𝐂𝐑𝐎𝐖

xlvii - unscheduled practice

The next day, during lunch period, all of the second year players gathered to hang out. Usually, Crow wouldn't go to those kinds of things, but he felt compelled to go for some reason. Thus, he was there with Nishinoya in his lap, sitting on the floor.

"The very first day Hinata and Kageyama came to practice, Dai-san said we'd go to spring nationals," Tanaka murmured.

"I forget," Nishinoya glanced out the window. "Is the first qualifying round for that in August?"

"He said," Tanaka made eye contact with the libero. "We'd be going there one more time. There's no time to wallow in defeat," He determined, and Crow nodded in agreement. And then, his phone buzzed in his pocket, causing him to pause and reach into that pocket to retrieve it.

"Looks like Shiratorizawa won," He muttered, scrolling through the bragging texts that a certain redhead had spammed him with. Then he clicked over to the one that Ushijima had sent him, being only two words: We won.

He also got a text from Washijo telling him to stop distracting his players, which made a smirk slide onto his face. Quickly replying to that one, he flipped his phone back off and returned it to his back pocket. "Who was that?" Ennoshita questioned, causing the ravenette to shrug.

"Just a few of the Shiratorizawa members."

"Ah, of course," He chuckled, the other second years cracking a smile at the thought of how popular Crow was. "Tendou still giving you a hard time?"

"Eh," He shrugged again. "He's done worse."

"Fair enough," Kinoshita grimaced. "Didn't he try to stab you at one point?"

"Yeah," Crow raised his gaze to the window. "That just set him up for a beating, so it was all good."

"You're too much," The second years were all snickering now; Crow's antics never failed to amuse them. Suddenly, Nishinoya sprang off of Crow's lap, grinning.

"Alright! I'm in the mood to play, so let's go! We can't let Shiratorizawa beat us!"

"That's the spirit!" Tanaka and him clasped hands with pointed gazes. Crow smiled slightly with a shake of his head as he also stood, what a bunch of dorks. With that, the second years made their way to the gym. "KIYOKO-SAN!" The two lunatics shouted the second they saw her.

"Kiyoko-san, you look lovely today!" Tanaka greeted with Noya at his side.

"I crossed the seven seas to come see you!" The libero proclaimed, and suddenly the two were running at her. Crow ignored it as he headed over to the stage and hopped up on it. "WE'LL FAITHFULLY FOLLOW YOU FOR LIFE!" The two jumped at her, but she ducked so they ended up face diving into the pavement on the other side of the door.

"Don't hurt yourselves," Ennoshita called in a lackluster voice.

"Aren't we supposed to have today off?" Hinata, having been there with Kageyama, asked as the second years stepped into the gym.

"Then explain what you guys are doing here," The male returned the question.

"Afternoon!" A new voice shouted, and everyone turned to see Yamaguchi and Tsukishima coming into the gym.

"Hello," The taller one greeted.

"Now all we need are the third years," Nishinoya said as he and Tanaka, both of which were dirtied and bruised, walked towards the group.

"But we didn't even have practice scheduled for today," Ennoshita fretted.

"Oi oi oi!" Tanaka denied the notion. "You know the third years would never retire!"

"Huh?" Hinata's face filled with dread. "What do you mean? No way," He whipped to face Kiyoko. "The third years are staying on the team, right?! They're taking part in the spring tournament, aren't they?!"

It took a few seconds of silence, but soon there were sounds of running, and then the third years appeared. "Crap, hurry!" Suga cursed as they ran, and then finally made it into the gym.

"YOU'RE LATE!" Tanaka beamed.

"Let's go," Suga grinned after panting for a second. "To spring nationals!"

"ALL RIGHT!" the gym went up in cheers, and Crow just watched from his perch on the stage.

Since it was lunch, they didn't do anything other than pepper for a bit, and then right back to school they went. Classes were boring in Crow's opinion, but they were over faster than anticipated. Thus, back in the gym all of the guys went, doing hitting lines as Keishin showed up late. Everyone paused as the gym door was pushed open with a squeal of old metal. "Afternoon sir!" the team greeted, causing the coach to blink.

"Why, you guys are doing fine," He laughed, then looked confused as they all gathered in front of him.

"Please coach us once again!" Daichi said, and then everyone was bowing.

"Please!"

"Ha," He smirked. "Sure. Now gather up, we have a lot to talk about," He said, and off to the whiteboard they went. "We lost in a match to determine the superior team. Seijoh was tough; we were inferior to them. That's the current result--the reality. So, the winner of today's interhigh prelims final... was Shiratorizawa."

"Yeah, we know," The second years drawled, causing the coach to blink, then glare over at Crow who put his hands up in surrender.

"What?"

"Keep your connections to yourself, you bastard."

"I try to, believe me."

"You're not doing a very good job of it."

"I think I'm doing fairly well," The ravenette rolled his eyes as he leaned back on his hands.

"Seijoh..."

"Lost?" The first years looked shocked with their wide eyes.

"There's a team that beats Seijoh within our own prefecture," Keishin went on. "We have to be stronger. I'm sure you already know our next objective," He glanced at each of his players for a moment. "Spring Nationals. Obviously, this will be the final match for the third years," He reminded them, then his gaze fell to Daichi. "Okay, now let's have a word of motivation from your captain."

Looking surprised for a split second, the person in question soon smiled and stood up. "It's the venue Karasuno has only been to once: the orange court in Tokyo!" He turned to face his teammates. "And we're going there once again!"

"ALL RIGHT!" The gym went up in cheers again, and as the feral children went wild, Crow patted Daichi on the shoulder.

"Good job, captain."

"It probably would've been better if you had done it," He admitted sheepishly, but the ravenette shook his head before gesturing out at the others.

"My lectures are usually serious, so they wouldn't get them this pumped up. This," He withdrew his hand. "Is all because of you. Take pride in that, and try not to put yourself down. You're you, and I'm me, we're good at different things. You raise them up, and I bring them back down to earth. It's a good push and pull, so keep doing what you're doing."

"Stop lecturing your captain, Crow!"

"HE NEEDED IT SO SHUT YOUR MOUTH KEISHIN!"

"THAT'S COACH TO YOU YA BUM!"

"THE ONLY PERSON I CALL COACH IS YOUR DAD!"

"Did Crow just pull out a your dad joke?"

"Wasn't a joke dude."

"Well they certainly seemed riled up," Suga remarked as he came to stand with Daichi, who agreed with a nod and a smile.

"Yeah, I'm glad."