Play Hard

Number 10

[Author's POV]

~Five years ago~

Sakusa managed to make the ball slam hard against the ground on the other side of the court. And soon after, the cheers of the crowd rang out as the scoreboard read 22-25. Inarizaki took the loss against Itachiyama in the finals of Nationals. While the players of Itachiyama celebrated amongst themself, high-fiving and hugging. Inarizaki stood defeated with sweat pouring down their bodies and faces. Sakusa only watched briefly, his eyes landing on one of the Miya twins who stared back at him. His eyes filled with some loss and eerie anticipation of more.

"Weirdo," Sakusa muttered to himself before looking away,

"Hey Kiyo, it's time to go," yelled out Komori. Sakusa grunted and slowly followed behind his teammates. Making sure to avoid bumping into their sweaty bodies after such a difficult match. Some of them were talking amongst themselves, and Komori was trying his hardest to have a conversation with his own cousin, but it seemed like Sakusa was completely uninterested in even talking to him. Let alone finding amusement in his antics.

By now, all of them were in the locker room, trying to change out of their sweaty uniforms. Sakusa was getting ready to open his locker when suddenly one of his teammates could be heard speaking in the background.

"Man, Inarizaki sure is a tough team to play. At least we beat them," he said and tossed his soiled jersey into his duffle bag.

Another teammate nodded but glanced over at Sakusa, who had his back turned to the team, looking around for his shower supplies in the locker.

"Would have been a fast game if our ace here didn't doubt all our serves," he said rather tauntingly. 

Sakusa stopped for a moment, a frown etched on his face, but he made no effort to comment on it and continued to gather his things for a shower.

The locker room almost fell silent, and Komori along with Iizuna stared between the two nervously.

"Now now, don't you think that was uncalled for," Iizuna said with a slight smile on his face. However, the other teammate did not stop and continued pushing.

"What? I'm just saying what everyone is thinking. We're tired of having to ride on Sakusa's ass because he can't play like a normal person. Instead, he's always focusing on stupid germs and whatnot."

Sakusa by now grew tired of the comment and slowly turned to face his teammate. His cold and detached demeanor irritates the guy even more. However, Sakusa had some words of his own to exchange.

"If you don't want to be riding on my ass like you claim I make you do, then maybe you should play better. It isn't my fault your skills are subpar," he said coldly. This in turn made the other sneer at him before lunging towards Sakusa. 

"That's it!"

Sakusa grows angry at the attempt to attack him and also goes to hit but they are pulled back and held by their teammates. A shouting match ensues and some not-so-kind words are traded. Sakusa calls the guy a useless bastard and the other calls him a fucking germaphobe and spits in his direction.

Atsumu, who was going to fill up his bottle, hears the commotion and tilts his head in confusion. At first he thinks it's just some random people getting into a minor squabble and doesn't really care much about it. However, that care soon amounted when he noticed that it was the Itachiyama team going at each other. It was indeed a strange sight to see and he wondered what could have made them fight the way they were currently doing.

However, he did not get the chance to ponder much because a second later, Atsumu noticed that Itachiyama's ace, number 10, managed to get loose from the other player's grasp and lunged at the other player. To say Atsumu was shocked is an understatement, as soon as he saw blood, he dropped his bottle to the floor. The contents inside splattered on the ground as he ran in there along with others from different teams nearby to stop the fight. Chaos ensued and players all over were scrambling to separate the two who were basically rolling on the ground, fist flying and somewhat bleeding.