At once, the peaceful quiet of the room is disrupted, razed to the ground as all their alarms begin to ring out at five on the dot.
It's all vaguely reminiscing of anarchy, the sound of mismatched songs blaring through her ears, Yukie's muffled scream in her pillow, and Hitoka hurries to close her own alarm with a groan.
Then, she rolls back into bed, with a bit too much fervor it seems because she finds herself flush against a soft, warm body in a futon that is not her own.
"Hitoka-chan, your hands are cold," Kiyoko Shimizu sighs, button nose wrinkling as sunlight peeks into the room from the window and into her eyes.
The girl moans, wrapping her tangled covers around herself more, but not moving from her spot nestled against Kiyoko's back, nose brushing against wispy strands of bluish-black hair that smell faintly minty, "Sorry..." she mumbles, covering her ears when two alarms continue to ring and vibrate in the girls' room.
Slowly, Kaori rises from between her covers, sending her fellow Fukurodani manager an unimpressed glance, "We told you we'd all put our alarms at five." Mako is the only one who seems wholly unaffected by the rough wake-up call, already out of bed and putting on her sports uniform.
"I hate you," Yukie's voice comes out strong, despite the pillow she'd sunk into, "Eri if you don't shut your alarm right this instance nobody will find your body, I swear it," the usually laid-back, amicable girl is something else in the morning, quite a bit trigger-happy and mean-spirited.
Eri shoots up from her previously laid position, disoriented as she gingerly presses the pads of her fingers on puffy cheeks, "I-I'm awake!"
The dark-haired girl's alarm, a chirpy song Hitoka half-consciously recognizes as Naruto's fourth opening song, has Yukie mutinously looking at her.
It's Mako who decides to end their collective suffering, swiping at Eri's phone when it becomes obvious the girl is still too dazed to do so herself, "It's time to get up guys, come on," the lanky girl rolls her eyes when Kaori raises her arms in the universal motion for pick me up, but still grabs the girl's wrists and hoists her up with a low grunt, "Someone's been putting on some weight."
"Excuse me? That's muscle and you know it!" Hitoka, who is still stealing some of Kiyoko's warmth, groans when Kaori flicks on the lights, "Y'all, we have like twenty-five minutes to get to the kitchens."
Slowly, the two Karasuno managers get themselves out of the cocoon of blankets around them, Hitoka shivering at the difference in temperature and quickly putting on her Karasuno volleyball team vest on, it's deliciously large on her, the hem somewhere along her mid-tighs.
"It suits you," Kiyoko tells the girl, tying her sneakers.
Hitoka smiles back shyly, rolling up the sleeves neatly so they wouldn't bother while she was cooking, "Thank you. The colors suit you well too, well any color looks good on you so-"
"You're sweet Hitoka-chan," Kiyoko interrupts smoothly, as they make a quick stop by the bathroom to brush their teeth, do their skincare, and in Eri's case, apply some mascara, blush, and lip gloss at the speed of light - Hitoka is scared the girl will poke her eye out someday if she does this every morning.
Kaori side-eyes the two, as they go to drop "Hm, I don't know, I say a bit of gold would bring out your eyes, Hi-chan," she says, referring to Fukurodani's distinctive golden accents along with the black and white colors they share with Karasuno.
"I doubt it," Kiyoko smiles pleasantly, her glasses glinting as she sends the other manager a glance.
"So possessive Kiyoko-chan, and I don't know, white and black is so monochrome, I think a bit of color would look good on Yacchan, purple maybe," Eri laughs, then narrowing her eyes on Yachi as the girl washes her face and applies some moisturizer as well as tinted lip balm, "I am so jealous of how good your skin looks, here put some of this," she hands the smaller girl the cherry-colored lip gloss in her hands.
"Oh, sure, thank you," she's unused to the sticky sensation on her lips, passing her tongue over freshly cleaned teeth.
Mako sighs, "I won't even try to say you'd look good in Shinzen's color, lime green is a hideous color," Hitoka is unsure of why such a subject even came up, but she smiles the older manager's way, "We should go."
They quickly drop their things at the girls' dorm on their way to the kitchen, a snoring Yukie left behind.
There are two travel mugs filled with deliciously warm coffee in Hitoka's hands, and she's prepared for war.
Breakfast this morning consisted of two-egg Japanese omelets along with some pan-fried potatoes, it had taken Kaori, Mako, Kiyoko, Eri, and Hitoka almost two hours to make all 77 plates
Since all of the trays were prepared in advance this time, there were fewer hands needed to distribute all of the food and an epic match of rock paper scissors had been held between the managers - Mako, who had scored last, would do the dishes, Kiyoko and Kaori would hand out the food, while Hitoka, who had only lost to Eri, was on Yukie duty.
Eri, of course, has the morning to herself.
As the first early risers had dragged their feet into the cafeteria and the girls finished up with the last plates, Yachi had started up another batch of coffee - the previous one having been finished by herself, Mako, the coaches, and teacher advisors.
You drag her out by her hair if you need to, had been Kaori's exact words, and as she stands in front of the girls' dorm's door, Hitoka's stomach does an unpleasant flip.
"Yukie-san?" the girl is hidden from head to toe by both her covers and those she had stolen from Mako, "It's time to wake up."
There is no sound, no movement and there is half a second where Hitoka wonders if the Fukurodani manager is even breathing. She kneels next to the futon and drags the covers off the girl's head and shoulders, earning herself a low whine.
"Breakfast is ready, and we have an hour to eat and get everything ready for today's matches," she shakes the girl a bit more roughly, gasping when a hand swats at her as one does with a fly, "Yukie-san!"
"Leave me alone," the petite blonde's eyebrow twitches, "Wanna sleep Hitoka-chan," Yukie turns on herself so she is facing the other girl instead of facing the wall, knees bent to her chest.
"No, you need to wake up," feeling unusually fierce, Hitoka puts down the mugs at a safe distance and grabs the girl by the wrists to try and drag her out of bed, like Mako and Kaori seemed to do effortlessly all the time.
That plan backfires, terribly so.
Because Yukie is much stronger than she appears to be, and a half-hearted pull has Hitoka's upper body falling into the older girl's futon, cheek pressed flat on the mildly soft texture.
Pleased, Yukie tries to wrap her arms around the new source of warmth, fumbling hands pushing her away.
"Argh!" the girl pushes herself onto her hands and knees, hair sticking out in various directions from all the tumbling, "Don't you want to eat? I thought food was your one true love," the upperclassman had said so the day before when Hitoka had asked about her constant supply of snacks.
Yukie grumbles, "Later."
"There won't be any left later, or any coffee! Please Yukie-san?" the blonde's own stomach flutter with hunger at the thought of the breakfast she had worked so hard to make.
Slowly, Yukie's left eye peaks open, "Coffee?"
"Yes! I've got some right here," Hitoka waves the traveling mug around, "Some fancy French brand since coach Naoi-sensei is apparently a coffee snob, with a bit of sugar and some milk."
Please work, please work-
"Fine..." Yukie painfully gets out of bed, making grabbing motions for the cup, and beginning to clothe herself, less than two minutes later, she's done getting ready - she's the kind that wakes up five minutes before school starts, Hitoka just knows it.
The two of them make their way into the now-filled cafeteria, Hitoka's eye twitches a bit when she and Yukie take a place in line, the person in front of them coughing to mask a laugh.
"Morning Kuroo-san, Yaku-san," despite her smile, her eyes shoot daggers at the tall middle blocker who, unlike Yaku, doesn't bother hiding his cackles.
"Good morning Yachi-san, Shirofuku," Nekoma's short libero says, a bit apologetic, "Had a rough beginning for the day?"
The girl's hair is a mess, the usually docile blonde strands sticking in every direction, her soft features set into an unconsciously displeased pout while her clothes are still obviously crumpled from her earlier struggle.
Honey-brown eyes shoot to Yukie who whistles lowly, the corners of her lips curving deviously.
"You could say that," the first year straightens up her clothes a bit, nose wrinkling when pieces of her bangs fall over her eyebrows, her usual starry clip having been lost somewhere between when she got in the girls' room, and out of it.
They were the last in line until they are not, a loud voice booming from behind her, "You got stuck on Yukippe duty? That sucks," the tall, tall boy grins down at Hitoka from over Yukie's head, golden eyes crinkling just slightly.
"Good morning Bokuto-san," the first-year greets, her gaze drifting to the two boys who had come with the Fukurodani captain, the powerhouse team's wing spiker and setter, if she remembers correctly, "Sorry, I don't think I caught your names yesterday."
"I'm Konoha Akinori," the one closest to Bokuto, and by proxy her, says, passing a hand through medium-length dirty blond hair. His eyes, which Hitoka notices are a shade of hazel nearly identical to his hair, go from his ace to the tiny Karasuno manager a few times, shining with something like apprehension, or maybe curiosity, "It's nice to meet you."
"Akaashi Keiji," the second one offers, and oh. Hitoka would like to think she's not one to focus on looks, but this one, she cannot help but notice.
Akaashi isn't the kind that would hit you as attractive from afar, or even at first glance, wearing a face that is set in apathy, with mildly dark eyes and black, messy hair that are relatively common. Up close, however, it's impossible to deny just how insanely pretty the setter is, with skin that seems to lack any pores and balanced features that toe the line between sharp angles and soft lines.
"I'm Yachi Hitoka, first-year manager for Karasuno, it's a pleasure to meet you," she hopes her face is not too red, stars she hopes her face is not too red.
Yukie snorts then, mortifying the younger girl when Hitoka thinks it is because her face is indeed flushed, "Don't let those two fool you, Konoha and Akaashi are well-behaved, but they're the only ones in Fukurodani.
They won't want to work with me, the thought hits her, followed by another and another, I can't even blame them! I stared for so long that I must look like a creep, wait, am I a creep? Poor Akaashi-san!
"Fukurodani can't be that bad, Kaori-san's so nice and thoughtful."
Yukie takes a step back, fingers clutching at her chest when she realizes she has been purposely kept out of that sentence, "What about me Hi-chan?!" Yachi squeals when she finds herself between the slightly taller girl's arms, cheek pressed flush against the girl's bosom as a hand messes up her hair further.
"You almost suffocated me twenty minutes ago!" Hitoka wheezes, her features scrunching up in what is an adorable expression - or as a few persons sitting at the nearest tables think, looking at the scene stuck between amusement and worry.
"I didn't try to suffocate you! I just wanted you to take a nap with me, is that really so bad?" the blonde's eyes dart around her, finally settling on what she deems to be the most reasonable party.
Yaku Morisuke blinks, unsure why the girl is suddenly looking straight at him.
"Ah, Shirofuku, maybe loosen your hold a bit?" he says finally when he fears the girl might actually die from lack of air - Karasuno's manager's arms are flailing a bit, her upper arms unable to move due to Yukie's death grip. Bokuto's grin is almost as bright as Hinata's when he says, "You'll break her Yukippe."
"D-don't joke about that!" Hitoka gasps when she's finally free, all wide eyes, crimson cheeks, and pouty, lip gloss-covered lips.
Kuroo, who now has a tray full of food in his grasp since they'd finally arrived at the food station, laughs slyly, "Poor Yacchan, your face's all red." Kiyoko hands her kouhai a tray of the breakfast she had worked so hard on, looking at all the people from different schools crowding the poor girl. Hitoka still smiles her upperclassman's way, grateful to finally sate her hunger, "Thanks, Kiyoko-senpai."
The small manager then sends the Nekoma captain a glance, "This feels like bullying," she sighs, surprised when Akaashi who is now a few steps behind her, taking a tray for himself, chuckles slightly at her words.
He has a nice laugh, she cannot help but think when the smooth sound hits her ears.
"You should come eat with us," Yukie says, smiling at the girl as Bokuto, Yaku, Konoha, and Kuroo all join Kenma, Eri, and some boys from various teams, "I know Karasuno is pretty new, but we usually like to mingle, since we don't all see each other often."
Hitoka blinks, "You guys are pretty close, for rival teams," she hates to realize that such camaraderie between different teams is so new to her.
"I guess," Yukie nods, catching on the brief glance the younger girl sends to a table filled with Karasuno members, their freak middle blocker with the incredible quick notably absent, "Besides the first-years, we've all known each other for at least a year, plus Mako and I went to Junior High together, before I moved to Tokyo, so did Bokuto, Kuroo, Kenma and Kaori, so these four are pretty tight-knit."
"Really?" Hitoka eventually does drift to the table filled with people she's more used to, "Next time, but there were some things I wanted to talk with Daichi-senpai about before we start with the games, I'll see you later?"
She's glad about the invitation, really, really glad. But she's not sure her poor, weak heart could take sitting with people maybe twice her height that she barely knows. Yukie nods easily, much more mellow than she was earlier, "Count on it~!"
"Good morning guys," she takes the space to Tsukishima's right, Nishinoya having already moved over to make room for her, bless her kind senpai, "Not too tired from yesterday?"
"Not at all! If anything," the libero's grin is sharp, almost predatory, "I'm even more pumped up than I was yesterday."
Of course, he is, Hitoka shakes her head, smiling fondly when others around them agree with the boy's sentiment, to different degrees - rarely does anyone has as much energy as Nishinoya Yuu. "That's great, I can't wait to see it then."
Tsukishima rolls his eyes then, taking a small bite from his plate, "Meanwhile, we regular humans do have to deal with sore muscles."
Hitoka almost melts as she takes her first bite of food, the texture of the omelet even better than what she had imagined, soft eggs and crispy onions make for a killer combination. Somewhere a few seats away, Asahi coughs to hide a laugh, "She's sparkling."
Conversation flows, the main subject of discussion of course being volleyball, but sometimes branching into things like their appreciation of the meal, or how finals were an absolute bitch - Nishinoya-san's words, not hers.
"Good morning!" Hitoka blinks once, twice as sunshine personified lands in the seat in front of hers, squishing himself between Daichi and Yamaguchi.
"Hi," she's still half a coffee away from lucidity, and her eyes burn from the exposure to direct sunlight, "You two are up late this morning Hinata, Tanaka-san," if Hinata is bright as ever so early in the morning, Tanaka is much more grumpy than usual, still half-asleep.
Tsukishima, who is next to her at the table's corner, snorts, "They fell back asleep and Sugawara-senpai had to go fetch them."
"Oi, don't talk to your senpai like that, brat," Tanaka grumbles between mouthfuls, Tsukishima's brow ticking as specks of food decorate the bald boy's chin and the corner of his mouth. Then, his gaze falls to her for the first time this morning, "I'm glad you're eating with us Yacchan, although I wish Kiyoko-san could too! Manager duties are so cruel."
Hitoka cocks a brow, her playful side winning over whatever reserve she might have had, "Should we quit then? No more terrible manager duties if we're no longer your managers."
Tanaka, Nishinoya, and Hinata promptly choke, the ginger-haired boy sitting in front of her looking slightly green at the idea, "No! Please don't!" Nishinoya nods, fiercely against her words as he says, "No way, we'd die without our gorgeous managers around!"
"Now I'm a bit insulted, aren't we more than our faces?" the libero's face pales, spluttering out apologies that are heard by the closest tables.
Asahi sighs, "What they mean," he coughs, rubbing the back of his neck where long strands are left untied for once, "Is that we boys are simply hopeless without you and Kiyoko around."
Hinata nods so fast his face is almost a blur, "Don't go Yachi!"
"I'm only jesting," she tells Hinata with a smile that only has a hint of teeth, "And thank you Azumane-senpai, you're sweet," she hadn't had the chance to interact with the gentle giant much, but she had enough to know that despite her initial fear over his almost 185 cm of height and of the small stubble on his chin - which made him look years older than he actually was, Asahi was perhaps Karasuno's kindest, most gentle soul.
"I should probably go," a quick glance at her phone confirms that it is indeed time for her to leave and start with the day's preparations, if the coaches kindly decided to place everything in the gym for them, the girls still needed to fill the water bottles and fetch the towels from the dryer.
"I'll see you guys later," she makes a quick stop by the kitchens, that Kaori and Kiyoko have just left to go eat - much to Tanaka's joy. She empties what is left in the coffee maker into her travel mug, sending Mako who is only halfway done with the dishes a pitying glance, "Do you want some help?"
"Nah," the docile girls says, "Don't worry about it, it'll only put us all late on the schedule - do you mind taking out what's in the second dryer out for me though? I did some laundry for the boys earlier and didn't have time to take it all out."
"Sure," Hitoka agrees easily, brows furrowing as she thinks something over, "Shinzen's rooming with Ubugawa right, in room six?"
Mako nods, cursing lowly when the sharp knife she had been drying nicks her finger, leaving a pale scratch behind, but no blood, "That's the one, the guys will sort their things themselves, just drop it in the corner or something."
The laundry room Nekoma High has to offer is more modern than what most schools have, with rows of washing machines and dryers on opposing walls, above those are wide, arched windows framed by white curtains. Neat, Hitoka almost gives in to the urge to trail her fingers on the edge of those windows, where dark, polished wood lays.
The scent of lavender and fresh linen has the girl smiling as she closes the door behind her, putting her tightly closed travel mug on one of the unoccupied washing machines.
She hastily folds the towels they would be using for today, piling everything up in a huge basket that is wide enough so it fits all of the small-sized towels. She then does the same with the Shinzen uniforms in the second dryer, putting all of those in another laundry basket.
With such a hectic last few days, Hitoka hadn't realized how much she missed peaceful, quiet moments like these.
Of course, her time with Karasuno had been wonderful so far, but sometimes they could get a bit overwhelming, not to mention all the new, headache-inducing people she got to meet in the last few days - there were so many names to remember.
If the steps she takes out of the laundry room and towards room six are a bit slower than usual, well there's no one to notice.
She drops the basket in a corner as instructed by Mako, stopping by the girls' room both to grab her notebook and pen and leave her travel mug behind - she's had enough caffeine for at least a few hours, if her twitching fingers and overall restlessness, are anything to go by.
After one last stop by the laundry room, she leaves in direction of the gymnasium, shoulders straining at the considerable added weight from the gigantic basket filled with towels, her notebook tucked beneath her arm and against her side, her pen slipped behind her ear.
Hitoka is pleasantly surprised when a few boys, that she vaguely recognizes as Ubugawa players, greet her on her way to the gym, thanking her for all of her work. "Oh," she stares for a bit, lips parted before they stretch into a breathless smile, "It's my pleasure, I'll see you guys later! Keep up with the good work on the court!"
It's a combination of factors that have her in such a good mood as she meets with the other managers and the coaches in the gym, everyone working to set everything up for today's games.
"You're awfully preppy this morning," Eri says, pushing on a rolling cart stocked with the water bottles for Fukurodani which she would be with in the morning instead of her usual team.
Hitoka bobs her head slightly, eyes bright with something that the Ubugawa manager fails to decipher, "I don't know, something tells me that this day will just keep getting better."
Optimism is an awfully nice thing to live by.