Strategize: Haikyuu Fanfic

Chapter 15: Stray

Third Person POV:

        That night, the blonde was tossing and turning as he attempted to fall back asleep, but scenes from kept replaying in his head, he tried his best to solve the puzzle in front of him. But there weren't enough pieces; he was only able to make two fit. He knew now why she wanted to sleep as far as possible from the window, and why she was so desperate to check the weather. Drowned in his thoughts, he finally drifted into sleep.

        The dawn rose, and he woke up fairly early. He wasn't exactly a morning person.The blonde rubbed his eyes before putting on his glasses. Yawning, he stole a glance at her futon, and just as he expected, it was empty. Should I go check the closet? The blonde was about to, until his eyes rested on the white headphones, which was carefully placed at the foot of his futon.

        He headed to the living room, and he saw Ayame and Suga in the kitchen, both wearing aprons, preparing breakfast for the rest of the members. There was a bitter taste in his mouth as he saw them chatting.

        The messy haired blonde approached the two and looked down at Ayame. There was a whopping 30 cm height difference, so he had to glance down to see Ayame's face. Luckily, she seemed to have recovered from last night, as if nothing really happened. Her puffy red eyes faded away along with her inflamed, red nose. Her bright green eyes met with his honey brown ones.

        "Thanks." She said, bowing her head greatfully. Suga looked at them with a confused expression. They never told each other whether speak to anyone about what happened last night or not, so to prevent a huge fuss from happening, they mentally decided to keep that memory to themselves.

        Tsukishima, not knowing how to respond to her thanks, just patted her head. He recalled the her tight embrace from last night, which made him feel more more awkward as heat crept up his cheeks. Ayame, on the other hand, felt her heart beat faster for a fraction of a second, but being an oblivious girl she is, she brushed it off to the side and headed back to Suga.

        "Morning." Tsukishima greeted Suga lazily. His voice is raspy and deeper in the morning. He checked the fridge to prepare himself a glass of milk.

        "Good morning, Tsukishima." The third year beamed at him, "We already finished a couple pancakes, you can go and eat." The way he phrased it sounded insulting to Tskishima, it's as if he's trying to say: Shoo, go away. Leave Ayame and I alone.

        "No thanks, I'll eat later." He said, trying his best to hide his irritation. Uncomfortable silence filled the atmosphere, but only Suga and Tsukishima can feel it building up as the clock ticks. Luckily, Kageyama was done with his early morning jogging. It was a perfect opportunity for the blonde to break the silence, and so he started teasing him.

        "Done with your royal jogging, King?" He got the reaction he wanted, an fired up Kageyama. They continued to bicker and throw some insults back and forth.

        "We're trying out some of the attack patterns I came up with today. I remember watching this synchronized attack pulled during beach volleyball tournament on YouTube, and I thought it would look pretty cool to try it out. " Ayame said casually with a hint of excitement in her tone.

        "Is that so..." He replied before taking a sip of his milk.

        "Do you still have the link to the video?" Suga asked. Ayame nodded her head.

        "Can you send it to me once you get home? I wanna see it." Suga beamed brightly at her. She nodded again, taking out her iPhone as Suga did the same. They switched their phones and added themselves in each other's contacts.

        Kageyama and Tsukishima shot him glare from behind. The third year felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up as he handed the phone back to her.

        Suga-san, you sly dog. Tsukishima and Kageyama thought in unison.

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        Third day of training started, everyone was gathered around the coach before the practice.

        "Alright. We'll do the same routine for today, we'll warm up, run some laps, and practice receiving and spiking." He paused for a moment before speaking again. "Then, we can try pulling off a synchronized attack." Coach Ukai glanced down at Ayame for a moment and spoke again.

        "This is your last day of training camp before the match at Nekoma, so make the best of it."

        "OSU!" They all shouted determinedly in unison.

        After warming up, they ran laps around the block again. Ayame, who had nothing else to do, decided to take a stroll at the same route. She heard a panting noise from behind, so she looked around to see a small puppy. His/ her coat was white, but seemed light brown due to the filthy coat, wearing no collar. She crouched down to see check if it was a she or a he.

        "Look at this cute little boy,I guess you're lost too huh?" she said in a slightly higher pitch. Just as she was about to reach out her hand to pet him, he evaded her and ran away. She quickly got up and followed the puppy.

        She was running - no sprinting - at a really fast speed. Although she may be fast, her poor cardio was there to pull her back. Sides burning, she continued sprint for a couple minutes, the dog ran by the gray haired setter, the captain, and the ace.

        "Ayame san, what are you -" Suga didn't finish his question, since she just sprinted past them. The three third years exchanged confused looks and jogged in her direction.

        The girl is running out of fuel already. Luckily the dog was still in her sight. The puppy suddenly halted at the sight of the dark haired setter that was jogging along with the other members. Kageyama backed away slowly, refusing to make eye contact. She finally caught up to the puppy and crouched back down at the dog and slowly, she held her hand out, trying her best to catch her breath. The puppy sniffed her skeptically, and after a while, he licked the tips of her fingers.

        Suga, Daichi, and Asahi caught up her. She gently placed her right hand on puppy's head, and started petting him. Eyes sparkling, she grinned widely, which occurs once in a blue moon. Everyone was staring at her smiling face in awe.

        C-Cute... Kageyama thought as he stared at the beaming girl. Apparently that thought escaped through his mouth, since everyone was either smirking or quirking their eyebrow at him. He reddened in embarrassment.

        "Right?" Ayame agreed, thinking that the setter's compliment was aimed at the dog. Kageyama did not mean to compliment the puppy at all - in fact he disliked animals, and animals disliked him back due to his seemingly intimidating demeanor.

        "Can he stay for the night? I wanna keep him." She looked at the captain with pleading eyes, and so did the dog. Daichi was still not convinced, but the longer he stared into the dog's huge, coffee brown eyes, the more his stern look softened.

        "Fine. But he's not stepping foot in the house until he's bathed." He surrendered. The girl smiled even wider and thanked the the third year. Gently, she wrapped her hands around the dog's waist and lifted him up. She headed back at the camp to give her newly acquired puppy a warm bubble bath.