Moonlight

Chapter 22

A brand new day has been blessing the world with a promise of a fresh slate. The birds chirp in their beautiful harmony. The wind caressing everything in its path. Even the falling leaves are ever so gentle as they flutter to the ground.

What a beautiful day.

"Hinata-boke! Pull yourself together!" Kageyama scolded through gritted teeth. Hinata has been a walking jitter ever since he arrived in school.

It's exam week already.

"Kageyamaa..." He looked up at the setter with tears in his eyes. His hands opened and closed helplessly.

"That won't do it!" Kageyama looked away sharply, "If we want to go with them, we have to pass this first."

---

They failed.

Tsukishima left the sulking duo to get a carton of juice from the vending machine. He couldn't believe Hinata just failed off from being careless.

"THEY WERE EVEN CORRECT, TOO!!!" 

Apparently, Yachi as well. 

Dragging themselves back to their seats, Hinata and Kageyama did not bother to eat their lunch as they felt their Tokyo dreams shatter. During their practice, everyone's mood plummeted at the news of their rising stars' academic performance. 

"We're going to have to beg the vice-principal, Takeda-sensei!" Hinata knelt in a begging stance.

The teacher, also gritting his teeth at the news, firmly shook his head, "If anything, that's going to do more harm, Hinata. Both of you have to take the supplemental examinations."

From being a fiery orange and cool blue, the two paled to a gray-white. Nevertheless, Akane tried to cheer them up.

"Well, if you finish right and quickly, you can catch up with the team."

An idea lit up inside Tanaka's buzzy head, "I might even have a way of getting you there faster."

This immediately cheers up the duo as a new light shined at the end of this dark tunnel. They went back to being energetic and practiced away as if they weren't sulking just a few minutes ago.

Once Keishin blew off his whistle to end the practice, everyone gathered for the closing remarks. Akane decided to pick up the balls flown all over the court since Kiyoko is busy with taking down notes from the meeting. Once they were finished, they resumed keeping the other equipment.

"You both barely hanged on." Sugawara replied scornfully at both Tanaka and Nishinoya who were a tad bit too proud of passing.

"What about you, Akane-san? How did your exams go?" Daichi asked her as he lowered the net.

Yamaguchi popped up beside her with a ball and dropped it into the cart, "She did extremely well! She went second highest, a point lower than Tsukki!"

Akane blushed away at the awed faces her seniors showed. 

"It would seem that she can't be bothered being second to me. Right, short-pants?" Tsukishima sneered at her, obviously teasing. He was trying to melt away the tension that they had since they exchanged shirts.

"Well, excuse me, beanstalk." Akane started, placing her hands on her waist, "I would take anyone else to be the first placer. In fact, I might just take that place myself."

Tsukishima raised an eyebrow before crouching down to meet her eyes and flicked her forehead, "Give it a harder try." 

"I will!" Akane fumed at the unnecessary taunting.

"Your chances of success is the same as the one where you can flick my forehead too." Tsukishima walked off with a chuckle and a wave. Yamaguchi followed closely, muttering a string of hushed curses at his friend.

"I'll be doing more than flicking that forehead, you'll see!" Akane muttered and walked the opposite way. Daichi and Sugawara, who were left in the middle of the bickering parties, looked at each other and laughed.

"Well, that could be misinterpreted." Daichi said in between laughter, earning an elbow jab from the vice-captain.

"You and your brain, Daichi..."

Keishin approached his niece with a beaming smile and said, "Looks like someone's getting a prize for a job well done! You never told me you got second."

"Hehe! I love you, uncle!" Akane giggled before dashing away to hide from Keishin's daggers behind his too-bright smile.