10

"Eh, what do you mean you're quitting?!" Coach Haruto shouted. She was shocked really. This girl had a lot of potential. The coach was hoping that the girl would stay for another year.

The girl before her bowed. "I'm really sorry, Coach, but my grades have been dropping lately. And I'm not really interested in turning volleyball into a career."

The coach sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "It's okay, Kabayashi-san. You should head back to class." The 2nd year bowed and ran away from where they were. Currently, the coach was standing in front of the gym. She was watching as one by one her players left for class after washing themselves.

She gritted her teeth in frustration. That 2nd year was one of her regulars, a strong receiver and a stable spiker. Now, she had to pick among her players who might not freeze in court. She sighed again.

"Uhm, Coach?" She looked up upon hearing her name. But looked down, realizing who was speaking to her.

"Yes, Yoshikami?" She eyed the short girl and sighed. The girl before her was showing the same reaction as the 2nd year from earlier. She pinched her nose in frustration. "Go on, say it, Yoshikami, you still have classes to attend."

Yoshikami bowed her head. "There is something I wasn't able to tell you. The reason why I rejected the scholarship to this school last year." The coach furrowed her brows. "I have this condition that makes me physically and intellectually weaker than normal. And due to this, my parents forbade me from doing anything extreme…physically."

"But you're quite flexible and have more stamina than most of my girls here. Not only that, your teachers are very happy that they have a straight A plus student in their class." The coach asked, quite confused.

Yoshikami shook her head and continued, "That is why I came here to quit the club. My parents have called the principal. He might call you soon about this…" She bowed. "I'm sorry, Coach. Good…bye." There was a quiver in her voice. The coach's eyes widened as the girl ran away before she could even talk it out with her.

"Coach, what happened?" The coach turned to the captain and the vice-captain coming out of the gym. They were confused. She explained to them about what happened.

Kagami suddenly gasped during mid-explanation about Yoshikami.

"Rin-chan, what's wrong?" Hatsume asked.

"No wonder she was so familiar! That girl, Yoshikami- she brought our team to the Nationals!" And no wonder she felt threatened. "Her condition… The coach would only bring her out whenever we lost momentum… And she didn't join us in the Nationals."

Coach Haruto was silent, leaning against the wall while staring out blankly.

Hatsume looked more confused than ever. "But…I don't remember any Yoshikami on your team before… I do remember there was this short girl- Ah." Her eyes widened in realization.

The captain narrowed her eyes in concentration. "Yes, her name wasn't Yoshikami… we were almost disqualified because one of our members used a fake name to join the club."

"Tendou Suta." The captain and vice-captain looked at their coach in surprise.

Kagami looked down at the ground in confusion. "Tendou…where have I heard that name before?"

Tendou sneezed. Out loud. During an exam.

The teacher face palmed. "Tendou Satori, what. Did. I. Say. About. Sneezing?" With each word, he slammed the wooden ruler on his table.

Tendou shrunk in his seat and whispered, "To cover my mouth…" The students began to chuckle and giggle at the situation.

The teacher glared at the red head. "And what did you do?"

Tendou pouted. "Not cover my mouth."

Semi face palmed at this. Why was God so harsh on him? Why couldn't he be in the same room as Yamagata, Soekawa, or even Ohira? He wished to switch with Ushijima. How does the guy even deal with someone like Tendou?

"Now, go back to your exam. You have 10 minutes left." The teacher disrupted Semi's train of thought. He glared at Tendou who continued on with his test, but had his pen between his nose and lip while reading the paper.

How can he, Semi, survive with someone like this guy for the rest of the year?!

It was lunch time now. The group had met up at the cafeteria as per usual. Ushijima looked around as he sat down, searching for a certain person.

Tendou cried once he sat down. "Ugh, pre-midterm exams and quizzes are so tiring."

Semi rolled his eyes at this. "Its Shiratorizawa. What were you expecting? To be exempted from classes with the sports scholarship?" At the dumb stare from Tendou, what he said was proven true.

Ohira sweat dropped. "Just give Tendou-san a break, Semi."

"How am I still with a -san?! Are we not friends, Reon!" Tendou cried out again, dramatic tears rolling down his cheeks.

Soekawa began eating his lunch. "You do know that the scholarship will be stripped from you if you have a failing grade at the end of the semester." Yamagata and Tendou gasped in horror.

Semi sweat dropped. "Yamagata…really you too?"

The libero groaned, slamming his forehead on the table. "Libero training is harsher than yours! Once I get home, I go straight to sleep!"

Tendou grasped Yamagata's hands. There was a sparkle in his eyes. "Don't worry, Hayato-kun. We're in this together."

Semi's left eye twitched. "You idiot, you're supposed to be studying! Now get!" There was a huge tick mark on the side of his forehead.

Tendou squealed. "Hoshi, protect me!" He grasped at air and fell on the bench.

The boys then realized that the short girl wasn't there.

"No! Hoshi can't protect me!" The red head hid under the table and showed only half of his face to the group. The boys ignored this.

Soekawa turned to Ohira. "Where is Yoshikami, Ohira?"

The dark-skinned teen looked around in confusion. "Wait, I was sure she was with Ushijima and I earlier…"

Semi pursed his lips. "Maybe she was called by the volleyball club? Let's not worry about it." He waved it off. "It's Yoshikami we're talking about."

Ohira then remembered what happened a few weeks ago. He stood up, picking up his tray with his unfinished lunch. "I'm going to look for her."

Ushijima stood up as well. "I'll go with you as well."

Tendou stood up along with Soekawa. "The more the merrier."

Yamagata stood up after. "It looks like she didn't even tell Ohira. We should help." He looked over at Semi who sighed and stood up as well.

"I'm pretty sure you guys are worrying over nothing." The group walked out of the cafeteria and split up.

"Send a text to everyone once you find her." Was the order that came from Soekawa. They split up, one man for themselves since they only had so much time before class started.

Honestly, Ohira didn't want it to end up like that time. He hoped it was just an accident, but the way she kept quiet about it made it seem more serious. He had forgotten about it since it never happened again.

And it was happening now.

Tendou went to the girl's gym and clicked his tongue when he only found third years and second years, but no sign of the short girl.

Semi checked the 1st floor and the classrooms, but no sign at all. He sighed.

Soekawa checked each club room for any sign of a white-haired girl. But came up to none. He pursed his lips.

After cleaning through the 2nd floor, Yamagata bumped into Ohira who was just coming down the stairs from the 3rd floor. They shook their heads at each other.

Ushijima went to look at the darkest areas of the school. Other than seeing rules being broken, there was no sign of Yoshikami. He clicked his tongue as he began to run. The sight from that time burned into his mind. He was searching while he ran, but never shouted out her name. He just kept looking. He didn't even notice his friends calling out to him; his mind solely on finding her.

He must have circled around the school already. He panted as he stopped to rest, leaning against a tree. He flipped his phone open and saw the time blink at him, haunting him. 12:50. He had 15 minutes before the tardy bell rang. He looked around again, then started running again.

He searched through the school again.

"Look at her." He paused, hearing the voice. It wasn't hers though. He shook his head and returned to running.

"Stop it already!" At the scream, he froze. The voice was filled with fear. And it belonged to her. He turned around and searched for where the voices came from.

It was at the middle school area. They never searched there. He flipped his phone open, and saw the barrage of messages from his friends. He texted them that she was at the middle school area.

All she wanted to do was sink into the wall. Her eyes stared at her feet in fear. Standing before her were two girls. Two familiar girls.

"Why are you doing this…?" She whispered as tears threatened to spill from her eyes.

"Just give it already, you shrimp." A manicured hand entered her view.

"This would be done already if you just give it up, Hoshi." She shook her head.

"But you made this for all of us…all of our friends." Yoshikami finally looked up to meet the gazes of the people she once called her friends.

The girl on the left rolled her eyes. "You haven't thought it through yet, have you? We only dealt with you because the teacher told us to! I don't want people to think that we're friends with a freak like you. So, hand it over already!"

Yoshikami stared at the girls before her wide-eyed. Her eyes then shadowed over as she shook. She was finding it difficult to breathe now. It hurt all over.

Two hands gripped her uniform, shaking her like a broken doll. "We don't have time for this, you freak! Just give it over already!" The snarl was malicious and venomous. They were snakes that slithered into her life, and lied and lied and lied.

The tears flowed out as she cried again.

"The hell! We just want the picture back. The fuck are you crying for?!" Another gripped her hair and pulled her head up. "Just give it up already!"

"What are you doing to her?!" The roar made the two girls before her freeze. She was dropped like she was nothing.

And she was nothing.

"You're seeing this wrong!" One of her 'friends' tried to explain. Yoshikami felt this pain spread from her chest to her arms to her legs- it spread all over her. She was still crying. The pain was too unbearable.

She felt strong arms envelop her into an embrace, a warm embrace. "Yoshikami, are you okay?" The voice was familiar, husky, and gentle. She looked up to meet the worried gaze of Ushijima.

"Wah!" She cried even more.

"This was just a misunderstanding…"

Ushijima cut her off with a growl. "Leave." And the two scurried away without hesitation.

Yoshikami pressed her face deeper into Ushijima's clothes. "Hng…ugh…ngg…" She sobbed. More footsteps entered her hearing range.

"Wakatoshi, is she okay?!" She heard Tendou shout out in a worry.

"Ushijima, did those two girls…?" She heard Ohira next.

She tried to calm down. She didn't want her new friends to see her like this. But the thought of her old friends pretending, faking around her. What if they were just like them? They were just pretending.

She's a freak after all.

She raised her head and smiled at Ushijima. "I'm fine now…" She tried to push him away, but he held her tighter. "Ushijima-san, I said…" She bit her tongue, staring into his fiery gaze. More tears trickled down her cheeks. "Eh…I'm fine…just…" She wiped her tears in a flurry, panicking. She didn't want them to see her like this.

Tendou, Semi, Ohira, Soekawa, and Yamagata entered her blurry view. They were sweating and panting as if they were running around.

Ohira smiled at her and knelt down. "Yoshikami, we're here. So, don't worry." Tears, one after another, poured out of her eyes like a flood. Her heart was heavy, but seeing them made her feel lighter.

Tendou made a face at her. "Look, Hoshi!" She laughed, but ended up coughing from the snot.

"Do you want to stay at the nurse?" She heard Semi's voice. She shook her head.

"I already missed enough class…"

Soekawa joined in. "You sure you…?" He was cut off by the sound of the tardy bell.

Yoshikami grinned. "We should really go." She tried to stand up, but felt the ground disappear from her feet. She squealed.

"I'll carry you." Ushijima stated.

Yoshikami felt red burn her cheeks. "No! Put me down, Ushijima-san!" She flailed around, but his grip only tightened.

Tendou pouted. "Wakatoshi, lemme carry her too!" He only received a blank stare. "Fine, just carry me then!"

Yamagata sweat dropped. "I think you're too heavy for that, Tendou."

Tendou gasped in repulse. "Wha- what is that supposed to mean, Hayato-kun! You hurt me."

The group continued on as they walked to their class. Yoshikami laughed at Tendou's silliness and Semi's irritation. She was feeling okay now. Thanks to them.

She smiled up at Ushijima, but then realized. "Put me down already!" She shouted in embarrassment once arriving in front of the classroom.

Ohira sweat dropped. "People will misunderstand, Ushijima."

Ushijima simply gave a blank stare. "Then let them." Yoshikami slammed her palm against his chin.

"You might be fine with it! But, I'm not!" Because of this, Ushijima dropped her in pain and she landed ungracefully on her butt.

The door slid open and the three were met with the annoyed stare of their bio teacher. During the rest of the afternoon, they had to kneel outside the classroom with their hands raised.

"I blame you both…" Ohira cried out.