It happens at the last second, minutes before Natsu's team departs for their training camp. It's the crack of dawn, and Natsu is practically sleepwalking. She was too excited to sleep properly the night before, and she's tired. This is her excuse for not stopping Yunohama from confessing to Rumi in the most horrifically public, cheesy, and awkward way possible. (Not that she'd have any way to stop him once he had his heart set on confessing.)

He calls out to Rumi from across the parking lot, racing towards their bus with an envelope—and envelope, a love letter!—waving like a sail in one fist.

Natsu blinks from her window seat on the bus, more than half-asleep, as the moment unfolds like a trainwreck.

Rumi holds the envelope with both hands, respectfully, but her face is void of all expression. "What is this?"

Yuno says something back, something rambling and far too detailed, and Rumi simply nods, cutting him off before he can make things worse for them both.

"I have to go now," Rumi says quickly. "Goodbye."

"Bye," he replies weakly. "You don't have to answer right away. H-Have a good trip, Utsugi-san."

Natsu rubs at her eyes. When she refocuses on Rumi, Yunohama is gone.

Hirao sits down next to her, shaking her head. "That looked bad."

"Huh?" Natsu mumbles, half-convinced that she dreamt it all.

"He's on the volleyball team, right?" Hirao asks her, just as their captain stomps onto the bus. There's an immediate halt in the conversations happening around them. Natsu immediately begins to fall back asleep.

Rumi stares down each of her teammates. "I don't wanna hear a word about this from any of you," she says darkly.

"But Rumiii!" Akari immediately whines, "You just got a confession, oh my god!"

Dam broken, the bus explodes into chatter. Natsu jolts awake. Hirao sinks lower into her seat, but the rest of the girls are climbing over chairs to yell at Rumi or make grabby-hands at the envelope. If they weren't on a bus, Rumi would've been dog-piled by now.

"ENOUGH!" Rumi screams, making Natsu jump so hard that she elbows Hirao. "THE NEXT PERSON TO ASK WILL BE UP AT DAWN TO RUN LAPS."

"Ask what?" Natsu mutters, already closing her eyes again. "Are we at the airport yet?" Hirao shushes her.

"Pfft," Erina scoffs. "You can't scare me, Rumi—"

"Erina," Aone interrupts her in a soft voice, disappointed eyes drilling into the striker. "No."

Erina shuts up.

"Everyone, please sit," Aone continues. "It's very early."

And that's the end of it. Natsu falls back asleep.

Natsu's never even been inside an airport before, and it's pretty fascinating, but Rumi hustles them through the terminal and to the gate in a blink of an eye. She turns off her phone for the flight and forgets to turn it on at the end, so she completely misses the multiple, frantic texts from Yunohama.

When they finally reach their destination, Natsu's first impression is…. that the Kobe Civic Athletic Center is a madhouse. Whoever organized this sports camp bit off far more than they could chew. Hordes of uniformed high school students swarm inside and around the main gym, in a dizzying array of team colors and sizes. Natsu spotted Shiratorizawa colors nearby—they belonged to the basketball teams invited to Kobe.

"Is that Hoshino?" Natsu wonders in surprise, looking intently at the back of a tall student's head. Teams were only allowed to bring their first-string players to inter-school camps. Natsu was so used to thinking of Hoshino as a shy art student, she'd forgotten he was also Shiratorizawa's shooting guard.

Creative, athletic, polite, great hair—Kawanishi really lucked out when it came to boyfriends…

Natsu huffs as she shuffles after Yoshi down the aisle. "Man, some people just have all the talent!"

Yoshi tosses her a skeptical look over her shoulder and comments, "You need to work on yourself, Hinata."

"I know!" Natsu exclaims, frustrated (and completely misunderstanding what Yoshi meant). "I barely made the cut for this trip, don't remind me!"

Yoshi simply scowls in reply.

"There has to be at least a dozen schools here," Hirao murmurs as the first years step off the bus and stretch. "I think there's enough for a little tournament."

"That's not until day six," Rumi says brusquely, schedule in her hands and a scowl on her face. "Let's get moving. We have training drills with the Ehime team at one."

"We just got here!" One of the third-year students complains. "We've been sitting on planes and buses all damn day!"

Natsu checks the time. It's only eleven o'clock in the morning, but it sure does feel like she's been traveling all day.

"It's a light drill," Aone promises, already unlatching the luggage compartment on the side of the bus. "Just to stretch our legs."

"Get your things," Rumi repeats. "Luggage in those carts. Sameshima is going to get us checked in, we'll have two hours of down time to unpack at the inn if you don't drag your feet. Get to it, ladies."

Natsu, Hirao and Yoshi exchange wary looks, wondering if this trip will turn out to be a summertime vacation or army boot camp. With the way Rumi ran things, well… The first years weren't optimistic.

Natsu's team is staying at one of the nearby inns, alongside the other Shiratorizawa teams. It's a novel experience for Natsu, mostly because it's like an extended sleepover. The other girls are used to living with each other, but Natsu and Iwabuchi, a third-year student, are the only commuters on the team.

She doesn't get much time to dwell on it though. They have enough time to rest, eat, and unload their luggage at the inn, but then they have practice with the Yamato Girls' team, from Ehime prefecture.

Like Yui promised, it was a light practice—but a very long one. Natsu is a little bored, to be honest. The Ehime team has a goalkeeper that's only as tall as Natsu—about 166 centimeters—and Natsu really wants to practice with her. Soccer players weren't a particularly tall bunch, but the goalkeeper looked tiny. And more importantly: she saved every shot that came her way. Even the penalty shots! Natsu wants to play against a goalkeeper like that in a real game!

But it's not meant to be: Rumi has her picking up all the balls at the end of practice, and there's no time to even say hi to the Ehime keeper. The rest of the afternoon, they have to sit quietly for some kind of introductory speech by a bunch of sports directors who are organizing the civic center's activities—it takes over an hour, and Natsu is only able to sit still for it all because Ikejiri falls asleep on her shoulder and she's too afraid to wake her up.

Dinner is served in the cafeteria level of the civic center. It should be a quiet affair, after a whole day of travel and soccer and lugging around equipment bags—but the cafeteria is being used by dozens and dozens of high school students at once, so it's more like a jungle of chattering groups and squeaking chairs. It's lively, and Natsu usually likes things to be lively, but it's beginning to grate on her at this point and she doesn't know why until she sets down her food at the table and has the sudden, overwhelming realization that she is over eight hundred kilometers away from her family.

She flew on a plane. She's in Hyogo. She's amongst some of the best high school athletes in the country.

I miss Shouyou.

"Hinata, where are you going?" Hirao asks, and Natsu almost stumbles over her own feet, already halfway towards the nearest exit.

"—Gonna sit outside!" Natsu shouts over her shoulder, juggling her take-out box and water bottle. She faintly hears Hirao reply something about their curfew at nine, and then Natsu's pushing through the exit and stepping out into humid, cool air.

Natsu has several thoughts that bombard her at once:

My hair is going to frizz up so bad here!

Oh wow are those fireflies? In May?

I wanna call Shouyou.

Natsu looks for somewhere to sit. There's plenty of outdoor seating, some filled by small groups of students, and wow, okay, she's gonna look so lame sitting all alone at one of those huge tables—she steers herself towards the cement steps around the corner and plops down there.

I'm not being weird and anti-social, Natsu tells herself sternly, It's just rude to talk on the phone in public…

Finally, Natsu takes out her phone and turns it back on. She's startled by the number of missed messages she has—Wait, why are they all from Yuno—? But then her phone screen flashes with an incoming call from Shouyou, and Natsu scrambles to answer it.

"Hey, Shou—"

"NACCHAN!" he screams back. "ARE YOU IN KOBE?"

Natsu bursts into giggles. "Where else would I be?"

"You weren't answering all day!" Shouyou whines. "I googled your flight to see if you got lost at sea!"

"I—" Natsu breaks out into laughter again. "Shouyou, the flight didn't even go over the ocean."

"That's wrong! I asked Saltyshima, and technically you flew over the coast and he kinda convinced me for a few minutes that you could be caught in a tropical storm and end up in Australia..."

And Shouyou goes on for a bit, complaining about the horror stories that Tsukishima had filled his head with before Sugawara stopped him. Natsu curls her arms over her legs, squashing her phone between her ear and shoulder. She feels so childish, hunkered down in a corner away from her peers. But she feels safe, too, listening to her brother's familiar babbling.

"—AND I MISS YOU SO MUCH ALREADY IT'S SO WEIRD!" Shouyou screeches, and Natsu sighs so loudly that Shouyou hears it. "Nacchan, are you moping? You're not allowed to mope in Kobe!"

"I'm not," she pouts, sipping at her water. "It's just… weird being this far away."

Shouyou hums in sympathy. "Yeah… You should've joined the volleyball team."

Natsu narrowly avoids inhaling her drink. "Uh, WHAT?"

"Wait, wait, wait, that came out wrong—"

"Why would I wanna play VOLLEYBALL?" she demands.

"Shush, be quiet, let me explain—"

"I'm literally on the BEST SOCCER TEAM!"

"Um, that's a bold claim, I've seen Niiyama play—"

"SINCE WHEN ARE YOU A FAN OF NIIYAMA, HUH?"

"NACCHAN, SHUT UP AND LISTEN!"

"I'm hanging up if you say that again!" she threatens, but knows as soon as she says it that she won't actually hang up.

"Nooo, Nacchan-Nacchan-Nacchan I mean me and youuu!" Shouyou whines, melodramatic to a fault. She can hear some shuffling from the other end of the call, as if he's rolling around on his futon. "Me and you, when we played against Bakeyama!"

"Hang on," Natsu pulls her phone away, grumpily turning her attention to her forgotten tray of food. She can hear Shouyou faintly from her phone, complaining about her ignoring him. She lets him simmer for two mouthfuls of rice and chicken before returning to the conversation. "Okay, what were you saying about Kageyama?"

"Were you EATING? In the middle of our talk? When did you get so rude?!"

"I got rude when you said that I shouldn't play soccer!" Natsu throws back at him.

"Nacchhaannn I didn't mean it like thaaaat," Shouyou gripes, "I was just thinking about our two-on-two game, 'cause Kageyama brought it up in practice today," he insists. "It's been a while since we've played together like that, you know? Competitively. Against two super-good players! And we WON, even Bakeyama admitted it!"

"Hmph," Natsu already has a good idea of what he's getting at. Kageyama asked her about volleyball too, after the Dateko game. "Yeah, it was fun..."

"And we were good together, Nacchan! I forgot how good we worked together," Shouyou almost sounds wistful. "If high school had co-ed teams, like they had in elementary school, would you have kept playing with me?"

"Eh? I-I don't know," she frowns, feeling like she's been pushed off-center by his question. Natsu doesn't want to dwell on it, so she quickly adds, "You're right though, your team would be soooo much better if I were on it."

"Wha—hey! That is NOT what I said!"

"Mm, but it's what you meant, Shoucchan. Let me practice with your King of the Court and I'll outshine you in no time."

"I'm gonna hang up on you!" Shouyou howls.

"No you won't," Natsu giggles, stretching her legs out across the stairs.

"Nah, I won't," he agrees grouchily. "So. How's Kobe?"

"Finally, you asked," she exclaims, slumping back against the wall. "I've been dying to tell you!"

"Then tell me!"

Grinning, Natsu does just that. She tells him about the bus ride bickering between Erina and Aimi, about the weird swooping feeling she got when the plane took off, about every inch of lush green forest and sparkling beach waters and horrible buzzing mosquitoes that Kobe offers. She tells him about the civic center's disastrous organization skills, about the sea of team colors all around her, about Ehime's tiny goalkeeper that Natsu wants to befriend.

While she talks, Natsu rediscovers her appetite and finishes her dinner, and then she rediscovers her energy, like a battery recharged, and starts pacing as she talks to Shouyou.

"—and the thing is, I've been thinking about trying out more of the striker stuff, like penalty shots, because Rumi keeps saying I should, and maybe she's not wrong," Natsu says, mindlessly following the paved sidewalks that criss-cross the civic center's fields and outdoor courts. The floodlights are on now, beaming down on tennis court 3 and illuminating four kids laughing as they hit a ball around.

"Playing striker was the most fun to me," Shouyou says encouragingly. "It's frustrating when you don't sync up your passes though. Or worse—when the pass is good but you take a bad touch! I hated that!"

Natsu nods avidly, forgetting that he can't see her. "Totally! Do you know how nerve-wrecking it was to trap that pass from Aone? One wrong move and I would've died."

"Uh huh," Shouyou chuckles, "Sure ya would."

"Not literally, but you know! It was a beautiful pass, freaking god-tier, I would've died of shame if I couldn't connect!" Natsu declares, gesturing wildly with her free hand as she walks. "Anyway, penalty shots."

"Those are scary too," Shouyou hums. "When it's just you and the keeper? The pressure is crazy!"

"Exactly! Plus, I'm not that strong, and I don't have any special kicks. Erina can just take a penalty like it's nothing, but I never know what to do!"

Shouyou cackles. "You psych yourself out," he says knowingly.

"It's not funny," she pouts, "I'm working on it!"

"You'll get there," he promises. "Hunt down that Ehime player and get her to practice penalties with you."

"I might," Natsu laughs, stopping to stretch her legs. "Oh man, I have bug bites already!"

"Are you outside right now? It's almost nine, go inside!"

"Huh?" Natsu pulls her phone away to look at the time and nearly yells at her screen. "It's almost nine!"

"That's what I said!"

"I'm gonna break curfew, crap—Shou, I'll talk later, I gotta get back!"

"Get some rest! Good night Natsu!"

"Bye!" She hangs up and looks around, a little panicked.

Then she continues to panic, because of course—of course she wanders off on the first night!

Slowly, Natsu begins to retrace her steps. The civic center has a lot of land, a sprawl of fields and courts and smaller gyms. She's on a side road now, much like the road her inn resides on, but it's clearly not on this street.

She unlocks her phone again. Natsu's sure she isn't that far, she just got a little turned around. Besides, she can just call her captain if—

Her phone goes black.

"Why now?!" Natsu cries. "How did Aone know?!"

Her vice captain had insisted on getting the first-years to memorize the inn's address and several phone numbers, as if she'd known that Natsu would get lost.

She can't call anyone, but Natsu could certainly look for the right street, and borrow someone's phone if she needs to. Tucking her useless phone away, she walks down the road, keeping her eyes peeled for street signs and directions.

Before she even has a chance to start looking for help, help comes to her.

"Hinata-san!" A low voice calls out to her, from a very familiar face. "Hey, over here!"

"Hoshino-san!" Natsu darts towards him, surprised that he called her over first. Hoshino was sort of shy, and they weren't very close. Still, Natsu won't question it. "Man, I'm so glad to see you!" she sighs, shoulders slumping. "I thought I was lost!"

"Lost?" He blinks down at her, amused. "We're only a few blocks from the inn. Don't you have a phone?"

Natsu grins sheepishly. "Yeah but I… drained the battery on it."

"Ah. Well, don't worry, I can walk you back—"

"Excuse me," the student next to Hoshino intervenes, looking intently at the basketball player. "We were talking. Hoshino."

"Right, yeah, um," Hoshino stammers, throwing Natsu a sudden, wide-eyed, Please Help Me look. "Except I don't really, uh, know what you're talking about?"

"I wanted to discuss your team," the boy says promptly, brow furrowed. He looks like a basketball player, but he's not wearing a jacket with any school name. "Why are you here for Shiratorizawa?"

"Uh," Hoshino shrinks back from his burning gaze. "I don't know? I just—we got invited, so we're here?" Hoshino blurts out, clearly too unnerved to really make sense. The other student just stares at him, quietly judging.

"Yeah," Natsu adds tentatively, stepping up to Hoshino's side. "Isn't that why everyone's here? Shiratorizawa was invited, so we came to the camp. I guess there aren't any other Miyagi team here though, because Rumi specifically reached out to the Kobe organizers—"

"Are you their manager?" The boy interrupts impatiently, now focusing his severe gaze onto Natsu. He's about the same height as Hoshino—meaning he's a giant next to Natsu—and his eyes are so dark that they make him look evil. But maybe that's just because he's staring so hard. "Do you have any say in who's invited to this camp?"

He talks really fast, and Natsu doesn't quite understand what he's implying. "...Huh? No?"

"Then why are you answering for him?"

Natsu freezes up, caught off-guard by his bluntness. Then a gentle hand touches her shoulder, squeezing very lightly. Hoshino.

"This is my friend," Hoshino corrects him, sounding a little more confident than before, and maybe a little annoyed too. "She's on the soccer team."

"Sure," he says shortly, turning back to Hoshino. "But where is your team? Are you a starter? I've never seen you before. What's your position?" He leans in a bit too much as he fires off each question, and Natsu feels Hoshino falter under the scrutiny.

"I—uh, I'm not—no, I am a starter," Hoshino tries to keep up. "Uh. W-What were the o-other questions?"

Natsu pats Hoshino's arm reassuringly. "Hoshino is a shooting guard," she butts in, frowning up at the stranger, "Why do you care so much?"

This time he doesn't just look at her, he glares. "What do you mean he's a shooting guard?"

Now, both Natsu and Hoshino are lost. He sounds mad now. "You know," Hoshino says meekly, his hand sliding off of Natsu. "The off guard? The two?"

The dark-eyed student continues to stare blankly. "...Are you making a joke?" he says at last, dangerously quiet.

"No?" Hoshino stares back, wide-eyed.

Natsu glances between the two of them, seriously confused, until she realizes— "Oh, wait, you must be a volleyball player!"

The student looks at her with murder in his eyes. "Obviously," he bites out.

"But—!" Natsu flaps a hand at Hoshino, "Hoshino plays basketball!"

"What." He swings his gaze back onto Hoshino accusingly. "Is this true?"

"Yeah?!" Hoshino holds up both his hands like he's being held at gunpoint. "What? What did I do?!"

"Your jacket," Natsu and the volleyball player say at once.

"You swapped again, Hoshino," Natsu adds apologetically, pointing at the volleyball logo on his chest. He's wearing Kawanishi's warm-up jacket.

Hoshino stares at the logo, dumbfounded. The other athlete looks pretty stumped too.

"Why are you wearing a volleyball jacket if you don't play volleyball?" he asks plaintively, "Where is Shiratorizawa's volleyball team?"

Hoshino's face is slowly turning red. He runs a fretful hand through his hair, which makes it poof up horribly in the humidity. "Um. Th-that's because… I… the jackets look s-similar…"

"Yeah, and our volleyball teams are in a collegiate camp in Miyagi for Golden Week," Natsu pipes up loudly.

"Right," Hoshino nods quickly, playing with the hem of his jacket like he wants to take it off now. "O-Only the soccer and basketball teams from Shiratorizawa are here. Kawanishi's coach knows many college alumni…"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, like Ishinomaki Senshu University, and uhhh, Tohoku Bunka Gakuen, aaand Sendai Akamon College," Natsu runs through the college names she can recall, hoping to avoid any more scrutiny over Hoshino's jacket. "They're lucky to get all those connections, so it made sense to stay in Miyagi!"

"So," the volleyball player gives them an inscrutable look, "...Wakatoshi-kun isn't here."

Natsu and Hoshino shake their heads. So that's what he was talking about! He must've seen a bunch of tall Shiratorizawa athletes, and wanted to know why the ace wasn't with them. (It didn't mean he had to be so rude about it, though...)

"You're friends with Ushijima?" Natsu wonders. "What school are you from?"

"We met during middle school," he says shortly, suddenly avoiding her eyes. "I play for Itachiyama."

"Ooh," Natsu nods. She knows that school. Before his family moved out to Miyagi, Goshiki lived close enough to Tokyo that he'd considered applying to Itachiyama Academy. "That's usually the Tokyo rep for Nationals!"

"Yes," he says stiffly, still not looking at her. He bows suddenly at Hoshino. "Forgive me for the misunderstanding."

"Don't mind, don't mind," Hoshino says hastily, shaking his head. "I understand."

He stares at Natsu next, giving her a curt nod. "The same to you," he says dispassionately.

"Right…"

"You should take better care of your belongings," the Itachiyama player adds sternly to Hoshino. "It's unsanitary to swap clothes with other people."

Natsu wonders if he's being rude on purpose, or if he thinks he's being helpful. Or maybe he's just really, really bad at talking to people?

"Mmhm… right… Well I wash all my clothes regularly, even the borrowed ones." Hoshino says, struggling to stay polite. "Um. I think we should get back to the inn now…"

"Yes," the Itachiyama player quickly agrees, eager to escape the awkward conversation. "Goodbye."

Then all three of them awkwardly start walking in the same direction.

Natsu snorts. So much for escaping. The Itachiyama player seems to sink in on himself, shoulders up to his ears, as he realizes they're all basically walking back together.

Before he can try to power-walk away or something, Natsu asks him, "What's your name?"

"...Sakusa," he mutters, dipping his mouth below the collar of his zip-up and shoving his hands into his pockets.

"I'm Hinata. Nice to meet you, Sakusa-san."

"Likewise..."

"If you're from Tokyo, how did you meet Ushijima-senpai?"

"At a tournament..."

"Are you a third-year like him?"

"Second-year."

"What's your position?"

"Wing spiker."

"Hm. Are you any good?"

At this, Sakusa finally lifts his head to look at Natsu properly, eyes narrowed and intent. "I'm very good."

Natsu can't help but laugh at the surly look he throws her. "I'm kidding! You must be good, I think Itachiyama won the Interhigh Nationals last year, right?"

"...Yes. We've already qualified for this year's preliminaries, but it's not a given that we'll secure a spot at Nationals again," Sakusa replies. Natsu is pretty impressed with herself for pulling a full sentence out of him.

"I think it's the same for our school's team, right Hoshino?" Natsu turns back to the quieter student. "They're first-seed, so they're not competing on the first day like Karasuno has to."

"That's right," Hoshino agrees softly, shuffling his hands around with the grocery bag he's carrying. He and Sakusa must've run into each other at the convenience store, because they're both carrying bags. "But I haven't heard of Karasuno."

"That's my brother's school," Natsu supplies.

"Karasuno hasn't made it past the preliminaries since 2008."

Natsu glances at Sakusa in surprise. "Oho, but you've heard of them?"

"I remember their match against the second-seeded team. It was a huge upset, but then they lost in the third round," Sakusa says brusquely, picking at the lint on his sleeve. "It was an impressive match, though."

He's not wrong. Natsu knows exactly which match he's talking about, because it's the match Shouyou has been raving over for the past four years. She's rewatched it with her brother a million times, trying to see it from every angle possible. Natsu usually raves over professional games, like last year's World Cup finals (which Japan won for the first time ever!), but she understood why Shouyou was so dazzled by Karasuno.

"The Little Giant was really something else," Natsu concludes. "But! Just because it hasn't happened since 2008 doesn't mean Karasuno can't do it again."

"Hey," Hoshino huffs, "That would mean our team has to lose in the prelims. Who's side are you on?"

Natsu pauses. "Well, I'm not the one playing. So I'm not on either side," she points out, but privately, she wonders about Kageyama and Shirabu. They were both such talented setters, but if it came down to a difference in strategy, Kageyama was a genius. But then again, she wasn't sure how Shouyou's team would handle an ace like Ushijima.

"That has no impact on the game," Sakusa says quietly. "In the end, the stronger team wins."

"Which is Shiratorizawa," Hoshino concludes, throwing Natsu a hesitant, teasing smile. "I've seen Ushijima-san play. That serve is chilling."

"The spin he puts on the ball is incredibly difficult to handle, even for me," Sakusa states. "His spike is very powerful too, because of the unusual angle of his swing."

He says it so straightforwardly, but Natsu can't help the niggling suspicion in the back of her head that Sakusa, second-year wing spiker for Itachiyama, is a Ushiwaka fanboy. Just a little.

"Ushijima isn't the only person on the team, though," Natsu says, knowing for a fact that she is trying to pick an argument now. "The ace is important, but what about setters? They control the plays! No offense to Shirabu, but Karasuno and Seijoh have some really scary setters!"

"Oikawa is talented," Sakusa concedes with extreme reluctance. "Even Wakatoshi has acknowledged him… I don't know who currently plays for Karasuno."

"Shouyou-kun isn't a setter, is he?" Hoshino asks.

"No, he's a middle blocker," Natsu replies. "Kageyama's the setter. They were at the Dateko game, did you see them?"

"Yeah I did," Hoshino looks thoughtful. "… Ah," he says with sudden trepidation. "I think we're in trouble…"

Ahead of them is the inn. And outside the inn are three older students.

"Oh no," Natsu spots Rumi. She's impossible to miss, because she's the one standing up, lecturing two very tall boys sitting on the curb. "What time is it?"

"Half past nine," Sakusa mutters back, already checking his wristwatch.

One of the tall boys notices them first, and jumps to his feet. "Sakusa, there you are! You weren't answering your phone, I was worried."

Sakusa bows his head stiffly. "My mistake. I left it in my bag."

The Itachiyama captain sighs, shaking his head.

"Tomoki-kun, you're late!" Shiratorizawa's basketball captain explodes into words, throwing his arms up dramatically. "You're never late!"

"Captain," Hoshino bows slightly. "I'm so sorry, I lost track of time…"

But to their surprise, Hoshino's captain looks delighted.

"I'm so PROUD OF YOU!" The rest of the students stare at him. The basketball captain wipes an imaginary tear away. "You're usually so well-behaved, but now you're breaking curfew! Come with me!"

He grabs Hoshino's arm before he can protest.

"Um, w-why?" Hoshino obediently follows his lead, but not without throwing a perplexed look at Natsu.

"I'm gonna buy my kouhai some ice cream!"

"Oh, um, thanks, but I don't really want anything—"

"Nonsense! We need to CELEBRATE!"

"Keisuke," Rumi cuts off his escape, staring up at the basketball player with violence in her eyes. "Don't you dare."

"Ruuuumi," he whines, throwing his arms around Hoshino as if to shield him. "You're not his captain! Go lecture Hinata, this one's mine!"

"That's not how this works," Rumi growls. "You too, Tsukasa," she eyes the Itachiyama captain with equal disapproval.

Itachiyama's captain looks deeply unnerved by Rumi. "Uh," he looks down at her like an elephant spooked by a mouse. "Yeah, you made some good points earlier, so… why don't you three sit down, and Rumi will explain the problem?"

Sakusa, as Natsu now discovers, is not intentionally rude—he's just incapable of reading the room.

"Why?" Sakusa stares at Rumi, clearly not seeing why his captain would back down to a 159 centimeter tall soccer player. "We're only thirty minutes late."

Natsu hangs her head, already knowing what's next.

"Sit down, Kiyoomi-kun, and I'll explain." Rumi jerks her head towards the street bench. "Natsu. Tomoki-kun. Now."

"But—" Sakusa cuts himself off when his captain begins to push at his back, ushering him to the bench. Natsu and Hoshino follow suit.

Rumi stands over them like death itself, deliberating over its next victim. She doesn't yell. But once Rumi begins, she just keeps going. "You three already know how busy we're going to be this Golden Week. Every team, every captain, every advisor is working very hard to make this run smoothly…"

Negligent.

Disrespectful.

Dangerous.

Ungrateful.

Irresponsible.

Rumi covers every one of their shortcomings in excruciating detail, shaming Hoshino's captain for not having a way to contact his own kouhai, accusing Natsu of not thinking of how worried her teammates would be, criticizing Sakusa for brushing off the severity of breaking curfew.

By the end of it, all of them feel thoroughly chastised. Even Sakusa looks paler.

Aone pokes her head out the front door of the inn. "Are you done here, Rumi? Kita-san and Miyake-san are waiting."

"I'm done." Throwing one last evil-eye at Natsu in particular, Rumi ducks away to talk with Aone.

Natsu sags against the bench, feeling like all the life has been sapped out of her. Hoshino's captain collapses to his knees theatrically.

"Hinata-chan, your captain's the worst!" he bemoans, throwing himself onto the end of the bench next to Hoshino. "I think I'd cry if I were on your team! She just killed me, I feel like a shell of a man!"

"She wasn't wrong about any of that," Sakusa's captain sighs, stretching his shoulders. "I think I tensed up too much, though. It felt like my mom was scolding me..." He shudders.

"I'm buying you all ice cream!" Hoshino's captain declares out of the blue. "That'll make things better!"

"No."

"You're insane, Keisuke."

"No way!"

"Captain, that's a terrible idea…"

A/N: There you have it, Natsu's first day in Hyogo! I was going to include more of Inarizaki, but uhh they kinda steal the show once they're introduced. Enjoy your single Kita crumb ig?

Also, omg, I didn't mean to make Sakusa so mean but it felt right? T-T I swear I love him to pieces, he's just an awkward duck pls don't come for me