The gym was silent, met with a dark and brooding aura. Karasuno's males' volleyball captain stood tall in front of the gym, arms crossed, a shadow loomed over his eyes as he glared at the team, (who were all sitting cross-legged on the floor) making them all involuntarily shudder — even Tsukishima had to suppress the urge to make a remark.
"The reason why I've called you all here is because we are going to have a meeting." Sawamura drawled, eyes scanning the first and second years. "Takeda-sensei, if you will?"
The said male fiddled with his clipboard nervously, stepping in front. "The reason why we all called you here to the gym so early was because we have a very important matter to discuss." Takeda sighed, looking over at Sawamura who nodded, encouraging him to say what he needed to say.
"It's about your grades."
Several things happened at once; Nishinoya screamed, Tanaka paled; his hands clasped together in a silent prayer as his face turned to stone, Hinata whimpered; looking up at the ceiling as to ask 'why, what had he done to deserve this' while Kageyama fainted, his soul leaving his body — Hinata had to snap out of his trance to get the setter back to his senses.
Tsukishima rolled his eyes at the overdramatic-ness of the four idiots who were on the verge of death, Yamaguchi worriedly looked at the four, Ennoshita sighed, whileas Asahi and Yachi panicked in fear of their teammates dying.
Takeda then threw the test papers onto the floor, leaving their grades for the whole team to see.
"HOW IN THE WORLD CAN YOU EVEN HAVE THESE SCORES?!" Ennoshita screamed, in shock of how they even passed high school by barely even having double-digit scores. "I-is, is this even possible?" Asahi stuttered, wondering 'how the hell are they in high school and not in middle school?' Tsukishima had to put a hand over his mouth to cover a snicker.
"What are we gonna do?" Takeda disappointedly looked at the four. "Nekoma invited us to another training camp, only this time there will be additional schools joining us as well. If you can't pass exams next week then you can't come." Ukai sighed, rubbing his temples at the ever going stress.
"That's alright coach Ukai, Takeda-sensei. We won't let that happen, we'll definitely help them ace their exams." Sawamura grinned, looking down at them.
"Daichi-san!"
"Daichi-senpai!"
Were the thankful cries of the four, tears streaming down their faces as they all looked up at their savior. "But—", that one word seemed to destroy their hope as they looked up at their captain who couldn't help but smirk.
"—those who do not pass their exams and will take supplementary lessons will receive a penalty." He looked over to the vice captain, who nodded, Kiyoko walked alongside him as they both made their way to the front of the gym. Everyone then gulped, bracing themselves for the news. They knew nothing good was going to come out of this.
"If you won't be able to pass the exams, you'll have to dress up as a girl at the training camp." Sugawara smiled, a sinister aura surrounding him.
The gym was filled with choruses of "what", "why", and "this is so unfair!" Hinata and Nishinoya started to sob, as Tanaka and Kageyama sullenly looked at the floor, knowing that they were done for.
"To the ones who don't pass, you'll have to take supplementary exams, then meet up with Hitoka-chan and I. Tanaka's sister will be driving us to the training camp. I'm sure Hinata and Kageyama remember her well." Kiyoko informed, face relaxed but her eyes held a certain gleam in them.
The said males nodded, remembering the energetic and wild — but cool blonde who seemed to have a sweet tooth.
"I can't wait to see who fails. They'll just end up embarrassing themselves at the training camp." Tsukishima smugly grinned, knowing that he nor Yamaguchi would fail and that it would be one of the four idiots.
"Tsukki..." Yamaguchi looked up at the taller with an almost stern look. The blond shrugged, leaving to go grab himself a bottle of water.
'I hope no one fails.' Yamaguchi worriedly hoped. But that hope was useless in the end anyways, as fate had other plans.
"Yachi-san, please teach us!" Kageyama and Hinata both bowed to the shorter girl, who stammered in surprise. Afternoon practice was already over. "M-me? Why not Tsukishima-san?" The two males had sour looks on their faces when the megane's name was mentioned. "Okay, never mind then. But are you sure? I'm not a really good teacher—"
The two boys gave her pleading looks which she could not refuse.
"—but I'll try my best!" She gave them a smile, only to be engulfed in a hug by Hinata, followed by numerous "thank you's". Kageyama then angrily pulled him away from her, muttering something about personal space before bowing to her in thanks.
On the other side of the room, Nishinoya and Tanaka were chasing a tired Ennoshita who was holding a broom. Kinoshita and Narita were by the sidelines, enjoying the show as Ennoshita finally had enough, hitting both Nishinoya and Tanaka on the heads.
"What do you both want?" The male asked, letting out an exasperated sigh as Nishinoya and Tanaka rubbed their heads in pain, both sitting cross-legged on the gym floors. "Ennoshita-san, please help us with studying!" The libero pleaded, now kneeling with his hands clasped together. "We can't afford to lose! It would hurt our pride if we showed up wearing girls' clothes! And we can't afford to not go either!" Tanaka clenched his fists in frustration of the matter.
"Plus, we wouldn't look good wearing girl clothes either!" Nishinoya reasoned. Ennoshita blinked, thinking. It was true, actually. Tanaka was too masculine to wear female clothing, and he'd immediately be called a pervert. Nishinoya however, was another case. He would pass looking like a girl, due to his short stature and small amount of muscles. But like Tanaka, he was too brazen and shameless. There would be a chance that he would use the punishment as an advantage to spy on the girls changing.
After all, though they respected women, they were both still natural perverts. No one could ever deny nor disagree with that fact.
"Oh you guys and your fragile masculinity," he pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation. "Fine, I'll help you both with studying then." Ennoshita sighed, before turning around. "We'll be heading over to your house, Tanaka. Every after school. Kinoshita and Narita will be coming along as well." He informed, giving the said males a pointed look, as revenge for not helping him deal with the two idiots.
"Thanks so much!" Nishinoya and Tanaka gratefully yelled, before being chased away by Sawamura with a broom.
Tsukishima and Yamaguchi were both keeping the volleyball net, when they heard Hinata, Kageyama, and Yachi's conversation. The blond sighed in relief at the confirmation of not having to teach the two "volleyball-only" minded dorks.
Yamaguchi chuckled at the sight of Kageyama and Hinata competing on who could clean the gym the fastest, only to end up being scolded by Sugawara in the end.
Yachi and Kiyoko were by the bleachers, checking if anything was gone. Once Yachi confirmed that nothing was missing, they left to help out with keeping all the sports equipment.
Once the first and second years left, Sugawara called over the rest of the third years. Sawamura and Kiyoko shared a look before heading towards the albino haired male's way, Asahi, however, hesitantly came over to the group. He knew Sugawara would start something again. After all, whenever the four of them had their own preferences and couldn't decide, they would bet on it.
"So, who do you think will fail their exams?" Sugawara asked, not beating around the bush as he smirked. Sawamura sighed and shook his head in mock-disappointment, Kiyoko gave them a small smirk, while Asahi sighed, seemingly tired from the overuse of betting.
"Let's bet on it. I'm placing my money on Tanaka. We all already know that Tsukishima, Yamaguchi, Ennoshita, and the others have decent grades. So we don't have to worry about them." The albino haired setter grinned. Asahi pursed his lips, unsure of how to respond. "I'm betting on Nishinoya. He's really lazy, there's no doubt he wouldn't pass." Sawamura crossed his arms, pointedly looking at their ace.
The gentle giant looked down and sighed, he knew he'd lose again, because he wasn't good at this stuff. He then could feel a piercing gaze on him, and he, without a doubt knew it was Sawamura taunting him. "Kageyama." He murmered. He then looked to the only female in the room who was silent during their whole ordeal. "What about you, Kiyoko?"
"Hinata." She immediately replied, looking up at the three of them. "... I think Hinata will fail, so I'm betting on him."
They all silently nodded, respecting each other's choices. Then they all stood up leaving the gym.
May the best (wo)man win.
And so, the following days consisted of extreme tutoring and studying, heck — even some of them went to go to the shrines to pray for good luck!
"Yachi-san, am I correct!?" Hinata ran towards the blonde, holding his paper out. "Aaahhh, you're so close! Just invert the 'i' and 'e' in your 'receive', Hinata-kun!" She patted him on the shoulders as he ran back to his seat to change his answers. "Dammit, why is English so difficult?"
They were in a classroom, it was lunch and they wanted to be productive with their time.
"Yachi-san, please check my paper!" Kageyama bowed before her, handing out his paper. "Kageyama-kun, 'a' is used before words that start with consonant letters. And 'an' is used before words that start with vowels." She corrected, as the black haired male quickly thanked her and rushed back to his seat.
She looked at the both of them who were furiously answering the practice sheets she made for them. I know you guys can do it! Good luck on your exams!
Tsukishima and Yamaguchi were in the library, silently studying for their exams. They'd both ask each other questions from time to time.
"Ha, I bet they're both giving Yachi-san a hard time right now." Tsukishima snorted, pushing his glasses back up to the bridge of his nose.
"Tsukki..." Yamaguchi gave him a small glare, to which the blond responded with a shrug of his shoulders and a smug grin.
Tanaka and Nishinoya were furiously reading the notes Ennoshita had given them, trying to not forget a single thing. They couldn't wear girls' clothing at the training camp, they couldn't shatter their reputation and dignity.
Ennoshita could only stay away from them at a safe distance, scared to disturb them. Good luck to you guys, I guess.
It was the long awaited day, which everyone dreaded. Exams.
The first years calmly answered their papers, Kageyama and Hinata had to double check their questions.
The second years were the same, Tanaka and Nishinoya prayed that they would be able to remember the answers to the questions.
The third years sighed, hoping that their choices would fail. Please, fail your exams. I need that 6,000 yen!
The final day exams ended, everyone (except Tsukishima and Kiyoko) were exhausted. They decided to take a break from practice and go to coach Ukai's store to eat out instead.
Takeda and the other teachers were in the office, sharing their students' test papers with their grades on them. "Takeda-sensei, may I have a word?" One of the teachers poked him in the shoulder, holding a couple of test papers. The said male nodded, turning around to face her.
Everyone was nervous. They were all called to the gym for their grades. Nishinoya, Tanaka, Kageyama, and Hinata were visibly shaking, knowing that out of everyone, they had a huge chance that they would be the ones who'd fail.
The third years silently prayed that their choices would fail, not feeling any remorse at all. Well, Asahi didn't really care either way, he just wanted everyone to pass.
Ukai and Takeda entered the gym. Both of them were smiling, proud of the grades a majority of them had gotten.
"Congratulations, everyone. Almost all of you passed!" Ukai clapped his hands, proud of all of them.
"Wait, 'almost'? Who didn't pass?" Kinoshita asked, placing a hand over his mouth in wonder.
Takeda sighed. "Everyone passed, but," he paused, taking a couple of test papers, "I'm sorry, Hinata-kun."
The said male froze, as he looked at the test papers he was given. "Wait, what!? But Hinata-kun studied so hard!" Yachi looked at the orange haired male in worry, as Kageyama looked at his partner in question.
"I-I'm dead." Hinata muttered, looking up at the sky. Tsukishima snorted, while Nishinoya and Tanaka ran towards the tiny middle blocker, trying to comfort their beloved and favorite kouhai (they won't tell anyone that though).
"That's alright Hinata! You did your best!" Tanaka grinned giving him a thumbs up. "Shouyou, you did great! Don't be too hard on yourself!" Nishinoya placed both of his hands on his shoulders.
Kageyama could only watch everything unfold before his eyes widened, running towards the shorter male.
"Thanks everyone, but I'm gonna die." Hinata said, before fainting, just as Kageyama caught him.
"Hinata!" Ennoshita screamed in worry the same time Yachi screamed and ran towards him in panic. Everyone except Tsukishima and the third years crowded around him at this point.
Sawamura closed the gym doors, as he and the other third years were outside, waiting. The males sighed, before rummaging through their pockets, handing over their money to Kiyoko, who smirked with her hand held out in front of her.
When she received her money, she immediately placed it in her pocket. "Kiyoko-san, how did you know that Hinata would fail?" Asahi asked, rubbing the back of his neck.
Sawamura and Sugawara were curious too, patiently waiting for her answer.
She pursed her lips, placing her index finger over it. "Let's just say, it's a woman's intuition."