"Is there someone you like, Clara-san?" It was the question Yachi Hitoka suddenly asks you while you were filling the drinks and you almost tripped upon hearing it.
"HA?" You almost shouted and she blinks as a response.
"W-Why are you asking that?" you panicked.
"Because you've been blushing the whole morning." the highschool girl reasons out and your lips form a thin line.
Were you?
Oh god.
"But well? Do you like someone?" She says, ecstatic for your answer and you groaned inwardly.
If only your reason had been that wholesome and innocent.
Unfortunately, it wasn't.
And much to your dismay, you couldn't even tell anyone the real reason too.
You were in a nest of highschool kids. They were practically minors and children before your eyes and you know children could never handle that kind of information.
The fact that you also had that sort of dream in a highschool no less and in the bed of your object of desire, sleeping with the same guy did not help.
It was inappropriate, unprecedented, and the worst timing.
Your best bet was to rant this over on the phone but you couldn't tell Norrie either since she'd most likely just tease you about it and then complain about how tame your dream was afterwards.
But for a guy like Ushijima Wakatoshi, those kinds of things were not tame! At all.
Though you actually needed someone to vent this even for just a little, tiny, eenie bit. So you're taking this chance even if you have to omit a lot of things. You swallowed the lump in your throat as you try to open up to Hitoka-chan.
"I... kinda had a... weird dream about a guy?" You say and you watch the highschool girl stop short before she beamed in excitement.
"Really???" She asks then adds, "What was it about?"
"We uhh..." You try to say before you looked away, your face turning red, both panicking and trying to think of what to say next.
You try to remember the tamest thing Ushijima Wakatoshi had probably done in your dream to make the information less sinful. But the image of him kissing you as if he was trying to bruise your lips was the only thing you could think of and it bothered you since you remember actually kissing him because of the dare. Your plan was backfiring before you even let it on the loose. And you closed your eyes and tried to be the tough little shit you've always been.
"W-we... We kissed." You finally said, your head totally fuming like an overheating kettle and you realized.
You weren't a tough little shit outside the court.
You were just opening up but the thought in itself made your head hazy.
WHAT THE HELL. EVEN SAYING IT IS EMBARRASSING.
You wanted to die.
But Yachi Hitoka likes the view although she was a little stunned by it. "Uwaaaa! I'm so excited for you! That's so romantic!" She practically squealed in joy.
You wanted to kill yourself.
Uwaaaaa. It was not. It was not romantic. Nothing in there was romantic.
It was raw touching and complete deprivation.
There was nothing romantic about it. At all.
You would even like to complain since the guy in your dreams really just did what he wants, not even sparing you some sort of release. But you don't like to remember anything about that since the details always get graphic.
You watch as Yachi stops short after a while and thinks about it.
"Is it someone you know?" She asks and you looked around first. Then you nod your head repeatedly.
"I'd be pretty embarrassed too if that would happen to me." she grins cheekily.
But this feels totally weird since she was openly fangirling, like she was reading a shoujo manga. And the girl really did think like that since she was inwardly screaming, 'Omg. Clara-chan is this embarrassed by a dream of a kiss. SHE'S SO CUTE AAAAAAAA.'
"But if you're that affected, then you must have somehow liked it too!" She raises.
...
no
You look away.
No. No, you didn't like it. You mentally say to convince yourself, even subconsciously shaking your head before your lips formed a thin line as you try to compose yourself.
Surely, you didn't like it. You didn't.
That's impossible!
"Hmmmmm." Yachi hums before an idea pops in her head. "And dreams are a manifestation of the unconscious too!"
Ackk. You knew. You didn't want to admit the whole thing either.
But if its like that...
Then being manhandled by Ushijima Wakatoshi is something you've always wanted?
...o-of course, it ain't. You repeat mentally.
That's impossi-
"Clara-chan." Yachi gives you a smile.
"It's bad to be in self-denial." She says.
Why is she saying that???
"Your face is very easy to read, Clara-chan." she gives you an apologetic smile.
"No, it's not." You pouted.
"That would make me an idiot." You scoff before looking up proudly, "I'm not an idiot." You say, trying to assert dominance.
And the girl only looks at you with a pained expression.
—
Things were slightly better that afternoon since the coach had been telling you to do stuff here and there.
Though it was slightly different for the highschool boys.
There was a wandering suspicious crow that had been spying since this morning after all. His unnatural pressure and presence was something he exerted since he arrived, and he and his suspicious glare still hasn't left.
"What's going on?" the second years asked their vice captain.
Sagae only sighs. "Kageyama had been asking if manager-san was a player."
"One of the monster children were asking now too?" Tendo overhears before thinking hard then nodding in approval.
"See. A lot of us think so too." Tendo says.
"Manager-san was really cool after all."
"I know. I know." They say. "Makes you want to see if she could really do the same things in a game."
"That would be surprising."
Ushijima Wakatoshi slightly scoffs.
Wait till she gets terrifying.
Though he says that, you aren't really terrifying now when you're looking so anxious and all red when you look at him.
This was nice too.
—
Kageyama Tobio had known various players in all his experience as a volleyball player. Especially as a setter, the control tower of the team, he was quite adept in observing various types of spikers with different techniques, strengths, specialty and power. He had been in numerous camps, have witnessed the best that were gathered all throughout Japan in camps and nationals.
But this was new.
Kageyama Tobio found how you were something new.
You were far smaller than the smallest spiker he knows. Yet you, for some reason, could reach the same height their ace reached on his first year, even if you were far smaller and if he guessed right, it must have been the limit for you height.
For someone like Hinata to be an athlete, the constant teasing of the tangerine's short stature made sense. Hinata was by all odds, a short player even if he was a little taller than the average highschool girl. They rarely brand girls as short players too since there was a conscious boundary that separated a male athlete from a female.
But this was different.
He feels like that boundary does not apply to you.
Not with that speed or with that jumping reach.
Players would normally and naturally show off what they're capable of. He had meet guys who were like that, who talked and showed their skills to him straight on his face. Especially Hoshiumi-san who liked to emphasized his skills as it was a contrast to his height.
Players were natural show-offs.
But you were different.
It would be even safe to say that you were quite the opposite.
When they saw you with Ushijima Wakatoshi that morning, they knew something else was up.
But while seeing the two of you together was both rare and unusual, for some reason, seeing the two of you together felt very natural that he somehow find it a little creepy.
When they looked back at it, the heavy pressure and the looming sense of danger that emanated from you was undeniably real and was something else too.
They had asked the athlete about you during the morning run too. Although it was rude to talk about you while they were literally behind your back, they didn't cared too much since you were distracted and obviously didn't paid any attention to them.
But imagine their surprise when they found out how you were brought to the camp by Ushijima Wakatoshi. Though that conversation was obviously interrupted when they saw you sped up as the three of them glanced at each other before also speeding up. They had even overtaken you at some point too.
They were ahead.
Before you suddenly ran like you were being chased by hell hounds.
They were completely taken by surprise before bursting faster to catch up.
It was appalling, how even their long legs couldn't really catch up, with the winner clear and barely even sweating.
How the hell did they even lose? They were three healthy athletes? Who had all gone to Nationals?
He means, sure, they did volleyball and not track but they were by no means slow, and they were actually fast.
Though more importantly, this was the resounding question of Kageyama Tobio's head:
What sort of willpower and fighting spirit came into your mind to run like that?
And most importantly, the athlete looks at your sharply before thinking about it.
Could he have that sort of willpower and fighting spirit too?
He needed to know what drove you to be that fast. Considering that you were smaller and shorter, the knowledge would surely be helpful to every fiber of his being. This was the final push that made him curious.
Though if someone were to really ask why he was interested to this extent, it was just that he knows.
He knows. He could sense it, like how a child sees another child, like how a predator feel another predator, and how a genius could sense one of his own. He found it strange. How it feels like you were hiding it... or that maybe you were even hiding more. Though the idea didn't cross his mind.
You couldn't possibly do anything more... right?
But one thing was clear. You skills, your knowledge, your reason— he does not know enough. He wants to find out what they were and what they were about, the burning pit of curiosity continuing to burn him from the inside. And he needed to quench it.
His senses were telling him to quench it and in that doing so— watching you, trying to find out what you were up to, or what you could do, would be a huge leapt for his growth in volleyball.
he had that feeling. So he'll gladly keep an eye on the lookout for any of it.
But though Kageyama Tobio says that, his lips formed a thin line as he watches you. He was a little irritated since you were being a little distracted and unaware. He had wanted to see you be all serious so he knows what to really expect. He had planned to leave too since a distracted player will always have a hard time showing their skills.
But it happened.
When you were supposed to missed the timing of catching the ball, he was there to watch. He thought it was a fluke, the site being the first time he's seen you fail in catching a ball. But you proved him wrong, and almost immediately after too.
You suddenly used your feet, the ball hitting it instead. You even did it perfectly timed since you caught it in midair before it immediately flew up.
He blinked when he saw it, before buzzing with excitement. But then he composes himself and he looks around to see if anyone else saw.
And to his dismay, he was the only one that saw it.
WHAT THE HELL.
And it happened again. And again.
He had seen miracles happen with people receiving the ball with their feet. But this was another case.
Especially when you were even being creative when you were catching the ball using your foot, stopping its speed by trapping it in between the bridge and ankles of your foot.
How in the world-
And every time you do so, the setter would be appalled to find how you were catching the ball very differently and still succeeding at each time, and then he would look around to see if someone else had seen it too, only to find out that NO ONE BUT HIM HAD SEEN IT WHAT IN THE WO-
You had presented a lot of chances too with how well you used your feet and how well you used your lower body to jump, accelerate, decelerate, balance and stabilize yourself. But you were so lowkey and he was becoming irritated. How in the hell was anyone not seeing this?
He had lost count of how many times he almost spewed his drink too. When he finally looked around to see why this was happening, he finally realized the reason why.
They were all focused on Ushijima Wakatoshi. The athlete had suddenly did a complete 180, spiking as if he was out to kill, totally scaring helpers and players alike.
And the setter could only squint his eyes.
So this was the reason people weren't paying attention to you.
But thank goodness. He actually thought he was hallucinating when he saw you did all those things.
Seeing the former Shiratorizawa ace made the setter excited. His hand turned into a fist, fired up to practice with the same intensity.
After he finishes recon though.
—
"Tsukkkiiiii~!" Yamaguchi shakes the middle blocker as they watch from afar. The captain was a little worried and proud at the same time while the middle blocker just stood there, stiff as the pole he is, while the two of them look at the site.
They never thought something like this would happen. Ever.
But it was real and Yamaguchi had been looking like a proud father as they looked at Kageyama Tobio, the king, their volleyball idiot, spying on you, a girl from afar, hidden from plain sight like Romeo spying on Juliet.
Yamaguchi was so ecstatic he was even shaking Tsukishima out of excitement ever since they noticed.
"What is this about?" one of the second years in Karasuno asked and Tsukishima scoffs, filling them up with the information like the proper senpai that he was.
"The king is interested in Shiratorizawa's girl manager."
The lower years immediately went wild.
"Kageyama-senpai is???"
"But doesn't he only like Volleyball... and Hinata-senpai?"
"What."
The news didn't escaped their manager who just entered the gym.
And when Yachi Hitoka hears it, she almost gasped. How in the world is he going to tell Kageyama that Clara-chan is already interested in someone else? The Karasuno manager could only panic at the dillemma.