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look everyones weird there im not singling them out ok
but sure idk much abt those other guys fr miyagi

Oikawa is famous in Miyagi. As a setter, he's good at what he does. Iwaizumi is his childhood friend, and is the ace of their team.

Not really sure what you find weird about them, that's the kind of thing I'll use to describe yourself.

never heard of him [ He wasn't featured in Volleyball Monthly. ]
but it sounds like u karasunos got ur work cut out for ya huh [ also IGNORING that jab thanks and he will be watching those two like a hawk now to see how well he can teach the Karasunos to shut their attacks out tbh ]

Considering the kind of players you have in Tokyo, that's not really surprising.

It might be for him, though. [ l e l. ]

We beat them before. The score's more or less equal, but Oikawa's persistent where effort is concerned.

That being said, both of them are dependable. [ ie. he's using daichi as a measure, which is an unfair scale, but at least neither oikawa nor iwaizumi has let them down when they needed them. ]

[ Considering that he's heard of Ushiwaka, um… ]

heh persistence is fine
guess i havent been kept up to speed lately
kenma wouldve told me abt sth like that
but dependable how??
one of thems got his hand clean off

[ yeah but ushiwaka's ushiwaka. ]

That's a bit difficult to explain over text. Can we meet during lunch instead?

i gotcha
save a spot for me at the table, k?

[ a pause, then… ]

…hey, tsukishima

[ it's not like he's hosting a party or something, given his horrid personality. funny how he misses yamaguchi in times like these, though, but it's better he's not here.

he texts an 'ok' back to kuroo, and then glances at his phone when he sees another text from him. ]

Is there anything else you need to know?

yeah

[ but he'll take his sweet time before answering ]

im proud of ya

[ fuck you have a pause so pregnant it's well into its third trimester. ]

It's not like I don't appreciate it, but this is sudden.

[ CMON MAN. ]

oh~?
would the previous tsukishima have done this 4 me~?

[ YOU'RE BEING MORE SOCIAL AND MORE COMPETENT IN VOLLEYBALL NOW HE'S A PROUD PAPA ]

[ he's making past!him sound like a horrible person to current!him. to be fair, he's not wrong.

but. still. it's just a damn text. he's capable of being civil over text, this shouldn't be surprising.

more silences. a few more messages being tapped into his phone, and then erased. it's one thing for oikawa to say he would've been glad to have him in his school. it's horrible to be reminded of home because he had - enjoyed - tokyo, for however long he actually made use of his time in there. and the worst part was that he's painfully hoping for a win against shiratorizawa when he's never really had any particular motivation before that, not that he can remember.

( he guesses he can understand kageyama a bit more now. ) ]

I'll see you at lunch.

[ Not a horrible person.

Just kind of a mildly insufferable one. But everyone’s insufferability tends to be mild compared to Tetsurou fucking Kuroo, so…

Looks like he’s struck another chord with the guy. Typical, he guesses, but at least that means he’s right on the mark. Something about Tsukishima has changed, and dammit he’s not around here to even see it.

He hopes it really is a good change though, despite whatever horrors this place might bring. It would’ve been nice if Tsukishima had learned some team spirit a whole lot sooner…

In he goes by lunchtime, carrying a tray piled high and reeking of bean curry, with a handful of carrot sticks judiciously stabbed into the pile for some variety. His farts are gonna smell and he decides that he doesn’t give a shit rn. (Will they ever serve mackerel in a place like this?)

And never mind if there’s space all over the table for him to sit down. He’ll plunk that tray right next to Tsukki’s. And sidle up real close.

Just. Y’know. In case this was to be a private conversation. Or something. ]

You were saying~?

[ well used to his senpai invading his space, kei just takes it in stride. at least he's not as difficult as bokuto, who'd be making him bow over the table right now with his weight draped all over his back.

he shifts pieces of his salad over his bowl, removing the things he'd rather not eat along with his lunch. this means that his plate is almost empty except for lettuce and carrots, but when the alternative is a sopping bowl of curry (which remains untouched on his tray), he really doesn't have much of a choice.

he thinks about what kuroo had said over text. he .... he's happy about it. he doesn't know if it's enough to get them through against shiratorizawa and potentially defeat nekoma when the time comes - and that seems more of a possibility now - but kei knows that there's room to improve where blocking is concerned and that's always better than recognizing defeat without even trying. he knows that now.

so he's happy that kuroo recognized his efforts. it's just a bit difficult to acknowledge it right now, given that a month ago so many things were trying to kill them and he felt absolutely helpless with the rest of them trying to take care of people without knowing or understanding why these things were happening to them.

where does he even begin? ]

I'll tell you what I know of things in this school. [ he hesitates, and then adds, ] I don't really .... understand a lot of things about this place. To say it's frustrating is just the beginning, but .... I'm not the only one working to get out of here. So it's not as bad as it can be - most days.

[ and so he'll start quietly telling him how his experiences were in this school, from when he'd arrived to the point now. how the classes made absolutely no sense, but he attended them anyway because it's one of the few, more normal things that you can do here that doesn't cost him anything. how the classes were normal - except those times when you feel like you're not yourself.

from the classes he moves on to the ever-shifting hallways, the things you hear in the night, something large and animal-like with claws and a horrid smell staking you where you go, doors that open and close without any discernable patters, doors that don't open at all. the way they sleep in the storage room, cramped. how he asked oikawa to keep an eye on all of them, and whichever volleyball players from miyagi or elsewhere come to inugami. he can't keep an eye on everyone, he recognizes this much. oikawa agreed. iwaizumi helped. they set up a system where they all check on each other and keep an eye on yachi who was always on the verge of falling apart even when she's not.

he talked about the incident in the courtyard - how he attempted to interrogate the gardener with a student, and got poisoning in return. stupid, reckless move; he won't do that again. he told him that the gardener was unable to give any information about the school, whether its location, or when it ends, only that the students have to worry about their finals. (he didn't tell him how severe the poisoning had been.) and then -

he talked about the murders. his hands shake a bit as he recounts the story: two students in this cafeteria were taken to the kitchen. dead. the students in the hallways - the native ones - being more violent than ever, the .... inhuman way they seem to go after each other, stabbing and gouging their eyes out and then shrugging off the injuries as if it were nothing. how the staff did nothing about the murders. how after that, more and more students were taken. oikawa in particular. they had been on their way back to the gym, walking in a group, when something - he can't really say what - took him. and iwaizumi, in an attempt to save him, lost his fingers in return.

after that, he came back.

he didn't know what to make of it. so many other students came back, too, each of them unsure as to what just happened; each of them just slightly disturbed by their disappearances. or deaths, who knows what he should even call it. the way oikawa's fangirls suddenly turned vicious. the way one of his friends, mitsuba, started hearing voices, most of whom were of her friends', viciously attacking her insecurities. the way kurt's appearance seem to be emulated by certain boys and girls when they had never taken an interest in that kind of thing before.

and now, of course, the appearance of a new batch of students. none of it made sense.

he leaves out the part where an acquaintance has offered to tutor him in self-defense. that one he's .... still working out. the idea of hurting someone sickens him. but ... he keeps remembering how iwaizumi had howled when oikawa had been taken, how there was so much blood, he still can't wash it off his clothes, and .... ]

It's been a difficult month.

[ understatement of the year, and they've just begun. to his credit, he's a lot more composed than he looks, but that's because he'd taken it to himself to make sure he's the reliable, calm one. yachi had been crying so often and kageyama was so quiet nowadays. he can't allow himself to be reckless. people are depending on him; he knows this now. oikawa and iwaizumi are dependable, but they rely on each other, and that has its own weaknesses too.

kuroo is the one he's least worried about. he remembers kuroo to be a good mentor and a good captain. he didn't have the awkward neediness of oikawa; or at least, if he did, he's never shown it to him, and that's something he appreciates. he's found out a lot more about oikawa and iwaizumi than he'd like, and one of the most important thing that he's learned from them is to hope that yamaguchi never make it here.

and then of course, he remembers that - kuroo had been nice to him, so he repays it in kind: ] I .... thanks, by the way. [ it meant a lot to hear it from someone, after all that shit that just happened and wow this salad is really interesting. ]

I can tell you more about .... what's happened back home, or at least what I remember of it. [ a slight laugh. ] It'll be a lot easier for me to talk about that.

[ especially since kuroo doesn't have the same quandaries about it like the seijou people do. ]

[ He can still give a pretty mean backslap if you let him, though… ]

I’m listening. [ That’s why he’s here in the first place, after all. But Kuroo absentmindedly stirs his curry with his carrot stick, popping one into his mouth every so often, interjecting at points. For the most part, he remains silent, taking his lunch quietly even as he observes the goings-on around him, his eyes ever-sensitive to movement.

However much he appears to be spacing out, he’s focused on Tsukishima for the most part, taking in the stories as they get progressively more horrifying, something in his gut clenching at the thought that they all had to go through that and he might be next—

He’d always thought that as part of a team, he’d be indestructible in a sense. Of course, the Fukurodanis have often proven that that isn’t always the case, but there’s that…connection between them, humming electric between each and every cat and he wonders if he’ll have that here, too, if they can survive a lot better if he tries to mobilize them in the same respect that Coach Nekomata had done for them a few years back. He’d been grateful to the old codger for that—in a way the coach’s teaching had been the one to reinforce most of Kuroo’s own mentorly talents, such as they were.

Basically, he guesses he’s got his work cut out for him. He’s not sure if he should be thrilled by the challenge this time around.

His lips quirk up in a smile, acknowledging the thanks and the story both. ]

Tell me all about that, then. [ Let Tsukki get it out of his system if he hasn’t already—Kuroo can imagine that that superhuman setter of theirs isn’t very conducive to these kinds of talks, and Kuroo does feel responsible for Tsukki in a way. The guy keeps bottling up his shit like that and it strikes him that maybe it’s the first time in a really, really long time that Tsukishima’s been able to open up to anyone.

Kuroo can only hope that he won’t let this kid down. ]

About how you Karasunos have managed as a team.

[ kei nods. it takes a while for him to talk again, seeing that he's just spent a long time informing kuroo about the school that he feels drained; not that kuroo's bad company, it's just that he's not used to having to explain things unless he was asked to. he eats some of his food for a bit and takes a drink before he begins to talk; starting with how karasuno defeated aoba jousai - that wasn't an easy fight, but he was so relieved by the time it ended that he doesn't really have much to say about it. besides, it's more of a win for kageyama and hinata than it was for him, though he did say a few words about yamaguchi improving his jump float serve. ("watch out.")

and then, shiratorizawa - kei scowls. ]

Before I got here, I was in the middle of that match. Our strategy is to force Ushihima's spikes to the libero, but - [ his lips press to a thin line, fingers daintily wiping over a napkin like he's talking about dirt underneath his fingernails at the mention of his name. ] - you don't win sets by redirecting goals and softening spikes all the time.

[ and it's plain to see that he's not satisfied with the state of things; he wants to do more than redirect and bait him, he wants to shut him down. it's the kind of viciousness that's new and he's only vaguely aware that he's getting riled up talking about it, in his quiet way. at least kuroo can glimpse the kind of focus he'll be getting should karasuno make it through the finals. ]

[ Kuroo doesn’t pester him in the meantime. He’s taking advantage of the lull between them to enjoy his own curry and give his surroundings another good look, spotting several students that seem a touch on the normal side compared to the identical strangeness of the local students.

It must be maddening, to go among them every single day.

His ears perk up at Aobajousai and he remembers those two clowns manning their team here, grinning hugely at the mention of a win. Even the prospect of a tricky jump float serve doesn’t bother him—it’s not like he and his team haven’t been through worse, given the stiff competition in Tokyo, but at least it means that the Karasunos are improving, are gaining some headway.

At least the Karasunos making it to the nationals isn’t such a far-off dream. It sure takes a load off of his mind, at least. ]

You really have changed. [ And it’s not just that set to that jaw or that raw sense of something Tsukishima’s keeping restrained. Kuroo chucks a carrot stick into the air and snatches it between his teeth, grinning at him all the while.

Oh, he’s definitely listening. ]

A guy like Ushiwaka’s not that easy to break, though. [ But he’s certainly not going to stop him from trying. There is, as matter of fact, a suggestive little tone to that voice as he gives Tsukishima a Look.

Wanna know how it’s done, baby crow? ]

I can tell.

[ are you gonna tell him. because this obviously isn't like playing with rather energetic owls or terrifying setters, and he's watching him keenly, waiting on kuroo to add a bit more than just a suggestive tone and a wry look.

some days it's not so bad to be coached by kuroo. some days he's grateful the guy even took him under his wing in the first place regardless of what school he came from or what level of volleyball he played at. he was just casually inclusive where volleyball is concerned, and he and bokuto certainly made things a bit easier for him back in training camp, so he's more than a bit grateful for all this.

.... and then some days he's reminded of how kuroo tetsurou is also the captain of his school's rival team, and the idea of fighting his team one day is a reality he's going to be facing in the near future should they win against shiratorizawa, who was a cause of so many of his frustrations at the moment. so: back to waiting on whatever bits of wisdom kuroo decides to give. ]

[ But of course.

…Eventually, because it’s always fun to make him sweat a little, heh. How presumptuous of you, Tsukki~♥ Not that Kuroo minds it in the least, since of course he’d help out if it means getting Karasuno to the nationals alongside them.

Hell, he’ll probably help him even without the Battle of the Trash Heap getting in the way. He’s just that kind of guy.

But seriously man, is volleyball all he ever wants to talk about? Surely he’s been through many other exciting adventures before coming in here. Honestly… ]

You want my help, don’t you? [ Griiiiiiiin. ]

[ you have terms and conditions now? the rates sure have changed since the last time they've met.

he's not entirely sure what kuroo wants in exchange, though, because .... his other, non-horrific experiences in this school had been too many, and more than half of them just a bit embarrassing. ]

If you're offering.

Do I have to pay a fee?

[ because wow. ]

[ So maybe he wants to take further steps in getting to know a guy. It ain’t a crime. ]

It’s negotiable. [ Only because you’re his favorite student right about now. ]

But I wanna see that Ushiwaka guy lose, too.

Then - please advise me, Kuroo. [ the -san at the end is said with a singsong note, but he's absolutely serious in asking for advise. it's the kind of thing that makes him better as a player, isn't it? it's something that felt awkward in his mouth before, only butting in to time-outs whenever he felt he was needed, but more and more kei has decided to figure out whether or not this strategy or that was enough, and part of that was needing to talk.

if all it takes is a simple question, then he'll do it, he'll ask. ]

Obviously our players in Seijou can't really help us beyond keeping us in shape and refining our techniques.

[ and, not wanting to touch his food anymore - seriously, he can only eat so much salad, he's not a rabbit - he starts pushing away his vegetables while waiting for him to talk. the curry isn't appetizing, either, so he barely touches the damn thing. maybe later when he's feeling more hungry. ]

[ Kuroo could weep tears of joy right about now, but lbr it’s mostly the curry getting a little too spicy for his taste.

His farts are gonna smell really bad, man

He leans back, thoughtful—albeit perhaps in the wrong ways. ]

You remember how Bokuto’s spikes could tear your arms off, right?

[ But of course he does. Still. Rhetorical question. He hasn’t seen nearly enough of Ushiwaka’s own matches to figure out a pattern to the guy and Shiratorizawa’s team in general, so a lot of his advice pertaining to that guy in particular isn’t going to help. Especially since Ushiwaka would be smart enough to catch on to blockers trying to fuck with him. ]

[ whoa. better be sure to keep hydrated then. ]

The term he used is 'overwhelming'. [ kei sighs at the memory. ] And, well, he only reminded me a few hundred times .....

[ barring another speech, it's this talk and the fact that he had to win against ushiwaka so that he'll have an overwhelming victory over him and tsukki were the ones he remembers most from the other captain.

he hasn't forgotten just how fearsome he can be, however, and truth be told he misses playing with his team. ]

[ Why don’t you do the honors Tsukk [kuroo cruise] ]

Then you can tell Ushiwaka’s a lot more intense than even that guy. [ Also stating the obvious, but he’s going somewhere with this. ]

First thing I want you to remember: [ wait for it ]

Don’t break your arm.

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