Tomorrow [Tsukishima Kei x Reader]

08

Tsukishima Kei's POV

It was already the week before the competition.

[Surname] and I were sitting on the rooftop as she requested. Yamaguchi had to skip school today because of an emergency. His mother suddenly fell ill and no one was there to take care of her. So, it was only the two of us today.

"Are you ready for the competition?" [Surname] asked.

"I guess so," I replied.

"What do you mean you guess so?"

"I mean, we practiced and all so I guess the team is ready."

"Aren't you nervous?" she asked.

"Not really," I replied.

[Surname] brought her knees closer to her chest and hugged it. "I wish I wasn't as well."

I raised my eyebrow at her and wondered why she'd even be nervous in the first place given her abilities.

"You mean you're nervous?" I asked.

She only nodded in response as she rested her head on her knees. I heard her groan in frustration that slightly got amplified because of the small space between her chest and knees.

"Don't tell me you're not confident in your team when you keep rambling about them," I said.

It's true though. Most of the time if she didn't talk about Yamaguchi, she'd talk about how proud she was at the progression her team had in training. The way she'd talk about them is like they were a power team in the making.

"It's not that," she said, her head still on her knees. "I'm scared of making the same mistake."

I only stared at her as she took a pause. If she wanted to continue, I'd let her talk. If she didn't want to, then I wouldn't force her.

[Surname] lifted her head from her knees and placed one of her elbows on it. She ran her hand through her hair and let it stay there halfway as she released another groan.

"It was middle school," she started. "We were against Kitagawa Daiichi's team, for girls of course."

"King's junior high?"

"King?" she asked. Once she realized who I meant, she said, "Oh, Kageyama-kun. Yeah."

I nodded and kept silent again.

"Their girls' team had a very good connection with each other. Our own skills were on par with them but their team just had a slight advantage with their members' own individual skills. The Kitagawa Daiichi girls were really flexible. They can support each other easily.

"Our team had a good sense of teamwork, but it just wasn't enough against them. We got all the way up to a third set and they were in the lead by one point-- the match point. Our team was the last one who scored a point and it was my turn to serve."

[Surname] looked up and closed her eyes. A sigh went past her lips which she bit lightly soon after. Then, she pressed her lips together as she looked forward and hugged her knees with both arms.