Only for you || A Ushijima Wakatoshi Ff

•chapter twenty-two•

(I realised the previous chapter was published as chapter twenty instead of twenty one lmao)

It was the day of the finals. Maiko was feeling good about the match. She had faith in her team and all the hardwork they've done, perfecting every aspect of their game, countless hours in the gymnasium and the gym.

The boys and girls reached the arena and kept their things at the same place they have been keeping it the past two days. The second and first year girls got ready for their hair to be braided again. The girls' seemed a little tense, Shiori observed. As captain she felt that she should do something about it.

"Girls!" She caught everyone's attention, "Loosen up a little! We've won every match against Seijoh, we know that we're gonna win this!"

"But what if just this one time, Yama-san?" Sadako pouted, fiddling with her fingers. Shiori took Sadako's hands in hers, "We will win, Sadako. Have faith in yourself and your team," she gave her a reassuring smile and Sadako returned it.

"It's time girls!" Coach Haruno called out for them. They wrapped everything up and followed their coach. Maiko quickly went to Wakatoshi,

"We're going now. I just came to wish you best of luck."

"Same to you. You've already beaten them so many times, you'll win this time too. You got this." He slapped Maiko's ass at those last words.

Maiko's jaw dropped, eyes widened at what Wakatoshi did.

"Wh-what was that Wakatoshi?" She tried to hide her face from embarassment and looked around to make sure no one saw that.

"I slapped your ass. It's good." He said like it was nothing.

"Why are you so blunt!! Anyways I'm going! Bye! Boys!" The boys turned to Maiko, "Beat their asses!"

"Yeah!" They shouted back. She ran out of sight. Wakatoshi reached inside his jacket to grab his necklace....but it wasnt there. In a panic he searched his pockets, then his bag...

Oh god.

He had left it on his desk in his room.

....

"OSU!" Maiko yelled as she spiked the ball during warm up.

"OSU!" Hanami spiked next.

"Girls! Its time for Seijoh to warm up!" Eiichi called the girls aside. All of them jad a sip of water. Coach Haruno gathered them together,

"Listen, I don't think this will be a long match. Aoba Johsai hasn't shown much improvement from what Ive observed. Take the first set a little easy. Once we get a time out, we'll see what to do next. Okay?"

"Yes!"

The girls formed a circle and placed their right hand in the middle, their left hand on the next person.

"Like eagles we fly,
We don't spare our prey
We soar high in the sky
We won't look down today,

We are here to win
We are here to show
The power we have
The power we hold.

LET'S GO!"

Their little chant always sent a chill down Aoba Johsai's spine. What more to top it off was the chants from Shiratorizawa Academy,

*CLAP CLAP  CLAP CLAP CLAP* "SHIRATORIZAWA!" *CLAP CLAP  CLAP CLAP CLAP* "SHIRATORIZAWA!"

What retained their confidence was their own school competing with Shiratorizawa by yelling louder.

"OOOOOOHHHHHHHHHH SEEEEIIJJOOOHHH! SEIJOH!"

It was time for the line up,

"Number 4, Yamashita Shiori!

Number 1, Kobayashi Maiko!

Number 3, Adachi Nyoko!

Number 5, Fujibayashi Asuga!

Number 7, Ueno Tora!

Number 8, Nomura Sadako!

Number 10, Sato Hanami!

Number 11, Kinoshita Tamane, Libero!"

Then followed the Aoba Johsai's line up. It was time to start. Aoba Johsai won the toss and decided to serve first. It was Number 7 who was serving, but her serve went outside, giving Shiratorizawa a point.

Sadako served, getting an ace serve.

"Nice serve, Sadako! One more nice serve!"

"Break their service!" The opponents cheered.

The score was now 9-4, Shiratorizawa being 9. As they played, Maiko felt... weird for some reason. Was Seijoh actually playing seriously, or was this some sort of a trap? The only way that Seijoh has been able to score so far is by a few rookie mistakes here and there, they hadn't done anything new or earned a point...

As they reached the 16 point mark, they were given a strategic timeout.

"Firstly," Coach Haruno said, "Tamane, you are doing great as a libero. I am very much impressed."

Tamane flashed a smile to Maiko and she nodded with a satisfied smile on her face. That smile faded soon enough.

"Coach," Maiko called her, "I feel like Seijoh is not playing seriously. I don't feel that this is their full strength."

"Well, I have noticed that too. But as I said, keep this set as a warm up set of a sort. If you, or anyone finds anything out of the blue or anything in general, tell me after this first set. We'll discuss it. Okay?" The bell indicating the timeout was over went off, " Let's go girls!"

Maiko's suspicion grew even more. It also felt weirdly familiar. Like Deja Vu. It was finally Maiko's turn to serve.

"Nice serve, Koba-san!"

She served the ball which wasn't received, earning them another point. She was getting pissed.

Shiratorizawa won the first set 25-15. Maiko looked at the scoreboard for a while. Then it clearly clicked.

"They're using the same strategy as the interhigh!" She wiped the sweat off her face.

"Are you sure, Maiko?" Coach Haruno asked, because she also had started to notice a patern.

"Not a 100%. But if I remember correctly. When we get to 10 points, they'll bring in their pinch server. Number 5. " She glanced at Seijoh to confirm.

"They'll go all out on this set. But I'm thinking since we've gotten better, instead of losing we'll win this set." Maiko sipped on Capri Sun as she made this conclusion.

"No. Don't win this set." Coach Haruno said. It took a while for the girls to understand that she was being serious. She asked for the writing pad from Eiichi. She studied it for a while before nodding and turning to the team, "Lose this set,"