Chapter 25, Lefty Buddies

THIRD POV

They played 3 sets, taking almost 4 hours because of it. The coaches decided in the beginning that the teams would be playing 5 sets, taking 3 timeouts each set. They weren't lying when they said Shiratorizawa was a strong powerhouse school. They won 2 sets, Fushichou won 1. The referee told them to get in position as the 4th set was about to start.

"Their setter is able to give perfect sets to her spikers because the libero is great at passing the ball to her. Her receives are really nice, and they have a lot of hard hitters. But not once did the setter went for a receive, it's really ridiculous that she only toss and set for her spikers. She's spoiled with a-passes. All we need to do is either make her go for the receive even though the libero keeps on stealing it from her, or make the libero and the others not pass that great. Prioritize in pressuring the libero. That's all, have fun playing the rest of the sets," The co-coach explained to them and they nodded in agreement.

"S-So she's just like a pretty face with decent setting skills?" Goshiki asked, confused.

"Who knows," Shirabu boredly said.

The whistle blew and they started with Goshiki serving, Ameri slid and received the ball. It was slightly off since her stamina was halfly drained. But she could still move. She clicked her tongue at the net in, the ball was passed to Shirome. She slightly jumped and tossed it to Leki.

She was blocked by Tendo but Ameri caught it. She smirked at her cousin. He just grinned, impressed.

"Although they aren't playing their best, they were impressed that we could steal a set from them. Honestly, you can really tell they're holding back, which kind of makes me sad," She paused to sip her water, "Obviously, they took the bait and now they see me as a setter that's only spoiled with a-passes. This is like a game strategy from Nekoma. As much as I hate to let it happen, they need to target Ameri and make her receives falter genuinely. But it's okay, I'll just cover for it. They must think I don't move that much, they will make me go for receives and chase the ball to set it to our spikers. We will never waver infront of them. Let's turn this around and win the remaining sets. And again, I'll hit when necessary," She said, handing her bottle to Kuro.

The coach awkwardly rubbed his nape, "What she said," He laughed awkwardly as the super visor nodded.

"Goodluck girls," She said.

The rally went on, earning points inconsistently. 15-13, Shiratorizawa.

Shirabu tossed to Tendo and he slammed the ball down, Ameri and Shirome was too far to receive it. And it was too fast for the others.

They gained the point and went to reset their positions, but they got confused when the smaller captain stood infront of the net, staring straight at Ushijima.

"Please don't hold back on us. I know you play better than this, and I most certainly know you spike harder than the previous spikes you have executed, Wakatoshi-senpai. We might be girls, but this is volleyball. Don't hold back and spike like usual," She calmly said and went back to her position.

"Oi, that's suicide," Ameri frowned at the small captain who just shrugged slightly.

"It's not fun if they're not taking us seriously," She nodded at the referee.

Shiratorizawa felt amused, impressed by the smaller captain's statement. If only they could see her true skills, they would've respected her right away.

It all depends on time. Shirome thought. Give me your strongest, Shiratorizawa.

They rallied for a while, and Shirabu tossed to Ushijima without hesitating. His other team members sweatdropped, they knew Ushijima took it seriously. And now he's going to spike seriously.

He spiked from their right, Ameri was at the center, guarding the area. She and the others cursed loudly in their minds as they weren't able to block Ushijima as he was too fast. His spike was going to only one person, and it was the girls' setter. Ameri prayed that Shirome will receive it and not be harmed.

Everyone's eyes widened when they saw how fast and heavy his hit is, but everyone especially gasped and stared at disbelief at what had happened next.

Shirome bent slightly, arms neatly infront of her. She wore a calm expression as she waited for the ball to come in contact with her.

Left handed, a different spin.

She pushed all her strength to her arms and feet, and with a silent sigh her arms came in contact with the ball.

Barely anyone could receive his spikes, so why her?

She received the heavy spike perfectly, and Ameri had gone for the ball.

Why a small girl, the one with least experience in volleyball?

Ameri made a libero toss, but no one was prepared for it. Everyone was too far.

"All yours," She calmly tossed to her captain who jumped.

She jumped, right arm infront and left pulled back. She spiked the ball hard with her left hand, the ball pushed back Tendo's arms as it went in, the libero couldn't receive it well.

Tendo couldn't react properly when he saw how effortlessly Shirome had received the ball, and his block right now was a little weak. Everyone fell silent, barely anyone could breathe.

"Ah, sorry. That was supposed to be a rebound," Shirome slightly bowed to her team and jogged back to her position as if nothing happened.

"What?!" Shiratorizawa freaked out, Ushjima stared wide eyed unable to say anything.

Goshiki was slightly hyperventilating, Semi looked like he was about to drop dead, Shirabu's soul left his body as a brunette shook him, Tendo was doing weird poses as he freaked out. The coach Washijo's eyes were twitching, the co-coach looked like he was going to be sick. Over all, Shiratorizawa was having a hard time recovering from what happened.

"Rebound? Why would you need to do that?" Ameri asked. Fushichou was calm and conversing normally, not minding Shiratorizawa who was slightly terrified.

"Well, I'm not really a spiker even if I'm a legal hitter. Also, why wasn't anyone moving to get Ameri's toss? Did all of you hesitate when I went in for the receive?" Shirome sighed and others sweatdropped.

"Well, his spikes are impossible to receive even by skilled liberos. I thought you'd know that, captain. Coach sent us the guide for a little information about Shiratorizawa right?" Hito asked.

"I was busy last night, sorry. And his spikes are not impossible to receive, it's just hard," She smiled as she remembered Koutaro's words. She sheepishly smiled, the team dismissed her with grins and proud expressions on their faces. Shirome was the youngest, but the captain. She is supposed to be the mom of the team, but she was the baby of their big family.

Shiratorizawa slightly recovered as the referee blew his whistle. Kira served, their libero received it and sent it to Shirabu.

He jumped, "Kawanishi!"

Kawanashi jumped and spiked his toss, Ameri barely caught it. The coach of Shirtorizawa watched intently.

The receive was off, the ball was going out of bounds. Shirome took a single step and reached to set the ball to Aoi who jumped after her toss. Score.

"Kyaaa! Shirome-chan, I didn't know you were this good," Tendo complimented the gradient head.

"So this is a girl ace," Goshiki huffed with fire in his eyes.

"I'm not that good. I'm just like any other player," She grinned and went back to her position. They weren't convinced.

Both teams rallied and it became a few times more fun. Ushijima's spikes are always received by Shirome, but Shirabu won't always use him as he was kind of conserving his spiker's stamina so he can attack freely on the last set. Tendo's block are really aggressive, so was Kawanishi's. Goshiki's straights are accurate, Shirabu's tosses are decent, and the libero is doing great.

The 4th set was ending, 24-23 with Fushichou leading. The coach decided to send in their pinch server. Shirome smiled a little as she watched how Semi did his serving routine. The whistle blew and he made a jump serve.

Semi's serves are known to be great, so it shocked him at how easily the smaller setter had received the ball.

"Ameri!" Ameri went for the libero toss. Shirome jumped, attracting Tendo and Kawanishi. But Ameri unexpectedly tossed to Kira who spiked the ball and scored, no one followed. Fushichou won the 4th set.

"Damn it," Tendo muttered as Shirome snickered at him.

Both teams took a short break and another court change. Shirome was met by Ushijima, who stopped infront of her.

"Next spike, I'll make sure you won't be able to receive it," He said with his usual stoic gaze.

She smiled, "I'm counting on that, lefty buddy," She patted Ushijima's shoulder lightly and went to their side of the court.

Ushijima had a little smile as he approached his team, the others looked shocked, but it went away when Ushijima wore his stoic face again.

Lefty buddies, huh? Ushijima thought.

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