The Cat and the Crow

Out Of Nowhere (Late August)

The minute they were off the bus, Takeda explained that this trip to Tokyo, and one more to Shinzen, would be the last chance to get practice in with these teams before the national prelims. Coach Ukai wanted them to spend as much time as they could working on their new total offense and total defense rotations, as well as everything else.

Kei was already thinking ahead. He wanted to practice his blocking, and Kuroo was the best when it came to read blocking. What he'd found odd was that none of the squad was out to meet them, not even Kuroo. And he wasn't the only one to notice. But, considering they were a little late due to a traffic tie-up on the way, Kei figured they were already practicing.

"Come on, guys," Daichi said, clapping his hands for attention. "Let's get our stuff put away and get to the gym. We have work to do."

"Yeah!" they all responded, and took off.

"Wonder why they didn't come to meet you," Tadashi said from beside him, as they unloaded their stuff in the team room and changed into their practice clothes..

"Dunno," Kei replied. "We arrived late, so camp already started when we got here."

"Would that have really stopped them, though? Even Kuroo?"

"I don't know," Kei repeated quietly. He knew how excited Kuroo was to see him again, and vice versa. They'd even been texting about it nearly the entire trip here. Akaashi was also happy he was coming, and had said he was looking forward to seeing him again. Bokuto had been strangely silent.

"Look, we gotta hurry down to the gym," Kei said, looking at the clock on the wall. He picked up the cooler pack he'd brought with him, filled with the pork dumplings, dipping sauce, and manju. "I need to take a side trip to the kitchen, but I'll be there, okay?"

"Okay," Tadashi replied. "Hurry."

"Right."

A little bit later, Kei was walking into the gym, along the sidelines, to get to his team. He saw that Nekoma was playing Ubugawa, and Fukurodani against Shinzen. Nekoma was almost done playing, so Karasuno would be using that court as soon as they were ready. Picking up his pace a bit, he'd almost made it past the second court, when he heard a ball slamming hard to the ground, and someone shouting his name. Out of the side of his eye, he saw the ball careening toward his head, and he quickly put up his arm to block it.

Strays happen all the time, so Kei was about to shrug this one off as an accident. But once the ball cleared his vision, he noticed a couple things: Bokuto was staring hard at him, and both Kuroo and Akaashi were staring at Bokuto. Confused, he kept going, and met up with his teammates for warm-ups.

[Something's... Off]

"Tell me you weren't aiming that," Akaashi confronted Bokuto after winning their set. They had a few minutes until their next practice set against Ubugawa, and Akaashi had to practically drag Bokuto off the court.

"Oh, he was aiming," Kuroo confirmed, having met up with them. "That was so obviously intentional, even the coaches noticed."

"Yeah, so I aimed that spike. He was looking sleepy, so I decided to wake him up a little."

Kuroo blinked. He hadn't expected Bokuto to admit it, at least not right away, nor did he expect that angry tone of voice. While it was an obvious excuse for a blatant hit, he still hadn't expected it. Covering his surprise, he took a minute to scrub his towel over his face and head. When he looked at Akaashi, he saw an expression he almost never saw: anger. Did he know what was going on with Bokuto?

"I don't know what your problem is," he said, turning back to Bokuto. "But you've been acting weird ever since I got back from Miyagi."

Bokuto focused that owl-like glare on him, looking both angry and offended. But instead of talking, or even shouting, he just turned and stalked off, leaving both Akaashi and Kuroo staring after him.