Mizuki Sayeko had never been fond of the whole 'soulmates' concept, not when her past warned her of the side-effects of falling too deep into the lucid, hypnotising trap. With piercing gazes, a stone-cold heart, would her soulmates ever get through...
if she could not bend heaven, she would raise hell
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"IF WE CAN WIN TWICE at the prelims tomorrow," started Takeda, holding up the piece of paper detailing the line ups for the Miyagi Prefecture Qualifier, "we'll go to the qualifiers in October to decide the representative team. The eight schools that make it through the first prelims will be joined by eight more powerhouse schools, and they'll play the tournament that decides the representative team in October."
Mizuki stood beside Kiyoko and Yachi, analysing the boys.
"There are only two games in the first prelims?" questioned Hinata.
"We were able to make it into the top sixteen at the Inter-High, so we're exempt from the first games," Sugawara answered, looking at the orange baby crow with a smile.
"Wow! We're awesome!"
The team broke apart with smiles, moving to start their practice. "All right! Let's start our callisthenics!"
Mizuki noticed the shivering blonde beside her and arched a brow. "You okay, Hitoka?"
"S-S-So we're finally playing official matches? I-I'm getting nervous."
"Well, it is your first tournament, isn't it, Hitoka-chan?" Kiyoko stared at her mate with a kind smile, holding her hands behind her back.
"Yup."
"Well, for us–" Kiyoko turned towards the boys, watching them begin their training–"it's our last." The dark-haired female panicked when she noticed her mate's watery eyes. "Gomen, gomen! Don't get all teary-eyed."
"I-I'm not!" she quickly denied, wiping away her tears. "A mosquito just flew into my eye!"
"A mosquito?!"
Mizuki chuckled silently.
•• ━━━━━ ••●•• ━━━━━ ••
"The key is to not toss the ball so much. Focus more on lifting the ball up instead of tossing it up," apprised Mizuki, standing beside the court in the second gymnasium. "You want to lift the ball up only so high as your right arm can reach."
Yamaguchi nodded, absorbing the information.
"Do the footwork, left-right-left," she continued. "Lift the ball up, and as it comes down, it should skim your nose. The ball shouldn't be coming down way behind you or way out in front. It should come down on top of your nose as you are jumping, down in front of your right shoulder."
The younger boy exhaled deeply, taking a step forward and attempting his eleventh jump float serve of the evening. Yamaguchi frowned as the ball flew out of bounds.
"Don't add a backswing." Mizuki grabbed another ball from the basket beside her, feeling the soft curves meld into her palm. "With the float serve, there isn't time for the backswing, nor for a double arm pump. You want to go straight into the lift, into a ready and open position." She threw the ball to him, watching as he caught it.
