The Great King -「大王様」

Chapter 12

Warning: Slight M18 content
Read at your own risk

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ただいま
I'm home

-x-

The first match was an easy win. Date Tech wasn't necessarily a weak opponent. They're strong enough to keep the point-gap between the teams small and easy to catch up to. Unlike our team, their third year students didn't play in the court anymore. Maybe if they did, the results might've been different. Probably 2:1, in favor of Aoba Johsai.

In between matches, Yui and I decided to take a short walk to freshen up from the tension we felt from the match they had with Date Tech earlier on. I explored the venue with Yui while drinking milk in the small carton I got from the vending machine.

"夕っち！(Se-cchi!)" My head turned to every direction. The voice sounded familiar, yet my eyes couldn't seem to match it with anyone I knew. The voice called out again and finally, a girl showed up in front of me.

A sharp gasp escaped my mouth. It almost made me choke. I couldn't believe she was there! "シっち！(Shi-cchi!)" Yui automatically held my milk for me before I ran towards Shiro to give her a tight hug.

"久しぶり白ちゃん！(Long time no see Shiro-chan!)" Yui greeted, approaching us in a calmer manner. Shiro returned the greeting with some high-level energy like me.

Watanabe Shiro. Although she has a masculine name, she's very feminine except in the court. Shiro used to be in Aoba Johsai, she was even on the girls' volleyball team. However, her family moved to Tokyo halfway through our first year and we haven't heard of her since.

She looked really anxious and hesitant about the moving, but she seems fine now. Shiro looks better than she ever was.

"何故此処に？(Why are you here?)" I asked her. My cheeks already hurt from the smile that couldn't be wiped off.

Shiro was wearing casual clothes, so she probably just came to watch the match. But does she still play volleyball? There should be playoffs held in Tokyo too at this timing.

She placed one foot behind her and leaned back as she looked around pretending to think hard for her answer. "応援するだ！(To cheer for us!)"

"東京で試合いないの？(Are there no matches back in Tokyo?)" Yui asked, sipping on my precious milk.

"終わったぞ。俺たちは負けた、でも男子チームまだー (It's done. We lost, but our boys' team are still—)"

Sorry for cutting you off Shiro, but this question has been burning in my head since you told us about you're move to Tokyo. "君の学校は？(What's your school?)"

Shiro flashed a wide smile as she gave us a thumbs up. "音駒だ！知ってるか？(It's Nekoma! Do you know about it?)"

For the second time that day, the shocking news made my spirit leave my body for a few good seconds. It was enough to weaken my legs. It was embarrassing to make Yui and Shiro walk me back to our place in the audience seats because my legs couldn't stand.

The three of us continued to catch up with each other once we got back. However, when Aoba Johsai showed up as well as Karasuno, the air became heavy and it was difficult to stay calm.

Yui and Shiro were cheering for Aoba Johsai, yet I stayed quiet. My eyes got glued on Kageyama who had excellent tossing skills. It was strongly hated back in middle school for being so complicated, so I'm glad that he found good teammates who could utilize his ability rather than having him adjust to the low-level skills of his teammates.