Empress // t.k.

two

The match seemed to go by in the blink of an eye.

If either one of the players of the opposing team were being honest, they couldn't quite get the hang of Kimiko and her way to play.

Their current score was 17-10 for team Kimiko. It was crazily scary how accurate her predictions were.

Just as Ennoshita was about to jump for a block, Kashiya beside him held onto his shirt and muttered "Stay down." 

Confused he nodded and staid down as she had said. That was when he noticed that Hinata was once again a decoy and that Asahi was the actual spiker that Kageyama was about to toss to.

Quickly Ennoshita, Tsukishima and Kimiko went to the right and jumped to Kimiko's counting, blocking the ball successfully.

18-10

The game went on until Kimiko and her team won. 

The moment Kimiko left the court to go grab a water bottle Kiyoko held out for her something happened, it seemed like the air around her changed. Like she was back to her old self. Like nothing happened. 

Ukai called the boys together so that they could gather around in a circle and discuss the things that went wrong and what they did well. All the while Kimiko remained silent, looking spaced off.

"Why didn't you tell us you're the Empress?", Tanaka finally spoke up, pulling the younger Azumane out of her thoughts.

The brunette looked up, meeting the gazes of almost the entire team, before replying quietly "I didn't think it to be that important until now."

Asahi caught the slight wavering in her voice. He knew she hated situations like these when strangers would put her under pressure. It was a fifty fifty chance whether she would burst or break.

Burst - give the people a piece of her mind.

Break - become the anxious ball she usually was and most likely run away from the situation.

And knowing his sister, his bet was on the latter option.

"So chibi-chan can play volleyball and she can jump. If that's what makes out the so called Empress, I'm not impressed," Tsukishima tuned in, brows furrowed and a slightly condescending smirk on his lips.

If he wanted to challenge Kimiko, he chose the wrong moment.

Asahi already raised his hands, wanting to shush the blond middle blocker from saying anything more, but Kimiko beat him to it "Your height doesn't determine how talented you are. And your height does certainly not give you the right to look down on me or others smaller than you."

"I'm not just talking about height here. A little ordering around doesn't make you any different from our beloved King of the Court," Tsukishima shot back, now glaring down at the girl.