8

It was bright and early in a Thursday morning. She had deemed it good to practice serving while waiting for class to start. She didn't expect to have a run in with the coach at all. And the words she sputtered made her whole body freeze.

Kagami dropped the ball in shock. Her eyes were wide, staring at her coach.

"Wh-Whatat is that supposed to mean?" She asked. Her voice quivered, affected by what she just heard.

Coach Haruto repeated, "Go find Yoshikami Hoshi. You know where her room is, don't you?" She glowered at Kagami, tapping the clipboard with her whistle. "She's an excellent addition to the team. I've seen her play. You must have seen her skills as well… So, I wonder why you of all people rejected her." Kagami looked away, avoiding the coach's glare.

"She's short, Coach. Because of that, her skills right now aren't enough." The captain tried to reason out with her coach.

The coach was adamant about it though. "She is part of the team now. And that is our job as captain and coach to make her skills enough." She patted Kagami's shoulder then walked out of the gym.

The vice-captain remained quiet standing by the side, watching Kagami clench her teeth furiously.

Yoshikami sneezed. The boys, except Ushijima, scrunched their nose at Yoshikami's direction. Disgust or worry clearly painted on their features. She looked at each of them as she rubbed her nose. "What?"

Tendou pinched her nose. "You need to stop sneezing, Hoshi."

Yoshikami slapped his hand. "Stop that, Satori-kun! That hurts!" Despite her words and actions, she was all smiles and giggles. She reached for the teen's head and patted his hair.

Semi looked weirded out by what was happening. "Since when were the both of you close…?" He pointed at the two who shared a knowing look.

Tendou immediately sprang up to explain. "Oh, I just started joining Hoshi practice with the middle schoolers every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon." He placed his arm around Yoshikami's shoulders.

Ohira looked up from sipping his ramen. "And when did that happen?"

Tendou counted with his fingers. Then the dirt on the table, which was nearly non-existent. Like wow, the janitors are so good at cleaning. There wasn't even bubble gum. "The day after we saw her tryout? So, two weeks ago?" Yoshikami was about to roll her eyes when she registered his words into her mind.

"You also saw my try outs?" Her eyes wandered over to Ushijima who was just eating his lunch. It was ramen and PB & J bread. Though she wondered why the fork in his hand was bending a bit too much…

Tendou nodded enthusiastically and patted her head. "Of course! You did really great too… So, I was a bit disappointed you didn't get in. I mean, I don't really put much effort in my blocking and I got in." He looked down at her, locking eyes with the short girl.

Yoshikami blushed. "Why are you making it sound like you have a crush on me? Pfft." She joked.

The red head smiled wide at this, red coating his cheeks. "I do!"

Ushijima choked in his ramen and the fork went all the way down. He began coughing as Soekawa patted the green-haired teen. "You okay, Ushijima-san?" And the others looked like Tendou just said something so weird that it caused their brains to fry.

"Yo, guys, the lunch lady made a mistake and gave me two ramen." Yamagata laughed, sitting beside Tendou. His smile dropped when he noticed the atmosphere that took place. He looked at everyone's expressions and raised a brow. "Did I miss something?"

After three solid minutes, Yoshikami's face exploded in red. "Wait, whaaaaaaaaat?!" She prolonged the 'what', slowly leaning away from the red head. Of course, she didn't mean it to be harsh but the hurt in Tendou's face was clear.

Tendou pouted. "I mean it. You're so cute after all. Like these chubby cheeks." He pinched the short girl's cheeks.

"Awe you saying A'm fat?!" Yoshikami glared up at him while her cheeks got tortured by the red head.

Tendou chuckled. "That's part of your charm." Now, this would have been romantic if he wasn't pinching her cheeks and grinning like a maniac. She'd have become more embarrassed if he wasn't looking like he just stated a joke.

A tick mark appeared on her forehead. "Stawp dat!" The teased girl punched the maniac's stomach. This caused him to double over in pain, forehead on the lunch table. Yoshikami slapped his back after rubbing her bruising cheeks. "I don't think I can believe that, Satori-kun." She looked over her friends. "He's just making his usual jokes, right, Semi-san and Ohira-san?"

They dumbly nodded.

Soekawa rubbed Ushijima's back who was still coughing. The choking teen was doubled over, forehead on the lunch table just like Tendou. "Ushijima-san, do you need to go to the nurse?"

Yoshikami noticed Ushijima now and gasped. "Is Ushijima-san okay? I can call the nurse for him." She stood up to leave, but the choking teen immediately sat up straight and stared at his friends, eyes wide and mouth straight.

"I'm fine." He then returned to eating his lunch like he didn't look like he was dying as well as picking up the fallen, folded fork. Soekawa, Yamagata, and Yoshikami sweat dropped at this. They sweat dropped more as Ushijima casually fixed the fork.

While this was happening, two third-year girls entered the cafeteria, earning waves and looks by people who knew them.

"I can talk to her again, Rin-chan…" One whispered to the other.

The other glared at her. "No. We are to follow coach's orders, Mi-chan. Now help me find that shortie." She growled at the last word.

One gulped, pointing at the noisy table at the other end of the cafeteria. "There. With the guys, that's what her classmates said." She pursed her lips, as if to stop herself from saying anything more.

The other began walking over, not waiting for her companion. It didn't take long to arrive there. And when she did, all eyes, except Tendou, turned to the guests.

Ushijima bowed his head. "Kagami-san."

She bowed back. "I see that you've grown bigger than before, Wakatoshi-kun." Ushijima ignored that and returned to his lunch that was nearly finished.

She looked around and met the curious gaze of Yoshikami. "You."

The short girl looked everywhere and noticed that the third year was talking to her. She pointed to herself. "Me?" Her brows furrowed in confusion.

Kagami rolled her eyes. "Yes, you."

Yoshikami looked around, still pointing at herself in confusion. Ohira held back his chuckle.

The Captain stared at her blankly. The white-haired girl grinned hesitantly and laughed nervously.

Kagami sighed and shook her head. "Next week, Monday, we start practices from 6 am to 8 am and 3 pm to 6 pm. Clear?" Yoshikami's grin wavered and a laugh nearly slipped past her lips when she noticed the seriousness pooling in her senpai's eyes. Her jaw dropped, eyes widening. Did she hear that right? "I said, clear, Shortie?"

The short girl snapped out of her shock and nodded. "Yes, captain!"

Kagami glared at her. "It's Kagami-senpai to you." Without another word, she walked away. Yoshikami watched in shock as she walked away.

Her friend caught up, panting. "I just got here, Rin-chan! Really?!" She groaned, walking after her captain. The group sweat dropped at this.

Semi grinned happily for Yoshikami and turned to her. "Congrats, Yoshikami-san! You got in the volleyball team!" He flinched seeing tears rolling down her cheeks.

Tendou grinned at her, finally recovering from his pain, and patted her head. "Congrats, Hoshi. I

told you, you did great after all."

Yoshikami sniffled and raised her hands up in the hair. "I got in… I got in!" She happily cried and hugged Tendou. "I still have no idea why, but I got in!!" The rest of the boys smiled happily for the short girl.

The bell rang right after the congratulations for the short girl was passed around. The group stood up, picked up their trays, and left.

After they separated, it was only Ushijima, Ohira, and Yoshikami left since they belonged to the same class. Ohira walked ahead of the two so Ushijima and Yoshikami walked beside one another.

Yoshikami didn't know why, but she was sad. She was actually hoping that Ushijima would have at least congratulated her with the same smile from a few days ago. Instead, she got a simple 'congrats' from the tall teen. She pouted.

Ushijima looked at Ohira to see if he was looking then held Yoshikami's shoulder.

The short girl nearly stumbled from the force and looked up at the tall teen wondering why they stopped.

He leaned down and whispered something into her ear, a small smile gracing his lips. As fast as the smile appeared, it was gone. He then speedily walked away after patting her head.

Yoshikami paused from walking and blushed a furious, dark red, matching the color of her eyes. After touching her ear, she grinned and jumped ecstatically. She followed her friends to their classroom after giddily squealed to herself.

"Congratulations, Yoshikami." And she kept his words close to her heart.