Maki has always been the best player on the volleyball court
Since middle school, she was a prodigy
Tall, strong, hardworking, good reflexes. Basically a natural
In the beginning of her third year of college, things changed a little
Another athlete was getting the spotlight as well, but it was not much of a competition since the other was a libero, so it was not like they were fighting for the same spot
Actually, they worked very well together
The golden duo, they were calling them
The girl in question was a petite freshman ginger, Nobara
Stupidly cute, if you asked Maki’s opinion
It’s easy to become friends with someone from your team, since you already spend at least two hours together every day training
Then chatting at the locker room
The walking together to the dorms
And there is the after-game parties
The thing is, Maki was the team’s captain, and she was falling for the cute freshman libero
The problem started in an after-game party in which Maki couldn’t stop eyeing her adorable freshman teammate
Also Nobara was a little too much drunk and asked Maki to go dancing with the rest of the team
But really, she was dancing only with Maki
And Maki was a little drunk as well, so it was hard to resist Nobara eyeing her lips the entire time
But Maki did nothing, because she was the captain. And the two of them were the golden duo. And the rest of the team were already teasing the hell out of them
After the party, they came back to pretending nothing was happening
After all, in fact, nothing happened
But “nothing happening” is something after all
And the two managed to ignore it, really, until a competition trip where they had no alternative other than talk
Cause it was a 10 hours bus trip
And of course they sit together, because they never stopped orbiting around each other
And of course they shared a room, because really, the coach had no idea what was going on, it was only natural to book them together
The good thing about this trip was that it was the last game of the season.
So when they got back to the hotel room to change before going out to celebrate, there were no more obligations with the team this year
Yes, Maki was the captain, but the girl of her dreams was right there, all high in the victory and happy and impossibly beautiful
They were alone in the hotel room and damn it, Maki couldn’t take it anymore
Then, when they met the rest of the team in the hotel lobby, no one questioned Maki when she said that she and Nobara were going somewhere else, just the two of them.