Chapter 14:
It didn't take too long to look for Kenma when she runs up the stairs from the ground floor, she spotted Kenma sitting on of the stairs while his eyes glued to the game console in his hands. He seemed pretty serious about it so Yachi walks up to him without haste so she doesn't bother his game suddenly.
With her shadow covering his front, Kenma finally looked up from his game and saw Yachi. "Ah." The voice came out of his lips softly.
Yachi smiled in return, "Good morning, Kozume-san. Practice will be starting in less than ten minutes and coach Naoi wanted all of us to be there on time today."
Kenma nodded then looked down to his game before he sighed. "Ha…another day of practice, huh."
Yachi waits for him as she notices that Kenma was moving his neck stiffly when he tries to stretch his head around. The gesture was something that she was familiar of when she sees her mother at home, stressed from overworking.
"Kozume-san, does the back of your neck hurt?" She asked.
The pudding haired setter stopped his movement and looked back to Yachi properly, "….Yes?"
"Do you need some patch relief for it? Though I recommend you using gel instead since it's more comfortable using that. I think I have them somewhere in my bag right now…" Yachi began to rummage her bag to look for the cool muscle gel that she carries around with her.
Kenma frowns, "It's fine. I'm not that hurt and it doesn't really bother me."
Yachi grabbed the cooling gel and replied, "But when you set the balls for the other members, you'll have to move your neck back and forth for better view, right? I think it's safer to use this before any muscle strain happen today."
Kenma reached out to receive the gel, a little bit perplexed that she knows how he does his setting. "How do you know that?"
Yachi stiffened, seeing his eyes zeroed on her. She felt nervous all of the sudden, seeing the way his eyes glints with calculating look as if she was being analyzed like a player in court – despite her not being one.
She gulps her nervousness and gave a shaky smile. "Um…I saw your play during the practice matches yesterday and noticed the comparison between our team's setter and yours."
'Is it a wrong answer? Am I allowed to say that to him? Is he offended?' Yachi was feeling nervous since Kenma seems to be asking that question towards her about setting in court. 'Maybe it wasn't something to talk about freely?' She wondered.
Instead of being insulted, Kenma surprised her by a smile stretched on his lips. "For someone new to volleyball, you're quite observant."
"Y-yeah…I guess."
Kenma smiled wider, amused by her perplexed expression. It seems like he was laughing at her for some reason. Maybe she did say something wrong but it amused him instead? She doesn't really know.
She then notices the way Kenma uncomfortably spread the gel on the skin of his neck while hissing quietly at the touch. Yachi's eyes widened, "Kozume-san, are you okay?"
"It's fine. It's just my neck is too stiff." He explained, "I probably need to stretch longer for the game."
Yachi knew how much painful it could be if he let his neck muscle feel sore like that until later. Her mother used to complain and cry about having such stiff necks because she was leaning too much on her table for work and the only way Yachi could help her was –
"Do you want me to massage it for you?" She blurted out.
"Eh? Really?" Kenma looked expectantly before he calms down, "But…is it okay?"
Yachi didn't know why she blurted out the offer but she remembered that she learned how to massage her mother's neck properly so the stiffness goes away even for a short moment.
"I'm not an expert but I can do massages for the neck area."
"Um…" Kenma suddenly felt awkward, now he realized that he was expecting her to massage for him, which would be great for his neck, but he felt awkward about her touching him yet. He really wants it though, his neck was practically yelling for help because of the stiffness.
Yachi gave a sheepish smile. "If you don't want to, that's okay. Just apply the gel properly so that you won't feel too stiff - "
Kenma sees her hands then her fingers. They were small, soft looking, and dainty – it looks really pretty and he definitely won't complain if such hands touch him –
Kenma stopped himself thinking further before any embarrassing thoughts crossed over his head and blurted, "Yes."
Yachi's eyes widened momentarily before she smiles, "Okay." She said as she walked towards him and sat behind him on the steps of stair above him. "Gel please."
Kenma hoped that she doesn't see his nervousness as she sat behind him closely. Meanwhile Yachi took off the gel cap and spread it on Kenma's neck, before spreading it evenly with her hand.
Kenma shivered a little when the tips of Yachi's fingers touched the back of his neck. At a moment, he felt like jumping away because he didn't realize how sensitive the back of his neck was when she touched him.
Then all thoughts went out of his mind when Yachi starts to pressed her fingertips on Kenma's most sore parts of his neck and groaned embarrassingly when he felt good.
Yachi only chuckled when he did it, despite Kenma's face started heating up from his sudden reaction, his ears were burning up as well. "My mother also reacted like this when I massaged her. She's always leaning over her desk so I like to help her relieve the tension on her neck like this. Sorry but this will feel a little strange but bear with me."
Kenma couldn't help but let out his voice again when Yachi's fingers started sliding up and down on the back and sides of his neck, easing his muscles. It felt like tons of bricks were currently being lifted from his neck and shoulder area and Kenma honestly didn't know why he never considered getting a proper massage like this.
Surprisingly it only took less than five minutes for Yachi to do so. At the end, she pulls her hands away from his neck and stood up. "How does it feel right now? Is it better to move around your head?"
Kenma sat up and rolled his shoulders and neck, feeling way lighter than before. His neck and shoulders suddenly felt light like feathers, an exaggeration but it does felt like that, which surprised him.
He turned and gave a delighted smile, "It was wonderful. Thank you so much, Yachi-san."
"Of course!" Yachi replied as she walks down the stairs, "Let's go to the gym before we're too late."
Kenma stared at Yachi as she bounces down the steps, catching the glimpse of her starry pins on her golden hair. He stretched his arms a bit for one more time as he followed Yachi down the stairs too.
He really hoped that his burning ears can also cool down quickly. It would be embarrassing if people ask him why and to know the reason for that was because Yachi touched his neck.
But he didn't regret it though, it felt really food.
The softness of her fingers were also delicate and comfortable. Kenma unconsciously rubbed the back of his neck, his cheeks suddenly dusted with light pink, because he was a little embarrassed yet strangely content.
Yachi prepares for the towels and water bottles once she reached the gym and let the team members starts stretching on their own. She momentarily faces with the half-Russian giant who scared the wits out of her at times, although he was actually quite friendly.
"Yachi-san, don't forget my water bottle too." Lev suddenly appeared beside Yachi when she fills the water bottle she was currently holding.
Yachi jumps at his sudden appearance next to her. He was so tall, taller than Tsukishima, she was so unprepared for his height whenever he comes near her.
"Y-yes, sorry for missing yours, Haiba-san." Yachi gets his water bottle to fill.
"You can call me, Lev, Yachi-san." He replied with a friendly smile.
"Okay."
Another voice calls from a distance, "Hey, Lev! Don't scare her out of nowhere like that, you're doing that on purpose! I saw you!"
"Y-Yaku-san?!" Lev choked, surprised that he got caught by his senpai.
Yachi merely sighs and smiles tiredly. Looks like tall people always want to use their chance to surprise her with their height. She guessed there must be joy for tall people in teasing her height after all.
The light brown hair libero glared at Lev, eyes darting like daggers towards the tall half-Russian.
Yachi fills his bottle and pointed, "You should head back and continue to warm up before Yaku-san gets angrier."
"O-osu…" He faltered but followed her words anyways, knowing that angering Yaku at this time of hour would be troublesome.
Yachi chuckles at the sight of the tall first year gets yelled by the shorter third year.
'Like mama cat scolding the big kitten.' Yachi giggled at the sight.
Nekoma's first match was with Fukurodani. Yachi already prepared for the towels and bottles so now she was next to Coach Naoi as he starts with his opening guidance to some members to make a breakthrough in their match against Fukurodani.
She opened her notebook to the newest page and wrote down the date and the players who are the starting members from Nekoma's team.
"Yachii!" She looked up from her notebook and heard a familiar energetic voice calls her from the other court. The ace of the Fukurodani team waving at her from the other side, "Watch for my awesome spikes today!"
Yachi could only gave him a polite smile, unsure how exactly to response to his enthusiastic statement.
"Focus on your damn team, Bokuto!" Kuroo yelled back as he rolled his eyes before looking to Yachi. "Let me know if that idiot bothers you."
"I think I'll be okay, Kuroo-san." Yachi couldn't help but chuckle at his words.
The libero of the Nekoma team added next to Yachi's side, "We've been playing against Fukurodani for quite some time now, Yachi-san. Bokuto's spikes are sharp and strong, so watch out for his strays."
Yachi knew how some of the stray balls spiked from some powerful players did land or hit to another person so she nodded in agreement to the boy's warning. "Yes, Yaku-san. I'll be sure to watch out for any stray balls."
Yaku gave Yachi a friendly smile and pat her shoulder, "Well, if you have any questions about the team, feel free to ask me."
"Roger!"
The referee then calls for the team to gather to the court properly, signaling for the match to start. Yachi clicks her mechanical pencil and gets ready to write down the scores and any details she learns from their game.
Upon starting the game, Nekoma was the receiver. Yachi was already entranced by the way the ball went through from Fukurodani's jump serve by Konoha and to the Nekoma's court, the ball saved by Tora.
Then the ball continues to connect as she watches each teams did their best to make the balls gets through each other's courts. Yachi updates the points on the score board while she also jotted down the scores in her own notebook.
All this time, she was always focused on how Karasuno utilizes their power and incredible individual strength to contribute to the team but she realized that the other teams were way beyond Karasuno's level.
'Takeda-sensei was right, they are really good.' Yachi changes the point on the score board when a point goes to Fukurodani. Bokuto-san were firing his cross hits today therefore the Nekoma blockers had a little bit tough moment in blocking his spikes.
Not to mention Akaashi were so coordinated with the team members that he was able to shot several balls right to the wing spikers' position to a point where a comfortable height was the best spot to spike towards Nekoma's court. Although Yachi sees that Nekoma was not so easy to break down as well since their receives were always top notch.
Yachi realized that Nekoma truly deserves "Connect" style that they all so perfected on. They really try to keep the ball connected without letting one second slip away to the ground, letting the ball to go back to the setter or straight away to the spikers. It was truly an incredible sight, watching how the members elegantly connect the balls without making much of a ruckus, like it was already their nature.
'Karasuno also needs to improve our receives, we can't always depend on the libero to do all the work,' Yachi jots that observation down on her notebook, impressed by how quick and agile the Nekoma's libero was able to receive Bokuto's power spikes.
By her observation, she learns how Nekoma has some great tall blockers to which Kuroo seemed to be the one who signals the blockers to position themselves every time a ball was about to go through their side.
When one of the ball spiked by Sarukui from the Fukurodani team gets blocked by Kuroo's hands, Sarukui gritted in annoyance as Kuroo responded in a smug expression.
"Yay~ a point for us." Kuroo teased, basking in Fukurodani's frustration as their spikes gets blocked again.
"Damn it! I'll get the next one for sure!" Sarukui groaned and went back to his position.
Kuroo snickered along with Lev who was on his side, their faces turned into demon-looking-expression when they laugh with their mean eyes.
'They kind of look like villains for a second.' Yachi thought with an amused expression before she suddenly remembers one of her previous conversation with Hinata about Nekoma.
" - But I guess when it comes to blocking from Nekoma, their captain is pretty high specs. He looks like a sneaky cat when he blocks your spikes and he also looks like this." Hinata then proceed to push his curly hair up while squinting his eyes in a mean expression with a scowl.
Yachi giggled, remembering Hinata's words. She realized that he was talking about Kuroo back then. Although he didn't wear a scowl on his face, he does look like a sneaky cat with a mean expression when he blocks.
Upon Yachi's giggle, Kuroo turned his head to her sound and felt himself smiling. When she looked up from her book, she notices that he was staring back at her. She blinked owlishly before sending him a sparkling smile as she cups her free hand on the side of her mouth and says, "Nice block, captain!"
"Gah!" Kuroo instantly curled over, gripping his heart on his chest, unexpectedly blown by her cute cheer attack. "Yacchan...so cute…." He spoke in uttered nonsense that Kenma stares at him with a sour expression.
"Get a hold of yourself, Kuroo." Kenma told him, watching his friend curled up after being attacked by a cute charm. Kenma merely rolled his eyes as Kuroo kept curling over and pinched his thighs to get a grip of himself. Kenma turned his gaze back to Yachi.
Yachi's were widened with confusion as she asked over, "Is he okay, Kozume-san?"
"Don't worry. He's just being an idiot." Kenma replied easily.
Yachi gave an apologetic smile. 'I guess Nekoma members have their own odd personalities too.'