Of Cats and Crows (Sugawara Koushi)

The Big Break

The morning ran like clockwork. Mitsumi woke up and ate a hearty breakfast that Suga had whipped up. He braided her hair into two dutch braids with the ribbons weaved in. It was a much better solution to the bunched bow issue. Her game day bag was packed and ready to go. She wore her JNT tracksuit and stood in front of the house for a photo.

Suga was adamant on getting some photos for her to post to her social media accounts. He snapped a few before walking up and pulling her into a kiss. "Today is step one in taking the world by storm." He declared with an enthusiastic grin.

Mitsumi nodded with a determined smirk. "Come on, we have a train to catch."

The JNT members that had a long trip from home had spent the night in a hotel close to Ariake Stadium. It would serve as their meeting place before and after the match. Mitsumi parted with Koushi as she entered the hotel lobby. He was going to go wait for Kuroo, Bokuto, and the others so he could give them their tickets.

"Looking snazzy!" Akira waved at Mitsumi as she walked in.

"How is everyone doing?" Mitsumi sat down with Akira, Hatsukoi, Setsuna, Tetsuya, Madoka and Matsuri in the lobby. Usui and Coach Momo were also hanging out with them for the time being. It seemed that everyone else was still up in their rooms getting ready since they still had time.

Usui seemed to be bouncing off the walls with excitement on the inside. They were lucky the first game was a home game. "Just peachy! And pumped up!"

Everyone else seemed to groan. There was something happening that Mitsumi didn't know about. Tetsuya laughed, "That's one shot you guys are paying for at dinner!"

"For what?" Mitsumi blinked in confusion.

Coach Momo chuckled and tapped her fingers on the clipboard. "Any time someone says 'pumped up' on game day, they have to buy Tetsuya a shot at dinner.

"GUYS! GUYS! GUYS! You need to come outside!!!" Chihiro was dashing and jumping at the same time over to the group. The ball of energy pointed her finger towards the sliding doors and waved her arms up and down.

Everyone sighed and followed her. The rest of the team was out there watching another group across the street walk. They were in black tracksuits with a white stripe down the sides. The Japanese players gasped at their height. Mitsumi felt a knot form in her stomach. The other team was made of giants.

It looked like they were headed back to the hotel to rest after they practiced. Saki came up to Mitsumi from behind. "Poland is a pretty cool team."

"I think we will win." Madoka shrugged casually.

Matsuri looked at Hatsukoi, "We did last time we played them at the World Championship. Right?" The captain had a horrible memory.

Hatsukoi nodded and gave a thumbs up. "Affirmative."

"I'm so PUMPED UP!!!" Nagisa announced, unknowingly owing Tetsuya another shot.

"That's another shot!!!" Tetsuya added another tally to the count.

"Yeah..." Mitsumi's voice trailed out. "I'm headed back inside." She pushed past Saki and tried to reenter the building. She played with her fingers and did her best to push past her teammates. Someone grabbed her hand suddenly, which made her flinch.

Hatsukoi had grabbed Mitsumi's hand to stop her from going inside. "Mitsumi, you should stay out here with us." She had picked up on the libero's introverted tendencies.

Mitsumi was quick to yank her hand out of Hatsukoi's grip. "I'm just going to grab my bag." She pointed to her bag that was sitting with everyone else's bags in the lobby. The sudden attack of bad nerves and someone grabbing her hand was not making her feel well at all.