Kageyama's Queen of the School [Kageyama Tobio]

[19] They Look Like Middle Schoolers...

FOLLOW ME AND MY TWITTER TO BE ENTERED IN A RANDOM GIVEAWAY!

It was plain to see that Asahi-San was gaining his confidence back with each and every pipe spike that successfully earned them a point, and the first set ended with 25 to 19. I thought it was incredible to get such a score against a strong team— I wasn't the only one who thought that either. Karasuno's girl volleyball team also came up to watch the game and were blown away, screaming and shouting with us. If I recalled correctly, their captain was familiar with Sawamura-Kun.

I wondered how their game went as I searched my pockets for the cash I brought. Once the break for between the two sets started, I hurried out and down the stairs to go and get whatever food I could. I scanned the menu as I waited in line, tapping my foot impatiently. There was popcorn, soda, hotdogs, chips, pizza and pretzels. A hotdog would be fine, I guessed.

I made sure to only put a small amount of ketchup on it as I raced back up the stands to avoid making a mess and let out a heavy breath when I saw that I hadn't missed anything yet. From what I could tell as I bit into my lunch was that Kōchi had moved up the rotation so that Hinata is facing off with Aone.

Because of this, it made him the perfect decoy and forced Date Tech to call for a time out again. Hinata should feel so proud of himself, he was literally paving the way for Karasuno's revenge against the Iron Wall.

Still, it wasn't just Hinata. Nishinoya's amazing libero skill saved us from a stray chance ball, not once, but twice. In the last rally, Nishinoya actually managed to use the side of his foot and keep the ball in play just enough for Asahi to spike the winning point.

We won 25 to 22.

-

I was crying. When I started to sprint down the stairs and maneuver myself in between teams to get into the gym, my vision started to get blurry and before I felt the tears fall, I knew I was crying. It took a lot for me to cry but I wasn't surprised that the boys had gotten me so attached to the game.

Skidding through the doors, I scanned the gym to make sure I was on the right court and ran forward once I saw the number nine jersey, crashing into Kageyama's back and startling Hinata.

There was a bubble in my throat and I wanted to scream out, I wanted to make a sound that resembled something happy. Instead, I gurgled something that sounded like I was choking back a sob.

"Are you crying!?" Hinata asked, raising his arms cautiously. I fumbled to nod and Kageyama spun me around so I could face him.

"Oi!" he shouted, shaking me slightly, "Stop crying, baka!"

He shook me left and right, making my words bounce as I tried to explain that I wasn't just bawling my eyes out for no reason. Hinata was ready with a granola bar and I tried to laugh, remembering the familiar scene during the practice match against Aoba Johsai.

"Th-They're tears of... of jo...hoy!" I cried out, hiccupping with each sound.

Kageyama furrowed his brows and shook me again. "Well, stop it!"

To stop myself from letting out another whimper, I shut my mouth and bit down on my bottom lip so it wouldn't shake any more. Kageyama gave me one last look over to make sure I was fine and I ignored the sharp taste of blood that started seeping onto my tongue. I nodded up at him and he let go.

"How about you both stop shouting like idiots and help pack up?" Tsukishima's voice advised, shoving the volleyball cart into the three of us, "Work as fast as your mouths run."

I hopped out of the way and Kageyama kicked it to the side, hitting Hinata in the progress. Still, we started moving over to pick up what we could; the court had to be cleared so it could be wiped down for the next team playing.

"So, those secret signals Suga came up with really came in handy, huh?" Hinata whispered, jumping to walk between Kageyema and I. I laughed as Kageyama scowled at the sudden orange appearance and tossed the last of the volleyballs into the cart.

"Yeah, it didn't seem like they caught on," I nodded over to the opposite side of the net, referring to Date Tech, "I'm glad you both memorized them in good time."

Hinata grinned and started making his usual sounds as he started repeating the plays the team made, hand flying left and right, a 'woosh!' here and 'bam!' there until the SMACK! of a real volleyball hitting the ground a few feet away made us flinch.

Our eyes went the court we were passing by. Sure enough, the familiar sense of dread that came with the fluffy, brown head of hair that was Oikawa made us pause to watch him play, shivering as the scoreboard changed, 14 to 24. I was tempted to go and head back into the bus, ready to but today behind us, but Suga and Coach Ukai had other plans, ushering us all to rush up and go sit in the stands to watch the rest of Aoba Johsai's game.

Hinata, Nishinoya and Tanaka made it to the seats first, followed by Suga, Sawamura, Kageyama and I. We managed to see Toto's killer jump serve, which was even scarier than Kageyama's.

"Olé!"

I blinked at Aoba Johsai's cheers. Of course, it would be something dramatic. Oikawa was a drama queen, for sure. Watching him play, I could see that him and Kageyama, both as setters, were like the conductors of the plays. Though it was a little hard to imagine Kageyama as the conductor, dressed in a black suit with a baton. I glanced over at him and held back my smile.

We were sitting together, and by some odd way, my legs were resting on his while I used his sweater as blanket. I hadn't even noticed how I was unconsciously massaging his hand. My cheeks burned at the close contact we were in, and at how smoothly we'd settled in. Like this, it was easier to focus on the game. As always, it was really fluent team work, and Iwaizumi spiked right through a three person block. Oikawa and Iwaizumi teamwork was outstanding; since they'd been playing together since elementary school, the non-verbal communication was incredible. They were working at 100% full capacity.

"I can't wait to play him!" Nishinoya shouted, pumping his arms up and down.

Hinata nodded excitedly beside him and leaned over the railings to shout just as loudly. "The Great King will have to get through us!"

"Hey..." A man down by the courts with a camera looked up at them both, scratching the back of his neck as he started to scold them, "you two middle— elementary school kids, keep it down..."

I stifled the laugh that almost came out and Tsukishima snickered as both boys let their shoulders fall, crest-fallen at the mistake. Ukai and Takeda Sensei even laughed, clearly still in the good mood from the previous match. We weren't even fazed when Aoba Johsai won the game, not that it was unexpected. Kageyama stood up early before they said their thank-you's and I followed him back to the bus, deciding to keep quiet since I could only guess how tired everyone was.

In fact, once the bus started moving, the first few asleep were Hinata, Tanaka, Kageyama and Asahi-San. I let him rest his head on my shoulder, making sure to lean against the window so he could stretch out as much as possible. While I ran my fingers through his hair, I could feel the leftover sweat from the game and felt a small scratch at the back from where Oikawa had slammed him against the vending machine. I frowned at the memory. Kageyama didn't deserve that... and Oikawa would see his Kohai beat him. It was only a matter of time.

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...Big news coming soon...

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As long as I'm here, you're invincible.