One day at lunchtime, Matsuo isn't alone at their regular spot. There is a boy keeping him company, a boy with long dark bangs falling over his eyes, long skinny legs and a beaming grin.
"Hi, my name is Fujioka Soichiro. Matsuo-kun told me he was helping you with English and since I'm also awful at it, he's gonna help me too."
"I said I could help you out after class in the library," Matsuo hisses and Fujioka elbows him, his grin still bright on his face. Kageyama rolls her eyes: as though she needed even more people joining them.
Hinata, on the other hand, seems delighted to meet a friend of Matsuo's. Soon the two of them are carrying the conversation on their own, because it turns out Fujioka likes the same videogame she plays with Kenma, who of course is already at a level way more advanced than either of them, so Hinata shares with him all the cheats that Nekoma's setter has taught her. Both of them speak while gesturing a lot as Matsuo and Kageyama eat in silence. They don't get very far with English that day.
Fujioka starts to show up more and more often, and although he normally talks to Hinata as, at the very least, they have videogames as an assured conversation topic, he's always glancing at Kageyama and beaming. She sees it coming, so the first time he pretends to stretch and looks like he's going to put his arm around her shoulders, she sticks her elbow in his ribs hard enough to leave him breathless. He coughs to mask his pained hiss, his smile still clutching at his lips. He sits a little farther from her, though.
He doesn't try a second time, but he keeps beaming at her in a very annoying way, so she makes an effort to ignore him. Anyway, it's only for a short amount of time: Hinata wolfs down her food at top speed and tugs on her sleeve so they can go training.
At least, when she has the ball in her hands, she doesn't have to worry about any boys whatsoever. She just has to follow Hinata's movements, take a deep breath and toss.
And Hinata is always, always there to spike her toss, that radiant look on her face, as though she had grazed the moon with her fingertips.
As though Kageyama had handed it over to her.
"Shouyou, you don't have practice this Saturday, right?"
"Nope, 'cause Takeda-sensei said they have to disinfect or someth—KAGEYAMA, WHAT'S WRONG? ARE YOU DYING?"
She pats – uselessly – her back until Kageyama manages to swallow the bit of food lodged in her throat. Hinata pushes a water bottle into her hands that Matsuo hands out and she downs it in a few gulps.
"What a scare, you can't go and die on me right before the practice match Takeda-sensei said she'd arrange for us."
Kageyama glares.
"Sorry if my death inconveniences you right now."
Hinata rolls her eyes.
"Bakageyama, your death would always inconvenience me. But more so right before a match."
"You're such a dumbass."
The girl beams at her.
"Good, you're okay now." She must notice the boys' puzzled looks because she adds for their benefit: "She wouldn't call me a dumbass if she was feeling off."
"Oh, okay. Are you sure you're alright, Kageyama-san?" Matsuo asks cautiously.
She nods half-heartedly. And maybe because Tsukishima is right (not that she'd ever admit it) and her brain is all muscle, she opens her mouth without thinking twice and spits:
"Since when do you call her Shouyou?"
Hinata starts to babble something that sounds like Bakageyama, what kind of question is that, your brain melted, Fujioka covers his mouth with one hand to hide his expression as Matsuo just blinks several times, as though he didn't get the question.
"Er… everyone in our class calls her that? At least her friends do…"
Kageyama grinds her teeth, for some unknowable reason, feeling like someone had just kicked her.
Noya-san calls her Shouyou, but she's also the only one that calls Tanaka "Ryu" and even calls her older brother Onii-san, as though he were her own. Kenma has also called her by her given name as soon as she met her, and Kageyama doesn't like to think about why it always sat poorly with her, the easy camaraderie that sprouted between Hinata and Nekoma's setter from the get go. Maybe because she doesn't have the skill of making new friends everywhere she goes like it was nothing and talk to them as though she'd known them for her whole life, maybe because Hinata always talks way too enthusiastically about a girl she's only seen face to face once in her life.
But Noya-san is Noya-san and after a while she got used to Kenma, who tries to explain Math to them on Skype, and little by little stops to look so frightened when Kageyama asks her about volley.
Those airheads from her class calling her Shouyou, though, it's much more annoying. Do any of them even spend time with Hinata outside class? She's pretty sure that's not the case, because they have training before and after class six days a week, and it's Kageyama who meets her as soon as she steps down from her bike to race to the gym, it's Kageyama who walks her to her classroom and who waits for her to have lunch together. It's Kageyama who joins her after practice to clean up (and run around the gym dragging the mops until Daichi yells at them) and who walks by her side until their paths home split. Have any of them ever served as her pillow during a long bus ride? Have any of them heard her singing when she's skipping all the way to the toilet? Do they know she gets stomachaches before matches, that she tilts her head to the side when she doesn't get something, that she's concerned because she can't catch the ball one-handed yet?
And what could Matsuo know about any of this?
"Oh, yeah, but the girls on the team all call me Hinata, except Noya-san," Hinata is explaining to him while Kageyama turns into a small erupting volcano, trying to hold herself back so she doesn't implode. "She does call me Shouyou… at least she doesn't call me Shou-chan, like Mito."
Matsuo sighs and nods.
"Mito has a thing with nicknames…"
"But you look like a Shou-chan," Fujioka pipes up. "It really suits you." He turns towards Kageyama. "What about you? Don't they call you Tobio-chan?"
The boy's voice is too low to be mistaken with Oikawa-san's unbearable falsetto, but even so it earns him a withering glare.
From Hinata.
"Don't call her that: she doesn't like it."
Her tone is so frigid the temperature around them seems to drop several degrees. She has that look on her face, like when someone mocks her height, but worse. Fujioka winces and Matuo's eyes widen.
Daichi once said that sometimes Hinata could get a very intimidating air about her without even realizing it: for once, Kageyama can see it.
"Sorry, it was just a joke, I didn't mean…" Fujioka raises his hands defensively, not very clear which one of them he's trying to shield himself from. "I didn't mean to offend her, I'll never call her that again."
Hinata tilts her head to the side, her eyes glued on the boy, who swallows. Her lips are pressed into a very thin line. Then she smiles, and once again she's the petite girl with way too much enthusiasm that looks like a wet kitten when she's exasperated.
"Then it's alright, isn't it, Kageyama? Hey, are you going to eat that meat bun?"
"You already ate yours!"
But she ends up handing over half of her meat bun, of course.
They're about to finish lunch when Matsuo strikes again:
"Shouyuou, if you're free this Saturday, would you like to go to the movies?"
Hinata gapes at him, Kageyama gapes at Hinata and Fujioka chokes on his juice and everyone ignores him.
"Ehhh," she replies, manifesting her usual eloquence. "I guess so. What do you say, Kageyama?"
What do I say? I say you tell him to go scuba diving into the Arctic ocean, like I did with every moron who asked me out in front of you, and every idiot who offered to carry my books so you'd do it instead, and every dumbass who wanted me to sit with him during lunch instead of you, that's what I say.
Before she can open up her mouth and dig her own grave with words, Hinata smiles at her, but there's something a bit nervous in that smile, like when she gets scared before a match and she denies it furiously (and Kageyama knows she's looking for her to pull her hair and call her dumbass and tell her that she has nothing to fear, that as long as she is there she'll be invincible).
She hesitates.
"What do I say about what?"
Hinata rolls her eyes.
"Do you want to go to the movies on Saturday?"
"Ehhhh," Matsuo begins, sounding almost as confused as Kageyama feels.
Fujioka's face lights up.
"I'm free on Saturday. And if we go to the mall, I can get 2x1 coupons, what do you say?"
"Awesome!" Hinata replies as she grabs her by the arm and starts to pull. "Now Kageyama and I got to go to train, but later we'll work out at what time we go and all that, right? See you!"
"What? I never said yes—"
"C'mon, Kageyama, lunchtime is almost over."
She keeps protesting, but she has no choice but to follow Hinata because, even though she's eighteen centimeters shorter than her and weighs several kilos less, when she puts her mind to it she can pull hard enough to rip off your arm. She drags her to the spot where they like to practice before afternoon lessons, and once there Kageyama finally digs her heels on the ground and Hinata lets go of her arm. The girl at once raises her arms in a defensive posture, preparing herself for an imminent attack.
Kageyama wants to yell that she's a dumbass and a moron who has no right to go around deciding stuff for her, and she doesn't even want to hear about going to the movies with the other two morons, Hinata can go by herself with those two as far as Kageyama's concerned; she also wants her to grab her by the shoulders and shake her and pull her hair and pull her own hair.
No one in the world drives her crazy like Hinata Shouyou drives her crazy.
She opens her mouth, certain that flames are sprouting from her head, like Hinata claims it happens when she's really mad, and she's about to tell her a thing or two when she notices that her lips are trembling a bit and her eyes look like Bambi's right after the huntsman shot his mom.
Definitely no one drives her crazy like she does.
"K-Kageyama-san, I know you're mad but let me explain…"
Kageyama huffs and a large portion of her will to fight abandons her with the breath that escapes her mouth.
"Why did you ask me to go with you on Saturday? Are you so stupid that you didn't realize Matsuo was asking you out?"
Hinata starts to get annoyed as well.
(It's better than when it looked like she was about to cry, to be honest).
"Of course I realized, Bakageyama! How dumb do you think I am?" She knows her well enough not to let her answer that particular question. "I panicked."
Kageyama blinks a few times, because she might believe a few unflattering things of Matsuo Akio, but he's not the sort that could scare anyone. Least of all Hinata, who is capable of spiking the ball with her eyes closed and she shouts I can jump! before each wall she faces.
"If you didn't want to go," she says slowly, so maybe she can make some sense of this crazy conversation, "why didn't you say so?"
Hinata's fingers tangle in her hair, leaving in its wake a whirlwind, orange strands pointing in all directions.
"It's not that I don't want to," she begins, waving her arms a lot. "It's just that, if the two of us went on our own to the movies, it was going to be a date. And I have no idea what to do on a date. What does one wear on a date? I don't have clothes for a date. No make-up either, and my mom will kill me if I touch hers after what happened the last time I tried. And does he have to come pick me up at my place? I don't want my mom or Natsu seeing him, they'd never let it go. And what do I do once I'm on a date? Do I let him hold my hand? And for how long? And what if he does that thing where he stretches and tries to put his arm around my shoulder, like they do in movies, and it's super awkward? Can I tell him to knock it off or does it look bad? And how do you handle popcorn on a date? You've watched me eating popcorn, I'm a mess, I end up with kernels up to my ears." Kageyama can attest to that: it's even worse than when she eats rice. "And what if the movie bores me and I fall asleep? It's happened before, but it'd look awful on a first date, right? And I don't have to do all that stuff that magazine that belonged to Tanaka's brother's ex said, do I? Because I don't remember very well which ones were do's and which ones don'ts, and I'm not sure I wanna seduce anyone. It sounds weird, and it's so awkward when Tanaka and Noya-san talk to Shimizu-kun like that, I couldn't do it without getting all red on the face. And does he have to walk me home? He lives in the opposite direction, and what if he kisses me? I've never kissed anyone; I bet I'll be terrible at it and what if—"
Kageyama grabs her by the shoulders and starts to shake her.
Gently, though, because Hinata is stupid but she also looks like she's having an awful time.
"Breathe, dumbass, breathe. You're drowning in a glass of water. Wear whatever you want, you're going to the mall with an idiot who's always seen you with your school or your gym uniform, you're not going to a dinner party with the president. And make-up isn't soooo hard, even I know about that." Hinata recovers enough to raise her eyebrows in utter incredulity, but it's true: she's got two older cousins who insisted on teaching her. Under threat of cutting her favorite volleyball if she didn't let them. "He's seen you enough times at lunch not to be horrified by anything you do. And if you don't want his arm around your shoulders, you elbow him and that's it, stop making such a fuss. And please, please don't even think of going to Tanaka or Noya for advice: there's a reason why neither has a boyfriend."
"That's the thing!" Hinata cries. "None of the girls have a boyfriend, so I have nobody to turn to!"
"And you turn to me for help?"
Hinata bits her lip and shifts her weight from one foot to the other.
"Weeeeeell, I thought that, if you were there, it wouldn't be a date-date, and I wouldn't have to worry about any of that stuff. I thought it'd be just hanging out, like when you and I go to the movies, just with other people coming along."
Kageyama wants to pull her own hair, because it's not hanging out like usual if more people who have nothing to do there go along with them.
The bell that signals the beginning of afternoon lessons rings, and Hinata's appalled look when she realizes they've run out of time to practice would be comical if it didn't frustrate her too.
"We'll talk later," she bids her farewell in a tone that makes Hinata swallow. She deserves it for being so dumb.
That afternoon during class she breaks two pencils and then at practice she hits Hinata with the wall three times and the girl doesn't even complain. Sugawara and Daichi exchange glances but apparently they decide not to step in until the situation reaches a critical point.
When practice is over and they split into pairs to help each other stretch, Hinata seems to hesitate for a moment, but if she pairs up with anyone but Kageyama it'll raise general suspicion so she gulps, pushes her shoulders back and walks towards her. Kageyama rolls her eyes: as if she'd ever do anything that could hurt her and leave her on the bench during a game. Besides, the girl is so elastic that she bends in two with no help at all; she's so envious of the easy way she can touch her toes or reach the floor with her chest when she sits open-legged.
Maybe because her legs are so short, Noya-san's the same, but Kageyama at long last has learnt to keep that kind of comments to herself.
(She's still better than Tanaka, who once blurted out that her elasticity would one day make her incredibly popular with boys and it earned her a whack on the back of her head, courtesy of Daichi, as Hinata's face became ablaze).
The girls chat with their normal ease all around her: Ennoshita is planning a new movie and a couple of them yell that they want the starring role (but you don't even know what it's gonna be about yet), Tanaka tells them about her brother's latest concert, Sugawara comments on Asahi's new headband:
"Oh, see, Shimizu-kun told me that if I kept tying my hair so tightly, I might go bald."
"Did you hear that, Kageyama? You'll end up hairless."
"That will be you, moron." And she pulls her hair as she pushes her forwards so she stretches, and Hinata squeaks like usual and everybody ignores them.
"It suits you, Asahi," Sugawara goes on as if nothing had happened, used as she is to Kageyama's and Hinata's goofing around.
"It's in Karasuno's colors, see?" Noya pipes up, sounding as proud as though she had bought it herself. For some reason Asahi blushes and Suga-san covers her mouth with her hand as Daichi rolls her eyes.
The senpais are a little weird at times.
Once they finish stretching Hinata seems to have gone back to normal because she challenges Kageyama to see which one of them can pick up more balls in less time. They're going at it, running around the gym and dodging Narita and Kinoshita, occupied with mop duty, when Takeda-sensei arrives beaming. They all stop on their tracks because they know what it means: they've finally gotten a practice match.
It's a school in a nearby prefecture that Kageyama has never heard about, but the coach tells them they were finalists at their prefecture even though they didn't make it to Nationals.
"So it's a strong team, at Aobajousai's level or maybe even better. We'd better work hard if we want to have a chance against them."
As the school is a bit far, they'll have to spend the night away from home and the loud cheers reverberate in the gym. Noya climbs onto Tanaka's shoulders and they dash off to run around the rest, until Daich stops them by clutching Tanaka's shirt. Takeda reminds them that they need signed permission from their parents and Ukai yells at them to go back to cleaning up the gym, that they have to close soon and she shouldn't have to repeat this sort of stuff anymore. The effervescence, running through the group of girls like an electric current, is difficult to contain: they're all already talking at the same time, about the rival team, about possible strategies, but also about the snacks they want to take for the trip, whether they'll tell horror tales again (Asahi goes white), whether the other school's gym might be more modern than theirs.
Hinata talks as much as everyone else, gesticulating so much that she drops the balls more than once and Kageyama wins that round with ease.
"What do you think the girls on the other team will be like?"
"How would I know? I never watched them play." Kageyama shrugs. "They must be good if they got to the finals, although I don't know much about that prefecture. Anyway, it doesn't matter how strong the other team is—"
"—we've got to win, I know." Hinata grins. "And we will."
Kageyama feels the corners of her lips curving upwards and she barely manages to keep herself from smiling; Hinata tends to run away when she does.
The girl is now skipping and she could call her a dumbass, but even though she doesn't show it, she shares her enthusiasm at a new rival, a new challenge. One more step on their path to the Nationals and for what will come next: because they've both promised to get to the top, together.
And when she sees the glowing look on Hinata's face, bursting with confidence like she did during that match against Nekoma when she smiledafter getting blocked one more time, she knows they'll make it.
The following day a large portion of her good mood vanishes when she finds Fujioka waiting for her by the vending machine. She remembers Sugawara's advice and some of her thoughts must reflect on her face because the boy stops pulling on his sleeves to raise his hands in front of him as defense.
"Hey, I come in peace, I swear."
Kageyama scowls even more and crosses her arms. He swallows.
"Hey, see, about going to the movies on Saturday… Well, I'll just go and say it: we don't have to go with it if you don't want to. Look, our friends are two useless idiots, I think we've all realized that, and we don't have to go through such an awkward situation, do we?" He pulls on his sleeves again. "If it's because of me that you don't wanna go, I apologize again for the Tobio-chan thing: it won't happen again. And, ehhh… I won't try to put my arm around your shoulders again either."
She squints at him and hopes that the message you'd better not reaches him loud and clear.
He shifts, uneasy, so it appears to work.
"Well, what do you say? About Saturday, I mean. Are we going to babysit those two morons? Who knows, maybe it'll be fun and all. Or not. Look, if you really don't want to, don't worry, I'm sure Matsuo can ask some girl in their class, he gets along with Hinata's group…"
Hinata's group? Hinata's group is the volleyball team, the people she spends with six days out of seven, not her dumbass classmates.
Kageyama clenches her teeth.
"I've already told Hinata that I'd go. But I won't sit beside you and you won't hold my hand or anything like that."
He blinks a few times, his jaw falling open.
"Oh… okay, then." He smiles, or something like that: his mouth is still hanging open with shock. "See you on Saturday, then!"
She's just doing what Tanaka told her: trying to be a good friend.
She begins to rethink the merits of being a good friend when the team finds out.
"Wait, wait, stop the presses, did you get Kageyama to agree to a double date? How? Blackmail? Did you threaten her with something?"
"It's not a double date," Hinata hastens to say, perhaps perceiving the furious flames starting to take form around Kageyama's head. "It's, um, a group outing. Like when she and I go to the movies, but with more people."
"…like a double date, then?" mumbles, maybe, Narita, but when Kageyama glances in her direction the girl gets a coughing fit and stares very hard at her shoelaces.
"I can't believe they've got a date, our little ones," Noya says as Tanaka pretends to dry her tears.
"It's not a date!"
"Well, a non-date then. What are you gonna wear?"
Hinata's eyes widen a lot and she gives Kageyama a scared look, Kageyama just shrugs: she'll wear whatever is at the top of the ironed pile.
Something must show on her face because the girls throw her suspicious glances.
"You won't go in your uniform, right?"
She rolls her eyes. As if she'd risk getting a stain on her uniform over something so silly.
"…or that T-shirt of yours with Setter's Soul emblazoned on it or anything like that, right?"
Kageyama frowns. What's wrong with that T-shirt? It's nice.
It's the wrong answer because even Daichi, who wears her hair cropped short so she doesn't have to bother to comb it, grabs her head.
"I hate to be the one saying this, but you need help."
Before she realizes what's going on, Noya and Tanaka have invited themselves to Kageyama's house (Hinata lives way too far and it's easier to meet at the house that's closest to the mall anyway) to supervise the preparations, and they've roped Asahi into it because it's your duty as a senpai, Asahi-san. Asahi doesn't look any happier about it than Kageyama.
Hinata just looks very confused.
"So, you're saying I have to carry a bag with clothes to Kageyama's so you tell me what to wear?"
"We won't tell you what to wear. We're just gonna help you pick."
"And how do I know what clothes to take? I can't put the entirety of my closet in a bag."
"Whatever you think might be more or less good for a date… I mean, a group outing."
Hinata tilts her head and she could almost swear that she sees the interrogation mark appearing above her mop of orange hair. Tanaka drags her hand over her face, but Noya-san doesn't let such little things dampen her enthusiasm.
"As a last resort I can take some of my clothes and I'll lend you something."
"But you're shorter than me…"
"By three miserable centimeters, Shouyou!"
Kageyama feels a gentle squeeze on her shoulder and she meets Sugawara's calming smile.
"If it's okay with you, I can go to your place on Saturday as well. I mean," she glances at Tanaka and Noya, who are gesticulating a lot like usual, "to keep those two under control. I can't promise you to get them off your back, but…"
She gets an effusive nod from Kageyama: if Suga-san is there, surely she'll be able to handle things before they get too out of hand.
That's how on Saturday, right after lunch, they show up at her place; a very nervous Hinata carrying a bag, Asahi who won't stop apologizing, Noya and Tanaka pretty much bouncing with excitement and Suga-san, who looks at them all with her hands on her hips and has the same expression Kageyama's mother gets when she knows she has a very difficult day ahead.
It's unlikely it'll be worse than the day that awaits Kageyama, it goes without saying.
She's glad her parents left to visit some relatives: the looks they gave her were strange enough when she just told them about going to the movies. What? You're going out with other people besides Hinata? And it's not volleyball-related?. She suspects that what they really were dying to ask her was who are you and what've you done with our daughter? but they refrained with some difficulty.
Explaining to them the strange behavior of the Karasuno team would've been more than she could handle.
Tanaka and Noya go through the contents of Hinata's bag and Kageyama's closet with a critical eye. Neither of them looks very enthusiastic.
"Kageyama, do you even own anything that's not sportswear?"
She shrugs. She must have something, because every now and then her mother insists on getting her clothes for special occasions and there're also the presents from her aunts or grandma, but it's very likely those clothes are scrunched into a ball at the bottom, hidden behind an old volleyball.
"Do you want me to look for something?" Sugawara suggests and after a moment, Kageyama nods: she has a lot more trust in her than in the other two.
That's how the girls end up dragging Hinata to the bathroom with both bags – hers and the one Noya brought from home – and Asahi follows them after Sugawara gives her a warning look that makes her swallow. Once they're alone she smiles at Kageyama.
"It's not such a big deal, you're just going to the movies," she says in a calming tone and that's what Kageyama's been telling stupid Hinata from the beginning.
Looking through her stuff, Sugawara finds a jean skirt about the same length as her school uniform skirt, a dark blue blouse with tiny white flowers on the collar that she didn't even remember she owned, and a pair of flat sandals.
"Why should you be uncomfortable in high heels, if you're probably taller than them anyway," says Sugawara and she's right.
"If you want to wear some make-up, I can lend you a hand with that."
Kageyama shakes her head: she actually does know how to apply make-up, but she doesn't feel like it. Suga-san doesn't insist and instead she offers to brush her hair.
"You've got such pretty hair, Kageyama. It's so straight it's super easy to comb."
Once her eldest cousin tried to curl her hair: the curls lasted about an hour or two before straightening out themselves.
She pushes off her forehead a couple of strands with a pair of hair clips, so gently she doesn't even feel it. Not even her mother combed her hair with such care when she was little. When she's finished she takes her to the mirror and Kageyama thinks it's not too bad: she looks more or less like usual, when she's not training. She thanks Sugawara with a bow.
"It's not a big deal. Now what do you say we go to see how the girls are doing? Because maybe it's me, but I don't know if I'm more alarmed by the screaming coming from the bathroom I heard earlier or the current silence."
With a little apprehension they approach the bathroom and from inside Asahi's voice resounds: no, Noya, not that. Sugawara rasps her knuckles on the ajar door.
"Can we come in?"
"Wait a sec!"
Kageyama ponders on the thick coat of eyeliner around Tanaka's eyes and Cosmopolitan's advice and she gets a bad feeling.
"Ta da!" Noya exclaims as she opens the door and moves aside so they can see Hinata.
Kageyama's fears turn out to be unfounded: she sees neither eyeliner nor three kilos of dark eye shadow on her lids, neither fiery red on her lips nor fishnets, or any of the things that crossed her mind when Tanaka and Noya offered – imposed – their help. Instead Hinata looks… well, she looks like Hinata. She's wearing a sleeveless, light green blouse, with a headband to match holding her hair back, white shorts and flat shoes. She has no make-up on except for a bit of lip gloss and some highlight shade on her lids (no, she wasn't lying when she claimed to know about that stuff). The final result is way more modest than she expected.
Hinata rocks back and forth on her heels, her eyes wide open.
"Wow, Kageyama, you look quite decent, Suga-san managed to fix you up quite well."
She doesn't growl at her but it's a near thing. It's not like she's a mess just because she doesn't wear make-up and all that stuff, does Hinata believe she grew up in a cave or what?
She'd rather not ask: the moron is quite capable of saying yes.
"You look very pretty, Hinata," Sugawara says and she elbows Kageyama, who lets out an "aha". From the way the other setter looks at her, she realizes it's not good enough and racks her brain to find what to say.
"Your headband and that blouse, the color… It's like your uniform's. It's… nice."
Four pairs of eyes stare at her, with varying degrees of bafflement.
"Kageyama, Hinata's uniform is black and orange…"
"…like all of our uniforms…"
"…I thought you were absent-minded but not this much…"
"Oh my God, she's colorblind and we've never noticed."
Hinata gapes, her mouth a bit open, ignoring everyone else.
"You still remember my old uniform?"
"Of course I remember," she answers, shrugging. For some reason, a pink dust paints Hinata's cheeks and then she feels her own cheeks heating up, without understanding the reason. It makes sense to remember the first time she saw her, right?
The other four let out a relieved "ahhh!" and then Noya turns to Sugawara.
"I wanted to lend her a pair of high heel sandals…"
"…but she was gonna kill herself" Tanaka finishes and Asahi nods vehemently from behind her.
If Hinata ended up on the bench with a twisted ankle for trying to keep her balance on high heels, she'd have twisted her neck. For being such a moron.
"Well, I think our mission here's been accomplished. I'm dying to go with you and see the looks on their faces when they spot you – don't look at me like that, we're not gonna do that, what do you take us for? Okay, don't answer that."
The girls bid them goodbye on the front steps of her house, but Kageyama is ill at ease until she sees them walk away in the opposite direction of the mall. Tanaka and Noya keep shouting advice over their shoulder that ranges from remember to eat some mint Tic-Tacs just in case to don't rub ice cubes on your breasts! Sugawara and Asahi make an effort to drag them away from there.
"Don't do anything we wouldn't do!"
"That doesn't leave them with many options, Ryu."
At long last they disappear after a turn and both of them let out sighs of relief.
"Thank goodness. I mean, it's not like I don't appreciate their help and all," Hinata hastens to add. "But at times it can be a little… much."
Kageyama nods. Just like Hinata, although for different reasons, this is the first time she feels part of a team who cares about her inside and outside the court. And she appreciates it, more than she could ever say, but yes: sometimes, it's a little much.
"We should get going, shouldn't we?"
Right: the hardest part begins now.
On the way she is surprised to find herself glancing constantly at her friend from the corner of her eye. Perhaps because, now that she thinks of it, this is the first time she sees her in something that's not sportswear or the school uniform. It… suits her, she guesses. She's not good at judging this sort of stuff. The blouse she wears is pretty, although the collar might be too wide: looking at her from above, as Kageyama inevitably does, she can spot the curve of her breasts and the lacy rim of her bra (it's lilac). It's not like Hinata has a lot of bosom to speak of, but for some reason that slight curve keeps drawing her gaze and she has to make an effort to look away.
Hinata notices something and frowns.
"What? Is there something off? Did I get a stain or something?"
Kageyama shakes her head, praying her cheeks don't get ablaze again and give her away.
"No, it's not that. That blouse… It's Noya-san's, isn't it?"
"Oh, yeah. All my T-shirts were too sporty, she said. She also lent me her lip gloss and she gave it to me to put it on again, if it comes off." She takes out of her pocket a transparent little tube with some purple-ish liquid. "It says on the label that it's cherry flavored, but it doesn't taste of anything." She slides the tip of her tongue over her lips and then shakes her head, disappointed. "Here, see for yourself."
She hands over the lip gloss and when she unscrews the cap and puts it under her nose, Kageyama feels the scent of cherry bubblegum – that has little or nothing to do with actual cherries. She puts a bit of it on her lips and it's true: it doesn't taste of anything.
"Why does it say it's cherry flavored if it's flavorless?"
"Perhaps it's flavorless so people like you don't end up eating it."
"Shut up, Bakageyama." She gives her a shove with her shoulder, which Kageyama pays back in kind, and it's so normal and everyday-like that she forgets they're going to the movies to meet with other people: it could just be any other day on their way to the gym for practice.
Hinata even starts running at one point and Kageyama follows suit, she always follows suit. She manages to run past her with a triumphal exhalation but then she feels a grip on her arm and a yank backwards.
"Hey, you cheating dumbass…!"
But a cyclist rushes past her and she shuts up at once.
"Bakageyama, look where you're going, you almost got run over!"
She begrudgingly thanks her but even so Hinata refuses to let her go, her grip getting tighter if possible.
"I can't trust you now, you need someone to take you by the hand."
"Shut up, dumbass."
But when Hinata intertwines their fingers and squeezes tightly, she doesn't put much of an effort to free herself. Her hand is small and warm and it doesn't bother her to walk like this, swinging their joined hands, as though it wasn't a big deal, as though it were completely natural. The only one she's walked holding hands with was her mother and that only when she was little, but for some reason, doing it with Hinata doesn't feel weird at all. After all, Hinata has climbed on her back more than once for a piggy ride, she's clung to her neck after winning a match, she's fallen asleep with her head on her shoulder on more than one bus ride. For her, that kind of stuff is normal, she's also terribly touchy-feely with the rest of her teammates; for her physical contact is a given. For Kageyama, who wasn't raised at the sort of household where hugs were the norm, it's hard but she's found that when it regards Hinata, she can get used to a lot.
They make it to the mall and the boys are already waiting for them there, waving their hands at them, Fujioka with a face-splitting grin. When she raises her hand to wave, Hinata's fingers slide out of hers and Kageyama wants to stick her hands in her pockets, but the stupid skirt doesn't have any. Why do they make clothes without pockets?
Fujioka is fidgeting so much, he looks like Hinata before a game.
"Wow, girls." He gives them a thumbs up. Kageyama doesn't know if she has to say something back: both of them look pretty normal to her, with their jeans and T-shirts, although Matsuo on top of his is wearing a lumberjack shirt and he's tried to domesticate his curls with a lot of gel. It's not worth an exclamation, though, so she keeps quiet.
"You look very pretty," Matsuo tells Hinata, and his blush bleeds over her cheeks. Kageyama feels the sudden urge to kick a shin, but she doesn't know very well whose.
Better not risk anything that might end with Hinata on the bench during a game.
"Thanks! Noya-san let me borrow her blouse and the headband, but it's so much easier when you got hair like Kageyama's: look how pretty it looks and she barely even combs it." To prove her point she grabs a strand of dark straight hair and, knowing her, Kageyama fears she'll yank on it, but instead she slides her fingers through her hair with an unexpected gentleness and she feels an unexplainable shudder. She pushes off her fingers with a swat of her hand.
"Don't yank on my hair, moron."
Hinata rolls her eyes but leaves her hair alone.
"Kageyama-san has very nice hair," Fujioka pipes up, smiling, and Hinata nods.
"She really does, doesn't she? It makes me so envious, when I compare it to mine that—"
"Your hair is alright, dumbass."
"Shouyou, you also have really nice hair."
Both of them speak at the same time and they shut up in unison, exchanging somewhat annoyed looks; Hinata's gaze goes from one to the other and she doesn't seem to make up her mind which one she'll reply to so she says thanks! to the air. Fujioka clears his throat.
"What do you say if you go to the queue to get the tickets as I go to buy popcorn?" He turns to Kageyama and for a moment she has the horrible suspicion he'll ask her to go with him, what will force her to send him to hell, but whatever he was going to say, he prefers to keep it to himself.
Once they're at the queue at the ticket box Hinata thinks of a rather crucial question.
"What are we gonna watch?"
Matsuo ruffles his curly hair, ruining all his efforts to tame it with gel.
"Well, there's this romantic comedy my sister liked, but I don't know if you two are into that sort of movies. There's also The Cursed Cabin III… you told me you'd already watched the first two, right? As you like horror movies, I thought you'd prefer that one."
"Oh, yeah, I love them! Let's watch that one."
There is a truth universally acknowledged or at least accepted by the entire Karasuno team: Hinata Shouyou is a coward who stubbornly insists on her love for horror films even though it's the most blatant lie in the world. When Noya-san or Ennoshita propose watching a horror movie, she's always the first one to nod enthusiastically as Asahi hides her face in her hands and Tanaka asks her are you absolutely sure?.
And after the first five minutes Hinata spends the rest of the movie with her face hidden in Kageyama's shoulder.
Technically speaking, it's true she watched The Cursed Cabin I and The Cursed Cabin II, in the sense that she was sitting in the same room when Noya-san put them in the DVD player and she stayed till the end. But Kageyama is pretty convinced that if anyone asked her what color the clothes the main characters wore, Hinata wouldn't have the slightest clue because she didn't have her eyes open from the moment the movie began until the final credits were over.
She's too stubborn to own up to it, of course.
"Oh, great! I mean, if Kageyama-san is okay with it…"
His tone is nice and the smile he gives her, very polite, and yet Kageyama at once thinks of Tsukishima's smirk and the mocking in her voice when she says don't tell me Her Majesty freaks out over a little bit of fake blood. She clenches her teeth and shrugs.
"For me it's alright," she says, and it's also a lie because even though she'll never admit it out loud, she doesn't like horror movies that much. But if she won't say it in front of Tsukishima, much less will she do it in front of Matsuo Akio.
They're already at the queue in front of the door to get in when Fujioka joins them, clutching two popcorn buckets in his arms.
"There were lots of people," he begins, "and you'll never guess what the group ahead of me did…"
He tells them a story that from his gestures must seem very funny to him, but that Kageyama pays no attention to as they look for their seats. Matsuo sits at Hinata's right and Kageyama at her left, and she casts a suspicious glance at Fujioka, but he keeps his word and sits next to his friend.
The lights are already dimmed when Fujioka remembers to ask what they're going to watch.
"The Cursed Cabin III."
Fujioka raises his head at once and his eyes fix on Matsuo.
"Do… do you think it's a good pick, Matsuo-kun? The girls might not like it, maybe a comedy would've—"
"They picked it" he replies with a shrug, and Fujioka snaps his mouth shut. He swallows.
"Oh, okay!" he says, and maybe it's the weird acoustics in the room, but his voice sounds strangely high-pitched. "If the girls like it, then…"
He falls silent, suddenly very focused on the popcorn, but then the trailers begin and they stop paying him any attention. Hinata is pretty much vibrating in her seat. Matsuo glances at her, and every now and then he makes the attempt to place his hand on their shared armrest, which is now partially occupied by Hinata's elbow, but his eyes meet Kageyama's and he places his hand back on his lap.
The movie begins and the opening credits show up with the same red letters that seem to be drenched in blood, and the same dramatic music she remembers of the two prior installments she watched at Noya-san's. The setting also seems suspiciously similar to the other two movies: a group of young people, college-aged this time, decide to spend a weekend away from everything in a cabin, lost in the middle of the woods, where there's no internet or cellphone signal, to "disconnect from it all."
"We know already something like this'd never happen to Kenma" Hinata whispers in her ear with a giggle. Kageyama thinks it wouldn't happen to them either, unless it was a volleyball training camp or something like that.
It's a bit sad to think about it, but it's probably under the only circumstances they would risk their lives like that. And they wouldn't think twice of it.
The boys and girls on screen laugh, dance and drink beer and like it always happens, there's a couple that starts stripping for no good reason. In the middle of the woods. With the creepy music on in the background. Kageyama knows they can't hear that music, but it upsets her all the same how stupid they are. How could they've missed all the clues that told them to run away right now?
She starts to tense up and she clutches the armrests long before anything happens. She's not going to scream in the middle of a crowded room; she's not going to jump a foot off her seat; she's not going to make a fool of herself. She's already watched the first two, she knows how things turn out, if you think about it, they're super predictable, there's nothing to—
WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?
Luckily she's not the only one who screams and jumps in her seat, so at least it goes almost unnoticed. But she has a very brief moment of respite because then the blood floods the screen and it's horrifying. She's too proud to close her eyes but oh god, oh god that's awful, that should never come out of a human being, why did she allow herself to be dragged into this torture, and to top it all this is only the beginning, and how that moron of Hinata endures this is anyone's guess, and how much blood can come out of the same person, really, it's never over, and suddenly Kageyama lets out a muffled yelp that has nothing to do with what's going on in the movie, when she feels a sudden weight on her lap and two tentacles closing in around her neck.
"What…?"
She almost chews on a mop of orange hair when she opens her mouth and she snaps it shut at once, feeling a warm breath on her neck.
She should've known.
"Hinata, you're such a dumbass" she mutters but the girl doesn't reply, too busy trying to sink her nose in the space between her neck and her shoulder. "You gotta go back to your seat."
She barely moves her head to shake it and she clutches even more to Kageyama when the screaming on screen intensifies. It's a lost cause: Hinata can hold on tighter than a tick and she guesses that, after jumping over the armrest to land on Kageyama's lap in the middle of a crowded room, dignity must be the last thing on her mind. She's bragged so much of her love of horror movies: Kageyama is going to mock her for ages.
Once this horrible torture of a movie is over, assuming both of them survive it.
The first bloodshed is over and there's a moment of tranquility but Hinata doesn't even hint at going back to her seat. She's done well: before anyone expects it, the second couple is gutted and it's even more atrocious than the first time. When she's not hiding her face in her shoulder, Hinata grabs one of Kageyama's hands and covers her eyes with it, because apparently her own hands are not enough. Kageyama uses her free hand to hold the girl grabbing her by the legs and preventing her from falling to the floor each time she winces, which is often.
And if Kageyama takes advantage of the mop of orange hair to cover her eyes every now and then, none is the wiser.
"Shouyou, are you alright?" Matsuo asks in a whisper, when the massacre on screen has reached its most blood-curdling and horrifying point.
"Y-yeah, s-sure," she replies, not letting go of Kageyama's hand, pressed against her eyes not to see anything. Either satisfied for doing his duty or resigned at the circumstances, Matsuo gets his attention back to the screen and keeps on munching popcorn with nonchalance. Kageyama sees him so calm that she'd kick his head. She can't see what Fujioka's doing from where she is, but if he makes one wisecrack after the movie, she'll stick the popcorn bucket on his head.
It's the last time she's talked into something so stupid, not even under threat or through blackmail.
She settles Hinata a little more comfortably on her knees so she doesn't slip off her lap. She's not as much of a featherweight as Kageyama often mocks her, but she's not unbearable either. It's not the first time: when they travel somewhere and there's shortage of seats, Hinata always ends up on her lap. Sometimes she even falls asleep like that, her head on her shoulder, drooling all over her jacket, and Suga-san takes pictures with her cell and Tsukishima and Yamaguchi laugh in her face. And she can't do a thing without waking up the idiot, so she ends up simmering, furious and without an outlet.
As her grandma says, there's no evil that lasts forever, not even Math exams or those movies with an overabundance of spilled blood and guts. At long last the last body drops to the ground, the end credits show up and the lights are back on.
Hinata raises her head, blinking, and she slides off Kageyama's lap and goes back to her seat.
"Wow, that was good, huh?" says the dirty liar, straightening out her blouse that looks like an accordion. Matsuo gawks at her.
"Eh, yeah, I guess. I mean, it was kinda… ehhh… predictable?"
Hinata frowns a little and tilts her head.
"It didn't seem that way to me. What do you say, Kageyama?"
Most of her muscles are numb after an hour and a half of constant tensing up, so she shrugs with some difficulty.
"It was similar to the first two. But bloodier, right?"
"Oh, yeah! This one has a lot more blood all around," Hinata says, as though she'd seen even a single drop. Matsuo gapes at her like Kageyama does at long division, without understanding the slightest thing. He lets out an "aha, sure" and sticks another popcorn kernel into his mouth before he turns to his right.
"Hey, Fujioka, what did you think of…? Fujioka? Are you okay?"
Now the lights are back on and people have started to get up from their seats to leave, Kageyama can finally see beyond Matsuo. But it's hard to see much, because Fujioka`s heels are on the seat, his arms around his legs and his face hidden between his knees.
It takes another two attempts on Matsuo's part to get a reaction from Fujioka, and he only manages it when he places a hand on his shoulder and the boy jumps and nearly falls off his seat. When he raises his head, even under his long bangs Kageyama can see that his face is all red and his eyes are swollen.
"It's… it's over now?"
His voice sounds feeble and wavering. The three of them exchange dumfounded glances. It's Hinata the first to recover.
"Yes, Fujioka-kun, it's over now, don't worry. And the credits are over so there's no scary surprise at the end either, we can go. Outside, I mean. Where there's people and light and all that."
It takes him a few more moments to regain enough control of his body to raise to his feet and start to walk towards the exit. Hinata casts Kageyama a questioning glance, she shrugs. Not even Asahi-san reacts that badly to horror movies.
When they're outside the cinema, the silence is positively awkward. Fujioka still looks whiter than milk and he even begins to seem a little greenish under the fluorescent lights; Matsuo stares at him as though he were an equation with three variables and keeps chucking popcorn into his mouth, maybe so he has an excuse not to say anything, and it's not like Kageyama is good for comforting anyone either.
Fortunately Hinata Shouyou hasn't found yet an awkward silence she couldn't fill with her tireless enthusiasm.
"Don't worry, Fujioka-kun, it's only normal, the movie was super scary. Asahi-san locked herself up in the bathroom not to watch the end of the second one and I think this one's special effects were even better." How could she know that when she's almost not seen any of it, only Hinata could say. When she sees that her words don't have much of an effect, she searches in her pockets and takes out a candy bar. "Here, Fujioka-kun. You'll feel better after eating something."
He doesn't seem that convinced but takes the offered candy bar and perhaps it's the effort to unwrap it when it's all sticky, or that sugar really has the power to cure fear, but he looks a little less white-green after a while. Matsuo's gaze sweeps the group, still somewhat puzzled.
"Eh… do you wanna grab a bite or something?"
Kageyama is about to protest because doing something after the movie never entered into the agreement she made. But then Hinata, who is always the first one to want to eat, casts a dubious glance at the sky, which has started to darken.
"I'd rather not, I don't wanna arrive when it's already dark."
Fujioka's progress vanishes when her words sink in.
"Oh, no. I have to get home," he mumbles and goes back to his prior white-green hue, a little greener if possible.
"There's no one at your place?"
"Well, yeah. But I have to get all the way there."
"Do you live very far?"
It turns out he lives only a little away from Kageyama and Hinata's face lights up.
"That's it, we'll walk you home, we're going the same way anyways. And the more we are the safer we'll be, right?" she adds, looking at Kageyama in search of confirmation. She nods begrudgingly.
Fujioka gapes, very wide-eyed.
"You'd… you'd really do that? But then you have to go on, all on your own… don't you live in the mountains, Hinata-san?"
"Oh, tonight I'm not going home, I'm staying over at Kageyama's. I'd never make it home if I had to go all the way alone and at night! No way, I'd die of a heart attack first. So there's no problem, we walk you home and then we go on to Kageyama's, right?"
This last part is aimed in her direction, and she doesn't need Hinata using her orphaned Bambi's eyes on her. No matter what Tsukishima says (or what her former Kitagawa Daiichi teammates might believe), Kageyama has some compassion and Fujioka looks like he might burst into tears.
Matsuo looks more and more dumbfounded.
"Ehhh, do you want me to go with you or…?"
"Oh, no, you live in the opposite direction! Then you'd have to make all the way on your own, what if something happens to you?"
"What could happen to me…?"
The three of them stare at him and his words die there.
"Okay, then I guess I'll see you at school. Eh, I had a nice time?"
He doesn't look very certain and he doesn't add "what do you say we do this again?"
He might not be a total idiot.
"See you, Matsuo-kun!"
Fujioka is uncharacteristically quiet during the whole way, jumping a foot in the air each time they hear a noise and one time, when a black cat crosses their way, he screams in the middle of the street. At once he gets as red as a tomato and in mutual and tacit accord, Hinata and Kageyama decide to ignore it and they start to chatter like usual, insulting and shoving each other as though he weren't there. That seems to make him feel a little better and when they reach his front door he no longer is in danger of a nervous breakdown.
"Hey, girls, hum… thanks. I know it's dumb, but…"
"Don't worry, we got scared too, right, Kageyama?"
Her first instinct is to vehemently deny it, but then she realizes there's no one there to mock her, so she nods. Fujioka seems a little more reassured after that. Until he remembers something and his expression turns guilty.
"But… now you have to go on just the two of you… and it's getting dark…"
"Oh, it doesn't matter: we'll run all the way to Kageyama's, we'll make it before nightfall."
And that's what they do: as soon as the door closes behind Fujioka, they dash down the street in a mad race, this time not competing against each other, but against the sun sinking in the horizon. They don't stop until they lock Kageyama's door, and as soon as they get a little breath back into their lungs, they run all the way to her bedroom too.
Later, Kageyama leaves the nightlight on when Hinata curls up to her under the duvet.
"You know something weird Matsuo-kun once told me?"
She doesn't want to know anything that airhead might've said so she grunts, and that's all the encouragement Hinata needs.
"Boys never share a bed when they have sleepovers, even if that means sleeping on the floor, because otherwise it's too awkward for them. Isn't it weird?"
Kageyama sometimes thinks that sleeping on the floor must be less uncomfortable than with Hinata's kicking and her tentacles wrapping around her.
"He thought it was super weird two girls could share a bed. Boys are very complicated. Imagine if Fujioka had stayed over at Matsuo's tonight: he would've had to sleep all alone on a futon, terrified as he was." Hinata settles her head on her shoulder as though it was a fluffy pillow and one of her arms wraps around her torso. "Sometimes I'm glad I'm not a boy."
It's true that most girls she knows, when they share a bed, sleep back to back and not in each other's arms like they do. Tsukishima's already rubbed it in many times, Yamaguchi snickering – and poorly hiding it – behind her.
However, with Hinata's hair tickling her chin and the perfect manner her head seems to settles on her shoulder and her little body molds against hers, as though she were the precise size to fit with her, Kageyama thinks she doesn't care too much whether it's normal or not, and she's also glad she's not a boy and she doesn't have to worry about all that nonsense.