Unpolished Gems

Chapter 49

The following day, the stands in the gymnasium were filled to the brim as most people were excited to see how the new challengers would fair against Shiratorizawa. While the majority were disappointed not to see Aoba Johsai in the finals, they were getting tired of watching a battle with an expected outcome.

Despite their well-known history, the Karasuno team was now considered fresh meat going against the Apex predator team of Miyagi. Most people haven't even heard of the crows until today.

"T-that's a lot of people..." Hinata shivered at the sight. While one would think he'd gotten used to people watching him, the sight of a marginally large crowd still had him trembling in his heels.

"Hinata, calm down," Sugawara spoke slowly as a slightly nervous expression appeared on his face at the sight of the ginger's trembling figure. Hinata's hands were wrapped tightly around his abdomen and the senior internally worried that he might shit himself, vomit, or maybe both at the same time.

"Does anyone have a-" Sugawara couldn't help but go pale at the sight of an equally sick and nervous Yamaguchi and Asahi pacing around behind him while a sleep-deprived Tanaka and Nishinoya hyped each other up with an obnoxiously loud voice. "Daichi..." He cried as he began to sulk in a corner in defeat.

The only ones who were fine in this situation were the ones that don't particularly care (Read: Tsukishima and [Name]) and those who were used to big crowds in a match (Kageyama and Nishinoya).

[Name], who was peacefully gaming in another corner, couldn't help but frown at all the noise. Even the headphones he wore were useless against all the panicking his team was going through.

Standing up, he removed his headphones before shoving them in Tsukishima's hands with the parting words of "Watch it for me." The blonde let out an incredulous noise but the genius didn't bother turning back as he headed in Sugawara's direction.

"Sugawara-san." He tapped the senior's shoulders. "I'm heading to the bathroom."

"Hm? Alright..." Sugarespond half-heartedly as he held back the urge to smack the loudly wailing second-year duo. "Come back quickly, don't cause any trouble." He added instinctively.

[Name] nodded as he took that as his cue to head for the bathrooms. Frankly, he didn't need to go, he just wanted to get away from all the chaos. Besides, it wasn't like the match was happening soon. Their opponents haven't made their appearance so he had a few more minutes to kill.

Walking around mindlessly, a few players loitering around in the hallways gave him not-so-discreet stares but he didn't pay attention to them. His mind felt like endless static as he walked over to the direction of the bathroom.

As he did so, a vending machine on the wall caught his attention. Should he bring back some milk for Kageyama? He knows that the setter liked them and that he had a few spare coins in the pocket of his jacket.

Humming in thought, he decides to come back for them later after he heads to the bathroom. Continuing his journey, he entered the bathroom and did his business without any rush before washing his hands in the sink.

The cool water was nice on his hands as he let it thread past his skin. His eyes gazed at the liquid before eventually deeming his hands clean enough and closing the faucet. Instead of heading over to the hand dryer, he carelessly flicked his hands causing water droplets to splatter everywhere.

Once he was done, he turned to walk away only to notice the door opening. Normally, he wouldn't care about something as simple as someone entering the bathroom but the familiar purple hair this person had caused him to pause.

"Reo...?" He whispered, his voice small and breathless at the sight of the one person he'd been hoping to see somewhere in the corner of his eyes. "You're here..." His eyes were wide at the sight of him. As far as he knew, only the top 5 were deployed to join schools of Ego's choosing.