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Suggested Listening: Wolves by Selena Gomez and Marshmellow

Touch of Black

Part II: Progress?

Kageyama dropped his forehead on his desk. He was completely and utterly doomed. This was becoming a familiar part of his routine now. His head hit the desk again. Maybe he could knock the focus into himself like this?

"Well at least you made a passing grade on your rewrite." Sugawara added helpfully. His eyes scanned the freshly graded paper. A slight cringe marred his features the further down he got, "You still have a long way to go though."

It was true. He'd barely passed the rewrite. His grammar had been atrocious but at least his use of kanji had been excellent. That was about the only thing he had going for him at this moment.

The younger setter hit his head on the desk repeatedly. That project alone wouldn't be enough to pull his overall grade into a passing level.

"I know, I know!" He grunted in response. "It's only a month in and I'm already behind." He scowled at the thought. The classes were boring, the professors weren't engaging and most of all, half of the cores he was forced to take would be utterly useless in his future. Ultimately, he had zero interest in his classes until they bit him in the ass.

The light haired male grinned, "That's because you got too focused on volleyball. Why don't you take some time to catch up on your studies?" He was right of course, but that didn't stop him from scowling at his friend.

"You suck." Kageyama complained.

Sugawara's grin grew wider, "Hey now, I invited Kagome over again tonight just to help you out." A sly expression overtook the other setter's face. "I could just ask her not to come. She does have her own practices to worry about."

He shot him a withering glare, "I hate you."

The older male laughed, "No, you're supposed to say 'thank you senpai!' Or something like that."

Kageyama sighed through his nose. He slouched over his desk before slamming his head onto its hard surface another time.

"Who are you, Nishinoya?" He threw a disproving look over at his friend and roommate. "I don't think I've ever heard you say anything like that before." His eyes narrowed sharply, "It's suspicious."

Sugawara laughed, "What, I can't make a little joke?" At his stern expression, the young man continued. "In any case we got lucky today. The Girl's team had the day off from practice. Kagome usually does her own exercises with a few of the others though." He shot him a bright smile. "This is top secret from the first years, but next week we're doing an official practice match against them. We set it up as a surprise so that the guys would get a little more pumped."

The younger setter quirked his brow, "We're going up against the Girl's team? Wait, what position does Kagome play? She's kind of short." His interest was piqued. Libero would be his best guess given her physique.

His friend's smile shifted into a confident one, "She's a Wing Spiker. Their Ace to be exact."

Kageyama looked to him curiously, "You serious?"

He nodded, "I'm serious. You ought to see her in action. Her playing style reminds me a lot of Hinata." Sugawara's laughter grew a bit louder. "Just smarter and a lot less hyper active. She's got amazing reflexes though." The light haired male smirked at him, "Just you wait. You'll see what you're getting into. Next week's match will be between the first years and the Girl's team. I won't spoil anything else outside of that."

The younger setter pinned him with a blank expression. Really? This was how he was going to be? He wasn't impressed. Not at all.

Both men paused as Sugawara's phone went off. The older of them swiftly answered it.

"Hey, you on your way?" There was a short pause. "Yeah same place as last time." He shifted to turn his shoulder away from him. Unintentionally, Kageyama began to strain his ears—attempting to listen in on the conversation. He was curious.

His friend nodded to himself, "Sure, I'll meet you down there. Sounds good. I'll take you back once we're done. You too, bye." With that he ended the call.

"Kagome?" He questioned him.

Sugawara nodded again, "Yeah. She's on her way right now. Come on, we can't keep a lady waiting. Now get dressed!" He looked down at himself. His roommate was right. He was still in an old work out shirt and sweat pants that were a little worse for wear. His face flushed. He could not stay in these clothes with a girl coming over.

The young man managed to change into simple day clothes faster than he ever had before. Sugawara laughed as his attempt had led him to stumbling all over their dorm; nearly falling on his ass three times in the process. Where was his balance?

The light haired male's phone went off a second time. Both of them glanced at it before he answered, "You already here?" Another pause. "Sure, I'll go get you now. See you soon."

Kageyama quirked a brow. Was it just him, or was his friend's voice a bit softer when he spoke to her? Sugawara ended the call. He turned towards him and flashed a bright grin.

"She's here, so I'm going to pick her up from the front desk." His grin turned teasing. "You should probably at least look like you're studying by the time we get back up here. It'll save you a lecture." With that he was gone.

The younger setter cocked his head to the side.

Lecture?


He should've listened.

"Kageyama-kun," Kagome's voice was stern. She folded her arms over her chest as she purses her lips together. "What is this?"

He scowled, purposely avoiding looking at the area he knew she was talking about.

"Kageyama-kun…" If possible, the disapproval in her tone became more pronounced. Nope, he was still not going to look.

He could feel her eyes on him in a sharp stare. Was he being petulant? Probably. But he wasn't going to give in either.

"Please explain to me how a cut shot is the answer to Saito's dilemma in this passage." There was an exasperated sigh with her inquiry. He didn't have an answer. "This isn't getting us anywhere." She closed her materials in favor of meeting his gaze directly. "Let's start with the basics. What are you able to master easily?"

The response was quick, "Volleyball."

Apparently that'd also been the wrong answer. That time she dropped her forehead onto his desk, "This is hopeless. Koushi, help a girl out would you?" She shot his roommate an exasperated look.

Sugawara tapped his chin thoughtfully, "I think memorization is his best skill. He does his worst with languages but give him a formula or something to memorize and he's a bit of a monster."

Kagome slowly lifted her head, "That's good. Which means that we have something that I can work with." The young woman reached into her backpack. "Okay for starters, I want you to write important things you learn in class on flash cards. Don't worry too much about filling the whole thing. Just write one word on each card. You can take separate notes for it in your journal."

He didn't have the heart to tell her that he hardly took notes. It was obvious that much of their test questions came from the textbooks anyways. What was the point of listening to some old bat drone on and on about their 'life experiences'?

"You can start catching up by using your memorization skills to commit these concepts into your long term memory." She pushed a full stack of index cards towards him. "Repetition alone won't be enough, so make sure you take the time to fully understand each concept as you study them." She pointed towards his failed assignment, "For example open ended questions like this one are meant as a way to encourage longer and more thought provoking answers."

Kagome pointed towards a line in the passage, "Saito's dilemma was written here as the end of the age of Samurai. The answer he found was later down here, where he mentions that he'll be observing this new era from the shadows. Therefore the answer to this question would be the reinforcement of these ideals and the feeling of Saito's displacement at the start of the Meiji era."

Kageyama blinked, "Oh so that's what they were looking for." He scratched at the back of his neck. "The wording was a bit weird."

The young woman looked at him oddly before glancing at Sugawara. The other male shrugged his shoulders, a placating smile upon his lips.

"I think I'm starting to get a clearer picture of your learning style." She leaned towards him suddenly. In that moment he got his first real good look at her. She was cute. Long, dark hair that fell over her exposed shoulders in soft curls. Azure eyes that seemed to pierce right through him at every moment. The slight shimmer of lip gloss drew his attention downwards. What were they talking about again?

"Kagome, we should probably pack it in for tonight." His roommate placed a palm on her shoulder. "You'll be late meeting with the girls otherwise."

She jump, "Oh man, you're right! Here," She handed him a small pamphlet of some sort. "Give that a read through. A few of those tips should help you out. Anyways, I have to get going. Ready, Koushi?"

Sugawara opened their door for her, "Whenever you are." The pair left as quickly as they came. Kageyama flipped the booklet open.

"Studying tips for visual learners…" He read the title out loud. The setter tilted his head to the side. Just who was this girl? A volleyball player that carried around items that a teacher usually would? More importantly, how long had she and Sugawara known each other? She'd used his first name.

The young man shoved the thought aside for the moment. He'd think about that later. For now he'd just take her advice. Who knows, this might just be the jump start he needed to get his grades up again. A smirk pulled at his lips.

He would not fail.