After a few laps of the chase around the school grounds, Akari was the first one to return to the gym. She grins mischievously at knowing that stamina was never Saori's best trait, instead, it was her accuracy, leadership, and knack for nasty strategies that makes her formidable.
As for Saori, she'll be a while.
'Thinking about it, she's like a mix between Kenma of Nekoma and that Suguru guy from Nohebi. Both bad and good aspects of those two.'
After leading her around the school, it'll take a while for Saori to realize Akari just went back to their starting point.
"That was a fun run!" Akari beams as she stepped into the gym, still not looking fatigued but just perspiring a bit due to the exertion she did during her sprint.
Hinata paused and looked over, checking if his cousin was okay since he also heard of the infamy of that captain that was why he never tried to join in their practices since that person is downright scary.
Akari resumed guiding Hinata but she found him a little silent and as she stared at Hinata, the latter broke eye contact and looked guilty.
"What's up?" Akari asked.
Hinata shook in place. Akari knew it was times like this when he really felt bad (mostly horrified and scared really) but just did not know how to say what he wanted in case he offended someone he doesn't want to offend. In this case, it's Akari.
But she could somehow figure out what was wrong with this silly child, after all, she had spent months training her observation just for this kind of occasion.
"Most likely it got boring for you, huh?" Hinata's eyes widened in surprise after hearing Akari's words. "Repetitions tend to be like that."
"Rii-chan, how did you know?"
"Silly." Akari ruffles his head. It can't be helped, girls already tend to grow earlier than boys and in this guy's situation, he's more than half a head shorter than her already. Based on canon, he is not going to gain much so unfortunately, this cousin of hers will really not reach her standard, height-wise.
'Maybe I should help this guy during his growth spurt too. He is in his growing phase after all.' Akari thought.
"Did you think I did my hell's training because I enjoyed it? I just don't want to fail the next time I go to any battle. That's why I know that was too boring for you, Yo-kun."
"I..I'll still do it then." Hinata pumped his fists in determination. "Because I wanna keep playing volleyball!"
"I like that energy, though let's switch things up a bit so it doesn't feel as repetitive as before."
Hinata nods vigorously, fully agreeing with the change.
Determined or not, this time, she wants him to do a set of plyometrics to help her cousin train for more stable and higher jumps. After a set of these, she will make him do the spiking footwork just to make sure that he ingrains the movements and turn them into instinctual moves in the long run.
"You monster, how could you do this to me?!" Saori burst through before Akari could guide Hinata on the set of movements.
Akari was actually becoming irked by the frequent interruptions now when she was following a plan she made. She could only sigh in resignation though. She'll be understanding a few more times with these fellows from the girls' volleyball club she basically left on the lurch.
Though, what actually pacified Akari from berating this red pepper was seeing her face plant and remaining down, breathing heavily.
Saori silently cursed all parallel lives this monster might have.
If Lily heard her thoughts, she'd take it personally.
"Ri-Two, I did not expect you'd grow a heart and share the burden of cleaning up. Good girl!" Another person walked over to the body of Saori as she entered.
"Keychain!" Akari waved at the newcomer.
"Rewind!" greeted the other person back.
Hinata was left bewildered hearing that exchange. "English? What? Why?" His silly look was seen by the two and they both giggled, they did not explain how those unique nicknames came to be.
"D*mn it, Kiyo! Walk back! Walk back, you a*hole!" Saori, who was almost forgotten near the entrance shifted her target of rage as her glare shot daggers at Naganuma Kiyo.
Kiyo went closer to Akari in a whispering pose. "Is she on that day? Why is she so erratic this early?"
"Sa~ Isn't this normal? I'd find it more strange now if she starts acting differently." Akari joins in.
"Ne?" "Ne?" They both agreed with mischievous grins plastered on their lips.
"You trolls back to ganging up on me again!" Saori groans as she flipped over and laid on her back like a salted fish being left to dry. "First, an insensitive monster led me around the school for so long…"
"You made Ri-Two exercise willingly? I knew I could always count on you." Kiyo gives Akari two thumbs up and Akari dramatically bows at the compliment.
"And another dared to curse me to never grow again? What did I do to deserve this kind of life?" Saori ignored the two as she continued to wail her soliloquy.
The two at the side continued to banter, with Akari clapping and Kiyo doing the dramatic bows this time as if a crowd is there to cheer for her achievement.
Seeing this, Hinata inches away from them. He did not expect his cousin has this side to her too. He knew she can be playful but not to the extent of being this roguish to someone else. He did not dare stare at the senpai who was badly defeated by the two since he might attract her ire instead so he silently pray for her soul to be at peace.
If Saori knew what he was thinking, he will surely get the full brunt of the red calamity... thinking something as if she died?! The nerve!
But alas, ignorance is bliss. And peaceful.
Akari just told him to repeat the previous drill for now and that she'll make it up to him later. They both have no choice now since Akari is now preoccupied with her team's appearance.
"What's going on?" A third person wearing the school's tracksuit enters. Her big, round brown eyes scan the people in the gym. "Now now, you two senpais of the team, stop that already and start practicing. Don't let the kohais see such pathetic sides to their seniors."
She was about to walk over Saori's body since she was blocking the entrance but stopped to think for a few seconds before stepping to the side instead. It was tempting to do but seeing as she was the last to arrive among their batch, there was no one to pass the buck to anymore.
The two trolls gave their nods of approval, Mai gives a nod of her own and Saori could only gape in shock.
"Di-Did you just think of walking over me too, Mai?!"
"Saori-san, don't make me ask you another time or I'll really do it this time and it's all your fault for loitering at the entrance." Nametsu Mai walks back, as if fully intent on doing her threat, scaring Saori as she hurriedly sat up and scurried to the side instead of blocking the entrance.
"Mai-chan, you trained Saori well," Akari said as she approached the last comrade she has from the old team. "This level of conditioning is perfection."
"Hey!" Saori interjected but she was totally ignored by the three.
"I had to." Mai sighs. "You left me this big hassle after you duped me into becoming the manager. When will you take responsibility?"
"What's with this juicy gossip I'm hearing?" Kiyo joins in while looking interested. Her maroon asymmetric-cut bob swayed to the right as she tilted her head to the side, deep into absorbing the new information. "Go on, go on. Don't mind me. I never thought you both could keep this information hidden for so long."
As previously mentioned, Akari has her way of getting all forms of information at school. It was because of this person who just loves finding news to share with those she deemed worthy only. Akari is one of the few on her 'worthy list'.
Mai sighs again. "I just didn't want you all to know I didn't want to join at first."
"Who joins willingly?" Akari and Kiyo said at the same time.
Then the three of them looked toward Saori. They all thought the same thing.
...
"True. True." Mai nods in agreement, with the first question and the second matter which was left in silence.
"Hey! Stop bullying me already!" Saori approached the three as she said in indignance. "Ask what Akari said to me a while ago instead."
Kiyo and Mai exchange glances.
"Not coming back, right?" They both said, clearly having an idea of what is in Akari's mind.