Of Cats and Crows (Sugawara Koushi)

The Gear Heads

Dr. Tanaguchi was impressed that her student really was recital ready so early. Unfortunately, she had to move her lesson with Mitsumi to early on Saturday morning because of a faculty meeting. And she knew her student had a game today too. She suddenly remembered what she needed to discuss really quickly before they ended their lesson. There was a lot coming up for the two of them now.

"Mitsumi, I saw the festival registration forms. They all got approved." The woman beamed. "Don't you think it's a bit much though?" She said being totally honest.

Mitsumi sat and began to think about it. "Three festivals isn't that many. The one over the summer is at the end when I'm back in Japan. So it isn't an issue. And the other two are in the fall and winter." She felt confident that she could pull it off. At this point, it was a necessity. She put her music in her bag and stood up.

"If that's what you think, then I trust you can do it." The professor stood up and opened the door. "Once again, I'm so sorry I had to switch to today."

Mitsumi shook her head, "I'm up at this time anyway." She smiled gently, "I'll send pictures from the game today!" She walked out into the dimmed office lobby. It was the weekend, so none of the faculty were in.

Suga had fallen asleep on the lobby sofa, which made her chuckle. Her game day bag was on the armrest, and his head was resting on top of it. She gently shook him awake, which made him stir and jolt a little bit. His eyes opened up slowly. "Gosh, I fell asleep! My bad."

"That couch gets the best of us." Dr. Tanaguchi chuckled, "it's pretty comfortable."

Mitsumi nodded in agreement. She had been a victim of sleeping on that couch a few times. "I guess my music was so boring you fell asleep." She teased her silver-haired boyfriend. "We will be going!" She bowed to her professor before leaving with Suga.

"Your music is not boring." He carried her bag in one hand and held her hand with the other. "I was comfortable and the lights were off."

"I'm teasing you." Mitsumi squeezed his hand softly. "I finally get to play against a division one team today." She shivered at the thought. "It's going to be way different than the youth team games."

He bent down and quickly kissed the top of her head as they walked off-campus. "It isn't an official game. It's just a family and friends game. It's just like any other training camp." Suga knew that he and Megumi would be there for a fact. "Did you invite anyone else?"

She nodded enthusiastically, "You'll see!" Mitsumi had invited an extra special guest. She managed to find a gap in his schedule for him to come.

...

Mitsumi had left for the locker rooms after giving him his ticket. He found his way up to the gallery and took a seat. The gallery was filled with families and friends of the players. It was a tradition that a game for them only would take place at the beginning of the match.

Wait... I don't even know her number! Well, she's a libero. So, she'll stand out on the court anyway. Suga was internally talking to himself. He sat on his phone while he waited for the game to begin. Megumi hadn't arrived yet and the same with this special guest. So, he took a picture of the empty blue court and sent it to Mitsumi.

Sugawara Koushi: I got a really good seat! I'll be cheering as loud as I can! <3

A couple of minutes later, he got a response.

Mitsumi Chie: I'll look for you~ <3 Oh, Megumi failed her math tests so she had to go to a remedial class today. And my parents are out of town again.

Sugawara Koushi: Good to know! That's really unfortunate.

He smiled and returned to scrolling through social media. It had been a guilty pleasure of his to see how many likes his girlfriend was getting on her official account. Mitsumi's post from earlier in the week had surpassed one thousand likes. He only expected it to grow more once the season continued on.