Karasuno's Mangers: Little Ukai and The Runaway

48: Kidnapping is Plan B

It was the second day of the Miyagi Under 11 Volleyball Tournament.

Players from middle schools all around the city whose teams had made it past the first round were participating. Mirae and Emiko walked into the gymnasium and pushed past the crowds to find seats at the bleachers.

"Even among these kids, I'm the shortest," Emiko huffed. She glared left and right.

"Want to know what's funny? They haven't hit their growth spurts yet."

"Now that's just creepy. By the way, how did you hear about this tournament?"

"I saw a flyer at the youth Volleyball Camp I volunteer at. I figured we could do some recruiting since some of these kids are going to high school next year."

The two walked up the stairs towards the bleachers. They passed the mothers cradling wailing toddlers and overhyped fathers clapping balloons. Finding an area further from the cheers, they leaned over the railings and watched the court. There were currently two games being played.

"We should have brought flyers."

"You want to hand out flyers to everyone, advertising that they should come to Karasuno?"

"Well when you put it that way."

Mirae laughed and shook her head. "Look, Emiko, you can't throw the dice in and hope that you get lucky. It'd be better for our team to get three or four really, really good volleyball players than it is to get a dozen amateurs."

The girls watched the games on the court. They were looking for players with exceptional receiving skills or spikers with raw power. Though they found some talent, it wasn't until one of the final games of the day that the special someone came.

The boy reminded them of a well trained and slightly taller Hinata. He dove for the receives like a libero would. He jumped at every opportunity to attack, whether he was able to spike or was used as a decoy. He was trained in read blocking.

And his smiling face melted their hearts.

"Let's kidnap him," Emiko offered. She held onto the back of Mirae's shirt as they pushed their way through the halls to enter the court.

"That can be plan B."

"Oh? And what's plan A?"

"To talk to him like normal people do."

The boy was standing with his teammates at the left side of the gym, smiling over their victory. They would be moving on to the next round.

He was as tall as 'Tome. His dark brown hair stuck to his forehead with sweat. He glanced over, his blue eyes widening when he saw the two girls. Nearly tripping over his feet, he stumbled in front of Mirae.

"Oh wow- you're- what? What are you doing here?" he blushed.

Mirae stepped back and pointed to herself. "You know me?"

"Yeah!" he choked out, "You're Mirae Ando, dubbed one of the strongest and smartest setters from junior high school! You're an inspiration to me and my older sister- we saw you play a couple years ago at a tournament. I remember watching you and thinking 'damn, I want a setter like her on my team!'"

Her stare softened. "That's very sweet of you to say."

"Sorry- I should introduce myself." He pushed his bangs up. "I'm Eito Nakamura. Wing Spiker. Third year at Shiratorizawa Middle School."

"It's a pleasure to meet you. This is my friend, Emiko Suzuki."

"We're here to kidnap you," Emiko declared. Mirae elbowed her. "Ouch- I mean, we're here to talk to you."