Boyfriend Material || Kuroo Tetsuro

Two

        "He's inexperienced. You can tell he hasn't been in more than a handful of matches, and he's real rough around the edges, but..." You say to Kiyoko, eyes trained on the ever moving figure named Hinata Shoyo. "He's got limitless excitement and determination. It's a stretch to say he's got a bit of patience too, but it takes at least a little to wait as long as he did to finally get a toss from Kageyama."

"Now, Mr. "If I could receive, block, toss, and spike all by myself I would" over there is the exact opposite. He's probably been living, breathing, and dreaming volleyball since he could stand on his own two feet. But he's still young too, and also still a little rough, just a little less so than Hinata. Where on earth did you find these two?"

Suga laughs a little at your description of the weirdo duo. "On our doorstep, bickering like it was the end of the world." "You mean Kei wasn't exaggerating?" A sound somewhere between astonishment and fear rises out of you. You really shouldn't be surprised, you've seen them bicker more than hold regular conversations since the practice match against Seijo. Although it doesn't look like there is any more hostility or bad blood between them. You'd be a little more concerned about how well they'd get along together and with the rest of the team, but this just looks like the way both of their personalities present themselves to each other.

"You have some sturdy players, but..." You trail off. Looking around the room, it definitely feels as if something is missing. "There are holes in our team. We're currently down two members, but one should be returning soon." And there it is.

"Who's missing? And why only one?" Suga looks almost uncomfortable with your question. You go to apologize, but he waves it away with his hand. "Our libero and ace had a little falling out. Asahi has always had a glass heart, and one match really got under his skin. He should be able to come around soon, too." There's a smile on his face, but you can't miss the uncertainty in his eyes. The 'I hope' doesn't need to be said out loud for it to be heard.

~*~

"I apologize for having to skip out so soon after promising I'd lend a hand. I just got saddled with tutoring-" Takeda cuts you off with a wave of his hands and a smile on his face. "Don't worry about it. I've been looking for an official coach anyway. Now that we have a practice match set up, I might just get him to agree."

You don't argue. You haven't gotten this far by arguing with adults. Though, the words 'practice match' have piqued your interest. "Practice match? With who?" Takeda smiles again. "Nekoma. Our two schools used to have a fierce rivalry, but nearly all contact had been lost after both coaches retired."

Nekoma. You can't say you've heard too much about them, but the sound of a rivalry hits more than a few of your interest buttons. You'll have to do some digging when you have the chance.

The bell for your next class rings before you can get another question out. You pass by Hinata and Kageyama in the stairwell heading to class, both of them skipping steps and ignoring you when you yell that they're going to hurt themselves. You don't even get to ask why they were on the other floors in the first place -- first-years are on a lower floor than second and third.

A lot of the club's future still hangs in the air. You haven't been able to attend their practices for a few days, but you know at least one of the missing members is present, if only to help the first-years with receiving. It wasn't that hard to dig up some information about the two missing members.

Nishinoya Yuu: year two - class three, libero. The two of you are in the same year, but you're two classes ahead of him. Loud, hot-blooded, and easy to work up like Tanaka. You'd place him as some weird mix between Hinata and Tanaka.

Azumane Asahi: year three - class three, wing spiker and ace. You think you've passed by him once while trying to find Kiyoko. If he's the guy you think he is, he fits the image. Big and scary, and almost looks as if he's too old to be in high school. Suga had already said that he has a heart of glass.

A part of you wants to go and seek out these two, if only to get a feel for them yourself. But how would you approach them? Sure, you're a little better with people than Tsukki, but not by much. What would you say to them? "Hey, I quit the girls volleyball team so I've been hanging out with the boys, why aren't you there?" You know why they aren't there.

You decide to drop in on the volleyball team for a few minutes before you have to go off and be the smart kid for somebody else. Your heart nearly stops in your chest when you stumble upon a big-looking guy standing outside of the gym. By the bun on the back of his head, you think it's safe to guess that this is the glass-hearted ace you've been hearing so much about these past few days.

"Azumane Asahi," He is visibly startled at the sound of your voice, which nearly startles you as well. "You are Azumane, right?" The large boy nods and averts his eyes, looking almost ashamed that he got caught watching the team practice from outside. He starts again when you walk past him, stopping at the door.

"I don't know the full extent of what happened, but you should know that they're waiting for you. Nobody blames you. If you still want to play volleyball, that sounds like a good enough reason to give it another shot, don't you think?" You can see his eyebrows furrow and, for a moment, you think you may have upset him before his face relaxes and he takes a deep breath. He remains silent, so you don't continue to wait for a response.

You don't tell the others that you ran into him. If he was that jumpy with you, he may just run away if anyone else came out. Instead, you just tell them what your situation is, tell Tsukki that it's his night for dishes, and head back out the way you came.

The tall ace is nowhere to be seen by the time you're done in the gym, but now you really don't have the time to worry about him. First, you need to find all of the patience in your body and put your tutor pants on. Then, you have some research to do on Nekoma High School.