Garden Walks [Yamaguchi x Tsukishima]

02

"Hey Kunimi? Are you gonna eat that?" Yamaguchi asked, gesturing towards Kunimi's egg rolls.

Kunimi shoved the food into his mouth and nodded his head.

"Here, you can have mine," Kindaichi said as he put food onto Yamaguchi's plate.

The three of them had gotten close since they were the only first years in the volleyball club, and had similar classes. They were always together, so being friends couldn't be avoided.

Kindaichi and Kunimi had been friends since grade school, but it seemed like the friendship didn't involve much talking.

They briefly mentioned another boy who attended Kitagawa Junior High with them, but from what Yamaguchi could tell, they didn't like him very much.

Although Kunimi was cold and blunt sometimes, Yamaguchi could tell he enjoyed their company.

School had been in for about a month and a half, and Yamaguchi had progressively gotten better at volleyball. He wasn't afraid to mess up anymore, now that he had so many people supporting him.

"I heard we're supposed to have a practice game soon. I dunno when, but I heard Iwaizumi mentioning it," Kindaichi said as he piled all their trash onto his plate.

"Do you think any of us will be in the starting lineup?" Yamaguchi asked.

"Hm. Probably. We're first years who need to practice with other teams." Kunimi said in a disinterested tone.

"Oh you're right, I bet coach wants to see our strengths and weaknesses." Kindaichi said, then proceeded to throw the rest of their things away and tidy up. Kindaichi seemed to be a clean freak from what Yamaguchi noticed.

"I wonder who it's against," Yamaguchi thought aloud.

"They're probably in our prefecture," Kunimi said.

"Maybe we'll get to play Date Tech, or Johzenji sounds cool too." Yamaguchi said, thinking about how he had considered applying to Johzenji.

"You think we'll get to play against Shiratorizawa? They're legendary!" Kindaichi said a little too loudly as he sat down, Kunimi scowled at him.

Kunimi tended to dislike loud, obnoxious people. This didn't worry Yamaguchi, though, since he was neither of those things.

"That would be cool, but I don't think that's realistic," Yamaguchi laughed. Shiratorizawa was a powerhouse school who has gone to nationals multiple times. It seemed unreasonable to think they'd have a practice match against Aoba Johsai.

The bell rang, signaling the students that their lunch break was over.

The three of the got up and began walking to their next class together.

"Hey Kunimi, are you ditching practice today?" Yamaguchi asked.

"No. I have to know who we're playing against."

•••

Kunimi was late to practice by five minutes, which wasn't a large amount of time, but it was long enough to make Yamaguchi and Kindaichi worry that he wouldn't show.

"Do you think he'll come today?" Yamaguchi asked Kindaichi as the coach told them to sit around him. He made sure to leave a space for Kunimi between him and Kindaichi.

"Yeah, he's not the type of person to change plans last minute."

Once Kunimi got to the gym, coach Irihata announced to them that the following Monday they would have a practice match against Karasuno.