I couldn't believe it! We had made it to our first official tournament! It was everything we dreamed of, everything we've-
"Shoyo!"
"H-huh? What is it?"
"You spaced out again, are you sure you'll be alright for the tournament?"
"O-of course! I was just thinking. Heh." I couldn't let my team down, we had to push through this.
"Alright everyone, we are gonna win this tournament and make our way to nationals!" I could feel my stomach churning with, what seemed like joy, but turned out to be something far worse. "Ohhh!"
"Sh-Shoyo! Are you alright?"
"Y-yeah, I just...really need the bathroom!" I sprinted as fast as I could, dashing between teams, occasionally hearing name calling but whatever!
"Hey, do you guys know what team we're up against?"
"I heard it was Yukigaoka Junior High."
"Who are they? I've never heard of them."
"They're probably easy to beat, so it'll be super easy for us."
"Haha! You got that right."
"Hey!" Heads flew towards me, putting me on the spot, "we may be little, uggh, but you'll see that we, haghh, are all still amazing." They looked at me, then each other, and alternated their looks.
"Pfft- hahaha! You wouldn't be able to hit the ball even if your life depended on it!"
"Oi first years!" Silence hit us.
"Crap! It's Tobio, hurry up with those bottles."
"Coach is waiting, so you firsties better hurry your asses back!"
"R-right!" They ran quickly away from this, 'To-bee-yo'?
"Uh, th-thanks dude. But I could've totally handled that myself- eek!"
"I'd suggest you don't talk big if you can't even support yourself or your 'team', wherever they may be." He turned away as he made his way down the hallway.
"Shoyo! What happened?"
"That guy was really scary and big. How weren't you scared?"
"It's alright guys, now let's get out there!"
"W-what about the bathroom?!"
"Nevermind that, I'm fine!"
We walked out to the court, and couldn't believe our eyes. We were actually here, about to win for each other and get to nationals.
"Okay, you guys ready?"
"Not really, we're rookies. You just pulled us from other clubs then rambled on about how much you want to win. We know nothing Shoyo."
"Right, I'll explain it quickly here. Yuki, you can be the setter and what you'll do is..."
"Now that's all done, are you guys ready?"
"I sure hope so. Eh! That's the team we're up against?!" We all turn around as Yuki exclaims his worry. It was the team from the bathroom.
"B-but they're so tall! How will we win this?!"
"Pfft. Guess we've got this down packed easy! Up high!"
"Hey, see that shrimp with the orange hair. Take him down first." Is that the 'To-bee-yo' guy, demanding to go against me?
"Whatever Tobio, besides, why go after one when we can go after all six!?"
"Just do the damn thing okay!?" I bet the whole stadium heard that one.
"Tobio!" His coach called him over, obviously looking disappointed. "You can't demand those around you, understand?"
"But sir-"
"No Tobio. That's enough. Do you want to have the same thing happen like last time? Do you want a repeat?" His face was worried, seems a bit odd.
"No sir."
"Good. Now get out there and play like you mean it." He goes to walk off ,but doesn't look like he did two seconds ago. Something has to be up.
The whistle was blown, everyone had taken their place, everything was going the way I planned so far.
(TIMESKIP)
The score was against us. 7-24, their favour. Why was this happening!? This can't be happening!? All our hard work, all our time spent practising and working up to this point. We can't lose now!
"Shoyo!" Yuki. You're my only hope at this point. The ball flew through the air and it was going- the wrong way!?
"The ball! Yuki!" Whoosh~. I flew past them with all my speed, getting to the ball. I could see everything, everyone. Smack!
"Woah. Shoyo was...flying." The whistle blew and, we lost? How!?
"Yes! The ball was out! Oh my goodness!"
"Shoyo..."
"It's fine Yuki, let's just get ready to go-!
"Oi you! What was that, huh?"
"What?"
"Was that all you had? The whole game you guys screwed around and actually believed you could win?! Take a look around! You lost!"
"No..."
"What have you been doing for the past 3 years of your life!?" I was shocked, pure shock was all I felt. Nothing even mattered.
"What do you mean we 'screwed around'?"
"Oh, Shoyo."
"I spent the last 3 years of my life working for this moment! Working up to the point where I'd dream of winning, of beating all the teams in my way and destroying those around us to make it to nationals!"
"That's far out of your league! You couldn't have made it to nationals even if you did destroy those around you! Your height couldn't get you very far here and it won't get you very far in life!"
"Tobio!! What on earth!?"
"I may be little, but I've got a lot behind me and lot ahead of me. I won't let you ruin this for me, 'To-bee-yo'!"
"It's Tobio! Get at least one thing straight. Tch." We both turned away, both frustrated and provoked. Nothing could've destroyed me more, then a confrontation.