Yo, guys.
The events of this chapter happened before the Nationals tournament, and we have a little guest this time.
Enjoy reading!
11.
Sunday mornings are often spent for family time, or for extra hours of sleep after a grueling week of school works and exams. However, if you're part of a team who will be joining a nationwide tournament, a Sunday morning can also mean an extra day for practice, whether you like it or not.
While most of the students are having a day off, the Karasuno volleyball club is still holding a half-day practice in preparation for the upcoming Nationals. Inside the gym where the practice is already ongoing, almost all the players are already present. Except for one.
Earlier that morning, Daichi received a message from their female middle blocker that she will be a bit late because of an unforeseen circumstance that happened at home. So since they're still incomplete, some members formed a little group to practice a certain routine while the others performed individual practices, like Kageyama and Yamaguchi with their serves.
Half an hour later, someone knocked on the gym's door and Nishinoya being the nearest went to answer it. The libero opened the door to let the person in, but saw no one on his line of sight. A small tug on his shorts made him looked down, and he paused.
Looking up at him curiously with a pair of innocent, wide eyes is a little girl, who looks so familiar. His gaze went back and forth between her big, brown eyes and her locks of orange hair, and his own eyes slowly widened in realization.
He took a step back, mouth gaping open, before he screamed in surprise.
Hearing the libero's shout, everyone present at the gym (the players, managers, Coach Ukai) run towards his direction, and they saw the second year pointing at something outside.
"Nishinoya, what's wrong?" Suga asked, bewildered.
"S-Shouyou..." the short boy stuttered. "Shouyou shrunk!"
All eyes turned towards where he is pointing at, and they all blinked. Standing in front of them is a miniature version of the decoy, wearing a cute, green dress and her hair was tied into two low pigtails.
"I'm not nee-san!" the girl huffed, frowning.
"Nee-san?" Yamaguchi repeated, before they heard another voice.
"Natsu! There you are!" the real Hinata Shouyou came running in, panting. "Why did you suddenly disappear when I went to the restroom?"
"I wanted to see the gym." the little girl answered. Hinata sighed, before noticing the whole team staring at her and Natsu.
"Oh... hi, guys! This is my little sister, Natsu." she introduced, ruffling her sister's bright hair. "Mom needs to go somewhere, so I have to take her with me. It's okay, right?"
"I guess it's fine." Daichi answered, smiling down at Natsu. "She really looks like you."
"So this is what Hinata looks like when she was younger." Sugawara added, giving the girl his angelic smile. "Hello."
"Noya thought you turned into a child." Tanaka laughed while Nishinoya turned to the baldy, glaring.
"Shut up, Ryuu!"
"Waahhh, her dress is so cute!" Yachi exclaimed, staring at the little girl fondly. Natsu smiled at the blonde haired girl shyly, which made the female almost squeal.
"It will be her dress for the party later." Hinata explained.
"Party? You're going somewhere?"
"Yeah, it's in Sendai, a birthday party of one of our relatives. Mom will get us from here after our practice ends this noon. "
"So what are you going to wear?"
"I brought it with me. By the way Shimizu-senpai, I can use the shower room, right?"
"I think it's good to use. Just don't forget to get the key from me."
"Got it."
From behind the upperclassmen, Kageyama was staring intensely at the two siblings and when Natsu looked up in his direction, she suddenly whimpered and hide behind Hinata. The latter followed her sister's gaze and then frowned at the raven-haired setter.
"Oi, Kageyama! Stop scaring my sister!"
"Huh? But I'm only looking at her!" the first year defended himself, frowning. Tsukishima laughed at Kageyama's reaction before giving him a sneer.
"With the kind of face your making, she will be really scared, King."
"What did you say?!"
"She can just stay with Shimizu and Yachi." Coach Ukai said, stepping in between Kageyama and Tsukishima to purposely stop them from fighting. "It will be bad if she got hit by stray balls or something."
"That's totally fine." Hinata agreed before turning to her sister. "Nee-san will just practice volleyball okay? Just stay beside Yachi nee-san and Shimizu nee-san while you're watching."
The little girl nodded while staring star-struck at Kiyoko's beauty. "Pretty nee-san...".
This made the older manager smile, which resulted to Nishinoya and Tanaka almost fainting on the spot.
Practice immediately started afterwards and the little girl as instructed stayed beside the Karasuno managers and just observed. Every once in a while, she will tug at Yachi or Kiyoko's clothes, pointing at someone and mouthing a few questions. Some players on the court, particularly those who are near them, will often hear the managers giggling at the little girl and they will stop to stare in confusion (or in Nishinoya and Tanaka's case, in a dreamy manner).
((Which earned them a shout from Coach Ukai and a ball in a face-but they don't care because Kiyoko-san's smiling and it's a precious moment omg)).
Other than that, practice day went as normal as it can be. Or so they thought.
Once practice was over, the players all at once started to tidy up the gym and put the volleyball equipment back to the storage room.
"Nee-san!"
Hinata, who is currently having a bickering match with Kageyama while they were bringing down the volleyball net, turned her face to the left to see a small orange and green blur running at her. With her annoyed expression already changed to a surprised one, she opened her arms wide and welcomed the little girl in her arms, making her stumbled and sat on the floor.
"Natsu! What's up?" she asked, almost giggling as the little girl nuzzled her head at her chest, the little curls on her sister's head tickling her neck.
"You were so amazing, nee-san!" Natsu exclaimed. "When Grumpy nii-san put the ball up you jumped so high and then the ball just went boommm and then Daddy nii-san received it but you already put your hands up when Baldy nii-san hit it..."
She stood up imitating some volleyball gestures while talking and Hinata just sat on the floor, staring at her sister fondly and laughing.
"Yeah, I know, I know. Aren't I the best sister?"
"You're the best-est sister ever! Can you teach me those moves when we get home, please?"
"Sure, sure. But you need to do your homework first, okay?"
"Awww. But nee-san, you're not even doing your homework."
"What? Who says I'm not? Come here, you little..." she grabbed Natsu by the waist and started to tickle her, making the small girl giggled endlessly.
It seems that they have forgotten that they're not the only people in the gym because in the background, the rest just stared at the scene in various reactions.
And if only flowers can literary bloom in the background, it could have surrounded all of them. Also, add some sparkles.
Most are just smiling and cooing at the adorable scene (like all the second years, Yachi, Asahi, Kiyoko) and some looked like they were about to cry (Daichi and Sugawara).
Kageyama's face lost its grumpy expression and he, along with Tsukishima, was staring at the siblings with a soft look on their faces. Yamaguchi stared back and forth between the two and sweatdropped.
They really have it bad.
Someone suddenly cleared their throat and clapped their hands, making everyone broke from their trance. Coach Ukai looked on uncomfortably as everyone stared at him.
"Well... sorry for interrupting but we really need to finish cleaning up." he announced. "And Hinata, you may go on first and prepare. Your mother is coming, right?"
Hearing this, Hinata stopped what she's doing and stood up with her sister.
"Sorry Natsu, but I need to go and prepare now." she started, patting the little girl's head. "I'll be with you in a while, okay?"
Natsu just nodded her head, her attention not on her sister anymore but on someone behind her. Hinata approached Kiyoko and asked for the shower room's key, before she waved her hands to her little sister and went out.
Kiyoko, who's holding a basket of laundry with Yachi, turned to Daichi. "Can we leave Natsu-chan with you guys for a while? We'll just hang this clothes outside and wash the water bottles. We'll take her for lunch with us afterwards."
"Sure." the captain agreed before turning to the little girl and smiling. "Natsu-chan, stay here with us for a while, okay?"
"Okay." the little girl agreed shyly.
At first, Natsu just stayed on the side while watching everyone clean up. However, when everything was done and the players were already sitting or sprawled on the gym's wooden floor to rest, Hinata's tiny little sister approached Tsukishima and Kageyama. The others watched in confusion as the said girl just stared at the two first years who were sitting just near each other.
Blinking his eyes, the megane opened his mouth to speak. "Do you need something?"
It took a few more seconds with the girl still giving them a studious look before she speak up. "Do you both like nee-san?"
"Hah?" Tsukishima responded in shock, his eyes widening. Kageyama choked on the water he's drinking and beside him, Yamaguchi patted his back.
The others looked surprised as well and even the loud-mouthed duo Tanaka and Nishinoya cannot speak.
"You both like nee-san, don't you?"
Tsukishima just stared at the the orange-haired midget with an unreadable expression, before he scoffed and looked away.
"Not happening. What gave you that idea, kid?"
"Y-yeah. Who told you that?" Kageyama sputtered, looking at the girl in disbelief.
"I saw both of you looking at nee-san a lot of times. Mama said that if you like someone, you can't take your eyes off them. "
The blonde started to turn red from his ears. "I was looking at everyone, not only at your sister."
"Hmmm... but you're staring at her longer. Yachi nee-san and Kiyoko nee-san said that you and Grumpy nii-san always do."
"Of course I'll be looking at her! She's my partner!" Kageyama tried to explain (loudly) and the little girl just blinked her eyes at him. Surprisingly, her earlier fear on him seemed to have disappeared since she's no longer flinching at his loud voice.
"Partner? Do you mean you're her boyfriend?"
"I'm not her boyfriend!" the setter's face turned red. "She's only my partner at the court! Nothing else!"
"Kageyama, don't shout at her." Sugawara said to the first year, who immediately closed his mouth and glowered.
Natsu turned her attention to Tsukishima.
"I'm staring at her longer because she's the one making a lot of mistakes." Why am I explaining myself to a little kid? "And I don't like her like what you're saying."
The girl became quiet all of a sudden and when they all stared at her face, they were surprised by the sad look she's having.
"So... you both hate my nee-san?" she asked in a sad tone.
Seeing her expression, everyone suddenly became alarmed. They started to look and nudge at each other in panic, because the last thing they wanted to handle is a crying little girl.
"No, Natsu-chan, that's not what they meant..." Ennoshita turned to Tsukishima, who only gave him a 'why me' look. When the second year returned a threatening stare, the megane flinched a little before sighing.
"Look, I never said that I hate her."
"But you said you don't like her..."
"Yes, but it doesn't mean that I hate her."
"If you don't like someone, it means you hate them, right?"
Ugh. It's really hard explaining to a kid. "What I'm trying to say is I don't like her, but I don't hate her either. It's in between."
"I see. So you don't really like nee-san..." Natsu continued with a very sad face, which made all boys feeling uncomfortable.
"Oi, Kageyama, help fix this!" Daichi half-whispered to the raven haired boy, who turned to Natsu with an uncomfortable expression.
"I- I don't hate her!" Kageyama suddenly shouted, and everyone looked at him. He turned his gaze to the side and blushed madly. "I actually like her."
At his words, everyone became quiet.
"Oi, oi, oi..." Tanaka broke the silence as he turned to the setter in disbelief. "Is this a confession, Kageyama?"
"I knew it!" Nishinoya exclaimed, standing up and pointing his finger at the setter. "I knew from the start that you're crushing on Shouyou!"
"C-crushing? What?" the first year asked in confusion.
"Isn't that what you mean?"
"N-no! I do not have a crush on that idiot!" he denied despite the steam coming out of his ears and the skeptical look he's receiving. "What I mean to say is I like her as a teammate. That's it. Don't you all feel the same?"
"You don't hate nee-san at all?"
Kageyama gave Nishinoya a meaningful look before he turned to Natsu and speak. "Despite being a dumbass, she's hardworking and not one to easily give up. I like that kind of attitude in a player that's why I like your sister, okay? I don't hate her."
"Oh. Yes I guess, you're right." Nishinoya sat down in realization, giving the others a look. "I like Shouyou too. She's an amazing kohai."
"Yeah, how can you not like that girl? She's one of the best." Tanaka agreed, nudging Kinoshita.
"She's inspiring."
"I like it when she's around."
"Short and energetic."
"Who would hate that girl?"
"Natsu-chan." Sugawara smiled at the little girl. "No one here hates your sister, okay? We all like her as a teammate and as a person. She's an amazing girl, just like you."
"Then... will you take care of my nee-san?" she asked softly. "I love her so much because she always play with me even though she's always tired from playing volleyball. Will you promise me that you won't let her get sick or make her cry? Please, nii-san?"
Seeing the sincere and pleading look on the little girl's eyes, all of the boys were deeply touched, even the stoic Tsukishima. With just a few words, Natsu, just like her sister, has all of them wrapped around her little finger.
"O-of course I'll take care of Shouyou! I'll be the best senpai ever!" Nishinoya responded, sniffling.
"I'll protect her with all my life. I promise!" Tanaka added, wiping the tears from the corners of his eyes.
While the others continued to give her words of assurances, the brown eyed girl just stared at each of their faces in wonderment. Finally, her face broke into a smile. "Okay. Thank you, nii-sans!"
"Natsu-chan!"
From the gym's door, Kiyoko and Yachi stood waiting, gesturing for the little girl to come over. "Come and buy lunch with us!"
"Coming!" the girl bowed her head towards the boys before running towards the direction of the managers. Once they were gone, all the boys sighed in relief.
"Well, that went well in the end." Asahi commented. "I don't want to see a girl crying."
"That's worse than my mom asking for my grade in English." Kageyama muttered under his breath. Tanaka suddenly slapped him on the back in which he almost stumbled.
"Nice cover there, Kageyama! Glad to know that you have more tact than Tsukishima here."
"How is this my fault? I just told her the truth." Tsukishima said in irritation.
"Oi, don't start a fight now. Let's all go home." Daichi said as he stood up. "Remember that you should all take a rest this afternoon and tonight, okay? No more extra practices, especially you, Kageyama."
"Hai."
"Anyway, we'll be having lunch first at the ramen house before we head home. Who wants to come?"
Almost everyone agreed to the captain's invitation, except for Tsukishima who stood up first to say goodbye.
"Are you sure you don't want to come, Tsukki?"
"No. Akiteru's coming home today, so Mom wants all of us to have lunch together."
"Oh. See you on school tomorrow then." Yamaguchi said understandably, waving his hand at his friend. When the blonde turned away, the dark-haired teen just stared at his back half-worriedly and half-amusedly.
I wonder what he'll do once he realized it?
"Yachi-san? Shimizu-senpai?"
Tsukishima halted upon hearing a certain gingerhead's voice coming from the girl's locker room. The said room was just beside the boy's and curiously, he stared at the door as the girl continued calling.
"Are you guys there?"
"Yachi and Shimizu-senpai went to buy lunch with your sister." the blonde middle blocker said in a loud voice.
"Tsukishima?"
Slowly, the door of the locker room opened slightly, enough for Hinata to peek at him nervously.
"What?"
"I need help." she said bashfully. "You're the only one here at the moment so can you help me?"
He noticed that she's wearing some sort of a white dress, and he raised his brow. "What do you want? I'm in a hurry."
"The zipper's stuck in the back." she responded, and Tsukishima blinked.
"...You want me to zip your dress for you?"
"Yes."
"...Can't you just take it off and wear it again?"
"It's stuck in the middle, so I couldn't do it." the girl said with a red face. "Look, I know this is embarrassing but I really need your help right now. My mom will come at any moment and we don't want to be late...so..."
The blonde continued staring at her face, a bit flustered with the fact that he needs to get inside the girl's locker room just to help the girl dress up. However, looking at the endearing face she's currently wearing, he sighed and stepped forward.
"Fine, let's get this over with."
The girl opened the door to let him come in, closing it again once he got inside. With an embarrassed expression, she turned her back to him and put her long hair out of the way, giving the megane a full view of the problem at hand.
Tsukishima's words got stuck on his throat and he gulped.
With a slightly trembling hands, he reached forward and slowly started to fix the trouble with the zipper. Gradually, he felt his cheeks starting to heat up as his fingers continued to touch the smooth skin of her back. Since she just came from a shower, he can also smell the sweet scent of the shampoo she used, and for a moment, he thought of burying his face into her hair.
Dear Lord.
It took him almost a minute before he was able to clumsily zip her dress up, and she quickly spun around to give him her thanks. Facing her, he can now see her whole dress and he can't help but stare in awe.
She looks like a fairy straight out of a fairy tale, as far as he can describe. The white sundress she's wearing is an off-shoulder one, with its length reaching down to at least an inch above her knees. Her wet hair was down, soft, orange curls framing the side of her face and wait- is she wearing a lipstick?
"So... do I look okay?" Hinata asked a bit shyly. "My mom bought this dress for me though honestly, I'm not comfortable wearing it. I think this kind of things doesn't suit me at all."
"You're beautiful." Tsukishima commented before he can stop himself, and he felt his cheeks turned red once again. The gingerhead stared at him dumbfounded for a moment, before she suddenly stepped forward and tiptoed to bring her face closer to his.
Startled, Tsukishima tried to step back, heart pounding. "W-what do you think you're doing?" He stared in a speechless and mesmerized manner as she brought her hand on his forehead.
"That's weird, you're not sick."
He blinked. "Hah?"
"Normally, you would say that I look like a monkey or something. I'm not used to compliments suddenly coming from you." she put her hand down and looked at him suspiciously.
"You want me to call you a monkey instead?" he said after a while, brows twitching.
"Don't you dare."
"Then just accept what I said. I won't be repeating it again." The blonde looked away, still flustered.
"Oh." The girl replied after a while, suddenly looking bashful. "If you're really serious, then thanks..."
Tsukishima pinched the bridge of his nose, refusing to look at her cute expression. I need to get out of here. Now. "Anyway, aren't you in a hurry?"
"Yeah. Now that you mention it, I need to find Natsu-" the door of the locker room suddenly opened, and Kiyoko, Yachi, and Natsu suddenly came in.
The three newcomers halted upon seeing Hinata and Tsukishima both sporting a blush on their faces while staring at them in surprise. Realizing what the situation might looked like, the boy suddenly felt embarrassed being caught inside the girl's locker room. If his senpais Nishinoya and Tanaka can see him now, he's sure that they won't ever let him live this down.
"Er.. what are you doing here, Tsukishima-kun?" Yachi asked in bewilderment. Beside the blonde girl, Kiyoko is also staring at him in the same manner while Natsu just blinked at him in confusion.
"Don't worry, I asked for his help." Hinata immediately came to his rescue, her blush now gone. "Is my mom already there?"
"Yes, she's waiting outside." Yachi responded, staring at Hinata's appearance and almost squealing. "Hinata, you looked so cute!"
"Thanks."
"I have a white ribbon here. Do you want me to put it in your hair?" Kiyoko asked, also smiling at the girl. The gingerhead gave an enthusiastic nod at this and the managers immediately proceeded with their work.
While they are busy, Tsukishima quietly made his way out of the room without anyone in the girls knowing. Once he got outside and was about to walk away, a tug on his pants made him look down. Ah, so she followed him outside.
"You actually like nee-san, don't you?" the little girl half-whispered, staring up at him.
Tsukishima stared for a moment at the happy expression on the girl's face, before sighing in defeat. He sat down to have his face on her level and patted her orange head.
"Fine. I like her." he admitted, watching as her smile grew wider. "She's my teammate, after all. Though an annoying one."
"Pfft, Nii-san. I get it already." Natsu giggled softly, giving him a knowing look afterwards. "No worries, it'll be our secret. I promise."
Tsukishima just stared at the girl in surprise for a few seconds, before looking away. "Whatever."
How come this elementary kid is smarter than her highschool sister?
"Natsu." Hinata suddenly appeared, wearing a new, half-pony hairstyle adorned by a white ribbon. "I thought you disappeared again."
"I'm just talking to Tsuki nii-san. Are we going to mom now?" the little gingerhead asked.
"Yeah, she already texted me. Oh, by the way," she turned to Tsukishima and handed him something. "Here."
The tall blonde just stared at her hand in confusion. "What's that for?"
"I asked Shimizu-san to buy it for me earlier, but I'll be giving it to you as a form of thank you. So here."
"..." The blonde gave her a weird expression first, before he decided to reached forward and take it. Both smiling, the siblings then waved their hands at him in unison, before they turned around to leave. Tsukishima was left staring at the girls' back until they're gone.
"You actually like nee-san, don't you?"
He turned his gaze at what the girl gave her, and he slightly frowned. His mind was suddenly running with many thoughts, which in the end, only leads to one.
I like her.
He sighed and started to walk home, sipping his strawberry milk drink.
I really like her.
But there's no way I'll tell her that.
Oh, well. It's just Tsukki being stubborn and Kageyama being Mr. Denial as always. Nothing new.
Anyways.
If we're going to follow the story chronologically, the next chapters should already be about the Nekoma match (spoiler!).
However, I decided not to write about that match yet because, well, it's too soon? But no worries, I'll be writing about it, but I'll take a rest from the latest manga events for now.
With that being said, the succeeding chapters will be flashbacks about the things that happened before the Nationals that I was not able to include in the previous chapters (Shiratorizawa, Aone, first years training camp etc.). How many chapters it is? That, I don't know yet.
P.S: I actually realized that I've been spelling Hinata's first name wrong in some of the previous chapters. It should be 'Shouyou' or 'Shoyo', not 'Shoyou'. My bad, sorry :-P