Another Manager (Akashi Seijuro x OC)

(((Late August - Training Camp at Nekoma High)))

"Lucky Kageyama and Tsukishima. Even Yamaguchi..." Hinata grumbled.

She chuckled as they approached Bokuto. "Kōtarō-san."

"Hey, hey, Ai-chan! Hinata!" It seemed the ace was always smiling ear to ear, when he wasn't in "emo mode" that was, as his team called it.

Noticing her talking to the captain, Akaashi also joined their conversation, mostly to keep an eye on his captain.

"Would you take care of Shōyō for me tonight? I'll be borrowing Kei." She patted Hinata's head and kept her hands on his shoulders from behind.

"Yeah! Let's practice together, Hinata!" Bokuto laughed and agreed to her request with a loud voice.

"Is Kuroo-san going with you tonight as well?" Akaashi asked her.

She shifted her attention to him, turning around to make eye contact as she spoke. "That depends on Kuro. He may come back to the gym early," she predicted.
Not wanting to keep the others waiting, she gave Hinata a quick hug and let go, rubbing his back reassuringly. "Have fun, Shōyō."
She left the three of them with a thankful smile and went back to the others.

Kuroo met her with crossed arms.

Ai raised an eyebrow at him, challenging him to state his mind, but he refused.

"Shall we go now?" he said curtly.

"Please." She gestured for Tsukishima, Yamaguchi, and Kageyama to come along. After gently pushing on the setter's back, she fell in line next to Tsukishima, locking arms with him.
They walked out into the night air and made the short distance to the main school building.

.

Kuroo guided them to a room with sliding doors like every other classroom. He faced her and the three first-years from Karasuno. "Wait here. I'll get the keys."
The captain turned on his heels and ran down the hallway of his school.

"Umm, what are we doing here?" Yamaguchi questioned timorously.

She faced them. "When Seijuro plays basketball, he strategizes the entire game. Similarly, I've seen Kenma analyzing the plays during matches. I'd like you to try practicing the art of it."

Kageyama cocked his head to the side.

She smiled. "How do you three feel about shōgi?"

"Shōgi?" they repeated.

Just then, Kuroo came jogging back from the staff room. "Got it!" He unlocked the door, rolled it open, and turned the lights on.

The small room had a couple of long tables and chairs that took up most of the space. Ai wandered to one of the cabinets, opening it and searching for the board game. When she found one that seemed to be for beginners, she took it out and placed it at the end of one of the tables.

Opening the wooden box with the pieces, she shook them out onto the checkered, wooden board. "Kei, you're up first."

They sat across from each other, lining up the pawns to begin. Each wooden piece had a single character written in black ink and red arrows to show where they could move. It was inexplicably helpful.

She took the king's pawn (王) while Tsukishima used the challenger's pawn (玉). "Go ahead."

The three others surrounded their table as Tsukishima made the first move. A few minutes into the game, Kageyama looked bored to her left, and Kuroo yawned on her right, leaning against the end of the table between her and her shōgi opponent. Yamaguchi hovered over Tsukishima's shoulder respectfully, taking interest in everything his best friend did.