Rantipole - Kuroko no Basket x Fem!Reader x Haikyuu!!

Chapter 30 - Equal Footing

Eventually, Seirin exhausts their use at the beach completely dry, leaving a hell of a lot stronger and a couple shades tanner.

After thanking the innkeepers generously for putting up with all the trouble they've made for them over the past two weeks, the team heads out down the sidewalk towards the train station. It's just as unbearably hot on the pavement as it had been in the sand, the sun baking [Name]'s scalp overhead. Feeling a dry patch on the back of her tongue, she reaches for her reusable water bottle, deflated at the feeling of weightlessness within the object.

'Damn... I forgot to refill it...'

As she solemnly returns the water bottle to her bag, she stretches her arms over her head to work a couple of kinks out of her spine. As she's doing so, [Name] glances over at Kuroko to her left, who's generously tipping a bit of the cool liquid she currently craves into his mouth, draining a good quarter of its contents. She licks her chapped lips jealously.

Not too dense to miss it, Kuroko notices and smiles in amusement, offering her the plastic bottle. She takes it graciously, taking two solid gulps of it before returning the cap to the top. "Thank you, Tetsu-chan."

"You can have more, [Nickname]-chan," he insists. "Kagami-kun can have some, too."

She takes only one more sip --not wanting to be greedy-- before handing it to Kagami on her right. He grunts in acknowledgment, downing about half of what is left in the bottle before handing it back to her, smacking his lips in satisfaction. "Thanks."

After Izuki makes another lame pun from just a couple steps behind [Name] (ending ultimately with Hyuga telling him to shut up), Riko orders to group to stop. [Name] hands back Kuroko's bottle, having lost track of time. "Ah? Here already?"

"No," Riko gazes at me. "But we need to make a left, here."

Koganei arches a brow at us from the front of the group. "What do you mean, 'take a left here'?"

Izuki folds his arms. "Yeah. I thought we got to go home for awhile before preliminaries begin."

"You do," [Name] confirms nonchalantly.

"Then why are you and Coach having us go this way?" Hyuga points down the alley that leads to the next street over. "The station's the opposite direction."

"Seriously, why do you idiots think we planned our training camp here in this location at this very time of the year?" she sighs, disappointed in their lack of cognitive ability.

Riko nods, hands on her hips. "They're holding the Inter-High final matches here this year."

Izuki's eyes widen, whipping out his phone with a grin. "Oh, I see! Today's quarterfinal game is between... let's see... o-oh! Kaijo and Touou!"

"Kaijo and Touou!?" Hyuga repeats in disbelief, his glasses askew.

[Name] grins as the team looks to her for confirmation, seeing as she's nearly trembling in excitement to witness such a high intensity match. "Isn't it so exciting!?"

Riko puts a hand on her shoulder to calm her down, though she's excited, too. "Let's go watch the Inter-High!"

They all load onto a local bus on the street over, which is luckily empty for the most part, leaving comfortable space for the entire team to fit within it. [Name] is the one who boards last, scanning over her potential seating options. Izuki and Koganei both wave her over towards the back of the bus. She nearly gladly joins them. However, someone whom she expected would be ecstatic to watch a match between two former GoM stares longingly out the window, his bag in his lap and his chin tucked into his palm.