Another Manager (Akashi Seijuro x OC)

2.14 Growing Fast (part three)

The timeline is going to be weird when I start adding birthdays again... Bear with me!
(The specific dates are listed at the end of 2.14 part one!)

***

(October 6)

From October 6th to the 7th, the Karasuno team went back to the Kantō region for their last training camp before Qualifiers. They took advantage of the three-day weekend; the 8th was the second Monday of October, which was the national holiday of Sports Day.

Ai also kept in mind that Nishinoya's birthday was coming up soon on Wednesday. She wouldn't miss it for the world.

.

At Shinzen High School, the crows and cats were neck-to-neck. It was their second set, and there was a deuce at 24-25.

Yachi stood by to change Karasuno's score and Kiyoko flipped Nekoma's points on the right. Ai was sitting with Coach Nekomata again, as it was routine now, while Coach Naoi stood with the whistle as the referee. Sometimes, Karasuno would be bitter about it, but she made time to manage both teams.

"Front, up front!" Asahi yelled.

Daichi covered for it, and Tanaka bumped the ball to the orange-haired first-year.

Hinata saw the blocks, even without Kageyama's toss, and spiked over Kenma's head. Unfortunately, it flew out of bounds, as Yaku called it.

Ai blew out a breath. The teams ended with a final score of 26-24. It was the last game of the day.

Kuroo sighed and walked up to a staring Kenma. The third-year smirked. "Whew. At long last, we can't let our guard down around them."

"Yeah..."

"I hope you don't mean that you were going easy on Karasuno until now, Kuro," Ai said, handing them towels.

"Thanks," Kenma mumbled while the captain retorted.

"Maybe a little," he teased.

She giggled. "Sure," Ai agreed sarcastically.

As they were cleaning up, Hinata sneezed from the autumn cold; the temperatures weren't as low in Tokyo as the northern prefectures, but the gymnasium wasn't equipped with heat insulation.

Taketora finished his yellow water bottle, and Ai walked up to him after rolling the ball cart out of the storage room.

"I'll take that for you, Taketora-kun." She held out a hand.

The tiger head looked startled. "Huh-!? Uh- oh-, I- uh... T-thank you..!!!" He shot both arms out straight, shaking with nerves as he respectfully gave it to her.

She smiled and tapped him above his elbow with her other hand. He was a little taller than Daichi, she noticed, and had strong muscles that were evidence of his weight training. "Good work today. Nekoma must be proud to call you their ace."

Taketora tried his best to think of a response, but he was a stuttering mess.

Ai made a pursed smile. He'll get used to it, she thought to herself. Hopefully, by the end of the year, he'll stop becoming so flustered whenever she spoke to him.

In the same gymnasium, Kenma was having a conversation with Hinata as they picked up red, white, and green volleyballs.

"Shōyō, you're amusing, so I might want to play a game that's not a practice match against you." He looked at the first-year with his golden cat-eyes. "A game where losing immediately means game over."

Hinata grinned determinedly. "Let's do it. A match where there is no rematch."

It was exciting to imagine them at nationals: the Battle at the Garbage Dump. The two captains promised to meet at Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium while standing back and watching Hinata and Kenma chat.