Of Cats and Crows (Sugawara Koushi)

Homecoming

After the large celebration on campus upon the team's arrival, Mitsumi settled for a small home-cooked dinner with her family and Suga in her apartment. Kuroo, Bokuto, and Kaori were invited over as well. There was plenty to celebrate: bringing home the gold, placing in the top four, and Kaori taking home the bronze.

"Your girls won the gold again." Kuroo casually stated as he grabbed another piece of meat off of the serving plate.

By her girls, Kuroo meant the Nekoma girls. Mitsumi grinned, "Yeah, we got a photo all together." She covered her mouth as a small belch escaped her system.

Suga raised an eyebrow at the girl from across the table at the sound.

"Excuse me." Mitsumi stuck her tongue out really quick. He was there to keep her in line.

Her father chuckled, "Whoever thought I'd be sitting at a dinner table with some of the greatest volleyball players in the Nation?" He set his chopsticks down on the table "What are you guys feeling?" 

"Dad, you are literally surrounded by top players at work all the time." Megumi rolled her eyes at her father's statement. 

Bokuto grinned, "On top of the world! Yeah, we placed 4th, but getting that far was epic!" He was excited to tell the kids at the sports center about the week.

"Relieved it's over." Kuroo was ready to get some rest.

"Honored to be a part of something big." Suga tagged on.

Kaori nodded in agreement. "Nationals were so cool! I want to do it again!"

Mitsumi turned her phone back on. She had to turn it off so she could eat without the constant buzz of notifications. "I feel lucky." She smiled gently. "Today's win was out of complete luck. They should have gotten the point."

Noriko gave her daughter a quick side hug. "That means it was meant to happen."

"Hey sis, you should check your IG page!" Megumi was looking through her sister's page.

Mitsumi opened the app to see a trillion notifications. She took a look at her most recent post. She had posted a picture of her and her team holding the trophy and a photo of her, Saki, and Akari posing together with the new National team.

"You have more followers than me now!" Bokuto checked his social media. "Not fair!"

"2.2 thousand likes on this post alone. 4.1 thousand followers." Mitsumi's brain was melting at the high numbers. She didn't think she would explode in popularity. So much for living a normal life.

Suga looked like he was going to pass out. Popularity came with its own set of issues. And whatever this newfound popularity meant for his girlfriend was already wracking his mind. "Chie, I'll crush anyone that bothers you." His expression darkened as he pounded his fist into his open palm.

"You really think you can fight a crowd by yourself, Suga?" Kuroo cackled at the comment.

Kaori punched her cousin in the arm. "There are bigger things to worry about than some fan group." She reassured the silver-haired boy.

"Kaori-chan has a point." Noriko smiled and picked up everyone's plates.

"Don't you dare do the dishes in my house!" Mitsumi scrambled to beat her mom to the kitchen sink. "I will take care of all of this!"

...

Mitsumi was back in student mode after a weekend of celebrations. It was the first day of lectures, and thankfully Mei was kind enough to gather all of her syllabi. The two of them had a majority of their classes together this semester.