Mayu was usually confident when it came to the judo tournaments. This time, when he spotted Nakamura-sensei, he thought for a second he was gonna faint.

"Captain, you're surprisingly jumpy today" one of his teammates said.

Mayu just glared at him. He didn't need to be reminded how nervous he was feeling.

"Okay, listen up. You know the plan. Every one knows that our team goes mostly for grappling, if anything goes wrong, we still have Nozaki" their sensei, who seemed aloof and somewhat clumsy, instructed.

Mayu did not feel any better hearing this.

"Don't worry, you're only up against that fella over there" the sensei pointed to a huge guy that seemed about 300 pounds.

"WHAT?!" everyone shouted in fear.

"Is he even in Maa-kun's weight class?" Kobayashi asked.

"Oh, yeah. He seems big but he only weighs a few kilograms more than him. He'll be fine"

Mayu sighed. He could do this. He had to think of the goal. Nakamura-sensei was in the audience... but Mikoshiba wasn't.

_

The alarm clock went off four times that morning. Mikoshiba only heard it the fifth time. And he might have had a little help from his cat, Noa, jumping in his face.

"THE COMPETITION!" he jolted awake, sending his cat flying. He was all night talking to Mayumayu. She had a competition today as well, and even though she wasn't that nervous, she couldn't help but being excited.

Her and Mayu were so alike. Sadly, Mayu's was a male's tournament. Mayumayu couldn't possibly be there out of chance.

He checked his clock.

"9:45?!?" The matches began at 10. He was dead late.

_

Mayu had no time to think about him right now. Whether he came or not, he was gonna make sure to win this.

Some of his teammates really had it hard. Grappling didn't work most of the time. He knew he should've drawn more provocative poses.

"Nozaki, so far it's a tie. Kobayashi might win this one if he scores another half-point" his sensei told him.

'Nakamura seems quite amused' Mayu thought. Kobayashi had good defensive techniques, but so did his opponent. The opponent tended to break his balance, which immediately changed Kobayashi's strategy.

Kobayashi was in pain, Mayu noticed. His opponent was only a bit taller than him, but he liked body-striking. Luckily, Kobayashi memorized his attack patterns and blocked the other guy, taking full advantage and grabbed him, throwing him to the floor.

"Maa-kun, did you see what I did there?" Kobayashi ran to Mayu happily.

Mayu grinned and nodded. Kobayashi understood that by this he meant 'Good job'.

"It's your turn now. You got this" he reassured.

"You can do this, cap" his team cheered.

Mayu heaved as he saw his giant opponent. 'Was this really a middle schooler?'

"I hope I made it on time" Mikoshiba hoped, taking a seat in the bleachers. "Mayu would be so disappointed. I'd be the worst senpai ever. Oh, that's Kobayashi, isn't it?"

He spotted Kobayashi on his last moves before beating his opponent.

"Wow, he's good" he said.

Kobayashi went to his team, which was congratulating him. Then they seemed to be rooting for Mayu, whose face was as normal as always, but shoulders looked tense. Afterwards, Mikoshiba understood why.

"The fuck? He's huge!" He shouted, referring to the guy that was probably gonna try to shred Mayu in pieces. He earned strange looks from the ones sitting around him at his yell.

Apparently, it was loud enough for Mayu to turn around to follow the voice. He saw Mikoshiba giving him a thumbs-up, which made him relax.

The match had barely started when the huge guy was already launching himself at Mayu. Mayu easily blocked, but the opponent was strong, whose name apparently was Hiroshi.

Hiroshi was good. His attacks were quick, almost scoring him a full point until Mayu released from his grasp.

Mayu, though, was graceful in his moves. He combined arms and legs movements, sometimes he would attack, sometimes he wouldn't. He was very unpredictable, which confused Hiroshi.

Mayu had a deadly look in his eyes. It was not only serious, but intimidating.

'C'mon, Mayu. You can do this' Mikoshiba prayed.

Hiroshi began pushing Mayu, the latter was good at resisting. Just when Mayu almost lost his balance, he noticed that Hiroshi's feet were not positioned well enough to keep him holding. This was it.

With all the strength left, Mayu pushed Hiroshi a little and grabbed him with one hand over his knees, and the other under his right arm, lifting and throwing him backwards.

Mayu kept holding his opponent on the floor until 25 seconds were marked, earning Mayu a full point, automatically ending the match.

The referee raised his arm, meaning Mayu's team had won the whole tournament.

Mikoshiba got up from his seat and began cheering. He put both of his hands around his mouth, simulating a megaphone. "WHOOOOOO! THAT'S MY KOUHAI THERE!"

Mayu was overwhelmed. His crush had been cheering for him and his younger teammates were telling him he would be missed once he got into high school.

Mikoshiba quickly ran down the stairs in the bleachers, to see a girl with long hair tied up in a ponytail approach Mayu.

"N-Nozaki-kun" the girl called.

Mikoshiba's eye twitched. 'Why did this situation seem so familiar?'

"Ichino-san" Mayu just said.

"I just wanted to say..." she began.

Mikoshiba couldn't hear the rest over the crowd in the gym, but the girl seemed to nod sadly and smile. After that, she left.

'Did he just?' Mikoshiba thought. He wanted to approach him again, but an older man came to him.

"Nozaki Mayu, right? Nakamura-sensei from Roman High. Nice to meet you" and Mayu instantly bowed.

"Indeed. Nice to meet you"

"I gotta say, you have some skills for your age. What high school are you planning on going to?" Nakamura asked.

"Roman High, actually" he couldn't tell him he wanted to get his eye. He'd sound desperate.

"Ah, you must be Nozaki Umetarou's brother then?"

Mayu nodded.

"He's not bad. Not as passionate in the sport as you. It is just an elective for him after all" he explained. "I hope to see you in April then. Keep up the practice"

"Thank you, sir" Mayu bowed again, and Nakamura left.

Finally, Mikoshiba ran to Mayu before anyone else did. "Mayu!"

Mayu turned around to see Mikoshiba beaming at him.

"Mikoto-san. You came after all"

"Are you kidding? I couldn't miss this. It was important to you and let me say: you are amazing. The tension was unexplainable..." again, Mikoshiba kept talking and Mayu just stared at him. He wasn't one for flattery himself, but he liked that it came from Mikoshiba.

"Anyways, come on. I'm treating you to taiyaki"

Mayu had a blank face at him and looked at his own outfit.

"Oh, of course. Go change first"

Mayu nodded and went to the lockers, where his teammates were also changing.

"Dude, is it true that you rejected Yuko-chan?!" Kobayashi stormed into the room.

Mayu just shrugged.

"Is it because of Mamiko? Dude, you don't know her"

Mayu ignored him and began changing.

Kobayashi sighed and saw Mikoshiba outside the room, probably waiting for Mayu. Then something clicked.

"Wait..." he said, still not getting Mayu to look at him. "Wait" he said a little louder this time. "It's Mikoshiba-senpai, isn't it?"

Mayu stopped putting on his pants and looked at him. Now everyone in the room was staring at Mayu.

"I'm right, aren't I?" Kobayashi was actually smirking. "Not what I expected, but..."

Mayu rolled his eyes and walked out, seeing Mikoshiba on his phone.

"Ready to go?" he asked, to which Mayu nodded, and they left.