The Newbie ~ Tsukishima Kei

Chapter 24 ~ Stop Playing Pretend

Signature Sentence: Damn, we lost.

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"Knife...Nuff... Nice." Eh? Kags just fucking... what? It's kind of, funny. Like: Knife. "H-Hey stop laughing."

"Yeah, sorry, Tobio Chan" I rubbed my fake tear away.

I went on to Kei while Tanaka teased Kags. "Yo, Kei chan, have you perhaps gotten softer? Ya didn't tease Kags that much when he said 'nice'."

"Shut up, focus on the match."

"Looks like nobody else is doing that. I like to go with the flow." I smirked as Kei 'tch'ed.

The referee blew his whistle, it's time for the round.

~--~

It's hard to read Oikawa, since he focuses on the ball instead of where he'll set it. I do have one thing though, looking at the ball before it goes.

Yes, it's lame and a rookie move, but with Oikawa I'm forced to do it.

Speaking of which, "Right!"

Iwaizumi was already up before I dived, he spiked, breaking through Tsukishima and nearly landing on my palm.

Still, they got the point.

"We won't let you have it!" At least it's not directed towards me. 24-23, one more point for them and the match point will change.

Which has never happened to us before, not that I know of any time.

But, worst of all, it was Oikawa's turn to serve.

And fuck are his serves the worst. What if I went to Seijou? I most certainly had a request from them.

Whatever, I got Kei so doesn't matter.

My eyes focused on the ball but when he brought it to his face, I saw his eyes. He was completely serious. Unlike when he's out of the court. Indeed is he a Great King.

"Gooooooo! Sejou!"

And Oikawa served. The ball went straight towards the left of Nishinoya, clearly it was his.

Nishinoya received, diving. Nice.

The ball went up, but right to Seijou's side. Shit. Their libero received, perfectly to Oikawa.

[Freeze Frame!]

Spiker right next to Oikawa at the middle, Tsukishima ready to block. But then, there's Iwaizumi on the right, looking up.

It's more likely that the ball will go to Iwaizumi, hoping that they don't notice.

"Tsu—"

Kageyama grabbed the back of Tsukishima's shirt right as he was about to jump, stopping me from calling him. Together, they jumped up, with me behind them in case, and blocked Iwaizumi's spike, earning us a point. "Yosh!"

Yes! We got a point!

~--~

As Nishinoya was celebrating, by ruffling Tsukishima and Kageyama's hair, I sneaked up behind Tsuki as he was groaning from being irritated by Nishinoya. Nishinoya noticed and removed his hand, he giggled quietly.

"Eh?"

I jumped up and wrapped my legs and arms around Tsukishima, surprising him.

"Gah! G-Get the f-- Get off!"

"Nah this is my celebration! Noya Senpai celebrated, it's my turn!" Tsuki groaned and whispered something to me.

"At this point they're going to find out."

"What? No they're not."

"What was that?" Nishinoya asked. "It was nothing, just some normal teasing to get back at him!" I laughed it off.

"See?" Tsuki asked.

"Worth it!"

~--~

Yes! Oikawa had to receive that one. So, nobody's going to—"Watacchi!" The Libero jumped up just before the attack line and tossed. What?

Oikawa jumped up and spiked!

"Shit." I muttered as I barely receive the ball. It went the other way though. "Nice try." I looked to the side at my salty baby. "Fuck you."

~--~

Kageyama looked back at me and made the signal for a spike. I pointed to myself and he nodded. No decoys no nothing. Just me.

How do you expect me to-?

Receive, getting ready for a toss... Not gonna happen... Whatever optimism go, go, go!

I ran and jumped. Physical Exterior go!

I smirked down at the blockers and spiked with all my force. The spike broke the block and landed on the floor.

I held my hand out to the side for a high five. Kageyama, shocked, high fived me.

Yay we high fived! Oh and we got a point.

(Honestly, I'm getting a little unmotivated to write chapters about matches, so let's just skip to the end of the match, in the bus)

Damn, we lost.

Everyone piled onto the bus, feeling sad or upset. I myself was feeling all of that, though I didn't want to show it.

It's best to give a big smile, right? To give the team happiness, to cheer them up!

I don't know, I've never felt such a crushing defeat before. Damn, why all when I decide to play volleyball? It wasn't this bad in baseball, or basketball, none of that.

"It was a great match guys, glad we made it this far!" Smiling, I made it to my seat next to Tsukishima.

"That was a long match guys, you can go to sleep."

I sighed, and leaned my head back on the head rest.

"You can stop pretending now." I raised an eyebrow and looked over at Kei. "Huh?"

"Everyone's asleep, you can stop smiling."

I looked at Kei, who was frowning. I gulped and frowned. "H-How... How'd you know?" I looked down at my hands, full of calluses.

"I know you, you know me. That's it." I sighed, closing my eyes. Warmth covered my hand, and I opened my eyes. Kei looked at me with a smile, the biggest I've seen from him.

I sighed, resting my head on his shoulder, smiling at the warmth of our interwined hands.