The New Neighbor (USHIJIMA X OC)

7. Practice Makes Perfect

Akira took a step back and watched her teammate receive the ball, sending it towards the small walls outside the court. It was the last point of the match, she couldn't let the ball drop. She ran at full speed towards the ball, jumping at a max distance before it reached the ground. She received it, sending it straight up to the middle of her side of the court. When Akira dropped, she slammed her right shoulder into the barricade, protecting her head from any concussion, yelling in pain.

"Akira!" Her brother called from the crowd, but she had to shake it off. As her team's captain, she couldn't stay down. Akira jumped back to her feet, trying to fight the pain in her shoulder that began to move to her back. When the other team spikes the ball over, Akira received it perfectly to her setter. She kept pushing and pushing until she'd finally fall.

"Now!" She shouted, redirecting their quick attack to a synchronized attack where everyone moved but their libero. The setter faked the ball to the front middle, sending it high enough for Akira to jump as high as she could from the back row.

"We need this point!" She yelled to herself before bringing her arm and slamming the ball down as hard as she could. Kuroo stood in shock, watching the ball land in the court. They had won and were going to nationals.

"Kuroo," Kenna gestured for his captain and pointed at his sister, laying on her back with her team staring in shock. Akira was gripping her shoulder from the amount of pain she felt. 

Kuroo pushed through everyone in the crowd to get down to the stadium to her sister. He looked up to see his parents staring at them from the crowd, sighing, and walking away. He knelt down to his sister and put his hand on her shoulder lightly, causing her to cry out in pain. He removed his hand and looked up at the couch.

"I-It won't move." Akira cried, looking up at her brother.

"Take your sister to the infirmary, Kuroo. Girls give her some space." Their coach knew that this was not good. A few practices ago, she told one of her teammates how her shoulder started aching during spiking practice. Kuroo helped his sister off the group and they walked to the infirmary.

"Wait here, I'm going to go find the trainer." Kuroo sat her down in a chair in the waiting room, quickly walking to the other courts to find help. She looked up to see her mother approach her, disappointed.

"You almost missed that last spike, you could have cost them the game." Her mother said in a calm voice, knowing she was angry at her daughter. "That's it," Akira looked up at her mother to see her features relax. Her father finished his wife's thoughts by speaking.

"You are never playing volleyball again."

Akira woke up all sweaty, feeling a slight pain in her right shoulder. She looked over to her bedside table. 5:37 in the morning. She didn't have class until 12, leaving her with too much thinking time. She groaned and walked into her kitchen to get a glass of juice.

"Why couldn't they just let me be?" She whispered to herself, tears pooling up in her eyes. She hated crying because she had done it so much. Akira wanted to prove to her parents she was stronger than they thought she was, but she couldn't.

Seeing it was close to 6:00, she had an idea. Ushijima had sent her a schedule for his games and practices a while ago. Maybe they'll let me watch practice. Akira got dressed in her usual school attire; a large sweater, some yoga pants, and a pair of comfortable shoes. Her feet still ached from last night, so she compromised on leaving her sneakers home and wearing comfortable slip-on shoes. She grabbed all her things for school and headed towards her car, when she got to the parking lot, she saw a familiar face.