Pulchritudinous

10

Day three of the training camp and all Chura has been doing is avoiding being alone with Akaashi and avoiding talking to Yaku at all costs. After what happened with Akaashi, she doesn't want her feelings to be even more confused by having Yaku near her. And to do that, she's been practicing with Karasuno. When they'd do warm ups or punishments for losing, she'd join as a way of both a distraction and practice.
"Chura! Let's race to the top! Libero against libero!" Noya smiles cheekily.
"What do I get if I win?" She raises an eyebrow in interest.
"Oh? How about I buy you a garigari-kun popsicle? And if I win, you have to buy it for me!" Noya holds his fist out.
"Hmm, I've never had one before." Chura taps her cheek, thinking.
"Eh?! You've never had a garigari-kun pop?!" His jaw hangs open.
"Guys, hurry up! We're already done!" Tanaka calls from the top of the hill.
"Alright. Let's go then, Nishinoya... senpai..." She smirks as she gets into a running position.
"S-senpai?" His eyes widen in surprise.
"Go!" Tanaka yells, clapping loud enough for them to hear.
Noya's reaction is later than Chura's, letting Chura gain the lead first. He shakes his head and sprints forward.
"Chura! You cheater!" He sticks his tongue out at her.
"But it worked, didn't it? That's all that matters." She giggles, picking up her pace.
"You're not getting away with this!" He matches her pace.
"And~" Tanaka pauses, waiting for them to touch his hands from either side, "Noya won!"
"Ugh! My tactic didn't work!" Chura falls to her knees dramatically.
"Okay since I'm the greatest senior ever, I will buy it for you even though you lost so you can try it!" He smiles cheekily.
"Oh wow! Thanks, Noya!" Chura hugs him, "Good race by the way!"
"Y-yeah! G-good race!" His cheeks redden, clearing his throat, "You can call me Y-Yu."
Her eyes light up, squeezing him tighter.
"You've accepted me! I'm so happy!" She giggles.
"Chura! You're killing him! He stopped breathing!" Tanaka panics, "Wait, he's drooling with a dreamy smile..."
"Ahh! Yu!" Chura doesn't hear the last part and starts fanning him with her hands.
"Chu! Noya! Tanaka! Let's go, the next game starts soon!" Daichi yells from the doorway.
"Hey, Yu?" Chura looks back at the libero.
"Yes?" He blinks at her.
"Let's practice receives together later? Maybe we can try new tricks as well."
"Alright! I'll work hard!" He gives her a thumbs up, following Tanaka back down the hill.
"Chura!" Akaashi's voice surprises her from the bottom of the hill, "Can you fill in for the libero? He injured his fingers in the last game so he went to the nurse's office."
"Is your coach okay with me taking over?" She raises an eyebrow as she reaches him.
"He knows your background. You'll be just fine." He nods.
"Chura-" Kageyama stops when he sees Akaashi, pressing his lips together.
"Oh? What's up, Kags?" She looks at him.
"Kags?" Akaashi looks at her with raised eyebrows.
"We were gonna ask you how you'd feel learning to be a setter?" He smirks.
"A setter?" Chura's eyebrows perk up.
"Based on your receiving skills, if you became an amazing setter, you'd be unstoppable." Kageyama encourages.
"Who're you gonna choose?" Akaashi asks.
Chura eyes the boy from Fukurodani, sensing a hidden meaning behind his words. Does he think she likes him...? That's the second person already this week.
"That's a difficult decision." She pouts, stomping her foot like a kid.
"You should come with your team." Kageyama looks at the girl.
"We asked her to fill in as a libero first." Akaashi glares at him.
"She's our manager." Kageyama groans, glaring back.
Dark aura surrounds the two, causing Chura to panic again. Kageyama is scarier when he's mad compared to Akaashi, though right now they're pretty tied. Chura clears her throat, grabbing onto Kageyama's arm and pulling him back.
"Sorry, Aka. If Karasuno needs me to test something out then I have to go with them. I'm their manager, sorry." She frowns, bowing in apology as she tugs on Kageyama's arm, leading him to their respective team.
Kageyama continues glaring at his rival until he's no longer in sight. Chura hits his chest, giving him a look to stop. Kageyama groans, tsking as he looks away.
"You're cute when you're jealous, but just don't take it out on my friend, please." Chura lets go of his arm, walking over to her brother.
"She did call me cute." His eyes widen, his cheeks heating up.
"Could you stop gawking at her and help Suga-san teach her the basics of being a setter?" Tsukishima says.
"Tsukki-"
"Yamaguchi, I know you like her too." Tsukishima gives his freckled friend a 'you can't fool me' look.
"I-I-I-" Yamaguchi waves his hands all over the place.
"Do you not...?" Kageyama stares at the blonde with no expression.
"Nope." He scoffs, "She's an annoying ball of energy, just like Hinata."
"But you don't hate her, right?" Yamaguchi's eyes sadden.
"...No..." Tsukishima continues walking like nothing happened.
"I can't tell if he's lying or not." Yamaguchi frowns, conflicted he can't tell his best friend's judgement on his crush.
"I'm sure he doesn't hate her. They get along... when he's not teasing her." Kageyama shurgs, not really caring.
"Is it true? You like her t-too?" Yamaguchi's cheeks redden, having to admit it out loud.
"Well... I-I'm not really s-sure. I've never thought of her in that way..."
'Till now...' he thinks, pursing his lips as he avoids eye contact with Yamaguchi.
"You know... we have some tough competition, right...?" He mutters, looking at the grey haired girl, attempting to set the ball for Narita.
"Oh yes, I know very well." He somehow immediately looks in the direction of Keiji Akaashi and glares at the boy who is already glaring back.
"Kageyama...?" Yamaguchi blinks back and forth between the two.
~
Time slips away and Karasuno loses back to back sets. They had all been trying out new tricks they've been working on but since it's still new to them, things aren't going so smoothly. It's almost dark by now and Chura was starting to get pissed off with Kageyama. She noticed that he had been giving Hinata the sets he used to before, the set that caused them to fight in the first place. Ukai had noticed as well, but he knew they needed to figure it out themselves. They needed to learn to overcome situations like this. The only thing that truly scared him was Chura's dark aura whenever she wasn't switched in.
Ukai wanted to test out how Hinata would do with Chura as the setter in a couple of rallies and surprisingly they worked well together, most likely because they are very similar and have a strong bond. But when Kageyama was in, he kept failing and that's how he noticed the sets Kageyama was giving him. Chura was going to explode at any moment, but what nobody else noticed was the ginger was ready to blow a fuse as well.
The last straw was when they were playing their last game against Nekoma and Kageyama threw the ball up for Hinata. Chura starts to stomp onto the court, cracking her knuckles as smoke blew out of her ears like a train's engine. The Nekoma and Karasuno boys' eyes widen in fear, both knowing she's about to kick his ass, but Hinata beats her to it.
"Hey! Why're you giving me the old sets?! Do you not trust me? Do you not believe I can make it?" His eyes fill with anger as he shouts at Kageyama.
"No." The setter simply replies, looking away.
"Well figure it out because you're the only one who seems to think that way." Hinata looks at Chura who is now directly behind Kageyama now.
"I seriously don't know how many times I have to tell you, Kageyama," the raven haired boy jumps, not realizing she was right there, "but Hinata doesn't need you, you need him. When will you accept that?" She stabs her pointer finger into his chest, causing him to step back in surprise, "Learn to give him the tosses he wants. You'll continue to lose if you don't. Come find me and apologize when you're ready and do not forget that I told you so."
Kageyama stares at her with wide eyes as she walks away to talk to Hinata. The only other time she was this angry was when he told he was going to get advice. Both reasons are because of Hinata. He scowls as she motions for the said boy to take a deep breath. Why is she so close with him anyways? Just because he's more outgoing than Kageyama? Does she think he's cuter?
"I'm gonna get some fresh air." She glares at Kageyama on the way out, slamming the door behind her.
"Good going, Kageyama. You've pissed off someone who could really help out our team." Tanaka throws his hands up.
"Tanaka, I'm sure he gets it now." Daichi warns.
Kageyama stares at the door she exited, clenching his jaw. 'But I do get it now...'
"I'm surprised she didn't fully go off on him, much less she didn't do it sooner." Koushi taps his chin, thinking.
"Huh? You mean you knew she was going to do that?" Ennoshita looks at him in shock.
"We had talked about it before but she has a lot of faith in those two, almost like she idolizes them. She sees so much potential in them but she hates that they don't get along so easily. She realizes that's the way their relationship works but remember that day she got mad at Kageyama?"
"Oh yeah. Then she accompanied him somewhere the next day right?" Kinoshita asks.
"Mhm. The reason she was so pissed was cause she found out how he doesn't trust Hinata, yet Hinata trusted Kageyama with his whole life technically. Hinata and my sister became close easily so her bond with him is stronger, not to mention they're seat mates in class. She knows Kageyama is better than that and that's what happened here... for the second time."
"So... you're hinting that because she knows Kageyama can get along with Hinata better that if they use that bond, they can be stronger? I think...?" Narita scratches his head as he tries to find the right words.
"Precisely." Koushi agrees.
"Are you saying that Chura believes strong bonds make a strong team?" Yamaguchi's eyes enlarge as he understands her perspective.
"That's exactly it." Koushi nods firmly.
"Do you... do you think she believes that because of what happened at Nekoma?" Ennoshita starts piecing everything together.
"Could be. Who knows what she's thinking though. It's getting harder for me to read her nowadays." Koushi frowns.
"Alright! Let's run up the hill!" Daichi claps his hands once the whistle blows indicating the end of the match.
On the other side of the court, Kenma and Yaku observe the starting setter of Karasuno. They know Chura is only like that when she really cares but she's never been so mad before that her voice is calm, it's frightening. Kenma has noticed a change in the girl after the first night here. He hasn't been able to talk to her privately so he hasn't said anything. Maybe now he can-
"We're done for the day?" Yaku turns to Kenma.
"Yes..." the pudding haired boy replies.
"Alright! I'm gonna go on ahead then! See you!" Yaku waves to his teammates, rushing out of the door.
"You know where he's going, right?" Kuroo asks Kenma with a blank expression as he stares at the door he went through.
"Yeah."
"Will she be okay with that?"
"I don't know..." Kenma frowns.
...he should've talked to her sooner...
Yaku wanders around the entire school, getting lost a few times even though he's been here on multiple occasions. Where in the world is that girl? There's not a ton of places she can hide here. Yaku finds the girl lying in the grass near a tree, staring up at the sky. Her hands are on her stomach and her legs straight out and crossed over one another. She looks like she is thinking about a lot of things, though her face shows no emotion. Is it okay to bother her? Maybe he should just leave her alone.
"Are you just gonna stand there, Yaku?" Her voice is lower than normal, surprising the boy.
"Oh um I was just gonna leave-"
"You can stay. You're already here." She turns her head to look at him.
"O-okay." He swallows, before slowing taking a seat beside her.
"Look at the stars." She points to the night sky, "They're very beautiful tonight."
"Wow." Yaku stares in awe at the sparkling lights that filled the dark sky, "Indeed they are."
"I wish that life was this peaceful." She sighs, a frown on her lips.
"Chura, are you okay...?" Worry fills his eyes.
"Well, to be honest I'm not sure. That's the second time I've ever gotten mad at Kageyama... I don't want him to think I'm singling him out because I'm not. Well, kind of, I am. It's because-"
"You care." He finishes for her, "I know. I remember that time when you'd always get mad at Shibayama and because of that period you're really close with him." He smiles lightly, "Sometimes I wish I messed up so you could yell at me too."
"Yeah right. Morisuke Yaku messing up a dig? The day that happens, pigs will fly." She jokes, sitting up so she's on her bottom.
"You're right." He laughs, "I would never forgive myself if I let the ball hit the floor during a game."
"That's our libero." She smiles.
"You said 'our'." Yaku looks at her with bright eyes.
"Oops." She laughs nervously, "Force of habit."
"We miss you so much, Chura. Practice isn't the same without you. I didn't realize it till the first day of the training camp a couple of weeks ago, but there was a hole in my heart, it felt incomplete. Seeing you again, the hole was filled up instantly and I was so happy to know that you were okay and healthy." He pauses, "I guess... I needed you. You were a part of my everyday life since the beginning of my third year and suddenly you were gone. It sucked."
"Really...?" She laughs humorlessly, "Are you gonna tell me now that it was great to have me as a friend and only a friend? Cause I really don't need to hear that on top of everything else that's been happening this week."
"Huh? What're you talking about?" He tilts his head in confusion.
"The day... we were also staring at the stars that day, from the window seat in my room." She looks at him, "I was gonna confess to you that day and you told me what a great friend I was right before I was about to tell you."
"O-oh." His face burns up, "I-I'm so sorry!"
"It doesn't matter anymore. It hurt a lot especially after what happened the week before and the week after, but, I can't believe I'm telling you this, what hurts the most was hearing those words come out of your mouth. That's why I never came back to school after Inter High. My heart was shattered twice within one week."
"I didn't know you felt that way. God, I'm such an idiot!" He slaps his cheeks, harshly.
"No no! Yaku! Don't beat yourself up for that. You didn't know. I guess I wasn't clear enough." She sighs.
"... have I been clear enough...?" He mumbles.
"H-huh...?" Her breath catches in her throat.
"So I haven't been clear either." He chuckles, "We both must be really oblivious because even the boys seem to have noticed."
"The boys... have noticed...?"
Dang they're both idiots. Yaku looks at her with an eye smile, making Chura's heart rate pick up a faster pace.
"I started falling for you, Chura." He confesses.
Plot twist, she's never gotten over him. Just because you like someone doesn't mean you can't have other crushes, and Yaku was actually her first love. You never really get over your first love.
He places his hand under her chin, softly turning her head to make her look at him. Chura stares into his eyes, trying to read how real these feelings are, but she sees no hidden faults.
"Can I... kiss you...?"
Chura can't help but smile at this. He's so precious. He asked her for permission first, and that's why she nods. Slowly leaning in, their lips connecting and hearts racing. This kiss feels so different from Akaashi's. Akaashi's was like a burning flame, filled with a bit of sexual tension that both were holding back. With Yaku, his kiss is sweet and gentle and filled with a light feeling. His lips are soft and he makes sure he isn't making her uncomfortable. Chura feels nothing but happiness. Her first love is actually kissing her! For some reason, she starts crying, tears streaming down her cheeks nonstop. Yaku pulls away and looks at her with a panicked expression.
"Ch-Chura! Why are you crying?! Are you okay?! Oh my god I must've pressured you-"
"Yaku." She grabs his face and pecks his lips to quiet him, which he does, "You didn't pressure me at all! I've actually had a crush on you for months... I don't know why I'm crying actually. I should be ecstatic about this, I mean I just kissed Morisuke Yaku!" Chura jokes, making his cheeks redden.
"Did you... did you lose feelings me because I kissed you...? Was my kiss that bad?" Yaku frowns, looking at the floor.
"Oh god no. That's the best kiss I've ever had!" Her cheeks burning, waving her hands.
"O-oh. I'm g-glad." He smiles shyly, wiping away the tears on her cheeks with his finger.
"I'm sorry, Yaku. I don't know what came over me." She frowns, lowering her hands from his face, "But I wouldn't mind kissing you again..." she purses her lips, looking away in embarrassment.
"I'm happy you feel the same." He laughs, "But I feel like you're confused right now. I'm not sure what's going on in your life right now but, whether you tell me or someone else, I think it's good to talk about it, okay? Please don't hold everything inside. It hurts all of us."
Chura grabs his hands, bringing them closer to her cheeks.
"You're the sweetest person I know, Yaku. Please don't change, mmkay?" She tilts her head as she looks into his eyes.
"Same goes for you, Chura. I like you just the way you are." He kisses her hand.
"Speaking of hurting everyone," she stands up, pulling him with her, "I think it's finally time to tell Nekoma why I left."