A/N: Hello, readers! Welcome to another chapter! Enjoy!

edited on september 2nd, 2021 @ 9:15pm

════ ∘◦ᵒ 𓅓 ᵒ◦∘ ════

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE - UMBRELLA

REI SIGHED AS KARASUNO WAS doing the penalty once more. "Go!" Daichi yelled as everyone ran up the hill. "So hot..." Tanaka groaned. "You're telling me..." Rei agreed. "Saying "hot" is not allowed!" Sugawara scolded the two.

"We're just stating the obvious, Suga-san." Rei told his senior.

Once they were done with their run they walk to the shade of the trees as Kiyoko and Yachi handed them their water bottles.

"Here." Yachi said as Rei smiled.

"Thanks, Hitoka. You're a lifesaver." He told her, drinking down the cool liquid. Once they were done, they headed back into the gymnasium to play their practice match.

It was Asahi's turn to serve as he threw the ball up and did his jump serve, the ball bounced off of Konoha and Karasuno gained a point. "All right!" Karasuno cheered as Rei smiled, looking over to the score.

Fukurōdani

21

Karasuno

18

"Not bad... We're doing better than we usually do. That's a good sign." Rei thinks to himself, looking back at Asahi who was serving once more.

"Asahi-san one more!" Rei encouraged.

"Nice serve." Tsukishima added as he covered the back of his head when the whistle blew.

They continued to play, with Rei keeping an eye on the ball as it made it's way to Kageyama, Rei watched with a slight frown when he witnessed Kageyama set the ball to Hinata who had jumped up to spike, but the toss was too short, making Fukurōdani get the point.

"Don't worry about it!" Daichi reassured them.

"I'm sorry!" The two of them replied. Rei sighed and shook his head.

"Even though they haven't argued throughout the training camp, those two still haven't talked together like they used to." Rei thought. It was making him annoyed since he was getting used to their antics.

As Rei continued to watch the ball, the ball gets served out of bounds, and Rei widened his eyes when the ball nearly hit Yachi, who yelped and shook in place.

"Sorry!"

Hinata was quick to run over and receive the ball as he threw it back over the net for Fukurōdani.

════ ∘◦ᵒ 𓅓 ᵒ◦∘ ════

After the Fukurōdani match, Karasuno was now up against Nekoma, everyone was sweating and panting due to the heat. Rei felt like he could collapse at any given moment. He kept his eyes on the ball as it goes to Karasuno's side and Rei quickly crouched down to save it.

"Center!" Hinata called out as Tanaka rushed over and sent the ball to Hinata.

"Hinata, get the last!" Tanaka called out, as the ball goes towards the orange-haired male, only for it to be close to the net.

"Sorry! That was close to the net!" Tanaka apologized as Hinata tried to get the ball over. Lev and Mizuki blocked and sent the ball back to Karasuno's side and got the point. Rei sighed in annoyance that they lost the point, he then looked towards Hinata and gulped in concern when he saw how irritated his teammate looked.

Rei then looked at the scoreboard.

Nekoma

18

Karasuno

15

"Chance ball!"

"Got it!"

Rei runs over and gets under the ball as he tossed it up, and it was in good position for a quick attack, which made Hinata run foward as he jumps up and Kageyama tossed to him. Hinata managed to accidently do a feint as Lev tried to block it.

"Nice cover! Nice cover."

"Well done, Hinata."

"Hey!"

Rei flinched at the sudden shout, turning to Hinata who was scowling at Kageyama. "You held back, didn't you?" He asked, making the black haired male look at the both of them with concern.

"This is the first time they talked since they got into that fight at school." Rei thinks to himself.

"Held back? Me? With volleyball?"

Rei shivered at the eerie look Kageyama gave to Hinata, the two of them looked pissed. He watched as Kageyama grabbed Hinata by the shirt.

"Say that again." He challenged.

Rei gave Daichi a panicked look. "Hey, guys..." Daichi warned. "Excuse me! Can we get a time out?" Takeda called out to the referee, who nodded.

TWEEEET!

"That wasn't the falling toss."

Rei raised his eyebrow at him, but widened his eyes as he remembered the scene and realized Hinata was right.

"Holy shit he's right... Hinata-kun was able to tell the difference that quickly?" Rei thought as Tanaka and Daichi made the two separate with Tanaka holding back Hinata just in case.

"Calm down already!" Tanaka warned as he tried to drag Hinata away. Keyword, tried to. Rei knew Tanaka might need some assistance, so he walked over.

"Don't even think about fighting when there's other schools around to witness it, Hinata-kun." Rei warned, his voice going stern that made both Hinata and Tanaka tense. He watched as Kageyama walked away.

"Don't stop trying, Kageyama!" Hinata exclaimed as he went back to glaring at Kageyama who paused his walking.

"I said, "gather 'round!" Tanaka told their teammate. Rei stuck close in case one of them decided to lash out. He noticed Kageyama turned to fully face Hinata, but he had a much calmer look.

════ ∘◦ᵒ 𓅓 ᵒ◦∘ ════

"Oh? Tsukki, Shiro, did you bring a friend today?" Bokuto spoke up, making Tsukishima and Rei confused.

"Pardon?" Tsukishima questioned as the two looked over to see Hinata at the gym doors.

"What happened to your partner?" Rei asked him with a blank expression.

"Kageyama is practicing by himself again. I tried to have Kenma serve me tosses, but he bailed after just five balls!" Hinata replied and Rei just blinked at him.

Kuroo, who overheard, walked over with a grin on his face. "It's already amazing that Kenma stuck around a personal practice for even five balls..." He said as Hinata gulped.

"So..." He began, but got interrupted by Lev running over.

"Please let me practice with you!" The two said in unison.

Hinata widened his eyes as he stared up at Lev. "Lev!" He gasped.

"Oh, Hinata." Lev greeted as Rei saw Kuroo furrow his brows.

"Lev, I thought you were practicing receives with Yaku." Kuroo informed making the tall first-year tense up.

"I did really well today, so he let me off early!" Lev said.

"Really? Sure you didn't run away?" Fujita questioned while Rei had feeling that Lev was avoiding Yaku.

"No, of course not!" Lev denied, making Kuroo chuckle.

"Well, whatever. Then... since we have the right amount of people, let's play some three-on-three." Kuroo said as Rei gave him a confused look.

"Um..." Rei began, as he was pretty sure they had an uneven number. Akaashi, who saw his confused look, walked on over.

"Fujita and I can swap out for being setters each time a team gets a point." He said with the dark green haired male nodding in agreement.

Rei went over and pulled out the scoreboard. He nicknamed the teams. For Bokuto's, it was Owls, and for Kuroo's team it was the Cats. Akaashi stared blankly as Kuroo decided the teams.

"Um... isn't this just a bit unbalanced?" Akaashi asked as Rei sweat dropped at the teams. On Kuroo's team it was him, Lev and Tsukishima and on Bokuto's team it was him, Akaashi, Hinata, and then Fujita.

"It's fine! Besides, you have Shiro and Fujita on your side right now. Let's do something we can't do in the afternoons." Kuroo reassured, making Bokuto and Hinata race off with Akaashi and Fujita staring at them with an impressed look while Rei had a smirk.

"Whoo-hoo!" Bokuto and Hinata cheered.

════ ∘◦ᵒ 𓅓 ᵒ◦∘ ════

"Lev! I told you to jump after looking at the toss! Read blocking!" Kuroo scolded as Rei sighed. They had been playing for some time now, and he was now on Kuroo's side of the court.

"Oh, right!" Lev stated as Rei watched Fujita toss to Bokuto who jumped up and spiked the volleyball down. Rei slid down and saved the ball.

"Blockers, try not to jump sideways if at all possible!"

"Wow, he got it!"

"If you can, make sure you stop and jump straight up!"

"Right!"

"Chance ball!"

Rei watched as Hinata runs forward as he gets ready to spike with Tsukishima and Lev about to block him, while Kuroo took on Bokuto in case Fujita was tossing to him. Soon, Hinata spiked the ball down but Tsukishima blocked him and Kuroo's team got a point.

"Damn it! Bring it again!" Hinata growled as he was challenging Tsukishima.

"Um..."

A female voice grabbed their attention as they turned their heads to the gym doors to see the two Fukurōdani managers. "If you don't wrap up soon, the cafeteria will close, and you won't get any dinner." The manager stated which made everyone excluding Akaashi, Tsukishima, Fujita, and Rei to yell in fear at this.

"We can't go into battle on an empty stomach." Kuroo stated.

"Food!" Bokuto cried out as everyone got out of the gym.

"Shorty... we'll continue tomorrow. Got that?" Kuroo informed as Hinata beamed at his comment.

"Right!" He agreed.

Kuroo then wrapped his arm around Rei's shoulders. "Darlin'! You wanna eat with me?" He asked.

"I don't have a choice, do I?"

"Not at all."

════ ∘◦ᵒ 𓅓 ᵒ◦∘ ════

"It's morning!" Rei heard Nishinoya announce, making the black haired male groan.

"Let me sleep a little longer..." Rei heard Asahi mumble. He heard what sounded like the curtains being open as he heard Sugawara and Asahi yelp at the sudden sunlight.

Rei moved his blanket over his head to block out the sunlight as he snored away. He could hear his teammates waking up and getting ready for another day of training.

"Should we wake him up?" Rei heard Daichi whisper.

"Oh! I know the perfect way to wake him up!" Nishinoya announced as Rei paled at this. "Just pretend to be asleep... Maybe they'll leave you alone." He thought. It went quiet, making Rei think they gave up as he drifted back to sleep.

"Rolling... Thunder!"

Rei felt someone jump on his stomach, making him cough as he sat up. "What the hell?!" He exclaimed as he saw Nishinoya sitting on his lap with a smile.

"You gotta get ready!" He informed.

Rei narrowed his eyes dangerously. "Noya-senpai, I'm giving you about five seconds to run." He warned.

"Ah! Wait, Shiro! Let's talk about this first!" Nishinoya got up and ran off as Rei kicked his blankets aside.

"Get back here, senpai! I'm gonna kick your ass!"

Their teammates chuckled as they followed Rei and Nishinoya into the cafeteria. After making his senior promise he wouldn't wake him up like that ever again, Rei went to get breakfast, though he was still half asleep, dozing off every now and then.

"Thank you for the food!" Everyone in the cafeteria exclaimed as they began eating in peace, with a few people chatting amongst themselves.

"So... tired..." Rei thinks to himself as his head landed on someone's shoulder. "Aww! Shiro!" He heard Bokuto say loudly in his ear as he hugged him, making the black haired male tense a little before he found himself in a comfortable position.

"Let me sleep." Rei yawned as he drifted off to sleep in Bokuto's arms.

"Okay!"

"Bokuto-san, he can't sleep here. He needs to eat."

"But Akaashi!"

════ ∘◦ᵒ 𓅓 ᵒ◦∘ ════

Rei panted as Karasuno was currently going against Ubugawa. He turned his head to look at the score.

Ubugawa

24

Karasuno

23

They were all doing well, but Ubugawa was at match point. Rei was playing libero as Nishinoya was swapped out. He watched as Daichi saved the ball. "Tanaka-san, free!" Rei shouted at his senior.

"All right!" He exclaimed as he jumped up and quickly spiked down the ball.

However, it was an out. "Sorry! I overcompensated!" Tanaka apologized. The match ended with Ubugawa winning, as everyone headed to the sidelines.

"Thank you very much!"

"Let's go, penalty run!" Daichi informed as everyone followed him outside.

"Right!"

"Curse this school and it's penalty!" Rei shouted in annoyance, not wanting to run first thing in the morning.

"Tanaka, Shiro, that's double." Daichi scolded them.

"That's not fair!" Tanaka whined as Rei gave Daichi a small glare.

"You may be the captain, but even I have a limit on how far I should listen to someone." Rei stated.

Once they were outside, they lined up as Daichi clapped his hands. "Go!" He shouted as all of them ran up the grassy hill.

════ ∘◦ᵒ 𓅓 ᵒ◦∘ ════

Once practice was over, Rei headed to the gymnasium with Hinata and Tsukishima as they met up with Lev, Kuroo, and Bokuto. They were practicing like last time with Rei occasionally switching on each team.

They soon took a break. "Oh, by the way, when you're going one-on-one against a spiker, you generally don't stand in front of their body. Center yourself with their dominant arm instead." Kuroo told them as Lev was the first one to react.

"Oh!" He gasped in amazement.

"Um... We are technically opponents as soon as we're in a match, right? Why are you giving us advice?" Tsukishima asked in confusion as they stared at Kuroo for an answer.

"I've always been a nice person."

Tsukishima, Hinata, and Rei stand and stare at Kuroo with questioning and judging expressions.

"You don't have to look at me like that." Kuroo huffed at them then he sighs and hesitantly looked away with a sheepish look.

"I want to make sure the Dumpster Showdown happens again. It's what our coach wants more than anything." Kuroo informed.

"But who knows how much longer... our coach is going... to continue coaching? So, because of that... we need you guys to keep winning, too. Well, this ends up being practice for me, so don't worry about the details too much. Come on, practice, practice." Kuroo explained as Tsukishima, Hinata, and Rei stare at him.

They get back to playing with Rei on Bokuto's team as the libero. He watched as Hinata saved the ball and he falls over. "Fuji-kun, cover!" Rei called out as he watched Fujita set the ball to Bokuto.

"Sorry, it's a bit short!" He informed as Kuroo looked at the ball.

"Surround him! Spready out the block!" Kuroo ordered Tsukishima and Lev who jump up in front of Bokuto.

"Dammit, you're huge again today, and you're just a first-year!"

Rei was confused to see Bokuto spike the ball as he noticed he hit the block on purpose. "One more time!" Bokuto announced as he got under the ball and tossed to Fujita. "Fujita, give me a good toss!" Bokuto added as Rei watched his junior high teammate get ready to set the ball over.

Bokuto ran forward and spiked down the ball, getting the point.

"Yeah! Hey, hey, hey!"

Hinata ran forward and stared at Bokuto "Th-That just now... was it on purpose? When you lightly tapped it against the blocker's hand?" He asked as Bokuto blinked at the orange-haired male.

"Yup! It's a rebound!" Bokuto stated as Rei widened his eyes a little.

"Oh, that makes so much more sense." He chuckled to himself.

"A rebound? That's so cool!" Hinata beamed at this.

"Is it? It is, isn't it?"

"Like if you balance is off, and you feel like you're sure to be blocked if you took this shot now... you hit the ball against the blockers on purpose, and have it rebound back so you can set it up once more." Bokuto explained as Hinata stared in interest.

"Though, it often fails, and the ball ends up being slammed down a bit, too."

"That happens to you a lot, Bokuto-san."

"Akaashi, that was your cue to say, "That hasn't happened as much lately!"

Rei snorted at this. "Spiking isn't all about slamming it onto the floor. If you stay calm, you'll see the way to fight!" Bokuto stated and Hinata looked taken aback by this as Akaashi walked over.

"Oh, that hasn't happened as much lately, Bokuto-san!" He said which made Bokuto whine.

"You're late, Akaashi!"

Soon, they all went back to playing, with Rei now being on Kuroo's side. "All right!" Lev announced as he spiked down the ball. Akaashi quickly dived to the side to send it back up.

"Akaashi, nice one!" Bokuto praised as he sends the ball up high. "Shorty, I'm counting on you for the last hit!"

"Right!" Hinata responded as Rei saw Kuroo smirk.

"Ah! Hey! Crowding like that is so cruel!"

Rei saw that Lev, Tsukishima, and Kuroo were blocking Hinata, making him sigh at them.

"This can no longer be called a wall. It's more like an umbrella. There isn't a place to make a shot." Rei thought as he watched Hinata jump up as he was about to spike down the ball to get himself blocked by the tall players.

Rei watched as Hinata actually managed to hit it up. Everyone was shocked by this, Hinata fell down to his back as Rei chased after the ball, it was too far for him to save so he tried using his foot, only to be a second too late as the ball touched the ground.

"Ow..." Hinata hissed. Rei turned to his teammate and walked over.

"Did you actually aim for that?" Rei asked.

"That was an amazing wipe!" Kuroo added on with amazement laced in his voice.

"It's true that I aimed at the tip of Lev's hand..." Hinata admitted making the half-Russian get taken aback.

"What?" Lev exclaimed as Hinata stood up and rubbed his hair sheepishly.

"But it was just a coincidence that it hit him. I can't hit that accurately—"

Hinata stopped when Bokuto ruffled his orange hair. "That was a triple block of 6' 3" blockers, you know? Not to mention that terrible toss! Well done! I'm moved!" Bokuto announced as Hinata beamed at the praise.

"To the little fighter going up against the 6' 7" wall, I—"

"Talk about over-exaggerating..."

"Somehow 190cm turned into two meters."

Rei chuckled at Akaashi and Kuroo as he turned his attention back to Bokuto who grins down at Hinata.

"I shall give you a new special attack." He promised, making Hinata ecstatic.

"A special attack?" Hinata repeated with interest.

════ ∘◦ᵒ 𓅓 ᵒ◦∘ ════

The next day, it was the last day of the training camp. Karasuno was currently playing against Ubugawa. However, it ended with Ubugawa winning the set, making Rei annoyed, even though he was sitting out for the match.

"One round of flying!"

"Right!"

"Since when did we switch from running up the hill to this? Eh, it doesn't matter." Rei thought as he lined up with his teammates to do his flying laps. They kept doing laps, as Tadahiro noticed Hinata had gotten better.

"Damn it! We gonna keep losing until the very end?" Tanaka growled in frustration as Nishinoya, Hinata, Kageyama, nor Rei responded.

"You guys, do your best! We have to survive."

"Daichi?"

"I overheard this by coincidence, so I thought I should keep quiet about this, but..."

"Wh-What is it?"

Daichi tensed up before he gave them a serious look. "When all of these practice matches are over..." He began but paused.

"Apparently, the coaches are going to treat us to a barbecue."

This quickly made the five of them beam.

"Bar..."

"...be..."

"...cue?"

"Whoo!"

Soon Tanaka, Nishinoya, Hinata, Kageyama, and Rei were dancing. Nishinoya, Hinata, Tanaka, and Rei were leaning on their knee as they made their hands go in a train-like motion with Kageyama swaying a little at the end.

"Oh meat, meat, meat, oh meat, meat!"

"Combine it for meat, meat!"

"Oh meat, meat!"

"Meat is best food!"

They all did more moves, not finished with their cheering.

"Hooray of meat! Energy times a hundred!"

"Hallelujah, hallelujah!"

Tanaka, Nishinoya, Hinata, and Rei raised their hands up and down with Kageyama awkwardly swaying his hips and body.

"Meat is god! Meat is god!"

Once they were done, they were stretching their legs and arms for their match against Fukurōdani.

"Kageyama!"

"What?"

"I want to hurry up and hit that falling toss soon!"

The rest of their team blinked and watched with concern at the duo conversing, since those two would always end up fighting.

"Don't rush. As long as I'm missing the tosses, it won't be any practice for you." Kageyama stated bluntly.

Hinata pouted. "I was thinking this yesterday, too, but you being considerate is really scary. I know that but give it to me soon! I wanna hit!" He whined. Kageyama seemed irked at this as he just threw Hinata away from him.

"That's why I'm desperately practicing it, you moron!" Kageyama scolded as Rei felt himself smiling.

"They are starting to act normal around each other. Thank god."

"How long are you going to make me wait?"

Their teammates chuckled at the duo that was finally back to normal.

TWEEEEEET!

They headed onto the court, ready to play against Fukurōdani. They surrounded Ukai who looked at them. "In any case, all the new things you guys are planning, I don't care if it's just one of them, go land it and make yourselves feel good!" He told them.

"Right!"

"Also, I say this every time, but don't let Fukurōdani's Number 4 have a field day."

"Yeah!"

"Right."

"In the end, this camp was mostly running penalty laps. But compared to the first training camp, all of you should have changed in some way."

Rei realized that his coach made a good point. They had all been doing their own things to improve. He was getting better at his receiving since he had been training with Kuroo, Bokuto, and Akaashi.

"Take this as a chance to have a refreshing victory, and let's eat some tasty meat!" Ukai announced with a proud smile.

"Yeah!"

════ ∘◦ᵒ 𓅓 ᵒ◦∘ ════

A/N: Another chapter done! Thanks for reading!

Word Count: 3659 words.