𝐂𝐑𝐎𝐖

xxiv - wrapping up

From the third to the sixth, the two teams kept playing until they were almost literal puddles on the floor. The only person not absolutely exhausted was Crow: he'd been through worse. Hinata was also doing his best to stay fired up, demanding another match. The only reason Nekoma declined--other than being exhausted--was because they had to catch the last train so as to not be stuck in Miyagi.

Therefore, they had to stop for the day and clean up. But first, feedback from the coaches. "His grandfather and I have a lengthy aquaintence," Nekomata told the Karasuno boys as they stood around him in a semi-circle as he glanced at Keishin, who was talking to the Nekoma boys. "We used to have our teams play lots of practice matches. It was always a pretty good contest. Crow showed up around Tenma's second year, so he got to watch a few of them."

"Yep," Crow yawned.

"But then..." Nekomata trailed off, probably thinking about when the old coach Ukai had sprung the news of his retirement onto him. "Good rivals just aren't that easy to find," He went on. "Later, I heard that old man Ukai fell ill soon after coming out of retirement. I was sure Karasuno would never come back from that. Well," He opened an eye and looked at Crow. "I just didn't realize that Crow had been on the team, I suppose."

"Rumors about me are few and far between for a reason," He lazily peace signed at him.

"Right, of course," The coach laughed, then kept grinning. "To be honest, you all have more talent than I imagined, especially in the attacking department. The number nine and ten fast attacks," His eyes went to the specific two first years before trailing back to Crow. "Incorperating Crow in the last seconds of the first set was an ingenius scheme, though it might have been unplanned, the threat of more than one attacker with that speed is more than enough to shake any team. I doubt many can prevent those attacks. Not just that, but your two left wing spikers are powerful weapons," He glanced at Tanaka and Asahi, causing them to smile. "Now it's up to how long you keep the ball in play."

"Hai!" the team agreed.

"As a team, you're rough and need more practice. But you have overwhelming potential. I'm sure you will improve greatly with the appropriate training," Nekomata grinned. "I'm really glad to see this," His gaze drifted to his own players. "We have a worthy rival once again," He turned back to the boys in front of him. "I'll see you next at nationals. In that shiny, spotless, huge gymnasium, whirling with emotions and full of spectators. And we'll have our greatest Battle of the Garbage Dumpster ever!"

"Don't jinx us old man."

"Crow!" The three third years gaped at him. All the coach did was laugh.

"Then you'd better not let me jinx you! I know for a fact," His eyes grew sharp with intent. "Nothing as insignificant as a jinx can stop you when you're aiming for something, isn't that right Crow?"

"But I'm not alone," He rolled his eyes, leaning a hand on Noya's head. "I can't carry the team, which means nothing is guarenteed. But nothing is certain either," He let a semi-smile appear on his face for a moment. "Either way, worry about yourself before you worry about us, Nekomata-sensei."

"Right you are."

"Okay, now let's get this all put away!"

"You shit!"

"You piece of poo!"

"Oi, get this put away!"

"Hey, wait up!" Two Nekoma players ran over to Crow, who paused in what he was doing to give his attention to them.

"Can I help you?"

"Your spikes were awesome dude!" The libero praised while grinning. "It was really hard to get them up! I've never had that be such a problem before, you said your name was Crow? What year are you?"

"That's right," He nodded in response. "I'm a second year."

"Whoa, only a second year?! That's nuts!" He didn't seem the least bit surprised, more energized by the thought. "I'm Yaku, a third year and libero, as you probably guessed."

"I'm Fukunaga," The other person introduced himself. "Also a second year. Nice too meet you."

"Yeah," Crow raised an eyebrow, still unclear as to why they were talking to him.

"So how do you know Nekomata-sensei?" Yaku questioned as he put a hand on his hip. "It's kinda weird to see you two paling around."

"The old man used to bring me to the dumpster showdowns whenever they had any, so at some point we got introduced and that's basically it," He shrugged. Suddenly, however, Nishinoya's voice came out of nowhere.

"Number three!" He called out as he jogged over, meaning Yaku. "Your receives were amazing!" He told him as he came to stand beside Crow. "I've never seen anyone dig out spikes from our aces before. I believe you have amazing talent as a libero on a team with such good receiving skills! But I won't be beaten by you!" The Karasuno libero suddenly latched onto Crow. "And you can't have Crow!"

"They know that, dummy," The ravenette deadpanned, but didn't move to get him off of him. "You're not supposed to get jealous, Yuu."

"I'm not!" He huffed. "But I refuse to allow you to have flings outside of Karasuno! That would take way too much time for travelling!"

"...Fair enough," He sighed, deciding to just roll with it and hold the libero up so that he didn't keep sort of sliding down on him. Crow then turned his attention back to the two in front of him. They were gawking, as expected. "Anyway, if that's all, we'll be going."

"R-right," The two watched him go, and then Yaku gulped.

"That was kinda hot though."

And then, it was time to part ways. "Comrade! We shall meet again!" Yamamoto and Tanaka were crying as they shook hands. Crow just chose not to look as he continued to hold Nishinoya up.

"What the heck is that?" Kenma asked as he watched the two.

"Beats me." The captain muttered. "Avert your eyes."

Suddenly, the captains caught sight of one another and smiled before shaking hands. From what Crow could see, they were both death grips. "We won't lose at all next time."

"We won't lose at all next time either."

"Stop it! You're scaring us!" Yaku and Suga exclaimed.

"Alright that's enough," Crow called. "We're leaving now, so shut up and get moving."

"Yes sir!" Karasuno immediately dropped what they were doing and came to stand by him. The ravenette took a second to nod to Nekoma before turning and making his way to the bus with his team in toe. Nekoma stood in shock and wonder at the sight they had just witnessed. And then, Yaku laughed.

"Now that's what you call a murder of crows," His eyes sharpened as they narrowed. "And that's one hell of a scary leader they've got."