𝗙𝗜𝗥𝗘 [ ᵘⁿᵈᵉʳ ᶜᵒⁿˢᵗʳᵘᶜᵗⁱᵒⁿ ]

Chapter Twenty-two | Part One

Third-Person Point of view

The whole team of Raimon all stand in front of Coach Hibiki and their managers with bewildered expressions.

"A training camp?" Endou uttered.

"Yeah. Spending the night at school and making a meal with the whole team." Coach Hibiki answered which confused the brunette captain.

"I've gotten permission for it." Their manager, Natsumi added.

The members give out their thoughts and excitement about the sudden events while the ever-quiet ravenette looks at them with amusement. Kage's mood is finally coming back to its original state. She's not zoning out as much anymore and she doesn't look that much tired as she was for the past days. This, of course, didn't go unnoticed by her fellow striker.

As they let the information sink in, their celebration came to a halt when Endou suddenly spoke.

"Wait a minute, Coach. Make a meal? This isn't the time to be that relaxed... The match against Zeus is in two days. I have to complete Majin the hand before that." Endou said' clenched into fists and his muscles slightly shaking.

"Can you do it?" the elder asked. "With your practicing right now, completing that hissatsu technique is..."

Endou tried to reason out with their coach while Kage turned to lean her chin on Gouenji's shoulder.

"This match isn't gonna be easy huh." the bi-color-eyed female muttered under her breath which tickled the ears of the platinum blonde's ear.

" You going to this training camp?" asked the flame striker who warned him a low hum.

Time passed and they all headed home more exhausted than normal. Kage went to the hospital with Gouenji to spend more time together but still ended up falling asleep almost immediately.

Sitting next to each other with the ravenette leaning on the tanned male's shoulder, they stirred lightly when a sudden murmur rang up to their ears.

"Was that my imagination?" Gouenji uttered earning him a light slap on his arm.

"I heard it too dumbass," Kage grumbled and glare at the male lightly.

Turning over to the child sleeping on the bed, both their gazes softened but were immediately replaced by a frown when memories of Kageyama surfaced in their minds. Kage looked at her friend with a sad gaze and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Calm down. Everything's gonna be okay." the ravenette muttered which earned her a soft sigh.

After packing up her things for the training camp, Kage sat down on her bed and let her mind drift off. For the past few days, she's been stressed out with everything. With her illness and parents, with Endou and the finals, with Kageyama and her deceased brother, with Gouenji and their friendship.

Now that some of her problems are resolved -to some degree. She was able to see things in a clear and rational mind again. She's able to handle things one by one again and it seems that Coach Hibiki noticed such behavior from her and the rest of the team that's why they're having this training camp.

Sighing, she stood up from her bed when the door suddenly opened.

"Hey, let's go?" her platinum blonde friend walked in with a relaxed expression, a bag hanging on his shoulder.

'Yeah, everything will be alright. I just need to sort things out, then I'll be able to leave this place in peace. ʼ

"Yeah, let's go." and with that, the two went back to the school where the camp was being held.

Getting there, futons are laid in the middle of the basketball court and some of their teammates are already there. They turn to the side and see some of the first year's playing pillow fights. Kage's nerves eased up with the sight of this and a smirk was drawn on her porcelain face.

"You brats! Let me join!" like a child, the stoic ravenette ran up to them and started to throw pillows around as well. This made the first years happy to see the ever-so uptight Kage Itazura finally warming up to them on another level.

Kidou and Gouenji shook their head at the sight of their friends finally easing up from the tension of the finals that were nearing to come.

The pillow fight went on until a pillow went passed Shorinji and hit Someoka right at the back of his head as he talked with Ichinose and Domon. With this, he started to run around like a maniac as he chased the first years and Kage.

The flame striker's face contoured into a tranquil expression at the sight of his best friend finally having fun amid the tragic news they received just a few days ago.

Minutes passed by and with Endou finally arrived, some of the members started to prepare for their dinner. Gouenji went out of his way to peel the potatoes with Kage who seemed to struggle with it.

Puffing out her cheek in frustration, Kage put down her peeler and sat beside Gouenji.

"Amazing, you know how to handle that, Gouenji-senpai?" their blue-haired manager said with an amazed expression.

"I tend to cook for my little sister." He said with a small proud smile. Kage looked at him and shook her head, lightly chuckling.

"Yeah, good times," she mumbled, eyes staring at the distance with deep in thought look.

For the remainder of the time, they did their best to cook the curry they would have for dinner and had fun as much as possible.

This small gathering seems to ease everyone's mind from the unsettling yet undetermined future they will have when the finals start. But it seems like not everyone is enthusiastic about it as Endou sulks in the corner-still wallowing in his thoughts.

Coach Hibiki seemed to notice it, diverting his attention to his ravenette striker then back to the captain with bandana-even she was thrown to his thoughts as words of Kageyama from their previous meeting started to sink in.

edited.