Chapter Thirty-Nine: Moonrise

"OH, MAN! OH, MAN! TAKING OFF IN the middle of the night is pretty exciting!" Shōyō was bouncing on the balls of his feet, really one of the only ones really awake at this time of the morning. It was quite early, the sun hadn't even breached through the horizon yet. Though the team weren't awake for practice, they were awake to climb onto a bus and make their journey to Tokyo.

Tanaka chuckled at his underclassmen, "Well, you guys were late last time." He nostalgically remembered how his sister had to be the one to drive the troublesome duo to their camp. Ah, fun times.

"Being an idiot must be nice." Tsukishima scoffed, "You can even sleep on a bus."

The two other boys shouted at him, "What'd you say?!"

Sakura cringed, "don't yell, it's too early for this."

The team plus Sakura and the managers all gathered around the bus. Some were tired this early in the morning, but almost all of them were excited. Yet another training camp to go to! The day was finally here that they would get to see some other strong schools from Tokyo! "We'll be arriving at our destination early in the morning once again." Takeda said, drawing all of their attention, "Ukai-kun and I will take turns driving."

Said coach yawned, "Sorry if I nod off."

Everyone bowed to him with a slight shout, "Thank you!"

Their advisor jumped, "It's the middle of the night, so not so loud."

"Oh, sorry… Habit," Daichi chuckled in apology.

"Do you guys have everything?" Takeda said to them all, "Make sure you double-check."

Yamaguchi turned to Shōyō by his side, "It'll go quickly if you fall asleep."

"I wonder if I can…" the ball of sunshine pursed his lips.

Sakura scoffed lightly under her breath, "you most certainly will." She knew her brother could sleep anywhere at any time. A bus ride was not going to be an issue for him. Though besides her she didn't notice the lazy stare that a blond giant was pointing at her.

Ever since they had all gathered together, Tsukishima was surveying the distance that was put between the Hinata siblings. Now that Sakura was actually here, he could see just how she was keeping herself separate from her brother. Along with that Shōyō was also doing what he could to gain her attention every once in a while. Even so, Shōyō was a bit quieter, upset with his sister's ignorance. It was a strange sight, Tsukishima never thought he'd see the day when the twins weren't attached at the hip. He saw that ever since they had rode up to the school together on their bikes the twins hadn't said much to each other. Sakura kept herself besides Yachi or Yamaguchi. Meanwhile, Shōyō sends her puppy-dog eyes every once in a while and distracts himself by talking with Nishinoya and Tanaka.

Then again for a moment Tsukishima could feel himself… empathizing with Sakura. How pathetic, he thought. Him empathizing with Hinata Sakura? That's baffling! Though he tried to push that thought away, as he should be focusing on how he was going to ignore the others to sleep a bit on the ride to the camp.

Endo yawned loudly, "why do we have to get up at this ungodly hour."

Asahi laughed at the tired look on his friend's face, "I'm sorry you have to suffer through being awake."

"Some of us need our beauty sleep, you know." He not so subtly pointed at Nishinoya and Tanaka, "Some more than others."

"OI!!" It appeared that the two heard them. Though Endo probably wanted them to. Even if it was early in the morning, he still loved riling up his friends. He just shared a laugh with Asahi before climbing into the bus. Endo was more than ready to sit next to his best friend and use Asahi's shoulder for a nap.

So the team all piled into the bus. Some were fighting over who would sit next to who and others more than ready to get comfy in their seats for the ride over. Just as Sakura was about to follow behind Yachi when her brother stopped her.

"Imouto, do you want to sit with me?" Shōyō shyly asked as he walked up to his sister.

The girl blinked at him for a moment. She pursed his lips at him and shook her head lightly, "I said I'd sit with Yachi, sorry."

Shōyō's expression dropped, "oh."

So Sakura left behind her dejected brother and climbed onto the bus. She was a bit annoyed with herself for turning him down, even after they had had distance between them for a while now, she still thought it would be a good idea to keep it up. 

Yachi noticed the expression on Sakura's face and asked, "are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Sakura said, getting comfortable in her seat at the window. 

"Shōyō-kun definitely seems down," Yachi cooed, eyeing the boy as he sulked a little bit in his seat beside Kageyama. She didn't like to see anyone upset, especially her friends. She turned to look at Sakura who pursed her lips.

"Yeah, he'll just have to get used to it." Her friend gave her a look. One that had Sakura sighing heavily. "I know now that I have to move forward with my plan, and Shōyō is just going to have to get used to it, since it's my choice." It lifted some sort of weight off of her after coming to that conclusion. She was going to use this camp as a way to make it clear to Shōyō exactly what she wanted and how she felt. Sakura didn't want him to misunderstand any longer like he did that first time she tried to tell him. She finally came up with a good plan, in her opinion, and knew what to say this time around to make it crystal clear to him how she's felt and how she wants to make things right.

Yachi nodded her head, "Just make sure you talk with him about it. You wouldn't want him to think that he did something wrong…" She then paused and anxiously waved her hands, "He didn't do anything wrong right!?"

"No. Not intentionally, at least." Sakura nodded her head, "I will talk to him when we've settled in."

---

The bus ride wasn't as tense as Sakura thought that it would be. After not accepting the offer to sit with her brother, she felt like it would fill her with some sort of guilt. Though after the last few days of not really talking with him she had grown to not feel guilty about not being around him all the time. After getting the support that she needed from her friends and talking through everything with them, she knew now not to base her emotions off of what Shōyō was feeling. 

Once the team arrived, there were a few boys from the Nekoma team who had come to greet them and show them where to go. Sakura was happy to say hi to Kenma when he came over to them with Kuroo and Nobuyuki. Though she let out a sigh to see that Yua hadn't tagged along to greet them. She still wasn't sure if she wanted to say that she was friends with the eager girl. They had shared a few texts here and there, but Sakura hadn't taken up on any of Yua's offers to hang out.

"Hey, hey! Where's the Skytree?" Shōyō exclaimed as soon as he jumped off the bus.

Kenma tilted his head in confusion, "Huh? The Skytree?"

"Oh! Is that the Tokyo Towers?!" Shōyō jumped as he pointed to a random tower in the distance.

"Huh?" The pudding-headed boy blinked, "That's… Just a normal transmission tower."

"What the hell?" Kuroo asked, "Are there no transmission towers in Miyagi? Pretty sure I've heard that conversation before."

Daichi's eyebrow twitched, "The transmission towers in Tokyo all look like the Tokyo Tower to us country folk!"

"That's a rash thing to say." Suga said, "Also, we're in Saitama."

Shōyō asked Kenma, "So we're gonna be at a different school this time?"

"Apparently, the summer training camp is always in Shinzen. It's nice and cool here…" Kenma then slapped his arm to kill an annoying bug, "But lots of bugs around."

"Hinata!" Nekoma's half-Russian giant then appeared, running down the stairs. "Did you grow any taller?!"

Kenma deadpanned, "Lev, shut up."

"That's a pretty rude thing to say." Shōyō gaped, "Like I could grow in two weeks!"

Lev just smugly smirked down at him, "I grew two millimeters." Shōyō then went into shock at that information. Yachi laughed from beside Sakura who was just shaking her head at them.

The boys all went into the gym, getting themselves ready for their first day of some grueling training camp. As soon as Sakura had stepped into the gym, Yua had seemingly made a beeline for her. Through her excited babbling, the older girl was expressing how happy she was to see her friend again and where they would be sleeping during the camp. It took Yaku nearly dragging her back to their game that Sakura was allowed a moment to breathe. Which meant that she was able to go off with Yachi and Kiyoko and help with anything that they needed.

"All right!" Ukai said to the team, "We're gonna switch out members constantly this time around, so be prepared."

"Right!"

So their first game of the camp was against Fukurōdani. One of the most formidable teams here at the camp, it certainly was going to be a challenge to go up against them. Some of the crows were more than determined to see how they were going to fair against their opponents. After all, it was time to show off just how much they had improved.

"Let's try for no penalties!" Bokuto exclaimed to his teammates.

The game began with Fukurōdani serving to Karasuno. Though there was something just slightly off… When Kageyama tossed the ball to Shōyō, it missed.

Sakura blinked, "Missed?" Sure, she's seen them miss some spikes or tosses from time to time, but this one was one of the most horrendous misses that she's seen from them. The ball was just slightly short. Though thanks to Shoyo's quick reflexes he was able to save the ball before it could hit the ground. They're both so… different now, Sakura thought to herself.

The game continued on with each of the boys having some sort of slight imbalance. Asahi's spikes were powerful, but not as accurate as they should be. Their synchronized attack most certainly still needed work. Their blocks could be a bit more secure, and obviously the freak duo was having some issues as well. So the boys were completely out of sync with each other. All that practice that they had put in individually wasn't meshing well as a team just about yet. There was yet another learning curve that they would have to get through now.

"Endo," Ukai called, making the boy jump just slightly at the shout, "you're getting subbed in."

Endo pointed at his own chest, "me? I'm a sub? Wh-what about Suga or Yamaguchi?" It seemed like he was baffled at the idea that he was going to be put in instead of the other guys.

His coach just gave him a bored expression, "Is your name not Endo? Go!"

The blond scoffed, "okay, okay. Don't have a stroke, old man."

So he was put on the court, for what felt like the first time in quite a while. Endo certainly has been on the court before, but that was normally just at practice against his own teammates. Not necessarily against another team. Still, it was technically a practice game anyway. Plus, they were willing to try anything out to get their momentum going. Since he was subbed in, that meant that Tanaka was taken off of the court, just to shake things up a bit. That certainly did shake up the play style just a bit, but not enough to earn points against Fukurōdani. 

Endo did try his best, honestly. He was just a bit surprised to be actually put into the game. Most of the time people overlooked putting him in since he wasn't all that good and he was never picked over his passionate teammates. Why put someone on the court you weren't sure was going to put all of their effort into the game when you could put someone who would? It made sense that he was passed over all the time, and Endo wasn't going to put that against anyone, since he understood. Though now that he was going to actually start focusing on getting better at volleyball, just to spite his father, perhaps it was time to change his outlook. He was going to really put his all into it. Even if that meant sweating a bit more than usual, though he was certain that it would be worth it. After all, he would love to say 'I told you so' to his father sooner rather than later.

Across the gym, the Nekoma team was also keeping an eye on the game between the owls and crows. "Hm… Splendid." Nekomata said while watching Karasuno, "They're splendidly… not in sync at all."

Yua nodded her head before scribbling something down after watching Lev miss a dive. Most certainly keeping track of any missed receives that he has. Just so she could show Yaku her statistics later and see him scowl at the younger boy to practice them more.

They then watched as Nishinoya jumped up to actually set the ball. Their mouths were agape as Naoi exclaimed, "Jumping from the back zone and into a libero's jump toss?" Though it didn't really do much, since the libero ended up jumping a little too far. "I wonder what happened to Karasuno. Maybe they're in some kind of rut?"

Nekomata laughed, "I think it's the exact opposite. Because they're crows, they're omnivorous. It doesn't matter if they're deep in the mountains, or in the middle of Kabukicho. They eat everything there is to eat, and take advantage of those stronger than them to survive." He explained as the other teams also kept an eye on Karasuno's game from the corner of their eyes. "It looks like they're in the middle of evolving at an incredible speed."

Yua then pointed at the blond who wasn't able to block Bokuto's spike, "Though that one doesn't seem to be catching up, huh?" Then again, Bokuto's spikes could be pretty difficult to go up against. She didn't really think a first-year would stand much of a chance against his spikes. So she really couldn't hold it against Tsukishima. Hell, even she has issues with blocking Bokuto's spikes!

---

After all of their many, many mistakes, Karasuno had ended up with quite a few penalty runs. Of course, the penalty was just as grueling as it was at the last training camp. However, instead of diving around the gym, they had to partake in Shinzen's special "refreshing sprint up the grassy hill". It was quite a refreshing sprint after doing it so many times. All of the boys were in quite a lot of pain after each round of penalties. By the end, it was just like last time, Karasuno was having a hard time standing up to 

Now that it was dark out, the moon gazed down on them after they've finished playing their last game of the day, Endo was laid out in the grass. He still was recovering from their last sprint up the hill, taking a breather with the rest of the team. He really was testing his athleticism today. While he certainly would exercise regularly, it wasn't really to this extent. It was near torture in his opinion! Curse these coaches who wish to see them suffer like this. Why couldn't one of the other teams just let them win?? He certainly would have loved winning at least one game to miss out on a penalty. 

Laid out in the grass with the other third-years and Tanaka, Endo was more than ready to go to bed. Hell, he could probably start sleeping right now. The grass that was scratching his back was extremely comfortable on his sore muscles. Besides him, Suga let out a sigh, "We amazingly lost all of our games."

"It's actually sort of refreshing." Daichi smiled, perhaps a bit dazed after all of their penalties.

With a disbelieving scoff, Endo barely sat up on his elbows to glare at his captain, "If that was refreshing, then you are the biggest masochist I've met."

"I haven't done that many sprints since Coach Ukai was coaching," Tanaka wheezed, face planted in the grass.

Daichi then sat up, "I'm gonna borrow the tablet from Ukai-san so we can review the synchronized attack video."

"All right."

"Sure thing."

Asahi also got a hard look on his face, determination growing in his eyes, "I'm gonna go hit some serves. I need way more practice."

Endo sighed heavily before groaning as he got to his feet, "Ah, geez, you guys are gonna make me feel left out if I don't join in." Yes, he could just go back to their shared room and go to bed for the night. However, the last thing that he wanted was to fall behind now after talking so boldly to his family before this. 

Meanwhile, in the gym, Sakura waltzed up to her brother as he was lost in his own thoughts. She knew that he was thinking about how his playstyle had changed and wasn't exactly matching up with Kageyama's. A big predicament for them as the freak duo obviously. Though now that they had the time, Sakura figured that it was a good moment to talk a bit.

"Shō-nii," she said, trying to get his attention. Though that proved to be a bit difficult as he just continued to stare down at the volleyball he was holding in his hand. She wasn't sure what he was thinking but really wanted to finally put this behind them. "Shōyō!"

He jumped out of his own mind as it had been racing with some many things. The practice matches had been abysmal and he was still not really on speaking terms with Kageyama or Sakura, so he was really not focusing all too much. However, now that his sister was actually here, in front of him, waiting for him to speak to her, he had to jump at the chance. He exclaimed, "Imouto!"

Sakura cringed at his shout, "You don't have to be so loud." It was slightly awkward between the two, since this had to be the longest that they had been able to be around each other. Though Shōyō looked more than eager now that they were having a conversation. Sakura cleared her throat, "we really do need to… talk."

Shōyō had been wanting to talk with her. It was almost unbearable that they hadn't been like they were before their big blow out a few weeks ago. They said the bare minimum to each other, didn't interact much at school, and didn't even ride home together, it was really driving him crazy. So he nodded his head, agreeing with her though not really knowing where to start.

"I want to make sure we understand each other," Sakura started off slowly. "I'm not abandoning you."

Shōyō let out a long sigh, "oh."

"That's not what I'm trying to do, okay?" Sakura scratched the back of her neck, "I'm sorry I never talked to you about what I've been feeling after all this time." It probably would have been easier to deal with if she had been honest with him all this time. Or at least told him how she had been feeling a bit more than how she was. Was she good at dealing with emotions? Not really. However, she should have been more open with her brother. It would have most likely stopped their disagreement much sooner.

"I just… didn't think that I wouldn't notice something upsetting you." Shōyō had been kicking himself ever since they had their argument. He prides himself on being such a good older brother, being there for both of his sisters and doing his best to help when or when not asked. Though to have it suddenly revealed to him that he had not been able to see some sort of issue that his twin was dealing with upset him. 

She just shrugged her shoulders, "It's my fault for not telling you, Shō. Now I'm telling you that I think it's better if we have some space."

"So you can do photography?" There was a slight tinge of realization in his voice. It seemed like he wasn't taking this as a generally back thing at the moment. Since having space did seem like one of the most horrible things in Shōyō's mind at times. "I thought that you wanted to leave me because of the fight!!"

Sakura shook her head, "No! The fight, yes, did hurt a bit, but one argument isn't going to make me just abandon you…" Why did it kind of bother her that Shōyō thought that she would do that? Did her constant support not make it clear that she was going to be there for him no matter what? Though she shouldn't dwell on that thought, since they are really trying to make amends here.

Sakura could see Shōyō visibly deflate in relief. He then smiled, "that's good then!" At least he was taking this better than a few days ago. Perhaps that was because they both had clear thoughts and could explain themselves a bit better.

"So you're not… upset?" She bit the inside of her cheek, nervous for his answer.

Shōyō tilted his head, "I… was. Though I don't think I knew what you meant."

"Yeah, that was pretty clear," Sakura scoffed.

He sheepishly apologized, "I'm sorry, Imouto." 

"I figured we both just needed time to ourselves. I'm sorry too." She cleared her throat, "I just… This isn't me not wanting to be around you anymore or be involved in things, I just want a chance to be myself."

Shoyo gave her a thumbs up, "I'll definitely support you just like I usually will!" Even if he was still a bit… wary about this, he wasn't going to stop her from doing anything she wants. Shōyō isn't a selfish person, especially when it comes to his family. So it wasn't like he would stop her from doing something she enjoyed. It would be hypocritical of him to do that. Though it definitely was going to take some time to truly understand and get used to it. 

The blinding smile that he flashed at her lifted a weight off of her chest. They had cleared up any misconception between them, it was a bit easier than she initially thought. If there was one thing it was Hinata's were stubborn and it took quite a while to change their minds. So with that in mind, Sakura thought that it would take a bit to get accustomed to their newer dynamic. Though they could save that for when they get back home after this training camp.

So she nearly skipped out of the gym, more than content with just going to bed. Progress had been made between the two! They both had a clearer understanding between them. It was really starting to look up for Sakura. 

Though it seems like the universe had to keep a balance to itself. Since as she was walking towards her room for a wonderful night's rest, she nearly ran into a giant who was too lost in his own thoughts to notice her either. She would have apologized if it hadn't been Tsukishima. 

"Sorry didn't see you down there," he sneered

Sakura deadpanned, "You really aren't original, are you?" Really why is he like this? Sakura wondered to herself. 

"Shouldn't you be following your brother around or something?"

She stared at him with faux-confused eyes, "I didn't think you paid attention to what I do. Are you stalking me or something?" She said sarcastically, "Though no. I'm going to sleep. Let that idiot lose sleep if he wants."

She was going to try and walk away from him though Tsukishima just narrowed his eyes at her, "I thought after your fight you'd be begging for him to forgive you." Based on what he had seen and heard, the twins weren't on talking terms. They hadn't been for quite a while now. It was strange for him to think that the twins weren't attached at the hip or Sakura following her brother around like a lost puppy. As long as he's, unfortunately, known them he had rarely seen them apart. Not having her at the practices also caused him to become quite confused. Had he noticed that she was missing the first practice that she had skipped? Perhaps. Though that wasn't because of anything other than wanting to mess with her. He enjoyed getting to poke fun at her brother and by extension her. So he was just missing out on some fun entertainment with her gone.

Sakura rolled her eyes with gritted teeth, "It's none of your business." Though Tsukishima smirked, which set Sakura's mind aflame with annoyance. She wasn't going to let him know about anything. What goes on between her and Shōyō didn't need to involve anyone else, especially not this bitchy blonde giant. 

Tsukishima towered over her and seemed to be quite pleased with himself that he was able to get under her skin, even if it was by a little. They continued to stare each other down, eyes narrowed in annoyance and smugness. Even if they weren't saying anything it was pretty clear what both of them were thinking about the other. Her chocolate eyes were piercing his golden ones and neither seemed to be willing to step down.

"Oh, hey, you two. Karasuno!" A voice called, startling the pair out of their staring contest. Sakura glanced over to see that it was Kuroo who was calling out to them. He was standing at the entrance of a gym alongside Bokuto. "You with the glasses. Kitten-chan!" Sakura scowled at him as Tsukishima raised an eyebrow at him, "Would you jump some blocks for us?"

The two stared at them for a moment before Tsukishima bowed, "Oh, actually, I'm done for the night. If you'll excuse me."

Kuroo and Bokuto blinked, "What?!"

"I'm not a player," Sakura said, though going ignored.

"There's no point in practicing spikes without a blocker!" Bokuto said, "Come on!"

"Why does it have to be me? Why not someone from Fukurōdani?" Tsukishima asked.

Aakashi then walked up to the door and explained, "There's no limit to Bokuto-san's spiking practice, so everyone runs away pretty quickly."

Kuroo jabbed his thumb over his shoulder at Lev. "I'm too busy whipping this guy into shape." Said boy was currently pancaked on the floor, completely exhausted from his practice that his captain had subjected him to. 

"I said I'd jump some blocks!" Lev whined, still laying in his puddle of sweat.

"Shut up!" Kuroo shouted, "If you want to continue as a regular on Nekoma's team, you need to actually be able to receive the ball!" He then focused back on Tsukishima and patted Bokuto on the back, "He may not look it, but this guy's one of the top five spikers in the country, so it'll be great practice."

Aakashi blandly said, "So he somehow didn't make it into the top three, huh?" That instantly deflated Bokuto.

Kuroo patted Bokuto on the back in comfort, "Don't mind."

"Don't raise me up just to let me get knocked down!" Bokuto whined at his friend.

The Nekoma captain then turned to Tsukishima with a smirk, "Besides, if you're a middle blocker, you should be practicing your blocking a bit more."

That certainly got a reaction out of Tsukishima who just glared at them before marching into the gym. Sakura was still standing outside, more than ready to head back to the manager room to go to sleep. Though it wasn't like Kuroo was going to let her go that easily. She felt hands suddenly under her arms, lifting her from the ground.

"Come on now, kitten-chan."

"Hey!" She shouted while being dragged in. Well, it wasn't really dragged, Kuroo was easily able to pick her off the ground and carry her like a feral cat. "This is kidnapping!" Though he just ignored her with his usual sharp smirk as he brought her inside, to the amusement of everyone else in the gym. Why can't I just have a normal night, Sakura mentally huffed while giving up on escaping and stopped flailing her legs.

So she was finally let go and left to sit on the sidelines. She had no doubt that if she tried to leave Kuroo or Bokuto would try to chase her down and keep her there. Sakura found their inability to leave her alone annoying. She knew that Bokuto had some weird interest in knowing her due to Sato. Kuroo was a bit more of a mystery to Sakura since she didn't think she would have interested him at all. Why so many of these guys wanted to keep annoying her at any chance they could, she'll never know.

She plopped down on the ground, glaring at the boys as they got themselves ready. Akaashi, seeing her displeased expression, came over to her with an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry about them," he said with a small bow, "they usually can be a hassle. I figure you'd rather be resting."

She waved her hand dismissively, "don't worry about it. I'll stay for a bit," she smirked up at him, "there's nothing wrong with me observing Karasuno's opponents, right?" Akaashi chuckled lightly at her smug expression before jogging back over to the court. If she was going to be forced to be here by those idiots then she was going to use this time to gather some information. Perhaps they could use it to their advantage if she told Ukai some of her thoughts about these specific players

Bokuto was spiking again and again against Tsukishima. It wasn't like it was anyway of stopping him. Sakura couldn't deny that Bokuto was an extremely strong player. His spikes were strong and looked difficult to block. She wouldn't really know where to start with trying to block his spikes. Sakura watched as Tsukishima was having trouble with blocking it. So from time to time, she would snicker at his failure. Which certainly irked Tsukishima quite a bit. 

If all she was going to do here was find his attempts amusing, then why be here at all. While he also found it amusing that she had been forced here, she was getting on his nerves with the subtle comments that she was making about his form.

After missing yet another spike from Bokuto, who cheered at his spike, Tsukishima turned to the smirking girl, "Didn't you want to go to sleep?"

Sakura rolled her eyes, "I did. Though I didn't have much of a choice but to come in." She threw a glare at Kuroo, who just shrugged his shoulders at her.

Tsukishima pursed his lips, "And here I thought you'd have been crying since you can't follow your brother around like a sad puppy." That certainly got a reaction out of her, which surprised Tsukishima just a bit. Considering he thought that she had grown some pretty thick skin after all this time. Though there was a spark of insecurity in her eyes that gave him pause only for a moment, just a miniscule moment. However, it was enough of a moment for him to feel just a little bit guilty.

Sakura gnawed at her bottom lip and just stared at him. He really wasn't letting up, was he? Why couldn't he just leave her alone? Her eyes grew narrowed while her mind started to fill with impulsive thoughts. Though could anyone really blame her if she went over to him and kicked him in the shin? She didn't think so. However, she was going to be a better person here. So she took a moment to breathe through her nose and out her mouth before giving the boy the harshest glare she could.

"I know what you're doing," she stated, "I would appreciate it if you would stop, but knowing your inability to be civil, that isn't going to happen." She glared at him, which was returned back at her through his golden eyes, "Just know that you're not getting anything out of me."

With that she spun on her heels and marched out of the gym, certainly not going to stick around. She would need to calm down after having been around him for all this time. Why she even stuck around after being dragged in she'll never know. Sakura could tell herself that it was to watch the other boys and report back to Ukai about what she saw all she wanted. Her insight isn't really needed to help better the team, so who was she fooling? Either way, going to sleep and forgetting about that jerk was a need for her at the moment.

Though after all this time, she knew that Tsyukishima was trying to get a rise out of her. That was horribly obvious. As she's figured out in the past, he had been trying to get under her skin in a multitude of ways. Unlike the last time she was bullied, she had stuck up for herself. Though perhaps the fact that she and Shōyō had just made up only a short time before this, it was still a bit raw for her to think about. So she wasn't going to take this.

Back in the gym, it was still pretty quiet since Sakura had stormed out. Though Tsukishima tried to make it seem like it didn't bother him at all. Which it didn't, obviously. Though it was still a bit tense around the gym. It was obvious that the other guys were quite disapproving of how disrespectful Tsukishima is to Sakura. 

Bokuto shook his head at him, "That was pretty mean, Tsuki-dude." 

Tsukishima tutted, "Don't call me that."

"You shouldn't be rude to people!" The owl captain exclaimed.

However, a cheshire-like smirk crawled onto Kuroo's lips, "Oh, I see how it is. " He slid over to the younger boy and gave him a mischievous stare. "This certainly isn't the right way to get a girl's attention, you know."

Tsukishima stared at him blankly, "Huh?"

Kuroo dragged him under his arm as if he were about to tell Tsukishima a secret, "I can give you some advice if you want. It'll be a lot better than just annoying her you know."

It took a moment for his mind to process it, but Tsukishima finally understood what Kuroo was implying. His ears grew hot as he scowled, "that's not what it's like!"

Kuroo's smirk didn't leave his face, "sure, sure." To Kuroo's eyes, it was obvious why Tsukishima was being so mean to her. Tsukishima brushed off Kuroo's arm and scowled before going back to the net. Ah, young love, Kuroo mused to himself.

---

So the next morning came, which meant more practice games, and plenty of more penalties for Karasuno. By mid-day, the team was quite exhausted since they were pushing themselves harder than they had yesterday. Just about every boy in the camp was trying to do the best that they could and improve. So Karasuno was losing just as much as they had been yesterday. The only difference being that the scores were a bit closer than before. While they weren't perfectly in sync yet, they were on their way there.

Sakura talked with Shōyō more than she had in the entire week that they weren't on talking terms. It seemed like as soon as they made up, Shōyō wanted to make up for lost time and made sure to talk with her when he could. Though there was one difference than usual. He gave her space. Shōyō didn't interject himself into her conversation with others or ask her to be with him any chance he could. He had understood what she wanted, and wished to show her that. Certainly the progress that both of them wanted.

Eventually, the managers came into the gym with plates of watermelon in their hands, ready to share it with everyone. A well earned break was in order for all the teams. They all sat outside enjoying the sun and delicious watermelon. Sakura helped Yachi out with handing out watermelon before sitting down on the grass alongside the other managers to enjoy a slice herself. It was refreshing, even if she hadn't been playing at all. She got to know a few of the other managers a bit more from the other schools. Yua had been more than happy with introducing her to them. Thankfully, most of the other girls were completely normal when compared to the likes of Yua or any of the other volleyball idiots. So that was certainly an upside in Sakura's opinion. She got to know some of the other girls before their break was over. 

So Sakura had to go back into the gym and watch the boys continue playing. Which was quite painful since it was just Karasuno getting their ass beat just like the day before. She chatted idly with Yachi and Kiyoko as she observed the boys. They all were improving in their own ways, slowly but surely. Asahi seemed to grow some sort of determination within him, Nishinoya was working on his speed, and even Endo was working on improving. While all of the boys on the team were making some sort of improvement, there was one other thing that she noticed. Tsukishima was too stuck in his own thoughts to really make anything notable of his blocks. 

Sakura could see that he was… thinking about something. Debating in his mind, maybe? Having difficulty with something. Though it wasn't like she cared, right? As long as he was good enough for the team to win games, then why would she care about his inner turmoil? She still certainly hadn't gotten over what he had said the other night, though she would push that sour feeling away for the time being. She just hoped that he figured out whatever it was that he was having issues with. As much as she'd love to see him have some sort of failure, if that failure affected her brother, she didn't want to encourage it.