chapter twenty-three: ganbatte
┉┅━━━━━━━━━━┅┉
the day of the most-awaited event had already come. plenty of volleyball teams from different high schools in tokyo prefecture were present, and the variety of volleyball players ranging from the smallest to the tallest heights filled the entire venue of sumida city gymnasium.
to the neko boys, they weren't that nervous before d-day, but right now, they could strongly feel the mixture of excitement and nervousness running through their veins, causing an unexplainable rush of adrenaline to them.
"kii-chan, do you want me to hide you?" kuroo asked, curiously watching their manager fidgeting by the stairs of the bus.
the boys had a worried look while watching kiiro hesitate to even take a step out of the vehicle. they are well aware of the reason for her behavior - the crowd.
kenma slightly frowned before he took away his game console and approached his younger sister. reaching out to her hands and carefully helping her down the stairs.
"are you okay? you can stay here if you'd like," he whispered, taking off his red jacket in the process and placing it over her head.
kiiro bit her lip and nodded, "i'm fine, nii-chan."
"we'll do fine by ourselves, kii-chan. don't force yourself." yaku reassured.
everyone else agreed with yaku's statement, sharing their own words with her. sadly, their efforts didn't really help her completely because of her severe fear, but kiiro knew that she needed to face the situation right here and right now to eventually overcome it because she's no longer alone.
the raven-haired manager finally looked up from the ground and met their worried gazes. "i'll be fine. i'm your manager, and this team is my responsibility," she said with a small smile.
however, no one was convinced with her words of assurance, and kiiro was well aware of it. she confidently grabbed the bags and made her way towards the entrance. the tormenting presence of the crowd around her. their towering heights and deep gazes bore into her. it wasn't even helping her lingering anxiety-not a single bit.
as her golden eyes lingered on her black sneakers, the bright surroundings suddenly dimmed down by the shadows around her. instantly, kiiro raised her head in confusion and saw how her team surrounded her as if they were the iron wall of date tech, but in a neko version.
her eyebrows furrowed, staring at their scowling faces toward the others. "just wha-"
"shh!" yaku glanced at her. "we're protecting our dear manager." he said with a smile, which disappeared immediately when he caught someone peeking to see who was behind the wall.
"protecting? from what?" kiiro thought, mumbling incoherent words to herself as she tried to comprehend the situation. others find the behavior of the nekoma team amusing, while some mumble to one another about who knows what.
"yo, nekos!"
that voice.
"yo, bastard!"
those unnecessarily loud voices... as per kiiro. her widened eyes turned sharp as the two captains smothered each other, breaking the wall's formation. the two talked as if they were the only ones in the area, which successfully irked kiiro. as always.
with a huff and a subtle scrunch of her nose, she stomped her way towards the childish pair to scold them, only to be stopped by a certain black-haired setter.
"hi, kiiro-san," akaashi greeted with a small smile plastered across his face.
the female returned a similar smile, "hello, shi-chan," was her response.
and that was it, akaashi and kiiro only held their gazes toward one another without speaking a single syllable at all. the subtle interaction between the two wasn't, of course, left unnoticed by the childish captains. then, it was chaos after a second when the two males pointed them out.
"aren't you going to stop them?" yaku asked their blond setter.
kenma took a quick glance at them before returning to his phone. "akaashi's there, anyway."
┉┅━━┅┉
the shoes squeaking against the floor and the loud bam noise from the ball flying over the net. the gymnasium is fairly noisy for the nekoma manager, so it was bearable for her, at least. instead, the mess on the floor, the pocari sweat bottles, and the towels laying around were triggering her.
so much that she has been cursing every single thing in the world, living or nonliving - curse their existence for this mess.
"for-the-nth-damn-time-fix-your-posture is what kii-chan's eyes are trying to tell you." the vice captain called out to taketora.
after the hundred times kiiro has served the ball to taketora, he still couldn't move on to the next step of their warm-up routine, as the manager kept telling him to stay put and spike the ball over the net.
the mohawk male turned to kai with a disbelieving face. "that was all the problem since the beginning, and she couldn't even tell me! she just kept saying, "stay. spike the ball," for minutes now, leaving me confused as to what's the problem!" taketora complained.
kai carefully eyed their manager, who had her usual expression as she stared at nothing. "i understand your frustration, taketora. but look, haven't you noticed that kiiro-san is training us to figure ourselves out because once we're in the court, it's only us."
although, kai had already explained to his teammate what was going on, taketora still remained stubborn and continuously complained. kiiro definitely knew about his complaints, but she didn't mutter a word to him and let the frustrated male do things on his own.
"kii-chan, go take a breath outside first." coach nekomata gently tapped her shoulder, to which she agreed, and she left the court without looking back at the team.
kiiro let out a sigh after closing the doors behind her. their team isn't always on the trail. there would be times where the boys would have an argument with her, but at the end of the day, they would settle things. however, things right now seem different from the previous ones, and she doesn't know how she would confront the situation.
deeply immersed in her thoughts, the soft thump that came from the vending machine because of the impact of the bottle against the steel surprised her. kiiro bent down to grab the bottle of aloe vera juice before opening the tightly sealed cap and chugging it down to quench her thirst.
for the nth time today, kiiro spaced out again as she walked anywhere without any sense of mental presence. whether she's thinking about something, doing a workload, or merely being bored, the tendency to space out is high. it has been a habit of hers since she was young.
unbeknownst to her, a boy with silky black wavy hair was staring at her intently from the corner. his face scrunched when he witnessed how another boy purposely bumped onto the spaced-out girl just to capture her attention but failed to do so.
"hey! what's your name? from which high school did you come?" the boy who bumped kiiro bombarded her with questions.
kiiro only spared him a blank glance. her golden orbs traveling up and down of his figure, but no words were heard from her. instead, she walked past him, but the persistent boy grabbed her wrist.
"i was asking for your name, miss. don't be rude." he snickered at her, trying his best to intimidate the female. yet there was no response from her, so the boy tightened his squeeze on her. "tell me your fucking na-"
"oi, hands off." the curly-haired boy appeared beside them, glaring at the boy harassing kiiro. "take your filthy hands off her," he continued.
meanwhile, the other boy had the guts to raise an eyebrow and laugh. "or else what? get your ass off of our busi- shit!"
kiiro watched the scene unfold before her. even though her mind is somewhere else, a small smile appears on her face as she finds it amusing to see the boy in front of her cursing due to the pain given by the other boy.
well, who wouldn't be in pain when their eyes were sprayed with alcohol?
while the boy was still occupied by his crying, the other one tugged on her jacket's sleeve and pulled her away from the scene. still despite the amount of chaos going around, kiiro is still subconsciously knocked out, her eyes wide open like a meerkat as she internally gushes over the male's curly hair.
"what the fu-" the male cursed with his eyebrows furrowed, turning to face the smaller female when he felt his hair get slightly tugged.
"cute," kiiro mumbled, which he clearly heard. their eyes lingered on one another for a minute, but it was cut short when the male looked away, and then there was silence.
"stop staring at me," he mumbled, shifting his weight to his other foot.
"i didn't complain when you were staring at me from the corner awhile ago," kiiro retorted, which made the male cough.
as creepy as it sounds, he was indeed staring at kiiro, but she managed to capture his attention when she was merely spacing out.
"frankly speaking, you looked like a creep, but i'll let that pass because you're cute," kiiro added, which made the latter cough intensely.
"d-do you just straight up flirt with the "cute" people you meet?" the latter air quoted the four-letter word with a baffled look on.
with a sly grin, kiiro raised an eyebrow at him. "and don't tell me you were flattered?" she teased, but the male's reaction made her giggle.
"damn bro, i was just kidding!" kiiro laughed, irking the latter even more. "i'm kiiro. thanks for saving my arse back there."
the male stared down at her stretched hand. to say, he was having an internal battle over whether to accept the handshake or turn her down, but then he just took it and gently shook her small hand.
who cares anyway?
"sakusa. sakusa kiyoomi."
┉┅━━┅┉
"we're like the blood in our veins. we must flow without stopping. keep your oxygen moving and your mind working."
the usual chant of the nekoma team. they would always recite it to set the mood before their official games, and their team captain, kuroo is the one who initiates it every time. which their blond setter hates when they do it, but he has no choice at all.
"remember to keep your defense strong. keep the ball up in the air," coach naoi reminded, earning their loud, synchronized yes.
everyone then shifted their attention to their older coach, nekomata, waiting for his brief advice before the team dispatches to the game. nekomata only smiled at them and turned his head towards their manager, who was standing quietly beside the coaches.
"kii-chan, anything to say?"
kiiro grumbled under her breath as she felt all eyes on her. her eyes stuck on her white sneakers, not daring to look up at the boys.
coach nekomata really likes to put me in the spotlight.
with a sigh of courage, she began talking about what she thought would be at least helpful for them. "things were hard for everyone... i mean, you had to undergo that anyway," she said, which made a few of the boys cackle slightly.
"but i wish you all the best today because if you aren't going to get qualified for the tournament, cry your eyes out for all i care."
"kii-chan, we know you car- oomf."
kiiro glared at levi, who has his butt on the floor with a towel on his face and is complaining in pain after getting hit by a towel.
"as i was saying," she cleared her throat before looking up at them. "ganbatte."
there was a moment of silence at first, but kuroo grinned so widely when his teammates, aside from kenma, all yelled in joy and determination as they walked to their respective places on the court.
meanwhile, coach nekomata felt relieved to witness the tension between the boys and the manager. he lightly nudged kiiro's shoulder to gain her attention.
"the road ahead isn't always a smooth journey, but what matters most is the bond among the team."