𝐂𝐑𝐎𝐖

xlix - running fiasco

"GAAAAAHHHHH!" Tanaka screeched as he gripped a magazine in his hands. "Oikawa's featured in Monthly Volleyball and it even has his picture."

"Whoa!" Hinata voiced.

"Well, he is one of the best in the country," Sugawara commented as Crow came in through the door of the club room.

"Guys, today is the day the world ends."

"Hello to you too," Crow blinked as his expression showed how unimpressed he was.

"It's weird to see you in the club room before practice," The third year remarked as he smiled with a tilt of his head. "So, what's the occasion?"

"My laces broke so I'm gonna grab my spares," He informed them as he moved to where his bag resided.

"Ah, is that so?" Suga raised an eyebrow. "It's good that you have extras. Anyway," He leaned over Tanaka to see the magazine. "What does it say?"

"Let's see here," The cueball held the magazine closer. "Oikawa's favorite food is milk bread. His favorite saying is If you're going to hit it, hit it until it breaks..!"

"What the hell is that?" Suga looked disillusioned as Nishinoya and Tanaka sneered at the passage.

"Why would anyone care about such pointless information?!"

"Looks like Seijoh wants to take down Shiratorizawa, so most of the third years who were starters are staying on the team," Tanaka summarised before rearing up. "Come on and bring it, Seijoh!"

"BRING IT!" Hinata joined in.

"Stop, you're gonna rip it!" Suga saved the magazine just in the nick of time. "For crying out loud.." He paused as he saw the page it had turned to. "Holy crap, it's Crow!"

"WHAT?!" The entire locker room, including Tsukishima and Yamaguchi, shouted at him, causing the setter to flinch and slowly present the page as he looked to the culprit for assistance.

"Why are you looking at me?" Crow asked, standing up after having finished lacing and tying his shoe.

"You did an interview with Monthly Volleyball," Kageyama answered for him, which drew a heavy sigh and facepalm from the ravenette.

"Yeah..." He grimaced. "They caught me as I was leaving the bathroom and kowtowed until I agreed to answer a few questions."

"Well, let's have a look-see!" Tanaka quickly took the magazine back from Suga, his eyes scouring the page. "After finally getting an interview with the elusive Crow-sama everyone wanted to see, we were able to ask him three major questions.
Number one: What is your sexuality? His answer: I'm pansexual and aromantic."

"Seriously?" The entire locker room looked at Crow, who shrugged.

"Yeah. It's not something I need to hide or anything."

"Wait, what's pansexual and aromantic?" Hinata parroted the words, all eyes quickly moving between him and Crow.

"Being pan is basically being sexually attracted to people without the gender being a factor. Aromantic means I'm not good with romance."

"Oh," The first year blinked as he tried to process the information, so Tanaka went on reading to get out of the awkward air.

"Uh, question two: why do you hate interviews? His answer: There are some people I would prefer to not get wind of me, so I'm trying to be safe rather than sorry. Question three: what is one message you would give your fans? His answer: I don't like formalities, or yelling. It's annoying," The cueball looked up from the magazine with a disappointed face. "That's it. Ushiwaka is on the next page."

"Oi, get out here already," Daichi said as he opened the door, then blinked as he saw Crow. "...Why are you in the clubroom? I literally just sent Kinoshita to go get you from the gym."

"I'm trying to be unpredictable."

"His shoe lace broke."

"Oh, so that was it. I'm glad you got it fixed," He nodded in approval. "Anyway, we're going for a run."

"Hey...Ushiwaka's on the youth world team," Tanaka spoke up, startling the captain.

"Huh?"

"Youth world team?" Yamaguchi repeated softly as he stood next to his tall best friend, who piped up to explain.

"Simply put, he's representing Japan in the under 19 age group."

"Only one high school can represent Miyagi at spring nationals," Daichi reminded them to get back on target. "For us to go there, we'll have to defeat Ushiwaka and Oikawa."

That statement sure seemed to sober everyone up.

"All right! Let's go running!" The captain yelled.

"Yessir!" Thus, the team headed outside and went to the site where they would be running.

"Here we are: Karasuno's famous heartbreak hill," Tanaka smirked as they stood at the start of an uphill road.

"All right!" Daichi held his hands up. "Ten dashes uphill to the halfway mark! Two at a time. On your marks..." He called, then clapped, which released Tanaka and Ennoshita. The next two were Yamaguchi and Tsukishima. "Tsukishima! Run like you mean it!" He shouted after him when he saw the blonde half-assing it.

The next ones up were Suga and Asahi, and then it was Kinoshita and Crow. "On your marks!" Daichi called, then clapped and off the two went.

Crow obviously did not go full throttle, both not wanting to embarrass his running partner and also not wanting to tucker himself out too quickly.

Hearing the screaming behind him of the first year brats made him deadpan immediately, like come on guys, save your breath and stop being stupid for once in your lives.

It was even worse when they broke through him and Kinoshita like they were nothing but obstacles. Right then and there, Crow almost broke his chill persona to go kick their asses, but somehow held himself back from doing so. Every step of the run, the ravenette reminded himself that injuring teammates was not okay and just talking it out would produce better results than giving them a beating.

At the end of the run, he regretted stopping himself. Those two idiots had run past the checkpoint and were now nowhere to be found. Crow's gut feeling was that they were getting themselves into trouble.

In the next few seconds, as his phone rang from his pocket, he found out why. "Crow, it's me. Come get your first years, they followed me back to Shiratorizawa and are yelling about our bus."