Of Cats and Crows (Sugawara Koushi)

The Orange Court

The morning of the Spring National Tournament finally came. The teams were eagerly chatting with each other as they helped to load all of the luggage and equipment onto the busses. Riza and Watanabe were busy going through the final checklists with the Coaches to make sure they had everything. The fresh energy was contagious at 5:30 in the morning. Everyone had this renewed sense of determination.

The new semester was just beginning. Thankfully, it was only syllabus week. So, there was nothing major to worry about missing. Students were walking past the gym looking for their first classes of the day. Some would stop and stare for a moment before continuing to pass by. Others would wish the team luck. One car pulled up by the bus and honked to get the attention of everyone. The volleyball players all looked at each other confused. None of them recognized the vehicle.

"Good luck at Nationals!" Surely enough, it was Dr. Tanaguchi. She was just getting to work for the day.

Mitsumi pushed through the crowd of her teammates and waved. "Thanks so much, Dr. Tanaguchi!" She gave her professor a thumbs up. "Tell Dr. Ito I'll be sure to break my hands!"

"I will! Go kick some serious assets out there!" The professor had managed to rile up everyone.

They all threw a fist into the air and cheered. "OSU!!!!"

Coach Ueno clapped his hands to get everyone's attention. "It's time to load the busses and roll out. Let's make this a good one this year!"

...

Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium was located on the opposite end of Tokyo from the University. Traffic was always nasty in the city, so it took them an hour and a half to get to the hotel that wasn't far from the arena. Everyone was a bit shocked to see that the school had booked such a nice hotel for them. They all got their room keys and took their time to rest and settle in. Opening ceremonies weren't until 11:00 a.m. The ladies' first game was slotted for 4:00 p.m. The men had one of the first games of the day at 2:00 pm.

Chie decided to take a thirty minute nap before changing into some running clothes to go for a jog. Takuma, Matsuda, Kuroo, Bokuto, and Suga were all headed out for a jog just so they could get to know the area a little bit. And to scout out breakfast options. Kuroo insisted that she join them. He knew she wouldn't eat breakfast and sleep instead if he didn't make her come.

Kanagawa Yuki: I'm headed out for a jog if you want to come.

Mitsumi Chie: I was just about to head out to catch up with the boys.

Kanagawa Yuki: LOL! Me too! I'll meet you down at the lobby.

Yuki was waiting in the lobby with the boys. It looked like Makoto and Shimura were coming too. Everyone was wearing their team joggers and jackets. Chie fiddled with her smartwatch underneath her jacket sleeve. They were ready to roll out. "Sorry for the hold up!"

"Nah, don't sweat it." Matsuda zipped his jacket up, "We were just trying to decide where we should grab some food."

Bokuto was hungry like always. He was currently scrolling through a list of nearby restaurants on his GPS app. "Hey, what's brunch?" His eyes caught a hold of a photo of a stack of fluffy pancakes.

Makoto's eyes lit up like light bulbs. Her mouth began to water at the word 'brunch'. She dashed to Bokuto and peered at the pictures over his shoulder. "Brunch places sell breakfast and lunch. Which means they have American Breakfasts!!!!" She was a Japanese-American who moved from America to Japan during her sophomore year of High School. To her distaste, she had four years of high school because her sophomore year in America was the equivalent of being a first year in Japan.