Close to despair

Tobio: last minute packing

Tomorrow it was happening.

The two week long training camp Tobio and the others had been so excited about was finally happening. It was finally in reach! Tobio was currently packing last minute stuff into his luggage, even though he already had everything he would need. Could you blame him? He always kept remembering little things, so he just had to pack them. It was late, okay. But he couldn't sleep either way, so what difference did it make?

He was packing his volleyball keychain that held no keys, and which he was sure of that he wouldn't ever take it out in the upcoming two weeks. But it was better to be equipped with too much stuff, rather than having not enough stuff. It was going to be two whole weeks after all.
A part of him dreaded the camp. Spending two weeks with a whole lot of people was bound to make his social battery run out quicker than he would like. He already felt exhausted after spending countless evenings with the study group all the first years - including Hitoka - created.

Ukai and Takeda had explained to them, that in order to attend the training camp, they first had to pass their midterms. This caused a lot of distress within the team. People were talking about the midterms, and others felt really anxious and pressured. They wanted- no they had to come to the camp. Failing wasn't an option.

So as a natural response Hinata begged Kei to tutor him. As another natural response, Kei turned him down. Tobio didn't think that he would have problems passing the exams, but he knew he wouldn't be the best. He was decent. However, he knew that without Hinata, a very important weapon was missing. Of course, they had been training more separately for the last few weeks, but it was undeniable that their combo attack still brought a lot of points.

Tobio begged for Kei to relent, and said that he would be there too, and he could ask for Hitoka to come too, just so that they could all pass the exams. Tobio asked Yachi if she was ready to help them study, and she agreed easily. She said that she was glad she was being of any help to them. So, since the most of them were already okay with the idea, Kei felt pressured into agreeing.

In the end though, it wouldn't have made a difference if Kei came or not.

He was way too occupied with flirting with Yamaguchi, instead of actually teaching them something.
That way, Hitoka was left alone with the job, but it also had good sides: Hitoka and Tobio got to know each other better, and found out that they had quite a bit in common.

These study groups also served as a way to avoid his annoying parents as much as possible. Ever since they had been at home, Tobio on the other hand, spent more and more time away from home. He either stayed really long to practice with Shoyo and Yachi, with the addition of Kei and Tadashi at times, or he went out with them.

Hinata called these trips the 'chronicles of the Karasuno 5'.

They would sometimes just hang at the Sakanoshita store wich would annoy Ukai to no end, or they would stroll around Miyagi, talking about life and everything that came to their mind. It served as a good way to make the first years bond more, and before they saw, Yachi started regularly sitting at their lunch table.

Still. There were also nights where Tobio couldn't hang out with his friends. It was because they had promised to spend quality time with their respective families, or they had something else going on. And Tobio understood that. He never blamed them, instead appreciating every minute they spent with him, successfully distracting him from his thoughts. In these cases he usually went home, and locked himself in his room.

He would either video call Keiji-san and Kenma-san, and then they would play and talk together. Or he would spend his time texting the prodigies, where he was never getting bored. The group chat just made so many personalities crash and collide, that it never got monotonous or uneventful.