Genius (Kageyama Tobio)

8

As Hirose discussed with Takeda and Kiyoko what roles each of them would take on, she noticed a small crowd of the boys standing at the corner of the building with Daichi pushing some of their heads down in a bow.

"Uh, excuse me one minute." Eyeing the group nervously, Hirose ran over, leaving her fellow manager and Takeda behind.

Unsurprisingly, she found that the heart of the conflict was the reunion between Kageyama and two of his ex-teammates.

"Oy! Kindaichi! How many times have I told you not to cause trouble with your opponents?" She exclaimed, rolling her eyes at his typical behaviour, before smiling and waving at her other friend. "Hey Kunimi."

Kindaichi's eyes widened at the sight of her. "Hirose!" After his initial shock, he gave her a quick hug, smiling. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm Karasuno's new manager, cuz I can't play volleyball anymore, long story." Turning her eyes to Kunimi, Hirose grinned. "That means no slacking off, Kunimi."

"What?! You chose Kageyama over us?" Kindaichi exclaimed.

Tilting her head and squinting her eyes in confusion, Hirose shook her head. "I didn't even know Kageyama went there until after I got there. Anyways, my mom didn't let me go anywhere with a good girls volleyball team, so Seijoh wasn't even an option."

The Karasuno team looked between the girl and boy skeptically, until Tanaka pointed at Kindaichi with narrowed eyes. "Is this the type of dark-haired asshole that's your type?"

Kindaichi blushed while Hirose choked on her spit. "What the fuck? No! I already told you that's not my type!"

Kunimi silently laughed at his two friends' reactions, though Hirose felt bad for the disappointed look on Kindaichi's face. "Uh, not that you're not attractive or anything, I just mean you're not my type personally." Shut up, Noriko. You're just making this worse again.

Tanaka nodded thoughtfully. "Good, you can do better than this guy."

Hirose breathed out angrily. "Don't insult him, Tanaka, he's a great guy. You should just go get ready for the game, got it?"

Daichi dragged the boys away and Hirose waved goodbye to her two friends as she followed her own team into the building.

When the game started, Hirose struggled not to give a thumbs up to Kindaichi and Kunimi whenever they did a good play, instead focusing on cheering for her own team (feeling a little bad for her Seijoh friends that she wasn't supporting them). The fact that Tanaka made a point to heckle the Seijoh first years every time Hirose cheered for them instead of her old friends didn't help the matter.

The game was going pretty smoothly when the cheers started. All the girls in the bleachers seemed to finally see what they'd been waiting for: Seijoh's captain, Oikawa.

The fluffy-haired boy passed near the Karasuno managers as he went to his side of the court, winking at Hirose who blushed at the forward action.

When he went on the court, everything felt like the world had stopped, and then only started again after his serve had already made its ace. Hirose was in awe, even more so when Daichi came up with a strategy that actually worked to combat this amazing weapon. 

Hirose clenched her pen and notebook as Tsukishima managed to badly receive Oikawa's serve, and internally she thought of how she could've done better than he'd done. The rally luckily didn't end there, and Karasuno managed to receive Seijoh's counter attack. 

Hirose's hands were white with tension as she anxiously watched the rally, and, though at the beginning of the game she'd had trouble not cheering Kindaichi and Kunimi on, now she had no qualms about which team to cheer for. Over the span of the game, she had felt herself become truly part of the team, although she didn't help beyond a few whispered strategies with Suga. 

Just before setting, Hirose watched Kageyama's eyes flash, and the intensity of his expression made her breath catch and suddenly she couldn't move. He hadn't even been looking at her, and yet she could barely form a thought. She almost missed the end of the game, if not for her instincts kicking in so she could analyze the game. Within a split second, Kageyama had set the ball and suddenly it was on the floor on the other side of the court, and Hinata was in the air.

Immediately, Hirose jumped up, cheering along with the benched players. "Yeah! Nice kill, Kageyama, Hinata!"

Hinata grinned at her with an exuberant thumbs up, while Kageyama looked like a deer in headlights with his wide eyes and the slight flush in his cheeks. Kageyama then also gave an awkward smile, making Hirose laugh and shake her head. In response, Kageyama started glaring at Hinata.

"Why are you looking at me like that, Kageyama?!" He exclaimed nervously. "We won, right, so there's no reason to be mad, right?"

Suga, who had witnessed the whole interaction, explained quietly to Daichi and Tanaka, who started laughing under his breath.

As the team made their way to the bus, briefly stopped by Oikawa who winked at Hirose after antagonizing the team, Hirose remembered that they'd just won their first match, still flushed and somewhat angry from the unexpected wink.

"Now might not be the best time now that Oikawa's made you all grumpy, but in middle school, whenever one of the volleyball teams won a game, I would have everyone over to my place for a sleepover. Now, since you guys have won a game today, you're all invited for free dinner and a sleepover, if you want, at my place." Hirose announced unabashedly, as she mentally calculated how much food she would need to cook.

The boys who hadn't yet heard of the celebratory sleepover tradition that Hirose had were shocked, Tsukishima even looked horrified at the idea of being stuck with his teammates for a whole night. 

"Yes! I get to have a sleepover at a pretty girl's house!" Tanaka cheered.

"Uhh, are your parents actually ok with a bunch of guys sleeping over?" Daichi asked concernedly. 

"Of course, why wouldn't they be?" Hirose wondered with genuine confusion.

"I mean, you're a girl, and we're guys, so most parents wouldn't-" Daichi, equally confused, explained.

Tanaka interrupted him. "Nah, Riko's mom is totally chill." Tanaka laughed under his breath and started to sing, "Riko's mom—"

Hirose slapped the back of his head to shut him up. "Stop hitting on my mom, Tanaka."

Turning back to the others with a smile, Hirose asked, "So, you guys in?"

The four who had already been to her house immediately said yes, and most of the others followed suit quickly. Tsukishima had to be forced by Daichi, but even he agreed.

"Awesome! I'll text my address to the group chat, and you guys can come whenever you have your stuff ready! And, don't worry if you forget a toothbrush or pyjamas, we always have extras for guests."

Most of the boys were still in shock, but they all started to get excited for the idea.