Kageyama's Queen of the School [Kageyama Tobio]

[15] And It Begins!

If I would have known that all of the upper class-men would start crying at the sight of the giant, black banner, I probably wouldn't have helped to get it in the first place. I realized a few minutes after that what made them so emotional was actually just Shimizu-Senpai wishing them luck. Apparently, that was all they needed for encouragement to go into the first round. It was nice to know, though, that us first years weren't as affected. Tsukishima hadn't even been looking and only jumped in surprise when the tears started falling, slightly disgusted by the reaction. Coach decided to look the other way as they sobbed.

Time flew by after that— we were at the tournament before I could remember to check their grades, forcing myself to lie and tell Takeda Sensei that their grades were passable even though I knew for a fact that Hinata was failing English. Still, I couldn't bare to keep the team from their secret weapon; that quick was going to score a lot of points. I was still biting my lip as I debated fixing the scores myself when the bus pulled up at the Interhigh Preliminaries and Kageyama nudged for me to start getting off the bus.

"C'mon Tomo!" Hinata exclaimed, hopping off the bus. Wobbling out of my seat, I followed behind Kageyama and grinned at how excited everyone was. Tanaka and Nishinoya were scouting the area as Hinata bounced from right to left, up and down, trying to see everything at once. The crowds were all huddled in small groups, teams walking into the giant gymnasium as they spoke with such high hopes.

"We'll get them this year!"

A fist went into the air. "We trained so hard for this!"

I weaved myself in between our own team to avoid getting left behind, listening to the conversations as we passed by. By the entrance, several sheets of paper were posted on the brick wall, consisting of the teams that were playing and what court they were assigned to. Two other players were already reading off the names and commenting on each team and, without warning, the boys stopped in their steps when they caught a bit of what they were saying.

"Karasuno? The Flightless Crows?"

I bit my lip and let my shoulders fall. Here we go.

"What was that?" Tanaka hissed into one of their ears, teeth baring. It looked like Tanaka was about to bite into his shoulder until the captain intervened, yanking him back by his collar. Suga lightly tapped his hands against my back to move me forward, along with the rest of the team as to avoid any confrontation, while Sawamura-Kun apologized for Tanaka's behavior. I quickened my steps once we were inside, now in awe like Hinata was. There were so many teams. Some were pointing at Asahi, afraid for reasons that I couldn't seem to understand. I supposed there were rumors because of how he looked, but if only they knew how gentle and timid he was. Others were recognizing Nishinoya from his middle-school libero days and others recognized Kageyama, the infamous 'King of the Court'. We certainly were a well put-together team.

"This is the perfect spot to lose either one of them," Tsukishima said once we turned into a crowded hall, using his thumbs to point at Hinata and me, "They're so small, no one would notice until it's too late."

"Tsukki!" Yamaguchi yelped, completely against the idea. I glared at him and turned the other way. Hinata was too busy sticking his nose into other people's social circles to hear the jab from Megane-Kun.

"It's okay Yamaguchi, I'd just have to look for a ridiculously tall lamp post to get back to you guys," I told him, waving a hand in the air nonchalantly. Kageyama snickered at my comment and Tsukishima rolled his eyes, unimpressed. I know we could have gone back and forth for a while longer or until we reached our court, but we stopped for a second time when a different team blocked our way, keeping us in the hallway as I tried to figure out who they were, squeezing my head out from behind Kageyama to peek at their uniform. Everyone stared at each other, squaring off.