𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍'𝐒 𝐀𝐂𝐄

04; winners and losers

they were tied.

the score was twenty-three to twenty-three and they were playing first to twenty-five. the tension could practically be cut with a knife, as no one seemed to be too interested in losing.  

"there's no way i'm letting you win, ryuen," atsumu said through the net. 

seishun grinned. "can you be so sure of that?"

bokuto served the ball over, and sakusa quickly received it. the ball went in a perfect arc towards seishun, who's eyes never left the ball. seishun's fingertips grazed the ball and it flew towards sakusa, who was already up in the air. 

sakusa smashed the ball down, and it flew towards bokuto, who received it steadily. seishun carefully studied the movements of the blonde man in front of her. her and sakusa carefully watched them, as the ball was set to kenjiro. sakusa jumped to block it, but seishun moved to the opposite end and jumped, feeling the ball slam against her hands onto the ground opposite of her. 

"nice block, seishun!" hinata shouted, bouncing over to high-five seishun. 

seishun grinned as her father put his hands on his hips. "c'mon, shun, was that really necessary?" he complained. he had a feeling seishun would block him. she was almost always able to read his moves and beat him to it. 

the ball was tossed to hinata, who was next to serve.

he hit it over towards the corner, opposite of where they were covering. kenjiro received it, still, and it was sent to atsumu. atsumu set it to bokuto, who hit it straight down towards hinata. 

"sorry!" hinata shouted to seishun, as it was a wobbly receive. 

seishun delivered a beautiful backset to sakusa, who slammed it down. bokuto received it with ease and shot it up. atsumu set it to kenjiro, and in an instant, it was slammed in sakusa's direction, who wasn't able to receive it.

kenjiro was next to serve, spinning the ball in his hand. "match point," he called out. he tossed the ball high up in the air and jumped, his hand slamming down on the ball.

it went right for seishun, who was already ready for the ball. she angled her arms perfectly, setting sakusa up for the perfect set. sakusa set it for hinata, who jumped and slammed his hands down. 

they went back and forth for a bit, until kenjiro hit it right for seishun, again.

seishun was able to receive it with ease, and sent it to hinata. hinata grinned and hit it high up for seishun to hit. she slammed it down, aiming straight for atsumu. atsumu received it and sent it to kenjiro, who set it back to atsumu. ready to hit it, seishun's eyes narrowed at atsumu's form.

"dump!" seishun called. 

at seishun's call, hinata rushed to get it, but was a few inches short of reaching it. 

"game!" bokuto cheered loudly through the other end of the net. he and kenjiro immediately hugged and began to cry, as though they had won the world series. 

"man, atsumu's gonna be gloating for the next ten years," hinata sulked from beside seishun. "sorry i missed the last one!"

sakusa folded his arms across his chest. "i feel sorry for seishun," he said, nudging his head towards her. "she stupidly made a bet with atsumu."

seishun groaned at the reminder. 

they heard someone clear his throat, turning around. atsumu was grinning at them, his gaze stuck on seishun, who sighed. "nice try, ryuen," he taunted. "close, but not close enough."