"Hey-"

Sugawara started to rush out, but Kitsuna caught his hand and held him back. He stepped back into place. Her grip tightened as the coach and teacher rushed out to assess the situation, Kiyoko joining them with water and a towel. Suga glanced at her face as if to confirm his own worries, but her tense look was even harder to read than before.

"Kitsuna!," Takeda called her over to the bench as Keishin escorted Hinata out of the gym. Half-carried, more like. The teams were given a pseudo-timeout to regroup and explain the situation. Hinata had a fever, and collapsed due to that. Hearing this, Kitsuna glanced at the side of the gym floor and spotted a shock of red amongst the crowds, with a bit of yellow on top. She had spotted them earlier, and exchanged a little wave in greeting. She broke out of the huddle and jogged over, hopping over the barrier with ease and stopping just in front of the pair from Nekoma. She gave Kuro a passing glance but focused on Kenma, who was pulled out of his initial quiet panic and thrown into a different kind.

"Shoyo's got a fever, he's being taken to the infirmary. He needs to stay there and rest. He'll hate being pulled out of the game, though," Kitsuna stared directly into Kenma's eyes. To Kuro's surprise, his friend returned that intense look. Some sort of unspoken agreement occurred between them just then, with Kenma digging through his bag and headed for the doors while Kitsuna was called back to the court.

"What was that about?," Daichi grabbed her by the collar and dragged her back to the huddle, bowing his head meekly to the referee who was eyeing them down hard.

"Sorry, we didn't notice! Can you get warmed up again and fill in for him?," Takeda practically pleaded with her. The rest of the team was silently observing her, as well. Or lost in their own thoughts over the incident just now. Kitsuna took a measured breath and somewhat relaxed her facial features.

"I thought something was off but didn't say anything. I'm sure some others noticed it, too. Now isn't the time to worry about that, so let's go win this while he rests up for the next game," Kitsuna spoke without aiming to cheer anyone up or change the current tone. She was able to get everyone focused again anyway, though. She did some stretches and had her tape checked, then headed to the court with the others.

"Another ginger, huh? You some sort of secret weapon on par with number ten?," a shorter guy on the other team tried to instigate something with her. He had white hair and strange bird-like eyes. His movements were far more polished than Hinata's, and he was giving the team a hard time. She had watched carefully from the side, though. Picking apart the other team members' twitches and tells. It might not be enough to win for sure, but it was definitely something to go off. It would have been great if a certain backup setter had been paying attention as well so she could have bounced ideas off of him.

"What's with all you short dudes and your chihuahua attitudes?," she huffed back at him, letting her irritation get misplaced a bit so she could get it out of her system. That clearly struck a nerve, but they didn't have time to dwell on it as the next set started up.

The rallies went a lot shorter at the start, with Karasuno falling behind hard. They were all rattled, and struggling to keep up with the ball. Kitsuna's jaw clenched tighter and tighter with each fumble and swap with Nishinoya. She watched from the side as another ball fumbled and fell into their court, the block failing to keep up with Kamomedai's little giant yet again.

"Sorry," Noya apologized as he switched back out with her. She shook her head, then returned to the court. She wasn't going to be a good little cheer squad like Hinata was, or a little burst of sun like Sugawara. But she wasn't going to keep watching her team sink further and further either.

"You guys are really shit today. Not like you haven't faced someone equally as small or obnoxious every day in practice, so get your asses movin'!," she called out behind her as she took her place on the far left of the net.

That lit up at least a couple of them, and they were starting to catch up in the second half of set two. Her pep talk might have come a little too late, though, as the ball rammed her wrist and flew out of bounds. Sealing their loss for the second set, and some bitter pills to swallow as they took a short break and swapped sides.

"He still with Shoyo?," Kitsuna bumped Takeda's shoulder, noting that Keishin had yet to return. The teacher jumped nearly out of his skin, but recovered quickly.

"Y-yeah. I don't really know what calls to make from here on out," Takeda confessed. Kitsuna smiled warmly at him, or tried to. He appeared to at least somewhat appreciate the sentiment behind her tight little grin.

"I'm sure Kiyoko or Suga can offer you advice, if you wanna keep one of them by the bench. Rotating out more this set might help a little, too," she swatted his back and chugged down some water. The aforementioned back-up setter handed her a spare towel that she used to wipe the sweat from her face and neck.

"Right," Takeda finally acknowledged what she said as the whistle blew signaling the end of the break. Kitsuna handed her water bottle and towel to the teacher, mulling something over by herself as she did so and lingering just a little behind the others.

"Hey. I wanna talk about something after this match. Either way it goes," she left him with those words, almost a whisper, and headed back out.

Sure enough, Takeda relied on some advice and observations from Sugawara throughout the long third set. Players were swapped out, to give some of the others a rest. Kitsuna almost wished she would get more of a break, but appreciated all the swaps with Noya that much more. Trying to match up with everyone, and measure up to Hinata's wild playstyle, was wearing her down hard. If that wasn't enough on its own, her thoughts were a raging whirlwind as she tried desperately to focus on the game in front of her.

"Could you just let us have this?! Damn," she started to throw empty curses and pleas at Kamomedai across the net. Her sides ached from the day before. Her wrist was throbbing from all the blocks, and her knee was starting to get weak from all the running and jumping around. Her eyes were stinging and vision blurring as the sweat irritated her contact lenses, and her hair kept falling into her face and poking at it where it curled back upward. She didn't even know what the score was anymore, and didn't care really. All she had to do was help get the ball over the net, and she could still do that.

Or so she thought. Another wild set went up from Kageyama, one where he fully expected her to be able to reach the high point between the exhausted blockers. She went for the jump, careful of the net, but just wasn't able to get the air she needed. Her hand completely missed, swiping air, and the ball started to fall to her right. She landed roughly and in an instant flung her arm back out in an attempt to send it back up. It connected, weakly, and she fell hard onto one knee.

"Cover!"

She made the callout and stumbled up and to the side. The rest of her team was moving in for a synchronized attack, a final desperate maneuver. She wasn't able to make it, she knew it, so she tried to get out of the way as much as possible. Kitsuna closed her eyes for half a second, just that long. She sucked in a hard breath, moving into a receiving position, but it was too late. The ball slammed back down from a block, right between her arms. It bounced to the side between her shoes. Hard to see for sure, but definitely a point for the opposing team. They started to celebrate as the whistle called it, and she blinked around her. Her teammates were completely crestfallen, and that's when it hit her. They lost. Three sets reaching the thirties for point tallies, and they still lost.