"Hey ribbon-chan." Kuroo looked down at Aoyuki who was beside him. They're currently cleaning up.
Aoyuki looked up at him with a little tilt of her head, ignoring the newly acquired nickname, "What's up, bedhead-san?"
"That was a sick save." Kuroo complimented, not even put out by the nickname since he's used to it.
Aoyuki only nodded her head nonchalantly, "That was a sick spike." Then she inched closer to Tsukishima that was beside her. She looked up at him with a sweet smile, I'd rather interact with Tsukishima than this...bedhead. "Tsukki--"
She was cut off when she saw that Tsukishima was distracted, and so she followed his gaze and they end up towards Hinata and Inuoka who was currently bouncing up and down like kids.
"I especially like how you argh!" Inuoka jumped into the air.
"And I like how you boom!" Hinata did as well.
"And your smack hit me like bang!"
"It's not quite bang! Its more like..."
"What the heck are they even talking about?" Tsukishima dead panned, then he looked down beside him only to see Aoyuki with a small smile on her face, still watching the two oddballs.
"Ara~ look at that smile. So scary!" Tsukishima decided to taunt her.
Aoyuki's eyes snapped into him as she frowned, "Huuh?! Compared to your face! So horrifying~!" The girl shot back.
Before their daily dose of banter could even start, Kuroo piped in with his usual smirk.
"They don't sound like high schoolers." He was talking about Hinata and Inuoka. Tsukishima and Aoyuki looked at him as the Nekoma captain looked at Tsukishima. "But you on then other hand, maybe you should go a little crazy, like a high schooler."
Aoyuki hummed as she nodded her head, "Yeah Tsukki! Stop being a downer!"
Tsukishima gave her a look before he turned and looked away,
"I'm not good at that sort of thing." And then he walked away, leaving Kuroo and Aoyuki staring at his retreating back.
"Ah youth." Kuroo could only shake his head. He looked at Aoyuki who blinked at him, before the girl slowly took a step away as from him as if he has some disease.
"Hey now, don't be like that." He told her, yet Aoyuki only stuck her nose on the other side like a spoiled brat.
"I could tell you're new in volleyball." This caught Aoyuki's attention as she turned and look at him.
"Really? You can tell?" Aoyuki looked up to him like a kid, eyes sparkling in the gym lights. A 180 degree turn from her distant and uninterested personality a second ago.
"Yup. And you can really receive well." Kuroo nodded, popping the 'p'.
Aoyuki sighed as she looked down, " I know. I wanted to try blocking as well... But there's no way in hell I'm asking Tsukishima to teach me! Not that he'd agree anyway." She then crossed her arms and looked back at Kuroo who raised a brow, "He should learn a thing or two from you. He sucks at blocking."
Kuroo can't help but to laugh at this, and when I mean laugh, I meant his hyena-like laughter. Aoyuki gave him a disturbed look after hearing his laugh.
Kuroo stood up straight as he recovered from cackling--laughing, a devious smirk in his lips, "How about I teach you, huh ribbon-chan?"
Aoyuki took a step back as she squinted her eyes at him. Even though Aoyuki's the one to grab opportunities and chances in just a snap of finger, she's not dumb. Although she just met Kuroo, she could tell that he's probably the scheming type.
"What's the catch?" She asked him, still suspicious.
Kuroo was surprised, then he gave her a kind smile as he put a hand on his chest, "No catch. I've always been a kind soul."
Aoyuki's blank face didn't budge, making him sigh as he dropped his hand and looked down at her.
"Just wanted to help, okay?"
Aoyuki stared at him for a moment, contemplating, before accepting the offer, still a little bit suspicious.
Truthfully, Kuroo wanted to teach Aoyuki in blocking so that he could show her off to Bokuto, who knows? Maybe she could even block his spikes. That would be sweet!
Kuroo opened his mouth to ask for her number when Aoyuki suddenly turned towards a certain direction, he looked where she was looking.
She was looking towards Yaku, Suga and Nishinoya's direction,
"I've never seen anyone able to receive so many of our ace's spikes. Your entire team is high-caliber and you're their libero. I think you have amazing talent! I'm going to do my best too, " Nishinoya then took a quick bow, "Good bye." Then he ran away. Suga tried stopping him but he was already far.
Aoyuki's eyes shone in amazement as she dashed towards them, leaving Kuroo dumbfounded.
Suga and Yaku was stunned when suddenly, Aoyuki stopped in front of them and bowed to Yaku, the Nekoma libero blushed lightly at the act.
"If Noya-senpai acknowledges your talent, then I do too!" Aoyuki stood up fully, her eyes burning in raw determination and passion. "Just like Noya-senpai, I'll also do my best!" And just like her senpai, she ran away.
"Hey! Don't just say that and leave!" Suga called put after the first year, and yet, he failed again once more. He rubbed his head sheepishly as he looked at Yaku, "Sorry about that, again."
"They're kinda dangerous." Suga looked at Yaku in confusion.
"Huh?"
"Your libero, he's a high-caliber too, but he's not arrogant about it, not at all. On the contrary he only seeks to improve. Ribbon-chan on the other hand, even though it's obvious that she's just new in volleyball, she has great talent and acknowledges others. She's humble." Yaku furrowed his eyebrows with a smile, sweat rolled down from his temple, "They're scary."
"Til we meet again, my friend!" Yamamoto and Tanaka cried loudly as they shake their hands.
Kenma blinked, "What's with them?"
"Dunno. It's quite unusual." Kuroo answered beside him. He then looked in front when Daichi stopped in front of him. Kuroo gave him a friendly smile, Daichi flashed him his very own friendly closed eyed smile as well.
"We won't lose the next time." Daichi told Kuroo as he gripped the bedhead's hand.
"We won't lose the next time, either." Kuroo gripped Daichi's hand even more, smile never faltering.
Suga and Yaku suddenly popped out of nowhere, "Terrifying! They're terrifying!" The both of them turning to look back only to see their coaches going at it as well.
"And them too!" Suga's eyes turned white.
"They're so immature!" Yaku sweat dropped.
Kuroo noticed a blur of familiar hair with trailing black ribbon ends that passed by them, and so he called out to her.
"Ribbon-chan!"
Aoyuki stopped and turned to look at him, she raised a questioning brow, "Bedhead-san?"
Some Nekoma guys snickered at this, yet Kuroo's smirk never faltered.
"You better prepare yourself! I'm gonna train you so hard you'd wish you just asked for megane-kun instead!" He smirked deviously.
An irk mark grew on Tsukishima's forehead yet he remained silent.
"Huuuh?! What do you think you're talking about?"
"Whaddya mean train her?!"
Tanaka and Nishinoya was quick to put a surrounding barrier around Aoyuki who chuckled at them.
"It's fine. He means well." She reassured the two second year, and they backed off albeit unwillingly.
Aoyuki then turned to look back at Kuroo, the sunset gave her eyes a different glow as she flashed him one of her smirks as well.
"I look forward to it, Kuroo-senpai."
And so, the teams waved their goodbyes, promising to defeat each other in the Battle of the Garbage Dump.
»»B O N U S««
"If today's match was an official match... It would have been all over after we lost the first match. All over." Kageyama told Hinata without looking at him.
The rest of them team were behind them as they watched the duo,
"I know." Hinata answered, not looking at Kageyama as well. They were facing the setting sun.
"I'm glad you know." They turned to look at their coach, Ukai, same as everyone else. "And the official matches, the Inter High Preliminaries are right around the corner. When we get back, we'll think about and analyze today's practice match." He turned his back on them, "Then we'll train!"
"Osu!" The volleyboys replied loudly, getting pumped up.
Ukai then turned his head a little bit and looked straight at Aoyuki, "The same goes for you too."
Aoyuki's eyes widened, before they glistened as she nod her head and smiled determinedly,
"Osu!"