wow do you guys think ushijima ever wanted oikawa to come to shiratorizawa bc he thought oikawa was the missing piece they needed to finally, actually win nationals and beat sakusa.

the poetry in that parallel of sakusa being to ushijima what ushijima is to oikawa. how far would shiratorizawa even go at nationals? it doesn't seem like they ever won, so what if they never really got v far? they're not a v cohesive team, i can imagine they'd lose to

the truly highly-skilled teams that function seamlessly (inarizaki, itachiyama) even with ushijima's firepower. and ushijima recognizes that, which is why he thinks oikawa is the solution. oikawa will win, he will win, the team will win, everything works out.

i wonder if ushijima ever got frustrated that despite shiratorizawa's handpicked collection of individually strong players, they would keep coming up short at the highest level. despite his own sheer power, he could never carry his team far enough.

i wonder if ushijima ever got frustrated that sakusa and itachiyama could render shiratorizawa's strength irrelevant and sakusa probably made it seem so effortless — probably only regarded ushijima as worth competing against, on his team. just like ushijima's attitude to oikawa.

at this point i should probably admit i ship ushioi and i am having Ideas skadjjaskd