falling into step

by mew-tsubaki

Watari, responsible and content and comfortable in all his current roles, doesn't find his third and final year of high school lacking. But a rekindled friendship shows him that it's still possible to miss the good things around you even when you're not looking for them. *A love story where the friendship is just as important as the romance; eventual Matsuwata.

5. When to Give In

falling into step

A Haikyuu! fanfic

by mew-tsubaki

- ^-^3

Chapter 5: When to Give In

Watari fanned himself with the collar of his t-shirt as he and Matsukawa sat in the back of the truck that Tuesday evening. "I kind of wish I'd holed up in the clubroom…," the libero moaned.

Matsukawa nodded his understanding; even he'd undone the top part of his laborer's outfit, tying the sleeves around his waist in a knot so he could breathe with just his black tee on. "The AC in there really does wonders…" His eyes sidled over to Watari, who sat to his right. "But, if that's the case, then you should get home, Watari." He emphasized his words with a playful push on the other boy's head.

The shaven-haired boy laughed at the action. "I'm just catching my breath first, Matsukawa-san." He stopped laughing when he realized Matsukawa's hand was still on his head. "Um, Matsukawa-san…?"

"…maybe I should shave mine off, too… It'd probably be cooler that way…"

Watari sighed exasperatedly, gently batting his senior's hand away. "You'd feel cooler but wouldn't look cooler, trust me."

"I'm half there already." He gestured at the back of his own head.

Watari eyed the undercut—a familiar sight, which he'd spent two years watching from behind on the court. But somehow he didn't think he could sign off on the idea of a Matsukawa without the generous handful of black curls on top. "Trust me, no."

Matsukawa rolled his eyes then, making Watari laugh again. "You're getting lazy, though."

"How?"

"Stopping in the middle of a healthy walk home."

Watari brought a leg up and leaned on his knee. "It's best not to push oneself in this heat." He glanced inside the truck, too, as if to add "And if we're talking lazy here, then let's talk about the rest of tonight's shift."

Matsukawa caught on and grinned, the mirth in his eyes communicating, "Point taken." "I hope the heat lets up for the rest of the week," he remarked, his lips a straight line.

"Yeah, same. Playing in Sendai's going to be hell like this…" The thought had occurred already to Watari and Yahaba, about how awful the trip there would be even if the gymnasium were air-conditioned. Watari had spoken, too, with Mizoguchi-san about having extra water bottles and towels on hand, as well as snacks. But now he sighed at the thought.

"What?"

"Ah, just…" Watari shook his head. "If ever we needed a team manager, the time is now."

"Maybe by autumn?"

Watari frowned at that. "Maybe…" And, though he hadn't thought about it for several weeks, he suddenly remembered Morioka's contact information, hidden in his desk at home. He groaned.

Matsukawa cocked his head in Watari's direction.

"Nothing… It's just… I wish choosing a manager were a simpler process."

Matsukawa stared at him. After a moment, he ventured, "It's not simpler than letting people know you need one and having them apply?"

Watari shook his head again. It was troublesome even thinking about it, but he told Matsukawa what had happened with Morioka. "I'm not hung up on it to the point where that's delayed making a decision. Yahaba and I just keep putting other things first."

"This kind of thing is Oikawa's department," the black-haired boy stated.

"Yeah… Oikawa-san always had a crowd of girls following him around…" Actually, Watari wondered, maybe emailing Oikawa wasn't a bad idea…

"But I wouldn't hit him up for advice unless you want this somehow to get around to the other guys."

"Kind of moot, considering Morioka showed up at practice. Hoshimura and Ueno were all for it."

"But, other than that, handling them's been good so far, yeah?"

Watari smiled a little, nonverbally thanking Matsukawa for the obvious topic change. "I'll admit we're all closer now that we're in our last year and that those two are regulars, but those guys joined at the same time as Yahaba and Kyoutani and me. I do consider them friends." Although he wondered if he'd meant that before saying it now.

"But Hoshimura's the social type," Matsukawa said as he got down on the ground and stretched.

Mentally, Watari made a note that the sun was well past setting—it was nearly gone. "Yeah. To be honest, Hoshimura's the type of guy who'd sell you out for a piece of candy, but he's not evil. I think he thinks of others, but more so when the situation benefits him, too. Ueno tends to go along with things and is loud, but he's actually less pushy than Yahaba, which is a welcome relief."

Matsukawa smiled at Watari's bluntness. "I didn't have the chance to know them well, but you paint an interesting picture, Watari."

The libero lowered his leg and held up his hands dismissively. "Oh, no! I didn't mean— I— That all came out wrong, didn't it?" he asked as Matsukawa rounded the truck on the left and went to the driver's side. A few quiet seconds passed, and Watari craned his neck to see around—and he yelped when something cold touched his thigh from behind him. He turned and found a playful Matsukawa holding out an ice-cold water bottle to him. "You walked around to scare me with this?"

"No." Matsukawa opened the one he'd also brought for himself likely from up in the driver's cab, took a swig, and recapped it. "But I figured you'd enjoy something cold on the drive home."

"I thought you said I was getting lazy."

"Then walk home on Thursday and finish giving me the current team summary tonight."

Watari chuckled to himself. Matsukawa really did as he pleased.

The graduate locked things up after Watari vacated the back, and he put the automatic windows up and cranked up the AC once they were buckled and off. "So there's the five of you. I take it Kindaichi and Kunimi are still regulars," Matsukawa added.

"Yeah. Kawasumi, in their year, is getting more play time these days, too." Watari shook his head, recalling practice from the day before. "Kawasumi's…a special kind. He views Kyoutani as his rival, and he often tries to compete in spiking with him. I'm not sure Kyoutani even fully realizes what's going on, but Kawasumi wants to be the team's next ace."

"What about Kindaichi?"

"He doesn't mind. He's one of the more reliable ones these days, along with Okino. In a way, it's as if Okino is Kawasumi's handler and Kindaichi is Kunimi's. Speaking of which, Kunimi's irritation after that newcomers training camp last winter has only ever gone up. He's putting legitimate effort into practice this year."

"Yeah…" Matsukawa messily ran a hand through his hair as he took the right that led towards Watari's neighborhood. "He was seriously pissed that Kindaichi was practically chummy with Karasuno's #10 after that." He darted his dark eyes to his companion. "But what about Okino? Is he playing much?"

Watari shrugged. "His training's going really well, but I'm holding on tightly to my spot."

"…not that I dislike Okino, but I was always relieved, knowing you had my back," Matsukawa said. Maybe it was the contrast of the noise of the truck's engine, but his tone was soft. That, coupled with the sincerity of his words, made Watari happy.

"I'm glad you guys knew you could rely on me."

Matsukawa nodded.

Considering they had only a few more minutes before they arrived, Watari gave Matsukawa a quick run-down of the new first-year additions to the team: Chiba, a new setter who seemed to space out most of the time but had frightening focus on the court; Sanada, a well-behaved kid who was a middle blocker and was new to the sport but was picking things up better than expected; Nakata, an energetic but friendly wing spiker who was the only other person who could keep up with the monstrous likes of Kyoutani aside from Kawasumi; Terakado, a newbie like Sanada and a wing spiker with an attitude like Kunimi's that also pissed of Mizoguchi-san; and Ishii, a quiet but good kid like Sanada who could play either the middle blocker or the wing spiker position. "Yahaba and Irihata-sensei were talking, and—though Ishii's not very tall yet—they'd prefer he block, as his talents seem to lie there better."

"Yeah, Sensei's always made decent calls," Matsukawa remarked. "Did you know?" he continued as they pulled up on Watari's house. "Hanamaki was a libero in middle school. Then he had a growth spurt at the start of high school, and Irihata-sensei refused to let him be anything but a spiker."

"Really?" Watari laughed along with him. "I knew Hanamaki-san had played libero before, but I didn't know the full story.

"Yep." Matsukawa's laughter trailed off, and he crossed his arms atop the steering wheel after coming to a stop, looking at Watari. "Well, your taxi has delivered you, Watari-sama."

The younger teen laughed again as he got out. "Thank you, Matsukawa-san." His usual parting almost came on that sentence's heels, but now that he knew the other boy's schedule… "See you Thursday," Watari said, and he kind of liked how it sounded like a promise.

Matsukawa's eyes widened, kind of as they had that first time Watari had promised to see him around. But he looked away and gave him a two-fingered salute. Again, the truck pulled away as Watari went inside.

Upstairs, in his room, Watari put his things away and thought about the day. Though yesterday's practice had been lively and certainly today's had been exhausting, he couldn't recall if he'd been particularly stressed today. It was so easy, he mused, to forget whatever bothered him or whatever cares he had when he had the opportunity to chat casually with Matsukawa. Chatting with Matsukawa was…lighthearted. And it made Watari lighthearted. And it was a complete difference from the stresses of the start of the year. Yes, those stressors hadn't disappeared, but they didn't seem as dramatic as they had before. And Watari knew he had Matsukawa to thank for that.

- ^-^3

Yahaba eyed him warily Thursday night as Watari hastened to cram his things into his duffle bag after practice. "Um, someone piss in your shoes, Watari…?"

The brief crassness snapped Watari out of his daze. "Sorry. What?" he queried, looking to his friend on his way out of the clubroom.

"You're blitzing through as if you can't get away from us fast enough," Kyoutani translated. He, too, closed his locker and was on his way out the door.

Yahaba's hackles went up. "Kyoutani, dammit…!" But, as the ace was gone the next second, Yahaba returned his attention to the libero. "Unfortunately, he's right. Is everything okay? You seem ticked."

Did he? Oops. Watari remembered last week when he'd frowned without realizing it. "It's fine. I've just gotta go." He nodded to his friend and then hurried outside and down the stairs, though he didn't sprint. Today was supposed to have been a resting day, but things had gotten out of hand with another one of Kawasumi and Kyoutani's spiking matches, and now Watari was leaving far later than he'd intended or had done recently.

Once he'd made it off the school grounds, Watari slowed from a hard jog to a fast walk. He reached the first crossing sooner than he thought, but he also reached it just as it turned red. Luck really wasn't on his side today.

He pushed his way through the crowd, blurting apologies and excuses as needed, and finally the hardware store was in view.

But, though the truck was there out front, the back was closed and Matsukawa was nowhere in sight.

Watari bit his bottom lip. He hadn't missed Matsukawa, not yet. Unless it was a different driver today… Just then, the engine started up and the truck signaled to get back on the road. Watari's pulse quickened, and he took a chance and yelled. "Matsukawa-san!"

The truck halted, and the driver's arm came out to rest on the ledge of the open window. Watari caught up with the right side, and he loosed an audible sigh of relief at seeing Matsukawa's face—if he weren't so late, he'd laugh at the sight of the umaibo hanging out of Matsukawa's mouth. But the older boy spoke around the salty treat. "Watari…"

"I know. I'm sorry!" Watari bowed his head in apology. "Everything got messed up and delayed today and—" He stopped and stood up straight, figuring how pointless this was. If Matsukawa had been pulling away, it meant that he really had somewhere else to be. But… Watari took out his phone and checked the time. Hell. Was he really here twenty minutes later than normal? He looked back up at Matsukawa. "Matsukawa-san, I'm so sorry for—"

Matsukawa cut him off not with words but with a gesture as he reached for Watari's phone and fiddled with it. He was done just as quickly as he'd taken the device, and he placed it back in Watari's hand, which hadn't moved in the libero's shock. He took the umaibo out of his mouth and gave the third year a small, sad smile. "I have to get going, Watari. So not tonight, sorry."

Damn. Watari should be the one apologizing, not the other way around.

"But I'll see you soon. Just give me a head's up the next time you're running late," he said by way of parting with a quick point to Watari's phone. Then the umaibo was back in his mouth so both hands could be back on the wheel, and he and the truck were gone.

The shaven-haired stood there for a full seven seconds before his brain caught up with him. He looked to where the truck had been and then down at his phone. He unlocked it again and opened his contacts, since he had a sneaking suspicion…and there it was.

Matsukawa Issei, followed by his phone number. He'd even written a shorthand note in the entry about his hours: nine to three on weekdays at his family's shop, five to nine as needed on Tuesdays and Thursdays for deliveries, noon to six on Saturdays at his family's shop, and free Sundays.

Watari was so stunned, he walked home in a stupor, snapping out of it only when he tripped and nearly stumbled into his family's front gate. And snapping out of it was best, because, despite Matsukawa's kindness, Watari still had messed up, but he needed to be mentally prepared for tomorrow.

Yet knowing that didn't mean he could shake his sense of unease when he tried to sleep that night.

- ^-^3

Watari inhaled, exhaled, and smiled to himself when he looked at his phone the next morning. Then he tucked his happy thoughts over his newfound friendship with Matsukawa away, pocketed the phone, and went downstairs for a quick breakfast before heading to school.

Most everyone was on time, although Kyoutani and Terakado raced to catch the bus just as Mizoguchi-san followed Irihata-sensei's orders to tease them a bit and slowly drive away. They stopped at the school gate to let the two knuckleheads board.

Yahaba came and sat beside Watari up front after taking a second, cursory rollcall as the bus headed for the main road. He plopped down gratefully and could only shake his head as snores escaped Kyoutani and Ueno across the aisle. "Gods. Look at them. They're back to sleep as soon as possible."

Watari fought down a yawn. "You'd think we'd be used to the early mornings by now, but there's always something about the morning of a tournament."

"Tell me about it." The captain paused and stretched his legs, and then he observed Watari. "Something good happen? Or bad?"

"Huh?"

"You're kind of like last night—your face is funny."

He settled the brunet with a dry look. "That's really rude, Yahaba."

"No! I mean. You're not exactly smiling. It's as if you're on the verge of smiling and then remember to frown at the last second." Yahaba leaned forward on his knees and furrowed his brow. "Nerves?"

Watari gave that some thought, though he knew the truth was that he felt a little bit of turmoil over seeing Matsukawa nearly in passing last night. He was certain his unease was over the ease with which Matsukawa had given him his info, as if it were an afterthought. "Not exactly," he said at last.

Yahaba groaned. "Ahh, c'mon, dammit. I'm captain, and my knees are shaking."

Watari watched him more closely: Yahaba looked a tad green. "You'll be fine," he assured him, giving him a quiet smack on the back.

"Thanks."

"Think you'll be able to sleep at all on the way?"

Yahaba shook his head but slowly leaned back in his seat. "My head's just running with a thousand different plays for today."

Watari grinned. "Yeah, same."

The setter ran both his hands through his hair and smoothed his coif before settling down. "Ahh… Sendai, yet again, here we come."

Further from the city, traffic was light, but things became congested the closer they got to Sendai City Gymnasium, even for this early in the morning. Yahaba ended up nodding off in spite of what he'd said, and he used Watari's shoulder as a pillow, but Watari didn't mind. It was his duty as both vice-captain and as Yahaba's friend, he mused to himself. He, on the other hand, stayed wide awake for the whole ride, his eyes glued outside the window to nothing in particular.

They did not have as busy a morning or day, for that matter, ahead of them as other teams did. Karasuno was slated to play Ohmisaki first, and whichever won between Oka and Senseki, which was the only new addition to their block this year, would be the ones to play Seijou before they could reach the crows, should Karasuno beat the winner of the Datekou–Tokonami game after a win over Ohmisaki.

"Space out your stretches while we wait," Irihata-sensei told the team as they found good seats from which to observe the Karasuno–Ohmisaki match. "Kawasumi, Kyoutani, Nakata—burn off some of that extra energy by doing running drills in the hall. Okino, go and keep an eye on them. Yahaba, Watari, pass the plays around so everyone has a reminder of our best bets for the day."

The players did as ordered, though Irihata-sensei, Yahaba, and Kindaichi paid closest attention to the Karasuno match, while Mizoguchi-san had Kunimi and Watari sit with him closer towards the Oka–Senseki match-up so that they'd have a taste of what to expect.

"Their blocker, #18," Kunimi observed of Senseki, "must've studied Datekougyou's tapes closely. He's trying to pull off a one-man Iron Wall."

Mizoguchi-san and Watari followed #18 for the rest of the first set, which Senseki took. "…yeah, I have to agree," the assistant coach groused. He crossed his arms in front of his chest and grimaced.

His grimace only deepened as Senseki took the second set, a winning combination of their single-person Iron Wall and a scarily effective and recurring use of pipes, and Watari shared his sentiments. "This is not going to be an easy match," the libero stated. Although, if it weren't for the grimness of the situation, he'd snicker at the matching looks of annoyance on Mizoguchi-san's and Kunimi's faces.

The Senseki match ended shortly before Karasuno's did, and the cheers were pretty big on the other side. When Mizoguchi-san's trio re-joined the others, they looked down and saw that Karasuno had won. Their team was no bigger than it had been the previous year, but clearly they'd gotten some new players with talent.

"Just when I thought we might catch a break…," Irihata-sensei commented as Seijou packed up to head down and begin warm-ups.

"What's wrong?" Mizoguchi-san asked.

"One of Karasuno's new guys," Yahaba answered for the coach. "He was the right wing spiker the couple of times they subbed him in, but his head—his eyes followed the action like a setter's."

"I thought we'd luck out, with Sugawara graduating, leaving Kageyama to shoulder the burden and tire out in games…" Irihata-sensei half sighed, half laughed. "Oh, well. An old man's wishful thinking." He smirked easily, however. "But they don't know what kind of new team we are this year, either. So."

Yahaba and Watari exchanged a look, and they agreed with their coach, feeling pumped. Kindaichi, who was listening in, nodded, and even Kunimi looked a little less put-out than he used to when it came to playing games.

Down on the court, it felt like home. Everyone changed into their jerseys and pushed their things aside, getting used to the floor and warming up their muscles, although Kyoutani and Kawasumi were among the first to practice blocks and receives since they'd already gotten into the swing of things.

Okino seemed unsure about donning his jersey, and the fair-haired libero kept tracing the nine on his shirt absentmindedly. So Watari passed Okino's elbow pads to him.

"Remember," Watari began, bringing up something he'd told Okino countless times since last year, "it's not about whether you're going to be on the court. It's about whether you know you're ready to be there."

His green–gray eyes flickered from his jersey to Watari's face, and eventually the second year's anxiety lessened visibly. "…thank you, Watari-senpai."

Watari nodded and gave him one more reassuring smile before they joined in the receive warm-ups.

One plus to being seeded was that they wouldn't have many matches slated for one day. The first round would be finished by early afternoon, and the second was scheduled to end well before the end of the workday so that the students had decent time to return home. But that was the last thing on the minds of most, if not all, of the players at that moment.

Fifteen, ten, three minutes—it didn't feel real when the referees blew their whistles and signaled for the teams to line up. But it was time for the Aoba Johsai–Senseki match to begin.

Seijou's starting line-up consisted of Yahaba, Ueno, Hoshimura, Kyoutani, Kunimi, and Watari, with Kindaichi set for switching at the usual intervals with Watari. Senseki began by putting in that formidable middle blocker, #18, and Watari noted that the two players with whom their primary setter had pulled off the most pipes were also in the starting rotation.

Watari frowned and took a breath. Sure, his team was fantastic, but even he prayed to the gods for a spot of luck. It was bad to think of Karasuno with this opponent standing before them, but still…!

Ueno began the set with a powerful serve, giving them a service ace and getting them off on the right motivational foot. He had the best control of his serves out of the lot of them, and he pulled off a decent second serve, though Senseki's libero managed to save it before Seijou easily stole their second point.

The first set was chock full of volleys and points gained only to be matched a moment later. Near the fifteenth point for Seijou, Watari seized the opportunity to set behind the half-line, and Yahaba actually scored the brilliant kill that took them into the lead, sixteen–fourteen, and their fans cheered. After that, they gained another point after a flubbed serve by Senseki, and Senseki's morale started to decline.

Yahaba set an amazing backwards toss at set-point, and Kyoutani blasted through that pesky #18, securing Seijou the first set. One down, one to go.

The cheers in the crowd didn't stop for Seijou as they refreshed and switched sides. At one point, Watari thought he heard Hanamaki's familiar hoots and hollers, so he scanned the crowd but didn't see the alumnus. A tiny part of Watari was hopeful that, if Hanamaki were here, so, too, would Matsukawa. "Hey, are any of the—"

"No, they're not," Yahaba adamantly told Watari, but he appeared pretty happy despite being stoplight red. The captain was practically glowing.

Hoshimura hustled past Yahaba, rolling his eyes. He poked Yahaba in the head. "Don't get carried away, Captain."

That lessened Yahaba's smile, and he made a face at Hoshimura. "Oh, shut up, will you?"

And, though it'd been a while, again Watari felt as though he were missing something.

The second set began with Senseki's lead, a two-point gap that widened to three for a terrifying half-minute. But then Ueno and Hoshimura adjusted to Senseki's attacks, and Seijou's best defense occurred with those two and Kindaichi rotated to the front.

Kyoutani, stubborn as ever, still hadn't learned the valuable lesson of pacing himself, so Kawasumi subbed in around the halfway. But that bouncing bunny of a guy still had a low connecting percentage with Yahaba's tosses, so Irihata-sensei called for a timeout, and Yahaba told them of his plan to finish out with Chiba in his stead.

That turned out to be the right decision. Chiba was the type of setter who could bring the ball to anyone, much like Kageyama, except Chiba didn't give even his teammates clues as to when they'd receive them. Suddenly, it was as if Senseki's blocking didn't matter. With a near-expressionless Chiba, most of Kawasumi's and Kunimi's attacks got through, pushing Senseki to focus on using pipes.

But, of course, Seijou had Ueno, Hoshimura, and Kindaichi to dampen the effects of their attacks. And that made Watari's job a hell of a lot easier.

It felt like forever before Seijou claimed the second set, but claim it they did. There was a near-dogpile with Chiba at the center, and Mizoguchi-san had to bark at them to break it up so the teams could shake hands and officially end the match and vacate the court for the intermission between the early and late rounds.

Outside the building by the sinks, the sun felt welcome on Watari's face, and he was glad everyone had come outdoors to have lunch and recharge their batteries. "You know we'll need them, too," he even told Yahaba.

The captain laughed at that. "Why do you think I put Chiba in when I did? It's so Kyoutani and I can clip some wings next!" He slung an arm each around Watari's and Kyoutani's shoulders, but for once the mad dog didn't seem as angry over being manhandled.

"Kyoutani and you are gonna what?" someone else asked from further up on the green.

Fast as lightning, Yahaba straightened up, his arms gone from the other two. "Win, of course. And, really, you should tell me when you guys are coming."

Hanamaki grinned in response as he came into view. "Yeah, but it's more fun, keeping you on your toes guessing right before a match."

At Hanamaki's right shoulder, Shido's honey-brown head emerged. "Hanamaki, that's terrible…," he remarked with a chuckle.

But Watari's attention was on the other person, the one to Hanamaki's left. "It's terrible, but it's definitely wishy-washy like Hanamaki," Matsukawa said. His lips twitched up from smile to smirk. His eyes briefly went to Watari's. It was like a quick "Ah, hi, by the way."

"You guys came to watch," the libero said dumbly.

Shido waved to their former coaches who were several feet away and answered once they were closer to captain, vice-captain, and ace. "Yep! I don't work mornings, and my morning classes got cancelled." His thick, brown eyebrows dropped sharply as he jabbed a thumb in Hanamaki's direction. "And this one just loafs around all day." Hanamaki's grin widened at that.

"Slow day, so I got time off," Matsukawa said of himself. His smirk lessened to a genuine smile when he looked at Watari again. "Glad I could come, though."

"Right?!" Shido exclaimed. He playfully whacked Kyoutani in the arm, and he came over and rubbed the top of Watari's head as if Watari had hair more than peach fuzz to tousle. "You guys were amazing against Senseki! I didn't think they'd be so good, but you guys really held your own."

Watari beamed. "It's a team effort, Shido-san."

"Are you kidding?! Watari, you practically took care of every dig that came your way! Is there even a better word than 'amazing' for that?" He looked to the other two graduates. "Seriously! Is there?"

Hanamaki was laughing so hard, he had to prop himself up against Yahaba, who looked completely done with the trio. But Matsukawa stuffed his hands in his pockets. "'Fantastic,' 'remarkable,' 'incredible,' 'marvelous,'" he rattled off, his tone a little hard.

The others gaped at him, though Watari only stared, not as shocked as the rest. "O-Oh… Yeah, okay, those are pretty good," Shido acquiesced, and he removed his hand from Watari's head and scratched his cheek instead.

Hanamaki snorted and rolled his eyes. "Anyway, you guys need to start eating, otherwise you're gonna run out of time to digest."

Yahaba froze. "Wait! Who won?"

"Karasuno," Hanamaki replied.

The captain heaved a sigh of relief. "Good. Now I can eat."

"Ah, what's in your bento today~?" Hanamaki asked as he kept beside Yahaba while the setter walked off.

"Hanamaki, don't eat any of his lunch…!" Shido called after them, and Kyoutani trailed after them, as well.

Realizing they'd been forgotten, Watari gave Matsukawa a sideways glance. He couldn't help the small smile that emerged. "That's a really good vocabulary for someone who doesn't love reading," the shaven-haired boy mentioned.

He was rewarded with a hilarious sight: Matsukawa's disgruntled face, complete with pinched eyebrows, pursed lips, and lightly flushed cheeks. He sighed at Watari. "Yeah, yeah…"

However, having those dark eyes on him once more reminded Watari of their brief meeting yesterday, and his good mood dampened. "You weren't late, finishing last night, were you?"

Matsukawa turned to him fully. "…Watari. Seriously. Don't worry about it." He was smiling again, just a bit. "I told you I'd see you soon, didn't I?"

Ah. His words were so nice to hear again. "You did," Watari confirmed, ducking his head and going to where he'd left his bag with Kindaichi's and Kunimi's. He grabbed his lunch from it and returned to the outdoor sinks, sitting on the ledge so he could eat. The whole time, Matsukawa kept close by.

"I knew Shido wanted to come, and I knew Hanamaki was going to come as soon as he'd told Yahaba he might."

"I didn't realize they were close."

Matsukawa opened his mouth and closed it, and Watari thought he was stifling a laugh. But just as soon as the glee appeared on his face, it was gone—or at least tamed. "I'd been thinking of watching you guys this year, anyway, so long as I'm around."

Watari nodded his thanks. "It's nice, having the support." He ate some of his lunch, giving Matsukawa the proverbial mike.

The taller boy grumbled something incoherent under his breath and withdrew an umaibo from his pocket.

The libero watched this, and he felt a laugh bubble up within him. "Matsukawa-san…"

"Hnn?"

"You really need to eat better."

Matsukawa shrugged.

Watari scanned his lunchbox. "Matsukawa-san. Hold out your hand, please."

Matsukawa, though confused, did as asked. And he stared when Watari dropped a clump of spiced rice in his palm. Matsukawa looked between it and Watari. "Shido's gonna scold both of us if you don't eat your own lunch," he said. But he ate it anyway and even licked his fingers.

The other teen shrugged, though he was glad Matsukawa appeared to like the food. "Consider it part of my wish for good luck for the next game."

"You don't need good luck," Matsukawa insisted. He leaned back against the sinks, too, and leaned over Watari's shoulder and took another but smaller clump of rice and plopped it in his mouth. "But I'll wish for it for you all the same," he finished after swallowing.

Watari beamed at that.

Lunch ended not long after, unfortunately. The team needed to return inside to warm up again, so the alumni headed back to the stands. Judging by the drained expression on Yahaba's face, that was a good thing.

"Yahaba, you look like crap," Watari told his friend.

"Yeah… Remind me in the future not to have lunch with both Hanamaki and Kyoutani around…."

- ^-^3

This time, walking out onto the court felt daunting as well as exhilarating. Now that they knew Hanamaki, Shido, and Matsukawa had come to cheer them on, Yahaba pointedly kept his eyes off the stands, especially when Hanamaki started yelling "Yoo-hoo~" at them. Watari exchanged a brief smile with Matsukawa, but then he put them out of his mind, too, when the team lined up and saw mostly familiar faces.

Kageyama and that #10 were playing, just as Seijou suspected they would. Other familiar faces were Nishinoya, the scary-faced guy with a shaved head, and their ever-growing blond middle blocker, who was impossibly taller than last year. Slightly less familiar was the plain-looking fellow wearing #1, but Watari remembered he'd stepped in for Sawamura when Sawamura had been injured the year before. So that and his number made him captain, Watari realized.

The worst part, however, was that Nishinoya didn't start with them right off the bat. Instead, that freckly guy did, and he kicked things off with a jump float serve.

Internally, Watari groaned. Since facing that serve last year, he'd specifically worked on saving that type of ball, and he'd made sure Okino had become passably good at receiving them, as well. But Mr. Freckles had none of the timidity he possessed from last time, and his control had improved. Much as Seijou had done to Senseki, Karasuno took a service ace right off the bat, and they almost claimed a second point that way, too.

But Watari was still here, standing on this ground, ready to keep the ball and his team in play. He got the ball up, Kunimi bumped it towards the front, and Yahaba used Kyoutani as a decoy so that Kindaichi could slam down a high ball that flew right over #10's head.

Mr. Freckles was back on the bench in the next rotation, bringing Nishinoya out, and Watari felt his nerves tingling. Though he hadn't faced against all of them, there were a few liberoes on whom Watari kept a close eye. Two of the top contenders were Shiratorizawa's Yamagata and Itachiyama's Komori, though Yamagata had graduated. Nekoma's Yaku, also gone from the high school volleyball scene, had been another clever one. But Nishinoya? Sometimes Watari wondered how that practice match last year would've gone if Karasuno had had him back in time for it… He was someone who'd managed to adapt even to Ushijima's leftie attacks, and he'd done so faster than Watari had when Seijou had faced Shiratorizawa. In short, Watari viewed him as a threat.

Though Karasuno had Nishinoya covering for them, their captain's receives were pretty good, too—not as great as Sawamura's, but still reliable. Overall, the team had shaped up well and was no longer offense-focused. Several times there were balls that Watari thought would just squeak in, in Seijou's favor. But that was not the case. And Karasuno always returned the favor in kind.

Seijou's mindset was grim when Karasuno took the first set, though that pushed Yahaba, Ueno, Kyoutani, and Kunimi harder. After the 25–23 loss, Seijou managed a 25–20 win in the second set. Before switching sides for the final time that day, Irihata-sensei and Hoshimura heaved sighs of relief, though everyone else was not on the same level. The annoying thing about Karasuno was neither their attack power nor their newly polished defensive skills—it was their tenacity.

Kunimi served first, but Karasuno's captain got the dig, sending the ball directly within Kageyama's reach. This started a short volley exchange, ending in Seijou's point, which Kageyama quickly took back with his own service ace.

Between attacks and blocks and saves, the points didn't stack up quickly, for either team. Both sides subbed in players. Seijou got a taste of another annoying crow, their other blond who also had a formidable jump float serve. Karasuno had to realize that Kawasumi was as troublesome as he seemed, and even Nakata got the chance to shine briefly so Kyoutani could calm down after making a foul.

But Yahaba stayed on the court, determined to see this through. Watari attempted to do the same whenever he rotated back in, but somehow a gap started developing in the scores. One point, then two…

Watari's eyes flickered to Yahaba as Karasuno led 18–16. Yahaba was frustrated, but he still appeared to have his wits about him. That was unlike Oikawa last year, who'd been nearly manic or bestial when he and Iwaizumi had pulled off those few blitz attacks…futile as they'd been.

But Seijou's attacks wouldn't be futile this year. They couldn't be.

Yahaba tossed to a refreshed Kyoutani, but #10 and one of the newbies got a few fingers on the ball. Nishinoya recovered it, sending it straight to Kageyama, and Watari could sense the quick before it happened—that freakish play that only Kageyama and #10 could pull off.

Watari took a step forward and shifted his weight right as the ball came at him. But he was mistaken. He should've taken a step back. The volleyball hit him square on his left collarbone and came up, hitting his jaw as it ricocheted and drifted up front towards Yahaba. Watari didn't see who took the point, though, as he heard the tweet of the referee's whistle and the sound of Mizoguchi-san's heavy footfall near him.

"Watari! Are you all right?!"

He wanted to answer, but his mouth hurt. He hurried off the court with the assistant coach, passing by Okino as the second year took his place, but Watari didn't fight as his teachers murmured and he was led to the on-site medic.

Likely the game resumed once they ascertained Watari hadn't bled on the court. But Watari hated that the medics insisted on taking him to the first aid station outside of the gym. They poked and prodded his shoulder and collarbone, but those things were only sore.

"Look up," the medic said as the libero sat on a table and had a light shined in his eyes. At least the light went away—although stars appeared in his eyes when the medic touched his lip. They checked for tenderness and broken teeth and found none, but Watari was given a Steri-Strip after dabbing the blood from his lip. An assistant brought him some ice chips to hold in front of his teeth with his mouth closed to help with swelling, and he was sent on his way with that and a dose of aspirin.

He returned with Mizoguchi-san, and they hustled when they realized the game was still going on. Karasuno still led by two points, but now things were 23–21. The officials let Watari back in the game, and Watari gave Okino a high-five as he stepped back onto the orange floor. The second year looked ecstatic and worn-out and relieved all at once, and Watari drew on that relief for strength.

However, relief didn't win a set or a match. Not even ten minutes went by after Watari's return, and both teams crawled towards deuce territory, hanging on and almost definitely keeping each other from scoring. Watari thought things might turn around once they hit twenty-two points—

—but they didn't. Just like that, Karasuno pulled another two points out of nowhere. And the game was over.

The shock of their loss felt more acute than the one at the prefectural playoffs just last fall. Yes, they shook hands and gathered their things and cleared the court. Of course they waited patiently while the teachers accounted for all of them. And, yeah, they milled around outside the bus, ready to go home…

But Watari, like the others, was in a daze, and he didn't remember the game ending or having to leave. All he could recall was making it to a third set, and the iron, metallic, strangely warm taste and scent of blood from his split lip as it throbbed. Outside, where the sun had shone so brightly and warmly before, it felt oddly cooler as the sun hung lower in the sky.

The Aoba Johsai Men's Volleyball Club was told to start boarding the bus so they could head home, but Mizoguchi-san and Irihata-sensei weren't especially firm with them. Watari watched the scene play out before him like an awful movie: Kyoutani being his usual miffed self as he disappeared into the bus first; Shido comforting Kindaichi with a kind, heartfelt smile and a pat on the head, muttering "There, there" and sounding reminiscent of Yuda; Kunimi actually trying to hold it together in front of their kouhai; the others broken up to various degrees, though the worst were Nakata's wails to Chiba, and Yahaba crying into Hanamaki's shoulder.

Watari lingered behind the rest, taking everything in without trying to process it. He jumped when someone touched his arm, but his jitteriness evaporated once he realized it was Matsukawa, although he didn't have the chance to see the look on Matsukawa's face. Matsukawa turned Watari towards him, patted the libero's head, and wrapped an arm around his shoulders.

The hand on his head felt different from Shido's, the arm around him, different from Yahaba's. The tiny rational part of Watari that was still coherent at that moment knew that made sense, because Matsukawa was not Shido or Yahaba. That said, however, knowing it was Matsukawa made Watari appreciate the gestures more. And, because he could appreciate that, Watari could feel his composure weaken, until it finally hurt too much to keep holding it in. So Watari cried, too.

- ^-^3

…a LOT happened in this chapter, but there were certain, covert things happening here, so I'm happy with how this turned out. I might also be playing fast and loose with the scheduling of the Interhigh prelims and whatnot ('cuz it's confusing af), but alas, I think y'all get my point. Not to mention, writing volleyball is like writing Quidditch… I put a lot into it, so I don't do it often (HA, like me writing smut, too, *lol*). Matsuwata getting along so simply, so naturally gives me life, though, and I always enjoy writing the former third years—Shido was so cute here, and Makki… *swoons* But I had the games go this way on purpose, so…well, you'll just have to see. ;3 Ah, and an umaibo is a type of snack, jsyk.

Thank you for reading, as always, and let's have a slight change of pace in chapter 6!

-mew! :3