Clawed & Flawed: A Nekoma Story

Chapter 20

Wednesday – 7:40 A. M.

The club room was filled with scribbling noises as Shiro wrote notes on a memo pad before sticking them to the players' files. She sighed as she finished analyzing the last paper. The manager had reviewed their past matches and individual case studies of the members from her grandfather. It had made her job easier though the responsibility of producing a result was still running at the back of her mind.

The failure to deliver her ability for her last team haunted her even after years of not being in the same court.

'Maybe I can redeem myself with this group. I won't waste this second chance. This time I will do it right,' she thought as she stared at a lonely poster on the wall.

"Yo, Inu-chan?" Kuroo waved his hand over her eyes. "Don't put the volume of your music above the recommended setting, you'll be deaf in a week."

"Huh," she blinked. "Oh, sorry. I was just thinking about something."

"Aw, were you thinking about me?" he sat across from her.

Shiro threw a towel at his face and a water bottle to his lap.

"You care about people aggressively."

"Do you have a problem with that?"

He wiped the sweat off his face and neck before draping the towel over his head, "No, not at all."

More and more of the club members started to enter. The noise echoed around the room as chatters and laughs resonated. Shiro excused herself to let her team change into their school uniform. She borrowed on the volleyballs from the club room and set her bag on the floor to do a wall drill.

Thump Thump Thump Thump Bam! Thump Thump Bam!

The thought of disappointing her team again came back. Self-doubt and criticism suggested that she should just give up and be an idle bystander, to not mess up with the flow of the game or the harmony of the group. She knew it would be best for her to not get her hopes up, and yet there was a burning desire to gain victory.

'I can't win alone. I've known that since that match. But if I can't win with a group, maybe it's just meant to be. No, stop it. You won't know until you try. Remember that. But what if they hate me...'

The thought kept coming in an infinite loop of desperation. The ball bounced off the wall at a rapidly faster rate with heavier impact with each pass.

Thump Thump Bam!

Agitation got the better of her as she spiked the ball with all her might. It bounced off in her direction at full speed. She dodged it just in time and heard a footstep to her right. The loud commotion from within the club room deafened as the person closed it behind him. His large shadow inched closer though Shiro pretended not to notice and picked up the ball.

"Hey, I just wanted to check on you," he said with her back against him. "Are you cold?"

'Huh? He's not gonna ask if I was okay?'

"N-no, I'm fine. Is everyone almost done?"

"Yeah, I left the keys to Kai. We can go to class now," the captain put his hands in his pocket. "Are you sure you're not cold? My pocket's pretty warm you know."

Shiro threw the ball at him, "You're not funny."

"Oof, hahaha... Okay, fine. But really though, are you okay? Don't you dare catch a cold now."

She bodied him jokingly, "I said I'm fine. You still owe me chocolate milk until the end of the week anyway."

"Ugh, why do you have to remind me? But as your trustworthy senpai, I will fulfill my promise."

"Well, your face doesn't really radiate 'trustworthiness'. So, I might have to sleep with one eye open now that you have a key to my house."

"You better protect your void-colored closet or I'll put bleach in your washing machine."

"Are you threatening me? I'll draw in your books while you sleep in class!"

Kuroo gasped, "Don't touch my books."

"You lent them to me though!"

"Oh, you're right."

The bickering faded as they entered the school building. The rest of the volleyball club had been eavesdropping behind a vending machine and watched the whole argument.

"Kuroo-san has Shiro-chan's house key?" Tora covered his mouth.

"Yeah," Kenma answered while scrolling through his phone.

"I-is our senpai not so pure after all?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Y-you know, w-what if he uses the key and sneaks in?"

"He already used the key. She had no problem with it either," he said nonchalantly.

"W-what? What is going on between those two?"

Yaku sighed and smiled, "I think they're doing just fine. Nothing to worry about. Now let's get to class before the bell rings."

Everyone nodded and uttered their agreements as Tora looked up at Lev.

"D-do you think they've done it?"

"Done what, Yamamoto-san?" the rookie asked innocently.

"You know," he leaned in to whisper. "That."

Lev gasped, "No way! We have to investigate!"

"Do we?"

"Yeah!"

"Okay... What should we do?"

"I'll ask Kuroo-san about it after school, see you later!" he ran to his classroom.

"Oh god, we're dead."