PINK MILK : kei tsukishima

day five

friday
━

the weekend was near and the karasuno men's volleyball team had many fun things in store for it's members.

ukai and takeda had arranged for a practice match to be held against fukurodani on saturday then all those who were available on sunday would do a small bonding excercise together.

unfortunately for them, tsukishima had plans.

"what do you mean you're not free this weekend? yamaguchi is coming so why aren't you?" hinata grumbled loudly, trying to size up the taller boy.

practice had only started 20 minutes ago and as soon as takeda made the announcement, tsukishima had raised his hand and announced that he would more than likely be absent on sunday.

kei shrugged, still lacing up his shoes on the bench. "i have plans. yamaguchi and i aren't like you and the king who follow each other everywhere."

and it was true.

yamaguchi and tsukishima didn't need to follow each other to make sure they were still friends. they could've gone days without seeing each other and then talk normally the next.

of course, kei didn't tell yamaguchi of his plans because, quite frankly, it wasn't his business—or anyone's for a matter-of-fact.

where he went or who he went with was apart of his personal life and just because he spent most of his time with the volleyball team didn't mean they were obligated to snoop into his affairs.

tsukishima already knew about them talking about him and what they thought was a crush—if you could even call it that. he knew that they were watching him on some days and whispering about it to each other, saying how he had a crush that would come to his classroom sometimes.

well, they were wrong, obviously, but tsukishima liked watching them fumble over their steps to try and figure out who tsukishima was seeing.

hinata's face lit up bright red at the backhanded comment and dramatically gasped. "me and kageyama do not follow each other everywhere!"

he couldn't even say that sentence grammatically correct so there was no way kei would even believe him. however, the blonde just rolled his eyes and got up from the bench, going over to the rest of the team.

they were practicing for tomorrow and though tsukishima would be unable to attend, he still felt like joining in as a way to pass the time.

the team was split into two. tsukishima was on the opposing team while hinata, kageyama, nishinoya, tanaka, sugawara and narita were on the other.

tsukishima and yamaguchi naturally worked well together, and with daichi, asahi, ennoshita and kinnoshita on their team, it was a long and drawn out match. the essence of this match was to practice and hone their skills against equal opponents so they could refine and polish their moves, not only for the practice match tomorrow, but for their future competitions.

at some point in the match, there was a loud chatter at the back that indicated there was a group entering the gym. a noisy bunch as they were, this was a common occurrence ever since the revival of the men's volleyball team.

no longer being the flightless crows, many students came in to watch them practice. however, mainly girls.

tsukishima was hardly interested and kept his focus on the game, running quickly to the centre to block the ball before sugawara's spike went over the net. there was a dull ache in his fingers and it spread all throughout his body, a delicious feeling of victory that they scored another point.

"kaori, you want an extra cream bread?"

kei momentarily paused, his eyes drifting over to the bleachers were there were indeed a bunch of girls filtering into the gym and taking a seat. as they distributed various snacks among themselves, tsukishima spotted the unmistakable pink hair in the middle, and she was looking right at him with a mischeivious smile.

oh no.

"let's go, kei! we're cheering for you!" she yelled, clapping her hands at his victory and few girls cheering alongside her. her smile was bright and cheery, and despite the mischief, it fooled absolutely everyone.

because who on earth would be cheering for saltyshima?

nishinoya and tanaka both shared a glance, then glared at tsukishima menacingly. a few other members of the team looked at the blonde then back at the girl, then at the glaring duo.

tsukishima heaved a sigh, focusing his attention back on the game. he would deal with her and the questions that would no doubt follow, later.