𝐂𝐑𝐎𝐖

xlvi - aftermath

"Gather round!" Daichi yelled as he jogged away from the spectators to regroup around the coach, causing the others to follow suit.

"Listen, that last block..." Hinata spoke up softly, only for him to be interrupted by a new team coming on.

"We need to vacate," Keishin told his players. "The next team has to start warming up. We'll cool down upstairs or outside--"

"Yo, Crow-sama, nice game!" A few of the players that were on the team that had just come onto the court came over to them. "I was on the edge of my seat the entire time!"

"Yeah, same here!" They beamed. "I'm really sorry you aren't moving forward, but no matter what anyone says," They held their hands out in a thumbs up. "That was a spectacular game!"

"Thanks Hirokawa, Miyata," Crow nodded to the two respectively. With that, the two players left and Karasuno took up their things and headed out. They ended up outside, and were jogging around the perimeter of the venue to cool down.

"We messed around a bit too much," Crow commented as he and Asahi ran together.

"Yeah, maybe," The ace agreed. "I honestly think it's because Kageyama hasn't fully realized how amazing you are, since he didn't set you much from what I remember."

"Could be," He hadn't really thought of that, but it could definitely be seen as a factor. "We were trying too many things at once in my opinion. Especially the six-two, it just sort of discombobulated us."

"Discombobulated, huh?" the ace chuckled at the word. "Yeah, that's one way to put it. I think we also waited a bit too long to use you in the freak quick attack."

"There's a lot of stuff we waited too long to use," Crow hummed. "But it's behind us now. We know that we can do things better next time, so we have a clear path in front of us."

"Right," Asahi smiled softly at the second year. "That's just like you. You never dwell on things, and always move forward."

"What's the point of dwelling on things?" Crow gave him a look. "If there's one thing I will keep in mind, it's a grudge. I never, ever," His eyes were sharp as he continued to speak. "Forget a grudge."

"Please tell me you don't have a grudge against me," The manbun shuddered, drawing a snort from the ravenette.

"Of course not, dummy."

Soon after, everyone finished cooling down and got changed. They ended up staying to see the end of the quarterfinals, where Aoba Johsai walked away as the victor yet again. "Okay," Keishin called out. "Let's go eat. My treat, of course."

"Sounds good to me, I'm starving," Crow agreed immediately.

"What? Eat, sir?" Daichi seemed confused, and looked pretty down as he went on. "But.."

"Just do as I say and eat," The coach wasn't going to hear it, so off the team went to get food. Once they'd arrived at the restaurant, everyone was seated at a big table and served their orders. "Sorry to do this to you right before closing, ma'am," Keishin said to the hostess.

"Think nothing of it," She chimed as she left to get back to work. "This used to be the norm for you, remember?"

"Sit down already," Crow kicked Keishin's shin, causing him to wince and shoot the bastard a dirty look before shaking his head and doing so. Glancing around at all of his players, he spoke.

"All that running and jumping puts stress on the muscles and tears the muscle fiber. At the end of a match, your muscle fibers will be in tatters unless you're Crow and use them all the damn time."

"At least you know."

"Shut ittt," He groaned, shoving his hand in his cousin's face to block him from talking. Usually, some would laugh, but not after they had just lost. "You recover by eating," He continued. "That's how you build muscle. That's how you get stronger. So eat up, eat a proper meal."

"..." Everyone looked at each other, then nodded and put their hands together in front of them. "Thank you for the food."

Slow but surely, as everyone ate their fill, tears seeped from their eyes. Crow didn't comment; he had no right to judge them as the only other player besides Tsukishima that wasn't crying. He never cared for results, it didn't matter to him. Winning or losing never mattered in the sport.

In life, though, he was a bit more competitive, and for good reason. If he ever lost, he would end up dead, or worse: back with his parents. Maybe that was why he was so lax in his competitiveness in volleyball, because he could be. He didn't have to be on guard every damn second. He didn't have to care about winning or losing. He could just go out and play without worrying about the result.

But he knew that for his teammates, losing was a big blow. So, he stayed silent.

On his way home that night, he received a phone call. "This is Crow."

"So you lost."

"Yeah. Sorry, looks like we won't be playing each other."

"You didn't take Aoba Johsai seriously, that's the only reason you lost. While they may not be much outside of Oikawa, they are formidable because of the way he leads them. Do not forget that next time."

"It's been engrained in my head for a while now," Crow hummed. "But come on, might as well get it over with. Put him on, I know he's there."

"...Fine," A bit of static occured as the phone was given to another holder, and then a new voice came through the device.

"Hey Crow, how is it down there in loser ville?"

"A lot of criers, I'll tell you that."

"Awww, did you hear that Wakkun? Karasuno is just a bunch of cry babies~"

"That's rude, Tendou."

"It's fine," Crow said. "It's the truth. I think there was only one person other than me that wasn't crying."

"Well dang, what a heartless brat you are," Tendou remarked. "And let me guess, you didn't try and comfort any of them, did ya?"

"Not my place to. They need to work through the frustration themselves."

"...You got an answer to everything, don't you? Prick. I might just come down to Karasuno just to beat your ass--"

"Ushijima, stop him before he gets himself suspended."

"On it."

"Wha--hey!"

"Crow," Ushijima returned after having taken care of the redhead. "Don't disappoint us next time. We'll be waiting at the spring national preliminaries."

"Roger that," Crow said, and with that, the call ended.