Unpolished Gems

Chapter 31

[Comment goal: 30]

Happy reading!

________________________________________________________________________________

The moment Karasuno stepped inside the venue for the Inter-High preliminaries, all eyes had been on them. Their team clad in black seemed to stick out far more against the colored jackets of the other teams also participating in the competition.

"They look so dark..."

"One of them doesn't even look like he belongs in Highschool."

"I-is that who I think it is?! It's Azumane of Karasuno!" Someone yelled causing Asahi to freeze on the spot.

"What? Who's he?"

"You mean you don't know?! I heard he got some underlings to beat up some guys from North High!"

An imaginary image of Asahi watching some delinquents beat up unsuspecting high schoolers popped up within the poor player's mind causing him to stiffen. What they didn't know was that the true situation was Asahi panicking over the whole fight instead of instigating it.

"And he tried to sell a questionable substance on the street."

Another imaginary image of Asahi selling some illegal substance to a terrified woman appeared in the guy's mind. Once again, the true situation was Asahi simply being kind and trying to give back the handkerchief a lady had dropped.

"And he got held back 5 years."

"What?! Then he's an adult!"

As the fake rumors kept on being told, Asahi started sulking by a corner. A sullen aura had appeared around him as he slumped in defeat.

"There, there, this is how it always is." Sugawara gave an amused laugh as he and Daichi stopped walking to look at Asahi's sullen figure.

"That's the image you project," Daichi spoke in the ace's direction.

"All I wanted was to look a little wild on the outside, that's all!" Asahi was quick to defend himself as he looked at his fellow seniors with raised hands.

"There, you see?" Suga commented as he now sported a blank look on his face. "Nobody wild would go around saying that.

Asahi's hands fell to his side as he once again slumped down in defeat at his own teammate's words. As this happened, Nishinoya popped in just in time.

"What's wrong with that? Who cares what you look like?" The charismatic libero gave a laugh as he grinned up brightly at the glum-looking Ace. The contrast in their personalities might be huge but they were good for each other.

"This is what we call wild." Both Sugawara and Daichi spoke in sync as they placed a hand on each of Nishinoya's shoulders. The libero seemed to be a bit dumbfounded by the action but did nothing to ask about it.

"Hey, look at that." A random player spoke causing them to turn their heads.

"It looks like the banner did its job!" Takeda smiled in Kiyoko's direction as they conversed about the happenings from the previous night.

"Do you think so?" Kiyoko gave a similar smile as she kept her eyes on their advising coach, not minding the stares she was receiving.

"It was far more effective than my silly poem."

"She's cute." A random player whispered to his teammate.

"Go talk to her." The teammate urged his friend with a small teasing elbow to the side.