The Queen of the Crows {Haikyuu!!}

47

"Are you sure you're well enough to be here?"  My eye twitches as Yachi hovers around me. We walk together to our class after coming back from the Miyagi training camp.

"Yachi, for the last time I'm perfectly fine," I bite my tongue. She backs offs quickly. I fix the collar of my white button-up as she slides open the classroom door. I sit in the desk behind her and begin getting out homework and other papers. Yachi twists around to talk and I notice something. I reach out, "Your bow is crooked,"

I straighten out the cute red bow and pull the corners tight. "There."

"Chi-chan why don't you wear a bow? I don't think I've seen you wear it before."

I lean back in my chair and tug on my slightly unbuttoned shirt. "I don't like keeping my shirt all the way buttoned. It feels too constricting and a bow on an unbuttoned shirt looks strange," she nods, content with the answer.

"That makes sense. Still think it would look cute on you," she shrugs and I shrug in response.

"Maybe I'll wear it someday," I push up my glasses and Yachi turns back around as the teacher enters the room. 

~~~

Class goes by agonizingly slow so when it was time to leave, I fly out the room leaving Yachi behind. I'm the first person their save Ukai who is sitting on the bench glaring at his clipboard. "Chihiro, after you change come tweak this training for me," he calls out. I jog to the bathroom and change quickly before taking the clipboard out of Ukai's and crossing my legs on the bench.

There isn't much to tweak other than the weight training and agility, so I finish right when everyone shows up in their gym clothes. Ukai blows the whistle, and they jog over to the two of us. I flip back a few pages and push up my glasses before speaking. "First on the menu is running six gyms. After that, you'll rotate between weights and spiking and blocking," I look up and nod. "Alright, let's do it." An affirmative shout sends them to their training.

They run back and forth from one side of the gym to the other a total of six times before beginning their second task. The net is set up with both Sugawara and Kageyama tossing to their respective lines and Nishinoya accompanying the player that spiked last in receives and blocking.

I station myself at the weights so I can spot the two player using the free weights to their hearts content. The first two at the weights were Tanaka and Hinata. "Hinata NO!" I grab an excessively heavy weight from him before he crushes his toes or hurts his back. "Why don't you start with a smaller weight?" I wince as I replace the weight on the rack.

~~~

When Sugawara rotated to the weights, I took over setting for him. I toss several times until I hear a strained grunt. Sugawara is benching quite a heavy set when I turn my head. He's holding it up but his elbows look like they are about to buckle. "Suga wait!" I run over to him and barely catch the bar before it hit his chest. I stand over him and grab a hold of the bar in his hand. I nearly fall forward as I hover over his bewildered face.

I stand on my toes as I hoist the bar back up. I brace myself on the bar and take a breath. Sugawara looks up at me with eyes as wide as satellite dishes. My hair falls around my face and I blow a strand away. "When you start getting into those heavier ranges, please get me to spot you first. I don't know what I'd do if you got hurt," A single bead of sweat rolls down my nose. I push my body back up and walk back to the basket of volleyballs. I hear a couple snickers.

"Geez Suga. if you were trying to impress her, weightlifting is the last thing you should try. She even outclasses Asahi and Daichi," Tanaka crosses his arms and smirks.

"I admire your ambition to get better, but getting hurt will only stall progress," I look briefly over my shoulder before grabbing a volleyball, "So just be careful." 

~~~

Third POV

Chihiro effortlessly demolished ego after ego in the free weights. If you thought for one second that she couldn't absolutely destroy you, she reminded you in the next. Asahi still can't wrap his head around how she was barely five foot and could probably throw a grown man across a room like he was a baseball. 

The rest of practice went by smoothly so when it was time for a closing meeting, satisfaction gleams on their faces. However, the coaches and managers did not share that same expression. "Practice went smoothly today and as we approach nationals, that's more than we could ask for," Ukai surveys his team's faces before speaking again. "But we can't go to nationals without a team and grades aren't looking too good,"

Faces drop into sheepish grins and soul-vacant stares. "Volleyball cannot be an excuse for bad grades. The dean will have my ass if it is," he mutters the last part. "So Takeda-sensei and Chihiro-chan came up with a solution," Ukai nods to Takeda.

He steps forward, "We have thought about things and we believe that study groups after every other afternoon practice would be good. We'll divide you up by grade level and Chihiro and I will join a group to tutor. On weekends we'll split the second years up and they will join either the third years or first years so that everyone will have a tutor," he explains the technicalities. 

Meanwhile, Chihiro zoned out and didn't catch the part about tutoring during the weekends that was conveniently left out when she was spoken to prior. She scuffs her shoe along the ground and stares into the shiny wood floor. What brought her out of her daze was the less than enthusiastic 'osu' from the team.

What she doesn't know either is that the next three weeks would change everything.

~~~~~~~~

Wowowow this update siphoned 3 years of my life span. I just couldn't find it in me but here it is. I think after this arc I'll realign with the manga and continue onto the culture festival and national arc. These next chapters are gonna get saucy so stay tuned.

Stay cool,

UmbrellaChild