Of Cats and Crows (Sugawara Koushi)

The Great Volleyball Fiasco

The TokyoU Golden Week training camp was one of the most highly sought-after volleyball training camps in the Nation. High school teams from all over Japan would apply and hope to be accepted into the program. Four boys' teams and four girls' teams are selected for the camp every year. The Tokyo University men's and women's teams helped to oversee different clinics and practice matches. Of course, they still had their own practices scheduled in that the high schoolers were welcome to observe. It was quite the event.

Riza and Watanabe had divided each of the different team members into different teaching groups. It was quite the process. Especially since two of the four teams had special connections to the two teams. Coach Yamata and Coach Ueno had a strong feeling that this week was going to be special.

Mitsumi was sitting with Watanabe at the check-in table as they saw a familiar red and white bus pull up. They shot a glance at each other before standing up. "Welcome to training camp!" They both bowed to their guests. Of course, they were the first to arrive. They were the closest to the University.

"Good to see you both in good spirits!" Coach Nekomata had both of his teams standing behind him. They all had big smiles on their faces... Well, a good majority of them did.

Watanabe flashed a big grin, "Ladies, we will get you checked in. The guys can go over to Ichiyama and Hiroshi's table over to my right!"

Mitsumi reached into a bin under the table and looked for the Nekoma High School participant badges. "Don't lose these. You'll need them to get food, get into your dorms, and get into the gym. Yui, if you could please give these to everyone." She said handing them to the now captain.

More buses pulled up as everyone was getting checked in. Mitsumi now understood why nobody had offered to help Watanabe with check-in. It was a total mess. Nekoma High Girls' have been checked in. Niiyama Joshi is being checked in right now. Riito High is good to go. And Sapporo Tech is good. Alright, that's all for us. She sighed in relief and tossed her clipboard into the plastic bin.

"So, this is where all the magic happens?" Yui wiggled her eyebrows.

Mitsumi flinched a little bit, "Yes, yes it is. How was the drive here?" She smiled warmly at her former teammates. There were a few new faces that she didn't recognize, but that was to be expected.

"It was short, but Yamamoto still found a way to almost toss Lev out of the bus." Ritsu crossed her arms and sighed, "I honestly don't understand why they are always at each other's throats."

"Things never change." Mitsumi realized that Kenma was standing patiently behind the two girls. The now third year was still playing a game on his phone. "I'm so sorry for responding to you so late the other day, Kenma." She said looking at her best friend. "We've been so busy lately."

"All that matters is that you actually responded, Mitsumi." Kenma looked up at her, "Do you know if Karasuno has made it here yet?" He was quite relieved that he knew quite a few people at the camp. To him, that was enough to keep things interesting.

"Excited to Shoyo much?" Mitsumi received a small eye roll as a response. 

The guests were all busy mingling with each other while they waited for further instructions. Mitsumi took her empty plastic bin and took it up to the coach's office. She hurried back to the gym, where everyone was sitting in the stands. Nomiya and Makoto had saved her a seat with the rest of the team in the front row.

Coach Yamata and Coach Ueno were standing upfront with the other coaches. Coach Ueno cleared his throat before speaking into a microphone. "Eh, welcome everyone to Tokyo University!" The room fell silent as he got everyone's attention. "I'm Coach Ueno, the head of the athletics department and coach of the University Men's volleyball team. Us, the coaches, and our players are excited to train alongside you this week. We will now start with some introductions."