Moonrise

The group stuck together still, unwilling to part ways just yet. So, they all gathered at Sendai Station, chatting and just being together until the last possible moment. But even then, the last train to Tokyo came too soon. Eita, Yachi, and Noya stayed on the platform, and waved at their friends, who were waving back as the train slowly pulled out and away from Sendai.

“When do you plan to come back, Noya-san?” Yachi asked, trying her best to look happy for him, but instead looking rather sad and concerned.
“I don’t know,” he answered honestly. In contrast, his expression was excited and determined. “It might be a while. We planned on seeing quite a lot, actually.”
“Keep in touch,” Eita said simply.
“I will. See you two later! Don’t forget to invite me to the wedding!” He hugged Yachi, and shook hands with Eita, both of them squeezing hard.

Laughing, he let go and took off, running to go to his house and pack up for his early morning departure, Noya looked back. He had the distinct pleasure of seeing a grumpy Eita Semi blushing and grinning shyly, and Yachi smiling up at him.

~*~

At Tokyo Station, those left disembarked and made the mad dash to another platform. They made it with a few minutes to spare, and they all grouped around Suga and Hoshiumi.

“Keep in touch, okay?” Bokuto asked. “Let us know what’s going on.”
“Just can’t keep your nose to yourself, huh?” Hoshiumi replied with a smirk. “Don’t worry. We will.”
“Calls and texts do go both ways,” Suga gently reminded them. “Besides, we’ll be expecting invitations to your weddings.”
“Of course! We wouldn’t have it any other way,” Akaashi assured them.
“We’ll be in touch,” Tetsu said with a smirk. He left it at that, though everyone noticed the way his arm tightened around Kei’s waist.

The announcement for the train came over the PA system, along with a pleasant chime. The train itself, however, blared it’s arrival with a loud horn. They walked up to the yellow line and kept saying “See you later,” as Suga and Hoshiumi boarded the train. Within moments, they were gone, everyone waving as they did three hours before.

“I guess we’ll be seeing you soon,” Akaashi said as they walked through the station. “We can get together for dinner or something.”
“Sure,” Tetsu replied with a smile.
“I’d like that,” Kei added. “It’s going to be weird not seeing everyone else in the morning.”
“Yeah,” Bokuto agreed. “It’ll be like that for a while.”
“I know!” Yuki exclaimed as they exited the building and walked toward the line of cabs waiting. “I’ll make dinner! What do you boys want?”
No one answered for a minute. When she looked back at all of them, her face went from excitement to understanding.
“Perhaps not tonight,” she said. But, not to be deterred, she brightened up again. “Tomorrow?”
“Mom, we’re leaving for Osaka in the morning to pick up Kei’s stuff and explore the castle,” Tetsu said gently. “We’ll be back the next day.”
“And uhhh,” Bokuto seemed a little less sure of what he wanted to say, his face uncharacteristically pink and his hand on the back of his neck. “Well, you see…”
“How about next week?” Akaashi suggested. “I think we need to get back in the habit of staying in one place again.”
“Oh. Right,” she replied. “And I’m sure you two need to rest as much as the rest of us do.”
“Yeah,” Akaashi agreed. “Call me tomorrow. We’ll talk and set something up.”
“Sounds good to me,” she nodded. “Well, I guess we should head home.”
“Yeah.”
“Right. Home.”

They stood there looking at each other for several minutes, again, unwilling to part. It was Yuki who finally got them moving, clucking about them like a mother hen, ushering Bokuto and Akaashi to a cab, and hugging them tight. Once they were off, she shepherded her two boys to the next cab in line, got them all in the cab, and rode all the way to her house in comfortable silence.

~*~ Six Months Later ~*~

“Congratulations, you two!” Suga said as he shook Eita’s hand.
“We knew you’d be the first to get married,” Kei said to Yachi as he hugged her.
“We thought you two would be the first,” she replied, smiling at him, and then back at Eita. “But, if I’m honest, I’m kinda glad we were first.”
Kei gasped dramatically. “You’ve been corrupted! Eita’s competitive nature has rubbed off on you!”
“Shut it, Beanpole,” Eita growled, his eyes glinting and his smile looking rather deadly.
“Geez, Eita, lighten up,” Tetsu responded, slapping the man none too gently on the back. “He’s not wrong, though.”
“Alright, already,” Bokuto came up, acting like the peacemaker, but looking like he’d join any fight ready to erupt. “This is a wedding, not a brawl.”
“It’s not even a brawl,” Akaashi chimed in calmly.
“Yet,” Noya and Hoshiumi said at the same time.

As the men started bickering, Yuki and Kaori swooped in and saved an anxious Hitoka, taking her over to the buffet table and giving her a flute of champagne.

“They’ll stop eventually,” Yuki assured her as they sat down at a table and watched.
“I didn’t think Kei would be the one to start it, to be honest,” Kaori said.
“He was always the antagonist when we were in school,” Hitoka told them, smiling. “But you know what?”
“What?”
“Kiyoko once told me that Crows will always scrap with each other, but when it comes to something important, they band together. Just like a team. And that’s what they are.”
The ladies all shared a look and a smile, and then sat back to watch the men continue fussing with each other.

~*~ Ten Months Later ~*~

“I can’t believe they actually thought of doing this,” Hoshiumi said to Noya as they walked to their side of the net.
“Does it matter? This is going to be so much fun!”
“Well, Koutaro was one of the biggest fools for volleyball back in high school, and he’s been playing part time on one of the V. League teams,” Tetsu tried to explain from the opposite side.
“And even though he isn’t as obvious about it, Keiji’s just as bad,” Kei added from beside Tetsu.
“Well, this is certainly going to be interesting,” Eita said, joining Noya and Hoshiumi. “Including myself, there are three setters.”
“Nah. I’ll be a wing spiker today,” Suga smiled at him.
“Still, it’ll be interesting. Who else besides the newlyweds have actually played since high school?”
“Well, we might be a bit rusty, but I’m sure it’ll come back to us.”
“God, I hope so.”

So, it was at the reception for Bokuto and Akaashi’s wedding that they played a long overdue game of volleyball. They’d split up into two teams of four: Bokuto, Akaashi, Tetsu and Kei on one team; Suga, Noya, Eita and Hoshiumi on the other. Kaori volunteered to be the net referee, Hitoka would be the manager for both teams, and Yuki would be the cheering section.

It went as expected. The newlyweds’ team won the set.
And they all decided to stop after that. Not because any of them would admit to being out of practice, but because Bokuto and Akaashi had a train to catch to start their honeymoon in Okinawa. They’d be late if Bokuto got his way and played another set.

The group saw them off with much cheering and throwing of steamers. They cheered even louder as the two kissed before boarding the train, and waved wildly as the train took off for the first leg of their trip.

“You two are next,” Noya said as they made their way out of the station.
“Yeah, I guess we are,” Kei replied, smiling at Tetsu.
“Set a date yet?”
“No. We’re going to wait until the time feels right.”
“Huh. Would’ve thought you’d be the first to get married. Every time you were together, it was like we couldn’t pry you apart.”
“We thought we should kind of… start over,” Kei started to explain.
“We’d only known each other for about two and a half weeks,” Tetsu joined them. “Even though we hit it off pretty quickly, we didn’t have too much time to get to know each other. So, we thought it best to wait a while before rushing in.”
“That, and we had to settle into our lives again,” Kei said. “That’s going to take a bit more time.”
“Got it,” Noya replied, grinning at them. “Well, when you do finally decide to get married, I want to be the first to know.”
“Well, yeah. Duh,” Kei answered him. “Wouldn’t be fair to keep my best man in the dark.”
“What?!”
“You heard me.”
“Well… okay…”

Kei and Tetsu smiled at each other, having successfully managed to make Noya speechless.