The Killer Queen (haikyuuxreader)

46: international

sunday the fourth of august, 2013
     kazan volleyball centre, russia
     thank you for 51k!! i love you all ack

     The bus ride was quiet - everyone was jet-lagged, and everyone was either sleeping or practically slumped over dead in their seats. However, you were still wide awake, excited with the concept of being in another country, much like you were when you first came into Japan.

     You remembered the fuss that went on during security to get out of your home country - you were stopped twice all because you had a bottle of water buried in your suitcase for whatever reason. It was a lot of trouble, and you thought you weren't going to make it out alive. Thinking about security made you nervous, but Japanese security was just as proper but a lot less intense. You were stopped once and politely asked to remove your phone from your backpack. That was it.

     Japan was always better.

     You sighed, and continued to stare out the window. Tendou, sat beside you, was snoring away and was leaning on your shoulder. His face was so bony that it hurt. Reina, behind you, was leaning on your seat to sleep, which made your seat lean forward and not backwards at all. It was almost impossible to sleep. Perhaps, if you had someone beefy like Ushijima beside you, you could sleep on them. But that'd just provoke him to say weird things around you more.

     Suddenly, you were snapped out of your trance. Amidst the hum of the engine of the bus, the Soviet Union national anthem was playing very quietly from a few rows behind you. Turning around to see who it was, you noticed Alisa stood up and looking around her, presumably to see who she could disturb and wake up.

     But, before she could wake anyone up, you whisper-yelled, "привет, comrade."

     Alisa smiled. "привет. What are you doing up?"

     "It's seven in the morning here, and I can't sleep in daylight." You sat so that you were kneeling on your seat. Your arms rested on the headrest, close to Reina's head. "Besides, it's about four in the afternoon back in Japan."

     "Yeah, four in the afternoon the next day. We haven't slept for a whole twenty four hours! It's been so long..." she sighed, "I can't remember the plane trip being that long!"

     "Oh yeah.." you leaned forward again. "Say, Alisa, how long did you live in Russia for?"

     She pulled a face. "Not too long. I was about four and Lev had just been born. My dad left and then my mother moved to Japan with us. It was sad comrade hours for a bit, and then Lev grew up and made everything sunshine and rainbows."

     "Lev grew up? What do you mean?" You got up from your seat and sat in the spare one next to her. The bus went over a speed bump and you almost went flying, but Alisa managed to grab you in time.

     She grinned. "His first words were literally a punch line. I'd tell him the joke about what time was the best time to go to the dentist all the time, and eventually he came out with 'TOOTH HURTY!' in this really squeaky voice." She sighed, reminiscing over her childhood. "He was so cute and so small... little Lyovochka..."

     "Lyovochka?" You leaned in, "is that a nickname?"

     She nodded. "Yeah. It's a pet name, I guess. Doesn't really mean much. But did you know that his name means lion?"

"Erm, no?" You said, but it sounded more like a question. "Hang on, we were talking about Russia. Tell me about the people."

She pulled a face and thought for a minute. "They're not all rabid communists, but they do love Putin a lot." She looked out the window and smiled at the green countryside. Although you'd landed in Kazan, there was still quite a bit of countryside around you. However you could see the buildings in the distance - so far, Kazan looked like some sort of real-life Altissia. It was scarily similar, with all of the intricate and blindingly white buildings. "And they're all very nice, don't worry."