Sighing, Ennoshita settled himself down beside her, a smile of his own beginning to pull on the corners of his mouth as his childhood friend began asking him how he'd been over the last few years.
=oOo=
It hadn't been long since Ennoshita had decided to keep her company, but it had seemed like they had already talked for hours, catching up with each other.
To Haruka's surprise, the reason why her old neighbor had decided to take up volleyball was because his junior high school made it compulsory for them to enter a sports club. The wing spiker had been at a loss on what sport to join, but recalling all the times Haru had dragged him along to watch whenever she played, he had decided to try volleyball out. It had been only a matter of time before he grew to enjoy the sport as well, and now he was part of Karasuno's boys' volleyball team.
"So like, I'm your inspiration, huh?"
"No, you're not."
"That's so sweet, Chika."
"Call me Chika one more time and I'm going home."
"I know where you live."
"Damn it."
However, if surprises were what they were going for, Ennoshita was far outdone when he found out that, during Miyamura's time in Tokyo, she had gotten into a power house school and had been good enough to be the school's official libero during her first year. What's more, throughout her time in junior high, her school had never placed any lower than third on the national level, winning gold three times over those three years.
"Sounds like you were doing good in Tokyo… I bet a lot of schools wanted you on their team."
"…Well, I'd be lying if I said if no one approached me, and I already had my eye on this one school…"
"…But?"
"My priorities shifted a tad bit. And now I'm back in Miyagi."
But even with the move back to Miyagi, it didn't seem like the libero had intended to relax when it came to volleyball. Aoba Johsai's girls' volleyball team had always been strong, never leaving the top four in Miyagi, but it had only been recently that they managed to best all the other teams, including the prefecture's very own Queens, Niiyama Girls' High, and surpassed everyone's expectations by making it to the fourth round of games in the last Spring Tournament.
"Seijoh…" Ennoshita echoed after letting his old neighbor finish her narrative of what happened during Spring Nationals. "That reminds me, we've got a practice match against them next Tuesday." Haru raised an eyebrow, equal parts confused and surprised. After all, Karasuno's volleyball club was infamous for being called 'flightless crows,' their glory all but history.
'An elite team like Seijoh has no business playing against an average team like Karasuno.'
"An elite team like Seijoh has no business playing against an average team like Karasuno."
Haruka blinked, hearing her thoughts being voiced out, and she stared at her childhood friend who had a knowing smile on his face.
"That's what you were thinking, right?" Chikara hummed. Haru opened her mouth to deny it, and the wing spiker gave her the opportunity to do so, but no words left the girl's mouth and she simply surrendered and shut her mouth. "I know you don't mean to be rude, and what you're thinking isn't completely wrong… But it was you guys that requested for a practice match, so there must be something in it for you. And, you asked for Kageyama to play setter the whole match."
The libero paused.
'Kageyama? Setter? Somehow that sounds…'
"Oh," Haruka squeaked, recalling where she had heard the name. "You're talking about Kageyama Tobio, right? From Kitagawa Daiichi?" Ennoshita gave her a weird look, unsure how she knew that much about one of their freshmen, but nonetheless, he nodded as response. "I didn't know he went to Karasuno…"
"You've heard of him?"
Miyamura nodded. "You probably don't remember, but my brother, the younger one…" she began. "He plays volleyball too nowadays, and there was this one tournament where his team played against Kitagawa Daiichi. I was there to watch my lil' bro, but I have to admit… Kageyama's skill is something else." A small frown then pulled on the girl's features. "But I've also heard rumors about the kid, something about being called 'King of the Court'."
'And not just from Yuuichi… Some of Oikawa's freshmen from Kitagawa Daiichi were talking about him too…'
"Ah, that," the taller teen sighed. "Yeah. He's a great volleyball player, a genius setter… but he just needs to remember volleyball is a team sport." Another sigh, and a softer expression appeared on the wing spiker's face. "I'm sure he'll be fine."
"Then I wish you guys all the luck," Haru chimed. "But isn't it kinda suspicious that we want Kageyama in the game the whole time?"
To the libero's surprise, Chikara chuckled. "Actually, one of my teammates thinks you're just sizing up Kageyama."
"Well, maybe he's right, maybe he's not," the girl hummed. "Will you be playing, Chikara?"
"Probably," he answered. "We don't really have a lot of members, you know."
At his answer, Haruka grinned. "Then I'll make sure I watch."
Ennoshita appreciated the sentiment, his smile growing a little wider as he stood up. Reaching into his backpack, he grabbed his wallet and slid a few coins into one of the vending machines, hoping to get himself a drink.
"Want anything, Haru?" Ennoshita asked, standing in front of the vending machine and pushing one of the buttons for a can of green tea. A second later, the can dropped into the compartment below with a thud and the wing spiker retrieved it. "My treat."
Miyamura giggled, looking over her shoulder to look at her old neighbor. "Six years, and all you treat me to is a drink from a vending machine?" the girl snickered. "Real cheap, Chikara. Real cheap."
Ennoshita rolled his eyes. "I've had to put up with your nonsense when we were kids," he dryly stated. "If anyone here is entitled to getting free food, it should be me." Haru made a face, a silent way for her to argue that she hadn't been as terrible as he implied her to be, and though Chikara knew that the girl was well aware that she had her own brand of persistence as a child, he also knew there'd be other opportunities for him to tease her about it. Right now though, he had just pushed a few coins into the machine again and he needed to know what she wanted. "So what'd it be?"
"Orange juice?"
A beep and Haruka soon had a small carton of orange juice between her hands.
But just as Chikara was about to pop open his canned drink, he caught sight of a familiar gray-haired teen rushing down the street, heading towards their direction. "Sugawara-san's here," he hummed, catching his childhood friend's attention. Another teen then came into view, appearing to be in a similar rush. "And Kageyama's right behind him…?" he added, a bit unsure why the freshman would be running after the older setter.
"Sugawara-san!"
Haruka stood up and slung her bag over her shoulder, her straw pressed between her lips and her juice box somehow not slipping off even without her hand supporting it, and she could see Sugawara give her an apologetic look before addressing his underclassman. "Looks like they're talking about something serious," the girl observed, pulling her drink away from her mouth. "The practice match?"
"Probably," Chikara replied, recalling that Kageyama was replacing Sugawara for the practice match. "Maybe he's not entirely comfortable with replacing his senpai."
"Oh right, right," Haru mused, nodding slowly as the two of them continued on watching the pair talk. The two setters weren't too far away, but neither Haruka nor Chikara could pick up on what they were talking about. "You did mention Sugawara-san's a setter too…" The libero's eyebrows then pulled together, a thought occurring to her. "Is Sugawara-san alright with it?"
"He says he is," he answered.
"You don't sound too convinced."
Ennoshita shook his head, a soft smile settling on his face. "I believe Sugawara-san really did mean what he said, and it's just for this practice match anyway, but…"
Miyamura's own expression softened when the wing spiker left his words hanging in the air. Haruka knew what he wanted to say.
'I know what it's like, after all…'
"But we're all volleyball players," the libero quietly said. "We all want to be on the court. Otherwise, what would we have trained for, right?"
Chikara blinked and turned to the shorter teen, not expecting such a somber statement from her, but just as he had thought his friend had gotten serious, she was back to sipping her drink. "…Right," was all he could say as his reply.
"Suga."
"Suga-san!"
"Sugawara-san!"
"More teammates?" Haruka asked, both her eyebrows shooting up in surprise when she saw three more boys dressed in identical black tracksuits come into view. "Oh, that guy's pretty short."
The wing spiker met her comment with a flat expression, knowing full well who she was talking about. "I don't think you should be one to talk, Haru."
"It's because I'm short I can call other people short," the girl stated before taking another sip from her juice box. "Besides, I'm just stating facts."
A question then popped into the wing spiker's mind, and after determining whether or not finding out the answer was worth the risk... "Out of curiosity, Haru, how tall are you?"
"Last time I checked, I was at one hundred fifty-two-point-two centimeters…"
If anything, the fact that his friend gave him a straightforward answer to his borderline offensive question was more surprising than the answer itself.
"What about you, Chikara? You look pretty tall."
"Wouldn't everyone look tall to you?"
A huff escaped Haruka's lips as she levelly met the boy's gaze, but before she could reply to the much taller volleyball player's sass, one of Ennoshita's teammates approached them.
"Oh, Ennoshita, you're still here," he said, pleasantly surprised, even more so when his brown eyes fell on the young lady standing beside the wing spiker. "Sorry, I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"
Chikara blinked upon realizing he was referring to Miyamura, and he then shook his head as an answer. "Ah, Daichi-san, this is my friend, Miyamura Haruka." His introduction prompted the libero to offer a polite smile and a small bow, and Daichi mirrored the gesture. "Haru, this is Sawamura Daichi. He's the captain of the volleyball club."
"Nice to meet you, Sawamura-san," Haruka chirped. "Thank you for looking after Chikara."
"If anyone needs looking after, that'd be you, Haru," was Ennoshita's instant reply.
"It's no problem, Miyamura-san," Daichi chuckled, amused with his teammate's retort. "Ennoshita is a very reliable member of the team." The captain's attention then turned back to his underclassman. "I'm treating everyone to meat buns. Do you want anything specific, Ennoshita?"
"I'm fine with anything, Daichi-san. Thanks… Do you need any help?"
"That'd be great, actually… What about you, Miyamura-san?"
"Oh, no, I'm fine, thank you very much," the girl squeaked, raising up her hands. Her gray eyes then stole a glance at the group of boys not too far away. They were still talking, and considering that Ennoshita was going to help out, she added, "But if you don't mind, may I tag along?"
Sawamura raised an eyebrow. "No, nota at all but, are you sure?" he asked, already sliding the shop's door open. "We won't take long."
Miyamura answered with a nod and a reassuring smile. "I need to make sure Chikara behaves himself," she airily said, and the younger wing spiker couldn't help but roll his eyes as he followed after his captain.
"Stop talking like I'm the problem child."
"If you're implying I'm the problem child, then for your information, I was never the problem child."
"The two of you seem close," Daichi mused, closing the door after Haruka. He knew his underclassman to be generally reserved, and it was amusing to see the younger wing spiker talk so bluntly with someone other than their energetic, if not reckless, second year members. On the other hand, Daichi couldn't help but think that Ennoshita was not so much as bluntly talking as he was teasing the shorter girl. "Have you known each other long?"
"Haru and I were neighbors," Ennoshita responded. "We went to the same elementary school too."
The libero nodded to confirm his explanation. "I was a grade higher though," she pointed out, that particular bit of information distracting the boys' captain from picking out meat buns to buy for a moment. "But you can say we're childhood friends."
"I'm sorry," Sawamura then began after finally picking meat buns to buy and paying for them. "I didn't realize you were older than Ennoshita."
"Oh, I get that a lot, thanks to my height," Haru airily stated, and for emphasis, she lifted a hand over her head. "Sugawara-san was surprised too when he found out we were in the same year."
Sawamura murmured a quick thanks to the shopkeeper once he had handed him two paper bags filled with food before turning back to the girl. "You know Suga?"
Miyamura paused.
'Suga…? Oh, I get it… Sugawara. Suga.'
Haruka nodded. "We met by chance a few days ago," she hummed while Ennoshita relieved his captain of one of the warm bags of food, and the three of them headed out to join the group outside. "I lent him my umbrella, and I'm actually here at Karasuno to get it back."
"I see," the Karasuno captain murmured just as Sugawara's voice echoed.
"But… I also want to show them that Kageyama is completely different from his junior high days," the third year setter chirped, a wide grin on his face as he placed a hand on Kageyama's shoulder.
Seeing his best friend say such a thing with confidence, Daichi couldn't help but agree. "That's right," he cut in, drawing the attention of his team. One of them, the one with wild orange hair in particular, was especially excited and met him halfway to take the bag of food from him. "Plus, we'll show them that Kageyama's not the only one they need to worry about… Right, Hinata?" The captain then turned back to the ginger, but to everyone's surprise, the boy was already stuffing himself with meat buns.
Haruka couldn't keep herself from grinning as Kageyama and one other teen she didn't know proceeded to scold the poor kid, going so far as to lift him up from the ground before the shopkeeper stepped out and yelled at all of them for being too loud.
"You've got such lively teammates, Chikara," Haru quietly giggled as she approached the redhead who had been promptly dropped onto the floor and reached out a hand. A stranger the boy might have been, but Haru admittedly had a soft spot for those younger than her, the experience of having to take care of her three younger brothers having been well ingrained into her character over the past few years. "Are you alright?"
Blinking, the boy looked up, and his eyes grew wide for a moment, surprised to find a girl standing in front of him. "A-Ah, I-I'm fine," he stammered as he quickly, and quite literally, jumped back onto his feet. "Th-Thank you very much!"
The libero smiled, partly because she was relieved he was fine, and partly because she was amused with his shyness. "That's good to know," she hummed. "Don't be stuffing yourself silly now, or else you'll choke."
"Y-Yes! I'll k-keep that in mind!"
"Oh, Miyamura-san, there you are!"
The raven-haired teen looked over her shoulder and finally, she could talk to the person she had been waiting for. Her smile widening, Haru turned around to face the setter and managed a small wave. "Sugawara-san," she chirped. "Long time no see."
Embarrassed, Koushi rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm really sorry for the trouble," he sincerely told her before reaching into his bag and handing over the girl's umbrella. "Here. Again, thanks for the help."
Chuckling, Miyamura took back her umbrella and swung it around a bit, as if to push away his worries. "Nah, it's no trouble at all," she assured him, and there was something in her tone and expression that had Koushi believing that she really didn't mind, even though he had her waiting for almost an hour. "Besides," she added as she pointed at Ennoshita who was handing out buns to two more new arrivals. "Chikara kept me company."
One of Sugawara's eyebrows rose. "I didn't know you were friends with Ennoshita…" he mused.
"Well, I didn't really know that he went to Karasuno," she admitted. "We were neighbors back when we were in elementary, but we fell out of touch after I moved…" Her attention then turned to the tag dangling from her umbrella, her eyebrows shooting up in amusement. "Well look at that… It really does have my details."
The setter's eyebrows pulled together in mild confusion. "You're talking like you didn't know…" he awkwardly said, and to his surprise, she nodded.
"I didn't," she hummed, sliding the umbrella into her bag. "I only found out when you texted me about it." A shrug. "I guess my lil' bro put it on… Apparently, I'm the irresponsible one."
"I'm sure that's not true," Koushi offered.
"I beg to differ," Chikara deadpanned as he approached the two third years and handed Haru one of the steamed buns. "Daichi-san says you should get one."
"Thanks, really, but-"
"Ennoshita, I thought you said you didn't have a sister!"
The comment had come out of the blue, and Haruka couldn't keep herself from snorting. Chikara, on the other hand, wasn't as amused and immediately stated, "She's not my sister, Tanaka."
"I've never heard that one before," the libero snickered as she gave her old neighbor a pat on the back. "No offense Chikara, but I've got no room for another little brother."
"Believe me, Haru… I'm not even the least bit disappointed."
