Strategize: Haikyuu Fanfic

Chapter 67: The Festival

Tachibana bursted through the doors, holding her hands out theatrically to the door. "May I present you... Ayame-chan!"

The girl entered the room with a blank face, sighing at her manager's actions. You've got to admit, she looked stunning: the kimono embraces her sleek figure nicely, and her hair was loosely tied to a bun with a sakura hairpin that matches her sandals. Tsukishima felt his glasses slide off a little at the sight and quickly pushed it back up, swearing that his heart did not skip a beat. Ryuuji grinned cheekily at Tsukishima's reaction.

"You're being overdramatic." She sighed. "Thanks for dolling me up, I guess."

Tsukishima smirked, eyeing the girl from head to toe before giving a 'compliment'. "Not bad."

"Let's take a picture! Mom wants to see how you look!" Ryuuji said, whipping out a phone and lifting it to his line of vision, gesturing at the blonde to scooch over, "You too, Tsukishima!"

The boy reluctantly stood beside Ayame, awkardly looking at the camera with a slightly stiff posture, refusing to smile. Ayame stuck her tongue out with a blank face as her brother counted down.

"Three...Two...One!" He said excitedly, followed by the sound of shutter from the phone.

Ayame headed over to her brother, going on her tiptoes and peered over his arm to see the photo, "how's mom?"

"She's peachy. Pay us a visit sometime, yeah? She misses your singing."

Ayame considered his suggestion, tapping her finger on her chin. "...Sure. As long as she's fine with it."

"Okay!" He said, gesturing the couple to shoo them away. "Go on! The festival is starting! The limo is outside! I'll watch Mallow for you!"

Tsukishima and Ayame raised their eyebrows slightly and peeked down through the window to see a limousine parked outside.

"We can just walk..." She rejected, "the town square isn't that far from here, you know."

"But the kimono will get dirty! Also, it hugs your legs, so you can't move as much as you normally can!"

She looked down to her thighs, attempting to see how far she can stretch the fabric. Much to her dismay, she can only take small steps as she headed to her nightstand, fishing out the notebook chuck full of attack patterns and handed it to Tachibana. "Watch this for me...He might have an ulterior motive." She said within her brother's earshot, narrowing her eyes suspiciously at him.

He smirked cockily as a reply, "even if I haven't read your book of magic tricks, we, Shiratorizawa will still beat you."

"It really irritates me how you think you guys can just beat any team solely on brute force..." She retorted, her eye twitching. After an intense staring competition, her attention shifted to her boyfriend, tugging him by the sleeve towards the exit. But before she closed the door on Ryuuji and Tachibana, she glanced back to her brother with an eerily calm expression, though her eyes sparked with determination. The hairs on the back of her brother's neck jumped.

"...Our players improved a lot since InterHigh, so please watch your back." She warned, finally shutting the door close.

"That was intense...." Tachibana said to Ayame's brother, who laughed weakly.

"It's nerve-wracking..." He agreed.

***

As expected, the town square was chaotic: crowds do what crowds do, colorful paper lanterns glowed brightly near the booths, with the occasional loud screaming of children. When the limousine slowed down to a stop, you can hear the murmurs of bystanders as the two teens stepped out of the vehicle.