effervescent (nishinoya yū)

EPILOGUE / the end

Five years after the events of Season 3...

"And there she goes again! Ladies and gentlemen, the Kitsune of the AEON Jaguars manages to retrieve yet another powerful spike from the very back of the court, sending it back to her opponents and earning the Jaguars their third consecutive win in the 1st Division of the Women's V. League!"

You let out a victorious shout and punched the air as your teammates surrounded you, tears streaming down their faces and their clothes soaked through with sweat. You tackled them all in a group hug, easily the shortest member of the group, and yet the intense match made it easy to knock them down to the ground.

One of the girls laughed and patted your back. "Easy there!" You and Amanai Kanoka, the Jaguar's resident wing spiker, had become fast friends when you found out that she had went to Niiyama, the school you might have ended up going to had things turned out differently. "I know we won, but you're heavy!"

"Sorry, sorry." You scrambled off your teammates and grinned, tears mingling with the sweat slowly drying on your face. "I just can't believe we did it, you guys!"

The aftermath of the match flew by quickly despite your efforts to make sure that the sweetness of victory lingered as long as it could. You parted ways with your teammates after a quick debriefing in the locker room, and you slung your duffel bag over your shoulder as you tapped out a furious text message in your phone.

me: CHIKARA CHIKARA GUESS WHAT GUESS WHAT

ennoshita: aaah, what, what?! it better not be anything bad!

me: the Jaguars just won!!! we're the champions of the first division now!

Immediately, your phone began ringing in your hand, and you accepted the call. "Congratulations!" Ennoshita exclaimed, his happiness evident in his voice even on the other end of the phone. "You guys have been working for a long time, haven't you?"

"Yeah!" You kept your eyes on the sidewalk in front of you, making sure you didn't bump into anyone, but that didn't stop you from grinning like an idiot. "Is everyone free tonight? I wanna have a huge group call to celebrate!"

Ennoshita laughed. "Hey, that's going to be really busy and loud. Why don't we stick with the old second-years for now? After all, you are coming to Hinata and Kageyama's match, right?"

You gasped. "I completely forgot about that! Man, it's been years, hasn't it? We're gonna be getting the gang back together, Chikara!"

"Well, most of us." Ennoshita sighed, and you heard him set something down on the other end of the call. "I'm not sure I'll be able to make it, to be honest. I'm slated for a lot of work at the clinic that day and I don't think I'll be able to make any time for it."

"Aww," you whined. "That's fair though. You really love your job, right?"

"Of course." Someone called for Ennoshita from his side of the call and he yelled back a quick answer before coming back to you. "Sorry, another patient just came in. I'll be sure to make time later tonight for a big group call, alright? Once again, good job! I wish I'd been there to see it."

"Yeah," you said, your smile turning wistful. Ennoshita definitely caught the sadness in your voice, judging by the little noise he made, but you made sure to reassure him that you were alright before ending the call and putting your phone back into your pocket. Your smile slowly faded as you headed into a nearby subway station and rode the train back to your home.

It had been about five years since Karasuno went to Nationals. Since then, things had definitely changed besides people graduating and new people coming in. Everyone still kept in touch, but at the same time, everyone was so busy. You felt like it had been ages since you'd actually seen any of your old friends in person, even though you'd recently met up with Kiyoko and Tanaka in Miyagi to celebrate Kiyoko's birthday.