.
Washio has the blocks up.
Oh man.

"Bokuto!"
Bokuto was already jumping and sinking the ball into the opponent's field.
"YAAA!!! HEY HEY HEY!!!"

"We'll get the next one again!" shouted Iizuna.

"Good, the first point was important for once." Komi clapped her hands once. "Well done."

Konoha was already going to the back for the serve.

"Let's secure the next one right away."

In the corner of his eye, Akaashi noticed Torio exchanging with Komori.
"Now that one's in," Onaga whispered.

Konoha managed a good serve that went straight to the opponent's feed.

"Back it up!"
Komori was there within a second and passed the ball to Sakusa.
"Kiyoomi!"

Komi failed to receive the ball properly and it flew out of bounds.

"Shit!" he shouted.
"Don't worry about it," Akaashi called out to him.

The game went on and on - no sooner had Fukurodani scored a point than Ittachiyama took it back.
The score was now 23-21 for the Fukurodani.


Finally, they won the set 25-22.

In the break between sets, the coach continued to encourage the players not to let up now.
Akaashi turned to Bokuto, who had calmed down a little in the meantime.
"You played great," he encouraged him.
"You played great," he praised him back.
The setter produced a smile.

The second set started very well, they managed to get four points in a row right away until the opponents finally scored too.
The team got the point back, scored another point through Bokuto's serve.

The team rejoiced when the signal sounded for a player change.
On the opponents' side, Koyo was substituted for Kiyonaga.

"Now it's getting interesting," whispered Bokuto.

Next up was Sakusa's serve.
Of course, once again almost impossible to accept.
After three 'given away' points, they did manage to get a point back.

When the next rally came, Komori took the ball cleanly, played it to Iizuna.
His eyes and hands were focused on the ace that was bouncing up.

Akaashi jumped up to block along with Washio.

Iizuna grinned.
Then he passed the ball to Koyo.
Koyo jumped - and quite high.

Konoha was still trying to get the ball, but by then it was down.

"Shit!" he shouted.

The score was now 6-10.

Akaashi noticed everyone getting more uncertain.
"Guys, we-"

No.
Please don't.

"Bo?"
Bokuto let it all hang, a snivelling look on his face.
"How are we supposed to-" He sighed.
Akaashi looked to the coach, who took a time-out at the same moment.

"Bokuto, what's wrong now?" he asked him.
"I don't know...we're already four points behind and all...and they have a better chance anyway..."
"Bo, we've talked about this enough."
"But still..."

The time-out ended, and Akaashi became increasingly nervous with every minute he spent on the pitch.

They managed to take the next few balls, but Akaashi's passing got a little worse each time.

So it was when he passed to Konoha, but the ball was too short and the wing spiker couldn't catch it.

"Sorry!" he called out to him.
"Can happen."

"Uh oh. I think you're off your game," Torio taunted from the other side.
"I'm ALWAYS on my game."
"Oh I see, that's why you can't even get it right?" He laughed. "And you're a setter? Seriously?"

Akaashi tried to ignore him.
But he knew Torio was just trying to pressure him.
As if it wasn't enough anyway.
But he achieved his goal, because Akaashi's head was full, he lost some of his concentration.

In the end, you'll always be just a place filler.

His hands shook as he subconsciously caught Sarukui shouting at him.

Good-for-nothing.

His legs moved as if by themselves and he didn't know who to play to when he already felt the ball on his palm.

He played it to Washio at the last moment without thinking, and it was immediately blocked.

Score: 7-14.

Everything was spinning in Akaashi's head, and he propped himself up on the floor to avoid falling over.

Loser.

The referee whistled the signal to change a player.

A little he managed to look up, and saw the astonished faces of his teammates.

Akaashi looked behind him.

Anahori was holding the sign with the number five.