"That's all for today's practice. I want you to rest well today for tomorrow's match." Coach Ando said, looking over the team members faces. "We'll be facing Nezumihoki tomorrow."

[y/n] narrowed her eyes at the mention of Makino Rieko's team, Nezumihoki.

"As we all know, Nezumihoki were average when it comes to attack and defense. They were not good but not exactly bad. But don't underestimate them. Don't let your guard down just because you're stronger. Don't let what happened to the boys team happen to you." the coach tone was severe.

"Yes, sir!"

"That's all. Go home and rest." he turned but looked back to the girls. "And use an umbrella. Its pouring outside."

"Yes, sir." The girls moved to gather their stuffs.

"It really is pouring outside." Eguchi said and turned to [y/n] and Kawaguchi. "Did you two brought an umbrella?"

"Yeah. I always have one with me." Kawaguchi smiled.

"I think I did." [y/n] replied and slung her bag on her shoulder. Just then, she realized she left her other pair of shoes at the club room. "Gah! My other shoes!" she turned to her fellow first year as she run away. "You two just go ahead! I'll get my shoes from the club room!" she declared and run out of the pouring rain.

"[y/n]! The coach just told us to use an umbrella!" the captain shouted but the ace was already too far to hear her.

"Here it is." [y/n] said and stuffed her shoes to her bag. Just then, she noticed that she don't have her umbrella on her bag. "Eh?! Did I actually forgot to bring it?!" [y/n] checked her bag carefully but found no traces of the umbrella. She then shrugged. "Oh well. I'll just go run. I don't get sick easily anyway."

Her phone suddenly rang. Curiously, she pulled it out and checked the message.

"It's raining. Make sure you have an umbrella with you. -Akaashi" It was Akaashi.

She winced. Too late for that reminder. She already forgot to bring one. "Meh! It's not like Keiji-tan would know." she said and run out of the rain, disregarding her coach and Akaashi's reminder.

Morning. It was the day of Fukurodani's match against Nezumihoki.

[y/n] woke up early. But for some reason, her body was heavy and she feels hot.

"I'm not feeling well..." she muttered as she sat on her bed. "Did I get sick from the rain?"

She was soaked to the bone when she arrived home yesterday. But she was feeling fine before going to bed.

"No. This is a very important day. The chance to kick that Makino's butt finally arrived. I can't let a small fever get on my way." she threw her blanket off and jumped out of the bed. However, a sudden dizziness assaulted her. She fell to the floor. "Oww!"

She laid her head down on the ground, trying to soothe her head. But the sudden ringing of her phone jolted her up.

"I wonder who it is?" [y/n] groaned and forced herself up. She pulled herself to the bed and took her phone. It was a call from Akaashi.

"Keiji-tan!" she panicked as she saw his name on the screen.

Should she ignore the call? No. Akaashi might end up coming over to check on her if she didn't pick up. And if he came over, he'll find out she wasn't feeling well and force her to stay at home. She need to answer his call. And she need to be careful or Akaashi would figure out she wasn't feeling well.

She let out a small cough and answered the call. "Keiji-tan? What is it?" [y/n] asked hoping she doesn't sound sick or anything.

"[y/n]. Should I pick you up? I'm going to watch your match." he said.

[y/n] gulped nervously. "Err... No. I'll be fine. You don't really need to pick me up. I'll be able to go to the meeting place on time this time."

"Are you sure?" Akaashi asked, obviously not trusting her word.

"I swear I'll be fine! Please don't worry anymore." she said hopefully it was enough to convince him.

"Alright. Just make sure you have everything with you. I'll see you at the venue. Bye." the call ended.

[y/n] sighed in relief. She was glad he didn't noticed that she wasn't feeling well.

Now, the hard part was hiding it from Coach Ando and her teammates. "Will I be able to hide this?"

"[y/n]! I thought you're going to be late!" Eguchi laughed and playfully slapped her arm.

"Er... I woke up early." she gave the libero a weak smile making the other woman raise an eyebrow.

"What's wrong? You're kinda out of it." she observed looking at their ace face. "You looked flushed. Are you sick?"

[y/n]'s eyes widened and covered Eguchi's mouth. She looked around to see if any of their teammates who were present heard it and sigh seeing that the others were too sleepy to pay attention.

She let Eguchi go. "Don't tell anyone."

"Don't tell anyone?!"

"Shhh!"

"Are you crazy?! You're burning up! You cant play in this condition!" Eguchi shout-whispered.

"I can and I will. We'll be facing Nezumihoki this time and this is my chance to defeat that stupid Makino. So please..." [y/n] pleaded.

Eguchi sighed. "Do you really think you'll be able to hide this from the coach and everyone? It's pretty obvious you're not feeling well."

"I'll talk to the coach later. But for now, don't tell anyone."

Akaashi sat near the Fukurodani cheerers. His eyes were locked on [y/n]. It narrowed as he noticed something strange. She looked flushed and she didn't seems as energetic as she normally was.

Before every matches, she was so noisy you could hear her to the other end of the court. But right now, she was quiet and sitting silently.

"Is she sick?"

[y/n] talked to the coach regarding her fever. As expected, she got scolded. He also refused to let her play. But [y/n] managed to convince him to let her on the match after a few begging. He would let her as long as she don't push herself too hard. He told her he won't hesitate to take her out of the game if it looked like it was too much for her.

When they lined up, Makino was giving her a nasty grin but [y/n]'s head were too fuzzy to notice it. Her condition didn't seems to escape their opponents however.

The game begins. And it was hell for [y/n]. Her head was spinning, her body was heavy and it was hot. Too hot.

Their opponent keep targeting her, seeing she was in no condition to play. But it wasn't like [y/n] was pulling her weight.

She was getting through the blocks and her spikes were still deadly despite of her fever. It was probably one of the reason why Coach Ando haven't taken her out of the game yet. But it was taking everything out if her just to stand.

Whenever she were about to fall, all she would do was to remind herself that she promised Akaashi she would win and keep winning then would glance up to the seats to look at Akaashi's face. So far, it managed to give her strength to continue.

"Why don't you take yourself out of the game, already? You're in no condition to play." Makino whispered with her nasty mug as both of them rotated to the front after the Nezumihoki's time out ended.

"I wanted to see Keiji-tan happy so even if this kills me later, I'll play. He told me to win all the matches after all." she let a smirk of her own. Makino seethed at this. "Listen, Makino-chan. Sick or not, I'll defeat you as if it's the last thing to do." her eyes narrowed as if an owl locking on her prey.

The match resumed. [y/n] has become more aggressive on her plays. Three blockers were not enough to stop her cross or wipes with her straights. She was unstoppable. It was as if she was programmed to crush Nezumihoki.

With another wipe, the whistle sounded. The first set ended with Fukurodani winning with the score of 25-19.

Eguchi patted [y/n]'s shoulder as she passed her. "Nice. You managed to get us a win despite of that fever."

[y/n] didn't reply, making Eguchi stop. Curiously, she turned to look at their ace. Just then, she tilted and fell.

"[y/n]!" Eguchi caught her before she slammed to the ground.

"Eguchi! What happened?!" the captain asked as their teammates run to check on their ace.

"I don't know! She just fell!" Eguchi panicked.

"Let me see!" the coach approached them and touched [y/n]'s forehead. "She's burning up. Her fever worsened."

On the other side of the net, the Nezumihoki watched curiously.

"They shouldn't have brought her on the court if she wasn't feeling well." the Nezumihoki captain commented. "Powerhouse team and their pride is scary, they'll put a sick girl on the court just to win."

"You have to admit, she was still strong despite of the fever. I feel like my arms were going to fly whenever I receive her serves." the third year libero said, shaking her arms.

"I wonder if she's okay." the vice captain said this time.

Makino let a silent smirk. "She finally break." she thought, trying to stop the smirk from showing. But all the glee she felt was wiped out as she saw a figure entered the court.

It was Akaashi. He run to check on [y/n], looking worried. He gently touched her forehead and frowned probably feeling her temperature.

Akaashi then said something to the Fukurodani coach and picked [y/n] up. With the substitute member following him, Akaashi walked out of the court with [y/n] on her arms probably to bring her to the clinic.

Makino gritted her teeth. Why did it seems that [y/n] won this time again?

TO BE CONTINUED