paradox | ushijima wakatoshi

seventeen | dimple

ahahahaha guess who's back with a trashy update after 10 million years c:

***

Within the many teams competing for a spot in nationals, only one invincible team would be able to climb out of the masses and triumph in the Interhigh's Miyagi Preliminaries.

Karasuno High, with jackets in a shade even deeper than a crow's feathers showered the gym with their presence. With their uniform serving as their vibrant beacon, their presence became known with a powerful screech. When they had first embarked on this vicious journey, Karasuno were rookies, reckless and naive; unable to survive in the vicious arena. On the court, failure had outweighed their success, and soon, their inconsistent playing style and a myriad of impulsive decisions lead to their impending doom. After a brutal beat down, the crows which once flew unchained and impetuously, grew thirsty for change. Under the wing that the team as a whole offered, each member strived to grow by himself until he was satisfactory with the development of his skill and face the team. Kageyama Tobio had taken the longest time, after sacrificing both his meals and sleep to attain a special toss for each member.

Aoba Johsai High, with the title of an esteemed powerhouse looming over their heads, dominated the court with a confidence that challenged arrogance. The sensation radiated off in waves, seeping into the bodies of all of the players whom stood on the court like an impending virus; the contagiousness multiplying after each match. The captain, Oikawa Tōru stood nearly unchallenged as he set perfection after perfection to his team. Under his leadership, the team thrived on the court, scoring point after point, carving themselves a path to the finals.

Shiratorizawa High could change the flow of the entire gymnasium simply with their entrance. Every word, every smirk, every laugh that escaped their lips were carved into their rapidly growing legacy. Even their warmups had the ability to form goosebumps on their opponnents. Each hit was precise, and done with a frightening control of accuracy and power. While it appeared to be done easily, any trained eye would be able to detect the amount of blood, sweat and tears that had been invested into the act. Shiratorizawa was the top contender to win the preliminaries, the team that gathered massive crowds naturally, and the ones that stood alongside the notorious ace, Ushijima Wakatoshi. With his monstrous stamina, strength and looks, the audience often found itself questioning his humanity.

*

"C'mon Shiori-chan! What's more important, us or whatever activity you have in the morning?" Tendō wailed, blatantly appalled that he wouldn't have an opportunity to piece his favorite (and only) ship together on the hour-long car ride.

Shiori sighed, dully knowing that her impending speech would most likely fall upon deaf ears just like the other ones. But still, maybe this time would bring different results.

"While I've already stressed this to you multiple times Tendō-kun, I'll do it again. I have manager duties to finish before your matches today. I can't just simply toss them aside like you do with your homework."

Even Semi, who had simply been a bystander for the entire duration of the event withered at the last part.

"Can we not bring my homework tendencies into this please?"

A smile broke out onto Shiori's face, forming a small dimple on the side of her face as she agreed.

Although he hadn't been paying close attention to their little scuffle, his senses had sharpened instantly upon hearing her laugh. His ears tingled, his eyes were drawn to her adorable dimple, and his face was colored a brilliant pink.

But why were his hormones exploding just from a simple crease in her cheeks? He needed to calm down, the tournament was this weekend, and here he was getting excited over a simple dimple.

Ushijima excused himself, and went outside to clear his head. What were all these feelings? He placed a shaky hand on his heart, and felt the steady rhythm pulse through his chest.

1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2

It was no use, even though he had purposefully distanced himself away from the manager, his heart still raced whenever he laid eyes on her.

Ushijima looked up, staring at the white clouds flowing by. As he closed his eyes, the gentle spring breeze flowed through his hair and allowed for him to erase any unnecessary thoughts from his head. This weekend was the preliminaries. He needed to do well.

*

The bus ride was, as predicted, chaotic. There were random shouts, constant scolding and even an accident with a water bottle.

But just suddenly out of the blue, a thought struck Tendo. "Say, Washijo-sensei, what kinds of manager duties did Shiori-chan have to do this morning?"

Washijo-sensei looked back at Tendō as if he had lost his mind. "Manager duties? Shratorizawa doesn't need anyone to do anything like that."

Tendō looked back just as appalled. "But, I thought Shiori-chan couldn't come with us because she had duties to do beforehand?"

At this point, both coach and athlete were equally confused. Washijo-sensei drew his eyebrows together in a tight knot. "Shiori-chan had informed me that she would not be taking the bus ride to the Sendai City Gymnasium because she already had someone else she was going with."

Now, this came as news to the entire team. A concoction of confusion brewed up inside the bus, and soon enough, Tendō jumped out to fire questions again.

"Shiori-chan has someone else she's going with? Why didn't she tell us? Why did she feel that it was necessary to hide this information from our team? Do we know this person? Is it a date?"

By now, Tendō had already lost Washijo-sensei.

"Boy, stop!" The coach ordered, abruptly stopping the endless torrent of questions flowing out of Tendō's mouth.

"She didn't specify anything to me. If you want answers, go find them yourself. However, I suggest you do this after our game since your top priority should be winning this next match."

'Suggests,' Tendō noted. 'Okay, so maybe he did use a relatively serious tone, but he did say suggests.'

"Either way," the coach continued, "we've arrived. Gather your belongings boys,

we're about to win a tournament."

***

I'm sorry, I've been extremely unmotivated to continue this story since I've grown a lot since starting this. I've republished this story so many times, and I just really want to finish it now. I have so many ideas for another one, but I decided to just finish this one and then completely devote my time to the other one. Please stick with me, I love all of you 🥰

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-zhxngyv