The next day was another early start, with practice and warmups until lunch time. They arrived at the stadium somewhat early, so split off and wandered around. Kitsuna found a vending machine and was deciding what coffee to get when a group of girls walked by chattering loudly.

"Hey, isn't that one girl on Karasuno's team?"

"I heard she was dating one of the other members."

"Someone said she had dated several of them."

"I heard she was dating the coach!"

"No way!"

"She does have that rule-breaker vibe, though."

Kitsuna chose her drink and turned around slowly. The girls blabbering behind her sped up at seeing her face. Her features were almost serene, pulled into a light grin, but there was a darkness in her eyes that mirrored Daichi's dead glares. She took a step toward the group, emanating a dangerous aura.

"Don't," Daichi had snuck up behind her and placed a hand on her shoulder. More to hold her in place than to comfort. Kitsuna was startled by his sudden appearance, but her anger at the gaggle of gossiping hens flared back up pretty immediately.

"U-uh, guys," Asahi tried to get them to back off, yelping at the way they both looked when they turned their hardened faces his way. Spotting him, Kitsuna sighed and let it go. She also caught Daichi's similar reaction, and raised a brow.

"What's with that? Don't get all big brother-y now, dude," Kitsuna lightly pushed his hand off her shoulder and headed back to where the others were waiting. She plopped down on a bench and opened her canned coffee, taking a huge swig. She got a message from Kenma, and checked it. A video was attached, with no context, so she opened it up.

"..prefers shorter guys, but not too short. She seems very close with the others-"

"Hmpk!"

Kitsuna nearly spit her coffee out at that, instead inhaling a bunch of it and slipping into a coughing fit. She hoped nobody noticed, but of course Yamaguchi and Ennoshita caught it and were worried. Yamaguchi was panicking hard while the other reached for her phone to see what got that reaction from her. She pulled it back, but it didn't matter because another pair of girls walked past and shared their opinions on the interview. Quite loudly. Kitsuna's face went red and her hand tensed around the can, spilling a ton of coffee all over her shirt and jacket sleeve.

"Daichi! Come on, man," Asahi was tailing behind Daichi again as the captain stomped toward the newest gossip-mongers.

"Hey, we're starting up now," Keishin ran back over to his team to bring them to the gym. Kitsuna took her chance to get away from the other two, finishing her drink from its crumpled container and tossing it in the trash. She used her jacket as a napkin, since it was already covered in coffee, and followed the others.

"I guess it was only a matter of time," Tsukishima gave his commentary on the rumors as they got changed on the court. Several glares were sent his way, but he just grinned and left it at that.

The game started slow, and kept dragging with each rally. Nekoma was really tough, with their airtight defense. Karasuno had been working on theirs as well, so getting a point in was a huge struggle. Kitsuna was swapped out several times, to give those with less stamina some time to rest. Karasuno took the first set, barely, and Nekoma the second. Meaning they were tied in the third set.

"Can't you guys just go easy on me? Just a little?," she whined at the team on the other side of the net.

"No way, little missy. I know you've got a crazy arm," Kuro shot back a hard denial. She sighed and glanced to her right, looking for a signal from Suga for the next play. She had her contacts in so she could see it better, but with the exhaustion setting in she really couldn't make out his signal or remember what it meant. The serve went up, and sure enough Nekoma received it and sent it back. Kitsuna just barely blocked the spike, getting the first touch and slowing it down. Noya was able to get it back to Suga, and then she was caught a little late when the ball came her direction.

"Shit," she cursed to herself as she fumbled the jump a little bit, making her way too short to get over Kuro's block. She was in position to spike, too, and not really able to pull off some of those crazy fakeouts like Oikawa's spike-into-serve.

"Suga!," Kitsuna yelled out suddenly, catching everyone by surprise. His eyes widened, but he didn't look totally lost at least.

She wasn't able to do a full set, but she had to try something to break the deuce. She started to turn to the side so she could gauge the distance, and her fingertips rolled across the ball's surface. It was low, and sloppy, but she sent the ball back to the middle where there were no blockers. His take off was delayed, of course, by the sudden change in plans. He just barely got over the net, but it was enough to get the ball back over before the other team could react. Kitsuna's landing was off, and she fell to one knee to avoid hitting the net. It was like everything moved in slow motion as the ball hit the floor mere millimeters from the fingertips of nekoma's libero.

"Was that planned?," Kuro was stunned. He looked at the team that just pulled that off, but they all looked equally as shocked. Especially the guy who had scored the point in the end, who came to help Kitsuna back up.

"Woah! You surprised me!," Suga exclaimed at her. It was hard to tell how he meant it, so Kitsuna just beamed back at him with her brows cocked to one side.

"Sorry. I messed up the jump and wasn't gonna make it. You got it, though! Nice," she said while Suga gave her a huge high five.

They only needed one more point now, and Kageyama was called in just then to switch with Sugawara. Kitsuna exhaled hard and set back up for a block. She was tired, and definitely pulled something with that hard twist and landing. She was not letting anything get through her block though, not now.

Nekoma served, and it was sent back up. The ball bounced back and forth over the net, Kitsuna giving up on kill blocks and mainly doing the dinner plate method. She knew she would get chewed out later, but as long as she kept the play going she wasn't really causing a problem. Just as she thought that, the ball flew toward the left where she was positioned.

"Fuck!"

She jumped up, worried that her weaker spike would be blocked too easily. Then, faster than she could blink, Hinata was jumping up right beside her. Higher than she could reach, and faster than anyone could react to. And he spiked the ball straight down, scoring the final point with a lightning fast quick. The crowd erupted, along with the other team members. Kitsuna sank down onto the floor, panting hard but still grinning big. Ennoshita helped her up after a few minutes, so they could line up and finish up the ceremonial stuff.