|| Tucked Away || Haikyuu Fanfiction ||

Chapter 3 - The King of the Court

9:02 PM

TheGoddessKiyoko-san: Don't forget that there's morning practice tomorrow

Aoyama: yes! thank u for reminding me

Aoyama: what time does it start?

TheGoddessKiyoko-san: We start at 7

TheGoddessKiyoko-san; Btw, do you know any first years who arent in a club?

Aoyama: no

Aoyama: but I can ask

Aoyama: why?

TheGoddessKiyoko-san: Just thought it'd be easier for you next year w/ another manager

Aoyama: oh ok, i'll look around and see

---

Throwing her phone onto the bed, Mitsuko stared at the ceiling. Would she still be forced to be a manager next year? Or would she be able to quit? Would she even want to quit? The future was so uncertain. After all, she knew that opinions and feelings could change easily. Relationships didn't last that long, and people turned on you as soon as you were useless.

---

Mitsuko covered her mouth as she let out a yawn. "I guess it's normal for you to be tired, huh, Aoyama-chan," Kiyoko chuckled. "Our practices are pretty early."

The younger girl blushed, slightly embarrassed. "I went to bed pretty late last night since I had so much homework.." she said, nervously chuckling as she scratched her head. It was a lie though. The girl wasn't going to tell her senior that she was just too busy fangirling last night to get enough sleep.

The managers rolled out the basket of volleyballs to the middle of the gym when Mitsuko remembered something. "Say, Kiyoko-san, do you know who Kitagawa Daiichi's King of the Court is?"

The older girl looked at her with a surprised look while Kageyama, who was nearby, had an angry face. He stomped over to the pair and looked Mitsuko right in the eye before speaking. "Do. Not. Mention. That. Name." He growled.

At a loss for words, the girl couldn't do anything but stare blankly at him. "Oi, Kageyama. Stop that," Daichi said, dragging the younger boy away.

Mitsuko turned to Kiyoko, the shock still evident on her face. "Did I say something offensive? Why was he so mad?" the brunette asked. "I didn't mean to offend anyone.. I just heard about 'the King' from a relative of mine.."

"Well," Kiyoko began. "That's actually Kageyama's old nickname. It brings up some pretty bad memories from middle school. His teammates became fed up with him and eventually abandoned him in the middle of a game," she explained.

A sense of guilt came creeping in as Mitsuko realized what she had done. She knew how it felt to be abandoned, and well, quite frankly, it really sucked. The first year knew she had to go apologize to him... But how?

--

Sitting at her desk, Mitsuko drank her carton of milk, still thinking about what happened this morning. She furrowed her eyebrows, staring at the wall.

"U-U-Um, Aoyama-san? A-A-Are you okay? Do you need help?" A timid voice asked. Mitsuko snapped out of her thoughts and before her, she saw Yachi who looked petrified.

"Sorry for worrying you. I'm fine. I was just thinking about something."

"Gah! I guess I was just being nosy. I must've been annoying right? Sorry about that!" The blonde panicked.

Mitsuko chuckled. She found it cute the way Yachi overreacted. "Don't worry about it, Yachi-san. I'm glad that you were thinking about me." Hearing this, the blonde let out a sigh of relief. That's when a lightbulb lit up in Mitsuko's mind. "Hey, by any chance, are you in any clubs?"

"Nope. I'm only doing some committee work. What about you?" She asked.

Mitsuko grinned, happy that she had found someone.

--

Getting up from the bench Mitsuko timidly walked up to Kageyama with a water bottle in her hand. "H-hey.. I'm sorry about what I said this morning," she said softly, handing the bottle to the ravenette.

He took the water bottle, staring intensely at the girl. His eyes narrowed and he began to grumble while continuing to stare at her.

''I guess he's still mad at me?'' Aoyama thought.

Gulping, the girl gathered some confidence and spoke. "Say, Kageyama-kun, what can I do to make it up to you? You're still mad at me... Right?"

He stared at her again, except this time he had a look of surprise. "I'm not mad... I'm just bad at communicating.." He muttered, slightly averting his gaze. Now that she realized it, he was blushing a little. "Actually.. I w-wanted to say sorry too.. I overreacted this morning.."

A small smile formed on the girl's lips. "Then let's shake hands." She said, putting her hand in front of her. He stared back, tilting his head, clearly confused.

"It's proof that we made up!" the girl chirped. He nodded his head, and they shook hands when Daichi walked up to them.

"It's nice to see you guys getting along but lets stop flirting okay?~" He teased.

"Huh!?! Daichi-san, what are you saying!?" The younger girl screeched.

"Y-yeah!... We aren't flirting" Kageyama retorted.

"Hmm~ What's all this about?" Tanaka-san and Nishinoya-san chanted, a menacing look on their face.

"I'm just messing with you guys. Although it is nice to see you getting along, we should start our meeting. The coach is here," he said, warning them to hurry up or else they would get into trouble.

The meeting began smoothly and the coach started to talk about various things. About 10 minutes into the meeting, Takeda-sensei burst into the gym, tripping over the steps and falling on his face.

"Sensei?!"

"Take-chan!"

"Are you alright!?!"

He lifted up his face and looked up at the team, excitedly. "We're going, right?!" He exclaimed.

"Where!?!?" Hinata asked.

"Your nose is bleeding!" Kageyama added, running towards the teacher.

"To Tokyo!" Sensei declared.

"Tokyo?.. By Tokyo, do you mean Nekoma?" Hinata asked, excited.

"Nekoma?.." Mitsuko wondered.

Takeda-sensei nodded. "But this time it wont just be Nekoma." He continued. "It's with the Fukurodani Group."

Aoyama straightened up. Fukurodani?.. "I'm pretty sure Kei-chan used to talk about that school alot.." she muttered.

"Anyways, what do you all think?" Takeda-sensei asked.

"It's a no-brainer." Daichi-san said.

"WE'LL GO!!" The rest of the team yelled.

Takeda-sensei smiled, and looked at his watch. A panicked look spread across his face. "I have a staff meeting so I'll see you guys later!" He said as he began rushing out the door. "Ukai-kun, I'll leave the rest to you!"

"Alright! Let's get back to practice!'' The coach said, clapping his hands.