chapter eighteen: bitchshima
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it was the second day of summer training camp. the usual routine of the teams playing against one another wasn't finished until the glowing moon was already at rest with the stars in the dark sky. the after-practice had also become a part of everyone's routine before dinner time, including the fukurōdani pair and nekoma's captain and manager.
"oya," akaashi said, seeing the blond middle blocker of karasuno by the door of gymnasium three.
"oya oya?" the owl-looking captain tilted his head with a teasing look.
the rooster head walked towards the two, and faced the blond with a smirk. "oya oya oya," he said, bearing the same look as bokuto.
tsukishima went towards them and initiated a conversation with the three. kiiro, who was by the side of the court as usual, looked up at the four males talking. her eyes scrutinized the tall blond, internally laughing as she saw the two captains elicit an annoyed look.
"just a club?" bokuto repeated, his brows furrowed with a frown on his lips. "that almost sounds like someone's name," he continued, earning kuroo's attention.
"ooh, like mary club?" kuroo asked. "no wait, i guess it was just some club," he added, and the two captains started talking by themselves while the other two deadpanned at their irrelevant conversation.
bokuto then diverted his attention back to the blond freshman. "say, four-eyes!" he exclaimed.
"it's tsukishima," the latter corrected.
"say, tsukishima-kun… is volleyball fun?" bokuto asked, anticipating his answer.
tsukishima glanced elsewhere, avoiding his gaze as he thought about his answer. "no, not really…" he trailed off.
"maybe that's because you suck," kiiro joined their conversation, standing beside kuroo. her statement struck the blond's nerve once again for the second time.
the fukurōdani captain proceeded to boost himself, ignoring the tension in the air, while tsukishima only gave him a deadpan as his response.
"you see, i only recently started thinking that volleyball was fun," bokuto said, catching tsukishima's interest as he continued to tell the blond about his experiences with practicing his straight spikes and the time where the blockers weren't able to block the ball.
"just that one shot made me feel like my time had finally come!" he chuckled out loud with a smug look.
kiiro sighed at bokuto's loud voice, shaking her head as she glanced at tsukishima. "it all depends on if you have that moment or not." she walked towards the blond with her arms folded together, staring deeply at his golden-brown eyes.
"it doesn't really matter what happens in the future, or if you can win your next match. the joy you feel beating your opponent in front of you, and when you're able to pull out 120% of your potential, is everything."
her little speech made the latter astounded and speechless. tsukishima wasn't expecting to hear that kind of statement that pointed out the solution to his problem, and it was from someone he merely knew — it was like advice and encouragement for him.
the raven-haired girl continued talking. "well, at least that's how it works for players like bokuto-san, and it doesn't mean that it applies to everyone," she said, looking away from him. "i don't really understand why you said it was "just a club," but i don't think you're wrong."
tsukishima kept his gaze fixed on the smaller female in front of him, listening intently to every word she said. everything she said made sense and was on point. the way she talks to him is like she knew him so well for a long time already.
their eyes meet once again, but the golden orbs of the raven-haired girl hold something else within. "but once that moment arrives for you, that's the moment you'll be hooked on volleyball," she stated with a solemn look as she pointed to him, and his eyes widened in realization after that.
the serious moment was interrupted when bokuto clapped, appearing beside the karasuno middle blocker. "alright, kii-chan and i already answered your question. now, help us by blocking." he grinned, patting his back.
kuroo did the same, leading the blond to the court. "hai hai, now come on, let's go!" the two captains dragged him, and the latter wasn't able to complain.
akaashi appeared beside the nekoma manager and patted her head. "you did great," he told her, making the latter smile at his statement.
she looked up to him, "i did great on speaking what was on bo-kun's mind." and the setter nodded in agreement.
their four-on-four practice match had started with kiiro on the sidelines, scoring each of their matches and handing them their water bottles and towels during their short breaks. their practice match went on until it was dinner time, and they started wrapping up.
kiiro and tsukishima were alone together picking up the balls while the others were cleaning up the other side of the court. the raven-haired girl occassionally casts a glance at the blond. the latter had already noticed her constant glances, but he didn't confront her about it until their eyes met.
"do you need anything?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at her as he waited for her answer.
kiiro scrunched her nose. "nothing," she mumbled, diverting her eyes away from him as she continued to pick up the balls.
tsukishima raised his head while smirking before tilting it down, keeping his eyes on her. "don't be shy now, miss manager," he teased, earning her attention.
kiiro puffed her cheeks out before throwing a ball at him, but the blond caught it with ease, not breaking the smirk etched on his face. "urusai, you jerk!" she snarled at him, stomping out of the gym.
the other three, who were watching the two from afar, sweatdropped after seeing the raven-haired manager storm out with an annoyed look — it's scary to witness the annoyed kozume kiiro.
"what happened?" bokuto asked, eyeing the blond who just finished up cleaning.
the latter walked up to the door and shrugged off his question, but a smirk was still on his face. "i'll be going to have dinner." he bowed to them before heading to the cafeteria.
the cafeteria was packed up when the blond middle blocker arrived. his eyes roamed around the entire area, but the certain green-haired boy wasn't anywhere to be found. with a sigh, he walked up to the serving table and got his own dinner since the managers were already eating.
the blond looked around for a vacant seat, and he was able to find one located at the very back.
"whose is this?" he mumbled to himself, eyeing the half-eaten food tray at the vacant two-seater table.
"ah, whatever. i'm too hungry to even care," the blond thought, sitting across from the taken seat before starting to eat his dinner.
meanwhile, a certain raven-haired girl came back into the cafeteria with two milk cartons in her hand. she made a beeline to her table, but she was greeted with the same blond sitting at her table as well.
"what the fuck are you doing here?" she blurted out, squinting her eyes at him as he looked up at her with a questioning look.
"i'm eating, obviously. what else?" he retorted, stuffing his mouth with a spoonful of food.
kiiro looked around, seeing that all of the tables were already occupied. she clicked her tongue, taking a seat while glaring at the blond sitting across from her. she placed her milk cartons on the table, opening one of them before continuing to eat her dinner. she didn't mind him at all, but the blond has been staring at her in amusement.
"you keep drinking milk, but your height never grows." tsukishima snickered, unconcerned by the latter's death glare.
"i never commented on your shitty attitude before, but you're the worst human being with extreme anger issues, that i've ever met," she retorted, sipping on her milk while keeping her glare on him.
tsukishima, on the other hand, smirked at her and folded his arms, as if he was provoking the girl. "at least i'm not being a know-it-all, miss manager," he replied.
an irk mark appeared on her forehead at his statement. "hah? do you even know what a manager is for, you jerk?"
"i clearly know what a manager is for. they are supposed to assist the members by running around to do errands. basically, you're like the club's maid—"
"watch your mouth, bitchshima."
the entire cafeteria went deadly silent after witnessing the dispute between the two. the raven-haired manager of nekoma stood up abruptly, and the chair caused a loud screech against the floor. she dumped her unfinished food in the trashcan before walking out of the cafeteria.
meanwhile, tsukishima was stunned at just what happened. his hair and clothes were all damp and sticky with the milk thrown at him by the furious nekoma manager.
"what did you do to my sister?"