And I am alive! Well... that was a pretty long break... Sorry for the long wait (oops) I got tied up in making another story that's part of the Intertwined Series and another story about training camp shenanigans (which I'll probably post because why not). Welp, here's the new chapter for y'all
The wide gymnasium was filled with students, new and old alike. Most students were forming small groups. Some students, like Kazumi, were wandering around like lost dogs.
I'll probably go look for Kuroo-kun or his other friends.
Just as she spotted the wild hair of a certain team captain, someone tapped on her shoulder. She turned around to see a girl slightly taller than her with long black hair and shining purple eyes.
"Hi! Uh, I'm not sure if you still remember me but I'm Hinata Youko. I was in the same section as you during fifth grade. You're Udai Kazumi, right?" The said girl nods. She can't remember who the girl in front of her is. She tries to dig deep into her memories. Her second grade memories weren't that clear, but she does remember one event that she thinks the ravenette was involved in.
"I think I kind of remember you, Hinata-san. Were you the one who accidentally poured mud on of our-" Youko Immediately covered the brunette's mouth, her face with an obvious blush
"D-don't say it here! Yes, that was me. And that particular classmate also studies here!" Kazumi doesn't remember who the male classmate was. Youko was one of the active people in class, maybe the reason why she was able to remember her right away, besides the fact that she was involved in 'the incident'.
"Anyways, welcome to Nekoma High! It may not be one of the most prestigious schools here but it has A plus education."
"And cute boys" A girl, about 5"7' in height, approached them. She had short pink hair that curls near the end and navy blue eyes that were filled with mischief. "Riiiiight Youko?"
"Shut your mouth Aimi. As if you have already gotten over your break-up with—ow!"
"Forgive this girl. She's a babble mouth, not a good choice if you're finding for a friend. Okudaira Aimi. You?" When Kazumi finished introducing herself, the speaker announced that the opening ceremony was about to start.
"Since it looks like you don't know your class yet, you can come with me." Aimi parted ways with the two, going to the line for the Class 3-3.
—
"Good morning, Nomura-sensei" A woman, in her mid-forties, stood behind the old wood desk in the office. She wore a kind smile, wrinkles forming on the sides of her eyes as a sign of ageing (and probably stress).
"Good morning. You must be Udai Kazumi. Take a seat here." She sat on the chair the principal told her to sit on. The woman fixed some papers before talking to Kazumi
"It's quite rare to see new students who transfer here on their last year of high school. What brings you here to our school?"
"My mother was offered a better job here. She also wanted some space between us and our father because of…a family matter"
"Ah, I see" She nodded.
"Tell me a little bit more about yourself? What club would you like to join here? I see in your files that you played a lot of sports, volleyball included. Maybe you might be interested in becoming the boys' volleyball team's manager?"
"Thank you for the offer, sensei. But I already decided on joining the Track Club" Nomura-sensei looks at the clock, seeing that it was already 5 minutes past 8. She stands up and fixes the wrinkles on her pencil skirt.
"Let's go to your class now, ne?" Kazumi follows the woman out of the office and to her class. She has no idea on which class she'll be joining, but based on her performance in Shiratorizawa maybe she'll be put in a college prep class (though she almost failed her Jap. Lit but it wasn't bad to hope, right?)
They climb up the flight of stairs until they reach the third floor, the floor for the third years. They pass by class 1, then 2, 3, and 4. They stop right in front of the door of Class 3-5. Nomura-sensei knocks on the door and a man around the same age as her with glasses and neat silver hair opens the door.
"Ah, Good morning Nomura-sensei" The whole class stands up and greets her as well
"Good morning" She enters the classroom with Kazumi in tow. The brunette looks around the classroom and spots two familiar faces.
'Kuroo-kun and Yaku-kun. Guess they'll be my classmates for the rest of the year'
She notices the absence of the third third-year in the volleyball club, Kai Nobuyuki. Nomura-sensei stands in the middle of the class with Kazumi beside her. She tells the brunette to introduce herself
"Good morning. I'm Udai Kazumi, from Shiratorizawa Academy in the Miyagi Prefecture. Please take care of me." She bows
"I'll be taking my leave now. Please show her how a student of Nekoma High acts." Nomura-sensei leaves the classroom. The silver-haired teacher, which Kazumi can say is a megane, goes back to the front of the classroom.
"You can sit next to Oikawa-san over there." He points at the seat in the middle of a girl with dark red hair and black eyes and a boy who looks exactly like the girl except well, he's a boy. The two exchange looks before minding their own business. Once Kazumi sat down, their class (which was English) started.
Their teacher, whose name is Fuji Hiro, discussed mostly about the topics they'll be discussing for the quarter and some rules to follow during their English period. The introduction also included a short game of translating.
Most of the words on the board were not new to Kazumi. Being in a prep class in Shiratorizawa and being forced by your parents to take extra English classes gave her quite an easy time. Her seatmates, she came to know as Oikawa Hotaru and Oikawa Kei, were also fluent in English. Their parents bringing them to the US twice a year to see their relatives there helped them learn the language fast, as said by Hotaru.
By the end of the period, Kazumi has already gained 3 friends, the Oikawa twins and Hayami Ayame, a girl with medium length dark-brown hair tied in a half-ponytail and same coloured eyes framed by rectangular black glasses. Their next class was in the Home Economics Room in the second building. Everyone piled out of the classroom in groups or in twos. Hayami decided to walk with Kazumi, seeing that she didn't have that much friends yet.
"So… how's it like in Miyagi? No wait, how is it like in Shiratorizawa? I heard that school has powerhouse sports teams, especially in volleyball! I'm part of the volleyball team here by the way, setter and vice-captain. You? Any sport?"
"Shiratorizawa is different from other schools I could say. We were required to stay in dorms, the campus was very big, the advanced classes were difficult, the sports teams train very hard-Not that I'm telling that you guys don't- it's just that when a very important game is coming up, for example the semis, they're pulled out from their class just to train. I was part of the-"
"Udai-san!" A male voice owned by none other than Kuroo Tetsuro cut the conversation. The girls see the captain approach them from behind.
"Guess you're one of the nerds too, eh?"
"Doesn't mean someone is part of a prep class means they're a nerd, Kuroo-kun"
"You know each other?! How? Are you a gamer that 'female' Kuroo befriended? Or he finally used a male avatar and flirted you?"
"Ah I had a slip up a day ago and it did not involve video games. Thanks for the info anyway. I'll be careful when playing video games"
"Hey! That's minus 30 to my dignity" Hayami just laughs and flicks Kuroo's forehead, tiptoeing in the process.
"Who in this world said you had dignity left?"
They arrived at the Home Economics Room where 1 table had 6 chairs each. Hayami, Kuroo, and Kazumi all sat on the second table to the left of the teacher's table, animately talking amongst themselves. They didn't notice a black haired male and Yaku sit on the two stools facing Hayami and Kazumi respectively. Hotaru took the last seat in their table.
"Sorry to interrupt your chat but I'll sit here"
"It's okay. No one was sitting there a while ago anyway" That's the only time when Kazumi noticed the black haired male. She would be lying if she said that he wasn't familiar. She couldn't point out where and when she saw him.
"I'll sit here with Yaku if you don't mind"
"I don't mind at all. I didn't catch your name yet"
"Kobayashi Haku. I think I've met you before. Are you Udai Tenma's little sister? It's okay if you don't remember me though" Kuroo, Yaku, and Hayami all let out audible gasps. They didn't think that her last name being Udai meant that she was related to the famous Little Giant.
"You're brother is THE Little Giant?!" Yaku stated in a not-so-calmmanner.
"Udai Tenma IS the Little Giant, right?!"
"THE Little Giant that volleyball players from across the country admired!"
"Uh calm down" Kazumi sweatdropped. She didn't think that her brother would be THAT famous (Okay maybe she did, she just didn't expect that they'll be very hyped about it). "Yes, my brother's name is Udai Tenma. And yes, he is the Little Giant"
"So you are related to him. I think I saw you before during one of my brother's parties a few months ago."
"Oh! That's why you're familiar. You're the one who lead the toast"
"Cool, you remember me."
Their teacher arrived, a short stout woman with dirty yellow hair in a pixie cut. Home Economics started. Their first task was to group into threes and bake anything that they know how to bake.
"I CALL DIBS ON KUROO-KUN! HAYAMI YOU'RE WITH ME TOO" Hotaru's arms clung to Kuroo and Hayami, grinning as she did so. "We're making pie! Just like back when we were in first year"
The two smile, remembering that very first baking lesson they had. The pie didn't turn out well, but at least they gained new friends after.
"Sure. Just tell us what to do baker-chan"
The three others left on the table all watched the chatting group, until Kobayashi cleared his throat.
"So… let's all just assume that we're group mates. Got any ideas?"
"I remember baking cookies with my mom before. Maybe we can try that"
"I have recipes in my phone. Cupcakes, croissants, you name it" Yaku pulled out his phone and showed them the tons of recipes he has. "My siblings love baking so I had to learn how to."
"Let's get some work done"
They settled on making brownies, one of the most common pastries to make. Chatting while working was normal to ease boredom while waiting for their pastry to finish baking, so their teacher was not strict for once. Kobayashi insisted on being the one to watch over the brownies in the oven at the back of the classroom, leaving Yaku and Kazumi alone.
"You said you were from Shiratorizawa right? What's it like there?"
"I guess what makes it different from other schools besides the scholarships given is the academics, the size of the campus, and most importantly: the horses" A laugh erupts from the two. Yaku remembers seeing horses in the Shiratorizawa campus before when he visited his cousin back in Miyagi. He was around 8 at that time and his interest in animals took over him when he was in the campus, running off to where the horses were. He gave his parents a mini- heart attack, knowing full well that the campus was big enough for a child to get lost in.
"I do remember seeing horses there. I once visited my cousin there. I also remember seeing a magazine article about the campus and of course, the horses were mentioned. Enough talk about Shiratorizawa and horses. How about you? Any sport that you play?"
"I can play quite a number of sports because of my brothers' influence. My main sport though is track and field. You know, the hurdles and stuff" Just hearing track and field made Yaku low-key shudder. It's not like he hated the sport, he just… didn't really have good experiences with it. Some of his elementary memories were dark because of it.
"I'm not really a fan of that sport" he chuckles, "The gods didn't give me the gift of running fast and jumping high"
"Brownies are done!" Kobayashi waltzes in with a tray of brownies topped with little marshmallows. "…I think"
"Alright class. Put you creations on the Tupperwares I provided then bring them home. Taste testing will be tomorrow" After greetings were exchanged, everyone piled out and headed back to their designated classroom.
Classes ended quicker than Kazumi expected. It was already club time. Students were filling the hallway, all excited to attend their respective clubs. Kazumi had already decided on which club she was going to pick ever since seeing the options she had. She ran down the steps in her track and field attire, excitement radiating off of her.
"Yosh! Let's do this!"
Maybe she was too excited. Too excited that she forgot to slow down. The first floor was crowded with people and anyone could round the corner to the stairs.
Her face landed straight into a person's chest; she can tell the person was a he. The male's hands were on her shoulders, probably the ones that helped her stop her run.
"Udai-san! You almost gave me a heart attack" That voice. She opens her eyes and looks up, which she regrets
"Y-y-Yaku-san!" Her face was just a few centimeters away from the boy's. Both faces had a shade of red. Kazumi can feel her heart pounding out of embarrassment and the fact that she's that close to the caramel-haired boy. "Sorry, sorry! I'm so so sorry!"
She quickly regains her balance and dashes off, not daring to look back at the boy she bumped into. She cannot and will not face him again this week. If she has to, however, she vows to keep a 9 feet distance and zero eye contact. Yaku, on the other hand, slowly went up the stairs to the faculty room where he was supposed to submit some club forms that Kuroo 'forgot' to give.
That girl, not looking where she's going. She could get someone badly injured if she continues that. He sighed and realized that his 'team mom' instincts are acting up again. Seriously, he has to try and use that for the team only. He has to step up his disciplining game, especially that the first-years (the tall Russian to be exact) look like trouble in human form. Except for that kid with black hair. He looks easy to handle. Plus, he said he'd help in any way possible besides being the substitute libero which means I'd have a handy helper.
"So, am I in?" Kazumi sat on the bench and took a swig from her water bottle. She just had a race with the team captain of the Girl's Track Team, Sawamura Rini— to which she lost by a millisecond.
"Of course you are! We actually accept anyone who wants to join, the mini-competition just lets me see their abilities" She blew her whistle and signaled all the other members to round up. "Everyone, this is Udai Kazumi. Starting today, she'll be part of our team"
'Woah! You're the new student in our batch right?" A redhead with dark yellow eyes on the right of Rini started asking questions non-stop, not giving time for Kazumi to answer each of them. "What school did you come from? Competitions you joined? Any special thing you do to become fast in running? What's your-"
"Kagami-senpai, let Udai-san talk" a soft voice spoke up. It was the girl with grey eyes and blue hair that was permed. She looks like she was smaller than Kazumi by a few inches.
"I'm so sorry for babbling again! I kinda have a tendency to do that especially when I meet new people. Ito Kagami, Vice captain of the team" she shook hands with Kazumi. "I saw you run a while ago, not bad"
"Thanks. I was part of the Shiratorizawa Track Team during my middle school and second year"
"My cousin was a part of that team too Udai-san. Yamazaki Chihiro, kinda like my carbon copy except she had midnight blue hair and dark grey eyes" the girl with a soft voice said. She looked like the typical timid and kind girl of the group.
"Yeah, I remember her. I think I remember her telling me about you. You are…"
"Yamazaki Kira"
"Kira! Yep, she told a lot about you" Kira left to buy drinks for everyone at the vending machine, probably a way for her to slip away from the big crowd.
"So to complete the introduction, we have Fuji Elisse, Komi Sachiko, Ishikawa Ruri, Kuroo Koemi, and… Kagami where'd Amaya go?"
"Dunno. Maybe flirting with her boyfriend again"
"Okay anyways, Miyazaki Amaya who is currently not here because she's busy cuddling with her boyfriend somewhere in the canteen. You're in Class 5 right? She's the girl with ash blond hair tied in a high ponytail"
The rest of the time was used to practice competition in two months. Kazumi learned that the Girls' Track Club was supposed to be shut down by the school because of its unpopularity and how it cannot win any competition for the past few years. If not for Rini's begging to not shut it down and their coach (who is currently in the US for some official business) talking to the head of the club supervision then the Girls's Track Club wouldn't exist anymore.
"And that's why we're going to try and bring home the bacon for the upcoming competition" Kuroo Koemi, whom is Kuroo Tetsurou's second cousin, finishes her explanation.
"I see. Well then, guess we'll have to train as hard as we can"
...that was shorter than I expected tbh...
To all those who followed this story I give you a very big thanks and a virtual hug (づ。◕‿‿◕。)づ. Also, a big thanks to those who read this story (lol even if there are only 3 chaps) Seeing that people actually read this inspires me to continue and finish the love story of our Nekoma libero.
Next chapter will probably be up this week 'cause I have to make up for the time I wasn't able to post : I
P.S.: Did y'all know that Shirabu's seiyuu is Katsuki Yuri (Yuri! On Ice)'s seiyuu? I honestly can't see (or hear rather) how. Guess pretty setter Shirabu Kenjiro is born to make history XD
~nyan~
