insouciant || ON HIATUS

ℂℍ𝔸ℙ𝕋𝔼ℝ 𝟛𝟞

"ROLLING THUNDER!"

Nishinoya rolled on the floor before popping back up to a crouched position. The ball neatly flew back to the basket in front of the net.

Tanaka clutched his stomach, laughing with tears of mirth. Sugawara blinked, baffled, but clapped politely. "Nice receive..."

Mamoru tilted his head. Why did he shout that?

"That's just an ordinary rolling receive," Tanaka howled, laughing still.

Tsukishima snickered behind a hand, eyes crinkling with amusement. "What was that?"

Yamaguchi had turned his back, shoulders shaking from laughter.

"Kageyama, Tsukishuma, Yamaguchi," Nishinoya screeched angrily. "I'm going to lecture you all! Crouch down, I mean, sit down! Get lower than my line of vision!"

Hinata bounced up and down, eyes sparkling. "Teach me! Teach me the Rolling Thunder!"

"God job, everyone!" Everyone's attention switched to the teacher that ran up to the door. "I want you all to listen up!"

They gathered in front of Takeda. Mamoru settled himself between Nartia and Ennoshita somewhere in the back.

"We're doing it again this year, aren't we?" Takeda asked. He leaned forward, eyes glinting with excitement. "Golden Week training camp."

"Yes," Daichi confirmed. "We still need a lot of practice."

"One more thing," Takeda added, pushing up his glasses. "For the last day of Golden Week, I've arranged a practice match!"

"Awesome! Very impressive, Takeda-sensei," Tanaka exclaimed, eyes wide.

"Who's our opponent?" Sugawara asked eagerly, taking a step forward.

Takeda settled on a more serious face. "A veteran school in Tokyo, Nekoma High School. They call themselves 'Neko'."

It meant "cat", Mamoru recognized. Nekoma, neko, cat, one of the basic animal words he'd first learned in Japanese.

"We've heard a lot about them," Tanaka noted, placing his hands on his hips. Hinata had a lost look on his face so he took the liberty to explain to his kouhai. "Our former coach and theirs were rivals. We played each other a lot."

"That's right, "Sugawara agreed, looking nostalgic. "Those famous matches were called 'Cat VS Crow: Battle at the Garbage Dump.'"

"You sure those matches were ever famous?" Tsukishima asked under his breath.

"They've refused us for a while," Daichi pointed out, confused. "Why now?"

"Oh yeah," Takeda said suddenly, smiling knowingly. "I'll tell you later. But after I heard about that rival school, I had to arrange a rematch of destiny. I think when he hears of who our opponent is, he'll want to take action."

Mamoru had no idea who he was talking about, but he seemed important.

Daichi grinned and faced the team. "Alright! We have an important practice match coming up. let's get fired up!"

The team shouted their understanding. Mamoru murmured a half-heartedly reply.

"Tokyo, huh," Tanaka grinned slyly, rubbing his chin. "I'll smash those city boys to smithereens."

Mamoru choked on his water, not expecting him to say the word "city" in English. Only, it came out as "shitty boys" because of the mispronunciation. Nartia patted him on the back, panicked.