Sugawara Kaoru is a first year student at Karasuno high and isn't motivated to play volleyball anymore. But third year volleyball manager Kiyoko somehow makes Kaoru agree to help a bit with the volleyball club.
Could Kiyoko-senpai and stalkerish...
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Kaoru thought it strange that none of the other first year Karasuno boys were talking to her. But then again, they weren't all that close to begin with. It was no surprise that the girls came off the van still hyped and chatty, while the boys were silent, but they didn't even really acknowledge that Kaoru was there. Not like she really expected them to come and talk to her since she was a ways off. The girls' van had arrived an hour after the boys' van had already parked, and the whole settling down stage had ended for both parties, who were still tuckered out from the ride. All of them had retired to the housing just behind the modest cafe on the edge of the beach, wanting to sleep off their soreness. Meanwhile, the lone silver-haired girl had remained sitting on the edge of the parking lot facing the sea. The breeze was blowing gently, and she closed her eyes, inhaling the salty sting of the ocean. It's nice to not think about anything and just listen to the waves, she found herself thinking as she absentmindedly touched her short hair, eyes glazing over.
"Don't fall, boy!" a raspy voice from behind called out, surprising Kaoru and causing her to turn around. "You'll be fish bait for sure!"
Not wanting to cause the old man to worry, Kaoru carefully got up, backing away from the edge. She took a quick overall glance at the old man. His graying hair was receding from his forehead, and although his sharp eyes seemed rather intimidating, the wrinkles around his smile eased the girl. He was wearing a polo and shorts, and a waist apron was draped over his shoulder. "Are you from Karasuno as well? I've never seen you at matches."
"Ah, I just recently joined the club," Kaoru politely bowed. "I don't play officially with them."
"Well, what good is that then?" the old man chuckled, tossing a volleyball at her. "That just means you need to train a little more then. Just make sure not to overtrain," he had a twinkle in his eye that made Kaoru immediately comfortable with him. "Why don't you come on in? You're the only able body that's awake from the team, so might as well help out in the kitchen and get first dibs on the yakiniku tonight, ah, what's your name-?"
"Kaoru, sir. Sugawara Kaoru," she followed him into the main housing behind the cafe. "And pardon me, but are you perhaps the former coach?"
The old man beamed. "How'd you recognize me, huh? A magazine or something?" he laughed.
"No, it says on your name tag."
"Oh."
-
The current Karasuno coach was sitting in the common room of the main housing building, his eyebrows furrowed together as he sat across from the girls' coach, who also wore the same dark expression. "We've been had."
"That's the simplest way of putting it," she agreed, sliding the flyer across the table back to Coach Ukai.
"That shitty old man," Coach Ukai put on a terribly frightening grin. "If we win, he gets none of the prize!" The female coach nodded in agreement, clasping hands with him.
"Karasuno, fight!"
-
The old man sneezed and almost dropped his pan. "Ah, I hate this heat."
"Are you alright, sir?" Kaoru looked up, sleeves rolled to her elbow and a handkerchief tied around her forehead. Her hands never stopped from molding the ground meat into spherical shapes as she spoke. "Maybe you should have a slight rest since you seem to be sick."
"Don't order your elders around, boy," old man Ukai grumbled, hitting his shoulder. "I'll have you know that I'm the healthiest than I've ever been at sixty-nine," he sniffed. "Almost done with those hamburger patties?"
"Just about," she went back to focusing on the food. Although old man Ukai had mentioned it would be yakiniku, she didn't expect the menu to also include hamburgers and hot dogs, which was quite a large menu for two people to complete.
"Ah, I thought Shimizu-chan was coming too, so we could've used the extra help, but this is fine," old man Ukai stretched, giving Kaoru a thumbs up. "You're a capable helper."
"Ah, thank you," Kaoru awkwardly bowed her head slightly, unsure of how to respond.
"Well, we're almost done, so why don't you let the coaches know that they can wake up the rest of the kids?" the old man gave Kaoru a toothy grin.
"Hai," Kaoru washed her hands and headed to the common room.
A/N: Yahoo~ 久しぶり、みんな！！なんか、私はちょっとはずかしいですよ。。。いろいろなことははじまったから、まいにちちょっといそがしいね！！(*ﾉωﾉ) As some of you might know, guess where I am!! I'll just tell you! I'm in Japan! Well, actually I've been since September, to be honest, but I've been just so busy adjust to life here and exploring Tokyo, so I've been definitely MIA!
On a side note, I notice that one of the most popular comment themes mentioned in my writing is that it's SUPER KuroBasu (Kuroko no Basuke) influenced. Well, guess what.
I've never watched KuroBasu. Ever. So it's a little awkward for me whenever people are like, "Oh, Kaoru's just like Kuroko, and Misa has the same verbal tics as Kise, etc."
But! My senpai from the States came to visit me during winter break, and she's ONLY obsession is AoKi, so I promised her that I would watch the series. So I'm in the middle of watching KuroBasu now, and please, no spoilers... TT TT I'm going to remain true to my original style for Misa and Kaoru, so please bear with me even though they may be similar to KuroBasu characters.
But yeah, I noticed that it's become a lot harder to explain certain things in fanfics using English since I can hear the dialogue in Japanese in my head, so if it sounds awkward anywhere, please do let me know! Also, I hope you guys enjoy the music in the video! I really love Natsume Yuujinchou, and even though the song has snow in the title, I thought it was a really nice and calming song. And bonus points to those who know where that ocean scenery is from. <3
Thank you for putting up with my casual updates and random schedule. I treasure each and every one of my readers dearly, and I am so thankful that you all are here each and every day. Feel free to dm me any time here or on instagram @himecchisu! Let's talk about everything and nothing! Is there anything you want to know about Japan? :)
