Yachi finds it hard to concentrate on her studies all day.
All she can think about is volleyball and the boys who play it, even as she tries very hard to finish her schoolwork. Strange how things turn out, that even when she's put the whole thing behind her, it still comes back to bite her in the ass.
"What's up with you? You've been out of it all day," Harada Koharu says, slipping her books into her bag, their last class of the day had just finished. Eager teenagers practically run out of the room, except for the poor souls having been stuck with cleaning duties.
"Just...stuff," Hitoka, ever so eloquent, says distractedly, earning herself an unimpressed stare from her classmate, which gets an admission out of her, "Some volleyball stuff."
Koharu snaps her fingers, "Right! That pretty senpai asked you to go on a trial basis as a manager right? So how was it?" Yachi hurries out of the classroom, following the taller girl into the halls of Karasuno High.
"Fun," much too fun for her poor heart to take it, "Say Harada-chan, would you like to apply maybe? Since you've just quit band, you might..."
Koharu laughs, wrapping her arms around herself and throwing her head back like this is the funniest joke she has ever heard, "Honey, does it look like I do sports? I was thinking of applying for the drama club actually."
"Oh," that makes sense.
Harada shakes her head, wiping what might be a tear out of her eye, "Want to go get some pastries and study together for a bit? There's a bakery that just opened in front of the school, I heard their muffins are to die for."
"Sure," studying is familiar, studying is safe and might just get her mind off sports, "I'll go get my shoes and meet you outside?"
Harada nods, absentmindedly typing something on her cellphone, "Your locker's on the first floor, right? It must suck to have to do the detour every time, mine's right next to our class."
"It's not so bad," Harada smirks, muttering something along the lines of you're always so positive Yacchan, as the girl quickly reaches the staircase that leads to Karasuno's first floor, her locker only a hall away.
As she puts back on her shoes and puts her school slippers back in place, Hitoka can't help but think about the practice match Takeda-sensei was talking about the day before, about how pumped up the volleyball team had been about it, I hope it goes well.
Maybe she could send Shimizu-senpai a text wishing the team luck? Or would that be too much?
Without her noticing, Yachi heads in the direction of the volleyball team's gymnasium, which is only a hall away from her locker, instead of in the opposite direction where the main doors are, "Oh Yachi!" the girl startles as Takeda-sensei appears behind her, "I think Shimizu already went to go fill the bottles, and the boys will be out soon, you should hurry."
"Oh um," she stammers, cursing just about every deity she can think of in her head, "I won't be staying for the practice match actually, I just wanted to see how things were going..."
Takeda blinks, obviously confused, Shimizu-senpai had probably not told the man that her brief stay with the team was only a temporary and that she had not signed the club admission papers, "Well the other team hasn't arrived yet, but you can wait if you want and wish everybody luck."
Yachi shakes her head at the kind offer, blurting out, "No! My friend is waiting outside, I'll just...go."
"Okay? Is everything alright?" the girl nods, hurrying to leave the sports' wing and all of this behind. Harada blinks at the girl's fast pace as she pushes the school's doors open, taking a large breath of fresh air like she'd been suffocating, "Where's the fire? You didn't make me wait that long, I swear."
Yachi laughs uneasily, "I'm just craving some sugar, let's go."
And as a too-sweet tea smooths down the taste of the pecan pie she just ate, Hitoka thinks that gorging herself on too much sugar doesn't help much after all. The restlessness in her bones doesn't quell, if anything it only makes it worse.
Koharu groans, a round cheek laid on her notebook, "My mom would kill me if she knew all I just ate, you're a bad influence Yacchan." She's never been called a bad influence, Harada calling her such makes Yachi more proud than she should be.
Maybe it's the familiar setting, the smell of pastries and the school papers laying all over the table, that makes her open her big, fat mouth, "Hey, do you want to go out and play?"
Yachi realizes who she's talking to in the next second and blushes to her roots, mortified.
"Huh? Play what?" Harada looks at the tiny blonde like she's crazy, and Hitoka stammers out something that might pass as an explanation, "So-sorry! It's stupid, but um, back in middle school me, and some friends usually went out to play basketball after a study session. Li-like a tradition, my mouth opened on its own, sorry!"
It was the only way Aomine would ever concentrate when she was trying to help him review school material, it always made Satsuki grin and Kuroko perk up.
"Oh, well I'm not a big fan of basket, but I can go with you and watch if you want?" Harada says, curious if anything - sweet, fun-sized Yacchan playing a rough sport like basketball?
"Oh no, I couldn't," they end up doing it anyway, quickly finding an empty court and convenience store to procure themselves with a basketball.
It's like a breath of fresh air, dribbling the ball slowly as if to get used once again to the ball. She plays around with it for a bit, passing it between her hands and dribbling between her legs. She shoots, Harada's eyes widening at the too-quick movement, and all the tension in Yachi's shoulders evaporates.
The swoosh of the basketball net is all too familiar to her ears, a smile blooms on her face.
Harada whistles lowly, leaning on the metal fence that surrounds the basketball court, "Wow, you're not that bad."
"She's not," a voice cuts it, interested, "I've never seen you around here pixie, I have some friends coming for a game in a few, but maybe you'd like to keep me entertained while I wait?"
Without the two girls noticing, someone had crept inside the basketball court, icy grey-blue eyes fixated on the ball Hitoka had just shot into the net.
Yachi raises a brow, ignoring how a pale-faced Harada shakes her head, "Sure, I'm Yachi Hitoka. How about a one-on-one, to ten?" the words are out of her mouth before she can stop then, inquisitive, interested eyes taking in the girl who has made her way to stand directly in front of her.
The mountain of muscles in front of Hitoka grins, gathering her long white hair into a ponytail, "Hah, I'm O'connell Nina, just call me Nina," there is no way in hell she is going to win, not when this girl could very well be twice her size and has the palms of someone who plays basketball daily.
But there is no way that'll stop her, not when she feels like a too-full bottle about to burst and spill into the floor, like energy cackles within her.
"Ready?" Before Hitoka can comprehend what has happened, the girl facing her has shot to the right with no hint of hesitation, dribbling the ball so fast it disappears from her view.
Dry lips part, amber eyes widen and she just manages to block the girl's path.
When Nina goes for the other side, Yachi isn't as fast, but it is a near thing and the American(maybe, probably with that accent?) girl's surprise that allows the tiny blonde to steal the ball, dribbling it behind her carefully. Feinting to the left, she jumps and shoots, only half-expecting it to go in.
The ball rolls over the hoop once, it falls in.
"Heh," Nina smirks, eyeing the girl with wavering technique but steely eyes, "Nice aim."
The rest of the game goes by quickly, Yachi being left in the dust as her opponent scores with flawless dunks and alley-hoops. Even what should be raw moves of power, Nina makes seem like a dance.
Out of breath, Hitoka grins in a way she hasn't done in a long time.
A bit later that day, the Karasuno volleyball team ends up inside the closest ramen shop, celebrating their last game, despite the loss.
All of them, besides Tsukishima who'd shot the idea down and Yamaguchi who had followed him, "I don't know, it could have been fun Tsukki," the freckled boy says hesitantly as they walk down the hill Karasuno High is set on, their houses only a few miles away.
"I didn't ask you to come with me Yamaguchi," Tsukishima rolls his eyes, unconcerned, "You could have stayed with them if you wanted, but I'm not subjecting myself to spending more time with these losers when mom's making some strawberry shortcake."
Of course, Yamaguchi sweatdrops, the only thing Tsukki ever gets passionate about is his mom's cake. As they get closer to their neighborhood, the sound of the ball bouncing off the concrete and the rustling of a metallic net reaches their ears.
"Heh, that's weird, that court's never used," Yamaguchi says as to break the silence, but gets no answer, classic Tsukki, "Wait," the boy's face scrunches up with something like disbelief, "Isn't that Yachi-san?"
"Hah?" hazel eyes drag themselves to where the girl does in fact stand, dribbling the ball with her stance low, Tsukishima speaks without thinking, a rare occurrence, "I didn't take her for someone who enjoyed sports."
The girl in front of the small girl is imposing, perhaps Tsukishima's height with large shoulders. Yamaguchi gulps, intimidated by the sight, and whispers, "Do you think this is fine?"
Yachi Hitoka looks like she could fall over from a breeze.
She also manages to make a girl almost twice her size fall on her butt with a well-done crossover, gravity bringing Nina down on the cold concrete. Hitoka is somewhere between the mid-court line and the three-point line when she shoots, having witnessed just how freakishly fast and good at steals her opponent is.
The ball falls straight into the hoop.
"That's really a wicked throw," sharp teeth are on display and a pink blush covers Hitoka's cheeks at the compliment, for someone so intimidating, Nina O'Connell sure likes throwing those out. It's a nice change of pace from the usual trash talk she'd witnessed too many times in street basket matches.
She does not notice the two volleyball players now right next to the court, observing, "Ah, I couldn't do alley-hoops for the longest time so I didn't have much else besides three-pointers," she rarely misses those, but it's nothing next to a certain bespectacled boy's truly infallible aim.
Hitoka remembers a tanned, incredibly warm hand ruffling her hair when she finally managed to do a decent alley-hoop, how she'd unceremoniously threw her arms around Aomine's shoulders, her feet lifting off the ground.
Don't think about that now, she chides herself and focuses once again on the large girl in front of her.
"Think you can reach the hoop now?" Nina tilts her head, the already won game forgotten - Yachi's pretty sure the points were now something like 27 - 16, the ten points mark having been reached a while ago with Nina as the clear winner. Harada-chan had promised that it was no problem for the girls to continue playing, having gone off to fetch herself a drink at the nearest distributor.
The blonde thinks, brows furrowed, "Maybe, you know what, let's see. Let me just..." and she grabs the ball, deft fingers brushing against the calloused ones of the other girl. She inhales deeply before she runs towards the net, her form less than ideal.
"Spying on pretty girls?" a voice asks from behind Tsukishima and Yamagusi who startle, Harada Koharu's hands are on her hips as she says, "Scram you freaks."
"Hey, we weren't spying on anyone-!" the ball hits the board and falls into the hoop smoothly, Hitoka's eyes wide with wonder, "I did it! Wow I didn't think I could still jump that high."
Nina smirks, eyebrows high on her forehead, "You had to throw it so high to hit the board..."
"It works for me!" Yachi's tongue pokes out, her back facing the two high schoolers arguing outside the court. Harada, eyes flashing with the fury of a thousand suns, stomps her feet, "Yeah right! Like I'd believe you, with how you were looking at poor Yacchan!"
"Harada-chan did you see? Where did she go? I thought for sure I saw her come back..." Yachi's eyes slowly make their way to the opposite side of the court, behind the grilled fence, "Tsukishima-san? Ah sorry O'Connell-san, I think I have to go!"
"I told you already, we know her-" Tsukishima bites his tongue in annoyance at the menace in front of him, who is currently threatening to tell the principal, or kick his ass - he's not too sure.
Before the accented girl can ask for something like a number, Yachi is already out of the court, basketball forgotten and with her bag and Koharu's in her arms, "What are you two doing here?"
Koharu is next to the girl in a second, an arm wrapped around the smaller girl as she hisses, "They're creeps Yacchan, they kept looking at you and O'Connell."
Yamaguchi blushes and splutters, "Tha-that's not-"
"Oh," it's hard not to notice how radiant the blonde is in this moment, how messy her hair is from the previous game and how color blooms on her cheeks, not from any embarrassment, but because of her increased pulse, "Oh Harada-chan, no! They're boys from the volleyball team, it's nothing like that. Were you going home?"
Yamaguchi hurries to nod, happy not to be considered a creep by his would-be manager.
Koharu blinks, and then sniffs, "I would say that's even more suspicious! If they knew you, then why not come and say hi?" Tsukishima's brow ticks, "Because you didn't let us place a word, you were too busy screaming like a banshee."
"Excuse me-?!"
"Oh!" Hitoka hurries to say, pointing in the direction Yamaguchi had slowly crept towards, "You're going this way? So are we, let's walk together!"
Hitoka is almost never this forward, but she can still feel her nerves tingling from the game, her breath coming out in shallow pants. It's like gravity has no hold over her now, like she can feel every muscle in her body, like she's alive, more than she has been in a long time.
"Yacchan, no! They're slimy, dangerous boys," the word is spat like the species as a whole is a disease and Tsukishima wonders just how annoying a person can get.
"They're nice," Hitoka argues, "Besides we should really get back home," when the words do not get a response, Yachi nudges her friend's shoulder with her own, "Please Harada-chan?"
"Ugh fine," the girl slips her bag over her shoulder, glaring at Tsukishima who scoffs, "And we should walk with you because?"
"Because we're going the same way, where are you guys heading?" the simple answer has something like annoyance churning in the tall first-year's gut, despite the fact that it was said without any hint of malice.
Yamaguchi is the one to answer, vaguely referring to a park familiar to her, "Oh that's perfect! We both live in those apartment complexes a few streets away, the ones close to the Miniso grocery store."
Yachi then turns to Yamaguchi who is looking straight ahead, "By the way, I don't think we were introduced yesterday, I'm Yachi Hitoka."
"Huh? Oh, I'm Yamaguchi Tadashi! It's nice to meet you," she nods, and chirps out a likewise! that does nothing to hide the great mood she is in, "So Yamaguchi-san, Tsukishima-san, how did the practice match go?"
"It was great! Ouginishi won, but we almost managed to take the first set from them!" Yamaguchi Tadashi is the type of boy that is easy to like Hitoka finds out, the kind of boy that's so genuinely sweet that you cannot help but take a shine to.
It's a sharp contrast to Tsukishima who he seems to always be with, but she finds that the odd partnership suits both boys somehow.
"That's great!" she cheers, eyes filled with specks of light that remind Yamaguchi of the starry sky above their heads, "It's amazing, isn't Ouginishi a school that usually reaches the prefectural qualifiers?"
Rarely does Hitoka feel so positive, so vivacious, walking on sunshine and all that, there's a noticeable bounce in her step as she walks. Tsukishima, a few steps behind her and her irritating friend, eyes the blonde with curiosity.
"They are!" entranced by the stars in the girl's eyes, Yamaguchi doesn't notice the wording the tiny girl uses. Tsukishima however does, lips pursing as he asks, "You did some research on them?"
If Ouginishi is indeed a school that usually makes it to the qualifiers for Nationals, they rarely make it past the first or second round and are not so well-known one would hear about them on the streets.
"Ah," a light pink hue blossoms on Hitoka's cheeks, "Yeah, I was a bit curious."
"But not curious enough to join the team as a manager," it is not a question, nor an accusation - what would Tsukishima care if this girl joined the team as a manager or not? It's none of his business.
Yachi smiles, something that she does more and more often these days, "No."
"Oh," Yamaguchi says and fails to hide the surge of disappointment, "That's a bummer, but everyone understands where you're coming from after last night." They don't, not really. Tsukishima and Yamaguchi especially, since neither of them had talked much with the girl, or been there to witness the particular discussion where she had announced she would not be joining the team.
"Thanks, I appreciate it," but it is not something she wants to talk about, "I hope waiting for me wasn't too boring Harada-chan."
"I have four brothers," Koharu Harada has the look of someone who has lived through unimaginable pain, "I'm used to it. Besides, O'Connell was nice, for someone who could eat us for breakfast."
"Harada-chan..." Yachi trails off, a drop of sweat trickling down her forehead, "Play nice."
"Just kidding, I'm surprised at how good you were though Yacchan, no offense." Yamaguchi nods at Harada's words, more curious than he says out loud, "I didn't know you played basketball Yachi-san, it's a pretty rough sport."
"None taken. I haven't played in a while," her muscles are just starting to burn, her breathing pattern to slow down, "I missed it more than I thought I did. Oh, but I never played in a team or anything! I just used to fool around with some friends back in middle school."
Harada hums, "That's nice, I always took you for an artsy kid."
The edges of Hitoka's curved lips hide something like nostalgia. She used to be, really, always in her own world with a novel or sketching something in her school books, alone. Then, somebody came around and turned her small, small world on its axis.
"'Cause that's not rude," Tsukishima snorts, the headphones on his head no longer playing music.
Harada frowns, "Like you can talk, beanstalk," Yamaguchi and Yachi share a glance, those two really don't get along well do they? Koharu sniffs, "When's the last time you smiled, or looked alive? Last month maybe, or am I giving you too much credit?"
"Shut up, you're annoying," before the feisty girl could retort something, Tsukishima sighed, muttering under his breath, "Are you always so loud? You're giving me a headache."
"Ah," Yachi does not release her hold on her friend even as the girl's face turned purple from anger, "Tsukishima-san, Harada-chan maybe you two should calm down..."
"This was your idea," Hitoka wilts when the tall volleyball player shoots her a dry, unimpressed look.
Then, as the words catch up to her brain, her heart jumps wildly in her ribcage in mild panic, "I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to bother you two, I just thought that since you two stuck around here for a bit you wouldn't mind...I'm so sorry, we can go! I wouldn't want to bother-"
"Yacchan, breathe," Koharu cuts, calmer now despite the dark glare she pines Tsukishima with, "I'm sure Tsukishima-kun here doesn't actually hate our company that much, does he?"
And if Kei is happy to tell her that he is, in fact, rather unhappy with the current situation, the words leave him when his eyes meet Yachi's molten gold, wide, watery ones.
The girl has stopped walking, half-turned around so she could apologize, looking at Tsukishima directly from over her shoulder with those captivating eyes of hers, nibbling harshly on her lower lip.
What is this? Tsukishima scoffs, "Whatever, I don't care," Yamaguchi blinks, head slowly tilting to the side as his oldest friend looks away, lips tugged down into a small, bemused frown.
The fifteen minutes they spend walking towards their respective homes together maybe aren't the worst, Tsukishima will concede that Yachi isn't all that annoying and even her loud friend can be somewhat tolerable when she's not screaming his head off.
Maybe.