thursday, the seventh of march, 2013
nekoma high school, tokyo
11k???????? big confusion???
The morning before the practice match, the groupchat had exploded. You woke up to a ton of messages: you hadn't counted, nor had you read the notification that said how many messages you had. In fact, you couldn't read it because even more notifications consistently came through, blocking your view.
6:04am
tendersalami and semieita are online!
tendersalami: semisemiiiii
tendersalami: semisemi talk to me
semieita: tendou I'm sat across from you?
tendersalami: it's too far
tendersalami: the distance is killing me!!!
semieita: I hate you
tendersalami: omg me too don't worry
reonnotleon is online!
reonnotleon: We have a practice match against Nekoma today
reonnotleon: so we have to work hard.
tendersalami: i don't like working hard
reonnotleon: Please be quiet.
reonnotleon: But anyway
semieita: Yeah Tendou shut up
reonnotleon: CAN I PLEASE FINISH A SENTENCE
tendersalami: no
reonnotleon: SHUT UP GINGER
tendersalami: my hair is red
semieita: Reon just continue with it
reonnotleon: As I was saying,
reonnotleon: we need to work hard because Nekoma is a tough team.
tendersalami: how do you know that
reonnotleon: I have sources.
tendersalami: ooo he spying
reonnotleon: .
reonnotleon: Be careful of Kuroo too.
reonnotleon: And the whole team, really.
reonnotleon: They're all good at manipulation.
semieita: Reon please put your sentences into one message
semieita: My phone is going off like mad
tendersalami: reon
tendersalami: can
tendersalami: do
tendersalami: whatever
tendersalami: he
tendersalami: wants
semieita: oh my god
semieita went offline.
semieita turned on mute mode.
reonnotleon: Well done, Tendou.
tendersalami: I deserve an Oscar for that
reonnotleon: That was sarcasm.
tendersalami: frick you
ushijimawakatoshi01 is online!
tendersalami: hi ushiwaka!!!!
ushijimawakatoshi01: Greetings, Reon.
ushijimawakatoshi01: And greetings, Tendou.
tendersalami: greetings beeeeech
ushijimawakatoshi01: Greetings oaaaaaak.
tendersalami: oh the poor boy is trying
reonnotleon: Ushijima, don't say that.
ushijimawakatoshi01: Why? Is it rude teenage slang?
reonnotleon: No, it's just...
reonnotleon: Not for you.
tendersalami: you talk as if you're not a teenager, ushiwaka
ushijimawakatoshi01: I am fifteen.
tendersalami: *wipes tear* so old
ushijimawakatoshi01: Oh Yes. I came to talk about Kuroo.
tendersalami: oooh spill the tea sis
reonnotleon: No, Tendou, I'm begging you
tendersalami: then b e g
ushijimawakatoshi: Kuroo is very tall and his arms are very long, which means that he will be decent at blocking. I have not yet had the chance to play him, but I have watched the match between Nekoma and Karasuno. He easily blocked a good number of their spikes. His hair also adds to his height. I am unsure of how high he reaches when he jumps, but his chin reaches the top of the net when he does. Kuroo also has this ever-present smirk on his face which can easily put off his opponents. When I was talking to Daichi afterwards, he said that Kuroo told him 'good luck' as a form of manipulation.
tendersalami: My name is Yoshikage Kira. I'm 33 years old. My house is in the northeast section of Morioh, where all the villas are, and I am not married. I work as an employee for the Kame Yu department stores, and I get home every day by 8 PM at the latest. I don't smoke, but I occasionally drink. I'm in bed by 11 PM, and make sure I get eight hours of sleep, no matter what. After having a glass of warm milk and doing about twenty minutes of stretches before going to bed, I usually have no problems sleeping until morning. Just like a baby, I wake up without any fatigue or stress in the morning. I was told there were no issues at my last check-up. I'm trying to explain that I'm a person who wishes to live a very quiet life. I take care not to trouble myself with any enemies, like winning and losing, that would cause me to lose sleep at night. That is how I deal with society, and I know that is what brings me happiness. Although, if I were to fight I wouldn't lose to anyone.
reonnotleon: PLEASE BOTH OF YOU
reonnotleon: IM BEGGING YOU STOP
ushijimawakatoshi01: Chew.
tendersalami: HE GETS IT HE GETS IT
reonnotleon: Ushijima, I expected better from you.
ushijimawakatoshi01: I'm sorry, Reon.
ushijimawakatoshi01: I expected better of myself too.
reonnotleon: But that Kuroo guy...
reonnotleon: What does he look like?
tendersalami:
reonnotleon: That's a big photo.
reonnotleon: He looks a bit tired.
ushijimawakatoshi: That's him.
reonnotleon: How did you get that photo?!
tendersalami: i honestly don't know
semieita is online!
semieita: tendou what the frick
tendersalami: SEMISEMIIIIII
semieita went offline.
tendersalami: ok then
tendersalami: i should probably get ready instead of procrastinating then whoops
And that's where the conversation ended. You read it on the bus, and it took you a good hour to figure out what the heck was going on. It also took you longer because Tendou was kicking your seat, causing your phone to jerk around along with yourself.
But despite all of the distractions and odd comments from your teammates in the groupchat, you picked up on what Ushijima said about Kuroo. You took note of how Kuroo was known for putting his opponents off by making bizarre comments before the match.
In fact, it took you a whole set to figure out that that was what he did to you.
'Good luck' - he said that to make you think that he could be strong, and he could easily overtake you. But did he really think that he could overpower the great Ushijima, one of the top aces in Miyagi?
Oh my god. What on earth were you saying? The Great Ushijima? Now you sounded like a fangirl.
Actually, talking about fangirls, you'd met his little fan club once. There was a whole pile of girls who claimed to be masters of volleyball, and there were also a lot of magazines scattered around their club room (god knows how they got one of those) with Ushijima on the cover.
——
"Chance ball!"
"Yamaguchi, cover!"
"I've got it! Semi, for you!"
"Ushijima!"
The match had been going on for quite a while. It was the third set, and Nekoma had won the last one. Therefore, if you let them win this set, they'd win the whole practice match. And for the sake of Shiratorizawa's unbeatable name, you couldn't let them do it.
Ushijima quickly slammed the ball into the ground, barely missing Yaku's forearms and scoring you another point with his incredible skill. The score was now 16-12 to Nekoma, and hopefully you'd win. But that would mean that there would be another two sets.
Semi picked up a volleyball and felt around it with his slightly feminine hands. Deciding that it was alright, he threw the ball up into the air and served it towards Nekoma's side of the net. A boy with a very chiselled or model-like face received it (the back of his jersey said Kai) and sent it towards their setter. The setter set the ball for their ace, and the ball came over the net and was received by your skilled libero, Megumi. Megumi sent the ball to Semi, who set the ball up for you.
With great force, you jumped up into the spiking position. However because you'd only been up against teams that weren't that powerful in the aspect of defence, you were not expecting to see a mountain of black hair covering your view of the other side of the net. Time seemed to slow down as you jumped, and for a second you could hear Kuroo say 'boo' as though he was attempting to scare you.
But with your common sense, you looked for a gap in between the blockers and smacked the ball past them. Somehow, it managed to hit the floor, scoring Shiratorizawa another point. Kuroo looked genuinely surprised.
He stayed by the net to talk to you. "Not many people get past my blocking," he admits, scratching the top of his head, "so you're special."
You watched as he fumbled around a bit, trying to find his head in that mass of blackness. You breathed out of your nose in place of a laugh. "Right, er, thanks." Kuroo finally found his head and scratched it. His hair appeared to sway in all sorts of directions as his hand moved around, as if it were some sort of... seaweed?
Why does his hair remind you of seaweed...?
——
The match ended, and it took four sets for Shiratorizawa to win. You won the third set, and then the fourth set. It took quite some time though, and as a result, you could barely carry yourself back to the minivan, even though it was parked just outside the gym.
Kuroo stopped to have a brief conversation with you after you or Nekoma scored a point, so that made things better. After a while, you decided that Kuroo would make a good friend, that is, if Megumi manages to shut up about him. Which she probably won't, by the way.
Before you got on the bus, Kuroo stopped to talk to you.
"Oi, (name)." He stopped you from walking up the steps. "You did really well in that match."
"Oh, thank you." You turned around fully to see him. He had his signature cheeky grin on his face.
His grin got longer. "Not many people get past my blocking, and I've never seen someone as talented as you."
You went slightly pink. "Kuroo, you don't need to compliment me so much-"
"But your libero, geez!"
You stopped, not expecting Kuroo to notice someone as quiet and shy as Megumi. He sighed, somewhat as dreamily as Megumi looking at him. "She caught every ball we spiked and every ball I blocked. Oh, and she's so small and cute too...! Her little glasses make her look so nerdy... and oh! I wonder if she likes science?"
Kuroo continued on his little rant as you stared at him confusedly. He was just as lovesick as Megumi was...
"...(name)? Does Megumi like science?"
"Yes. She does. Her favourite is chemistry."
Kuroo gasped. A happier looking grin spread across his face. "Me too! Oh my god... (name), will you talk to her for me? Give her my number, pretty please?"
He wrote down his number on your hand with a pen he probably pulled out of the mop on his head. "Thank you!" He cried, running off.
As you made your way onto the bus, Megumi was looking out of the window to where Kuroo was walking off to. She huffed, turning back to you. "Why does Kuroo only talk to you?"
You smiled an all-knowing smile. "He's too shy. Here, this is his number," you said, twisting your arm at an awkward angle to let her type it into her phone. She smiled brightly, surprised that he would actually feel shy around her.
"He likes you too, by the way," you told her. She went bright red. Very bright red.
Megumi gulped, a grin that almost matched Kuroo's sneaking its way onto her face. "R... Really?"
"He told me himself. Kuroo also thinks you're perfect because you like chemistry."
"What?! I like biology!"
You paused, deadpanning. "Well then."
———
question: do you mind me putting my other characters in??
you guys are seriously nuts but I love you all
also guess who just got through kamoshida's castle!!! took me a while. i'm just a bit slow please don't murder me
also amen for megumi x kuroo
and sorry for putting so many other characters in this!!! i'll try and put more haikyuu characters in oof