"Is it really fair for us to go up against third years?"
Kaede smiled amused at the newcomer of Majima, wrapping an arm around Kagami next to her and pulling her close, to her visible dismay. "It would be if we didn't have the volleyball prodigy on our side. Yoshikawa is the best player on our team."
The brunette sighed and gently pushed her friend and teammate away from her. "What did I tell you about saying that?"
"It's true though!" The blonde protested, but Kagami had already started walking away.
"I'll serve first!" She shouted as she left to retrieve some balls to warm up with.
"Yes, ma'm." Kaede jokingly saluted with a smile. Yoshikawa rolled her eyes, grabbed a ball and started warming up on her own.
After she left Majima slowly walked up to Kaede, the two watching Kagami carefully as she started warming up. "Is she always like this?"
"Like what?" Kaede tilted her head to the side.
Majima pursed her lips and thought for a moment. "How do I say this? Um, bossy?"
Kaede blinked, she almost forgot that the brunette could come off as rude from time to time. "She's just in a bad mood today. Don't think too much about it. I promise she's friendlier... most of the time."
Majima only nodded, "Ah, okay."
After a few minutes of warming up and discussing strategies the first and third years stood on opposite sides of the court, staring each other down. The second years meanwhile stood by the sidelines. Rinko was acting as the referee for the match, while the other three second years were crowded around the score board, eagerly awaiting the upcoming match.
"Are both sides ready?" Rinko called out to both teams. Both the first years and third years shouted in agreement. "Good. The first years get the first serve. Good luck to both teams."
Yoshikawa caught the ball that was being thrown her way and made her way to the end of the court. The third years faces paled as they saw her prepare her jump serve.
"Seriously? Yoshikawa right off the bat?" Sasaki complained annoyed.
"What else did you expect from our crafty first year duo?" Aihara replied amused, she was clearly being more light hearted about the situation.
Rinko blew her whistle again, leading to Kagami throwing the ball into the air and serving it with a scary amount of power to the other side of the net, and to be more accurate Sasaki's side of the court.
"Sasaki!" Michimiya called out.
"On it!" Sasaki ran up to the ball and tried to receive it, but it bounced off at a weird angle on her arms and landed outside of the court. "Sorry."
Michimiya took a deep breath and clapped her hands together with a confident smile. "Don't worry we'll get the next one."
The other two third years nodded back at her with equally confident smiles.
Kaede on the other side of the court also smiled, turning her head towards Majima, "See? Nothing to worry about. We'll crush them!"
"Is that really how we should be talking about our senpais?" The other blonde replied with a sweat drop.
After the first point, the first years were on a roll, to be specific only Yoshikawa and Kaede, who were the only ones scoring points for that side. Majima mostly kept in the background, occasionally making sloppy passes and receives, but even does tended to miss more than they hit.
Through those mistakes the third years managed to snag some points as well, leading to only a four point gap between the two teams, and Majima could feel the annoyed bordering on angry glances she got from Yoshikawa even without turning to look at her.
Eventually it was Majima's turn to serve. The poor blonde was shaking like a leave, and upon hearing the whistle, she immediately jumped in shock and did a rushed underhand serve. She prayed that it made it over the net, only for the ball to do the exact opposite and smack Kagami in the back of her head with a loud bang.
The gym was silent as the ball bounced back on to the floor.
Kaede's eyes immediately widened in horror and realisation as the ball dropped. "Oh no," she mumbled quietly before turning towards her upperclassmen, frantic waving her arms around. "We take a time out!"
Rinko shared an uneasy look with the rest of the second years, but nodded regardless and signalled the time out with a blow of her whistle.
Majima immediately rushed over towards the brunette setter, a panicked and apologetic expression on her face. "I am so sorry—"
Before she could even finish her sentence Kagami turned around to face her with visible anger and irritation. It seems like the volleyball to the head was the last straw needed to break her, up until now, manageable patience with the new girl.
"Oh? You're sorry are you?" She said sarcastically, "If you'd even take a millisecond to think about your actions you wouldn't have done that or all of your other mistakes for that matter!"
"Kagami-" Kaede walked up to her two peers, but was cut off as Majima continued.
"What's that suppose to mean?" The blonde asked with narrowed eyes.
"I'm just surprised that someone that talks so much, would communicate so little during an actual match." The brunette replied bluntly, "You have no talent, no knowledge and no natural instincts, so stop making a fool of yourself and leave."
By this point the older girls knew they had to intervene before things escalated. The third years walked over from their side of the court, Michimiya having a particularly stern look on her face.
"Yoshikawa! Cut it out!" The captain shouted as she got in between the two girls.
Meanwhile Aihara wrapped her arms around Yoshikawa's shoulders and tried to guide her away from the conversation. "Why don't you take a break?"
The setter shook her head and removed the arms from her shoulder. "That won't be necessary, I'm going home."
With one last glance at Majima she grabbed her water bottle and stormed out the gym. That was the first time that Yoshikawa Kagami had ever left practice early.
