effervescent (nishinoya yū)

CHAPTER TWELVE / the taste of defeat

Your eyes widened as Hinata went in for another broad jump. "What's going on?"

"What?" Shimada asked, jaw slack. "He's unmarked!"

"No..." Your dad's eyes narrowed as Hinata hit the ball. "It's on purpose. They're clearing the path for the libero to receive!"

Sure enough, the ball fell right into Watari's hands and he bumped it back up to Oikawa. The momentary confusion from the unmarked spike allowed Oikawa to do a graceful setter dump. Nishinoya dove but he was just too late to get it.

As Aoba Johsai celebrated, you could see Karasuno staring at the other team, dumbfounded and exhausted. You ground your teeth together, deciding to forgo any sense of dignity.

"Don't give up just yet!" you yelled, pointing straight at the guys. They flinched and looked up at you. "This game isn't over! The stronger team of six wins!"

Oikawa tensed with the ball in his hands and shot you a glare, obviously knowing where you had gotten that from. You returned the look tenfold and crossed your arms triumphantly as returned his attention back to the ball.

Sawamura cracked a smile and clapped his hands together. He said something to the others and they all got ready to receive, the atmosphere surrounding them just a little more confident.

Oikawa did his jump serve. He blanched as the ball hit the net and rolled over onto the other side. Kageyama and Hinata dove but landed just short of the ball, and Aoba Johsai's cheering section erupted into applause.

"Ah, not good," your dad muttered as he bit at his thumbnail. "They have another two point buffer now. If Karasuno doesn't get this..."

Another jump serve. This time, Nishinoya was right on target and he received it. Asahi and Kageyama both called for the ball and ran in at the same time, faltering for a moment as they almost collided. Kageyama acted first and passed it to Asahi, who bumped it over the net.

"That was close!" Takinoue exclaimed, grabbing his hair in his panic.

"Calm down!" Shimada yelled. "Keep cool!"

Tanaka winced as a spike slammed against his shoulder, but the ball stayed up. Kageyama set the ball to Asahi, who tried to spike it over the net, only for Watari to pass it back into play.

"I guess now I know why you're so stubborn," your mom muttered with a side eye toward you and your dad.

"It's in our blood," your dad replied as he shrugged and slapped your back. You nodded, unable to take your eyes off the rally for just a moment. With something as long as this, whoever got the point would get the morale boost as well. Karasuno couldn't lose this one.

Hinata got a one-touch, but the ball flew off to the side and almost fell out of bounds, had Asahi not dove and retrieved it. Nishinoya ran over to the ball, and at Hinata's shout, he passed the ball back up for another spike.

Aoba Johsai's middle blockers shut Hinata out. Even from where you were standing, you could see the frustration in his eyes as he landed back on the ground. 

You winced as Ukai called a timeout. "That's their last one," you said.

"What else could they do?" Shimada asked. "Unless they use a timeout to physically cut off the flow, Seijoh will really run away with it."

Your dad shot the Aoba Johsai section a withering glare. "I'm sick and tired of that damned cheering," he muttered. He crouched and dug around in a bag that he had carried in with him. At first, you'd thought it was just a standard bag, probably with his wallet and whatever other miscellaneous items he wanted to carry, but he resurfaced with a bunch of empty plastic bottles.