As people slowly dispersed, the store growing quiet after half the team had left. Charles let out a sigh, he looked back at the few member who were left before a smile grew on his face, "See you tomorrow!" Charles waved before he began out the store, giving a thanks to the shopkeeper on the way out. As he walked home, Charles slipped his thumbs under the straps of his backpack and kept his eyes on the ground as passive thoughts floated through his mind. Hatsuo was really almost as tall as him, and he was a whole year younger! But what bothered Charles was his confidence, just by putting the pair next to each other one would assume Hatsuo was the better player by how he held himself. Was he a better player? Charles didn't want to be the reason the team loses because his blocking capabilities simply couldn't compete. Charles let out a huff as he arrived at his home. He knew he had other things to worry about, like dinner and homework... but he couldn't get volleyball off his mind and he couldn't stop thinking about Hatsuo's competitive smirk. As Charles entered the building and closed the door behind him, the boy suddenly stretched his arms up. Charles could easily place his palms on the roof, and he stood like that for a moment as he wondered if his arm span was longer than Hatsuo's, he did still have that 6 centimetre advantage. A soft noise from behind Charles caused the boy to gasp and spin around, trying to act like he was taking off his shoes as a coat of sheepish pink blush covered his cheeks. The boy calmed at the sight of a long hound dog nose examining his ankles. "Suzi, is Maman and Pere asleep?" Charles whispered, using the french terms of affection for his parents, as he bent down the pat the brown and white Basset Hound, pushing the wrinkled from her eyes before picking her up. Charles crept to his room with the dog slung across his folded arms before practically tossing her onto the bed and collapsing beside her. Charles told Suzi all about his day in a hushed tone before getting up to shower and brush his teeth, forgetting to eat and leaving his homework for the morning as he struggled to even keep his eyes open.
Yoshi watched as everyone left before shrugging. All of the seijoh kids seemed pretty tall, even the round one, so he doubted any of them payed libero- not that he really cared. They were kinda an annoying bunch, to be honest, but Yoshi didn't pay much attention until right before the left as they brought up competition. Yoshi rolled his eyes, no shit they were going to practice. But they also weren't going to lose. Yoshiro went to buy his snacks, muttering to himself at how much money he was spending as he took out his wallet. With a bag in each hand, full of food, and his backpack heavy on his shoulders, the boy only made it a couple of feet outside of the store before huffing at how much of a pain the walk home was going to be. Yoshi groaned before pulling out his phone and making a call, the phone rang for a moment until being picked up by what sounded like a monster as screaming erupted from the other side. Yoshi, with an amused expression, pulled the phone away from his ear and waited for the yelling to die down before speaking to what one could assume was his mother and explaining why he was going to be home so late. When he finally ended the call, Yoshi, who had done his very best to guilt his mother into picking him up, had no other choice but to start the long trek home. By long, it was only about 25 minutes, but to Yoshi it felt like an eternity and he makes sure to complain about it every time. When the boy finally stood in front of his home, he thought about not going in but ended up dragging his feet to the door and entering stealthily... not stealthily enough, apparently, as he could hear the thud of footsteps from the stairs on the opposite side of the house. Yoshi rolled his eyes and prepared himself. After being scolded for a fair amount of time, because he had forgotten that he was supposed to walk his siblings home from school, Yoshi eventually was freed to go to his room. Yoshi's younger sisters were twins, and, in his opinion, the most terrible creatures on earth. He did his best to avoid them while in the house, but they must've been woken by his mother's yelling as they bombarded him with questions as he walked down the hall. Rini and Yua trailed nosily behind Yoshi right up until he closed the door on their faces and locked it, releasing a giggle before retreating to their own room. Yoshi's night was cut short when he fell asleep on accident after sitting on his bed to take his shoes off.
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The weeks following the first day of practice seemed to have gone rather quickly. As the load of school work increased, practice became like a sort of getaway where one didn't have to worry about anything beside volleyball. Following a suggestion from the coaches, Yoshi had begun working on reading his opponents hits and the setter's movements more. He did his best to improve his concentration on the court, and by the end of the first week he was was hardly letting any balls hit the floor, granted by the second week he was wearing out. If there was anything in the world that Yoshi hated above all else, it was conditioning. Just running for now reason. He didn't even like to think about it, but after a less than friendly warning about playing time, Yoshi was forced to step up his game as far as stamina. Charles had showed drastic improvement over the weeks of regular practice, what was once just an athletic body and brute strength was turning into a huge advantage for the boy. Between practice blocking and going home to study blocking, he was growing more and more conscious about how to spot where the ball is going. His spiking was still far from perfect, but if given instruction on where to aim the ball he could almost do it. His serves hadn't changed much, going to the same spot at the back of the court almost every time.
The day of the training camp couldn't have come quicker for Charles, who was extremely excited and equally nervous. He had never been to Tokyo, and he had never been on an overnight stay away from his parents either. The tall boy was practically trembling as his the round, white minivan pulled up beside the bus. The boy looked out the window, grinning excitedly at the sight of his teammates before turning back to his mother. Charles gave the older woman a kiss on the cheek and said his goodbyes before reaching behind him to pat Suzi, who's panting could be heard the entire car ride. As Charles stepped out of the car, he went to the back to get his large duffel bag , using his body to shield Suzi from escaping "Au revoir Maman." Charles gave a final goodbye and kissed Suzi's forehead before stepping away from the car and standing in the middle of the road as he watched his car drive away. A smile tugged at the corners of Charles' lips as he sighed before he quickly joined his teammates on the side walk, being sure to wave a good morning to everyone. When Charles caught sight of his friends his face lit up and he skipped towards them. Charles considered them his friends over the rest of the team, and while it's never explicitedly been said it seemed that the group that had scrimmaged on that first day were closer than the other students. Miyaji and Minako were fairly quiet, but Charles respected them a lot. Even though he's the same age, and a lot bigger, as the pair Charles just sort of feels safer and more comfortable following them around. Toba and Shiro were a bit of a handful, but they were very friendly and a lot of fun to be around. Charles took an especial liking to Shiro, who he prefers to spend time with out of anyone on the team. Yoshi was a bit odd, he mostly did his own thing but was always hanging around like some sort of ghost, still Charles liked him. Charles waved at the group of three who had already arrived, stopping once close enough as a wide grin lit his features, "Hello, good morning. I'm so excited!" Charles announced in between breaths.
Yoshi groaned as the group of students came into view, some seemed more chatty than others while the coaches hovered about and kept attendance. Yoshi, who had dragged his feet to the school, was less than glad to be going to this camp. It seemed exhausting, both physically and socially. And he thought their 2 hour practices each day were perfectly substantial without having to get other teams involved. The boy was still in pajama bottoms, a pair of black and white checkered pants that hung over his white tennis shoes, as well as a black hoodie with the hood drawn over his messy hair. Yoshi's bright blue eyes were tired as they scanned the area before he approached the group. Yoshi had both his earbuds in, and was hoping they couldn't have to stand in the cold for too long as he found an uninhabited spot and stood with his arms crossed. The boy's bright pink duffel bag was heavy as it hung across his back, while it had his clothes of course, most of the space in the bag was taken up by various snacks which would likely be gone after the ride to the shore. Yoshi stood for a bit before growing bored, they were still waiting for just a couple more kids. The boy spotted the group who he tended to hang around, mostly because the older kids were scary. Yoshi thought that the first and second years were good, though it's not like he was an expert. Compared to the kids he played with in middle school, this team seemed like it had some real potential. It's not like he considered them buddies of anything, but since they were good and volleyball and didn't shoo him away, Yoshi found their company somewhat better than being alone. Yoshi crept towards the group, taking out a half eaten Rice Krispie from his pocket and peeling back to wrapper for another bite. The boy gave a half hearted nod but didn't say anything as he stood with the others.
