On the last day of the training camp, the alumni came together to play a practice set against some of the current third years.

"Are you ready, Bokuto?" Kuroo grinned as he draped an arm over his friend. "We've got Sugawara as our setter, so don't be going easy just because your favourite setter's on the other team."

"I'd never!" he gasped. Bokuto then turned to Yaku. "We have nothing to fear because our team has the greatest libero!"

"Don't make me blush," he scoffed. "The other team has strong floor defence too. Still, with me and Daichi's steady receives together, I think we'll get a strong start."

Daichi smirked and slapped Asahi's back. "You're not nervous, are you, Ace?"

"Don't say that, Daichi! Bokuto's on the team, he's the ace!"

"And you're still a timid little pushover," Sugawara rolled his eyes.

On the opposite end of the court, Akaashi eyed their opponents. He had been dubbed the captain of the team because no one else volunteered. "We have to watch out for Bokuto's cross-court spikes."

"I'll make sure to tighten his cross-courts if our libero can back me up for his straights."

Nishinoya gave the second-year blocker from Fukurodani a thumbs up. "I've got your backs, not to worry."

"I'm pretty confident with my back attacks, so if I could hit a few of those, Akaashi?"

"Sure, Tanaka," he agreed, "and we'll have Tora and Ennoshita spiking from the front."

"We're gonna win this, regardless of them being our upperclassmen," Tora cheered.

Ennoshita frowned, "With Bokuto, Asahi and Kuroo on offence and Daichi and Yaku on defence, I highly doubt it. But points for participation, right?"

Emiko had been listening on the conversation. She shrieked from her spot as the referee and leaned over the net. She took the whistle out of her mouth and pointed at Ennoshita. "What was that Captain? Stop being such a downer. You're jinxing yourselves."

"We're not going to win," he deadpanned. "You haven't seen them play before. They're amazing."

"With me as the ref, you will win."

"She's going to cheat," Mirae frowned. "Emiko get down from there you can't be a referee if you won't be impartial."

"I am impartial," she snapped, then added in a low mutter, "impartial and in favour of Team Ennoshita."

Mirae pinched her nose because she heard every word. "Get down from the ladder before you fall over again. You're not even the referee, Kageyama is."

"Whatever, I'm keeping the whistle."

She ignored his hands and nearly broke her ankle trying to get down.

The set would be played up to 25 points. It was a friendly game between friends, a way for them to hangout and forget the troubles of exams.

After multiple services aces, exceptional receives, targeted blocks, and powerful spikes the scoreboard read 25:20. The alumni had won.

Everyone helped clean the gym for the final time. They reorganized the storage rooms and cleaned the equipment. The sun was beginning to set when the new found friends said their goodbyes and piled into their buses.

Karasuno's team stood before their alumni and bowed in thanks.

"You've got a great team," Daichi smiled. "The third years are dependable, the second years are confident, the first years have a strong drive." He glanced at the three girls who were listening with tearful looks, "and dedicated managers. You guys can make it to nationals again, I know it."

"Yes, make it to nationals so we can come and cheer for you guys!"

"Suga, you say that like it's easy," Asahi commented under his breath. "But yeah, you guys can do it!"

"Thank you!"

"Will Kiyoko be joining you?"

Daichi laughed, shrugging his shoulders. "We met up with her last week. She actually asked about you, Tanaka."

Tanaka's eyes widened and he fainted in Kinnoshita's arms.

On the other side of the bus, Bokuto stood with his hands on his hips. He was grinning at the present Fukurodani team, a feeling of pride swelling his chest. "Akaashi, don't worry. Suga's sets may be awesome, but your's are still the best!"

"Thank you, Bokuto-san."

"Oh, and your first years are super excited. Make sure they get time on the court to play in games too, okay?"

"Yes Bokuto, san."

"Now, remember to always stretch before and after practice, everyone. If you don't, you'll hurt your muscles."

"Right."

"And you guys are eating healthy, right? I can recommend you a number of healthy diet videos and bloggers who-"

Akaashi pulled him into a hug, successfully cutting off his rambling. "We'll be fine, Bokuto-san. Don't worry about us."

"Right," he sniffled. "Well then, I'll come and see you guys play at nationals, okay? I'll be in the front of the cheering stands! Oh wait, I have to go and get An-chan's number before she leaves. bye everyone!"

Kuroo watched with a smile as the owl headed boy ran towards Karasuno. His smile froze off his face when he heard Yaku berating one specific person on Nekoma's team.

"Lev, have you grown a hunchback?" he asked. The funny part was that he sounded serious. "Is your spine permanently curved now? Have you seen a doctor? I don't think you should be playing. It's making your blocks all flimsy and ineffective. You need to straighten up your blocks or the others won't be able to pick up the ball."

Before he could process the verbal attacks or retaliate, Yaku turned away from him.

"Inuoka your spikes are amazing," he praised. "I can see that you've put in a lot of practice building muscle. Keep up the work. Shibayama, your receives are balanced and I can see that you truly have the team's back. I am so proud of you."

Kuroo shook his head, a ghost of a smile lifting his lips. "You guys have a team that can make it to nationals." He looked at Lev, "keep at it, you're doing just fine."

After exchanging some more inspiring words, Kuroo and Yaku looked at Kenma. His eyes were fixed on the glowing screen of his PSP.

"You're a great captain, glad you accepted the position."

He shrugged his shoulders, "No one else would take it."

"I literally offered to accept the position."

"Shut up Tora."

"We'll be seeing you all at nationals," Kuroo looked over at Kenma, "except for you. We facetime all the time, so I'll see you tonight."

Nekoma bowed, saying a thanks to their upperclassman.

Mirae and Yachi hugged Mako and Miyanoshita, tearful eyes staining each other's shirts as they promised to keep in touch. Akari had just finished piling the bags into the bus when she realized Karasuno was starting to leave. She ran and jumped onto Emiko.

"The next time I see you, I'm going to challenge you to a cookie eating contest."

She turned around and grinned. "Deal, and this time, we'll make sure the other managers aren't around to stop us."

Haru watched them from the side. When she caught their eyes, she scoffed and trudged onto her bus.

Emiko frowned.

"Don't worry about her, okay?" Akari smacked her back. "You're awesome and you don't need to change at all. Plus Haru is still immature, you know? I bet next time we see her, she'll be a completely different person."

"If I have to see Haru again, I will literally gouge out my eyes."

"Ooh," her blue eyes twinkled, "you could make so much money if you sell them on the black market!"

"Thanks for the idea," Emiko deadpanned, "I'll split the profit with you."

Takita was speaking in hushed whispers to someone on his phone. He ran his hand through his hair, pulling and making it dishevelled as he walked towards the bus. He froze in his steps and held the phone to his chest. "Emiko, did you grab my pillow?"

"It's mine for the bus ride."

"Shut-up no it's not."

"We'll share, it's okay."

"No it's not," he snapped.

"Dude, chill," Shoji nudged him. "Mirae has extra pillows."

"But that's Minori's pillow. I borrowed it for the trip."

Emiko's jaw dropped. She stared at him with wide eyes. "Who's Minori? Takita? Hey, don't ignore me! Who is Minori?"

"His girlfriend," Shoji muttered. He glanced at Akari and then hurried away. 

Akari hugged herself, a faint-hearted gasp leaving her lip. "Sho-chan! Don't leave without saying goodbye to me!"

His face burned a bright red as he looked over his shoulder and attempted a glare.

"Do you want me to give you his number?"

"No," Akari beamed. She wrestled the butterflies in her stomach and winked at Emiko. "I want him to give me his number."

Bokuto raised his hands in the air and cheered as he came barrelling, "An-chan!"

"Hello Bokuto-san," she held her hands out to stop him in case he couldn't stop himself. Akaashi grabbed onto the back of his shirt, giving her an embarrassed smile.  "Hi Akaashi-san."

"An-chan, I'll send you articles on self-care, okay?" He crossed his arms over his chest and narrowed his eyes, but the goofy grin on his face removed his attempt at being stern. "Make sure you read them thoroughly and do what they recommend. You don't want to be getting worry lines at such a young age."

"Bokuto-san, don't spam her, she'll-"

"Sure!" Mirae nodded enthusiastically. "And I'll send you articles on the benefits of eating kiwano!"

"Sounds great! Oh, and I'll watch the first episode of Yua loves Eichii tonight."

"Please let me know your thoughts on it!"

"I will. Expect an academic critical review."

Akaashi blinked. "Bokuto-san was here for a few hours at best. How are you such good friends already?"

"He's easy to talk to."

"An-chan is awesome."

"Right," he stared between them with knitted brows. "Mirae, I wanted to thank you for practicing with us during the training camp."

"Of course, it's not a problem. Oh, keep me updated on your first years. I'm excited to know how they play with the rest of the team."

"Of course."

"You should come to Tokyo more often," Bokuto slung his arm over Akaashi. "Then the three of us can hang out! There's this new All-You-Can-Eat Korean Barbeque that we have to try. And after, we can go bowling and-"

Akaashi pushed his away. "Say goodbye, Bokuto-san. Her bus is leaving."

He pouted at the realization.

"You know, my sister and my dad live in Yokohama which is less than an hour away from Tokyo. Next time I visit them, we should make plans."

Akaashi could feel himself smiling at the sight of his best friend enveloping Karasuno's manager in a hug. He smiled because unlike most people, she hugged him back with as much enthusiasm and responded with as much excitement in her voice. 

His eyes grew wide when he remembered that on the first day, she avoided shaking hands because of mild germaphobia. Setting germs aside, many people tended to dodge Bokuto's spine-crushing hugs, leaving him to console his friend for the next hour or two.

"What's wrong, Akaashi?" Bokuto asked as they walked away.

He threw one last look over his shoulder. "She's interesting."

Banko and Hibiki were supposed to be helping their manager load the bags onto the bus,  but they decided they would much rather get some last minute cardio in from around the school. As they made their way back, they could hear Akaashi calling their names.

They couldn't leave without saying goodbye though.

The boys slapped 'Tome's back, appearing on either side of him. "You've improved a lot this week 'Tome." Banko ruffled his hair, "You're going to be one scary Libero once you get everything down."

Hibiki nodded. "We look forward to playing against you at nationals. You won't have to worry, we know you'll be on the court."

"You guys will too," Yaotome smiled. He gave them both a fist bump. "I won't go easy on you guys."

Shoji and Takita glared from inside the bus.

"How is it that 'Tome, who doesn't talk to anyone, made friends at this camp and we didn't?"

"Well, we were on babysitting duty with our managers. And your face is scary. What'd you expect."

"You didn't do any babysitting," Shoji turned around and scoffed, "that was all me."

Takita smirked as he closed his eyes and snuggled into his pillow. "Says the one that allowed Bokuto Senpai to kidnap Mirae for six hours- If you hit me I'll tell Mirae and she won't sit with you on the bus."

|Note|

And that's a wrap on training camps! We loved writing these chapters and experimenting with their voices.

We've got some drama planned out for the next few chapters ;)

Hint hint, it includes Aoba Johsai

Please don't forget to vote!

|End Note|