égoïste
raison #1
When he saw it again, he wasn't sure if he was dreaming.
Maebara Shiori is a third year student attending Fukurodani Academy in Tokyo. She's friendly, cheerful and somewhat blunt with honesty, living what she calls a 'normal life' as a high school student.
However, when she gets acquainted with the Fukurodani Boys' Volleyball Club, her 'normal life' was thrown into disarray, for better or for worse.
"I'm absolutely, positively sure that I won't be doing any science or math in university. Or literature for that matter!" Maebara Shiori didn't even cringe at the current results of said subjects in her hands, marked in big, bold red numbers.
"Hey, hey, hey, Shiori! What did you get?!" Bokuto Koutarou, a classmate of hers, got up from his seat almost immediately after the bell rung for the lunch break, heading over to his good friend's side to match results.
Shiori had just passed one quiz, the other two just barely missing the passing mark. Her math quiz was marked 39, science 40 and literature 38. Forty was the passing mark.
Bokuto stared at the ones he had in his hands, owlishly looking to and from his and her papers.
Without questioning him, she took a strained look at his results, brows jumping ever so slightly at the numbers for all three papers.
37 for math, 32 for science, and 40 for literature, Shiori thought. Well, reality is we both failed two, and passed one. I guess it's a good thing we didn't fail all three? Thank God these aren't the exams.
"Well, it's a good thing they're only quizzes." She neatly put her papers into a plastic folder and slid it into her bag, giving Bokuto a smile. "Let's improve on it next time."
"That's what you say after each quiz or exam but you never study for any of them with the exception of biology." Yukie deadpanned, a smile on her lax expression.
Shiori couldn't deny anything her female friend said. Her brown eyes flickered to where Yukie sat directly behind her. She pouted, lower lip protruding out slightly, "I do! Well, I try to anyway! But it just kind of slips my mind! I can't apply stuff to stuff!"
Shirofuku Yukie sweat dropped at her and glanced at Bokuto, who had gone back to his seat two seats away horizontally from her. He was packing up his stuff, unusually quiet. He came back to the girls with a funny expression. Yukie likened it to one of those looks that Bokuto gets before he becomes restless to hit the volleyball on the court during his emo mode.
"Hm?" Shiori hummed lightly, eyes on Bokuto. In a moment of observing him, Shiori knew what was up. She gently patted his upper arm since she was sitting down, "It'll be fine! 40 is the passing mark so as long as we pass that we're all good!"
"Easy for you to say but impossible to get over." He mumbled.
"Hey, don't get so down, Kou!" She lightly punched his arm.
Bokuto wasn't at all bothered by her calling him by his nickname, after all, they'd known each other since first year, and were close for the whole of their high school years. He called her by her name, too. Though, sometimes Shiori would change it up and call him by his surname.
"I'm surprised you're used to this result." Yukie spoke to Shiori, knowing that although Bokuto was listening, he was sulking.
"Huh? I guess so." The female with the brown black hair waved her hand dismissively, "I know I'm not good at it so I kind of expected this. When I did get a result like this for the first time, I was pretty disappointed. But then I just went, 'yeah, okay. Cool. I suck at it. Okay.' And it just kind of went downhill from there." She laughed lightly, putting a stray hair behind her ear. When it came back onto her face she pushed a hand through her hair and tied the medium length into a low ponytail.
"That's…a little…" Yukie started, unsure of what to say.
"Well, that's for the ones I hate the most anyway. Biology is a different story. That stuff's interesting, so I like to watch documentaries." She tapped her fingers on the table lightly, crossing her legs, "If everything was learnt in pictures or a documentary or something, then that would make it so much easier and better to learn." She muttered under her breath, "Though I highly doubt that'd work for math."
"Oh!" Bokuto perked up, "You mean like those documentaries that you love to watch about animals and stuff?" He was suddenly out of his sulking mode, having remembered the documentaries he watched with Shiori.
That was quick…the two females sweat dropped.
"Yeah, that's the only reason I'm good at biology." Shiori chuckled.
"Maybe I should watch more of them too, then!" Bo grinned widely.
"Yeah? Ah, I've got a whole range of new ones saved so you can come over whenever and we'll watch them together." Shiori suggested, giving him a thumbs up.
Bokuto matched her. He'd been to her house many times, and whenever he did it was the coolest chill time. Most of the time it'd be them trying to figure out what to do with their failing grades, but sometimes they'd just chill, watch documentaries or movies, or play video games and read manga.
Yukie and other people that they knew would sometimes tag along, such as Akaashi (if he had time and Bokuto was eager in dragging him; or simply if Bokuto just dragged him along against his will), or the other third years they were acquainted with.
"Well, you guys are both busy with the volleyball club so it might be hard to find a time." Shiori pondered, but shrugged. "Anytime should be fine with me. Just give me a text or call."
"You're sure lax about this." Yukie commented. "Most people wouldn't be so welcoming with inviting people – boys in particular – to their houses." She paused for a moment, thinking back to many times that Shiori and Bo had been mistaken as a couple because of that, "But in your case, you don't mind one bit."
"Yeah, I don't." Maebara took out a water bottle and fiddled with the lid, opening it up. "Well, I'm pretty used to this stuff. I mean, I was born overseas so that might have influenced my thinking of this kind of stuff."
"Eh?! You were born overseas?!" Bokuto's golden eyes widened, "Since when?!"
"Since I was born, dumbo!" Shiori laughed and sipped from her bottle, "I was born there, Kou!"
"O-oh…" He sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck.
"This is my first time hearing this, actually. Which country?" Yukie had leaned forward in interest. She rummaged through her bag and took out a bento box, putting it on the table she sat at.
"Australia." Shiori answered. "I moved to Japan when I was around, uh, I think 7 or 8? Otherwise I'd be going back and forth because of my parents."
"Eh? Why?" Bo asked. It seemed like an insensitive question, but Shiori didn't mind one bit.
"They're not divorced, if that's what you're thinking." She played with the lid of her water bottle, "Dad's job sometimes requires him to move to a different place. Mum was with him until I turned 5, and then she went back to Japan to work."
"Eh…" Yukie drew out the vowel and nodded slowly. "So that's why you're good at English." She remarked.
"I guess." Shiori tittered and took a drink of water. She looked at Bo, who looked like he was thinking. "You okay there?"
"So you've been living here for like 10 years, right?" The owlish ace questioned. He jingled the coins in his blazer pocket, as if he was ready to bolt and buy food. "Doesn't that mean your Japanese is better than your English?"
"I understand both but sometimes I understand better in English." She hummed and took out a bento from her bag, "Let's go eat. I'm hungry."
"I'm going to buy some stuff," Bokuto raced out the door as Akaashi Keiji, a second year, walked in with his own bento, eyeing the Ace as he greeted him and left to fight for the yakisoba bread.
"Oh, Akaashi." Yukie greeted. "Homemade lunch as usual?" She eyed his bento like a hawk eyed its prey. It was always something delicious.
"Hey." Shiori grinned at him, raising a hand in greeting.
"Shirofuku-san, Maebara-san, hello." He greeted with a nod of the head.
"I told you to call me 'Shiori', Akaashi!" The medium length haired female playfully frowned when he placed his bento on Yukie's desk, dragging over a chair to sit down.
Akaashi merely glanced at Shiori, a bit conflicted on whether to call her that. She had told him that many times before, but he didn't seem to want to, rather he was reluctant since she was older than him.
The teen leaned on the table and eyed the setter, "If I called you Keiji that would be fine, right?" She grinned.
At the mention of his name, Akaashi stared at her with slight surprise. Seeing his reaction, Shiori just laughed and shook her head, "I'm only kidding. But seriously, just call me 'Shiori'. I'm more used to it." She sent him a smile, then added, "But if you really want me to call you by your name I wouldn't mind."
Yukie chuckled lightly, now understanding why she had said so every time. It was because she was easily brought up that way, and seemed to stick with it. It probably confused the girl every time someone called her Maebara, even though she'd been living in Japan for a decade already.
Yukie addressed her as she wanted, but Akaashi was probably the only one in her friends group that called her something on the more formal side of the scale. She thought it might have to do with him being a second year and everyone else being third years.
"…Shiori-san." Akaashi spoke after a moment, contemplating the new sound.
Both Yukie and Shiori's eyes widened slightly. Akaashi met the latter's eyes, almost asking if it was okay. The grin on her face affirmed him.
"Well, we'll stick with that. No honorifics is fine, too." She clapped her hands together lightly, almost in glee, "That took you like 2 years! Wow, it's been a long time, huh?" She giggled at the memory of her first telling him it was okay to call her by her given name. The look of shock in his eyes was hilarious.
Akaashi nodded, "It has."
"Well, what do you want me to call you? Should I call you Keiji or Akaashi? Or either?" The dark haired 18 year old unwrapped her bento. As she did so, the other two did the same.
"Either is fine." The seemingly emotionless teen didn't mind. He knew she had a habit of being too casual like it was completely normal for her, but it wasn't in a rude way that some people might have taken it. It didn't take him long to get used to it either.
"Ittadakimasu." They spoke in unison before they started eating. On their first bite, Bokuto had come back from the battle of the yakisoba breads, heading towards their table with two in his hands.
"You managed to get two this time!" Shiori sounded like she was praising him, but she was quite surprised he managed to. Normally the rush and demand for yakisoba bread was quite high, so he only ended up with one, but this time he had two. "What a lucky day."
Kou beamed, pulling a chair so that he sat on the other side of Shiori and Yukie, opposite of Akaashi. "I know right?! It's like they knew I was coming and these two were the only ones left!"
"You sure that'd be enough to fill you?" Shiori pointed her chopsticks at the bread he was unwrapping.
"Should be fine for now." Bo glanced down at her bento, then Akaashi's, then Yukie's, eyeing them almost as if he wanted some too.
"If you want some just say so yeah?" Shiori continued eating.
"Yeah okay." Bokuto grinned as he ate.
"Can I have one of these?" Yukie pointed to the grilled chicken in Shiori's bento. When she gave the ok, Yukie quickly took it and ate, smiling dreamily at the flavours.
"Did you want some too, Keiji?" With a cheeky grin, Maebara looked to the second year, who was actively eating an onigiri.
He was completely unfazed by her usage of his name, which Bokuto took notice of.
"Hey, hey, hey, you guys are on first name basis now?" He exclaimed with surprise, laughing lightly. He patted Shiori's shoulder with his left hand (which Shiori was glad for because his right hand pats are hard). "Two years in the making!"
"Not really, I'm just teasing him. He responds to both anyway so I'll use either one." The dark haired female just smiled, grabbing a piece of chicken and putting it in Akaashi's bento, since he nodded just earlier.
"Hey, hey, hey give me a piece of chicken too!" Bokuto complained, seeing both his friends eat the same grilled chicken.
"Here." Shiori was used to stuff like this, so she normally packed extra. Bokuto and Yukie were notorious for taking her food. She didn't mind too much. She grabbed the largest one and lifted it with her chopsticks so it was closer to Bokuto, "Say 'Ah', Kou." She sang teasingly.
He chomped onto the piece of chicken and Shiori resumed eating, not minding the stares she got from around the people that were still in the classroom. They were kind of used to it but yet they kind of weren't.
"Wow, you guys." Konoha Akinori stepped into the room, holding some bread he bought earlier. He made his way towards them, "No wonder everyone thinks you're dating."
"Don't say it like I don't do it to you guys either." Shiori rolled her eyes, but smiled when Konoha came closer and dragged a chair to sit between Yukie and Akaashi.
"Yeah, true. If I didn't know you I'd think you were dating everyone you were feeding like that." He commented, opening the bread. "Ittadakimasu."
"Well, now that we're on the topic do you want me to feed you too?" Shiori smiled expectantly at him. It was pretty normal for her to do this kind of stuff to her friends, but from an outsider's perspective, it was a little strange.
Konoha blushed, fumbling with the bread wrapping when he saw her suggestively wiggle her brows. He looked down and tried to focus on the bread, "I'm never going to get used to this."
"So I take that as a yes?" She took one more piece of chicken and did the same thing she did to Bo, but to Konoha. "Say, 'Ah', Aki." She sang.
With his ears turning red, he took the chicken from her chopsticks and chewed on it with a red face. She laughed at that, finding his embarrassment hilarious. The others joined in, except Akaashi, who just had an amused smile on his face.
"Anyway, Aki, how'd you go on your quizzes?" Shiori questioned.
"I failed English. Just got a pass for other ones though." Konoha sighed, chewing his food.
"Oh! That's better than me! I failed two. Good job, Aki!" She gave him a thumbs up.
"Nice!" Bokuto grinned, finishing his first yakisoba bread.
"What about you, Shirofuku?" The wing spiker glanced at their manager.
"I passed." Was all she said, taking an onigiri from Shiori's bento after finishing her own.
"Good job." Konoha smiled. His eyes went back onto the others, then Akaashi, who was just eating his bento quietly.
"Akaashi, you're in the advanced class, right?" Konoha spoke slowly, almost as if he was testing the waters.
The second year glanced at his teammate and nodded. "If it's English you need help with, Shiori-san will probably be better at helping you." It was like he read minds.
First name basis? Konoha looked over to Shiori, "Eh, really? How'd you go for English?"
Shiori smiled and held up a victory sign, then continued eating, occasionally feeding Bo whenever he asked.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Aki questioned with a raise of an eyebrow.
"It means she got full marks." Yukie translated.
"Full marks?!" Bo nearly broke Shiori's chopstick when he bit on them accidently; Konoha's eyes widened.
"Why are you two so surprised?" Akaashi questioned. "Did you not notice that those documentaries are all in English?" He referred to the ones that they watched over at Shiori's house.
"But there were Japanese subtitles!" Konoha complained. "How am I supposed to know that she understands them without subtitles?"
"Well, you never asked." She examined the chopstick that Bo bit on, hoping that it didn't break. It didn't.
"Hah…?" Konoha let out an exasperated sigh, "If I had known I would've gone to you the whole time if I had trouble in English!"
Bokuto pointed out, "But when we hold study sessions Shiori and Akaashi are always the ones correcting our work."
"Yeah, same for me too." Yukie nodded in agreement.
"Plus, Shiori was raised in Australia so that's why she's good at it!" Bokuto grinned and ruffled her hair, making it stick out in random places. He loved to show off information that he just learnt.
"Eh?!" Konoha looked to Shiori, who just shrugged.
"I don't get why you guys are getting all surprised!" She closed the lid to her empty bento.
"Well, this is the first time I've heard of it…" Konoha took a bite of his bread.
Yukie closed her bento box and packed it away, "Oh, that's right," She turned to the volleyball members, "Nekoma is going to come for a practice match next week."
"Hey, hey, hey!" Bokuto cheered, throwing his arms up.
"Ah, alright." Konoha nodded.
"What time?" Akaashi asked.
"They'll be coming around 4 to 4.30."
"Eh, Nekoma…?" Shiori mumbled, leaning on her palm. She glanced at Bo, "Isn't that the school where your friend Kuroo goes to?"
"Oh? Oh yeah, you haven't met him yet!" Bokuto grinned, then gasped when he had a sudden idea, "You should go to the practice match! Then I'll introduce you two!"
"Is she even interested in volleyball?" Akaashi questioned Bokuto with an almost apologetic expression at Shiori. "Don't force her."
"I don't really mind." Shiori smiled. She put her bento on her desk and turned back around to them, "I've played some volleyball when I was younger, so I wouldn't mind watching." She grinned.
"Oh?! Ah! So that's how you knew all those volleyball terms!" Bokuto and Konoha spoke in unison.
Akaashi turned to Shiori, mildly surprised. He knew she had some knowledge of volleyball, but he didn't know if she had played or not.
Yukie grinned. She was the only one out of them that knew she had played volleyball before, but that was only because they were in the same P.E class. "You know, we played volleyball in P.E and she was really good."
"No, I'm not!" Shiori shook her head and waved both hands in complete denial. "It was just a couple of games for fun."
"That makes it more the worthwhile to come watch!" Bokuto grinned and threw his arm around her, "You haven't watched us play in a practice match yet, have you?!"
"N-No, I haven't." Her breath was nearly knocked out of her when she hit his chest. "I haven't seen you guys play much either."
Yukie beamed, "They're a team that goes to Nationals!"
"Yeah, yeah, I know that part."
"Come watch us then!" Bokuto's grip around her tightened slightly, forcing the teen's face to go a little blue.
"Bokuto-san! She's turning blue!"
"Oh, sorry, sorry!"
Shiori sent a look at Bokuto, then a nod of thanks at Akaashi.
"I…guess I'll go watch you guys, then." She massaged her neck, "Watching a practice match won't hurt."
Akaashi stared at her for a long moment, contemplating something. He glanced at her desk, seeing her name written on the closed notebook.
"I'm be right back." Shiori stood up and headed to the bathroom.
Bokuto and Konoha had almost shocked expressions for a good moment before they cheered, giving each other double high 5's.
They stood up with their raised arms in a silent cheer.
"Konoha, she's going to be watching our practice match!" Bokuto sounded extremely excited. He was grinning ear to ear.
Konoha was the same, and he fist bumped Bokuto, "She's going to be watching out practice match!" He repeated.
"Are those two okay?" Yukie glanced over at Akaashi, looking a little confused.
"They're just excited that Shiori-san is going to be watching them play." He stated the obvious.
"But why?" Yukie questioned. She didn't get this level of excitement when they were just normally talking to her, so it was a surprise that they unveiled this part of themselves when she wasn't in the room.
"Have you seen her though?!" Konoha sat back down and faced Yukie, "Just having her at the practice match will be motivation enough!"
"Eh…why? Why did it take you three years to invite her to a practice match?" Yukie deadpanned, "Wouldn't it have been better if you had invited her in first year?"
Konoha and Bokuto blushed, speaking over each other so that neither was coherent.
"Say one thing at a time, you two." Akaashi had just packed up his bento and wrapped the cloth around it.
"But, she's so cool! And she's so pretty!" Bokuto placed his hands onto the desk, surprising Yukie. "Like, the atmosphere around her kind of makes her hard to approach sometimes! Especially when she's not smiling!"
Konoha nodded fervently in agreement, "Imagine how hard it would have been in our first year to try and approach someone like her!" He sighed, "She was the first one to talk to us so that's how we were able to become friends, but still…!"
"Yeah, yeah! Don't you get it, Shirofuku?" Bokuto turned to Akaashi, "Akaashi?!"
Yukie nodded slowly, thinking back to first year and what happened then. "That's true, actually. She is really pretty and even for us girls it was hard to approach her when she's not smiling."
"See?! You too!" Konoha could almost connect with what Yukie said.
"But after you talk to her for the first time it's really easy to talk to her afterwards." She nodded in agreement with her own words.
"Yeah! Ah, during first year there were so many girls that she hung out with that it was hard to get close to her without facing their wrath…" Bokuto mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Yeah, I know right? We were in the same class, too…" Konoha sighed to himself and stretched, "Well, somehow we managed to befriend her easily. I've gotta thank you for that, Shirofuku!" He grinned at her.
Yukie laughed, "You could have just approached her. She's nice."
"It's not that easy!" Bokuto and Konoha cried simultaneously.
Akaashi raised both brows slightly, "I understand what you are all trying to say, but does this really warrant a celebration? It's only one practice match."
"Oh! Akaashi, so you think so too?!" Bokuto looked excitedly at his junior. "That's she's a cool beauty?!"
"I didn't say that…"
"So you don't think so?!"
"I didn't say that either…"
"Wow, what a heated conversation." Shiori laughed when at them she came back into the classroom, "What are you talking about that's making you guys so fired up?"
They turned to her, relieved that she didn't know what they were talking about.
"They were talking about how excited they were about you coming to our practice match." Akaashi bluntly told her, which made Konoha and Bokuto want to cry out that it wasn't true, even though it was.
Shiori glanced at them with surprise, then a grin broke out on her lips, "Hey, it's nothing to be so excited about. Just focus on your match."
Konoha glanced at Bokuto, if Bokuto's going to be all good to go then, then it should be okay! Hopefully I don't screw up, either…
"Ah, by the way, the makeup quizzes are going to be next week, too, right?" Shiori recalled, glancing at Yukie for confirmation. She nodded. "When do you guys get off club? If you have time you can come over to mine for a study group."
Bokuto and Konoha perked up when they heard they were going over to her place, "Oh! We should!"
You only want to play on her game consoles and ransack her manga collection and fridge, Yukie wanted to roll her eyes at the boys, but kept her silence about it.
"If that's okay with all of you." Shiori met everyone's eyes. She paused at Akaashi's, "This is going to be third year stuff, so I'm not sure if you're interested since you're a second year…"
"I'll come. I can help with your bad subjects. I also need some help on my English." Akaashi nodded at her.
"Oh, ok. It's been a while since I've helped you out, hasn't it?" She tapped her finger on her chin and sent him a smile.
Akaashi nodded, matching her big smile with a small one.
Yukie, Bokuto and Konoha watched them. They didn't know Shiori helped Akaashi with his English work.
"Oh yeah, when do you guys want to start? Whenever is fine with me, since I should be free around that time. I'll provide dinner for you athletic freaks so don't worry about that." Shiori took out a diary and flipped to the day's date, borrowing a pen from Yukie's pencil case. She added, "If we do it on the weekend too, you guys can probably stay over if you want. Dad's out until the end of the week."
"Oh!" Bokuto and Konoha's eyes glimmer with anticipation.
"We have practice on Saturday." Akaashi stated. "We can come after practice."
"Yeah, okay. Make sure to bring a change of clothes so you guys don't stink up my house." She spoke in a joking manner, but was absolutely serious.
"Hm…okay, what about tomorrow? That way, I can prepare for meals and the like." Shiori nodded to herself and tapped the tip of her pen onto the paper.
'Yes' chorused around her as she scribbled down some words on her diary. "Okay, so will any of you be staying overnight on the Saturday?"
"I'll stay over." Yukie grinned. She loved to bunk at Shiori's.
"I will!" Bokuto raised his arm. It was the first time he would be staying overnight.
Following him, Konoha raised his arm, "Me too!" He didn't want Bo to be the only one who was staying over for the night.
"Akaashi?" Shiori turned to him.
"It should be fine." He spoke after a moment of thought.
"So everyone's coming, then." Shiori wrote down the number of people, then looked back up, "Ah, what about the others? Like, Saru, Haru, Washi and them?"
"They passed all theirs." Konoha replied.
"Eh, did they now?" Shiori pouted, "Well, then it's just us then."
"Shiori-chan!" Someone called into the classroom after spotting her. It was the captain of the archery club. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"
"Hm? Yeah, okay." She packed up her diary and placed it on her desk, excusing herself from the table.
"This time's the archery club?" Yukie spoke to herself.
"This time?" Akaashi questioned.
"Oh yeah, you wouldn't know." Bokuto leaned on the table, watching Shiori talk with the captain of the archery club. "Shiori's not part of any club, but she's good at a lot of things so clubs that are short on members for competitions and stuff ask her to be part of it."
Konoha nodded in agreement. "I don't even know what club she'd join if she really was part of one. It'd probably be a sport, though. She's good at sports."
Akaashi could only nod at the explanation the third years gave him.
"If she was on the girls' volleyball team we could have practice matches or something!" Bokuto grinned, crossing his arms and leaning back.
"Bokuto…that'd be overkill." Yukie shook her head, imagining the girls getting hurt from his spikes, "It wouldn't be fair that they have to go against a team who've been to Nationals."
"Eh?!" The owlish ace drew out the vowel, groaning. He saw the implication with it, but he thought it would be a good idea.
"That sucks…"
After volleyball practice had ended, the team went their separate ways. Akaashi shoved his hands into his jacket, feeling a light chill from the evening. It was around 6 after practice had finished.
He heard the rumbling of his stomach and went for a detour to the closest convenience store, which was close by a sports centre. He bought an onigiri and walked slowly as he ate, passing by the sports centre.
When the automatic doors opened, he heard the slam of something loud against the ground, which surprised him. He turned his head to the side, seeing a volleyball roll on the ground and people on one side of the court looking at it roll with shocked expressions, and a few cheers from the other side of the court.
"Service ace!"
"Yeah! Good job! Service ace!"
That was a serve just now? Akaashi walked inside, curiosity sparking inside him. He took the stairs that led up to the second level bleachers, standing near the rails and taking a look down below at the volleyball court.
There were quite a number of people spectating the match, some of them which were there to wait for their kids to finish their sports lessons on the other part of the stadium.
Akaashi's eyes went downwards, observing the one that was currently serving. His steel coloured eyes widened when he saw that it was Shiori, dribbling the ball a few times.
She did mention that she played volleyball when she was younger, he recalled the conversation they had earlier in the classroom at lunch break. That's probably why she's playing recreationally. He looked at the teams, which both comprised of half girls and boys, all of whom seemed to be university students. It's rare to find a mixed gendered team.
When she stopped dribbling and felt the ball around on her left palm, her gaze went up so that it was level with the opponent's eyes. In response, the team crouched just slightly lower, as if they were getting extra prepared.
Akaashi noticed that change in atmosphere, but noted that the intensity shown in Shiori's eyes was intimidating. His brows furrowed as he watched, now leaning on the rail after finishing his onigiri.
How would it be on the receiving end of things? He watched as Shiori took a few steps back, her eyes on the ball as she exhaled, before throwing the ball high up into the air, and doing a run up jump before spiking it into the corner of the opponent's court.
"HAH!" The opposing team's libero dived to receive the ball, but it hit his arm at a weird angle, flying off to the side. "Damn it! Sorry!" He gritted his teeth.
"Don't mind! Next one, next one!" His team chorused.
"SERVICE ACE!" The serving team cheered, high fiving each other.
Akaashi noticed that Shiori wasn't celebrating, which confused him. Normally those who have a service ace or won a point, they would cheer or cheer on the person who had gotten the point. But, she didn't have any expression on her face, all except for the concentrated one she had before.
The setter eyed the scoreboard, seeing that they were in the middle of the first set, with the serving team currently leading 12-7.
That's quite a gap. Shiori-san's already gotten two service aces, Akaashi analysed. Judging by the serves that she was doing, she was pretty experienced.
But this serve style…He found it incredibly familiar to him. He'd seen it before, many, many times, but it had been a long time since he'd seen it. It was different seeing it this angle, but there was no doubt.
It came back to him almost immediately when she served again, but this time it didn't go to any players of the court, but rather, the side of the court where it would have been an out.
"OUT!" The opposing team shouted, watching the ball.
The ball hit the ground, and the setter's mouth opened slightly. The ball had painted the line, almost as if it was calculated to go there. The umpire blew the whistle and his arm raised to the serving side.
"ANOTHER SERVICE ACE!" The serving team cheered.
Shiori took the ball and bounced it a few times, glancing at the scoreboard. It was 13-7.
There's no doubt. Akaashi let a smile fall onto his lips as he watched. I knew the names were the same but to think that it was the same person…
He decided to stay for the rest of the match, getting his phone out to film the match. He wanted to get to the bottom of this.
Shiori got a few more service aces before she went back to targeting the libero, specifically aiming for him to get the ball up so that the game would resume without a service ace.
That insane control, that power…Akaashi didn't finish his thought when the whistle blew, signalling the end of the first set. Akaashi stopped the video recording and went to start a new one, taking a brief glance at the scores, 25-16, Shiori's team winning the first set.
He glanced at the time. It hadn't been long since he was there, but it was an intense game, since both teams had some intense servers, who were mainly one or two of the guys besides Shiori.
He began to film the second set, in which the Shiori's team won. The scores were around the same as last set. He finished recording and headed back down, checking the time. It was almost 6.30. He'd only been there for just under 30 minutes.
That was a quick game, Akaashi took one glance at Shiori, who was talking to some university students. He would have gone to tell her that it was a good game, but the look in her eyes when talking to her teammates about how good the game was what made Akaashi stop.
Instead, he went home, mind made up. It was around 6.45 when he got home. His mother was cooking dinner as he came home and greeted her, going straight up to his room to freshen up.
After dinner, he immediately went onto his computer and searched up Maebara Shiori, in the same kanji that he found her name to be written on her notebook. When he saw the results, he knew his hunch had been correct.
I'm surprised it took me this long to figure it out. I should have followed my hunch back then, Akaashi remembered when he heard Shiori's name when he first met her through Bokuto. He had thought of the female volleyball player that was only a year older than him, but brushed it off as it was probably a coincidence that there was someone with the same name.
But what is she doing in Tokyo? He questioned, clicking on a few articles. His eyes scanned through them, and he even watched videos from when she was in official matches.
He transferred the videos he took earlier and looked at them closely on the screen. It was definitely her, no doubt, but it was also different.
He went back to the articles, which had blurry pictures of Shiori from when she was in middle school, touted as the nation's best female middle school server.