For the last game of the day, Fukurodani eventually had to face their final match with Nekoma according to the practice schedule. Yachi followed Konoha and Washio towards the court where the team will be facing with Nekoma.
Yachi suddenly yelped when she felt a pair of hands covering her eyes out of nowhere.
"Guess who?"
The voice spoke and Yachi was a little surprised at the calm toned voice. She recognized the voice but isn't sure if she was right since this person weren't likely to pull pranks like this to her.
So she had no idea whose hands these belong to.
"U-um…I'm not sure who is covering my eyes but why did you answer, Kozume-san?" She spoke up.
When the hands eventually lifted from her eyes, she turned around to see a bewildered Kuroo and Kenma standing before her.
"Eh, I'm surprised that you knew that it wasn't Kenma's hands. What gave it away?" Kuroo asked curiously.
Yachi was a little shy to explain it so manages with a simple, "Intuition..."
"Or maybe your hands smell really gross." Kenma added easily while he walked away.
Kuroo gasped with a hurt expression, "Wh-what? That sounds really wrong. My hands don't smell at all, right Yacchan?"
"It's nothing like that." She replied politely.
"You don't have to lie, Yachi-san." Yaku said casually as he passes by Kuroo's back and this comment left Kuroo scowling at the libero.
Yachi chuckled lightly. Before joining Fukurodani's team on the other side of the court, Kuroo suddenly said, "Can you cheer for me in this match, Yacchan?"
"Eh?" Yachi was a little bit confused.
The edge of his lips stretched upwards and he tilted his head, "I feel like I can do a hundred times better if you cheer for me and the team."
"Um…I –" As Yachi was trying to explain that she was felt awkward if she had cheered on for Nekoma's team when she is on the other side of the court with Fukurodani.
Suddenly, another voice instantly cuts in and this newcomer placed their arm around her shoulders. "Why are you trying to steal our manager again? Let's go Yacchan." Konoha said before he was able to take Yachi away from Kuroo.
Yachi wasn't able to say a proper reply to Kuroo but since she was being dragged towards Fukurodani's team, she could only give an apologetic expression and mouthed towards Kuroo, "Good luck, Kuroo-san."
Once Yachi joins Fukurodani, Konoha gently patted Yachi's head and smiled. "Don't worry too much about that sneaky captain, Yacchan. You're with us for the rest of the day."
"Y-yes, Konoha-senpai." She replied.
Sarukui perked up when he sees Yachi, "Eh? Did Yachi gets stolen away again?"
"It can't be helped that Yacchan is small." Komi added with a light laughter, "Let's do our best for this match, Yacchan!" He pumped his fist up.
Yachi nodded, "U-un!"
As the Fukurodani members were called to gather around by their coach, Yachi stands on the sidelines and watches as the Fukurodani's advisor and coach gave some pointers before the start of the match against Nekoma.
As Yachi listens to them attentively, she recognizes how deep their rivalry is against the Nekoma team.
To be seriously taking each other as rivals and respect them at the same time, it's admirable how sportsmanship can exceed such noble values. The words from Bokuto's conversation from earlier echoes in her mind.
"Once you are in a sports team – comradeship is usually very close between members so we always look out for each other without having second thoughts."
Yachi trails her eyes over the other side of the court and her eyes landed on her own team, where Karasuno were currently getting ready for their match against Ubugawa team. She sees the way their energy vibrates around their area and how energized they were to look forward their next match.
Yachi smiles when she sees Hinata and Kageyama seem to bicker with each other again as they were hitting each other shoulders by slapping with the volleyballs they were currently holding, only to have Ennoshita to scold them easily and they stopped, embarrassed that they were being lectured again.
Near them, she sees Tsukishima rolling his eyes and Yamaguchi snickering behind his mouth when they see their first year teammates gets scolded again.
Yamaguchi, as if he was able to tell that someone was looking at him, shifted his eyes and stared back to Yachi who was looking at them attentively.
Yachi blinked for bit before she placed on a wider smile and waved at him. Yamaguchi smiles shyly before waving back at her and mouthed, "Do your best, Yachi!"
"You too, Yamaguchi-kun. Do your best!" She mouthed back.
Yamaguchi's cheeks were slightly painted with a light blush as he feels a little giddy at the way Yachi smiles brightly at him. Even though she was on the other side of the court with another team, her smile from the distance didn't fail to make his heart flutter.
Tsukishima, who caught Yamaguchi waving and smiling loosely, smirked when he sees his childhood friend's expression. "You make it look so obvious, Yamaguchi."
Yamaguchi stops his movement and jumps when Tsukishima commented, looking back to the taller blond in panic as he stammered, "Wh-what are you talking about, Tsukki?"
Tsukishima rolled his eyes and moved away, not giving away any of his thoughts to this comment anymore. Yamaguchi panics even further and followed Tsukki while asking what he meant by his previous statement.
So far the match between Fukurodani and Nekoma was going pretty well. Yachi made sure that she keeps the members hydrated and gave them the towels they needed. Some members needed extra help with wrapping since their fingers were getting bruises from the play and Yachi diligently helped them out.
Well as if things could go super easily during training camps.
It has been nearing the end of the first set when Nekoma turns the tide against Fukurodani with Lev and Kuroo rotating to the front and kept Bokuto's spikes getting blocked.
And to Yachi's surprise, Bokuto suddenly pouts in the middle of the game and became agitated when his spikes couldn't get through the blockers. She felt the tension of the Fukurodani team went rigid with restlessness when Bokuto started to grumble and pouts in miserable tone.
At some point, Akaashi then called the captain out. "Bokuto-san, you need to calm down."
"I am calm! I can get the next time, I swear!" Bokuto shouts with a childish pout and this time it made the entire team sighs with tiredness when Bokuto's true colors about his feelings finally came out.
"Ah, here it comes again." Komi commented with annoyance as Konoha merely frowned at the sight.
Yachi was a little bit flustered at what happened but then she remembered the conversation she had with the Fukurodani members previously.
'Was this…his emo-mode?' Yachi wondered.
"One more time!" Bokuto yells for another spike as Akaashi smoothly carried out the ball to Bokuto's way.
As soon as Bokuto jumps to hit the ball, the long arms of Nekoma's blockers stretched out quickly and blocked Fukurdonai's ace again in a swift motion.
The Nekoma cheers for their earned points and the referee signals for the end of the first set which was won by Nekoma. The Nekoma members cheered together for their win for this set and Yachi sees Kuroo smirked towards Bokuto's way as if he was challenging him.
Bokuto seethed with frustration and puffed his cheeks.
'Somehow he acts more childish than I thought in his emo mode.' Yachi thinks as she sees the Fukurodani members gathered around Bokuto and called him out.
"Bokuto, you should stop being pouty like a kid. We'll get the next set." Komi patted Bokuto's back.
"No!" Bokuto cried, gritting his teeth, "My spikes…keeps getting blocked….I'm so annoyed!"
"Bokuto-san, calm down –" Akaashi tried to reason with him but the captain instead huffed and walked away from them, walking to the other side of the court for the court switch in second set.
Yachi and the rest of the Fukurodani team sighs. It seems that this could be a troublesome outcome if Bokuto keeps being in his incomprehensible mode for the next set.
"I-is there anything we can do to help him, Akaashi-san?"
Akaashi turns his head towards Yachi, "The team usually let him calm down on his own but that kind of hinders our flow of the game so it's better if we can try to make him get back of his good mood again."
"So what do you usually do when Bokuto-san is like that?" Yachi asks curiously.
Akaashi lightly smiles, "Various ways. Sometimes we get him to hype up by turning silly logic or attention to him. Our managers usually like to hype him up by telling him that the crowd or a pretty girl is giving him attention."
Yachi couldn't help but laughed lightly at the ridiculous reasoning.
Akaashi smiles widened at the sound of Yachi's light laughter. 'Cute.' The comment echoes in his mind when he sees Yachi's smiling expression.
"Silly, right?" Akaashi asked.
Yachi only smiles lightly in return, "I can understand from your point. But it does somehow make me understand more about Bokuto-san's personality. It's amazing how a person could be so interesting."
She had always thought Bokuto was the epitome of an ace. Big, loud, confident and powerful. But just like Karasuno's ace, despite their overwhelming appearance and power – they also have some sides to them that are quite humane. Having flaws are part of being an extraordinary person after all.
Somehow that revelation comforts her a little bit.
When the rest of the Fukurodani members reached the other side of the court, Yachi watches as the members kept hitting Bokuto's back and trying to hype him up. On the other hand, Bokuto merely grumbled and followed to Akaashi's advice in trying to calm himself so that he doesn't feel irked again by the constant blocks of spikes.
It was actually sort of amazing, even without Bokuto bringing the scores in the game – Fukurodani seemed to be able to hold on to their momentum and steadily get their points back in return.
Yachi notes all of this down in her book again, the more she spends her time more with the other team, the more she learns about how volleyball is so much bigger than she had thought.
There were strategies and tactics that she has never seen before, the attacks and defense that even Karasuno team haven't been doing and the mindset to how the players, coaches and advisors took turns in trying to win out the best out of the game was also different.
In swift minutes, the Fukurodani team were able to win back the second set. The team cheered on their hard work and patted on Bokuto again, reassuring him that they were able to handle to game properly.
"It's your time to turn this thing around, Ace!" Konoha hit Bokuto's back exaggeratedly, making the owl captain staggered in his footing.
"R-right…right." Bokuto replied absentmindedly before he walked dazedly to the other court to switch. It seemed like Bokuto isn't back in his good mood yet.
The rest of the team members sighed again when they watched Bokuto in dejected expression.
"If he keeps being like that then we'll be the ones handling it for the rest of the day even after practice hours." Washio stated. Sarukui and Konoha groaned and held their heads.
"Ugh I don't want to take care of that big baby after practice hours!" Konoha wailed.
"There is nothing else we can do. It's not like we're going to play the game badly when he's like that." Komi added.
"Wait 'till he starts being whiny during dinner time." Konoha gritted in response before Komi shuddered.
"Yeah, that won't be peaceful at all." Komi replied.
Yachi watches the whole thing with a worried expression. Even though the Fukurodani team seems like they're used to it, Yachi somehow doesn't feel comfortable seeing the bright owl captain to turn all sour and down like that. It feels sort of…pitiful and she just feels saddened that such a bright person like can switch off his mood so quickly.
It's like seeing Hinata getting sad and Yachi remembers the sorrowful feeling when her sunshine friend turns out feeling miserable like that.
Yachi was unsure on how she could help him but…she'll be willing to try. So she walks towards the owl captain with a bottle in her hand and poked his shoulder a few times, gaining his attention.
Bokuto turned around and saw Yachi's face and blinked. "Oh, Yacchan."
It could be her imagination but did his hair seemed like it withered down because of his mood?
"Here you go, Bokuto-san." She hands him out the cool water bottle and watched him drank the bottle. "How are you feeling, Bokuto-san?"
Bokuto sighed when he separated his lips from the bottle and frowned, "Upset. My spikes keep getting blocked and I feel really frustrated. Everything is going down."
"So you are unhappy? I'm so sorry to hear that, Bokuto-san."
"Hn….I'm sorry I look super uncool right now."
"It's okay, Bokuto-san. I'm actually kind of surprised that I get to see this side of you."
Bokuto tilts his head, "Hn?"
Yachi smiles, "I always forget that even the strongest and most confident people I know are also human. I'm also impressed by how the team are so good in taking care of each other and support the team even when their ace is feeling down."
"Yeah…my team is really cool." Bokuto added, with a light chuckle.
"But Bokuto-san, you are also cool." Yachi stated, her hands lightly played the edge of her shirt, feeling a little embarrassed somehow. "Even though you may seem like you can be feeling down sometimes, you are also extremely powerful when it comes to your spikes. I also learned recently that volleyball isn't just about the scores and tactics."
Yachi smiles shyly and lightly shifted her gaze back to Fukurodani's team. She learned something big from spending time with this team. Something that she'll be able to remember for a last time.
"It's the people that also makes volleyball a worthy sport. You have amazing teammates who are confident in your abilities and your lead. Supporting each other's backs… so it's already like a second nature for them. So when you're feeling down like this…I'm very sure that you can be the great ace in the end no matter what because...because…"
"Because…" Bokuto trails off, curious to hear what she is about to say.
"When it comes to the word Ace, I think I can only imagine you from now on."
Bokuto Koutaro is the epitome of the word Ace. From his physique and his skills, his aura gave the confidence of an ace. Despite his boisterous personality and his difficult moods at times, Yachi knew that the core of being the strongest ace was still there in his heart.
Bokuto is not just proud of himself but also the people supporting him. That is why the team is so good with each other. With the way they trust each other and carry each other's backs, even when it seems like their ace could be missing from scoring points, they weren't shaken by the loss at all.
Because they knew that Bokuto was still there with them.
It's almost poetic for Yachi who learns of this by spending time with Fukurodani. Perhaps this is why they always go to the nationals every year. It's not just skills needed to carry the team to the national's stage but also their mindset and their comradeship.
"So I hope you can feel better soon, Bokuto-san." Yachi lastly said and gave him a fist pump to hype him again.
Bokuto stared at Yachi, his eyes gazed into her bright brown eyes closely. He already knew that the timid little manager from Karasuno was new to volleyball but who knew she would be catching up so quickly.
From her shy smiles, her flushed cheeks, her bright eyes and her sweet voice. Bokuto finds his insides melting when he's near her. Just everything about Yachi screams cute.
This time, her encouragement also proved to be effective. Bokuto learns that Yachi may be timid and shy, but even with her small figure she's also learning to spread her wings with confidence and kindness.
"To use my own words to help me…you're quite bold, Yachi." Bokuto lightly chuckle at himself as he looked down.
"Bokuto-san?" Yachi was surprised by the slight change in his demeanor.
Bokuto lifts up his face proudly and smiled brightly before laughing away. "Hahaha! You're absolutely right, Yacchan!"
"Bokuto-san, eh – Bokuto-san?!" Yachi squealed when suddenly she finds herself being lifted up from the ground and swayed in the air by Bokuto's hands on her hips as he lifted her up easily with his own strength.
"I am Fukurodani's greatest Ace, hey hey hey!" He declared loudly while twirling Yachi in the air as the smaller girl squealed in fright with the ground being so far away from her feet.
"B-Bokuto-san, p-put me down." Yachi tries to call him out but her voice weakens when Bokuto keeps carrying her up.
"Bokuto-san, you're making her sick by twirling her like that in the air." The hero comes to rescue the day, Akaashi came by and scolded Bokuto to stop his silly antics.
Seeing Yachi's eyes dazed and unfocused, Bokuto stops twirling in the air and gently lowered her down to the ground. "Oops, sorry, Yacchan." Bokuto apologizes but not really letting her go yet.
Before letting Yachi off from his arms, he leaned down to Yachi and gently rubs his face to her hair. "Yacchan~" He coos at her, as if he had been healed by the embrace.
Yachi couldn't find her voice to speak out since her head was still spinning. With Bokuto sudden closeness to her, she could only feel overwhelmed and flustered. Her cheeks flushed red at the contact and her eyes widened at the close proximity.
Akaashi bit his lower lip and finally reached out to Yachi to free her away from Bokuto's locking arms around her. "That's enough, Bokuto-san. I'm glad you're feeling better but please refrain from squeezing our temporary manager to death."
"Mou~ I'm not squeezing her to death. Yacchan's soft and small, so she fits perfectly in my arms." Bokuto pouted in return.
Akaashi narrowed his eyes at the captain with that reasoning. "You should refrain from saying things like that when you're near the Karasuno team, Bokuto-san. Or else Daichi-san is going to be mad."
"Yes, yes~" Bokuto ignored Akaashi's advice and patted Yachi's head before he slipped away, "Yosh! Let's win this set!"
"Yeah!" The rest of the Fukurodani team cheered up again when their captain returned in his good mood.
"It felt like I just went through a thunderstorm." Yachi muttered as she tries to keep her head intact without feeling the dizziness in her head again.
"Are you alright, Yachi-san?" Akaashi asked.
Yachi nodded, giving him a tired smile. "I'm okay. I'm glad that he feels better."
Akaashi smiles in return and then patted her head, "Thank you, Yachi-san." He then gently brushed a hair lock away from her face and bring it back behind her ear.
Yachi's heart flutters a little at the gesture as Akaashi's lips tugged further at Yachi's slight shiver by his fingers touching her intimately before he lets her go and walked towards his team.
Yachi huffs to herself, her face flushed from the previous actions the members of Fukurodani did to her and bit her bottom lip. "Goodness." She sighed before she joins the sidelines to support the team until the end of the practice.
Author's Notes:
Hello everyone! I'm sorry for the absence, I hope you all can forgive me with today's update.
I actually struggled a lot with this and the upcoming chapter since it's another bridge between one team to another and I'm trying to make sure everything is natural and smooth. Hopefully it can turn out well. Bokuto's emo mode is here and Yachi tries her best to help hehe.
I also want to say that I might change my updates a bit after the new year. I guess it'll be up to how I can write this story because starting in January I think I'll be super busy with work so I'll update as much as I can. I won't abandon this story but I'm not sure if I can keep up in uploading three chapters every week. But I'll try to manage my time and upload at least once a week.
It's been rough lately even though the year is closing. Someone close to me got covid so our family had to do test right away, thankfully we were all tested negative but we still have to be isolated in our homes. I might not be super active but I'll try my best! It's kind of hard to stay happy and in good thoughts during this pandemic when it hits close to your home. I just hope we can make it through and stay healthy for 2021.
Please be safe and make sure to wash your hands and cover your face with a mask every time you go out. I'm sure you all know this by now but please be extra careful as always!
Thank you all for reading, I'll see you in the next chapter!
