Yachi swallowed hard, her eyes trained on the
foreboding doors that loomed over her. All she needed to do was get through
this one trial and she’d be free from this nightmare forever. The heavy weight
on her shoulders had nothing to do with the multi-layered kimono pressing down
on her petite form, the elaborate motifs on the expensive fabric indicating
that this was no mere normal meeting she was about to engage in.
There was just too much at stake for her to fail!
“The volleyball
club is an unnecessary part of this school,” the vice principal of Karasuno
declared with an angry scowl. Takeda-sensei flinched as it had been the
umpteenth time that Hinata and Kageyama had caused the vice-president’s toupee
to go flying into the air, which, for some reason, always seemed to land on
Daichi’s head. The man was now beyond furious by these developments and based
on the tick on his eyelid, he wasn’t going to let go of this easily like
before.
Yachi, who had
been about to deliver some paperwork to Takeda-sensei, also flinched while
hiding behind the door outside of Takeda-sensei’s classroom.
“I am terribly
sorry by what-.”
“Regardless of
the incident that I have no idea what you’re talking about,” the shorter man
snarled, “the club has been a drain in the school’s finances for too long! We
barely have club members for it compared to that of a powerhouse school and
now, first years are actually the supporting pillars of the club? The school
has been generous when it came to the boy’s volleyball team due to how we’ve
gone to Nationals once in the past, but enough is enough! The glory days are
over and we should now focus on the present! A large chunk of funds given to
the boy’s volleyball club should be given to the basketball or even the
baseball team! At least their chances of getting into Nationals are a lot
higher than the volleyball team!”
“W-Wait! Please,
at least let them participate in the spring tournament! The boys did very well
against-.”
“I gave them
their chance with the inter-high tournament and the boys failed miserably! What
makes you think in the few measly months that we have that they’ll do any
better the next round?! And what of the third years? Two of them at least have
the potential to get a better education, but they’ll squander it away because
their priorities are out of place!”
Yachi’s fingers
clutched onto the edges of the document, her fingers wrinkling the material
beyond repair. She had to be hearing things. The vice-principal was trying to
get rid of the boy’s volleyball team? No, that wasn’t exactly right. He wanted
to reduce the funding for the team, but they were barely hanging on as it was!
The donations they received would barely give them a chance to get by right
now.
Her eyes
clenched shut as she tried to shut out the loud grating voice of the
vice-principal.
Think!
There had to be
a way to fix this!
Yachi struggled to maintain her composure. There
was still a bit of time before she had to go inside. It would be alright to
linger outside to calm herself.
It wasn’t exactly a secret, but a mere fact that
she’d never told anyone else because there was no point in bringing it up. One
of the main benefactors of Karasuno was her father. Erm... estranged father.
Her mother had long since divorced him, but he’d still try to wheedle his way
into Yachi’s life whenever he could. The moment he’d heard that Yachi was going
to attend Karasuno, he’d whipped out his check book and made a large sizeable
donation to the school. It was only through her begging and pleading and even
downright threatening him over the phone that her father had kept her name out
of it, simply telling the school board that he had a daughter who was attending
the school.
Thank goodness she had her mother’s maiden name
instead of her father’s surname. Yachi had seen the vice-principal search high
and low for the mysterious daughter of their wealthy benefactor, but so far she
had been successful in avoiding detection.
Unfortunately, her father wasn’t the bigger issue.
Yachi wanted to groan into her hands, but that
would ruin the carefully applied make up on her face.
The moment Yachi had learned about the team’s
problem, she knew she had leverage on how to make the vice-principal give them
a chance to prove their worth. She didn’t like doing it, but she was desperate
and wanted to do her best to help a group of people that actually depended on
her for once. Merely speaking to her father would absolve this issue, but that
would mean bringing her mother into it. No, she had to go even higher than her
father to avoid that.
She had to talk to her grandmother. Specifically,
her father’s mother.
“Well, well,”
the layer of frost in the old lady’s words made Yachi instinctively shiver
inside. Cold grey eyes gazed sharply at her while there was an amused smile
painting her thin lips. “So you want to play a game with me? How daring of you
when your mother barely managed to escape from this family with you in tow and
without any debts to drag her back.”
But she’d won.
Yachi exhaled slowly. Well, saying she’d won in
the game wasn’t exactly true either. Merely trying to gain an audience with her
grandmother had come at a cost as well. Her grandmother, amused and intrigued
by why her timid granddaughter would dare to approach her for the sake of a
pathetic high-school sports team, had stated that if Karasuno was to lose again
to Aoba Johsai, Yachi would have to return to her father’s family and live
under the rule of her grandmother.
A fact that had made Yachi pale dramatically.
She shook her head. It was fine though. Karasuno
had won, as she knew they would. All their practice had paid off and she knew
just how strong the team was. There was no way they’d have lost against Aoba
Johsai!
Yachi lifted her head to look at the doors again.
And now, in her opinion, the hard part was over. She didn’t understand why her
grandmother wanted to bet on a game so early on when the second challenge was
less extreme, but maybe that was the point. Maybe her grandmother was trying to
make her lower her guard so that she’d fail this next one.
B-But it shouldn’t be that hard! It wasn’t like
she had to say yes, after all...
“I told you to
wear something nice for today!”
Yachi was barely able to contain her shriek of anxiety when she heard the sharp
reprimand from behind the door.
“My apologies,
mother, but I have practice soon after this.”
A very deep and low tenured voice replied calmly, seemingly unaffected by the
fierce scolding.
There was a sigh of aggravation. “Honestly, I don’t understand where you get
this from. You could have put in more of an effort. Do you know how long it
took us to set up an omiai like this? We can’t afford to fail!”
“I understand
mother.”
Yachi stared at the doors and almost gulped again.
Maybe this wasn’t going to be as easy as she thought it’d be. I-It wasn’t like
she had experiences with omiai’s and the mere term made her face burst into
flames. Perhaps this was the true test her grandmother was setting up, to see
if she could handle the pressure of an unwanted marriage meeting without
shaming the family? Maybe her grandmother was expecting her to fail horribly
and to use this incident to drag her back to the main family?! The thought made
cold sweat materialize in the back of her neck.
No, no, no, she shouldn’t panic. She just didn’t
need to agree to anything. Even she could do something like this, right?
Right?!
Clutching onto the small burst of courage, Yachi
knocked on the door. She waited a few heartbeats and the moment she heard the
lady inside murmur for her to come in, she opened it slowly and entered inside.
The room immediately felt too bright for her eyes
and it had nothing to do with the lighting of the expensive interior of the
hotel room. It was a characteristic Yachi noticed whenever she was around
someone of her father and grandmother’s status. There was an air of confidence
and strength that was obviously supported by lineage, power, and money. The
people standing before her also had it all, which was odd to think about since
based on the conversation she’d overheard, they wanted this marriage with her
when Yachi knew she was nothing like them.
“Hitoka-chan,” the matriarch spoke gently to her,
nothing like the cool steel from before that had practically ripped through the
doors. “Please, come in. The kimono looks beautiful on you.”
Yachi forced down her stammer, giving her a shy
smile instead. If her grandmother found out that she’d made a fool of herself
right now, Yachi knew the merciless woman wouldn’t hesitate on reneging on
their deal and getting rid of the Karasuno volleyball team herself. That had
been one of the consequences about approaching her grandmother. It had revealed
a weakness Yachi knew she couldn’t afford to have. Oh god, her mother was going
to kill her once she found out what was going on. It was miracle she hadn’t
caught on already! “Thank you.”
“Please forgive my idiot of a son. He’s currently
very passionate about his club activities and actually came wearing his
jersey,” the matriarch put on a look of modest embarrassment, covering the
lower half of her flushed face with her hand.
With that, Yachi finally turned her attention to
the boy standing beside the lady... only to find that the term was not suitable
at all. The person beside the matriarch was definitely no boy. He was a man through and through. There was an imposing air
about him with sharp narrowed olive-brown eyes that seemed to focus intently on
her. It took all over Yachi’s willpower not to flinch under his scrutinizing
gaze. It didn’t help that he seemed to be wearing what appear to be his
school’s sports jersey, the purple and white looking vaguely familiar to her
for some reason. Yachi had been around her team long enough to understand by
now that the school’s sports uniform and clothing were no mere training
clothes. They were armor suited for battle, which only added to the frightening
presence he emitted.
And, dear lord, his height.
He towered over her!
By now, Yachi was very experienced in being
surrounded by insanely tall people (not that that was very hard with her own
very short stature), but combined with that height and his intense aura, she
felt like curling into a ball and bursting into tears. Even Kuroo-san from
Nekoma wasn’t as tall as this man! Lev-san was taller, but he had a gentler
(albeit energetic) presence that made him more tolerable than this person.
She felt her eyes tearing up while her throat
started to tighten.
Don’t panic.
Don’t panic!
Think of the team!
Think of Hinata-kun’s sunny smile and
Kageyama-kun’s excited grin whenever they had a challenging volleyball match
ahead of them. Tsukishima-kun hid it well, but Yachi knew how much volleyball
meant to him as well. Yamaguchi-kun was also working so hard to master the
float serve! Nishinoya-sempai and Tanaka-sempai also loved the club so much and
they hung in there for so long before the arrival of the current first years.
Not to mention the third years. This was their last year and they’d struggled
through even more than all of them combined!
This was for the team!
For her team!!
“Now, I’ll leave you two alone so that you may get
to know one another.” The matriarch pretended to twitter behind her hand, but
Yachi noticed the sharp pinch the lady made on her son’s back before she
sauntered out of the door. The younger blonde barely noticed the click of the
door closing, too consumed by the fact that she was now completely alone with
this giant with the scary gaze.
Oh god, he was going to eat her! He could probably
pull her apart with his pinky! Nay! His pinky toe!
More tears threatened to gather in her eyes when
he suddenly spoke, the deep cultured voice penetrating into her bones with
fear. “Please take a seat.”
“Sor-Yes!” Yachi squeaked out, somehow
circumventing her instinct to apologize for her very existence before him. She
quickly made her way to the nearest sofa in the middle of the spacious hotel
room, or as fast as the restrictive material of the kimono allowed her to. She
kept her hands clutched together and spoke quickly. “M-My name is Y-Yachi
H-Hitoka. I-It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“Yes, my mother provided me with your name from
your portfolio,” he murmured in reply, taking a seat of his own on the sofa
across from her.
Yachi stiffened. Her grandmother hadn’t been
gracious enough to provide such a thing for her. If anything, the older lady
appeared amused at the thought of sending her granddaughter into the
battlefield completely blind.
“But I suppose it would be more formal of us to
exchange pleasantries this way,” if Yachi looked up, she would have seen his
nod of approval. “My name is Ushijima Wakatoshi. I am a third year of
Shiratorizawa Academy and the captain of the volleyball team there.”
Somehow, Yachi stiffened even further. She
laboriously lifted her neck to look weakly at Ushijima-san. There had to be a
mistake. She must’ve be hearing things due to her trepidation over all this.
“S-Shiratorizawa?”
“Yes.” He replied bluntly.
The previous constrictive feeling in her throat
returned, but it wasn’t due to the desire to burst into tears. This time, it
was due to fear, anxiety, and the feeling of being near death’s door that
threatened to suffocate her this time.
Oh god.
Japan-san?! Her match for the omiai was Japan-san?! The one Hinata-kun and
Kageyama-kun had claimed to be their mortal enemy?! Oh god! The two had always
referenced Ushijima-san as Japan, so she never knew his full name! Gah, what
kind of manager was she if she didn’t know the actual name of their rivals?!
And now she was on an omiai with him?! What cruel fate was being forced upon
her?!
“Are you alright?” Ushijima inquired when he saw
her face paling even behind the light layer of makeup.
“P-Perfectly f-fine,” Yachi choked out.
“Tea will be served in a few minutes, but I can
request that they arrive earlier if you need something to drink.” He offered.
Yachi shook her head quickly. If she had something
hot in her hands right now, she knew she’d scald herself because of how hard
she was shaking. Trying to keep attention off of herself, Yachi forced her
voice to steady. “S-So, U-Ushijima-san, h-how long have you been playing
volleyball?”
“Wakatoshi is fine, Hitoka,” she almost openly
choked at his confidence. They barely knew each other and he already wanted to
be on a first name basis with her?! There was no time to even correct him as he
continued in his apparent usual forthright manner. “And I began as a child when
my father first taught it to me.”
“I-I see,” she managed to squeak out, fidgeting
under his intense gaze. For a moment, she wondered if this was what Hinata-kun
and Kageyama-kun felt whenever they were under the scrutiny of a powerful
rival. If so, her respect for them more than doubled; no, more than tripled.
Yachi could feel herself wilting under his powerful stare.
“My mother told me that you are the manager for
your school’s volleyball team.” He suddenly spoke and Yachi despaired,
immediately knowing that the source of the information had to be her
grandmother.
“Y-Yes!” No! Please don’t ask anything else about
it!
“What school do you attend?”
Yachi fidgeted, mentally fumbling for an excuse or
a way to get out of this conversation. Unfortunately, no savior would grace
their gentle lights on her. All she could feel was the intense scrutiny of the
final boss standing in the way of her team and Nationals. Like the coward she
felt she was, Yachi kept her gaze to the side while she mumbled. “...-suno...”
“Excuse me?”
“K-Karasuno...” mentally, Yachi was already crying
and bidding farewell to this cruel, cruel world. As she’d anticipated, the air
seemed to become frigid and the intensity of Ushijima’s eyes seemed to grow. No
matter how much he insisted, she wasn’t sure if she’d ever be able to call such
a scary boy like him by his first name, even in her own head.
“Karasuno,” he echoed hollowly. “Then you know of
Hinata Shoyo and Kageyama Tobio.”
“Y-Yes,” she replied meekly.
There was a light knock on the door and Yachi
began to thank every god and deity in existence as she latched onto that excuse
to stand up and greet the hotel staff member rolling in the tray of tea. From
behind, she could feel the daggers of Ushijima’s glare stabbing into her back.
Yachi knew her smile was forced, looking more like a pained grimace, when she
saw the hotel staff looking at her with puzzled eyes. “Uh... I-I was told that
tea was to be served. Is there a particular preference I may serve you two
with?”
“You may leave it.” Ushijima spoke and both hotel
employee and Yachi almost jumped at the sound of his voice. There was
definitely a powerful and imposing air that surrounded him at all times,
including his voice. No wonder both Hinata-kun and Kageyama-kun had been in
accord for once, both openly declaring Ushijima-san to be Japan-san.
The hotel employee gave Yachi a questioning look,
but she smiled feebly at him. Well... no matter how terrifying Ushijima-san
was, he was still just a student like her, right? H-He wouldn’t really hurt
her, r-right? “It’s fine. I’ll be more than happy to serve the tea.”
It’ll also give her a reason to busy herself and
not look into Ushijima-san’s eyes.
The hotel worker looked unconvinced, but gave a
brief nod. He walked away, leaving Yachi to busy herself with the tea pot
before her. She diligently ignored how Ushijima-san’s eyes followed her
everywhere and was glad that she didn’t even need to request what type of tea
he wanted since the only ones available were green and black tea. The black was
obviously for her since that was what she preferred, meaning the green must be
for Ushijima-san.
Yachi knew she couldn’t give him the opportunity
to speak! The moment she gave him the chance, there was no doubt he’d ask her
about Hinata-kun and Kageyama-kun! But what could she possibly talk about with
him? They didn’t know a thing about each other!
“Stars.”
She almost dropped the teapot and looked up
carefully at him. “E-Excuse me?”
“The pin holding your hair up,” Ushijima
continued. “Stars.”
Yachi instinctively reached up to touch the kanzashi on her hair, which left a trail
of floral stars entwined with her blonde locks. Her face flushed slightly and
she lowered her gaze once more, focusing on pouring the cup of tea. “Y-Yes.”
“Your kimono is filled with stars as well.”
“Y-Yes,” Yachi shyly agreed, surprised that he’d
even noticed. Knowing how her grandmother preferred floral designs, Yachi had
carefully tried to choose a kimono pattern where the flowers appeared as though
they were stars bursting in the air. “Do... Do you like stars as well,
Ushijima-san?”
“...they provide adequate lighting during the new
moon.”
Ushijima-san’s response was strange, but
nevertheless brought a smile to Yachi’s face. He watched attentively as she
spoke fondly, her voice finally losing some of its tremor from before at the
familiar topic. “Yes. The moon is very beautiful and I like watching it as
well, but the stars are definitely my favorite. I find it inspiring how they’d
struggle to shine so brilliantly despite there being a more noticeable, more
vibrant existence like the moon.”
Ushijima tilted his head. “The stars may attempt
to replicate the light of the moon, but nothing can compare to actual
moonlight.”
“I-I suppose so?” Yachi replied in confusion,
unsure of what exactly Ushijima-san was trying to go with this. She gave him a
timid smile as she held out his cup of tea towards him. It didn’t escape her
notice how large his hands were. It almost seemed as though he could engulf
both of her hands with his one hand! Ushijima seemed to notice as well, his
gaze lingering a bit on her hands before taking a sip of his tea.
“How long do you believe it’ll take for you to
transfer to Shiratorizawa?”
Yachi almost choked on her own cup. “E-Excuse me?”
“As you are to be my wife, it is only expected
that we be in closer proximity of each other.” Ushijima said with a nod to
himself, his arms crossed over his broad chest. It would be improper, after
all, for someone of his status to have his future significant other to be
surrounded by strangers and away from him.
“W-W-W-Wife?”!
“That is the purpose of an omiai, is it not?” he
inquired patiently.
“B-But we haven’t agreed to anything!” Yachi
sputtered out. “I-I mean we’ve barely even talked together!”
“Do you dislike me, Hitoka?”
This time there was no tea involved when Yachi
choked. His words were enough for her to feel as though the air around her was
strangling the life out of her. “W-W-W-What?”
“Because I find that this has been a pleasant
affair so far and would not be adverse if we were to marry one another.”
Ushijima continued, oblivious to how flustered her face was and how petrified
she was becoming by this development. Yes, Hitoka was familiar with volleyball
and was able to hold a decent conversation with him, both concerning the sport
and other unrelated topics. She was polite and considerate and her appearance
was pleasant as well. He had no objections to being around her. “Furthermore,
joining our families would only strengthen our family businesses. I can see
only beneficial results with such matrimony.”
The redness on Yachi’s cheeks easily extended up
to her ears while her voice came out in a petrified squeak. “B-B-But we don't
even know each other!”
“What more do we need to know of each other
besides the fact that we were able to have a pleasant conversation and can
enjoy each other’s company?” he turned his sharp gaze to her and Yachi almost
flinched at his blunt honesty. How could he possibly believe that they were
actually getting along with each other when they’ve only exchanged a few
sentences with each other?!
“B-But marriage isn’t as something simple as
that,” she continued to protest, unable to believe that she was even having
such a conversation like this. “Y-You don’t know me at all! Like... like... you
don’t know my favorite food... my favorite season... w-what makes me sad a-and
what makes me happy... I-I also don’t know anything about that about you
either...”
“Such things can be learned over time during
marriage,” he easily retorted and Yachi was almost amazed by how cold and
nonchalant he sounded. Just what kind of viewpoint did this man have on
marriage?
“...but it’s important to know how compatible we
are before rushing something like this.” She murmured softly, the words
tumbling out of her mouth unwittingly despite her growing trepedation. Yachi
felt the edges of her skin tingle at the feel of his intense stare boring down
at her. However, even she couldn’t remain silent over this! “I-I mean, when it
comes to marriage... I-I think a man and woman should know each other very well
before they get married... not after... they should know and cherish each other
b-before doing something as life-changing as marriage..”
There was silence before he finally spoke. “And
such an aspect is important to you.”
At that, Yachi nodded without hesitation.
“...very well then,” Ushijima agreed with a curt
nod. “Then for now, we will meet each other every other day so that we may
become more familiar with each other. I have no qualms about having my fiancée
temporarily stay at another school until then.”
Yachi was torn between blushing and blanching at
his words. Fiancée?! She never agreed to such a thing! However, it seemed
obvious that protesting against the terminology would only fall onto deaf ears.
She then paused, the full extent of Ushijima’s words registering in her head.
“Wait, did you just say every other day?!” Yachi
cried out in disbelief. “Ushijima-san-!”
“Wakatoshi.” He interjected.
“-I can’t do that! I-I have to be at practice with
the volleyball team!”
The frown on Ushijima’s face seemed to grow and
Yachi instinctively flinched, almost taking a step back at such a frightening
expression. “Then how do you propose we get to know each other more? I can only
see two possibilities. Either you quit as the manager of the team or you
transfer to Shiratorizawa as soon as possible.”
“W-What?” Yachi squeaked. “W-Why must I be the one
to transfer?”
“Simply put,” he said bluntly, “Shiratorizawa is
the better school. You would have more to gain by transferring there instead.”
“B-But I like Karasuno,” despite her stammer and
how unbelievably fast her heart was pounding in her chest, Yachi continued to
object. This was her future after all! And while Ushijima-san still scared her
half to death, Yachi couldn’t keep to herself when it came to staying with her
teammates. She was still trying to figure out how it’d come to all this! Not to
mention, what would be her grandmother’s reaction? Anger? Amusement? And then
there was her mother! If her mother found out about all this, Yachi didn’t even
want to imagine what her mother would do to her! “I-I don’t want to leave my
team!”
“...after the match in the next few days, the
current Karasuno will become defunct.” The way Ushijima spoke held no malice or
cruelty. It was as though he was merely stating a fact of life. His cold
confidence sent a shudder down Yachi’s spine. “Your current attachment to the
school is due to the volleyball team, is it not?”
Yachi hesitated for a moment, wondering where he
was going with this, but gave a nod. “I-I suppose so...”
“Then you’ll have no objections to transferring to
Shiratorizawa once they’ve lost.”
The way he spoke was with such conviction. It
startled Yachi to realize that he truly believed that Karasuno had no chance
against him at all. No, it was even beyond that. He probably didn’t even see
Karasuno at all. In his eyes, Karasuno was just another stepping stone in his
way to the top of the mountain.
Her fingers tightened around her cup and Yachi
looked up. There was a fierce glower in her eyes, though a hint of her
timidness remained as seen by the nervous tears now gathered in the corner of
her eyes. “Karasuno won’t lose.”
Yachi hated it when people looked down at her team
and couldn’t stay silent anymore with how Ushijima-san was being such a... such
a jerk about her teammates! All of them worked hard to get to where they were
right now and they were strong! There was no way they were going to lose!
“Then you’ll have no objections to such an
agreement?” he repeated sharply, his eyes still trained on the tiny blonde.
Yachi trembled, but gave a stern nod. “Yes.”
“Then it’s agreed.” Ushijima concluded as he stood
up, his tall stature literally towering over the two girls. “Once Karasuno has
been kicked out of the ranking, you’ll transfer to Shiratorizawa as soon as
possible.”
“Karasuno won’t lose!” Yachi yelled back
stubbornly. “So I won’t be transferring to Shiratorizawa!”
The gaze he leveled on her was harsh and imposing,
one she had no doubt was something he showed only to the fiercest opponent.
“You’ll soon come to terms with the realities of this world and it is that the
weak will wilt while the strong will flourish.”
Four hours later in the safety and comfort in her
own home, Yachi stared dumbly at the wall before grabbing the nearest pillow
and screaming her lungs out.
A fool!
She was a fool!
There was no need to have risen up to his bait
like that! The Ushijima family had been the one to approach her family for the
omiai! It was well within her rights to refuse them, even if Ushijima-san had
been pushy about it!
And now...
Now...
“Then you’ll
have no objections to transferring to Shiratorizawa once they’ve lost.”
“Karasuno won’t lose,” Yachi cried into her
pillow, “but I’m such an idiot!”