F̶o̶l̶l̶o̶w̶ Fuck the Rulebook - Kenma Kozume

Pratice match - C9

A couple of weeks had gone by where Akasuki attended the regular training sessions, observing the boy’s practice. But today was different. Today was the day for the first actual practice match between Nekoma and another school. Yet, Akasuki had been running around handling the duties no one else wanted. Shit, shit, Akasuki gripped the bottles between her arms as she sprinted through the courtyard. She glanced at the ground momentarily ensuring she didn’t lose her footing, instead her body collided with another’s. Oh shit, she glanced at them as time slowed right in front of her eyes, a short boy with bright orange hair and wide eyes was plummeting forward. Drop the bottles or grab him? Her eyes widened, drop the bottles or grab him? She let the bottles slip from her arms grabbing the back of the boy's shirt, firmly planting her feet on the ground as she pulled back trying to counter the fall. Is it working? The boy staggered back into Akasuki’s chest, steadying himself on his feet. Thank god. She wiped her brow crouching down to pick up the bottles. 
“I’m sorry!” the boy exclaimed immediately crouching to grab the bottles.
Why was he sorry? She glanced up to catch his worrisome gaze,
“don’t worry about it,” she smiled softly.
He beamed back at her as the pair stood, the boy planting the bottles in her arms.
“Thanks,” Akasuki spoke in a quiet time glancing over the boy.
He was wearing a black shirt orange and white strips down the sides continuing onto the shorts, with a large number ten in the middle of his shirt. Is, is this one of the other players?
“You’re the other team, right?” Akasuki questioned pulling back her shoulders, she has to be intimidating, that’s what Kuroo told her.
The boy nodded grinning widely at her before stumbling backwards, loudly exclaiming,
“who are you? Are you a spy?”
She chuckled lightly; he looks so surprised. She shook her head glancing around for the other members of his team,
“are you lost?”
He glanced around before lowering his head with a short nod. Thought so. She weakly gestured in the direction of the gym,
“I’ll take you.”
He nodded, Akasuki starting to walk alongside him. She glanced over to him, his eyes firmly fixed in the ground, she didn’t know much about this team. All she knew was they used to be rivals who would often compete against each other but it’s been years since they have. It’s kinda sad.
“So, what position do you play?” Akasuki asked trying to make some conversation.
He glanced up to her, furrowing his brows,
“you calling me short?”
What? She never even uttered anything about his height.
“No,” she scoffed, “I’m asking, what position you play.”
“Oh,” he glanced away, “I thought you were making fun of me for my height.”
“We have short players,” Akasuki shrugged, “it doesn’t matter, as long as they can play, right?”
He nodded, a smile spreading over his face,
“I’m a middle blocker.”
What? She furrowed her brows at him, a middle blocker. That’s what Kuroo is. And, she hated to say it, but the height difference between the pair was quite drastic,
“cool.”
Cool, is that the best she could come up with? He suddenly perked up, bounding forward turning towards her, opening her arms wide,
“you get to do these cool moves,” he starts to bound around.
So, much energy. She pushed open the doors leading into the gym,
“save that energy for the game.”
He suddenly bounded past almost knocking the bottles out of her arms, oh god, she gripped tighter holding the door open till he was fully through. He’s like a little finch fluttering here and there.
“Hinata!” Someone yelled.
Akasuki’s eyes lifted, to meet many sets of unfamiliar eyes. Hinata? The assumed boy known as Hinata skidded across the floor bumping into Akasuki. Jesus! She embraced the impact clinging onto the bottles, Hinata glancing up at her proceeding to push off of her,
“sorry again.”
Akasuki shook her head with a distant smile, Taketora’s voice suddenly filling the hall,
“hey, she’s ours! Hands off!”
Ours? Is he serious? She glanced around at the separate teams warming up, Taketora now sprinting towards her. Whoa. He slid between the pair dividing Hinata from her, where is this coming from all of a sudden?
“You have your own pretty manager,” Taketora grumbled crossing his arms.
Hinata tilted his head, possibly in confusion, slowly turning around to sprint towards his own team, up to an average height boy with short brown hair and a one branded on his shirt, that must be there captain. Taketora’s face suddenly appeared before hers,
“you have your own team to manage.”
Akasuki moved her sight to meet Taketora’s eyes, her own team to manage, she moved forward into him with a grin,
“you won’t mind helping me then.”
Taketora's cheeks grew red as she passed half of the bottles into his arms, reaching up to pat his chest,
“good work.”
She turned on her heels with a smirk, her team, heading towards the boys. She laid the bottles on the bench glancing over to Kenma sat with his head in the game. Should she say something supportive?
“Hey,” Akasuki spoke with a soft smile, Kenma lifting his head ever so slightly to catch her eye.
Fuck. Her face reddened as his eyes lazily stared at her. Now what does she say?  Suddenly an arm draped over her, Sō grabbing a bottle from the bench looking to Kenma,
“who do you think is prettier? Our manager or theirs?”
What is he on about? It’s obvious that their manager was. Kenma's gaze moved back down towards his game. Maybe he didn’t like that kind of thing. She didn’t blame him. Sō squeezed Akasuki tightly,
“you’ll always be prettier to me.”
Right. Much appreciated Sō. She slid out of his grasp with a light chuckle,
“thanks.”
Sō beamed at her as if he just completed a difficult maths question. She shook her head with a small smile, how can he not be nervous right now?
“Hey, Akasuki,” Kuroo called gesturing for her to come over.
What does he want? She wandered over to him,
“what’s up?”
He reached his arms down the side of his legs stretching, staring at me a sideward gaze,
“you okay?”
Huh? Why is he asking me that? She scoffed lightly,
“are you okay?”
Kuroo shrugged as he changed sides continuing to stretch,
“It’s your first practice game with us,” he smirked, “it’s okay if you’re nervous.”
She reached out to shove his shoulder lightly,
“why would I be nervous if I know you’re going to win?”
She wasn’t completely sure, she had no idea about other teams, but she knew from what she saw, her team was good. Kuroo stared at her for a second before nodding in satisfaction,
“good, now go hype them up.”
Hype them up? Isn’t that his job? He noticed her hesitation, standing up straight with his hands on his hips,
“I know you’re only beginning to get settled in, but this is an important part of volleyball for us.”
She nodded, she understood that. He gestured over to the group casually stretching near the bench,
“use your brain, or your smile,” he teased.
Is he okay? He never normally is this bossy, well, he is, but not for the team. She reached out to pat his shoulder with a grin,
“you’re gonna win this, I just know it.”
Kuroo was silent for a moment before returning to his cool and calm state,
“thanks.”
He’s a good captain, if anyone can support a team, it’s him. She turned around heading towards the boys, Morisuke was on the floor, Yūki lightly pushing against his back.
“How weak can you be?” Morisuke groaned.
Honestly, Yūki is probably the smallest member here, so he may lack muscles. Akasuki tapped Yūki's shoulder gesturing for him to move aside, carefully replacing his hands with hers. Yūki grinned at her, as she started to push down. Morisuke noticed the immediate change in pressure his head lifting to see her face smiling down at him,
“hey manager,” he smiled softly at her, “you’re getting pretty involved, today aren’t you?”
Maybe it was the building of her nerves or Kuroo’s words that led her to this. But she wanted to get involved. She shrugged,
“what use would I be if I didn’t?”
“Have you introduced yourself to the coach of the other team yet?” he asked.
What? She’s meant to do that? He chuckled seeing the panic on her face,
“I’m joking, but the closer you get to their manager, the more jealous Tora will get.”
Jealous? Why would he get jealous? She pulled away glancing towards the other coach talking with Yasufumi, maybe she should.
“It’s rude if I don’t,” Akasuki frowned, “right?”
Morisuke shrugged, sitting up straight,
“go then.”
She nodded starting to walk towards the coaches. Suddenly a pair of arms wrap around her,
“leaving us already?”
She could guess who this was, Sō. She glanced up at Sō's head on her shoulder. He’s being more clingy than usual today. She shifted around to full face him putting a couple inches between them. He reminds her of Tatsuo, a simple hug and words of assurance always worked for him. But she wasn’t sure it’d work for Sō. She smiled at him,
“you nervous?”
He tilted his head squinting at her as if he hadn’t ever heard the word nervous before. She held out her hands, waiting expectantly. There’s something she would do with Reiji which might be more appropriate. Sō stared at her hands confused. She sighed taking a hold of his hands lightly clasping them between hers. She normally would do letters but letters had nothing to do with this. Maybe numbers, his number? She pulled one hand off slowly tracing the number seven on the back of his hand,
“you’ll win this.”
She wasn’t sure why this calmed Reiji down, but it made him focus on the sensation rather than the thoughts in his head. Sō furrowed his brows with a nod,
“do I get a prize if I do?”
A prize? He’s really asking for it.
“I’ll let you interrupt my lunches,” Akasuki suggested, “and,” she watched the smile growing on his face, “we can actually hang out, instead of work.”
He grinned rapidly nodding,
“I’ll win this!”
“We’ll,” Akasuki corrected gesturing to the team behind him, “together you’ll win this.”
Sō turned around to the team jumping on the closest person to him, Taketora, wrapping his legs around him,
“this is gonna be great!”
Akasuki shook her head with a chuckle, heading towards the coaches. Hopefully this goes well. As she neared to the coaches a blur of a ball came flying towards her. What the? A hand shot up knocking the ball out of the air to the ground, ultimately stopping it from smacking into Akasuki.
“Are you okay?” A gentle voice asked.
Akasuki glanced up at the worrisome look on the unfamiliar face of the girl before her. Is this their manager? She nodded, a laugh slipping from her lips,
“yeah, thanks.”
She shook her head, black hair cascading over thinly framed glasses protecting her blue eyes. Wow, she is really pretty.
“Akasuki, Akasuki Au,” Akasuki spoke holding out her hand.
She smiled at her sliding her hand into Akasuki’s,
“Kiyoko Shimizu.”
Kiyoko. She glanced towards her team, Akasuki turned with her. She seems pretty confident; she must be a third year.
“This game should be interesting,” Kiyoko remarked.
Yep, she’s right about that. Akasuki glanced towards the boy’s,
“pretty interesting for sure.”
She must have the same hope for her team to win as Akasuki did for hers. Akasuki gazed at Kiyoko, wondering if she had already grown a dislike against her. What if she has? She can’t have. Right?
“I,” Akasuki spoke quietly, Kiyoko’s eyes dropping to meet hers.
There’s no possibility there is an ounce of cruelty in her eyes. None at all.
“I hope we can become good friends,” Kiyoko spoke with a gentle smile.
Friends. How could she wish to be friends with someone like Akasuki? All they must have in common is they’re managers of a volleyball team. She must mean as a friendly competitor. Akasuki nodded, like temporary friends. She can do that. Yasufumi’s voice echoed through the hall as he ordered a line up, the teams greeting one another. The time is now.