Stormy Summer

A Foul Mood

"Thank you for waiting. We will now begin the opening ceremonies for the National High School Volleyball Tournament, otherwise known as the Spring Tournament," a male voice rang out over the speakers. He kept narrating as drums started playing, and the team captains began walking in one after the other.

Bokuto had been talking about this for months now, and I couldn't help my excitement as I saw him walking in with his team's flag. His face was a wild mix between excited and slightly serious.

It was mildly unsettling seeing anything but a grin on Bokto's face, but, as I've noticed, that's just his normal expression before games start.

After the introduction of all the teams representing the prefectures of Japan, everyone filed out of the stadium, as the first game was not yet to begin.

We had met up with Bokuto and Akaashi outside to see who they would be playing first. I don't exactly know what happened, but as soon as Bokuto saw who they were playing against, he shut down. He wasn't talking more than a few syllables at a time and seemed to be annoyed at something beyond our reach at all times.

Akaashi sighed as he noticed Bokuto's annoyance but seemed to have decided to ignore it for the time being.

When we ran into Kuro's team, he basically threw himself at me, "Did you come to cheer me on?!" he chimed. I laughed as he picked my much smaller form up and twisting me in the air.

"Always," my voice comes out as a mumble against his bear-hug.

"Make sure to watch us play then," he ruffled my hair before walking off again, intentionally shouldering Anna on the way, who threw one of the souvenirs she bought earlier at the back of his head.

"A present?" he gasped dramatically, as Anna flipped him off, "Thank you!"

When we turned to look at Bokuto again, he seemed to be out of his mood for now. Instead, he was talking to the ginger we met during the summer.

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Since it would be a while before Bokuto's team was set to play their first game, we decided to check out Kuro's team, who were currently playing.

The game had already started when we sat down, and it seemed like almost no time went by until they won the first set. Kuro's team was destroying the other school's team by just using their great defenses.

While they seemed to be calm, the other team was visibly getting more and more stressed.

I can't imagine what it would feel like to make it all this way, only to lose in the first round, but someone's going to be that team one way or another.

The more frustrated the other team got, the closer Kuro's team was to win the game.

And almost as soon as that thought crossed my mind, the referee's whistle rang out, signaling that Kuro's team won their first round.

I kind of felt bad for the other team, but I was happy for my cousin to have won, as well.

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Our team's first game was the same day, as well.

As soon as Rose, Anna, Charlie, and I entered the gym, I realized what might have caused Bokuto his dismay earlier.

Compared to the gym we were in earlier, this gym was only a third of the size.

I can imagine that Bokuto would be put off by the fact that he'd be the one starting in the smaller gym.

And in addition to that was the fact that the other team was currently leading the score.

So it might not be a surprise that he got into a mood within the first few minutes of the game. Still, though, Akaashi seemed shocked.

And he was the one who 'warned' me about what he deems to be 'Bokuto's weaknesses.' I wouldn't be able to remember the order of those if my life depended on it, but I'm pretty sure this is-

"What's wrong with Owl-kun?" Anna spoke up from beside me, frowning at the court in front of us. This surprised me slightly, as she normally didn't seem to care too much for what's going on on the court.

"He feels neglected by fate," I replied at the same time as Rose said, "He's throwing a tantrum."

"You've become so dramatic," Rose snorted as she looked at me from the side.

Anna only nodded.

I'm not sure what exactly she nodded at, but she seemed satisfied either way as she went back to her phone.

Our attention drifted back to the court when one of Bokuto's trainers called for a time-out.

"What do you mean?" Charlie spoke up after a while, and Rose, Anna, and I turned to her in confusion.

"By what?" Rose asked, her brows furrowed.

"'Neglected by fate,'" Charlie repeated my words from earlier, and I needed a few seconds to register what she was referring to.

"Um..." I stuttered, "This gym is smaller than the other," I explained, "Bokuto doesn't do well with such... 'disadvantages,'" I motioned air quotes around 'disadvantages,' as I didn't know how else to put it.

Rose seemed eager to help out, though, "She means his ego is too big for a gym this size."

I gaped at Rose in mock-shock, knowing she was only joking, "Rude."

"Understandable," was Charlie's only reply as she glanced at Bokuto.

He seemed to be complaining to his teammates and coach as they all stared at him in bewilderment.

While his teammates seemed a mix between nervous and bewildered, his coach started to scold Bokuto, who was still frowning deeply. It almost looked like he was in physical pain.

As their coach kept scolding Bokuto for the remainder of the time-out, his teammates seemed to just give up on Bokuto's foul mood, and, instead, they went back to the court as if nothing ever happened.

Either way, Fukurodani's team seemed quick to catch up in points, while Bokuto seemed out of it, almost dazed, the whole time.

At some point during the match, we were approached by the ginger kid, who was holding a shirt that looked oddly like the one I saw Bokuto wear during practice.

With him was another kid I didn't recognize, but he was slightly taller than the ginger, and his hair was a much darker shade.

"Oh!" he gaped at us, "You're Bokuto's friends!" he exclaimed in excitement, before introducing us to his teammate, 'Yamaguchi,' who waved at us politely.

Together, we continued to watch the game.

Guess who managed to upload on schedule!

Next update: January 3rd, 2020

Note: Because University started again, I have even less time to write. There are also a few weekends coming up, on which I won't be able to post.

However, I will try to keep writing during those weekends and, hopefully, will be able to finish this story sooner rather than later. It's been going on for much longer than I thought it would, already.

(I anticipated maybe about 20 Chapters when I started writing this story)