Winner [Haikyu!! x OC] (Completed)

Momentum

"Iwa-chan!" Oikawa sends a beautiful set to our ace.

He's open. Kindaichi effectively drew the blockers away.

Except...

"Watch out!" My cry comes too late and Iwaizumi's spike is shut down. "Grrrr. Get out of here, Satori Tendou," I mutter. I am sick of this Guess Monster and his silly nickname. That shouldn't even work— blocking purely on instinct. Nobody can do that. How can one lucky guesser block our ace's spike?

I clench my hands around my clipboard.

17-22. The gap in our scores is starting to look dangerous.

We've fought so hard. Pulled out all the weapons we have. Yet here we are. A close loss at 22-25 in the first set. And once again, Shiratorizawa is pulling away from us.

Every player on their team is incredible. Working together the way they do makes them a nearly unstoppable force. Ushijima by himself is nearly an unstoppable force. Not to mention the creepy, guess-blocking kid. I've never seen a player who was so unpredictable— excluding everyone on Johzenji, since they're on a wild tier of their own. Having both Ushijima and the Guess Monster on the same team creates a laughable dynamic, and yet, it works really, really well.

I grimace at my own thoughts. Shiratorizawa is not unstoppable. They have weaknesses. But even Oikawa's borderline manic strategizing to exploit them has ended up fruitless.

Well, not fruitless. He always leads us to score points. But as I should have expected, the top team in the prefecture recovers from setbacks rapidly. They've shaken off every tactic and continued to batter us with their relentless offense. I can tell that our boys are wearing down.

I look at them proudly. Wearing down, maybe. But not defeated. They aren't anywhere near giving up.

Coach Irihata substitutes Yahaba in as our pinch-server. He is our last-ditch effort to keep Shiratorizawa from taking this set and winning the match.

I wondered several times earlier in the set if Yahaba would go in, but it appears that it was a wise decision to wait. Now is when we need him to turn this around.

Yahaba-kun's serves are beautiful.

The boys move like clockwork to follow through on each opportunity Yahaba gives them, scoring three points in a row.

20-22.

We need more. If we keep the momentum, we can take this set.

Please, I silently urge my teammates. Keep the momentum.

Yahaba serves once again.

My breath catches as the ball hits the tape on the top of the net, barely tumbling over to the other side.

Ushijima dives to save it, pulling off the dig.

Their setter moves to cover the errant ball.

Number eight, Shiratorizawa's fireball of a first-year runs forward, throwing his arms back.

Our blockers aren't moving.

Why aren't they moving?

I shoot to my feet— the stress and anticipation no longer tolerable sitting down.

The set goes up.

"Block," I mutter. "Come on, block!" I can feel my nervous system being overloaded.