Disclaimer: All the rights of the manga Haikyuu and its characters to Haruichi Furudate.

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Chapter 13: The tournament starts

Preliminars

The first day of the Interhigh has finally arrived, many teams reunited on the stage to play for A block and B block, Karasuno had two matches scheduled for the same day, Aoba Jousai and Shiratorizawa had one match each one.

The members of the teams were looking at the schedules, commenting about the participants, they talked about Karasuno, Tanaka and Nishinoya immediately tried to scare their opponents, but their captain intervened and scolded them.

"Guh…" Hinata touched his stomach, it was twisting inside and growled.

"I can't believe this guy…" Kageyama raised a brow foreseeing the consequences of his partner's nervousness.

"It's his first time on a tournament, be comprehensive." Sugawara smiled gently.

"I-I need to go to the bathroom!" the orange haired exclaimed hectic.

"Ah, wait-" Sugawara tried to soothe his anxiousness of his teammate, but it was inutile.

The small player felt so ashamed, but there was nothing he could do about that, his psychological was still weak. He squinted his eyes, sweating coldly, and ran as fast as he could, and when he turned on the next corner, he bumped into someone. They both fell, each one to one side and he opened his eyes uptight.

"I-I'm sorry!" he shrieked alarmed, thinking he could be getting into trouble with other teams, but he calmed down after seeing the small figure in front of him.

It was Nishinoya's sister, she was smaller than him, so it wasn't a surprise she had fell sitting to the ground, the only thing that made him blush was that she was using a jacket from Aoba Jousai, it was obvious it didn't belong to her because her hands were fully covered by the sleeves and the jacket length was after the middle of her thighs, it looked a coat on her. Well, she was studying in Aoba Jousai, so it made sense, but why was she there? That place was supposed to be for the participants of the tournament only.

She smiled and stood up in a jump, pulling his hand and lifting him, he was impressed with her strength.

"You're from my brother's team!" she took one of his hands on her and shook it, greeting cheerfully "Nice to meet ya again! I'm searching for him! Would you help me?"

"H-huh… There…" he was as red as a tomato and pointed back.

"Ah! Great!" she pulled his hand, dragging him, literally, to the corridor behind.

When she caught sight of the team, she let go of Hinata's hand, and waved to the team, particularly to her brother. They were stunned and Nishinoya was flabbergasted.

"Nee-san, what are you doing here?!" he approached her "And why are you wearing this?!" he blushed looking at his teammates, narrowing his eyes. "Don't dare to look here!"

"Huh… Are you disguised?" Daichi guessed with a soft smile, with the same delicacy he would use to treat a little child.

"That's it, captain!" he thumbed up and used a hand to hide one side of her mouth, whispering "I stole this jacket to disguise as a volleyball player, and infiltrate, so I could wish you good luck!" she finished embracing Nishinoya.

They sweated even more and had a worried glance when they heard some bones of their libero cracking during her bear hug, she was laughing heartedly. Of course they could notice she had stolen it from someone, and it was definitely a man's uniform, did she really naively believe she infiltrated without calling attention?

"N-nee-san…" his mouth foamed and she finally let him go.

"Oh, look at him! He's so happy he can't hide his euphoria!"

There was a thud when his body dropped to the ground, they felt a shiver running down their spines and their eyes widened in a panicking way, no way could they play without their libero.

"Thank you for taking care of my brother, he is a troublesome one!" she bowed respectfully.

"Ah… Yeah, I guess…" Sugawara answered unsure who the most troublesome sibling between those two.

"Who will talk to her?" Yamaguchi whispered.

"I don't want to. She's far from my level of understanding." Tsukishima grumbled annoyed.

"Huh…" Asahi scratched his head "Nishinoya-san… You can't invade this place unless you're a player…"

"I know that." she admitted nodding "I only passed by to wish a good luck and take a look at this little guy here." She told proudly playing the role of big sister although they could hardly tell if she was really older, mentally speaking. "Then, I-"

Before she completed that sentence, someone arrived at the scene in a rush, his feet skid to the corridor and his steps arose some dust in the air, his brows were so furrowed they almost met, he had clenched fists.

They didn't comprehend at first, but soon they realized it regarded a certain stolen clothing… And the evidence that closed the case in which Reiko was the culprit: he wasn't wearing a jacket even though he was using a blue t-shirt identifying his team.

"Nishinoya!" the newcomer pointed his index at her in an accusing manner and scowled.

There was only an interval of a second before Karasuno and the newly arrived noticed something: they were enemies.

"Ah, Oikawa-san." she stepped back and a drop of sweat appeared on her face, the curve on her lips twitched.

"She stole the jacket from the team's captain!" they thought in unison.

"Karasuno…" the captain of Aoba Jousai narrowed his eyes with a sly smile "I'd love to exchange some words with you, but, before that…" his eyes landed on the girl "I have some issues to solve with this little thief on your side…"

"Ugh…" she stepped back attentively and slightly annoyed with his apparition.

The brother listened briefly to the insulting words and his eyes were set in flame, he immediately revived with full power.

"Did you say what?!" he defied Oikawa.

"Nishinoya, stop." The captain pulled his companion by the collar impeding that he initiated some useless brawl.

"Give me back my jacket!" Oikawa demanded trying to grab his jacket.

"Stingy." She pouted avoiding his attempt so easily it looked a game for her "I was just borrowing it for a bit."

"I need it!" this time, he grabbed the jacket, unzipping it.

"No!" she pulled it to her side.

The team watched the scene. They didn't know how to act in such childish fight. They looked like two elementary kids fighting over a new toy. Oikawa was finally getting the control and he was already putting the jacket off her arm, but the scene looked extremely improper, and he looked the perverse villain while she was the heroine being disrespectfully abused.

"Wah." Hinata wafted smoke as his face gone completely red.

"Cover your eyes, cover your eyes!" Nishinoya fretted trying to get free from Daichi's grip, he had to protect his sister's honor.

"No!" she stretched the jacket trying to pull it to her side.

Sugawara stretched his hand and smiled worriedly, but someone intervened first. This time, everyone felt a deadly strong aura coming from the end of the corridor, it was Iwaizumi, his face was completely dark and they could almost see the flames swaying behind his figure, his eyes locked on the two fugitives and a vein popped out of his forehead when he saw the scene in which Oikawa was almost undressing a girl.

Then, the scene cut to Oikawa with a punch mark on his face and Reiko sitting on the ground, embraced with the jacket and with tears on the corner of her eyes, Iwaizumi had crossed arms and looked at his two colleagues.

"I'm sorry for the inconvenience…" Daichi bowed slightly scratching his head.

"No, it was my fault, I took my eyes out of them for a second and…" he sighed heavily, then his gaze turned to his teammate which flinched feeling that a lecture was coming.

"S-she's the one who stole my jacket!" Oikawa pointed immaturely to the girl.

"I was only borrowing, I would give back after I finished my business!" she looked as infantile as him.

"Since when brazenly stripping a girl in the middle of the day and in front of people look sane to you, bastard?" he hit Oikawa's head once with a precise and very powerful chop.

His head bended down with the strength and he massaged it with a tear forming on the corner of his right eye.

"And you, since when stealing people's belonging looks fair, huh?" He hit her head too, with almost the same strength.

"Give back his jacket."

It was a clear order. She lowered her head and handed it to Oikawa like a child who had been scolded. Her brother was glad she was using shorts and a T-shirt, the jacket only occulted it because it was not made to fit her, of course, but it was giving wings to the imagination of the players and Nishinoya almost had a heart attack, how could his sister be so careless?

The captain picked back his clothes and flinched again, this time in annoyance:

"Why does she listen to you but not to me?!" he was indignant he had all the trouble and his friend solved it with one phrase.

"Because you're an idiot!" Hajime hit Tohru's head again.

The members of Karasuno trembled, they could feel his intensity even being only passive watchers, but there was nothing they could do, after all, he was the only being reasonable.

"Sheesh… Oikawa, don't be so childish, and Nishinoya, even if you want to take something, you can't just take people's belongings without their permission. We'll have a serious talk later…"

He glared menacingly at both his colleagues and grabbed their collars, dragging them on the ground and sighed:

"And here I thought someone would finally help me to take care of this infantile guy, then, I find myself with two children… Life surely is harsh…"

"Yuu!"

Reiko stretched her hand desperately, and calling for her brother while her eyes teared up, Nishinoya stretched his hand too, calling for her, but Asahi touched his shoulder firmly, impeding him until her sister vanished from sight.

"How can I say… Why does it have to be so awkward when his sister comes to visit him?" Yamaguchi commented.

"Don't ask me…" Tsukishima answered uninterested, but his theory was that it was on the blood of Nishinoya family, genetics surely surprised him now.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Night time,

"Hey, Tendou where are we going?"

Eita had his hands behind his head, raising a brow, he had doubts about the true intentions of him teammate. And so were the other members of the team, they were very confused on why Satori kept bugging them to stop by some place before they went home, he said it was to commemorate something, but they couldn't remembers his ramblings.

Ushijima followed him quietly, so, they thought they could at least trust the judgement of his captain, he would never do any joke. He was a strict person.

"Tcha~ran~" Tendou opened his arms showing the cafe.

"Huh? Isn't it just a normal cafe?" Shirabu covered his mouth and whispered to Ohira.

"Yeah, I guess… But smile or he will feel offended."

"I'm already feeling umbrage after listening to you two!" he declared nervously.

Ushijima ignored them and entered first. They sweated, he was so quiet they could never know what he was thinking, but they followed anyways, it was a common place and they wondered what was special about it. When they finally took their seats a waitress came to take their orders, she took a look around a bit impressed.

"Tendou-san, did you bring the team today?"

"Yeah, yeah, they're all nice guys!" he nodded proudly.

"May I take your orders, Sirs?" she chuckled.

Goshiki blushed, he stuttered when she asked his order, the other teammates laughed, he had a sheepish personality when it was about girls, it seems. Ushijima stared at him and he wondered what he wanted to say, he had a challenging air around him, was the captain defying him?

"Do you know that girl?"Ohira guessed and the one who answered that was Satori:

"Yes, that is Hoshi-chan!"

"Aah, I thought it was very strange you were so enthusiastic about coming here." Eita sighed in a reproving tone "Don't tell me you're coming here to see that girl working."

"Hey I was-"

"He comes here almost every day."

Ushijima commented, startling them, although his expression was calm. Tendou was flabbergasted, he couldn't believe his friend had backstabbed him.

"H-hey, Wakatoshi-kun, you should be supporting me, you know? They're misunderstanding some things here." He tried to explain the situation clearly.

"If it's what Ushijima said, he's telling the truth. Have you been nagging this poor girl, Tendou?" Ohira looked at him with a reproving gaze.

"N-no, I've come here because of this guy." he slapped Ushijima's back and the ace was puzzled with his affirmation.

"What does he have to do with it? You probably dragged him along, didn't you?" Shirabu defended his partner.

"N-no, you're misleading my words…" he gestured fleetly "Wakatoshi-kun and me were worried about her health state… And…"

"Your orders, Sirs."

Hoshino interrupted his phrase, they were startled with her sudden arrival when they were talking about her and sweated a bit as she handed their orders.

"Hoshi-chan…" Tendou had tears forming on the corner of his eyes "Tell them I'm a good guy. I'm not an ill-intentioned person!"

"Huh? What are you-"

She was lost on the conversation, before she could pronounce any word, her boss appeared behind her, with a big frown on his forehead:

"Don't stay still like a slug, hurry up!" he slapped firmly her back.

She stumbled forward and coughed a bit, covering her mouth and squeezing her eyes. They gulped in concern, she didn't look very well.

"Excuse me." She said, and left the cafe coughing.

They wondered if it was all right and felt some compassion for the girl, she wasn't even doing something wrong. Another waitress came to attend them, and after a long time passed, the same waitress came to show the bill. The other members didn't pay much attention to it, but Tendou was perplexed:

"Excuse me… Where is that waitress that came before?" he unashamedly asked, the other woman chuckled and answered honestly:

"Well, she wasn't feeling well, so she had to leave earlier today."

The red-haired was seemingly worried, but the most worried one was… Ushijima had accentuated creases on his forehead as he watched the scene.

"Hey, captain, are you feeling well?"

He flinched when he was addressed and became surprised. He didn't say anything but his teammates were looking at him with curious glances.

"No."

"Geez, you scare-" Tendou stopped right after understanding the meaning of Ushijima's words.

"Excuse me." He stood up, placed his money on the table and left the place.

"W-wait! Wakatoshi-kun?" Tendou followed right after his back.

"What's gotten into him?" Goshiki raised a brow.

"Wow. I never thought I would live long enough to watch such scene." Eita whistled "I guess it's something called l-"

"Hey, hey let the captain alone." Ohira patted their shoulders.

"Even senpai has a weak spot…" Goshiki narrowed his eyes "I won't lose to him on those matters too…"

He thought and his teammates wondered why that challenging aura was coming out from him, they could never understand why the first years was so motivated to win Ushijima, he had a long way to go.

Meanwhile, outside the cafe, Ushijima stopped when Tendou called him. He turned to look at his friend, his insipid expression was the same, but his fists were clenched.

"Wakatoshi-kun, wait there… Why did you leave out of blue?"

"It bothers me to watch such scene."

He declared, turning a bit his head to look at his friend from above his shoulder. Satori was surprised.

"If you excuse me, I'm going now. We have to arrive early in the morning tomorrow."

He left the scene, leaving his astounded friend behind. Tendou smiled faintly, amused on how his friend could have a sensible side sometimes. But was it a good thing for him or not? He worried about how Ushijima would feel if Hoshino suddenly... He shook his head, sweeping away those bad thoughts, she would be fine, she was a strong girl, after all.

CHAPTER 13/END