"Hey, did you get a bigger portion?," Noya glared from across the table.

"Yeah. You been tryin' to charm the girls or somethin'?," Tanaka growled.

"Ha! Nah. I think Kiyoko feels bad. Her family eats pretty light apparently," Kitsuna missed her comeback, and it was hard to tell if that was a decisive play or if she was just oblivious in the face of her hunger.

"Isn't that how a girl should be?," Tsukki chimed in, and her jaw tightened. She decided to just focus on eating, and wolfed down the bowl of curry and the rice balls she had been given. She helped clean up, then it was time for baths and settling in for the night. Kitsuna was handed her bag by Asahi, and she split off for now from the team. She followed the managers and bathed with them, soaking in the tub.

"Man, I'm kinda jealous," one of the other managers, a girl with freckles and dirty blonde hair, poked Kitsuna's cheek.

"Huh?"

"I mean," another joined in, scooting closer in the large tub, "the boys on our teams are all weird or awkward around us. Not you, though."

"What do you mean?," Kitsuna hadn't noticed that, or at least seemed confused. Some of the other girls laughed at that.

"Huh? Well, they'll talk to you pretty normally. And like," a shorter-haired girl tried to explain, but trailed off.

"They respect you like they do the other players. And don't hold back at all," the freckled girl spoke up again.

"Hm. I guess you're right," Kitsuna didn't seem convinced, and the girls laughed again while one ruffled her hair. After a while they got out and started drying off. Kitsuna got dressed, her wet hair soaking through her shirt again.

"Girl, you gotta dry your hair," the girl from earlier, who had an equally healthy appetite as Kitsuna's, dragged her back to the hair dryers.

"Huh? It's fine," Kitsuna tried to get away.

"No, it is not! Girl, that shirt is soaked through. You'll catch cold," she was held down, and the other girl started blowing her hair and running her fingers through it.

"You look like a fox, but you don't gotta be so wild and rough," freckles chimed in again, over the hum of the hairdryer. Kitsuna was released with damp, but somewhat more tamed hair. As the girls filtered out and split off, she was stopped by the two Fukurodani girls again.

"Hey, wait. Where're you staying? The Karasuno managers already left," one asked.

"Hm?," Kitsuna was caught off guard again.

"You aren't in the girls' room. Where're you at? Don't tell me you lucked out and got a room all to yourself," the other rattled off.

"Oh. No, I'm with the rest of the team," Kitsuna answered. The other two girls nearly shrieked in their shock, gripping her shoulders and staring up with crazy looks in their eyes.

"What?!"

"No way!"

"Um," Kitsuna could only stare back. She tilted her head, confused. She hadn't really thought about it, but there was some fuss when the decision was finalized.

"You're a girl. In the middle of all of those dudes," the girl with a middle-part was the loudest.

"Hm? I guess, but like-"

"Don't tell me," the somewhat taller Fukurodani girl cut Kitsuna off.

"You don't think?," the other one asked a partial question, and the two shared a glance. They turned back to Kitsuna with solemn expressions.

"I'm so sorry," one said, her voice shaky. Kitsuna was worried she had done something and started to panic.

"This is worse. Way worse. I'm sorry, I thought it was respect but," the other trailed off, covering her mouth and shaking.

"I think, they may not even recognize you as a girl anymore," the other finished the sentence, and Kitsuna's world view shattered in that instant. The girls hugged her, and sent her on her way with words of encouragement. Kitsuna entered the room and sat down in the corner, curling up into her knees.

…

"Hey, we can start a little later tomorrow, right?," Tanaka pleaded with Daichi as a few of the boys entered the room. Suga spotted Kitsuna, and headed over to try and discuss the signals they were working on.

"Hey. Hey, Kitsuna?," he tried to get her attention, but there was no response. He glanced back at Daichi, who wasn't sure what was up either.

"Hey, you awake?," Suga shook her shoulder, gently, and she looked up just a little bit. Her hair curled around her knees, cloaking her eyes in shadow. But there was something there, shiny and damp. Tears. Suga reeled back, flying into a panic and fumbling all his words as he tried to get Daichi's assistance. The other boy lumbered over and knelt down to whisper to Suga.

"I knew it. Yui's picked up this habit, too," Daichi groaned. He patted Suga's shoulder to calm him down, and the gray-haired boy sighed and tried to regain his composure.

"Hey. You good? The other girls didn't say anything did they?," Daichi asked, face somewhat hardened. Kitsuna looked up at him, eyes moistened with tears that didn't fall and with an incredibly crestfallen expression.

"Eh," she finally responded, with a low raspy voice.

"Guess not. Maybe just something careless," Daichi patted her shoulder, and she looked from him to Suga. Upon seeing the other's face, her ears went red and she quickly reset to her usual demeanor.

"Sorry. Did you need something?," she switched gears too fast, and Suga blanked out completely.

"Hey, where'd Hinata go?," Noya asked suddenly. Daichi groaned, and Suga called back that he had wandered off toward Nekoma's room.

"Hey, can you go get Hinata? It's late," Daichi assigned Kitsuna to the task. She cocked a brow, but got up and left anyway. Suga finally snapped back to reality, and turned to Daichi.

"Hey, are you sure that's alright?," he asked.

"Yeah. Sorry, she should be fine. She gets like that sometimes, but she won't say anything til she's alone. Try…not to mention it," Daichi asked of his friend without delivering the most critical information. Suga wasn't sure, but he agreed not to say anything.