Chapter Forty-One: Umbrella

SAKURA LOVES TAKING PHOTOS. SHE HAS FAR too many SD cards with gigabytes upon gigabytes of photos. A lot were family photos of birthdays and other celebrations, many were from trips that she took, others were quite random of things she found interesting, and just as many were of people in pain. By people, it really was just her brother. When it came to timing, Sakura was always good at getting a photo of a volleyball hitting her brother in the head, him falling on his ass, or some other sort of misfortune. She has folders dedicated to it. Ever since she's been joining the volleyball club to their practices she's got a few of the other boys in the same predicament. From the infamous serve to the back of Kageyama's head, to Nishinoya face planting into the wood floor, or Endo tripping over his own feet, Sakura has many photos of the boys like that.

So when it came time for their penalties, it was a no-brainer that Sakura would be taking photos of their pain. She is a sadist, there was no denying that. So while Yachi and Kiyoko prepared some water bottles for the boys, Sakura stared down the lens of her camera near them as she snapped photos of the team sprinting up the hill.

They screamed and panted as they ran up as fast as they could. She was able to capture snapshots of their pain and determination. Desperation was also sprinkled in their expressions as well, just a bit. Sakura took photos quickly, already telling herself to show these to them later to poke fun at them. 

As she was snapping pictures of the last few who were trudging up the hill, she noticed how Shōyō and Kageyama were keeping their distance from each other. Yachi had explained to her how the two boys still showed little to no sign of making up. Sure, they still practiced together, but their argument was still weighing heavy on them. Sakura hoped that it would get resolved eventually. 

While Sakura still didn't necessarily like the King, she knew that him and Shōyō working together was important. She can't see herself being friends with him, ever, but she at least was willing to be cordial with him for her brother's sake. She and Kageyama had come to an understanding just before this camp to at least be nice to each other to a certain extent. They are the freak duo, they are the pair who could do some astonishing stuff on the court together. The two really needed to work out whatever it is that was bothering them in order to improve, in Sakura's opinion.

The rest of the morning continued on with Karasuno playing against Nekoma. Sakura was pacing around the gym, not really having anything to do, and idly taking pictures where she saw something interesting. Meanwhile, Kageyama set a ball to Shōyō as he went up against Lev's block. Though there was something different about the toss that Kageyama gave him. At least, from Shōyō's point of view there was. He wasn't able to hit it straight on, so instead had to feint the ball over Lev's hands, which still got them the point. While the others congratulated them on the point, Shōyō looked annoyed as he spun to Kageyama.

"Hey!" Shōyō shouted, "You held back, didn't you?!"

"Held… back?" Kageyama gave Shōyō a bone chilling stare, "Me? With volleyball? Say that again." He grabbed the shorter boy's shirt as they both glared at each other. Tension was certainly starting to rise as the two didn't seem like they were going to back down.

Daichi walked over to them, "Hey, come on."

"Excuse me. Can we get a time out?" Takeda asked, which was granted.

Shōyō huffed, "That wasn't the falling toss."

"Huh?" Yamaguhi blinked as he turned to his best friend, "It wasn't?"

Tsukishima shrugged, "No idea. You probably need animal instincts to tell."

Endo crossed his arms over his chest, "I think only freaks like them would be able to tell."

"Don't stop it, Kageyama!" Shōyō shouted as he was held back by Tanaka. It looked like Tanaka was hanging onto the scruff of a feral puppy who wanted to chase after Kageyama. If Endo had to be honest, it was quite funny.

Tanaka growled, "I said, 'gather round'."

From across the court, pausing in steps, Sakura watched the interaction with furrowed eyebrows. She honestly didn't know what to think about what was going on with them. Probably something only they would understand, she thought to herself.

---

Overall, by the end of the day, Karasuno still had to do plenty of penalty laps. They were making mistakes, though everyone could tell that there was some sort of improvement with just about everyone on the team. Though the biggest concern at the moment was the freak duo. Their outburst on the court had caused a few questions to rise, especially with Ukai, who wondered why Shōyō would be upset about Kageyama trying to do that toss. It was just another hurdle that they would have to get around.

"I'm so done today," Endo dramatically yawned as he stretched his sore arms, "my arms feel like jelly." He's used to working out plenty, but this was just torture.

Daichi nodded his head as he watched his friend grab his water bottle, "Don't overwork yourself, Endo. If you want you can-" He didn't even get to finish as Endo just started marching out of the gym.

Endo waved over his shoulder, "You don't even have to finish, I'm already going!"

Asahi chuckled at the quick escape that his best friend was trying to make. "I suppose I'll head out early too."

So the boys all said their 'see you laters' and 'good jobs' as Asahi and Endo headed out together. As the pair started to leisurely walk back towards their dorm, Endo sighed, "Those guys are crazy about practicing so much. It makes me exhausted just thinking about it."

"Most practice makes you exhausted," Asahi chuckled lightly.

"Still." He shrugged, "They're definitely crazy for practicing night and day. They're monsters."

"Practice has been going well though."

Endo groaned, "If by well you mean penalty after penalty after penalty. I swear my lungs are going to die if we have to do another dozen penalties." He let out a long sigh, "Though things are going well, I suppose.

Asahi cringed in agreement, "Those definitely aren't fun, yeah. Though I can see it, we're all getting better!"

As the two talked, they continued their walk to the dorms where they would take a quick bath before heading to bed. A nice warm bath certainly sounded like a perfect idea in Endo's mind. Since it would help with his sore muscles. Though only a few more days, and their training would be over, that was something to look forward to.

"Well, I suppose you are." Endo arrogantly ran a hand through his blonde hair, "Of course, I don't need to improve, I'm just perfect as is."

Asahi laughed, "Yeah. Whatever you say, Joji. Though Daichi would say that you should work on your dives and spikes."

He earned a raspberry in reply, "he would complain about anything. 'There's always room for improvement,' he would say." Endo smirked, "Your spikes are getting so much better though." 

"Thanks." Asahi hummed as he finished changing. He turned to watch as Endo pulled off his own shirt to change into something comfier. As he did, his mind wandered. If things did keep going the way that they were, there was a bigger chance that they would actually have a chance at going to nationals. Of course, Asahi has faith in all of his friends, he didn't doubt that they would all try their best. Though he wondered about Endo. Yes, he knew that Endo had declared he would help them get to nationals and didn't really have his whole heart into winning since it didn't totally matter to him. However, Asahi knows that to help him, Endo would put his all into it. Not only that, but Asahi knows that Endo wants to prove his family, mostly his father, that he was dedicated to volleyball to a certain extent. 

It was difficult to understand, Asahi knew. Endo is a rich boy who could have everything and anything he wanted. However, Asahi knows that even if Endo was a bit materialistic, he values relationships above everything. Not having that relationship with his father hurt him, that was pretty clear to Asahi. Hopefully, when they go to nationals (because it was when, not if) then it could help Endo with improving their relationship. Asahi doesn't know every detail, but Endo has told him plenty about his father. He's never met Hideaki Endo, though he's heard enough through Endo to know that he doesn't particularly like how he treats his son. So Asahi knew that Endo wasn't going to win for himself, not really. He was going to win for his friends and to prove his worth to his father. All the while, Asahi knows that he's going to help Endo just as much as he was going to help Asahi.

"Distracted by my handsome face are you?"

Asahi blinked at the striking blue eyes that were now staring back at him. He really didn't realize that he had been staring at Endo the entire time he was thinking. He jumped, "Wh-What?!"

Endo smirked while sliding over to his friend, "You're staring a bit hard. What are you thinking about?"

He gave out a nervous laugh at the sudden close proximity, "I was thinking about how amazing it would be for both of us to go to nationals."

"Oh, yeah, yeah. Very exciting." There was a spark in his eye that was lit, which Asahi noticed. It had a sort of determination and spitefulness in it that caused chills to race up and down Asahi's spine. Endo's smirk widened even further, "Can't wait to shove our win in my father's face. I can already imagine the look on his face. He'll have to congratulate me for it."

After getting over the tingle that ran through his body, Asahi realized he liked that look on Endo's face. More specifically, he liked determination. In Asahi's mind, it just made Endo look… well, like Endo. He smiled, "We'll be ready for it then."

---

Thankfully, Sakura had been able to get a good night's rest the night before. She had evaded anyone she deemed annoying and stuck to Kiyoko and Yachi to help with anything they needed. Sakura was lucky to escape to their room for some early sleep since she knew that there were a few volleyball idiots who were probably searching for her last night. Not only that, but the next morning she got to eat her breakfast with relative ease.

That morning, watching Karasuno continue to lose set after set was slowly becoming boring to her. While she knew that there were a lot of learning curves for the team as a whole, she would have thought that they would get lucky to win at least one or two sets. Though here she was, watching as the crows marched out of the gym for another sprint up the hill.

They are making progress, Sakura thought to herself, though when will their individual progress start to fall in line as a team, I wonder. 

It's great to see them all get better at receives, spikes, and blocks, but their combos were what was going to make or break them as a team. They needed to get their synchronized attack down, Nishinoya had to perfect his serve as a libero, and the freak duo had to get their quick down pat. As soon as they started putting their plays together, they would become a well oiled machine, in Sakura's mind.

She watched them still lose their games but slowly but surely start catching up in points. The gaps were starting to get narrow. That could only mean something good, in her mind. After all, she's been wanting to look on the positive side at this camp. Sakura can still be pessimistic about their abilities at the moment, but she can still say that they are improving.

Letting out a sigh, Sakura exited the gym after all the boys broke off into groups for their own little practice sessions. She started to walk along the walkway, towards the cafeteria when she could feel a presence looming over her. It almost made a sense of dread run down her spine. Though the sweet voice that hummed over her just caused annoyance to take its place instead.

"Hina-chan," Yua slid in front of the shorter girl with a large smile. 

Sakura stared at her blankly before walking around her, "I don't want to be dragged to the gym."

"Awww, but it would have been so fun." Yua pouted as she followed after Sakura like a lost cat. "You can be such a spoil-sport sometimes you know."

"I just don't want to be in a gym when I could be sleeping or studying."

Yua shook her head. How someone could just sit around studying a whole bunch, even while at a training camp like this, baffles her. Though she just continued to bounce alongside Sakura. "Oh! I have an idea," she said, "let's hang out. We can get to know each other better!"

Sakura sulked, "I would rather be alone…"

"Man, you and Kenma really are similar." Yua thought out loud, "Though come on, we can hang out for the rest of the night. Maybe grab dinner together and then head to the dorms. Besides, that's where you were going anyway, right?"

Well, Yua had her there. Sakura was going to go back to the cafeteria for a quick bite, have a bath, study a bit, then head to bed. So it wasn't like Sakura could really escape Yua at this point. Especially when said girl was now skipping happily besides her as they headed to the same place. Throughout their walk Yua just hummed to herself, not saying anything else, which Sakura was grateful for.

The two girls headed into the cafeteria where a few other people were already eating their own dinners. Sakura grabbed her meal and sat down, with Yua following right behind her. The orange-haired girl's narrowed eyes drifted over to Yua every once in a while as they munched on their food. She found it a bit suspicious that the older girl was up to something. After all, ever since Sakura has met her, Yua has never really been this quiet.

"I can feel you looking at me," Yua hummed, which caused Sakura to jump just slightly. "And I already know what you're thinking about!"

Sakura just pursed her lips, "I doubt it."

"You must be wondering just how I'm able to be this quiet for this long." It brought Yua a bit of satisfaction to see that Sakura was a bit baffled that she did know what she was thinking about. Yua proudly puffed her chest, "Some would say it's a miracle. Though I would say it's years of practice."

Sakura turned back down to her rice, "Well, I'm glad to see that you have some self control then."

"I will take that as a compliment." Yua said with a sweet smile, "Though I gotta say, you really are a lot like Kenma. Quite reserved, a bit harsh, but still a softie at heart."

Perhaps that's another reason why Yua wanted to get to know her more. After all, she and Kuroo had done pretty well with bringing Kenma out of his shell, so Yua was going to do the same for Sakura. First thing first was to get to know that girl after all. All Yua knew about Sakura was that she had a twin brother, they both went to Karasuno and that Sakura has an interest in photography. So now she had to learn more!

Sakura deadpanned, "Okay."

"Which is why I'm going to force you to be my friend!" Yua said with a large smile, one that was starting to disturb Sakura a little bit. "It worked out with Kenma, so I have no doubt it'll work the same with you."

The younger girl stared at Yua for a second with a cringe, "I don't really respond well to people forcing me to do anything, you know."

"Well, now I know a little bit more about you. Besides, we should learn more about each other! To be friends we should know things like our likes, our dislikes," Yua then bent down and whispered, "our crushes."

Sakura's eye twitched, "Not this again. I don't have a crush on anyone. Let alone be infatuated with someone as despicable as Tsukishima." Why Yua had suddenly gotten that idea in her head, Sakura would never know. Then again, she doubted she'd understand anything that Yua thinks.

Yua smirked as if she had just figured something out. "I didn't say his name."

Sakura just blankly stared at her like she was an idiot. "But I know you were talking about him since you were annoying me about it yesterday."

"Oh, right." The older girl blinked, "Still, I think that you two will work well together. Eventually. Trust me, I'm a bit of a love guru." Yua cleared her throat, "Anyway, I suppose you should get to know me too!" "I'm a second-year, obviously you knew that, and I've been the Nekoma manager since the start of this year. Kenma and Kuroo are my best friends. I've played a whole lot of sports, I just love being athletic. Oh! I also love coffee. Any kind of coffee is my kind of coffee!" Sakura blinked at all the information that was suddenly dropped on her. Yua smiled at Sakura, "Do you like coffee? You seem like a coffee type of person. Probably black coffee."

The other girl shrugged her shoulders, "I don't usually drink it."

"Ah, well, if you ever want to go to Tokyo, I can take you to this little cafe! Honestly, their coffee is some of the best in the whole world!"

So the two continued to chat a bit. Yua tried to engage Sakura as much as she could learn what she could. She found that Sakura was a bit easier to get to talk to once they started going. As much as Yua loves Kenma, she knew that it could be like pulling teeth with getting him to talk. So perhaps that was one difference between them, which she appreciated a lot.

As they continued to talk as they finished up their dinner, walking back to the dorms and getting ready for bed. They strayed from topics like their favorite colors to who they found the most annoying at camp, or what their schools were like to their hobbies. Overall, Sakura was slowly, very slowly, finding Yua not as annoying as she was before. Yes, Yua talked a lot and was being a bit invasive when trying to learn about her, but Sakura knew how to keep her answers brief.

The rest of the night, basically up until the girls fell asleep, Yua did everything she could to learn as much as possible about Sakura. By the time the other managers trickled in to also go to sleep, they were dragged in the questioning as well. It was safe to say that by the end of the night when the girls grew too tired to talk, Sakura had gained a few more friends. Something that she didn't mind all that much.

---

It was the last day of the training camp. There was an air of satisfaction and exhaustion all around the dorms. Most of the boys were satisfied with all that they had learned while playing in this camp, but they were just as tired. In the girl's dorm room, the Karasuno managers and photographer were gathering their things and packing them away. 

"I'm sure you must be pretty tired, Hitoka-chan." The beautiful manager said, "Are you okay?"

Yachi blinked at her senpai's question, "Yes! I'm sorry!"

"Today's the last day, so let's do our best." Kiyoko said with a soft smile.

Yachi nodded her head, "Right!"

"Come on, let's get some breakfast." Sakura commented, "we'll need our energy to deal with the boys."

So the two girls left Kiyoko and headed out of their room. They made idle chat about their time at the camp while heading downstairs. Yachi's experience was a bit nerve wracking with the responsibilities that she had been helping Kiyoko with. Sakura was content with how everything went at this camp. After all, she made up with her brother and came to an understanding about what she wanted to do after this. Plus she got some good pictures of most of the boys at the camp.

"Morning, Hinata-kun!" Yachi exclaimed as they descended the last flight of stairs.

The ball of sunshine smiled at the sight of the two girls, "Ah, Yachi-san, imouto. Morning! Man, I'm starving!"

"You are always hungry," Sakura commented.

"Oh, yeah… You sure are full of energy this morning." Yachi said, "You were up practicing late, too, weren't you, Hinata?"

Shōyō sheepishly scratched the back of his head, "Yeah, but I just woke up."

Sakura sighed, "I told you not to be out too late." If it weren't for her, Sakura knows that her brother would be staying up late just about every night. Then he would end up having a horrible time trying to wake up. That was something she always tried to avoid with him. Since she was quite a terror in the morning already. 

"Sorry."

"How are things shaping up?" Yachi asked.

Shōyō's eyes sparked, "I'm practicing something super awesome right now, so look forward to it!"

"'Super awesome'..." The tall blonde giant snickered as he passed the trio.

"What the heck, Tsukishima?!" Shōyō scowled at his fellow middle blocker.

"Nothing."

As he continued to walk passed, Tsukishima couldn't help but glance at Sakura a little bit longer than he would like to admit. He had surprisingly instantly noticed when she hadn't been at the gym last night. Since he had a feeling that the others had as much a fascination about her the same way that they did with him. So Tsukishima had thought that she would have been dragged to the gym just as she had been before. Though he hadn't seen her there at all. It wasn't like he cared or anything, it was just a little something that he noticed. Her words had stuck with him a bit from the other day. How she described his spot on the team and even complimented him a little. Tsukishima really wasn't sure what to think about it. While he would brush off whatever people had to say about him on the team, Sakura's words and insinuation were ringing in the back of his head.

"Hey! Someone wake Yamaguchi up!" Tanaka shouted, knowing that the poor boy was still snoring in their dorm room. His shout broke Tsukishima from his thoughts as he realized that he and Sakura had been staring at each other for sometime. So he just shook his head and continued to walk towards breakfast.

---

Games were in full swing by mid day. All the boys were tired as they played their games. It was a significantly hot day out today, a bit of a disadvantage for the athletes. Since running around in this heat was annoying. Off to the side, Nekoma regrouped as they took a water break between their games. Obviously, they had won their game a little bit before, so they thankfully didn't have to do any penalties. 

"Hmm…" Yaku hummed in dissatisfaction, "We can't seem to win against Fukurodani much."

Yua showed the group of boys her clipboard, "I've got the stats from the camp, of course Fukurodani is on top." She kept track of how many wins and losses each team had. So it was no surprise to see that a powerhouse school with one of the top aces was dominating the camp.

"As we thought, looks like Fukurodani's at the top right now." Yaku sighed heavily as the whistle to another game blew, "Looks like Ubugawa and Karasuno finished."

It wasn't much of a surprise to see that the crows were the ones to loose. It would be more of a surprise to see that they won! Though the score was 25-23, a pretty close gap. Karasuno's captain shouted, "One round of diving receives!" Which they all started doing like diligent soldiers.

"They have a strange dignity around them when they take their penalties." Kuroo said as

Kenma watched them, just watching their penalties was making him tired. "Including the last away games, they've done more penalties than any other team. I definitely couldn't do it."

"Whoa! Karasuno's Shrimpy's gotten really good at diving receives!" Yaku exclaimed as they watched Shōyō dive. Which was true. Ever since the first penalty, the little ball of sunshine was starting to get better at diving correctly on the gym floor. One would probably get better if they had to do the same thing over and over and over.

"'Shrimpy'?" Lev started with a light chuckle, "Yaku-san, you're not much taller than Hinata."

A shadow covered Yaku's eyes as he turned to the tall boy. "Lev, stand over there!" He shouted as he kicked Lev in the back quite hard. The poor first-year shouted in pain as he was knocked down by the smaller boy.

Besides them, their teammates just shook their heads at the display. Kuroo sighed, "There was no saving him from that. Lev!"

"I told him not to mention Yaku-san's height… That fool." Yamamoto said while shaking his head.

Though besides them, Yua just laughed, "Man, I love seeing how feisty our little guy is!"

"You'll be next, Yua!" Yaku shouted at her with a menacing finger pointed in her direction as he stood over a whimpering Lev.

Huffing and puffing, the Karasuno team all sat down on the hardwood floors as they collected their breath. After having to go through another difficult game and yet another round of penalties was taking a toll. Especially on Endo. He certainly is quite fit and athletic, but even he has his limits. Ukai had been subbing him into the game even more and more so he was really starting to sweat through these games. He supposed it made sense. He couldn't just be a bench warmer with no skill, he needed a little bit of skill in case he did get subbed in an actual game.

"Damn it." Tanaka groaned, "We basically kept losing all the way to the end."

Endo was laying flat on his back with his chest pumping quickly, "I think I can see the light at the end of the tunnel."

Daichi stood in front of his panting team with a determined expression, "You guys need to keep doing your best and survive." They all looked at him in confusion, "I just happened to hear this, and I was going to keep it quiet…"

"Wh-What is it?!" Tanaka exclaimed, hanging off of Daichi's every word.

"When all of these practice matches are over…" He paused dramatically, "Apparently, the coaches are going to treat us to a barbecue."

Tanaka, Nishinoya, and Shōyō were in shock as they processed that news. Their eyes dilated at the thought of some delicious food like that. The image of some succulent meat was now at the forefront of everyone's mind.

"Bar…"

"...be…"

"...cue?!" The three of them plus Kageyama then broke out into a dance, with watering mouths. 

"Meaty meat, meat, meaty meat!" Tanaka sang.

Shōyō continued with the melody, "Put 'em together, you get meat and meat!"

"Meaty meat, meat!" Nishinoya belted.

"Hooray for meat! Energy times a hundred!" The three harmonized, "Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Meat is god! Meat is god!"

Sakura watched them dance around with a raised eyebrow. She thought to herself, they really are a weird group. Though she did smile a little bit at the wackiness of the boys. Let it be known that Sakura did find the boys annoying at times, but they were entertaining all the same.

Sakura walked over to her brother and handed him a water bottle. "You guys are doing pretty good today."

Shōyō smiled at his sister, "Thanks!"

Standing up from his seated spot against the wall, Tsukishima sneered, "I'll be looking forward to that super awesome thing."

Shōyō bristled, "Just watch, you jerk!" He and his sister gave Tsukishima matching glares as he lumbered off to find Yamaguchi, no doubt.

"But… I really want to see that new quick soon," Yachi confessed as she stood beside Sakura.

"Me, too."

Yachi blinked, "Huh?"

Shōyō then jumped up to his feet as he waltzed over towards his setter, "Kageyama! I want to hurry up and hit that falling toss!"

He stared at his duo for a long moment. A tension appeared in his shoulders for a quick moment before it dissipated, "Don't rush. As long as I'm missing the tosses, it won't be any practice for you." Yachi gaped at his words since she remembered what he had said during one of their arguments. She turned to Sakura with her wide eyes as the orange-haired girl was just as surprised, though not as outwardly expressive.

"I was thinking this yesterday, too, but you're really creepy when you worry about others." Shōyō said, "I get it, but hurry up and give me tosses! I want to hit them!"

Kageyama's eyebrow twitched, "That's why I'm practicing so hard, you dumbass!" He then tossed Shōyō like he was a ragdoll across the court.

Getting back to his feet, Shōyō shouted at Kageyama, "How long are you going to make me wait?" Though he didn't earn much of a reply from the setter, since the gloomy king just glared.

Sakura watched the interaction, a bit of tension leaving her body that she barely even noticed was there. Had she really been worried about how her brother and Kageyama hadn't really seen eye to eye with each other? She supposed so. Time and time again, she keeps having to remind herself that while she doesn't necessarily enjoy Kageyama's presence, he was an integral part of the team. The freak quick was important, and she was at least happy to see the two weren't at each other's throats. Or at least not at each other's throats more than usual. This camp was really a time for issues to be resolved between everyone it seems.

The whistle blew as Karasuno gathered around their coach. Ukai started off, "Anyway, try to work the new things you've all been practicing into this match."

"Right!" The boys shouted.

"Also, I say this every time, but put pressure on Fukurodani's #4 when he hits."

"Yeah!"

Ukai smirked at them, "In the end, this training camp was filled with penalties, but you guys should definitely feel different now than you did in the first away games." Each team member did improve in some way, Asahi's spikes were stronger, their synchronized attack was pulling together, and Tsukishima's blocks had become stronger, just to name a few improvements. Overall, every one of them had improved in one way or another, which excited them all. "Let's get an awesome win here and go eat some delicious meat!"

"Yeah!"