「Image of Vabo-chan.」
『3rd POV』
[F/n], Komori and Sakusa walked under the lights of the street lamp as Komori was leading the group to a shopping district where his favorite dorayakis (red-bean paste & castella pancake sandwich confectionery) were. [F/n] was keeping a subtle distance as she was still sweaty from their game.
"Komori-senpai, do you know Makino-senpai? You seem very friendly with each other," [F/n] asked.
"I knew Kino-chan since middle school. Sakusa has known her since elementary school."
"Hmm... That's quite long."
"To be honest I knew them since elementary school. We went to the same school. Especially Sakusa, we are cousins. I never personally talked to them till I introduced them to volleyball."
"Even so that is quite long."
"I guess so," Komori said, "By the way how are your arms after receiving Sakusa's spikes."
"They are fine. Nothing out of the usual." She said showing one of her arms. In contrast to her comment, her arms were speckled in purple and blue.
"Yikes. Sakusa, you did a number on Mori-san." Sakusa looked over and was surprised how much power he spiked at her.
"Sorry, Mori."
"It's okay, Sakusa-senpai. It nothing unusual. It only happens if I'm up against males. I'm use to it." [F/n] responded reassuring the duo.
"I've been meaning to ask, but why do you have volleyball? If I'm correct that style isn't used tournaments or practice anymore," Komori asked pointing to her ball. Sakusa was also curious.
"It's a good luck charm. It's my first volleyball so I like having it with me. However, I need to find a supplement for it. I can't bring it to games or tournaments," She said.
"That's cool. I'm sure you'll find something."
"Thank you, Komori-senpai."
"We're here," Komori announced. They arrived at a shopping district called Hanabi Street. It was lively and festival like. Each store was serving something unique catching everyone's eye.
"It's very lively here," [F/n] stated looking around.
"The dorayaki shop is over there. Come on." They followed Komori through a lightly pack street to the shop.
"Do you want to go in? They have a window area to see how it's made," Komori asked and the little libero agreed. Two walked in leaving Sakusa to stay outside. He said he wanted to go look at the umeboshi (pickled plums).
Sakusa went to the stall to look. He then spotted a shop next to the umeboshi stall. It was a custom keychain and accessories shop. The ace went in began disinfecting and picking out charms.
After finishing, it was wrapped in a paper bag and he went back to the dorayaki shop waiting for the liberos. They came out while eating the confectionery
"Where's your umeboshi?" Komori asked. Sakusa showed a gift to [F/n] ignoring his cousin's question. She quickly ate her dorayaki and placed her ball between her feet. Sakusa gave her hand sanitizer before giving it to her.
"Can I open it?" Sakusa nodded giving the okay. She opened and pullout the keychain. It was a brass screw linked keychain with various different charms on it. It had a cute volleyball character plushie, a weasel plushie, a plated name tag with her name engraved and the school's symbol on the keychain.
"Whoa. That's cool. Why didn't you get me something this cool for Christmas or my birthday?" Komori asked. Sakusa only turned away and said, "Sorry."
Both liberos looked at Sakusa confused. He continued apolitical, "Sorry for the for the bruises from today. Maybe it can be good luck charm in place of your volleyball when we go to Inter-High."
"Thank you, Sakusa-senpai." She gave him a gentle smile making Sakusa slightly blushed and his heart thumping a little. He nodded your welcome. It was the first time he's seen her smile so it caught him off guard.
"What is this character?" She asked pointing at one of the charms.
"That Vabo-chan. He's Japan's volleyball mascot."
"Hmm... It's cute (kawaii/可愛い)."
After having dorayaki, they went their respective ways home. That night [F/n] looks up at the moon after along day and gazed at view. She pulls her keychain up to her line of sight and smiles. I'll take extra good care of it, Sakusa-senpai.
~ ♪ ~
The next day, [F/n] slept in. Every Saturday, the volleyball teams had a day off except if there were tournaments or training that day. She woke up around 8 and did her morning practice of pass drills and reaction drills. After practice, she cleaned up before going to the usual local gym to practice.
"Mori, good to see you!"
"We missed you all week!"
"It's because she has school."
"There she is, our star libero!"
"Our little star is finally making friends. I'm so proud," Aichi said crying. He's a local volleyball player who trained [F/n] in receiving spikes.
"[F/n]-chan, come to the bench." She followed orders and placed her stuff on the floor and say in front of the older person. This person was Sayuri, she's also a local volleyball player and taught her how to receive jump floaters.
"Hands out," She did as instructed and the later looked at her hands. "Let's trim your nails before playing. They've gotten longer."
"You need to take care of your hands, Mori-chan. You'll bleed if you chip a nail," Aichi said.
"It's fine. I will be here to help take care of her."
"You know she's not always going to be here, Sayuri."
"Then, I'll go to her. Before the tournament starts, I'll trim them again. We're all going to see her play after all."
"What day do you play?" Aichi asked.
"17th of June on a Saturday. We will go on the first day to observe the teams. My school is seeded so we are in the third round. If we make it through that day, we play again the next week."
"Your school is a powerhouse so you are likely to get to the next round," Aichi said.
"That reminds me, didn't you go to a powerhouse school, Aichi?" Sayuri asked as she files [F/n] nails.
"Yep, Shirotorizawa. It makes me nostalgic. Coach Washijō would make us do 100 serves. Since I did jump serves that meant 100 jump serves."
"That sounds a lot," [F/n] comments. Sayuri finished filling her nails and [F/n] thanks her. After warm ups, they played rounds of volleyball till night fall.
~ ♪ ~
The next day, was practice started at 8 am. While they were setting up the gym. Miura called everyone. Their uniforms have arrived. The first-years were excited. It didn't show in much in [F/n]'s face though, but she was happy on the inside.
The uniform was white with a green to yellow gradient stripe outlining on the front and back and a stripe across the chest area. It was similar to boys' uniform in pattern. This was same on the black alternative uniform. It was the first time [F/n] had a uniform, so she was really happy. She made a mental oath to take good care of it along with her lucky keychain.
"Girls change into your uniforms. We have to take pictures for the school newspaper and the Inter-High pamphlet." Miura ordered.
They went to the club room and changed. After doing so, they were told to go the boys' VBC gym. They arrived see the guys in uniform as well. Hanging on the balcony was a banner. It read "Effort" (努力). The camera person asked the girls to stand in order by number along with the coaches. After that was done, both teams were put together for the photo. [F/n] stood a little away from the group with Sakusa near by. He was on the other side of her away from the group as well. He didn't like being in the crowd from what [F/n] found. She didn't mind.
After the photos, they went back to their respective gyms, and changed back to practice clothes, to recap their game on Friday.
"I heard great things about the practice match on Friday. I wish I could of seen it. [F/n] great work in receiving Sakusa's spikes. It's not easy even for pro. Nice job with blocking Makino, Kido. Great work out there, girls." Coach Orihime complimented.
"Thank you very much, Coach!"
"We will be practicing more teamwork and coordination for following weeks so expect a lot of practice match with each other and the boy's team. Golden week is coming up so before you leave grab a form so we can get permission from your parents. At the end of Golden week, we will be going up against Nohebi High. Starting tomorrow we will have morning practices starting at 7 am. That is all." Kujo-sensei informed. This meant [F/n] had her up earlier to get to school. I'm going to have to wake up at 5 in the morning to get to school. I should try to sleep in early from now on.
"Let's get to practice. Let's start with jogs. Make sure you follow so you don't get lost. Lia will be at the rest area for water & towels to rest," Captain ordered.
The jog was around the school area. There weren't any hills so they had to make do with their surroundings. The course itself was long. By the rest point, Captain and [F/n] were the only ones here. The rest were straggling somewhere behind.
"Let's wait here for the others." The little libero nodded to the captain and drank her water.
"You have really good stamina, Mori-chan," Miura said.
"It's all from the local gym I practice at. I would be in a lot of matches as I was one of the only liberos around. I guess that helps along with the long distance walks to school."
"I see! That's tough. By the way can I call you [F/n]?"
"Sure, I don't mind."
"Then, [F/n]-chan."
The others finally came and plopped on the road fatigued. Miura handed everyone a water bottle and towel.
"Neh, Mori-chan." Makino called.
"Yes?"
"How do you know Saku-kun and Ko-kun?"
"They needed help on a project so I helped them," [F/n] replied.
"What kind?"
"Choosing a short story and finding the theme of it."
"Hmm."
"Why?"
"Just curious. It's unusual for Saku-kun to be around girls that are not me. I've known him since elementary school. He was a very shy one. It took me forever to get him talk to me much less be my friend."
[F/n] replied expressionlessly with no idea how to respond, "Hah..."
"By the way, can I call you [F/n]?"
"Sure."
"Call me Shiori. Also don't add senpai 'kay?" She winked. The libero blankly nodded. They were then called to continue running. The rest of practice went by smoothly with some complaints and chats here and there.