"Morning sleeping beauty~" Kuroo smirked at Kazane as she entered the cafeteria, yawning.

"Morning...Ready to get your ass kicked today?" She gave him a lopsided smirk, to which he laughed.

"Bring it on, I won't hold my breath though." He returned.

After collecting her breakfast, she sat down with her team and chatted away with Hinata and her twin. "It's so frustrating!" Hinata complained. "I'm not getting any better! Everyone else is, but when it comes to me nothing is changing!"

"It's already amazing you're able to do the freak quick," Tobio muttered, stuffing food in his mouth.

"That's not enough though!" Hinata scowled, "I don't know how, but I want to get better!"

"Hinata." Kazane said, making the ball of carrot look at her. She smiled. "Practice with me after the games."

"Uh, sure I guess?" He seemed confused as Kazane thought about how she would work it. She was nowhere near as talented as her brother, but she would try and do it for Hinata.

After breakfast everyone headed to the gym to get ready for the games. Kazane yawned, decked out in her Shiratorizawa jacket, shirt and shorts.

Apparently the first game that day for Karasuno was against Nekoma, and as she recalled they hadn't won a set off them yet. And at that point it didn't seem likely that they would.

"Okay, let's get going." The down ref said, and so the ball was given to Nekoma as the game began.

As the game progressed, it was more and more obvious that the quick attack had a flaw. Well, to Kazane at least. If they got a hold of the timing and pattern of where he hit it, Nekoma could stop it with ease.

Actually, anyone could.

Kazane frowned as they lost, and so the boys had to do a penalty lap. That game had opened Karasuno's eyes, as Hinata grew more hungry for power, they had to decide if they were going to grow along with him, or be swallowed.

Especially after the collision.

She could tell Asahi knew he couldn't back down, and the whole team's vibe was the same. It was tense.

After the game, Tobio and Suga went off with Hinata, and Kazane was too occupied in getting the photo for Tendou to follow and see what they were doing.

•••

😎

Peace sign is Kuroo, silver hair is Bokuto, and Akaashi couldn't get Bokuto off of him so he joined the pic 😂🥺

He looks like he needs a break

🦎

If he has to deal with that owl all day every day, I think he needs to get a fucking raise lmfao

Akaashi is a good setter.

😎

Yeah, I agree! He's pretty cool, and he's one of the only people I actually like!

🦎

LIKE?!??!???!

😎

Tolerate? The only normal person there who isn't a creak head?

Good luck with that.

😎

Thanks 😒

🦎

Nice pic tho

•••

The next game, Hinata was pulled out. Ukai didn't think it was wise to let him stay in with a hot head. Kazane agreed with his thinking, the ball of carrot needed to cool off.

After the game, Kazane went over to him.

"Hey, Hinata." Kazane said, gaining his attention. "Let's do some quicks while you're on break. I'll apologize in advance since I'm nowhere near as good as Tobio." She giggled sheepishly.

"Oh it's no problem at all!" He grinned, a new light in his eyes. "Besides, you're already twice as good as him since you're actually trying to help me.."

"Don't say that," She out a hand on his shoulder. "Trust me, you guys will get through this."

"Okay then! Let's go practice!"

So the two went to the unused court, where Kazane had Hinata explain the exact kind of set he wanted. "I think I want it to stop in front of me, because normally it will go whoosh and then boom I hit it!" Hinata explained, so Kazane nodded, her hand on her chin as she thought it through.

"Alright I think I understand. We'll try a few until the next game starts, okay?"

"Kazane, why are you even entertaining this idea?" Tobio came over, his eyes narrowed on his twin as she turned to face him. "It's not like you can actually do it. If I can't, you can't."

"That's where you're wrong little brother," She smirked at him, ruffling Hinata's hair and gesturing for him to go get into position. "You might be a natural born talent, but even you aren't perfect. I've put years into my skills, and as far as I know, there's no point setting a ball a spiker can't hit for themselves." Kazane finished, turning her back to him as Tobio looked shocked.

"Balls up!" Hinata said, tossing the ball over to Kazane before taking off. Running behind her, he jumped, his eyes wide open and on the ball as she sent it back towards him.

Boom.

~•~

"See ya later, Kazane." Kuroo smirked at her as they high fived. Bokuto was attached to her leg as he cried, not wanting her to go.

Akaashi had already given up, making Kazane laugh at how mentally and physically exhausted he was. Peeling Bokuto off of her with the promise of coming to the next training camp and seeing them at Nationals.

Stepping onto the bus, Kazane took a seat next to Hinata, since Tobio and her were having a disagreement. Both her and the ball of carrot fell asleep fairly quickly, as did the rest of the bus on the ride home.

6 hours later, they were back in Miyagi. "See you guys another time." Kazane waved as she headed out.

"Bye Kazane!!!! Thank you!!!!" Hinata yelled, jumping and waving with a huge grin.

She giggled, turning and walking out of view. It took her about twenty minutes to get to Shiratorizawa, and after flashing her student ID, the gates opened and allowed her back onto the campus.

When she got back to her dorm, her eyes widened. In the common area, literally all of the boys were there. "Hey, there she is!"

Kazane yelped as almost all of the boys dog piled her, all yammering at once but she caught the drift. Apparently they had spammed her asking when she would be back, why she was so late, if she was okay, and why she wasn't answering. They all called her around fifteen times, which was 14x15= 210 calls.

"Sorry guys, my phone died halfway through the ride home." Kazane apologized. "But thanks for worrying, I'll be more careful next time." She gave them a smile.

"Yes please." Goshiki smiled back, happy she was okay.

"Never scare us like that again young lady, do you understand?" Semi demanded, to which Kazane laughed with a salute.

"Yes mom!"

"Hey I'm not your mom!"

"You sure act like ours."

"Shirabu!!!"

"Now now play nice~ Kazane had a rough day, let's all go hit the hay!" Tendō suggested.

"But we missed her!" Goshiki complained, "why can't we do the group room thing we did for training camp?!"

"Huh? Oh," The group of boys exchanged a look before glancing at Kazane.

"We talking a sleepover? All in one place?" Kazane clarified, "I'm down as long as I can sleep without you guys complaining, I'm freaking pooped."

"Yeah, that's fine." Yamagata nodded.

"Let's go set up the normal room, everyone else collect your stuff. Shirabu, you get Goshiki's things as well." Ushiwaka said, so professionally Kazane almost dismissed it as normal.

"Fine." Shirabu sighed, tucking his hands in his sweatpants' pockets as he left the building.

"The room is in the gym, so let's go." Ushiwaka explained, placing a hand on Kazane's shoulder. She nodded with a smile.

Ushiwaka, Goshiki and her went to set up while everyone else went to grab their stuff. Apparently Ushiwaka and Semi were roommates, so Semi grabbed the captain's stuff as well.

Everyone went into the room off of the gym, piling their stuff up and practically dying on the floor.

Kazane slept between Ushiwaka and Tendō, no one actually staying in their designated space. Shirabu ended up cuddling Goshiki, Tendō ended up spooning Kazane as she cuddled with Ushiwaka, and the rest ended up sprawled out like starfish.

Ushiwaka glanced down at the girl in his arms, a smile on his face as he pressed his lips to her forehead and then closed his eyes.

Merci!