That's how the summer camp wrapped up, followed by a long string of practice games and school work. Kitsuna set up her laptop in her living room, running occasional weekend streams with Kenma. Practice was shifting to more of a focus on grades again, with midterms coming up before the winter break. Kitsuna was dozing off in the classroom where her fellow third years were discussing their plans for studying outside of school.
"You guys can use my place," she offered after the others wrote her off with her spaced out stare.
"Eh?"
"Hm?"
"What, you were looking for somewhere to meet up weren't you?," Kitsuna sat up and pushed herself back against the chair with a stretch. She relaxed and stared at her hand, which had fallen asleep while holding her chin up during the final class.
"No, that's fine," Kinnoshita spoke up first.
"You were actually listening?," Ennoshita was next, voicing the question all of them shared.
"Hm? Sorta, yeah," she yawned, too tired to bother with a dirty look.
"Are you sure, though?," Tanaka and Nishinoya asked in unison.
"Hm? Daichi'n them would study at my place a bunch. You know where it's at, right? It's gotta be closer than at least some of your guys's places," Kitsuna glanced at her phone, replying to some messages while she stood up beside her desk.
"I guess, sure. When's good?," Ennoshita switched gears and gratefully accepted that offer along with the others. They settled on the next day for a trial run, calling it out to Kitsuna as she left the room. She headed for the store for another long shift into the evening hours.
"You can head out," Keishin came to relieve her from closing duty, and she shuffled down the street. She stopped at the usual turn-off, looking up from her phone and down the darkened street. One of the streetlights was flickering, in danger of burning out soon. Her thoughts wandered, but only for a minute or two before she turned around and continued the journey home. The sting of winter was setting in, which helped to keep her feet moving and her mind from traveling where it shouldn't. She tucked in without a shower, promising herself to take one in the morning before the others arrived.
A promise she was not able to keep, waking up to the knocking on her door and voices outside her window. She jumped out of bed in a panic, peeling off her uniform and sliding into some loose shorts and the first shirt she could find. She opened the door still huffing from her mad scramble, startling the boys waiting outside.
"Your hair," Nishinoya and Tanaka tried and failed to hide their snickering as they were let inside. Kitsuna smacked them both, then remembered something and left for the living room. She scooped her computer up off the table, and a few peripherals, carting them away to her room for now. She returned and plopped down on the couch while the others sat around the table and started pulling out notebooks and handouts. Kitsuna's bag was already there by the sofa, so she also pulled out a couple notebooks.
"Hm? I thought you didn't study," Nishinoya asked her, glancing up behind himself at her. Her bed head was still untouched, hair sticking out in extreme positions.
"I don't really need to, when I can take notes," she answered in a nonchalant tone, but glanced away as she said it.
"You keep falling asleep in class, though," Narita chimed in. There was a short exchange about that sore subject before they got on track and managed some strong studying. After about two o' clock, Kitsuna left for her room and came out every so often. Skittering around for snacks or a drink.
"What's that about?," Kinnoshita asked finally. She was trying to keep quiet so they could focus, but her little trips were super distracting.
"She streams sometimes, and posts videos. With a Nekoma guy, the setter I think? Sometimes on her own, too. I've heard some people at school talking about it, but I don't think they realize who it is on the screen," Ennoshita explained her odd behavior in a way that covered pretty much everything they could ask.
"Huh. Is she like, sorta famous actually?," Nishinoya asked. He and Tanaka both seemed super impressed by something, but Ennoshita pulled the focus back to the task at hand. They wrapped up several hours later, packing up their things to head out. Ennoshita knocked on the door to Kitsuna's room and pushed it open just a little bit when she called back to him.
"What's up?," she pulled a headset down off her ear as she turned around in her chair.
"We're leaving. If you needed to finish copying notes, I left mine on the table," Ennoshita responded from there in the doorway. He felt it was weird, but Kitsuna was unfazed by it. At least outwardly. Kitsuna flashed a thumbs up and pulled the headset back on properly, adjusting the microphone and responding to something in her call.
The rest of the semester wrapped up pretty quick, with several more study meetups in Kitsuna's living room before exams. The other third years caught wind of the little New Year's event from the previous year, and were working to set up something similar this year. Kitsuna left her part open-ended, unsure if she would be able to make it. She also had a stream planned with Kenma that was sure to be a big one for them both. Keishin surprised her with some special instruction after exams wrapped up and the final practice before the break, to make sure she packed enough for a whole week, including any devices. He wouldn't elaborate further, leaving her with more questions. She only had a day or so to dwell on it before she was loading her bags into Keishin's little yellow car.
"It's too damn cold," she whined as she slid into the passenger's seat and closed the door with a rough tug. Her winter gear was still lacking, something he desperately wanted to address sooner rather than later.
"You're gonna get sick again like that. Seriously, get a coat already," Keishin grumbled at her. He looked over to see her already conked out in her seat. Asleep before they even left the curb in front of her house. That made him laugh a little bit as he started his long drive. Instead of turning up the mountain he went down, through the winding hills toward another destination. One she would be sure to notice if she wasn't snoring lightly beside her guardian.