The New Neighbor (USHIJIMA X OC)

8. Breakfast

It was 9 o'clock, meaning the coach's practice was over. Most of the players stayed after to work on their skills more. Akira was about to change back into her slippers until Ushijima came over to her on the bench.

"Are your feet feeling better?" He knelt down in front of her so he wouldn't tower over her. He pointed at her feet and looked down at her hands.

"Much better. Thank you, again."

"If you're feeling better, did you mind staying and practicing with me some? I know you have a class, so you can say no." Akira put her slippers down and stood up.

"I'd love to stay and help." She gave him a smile and he nodded. "What did you want to work on?"

"We can practice some receives if you don not mind spiking and serving." Akira nodded, grabbing the cart of balls and going to the other side of the court, Ushijima on the other. He was in the back middle of the court, waiting for her to serve. She grabbed one of the balls out of the cart, taking a few steps away from the line. 

After bouncing the ball a few times and seeing Ushijima was ready, she threw it up in the air, running towards it. When she connected with the ball, she hit it as hard as she could. It landed towards the back right side of the court, Ushijima receiving it towards where the setter would be, but passing it too close to the net. He stared at the spot before getting back in position for another serve.

After about 10 serves, Akira pulled over the referee chair and placed it by the net so she could spike balls to him. She spiked a few down directly at him, a few to his sides. Her arm started to hurt more and more for each spike, but she shook it off. She didn't want to be selfish but she did need to slow herself down.

"You don't have to do spikes all the time, you can do feints too," Ushijima said and she nodded. She tossed the ball up and smacked it down, making Ushijima dive to his right to receive it. 

When he stood back up, she threw the ball up as if she was going to hit and barely tipped it over the net at the last second. Ushijima ran towards her, diving to receive it. The ball barely went over her head and she jumped to grab it but lost her footing when she came back down.

"Ahh!" The chair shook a bit and she began to fall backward. When she waited to hit the ground, it never came. She opened her eyes to see herself in someone's large, warm arms. 

As soon as he saw the chair shake, Ushijima stood up and bolted towards her at an almost inhuman speed, sliding to his knees to catch her. The chair fell beside them and the few people practicing in the gym looked over at the ruckus. Ushijima was lightly panting, looking at the small woman in his arms with worry.

"Are you alright?" He slowly stood up and placed her to her feet as if she weighed nothing. He kept a hand on her back when her feet touched the ground.

"Yes, thanks to you." She gave him a shaky smile. "That wasn't a bad receive, but it's almost impossible for a ball to go that shallow with blockers in front of you."

"I knew that." He released his hand from her back once he knew she was steady. "Let's just clean up and I'll treat you to breakfast for helping me." Akira nodded and they began to take down the net. She had to wait for Ushijima to finish his side so he could untie the knot that she couldn't reach. Once they finished cleaning up, they left the gym and headed back to their apartments.

"Your receives looked good today." Akira said,  putting on her signal to make a turn.

"Thank you, but I think they can be better with more practice." She smiled at how dedicated he was to be the best he could be. Akira didn't know much about his family, but she knew volleyball had to be big in it.