𝐂𝐑𝐎𝐖

xxvi - play practice

"You're all still here?!" Takeda suddenly burst through the doors to the gym, gaining the boys' attention as he panted slightly. "Sorry I'm late, I was stuck in a meeting," He apologized, walking over to them with several pieces of paper in his hand. "Anyway... I've got the bracket for the interhigh prelims!"

That got Crow's attention, causing him to flip up and join the group as they took a look at the bracket. "If we make it through the first round, and Date Tech does the same, we'll be facing against them in the second round."

"Not as bad as it would have been had we been pitted against them in the first round," the ravenette murmured.

"That's not all," Tsukishima grumbled. "Aoba Johsai is seeded in our block."

"Ugh," Tanaka frowned. "Majikayo?"

"Oi," Keishin stepped in before anybody had enough time to freak out, physically or mentally. "Don't tell me you forgot what I just said. If you keep looking up at the top.."

"We know," Daichi confirmed before looking down at the bracket sheet again, his eyes on their first pairing. The name of the school was Tokonami. "We'll win the match," He told the coach. "That's in front of us!"

And with that, practice ended and everyone went home after cleaning up a bit more. As he made his way towards his house, Crow suddenly received a call from someone important, so he answered. "What's up?"

"Hey, when do you think you'll be home?"

"In like ten minutes."

"Oh sweet! Okay, then what do you want for dinner?"

"Anything's fine."

"You always say that."

"And you always roll with it."

"Ha, fair enough I guess. Alright, I'll get something started. Tell me about your day when you get here! It's been a while since I've seen you since you're always coming home after midnight and leaving before the sun rises."

"Yeah," The ravenette agreed with a slight smile. "Sure thing Tenma."

He arrived home soon after, taking a second to grab his keys from his back pocket and unlocking the door. He stepped through and put his shoes away, then threw his backpack down a second later as he made his way into the living room. "Welcome home Crow!" His guardian, Tenma Udai, greeted him with a large grin.

"I'm home," He responded, playfully chopping the dude on the head.

"Wha--Crow! You dummy," He snickered at his display of affection. "Anyway, tell me about your day, what's been happening recently?" The former tiny giant questioned as he continued making their dinner.

"We played against Nekoma a few days back."

"You did?!" Tenma gasped, whipping to face him. "That's awesome! How'd it go? Did you guys finally win over Nekoma?!"

"Kind of, but not really," Crow shrugged in reply, causing his guardian to raise an eyebrow. "We played six sets, and each won three."

"Oooh, got it," Tenma's eyes widened. "But damn, you guys are doing better than we ever did against them. We never took a set."

"I know. I was there, remember?"

"Yeah, but you don't seem to think this momentous occasion is actually that big of a deal?" The dude snarkily replied while throwing a bit of a stink eye at the second year, who snorted.

"Moving on," He rolled his eyes. "Practice is coming along well. Keishin is still going strong since he decided to stay on even after we were done with Nekoma."

"So Ukai-san is coaching you guys now?" Tenma reiterated. "Good for him, I'm glad you guys found somebody."

"Same here," Crow agreed. "Not to mention the inter high prelims are coming up, so there's that."

"Oh, good luck! When does it start?" He asked excitedly. "I can probably get some time off to watch you guys!"

"June 2nd," He mumbled, laying back on the coach with a heavy sigh. "I doubt I'll play the first game though."

"Why's that?"

"It's not a very strong team, so of course we should conceal our most powerful weapons, right?" He smirked lightly at the former tiny giant, who hummed in acknowledgement.

"Makes sense. I'll still come watch, though."

"Do whatever you want, dude."

"I will! Oh, wanna see some of my drawing so far this week?"

"Sure Tenma. But finish cooking first."

~*~

"Kageyama, Crow, come here for a sec," Keishin gestured them over to the side a bit before practice that day. Once they were in front of him, he told them what was on his mind. "Is there a way to do the crazy quick from the backrow?"

"Probably." The two spoke in sync, then Kageyama looked at Crow with a slight smile before getting serious again. "We'd have to try it."

"Then let's make that a priority today," the coach decided, crossing his arms. "Along with normal backrow attacks as well. Make sure to fill Hinata in on this too when he gets here."

"Right!" The setter said. During hitting practice later with the usual two lines, Keishin called over Asahi to see if he could do back row attacks, but the answer was unclear so he just decided to start doing some play practice since that would be more productive.

"Hey you guys!" The coach called. "Come here for a second," That second turned into a few minutes as everyone sat in front of the coach and the whiteboard with a bunch of plays drawn out on it. "And that's how it goes."

"First we need to find the right hitting height," Kageyama spoke.

"That looks complicated," Hinata grimaced.

"Let's try it," Asahi seemed ready to go, and Crow was also pretty ready to go so he stood up as well. "Thank you for your help."

"Yeah, looks like fun," The ravenette agreed, and so with that, the team switched to play practice.

"Hinata, I want you to dive in as usual!"

"Hai!"

"Crow, talk to Kageyama! I know you can hit it higher than that you lazy bum!"

"Shut your trap!"

"On that note, you can hit it closer too! I know your optimal hitting range is around six feet from the net! Don't cheat us or yourself!"

"Fiiiiine."

And then, finally, practice was done. "Good work!"

"Sir!"

"Azumane-san, would you be willing to practice more with me?" Kageyama questioned. "Since I spent most of practice working with Crow-san, I'd like to work with you some more."

"Sure thing," The ace agreed. Thus, the boys started practicing a bit more as the others headed out. Hinata watched as Crow left the gym with his loose hair floating behind him as he went, feeling a bit let down that he wasn't also staying after practice. However, he shook it off and ran over to the two working on their timing.

"I wanna join too!"