That Number Ten

18. Mobbing

Crows can come together against a single foe, often in an action called 'mobbing'.

That was not what Daichi and Sugawara were currently doing.

"Thank you, everyone," Sugawara said cheerfully. "We really needed to have this talk with you all!"

The four Tokyo teams shuffled together in their respective groups as Daichi eyed them all respectively.

"It has come to our attention that some of you have, how shall we put it…been bothering a certain teammate of ours, Hinata Shoyou." Sugawara smiled, but there was something definitely off about it.

Lev was one of several that immediately looked guilty. Kuroo just grinned wide and unashamed.

Daichi smiled then suddenly, slow and worrisome, a disturbing glint to his eyes.

"Don't."

--

There was a collective shiver around the room.

"Hey, Daichi-senpai," Hinata said over lunch, mouth full of rice. "When we have free time and people get together in groups and play some volleyball to train and stuff, a lot of people aren't letting me join in. A lot of them said because you said something to them?"

"Are you…being excluded?" Sugawara asked, setting down his chopsticks to look at Hinata with a worried expression.

Asahi two seats over choked on his mouthful of food, unable to get the image of Sugawara as a worried, hovering parent out of his head.

"No, no, Bokuto-kun, Akaashi-kun, Kuroo-kun, they let me play, and I can do some stuff with their teams, but I can only learn so much from them, and I'd like to learn from others too, you know? I was just wondering if you're not letting me play volleyball with the others because…"

"Because?" Sugawara encouraged gently.

"Because I'm not that good at volleyball without you guys?" Hinata's voice went quiet.

Kageyama slammed his chopsticks on the table.

"Who said that to you?!"

"K-Kageyama-kun? N-No one said that to me, I guessed it by myself! I mean…I mean, spiking is kinda difficult without you there, and I'm not so great at anything other than spiking so."

"Don't be absurd," Tsukishima muttered, picking at his food absently. Nishinoya whispered 'tsundere'.

"Tsukki's right, Hinata, you play really well!" Yamaguchi reached across the table to set a hand gently on Hinata's knuckles. "Don't let anyone tell you otherwise."

"Hinata," Daichi said over the murmured placating words the others were giving to their middle blocker and the table fell silent. "We wouldn't have made it this far as a team without you. When I spoke to the others, it wasn't with the intentions of you being excluded, rather…"

"Daichi-san is jealous of others playing well with you," Sugawara interjected warmly, and smiled brightly as Daichi's serious countenance was ruined with his blush.

"Sugawara!" Daichi hissed and a couple of laughs ran around the table.

"I still reckon someone said that to you," Kageyama muttered, gathering up his chopsticks and leaning his shoulder firmly against Hinata's in a show of camaraderie.

"Kageyama-kun, the only person to tell me I suck at volleyball is you."

"You what?" Daichi's expression was death itself.

("R.I.P in peace, Kageyama," Tanaka snickered in the background.)