She tore herself away from the game and went out into the hallway to find a sink. She knew that the vomit would soon become odorous and harder to clean the longer it was left as it was. She had stolen Tanaka's pants while he jumped and blocked one of Seijoh's attacks, and now she took it out of the plastic bag.

She held her breath, turned on the water, and started scrubbing. Thinking she should've also bought a bar of soap at the drug store, she did her best to wash the black cloth.

It took her a while before she was satisfied with her work, but after a few back stretches to relieve the cramp from being hunched over, she turned off the faucet. She ignored the few whispers, stares, and whistling from the Aoba Johsai students as they wondered who the beauty in black was. Squeezing out as much water out of the clothes as she could, she headed back into the gymnasium.

She laid it out on the bench to let it dry a little before she would have to store it back in the bag. Since the third set of the game was about halfway through, she went back to her notes.

Oikawa's serve was terrifying, like Kagami's dunks, which she had seen a few times before last year. And, he specifically aimed for Tsukishima, to make matters worse. She rewrote and emphasized receive training once again on her practice schedule notes.

Lucky for them however, Hinata spiked a broad attack that made their victory. It was unbelievable. They had just won against the prefecture's fourth best school. Unfortunately, from where she was standing, she couldn't see that Hinata had his eyes open when he hit the ball in Oikawa's direction, but she did find it a little odd.

After they had lined up and thanked the opposing team for the game, it was up to Takeda-sensei to give them a little feedback. Be that as it may, it was more like an inspirational speech.

She handed Tanaka his pants while the team packed up to leave. Hinata and Kageyama had disappeared somewhere, but she knew she would go collect them before they left.

"Here, Ryu. I just washed them with water, so they're still wet. If the smell doesn't bother you too much, you should keep the bag open to let the air vent itself."

"Woah, thanks Ai!"

He seemed elated, for more than one reason of course.

"You're too nice to this team, Ai. You spoil us too much." Sugawara laughed.

"It's true. You're too kind," the captain scolded. "Shimizu, tell her."

She and Kiyoko unblinkingly stared each other down with cool gazes.

Finally, her mentor smiled. "You make my job so much easier."

"Thank you."

Ai returned the smile.

Sugawara sighed. "You two are hopeless."

Before she packed the lavender oil, she used some for herself and smelled her wrist. It was lovely, indeed.

They all walked back to the bus, bathing in the purple-orange sunset. Daichi reflected that they needed to work on being able to handle serves like Oikawa's.

They were surprised by the Great King himself awaiting them at the front gates. As usual, Tanaka pulled a face on his enemy, with Hinata supporting him from behind.

But then, the opposite captain started insulting the first-years: Hinata, Tsukishima, and Kageyama. He challenged his former teammate, singling him out, and to be honest, his attitude was ruffling her feathers.

Keeping her head down, she stepped out of her spot behind Daichi and Sugawara. She walked around to stand between the two setters.

"Hey-, Ai!" Daichi called but didn't stop her.

Oikawa seemed amused. "Hey, who's this? You're pretty."

He reached out to touch a strand of her raven black hair, but she swatted his hand away with the back of her hand, as if she wanted limited contact with him.

"Oikawa-san."

He smiled flirtatiously. "You can call me Tōru."

"Tōru-san."

She raised her head and met his gaze. Her eyes burned fuchsia as she imitated Akashi's glare with an insane smile.

Oikawa gulped and took a step back from the intensity. Tanaka, Hinata, Tsukishima, and Yamaguchi, who also had a view of her expression, freaked out.

"Please don't pick on our chicks. They're only just learning to fly."

Oikawa tried to laugh it off and left them with his last words hanging in the air. Kageyama apologized for his agitating behavior, but Daichi gave them hope of the return of the Guardian Deity of Karasuno.

When they got back to their own school, she helped them clean up and mop the floor. She stored away the towels and water bottles as Ennoshita tried to keep Hinata from dozing off. Lavender's fragrance also induced sleep.

She stared longingly at the rack of basketballs, but closed the doors of the equipment room.

That day, she walked home with Ennoshita, Narita, and Kinoshita.

"Good job today, Chikara. You must be exhausted."

He gave her a strained smile. "Yeah, I feel like I'm losing to the first-years."

"Aren't we all?"

Kinoshita sighed.

"You'll be fine. As long as you like volleyball, right?"

Ai tried to cheer them up.

They walked in silence for a bit. Suddenly, Ai pointed up to the night sky. "A shooting star."

The three guys looked up.

"Someone make a wish," she urged.

"Uhh,... I wish... we were better at volleyball," Narita said, playing along.

"Done; you have me. Next?"

The guys chuckled.

"I wish... I had a girlfriend," Kinoshita tried.

"I'll see what I can do, Hisashi," she laughed. "Chikara?"

"Umm... I wish we have a good year."

She smiled. Always the sensible one. "I wish that, too."

They walked together the rest of the way, making predictions about the annual sports day and the culture festival. They also briefly mentioned the libero, who was due back any day now.

"Oh, and thanks for the lavender oil, Ai. That was a great idea," Narita praised.

"Yeah, it really helped," Ennoshita added.

"You're very welcome, Kazuhito, Chikara. I'm glad it all worked out."

"You must've been one hell of a manager in middle school," Kinoshita wondered.

She giggled softly. "Maybe. One of them, anyway. I wasn't the only one, and there were over a hundred players in the club."

He whistled. "Wow."

She nodded. "Anyway, see you tomorrow."

They parted ways to each go home. And speaking of, a few minutes later, she got a call from Murasakibara.

"Tsuki-chin, when's your next off day?"

"I'm not sure."

They usually had practice on everyday, even if it were only a few hours on the weekends. "Why?"

"Muro-chin said that we should go visit you."

"That's very kind of you. Come by any time."

"Okay," he sang.

He hung up.

She shook her head, grinning. "I'm home," she called out, opening the door. She passed through her mother's store and went upstairs to where the living room was.

Author's Note:

Okay, so... one mistake.

Kinoshita and Narita go home in the same general direction, but Ennoshita would normally go home the other way.

A flashback in Season 2 shows the three of them leaving in front of the school gates, and they go in opposite directions.

I'll fix it in future chapters; sorry!!

10/11/2020

Total Word Count: 1226