Brackets

"You could have held back, you know…"

"Speak for yourself, look at my neck."

Mahiru's face turned a deep shade of red when she saw Haruto touch some of the red blemishes placed on his neck. 

Remembering what happened just a few minutes ago, Mahiru cleared her throat and adjusted the bathrobe she had on. Subconsciously touching her own neck.

"I-I'll use your bathroom for a minute!"

"There's some extra towels to the right of the door."

Haruto spoke up but the pace in which Mahiru was running was enough to tell him that his words fell on to deaf ears.

Now alone in the room, he sat down in his chair and covered his eyes with his hands. "She was way too lewd…"

The tone of her voice, her face and her actions all brought his mind into overdrive that it felt like the Spring High Finals all over again. 

He had a difficult time controlling himself but it seemed like his will was challenged considering that Mahiru's neck didn't look too different from his.

"Thankfully I brought a turtle neck or else the others would have noticed." 

Thinking about his family, he shrugged it off and didn't think about it too much as they probably wouldn't have cared. He would have gotten some smirks and remarks from his dad and sister but nothing too extreme.

However he wanted to spare himself from the embarrassment of that teasing.

Mahiru has already cemented herself as part of the family so the only thing they would have told them was to think carefully on their actions as it may affect their future.

Haruto also agreed with this as they were still in highschool and had a long road ahead of them so pacing themselves whenever it felt right was something they both shared.

Using a few minutes to cool his brain, Haruto stood up from the chair and grabbed his phone since Mahiru was in the bathroom. He also needed to use it after all but he wasn't in a rush.

The after effects of the hot water he soaked in was enough to keep him awake so having his attention elsewhere was a good way to pass time.

He fell onto his bed and turned on his phone to play a game that just received a new update.

"Akane said she wanted me to complete a quest so she could level the new character she got but screw that." Since his sister played multiple games, she would sometimes ask him to complete certain quests.

Saying that her brother was the best and whatnot.

But he also had an account of his own and since a new update came out, he was too lazy to do double the content himself.

"Oh, I got the new character already. Lucky me~"

Haruto smiled seeing the animation and began to screenshot his screen to show Akane later.

–RING~

Haruto flinched when he saw his screen turn black and a picture of Kageyama came up. It was him smiling awkwardly during the medal ceremony and Haruto thought it was funny so he saved it as his contact photo.

"I wonder why he's calling…?" He sat straight on the bed and placed the phone to his ear. "What's up? You usually don't call this late."

[Haruto!! Hey!! Did you get any presents for me— OI DUMBASS, STOP PUSHING ME!"

Hearing Hinata and Kageyama suddenly bickering from the other side of the phone, Haruto reeled his phone away and waited until Kageyama got his phone back.

[Sorry for that. This dumbass wanted to do some fitness training and dragged me with him.]

"You're pretty dedicated to be doing some conditioning this late." Looking at the clock it was nearing 11:00 PM.

[We started a few hours ago so it wasn't too long.]

"Just make sure you guys take a shower after since it's pretty cold outside."

[Don't worry! We're not that careless.] Hinata jumped in after hearing him and Haruto smiled wryly.

[Speaking of showers, you must be relaxing in a hot spring right now. Aren't you?] 

"I just got out to be exact~."

[Lucky bastard… Take me next time!]

"Tsutomu has been saying the same thing." Haruto let out a small laugh after hearing Hinata's request. 

The three began to make some small talk talking about their vacations so far and how it's been going. They also made some small plans to get together once he comes back.

However after all of that, Kageyama brought the conversation back to the reason he called.

[Did you check your email?]

"Not yet. Was there something?" Haruto placed his phone on speaker to see what Kageyama was talking about.

[Ukai-sensei sent the brackets for nationals.]

Haruto's finger stopped when he heard what he said and felt his heart rapidly beating.

[Haruto?]

"It's nothing. I was just opening my email."

His fingers moved quickly and scrolled through his list of emails before finally finding Ukai's name. He clicked on the message and opened the document attached.

Bold letters that said [SPRING NATIONAL TOURNAMENT MEN'S TEAMS] were located right at the top with a few paragraphs of text underneath. Haruto skimmed through and got the gist of what was written. 

It pretty much described the course in which the tournament would take. First was the structure which followed a single-elimination style or sudden death. 

There were six rounds being the: first round, second round, third round, quarterfinal, semi-final and the finals. Each day a single round is played out with the exception of day three where both third round and quarter-finals are played.

Prior to the semi-finals all matches followed a three set game and the last two rounds took the form of five sets. 

"So we're in the right bracket…" Haruto found Karasuno located on the bottom right corner and he looked through the teams they would eventually face.

"Tsubakihara Academy is our first match… I didn't see any players from this school at the Youth Camp so I need to research their players…"

[I heard they went to nationals last year but didn't do that well and got eliminated in the first round.]

Kageyama chimed in a few things he knew and Hinata also asked some questions as he was curious about the teams they would face during nationals.

The three discussed a few things and continued to talk about the other teams.

Haruto's mind began to formulate some thoughts and he continued to look through each team. His eyes grew reading the next few names and a faint smile began to appear on his face.

"Inarizaki, Nekoma, Kamomedai, Fukurodani and even Itachiyama. We sure have some big names in our way."

[Atsumu is going to be happy to be playing against us so soon…]

"Well isn't that a good thing? Japan's Best Highschool Setter vs the King of the Court. I wonder who's better~"

{.....]

Kageyama on the other side of the phone stayed silent which intimidated Hinata a bit but he shook his head and glared at Kageyama as if he was trying to protest.

[I plan on being the last one on the court so I'll be the winner.]

"Wow! Our setter is so reliable!" 

[Me too! I'm going to beat all of them myself and be the one standing on top!]

Haruto chuckled as Hinata and Kageyama began to hog the phone and argue on who would be the winner in the end.

He leaned his back onto his bed's headboard and thought about a person who could be considered Hinata's real competition when it comes to physique and skills.

'I'll send him some videos of Hoshiumi and see if he could refer to some of the skills he uses in the game.'

–CREAK

His thoughts wandered but were interrupted when he saw Mahiru coming out of the bathroom holding a hairdryer and a small pouch containing her products.

She wanted to dry her hair outside but seeing that Haruto was on the phone, she was about to go back. However Haruto stopped her and told her it was fine.

"Let's invite the others and talk about some plans we should do in regards to the teams we're facing."

[That sounds good to me. But we should plan it after Christmas since I'm traveling to my grandparents house on that day.]

"Yeah that's fine with me. I'm still away during Christmas so I'm also not available and I doubt any of the others are free as well."

Kageyama and Hinata agreed as their families also had certain plans on that day and they also wanted to spend some quality time with them.

They wrapped up what they wanted to say and Haruto told Kageyama to see if Tsukishima and the others were free to join them.

He agreed and after saying a few more things, he said bye to Haruto alongside Hinata who said one last thing about getting them some gifts which Kageyama also requested.

"Sorry for interrupting your call."

"Don't worry, we were about to stop even if you didn't come out."

Haruto waved his hand and told Mahiru to sit down after hearing her apologizing. He took the hairdryer in her hands and plugged it in and said that he'll help her dry her slightly damp hair.

"You're pretty good at this."

Mahiru melted into her seat feeling the warm heat hit her head alongside Haruto's gentle hands that brushed through her silky hair.

"Akane. Lazy. Should I say anything more?"

"I can see that…"

She giggled to herself and Haruto copied her. Focusing on the task after having his fill.

Feeling like her hair was dry enough, he placed the hairdryer somewhere and moved his fingers slowly to braid her long hair.

Mahiru was about to tell him that she could do it herself but seeing how focused he was, she didn't want to interrupt him.

"You're spoiling me too much… I should be the one doing that.." Mahiru mumbled.

"Don't worry, you already spoil me too much that I feel like I'll be useless if I don't do my cut."

"Really?"

"Of course."

Haruto leaned forwards and kissed her on the cheek before raising his hands away from her hair.

"Go check it."

Mahiru looked in a mirror after hearing Haruto's words and saw how her hair was styled in a double dutch braid style.

It was neatly done that she was debating whether or not Haruto's skill was better than her own.

"You have the strangest skills sometimes."

"I take that as you like it."

"Yes!"

Haruto smiled after seeing her bright smile and walked towards the bathroom as it was finally his turn to use it.

***

Boo! A chapter after a long time. I hope you enjoyed it. Peacu.