Hurricane - Ushijima Wakatoshi

Chapter Three

Mei had been skipping practice frequently, and the season had barely started. Anyone who knew Mei before high school would be shocked at this information, Captain of the Nozomi girl's team Mei Akinai was attendance obsessed. Now Mei wanted to be a part of this team as little as possible. She didn't want to be their go to setter, she just wanted to be another face on the team. She loved playing, but it felt wrong to set to anyone who wasn't Ari, her sister, her partner in crime, her best friend, the only one who could hit that crazy set combo. The Hurricane. Mei may have been a star on the court, but it was Ari who always stole the show. There was no way to deny how amazing their silver and gold duo was; and Mei loved playing with Ari.

But now because of Ari's mother, Ari couldn't play at all, and it was destroying her. Volleyball was Arianna Soto's life, and even despite being the best on their team, and in their prefecture, Ari never once stopped working, until her mother stopped her. It was like an unstoppable force being met head on by an immovable object. Mei felt she could only watch as the life was drained from Ari. She was so distant now, and so different from the best friend she had grown up with. That's why Mei enlisted the help of that flirty yet annoying redheaded middle blocker.

  It had been so long since she'd seen Ari's eyes light up. Even the annoyance she openly showed was better than the indifference that was dominant for the last few months. There was no way Mei could let Ari drift back into that far away mindset again. Not without a fight

The last of the classes for the day had flown by, and soon it was over, and practices would soon start. Meaning Mei was expected to be on the way to the girls gym- yeah, not happening. Mei loved volleyball, she loved it just as much as Ari, and it was a huge part of Mei's life. But Mei wasn't sure that being banned from volleyball would have the same effect on her as it was having on Ari.

Mei had a life outside of volleyball, while Ari's whole life was volleyball. Mei thought that maybe this was why it became so much easier for her to skip practices, yet despite this she found herself ironically missing the sport she was choosing to be away from. She felt guilty about that, about choosing to avoid the sport, and her ease at doing so. Ari was being destroyed without it, and here Mei was; running from it for all the most selfish reasons.

Mei shook her head, trying to free herself from the guilt that began to cloud her mind. She didn't have the time to worry about that. She just had to get Ari's crutches away from her, apparently Tendou would handle the rest.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Tendou had just walked away from his confusing conversation with Mei Akinai, and their plan was simple. Akinai would take Ari's crutches, and Tendou would handle getting her to the gym.

He just wasn't sure how to get her to the gym.

He correctly assumed that Soto would never go to the gym willingly, because if she would then there wouldn't be a use for the plan, and there would be no need for Akinai to take her crutches, so a peaceful possibility was completely tossed out the window. Tendou also doubted his ability to carry the golden eyed girl himself, since she would probably struggle so she wouldn't be taken to the gym. He was afraid to hurt her, or drop her.

Tendou knew he would need help... and he knew the perfect group for the job.

"How would you boys feel about our team getting a pretty manager?" Tendou asked as he walked up to his group of friends, slinging an arm around Ushijima as he was the most likely to get up and leave. Immediately Ohira looked up at Tendou skepticism filling his eyes, Semi looked as if he wanted to hear more, and Ushijima remained stoic.

"What would a manager being pretty have to do with anything Tendou?" Ushijima asked, slightly raising an eyebrow. Tendou sighed, glad to have slung his arm around his tall friend, he definitely would have walked away by now otherwise. Tendou knew Ushijima would be the hardest to convince.

"Well Ushibuddy, a pretty manager could really boost the morale of the team, and besides, wouldn't it be nice to have a pretty girl cheering for us?"

"Who?" Semi and Ohira both asked in excited anticipation, they were on board at the thought of a pretty girl cheering for them from the bench.

"Arianna Soto!" immediately their faces fell, and they shivered, instead of seeing a pretty and enthusiastic cheerleader they now envisioned the cold distant girl glaring at them with her piercing eyes. "Oh come on you guys! She's pretty!" Tendou whined.

"Yeah, pretty scary!"

"Her glares freak me out." Ohira added.

"Okay, but think about how she was at practice-"

"You mean when she decimated the team with terrifying serves?"

"No, I mean when she was leaving the gym! Didn't she look happier- Semi you were the one who mentioned it!" Ohira glanced at Semi who looked at Ushijima who stared blankly up at Tendou. Then Semi thought about it, Tendou wasn't lying, he did mention seeing the girl before she left. She was less distant, and happy. When he thought about her like that she was pretty, and she had this energy surrounding her.

"Well... yeah" Semi admitted "She looked really happy after practice."

"See, she seems happy when it involves actively playing volleyball, now imagine that Soto cheering you on."

"Alright Tendou, I'm in." There was no hesitation in Semi's voice as the gray haired boy agreed to whatever it was he would have to do.

"Seriously Semi?"

"Picture this Ohira my good friend, Soto... smiling."

"... I wanna see that, I'm in." Ohira was almost convinced she wasn't able to smile, but honestly, picturing her smiling did make her seem less terrifying, and almost cute.

The three boys then expectantly looked at Ushijima, who had been sitting silently this whole time. He promptly gave them a blank look.

"There's no purpose for her to be on the team. Not to mention that she will distract you while you try to make her smile, I see no purpose in having a manager."

"Ushijima, don't you want a pretty girl cheering for you?" Semi asked, hoping to convince him.

"If a girl wished to cheer for me then she could do so just as easily from the regular viewing section." Tendou Ohira and Semi all mentally slapped themselves in the faces. There would be no convincing the dense stoic, but Tendou didn't want to give up. Luckily, he wouldn't need to, as a lightbulb went off in Ohira's brain.

"Hey Ushi, if she were our manager, I'm pretty sure she could teach you that killer serve." It was like Ohira struck gold with his statement, as Ushijima pondered for a second before nodding. He was on board. Thank you Ohira.

"Alright then boys, here's the plan to get Arianna Soto to be our manager..."

Ari felt a large chill up her spine before she sneezed for what may as well have been the millionth time.

"Ugh! I've been sneezing for hours" She sniffled and turned to Mei, "Either someone is talking shit or I'm getting sick."

"I will re-sprain that wrist of yours if you get me sick, Arianna." Mei threatened. She meant her threat with her entire being, she would have reiterated her threat too, had it not been for the way she spotted Tendou walking towards her and Ari.

"Okay, Okay... Jeez!" Ari raised her hands slightly, as much as she could with her crutches under her arms. "I'm gonna head back to the dorm, so I'll see you after your practice." Ari was about to move, but she recognized the evil glint in Mei's eye, and that smirk. "What's with that look? What are you planning?"

"Oh, nothing really..." Mei's voice trailed off, and then she snatched the crutches right out from under her golden counterpart's arms. Ari lost her balance from the force of the yank, and felt herself falling backwards. She shut her eyes, bracing for impact with the ground, but instead she felt herself being caught and lifted, when she opened her eyes she recognized all four of the first year volleyball players.

"Nuh-uh" she wriggled around, trying to force them into dropping her, but all four of them had a decent grip on her. She caught Mei in her gaze and saw the silver eyed girl happily standing there holding her crutches.

"You know Tendou, this is working out much better than I thought it would! Now, to the gym, you boys are about to get an amazing team manager."

"MEI!!"