___ sat down in her desk and not long later Tsukkishima entered the classroom taking the seat next to her. "Hey Tsukki? Did.. umm.. did Yamaguchi tell you anything weird while you two were talking? Something weird about me?" "No, why? Is there something weird about you that I'm supposed to know about?" "N-No!" ___ said blushing. "Then why'd you ask?" "N-No reason! I just thought that he might tell you what I said to him all those years ago, that's all!" "What did you say?" He asked innocently. "I-It's nothing! Totally not important!" ___ said covering her face.
"If it's not important, then why are you freaking out right now?" Tsukkishima asked looking at her intently. "Me? Freaking out?! N-No way!" ___ laughed nervously. "What would give you that idea?!" "Well, for starters your face went all red and then you covered your face." Tsukkishima said bluntly. "I-I gotta go to the bathroom!" ___ said jumping up out of her seat. She ran into the hall and rushed towards the bathroom.
She stood in the bathroom looking into the mirror at her red face. 'I can't believe he just pointed it out like that! Tsukkishima is so blunt I swear!' ___ thought splashing some cold water onto her face. 'Calm down ___. He doesn't know that you like him. Stop freaking out.' She told herself. 'Yamaguchi didn't say anything. You've got nothing to worry about.' She dried her face with a paper towel before looking back into the mirror. 'How am I going to hide this..' she thought. 'I'm going to have to tell him eventually..' She sighed before heading towards the door and back to class.
She reentered the classroom and sat back down in her seat. "Better now?" Tsukkishima asked looking at her. "Y-Yeah." ___ said. Just then the final lunch bell rang and the teacher entered the classroom. "Okay class, today we will be going over some more biology. Open your textbooks to page 242 and begin reading on cellular respiration.." and with that, class started. 'Just a few more hours and it'll be time to head to practice' ___ thought.
The time flew by in a breeze. The bell rang and ___ began packing her things. Just then, Yamaguchi walked into the classroom. "You guys ready?" He asked. ___ stuffed her pencil bag into her backpack. "I'm ready!" ___ said. "You ready Ke-Tsukki?" She asked. "You have a really hard time not calling me Kei, don't you?" Tsukkishima said sighing as he stood up. "Hey! I'm working on it!" ___ said defensively as they began walking towards the gym. "I used to call you Kei all the time! It takes some adjusting, that's all!" "Just.. work on it." Tsukkishima said blushing. "It's weird when you call me by my first name now." "Got it!" ___ said. "I'll try harder!" "Good." he said.
Not longer later and they reached the gym. Yamaguchi walked her inside. "Well, this is the gym!" Yamaguchi said smiling. "Me and Tsukki have to go change, but you can take a seat over there next to Kiyoko," he said pointing. "She's the team manager and she's really nice. I'm sure you two will be friends in no time." "Got it!" ___ said. "Cool! I'll see you in a bit!" Yamaguchi said before walking out of the gym towards the club room.
___ walked over to Kiyoko and took a seat next to her. Kiyoko glanced over. "Hi, you're Kiyoko right?" ___ asked. "My name's ___. I just transferred back here today from America, it's nice to meet you!" She said. "I'm a friend of Tsukkishima and Yamaguchi." She held out her hand. "Nice to meet you," Kiyoko said taking her hand and giving it a shake. "My name is Kiyoko. So are you here to watch practice today?" "Yep!" ___ said cheerfully. "Yamaguchi invited me to come watch!"
Just then a boy with spikey hair and a bleached strand and a boy with a shaved head walked over. "Hi there," the boy with spikey hair said. "My name's Nishinoya, and this here is Tanaka," he said pointing to his friend. "And who might you be cutie?" ___ blushed. "My name's ___ ___, but you can just call me ___." The boy with the shaved head, Tanaka, held out his hand and ___ shook it before shaking Nishinoya's hand. "So what brings you here little lady?" Tanaka asked. "I'm a friend of Yamaguchi and Tsukkishima, I just transferred back here from the US and they invited me to come watch practice." ___ said.
"Well it's nice to meet you cutie." Nishinoya said. "I'm a libero, and Tanaka here is one of the spikers," "Oh that's so cool! I used to be a libero!" ___ said cheerfully. "I used to play in America!" "No way!" Nishinoya said grinning. "So are you going to watch me practice today? It wouldn't hurt to have a cutie like you cheering me on." "Yeah, I could totally go for a cutie like you cheering for me!" Tanaka said. ___ blushed. "I-I'm here for Yamaguchi and Tsukkishima, but I guess I wouldn't mind cheering you on." ___ said embarrassed. "Hell yeah!" Tanaka cheered. "Alright!" Nishinoya said pumping his fist. Just then, Yamaguchi and Tsukkishima entered the gym.
They walked over. "I see you met Nishinoya and Tanaka," Yamaguchi said. "Yeah, we were just making the cutie feel welcome." Nishinoya said. "She said she'd cheer us on!" Tanaka beamed. "Cutie?" Tsukkishima said, his back straightening. "Well yeah! She's totally adorable!" Nishinoya said. "Yeah, I mean just look at her!" Tanaka said. "She's nice too!" Tsukkishima stepped infront of her defensively. "Well she is off limits." Tsukkishima said sternly, his arms crossed. Tanaka and Nishinoya took a step back. "Why is she off limits?" Tanaka asked. "Because I said so." Tsukkishima said firmly. Yamaguchi stepped in.
"Relax Tsukki, I'm sure they don't mean anything by it! They're just being friendly, that's all!" "That better be it." Tsukkishima said walking off. "Geez, what's his problem?" Nishinoya said. "I don't know, but let's get out of here before he makes that scary face again." Tanaka said, a shiver running down his spine. "Later ___!" Nishinoya said. "Later!" Tanaka said. "Y-Yeah, later." ___ said blushing. Yamaguchi turned to her. "W-What was that all about?" ___ asked embarrassed. "He uh.. Tsukkishima just.. those two are kinda perverts and I think Tsukkishima was just trying to protect you.." Yamaguchi said awkwardly, scratching the back of his neck. "Yeah uh.. don't read too much into it." Yamaguchi said. "Okay?" ___ said awkwardly. Just then a boy with orange hair walked over.
"Hey Yamaguchi!" He looked over. "Who's your friend?" "This is ___," Yamaguchi said. "She's my and Tsukkishima's friend. She just transferred back here from America and we thought we would invite her to practice. ___, meet Hinata." "Oh, so you're Hinata!" ___ said. "It's nice to meet you!" She stuck out her hand and Hinata gave it a little shake. "You know me?" Hinata asked. "Oh, well not really.." ___ said. "I just heard that we had similar backstories is all. I come from a small school that didn't really have a volleyball team too. We didn't really have a proper court and our team was pretty bad.. We lost the first game of the season and got shut down." she said. "Woah! We really do have similar backstories!" Hinata said amazed. "Yeah, so I've heard." ___ said giggling.
Just then, a black haired boy walked over. "Come on Hinata! Let's work on those quick attacks!" "Coming!" Hinata said. "Now!" The black haired boy said dragging him off. "H-Hey!" Hinata said in protest as he was pulled along. "Who was that?" ___ asked. "That's Kageyama. He's our setter. He's a first year like us." Yamaguchi said. "He seems kinda scary," ___ said. "He's ah, he's not scary, he's just kinda pushy is all." Yamaguchi said. "You'll get used to him." "I'll take your word for it." ___ said. "So who is everyone else?"
Yamaguchi pointed to the far side of the gym. "You see that guy with the short brown hair? That's Daichi. He's the team captain. And over there right next to him, the guy with the grey hair? That's Sugawara. He's another setter. He's also a third year." "Oh I see.." ___ said. "And who's the grown man standing next to them? Is that the coach?" Yamaguchi laughed. "No, no, That's Asahi. I know he looks like an adult, but he's really a third year. He's the ace." "Oh my god I thought he was an adult!" ___ laughed. "Yeah, Asahi gets that a lot." Yamaguchi said laughing. "So where's the coach?" ___ asked. "He's not here yet-" just then a tall man with blonde hair wearing a track suit walked into the gym and yelled.
"Alright everyone! Gather up!" He said walking to the board. "That's Coach Ukai, well, the new coach Ukai," Yamaguchi said. "I gotta go now, but I'll talk to you soon!" He said as he scurried off to the board. "Good luck!" ___ called after him. "Thanks!" Yamaguchi yelled back. And with that, practice became underway.
"Alright everyone, today we are going to have a little practice game! Tsukkishima! Nishinoya! Tanaka! Sugawara! You take right! Daichi! Hinata! Asahi! Kageyama! You take left! Yamaguchi, you'll be switching sides as a pinch server! Everyone get to it!" Coach yelled out and everyone grabbed a jersey and headed to their respective sides. "Coach, which side do you want me standing on?" Yamaguchi asked. "You stand up here by me and Kiyoko and.. who are you?" Coach asked turning towards ___.
"My name is ___ ___. But please, just call me ___." She stood up and bowed. "I'm a friend of Yamaguchi and Tsukkishima. I'm here to watch practice today." "That's fine." Coach Ukai said. "Yamaguchi, why don't you take a seat next to ___ for now?" "Yes sir!" Yamaguchi said as he sat down next to ___. "Alright everyone! Let's begin! Daichi, you're up first!" "Yes sir!" Daichi responded as he caught the ball that coach Ukai threw. Coach blew his whistle and Daichi served the ball.
"Got it!" Nishinoya yelled as he recieved the ball perfectly. Yamaguchi turned to ___. "On the bench again," Yamaguchi said laughing nervously. "This happens a lot. I'm not really the best player.." He said scratching his neck. "I'm sure that's not true!" ___ said quickly. "If you were no good then you wouldn't be a pinch server!" "Yeah, I guess you're right about that.." Yamaguchi said sighing. "I just wish I got to play a bit more." "Hey, pinch servers have the ability to change the whole outcome of the game you know!" ___ said. "You have the opportunity to score five points with nothing but serves! How many people can say they can score five points in a row?!"
"Yeah, you know what! You're totally right! And I can send a killer jump-float serve too!" Yamaguchi cheered. "Wait! You can jump-float serve?!" ___ asked. "Yeah!" Yamaguchi said. "I'm still working on it, but I'm pretty good at it most of the time." Yamaguchi said smiling. "Dude! Jump-floats are seriously a game changer!" ___ said excitedly. "That's part of the reason why we bombed the first real game we ever played. There was this girl on the other team, her name was Jessica Parker, anyways, her speciality was jump-floats and no one on my team had ever dealt with them before. As a libero I really struggled, because you think it's coming right towards you, then all of the sudden it'll drop like a rock, or swerve to the right last minute, and I missed every one of her serves. It cost us the game.." ___ said sighing. "And the season.. so don't ever feel like you're not important, because you can win a whole game with a serve like that!" She said patting him on the back.
"Yeah, you know what? You're right!" Yamaguchi said, a huge smile on his face. "I got this!" "Yeah you do!" ___ cheered. Just then Coach called Yamaguchi's name. "Yamaguchi! You're serving for Hinata!" Coach called out. "Yes sir!" Yamaguchi yelled jumping up. "Nice serve!" ___ yelled. "You got it!" Yamaguchi yelled back. Yamaguchi grabbed the ball and Coach blew the whistle signaling Yamaguchi to serve. He jumped up and sent a jump-float sailing right over the net.
"Got it!" Nishinoya called out. Just then the ball started dropping. "Tanaka!" Nishinoya yelled out. "On it!" Tanaka yelled as he dove for the ball, barely making it in time. The ball somehow made it's way to Sugawara, who passed it to Tsukkishima and he slammed it to the ground barely missing Hinata's block. 'Damn! That boy can jump!' ___ thought. 'He can out up a fight against Tsukkishima's height!' "Nice kill Tsukki!" ___ yelled out. He glanced over at her and gave her the faintest smile. She blushed at that and looked down in embarrassment. Just then Yamaguchi sat down again next to her.
"Are you blushing?" Yamaguchi asked poking her shoulder making her look up. "N-No!" ___ said quickly. Yamaguchi followed her eyes. "Ohh, I see, you were watching Tsukkishima." "Was not!" ___ said defensively, her blush growing darker. "You know you can't lie to me," Yamaguchi said laughing. "Yeah, okay.." ___ said dejectedly. "After smashing that ball to the ground Tsukki looked over at me and smiled." "Ooh!" Yamaguchi said wiggling his eyebrows, a huge grin on his face. "Maybe he likes you," Yamaguchi said, "He totally wanted you to watch him do that!"
"Don't tease me like that," ___ said. "It's a cruel and unusual punishment. There's no way Tsukki likes me like that." She sighed. "You never know," Yamaguchi said putting a hand on her shoulder. "You should tell him!" "No freaking way!" ___ yelled. "There's no way he would like me like that! Besides, I don't wanna ruin our friendship!" "But he just might like you back!" Yamaguchi said. "You shouldn't hide it!" "Stop getting my hopes up Yamaguchi," ___ whined. "It's not going to happen." "You don't know until you try!" He said poking her on the cheek. "Then I guess I won't know." ___ said back.
After awhile the game was neck at neck, and getting close to the end. Tsukkishima's team only needed one more point to win the game. "Come on Yamaguchi! Nice serve!" ___ cheered. Yamaguchi gave her a nod and Coach blew the whistle. Yamaguchi sent the ball sailing over the net and it was recieved by Daichi. 'Oh no. Hinata and Kageyama are totally going to do that freak quick attack again..' ___ thought. Just as she thought that, Hinata jumped up into the air.
Tsukkishima must have picked up on it too, because his eyes were following Hinata. 'Why hasn't he jumped yet?!' ___ thought. 'Oh wait! He's read blocking!' Just as she realised it, Tsukkishima jumped up into the air, Tanaka following his lead, and they performed a double block, sending Hinata's quick attack to the ground, never making it over the net. Coach blew the whistle. "And that's game!" He yelled out. "Everyone grab a drink and you're free to leave!"
___ ran up to Tsukkishima. "Kei! That was freaking amazing!" ___ yelled out in joy hugging him and jumping up to give him a kiss on the cheek. Tsukkishima tensed up, blushing before picking her up and spinning her around twice. Yamaguchi watched, smiling in the distance as he took a sip of water. Tsukki set her down and ___ blushed. "I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to hug you out of nowhere like that! And umm.. kiss you.. or I mean! Kiss you on.. the cheek! I was just so happy that you won that I.. and.. yeah." ___ said embarrassed. "You called me Kei.." Tsukkishima said blushing. "Oh! Oops! Crap! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to! I just got excited and.. well, it slipped out!" "It's.. fine.." Tsukkishima said looking away. "Anyways, I gotta change. I'll see you later." Tsukkishima quickly grabbed his things and shuffled out the door.
Yamaguchi walked up to her smiling. "Soo? What was that?" Yamaguchi asked. ___ blushed. "It.. It was nothing. I was just happy that he won, that's all." ___ said more to herself than Yamaguchi. "It didn't look like nothing." Yamaguchi said. "You hugged him and kissed him on the cheek." "It was the heat of the moment! Swear!" ___ said frantically. "You gotta tell him how you feel." Yamaguchi said smiling. "Never." ___ said. "I'm going home now, tell Tsukki I said goodbye." "Do you want me to walk you home?" Yamaguchi asked. "You don't even know where I live," ___ said giggling. "You can walk me home next time, promise. I only live a couple blocks away." "Okay, see you tomarrow. I'm going to go get changed now. Stay safe on your way home." Yamaguchi said patting her back. "I will," she said, "See you tomarrow." And with that, ___ headed home.