OBSERVERS - TSUKISHIMA KEI

FOUR - MOTIVATION AND MEAT BUNS

   "A maki !" Hinata practically bounced over to the girl. She was surprised he still had any energy left in him. "Daichi is treating the team to meat buns! Are you coming?"

   Amaku would do a lot of things, but turning down free food was definitely not one of them. "As long as Daichi's okay with it."

   "You're a member of this team, aren't you?" Daichi said from behind her, making her smile. It was nice, being apart of something again.

   The walk to the convince store wasn't very far, but it included a lot of laughter. Shimizu didn't come with, having schoolwork to catch up on. It was pushing Amaku's social skills a little bit, but she was having a good time.

   "Are you excited for your first game on Karasuno?" She asked Hinata, who had been bombarding her with questions since they started walking.

   "I can't believe we get to play against such a good team!" He was so excited to answer her question he dropped his bike that he was pushing beside him. "Although, I still don't really understand why they want to keep Kageyama in for the whole game."

   Tanaka, on the other side of Amaku, started mumbling to himself, clearly angry about their next practice match. Aoba Johsai had accepted their request for a game, but under the condition that Kageyama had to play the setter for the entire time.

    "Karasuno has great players," Amaku started off as nicely as she could, unsure about how to form her thoughts without sounding rude. "but they're only playing us because they want to break Kageyama."

   "How dare they underestimate us!" Tanaka growled. "I'm going to kick their sorry asses so hard-"

   "This is your chance." Amaku said with a tiny grin. "This is how you start to let everyone know they can't look over you all anymore."

   For once, the two boys next to her were quiet, her words surprising them. Her mind was on a particular upperclassmen at Seijoh.

   "They only want to play Kageyama, so what?" She continued. "They're going to have to play against the rest of us, too."

   A moment passed before Tanaka and Hinata spoke at the same time, equally as loud.

   "THAT WAS SO MOTIVATIONAL, AMAKU!"

   "You two are going to be the reason I'm deaf at 20." She said, her usual monotoned voice back.

   Ahead, they could see Suga and Kageyama talking outside the convince store. Hinata and Tanaka ran to catch up to them, while Amaku stayed walking, burying her hands in her Karasuno manager's jacket pockets.

   Somehow, she fell into step with Tsukishima and Yamaguchi, who were walking silently together. Upon noticing the girl, Yamaguchi caught up to her.

   "Hey, Kyioko!" He greeted her sheepishly, catching her off guard.

   "Oh, please call me by my given name." Amaku replied. As much as she loved her cousin, it wasn't always easy being related to her, and she didn't want to get mixed up.

   "Ah, right. Okay." Yamaguchi stuttered a little, still intimidated by the girl. "I was wondering if you could give me some tips with my serves? I saw you talking to Kageyama about it."

   Before she could reply, Tsukishima jumped into their conversation.

   "What makes you think she could be so helpful?" There was a smirk on his face, like he knew something she didn't. Like he was trying to get a reaction out of her.

   Besides a small change in her eyes, Amaku showed no change in her expression. "I don't know why you're talking, four eyes. Your technique is nauseating."

   "Resorting to name calling. How predictable of you." Tsukishima's smirk only grew.

   Yamaguchi was panicking, looking between them, completely lost with what to do. It was like they both forgot he was there.

   "Predictable, huh? That's funny seeing as you have no idea who the setter's going to for a spike most of the time." A smirk fell onto Amaku's face as well now, seeing a brief twitch in Tsukishima's expression.

   "Sorry, you have to be at least average height for me to take anything you say seriously." He looked down at her, and started taking longer strides.

Unknown to Tsukishima, he'd actually found one of the only things that made Amaku loose her cool. She wasn't really short, but her aura made her look much bigger than she actually was. So, whenever someone would stand beside her, she'd always get the "you look so much taller than you actually are." It drove her insane.

But for volleyball, she defiantly wasn't the tallest, and it irked her to no end.

Before she could respond with something much meaner than she normally would, the rest of the team came into view, Tanaka waving around a bag of meat buns.

"Hey! Come get your food!" He called out to the three of them, making Amaku completely forget what she was thinking. She hadn't eaten since lunchtime, and she was starving.

"Thank you!" Yamaguchi jogged over, leaving Tsukishima and Amaku behind.

Unable to really run, she settled for awkwardly speed-walking over, moving as fast as she could. Yamaguchi handed her a meat bun, and she thanked him greatly, wasting no time eating. As they talked and ate, Amaku noticed something small move past her out of the corner of her eye.

   Upon further inspection, she realized it was a calico cat. She walked away from whatever conversation she was in, gently approaching the stray and offering the rest of her meat bun. The cat ate it gladly, rubbing its head against Amaku's leg until she reached down to pet it.

   The cat purred affectionately before running off, making the girl realize she was still starving, but now empty handed. She decided she didn't really mind, and that she'd do it again to pet a cat again.

After a few members of the team left, the rest gathered inside the store after promising the owner to keep quiet. Daichi had mentioned he wanted to talk to her about plans for their upcoming match. It was him, Suga, Kageyama and Amaku at a small table, a kettle next to them.

"Kageyama, Amaku, could I have a word?" He asked, taking her attention away from her tea. "I've been brainstorming about what Hinata's position should be for the practice game. What do you think?"

She looked over at Kageyama, a little surprised he was asking two first years.

"This might sound a little strange, but hear me out." Amaku started.