I like the word 'indolence'. It makes my laziness seem classy.
— Bernard Williams
Yachi yawned as she stripped from her school uniform in the girl's change rooms, mindful to stay a distance away from the other girls so she wouldn't bother them too much. She had stayed up late last night completing some last minute homework, having accidentally forgotten it.
"Hey, Yaachan," a girl said to her, pulling her sports shirt over her head. "Any idea what sport we're doing today?" She chuckled good-naturedly. "You are sensei's favorite student, which means you should know, right?"
"Oh, no, Rami-chan," Yachi said, laughing a little nervously. D-does she really think that I would know...?! "But whatever it is, I sure hope that it's not soccer or basketball..."
Another girl joined them, chewing a stick of Pocky biscuit, chocolate smearing the insides of her lips. "I heard that the gym teacher is gonna make us play against another class. Class 2-2, I believe it was."
"Wow, Kona-chan, you know everything," Rami praised, and Yachi couldn't help but feel a little inadequate, even when she knew that her feelings were misplaced. Ueno Konami really did have a knack for knowing everything relevant, and Yachi suspected that she either had teleportation skills or was an incredibly good stalker. She gave the class heads up on any surprise exams the teachers planned on giving them on their subjects. With her amaranth eyes always drooped to half-mast, and that lazy cat-like grin, nobody dangerous (like the teachers) ever suspected her, especially since she slept through classes half the time.
Konami had been in Yachi's class last year as well, and the blonde had a feeling that Konami was just one of those geniuses that popped up every generation. Too bad she was so unmotivated when it came to school. Yachi had good word that all Konami did at home was bum around, reading comics with her long black hair piled up in a bun.
"Aw," Konami waved off Rami's admiration with one of her lazy smiles, "It's no big deal. Personally, I'd worry more about the test we're going to have next next Friday. It's supposed to be worth ten percent of our grade."
"W-WHAT?!" Rami groaned, looking like she wanted nothing more than to disappeared into the ground. "Are you serious? Why haven't I heard of this stupid test?"
"We only get notified of important tests one week before the day of the exam," Yachi reminded her. Ikeda Rami really could be a scatterbrain sometimes, but she was talented when it came to mathematics and music, an odd combination that earned her a place in one of the top classes of the second year.
"Ohh, yeah. I forgot."
Konami's lips curved upward in amusement, and Yachi was reminded of a cat about to toy with its prey. "Heh, of course you did... Remember when you accidentally threw your wallet into the bin by accident but you didn't notice until you got back into class? And then you couldn't remember which bin it was and ended up searching through every single trashcan in the school..." She let out a small laugh at the memory, and Yachi joined her.
"Y-you guys!" Rami glared at them. "Yeesh. I wish I could say I was smarter than you both combined, but we all know that Kona-chan's only in our class because she was too lazy to actually try in all her exams. Otherwise you'd be in class 2-6, Kona-chan."
Konami finished the rest of her Pocky, looking just a tad sheepish. "Hehe, I guess you're right... oh well, all's well that end's well, am I right? This is high school, you know. We should make it the best experience of our lives before entering," she shivered dramatically, practically hissing out the next word, "adulthood."
"Oh, horror!" Rami humored the black-haired girl before tying up her brownish-pink hair into twin-tails. "Let's hurry girls, or sensei will yell at us for slacking off."
They exited the change rooms ahead of a few latecomers, falling into line with their classmates, boys and girls separate. Opposite them, another class faced them, their genders currently being divided by the gym teacher.
Yachi spotted Hinata and Kageyama not too far away in the other class, and grinned at them, waving. Hinata smiled back and returned her wave eagerly, Kageyama giving her some gruff—but not too gruff, because heaven forbid any boy who was gruff with Yachi (the girl had an entire team of athletes backing her up!).
"Alright, classes!" the female gym teacher shouted over the talking, effectively silencing the students with her loud, commanding voice. She had short dirty blonde hair and blue eyes. Yachi knew that many students speculated that she was from America or some other Caucasian country. No matter—she spoke Japanese just as well as any of them. "Today we're going to be playing volleyball! Class against class; boys against boys and girls against girls! All of you, form teams of six! Then go and set up the equipment!"
"Yes, sensei!" they all chorused back before proceeding to do as she said. With their combined efforts, two nets were set up on opposite sides of the gym—one for the boys and one for the girls. They would have to alternate after every game, with the winners facing a fresh team and so on.
The teacher chose to hang around the girls first, and Yachi found herself and her teammates on the sidelines, watching a team from her class and a team from the other class face off.
"Who do you think's going to win?" Rami wondered, looking at Yachi, then at Konami.
"I have faith in our class!" Yachi declared, feeling a rush of team spirit fill her body as she reminisced the times of the Karasuno boy's volleyball club playing in the national games. "Gambate!"
"Gambate!" a few other girls repeated, following Yachi's example. "Try your best, everyone!"
"Ehh..." Konami scratched her cheek, indifferent to the cheering. "To tell you the truth, I think we're gonna lose."
"Shame on you, Kona-chan!" one girl admonished. "Where's your sense of loyalty?"
Konami shrugged. "Hey, I'm just saying. It's not like I don't want our team to win. But I have this itching feeling..."
Not even ten minutes later, the team playing for class 2-5 lost. Yachi stiffened, her mouth open wide in shock and embarrassment, and she wasn't the only one. It had been over so quickly. It was like watching a lion chase down an injured gazelle.
Konami placed her hands behind her head and yawned. "Toldja."
"Maaaan," Rami sighed. "Hopefully the next team does better."
But they didn't. In fact, the team playing for class 2-2 smashed their opponents again. By this time, the gym teacher was considering switching the winners out so that the other teams from class 2-2 would actually get a turn.
"Yeesh, how are they so good?" one girl complained from the back. "They don't look like anything special..."
"Actually..." Yachi blinked as she took in the girl's words. "That's because they're not." Her trained eyes could pick up on the fact that none of the girls on team class 2-5 were any good individually, or even as a team. There was just this one girl scoring most of the points for them. "That girl over there... the tallest one with the brown hair and glasses. She's the one that's scoring the most points!"
"Well, somebody sure is observant," Konami said offhandedly, her red eyes flashing in what seemed to be amusement. Yachi suppressed a shiver; the girl's motives were always hard to read. Or maybe she was just bad at analyzing people. "I'd expect nothing less from the manager of the esteemed boy's volleyball team, hehe..."
As expected, class 2-2 beat class 2-5 again. This time, it was Yachi's team's turn. Yachi gulped, noticing out of the corner of her eye that Hinata and Kageyama were watching the girl's game halfheartedly.
Okay! she coached herself, trying to muster up some confidence, No need to worry! The boys have taught me how to do an underhand serve and receive almost decently... I can do this! I can! It's time for Townsperson B to shine once more! There was a nervous smile on her face as she stood where centre-back would be.
Rami and Konami, who were also in Yachi's team, took random positions, Rami settling at left wing, and Konami standing in the setter position. Yachi had an inkling that the black-haired girl had intended to clinch that spot, even if her torpid gaze revealed nothing. After a single rotation, Konami would be serving. Of course, that was counting on the chance that they would even get to rotate. Rotation meant winning a point, after all. And from the way class 2-5 were performing today, Yachi had her doubts.
Stop it! Yachi breathed out a small sigh. I'm sure we can get at least one point, right? I mean, the first team got three points... She sweatdropped. This reassuring herself thing really wasn't working out too well.
The gym teacher blew her whistle and the other team served, sending the ball over the net. It was received, albeit clumsily, and Rami wasn't able to push it over the net.
"Don't mind, don't mind!" Yachi reassured her team when the whistle blew again, the gym teacher awarding the opposition with a point. "We'll win back that point!"
Hinata patted Yachi's shoulder awkwardly as he stood over her, the girl sitting on a bench and watching the current teams playing. "Yachi-san, don't feel so bad about things. You did your best, and that counts too."
Yachi moaned and pressed her face into her hands. "B-but, I made an inspiring speech and everything... I mean, it was hardly a speech but I got everyone fired up for a letdown!"
"Don't be like that," Hinata said, sounding cheerful. "Smile, Yachi-san; don't be gloomy! Otherwise you'll scare people away like Kageyama," he added with a snicker.
"Oi." Suddenly, Kageyama was behind him and looking murderous. "What did you just say?" He had been coming over to fetch Hinata when he'd heard the orange-haired boy's last words.
"Gyaah! Nothing, Kageyama!" Hinata grinned, sweatdropping. "Are we going to go play now? Is it our turn yet?"
"Don't try to change the subject, Hinata dumbass!"
"Don't kill me today!" Hinata yelled, bowing frantically. "Not when I'm finally starting to wake up!"
"Hrr..." Kageyama roughly grabbed him by the arm, dragging him to where another game was about to start. "Whatever, shrimp. Sorry, Yachi-san," he added as an afterthought, giving her a softer glance.
"It was no trouble," Yachi said, laughing nervously. "Really." Hm, where did Rami-chan and Kona-chan go? They said they were going to get some wet towels, but they're taking an awfully long time... She got up and walked out of the gym in search for her two friends. Not long after, she found them at a block of sinks. Their backs were facing her, and they seemed to be talking to someone.
"Rami-chan, Kona-chan!" she called, jogging up to them. "What are you—huh?" Yachi blinked in surprised at the other girl. She had long, ungroomed brown locks and round glasses that sat skewed on her nose. But what Yachi was noticing most was the sheer height difference between them. Sh-she must be at least five foot seven...! T-tall for a girl!
"Yaachan," Rami said in lieu of greeting. "Sorry for taking so long, we were just talking..."
"Are we done here?" the mysterious girl suddenly cut in, frowning. "This whole conversation was so pointless..."
"Oi," Konami said, raising an eyebrow. "I don't care if you think it's pointless... what makes you think that it's alright to bully others like that?"
"Eh?" Yachi grew worried. "What's going on, you guys? What do you mean, bully others...?"
"What Kona-chan means," Rami jabbed a thumb at the tall girl, "Is that she should stop being such a jackass to that poor girl!" According to Rami, the girl had been picking on a smaller-sized student from her team during the game, and when Rami and Konami had gone outside to wet their towels, that had caught the girl pushing the other student to the ground.
"Where is she now?" Yachi wondered.
"We don't know," answered Rami, turning to glare at the bully, "She ran off somewhere."
"You three..." The tall girl looked away from Rami, indifferent except for a spark of annoyance in her eyes, "have no idea what you're talking about..."
"We saw everything!" Rami shouted, pointing an accusing finger at her. "You're nothing but a common bully—where the hell do you think you're going?!"
"Away. I don't have time for kids like you."
As she walked away, Konami raised her brows, contemplative. "Kids, huh...?" What could she mean? We're in the same grade, after all. Perhaps... there really is more to things than it seems. She made a mental note to investigate further.
"You're skipping out on practice?" a bewildered Ennoshita repeated, blinking at Hinata in shock. "How come?"
"Something just came up," Hinata said apologetically, bowing his head. "Family... issues. Sorry, Chikara!"
"Well, that's okay, I guess. But don't make this an often thing. I hope your family issue gets resolved soon, Hinata."
"So do I," Hinata replied with a sigh before bidding Ennoshita goodbye and walking to the school gates. School ended not long ago, and Hinata had been lucky to catch Ennoshita alone. He really didn't need the rest of the team plus Sumire and Kageyama berating him for his supposed laziness or whatever.
"Hey, there, champ," Maru greeted when she saw Hinata walk out of the gate. She'd been waiting for him in their usual spot. "We're going shopping for snacks tonight. Also, more groceries."
"Yeah, okay," Hinata mumbled, fighting off a yawn. "What about now...?"
"Well," Maru grinned, "You're going to clean my house for me until it's spotless or I get hungry. Whichever comes first."
Hinata did a double take, remembering how dirty and unclean her house was the day he went over for the first time. "You... can't be serious!"
"Oh, you'll find out just how serious I am..."
As the unlikely duo walked off, a smaller figure rounded the corner, her gaze bored. Konami yawned before following after Maru and Hinata.
"Now, what could they be up to?" she wondered.
A/N: No, I did not name the teacher after BTS' Jin :P Jin-sensei is actually Jinsei-sensei, which sounds a bit odd so he shortens his name to Jin-sensei.