LET ME DOWN SLOWLY ⸻ sakusa kiyoomi.

𝐬𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧 | youth training camp, day one

Kina hadn't been looking forward to having another setter in their group, and had been wondering how to go around this fact when everyone shared their positions. As it turned out, Kina was lucky and had turned out to be the only setter in their group.

The problem? There were two liberos in the team —

And one of them was the first year libero from Itachiyama.

"Okay," Isayama Graie, the other libero — a second year from Kamomedai High — started, "as it is so very obviously stated in here, there are two liberos in this team. I'm sure that we both know the basics of the normal volleyball stuff — spiking, setting, blocking and serving — but we're both liberos for a reason, so what would you prefer, Fukushima-chan?"

Fukushima Ashima was a rather quiet person from what Kina had observed, and had thick bangs that fell to her brows and reserved brown eyes that flitted to Isayama quietly.

"I'm fine with any." Her voice, too, was soft. Not soft in the shy way, but the reserved way that just screamed my room is my spouse and I am an Introvert ™ who hates human interaction. "My serves aren't the best, though."

"How about this?" Yamashiro piped in, sounding orderly and kindly. "We can makes use of the court and the playback feature it has, why don't you guys try serving, spiking, setting and blocking and see whether it's your forte or not? This is a training camp, after all. New skills can be learnt."

Isayam cocked her head to the side, considering the girl's offer for a moment. "Sure, why not?"

Fukushima nodded.

And so, the rest of the thirty minutes were spent with the seven players working on syncing with one another and making use of each others' skills. Kina considered herself lucky, in all honesty, for Fukushima didn't seem to use the Ōkamikumo-Itachiyama feud to get in the way of training, and was indifferent with the way Kina had started to instruct everyone who would be spiking.

While everyone's cooperativeness made the somewhat awkward process of near-strangers training with each other to smoothen out, thirty minutes was just far too little time for Kina to properly analyse everyone's strengths and weaknesses, nor was it enough time to get used to the certain styles the spikers had; Kina was foreign to some of the footworks that the girls executed, and the angles of their arms and legs were a challenge to analyse under the pressure of such little time.

They utilised the replay function of the screen rather frequently, and there was literally no time for opponent-team analysis in the short timeframe. Kina hoped that the coaches knew what was going on, just watching the two groups interact with no coaching included.

Was this the sort of training she would experience in professional volleyball?

Either way, Kina thought, jogging over to the main court, taking her place at the net, it would be an interesting game to play. She got in position, hands on her bent knees, staring down the bane of her existence with determination.

Kousaka Hana glared back at her with equal ferocity, and the slam of Isayama's serve marked the start of the first set.

This would be an interesting game to play.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

ajinomoto national centre, level 2 right wing court !

"Miya!"

Tobio's cobalt blue eyes darted to the other side of the court, shoes squeaking on the blue and orange court made of some sort of special flooring material. A broad-shouldered second year in the Inarizaki High School colours of red and black stepped to the net, hands raised over his head. His fingers, splayed out, caught the ball, it making contact with the pads of his fingers for less than a fraction of a second — and sent it flying straight to the outstretched palm of a rather short second year, startlingly sharp green eyes shrewd. He jumped abnormally high, slamming the ball down to the floor across from where Tobio and the Shinzen High first year had leapt up to block.