Unpolished Gems

Chapter 34

As [Name] continued to zone off by the sidelines, it was the deafening ring of the final whistle that brought his attention back to the current match that was happening. It seems like Karasuno had already won the round with straight sets.

A small hum left his lips as he craned his head up to the bright ceiling filled with fluorescent lights. As he did so, a quiet yawn left his lips causing the person beside him to chuckle.

"Tired already?" Suga laughed as he looked at [Name] with a soft yet amused smile playing on his lips. "You haven't even played yet."

The genius merely pouted at this as he lowered his head in order to slouch down. "I wanna go to bed. This is boring." He murmured.

"Absolutely not," Kageyama spoke up behind him as he slowly walked over to the duo with his bag slung over his shoulder. "You're not allowed to quit before we even get to play with each other." He grumbled as he lifted up a freehand to harshly ruffle [Name]'s hair.

A small huff left his lips at that as he whined at his hair being messed up. "Stop." He spoke in a slightly annoyed tone while Suga let out another laugh at the scene between the genius first years.

Kageyama seemed to quickly stop at that yet still kept his head on the other's head. 

"We should probably go now," Sugawara suggested as he noticed that almost everyone has cleared out of the court for the next batch of players. "Everyone's already left."

Kageyama nodded at that as he walked away first, most likely to search for Hinata, while [Name] stayed in place with his own hand lazily fixing his hair as best as he could. The older setter seemed to take note of this as he walked closer to his junior in order to fix his hair for him.

His hand treaded gently in silky white hair as he hummed a small tune. [Name], on the other hand, seemed to freeze at the soft touch as his head lowered itself even more out of instinct. His lips were stretched into a straight line as his mind swirled at the feeling.

He didn't exactly know how to feel about someone else touching his hair in this way so he settled for silence.

"There, it's not too messy anymore," Sugawara announced as he took a step back with a cheery smile as he internally screamed at the thought of touching [Name]'s soft hair. He had been wanting to do that for a while now but no one needs to know.

"...Thanks." [Name] mumbled as he lifted up a hand to try and pat his own head before stopping himself mid-action. A small sigh left his lips as he shook his head, there was no need to feel so weird about something as simple as this. "Let's go then?"

The setter seemed to quickly remember his own words as he nodded awkwardly. "Yes, right." He laughed as he turned around, but not before grabbing [Name]'s wrist to drag him along. There was a chance the other might lag behind and get lost so he wasn't going to risk that.

The duo was quick to regroup with the others as everyone in Karasuno now walked in the halls, on their way to find a place to stay at before their next round. As they did so, a sudden voice suddenly called out to their captain.

"Sawamura!" 

"Ikejiri?" Daichi asked softly as everyone stopped to turn at the panting brunette. Recognition seemed to fill everyone's eyes at the sight of the man while [Name] remained confused seeing as how he hasn't been paying attention to the people they've met.

Turning to look up, the man named Ikejiri seemed to swallow thickly at the sight of everyone's eyes being solely on him. For a moment, he hesitated before pushing behind his nervousness to approach Daichi and even grip his shoulders.

"Win! You have to keep winning!" He spoke desperately as deep regret showed in the tone of his voice. "Win for us too!" 

A moment of silence passed between the players before Daichi gently grabbed the hand off his jacket to shake it. "Sure, challenge accepted!" He declared in a serious tone.