Of Cats and Crows (Sugawara Koushi)

New Patterns of Doing

The teams were refreshed and reset after the holiday break. Everyone was extra full of energy as they went through their morning conditioning. Today was all about footwork, decoys, and synchronized attacking for the ladies. Their court was lined with neon yellow cones and different markers. The ladies were zig-zagging through the cones, passing volleyballs to each other in pairs. At different checkpoints, one of the managers would make one of them dive for the ball and receive it or set it back to them. The goal was to not knock any of the cones over.

Takahashi was paired with Ishida, who out of everyone, had the clumsiest footwork out of all of them. She was much more coordinated than her partner. They were in the first row while Mitsumi and Nomiya were in the second row. Their height difference was almost two feet. Mitsumi had long legs for her height, but that meant nothing when she was working with the team's resident giant. She couldn't keep up as well as she usually could. However, her footwork was still super clean. Everyone was positive that those watching were having a good laugh.

"You kept up well, Shorty." Nomiya held her hand out for a high five. "Or maybe we should call you Twinkle Toes." She winked and grabbed her water bottle from the wall.

"Neither would be best." Mitsumi sipped on her sports drink.

Shimura finished her round with Makoto and wiped her face with her towel. "How are you so good at this?" She hated footwork drills.

Mitsumi finally had to let the cat out of the bag. "I was in ballet until High School." She shrugged and tossed her empty plastic bottle against the wall. She held onto one foot and stretched her quads out. She was starting to feel sore from everything.

"So you really have Twinkle Toes." Makoto had overheard Nomiya's statement. "What made you come to volleyball?"

"Kuroo made me try it after my dance studio shut down." Mitsumi leaned her back on the wall and crossed her arms. It didn't bother her so much because at least she had Kuroo to give her a sports crash course. "The other studio was way too expensive, and I had played volleyball casually with Kuroo growing up. So, I decided to give it a shot and fell into this blackhole." Everyone could tell there was something missing from the story. Although it was entirely believable.

Shimura fixed her bun that was falling out. She took the bobby pin she was holding in between her teeth and shoved it into her hair. "That explains your insane flexibility and light feet." She glanced over at the libero quickly. "You're a force to be reckoned with, you mixed bag."

The libero nodded and placed her hands on her hips. She watched the rest of her teammates go through the drill quietly. Something was off about her captain and she couldn't figure it out. Was she hearing spite in her voice? Or was she overthinking Shimura's actions again. Coach Yamata kept making Takahashi and Ishida go through until they stopped knocking the cones. Everyone else cooled down on the other court so they could go to lunch.

"Hey, Captain, can we talk for a sec?" Mitsumi took a deep breath. She caught Shimura right before she exited the gym's lobby. "I promise it won't be long." Whatever was going on, Mitsumi wanted to make sure it wasn't her actions causing something she wasn't aware of. She learned from her fight with Koushi that these things were better sorted out before they blew up.

Shimura nodded and looked down at her junior. Her face was fixed in an unusually focused expression. The creases in her forehead were deep, and her eyes seemed to be calculating everything that was going on in her brain. "Did something happen, Mitsumi?"

"I was just wondering if you are doing alright." Mitsumi could feel the tension build in the room. She hated it when things like this happened. Even if it wasn't her doing. "I just want to make sure I haven't offended you by accident, or anything." Her voice trailed off into the now empty lobby.