I rush over and help the girls out with the food.
As hungry as I may be, I can't eat anything until we're allowed to. Those corn do look really good though.
No! Stop it.
"Liver...tripe...sirloin...rips..." Bokuto is seen drooling over the grill I cooking on.
Literally, drooling. It's disturbing.
"Bokuto, that's disgusting." I tell him.
"Just give me a little taste Paddy-poo. I'm so hungry." He wipes the saliva coming out from his mouth with the back of his hand.
I use my tongs and snap them at him, shooing him away to another grill.
I turn around to get another slice on the grill and run into Kageyama. I look up at him and see he's drooling too.
I grab a napkin that's close by me and wipe his face.
"Oh, not you too." I say while throwing the napkin away.
I was saved once the coaches called all the hungry boys over.
"You know, you'd be a really good manager for your team." Kaori, one of the Fukurodani managers tell me. "You're good with guys and know how to put them in check. I saw you hanging with Bokuto and Akaashi before too."
"Oh, I was only just practicing with them. I'm a player too, so it's hard to also try and become a manager." I tell her then look over at Yachi almost dropping all the plates. "Besides, I think Karasuno had a great manager."
The boys finally got their hands on with the food.
I decided to make my plate early, before they could get to me. The moment I saw people coming close to me I got my plate and went to an empty space, the vegetable table.
I grab what I need a look around. All the guys socializing and eating.
Akaashi saving Kageyama from choking. Bokuto trying to steal other people's meats. Yukie showing her love for rice balls. Noya, Tanaka and Yamamota having a meeting. Kenma avoiding socializing as much as possible.
All of these boys may be opponents on the court, but off of it, they seem to be best friends.
That must really be the art of volleyball.
"Hey, do you know where the water is?" Kageyama asks me, looking very drained after nearly dying from eating too fast.
"Here." I hand him my water bottle and he refreshes himself up after chugging it down. "Huh?"
We look over to see a crowd of the taller guys, looking over Yachi. Kageyama and I give each other a look then exchange a nod.
I walk over to Yachi and the giants.
{Yachi's POV}
I-I'M...I'M GONNA BE EATEN. I DON'T TASTE GOOD!
"Give her some space guys, you're frightening her. Lev, Gora, especially you two." Padema comes in the middle of this nightmare and shoos off the giant scary guys. "You okay Yachi?"
She's hardly taller than me. I always thought she was just a shy quiet girl, that has crazy, scary volleyball skills.
But, she can make a group of people eating, huge dudes move away in seconds.
SHE'S SO COOL!!
"Uh- y-yeah." I stutter to tell her, while getting the food.
She gives me a little smile and walks towards her brother.
Padema doesn't look so sociable. But, she seems to have a lot of friends, at least in volleyball.
Although, she doesn't seem like a very talkative person, she doesn't even smile as often.
I've probably seen her smile the most today than ever.
{Padema's POV}
"Bokuto! Stop taking my food!" I shout after I catch him once again, trying to steal off my plate.
Jeez, I can't even eat in peace with this guys.
"You know.." Bokuto starts with a mouth full of food, which he eventually swallows. Only to fill his mouth again with some vegetables. "I'll miss practicing with you. You were badass and I don't have any female friends that can block my hits."
"Oh right, like you have female friends." Kuroo overhears the conversation and steps in.
"I do so!" Bokuto shouts back, spitting some food out.
"Oh really? Like who?" Kuroo continued to make him mad.
"Um, Yukie and Kaori, duh!" I laugh at their stupidity and start to walk away.
"Managers don't count." Kuroo tells him.
"Do too!" I can hear Bokuto shout, even when I've distanced myself far enough.
Oh, I'll miss them too. As much as I hate people like that, they make it fun.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I took a trash bag and started collecting the empty plates and cups I found sitting around. The guys cleaned up the grills real well, not leaving a single meat piece on them.
Luckily, they're all athletes, or else their eating habits might be a problem.
"Need some help?" Akaashi asks me.
"No, I'm fine, thanks." I take the plate and cup from him and dump it into the bag.
He walked away to some other guys afterwards.
"Crazy how you know so many guys here." Yachi approaches me with her trash bag in her hand as well. "Did you know them before?"
"What do you mean?" I asked her as we picked up more trash.
"Like, I don't know. Did you somehow know some of these guys before this week?" She questions once more.
"Um, no. We just bond over volleyball." I tell her. I couldn't tell how she felt about my answer, but she didn't seem too happy about it. "But, even if I wasn't a player, these guys may all look scary, but really, they're all like little kids. All of them are idiots and would listen to you under any order, don't get intimidated by that."
"Yes of course!" She weirdly bows to me then quickly walks away.
Okay then.
It was coming close to our leaving time. After all the clean up, we had to say goodbye.
I've practiced well here and made just as much memories along the way.
"Goodbye Paddy-poo!" Bokuto and Kuroo say together in a sad way and then towers me into a hug.
I let them have a it, since we don't plan on seeing each other for a while.
"All right that's enough, you're going to kill her." Akaashi tells them, which gets the two idiots off of me.
"For the love of god, stop calling me that." I tell them after fixing my clothes.
I give Akaashi and Kenma a little fist bump and go join the Karasuno group.
The walk to the bus seemed like a walk of sadness and tiredness for us. I wish we lived closer to these teams, they're fun to play practice matches with.
Once we reach the bus, we give our final waves of goodbyes and leave.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"All right, now get out of here!" Coach kicks us out of the gym once practice ends for the day.
Their prelims start tomorrow, but luckily their first match is a bye.
"Hey, Padema. We're going to see the old Coach Ukai. Wanna come?" Hinata invites me as we're walking down the road together.
I give Daichi a look to seek his approval.
"Bring her home safely." He tells Kageyama and Hinata then walks away from us.
"Coach, Kageyama and Padema want to come too." Hinata tells the current Coach Ukai when we arrive at his shop.
"Hm, fine, but they're gonna be cramped in the back. The old man is making me bring boxses of groceries for him too.
We go to coach's little car and load the groceries. Kageyama and I had to, squeeze in the back together.
Things have been pretty normal between us, although there's been an unspoken tension that's occurred ever since we both basically admitted feelings for each other.
Playing with some tall guys during the camp, didn't even come close to matching with how scary that one conversation Kageyama and I had that night.
We arrive at the place. I've never met the original Ukai, but from what I've heard, he's a wild house that likes to throw his grandson around.
"Oh, munchkin, you've brought friends today." An old man wearing his sweatshirt only to his neck, exposing his tank top, says to Hinata.
Munchkin?
"This is Tobio Kageyama and Padema Sawamura." Coach introduces us.
"Nice to meet you." Kageyama and I say together while bowing.
He takes a second to analyze us and walks around us in a full circle.
"Hm. You guys play?" Ukai asks us.
"Yes. Kageyama is our setter and Padema plays a middle blocker and libero for the girls team." Coach answers for us once again.
"I want them to answer you idiot!" Ukai shouts at coach and, well, throws him. Did not expect that part to be true. "So, you guys came for some practice?"
Kageyama and I nod our heads.
I can feel that he is also terrified at the moment, not wanting to get thrown.
"Practice what you want." He gives a seemliness answer and walks away to his grandson.
He is not at all what I expected.
"Kageyama let's work on the quick attack." Hinata orders and he gets some little kid he knows, to throw the ball for him.
I honestly didn't even know what to do.
"Oh, why are you still standing around?" Ukai asks me, once walking back over.
"I'm not quite sure to work on, sir." I tell him. I don't know these people like Hinata does.
I don't have a partner to work with.
"Middle blocker and libero eh?" He eyes me. I nod at him, unsure of what answer he was looking for. "Libero I can see, but you're no taller than short stuff over there."
I shake my head at him, knowing Hinata's actually taller. I'm as tall as Noya honestly.
Not my greatest achievement.
"Well, let's get some receiving for you." He tells me and gets a ball. I quickly follow after him.
He starts hitting the ball down at me. Slowly building up for harder hits after every return I give him. I can hardly keep up with this old guy.
We kept this going for a while until he finally called it quits. Both of us out of breath.
"You boys have games starting tomorrow, right? You should probably wrap it up soon." Ukai tells the two that haven't stopped.
They begged Ukai to get at least one more shot in.
"You know..." I overhear a lady talk. I look to my right and see two girls that must work here of something, talking to each other. "I think this is the first time I've seen the tall boy."
"I heard they asked to borrow our court until we start up. Turns out they just didn't get as much practice as they wanted today. Apparently he's the setter on Sho's team." The other girl says. Wow, they look like they're older than us and even they know Hinata. "I've been watching them play ever since I got back, and I gotta say, they're not very good."
I roll my eyes at her judgement and step into the conversation as Hinata and Kageyama get ready for their attack.
"They may not have shown it earlier, but those two are some of the highest skilled first years I've seen." I tell them.
We watch them finally master their quick attack, which left everyone shocked. I grin to myself, thinking about what the girls said before.
"Next time, you shouldn't judge someone's skill after a few minutes of watching. Some things just take time."