𝐂𝐑𝐎𝐖

xxvii - venue arrival

The next few days flew by as everything all sort of meshed together. At the all school pep rally, the first years were surprised that Crow was nowhere to be seen even as the volleyball team was called to the stage. "Yeah, he hates getting any type of publicity," Suga whispered to them as they stood on stage, then slapped Tanaka's hand that was making a peace sign down.

After that, time flew by even more rapidly until out of nowhere, it was the day before prelims started. "Let's quit early and go home to rest up," Keishin suggested.

"Hai!" The team responded. "Okay, that's all--"

"Ah, choto matte!" Takeda butted in, holding a hand out to stop anyone from going anywhere just yet. "Can I add one more comment from Shimizu-san?" He gestured to her, causing all the boys to gasp slightly. Even Crow raised both eyebrows, surprised by such a development.

"I'm not that good at pep talks, so.." She trailed off quietly before jogging away, towards the ladder for the wrap around. "Sensei, if you please."

"Leave it to me," The two started climbing up, the faculty advisor holding a box.

"Uh, sensei, I'll carry it..." Kiyoko looked concerned, but the dude was just fine.

"I've got it!" He assured her, reaching the top in no time. Joining him a second later, they took something out of the box.

"What's that?" Nishinoya questioned as everyone gathered to see what they were doing. Fianlly, Takeda and Kiyoko threw the banner over the railing, and the wording on it made everyone gasp.

"I didn't know we had this!" Suga gawked. Crow crossed his arms, looking a tad bit impressed and semi-reminiscent.

"I found it while I was cleaning," The manager explained. "So I washed it."

"Now I'm on fire!" Tanaka yelled with his fists clenched.

"I'm impressed Kiyoko-san!" Noya was also riled up. "You do good work!"

"Okay!" The two turned to each other in sync. "It's time to get psyched-!"

"Wait," Daichi held his hand out, stopping them as his eyes remained on the two on the wrap around. "I think.. there's more."

With that, Crow could see Kiyoko sort of battling with her nerves before she finally said it. "You can do it." That said, she nodded to the team once more before scurrying down and over to Crow as the upperclassmen cried.

"Shimizu has never done this before!" Daichi covered his face with his arm as he sobbed.

"These people are dumbstruck," Tsukishima and Yamaguchi looked extremely concerned as Tanaka and Nishinoya were crying with their mouths open in shock, not even making any sounds.

"Usually they're so boisterous."

"You did good," Crow accepted the oncoming hug, rubbing her back as she shivered, probably from the aftershock of doing something so embarrassing and unusual for her.

"Wait, why'd she go to Crow-san?" Hinata questioned quietly to Kageyama, who shrugged. Suddenly, the volume of the upperclassmen crying increased several notches.

"Wait, what is this?! This is getting out of hand!" Takeda didn't know where to start with all of them.

"We're going to win the first round!" Daichi declared strongly.

"Yessir!" The team cheered as Crow and Kiyoko looked on at them, slight smiles on their faces. Yes, Kiyoko thought and she snuggled into the ravenette's embrace. This was definitely worth it.

~*~

The next day, Crow was one of the last players to arrive. "I hate you," He grumbled as he stood with Keishin, who was smirking in victory. The night before, he had made the ravenette go home with him to make sure he got a proper night's sleep and didn't do anything stupid.