Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to these characters. Any use of the anime or manga in this story is not mine either. They belong to their original creators.
Kagome was torn. She wasn't sure if she should groan in dismay, or laugh hysterically as the two teams stared each other down. Looking up at Karasuno's manager, they shared a small smile. "Boys will be boys. Ne, Kiyoko-san?"
"Ah. Let's leave them to it, and start getting things set up."
"Hai, lead the way."
The two girls began to make their way into the gym they were briefly distracted by a loud cry. Glancing over to the source, they saw Yamamoto clutching his chest as he stared in their direction before running off.
"Ano, Kagome-san. Is he all right?"
Kagome narrowed her eyes as she watched the rookies cheer something about yakisoba buns—probably some win against the ace. "I have no clue. I'll find out later, I'm sure."
As the girls disappeared inside the building, Kuroo frowned slightly as several pairs of eyes belonging to the crows followed Kagome as she passed. "That won't do."
Kai glanced at his captain in confusion, "What won't?"
"Just need to show the crows that Kago-chan is off limits."
Shaking his head with his ever-present smile, Kai laughed. "You know she's going to kill you one of these days. And I'm not sure I'm ready to be the head captain of this group of miscreants."
"Oi! She didn't after I gave her that necklace."
"True, but I wouldn't put it past her to be plotting some form of vengeance."
Kuroo laughed as he waved off his friend's warning, "That's the fun part!"
Kai sighed softly as they entered the gym, "Kenma is right, you two have the oddest way of flirting."
Cackling, the rooster head walked over to officially greet the captain of Karasuno.
Kagome and Kiyoko had just finished setting up the chairs for the coaches and themselves when all the boys trickled into the gym. As the two stood to go and fill the teams water bottles, Kagome couldn't help but smile at the short crow that was looking at everything in awe.
"Ne, he seems like he has a lot of energy."
Kiyoko looked over at the player that the miko was watching and nodded. "Hinata-kun is fairly new to volleyball. His middle school didn't really have a boys' team, so he's not used to large gyms like this."
"It's nice to see someone get that excited over volleyball." Kagome blinked rapidly when she saw the two captains frozen in a hand shake with smiles plastered on their faces. "Typical."
Kiyoko hummed in question as her eyes were drawn to the scene that Kagome was observing. Joining her in her deadpanned stare the two shook their heads at the teens and left to finish their tasks.
As they went through the motions of making sure that all the water bottles were clean and filled, Kiyoko noticed that Kagome brought another item with her. "Kagome-san, you didn't want to leave your notebook by the chairs?"
Chuckling lightly, Kagome shook her head. "The last time I left my notebook unattended, the boys swiped it to read all the notes I had on them and their progress." Seeing the slightly confused look on her fellow managers face, she smiled. "I keep detailed notes on their skill levels and weak areas so we can best determine how to improve their training. After that little incident, I've started writing my notes in code and keeping my notebook close."
Kiyoko was a little surprised to hear that Kagome had to go to such great lengths to protect her notes. Granted she herself took notes about her team's progress and their matches—but the boys never strived to look at the notes she had written. As she glanced at the shorter girl, she couldn't help but think that there was more going on than just the team's stats.
Finishing up their task, the two managers made their way back to the gym in time for the boys to finish their stretches. "Ne, Kiyoko-san? What made you join the Volleyball team?"
"The captain, Sawamura Daichi, recruited me to become the manager. What about you?"
Kagome smiled with a soft giggle. "Similar situation. Our captain, Kuroo Tetsurou, asked me to become the manager while we were on our first date."
"Eh? You're dating the captain of your team?"
"Yeah, we met as kids, but then he moved away and so did I. Kenma, our setter, is actually the reason why we found each other again. It was because of Kenma that I was somewhat aware that there were problems in the club. But it was only because of Tetsu-kun that I learned the extent of the issues. While he was certain that I would be a great manager, he was also looking to disrupt the power that the third years had over the team." Kagome paused to glance up at Kiyoko with a sad smile. "The third years were not team players, and it sounds like it had been that way for some time."
Kiyoko was shocked. Granted the team hadn't been very strong in the past after Ukai-sensei had retired, but the members that were in the club still tried to work together. "I'm glad things are better for all of you now."
"Me too. But now on to happier topics! I can't wait to see how the boys play against each other. This will be a great opportunity to see where else they need to grow."
"You still think that they need a lot of improvement?"
"There's always room for improvement. With every new team that they play against, you can learn a strength or a weakness. To stop trying to improve is to become complacent or stuck because your unable to grow. And if the boys want to fulfil their goal of reaching nationals, then they can't afford to become stagnant."
Looking at her team of crows, Kiyoko couldn't help but ponder the other manager's words. Maybe there was something she could do to help motivate her team. There was the old banner that she found, that could work since giving speeches wasn't her strong suit.
The gym was finally ready for the fated rematch to begin, and Kenma once again, was embarrassed by the team's huddle when Kuroo led their pre-match chant.
"We are blood. Never stop flowing. Keep moving. Keep bringing oxygen, so that our brain can keep thinking. Let's go!"
"Hai!"
Kenma sighed as he again asked his long-time friend to stop with referring to him as the brain—just to be ignored. Granted it was embarrassing, and he would like for it to stop, but it really didn't bother him as much as he claimed—not that he would ever admit that to Kuroo. If it helped the team get into the right mindset for the game, then he could endure a little discomfort.
As they all stood on the court in their rotations, Kenma noticed Kagome disappearing from Coach Nekomata's side with her notebook in hand. Shaking his head, he knew he couldn't focus on whatever she had up her sleeves at the moment. Instead, he turned his attention to his opponents.
"Shoyo, I know that I said that I think we have a pretty good team, but that's not because I'm good. It's because we all are." Kenma got into position to deliver the first serve of the match. Ready to show Hinata and Karasuno the work that all the members and Kagome put into the team's development. They would not lose this set, nor any of them.
With a deep breath to center himself, Kenma hit the ball over the net
Kagome quickly reached the upper level of the gym, wanting to get a high ground view of how the boys played. Watching them from the ground level was effective, but having another perspective might shine light on any issues that she would miss otherwise. As she got ready to write down everything she observed, she was slightly distracted by the first year that she saw earlier.
"He's a middle blocker? This should be interesting—"
"We made it! It's been a long time since the last Dumpster Showdown." Glancing over, the two adults suddenly realized that they were not alone on the balcony. "Er, hello."
Giving them a smile, Kagome bowed slightly in greeting. "Hello."
The blonde of the duo took in the fact that she was from Nekoma, "Ano, shouldn't you be down on the court?"
"Normally yes, but I wanted to get another view of how the boys play so that we can make adjustments to their training."
Any further comments were halted as the whistle for the start of the match blew. Kenma hit an easy over hand serve that was received by Karasuno's number 3 player. 'Hmm. He's the ace on their team, I believe.' Kagome blinked in surprise when she heard the teen apologize that the receive was a bit short and the libero chastised him, saying that it was his fault for skipping practice for a month.
Regardless of how much they had and hadn't practiced together or how short the receive was, the setter adjusted his position under the ball easily. Their number 10 player, Hinata Shoyo quickly ran to one side of the court and leapt high in the air as the setter made a near impossible fast toss to meet Hinata's downward swing. The ball was then launched into Nekoma's court with a near blinding speed and Karasuno gained the first point in the match. Kagome's eye's widened in curiosity at the new duo—while that fast attack would be difficult to follow or stop, it would not be impossible. It would be quite an interesting challenge for the cats sink their claws into.
She began to wonder what else Karasuno was capable of. Looking down at her team, she could see that they were stunned by the move that they just witnessed. However, she was well aware that that shock would not last long—Coach Nekomata did not train them to overcome such reactions for nothing. The cats would need to stay on their toes in order to learn all the secrets that the crows were hiding in their wings. But she could tell that this match, especially Hinata, had gained Kenma's interest—not exactly a good thing for the crows.
The more Kenma became interested in the game or a player, the more he gleaned from their plays and developed a strategy. She didn't need to see his face to see that the gears in Kenma's brain were turning. As the match progressed, the left side players of Karasuno proved to be very strong spikers. The captain's receiving abilities were nearly as good as Nekoma's, and their libero was highly skilled—he could definitely go head-to-head with Yaku. Hinata was showing to be highly athletic and an excellent decoy. Their setter was what most would consider as a monster.
Overall, Karasuno was an interesting team. However, Kagome could tell that they were a team in their infancy. The fact that they could play this well in their early stages together was impressive, and she hoped that she would see what they would grow into if the teams ever met again.
As she watched the teams fight their way through the first set and observed how each member began to seemingly feed off of their counterpart—Kagome was enthralled and loving that more of her boys' skills were coming to the forefront. It made planning their future training sessions much easier now that she could see what more that they could accomplish.
With the last play of the first set, the plan that she knew Kenma had put in place finally succeeded. Inuoka adapted enough to Hinata's moves, and shut out the shorter middle blocker's fast attack for the final point for Nekoma. Kagome glanced down at the pages of notes that she collected on both teams, she waved goodbye to the two men who were watching the match and returned to Coach Nekomata's side.
Watching this part of the game was one thing Kagome never really liked—when a player got completely shut down and out. Hinata was trying to get passed Inuoka, but unfortunately for him, Inuoka had become familiar with Hinata's movements. Granted she was thrilled that the first year was doing so well and succeeding, but she always felt a little bad for the player who was slowly being beaten down by the wall that they kept hitting.
She kept hoping that Karasuno would decide that it was time to reveal a new move once their ridiculous fast pass was thwarted. Nonetheless, it became apparent as the second set continued that there wasn't some hidden move that had yet to use. That will be a huge problem for them moving forward. Kagome observed the energetic player and was glad to see that the obstacle that Inuoka was creating wasn't destroying his will to play. When a smile began to creep across his face and everyone flinched in shock, Kagome couldn't help but grin with the smaller crow. He had a fighter's spirit; this wall wouldn't destroy him.
"He smiled."
Looking over at her uncle and Shibayama for a moment, Kagome returned to watching the game. "Yes, he seems excited at the challenge that Inuoka-kun is giving him. This maybe the push that not only Hinata-kun needs, but the rest of Karasuno to expand their arsenal."
"Expand it, Kagome-san?"
"Hmm, you noticed too Kagome-chan."
"Yes, Karasuno doesn't seem fully comfortable with each other, so they must be more on the 'newly formed team side.' They have a lot of potential, but they haven't spent a lot of time developing attacks. That fast attack seems to be their best weapon. And while it is both effective and impressive, it will do them little good against a strong team that doesn't panic easily in the long run."
Nekomata nodded with her assessment. Karasuno was new and learning about their abilities. While they had many strengths, they would need to figure out how to pull everything together into a cohesive unit—once they did that, they would be a force to be reckoned with. Honestly, it made his heart glad to see that even though his old friend was no longer at the helm, Karasuno was still a worthy opponent with his grandson holding the reins.
As the trio watched the match progress and saw that Hinata and his setter were working on developing a new attack. "If they pull this off, they will no longer be an Oni and his Iron Club. But an Oni and an Oni."
Kagome hummed in agreement. "As it should be." She watched as Hinata finally connected with the ball and managed to change its trajectory to miss Inuoka's block. "Looks like you'll get to brag to Ukai-sensei after all."
Coach Nekomata grinned in smug satisfaction. He couldn't wait.
Author's Note: Thank you all again for taking the time to read my crazy little creation! Until next time!
