“ 𝑲𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒊 𝒊𝒔 𝑲𝒂𝒈𝒆𝒚𝒂𝒎𝒂 𝑲𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒊. 𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝑲𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒊 𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔𝒏'𝒕 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒈𝒆.”
.
𝟏
“ Nii-chan ! Nii-chan ! Take Kotei along ! Kotei wants to watch ! Nii-chan !” The little five year old jumped about, trying to get her brother's attention.
Kageyama paid absolutely no mind to the energetic child and continued buttoning up his shirt, his face stoic as usual.
“ Nii-chan ! Take Kotei !” The child circled him, her excitement reaching peaks, in the dining room as the older boy finished his breakfast in silence, once again ignoring his sister's existence.
“ Nii-chan !” The kid shouted in frustration as Kageyama tied his shoelaces and got up. Ignoring her, yet again, he opened the main door, got out and closed it behind him, walking off to school.
The girl just stared at the closed door with a look of incredulity. Well, it's nothing new for her. It was just the beginning of her summer holidays and even during the vacation Kageyama had practice, literally the whole day. So she had only one wish— to watch her brother play. But it seems it'll never come true.
She ran towards the other room.“Miwa-nee ! Kotei wanna watch nii-chan play ! Take me to nii-chan--”
“ Sorry, sweetie, but I have to go. I'll take you there some other time, I promise,” Miwa, the oldest sister reasoned, in a hurry fixing her makeup.“ I'm gonna bag this job for sure ! Wish me luck, Ko-chan !”
“ Good...luck ?” Kotei’s smiled dropped as she stopped jumping.
“ Oh wait !” Miwa ceased all her hasty movements as a sudden realisation struck her. Her eyes landed on Kotei who was still looking down, all sad.“Shit !”
She shook the kid by her shoulder and yelled,“ who's gonna look after you ?”
“ Hm ?”
“ I cannot leave you here all alone.” Miwa pondered the worst possibilities. She's always been overprotective of Kotei, being the youngest of them. No way is she staying home all alone in this silent neighborhood. What if someone kidnaps her ? She's exaggerating.“ No, you're not staying alone. I..I have to do something. Should I cancel my job interview ? Wait how can I cancel my interview ? It'd be my loss ! Besides...no...Kotei is priority..yes she is...Kotei comes first--shit ! Shit ! Shit ! Shit—”
“ Miwa-nee ?” Kotei pulled at her long skirt as Miwa looked at her in anticipation. “ Please don't do that. Kotei says Kotei can look after her self !”
“ Where's your brother?”
“ Nii-chan went off, first.”
What the hell! That jerk, Tobio ! He was supposed to look after her, today! Everybody is playing their own part. He should do that too as a big brother.
A devilish grin took form as Kotei flinched at her sister's scary face.“Oh, Tobio, you think you can outsmart me? How wrong you are,” she muttered to herself, getting up. Picking up the keys, she ushered the little girl behind her.“ Come, Ko-chan, your intelligent and beautiful nee-san has it all sorted out.”
“ Kay...?”
At Karasuno gym...
“ Is that okay ?”
“ Of course. We don't mind at all. It'll be a pleasure to help,” Kiyoko bowed, holding Kotei by her small hand. The latter was staring at the beauty beside her, her eyes wide in awe. Gradually, she took in her surroundings with utter curiosity. This is where her brother goes to fill his empty brain with junk ? Looks pretty cool ! She grinned. This looks nice.
“ Thank you so much. I'll be in your debt. Bye Kotei, be sure to behave at all times. I don't wanna hear complaints.” Miwa smiled, waving at the girl who waved back, happily. Kageyama's face twitched in annoyance when he met eyes with the older, a taunting smirk across her face.“ Bye Tobio. Do look after your sister, okay ?” Turning on her heels, she rushed out of the gates to catch the next train.
“ Woah ! You didn't say you had an older sister and a younger one,” Hinata said staring at the little raven haired girl.
“ It's none of your business.” Kageyama grumbled, going back inside to a call from Coach Ukai. Hinata, sparing a last glance at the kid, followed.
A whistle and the squeaking of shoes and balls filled the entire gym.
“ You wanna see your brother play ?” Kiyoko asked smiling at the thrilled girl who had to shield her eyes from the beauty of her smile. But nodded, nevertheless.“ Then let's do that, shall we?”
“ Yay !” Kotei cheered and ran inside the gym.
“ Yachi ?”
“ H-hai !” The blonde saluted nervously as Kiyoko giggled at the display.
“ Can you keep an eye on Kotei here for a while ? I'll just bring her something from the vending machine.”
“ S-sure ! Leave it to me,” and with awkward, robotic steps Yachi proceeded towards the gym. Kiyoko shook her head, smiling at her antiques.
I’ll miss this.
Not minding much she went to the nearby vending machine to get the child something good.
“ Nice serve !”
“ Spike the ball when I toss it to you, idiot!”
“ But it was too high !”
“ Then match with me, Hinata boke !”
Kotei looked in fascination at all the players on the court. It was so nice to watch them. She wanted to see her brother spike but he went on giving tosses. She loved spikes for some reason. It created a dramatic effect with the audience.
“ What's your name ?” Kotei asked looking beside her at the nervous blonde.
“ Eh ?” Yachi looked left and right before pointing at herself.“ Me ?” Kotei nodded. Yachi was anxious. Yes, she had social anxiety. But it grew worse around kids.“ Yachi Hitoka,” she said smiling, shyly.
Kotei nodded staring into her soul shoving the lollipop back into her mouth. Then suddenly she remembered something. It's rude to ask someone's name without identifying yourself.“ Kotei is Kageyama Kotei. And Kotei doesn't know her age,” she declared proudly, hands on her hips.
“ I see,” Yachi smiled, awkwardly.“ Oh look your brother will be spiking, next.”
“ Really ?” Kotei's face lit up as she threw the lollipop in excitement (fortunately Yachi caught it) and cheered for her brother.“ Go, go, nii-chan ! Yay !” She jumped on the benches as Yachi extended her arms out to calm her down.
But her brother didn't take it the positive way.
“ Shut up ! I can't concentrate !”
That single phrase silenced Kotei as she went still. Yachi sighed in relief to see her finally settled.
“ This is why I don't wanna bring you to practice ! And don't give Yachi a hard time ! She's doing you a favor !” Kageyama yelled at his sister who silently listened to him with a blank face.
She puffed her cheeks out. Stupid nii-chan.
“ There there, Kageyama, she's just a kid.” Sugawara tried to calm him down which actually worked. Sparing her a last glare he went back to spiking.
Nevertheless, Kotei couldn't hide her excitement when Kageyama hit the ball. It made a ‘bam’ sound, throughout the place, as it touched the opposite side of the court. She cheered him on, in her mind, knowing her brother would get mad if she made noise.
𝟐
Finally, evening came and the coach dismissed practice for the day. The team did their final warm ups before calling it a day.
“ You've been a really good girl, Kotei. So I'll give you these chocolates as a reward,” Kiyoko said ruffling the little girl's hair.
“ Thanks , Kiyo-san !!”
“ Now stay put till your brother finishes up, okay ? I'm going out first. See you soon.” Kiyoko waved and Kotei waved back. Then thanking the team for the good work, she took her leave.
Now Kotei was bored. She looked around her trying to find something fun to do. And her gaze shifted to Yachi who was picking up the balls. Making up her mind she decided to help her. And looked around to find balls to pick.
Noticing some she waddled over to the area and tried to balance five balls at a time. Needless to say, she was having trouble balancing even two at a time.
“ What do you think you are doing ?”
Kotei peeked over the balls and smiled to see her brother.“ Look, nii-chan, Kotei's picking balls !”
“ I can see that,” Kageyama grumbled and took the balls from her. The latter resisted but of course he was stronger.“ Now go sit over there, quietly.”
“ B-but Kotei wanna hwelp....?”
“ No. No. A big no.” Kageyama told her off.“ You'll just get in the way. Now go there !”
“ O-okie.” Kotei sighed dejectedly and walked away.
Oblivious to the girl, two first years were whispering in the back, about her. Well more like Yamaguchi was whispering and Tsukishima...was just being Tsukishima.
“ Come on, Tsukki ! Look at that,” Yamaguchi gave the little one a concerned look.“ She looks so sad. Let's cheer her up.”
“ You go.”
“ No, come with me. Here.” Yamaguchi intentionally dropped the ball in his hand which slowly rolled over before hitting Kotei’s foot, lightly.
She stared at the ball for a few moments and looked around her. At that time she caught a green haired, freckled boy waving her over while a tall, blonde glasses guy staring down at her with an indifferent look. He reminded her of their grumpy old neighbour who always lectured her on the ways of life.
“ Can you bring the ball over ? It'll be a huge help,” the green haired guy called her over.
Kotei looked hopeful for a moment. But then her gaze travelled to her brother. She was scared but Kageyama had his back to her. He'll not know. Right ?
She slowly crouched down and picked up the ball. Then with eager steps approached the duo.“ Here, mister !”
She said expectantly holding the ball up towards him. Yamaguchi smiled and took it from her.“ Wow thank you. You're so thoughtful.” He patted her on the head, affectionately.
“ Thoughtfool?”
“ Thoughtful, yes. You are, isn't she, Tsukki?”
“ Uh..mhm.”
“ Tsukki ?” Kotei asked confused.“ Is that his name ?”
“ No. My name is Tsukishima Kei.” He grumbled in a bored tone.“ But this guy here distorted it.”
“ Tsukki !” Kotei cheered.
“ Yes, that's right. Tsukki, it is !” Yamaguchi cheered along but cleared his throat with a ‘ahem’ when caught Tsukishima glaring at him, in the background. Clearing his throat again he started,“ I am Yamaguchi. Yamaguchi Tadashi.”
“ Gucci ?” She thought for a while.“It’s ’dashi !”
She cheered, throwing her hands up in the air. Yamaguchi copied her with a ‘yay’.
“ Listen now. We're short on helping hands. Mind giving us a hand ?” Yamaguchi asked.
Kotei stared at him for a moment, confused, before extending her hand towards him. Yamaguchi shook his head as Tsukishima went on snickering at the back.“ I meant help. Would you help us?”
Kotei stared into his face. She looked behind her to see her brother watching her from the distance. She gulped and turned back to look into Yamaguchi’s expectant eyes.“Please ?”
“ Leave it to Kotei ! Cause Kotei's a big girl !” Kotei said mustering up all her courage, trying to portray an adult look.
Now Tsukishima couldn't stop his laugh.“ She's the exact opposite of her brother.”
“ Give that ?” Tsukishima stopped laughing and looked down to see her extending her hands up towards him. More like towards the ball in his hand.
“ Oh. Here.”
“ Take one at a time. Okay ?” Yamaguchi suggested and the little one nodded, enthusiastically. She followed Yachi towards the store room who took the ball from her, thanking her in the process.
𝟑
At the end Daichi locked up the gym and shoved the keys into his pocket. The group of boys chatted among themselves as they walked on the almost deserted street. They stopped at Ukai's shop who treated them to some pork buns.
“ No ! Kotei doesn't like that !” Kotei whined resisting Kageyama who was forcing the carton of milk towards her.
“ Stop fidgeting !” Kageyama yelled trying to get a proper grip on her head but Kotei was slithering around too much.
“ Are you sure she's your sibling?” Tsukishima scoffed.
“ Stop being rude, Tsukki.”
“ Kotei !” Kageyama yelled.
“ No-”
Everyone winced as Kageyama smacked his little sister across the head. Kotei clutched her head, tightly. It's not new for her. But each time her brother's hits seemed to get stronger. And she felt the pain.
They witnessed another fateful event go down centering Karasuno as her shoulders shook. And when she looked up, her teary face and snotty nose came into view.“ Why’d nii-chan hit Kotei ?” She cried.“ Kotei says bad nii-chan !!” And she sat down on the ground, crying pools.
“ Kageyamaaaaa, you jerk !!!!” Hinata screamed, pointing at the said boy, accusingly.“ Why are you abusing your sister ! You should be ashamed of yourself as a big brother !”
“ Now, abusive is too farfetched,” Daichi said trying to calm Hinata down.
“ Shut up ! I'll smack you too, Hinata boke!”
“ You wouldn't dare, punk !”
“ What'd you say to me !”
“ Aww man,” Tanaka sighed.“Kageyama, you shouldn't have hit her. You made her cry. Although my sister hit me too when we were small...,” he mumbled the last part, a bit shy.
“ You're ruining the name of the big-brother community ! I don't want Natsu to ever meet you !” Hinata yelled.
“ Big-brother community ?” Sugawara and Ennoshita sweat dropped.
“ D-don’t...”
Everybody stopped their quarrelling to hear the sobbing girl. Tears rolled down her face. But regardless she stood in front of Kageyama, shielding him from Hinata's threats.“ Don't bully nii-chan...”
Kageyama scoffed as Hinata was shocked to hear that. He crouched down before the little girl who tried her hardest to give him her best glare.“ What do you mean, Kotei ! Your brother hit you just now ! Shouldn't you be on my team ?”
His sentence caught Kotei off guard. The other boys stared at her anticipating her answer. She shook her head, her eyes closed shut and wiped off her tears.“ Kotei's a big girl. Kotei should've listened to nii-chan. It was Kotei's fault. Kotei says Kotei should be punished.”
“ You heard her. Here.” Kageyama extended the carton of milk towards her who made a disgusted face. Nevertheless, chugged it down to get over the disaster, fast.
“ Now that's what you call an obedient child.” Kinoshita said, laughing.
You have no idea, Kageyama facepalmed, staring at his sister.
The said boy discarded the empty milk carton for her sister and then took out his handkerchief. Steadying the girl by her shoulder, he kneeled before her and wiped her mouth which got stained with the white liquid.
“ Aw, that's no fair. I should be the ideal big brother here,” Hinata sighed, sadly, watching the brother-sister-duo.
“ You are one in your sister's eyes, Hinata. I'm sure of it,” Kinoshita said patting him on the back.
“ See you tomorrow, guys.” Kinoshita, Ennoshita and Daichi bid the group goodbye before moving out on their way.
They were the last ones to leave. The three walked off leaving Kageyama, Hinata and Kotei in the dark. The tangerine head waved back till their figures could not be seen anymore.
Kotei yawned, feeling sleepy already. She looked up at her big brother and said,“ nii-chan, Kotei's sleepy.”
“ So ?”
“ Kotei says carry her.”
“ God has given you legs. Atleast make use of it.”
The girl pouted but the next moment got scooped up by warm hands. They were small compared to her brother's.
“ Hang on tight, okay ?” Hinata grinned as he carried her on his back. Kotei wrapped her arms around his neck, happy she could sleep peacefully now.
“ Kotei says Shoyo-nii is nice too, big bro.” She cheered giggling near his ears.
“ I am ? Thanks, I guess.” Hinata’s ear-tips turned scarlet as he scratched his cheek, shyly. He grinned victoriously at Kageyama.“ She said I'm nice.”
“ Whatever. I couldn't care less.” The latter said starting to walk away.“What about your bike ?”
“ Shoot, I forgot about that.” Hinata stopped. The girl had already dozed off. She was really sleepy afterall. He couldn't wake her up now.
“ Our houses are totally on the opposite way. Will you carry her to our house, then come back for your bike again ?” Kageyama smirked.
“ N-no...”
“ Idiot. Give her here.”
“ But...”
“ Don't worry. I'll tell her you were the one who carried her home.”
“ T-that's not it !” Hinata yelled embarrassed. But mumbled at the end,“ you better tell her that.” Letting off a defeated sigh he handed Kotei to Kageyama who, unlike Hinata, did not carry her on his back. Instead he made her head lean onto his shoulder, securing his arm around her bottom. “Kotei is really sweet. Don't you think you should be more fair to her ?”
“ What do you mean ? I'm always fair.”
Hinata sighed.“ Yeah, yeah whatever.”
“ It's...,” Kageyama started as Hinata stopped in his tracks.“ I don't want her to get too attached to me. Or she'll face problem later when we go our separate ways.”
“ I see.”
They stood in silence for a few moments. Hinata unchained his cycle quietly. Kageyama was staring at her sleeping form. She looked so peaceful.
“ So you do like her ?”
“ What's with that stupid question ! Of course I love her ! She's my sister !”
“ Then you shouldn't care about the other thing.” Hinata grinned getting on his ride.“ Besides, she already seems pretty attached to you even if you don't show it. So don't resist. Just...go with the flow. Don't wanna regret it later, do we !”
Sparing a last glance at the duo he took off, and felt the cold night breeze hit his face immediately. He quickly disappeared into the night sky as Kageyama stood there, staring at the direction his friend went. He had shock written all over his face.
“ When did that idiot start talking sense ?”
...
🆂🅷🅾🆁🆃🆂
“ Good news ! I got the job !” Kageyama Miwa announced happily over dinner.
“ Congratulations,” Tobio said politely. From the corner of his eyes he caught Kotei red-handed who tried to drop her capsicum on his plate.“ I can see everything.”
He glared at her and she gulped, quickly eating all of it in one breath. She made a gesture of throwing up which made the oldest chuckle.
“ It was tough. But atleast I'll be doing something that I love to do.” Miwa sighed supporting her chin on her hand, with a dreamy look.
“ Yay ! Miwa-nee, way to go ! Kotei asks will nee-san buy Kotei toys ?”
“ No.”
Kotei pouted and went back to her eating. She glared at her food as Miwa examined her small face.
“ Life is so tough. But you got to spent it without any regret.” Her gaze settled upon Kageyama who listened intently. She smiled.“ So you should do whatever you want, got that Tobio ? No need to hold back.”
“ I never hold back. What're you talking about,” Kageyama mumbled, embarrassed. He avoided eye contact and finished his food in silence.
“ It's good then.”
“ Yay ! No hold-back ! Can Kotei play games ?” Kotei asked, cheerfully.
“ No.”
“ Never.”
Both the older brother and sister said simultaneously. Kotei whined and started throwing a tantrum. But stopped as soon as she saw Kageyama holding up a fist, shooting laser beams at her.
“ You know what ? I'm starting my job from tomorrow so you have to take care of Kotei all by yourself.”
“ What ?!” Kageyama almost slipped off his chair.
“ Yes.” Miwa said nonchalantly, eating her rice. She was tired and was in no mood to argue. Maybe that's why Kageyama selected his next words, carefully.
“ But..I have practice. My training camp is coming up next week--”
“ I don't think it'll be a problem. Did she give you any trouble today ?”
“ Yes--”
“ Noooo ! Nii-chan lies !” Kotei protested.
“ Don't you dare lie to me, Kageyama Tobio. I know exactly what happened,” Miwa said in a louder voice.
“ Yes ! Yes !” Kotei agreed from the sidelines but shut up at Kageyama's glare.
“ Don't you try to escape from your duties. I have a job to do and I can't afford babysitting two dumb children—”
“ Hey !” Both Kageyama and Kotei yelled together.
“ Shut up ! Did you forget ? I have the authority at the table !” Miwa said, flipping her hair which denoted ‘end of conversation’.“ And I've not asked for your opinion, Tobio. Take Kotei with you to your practice. It's only for the vacation. You can do that much.”
“ If you say so,” Kageyama grumbled under his breath.
“ Yayyyy ! Kotei can watch dumb nii-chan and the nice big brothers play !”
“ What'd you call me now !”
“ Finish your food already, you two !”
______________________________________
Ah, yes, I'm back ! I couldn't wait to publish this. I've read a lot of x child readers and they're so wholesome, I wanted to try it out. So here you go. Only this is an oc book.
And the name of my oc is Kotei. I tried to draw a representation so here it is.
Please look forward to the next chapter !!