𝐂𝐑𝐎𝐖

lviii - away games

"Whoaa.. is that..Could it be.. the Sky Tree?!" Tanaka and Noya ogled as the Karasuno boys volleyball team exited the bus that had brought them to Nekoma High.

"No, that's just a transmission tower," Kai denied as Kuroo belly laughed.

"AHHHHH HERE WE ARE TOKYO!" The two shouted as the last people got off the bus. Crow glanced around as he walked with Asahi and Suga.

"The scenary's not that different from Miyagi," The ace commented, squinting a bit at the early sun.

"Well," Suga offered. "We're in the suburbs."

"Walk faster!" Nishinoya demanded as he literally pushed Tsukishima each step forward.

It was then that Crow felt chills go down his spine that made him want to run. However, he reminded himself that it was inevitable, so eventually he allowed himself to practically get run over. "CROW!"

"...Hello Bokuto," The ravenette's voice was muffled as he was hugged to the man's chest, his face being squished.

"I MISSED YOU SO MUCH DUDE! YOU GOT TALLER, HUH? HAHAHA!" The ace of Fukurodani laughed.

"What the--" Most of Karasuno sweatdropped at the scene, finding it both normal that Crow knew somebody but also weird with the entire situation. The first years were gaping at the display, not sure how to take it.

"Okay, enough, you're suffocating me on your tits and I do not appreciate it."

"HAHAHA I WORKED THEM OUT JUST FOR YOU! HAHAHA!" Bokuto gave him one more big squeeze before letting him go and glancing around. "Yo, this your team? When I met you, you didn't even know what volleyball was."

"That was a long time ago," Crow cleared his throat.

"Hey wait," Kuroo spoke up, walking over and draping his arm on Bokuto's shoulder as he looked at Crow. "Aren't you missing some people?"

"Hinata and Kageyama failed one of their finals so they are redoing them. They'll be here later, probably," The ravenette explained with a shrug.

"Somebody actually failed their tests?!" Bokuto's jaw dropped dramatically. "Ha! Sucks to be them, could never happen to someone as smart as me!"

"Sure," The two dark haired boys blinked at him.

"So the power duo's retaking some tests right now, huh?" Kuroo reiterated as him and Crow started walking towards the building, causing the bird to gasp and run after them.

"DON'T IGNORE ME GUYS!"

"We aren't--"

"AHHHH!" Crow stopped mid-statement as Yamamoto cried. "THERE--THERE-- THERE'RE TWO GIRLS NOW!" He dropped to his knees as Kiyoko moved Yachi behind her just in case. "Now they've got a pretty one and a cute one!"

"Do you see, Tora?" Tanaka walked up next to him, causing the mohawk to pause in his reverence. Stepping in front of the girls, the cueball held his hands out like he was trying to be a rip-off Jesus or something. "This is what Karasuno's true ability looks like."

"Ugh! So bright!"

"Let's go," Kiyoko said to Yachi as Tanaka started laughing smugly.

"H-hai!"

"All right," Kuroo spoke after finishing deadpanning at his teammate. "When you're all ready, come to the gym. The other teams are already there," He smirked, then headed in himself.

"See ya later, man!" Bokuto gave Crow another hug before he could dodge, then jogged after the rooster head. Thus, Karasuno headed inside as well, putting their things away before making their way to the gym. It was quite big with room enough for two nets. The ravenette hummed in appreciation.

"Let's have a good match!"

"I CALL CROW!" Nishinoya bellowed, attaching himself to the ravenette's arm like the dude was gonna run off or something. The only thing he did was raise an eyebrow at him and sigh.

"HEY CROW, WASSUP MAN?!" Nekoma's libero called from where they were warming up, waving with a grin.

"Yo," Crow peaced at him in return.

"Once we're done warming up," Kuroo stepped up beside Daichi and the rest of the group. "We'll regroup and the teams will play each other in a rotation."

"Right."

"After each set, the losing team has to run one lap around the court, diving," The rooster head smirked as the captain nodded that he understood. Yachi, however, did not.

"Diving?" She repeated, glancing at Kiyoko for help.

"They're going to act like they're diving to dig out a ball," She reiterated. "They'll slide across the floor on their chests with their arms extended."

"Hey," Suga spoke up as his eyes wandered to the Nekoma boys that were warming up. "Was that guy with Nekoma the last time we had a practice match with them?"

"Huh?" Asahi and Crow moved their eyes to where he was looking, then the ace flinched. "The guy who's staring really hard at us?"

"Yeah," Sugawara confirmed.

"I'm pretty sure he wasn't. What do you think, Crow?" Asahi and the setter glanced at him for his feedback, causing him to shake his head.

"Definitely not, never seen him before."

"So they got a new addition to the team, huh?" They hummed thoughtfully. "Damn, he's pretty big too."

"Looks like I'll need to go middle when we go against Nekoma..." The ravenette grumbled, loathing the mere idea of doing that.

"Ha, that's funny Crow," Keishin slapped him on the back, causing him to turn and glower at him. The coach was grinning deviously. "You're playing middle the entire time, not just for Nekoma!"

"...I'm farting on your pillow so it's nice and warm and smelly."

"That's more terrifying than you saying you're gonna kill me," Keishin shuddered, actually very disturbed because he knew that was exactly what was going to happen. Not to mention that Crow's farts were the famous silent but deadly type, so the fumes might actually kill him.

After that little confrontation, Karasuno got to warming up and soon it was time to start playing. The first opponent that they were up against was Shinzen, which wore green shorts with white shirts under pink practice jerseys. "Okay, this is going to be a bit confusing at first since this team hasn't played with Crow as a middle yet," Keishin peptalked his team as they stood around him in a circle. "Because of this, Nishinoya will only be going in for Tsukishima since Crow is a better passer--"

"Hell yeah he is!" Nishinoya slapped the ravenette's back with a grin. "You got this dude!"

"...Yuhuh," Crow obviously did not want to be doing anything of the sort, but he couldn't exactly say no to being a middle since that is what the team needed.

"Sawamura is going to be our opposite with Suga as our setter. Everything else remains the same, so go out there and play your game. Don't rush anything, and most importantly," Keishin smirked darkly. "Show those bastards that Karasuno doesn't need its first year duo to beat ass."

"Yessir!" The team cheered, and with that, the starting line ups stepped onto the court.