I never liked being alone in subway stations.

I always thought that this place is bland and too stifling. Light grey or... or maybe dirty white would be a better term? Let's go with that. It's covered all the way from the ceiling to the ground in dirty white, except where the tracks are, of course. It's always bustling with people too, ranging from those wearing crisp, formal outfits, the ones who look like they don't wanna be there, the hippies, late college students that look like they haven't slept for 2 months, people that look like bums- you name it. Then again, that's how it looks wherever you go in Tokyo. There's always a wide array of people so it always feels bustling and busy.

It smells so humid from being underground with a hint of metallic tang to it. It's especially bad when it's raining. A cacophony of noise, ranging from the screeching of the rails when a train is there, the loud clacking of shoes from people walking, the sound of people talking simultaneously.

I hate it. It makes me feel alone in a massive world.

I hate being alone in there because I have no way to tune those out. At least when I'm with someone, they could distract me from all of those.

I sighed as I sat down on one of the empty benches. I looked at the clock- 7:22. I'm too early. Way too early. I was supposed to meet the others here at 8:00. We do need to leave early since Tokyo to Nagano is at least 2 hours and 30 minutes by bullet train plus bus ride from the station to Nagano gymnasium, and Kou's game is set for 11:30.

I aimlessly watched the other passersby from the bench, before sighing and taking out a book. At these times, I'm happy with my habit of always bringing a book with me. It helps when situations like this arise.

I let myself get lost in the pages of the 6th volume of icha icha. Now, I know I'd get dirty looks from people if they realized what I'm holding since this series is pretty recognizable, so I brought one of those book jackets. Unless there's someone who purposely sat besides me and started reading from my shoulder (what kind of weirdo does that?), then I should be fine.

This series is actually mediocre at most, if I'm being honest, but I got wholly invested in the story- sue me. The plot is pretty basic but it's kind of a guilty pleasure, you know? Kind of like those shitty isekai-harem anime aimed for the otakus that can't get laid with main characters that have no personality nor interesting physical traits whatsoever and had the same repetitive, basic, predictable plots but you can't stop watching since you actually have a thing for those.

At least the smut was well written.

Besides, everyone has some kind of guilty pleasures. Eri and I share the same taste for books, enough said. I know Akaashi secretly has a thing for those shitty eastern fantasy/wuxia light novels. Not that the eastern fantasy light novels are bad- they're interesting if it's well written, but Akaashi keeps on choosing the ones with the... pretty predictable plots. You know? Those revenge stories "I was abused and tormented by my former family and died but I got reincarnated for some reason so now I became a badass bitch and started extracting revenge on those who wronged me previously". Huh. I wonder if he'd like the remarried empress. It's not exactly wuxia nor an eastern... I'm not sure, but it's fantasy and it kinda fits the bill of what he usually likes to read. And it's better written than usual, too.

Anyways. Konoha is one of those shitty harem anime enthusiasts. His wallpaper was Kirito from SAO and I'm already plotting ways to use that against him. Then again, SAO was pretty tame compared to the new ones and the concept -trapped in a game- is actually interesting. Too bad it was executed poorly and Kirito is too boring of an mc. Kenma is one of those super serious players of league of legends, another game that you know is trash because of the people but you can't stop playing since you're super invested in it. Well, I do play league too but I don't take the game as seriously as Kenma. You should see him raging at 2AM when we play. Kenma becomes a whole different person when angry. And he gives me flak when I'm trash talking someone else when I just do that for fun. Honestly, the trash talking part in online matches is what makes the game more fun for me. Lastly, Kuroo who purposely tries to speak like an old man and constantly makes dad jokes (the horrible ones, not the funny ones) just to shit with us. And the unfunny science jokes that'll just make you groan in exasperation. And what's with his constant need of provoking people for some reason I can't fathom? It's like he can't live without annoying someone every 5 minutes.

So yeah.

Time passes quickly and before I knew it, Kuroo and Kenma were already here. He suddenly tapped my shoulder when I was knee deep in the book, so I was a little startled. When I turned to look at them, Kuroo was smirking. If he has a tail, I bet it would be swishing. Kenma looked like he didn't want to be here but I know that deep inside, he actually does and he's just being a tsundere. He denies it a bunch of times but he actually likes it when Kuroo invites him to go out. Except maybe if it's on unreasonable hours. I think he's still salty about that one time kuroo dragged him out at 5 in the morning.

"Hey." I greeted and placed a bookmark on the page I was previously reading before quickly returning it to my bag.

"Ready to go now?"

"Yeah." I gave myself a once over and made sure I looked fine before standing up and following after them. Kenma slowed so we're walking side by side with Kuroo in front of us. He agreed to be the one to be buying the tickets, so Kenma and I gave him our money and waited for him in the side.

After Kuroo was done buying the tickets, we made our way to a train and looked for available seats. Luckily, there are 3 empty ones, so we decided to sit there, Kuroo on the left, Kenma on the middle, and me on the right.

We're still far from Nagano, so Kenma and I talked about our game last night, valorant. Well... I'm the one talking and he's quipping every now and then. He does talk much more than normal if the topic is within his interest.

I glanced at the side and I saw Kuroo looking at us with a soft smile on his face. Like, an actual smile, not that shitty grin of his when he did something idiotic, or that stupid smirk he does when he's scheming on doing one. He's like, 2 heads taller than us so he's very visible. He must have felt my gaze because he smiled at me knowingly before looking out the window.

I feel bad cause it's like, we're lowkey snubbing him, which isn't our intention. It's just that... Well... Kuroo isn't exactly someone who plays games so he doesn't have anything to add to our conversation. He must have felt out of place this whole time.

I gently elbowed Kenma so that he would look at me. When he did, I side eyed Kuroo. He sighed before calling Kuroo and asked him volleyball related questions, which to be honest, I don't really understand since I'm still a newbie about volleyball and all I know is the little facts I heard from Kou. He looked a little touched for being included and started rambling about the tournament. I added my opinions here and there and tried to ask questions when I didn't understand something, which Kuroo happily answered.

5 minutes later, Kuroo was on his rant about how annoying Nohebi was -a team Nekoma apparently hated?- wait nevermind. It's just Kuroo who has something personal against their captain according to Kenma. When he finished that, he turned his attention to me without saying anything. I raised my eyebrow as a gesture for him to continue. It looks like he's giving it some more thoughts before finally asking.

"I noticed that you were reading a book earlier. What was that?" Without missing a beat, he proceeded to ramble about his love for sci fis -jeez, now I can understand why he and Kou get along so much- and how Fahrenheit 451 is his favorite sci-fi novel. While fahrenheit 451 is indeed a good novel, I kind of glossed over that and focused on the fact that he was asking what I was reading earlier.

I felt my face contorting into a smirk and did my best to contain that. No, no. I'll let him dig his own grave for asking that question. This could be my revenge for all the embarrassment he caused- for all the teasing he did. I'll make his face redder than a goddamn tomato.

I heard Kenma groan and mutter something about how Kuroo is making a huge mistake over there. Kuroo didn't seem to have heard that, as he was still talking.

He finally finished talking about the book and looked at me expectantly. When I didn't say anything and just smiled at him, he asked.

"So? What's that book earlier?"

I keep on smiling and not saying anything, which I know is grating his nerves and is a natural fuel to his curiosity. Kuroo is a very curious person, I realized that once I got to know him. And he won't stop bothering you if you have or know something he's curious about.

I was right, he kept pestering me, so I sighed and made it look like I'm done with him while taking the book out of my bag along with my phone. He even did a little victory cheer when he thought he won. I handed him the book and prepared the camera of my phone. I'll have the final laugh in this. Just you wait.

Good thing my book is covered with a book jacket- he didn't realize the title yet. He opened it to a random page and started reading. The result was so. fucking. glorious.

I saw his face quickly morph from his usual annoying smirk, to surprise, horror, and then regret. Based on that reaction, he must have opened it to a very detailed page. I'm proud to say I got all of that in a 10 second vid. Luckily he's tall so I was able to get a shot. And Kenma was slouching so I was able to get a shot without Kenma's head blocking it.

I got 5 good screenshots from that. The first one with him smirking. The second one was him wide eyed and his mouth agape a little from surprise. The third one was him horrified, the fourth one with him regretting his life decisions, and the last one is his embarrassed blushing face while staring at nothing.

I feel really satisfied with this result and quickly sent all of that to Kou. Little good luck charm if you will. I'm sure he would be happy since we rarely embarrass Kuroo and he's the one mostly doing the embarrassing. It was both of our revenge to Kuroo since we're often the targets of his incessant ribbings. The game hasn't started yet, so it should be fine, right? But then again he might be practicing right now. I hope that text doesn't distract him.

I kept my poker face on and didn't let any satisfaction cross over it. And right now? I feel really satisfied at this turn of events.

His expression looked... well... dead. He kept on glancing at me, on the book, and back to me again. Wordlessly, he returned the book to me and looked at the ceiling as if it was the most interesting thing in the world right now.

That's what he gets.

Silence filled the air as I basked on my win over Kuroo for the first time. Not even five minutes later, he started talking.

"Sooo... You read that kinda stuff?" He awkwardly asked without making eye contact.

"Yep!" I put extra cheer on that yep, even popping the p. He looked at Kenma, who looked resigned over this fiasco.

"Kenma?" Kenma hummed so Kuroo took that as a sign to continue. "Did you already know about that?"

"yep." Kenma said with a tone dry as the dessert. Kuroo processed that before he huffed at Kenma.

"And you didn't even think to warn me?" He started whining and then glared at me when Kenma only looked at him in disappointment so I smirked back at him. Now I get why he always does this stuff. It's fun.

"You 're being a pest. That's what you get." Kenma muttered and rolled his eyes before deciding he's done with our general dumbassery and took out his switch to play animal crossing. Kuroo shut up again and grumbled.

"So you're a closet pervert?" Kuroo looked at me and asked without a beat when he noticed that Kenma isn't gonna answer anymore. I rolled my eyes at his question. The way he phrased it is so ugly. Who the hell uses the term closet pervert. It makes me sound more like a creep when all I did was read smut.

"Closet pervert is a bit rude of a term, don't you think? It's like you imply that I hide in a closet to spy on people or something." Kuroo decided to shut up again for a few minutes before bothering Kenma.

"Wait. So how did you know?"

"Join us when we play league at 2 AM and you'll hear Chuuyou's sailor mouth when she's in a trash talking match with someone. I learned how to say 'Fuck' in three different languages because of her." Says the guy who literally insulted someone's whole ass life because he was playing bad. Kuroo decided not to comment on that one and looked at me with raised eyebrow.

"You have a problem with that?" I asked defensively. I mean, I am slightly worried that my taste in books would have an impact on my friendship with him... I hope not.

"No no. Ishi. It's just." Kuroo suddenly cut himself off and then smirked. "I'm really surprised. Who knew you were into that type of stuff." Kuroo wiggled his eyebrows as he spoke. You can definitely hear the underlying teasing tone in his voice. While I'm glad he's still the same old teasing Kuroo, he's starting to get annoying. He continued his barrage of teasing about my preference in books as I slowly tuned him out in sheer embarrassment.

I-

I'm starting to think that was a wrong move.

Did I just give him more ammunition to use against me...?

Damn it.

"He's gonna hold this on me for a long time, won't he?" I asked Kenma with a dry tone and sullen expression.

"Yeah. Prepare to be bothered every day." Kenma said in an equally dry tone without looking from his game.

I was about to snap at Kuroo's teasing when I heard my phone give a soft 'ding'. I opened it and saw Kou had replied to my message. I giggled when I saw his name before typing my reply. I ignored Kuroo, whose phone also gave multiple, continuous dings.

racoon / 8:22

look at this mf

racoon / 8:22

*sent 5 images.

*sent 1 video.

HeYhEyheY / 8:45

Just got a little break from practice

HeYhEyheY / 8:45

But wht did u say to Kuroo to make him react like that?

HeYhEyheY / 8:46

I never saw him that red ever since he got rejected by his middle school crush when he confessed in the cafeteria

racoon / 8:47

lmao. you gotta tell me that story. And about the question... I'll think I'll tell you when you're a little older. You're still a tad bit too young to know (｡•̀ᴗ-)

HeYhEyheY / 8:48

I'M 2 MONTHS OLDR THNN U!!!

HeYhEyheY / 8:48

Also sent all that to sevral groupchats. In the fkrdani ones, the gc with nekoma, shinzen, ubgawa and karasuno, and the gc for third years only.

HeYhEyheY / 8:49

Kuroo has so many victims through his constant provocations that so many people from different schools were happy to see that one.

I laughed loudly at the last message at the same time Kuroo groaned remorsefully. Kou, I'm fucking buying you yakiniku as many as you can eat. Kuroo's phone was so noisy due to the continuous stream of messages he was receiving. Kenma paused his game and curiously peered over his shoulder. He actually smiled at that and looked at me approvingly before going back to his game.

"Well played Ishi. You won this round." Kuroo said while still typing on his phone with a pained expression. I only laughed at him and just watched the scenery with a happy expression.

I was humming a little while watching the scenery from the window when I heard Kuroo give an audible gasp and started cursing in an angry tone while furiously typing. He still hasn't stopped, I see. I wanted to see what it was but Kenma was in the middle so I settled with just hearing him.

His angry mutterings are like music to my ears.

I heard my phone give another ding so I checked it.

HeYhEyheY / 8:53

How mad kuroo is rn?

HeYhEyheY / 8:53

cause sumone just sent those tp Dashoe and he's like, his mortal enemy since middle school.

racoon / 8:54

Very, very mad. He's cursing a lot. Also you gotta tell me more of your middle school stories. You guys sound like u did so many fun things.

HeYhEyheY / 8:55

I'll tell you more the next time we hang out :D

Ah yes. Today is a very beautiful day indeed.

· · ·

We finally got out of the subway station and quickly caught up to a bus to Nagano Gymnasium. Kenma and I we're following behind Kuroo since he's the one with the most traveling experience from us.

The Nagano gymnasium entrance is so packed. It's tough to squeeze your way in here. There's a lot of tall players and I'm quite short so it's hard to look around. I held the end of Kuroo's jacket so I won't get lost. Kenma seems to be doing the same and Kuroo doesn't seem to mind.

At least the inside is a lot better. We decided to look around, since it's still a bit early for Fukurodani's game.

After buying a shit ton of food, we decided to finally find empty seats. It was Kuroo who actually did the finding and we followed after him. He's very good at securing seats cause he found three on the front row. Perks of being tall I guess.

Anyways. We're watching Fukurodani's match against some team called Tsubakihara, the 2nd representative of Kanagawa prefecture. Both of the teams are already warming up on the court.

The players are now lined up to shake their hands. Most of them look visibly nervous, excluding Akaashi and Washio who have their usual resting bitch face, and Kou who looks super excited. To the opposite team, bald guy with the #2 jersey and the guy with the spiky hair wearing #4 are the only ones looking calm enough. The rest are even

The referee blew his whistle, finally signaling the start of their match.

· · ·

Barely halfway on the second set and the game is super intense. Fukurodani won the first set to 25-21, and currently, the scores are 16-13 in Fukurodani's favor.

Kuroo was a huge help in explaining things. Not that I'd tell him that. I understood his explanation in the volleyball terms faster than when Kou tried to, because the way he explains it is very textbook explanations. While I appreciate Kou when he tries to explain things, he often uses some kind of sound effects and volleyball jargon, which confuses me even more.

While intensely watching the long rally, I noticed that the cheetos I was snacking on were now empty. I added that to the pile of our trash (and wow, we have a lot of trash) and grabbed a new one from Kenma's bag. I briefly turned my attention from the game to the junk food I was holding. Doritos. I guess this is fine. I shrugged before opening it and focusing on the match again.

· · ·

They finally won! Kuroo and I stood up and held onto the railing during the final moments while loudly cheering. The food forgotten in our seats.

The last score was amazing. So, Komi received a spike veering on the edge near the audience. Akaashi then followed and set it to Kou. The set was a little wonky, but well, who am I to judge. I ain't a volleyball player. But yeah, since it was a wonky set by Akaashi from a rough receive by Komi, I'm surprised that Kou was able to smash it when there's three blockers against him.

The audience was hyped from that, and the players even more so. The cheering was loud. I do feel a little bad for Tsubakihara. They look really defeated right now.

We decided to clean up our mess and left that area. I sent a quick congratulations text to Kou before following Kuroo in another game. He said he wanted to see Itachiyama's match.

Unfortunately, Itachiyama's game was also on the final scores when we arrived there. We only caught the final score when we arrived. Shame.

We decided to go look at the other matches before looking around again. Kuroo was talking about tomorrow's match with a copy of the tournament bracket on his hand. I tried to peer on his shoulder by jumping but I didn't see it since he's taller than me.

Kuroo, that bastard, noticed that I was struggling. He smirked, patted my head like I'm some sort of dog, slightly bent down with his hands on his knees so we're standing on the same height (how to talk to short people meme style), before giving the paper.

The absolute disrespect- I have the urge to kick him where the sun doesn't shine for that stunt.

I calmed myself and snatched the paper from his hands. I glared at him before focusing my attention on the paper. Kenma was just watching us to the side with a deadpan expression. He looks so done with us.

Anyways. It seems like they're going to some school named Ogaootsuki, the representative of Akita prefecture. If they win, then they move to the day three hell something where they're on 2 back to back matches. After that, the finals on the last day.

I rolled the paper and tossed it to Kuroo, who successfully caught it. He stuck his tongue out at me before walking ahead. Kenma and I trailed right after him since it's finally our time to go home.

We decided to stop by a convenience store for some onigiri before riding a bus on the way to the subway station.

Again, Kuroo was the one who brought the tickets while we waited for him. Luckily, we left early so there weren't a lot of people on the train. I imagine it must be thrice annoying if we left exactly at the same time as the others. The trains would be way too full.

We found 2 open seats, with another man sitting on the third one. Kuroo pushed Kenma and I on the available seats, so he's the only one standing. Luckily, the guy left on the second station so Kuroo was able to sit after that. This time, Kenma was on the left, me in the middle, and Kuroo on the right. He turned his phone on once he's comfortable on his seat and his notifications blew (he turned it off before we got out of the subway earlier).

I didn't even hide the fact that Iwas reading over him. I leaned in so I could read over his texts. He's currently having a conversation with someone named Tsukishima- oh wait, conversation is a nice term. He's getting absolutely roasted. Wow. That guy is so... I don't even have the words, but you can physically taste the amount of salt through their exchange.

Kuroo then closed that particular message box and opened another one. The Daishou guy, I bet, since the nickname was "snake bastard" , another salty person I guess. Kuroo's replies are harsher and more... trashy compared to the Tsukishima guy. But then again, Kou told me they were mortal enemies sooo...

If Kuroo hated that guy, why does he even have his number?

He could have ignored him. Or blocked him. There's so many options and here he was, on a pissing match over text. If they're this bad over text, I wonder how worse would they be when they're actually doing the shit talk in front of each other.

I watched their exchange in mild interest -jeez, their conversation escalated very quickly- when I felt someone slowly lean on my shoulder. I looked at Kenma, who was falling asleep. He must have felt tired, so I didn't bother to move him and just let him be.

Kuroo and Daishou finally got done after about 15 minutes. He grumbled something before turning to us, about to rant. When he noticed Kenma was asleep, he decided to clamp up and grumbled some more. He then suddenly lit up, like he just had the brightest idea, before smirking.

That smirk never bodes well for anyone.

He took his phone out again and posed for a selfie for the three of us. His grin on the pic reached his ears, his one hand holding the phone, the other hand was posed into a peace sign. My expression looked so unimpressed, and Kenma was asleep on my shoulder. He looked satisfied with my pic before scooting on the side, and I can't move without disturbing Kenma, so I wasn't able to see who he was texting now.

Aside from that, the rest of the ride was peaceful. We arrived in Tokyo at roughly 4:00.

"Same time again tomorrow?" Kuroo asked when we're out of the subway.

"Yeah."

· · ·

Back in Nagano, a certain owl head was frowning at the picture he received.

futureconman / 3:37

payback from earlier

future conman / 3:37

*sent an image

He decided not to reply, opting to turn off his phone and tossing it on the bed. His previous good mood plummeted, and it's not the usual blues from his recurring emo mode. It's something more intense, more akin to the feeling like something is burning deep in his heart. He sighed before standing up from where he was sitting and walking to the window of the room. He opened the window and welcomed the air that rushed, and watched as the sun slowly set from the distance with a contemplating expression.

no cause my fucking dumbass just noticed that ffnet has less formatting options than ao3/quotev so some parts was unreadable (particularly, the texts parts). it took 18 fucking chapters until i realized :'D