Karasuno; Pt 2
A/N at end.
BAM!
…
BAM!
…
BAM!
Only the occasional sound of a whistle broke the silence accompanying the mesmerizing sight. The volleyball bounced back and forth at a blinding speed, captivating the surrounding spectators. The curious crowds continued to grow, nearly filling the gymnasium as students, athletes, and bystanders gathered to watch the match taking place. Even the crowd members who had never heard of Karasuno High school knew that this match was a battle between giants.
Despite the amount of people watching the "practice" match, the gymnasium was strangely quiet, the only sounds that of the court: the labored breathing of the athletes, encouragements shouted by their teammates, and leather meeting two teams- Karasuno high school and unofficially named "All-Stars"- had been locked in a struggle for dominance for the past forty-five minutes. The first set had ended in a drawn-out deuce which had eventually resulted in a win for Karasuno.
Up to this point in the tournament, the All-Stars had beaten all of the other teams, Nekoma, Fukurodani, and Aobajousai. The last match, however, did not seem to be turning out so favorably. Karasuno had pulled ahead of the All-Stars, sixteen points to twelve, and the gap left the older athletes feeling discouraged.
'Perhaps,' Daichi thought to himself, 'I should have worried less about encouraging Hinata.'
Almost as if he had summoned the small ginger child by simply thinking of him, Hinata easily leapt past the blockers, spiking the ball with all his might. Kageyama tossed the ball to him so quickly his fingertips were a blur, but the small decoy-middle blocker met the ball with perfect timing, blowing past Kuroo, who had been struggling to keep up. Even knowing the power of Hinata's freakish agility and speed, Daichi was unable to save the ball. It sped past him, ricocheting off the court floor and into the watching crowd. A whistle sounded, and Daichi felt his heart sink as the gap in the score increased a little more. The Karasuno team burst into cheers, now it was seventeen to twelve.
Oikawa sent a glare at Kuroo, who had been attempting to block Hinata's spike and had failed. Kuroo, caught the glare and sent it right back.
"Don't mind, don't mind!" Suga called nervously.
"Tsk, I didn't think the shrimp would overpower us so easily." Oikawa muttered, but Daichi thought it was obviously clear that the statement was a jab towards his own teammates, rather than praise for Karasuno.
In response, a vein popped out of Kuroo's forehead in an almost comical matter.
"Time!" Daichi shouted quickly, taking advantage of one of the All-Star's time-outs.
As the team huddled, Daichi could feel the tension growing. Oikawa was still glaring at Kurroo, as if it was all his fault that Hinata and Kageyama had been able to make that last hit. Bokuto was the first to speak the obvious.
"I hate to be a downer, but this strategy isn't working."
"Oh, we have a strategy?" Oikawa mocked.
"We need to improve, our defense. Karasuno is scoring too easily." Sugawara suggested.
"Easily? Our defense may as well be nonexistent!" Oikawa butted in with a pointed glare towards Kuroo, who had been given the unofficial task of defense.
If mood was any indication, Daichi was sure someone didn't get their beauty sleep. Akaashi "Tsk'ed" in annoyance and Suga sighed, but it was a slightly more angry sigh than usual. That was bad. If even Akaashi's stoic countenance was beginning to crack, things were about to move down hill at an exponentially higher pace. Daichi shifted his wait nervously, readying himself in case he had to physically restrain someone from attacking Oikawa… again.
However, Kuroo's response to Oikawa's hissy fit was surprisingly calm.
"I'm the only middle blocker on this team, you piece of trash."
Well, calm for Kuroo.
Maybe it wasn't so calm after all.
The entire team tensed, and Daichi felt a roiling feeling in his stomach as he realized the confrontation he had been dreading was about to happen.
Oikawa's jaw dropped, and he began to splutter,
"T- trash!? I'm not-"
"Listen! I know I've messed up lots this set!"
That made Oikawa, as well as the other athletes, quickly shut up.
"But I'm the only middle blocker, the only true defensive player." Kuroo continued, looking down at his feet as if admitting this caused him physical pain. "We don't have a libero, so it's up to me to block every spike and feint and dump, and I've been doing it alone- ALL DAY LONG!"
Dachi knew Kuroo could be scary and manipulative when he wanted to, and at this moment, he sure wanted to.
"Bro…" sniffed Bokuto, patting Kuroo on the back.
"But I don't need your pity." Kuroo whispered with a dramatic flair to his words that any anime voice actor would be jealous of. "I'm gonna do my best, and beat Karasuno! Because I'm all you guys have got!"
"Bro!" Bokuto chriped joyously, tearing up at Kuroo's manly proclamation of courage.
"Bro." Replied Kuroo, his face softening slightly- seemingly in thanks to Bokuto's words of comfort.
Then Bokuto turned to Oikawa, annoyance growing on his face.
"Bro. BroooOOOooo Brrrro!" He scolded angrily, almost as if defending Kuroo's honor.
"Is he scolding Oikawa in a foreign language or something?" Daichi muttered.
"Bro!" Kuroo added angrily.
"Do these idiots seriously expect me to understand their weird mumbling bro-language-" Oikawa started to say, but he was cut off.
"BRO!" Kuroo and Bokuto screamed together.
Oikawa shrank back from the enraged middle blocker and wing spiker, nodding nervously, agreeing he should not have been so rude and that he was very sorry for being such trash and he would be a very supportive teammate in the foreseeable future.
Apparently Oikawa understood the 'bro' language just fine.
While Oikawa was groveling, Daichi considered Kuroo's words. It was true that the All-Stars did not have a libero. Usually Daichi or Oikawa, who were both well- rounded and athletic players, filled the spot when they rotated to the back. Despite this, there was no "true" libero, so a lot of pressure fell to Kuroo to make amazing blocks play after play, game after game.
In fact, it was a wonder that Kuroo was still able to stand on his own feet after having played three games in a row as the only middle blocker.
Daichi belatedly wondered whose great idea it was to create a six-person volleyball team with three setters, two wing spikers, and one middle blocker. (Oikawa. It was all Oikawa's fault).
"We need to move defensively!" Kuroo insisted. "Everyone has to put as much into the defense as they can, or this team isn't going to last much longer."
Perhaps, Daichi contemplated, a few days ago there would have been a plethora of outbursts at this statement. Oikawa would have been offended, Bokuto would have gotten worked up, Suga would have sighed in frustration and suggested a different solution.
Yet now, five points behind and one set down, there was only fiercely determined acceptance from the other athletes (with some minor pouting and bro-ing from Oikawa and Bokuto respectively).
With a jolt, Daichi wondered when along the line they had started acting like a team.
"You heard the co-captain!" Daichi encouraged. "We have to support our teammates. Put just as much effort into getting that ball up into the air as you do spiking it!"
"All-Stars!" Added Kuroo, a sly grin stretching across his face, "Let's do this!"
A/N
Dear readers,
Please do not feel obligated to read this, but if you want an explanation about where I have been for the past 12 (14, 16, who knows?) months, then you are in the right place.
Literally every author says this, and I hate to ride the bandwagon, but college is a drag. Yes, I just started going to college. I'm like, totally a real adult now. Actually, college is a whoooole lotta fun and a whoooole more lotta work. Although college is basically research-travel-study-papers-exams-repeat, I highly suggest trying it (10/10 would rent again).
Yet that doesn't excuse my laziness in not posting. If I found time during college to rewatch the entire Blue Exorcist series, every single Markiplier FNAF Let's Play, and the first four seasons of Supernatural, then I probably could have found the time to write a couple of Dormitory AU chapters...
Ya know?
Wait, actually...
I regret nothing.
Watching Mass amounts of Netflix and YouTube for extended periods of time is a perfectly acceptable way for me to spend my life.
Stop judging me.
You guys sound like my parents when you judge me like that.
In all seriousness, I deeply apologize. It has been too long, and I nearly abandoned this story. I feel terribly guilty about that because I promised myself I would never abandon ANY of my fics.
To make things worse, I had already finished writing this fic about a year and a half ago. The finished rough draft was on my computer and everything. I just never got around to editing and uploading and forgot all the story
In addition, this story is no longer being co-authored. It's just me writing the chapters now, and it has been this way for a while (If you felt the writing style was changing, that is the reason why. I'm afraid I'm just not as naturally humorous or talented as my co-authors). However, for the sake of you, my readers, and my beautiful, lovely co-authors who started this story with me, I am determined to finish this story.
Please enjoy the final chapter of Dormitory AU.
Sincerely-
Riptide