The rest of the games progressed without any amazing developments, and a mixed bag of wins and losses. Finally it was time for the last one, once again against Nekoma again. Kitsuna was starting in the setter position again and she felt like this was some sort of cruel punishment at this point.

"Hey, if you guys are tired you can just not go so hard on defense y'know. Make this go nice and quick," Kitsuna half-pleaded with Kenma through the net.

"What? No way!," Lev overheard and butt in. Hinata joined him, earning a bland "shut up" from their respective setters.

"I am tired. But you got me earlier, so I wanna see how this one goes," Kenma said the worst possible thing to Kitsuna just then. He was interested in the game, and that was good for him but bad for her. Bad for both of their stamina, really. She resigned herself to a long game and switched gears.

Just as she feared, the rallies were getting longer and longer. They were getting some hits in, but just as many were returned. Sets one and two went so long that a new rule was instated where the first past twenty-five points was automatically the winner. They ended up getting close to a deuce again, and Keishin called a brief timeout.

"You ready to swap?," the coach asked Kitsuna. She was definitely tired, and wasn't listening anymore either. She kept moving her hands around and glaring at them.

"Kitsuna," Ennoshita bumped her arm to pull her back to the conversation.

"What," she didn't stop what she was doing with her hands but at least acknowledged him.

"What are you doing?," Tsukishima asked.

"Hey," she turned to Ennoshita and whispered something to him. He gave her a tired look then made a motion with his hand. She mimicked it, then her face lit back up and she returned to the group huddle.

"Alright. Guess you're good then?," Keishin asked again to confirm her condition.

"Yeah. Hinata, watch for the signal okay?," she immediately went back to game mode and the timeout was over.

"You're up to something," Kenma glowered as they lined back up. Kitsuna tilted her head as if confused, struggling to hide her grin.

The game continued, with yet another long rally. Kageyama was subbed to the back for Tsukishima and tried her surprise back row attack off of a chance ball but got stuffed. The ball was retrieved by Nishinoya but it was rough. Kitsuna patted her shoulder while facing away from the net, and gave a separate signal to the others. They all made their approach as Kenma jumped up with her to try and snatch the ball away. She got it first, and sent it straight to Hinata with lightning speed. It was slower than Kageyama's sets, and a little off, but Hinata managed to slam it down regardless and get them the final point to win. Kenma glared at her hard but she just flashed peace signs and rolled back onto the floor to catch her breath.

"Make sure you cool down properly if you aren't gonna do self-practice," Keishin warned before going to check on the dinner preparations. Or smoke. He really did miss his smoking buddy, even if he should have tried to put a stop to that way sooner than she got to it.

"I can't believe you forgot the signals. Even the two dumbest can remember them," Ennoshita expressed his shock again just as she finished cooling down.

"Oh shut up. Unless you have any ideas for that new one," she barked at him while slinging her jacket over her shoulder.

"Right. I'll think about it, but I'm not as good at coming up with those," he made a vague promise to her while she was already headed for the door with her phone in hand. She held up her hand as if to wave to him while making her exit, but her phone went off just then and snapped back to her ear to answer it.

…

"Dude. Really? You just saw her yesterday," Daichi voiced a complaint as Sugawara stepped back behind the group to make a phone call. He already knew who it was to, but the lack of reaction as the call was almost immediately picked up confirmed it.

"Ayo, for real?," Kuro snickered. He had joined the trio for the afternoon and was walking with them to find something for dinner.

"Is that really weird?," Asahi was genuinely puzzled. The looks he got from the two former captains made him start to consider some things about his own personal habits just then.

"Hm? Really? That's crazy! You'll have to let us see that sometime. No, I don't have it why? Pfft, really? Okay, I'll think of something and we can go over it tomorrow. Oh, yeah. We'll be stopping by tomorrow with some extras," Suga's reactions were over the top and Kuro was getting way too entertained by that.

"Suga," Daichi called his friend to rejoin the group as they neared a ramen shop. Sugawara shot him a look but ended his call anyway. With an apology, and a hushed "I love you" at the end.

"Yeah, that's still funny to me," Kuroo commented on the half of the phone call he heard, and the relationship that had budded right under their eyes through the last year.

"Huh? What is," Sugawara took the bait all too easily. Daichi sighed but let that go on while he ordered drinks for their table.

"I mean, you seem like a good guy but she's way more..intense? Then I figured you could handle," Kuro started this debate but didn't actually have a plan for where it would go.

"Suga's pretty intense in his own way," Asahi said with a blank face.

"I guess you're right. But someone a lot more passive feels like it'd make more sense for her, yeah? I mean, you definitely are passive compared to those juniors you have. But like, that one pinch server or Kenma. Where they won't really push back too hard. I guess Kenma would sometimes, though," Kuro kept rambling in a way that was starting to grate Suga's nerves. Sensing this, Daichi passed a menu between them to create a thin but still physical wall between them.

"So, who asked who?," Kuro asked after their orders were placed and the menus collected. Asahi choked on his drink while Daichi facepalmed hard. Suga wore an indescribable expression as he tried to find a way to end the relationship talk.

"Wait, even better question," Kuro pressed on all on his own. "How far've you gotten? And who made the first move?"

"Alright. That's enough," Daichi cut things off there. Suga's face went beet red as he tried to focus on his drink and Kuro laughed, likely reaching some wild conclusion from that alone.