𝐂𝐑𝐎𝐖

liv - trial manager

"YACHI-SAN!" Hinata shouted the next day, right before practice started. Said person was lingering outside the door, but he had somehow spotted her and scared the crap out of her at the same time. "Stuff you taught me showed up in the English quiz this afternoon!" He thrust his quiz at her excitedly. "I got a whole third of them right!"

"Wahoo!" The two cheered.

"Someone go shut them up, I'm trying to nap here," Crow groaned, causing the female to flinch.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" She bowed in his direction, but his eyes were closed so he didn't see it.

"It's fine, Crow's like that most of the time, yesterday he was a bit more awake than today, it seems," Suga assured her as he walked over to the two first years. "Anyway, welcome back."

"T-thank you!" Yachi smiled. Soon, practice started with some stretches and warm ups, and Kiyoko explained some things to her charge.

"You don't have to be nervous, but be careful of stray balls flying at you," She told Yachi, who nodded eagerly.

"Hai!" She confirmed, then paused as she actually processed her words. Then, her stance widened as she frantically looked around like someone was about to attack her.

"Hey, are you okay?" Keishin asked as he walked towards her, which scared the life out of her eyes. "Um, I'm actually the coach.."

Suddenly Yachi was on the floor, bowing. "I'M SO SORRY!"

"HUH?!" Keishin stepped back in shock, very confused about the overdramatics. Finally having enough, Crow sat up and hopped off the stage.

"I'll take it from here," He shoved the coach away, who went to protest, but then recalled the other day and shut himself up. "Hey, you can get off the floor now," Crow looked down at the girl, causing her to spring up.

"RIGHT, I'M SORRY FOR BEING IN THE WAY!" She burst, and the ravenette sweatdropped.

"You're not in the way. You're fine, so stop apologizing every second. And maybe bring the volume down too while you're at it," He sighed as he ran a hand through his hair, which was down for once.

"Y-yes sir," She promptly lowered her volume, then looked down as she fiddled with her hands. "Um, Crow-sama.. thank you for saving me that one time.."

"Huh? Oh," Crow's lips quirked upwards as he patted her on the shoulder. "Right, no problem. Glad you're safe. Staying away from those parts?"

"Y-yes!" She exclaimed, then flinched at the narrowing of the ravenette's eyes. "Yes," Yachi repeated, this time much lower in volume. "Crow-sama, may I.." She trailed off for a second, looking away slightly. "Ask a question?"

"Sure."

"Why aren't you practicing?" She asked with a tilt of her head. "You weren't participating yesterday either.. are you okay?"

"I'm injured," He replied, raising his shirt to show the bandages. "So I have to sit out until Kiyoko deems I'm fit to play again, so about another week."

"Week and a half," Kiyoko corrected as she walked towards him. He deadpanned at her before sighing and raising his hands in surrender.

"Fine, then I'll get back to napping," He peaced out, sauntering back over to the stage where he made himself comfortable. He slept through most of practice, but was woken up when Takeda came bearing news.

"So, this is rather sudden, but Ougi West High School requested a practice match tomorrow, and I accepted," He informed the team. "They saw us at the interhigh prelims and insisted."

"Don't forget the regret and bitterness of losing to Seijoh. However," Keishin crossed his arms. "You don't need to hold onto the feeling of losing. Hurry up and wipe that away!"

"Yeah!" The team cheered, then started chatting amongst themselves about their opponent. Crow mostly just listened, his arms crossed as he did so. After that, everyone worked together to clean up, and then it was time to go. Most of the players left, and the gym was empty except for Crow, Takeda and Keishin.

"What's wrong, sensei? Why the serious face?" Keishin asked as he took a swing of his water. Well, Crow wouldn't put it past him to have put beer or some other kind of alcohol in that water bottle.

"Uh, well.." He trailed off for a moment as he glanced at Crow, then back at the coach. "Apparently, the bus we were supposed to take for the away games in Tokyo is being used by another club, so it doesn't look like we'll get it," the advisor looked down. "It looks like it's going to cost us a lot more than expected, so I don't know what to do.."

"Ah, I'll try talking to a few more alumni," Keishin offered as he glanced up at the roof. "I'm sure this problem'll come up again in the future."

"I apologize," Takeda bowed slightly, but Crow waved him off as he moved from the wall.

"Don't worry about it. If worst comes to worst, I have some people I can call in a few favors from."

"WE AREN'T GETTING INVOLVED WITH THE YAKUZA, YOU NUT!"

"Why not?" Crow looked genuinely confused. "It's not like we can pick and choose these things. Beggers can't be choosers, Keishin."

"I know that!" He snapped. "But still--"

"I'm sure it'll work out," Takeda interupted, smiling his usual smile. "If all else fails, I do have some savings."

"No." The two immediately rejected that horrible idea.

"We'll continue on as we have been, so let's hold out for a bit more before we start going for fail saves, shall we?" Crow suggested. With that, the adults nodded and so that problem was put off for another day. As Crow was walking out of the gym, he found Hinata excitedly talking with a timid Yachi.

"--Manager?!"

"Oh, um.."

"You will, right?!"

"Hey, first year girl, hey!" Tanaka and Noya arrived a second later, causing Crow to sweatdrop. "We hope that you will join the Karasuno High School Volleyball Team."

"Huh?"

"When you're around, Kiyoko-san talks a lot."

"What kinda way to recruit is that, idiots?!" Daichi smacked them on the head as he came over with Suga, who was also looking unimpressed.

"I'm sorry they're all so stupid," Suga bowed slightly to the first year girl, who shook her head.

"No, not at all!" She rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. "I'm flattered.. I've never tried to do something on my own, or had someone need me for anything... Even in school plays, I've only been an extra, like townsperson B or a tree.." Yachi rambled, but Crow could tell she was being sincere. "So when Shimizu-senpai worked so hard to recruit a townsperson B like me, who has no experience or knowledge of volleyball, I was really happy. But," She looked down. "I'm sure I'm not much--"

"I totally get how you feel," Tanaka stepped in. "Even if Kiyoko-san said I'm going to steal money from you, so follow me, I'd still follow her!"

"You're so manly, Ryuu!"

"Somehow, that sounds awesome!"

"Looks like Tanaka said something again."

"Oh, that reminds me!" Hinata reached into his bag, then showed his phone to his two senpais.

"Damn, Nekoma's so awesome!" Nishinoya roared.

"I'm getting fired up!"

"It's about the away matches coming up," Crow explained to the confused-looking Yachi, causing her to flinch. "Don't feel pressured to join the club, but it would be nice to have you. Take your time; we'll still be here, so there's no rush." He patted her on the shoulder, and then he was off into the night.

"Crow-sama.." She sucked her lips into her mouth, then covered her face. "He's so cool.."