"Eh?" That's the only thing Aoyuki can mutter once she entered the second gym only to find Michimiya Yui practicing all by herself.
"Ah! Kamiyui-chan!" Michimiya smiled at her as the girl walked towards her.
"Where are the others, captain?" Aoyuki asked as she looked around.
"Eto... You see, the girls don't really participate in practicing." Michimiya rubbed her head, flashing Aoyuki a sheepish grin.
Aoyuki's eyebrows furrowed, "Huh? But the Inter High Preliminaries is just around the corner! Shouldn't we practice seriously? Don't they want to win?"
Michimiya was silent as the newest member barraged her with questions.
In the end, only the two of then practiced in the gym.
"I'll make sure to practice even harder, captain!" Aoyuki saluted, making Michimiya chuckle and ruffle her hair like a big sister would.
Aoyuki stopped bouncing the ball once the gym doors opened and revealed Michimiya.
"Michimiya-san."
"Aoyuki-chan! I finally got the match-ups!" Michimiya cheered and Aoyuki was immediately beside her, peering at the paper.
"...So we're going to fight Shirato first." The first year blinked, "Shirato? I've never heard of that school before." Aoyuki scratched her head, a thoughtful look in her face as if checking her memory if she had encountered the word Shirato before.
"Me too. But don't worry, I'll do my research!" Michimiya told her, as if trying to reassure Aoyuki.
"Me too! Let's do our best, Michimiya-san!" The girl with black ribbon pumped her fist determinedly, making Michimiya mirror her.
After that, they finished the afternoon practice and changed back into their uniforms.
[Next Day]
"Michimiya-san?" Aoyuki was confused once she entered the gymnasium. As usual, the other members were nowhere to be found, yet the atmosphere was light.
Michimiya turned and looked at her, flashing the first year a cheerful smile, "Oh Aoyuki-chan!"
Aoyuki eyed the captain once she was in front of her, Aoyuki's eyes analyzing Michimiya's face, "Hmm, you seemed... Energized. What happened?"
Michimiya only gave her a knowing smile, her cheeks had the faintest shade of red as her brown eyes sparkled.
Aoyuki was currently walking towards the gate when she heard someone calling her,
"Aoyuki-chan!"
She turned and saw the volleyboys at the gate, Hinata was waving happily at her. She ran towards them and Hinata immediately hugged her, Nishinoya was quick to peel the tangerine away from his beloved kouhai.
"Where are you guys heading?" Aoyuki questioned the boys.
"We're going to Sakanoshita store. Daichi's going to treat us in meat buns. You-" the team's motherly figure was cut off when the guardian deity, the tangerine and the delinquent of the team butted in.
"You should come with us!"
Aoyuki was taken aback, "Eh? Shouldn't that be Sawamura-san's call?"
Daichi waved his hand in the air, "It's fine. Besides, this will be the first time that I'll be treating you as well. Let's go."
And so they started walking towards the store. They chatted and talked amongst each other loudly, Kageyama and Hinata breaking out into a banter, Daichi shutting them up and Suga calming the dad down. Tanaka, Nishinoya and Aoyuki laughing at everything that they found hilarious.
As they arrived at the store, Daichi entered, purchasing the promised meat buns. Not long after, he came back with paper bags on his hands.
"Here you go."
"Thanks Daichi."
"Thanks, Daichi-san!"
"Thank you, Sawamura-san."
As the group was scarfing down in their food, Hinata swallowed his food and faced Aoyuki,
"Ne, Aoyuki-chan,"
Aoyuki looked at him and raised a questioning eyebrow, her cheeks puffed with un-chewed food.
"Mmh?"
"Why aren't you practicing with us? Nishinoya-san was so pouty when you aren't there." Hinata told her.
"Oi Shoyo! You don't have to tell her that!" The small libero protested, a small blush on his face.
"Eh? But it was true!"
Aoyuki chuckled and swallowed her food, completely facing Hinata,
"Well you see, I can't leave Michimiya-san all alone..." The girl scratched her cheek with her free hand, looking sheepish.
"Huh? Why is that?" Daichi became interested after hearing his friend's name.
"The others really don't show up in our practices, and I don't like it when Michimiya-san was practicing all alone." Aoyuki answered, her eyebrows slanting in concern.
"They don't show up?" Suga asked, making Aoyuki nod.
"Ehh? But the inter high preliminaries is near!" Hinata protested.
Aoyuki sighed heavily, "I know.." Then she suddenly lit up as if she just remembered something and turned to Daichi who stopped mid bite after noticing that Aoyuki looked at him.
"By the way, Sawamura-san, what did you do to Michimiya-san?" Daichi and the others chocked on their food. The way Aoyuki said that, it was something.
"W-what do you mean?" Daichi managed to ask after calming down.
Aoyuki looked up at the darkened sky thoughtfully, Michimiya's cheerful face flashed across her mind, "Michimiya-san seems...energized and really determined this morning while we were practicing." She then looked back at Daichi, " Did you perhaps did something to her?"
Suga sweat dropped. Aoyuki-chan, please change the way you word things out.
Daichi was confused for a second, before his face lit up, "Ah! Nothing really! We just talked to each other this morning." Daichi answered, remembering that he and the girl's volleyball captain had a little conversation this morning.
Aoyuki still looked thoughtful, but nodded nonetheless, "Okay. Still, thank you for whatever you did, or said, Sawamura-san. It looks like it cheered Michimiya-san up."
"No problem."
The group looked to Nishinoya when he suddenly called out to Tsukishima who was walking towards them, his headphones on his head but he took it off once he was in front of the group.
"Daichi-san bought us meat buns!" Nishinoya said, handing him a paper bag. Tsukishima accepted it with a little but grateful nod.
"Thanks."
"Huh? Where's Tadashi?" Aoyuki questions, looking behind Tsukishima as if checking if the boy in question was behind, or at least just lagging.
"He said he has to do something."
"Oh, okay."
And so, the next few days flashed by. Aoyuki and Michimiya practicing together, sometimes Aoyuki goes towards the boy's gym when Michimiya told her that she could go. They trained like crazy.
There was a time where Kiyoko went to the first year floor and looked for Aoyuki, after finding the girl, the third year had asked Aoyuki a favor, which she had agreed to.
And then there was the school's club pep rally, where every clubs had to step up into the stage and cite their speeches.
"Good job, everyone!" Aoyuki and the volleyboys are finally finished with the afternoon practice. The sky was already dark. Tomorrow was the start of Inter High Preliminaries.
"Okay! Go home and go to sleep early tonight." Ukai announced.
"Osu!!"
"Okay, that'll do--" Daichi was cut off when Takeda stopped all of them from even moving in their spot.
"Just a second! One more thing, Shimizu-san?"
The boys were intrigued, Aoyuki started grinning knowingly to herself. Tsukishima noticed but decided to keep quiet.
So it's time for that, huh? Aoyuki smiled internally.
"I'm not good at cheering, but..." Kiyoko trailed off as she looked at Aoyuki, beckoning her to come with her.
Aoyuki was surprised since she wasn't expecting that she'd have to present it as well. Aoyuki and Kiyoko went towards the second floor, with Takeda carrying a huge black cloth.
"What's going on?" Nishinoya asked no one in particular.
Kiyoko and Aoyuki looked at each other, before nodding.
"One, two..."
The sound of banner fluttering filled the silent gym.
F l y
Said the black banner that was hanging from the railing.
"I found it while cleaning, so I asked Aoyuki-chan to help me wash it." Kiyoko spoke.
"That's our Kiyoko-san! Good job!" Tanaka was immediately engulfed in figurative flames.
"My dear little kouhai helped with this?! I'm getting fired up!!" Nishinoya was enveloped in fire too.
Before the duo could even explode, Daichi stopped them.
"Wait. They're not done yet..." The boys looked up at the two females up in the second floor.
Seeing Kiyiko's nervousness, Aoyuki softly nudged the third year's hand, sending her a small nod when the black haired girl look at her. Kiyoko nodded back.
"Do..." Her eyes started swimming,
"Do?" The boys tilted their heads.
Slowly, a small yet very noticeable blush spread cross Kiyiko's flawless face, "...Do your best."
Aoyuki stifled her laughter after seeing the boys' reactions. After meeting with silence, Kiyoko bowed slightly before running back down, embarrassed. Now, Aoyuki was left on the second floor, with the volleyboys staring up at her.
She gave them a big, silly grin and lifted two thumbs up, "I believe in all of you!"
Just like Kiyoko, Aoyuki immediately went down, feeling shy and embarrassed, but mostly amused because of everyone's reaction.
As Aoyuki safely climbed the ladder down, all hell broke loose. The third years were crying and emotional. Nishinoya and Tanaka were speechless which shocked Tsukishima and Yamaguchi since the duo never stopped talking. Then they all started wailing loudly.
"You're all out of control!" Tsukishima could only stare at the others in disbelief.
After everyone somehow managed to calm down,
"We're going to win the first round for sure!" Daichi yelled determinedly, his eyes still teary.
"Yeah!!"
"We have the strength of a hundred men!!"
Kiyoko blushed beside Aoyuki who was snickering widely, a small yet noticeable blush on her cheeks as well as they watched the boys get pumped up.