Chapter Text
"Kuroo-san, all the bags are already set on the trunk! We're ready to leave at any time!", Shibayama announced, standing in front of his captain with a proud smile on his round face.
The whole team had gathered outside of Nekoma, and the last half-hour had been spent organizing the baggage on the limited space of their van's trunk, kindly borrowed and driven by their also kind coaches, both already waiting at the front. Luckily, all of Kenma's time playing Tetrix had made the organizing much easier, everything going as smoothly as possible.
"Good job", the captain smiled, ruffling the first year's hair before walking towards his team and clapping his hands to get their attention, "Listen up! We're now about to enter the van to get to our camping site in Mount Mitake, and the trip is something less than two hours and a half (1) so try not to disturb our coaches. We'll stop two times for bathroom purposes and to change the driver, so please don't ask how long is going to take because I will hit you. Are we clear?"
Being as late as it was (00:30 am) (2), the only answers he got was a few groans and head nods, yawns and sleepy faces. Not even Lev or Yamamoto, usually the loudest, were feeling energetic enough to do much more. It made Kuroo happy.
"Good! Now get in, you all can sleep inside"
And as if someone had turned on a switch, Lev almost teleported to the van's door, aching for a place to take a nap. Unfortunately, he forgot to bend down and a loud thud followed by a curse could be heard by the entire team. Kuroo's weird laugh helped with the realization.
"Fuck!", the young blocked cursed, grabbing his forehead with small tears forming on his eyes, "Fuck, fucking small door, fuck!", he kept cursing, for everyone's amusement and genuine surprise. Apparently, lack of sleep made Lev's curse filter unexistent.
Yamamoto clung onto his stomach, cackling and pointing with his finger as the others didn't bother to hide their shaking shoulders.
"How many times do I have to tell you to watch where you are going?", Yaku reprimanded, patting the younger's shoulder while walking inside yet unable to repress a smirk, "You are going to get a concussion one of these days if you're not careful enough"
"I know!", Lev groaned, bending his back to get inside, Inuoka, Shibayama and Teshiro behind him. Inuoka, being the second closest to Lev's height, friendly patted his back, "Just be more careful next time. Hey, come sit with me at the back, it's wider than the other sits", he offered, pointing at the places he had named.
Lev smiled widely, hurrying to the corner seat and putting his handbag down, "Thanks a lot! I have some snacks Alisa gave me for the trip, would you like one? Here!", he offered aloud, extending a cereal bar to his friend.
"You should keep it for later, the trip is going to be a bit long", Teshiro advised, dropping his bag on the sit in front, Shibayama by his side nodding in agreement.
"You're right! I'll give you one bar too, but later! That's better, isn't it? Let's play something in the meanwhile!" Lev cheerfully replied, shaking his cereal bar before putting it back on his bag.
Kenma groaned as he sat beside Kuroo, "Great, now he's loud again", and Yaku, who was sitting with Kai in the place in front of them, couldn't help but snicker.
"Yeah, headshots are often effective to get him to react"
"You see, this is why we call you demon senpai", Kuroo intervened, closing his eyes, "If he gets too loud I'll trust you to take care of it", statement causing Kenma to scowl at the implications.
As Yamamoto and Fukunaga found their sit by the left side, the van's engine roared and the vehicle started its way down the almost empty concrete path, the sounds of usual traffic still hours away. By the back, Shibayama was trying to convince Lev to get some sleep (but Kuroo thought it was mostly for everyone's benefit more than Lev's) and Yamamoto was watching a comedy stand-up along Fukunaga, who even though quiet as always seemed to be having fun.
Everyone else was trying to sleep and, well, is not like a few extra hours could do any harm. So, trusting his team, Kuroo decided to close his eyes and relax.
***
He only got woken up later, when someone roughly slapped his face.
"What the f-"
"And he lives!", a mocking voice cheered as Kuroo blinked his eyes open, looking around in confusion.
"Kenma-san, I didn't know you could slap a face that hard!"
"I have practised"
"Are we sure he doesn't have a concussion?"
"I don't! And what the hell, Kenma? Why was the slap for?!", Kuroo growled, rubbing the stinging of his skin.
Kenma shrugged his shoulders, but he had a sly smile barely visible, "You weren't waking up"
"It's been two hours!", Yaku announced, resting his arms on the back of the seat, "We didn't want to wake you last time but the coach said it was better to do it now than to wait until we arrive"
"I'm sure that doesn't include slapping my face!", he squealed, standing up to get off the van, after the others.
"It worked", was everything Kenma say, getting out before Kuroo could reply.
The place they had stopped was a humble stop, a little hut-like store that was open for some reason, and some old small toilets by the side. Nekomata's voice was the first he heard after getting out, "Kuroo! I see you slept well!", the coach laughed, too amused by the situation for Kuroo's hurt pride.
"Yeah, it was... uh, good while it lasted"
"Go to the toilet and stretch your legs, we won't stop until we arrive", were his words as he opened a can of beer and took a sip, "Naoi almost fell asleep before, so I'll be driving all the way left!"
Blinking in surprise, Kuroo nodded, only then noticing how full his bladder was. As he made his way to the bathroom, he saw the others scattered around the store, buying cheap groceries or simply walking around.
Getting out of the store, Lev hit his head again, the store having been built for smaller people.
"Damnit", he cursed, rubbing his forehead before apologising to the slightly intimidated owner. Yaku, by his side, only sighed and playfully poked his ribs, "Watch where are you going, you beanpole. You're going to break something one of these days"
"I know! I really do, but sometimes I just forget..."
"But Lev-", Shibayama asked, munching at some chips Inuoka had shared with him, "- that didn't happen as often at the middle of the year. What happened?"
" What happened is that this behemoth-", Yamamoto interrupted by using one of Yaku's usual insults, suddenly an arm wrapped around the silver hair's shoulder to get him to bend down and mess with his hair, "- has grown even taller!"
"Tora-san, please don't mess with my hair!", Lev whined, futilely trying to get away from his senpai's iron grip.
"Wait, really?", Yaku asked, his jaw wide open at the thought of Lev's almost infuriating growth rate, "Lev, how tall are you?", and at his question, Shibayama also perked up, curious.
Lev's face lit up, forgetting his fight to get the iron grip of his neck, "1.97 meters! I checked yesterday, I've grown another centimetre!"
To their surprise, Fukunaga snorted.
"You're gonna fall, Babel"; he said, snickering to himself with no further elaboration.
***
About half an hour after Kuroo left the bathroom, the coach called the team to get back into the vehicle, because despite already being on the last section there were still around forty minutes on the road to reach the destination. Coach Naoi slept peacefully in the passenger seat while Nekomata drove with a pleased smile on his face and a half-empty can of beer by his side.
In the back, where the boys were travelling, a little trouble had broken out.
Lev, who had grown bored with resting and ignored Shibayama's plea of going back to sleep, was as cheerful and hyper as ever, almost vibrating on his seat and eager to do something.
"Could you stop fidgeting so much?", Yaku growled, feeling already the incoming headache.
"But Yaku-san, I'm bored! And I don't want to sleep, I've been doing that since we left," the first-year boy complained, pouting in disgust at the expectation of staying still and sitting for who knows how long.
It was not something he had said to the rest of the team, consequence more of a senseless shame bathed in excuses that he told himself said every time he thought about it than of distrust in his companions, but Lev held a deep dislike against closed and small spaces. Although not on all occasions because despite his large size he managed to hide in tight places every time he played hide and seek with the rest of the team.
What he could not bear were the narrow places for prolonged periods, detesting road trips, plane flights and even getting on the train during rush hour (even when most people stayed away from him), causing him some chest tightness and a constant tingling sensation crawling under the skin.
His first reaction, always, was to move as much as he could, even if it was spinning around on his seat, to drown down the itch.
"Think of something else. I know, have you tried playing cards? You said you brought a deck," suggested the libero.
Lev opened his mouth and eyes in surprise; how could he have forgotten about the deck? He quickly rummaged through his backpack and once he found it, he held it up adoringly as if it were gold, his emerald eyes shining with excitement, "We can't get bored with this!", he cheered, shaking it towards Teshiro, who the first-years knew was good at shuffling cards.
Just the instant that Yaku allowed himself a sigh of relief, the first-year giant quickly turned around and shook his shoulders, "Play with us, Yaku-san! It will be fun, we can play Crazy Eights and Go Fishing, and you are very clever so you will not have problems! "
Yaku sighed with resignation, knowing that there was no way to say no to the four pairs of puppy eyes that looked at him with Great Expectations (3).
What the hell? Since when the first years held so much power?
"Well, I'll show you first years how to play properly, so pay attention. Especially your Lev, I don't want to repeat myself."
***
Not very long after, the car roughly stopped on his tracks, the sudden lack of movement launching away a few of the more distracted passengers.
"Holy shit Lev, are you okay?", Yaku laughed, fairly surprised because he didn't know that Lev's huge body could flip in the air so easily
"Tora!", Fukunaga worriedly called, split between picking up his friend or laughing at his little disgrace.
"C'mon Naoi, don't give me that look!", Nekomata mocked, still smiling when he turned around to see his baffled students, some of them still on the ground, "We're here!", he exclaimed, signalling to the outside with his arm, "It's property of an old friend of mine's!"
Being still hours away from breaking dawn, the pitch-black sky didn't let them see anything but the shape of some seemingly old wooden cabins spread around the place, a few grills and lunch tables barely visible accompanying every edification. It had more of a western-ish type of build, way less familiar than the more traditional and common ryokan they had expected to sleep in when their coach had told them he knew a cheap place to stay at.
"She doesn't get as many visitors as others camping grounds cause this place is not near the way to the shrine at the top of the mountain and it's also a bit old, but it's good nonetheless", the old coach told them, as he opened the door to get out, "Oh, there she is. And she brought her husband! I knew she'd wait for us"
In front of one of the cabins, smiling broadly and with her arms wide open in warm welcome, an old woman stood tall in her short stature, wearing an old cherry yukata and geta sandals, her grey hair tied up in a high, loose bun, a bandana keeping the hair strands out of her face. By her side, an old man with as many wrinkles as their coach and a polite yet warm smile had his hand on her shoulder, also wearing geta sandals and a blue yukata.
"Welcome!", she happily greeted, flailing her arms towards the newly arrived, "Welcome to the Noraneko Camping Ground! (4)"
(1). Actually, Mount Mitake is around 1 hour and 43 mins away from Tokyo, but I've never made the trip by myself so I'll assume that plus the traffic it's around two hours and a half caus for real, even if you´re in Japan you can't make such a trip in so little time. Once again, it's a rough estimate.
(2) Just to clarify, they gather in front of Nekoma at around midnight of the 24th (Sunday) and they start their trip half past midnight (Monday 25th)
(3) Yes, that was a reference
(4) This is not a real camping place, I just made up a lodge where the kids could stay cause my google tabs are increasing and my internet connection is shitty. "Noraneko" (野良猫) means "Stray Cat" ( 野良="Nora", stray and 猫="neko", cat)
And so it ends the first chapter! I hope you guys enjoy it, and please bear with me because this is just the introduction and I'm trying to set the ground for what comes next, I apologize if it got a little boring. Please comment and leave kudos, those really help a lot! I'll update as soon as possible!