Another Manager (Akashi Seijuro x OC)

2.10 Gears

Akaashi smiled. "Thanks for staying late in the Third Gymnasium with us."

"I'll miss watching you play when we go back."

"We'll miss you, too." He was happy for her friendship. Akaashi was the only second-year in Fukurōdani's starting lineup, and both of his managers were third-years. It wasn't to say that he disliked being with the seniors, but with her, talking was more casual.

She returned the smile and tilted her head toward the rest of Fukurōdani. "Stretch thoroughly."

He nodded, and jogged to join his teammates to warm up with a wave.

.

The set ended with 22-25, Fukurōdani's win.

Kenma, Taketora, Kai, and Kuroo stood to the side drinking water from the bottles Ai had prepared, as Yaku, Inuoka, and Lev studied the scoreboard. They'd already finished their penalty lap.

The older libero sighed. "It's not easy to win against Fukurōdani."

"Senpai, I did a quick summary of the current scores!" Shibayama ran to them with a paper in hand.

"Thanks a lot," Kuroo answered.

"Great work, Shibayama." Kai smiled and joined the captain in looking over the results.

Ai came up from behind the first-year. Shouts from Tanaka, Asahi, and Hinata could be heard too, as Karasuno played in the background.

"He's a natural with data," she praised, patting the number 12 on the young libero's back. After learning that Shibayama was also good with notes and keeping scores, Ai had helped him make a chart tabulating the statistics so far.

"Ah... Thank you, Ai-senpai!" he said nervously.

According to the information, Fukurōdani's team seemed to be the strongest of the five schools, as Bokuto always said.
Fukurōdani: 50 wins, 14 losses
Nekoma: 42 wins, 22 losses
Ubugawa: 36 wins, 28 losses
Shinzen: 29 wins, 35 losses
Karasuno: 3 wins, 61 losses

"As we thought, looks like Fukurōdani's at the top," Yaku contemplated. Then, the whistle blew on the next court over, and the two liberos and Kuroo looked up. "Oh, looks like Ubugawa and Karasuno finished."

The scorekeepers from Shinzen flipped the number flap to 25-23, marking yet another one of Karasuno's losses.

"One round of flying!" Daichi yelled.

"Right!" everyone followed with dark faces.

"They have a strange dignity around them when they do their penalties." Kuroo halfheartedly chuckled.

"Including the last away games, they've been doing several times more penalties compared to any other team here. I definitely couldn't do it," Kenma stated.

Ai went to stand with them. She watched as Daichi started, and then Asahi, Tanaka, and Nishinoya.
"It's for their benefit. They need the practice, unlike the Generation of Miracles did at Teikō."

Karasuno didn't have a team full of indisputably talented members. Plus, it was arguable that volleyball needed more team coordination than basketball, since they couldn't hold the ball but only touch it for a moment.

Although the group of crows continued their losing streak, their exceeding share of penalties didn't go to waste. Hinata improved on his flying receives, and everyone pushed the limits to their strength and stamina.

The third-year libero noticed. "That Shorty from Karasuno's become really good in his diving drills!"

"'Shorty'? Yaku-san, your height isn't all that different from Hinata," Nekoma's tallest first-year said.