[19-12]
Crap...Ritsu wiped away small drops of sweat running down her chin, her gray-blue eyes studied the tactical patterns of the opposite team in a faint hope of figuring out a plan to counterattack. Akashi's versatility on ground and in the air changed the flow of the game drastically, his team didn't show many flaws and openings but it was even worse now. The boy's presence was overwhelming on court. And to say, she had triggered this bad turnover...
She leaped to block Akashi. Both above the net, the ball was smashed and squeezed between Akashi's power and Ritsu's resistance for an instant before it was ejected out of bounds, interrupting another game on the right court.
She examined the state of her hands, they were completely red and pain was scorching her palms due to the restless match. She then clenched her fists. This heat proved her something, that this game was drawing to a close.
This turnover was bound to happen whether she triggered it or not, because Akashi was striving for victory. The overbearing presence at this stage of the game was a manifestation of his determination to win, and seeing how long this match had dragged on without her team taking the lead once, only one thing remained to do for him: Crush all last hopes for a come-back and secure his victory.
"...aka-san! A-Asaka-san!" Maeda stammered while calling out to her, her hands glued on her chest out of nervousness.
At the shaky yet loud call, Ritsu drew out of her meditation and blinked in disbelief. "What is it, Maeda-san?"
"I REALLY want to be of some help! Be it attacking, setting the ball or receiving, if you think I can, then please let me!" She begged, mustering all her courage to speak up.
"Hey, what's gotten into you? Who do you think is the reason we're in deep shit?" Takeda spat, "You're shooting down most of our opportunities! I can't even take a breath as I have to keep covering your mistakes!"
"I know you can't play well because of me! I suck at volleyball, I can't change it, but...but when I see you two doing your best to support me, I...I really really want to do more for the team! So let me assist you for once!" She spluttered, leaning forward so as to get heard by Takeda, "Please!"
After her plea, the girl didn't notice she was only a breath away from the boy's face. Too shocked to even move, his head mechanically swiveled to Ritsu, his gaze calling for help, though she was as stupefied as him. Maeda's initiative sure was frantic but at the same time relieving. The girl who had almost thrown the towel right off the bat was now the one who was the least ready to give up. It made her smile.
"I'll take you up on that, then." Ritsu praised her initiative and then turned to the reluctant boy. "Takeda-san?"
"Do what you want. At this point, it's not like we'll win anyways."
Takeda squinted at the flip board and read their current score, and dejectedly turned his eyes away from it, already kissing his victory and good grade goodbye.
His moral was completely down, and well, she couldn't blame him for that. These kinds of negative thoughts did cross her mind more than once. The odds were stacked against them all along the game, every one of their attempts had been in vain and barely showed significant results unlike the opposite team. Dominated and at thirteen points away of victory while the other team was only at six points, efforts seemed quite pointless as of now.
Nevertheless, even though she sympathized with his feelings, this losing attitude would not help them achieve victory. She couldn't accept it. For that naive reason, she wanted to win with Maeda and Takeda.
"Takeda-san," The tall boy looked at her askance, "you can be desperate but don't lose hope yet."
"Come again?" He interjected at a loss. "Did you too hit your–W-Wait, does that mean..." He then stumbled for his words as he caught a glimmer of hope in her eyes.
"No, I don't have any plan in mind." Ritsu instantly shot down his delusion; she couldn't promise him miracles when their situation might not improve greatly. "But I do have confidence in my skills. Even Maeda seems to believe enough in herself to take her play to the next level. It really sounds like nothing and it might be true, nevertheless, haven't you heard about that saying «desperate times calls for desperate measures»? We may be desperate but we're still standing, there are still things we can do."
"F-Fine! However," Takeda huffed, "let me hammer something into your head, Asaka!"
The next second, he scrunched up his face with anger, shooting daggers at her for an unknown reason. He made a step in her direction and faced her sharply.
"I don't want to freaking hear THAT from a volleyball team regular! At least, say YOU can beat the crap out of them! Maeda and me can be desperate all we want but at your level, don't give me that shit of being unable to stand against and beat a midget and two novices in your chosen field! It's clear you can do a lot more, so just fucking do it! You're the best player of our team, act like it!"
Takeda had blown a fuse, forgetting to mind his speech as his blood kept boiling. Ritsu was at loss for words but she heard him well. His words didn't ring hollow inside her. Like he said, she was their best chance to turn the situation over, was it still the time to play it humble?
«You shouldn't belittle yourself.» Out of the blue, Akashi's words reverberated in the deepest part of her mind.
Ritsu smiled at Takeda and gave him a resolute nod.
"Takeda-san, Maeda-san, take the next point at all costs. If we have the point, next will be my turn to serve."
"I thought you got no plan."
"Because it's not. Didn't I tell you I believe in my skills? That's all there is to it." Ritsu said, squinting her eyes at the opposite trio. "I really have no idea what awaits us, but after making us chase after them, we must respond in kind."
Takeda received Shimizu's serve, Maeda and Ritsu following up. But their attack didn't make it through, all thanks to Akashi. The latter kept the ball in play and their retaliation started. Swiftly and strongly, the ball crossed the other side. At the sight, Maeda braced herself and put her arms forward. Unfortunately, things didn't go smoothly for her. Akashi's spike was too powerful for a novice like her to absorb its force and send it back safely. In her attempt, she bent her arms inward and thus, slightly changing the direction of the ball at this speed. Instead, the ball flew straight at her head and smashed her forehead.
"Maeda-san!" Ritsu cried.
Stunned by the impact, the girl wobbled on her feet, her hands clutching her forehead in pain. Although worried about her, Ritsu couldn't let it get to her. The ball was still in play. She rushed to it and shouted instructions for Takeda across the court, and Maeda too, as the girl waved her hand, telling her that she was fine. No hesitation in her decision, she tossed the ball alongside the net. Both her teammates headed to the net, carefully concentration on the low arc of the ball. Maeda jumped first, seeing Shimizu and Akashi following her lead.
In the air, the girl lowered her right arm, when behind her, Takeda's silhouette sprang high and spiked the ball, aiming between Shimizu's arms.
The whistle of the referee blew sweetly in favor of her team. [19-13]
"Maeda-san, are you all right?" Ritsu ran up to her.
"I-I'm okay." She assured with a smile.
Ritsu thought the opposite by looking at her. In the middle of her forehead, a round and big red spot boldly contrasted with her pale complexion and tears were welling up in the corner of her eyes out of pain.
"At least...I didn't totally screw up this time! I-It's our turn to counterattack!"
"Um." confirmed Ritsu, moved by Maeda's spirit.
Even though she did say at all costs, she didn't mean to act so recklessly. Well, Maeda didn't hurt herself on purpose; nonetheless, instead of retreating, she ignored the pain and immediately participated in the offense. A part of her wanted to condemn such attitude but Ritsu couldn't hold it against her. In contrast to the defeated girl from the beginning, Maeda seemed to have taken a liking to the game itself and showed it in the most determined way. Wasn't that inspiring?
"Thanks to you. I'll make good use of this opportunity you've created for us."
Maeda giggled in a timid manner and tried to hide her happiness behind her bangs.
It was her turn to serve. Her hands gripping the ball, Ritsu took a deep breath and concentrated. After all the efforts her team made so far, she had no room for error so as to not disappoint Takeda and Maeda. If they wished for victory, so would she.
A few meters behind the end line, she threw the ball high in the air and took a few steps forward. She jumped, pacing her action with the speed of the falling ball. When she reached the apex of her jump and the ball reached the perfect height, she hit the ball with the best premises.
The ball blew past the net and left the opposite court with no reaction.
Ritsu grinned at the sound of the whistle.
An ace and the first of many. Time to show what a Teikō volleyball team player can do!
Three aces in a row, Yagami counted, sharing the same collective admiration among the students. It was spectacular comeback. Ritsu completely shut Akashi and his team down. Nonetheless, Yagami couldn't help but keep a guarded eye on the situation.
In her fourth serve, Akashi managed to redirect the ball but his control was lacking. It headed right to the middle of net. Ritsu was losing her focus bit by bit. Of course, she couldn't concentrate that long on such a high level for her serves. Every spectacular prowess required a great deal of efforts, whatever the potential.
With the next serve, Akashi broke the chain of aces. The boy urged his team to regroup and darted to the net alongside Shimizu after tossing the ball to Aoyama. As he was about to spike, Ritsu burst into his view. It was too late for him to attempt any change. The ball was blocked.
[19-18] Only one point and they were tied. Thanks to Ritsu's momentum, her team got their head out of the water, and she might even add that they were on a good way to victory as long as they kept on riding this powerful wave.
However, at the start of the next turn, Ritsu's decision upset her. Yagami frowned suddenly as her volleyball partner returned to very basic serves for an unfathomable reason. And needless to say, it cut her teams momentum short. What was she thinking?
Although those serves were exhausting, Ritsu should still have the physical resources to pull it off. Did Akashi's threat put a damper on her over-zealousness?
Watching the ball pass from hand to hand, from court to court, Yagami looked at the jumping form of the ashblonde girl ready to challenge Akashi in an aerial battle. Both leapt in the air, Akashi extended his arms while Ritsu smashed the ball.
For a fleeting moment, Yagami could have sworn she saw the volleyball team ace, Hoshino's shadow overlapping Ritsu's. The next instant, a deafening sound echoed throughout the gym and commanded silence. Until a whistle blow broke it.
Yagami reorganized her thoughts and somewhat laughed at herself for the hasty judgement. No doubt about it, Asaka was still riding on that strong wave, she just changed her gears to a more aggressive style.
That sheer power was proof enough.
"Woah!" Ritsu's classmate gasped in shock, "Better not take up a fight with Asaka! Where did she draw that much strength? She couldn't do a thing against Akashi-kun's team until just now!"
"You might not know, but Asaka is known to be better on offense than support in the volleyball club, even if she tells you otherwise. What you're seeing right now is Asaka at the best of her abilities."
Praticing together, she noted the difference of power and technique when it comes to offense skills. Ritsu hit harder and jumped higher than her, denoting some good volleyball experiences behind her.
Yagami tightened her arms around her legs and pulled them against her chest. No wonder Hoshino was appointed as her mentor. Technically speaking, those two were alike.
Nevertheless, Ritsu should realize that she was only Hoshino's shadow at her level. Despite the dropping accuracy, she should have taken the risk of keeping on serving at full power and responding in terms of the momentum if countered instead of completely giving up the serves and hoping for a new momentum that had yet to find a reason to be triggered. Akashi might be a threat but his responses were still too weak compared to her strength. Maybe Ritsu was being overcautious because of her team, which might be detrimental for her.
By pushing herself to such an aggressive style, she was draining her stamina way too quickly. And, as far as she knew, stamina was one of Ritsu's weakest points, unlike Hoshino.
She was pushing her limits in the wrong way. Even so, would it still be considered fundamentally wrong if she achieved victory like this?
Yagami left the question unanswered and kept the answer for her own eyes to see.
Teamwork or individual skills, Ritsu had already chosen her way of fighting, and she better go through with it till the end or any hesitation might be fatal.
[20-21]
*pants**pants*
Ritsu was trying to catch her breath. Akashi was gradually responding fiercer than before. His technique clearly lacked in some aspects compared to hers but it was enough to exhaust her.
Neither team wanting to lose ground near the end of the match, the ball often happened to fly back and forth from one side of the court to another without a decisive hit, which was getting the best of everyone.
Looking around, Aoyama and Shimizu were both short of breath for a while now. Akashi, on the other hand showed much more endurance, yet his face was still strained owing to the efforts. When she turned her gray-blue eyes to her team, the sight was also terrible. Maeda was panting heavily, barely finding the strength to remain on her legs. Drops of sweat were slipping down Takeda's face. No matter how hard he tried to get his breath back, his condition wouldn't improve.
At the sight, Ritsu wondered if she had gone too far. Since she decided to gear her play to full-offense, Takeda and Maeda had done everything possible to keep up with the restless pace. And now her team was near exhaustion. Even she was no longer at her best physical condition. At this rate, if felt like they would never see the end of the line.
Talk about leadership! In her eagerness, she kept on calling for tosses while one-sidedly going for the attack. Maeda and Takeda said nothing about it and supported her. But was it all right to keep on like this? Perhaps they kept just their mouths shut as they had no choice but to follow her in order to win.
The thought upset her. Can it still be called teamwork, let alone a team?
She couldn't go on alone like this. Maeda and Takeda were losing their focus and technical errors increased due to exhaustion. Unlike her, they weren't athletes. Without support, her skills cannot make a big difference. The beginning of the game revealed that much.
She had to slow it down for their sake, and for the sake of achieving victory together.
"Takeda-san, Maeda-san, can you still fight?"
"Ah...yes, totally...!" The tall boy said between his breaths. "Why do you ask?"
"I'll be relying a little on you two...I'm reaching my limit."
"But we're near the end!" Takeda cried out, "Can't you hang on till the end? Akashi must be at his limit too!"
Ritsu shook her head. "I'm losing concentration; it's not good at all. Maeda and you, too, have trouble keeping up with my pace, I noticed. Your reactions are getting slower by the minute. Instead of going stronger, our team is weakening if we're going on like this...while Akashi's team seems more or less able to keep up the fight. Didn't you notice how Akashi is being responsive to our offense?"
Takeda swallowed her decision through spite and gave in after facing the truth of her facts.
Nothing else to add, Ritsu took a deep breath. The end was near.
Maeda's serve resumed the uphill battle. Both teams went on an endless struggle, attacking and defending.
[21-22]
Three points left, Ritsu whispered between her breaths.
Breathing became hard, really hard. Running and jumping too. Every movement felt so heavy and stiff, as though her body was abruptly subjected to the effects of gravity.
Damn. By slowing down her pace, she believed it would help breathe a new spark into the team. But somehow it felt even tougher and more tiring than when she was alone on the offense. She couldn't even maintain a proper level of action. She was aware of her average stamina; she was often picked on by Hoshino and other volleyball club members because of it. Nonetheless...
"ASAKA! The ball!"
The desperate shout snapped her out of her thoughts and came from Takeda. The latter screwed up his receiving, making the ball drift off back to the end line.
The time Ritsu caught on what was going on, the ball was already falling down and on the verge of going out of bounds. Assimilating that flow of information with a glance, Ritsu leapt on her feet as fast as possible.
She couldn't let the ball touch the ground. She couldn't lose a point so stupidly. Just because of moment of inattention!
As the ball was about to touch the ground, her left wrist lifted it up back to the net, leaving Takeda and Maeda to take care of the rest. She saved the ball in extremis. Yet she couldn't say the same about herself. She flew so quickly to the ball that when she dug it, she almost fell flat on her face.
"Asaka-san! Everything okay?" Momoi hurried over to her and knelt next to her while briefly examining her state.
"Ah...Um, y-ye—" A sharp pain in her right wrist reduced her to silence as she was getting up.
Knowing what this pain meant, Ritsu gritted her teeth discreetly out of frustration. She sprained it by using her right hand as body support to break her fall. How reckless of her!
"Asaka-san?" Momoi repeated, worried.
"Ah...Ah! Y-Yes, I'm fine...!" Ritsu lied, moving a little around to prove it.
"You sure? You fell pretty hard." Aomine remarked as he extended his hand to help her get on her feet.
"Um," She shook her head under Aomine and Momoi's suspicious gazes. "Don't worry, I didn't get hurt! I was just caught up in the heat of the moment!"
"In the heat of the moment? Only idiots are losing themselves in a game and take inconsiderate risks to the point of getting injured." Midorima chided her, examining her from head to toe with a masked concern.
"Midorima-kun!" Momoi told him off for the unnecessary advice.
"Er, thanks for the concern, Midorima-kun..."
"Don't listen to him! That guy doesn't know how to appreciate a game!" Aomine added. At his back, a vein popped on Midorima's temple, who didn't seem to have appreciated that silly comment.
She chuckled. When she returned to the court, Maeda and Takeda ran up to her, both worried as well.
"A-Asaka-san!"
"Sorry, Asaka!" Takeda apologized immediately for his mistake. "You didn't get hurt, I hope?"
"No, just some bruises. I'm also to blame, I was kind of lost in my thoughts."
"T-That's good, then..." His voice lowered in embarrassment, which brought a faint smile to her face. "You scared us by falling flat like that."
Did she fall that hard? The moment that stupid question popped in her mind, her body instantly answered it in its own way. Her wrist was hurting, burning in pain. No matter how hard she tried to ignore it, each of her wrist movements intensified the pain.
She sighed, asking herself whether she should give up or continue. Her heart was still racing along the wild beats of the game. Yet, reason would have that she gave up. Playing in that condition would only worsen her injury, and she certainly couldn't afford that as an athlete.
Her lips parted, but Takeda didn't seem to notice and said:
"We don't know what we'd do without you. Look at the score!"
He pointed his index at the flip board. [22-22]
Even though they lost the point, Takeda didn't seem to mind it, surprisingly. Their spectacular comeback had likely improved his mood. Well, they closed the gap from thirteen to three points, anybody would be in high spirits at such an accomplishment. Though it was too soon to count the chickens before they're hatched.
"We can do it!" Takeda exclaimed.
"J-Just a little more!" Maeda followed up.
Somehow, their enthusiasm was so unreserved that she couldn't help but be touched. After all their efforts, how could she even think an instant of letting them down?
Her mouth shut and she swallowed all her words and her pain. If nobody knows about her sprain, who can actually stop her, except herself?
Her decision was made. Instead of worrying about the consequences, she would focus on victory for now.
«Just a little more» won't kill her.
[25-22]
At the final blow, Ritsu closed her eyes and exhaled deeply. Expecting a better ending would have been too much to ask, she figured, defeated.
"I'm sorry, Takeda-san, Maeda-san."
The boy and the girl exchanged puzzled looks before Maeda eventually dared to ask the reason.
"What for?"
"Well, we didn't even score a point in the last minutes and lost."
"Ah, that," Takeda rubbed his nape, feeling guilty. "Don't let it get to you. True, I was frantic about the victory stuff and forced your hand. And, er, well, I apologize for that, I sort of got stressed about my grade and," He took a quick glance at the girl before he looked away, as though he couldn't bear what he was about to say, "being teamed up with Maeda didn't help."
Maeda lowered her gaze, hiding a little blush.
"Honestly, it's too bad we didn't win, but overall, we didn't do too badly! Right, Maeda?"
At the friendly nudge, the girl flinched and fumbled for words. Being too accustomed to his harsh treatment, she didn't know how to respond to the bright smile he was giving her. She blushed even more and bit her lips before she mustered the courage to speak.
"...Um-Hm, Y-YES! I had fun playing!" She cried out loud while bowing in front of him. "REALLY! With you, Asaka-san and you, T-TAKEDA-KUN!"
"D-Don't be so loud and raise your head, i-it's getting embarrassing!"
Takeda pulled a face while Maeda nodded furiously at his words.
Upon seeing them behave like happy little kids, Ritsu smiled softly at them. She then mouthed a silent apology to the duo for having kept her injury secret from them. Despite her guilt, she, too, shared the same feelings as them. She did have fun playing.
Crossing to the other side of the net, Akashi joined his teammates.
"Akashi-kun, you did well!" Momoi cheerfully greeted him. "Till the end I didn't know who would win between your team and Asaka's!"
"Thank you, Momoi."
Akashi cast a glance at his back and looked at his ashblonde classmate for a couple of seconds.
"You had a hard time holding her off at times, Akashi, but you had luck on your side." Midorima chimed in. "Today, Sagittarius is ranked second in Oha-asa Horoscope while Aries are ninth. By the way, Cancer is ranked fourth."
"Geez, Midorima-kun, why are you always like this?" The pink-haired girl told him off, both hands on her hips. "Wait a minute. Don't tell me that's why you were so confident about Akashi-kun's victory and were so mean to Asaka-san?"
Midorima stared at the girl and tightly gripped his hand mirror, which didn't escape the girl's attention. "Oha-asa Horoscope is not to be taken lightly."
"As if it changes anything. Even being ranked fourth and with your stupid lucky item, you couldn't have done better against Asaka, Midorima! She would have beaten you to a pulp. You saw her spikes just like me!" Aomine butted in, annoyed to hear the same tune from his teammate. To support his arguments, the tanned boy then suddenly reproduced the movement. "Wa-Shoo!"
The green-haired boy's eyebrow twitched.
"Don't be embarrassed to admit her talent. She won't hear you!"
It was the straw that broke the camel's back. Midorima stomped towards Aomine. The two of them started to bicker like two elementary kids and wiithout any explanation, their quarrel changed to basketball.
"A-Aomine-kun! Give him back his glasses!" Momoi yelped while seeing her childhood friend putting Midorima's glasses out of reach and waving them in the air. Not wanting the situation to degenerate, she turned to Akashi. "Akashi-kun, we need to do- Huh? Akashi-kun?"
The boy was nowhere around their perimeter. She looked around and spotted him talking with the P.E teacher. All of a sudden, a crashing sound cause her to shift her gaze back to the two colorful heads near her.
Midorima's hand mirror was shattered to pieces. Needless to say, all life drained from him in an instant, knowing how superstitious he could be. The fragments sparkled cheerily on the floor. Even without his glasses Midorima could see them, his eyes glued to the shards.
"Hey, you three! What is that all about?!" their PE teacher hollered, stomping in their direction angrily.
You three...Although she had nothing to do with this mess, she was lumped together with the two boys. Momoi sighed and wished Akashi had been there to, at least to speak up for her.
"...Boys are sometimes so troublesome."
Next chapter, some fluffy moment with Akashi in the nurse office *heart*