Pulchritudinous

12

Chura had been encouraging the boys as much she could as they tried out all of their new tricks during their very last practice game with Fukurodani. So far, Hinata has shown what he could do and she tried her hardest not to run onto the court and congratulate him, so all she did was cheer for him from the sidelines. What she hasn't seen yet is Kageyama using his new set during the game, even though Ukai had told him not to use it anymore during camp.
Chura figures he's waiting for the right moment, the right time to use it as a surprise factor. But... when will he surprise everyone...? Soon enough, Hinata has a look in his eyes as he jumps in the air to spike the ball. Chura's eyes gradually grow wider as Kageyama finally sets the ball the right way. Hinata slams it onto the opponent's side of the net, causing everyone to go silent. Chura shakes with excitement, jumping up and screaming in happiness.
"You did it! You did it! You did it!" She sprints towards the boys, jumping up and wrapping her arms around both.
Hinata laughs, hugging her back but Kageyama scoffs in annoyance. Chura furrows her eyebrows together, deciding to let go of him and just hug Hinata.
"If this were an official game, we would've been penalized for her stupidity." Koushi face palms, shaking his head at his sister.
"I'm sure she knows that. She's just excited for them." Ennoshita pauses, "But you've noticed Kageyama's behavior around her too, haven't you?"
"Yeah. It's like he doesn't want to be near her anymore..." Koushi frowns, recognizing the look in Chura's eyes.
"Oh! I'm so happy it finally worked, Hinata! Look even Yachi is pretty excited." Chura giggles, nodding towards the blonde first year who is trying her best not to burst out in happiness.
"Alright!" The rest of Karasuno sigh in relief and smile that it finally paid off.
"We can't let our first years be the only successful ones! Now it's time for your seniors to show off!" Noya smiles cheekily, pointing at himself with his thumb.
"Try it, Yu!" Chura calls, as she runs off the court.
Nishinoya looks at the girl, his face lighting up and nods. The rally starts once the serve goes in clean. Luckily, Karasuno gets a free ball, allowing Noya to try his new trick. He runs up to the line, jumping up to set it for Asahi. Chura winces, shutting an eye when the rally doesn't end well. Noya yells in frustration, pulling at his hair.
"Gah! It was too low!" He exclaims.
"It's okay! It wasn't bad!" Asahi tried to comfort him.
"When you say it's bad, that makes it seem like it's bad!" Noya shouts.
"O-oh. Sorry..." Asahi scratches his head shyly.
"Don't sweat it, Yu! You can always try again!" Chura claps, leaning over to Kiyoko and Yachi beside her, "The boys are pretty motivated, huh? Do you know why?"
"Oh, yeah. The coaches are having a barbecue once the games are finished." Kiyoko giggles.
"Ahh. Motivated by the meat. Makes so much sense." Chura smiles, "Maybe I should help cook and set it up. I still feel bad about barely helping with breakfast and dinner the other day. I can't believe I forgot both times." She laughs nervously.
"Don't worry, we know you have a lot of friends at this camp that you don't get to see all of the time." Kiyoko smiles.
"Do you... do you ever think about coming back to Tokyo...?" Yachi asks shyly.
Chura blinks at her in surprise. Her jaw drops but she doesn't know what to say. She'd be lying if she said she never thought about it. But she knows it wouldn't be the same, plus she'd be leaving her brother again and, now, her friends.
"Honestly... yes. I have thought about it." She replies with no expression.
"So you'd leave us?" Yamaguchi asks from beside her, the rest of the boys in the warm up section also looking at the girl.
"Never." She smiles cheekily.
"Oh good god, I almost had a heart attack." Kinoshita places a hand over his heart.
"Why wouldn't you go back, just out of curiosity? You obviously miss them." Narita asks.
"Well, there's many complications to that. But overall, I can't leave my brother again. I'd be stupid to be so selfish and leave him during his last term in high school." Her eyes land on her brother.
"I'm glad." Koushi smiles, winking and giving her a thumbs up.
Chura turns back to the game in time to witness the synchronized attack going in. Fukurodani becomes flustered at the new approach to realize that Tanaka was the hitter, earning Karasuno a point. Tanaka yells in excitement, causing Chura to also cheer happily.
"Way to go, Tanaka!" Chura jumps up and down.
"I feel like you're more excited than him." Kiyoko giggles.
"Being excited boosts this team's confidence. I know it makes me feel good when I'm complimented on a play."
Kiyoko turns to look at the boys, examining their expressions. She's right.
Eventually they are neck to neck, the score being 19-18 with Fukurodani in the lead. Chura started to notice Bokuto's frustration since Karasuno is playing well today. Chura catches eyes with Akaashi for a second, causing her to straighten her posture. She points to Bokuto, motioning for him to breathe. He nods, going to the ace to tell him to calm himself, but Bokuto already is deep in the hole, getting slightly angry when he replies. Chura sighs, she knows what's coming. The next rally, Bokuto hits the ball into the net. His other teammates seem to attempt calming him down as well, making Chura smile. They must know too.
Next rally, Bokuto hits into a triple block but Fukurodani receives it easily. Akaashi is about to set it when Bokuto calls for it. Akaashi internally groans, making Chura hold back a laugh. He sets the ball for Bokuto but the said boy makes a mistake, causing Karasuno to hit twenty points first.
"Akaashi. Don't put the ball up for me anymore today!" Bokuto dramatically shouts.
"Okay." Akaashi simply replies.
"And that's my cue to leave." Chura gathers her things, smiling at the coaches and other managers.
"Where are you going?" Takeda asks.
"Based on experience, there will be two scenarios if I leave: one, if he sees me leave he'll play worse and Karasuno will win, or two, if he sees me leave and Akaashi uses the other players as a way to get him jealous that he's not having the ball set for him anymore, he'll regain himself. It's really up to how Bokuto handles himself." Chura looks at the game to see Karasuno earn another point, "I will be helping set up the grill and setting out the food for everyone. I'm sure the coaches will need all the help they can get with all these wild animals- I mean boys."
"After working hard all week, I'm sure they'll act like wild animals to eat it all." Ukai laughs, "Thank you, Chura. Oh, Daichi and I went over the workouts finally. Would you want to use them after the prelims?"
"Before we start qualifiers? I think that would be the best option. We need to prepare ourselves. I should know, I went there in middle school." Chura's face is neutral, making the four shiver in fear, "Anyways! Are you two coming?" She looks at the two managers.
"Sure! I'll help!" Yachi smiles.
"I'll come too." Kiyoko nods.
"Let's go!" Chura smiles, walking towards the exit.
"A-Akaashi! Where is Chuie going?!" Bokuto points at Chura like a child.
"She's probably disappointed you aren't living up to your name as ace. Why don't you make her proud?" Akaashi exaggerates.
"O-oh! I will! I will make Chuie proud!" Bokuto places a fist on his chest.
'I love her sometimes.' Akaashi slightly smirks as he walks to his position.
~
"Chura! You grilled the meat?" Lev asks with a bright smile.
"Yeah! I wanted to help out! I'm so proud of everyone!" Chura exclaims.
"It's delicious!" Inuoka says with his mouth full.
"Chura, I can take over this grill." Fukunaga takes the tongs from her hand.
"Oh thank god. I'm starving!" She hugs him, causing his ears to turn pink.
"You can some of mine." Kai smiles, holding a plate up to her, sampling wanting her to just eat.
"I have some too! And vegetables!" Sarukui, the middle blocker from Fukurodani, holds his plate towards her as well.
"Oh! Thank you boys-"
"Here! I have rice balls!" Ogano, the Shinzen captain, offers.
"I have fruit!" Nanasawa from Ubugawa proposes.
Chura laughs nervously, turning to each boy to accept the food but instead gets another plate shoved towards her.
"Oh! Chura! There you are! I've been looking for you! I have a plate already for you. I knew you'd be too busy cooking and setting up to remember that you had to eat." Koushi gives her an eye smile, handing her a full plate.
"Thanks, ni~ You're the best!" She wraps her arms around his neck, causing him to stumble a bit.
"Oi! Careful! You'll knock the plate over!" Koushi scolds.
"Man. That was the only time I talked to her this week..."
"Well, at least I tried."
All of the boys walk away except Kai, making the Sugawaras laugh.
"Why're you two so happy?" Yaku asks, raising an eyebrow, joining the trio.
"Oh," They look at each other, "it just reminds us of when we were younger." Koushi chuckles.
"Tsukishima, you need to eat more!" Daichi screams happily, holding out a plate for him.
"Um, I can't eat all that..." Tsukishima gulps.
"Eat your vegetables too!"
"You too, Kenma. No hiding." Kuroo scolds an attempting-to-escape Kenma.
"You need more rice!" Daichi claims.
"Don't forget the meat! Eat more meat!" Bokuto shouts, shoving meat towards the two, "If you don't, you won't grow up big and strong like me!"
"Are they like pushy uncles or something?" The Sugawaras ask at the same time.
"And the exasperated teenagers trying to ignore them." Yaku sighs as he stuffs his mouth.
"Oh, the captains know exactly what they're doing. And they're having fun with it." Kai smiles.
"Hey, Sugawara siblings?" Yaku says.
"Hmm?" Both turn to look at the libero with stuffed cheeks.
"Your new manager is acting kinda funny, are you sure she's okay?"
"Oh geez, Yachi." Chura shakes her head, "She's probably overwhelmed from the height of the boys and the large amount of them. Poor baby. I'll help her. See you later, guys!"
Chura starts walking towards the girl until she's accidentally bumped, causing her to bump into someone else. She groans in pain when they fall to the floor, the person on top of her. She didn't notice she closed her eyes as she fell so opening her eyes to see Kageyama groaning in pain is a shock.
"Sorry, Chuie! I wasn't paying attention to where I was going!" Bokuto quickly apologizes, "I didn't mean for you two to-"
"Don't worry, Bo! I'm fine!" Chura pats his head as she sits up, giving an eye smile.
"But your knee is bleeding! Oh my god! Akaashi, I broke her! She's dying!" Bokuto panics.
"She's fine. It's only bleeding a little." Akaashi bends down to where she's at, "You good?"
"I'm good." She smiles, causing the corner of his lips to lift.
"Tch." Kageyama stands up, dusting himself off.
"What's your problem?" Chura glares at him as Akaashi helps her to her feet as well.
Kageyama just looks at her before walking away. The trio watch him walk away in silence before looking at each other.
"I-it was an accident..." Bokuto pouts.
"Don't worry, Bo. I don't think that was the reason he was acting like a jerk." Chura frowns as she looks at him go back to normal with Hinata.
"You can't talk to him?" Akaashi asks.
"I'm... I'm scared." She purses her lips, looking away.
Akaashi sighs, picking her up bridal style, the girl's eyes widening in fear. She wraps her arms around his neck, holding tight.
"Don't scare me like that!" She hits his chest but he shrugs, walking towards Kenma.
"Kenma." Akaashi calls.
Kenma looks over at his best friend in his arms, his eyes wondering down to her injured leg. Nodding, Kenma gets up and follows the two. Chura sighs, leaning her head into Akaashi. Kenma looks up at the girl, noticing how sad she looks. Kenma's eyebrows furrow together. It's more than treating her wound.
"Here, sit here." Akaashi sets her down on a small planter, "I'll go get the kit." He turns and walks away.
"Why'd he call me over?" Kenma asks when he's out of earshot.
"Kageyama... But Akaashi probably doesn't want his feelings to take over so he wanted you as reassurance as well."
"You told them both that you like Kageyama right?"
"Yeah..." she pauses, "It still hurts. All three of them." She whispers.
"I have a theory." Akaashi announces as he comes back with the kit, "But first let's disinfect the wound."
"Ugh." She groans, watching as he opens the wipe.
He doesn't even warn her. He just starts dabbing the area, causing her squeak in pain.
"Keiji!" She bonks his head, "At least tell me when you're doing it!"
He shrugs, grabbing the wrap. She lifts her leg slightly so he could apply the bandage, sighing when it's over.
"Thank you~" she smiles.
He pats her head as he puts the supplies away then sits on her left since Kenma is on her right. Both turn to look at the black haired setter, curious to what his theory is.
"So?" Chura raises an eyebrow.
He's quiet for a moment before looking at them again.
"I think he knows we kissed."