Tokyo is just as she remembers it, Hitoka kind of hates that.
"Is that..." Nishinoya and Tanaka adopt the same position, the same toothy grins as they stare straight ahead at the tall metal tower in the distance, "Could it be...?"
"The Skytree!" the two exclaim in unison, and the volume level has the petite girl wince slightly.
Shimizu rolls her eyes, lips quirking upward when her favorite kouhai muffles a yawn behind thin fingers, "I'll never know where in the world those two find such energy so early in the morning."
Despite her nap on the bus, Hitoka's senpai looks as fresh as a daisy as sunlight reflects off her glasses, her complexion unmarred and her hair just as silky, just as well-kept as it usually is.
Perhaps a bit envious, but mostly in awe, Yachi cannot help but think that this violates at least a few laws of physics.
"No, that's just a transmission tower," the one who says this sends the two girls a gentle smile as they approach, even as the boy next to him, a tall, handsome dark-haired boy, bursts into cackles.
The two were - thankfully - the only players that had come to greet Karasuno when their bus had rolled into Nekoma High's parking lot, the black and red colors they wore betraying their affiliation with the school housing the Fukurodani group's training camp this time around.
Karasuno's "fateful rivals", the team her own could not shut up about as they drove to Tokyo, Nekoma.
"Tokyo, here we come!" never ones to be brought down by the slight hiccups of life, Tanaka and Nishinoya stare at the building like one does its greatest foe.
It's equal part admirable, and pathetic.
Hitoka lets herself be led in the grounds of Nekoma high school with increasingly slippery palms, trying very hard not to eavesdrop on Daichi-senpai's discussion with the two tall, imposing Nekoma players about how neither Kageyama nor Hinata were able to make it to the training camp because of supplementary exams.
She might start crying if she listens too closely.
It had been such a disappointment when she got her hands on the boys' copies, even when she knew they had tried their very best. Truthfully, she might have been even more distraught than they were.
To think Kageyama was this close to passing while over three-quarters of Hinata's answers were right(!), but written in the wrong space, something he had only noticed at the end of his allowed time to finish the exam, having time to quickly rewrite a few of them, but not nearly enough to pass.
It was ridiculous, utterly ridiculous.
But there was not a thing she could do about it besides wait for Tanaka's godsent of an older sister to give them a ride to Tokyo once their recovery exams are finished.
To distract herself from her pestering frustration about the situation, the blonde allows her gaze to drift to the pale, unmarred walls of the school, the rows of wide windows that cover the length of the common halls of the building, offering a glimpse inside.
She had gotten so used to Miyagi's more traditional style of architecture and smaller schools that she had forgotten how impossibly big schools could be in Tokyo.
Just as they round a corner, led by the Nekoma player with permanent bed hair, a mohawk-haired boy appears out of seemingly nowhere, eyes darting from a girl to the other, "Th... there's two girls now?"
Hitoka, obviously, startles when this unknown person falls to his knees
Carefully, she takes a few cautious steps in his direction while Shimizu watches her, slightly dismayed, "Are you okay? if she had been about to reach for the boy whose uniform is the same as the two who had come to lead them inside, she decides against it when he murmurs the words pretty and cute under his breath.
Dark eyes stare straight through her, like he's looking without truly seeing the girl in front of him, as if she is merely a figment of his imagination.
It's a welcomed relief when Tanaka-senpai, who had been trailing behind the two managers closely, steps in front of them both, arms held wide open, "See, Tora? This is what Karasuno's true strength looks like."
"So bright!" Shimizu, having no intention of humoring the two knuckleheads, links her elbow with her kouhai's, gently leading her away from Tanaka who is laughing like those villains from cartoons.
Hitoka, however, hesitates, glancing at the one whose resemblance to Tanaka Ryuunosuke is uncanny, almost creepy, "Is he alright?"
In a few long strides, they'd almost reached the two boys leading them inside, and if Daichi simply spares them both a strained smile, the Nekoma player twists his upper body around so his gaze meets the girl's.
"Don't worry about him little crow," the nickname causes the Karasuno third years to share a glance, eyebrows hiking high on their foreheads, "Tora's perfectly fine, he's just an an idiot."
Hitoka blinks owlishly, a bit surprised to be acknowledged by the boy, "Oh, uhm, hi?" nervousness ties a knot in her ribcage, making her voice take on a slightly breathy, squeaky quality to it, "I'm Yachi Hitoka, it's a pleasure to work with you."
Introducing herself is always a good way to start a conversation, right?...or maybe she shouldn't have, as he had not asked for her name.
Stars above, she hoped she had not been rude to someone her team would be facing soon, someone her team was on a friendly basis with.
His head tilts slightly to the side almost curiously, the corners of his lips pulling in a handsome, only slightly mischievious smirk, "Likewise, I'm Nekoma's captain, Kuroo Tetsurou."
And of course, this sends the girl's mind into overdrive - she had been rude to a team captain, made an absolute mess of things and-
"Hitoka-chan," Shimizu cuts in, both concerned and amused, "Don't forget to breathe."
"Ri-right!" the pinched, almost pained face she makes it seem like she had actually needed the reminder, and peels of laughter almost bubble out of Kuroo who tries not to laugh out loud when the girl's cheeks flush, "Sorry about that."
"You're a jumpy one, aren't you?"
Hitoka thankfully does not have to answer the embarrassing question because Daichi joins the conversation, with a tight, closed-eyed smile, "Yachi's our newest manager, I hope you'll be kind to her and tone it down with the teasing."
The words are a thinly veiled threat if Kuroo has ever heard one and his lips twitch almost smugly at the quite interesting reaction.
The pint-sized girl doesn't notice, her eyes drifting from one captain to the other. "Anyway," Kuroo continues, "You guys are the last ones to get here, you can meet us in the gym whenever you're ready."
Nekoma's kind vice-captain, Kai Nobuyuki, gives them directions to where they would all be sleeping for the next two nights. A few classrooms had been converted into dorms for the training camp's purpose, futons replacing desks with an industrial amount of covers and pillows left at their disposal.
The managers would take one such rooms, the adults another, while the boys had three rooms to split however they deemed fit.
"Hi! You two must be the managers from Karasuno!" the girl that approaches them when the two girls enter the room attributed to them immediately puts Yachi at ease with her friendly smile, "I'm Suzumeda Kaori, third-year manager for Fukudorani."
"Shurofuku Yukie," a girl who is seated on a futon with her legs crossed waves at them languidly, "Just call me Yukie."
Suzumeda huffs, "This lazy bun is also a third-year at Fukudorani," she waves in her co-manager's general direction like one would a wild animal, "And you can also call me by my first name, we girls tend to stick together during these things, exchange war stories and all that."
Hitoka cannot help the giggle that spills out of her at the war stories bit as she puts her stuff next to an empty futon near the window.
"I'm Miyanoshita Eri, second-year manager from Ubugawa, it's nice to meet you! Call me either Miya or Eri, I know my last name's a bit of a mouthful," the cheerful girl winks conspiratorially, "Let's have a nice time together."
"Otaki Mako, second-year at Shinzen High, call me whatever feels comfortable," the last girl shrugs, throwing them a brief look from over her shoulder from where she had been digging through her bag for a notepad.
"I'm Shimizu Kiyoko, Karasuno's third-year manager," she introduces herself, smiling politely yet charmingly at the group of girls, "It's a pleasure to be working with you, feel free to use my first name as well."
And then, all eyes turn to Yachi who blinks unassumingly for a bit before spluttering, "Oh! Sorry, I'm Yachi Hitoka, first-year manager for Karasuno, let's get along! You can all use my first name as well."
"Great," Kaori claps her hands, "Now that we've all been introduced, I can give you a rundown on how we usually do things. About two hours before practice ends, some of us go off to cook while the others are responsible to clean things up in the gym once practice ends, we switch the next day. Tonight Mako and I are on cooking duty, so which one of you would like to join us?"
After a shared glance with Kiyoko, Yachi raises her hand, "I'll do it," thankfully, she happens to be quite used to the kitchen because of her mother's lack of skills in the kitchen and often business trips.
Yet, she cannot help but worry that the three of them might just be outmatched by five whole teams of ravenous boys.
"Great! We usually cook all together in the mornings, but we're not too strict on that - mostly because Yukie is impossible to drag out of bed."
The girl remains unbothered, throwing out a peace sign, "For today, I'll be with Nekoma for the day and everyone else with their respective teams, but starting tomorrow, we'll start doing a rotation at noon, so I hope you don't mind working with other teams. Oh, if you're with Fukurodani and our ace gets too much, don't hesitate to get one of us or Akaashi."
Hitoka blinks at the cryptic warning, is their ace a scary person?
Kaori sheepishly grins when she sees Shimizu's poorly concealed surprise, "I know it might seem weird, to move around teams like this, Coach Nekomata came up with the idea back when we were in our first year - that way Nekoma gets a manager, despite their inability to actually keep one for more than three weeks and we," she motions to herself and Yukie, "Get a break from Bokuto."
Ubugawa and Shinzen's managers exchange a conspiratorial look, Mako snorting in a way that actually manages to sound ladylike.
"I'm surprised you told them the truth Kao," she then turns to the Karasuno managers with a gentle smirk, "Last year she gave me and Eri the clean-cut version : it's so we get used to working with new people, build different skills, get out of comfort zone, and all that crap."
The girl had given a poor imitation of Kaori's voice as she said this, earning herself a pout from the third-year Fukurodani student, "Yeah well you guys were the first we had to explain it to! We had to come up with an excuse!"
Eri clears her throat to get their attention, "And the last and most important thing is that we help and support each other at all times!" she finishes, wiggling her fingers dramatically in a poor imitation of jazz hands.
For one of the few times in her short, anxiety-driven existence, Hitoka has a good feeling about how things might turn out.
"Now that everything is wrapped up," Kaori says, ruthlessly grabbing at Yukie's hands and hoisting the girl up like she weighs nothing, "We should start heading for the gym, something tells me those boys did not wait for us."
"Volleyball-obsessed idiots," Mako deadpans, "The lot of them."
"If that's the case then," Kiyoko's smile has just a bit too much of teeth to it, "I'm sure Karasuno won't have too much trouble fitting in."
The sharp answer has them all snickering, as they make their way to the gym that was used for practice, and yes, in fact, the games had already begun - as proven by the volleyball that rebounds their way with the speed and force of a meteorite.
"We told everyone to fill their bottles before, Kuroo probably told your team, so you shouldn't have to fill any for a while," Eri smiles her way when she notices Hitoka's wide-eyed expression.
The gym is huge, and filled to the brink with players displaying colorful jerseys over their regular training clothes, it's both intimidating and familiar. Before she has time to get overwhelmed, however, Kiyoko-senpai drags her to where Takeda-sensei and coach Ukai are.
"You girls sure took your time," Ukai raises a brow, tone only slightly sardonic - which was basically his everyday attitude, although his soft spot for the managers was undeniable, "Our team even had enough time to almost lose to Fukurodani."
As the Karasuno coach speaks, a particularly good block from the opposite team assures them the win. Yachi's eyes narrow on the score, 25 - 16, it's not so bad since Fukurodani is such a renowned school, especially in the sports' department, but not quite satisfying.
"As suspected, they're very strong," Takeda-sensei says as the boys begin to do diving drills as penalty for their loss, and Yachi winces at how painful those look, feeling the odd urge to cradle her modest bosom.
On the second half of the the gym, a particularly nasty serve catches her attention, as does the following combo attack from Shinzen.
"They're good," she says, trying to work out the mechanics of such an attack where numerous players run towards the net and jump so it is hard to predict who ultimately spikes it.
There are so many combinations possible, she starts to note down observations as her mind whirls, and they're so synchronized in their movements it can't be anything but practiced thoroughly.
It's a bit discouraging to watch Karasuno lose every game they play, but by the end of the day, she has almost half a notebook filled with rough notes she'll have to touch up later.
Not once does she see anyone complaining about the drills or the losses, and as always, their determination impresses her.
"Nice job out there," she says sympathetically eyeing the boys who were all practically laid out on the bench from exhaustion, because of the uneven number of teams, once the diving drills were done, they could have a bit of rest before they had to face the winner of the first set that finished between the two that were being played right now, "You guys are doing great."
Nishinoya grins back at her, somehow still full of energy despite having lost their seventh set just now, against the somewhat smug Nekoma team this time, "Thanks Yacchan!"
"Sure," Tsukishima snorts, "We're doing just great with our losing streak, at this rate it'll reach the double digits." If she didn't know better, Hitoka would say he was disappointed or frustrated with the situation.
Yet Tsukishima's face shows nothing of the sort, only cold apathy.
"Oi, don't use that tone with our manager who's only trying to cheer us up," Sugawara says, brows furrowed just slightly in a pôsitively unthreatening expression, "You're sweet Yacchan," the boy addresses the last part to her, reaching over to pat her head.
Sugawara-senpai's always so nice, she can't help but think, even as the boy's actions have messed up her hair, "Thanks senpai!"
As Ubugawa makes the winning point, Karasuno rises to go play the next set against them, taking one last sip of water and stretching out their increasingly sore muscles. The eldest manager shakes her head when Yachi practically vibrates in her seat because of her nerves and excitement, "You guys can do it!"
"Hitoka-chan, don't be so nervous," Kiyoko laughs a bit, quietly giving her own encouragement to the team, "And Kaori-san is waving you over I think."
The blonde pauses, eyes drifting to where Fukurodani's coach and managers were earlier, only finding the coach and Yukie, she looks a bit further, finding Kaori and Mako waiting for her next to the gym's doors. She checks the time, face paling, "Ack! Right, I'm on cooking duty! See you later Kiyoko-senpai!"
The girl scurries off, keeping close to the wall so as to not disturb any of the two games currently ongoing. She's near her destination when it happens, "Oh crap! Watch out-"
Hitoka whips around, eyes the color of marigolds catching sight of a ball slamming harshly right next to the court line closest to her, the spike so powerful that hitting the floor only slows down its momentum by a tiny margin. The angle of the attack has the ball rebounding straight in her direction, and she's not fast enough to avoid it.
The girl barely budges, both hands reaching out to catch the ball before it can hit her face, her grip on it is strong and yet not too tight as to allow the ball to spin slowly to a stop between her hands.
Slowly, she lowers the ball, hiccupping when she sees quite a few pairs of eyes on her. Never one for attention, color drains out of the girl's face and she almost uses the ball to shield her face when she feels as if her heart might give out.
Kuroo, who had been doing diving drills with his team glares at the boy who had spiked the ball with such monstrous strength, "Goddamn it Bokuto! Be careful with that, you'll take someone's arm off!"
Karasuno who is on the second court look at the boy who had spiked the ball with such ferocity with some pretty terrifying expressions, even as they do not stop playing.
"Ah!" the boy, the one she recognizes as Fukurodani's ace, exclaims, "Sorry Karasuno-chan, I didn't mean to!"
His hair is this wild, spiky mess of black and grey-white streaks, it's the first thing she truly notices about him, the second being how he truly does look sorry, even going as far as marching in her direction.
"Don't worry about it!" she calls out, not wanting to disturb the game any further, before she throws the ball lightly and smacks it so it arches and lands straight in the advancing boy's hands when she remembers that even if it had been close to the line, almost an actual line-shot, the ball had landed within bounds. He's at the net's level now, eyeing the ball in his hand with something like incomprehension when she speaks loud enough for him to hear, "Nice kill!"
Yachi quickly makes her way to the two girls who had been waiting for her, hands trembling, "Sorry for the wait," she says and only breathes again when they're out of the gym and away from prying eyes.
Volleyball, like most sports involving human interactions, always seems to take years off her lifespan.
"It's fine Hitoka-chan," Kaori says, her left eye giving a twitch that the nervous girl does not notice, "I'm the one who should be sorry about him!"
The first-year manager squeaks when the taller girl's arm wraps around her as she's lead in the direction of the kitchens, face pressed flush against Kaori's shoulder, "Don't be, I'm the one who was in the way!"
Mako's face is carefully blank as she slides to Hitoka's other side, "Don't worry baby crow, he'll pay."