001

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Bursting through the cafeteria doors with a stack of papers in his hands and his oversized sweater hanging off his shoulder, a black haired boy with hazel eyes rushed to a table of three girls in the far reaches of the room. Cheeks flushed at the attention he received from the rest of the students, the boy had to stop twice to grab a few papers that had blown astray in his hurry and finally made it to the table with his heart racing and his breath coming in gasps.

“Moru-kun, what’s up?” a black haired girl with grey eyes asked the boy, standing up to rub his back as he caught his breath. Holding his hand up to gesture he needed a minute, the boy addressed as Moru sat down in a chair that’d been pulled out by a long haired brunette seated at the table. “I thought we told you to stop running everywhere, Moru-kun.” The white haired girl scolded him from across the table, snacking on her lunch of stir-fry.

“I’m sorry, but Sensei said he had some good news for you guys and he wanted me to come tell you” The boy finally said once he’d managed to catch his breath, taking the bottle of water handed to him by the black haired girl with a bow of his head. “You didn’t have to rush, baka” the brunette flicked him on his forehead and he flinched, rubbing the spot she’d hit him.

“Oi, what’s up with Moru?” A tall redheaded woman asked as she strode over to the table with a tray of food in her hands and two other girls following behind. Sitting down at the table beside the boy, a short haired brunette reached up to check his temperature and he blushed furiously. “Apparently Haji made him his errand boy again and told him to come get us” the white haired girl stated flatly, receiving a glare from the black haired girl for her informal speech. “Why can’t you just call him Sensei? He is our teacher, after all” she reminded.

Scoffing, the white haired girl flipped her long hair over her shoulder and replied haughtily. “When he starts acting like a respectable human being” Rounding the table in seconds and grabbing hold of the white haired girls’ ear, the black haired girl scowled at her as she flailed her hands around. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry Chinami-san! I’ll call him Sensei around you from now on!” Looking pleased, Chinami let go of the girls’ ear and put her hands on her hips in pride.

Leaning down to whisper to the blonde beside her, the redhead said. “Ten bucks she calls him Haji when Chinami-san leaves” Snorting, the blonde shook her head. “Even I wouldn’t take that bet, we all know Kami-Chan’s horrible with honorifics” shrugging, the redhead proceeded to pull out a chair beside the topic of conversation. “What was this epic news Sensei had to tell us, anyway?” she asked, returning to the original discussion.

Shaking his head, Moru held his hands up. “He wouldn’t say, but he told me to make sure you guys made it to practice like you’re supposed to – Especially you, Kosami Senpai” Looking bewildered at the unexpected comment, the redhead pointed at herself in surprise. “Me? Of course I’ll be there, why would he assume I wouldn’t?”

The entire table looked at the redhead in silence before the long haired brunette spoke up, her voice monotone as usual. “Because it’s you, Kosami. You’re in detention nearly every day for doing something” Scandalized by the accusation, the redhead looked to her other friends for support but only got nods of agreement in return.

Pouting, Kosami poked at her bowl of rice with her chopsticks. “If I’d known you were all gonna gang up on me, I would’ve eaten lunch on the roof” patting her head, the blonde offered her a few words of encouragement. “We all still love you regardless of your inability to stay out of trouble” Slapping the girls hand away with a scowl, Kosami whined. “Don’t patronize me too, Yuzu-chan!”

A black cloud crept up over the blonde and she picked up her spoon, aiming it at her neck as tears sprung from her eyes. “You’re right, I’m a failure as a friend – I should just die” Not even fazed by the suicide attempt, the group watched as Chinami plucked the utensil from the girls hand and smacked her upside the head before returning to her spot beside Kami.

“Anyway, I still don’t get why Sensei couldn’t tell us in class. It’s not like he doesn’t teach three of us every day” Kami complained, taking a drink from her water bottle. “Are you sure you’re okay, Moru-kun?” the short haired brunette asked, giving the boy a worried look. Nodding quickly and trying to hide his blush, Moru stuttered. “I-I’m F-Fine, Mika Senpai”

Bumping his shoulder with hers, she playfully glared at him. “I thought I told you to call me Mika-chan” Worried he’d insulted her, Moru stammered. “Gomennasai, Mika-chan!” he bowed his head and thoroughly whacked it on the table, causing everyone to panic. Straightening up with a huge knot on his forehead, Moru scratched the back of his head sheepishly and tried to laugh it off.

Sharing knowing looks between Kami and Kosami, they chuckled darkly as Mika tried to tend to Moru’s forehead while he blushed and told her he was fine. Looking at her watch on her right wrist, Kosami shoveled her food into her mouth as quickly as possible and downed her entire bottle of water. “I gotta go home to grab my history book before Lunch is over, I’ll see ya later” she waved and took off in a jog out of the cafeteria.

Looking at her own watch, Chinami pointed at Moru and interrupted his and Mika’s battle of politeness. “Did you eat yet, Moru-kun?” when he turned to look at her with a guilty expression, she sighed and reached into her bag to pull out a bento box. “This is why I carry extra lunches around – no one ever seems to eat properly!” she complained, throwing her hands in the air. “You do realize it’s completely normal for someone to skip a meal or two when they’re busy, right?” Kami remarked, taking a bite of her stir-fry only to nearly choke to death when Chinami shot her a death glare.

Stifling back laughter, Yuzu and Mika squealed when they were suddenly kicked under the table. “You two should respect your elders” Kami warned smugly, returning to her lunch while the table remained silent.

The silence was broken, however, when three boys came over and stared with heart eyes at their most quiet member. “Mistress Chika, please accept my gift – I bought them just for you” one of them held out a box of chocolates and bowed on his knees as if hiving an offering to the Gods.

Turning around with a blank expression on her face, the long haired brunette that was addressed levelled them with a sneer. “Burn in hell, Maggots” she spat, the tone of her voice giving away the disdain she felt for the boys. Falling over at the unexpected hatred radiating off of the pretty girl, the one who’d offered her a gift was scraped up off the floor by his two other friends while he sobbed.

“Mistress Chika insulted me” he chimed in a sing-song voice as he was dragged off, a look of pure joy on his face. “I can’t believe they still do that when all you do is mercilessly turn them down” Yuzu commented, munching on a rice ball as she watched the boys retreat.

Shrugging, Chika returned to her tray of food and picked up her juice box. “Masochists, the whole lot of them” Mika shook her head, clearly used to the way her twin reacted to confessions and gifts. “Their fanclub motto is ‘Worship Mistress Chika, Take Pleasure in the Abuse!’ it’s no wonder they’re all fucked up” Kami clicked her tongue in disgust.

After a successful day of school, they girls all met up in the locker room to get changed and ready for practice as usual. Kosami being the last one dressed had to run out into the gym without putting her knee pads on and hurriedly tried to do it while running but failed miserably when she face planted right in front of their coach.

“While I’m used to women falling all over me, Kosami-chan. I think you’d better keep your love for me under wraps until you graduate” The blonde man batted his hazel eyes at her and she smiled sweetly at him as she stood up. “Oh, Sensei. There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t want to report your greasy ass” she patted his shoulder and walked past him to go join the rest of the girls as they stretched.

Clearing his throat, he turned around and walked over to get their attention. “First of all, I’d like to give thanks to Mamoru for making sure you are all here” he began, nodding at the blushing boy beside him. “Second, I know you’re all itching to play again – especially after how the Spring Tournament ended up going” in remembrance, he pinched the bridge of his nose.

“I still blame Kami over that” Kosami announced, sticking her tongue out at the white haired girl in question. “As if, you’re the one who couldn’t fucking hit the ball when it was right in your face” Kami spat, glaring at the redhead. “Oh, really now? It was my fault for not hitting the ball that was three fucking feet away!” the two lunged for each other only to be stopped by Chinami stepping between them. “Will you two just shut up and listen to Haji Sensei?”

Gesturing obscenities at each other, the two finally stopped and looked back at their coach. “Thank you, Chinami-chan. As I was saying – After the Spring Prefecture match that we lost due to somebody starting a fight, you guys have been limited to practicing amongst yourselves” taking a moment to make sure everyone was listening to him, he continued. “So, in light of being pretty much blacklisted among the Female teams for training camp, I managed to find you guys a camp that was more than willing to let you join them as they get ready for the Winter Solstice Championship”

Cheers and high fives went around the team, everyone equally excited to finally play against someone after three months of being stuck in their own gym. “Training camp will be held starting this Wednesday and will continue until the 10^th of August. You will all be staying at another school for duration of the training camp, so please make sure it’s okay with your parents. I’ll be handing out permission slips when we’re through with practice today”

Excited at the prospect of getting a vacation away from home, everyone started dancing in joy until they were interrupted by Haji yet again. “One more thing – the training camp isn’t exactly all girls, in fact, there’ll only be a handful of girls besides you guys ”Quirking a brow, Kami spoke up for the rest of the team. “You mean it’s an all-boys training camp?”

“Essentially – Yes. Which is why I have to hand out permission sl-“ He was stopped mid-sentence by the screams of joy throughout the Kisaragi Volleyball team, even Chika who usually sat there with a blank face was smiling as they all launched into a heated conversation about what to do while there. “Wait a minute – What teams accepted us? I mean, I know we’re not exactly the most sought after practice buddies but we do have a reputation.” Chinami asked.

“Ah, yeah. About that…I got a phone call from an old friend who now coaches a team in not too far from here asking if we’d like to join him in Tokyo for a training camp at another school.” Brows furrowed, Mika said “But the only school I know of nearby is an all-girls academy...” she trailed off, confusion written all over her face.

“There’s another one about fifteen minutes from here.” Chika added, while Kosami and Kami suddenly turned to their coach with wide eyes. “Did you just say Tokyo?” Kosami questioned, receiving a nod in return. “Holy shit, Karasuno’s nearby” Kami remembered.

“Wait – you’re old friends with Ukai Keishin?” Chinami stared open mouthed at their coach in shock. “Wait wait wait, Coach Ukai actually tolerated you enough to call you friend?” Kosami joked, earning a glare from their prissy Coach. “But more importantly, don’t they have this crazy power duo thing going on?”

Confused as to what their elders were talking about, Yuzu, Chika and Mika stared at them with their heads tilted. “What’s Karasuno?” Moru interjected, wondering what had caught the seniors’ attention so much. It was Kami who explained first. “Karasuno is the school that the Tiny Giant graduated from, and also where the legendary Coach Ukai’s grandson now follows in his footsteps.”

“Yeah, “Kosami continued. “It’s also where that one dude everyone keeps calling the King of the Court plays at, right?” Upon mentioning him, the three elders launched into a discussion about what they’d read or heard about the so called Power Duo of Karasuno and completely forgot about the original matter at hand.

“Hold on a sec; Kami, don’t you live next to a kid who goes to Karasuno?” Kosami drawled, remembering that she’d mentioned the weird short guy with spikey hair next door. “Oh, yeah – the guy next door. I think he’s on the Volleyball team, too.”

“Okay, can we go back to the permission slips thing?” Mika interrupted them, pointing at their coach currently with his hand over his face as they talked. “Oh, right. Since the three of us are 18 do we still need signatures? I mean, Kami’s Mom and mine are both in England?” Kosami gestured between her, Chinami and Kami.

Nodding, Haji flapped his hand at the two. “I know, I already made sure of it that you three don’t need actual signatures, but as for the rest of you I expect them to be signed and brought to me tomorrow morning or else Wednesday we’re gonna leave without you. That includes you, Mamoru.” Mutual hums of acknowledgement came from everyone.

Clapping his hands together, Haji smiled evilly at the team and an air of uneasiness swept over the Gym. “Now, we wouldn’t want to show up under prepared. That’d just be downright embarrassing, wouldn’t it?” Looking at each other and gulping, the entire Kisaragi Volleyball team bolted to the net in a panicked flurry.