Disclaimer: Haikyuu is not mine. It is property of Haruichi Furudate, Weekly Shōnen Jump and Shueisha.
Chapter 36 – Owl & Lion.
After a long bus ride, we finally arrived in Saitama prefecture, the location of the training camp. It was being held at one of the participating schools, Shinzen's rather large gym.
As soon as I got off the bus, the first thing I saw was Michiko, running at me too fast for me to react. Before I could even call out her name, I was wrapped up in her arms, and stumbling to regain my balance.
I laughed, and hugged her back, and after a while, she finally pulled away.
"I missed you too, Micchan," I said with a chuckle.
Michiko smiled happily, "I almost thought I wasn't going to see you at one of these things again, Ms. Switching-to-the-Girls' Team! So of course I'm gonna be happy to see you!" she said.
"I told you, that's not until next year." I reminded her.
"I know that! It's still exciting. I'm just so glad you finally got over last year. I was worried it'd crushed your spirit completely. And then it would've been my fault for overextending mys—"
"No!" I cut in, interrupting her; "It was never your fault that we lost. In volleyball, it's up to the whole team whether you win or lose. Everybody contributes, and it's never only one person's fault!" I said to her firmly.
Michiko swallowed wordlessly, lowering her head and nodding without a word.
I frowned at her concernedly. I knew I wasn't the only one who'd been hurt by that loss. People would look at you and say, 'why are you getting so upset? It's only an afterschool club' but to Michiko, it always felt like more.
She'd had big aspirations for middle-school volleyball, and to be cut off before she reached her goal was like a kick to the face.
Michiko had always had a lot of pride when it came to her position as Ace...
"WHAT!? Why are your managers multiplying!? There's three now! That's overkill, man!" Yamamoto-san's cry of dismay broke us out of whatever zone we were in and both Michiko and I whipped our heads round to face him.
He was standing with his legs parted, trembling, and pointing towards a startled Yachi-san.
Shimizu-senpai gave him an awkward look, and ushered Yachi-san ahead on inside.
We watched Tanaka-senpai approach Yamamoto-san and speak to him, unsure what to make of it.
"It's as if he forgets I'm here, haha," Michiko said, trying to shake off her down expression, and pushing up a smile, "There's a lot of other girls here too – the other teams' managers! I can introduce you!" she said, grabbing my hand and beginning to pull me along.
I turned to Daichi-senpai and the rest, who were standing with Nekoma's captain, Kuroo-san, and awkwardly waved to them as I was dragged away.
Within the next few minutes, we'd already joined up with the other managers. Apparently, despite only meeting up for one or two group training sessions, Michiko had already become a member of the group of team managers and was on friendly enough terms with them to call them by first name.
Shimizu-senpai and Yachi-san had also joined our group to chat.
Two of the girls, Suzumeda Kaori and Shirofuku Yukie were from Fukurodani Academy's team.
Suzumeda Kaori was a tall girl with her golden-brown hair tied back into a high ponytail. Her face was dotted with light freckles, and she seemed calm and cool, but friendly.
Shirofuku Yukie had auburn hair with a centre parting. She had a laid-back expression, but you could faintly spot a twinkle of mischief in her brown eyes.
Ubugawa's manager was called Miyanoshita Eri, and she was a short, cheerful girl with her black hair tied back into low hanging twin tails. She seemed demure but friendly.
And finally, Shinzen's own manager was called Otaki Mako. She had long brown hair tied into a elegant side-ponytail, her fringe swept into a side parting. She seemed gentle and kind.
We stood together in a group at the side of the gym as the boys slowly filtered in one-by-one. Michiko looked around curiously, and frowned when she couldn't find what she was looking for.
She turned to me with a concerned expression, "Hey, where're Hinata and that Setter, Kageyama? I can't see them anywhere, did something happen?!" she asked me.
I scratched my cheek, awkwardly, "Well, we had tests before the training camp, you see. Hinata-kun and Kageyama-kun failed a few of their tests, so they have to retakes this morning." I explained.
Michiko looked disappointed, "Whaaat? Aw man, that's a shame! And I got Haiba-kun all hyped up about the kid, too!" she sighed out heavily.
I tilted my head, "Haiba-kun? That was..." I trailed off, trying to remember.
"Hey, Michiko-chan!" a boy's voice called out loudly, and I suddenly heard thundering footsteps running towards us. I turned to see who was approaching, thinking it could possibly be this 'Haiba-kun' and nearly yelped out loud when I saw him.
Running towards us, waving his hand enthusiastically, high up above him, was a scarily tall, skinny guy with short silver hair and cat-like green eyes. I flinched visibly and took a step behind Michiko, who laughed at me as the boy arrived in front of us.
"Relax, Moeka-chan, he may be super tall but he wouldn't hurt a fly. Right, Haiba-kun?" Michiko said to me, then turned to the tall teenager.
This Haiba-kun tilted his head at me curiously, "Eh? I wasn't gonna hurt her... this is your friend from Miyagi, right?" he asked.
"That's right. Moeka-chan, come on, get out from behind me already," Michiko laughed, pulling me into view, "Moeka-chan, this is my classmate, Haiba Lev. He's also—" Lev cut her off.
"I'm also the team's Ace! Nice to meet you, Moeka-chan!" Haiba-kun said with a big grin, dipping his head in a bow yet still towering over the smaller me.
"O-Oh, hi, Haiba-kun. It's nice to meet you," I said with a nervous smile, dipping my head in approval.
It was then that someone threw their water bottle at Haiba-kun's head and he hunched over, crying out and covering the back of his head.
"Yowch, that hurt!" he cried, as Yamamoto-san started yelling at him.
"Who're you calling this team's Ace, you newbie wannabe!?" Yamamoto-san yelled, seeming offended.
"Why did you throw your bottle at me, Yamamoto-senpai...?!" Haiba-kun whined, equally offended.
"You know why! You'll never be the Ace as long as I'm here!" Yamamoto-san said, only to get hit on the arm by Yaku-san.
"Stop yelling, idiot!" he told the second-year, and he quieted down. Yaku-san turned to Haiba-kun, "And you better not be slacking off, Lev! You still need to do your warm-ups, so get over here!" he said.
"Coming, Yaku-san!" Haiba-kun nodded to his senpai, and turned back to us, "Hey is that shorty you were talking about here, Michiko-chan?" Haiba-kun asked my friend.
Michiko shook her head, "Apparently he's not coming, sorry, Haiba-kun..." she said and Haiba-kun's body seemed to crumple over with disappointment.
"Aww... I wanted to block him...!" he sighed sadly.
"Ah, Micchan, that's not the case. I didn't get to finish, before Haiba-kun came over. Hinata-kun and Kageyama-kun are coming today, but only after they've taken their retake tests! Hopefully they'll get here in time to play at least one or two games!" I explained.
Michiko perked up a little, while Haiba-kun perked up a lot.
"Oh! Well, you heard her, Haiba-kun." Michiko said to him and he nodded, happy to hear the news.
"Oi, Lev!" we heard Yaku-san calling Haiba-kun again, and the silver-haired giant bid us farewell for now, bounding off to avoid the third-year Libero's wrath.
"So that was the half that you mentioned, then..." I said, a little shakily.
"Yup! He's like a big puppy, which is strange in a team full of cats, right?" Michiko said with a grin, and looked at me, "Are you okay?" she asked me.
I nodded, "I was just surprised. He's so tall..." I said, my heart rate finally calming down.
"Right? Must be the Russian blood in him~ I was surprised too, when I first met the guy." Shirofuku-san said with a nod.
"Hey, what's with these two guys you were talking about? Are they really so good that Haiba-kun was so hyped to block them?" asked Miyanoshita-san.
"Ah, Hinata and Kageyama? Well I saw them during the practice match we had with Karasuno a while back, and they were pretty impressive!" Michiko nodded.
"Hey, Micchan, what did you even tell him? We made a deal not to leak info on each others' team to our own team." I asked her, pouting.
"I didn't tell them anything specific! Just that Kageyama was considered a genius in Setting and that Hinata's spikes were really tough to stop if you weren't on the ball. That's okay, right?" Michiko said with raised eyebrows.
"You didn't tell him why they're tough to stop, right?" I asked her.
"And spoil the surprise? Like I'd ever do that. That's the best part of it!" Michiko shook her head, grinning; "How could I deny you the chance to brag about your boyfriend yourself?" she said with a teasing grin, which I did not appreciate.
My face exploded into a deep red as I felt all the girls' eyes on me.
"Ehh? Hinata-kun's your boyfriend, Mogami-san?! I had no idea, h-he never said...!" Yachi-san cried, and I swear I saw some of the guys from other teams looking over at us.
Blushing horribly, I shook my head frantically, "That's cause he's not, Yachi-san! Micchan is just teasing me...! S-Shimizu-senpai, are you laughing...?!" I gasped, after hearing the soft, barely audible chuckles of my senpai.
Covering her mouth, she smiled at me apologetically, "I'm sorry. It's just that your reaction was..." she paused to think of a response.
"Super adorable?" Michiko offered with a grin, and Shimizu-senpai nodded in agreement, smiling at me.
I covered my face, "W-Would you guys stop? He doesn't even know, anyways, and I'm not ready to tell him yet...!" I said.
"Oh, so you're finally admitting that you like him?" Michiko smiled at me. Not that I could see her right now beyond my hands, but I knew she had to be.
Wordlessly, I nodded, and then spoke up as I came out from behind my hand, "Don't you dare tell him, Micchan..." I said to her.
"He's not even here to tell!" she said with a laugh.
"I meant when he is here...!" I whined, pouting at her.
"Haha, fine~" she said, her teasing grin still not leaving her face.
Suzumeda-san sighed out, "Hey stop teasing her so relentlessly. I'll admit she's being really cute right now, but it's not like you're any better about our Akaa—" she began, but Michiko quickly covered her mouth and she grunted, shocked.
I raised my eyebrows at this, looking to Michiko's face. Her cheeks were actually glowing with her blush, or at least it seemed like it.
I tilted my head, "Akaa-who?" I asked, curious.
"It's nothing!" Michiko said, laughing nervously.
Shirofuku-san grinned impishly, and calmly stepped out of range of Michiko before speaking up, "Akaashi Keiji. He's the starting Setter, and a second-year at Fukurodani. She's only met him like three or four times so far, and she never shuts up about him in our text messages." She explained, and Michiko looked like she'd suffered a huge betrayal of some sort.
"Yukie-chaaaan...!" Michiko cried out at her, dismayed. Her face was pretty red.
I couldn't help but smile. What's this~?
"Which one is Akaashi-san?" I asked Shirofuku-san, and she was only too happy to point him out for me.
She directed my attention to a tall-ish boy, with short, curly black hair and sharp, cool looking black eyes. He was wearing Fukurodani's jersey jacket of white, yellow and black, and was talking to a few team-mates.
He seemed cool, mysterious, and stoic. Actually, he looked a lot like one character from the 3DS game Michiko and I liked, Fire Emblem Awakening. Specifically, the character Michiko had chosen to marry in-game. I could see why she'd be into him, at least aesthetically.
So it was believable.
"Micchan, it's okay! I'm not going to tease you about it... too much. But why didn't you say anything about him in our calls?" I asked her.
Michiko only grinned nervously, rubbing the back of her head. She was clearly embarrassed despite my reassurances.
"I-I guess I just didn't know how to bring it up. I didn't want to distract from hearing about how your love life was going, and all! It's more interesting than mine, since Akaashi-kun and I have barely spoken... Heheh..." she said.
She sighed, and smiled worriedly, "And the one time I did, I think I kinda scared him off by being too eager. It's no biggie!" she said. I frowned at that. Michiko wasn't the type to just give up because of a setback. Not like me...
"You didn't scare him away! Keiji's just like that, you know?" Shirofuku-san said to her encouragingly, and laughed, "I mean, If he deals with Koutarou every day, someone like you aren't gonna bother him, Michiko-chan!" she said, and Suzumeda-san laughed.
"You've got that right! If you can put up with that drama king and not go crazy, you can put up with anyone!" she said, grinning wryly.
"I don't want him to just put up with me...!" Michiko pouted, and the girls all just laughed.
I smiled a little, and tapped her shoulder, "I-If you really like him, I'll support you too. Try to talk to him again, maybe." I said to her.
She glanced at me, and a small smile grew on her face, her cheeks pink.
"Same to you, Moeka-chan. I hope you get the courage up to tell Hinata," she said.
I blushed deeply again, "T-That's still probably a long way off," I said, waving my arms in denial, and she only grinned at me.
"Hey, we're gonna start up the first games! Ubugawa, you're going against Karasuno! Shinzen, your against Fukurodani. Whoever wins their match first will go against Nekoma!" yelled one of the other teams' coaches and the conversation between us girls pretty much ended there as we all went to our respective teams to assist.
A few hours later, the difference in skill between Karasuno and the four teams here was apparent. Karasuno had as of yet failed to win any matches and as a result, had to perform the penalty drills several times.
Said penalty drills were performing flying fall receives for one lap around the court. I winced, feeling sorry for the boys' chests, which must be stinging from repetitive flying fall receives.
Haiba-kun had come over to Michiko and I during a match between our two teams. He was asking after Hinata and Kageyama-kun again, but we had no news for him, not being any wiser than he was.
Not getting what he wanted to hear, the tall teen slumped over and despondently walked away.
But Karasuno were taking their penalties like champs, and were in the middle of another match at the moment, against Fukurodani.
This had given me a chance to see the guy Michiko was crushing on in action, and I had to say I was impressed, and a little jealous. It seemed like no matter where I went, I always found a Setter that was way more impressive in me.
I know that was probably partly my poor self-confidence talking, but it was mostly because this Akaashi Keiji was a smart player.
It was like Kozume-san all over again, but not quite. This guy had a lot of tricks up his sleeve and wasn't easily ruffled if Karasuno scored a point.
He just calmly carried on. He also seemed to be his team's Ace's carer, often asking him how he was feeling, or scolding him if he got too overeager and ended up spiking the ball out of bounds. It won us one or two points, so of course he was annoyed. But we were just glad for those times.
Eve with that boost, Karasuno was still lagging behind with 16 points, and Fukurodani was quickly closing in on Match Point.
I winced as Tanaka-senpai just barely missed being able to receive the ball after the black-and-white haired Ace powered one through Tsukishima-san's admittedly half-assed block, and hit the floor of the court.
One more point and it'd be another lap of flying fall receives for Karasuno...
Where on earth were Hinata, Kageyama-kun and Tanaka-senpai's sister?!
A minute or two later, I hissed in a breath as the ball bounced back off of Fukurodani's blocker from Asahi-senpai's spike, and the opposing team got their 25th point, winning them their second set in a row and therefore, the match as well.
I couldn't stew in my second-hand frustration for long, as the doors to the gym burst open behind Yachi-san, Shimizu-senpai and I.
Most people, including the three of us turned around to see who had arrived and I let out a relieved sigh, a smile returning to my face.
It was Hinata and Kageyama-kun.
They stood at the doorway, holding the doors open, while huffing to catch up on their breath. Did they sprint from the car to here? Probably.
After them, a girl with a died blond, full fringed bob haircut appeared in the doorway, dressed in a black tank top and red jeans. With sharp eyes and a confident smirk of a grin, she thrust her thumb at Hinata and Kageyama-kun.
"So did I get them here in time?" she asked cooly.
"Good to see they're still in one piece." Tanaka-senpai said with a shaky grin, and I looked at him questioningly. I didn't get an answer to my unasked question, though.
Shaking it off, I smiled and approached the boys, and the older girl I assumed was Tanaka-senpai's older college-student sister.
"There's one match left for Karasuno so you guys just barely made it in time." I told the boys and they looked relieved and pleased to hear that.
I wondered if, now that the 'Freak Quick Duo' were here, the final practice match of the day would finally go our way.
Onigiriri: And so, I finally got to introduce Lev! You don't wanna know how many times I've already accidentally typed Levi instead. And it's probably going to keep happening, too, haha. x'D
And yep, Michiko has a crush on Akaashi Keiji. Let's be honest, don't we all, though? I know I do at least. :3
Thank you so much for all your support so far, I can't believe I've got over 200 people following this story! Hello, out there! I hope you're all enjoying the story. : )