As usual, the subway station was bustling when we arrived.

Not to the point that there were people pushing each other so they could catch the train, but just enough people to make this place look busy. I glanced around for Ishi, with Kenma trailing behind me. I didn't see her here, so we continued walking around the benches.

It took us 10 minutes until we finally found her. It looks like she just arrived and ran all the way here. She was frantically looking around, so when she looked at our direction, I lazily waved. She sighing in relief and briskly walked to us.

"Sorry I was late. I kinda slept in." She profusely apologized.

"It's fine. We just arrived here too." Like the past 2 days, I let them have their little conversation about whatever while I bought the tickets. Since the line is fairly long, I let my mind wander to what happened yesterday.

Fukurodani's match against Ogaootsuki ended like Tsubakihara, with them winning 2-0. They were slotted at the later hours since one team took a longer time playing. A lot of people already left since it's only two teams playing, only the supporters of both schools stayed. You can hear the obvious silence while the Fukurodani and Ogaootsuki match was ongoing, and It was apparently hard to keep Bokuto motivated for the entire duration of the game. After that, we lingered in the gymnasium for a while and bumped into Akaashi and Sarukui who were looking around. We didn't come with them to see the others, we just passed our congratulations before leaving to go home.

Today's the "day three hell" of the volleyball tournament. Their first match would be against Nishihara High from the Nara prefecture. After that, they're versing the winner between Mujinazaka of Oita prefecture and Chisekishou of Aichi prefecture.

Since it's gonna be a 2 match today, we are earlier today. We're leaving at 7:00. We'll probably arrive at the beginning of the second set, in the end of the first if we're pushing, or in the middle if we're lucky since their first game is at 10:00. The second game is scheduled for 1:00, so we have time to get lunch in between.

It sounds like they're gonna be really tired today.

I snapped out of my thoughts when I noticed that I'm 3 people behind the counter. I paid for our tickets before marching back to where Kenma and Ishi are. They're in the middle of raging about a game called genshin or something. I let them continue their conversation while we enter the train and look for an available seat.

30 minutes in the ride and they're still on that game. They do try to include me every once in a while, which by the way, was super cute of them. I told them it was fine and they can focus on whatever they want to talk about without trying to include me. I know Kenma really loves their conversations since he doesn't really have anyone in our team to geek out with his games. His voice is a tad bit energetic, and he's speaking way more than usual, so he really must love whatever they were talking about.

I'm glad that Kenma is being more friendly this time. He rarely interacts with others, and only does so when it's really necessary, so he has no friends outside our team. I don't think he even has a friend in his classroom. Though it seems like he always attracts the loud, hyper, tiny ones. First it was the chibi from Karasuno, and now Ishi here.

I was worried before that Kenma might be alone forever because of his reclusive nature, but it seems like I have nothing to worry about.

The rest of the ride was quite peaceful. Way more peaceful than what happened on the first day. Nope. I don't want to remember that. I'm still getting crap from Tsukki and Daishou for that. Damn snake bastard. At least my teammates finally left me alone.

The gymnasium was way more packed today than the past few days. Like the days before, they're waddling after me like some sort of baby ducklings, which is really cute. Kenma is tugging on the hem of my jacket when the crowd is closing in on us, while Ishi is holding tightly on my sleeve. It's like I have two kids with me! I guess they really don't want to be seperated here. I am a natural beacon in public places because of my height, so it won't be a problem looking for them if we get seperated. Still, that's annoying to deal with.

We didn't get a seat this time because of the full crowd. Add the fact that we arrived at the beginning of the second set. We decided to go to the lower area, where there's no seat so everyone is standing and you're directly at the same floor as where the players are playing.

I glanced at the scoreboard. It seems like Fukurodani won the first set 26-24. And they're currently on the lead in the second set.

It's amazing how they won their previous games in straight sets.

They could probably win this match too in straight sets if they keep at it. I focused my attention on the ongoing match. Bo just slammed the ball. It did pass the blockers but the other team's libero received it. The setter immediately connected it to their wing spiker, who performed an amazing straight. Komi received the ball and Akaashi immediately followed after him and set it to Washio and so on.

While Bokuto was indeed scoring left and right today, those wouldn't be possible without Komi running back, fourth, and around the court, saving the spikes of the enemies or the mistakes of his teammates. Liberos are literally underrated. He's gonna be the most tired out of all of them once this match is over.

This intense rally continued for two more times before Bokuto finally scored for Fukurodani. Nishihara's coach called for a timeout so both teams were able to get a little break.

"HELL YEAH! THAT'S AMAZING, KOU!" Ishi suddenly cheered from beside me, along with the many other loud people cheering.

Bokuto, the simp, totally tuned out what their coach was saying. He turned around as if he was seeking for the source of the cheer. How did he even hear her out of the thousands of voices in the gymnasium, I don't know. His eyes finally darted in our direction, his eyes widening before his already big smile stretched that I feel like it hurts. He waved his hands around, with Ishi doing the same but more calmly.

He got scolded by coach Yamiji for not paying attention to what he said.

The loud whistle of the referee was heard, and the game continued. Look at the idiot being more fired up in the game and looking at our direction ever so often. I bet Akaashi's confused where his sudden energeticness is coming from based on that expression. It's really fun to throw off Akaashi every once in a while, since his reactions are the best. Well, probably not fun for him since he does tend to overthink everything. His teammates are even more bewildered at him. Nevertheless, they capitalized on Bokuto's eagerness to play, and was able to win the second set in a bigger gap compared to before. 25-17 huh. And more than half of those are from Bokuto himself.

I glanced at Ishi, who was so focused on Bo that she didn't notice Kenma and I were looking at her. Look at her smile widen and her cheeks redden while staring at Bo. They're so fucking adorable. I looked at Bokuto again, and he's totally ignoring their coach now since he's a little busy with Ishi here.

...He just got jabbed in the side by Konoha and was scolded by his coach for not listening. Again. At least the game was done now. The others didn't notice that we were here earlier, and Bo probably didn't tell them since they were interrupted by the whistle that signals the continuation of the match.

After the two teams shaked hands at the end of the game, Bokuto didn't bother listening to whatever their coach was trying to say, and instantly bounced to where we were.

"That was so amazing!" She instantly told him once he's standing in front of us.

"AHAHA. REALLY? OF COURSE I AM." He proclaimed loudly with his hands on his hips and stars in his eyes while laughing loudly. He looked really pleased at what he's hearing, as she continued praising him. His ego is gonna be inflated because of how much Ishi is praising him, isn't it.

They're totally ignoring us, and I let them be. Akaashi was frantically looking around to where Bokuto had suddenly gone, and when our eyes met, I pointed to the two of them. He visibly sagged, and sighed before walking over here with Washio following after him.

The two idiots still hadn't noticed that there's two more people until Washio coughed. They both turned at him, startled by the sudden noise before sheepishly apologizing. Washio just stared at them unimpressed.

"So that's why he was suddenly energetic." I heard Akaashi mutter from beside Kenma. I decided to eavesdrop on their conversation while staying with Washio, Bokuto, and Ishi.

"Did you hear her shout earlier?" Kenma asked.

"No. There's so many people here. I don't even know how he heard her specifically out of the thousand voices." Akaashi sighed.

"THERE YOU ARE!" Konoha suddenly shouted indignantly. He was dragging Sarukui and Komi with him, and started ranting about something. Akaashi snorted before looking away and muttering about "third years." He and Kenma moved away from us to have a calmer conversation on the side.

I let them talk (or argue?) for a few more minutes before I cleared my throat to get their attention. It did get the desired results, as they're all looking at me questioningly.

"As much as we wanted to stay here and chat, we needed to go and have lunch. We'll watch you match with Mujinazaka later." As if on cue, Sarukui's stomach rumbled. It was loud, so it drew the stares from me to him, and the sudden attention made him blush brightly in embarrassment.

"What? We just had a game. I'm hungry and tired." He said defensively.

"Pfft..." Konoha looked like he was trying to prevent a laugh but he failed miserably. "HAHAHAHAHAHA." His loud laughter triggered the rest of us to laugh with him, with Sarukui, if possible, becoming more red with each passing minute.

Sarukui slapped Konoha's head to stop him before dragging him away in embarrassment. The other members of Fukurudani said their goodbyes before following them.

· · ·

"What do you two want to eat?" I asked without looking at them and instead focusing on the surroundings. We decided to get out of the gymnasium and look around for lunch, since the food there is bland.

"I'm fine with anything." Ishi shrugged, Kenma agreed with her. Lies. I know Ishi has a preference for food with soup. And Kenma doesn't mind anything, but he has a thing for desserts, especially apple pie. There's probably one shop here that sells both, right?

I don't really like soup for lunch since well, noon is hot and you're eating hot food? Soups are more suited for dinner but well, that's what she likes so I guess we're getting that. And Kenma doesn't have anything against those, so it should be fine.

We decided to look around some more before stumbling into this little shack in Azuma-dori. On the outside, it doesn't look that much, seemingly shabby and small, but it was actually a ramen booth run by a nice old man. Three shops away from it is a quaint bakery, which definitely sells apple pie when I glanced at the window.

"Order up, you two. It's my treat." I lightly pushed them so they would finally sit on one of the stools and stop hovering on the entrance. The old man smiled at us and patiently waited for us to say our order.

"I could pay on my own?" Ishi said hesitantly. I waved my hands lazily at her.

"No worries. Just eat to your heart's content." I said.

"Thanks Kuroo."

The old man quickly whipped our order, which is three miso ramen and served us. I paid immediately so we won't worry about that later.

I think we hit the jackpot in this place.

The ramen is actually good. Like, really good. It must be one of those hidden gems kinda thing. You know, the shops that are not really frequented, but the food is god tier. I swear, when I visit Nagano again, I'll be looking for this shop.

Thankfully, Ishi and Kenma aren't the type of people that orders so many or the most expensive item in the menu when others offer to pay. I actually get to walk away without a huge dent in my wallet. I remember that one date I had last year... Yeah. I ain't having a repeat of that. I refuse to even remember what happened there. Nope.

After we thanked the old man for the nice food, we quickly made our way to the bakery. As expected, Kenma brought a slice of apple pie, while Ishi brought two slices of strawberry pie which was wrapped separately.

"Here. Thanks for treating us." She gave me the other slice while looking away, in embarrassment maybe. I'm kind of touched. I never expected nor wanted for them to treat me back since I did that out of the goodness of my heart, but I guess she's that sort of a person.

We wandered around the area before returning to the gymnasium at 12 so we could secure seats. It's an hour too early before their match, but it beats standing for an hour while watching later. And we won't have to squeeze our way when there's a lot of people who will come in.

· · ·

The first set went without a hitch for Fukurodani... Okay. I'm lying. It was a close call victory for them at 28-26. Mujinazaka is a tough opponent, especially because of Kiryuu. That dude has one hell of a powerful spike. Huh. I wonder who hits harder between him and Ushijima...? They had been compared a whole lotta times because of their similar play style (which is blasting everything in their path), though some argued that Kiryuu was the better all rounder.

Nevertheless, it's the beginning of the second set. I can see from the hunched forms of the players that they're really tired. Probably because they had matches earlier.

· · ·

"Oof. That's rough." I winced as I watched Komi receive a particularly nasty serve from Kiryuu. The recoil from that probably hurts, seeing how he stumbled back. I loosed up my knuckles from the rest of the chair, not noticing that I was gripping it. From the serves to the spikes, Mujinazaka had been targeting Komi this whole game. They must have noticed that he was the one running damage control the whole time and was trying to make him come out of steam. Annoying, but a good tactic nonetheless. After trying to receive a spike from the number 10 of Mujizanaka, there was a whistle from the referee, and the players crowded over Komi as he held his left... Was that his hand or wrist? I'm not really sure. Coach Yamiji quickly called for a timeout.

At the end of the timeout, he was quickly rushed out to the clinic and was substituted by the first year libero. It must be serious if they had to do that.

The match continued but the holes in Fukurodani's defense was noticeable with Komi gone. And they aren't as... synchronized with the first year libero compared to Komi. It's usually the libero that covers everyone's asses, but since the first year is a newbie to nationals, the others are taking a load of what liberos usually cover for him to adjust at being suddenly thrown in a fast paced situation. While the first year is doing well for his first nationals game (way too well actually) as he didn't really stumble in his steps or fumble on his receives, he didn't have the polished skills nor the experiences of Komi.

I mean, Komi is one hell of a libero and has been the starter in Fukurodani even in his first year. I remember Bokuto telling me that the 3rd year libero from when they were first years decided to not continue playing volleyball for the spring tournament and focus on studying for college, so Komi was suddenly the starter.

So yeah. It's understandable that all of them are suddenly having a hard time now.

Mujinazaka, seeing that, is still targeting the libero. Nasty, but effective. Much more effective than with Komi earlier. If their goal earlier with Komi was to wear him down so Fukurodani would have a weaker defense, their goal now is to target the first year since he is the weak spot. He's gonna have nightmares about this for a few weeks, wouldn't he...

Unfortunately, Mujinazaka won at 25-21. If I'm being honest, I'm impressed that the gap isn't bigger. They rested for a bit before the third set began.

Now, the third set is where they already showed everything. No more hidden techniques or anything else. All the players have fully exhausted both their energy's and strategies, and are just running on sheer will and adrenaline... Maybe some surprise pulled here and there but not as often as from earlier times.

· · ·

I I clapped along to the booming cheers and applause in the gymnasium. Well, Mujinazaka won at 25-19 and advanced to the semi finals.

I scanned the expressions of the members of Fukurodani, and all of them don't look well. Especially the first year libero who was crying. I can tell he's blaming himself for this. Both him and bro actually, and maybe Komi too, but he's in the clinic.

I can guess that the "I should have been better" running in his mind from his expression. He must be feeling responsible for the defeat, being both the captain and the ace. I don't blame him. I often feel that way too when our team loses.

Akaashi and Konoha cheered him up while the rest crowded the first year. I sighed as I sent a quick text to Akaashi, asking where they were. After he replied, I grabbed Kenma and Ishi and dragged them there. None of them said a word of protest, so I didn't stop.

It was hard navigating the area because of the amount of people in the gymnasium. It took us a lot of time to finally arrive and they were all staying outside their assigned locker room which is near the clinic. I let my eyes wander around each one of them. Most of them looked resigned and were sitting on the ground. Suzumeda and Shirofuku were doing their best to cheer them but they looked weary too. The first year was still loudly sobbing and Konoha was trying to comfort him. Poor guy. Bokuto was staying alone in the lockers, while Komi decided not to get out of the clinic when he heard they lost.

Ishi broke away and went inside the clinic first to check on Komi (with the permission from Shirofuku) while we stayed with Akaashi. About 15 minutes had passed when she came out with Komi sullenly following behind her. Komi then decided to sit next to the first year and talked to him, which finally calmed his sobbing to little sniffles.

Ishi then talked to coach Yamiji, asking for his permission to enter the locker room. He agreed, so she immediately went there and closed the door.

· · ·

"Hey." Chuuyou greeted calmly as she sat next to Koutarou on the bench in the locker room. He was sitting alone, his elbows propped into his knees while looking down on the ground. He only nodded in acknowledgement to her greeting without saying anything else.

Chuuyou sighed as she placed her hands on his back in a comforting manner. She wanted to wrap her arms to him like she did for her before, for several reasons, she can't. One is Koutarou's buff, and two, her arms aren't as long as his that it wouldn't reach. Quickly thinking of an alternative, she shuffled a little so her entire legs were sitting on the bench and lightly pulled on Koutarou, so he was leaning on her.

Drawn by the warmness and comfort she provided, he went from just leaning on her to lying down and using her legs as a pillow. He didn't really process the action, for he was too overwhelmed with all that happened and just followed along with her.

'This... This doesn't suit him at all. He should be smiling. It feels wrong to see him like this.' Chuuyou thought sadly while looking at him. She didn't mind that he was staining her jeans with his tears, nor the fact that he smelled sweaty from playing volleyball. All that was running in her mind was that she should comfort her friend during one of his serious slumps.

He let his tears silently fall as she ran her hand on his hair. She's not exactly sure how long the two of them have been staying in there, but it was probably a long time since she heard the door open and close. Her legs also felt numb for the whole time it was still.

When Koutarou finally calmed down and caught his bearings, the first thing he did was apologize.

"Sorry for uh, ruining your jeans."

"You dumbass." She said while taking something out of her pocket. "I don't care about that right now."

'I finally get to do this for him.' she gently wiped his tear stained face using her handkerchief before pressing it in his palms. 'Much better. I don't ever want to see him sad unless it's for dumb reasons. He looks the best when he's happy. That's like, the number 23... Or was it 25? Whatever. I gave up counting the little facts about him a long time ago anyway. It's too hard keeping track of those...'

"I just feel bad, you know? I should have done mo-"

"Hey, none of that." She shushed. "None of you liked what happened. You've done your best. Ask your teammates and they'll say the same thing." She said as she recalled her conversation with Komi in the clinic, which roughly is the same self blaming for something none of them had control over. She stood up and stretched her legs while he pondered over her words.

"Ready to go out?"

"I'll change first. Could you tell them?" He mumbled.

"Yeah. sure." She gave him one final pat at the back before getting outside.

"He said give him a few moments to change." She announced to Akaashi and Coach Yamiji once she got out. They nodded in agreement and thanked her. If they noticed the visible wet patch in her jeans, they didn't comment on it.

She scanned the crowd of volleyball players, who now calmed down. She paused for a bit when she noticed in the corner of her eye that Suzumeda looked... well... she was staring fiercely at her, almost glaring actually. She decided that she wasn't worth her time and just ignored her like she usually does. It's not like it's the first time it happened.

'If I didn't respect Yukie-chan enough, I would have asked her to stop that shit earlier and just tell what's her problem with me. It's getting annoying at this point and my patience is running out. It's a miracle I had kept my self control when I've been enduring this for fucking months, ever since I showed my face to the volleyball club. She's being a coward for only doing that when she feels like I don't know what she's doing. At least Ueno had the balls to say to my face what his problem was with me.'

Koutarou finally got out of the locker room in the midst of Chuuyou's internal monologue. Kuroo, Kenma, and Chuuyou were about to part ways with the volleyball team and head to a bus when Koutarou said they could just go with them. He even begged coach Yamiji to let them, since their hotel is a walking distance to the subway station.

"Fine. There's empty seats available in the bus anyways." He agreed after giving it some thoughts. He muttered some obscenities no one bothered listening to as they were busy pestering Chuuyou who suddenly had a free ride with them.

Chuuyou let Koutarou drag her to one of the seats in the end. On their parallel was Akaashi and Washio, and Kenma and Kuroo sat on those behind him.

Koutarou started chattering, though it lacked the usual enthusiasm he had when he's talking. Chuuyou sensed that he was putting a front for his teammates so she placed a hand on his arm to reassure him. He jolted for a bit but calmed down. He started talking again, but it didn't sound as fake as earlier. He yawned once but still continued talking until he did it again and again and unconsciously leaned to Chuuyou (who was just watching the scenery from the window) and fell asleep for the whole duration of the ride.

When they finally stopped at Fukurodani, Koutarou was still asleep on her while Chuuyou was staring at him and debating whether to wake him up or not.

"Pfft. Look at them being lovey dovey and all." Konoha said. He grabbed his phone for a quick picture, with Kuroo doing the same thing. Chuuyou didn't notice the action because she was a little busy looking (admiring) at Bokuto. Akaashi lightly glared at them but he didn't say or do anything to stop them. Kenma was already waiting for them outside the bus with the rest of the members of Fukurodani.

When she finally noticed that Akaashi, Kuroo, and Konoha were the only ones left in the bus and they were looking at her, she blushed bright before coughing and gently shook Koutarou to wake him up. When he woke up, the first thing he noticed was their compromising position.

"I- um... sorry." He said and removed himself from her.

"It's fine. I'll wait for you out of the bus" Chuuyou stood up and walked out of the bus, passing Akaashi (who was smiling a little), Konoha, and Kuroo, who were both giggling. After that, Kuroo, Kenma, and Chuuyou said their goodbyes and thanks to coach Yamiji and the others for the free ride before leaving for the subway as the others watched them disappear from their sights.

"Sooooo." Konoha drawled while looking at Koutarou.

"WHAT?" He asked back defensively. Konoha laughed at that.

"Nothing nothing. Go get your stuff pfft- so we can all go to bed and rest. Not that you need that since you already fell asleep on he-" Koutarou threw his bag at him to shut him up. Konoha caught the said bag and ran away from him while laughing mischievously.