The sky was dark from outside the window, and the engine hummed at the back of the bus. The rest of the team had been asleep, including 'Samu, who was passed out on my shoulder.
The sky was clear, I could see every star in the sky, and had a perfect view of the moon. The road was long and endless, no traffic to stop the bus from moving. Overall, it was peaceful, much unlike my heart which pounded against my rib cage.
Tomorrow would be the start of my very first national tournament. I was not able to sleep like the rest of them could. Though I knew I needed to be as rested as possible. From glancing at my phone, it was just past midnight, so I tried to focus on sleeping.
Eventually, my rapidly beating heart slowed, and the anxious thoughts in my head were put aside.
"'Tsumu c'mon." 'Samu said, swatting at my head. I glared through a mess of recently dyed golden hair. Everyone had been leaving the bus or grabbing their suitcases and bags from the outside compartment.
I shuffled up to my feet, grabbing my stuff in a daze. It was early when we got all checked into our hotels. For this trip we managed to get four separate rooms, one for the coach himself. The rest of us were split off into groups of three or four in the different rooms. I stayed with Sunarin and 'Samu. 'Samu and I shared a queen size bed.
I slept until around 8, and was glad I could sleep a couple more hours. Though the tournament was held early in my opinion, they tried to give the athletes enough time to sleep and warm up before the game. But there were so many teams to get through and only so much time.
I took a shower to freshen up before getting ready to leave, we boarded the shuttle around 8:45.
My heart was pounding, our first game was at 10:30 against Date Tech. I know 'Samu has been anxious about this specific team; from the videos we've watched they have a strong foundation, not to forget their, "Iron Wall".
When we got there, I gazed around the place, I had only ever seen it on TV. There were thousands and thousands of people yet we could walk right in. I felt famous, I would be soon wouldn't I?
Coach led us to our lockers. We had our own lounge and a set of showers, which I couldn't help but grin at. The place was nice, it didn't seem like a lounge for sweaty athletes.
"Alright, everyone get ready and prepare, we've got to warm up chop chop." Coach clapped twice, and we all did as we were told.
We ran to a private court and started stretching, careful to not pull any muscles. We didn't need any accidents right now. We did a few practices but not enough to break a sweat.
