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“Suga, I swear, if you put that in my face one more time-”
“You’ll what~?” Daichi narrows his eyes at Sugawara, walking besides him in an indigo woolen hat with matching scarf and mittens, grinning deviously as he holds up a moist, wriggling worm. The steam from Daichi’s hot chocolate swirls over his face, giving him a little warmth in the cold autumn air.
“I’ll… Do. Something.” Suga barks out a laugh, echoing in the empty morning streets. There’s a light fog, but nothing that makes it more than a little chilly.
“So eloquent, Daichi!” He crouches down to drop the worm into a patch of dirt at the side, making sure it wriggles safely away before jogging to catch up with his best friend. Daichi sips at his drink, huffing out a cloud of breath as it burns his tongue and leaves his lips tingling. His brows furrow.
“I really wish they’d sell warm chocolate so I could drink it on the way.”
“It should be warm, with how much milk and cream you add.”
“I need the sweetness to wake me up in preparation for the hell we’re about to face.” Snickering, Sugawara quickens his steps towards the school. Usually, they’d meet up with Asahi a couple of roads back, but their Ace had caught a cold after his demonic younger siblings locked him out last night and left him on the doorstep in just his pyjamas for three hours.
“It won’t be that bad this year! We get to order them around this time, instead of doing all the work.” He glances back at Daichi’s deadpan expression, the captain holding his hot chocolate a little tighter.
“That’s exactly the hell I’m referring to. I think I’d rather do it myself.”
“Captain! Suga-san!” The cheerful cry from behind them has both Sugawara and Daichi spinning around, stepping to the sides of the path in case Hinata doesn’t slam his brakes on in time.
Kageyama holds up a hand in greeting as he slows to a jog and then a stop, and of course Hinata’s bike would nudge him, because if they didn’t have anything to argue over, fate would make them something. Sugawara sighs in expectation.
“Hinata, dumbass! Watch where you’re going!”
“Maybe you shouldn’t just stop in the middle of the path, Bakageyama!”
“I stopped because Daichi and Suga-san were here!”
“Don’t shift the blame!” Daichi’s grip on his hot chocolate gets tighter and tighter until the lid pops off comically, splattering a blob of cream on his cheek. His eye twitches.
“If you two are quite finished, we have a club to get to.” Frozen in battle, Hinata standing on his bicycle frame tugging at Kageyama’s cheek with one hand and the other around his neck, one foot against his stomach, and Kageyama gripping Hinata’s hair with both hands, a knee raised to try and knock the bicycle over.
“Say cheese!” Suga snaps a photo with an innocent grin that even angels would believe. Too bad he’s Satan reincarnate. Hinata and Kageyama break apart, the former blushing and rubbing his head, the latter pouting and folding his hands behind his back. Daichi huffs a little in amusement.
“Alright, go on ahead. No need to get changed though.” The first years whip their heads around to look at him ludicrously. He almost feels bad telling them the news here and now, but Daichi would rather it was him instead of Tanaka. Or god forbid, Noya. He has a remarkable gift for making this event sound like the end of the world. After last year, it might as well be.
“Every first practice of autumn, we do a mass cleanup of the gymnasium. We need to remove any birds nesting in the area, as well as clean out any ‘collectables’ they’ve left lying around. Last year it was mostly pinecones and the odd coin.”
“Can we keep the coins?!”
“Don’t be stupid, Hinata. Who’d want a bunch of old coins?”
“I do! The vending machines still take coins! Or did you finally drink enough milk to drown out that fact~?”
“I haven’t even had any milk today!” Sugawara laughs, moving behind the two to give them a firm, friendly shove to the backs.
“Get those legs moving! The gym won’t clean itself!”
“Y-Yes!”
“I’ll race you, Bakageyama!”
“... Eat my dust.” In the time it takes Hinata to jump back on his bike, angrily shouting the whole time, Kageyama has already taken off like a rocket. He’s halfway down the street before Hinata brings the pedals back up to position, tongue sticking out the corner of his mouth in determination.
“See you there, Captain! Suga!” Sighing, Daichi manages a wave as Hinata pedals off. He stares at the hot chocolate in hand, the tawny-tainted reflection of himself staring back with immeasurable exhaustion.
“... This isn’t waking me up.” Sugawara bursts into bright laughter, tucking his scarf around him a little tighter.
“Don’t mind, Captain~. I’m sure the hubbub of our underclassmen will have you bright eyed and bushy-tailed soon enough.” Daichi groans again, staring into his hot chocolate like he wishes it were a void and could swallow him whole.
Somehow, he manages to make it the rest of the way to school without turning back and going home. He fishes the key for the gymnasium and consequently the equipment cupboard out of his pocket, yawning as he chucks his empty hot chocolate cup in the nearby bin.
“Nice shot~. Maybe you should start setting.”
“Shut up, Suga. It’s too early for this…” Opening the door, Daichi stops. He stares. Sugawara is silent, peering over his shoulder with the same wide eyes and growing feeling of horror.
“... What. The hell.” The floor of the gymnasium is absolutely covered in leaves. Crisp, autumn leaves, in shades of orange, red and gold, are scattered across the court with no visible flooring.
“Nature couldn’t have done this overnight.” The two third years walk further into the gym. One of the poles for the volleyball net is already set up. Except it’s been decorated to look like a scarecrow, the finishing touch a volleyball balanced on top, wearing a tweed, floppy hat. There’s a note blue-tacked to the scarecrow’s potato sack shirt.
Ripping it off, Daichi reads through it and crumples it in one hand with no warning, jaw hard set and eyes darkened. He looks murderous.
“Nature, my ass. It was those basketball jerks.” Sighing, Sugawara shrugs. He starts to take off his indigo autumn accessories.
“Oh well. We’ll just get the more energetic of the team working on the floor. Once Hinata, Noya, and Tanaka have brooms in hand, this’ll be tidied in no time.”
“That’s not the point. The basketball team did this, they should have to clear this up.”
“Daichi~.” As soon as Daichi looks up at Sugawara, a mitten is thrown as hard as possible at his face. It lingers there before dropping to the leaf blanketed floor.
“... Sorry. You’re right. We’ll just… Have to help out.”
“And we thought our gym-cleaning days were over.”
“What a day for Asahi to go sick, hmm?”
“Good mor-! … Ning…” They turn around to see Tanaka in the doorway, one foot inside the gym. Tanaka stares at the mayhem. He turns around, whistling, and starts walking off. He doesn’t get very far.
“Tanaka-senpai!!!!” Ah, hell. He can’t just run away and abandon his kouhai. Grinning, Tanaka thumps Kageyama on the shoulder and ruffles Hinata’s hair strongly enough to sway him from side to side.
“Hey there, rascals! Here for the annual clean up~?”
“Mhm!”
“We’ll do our best.” The sincerity and excitement has Tanaka rasp out a laugh. Admittedly, he’s coming down with something, but plenty of throat sweets will solve that soon enough.
“Come on, you three. We’d better get started.” Daichi waves them in whilst Sugawara opens the equipment cupboard, grabbing the brooms and cleaning trolleys out.
“Okay… Hinata, Tanaka, you’re on sweeping duty. Make sure you brush the leaves into neat piles and not out the entrance.” He passes them a broom each and they dump their bags in the corner near the equipment cupboard door to mock salute.
“Yessir!”
“Okay!” Awkwardly, Kageyama shuffles his own bag off his shoulder and places it next to Hinata’s. He straightens back up to receive a duster cloth and can of spray from Sugawara.
“Window duty! Make 'em shine, Kageyama!” Nodding, the first year setter jogs over to the closest window and starts on it. Daichi sighs, picking out a tall ladder whilst Sugawara fetches a special folded metal rod from the very back of the cupboard.
“Bird duty?”
“Just like last year.”
“Well, I mean… The only ones I’d trust with bird duty are Ennoshita and Narita. Maybe Tsukishima.”
“No. No, not Tsukishima. We’d end up with feathers and broken nests all over the place and Hinata trying to start fights when he gloats about his height.”
“Hmm… True.” Dragging the rod out of the cupboard, Sugawara unfolds it and clicks all the pieces into place. Daichi sets up the ladder underneath one of the rafters, and nods at him. He checks the sweepers are nowhere near the ladder before he starts climbing it, as high as he can. Sugawara holds it in place.
“We really need Asahi for this. He can reach the nests easier.”
“Hang in there, Captain.” Sugawara teasingly shakes the ladder, making Daichi cling on for dear life and shoot a glare back down at him.
“Can you maybe stop trying to kill me and pass me the damn pole?” Grinning like butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth, Sugawara passes over the long pole and holds the ladder steady as Daichi takes another step up, as high up on the rungs as he can get without feeling like he’s about to fall.
“Really, we should have waited for the others first.”
“We’ll be fine, Daichi~. It’s okay to just knock them onto the floor as long as it hasn’t been cleaned yet.”
“MY FELLOW SECOND YEARS!” Sugawara looks over his shoulder at Tanaka’s joyful cry and smiles as Ennoshita, Narita, and Kinoshita stand in the doorway with matching expressions of pain. Kinoshita groans.
“Not this again.”
“Yup~.”
“Please, didn’t we suffer enough last year?”
“How is it worse this year?” Daichi almost snarls at the innocent question from Narita.
“Basketball team.”
“Ah.” He knocks off an empty, abandoned bird’s nest with unnecessary force, watching it break apart as it hits the floor. Exhaling out his frustration, he starts down the ladder again.
“What do you want us doing?”
“Narita, Kinoshita, grab some polish and follow after those two.” He jerks his thumb towards Tanaka and Hinata, sweeping up leaves by the stage area. Surprisingly, they’re behaved for now, talking between themselves as they push the leaves into a pile.
“Ennoshita, grab the bags and pick up the leaves. Goodness know what would happen if we left them lying around with this rowdy lot.” Putting their bags on one of the benches, the second years move to the equipment cupboard to grab the items they’ll need. Daichi hops off the ladder, passing the long pole to Suga once more.
“There’s another nest right in the corner.”
“Shuffle mode on!” Rolling his eyes at his best friend’s dorkiness, Daichi watches with folded eyes as Sugawara moves the ladder by shunting each side of the rungs with his toes, shuffling across the floor.
“Oh no.” He snaps his gaze round to the door, and in the blink of an eye, is over in the doorway with a firm hand wrapped around Noya’s upper arm before the libero can even think about running.
“Oh yes~. Grab yourself a broom, you’re on sweeping duty.”
“All these leaves make me want to leave!” Noya fakes a sob, slunking his bag off his shoulder and dropping it in a random spot amongst the leaves. Daichi keeps a hold on his arm until he’s got the broom in hands. Without it, he’d probably make a break for the exit.
“Kageyama, can you move that bag before Tsukishima and Yamaguchi arrive? Knowing Yamaguchi, he’d trip straight over it.” Kageyama nods and does as told before returning to his windows. Sugawara snickers, leaning against the ladder as he waits for Daichi.
“Yamaguchi isn’t a klutz, Daichi~.”
“Have you seen how much that boy drops his food? I’m not chancing anything.”
“Oh, that’s mean.” Daichi rolls his eyes before making his way back up the ladder.
The gymnasium is surprisingly peaceful, the clean up going well even after Tsukishima and Yamaguchi arrive, five minutes late. They’re punished for it by getting solo duties instead of working together. Yamaguchi is sent to the viewing platforms up above with a special polish for the metal bars, and Tsukishima is giving a long mop and soapy water to scrub the walls.
Ukai supervises to make sure there’s no fights breaking out, especially as Hinata gets closer to Kageyama, looking suspiciously like he’s about to literally sweep the setter off his feet. Takeda pops his head in once or twice to make sure everything is going alright, but it’s his third visit that interests the volleyball team.
The gym is sparkling, clean from top to bottom, left to right, and Takeda claps his hands with an air of finality that exuberates pride. It’s almost like he’s spewing flowers and beams of light as he smiles.
“I think you’ve earned some gameplay~.” The cheer that goes up is almost deafening, and Tsukishima - standing next to Tanaka - thankfully has his hands over his ears ready. Yamaguchi isn’t so lucky, standing on Tanaka’s other side with Noya also next to him.
“Go ahead. Suga and I will move these bags outside.” Daichi points to the bags of all the leaves, the ones Ennoshita has tied up and left in a tidy bundle next to the back door, ignoring Sugawara’s squawk of protest.
“Thanks, Captain!” Noya, Hinata, Kageyama, and Tanaka race out the door, followed by Yamaguchi and Kinoshita jogging in good jest, joking about how Noya is a big voice in a tiny body. Ennoshita and Narita are in their wake, remembering to pick up their bags. Kindly, they take everyone else’s too. Except Yamaguchi’s, since Tsukishima already has that hauled over his shoulder as he calmly walks out the gym.
“I can’t believe you volunteered me to do your work for you!”
“Our work, Suga. C’mon, help me with these bags.” Sugawara huffs and puffs out his cheeks, making sure to le his irritation show as he chops Daichi in the side. The Captain wheezes, but quickly recovers his stance and starts taking the 7 bags out. Not too far, since they’ll have to move them to the compost heap after practice anyways.
“That should do it.” He dusts his hands off on his trousers, nods at Sugawara, and then they sprint to the clubroom to get changed themselves. The rest of the team are still inside, half changed and talking amongst themselves with the same volume and rambunctiousness the third years have come to learn is a constant with this rowdy group.
Tsukishima and Yamaguchi are the first to leave, stating that they’ll set up the net since “everyone else is too busy stripping each other”, Tsukishima says just as Tanaka pulls Kinoshita’s shorts down with a cackle and Hinata steals Kageyama’s shirt and darts out of reach. Point proven, Daichi lets them go.
It’s only as the others have just stepped out the room that the clubroom door swings open again, Yamaguchi looking like he’s run over and his expression is stressed. His mouth opens and then closes as he pales, almost like he’s expecting backlash.
“Yamaguchi?”
“We have- um- We have a tiny problem.”
“Problem?”
“Yes. Just a tiny one.”
“... How tiny?”
“R- Really tiny…” His voice trails off, and Sugawara tugs his shirt on with brows furrowed in concern before laying a gentle hand on Yamaguchi’s shoulder.
“What kind of problem? Other than a ‘tiny’ one.” Nervously, Yamaguchi starts to pick at the dead skin on his lips, stuttering over his words. Daichi slips his shoes on before pulling Suga backwards by the back of shirt to give the first year room to breathe.
“Deep breath, Yamaguchi, then explain it.” Yamaguchi inhales so much air that he goes red in the face, swallowing it down before exhaling again.
“The leaves are back.”
“... What?”
“... The leaves are back…”
“Is this a joke?”
“N-No, the leaves are back. Um, literally.” At least he doesn’t whisper or squeak this time. Whilst he’s been gaining confidence - killer confidence - this kind of news is terrifying to break after all their hard work making the gym spic and span.
“... Basketball team.” Daichi’s furious hiss, paired with his expression of pure murder has even Suga take a cautionary step back.
“Yamaguchi, did you see anyone leaving the gym?”
“No. Tsukki and I walked in and there were just leaves everywhere. I tripped over an empty bag.” Despite the situation, Daichi gives Suga a smug glance as if to say ‘I told you so’. Sugawara rolls his eyes and snorts, folding his arms.
“Well, we can’t help it. I suppose we’d better tidy up. Again.” Ten minutes later sees them back in the gymnasium. This time, all but Tsukishima and Ennoshita are on sweeping duty. They’re putting the leaves in the bags.
“Oh? What’s this? Are the volleyball club slacking? Shouldn’t you be done by now?” Daichi stops mid-sweep and freezes. The broom clatters to the floor as he clenches his fists at his sides instead.
He knows that voice anywhere. His long time rival since first year, the one he fights with in corridors, the one he argues with in class, the one who made him set off the fire alarm-
“Kazuki.” His killing intent leaks into his voice and it like he radiates an aura of black and purple fire, burning with rage and yet chillingly cold. With empty eyes, he turns to see the Captain of the basketball team standing smugly in the doorway, leaning against it with his arms crossed and a self-satisfied smirk.
“Getting slow in your old age, Sawamura?” Head low, he holds his hand out flat next to his vice captain.
“Pass me the fucking broom, Suga.” Glaring at the basketball captain with a matching expression of anger, Sugawara is like a volcano. Instead of passing Daichi his own broom, he snatches one from Narita and gives that to Daichi.
Slowly, Daichi stalks towards the door, gripping the broom like a weapon. Sugawara is righ on his heels, pep in his step as he grins with murderous glee. The basketball captain gulps. Recognising the danger, he stumbles out the gymnasium and breaks into a run.
“Kazuki… GET BACK HERE.”
“And pay with your life!” Daichi and Sugawara chase after him like rabid hounds, the rest of the club staring after them in a mixture of confusion and shock. Narita is the first to move, sighing and picking up Daichi’s abandoned broom.
“Doncha think they should have just asked him to leave?”
Ennoshita smacks the back of Noya’s head so hard, he falls into the nearest pile of autumn leaves.