"MY PICK IS 'TSUMU!!"...

atsumu grinned, as he high-fived shiyumi, who had tugged on his uniform, signaling for him to lean down a bit.

"I promise to play the best I can, because I know how much you hate playing with bad players", shiyumi whispered.

     atsumu was slightly shocked by that statement, though he had immediately pinched shiyumi's cheeks with a smile.

     "don't worry, shōyō-kun, because this fox will help ya fly higher than ya have ever before", atsumu declared, sending a sly glance over towards kageyama.

     the dark-haired boy suddenly felt like atsumu was purposely challenging him, causing him to shiver with determination to win.

     ojiro watched this all go down, as he just facepalmed.

     'now look what you've done, atsumu'.

"okay!! get ready to start! red team serves first!", hibarida shouted.

shiyumi excitedly held the volleyball, as all eyes were on her now.

tsukishima covered the back of his head, meanwhile atsumu seemed ready to set or receive anytime, anywhere.

'breathe, shiyumi. toss, run, jump, and hit. you've done this over a hundred times yesterday. you can do this', shiyumi mentally hyped herself.

as the orange-haired girl tossed the ball up in the air, she pushed off the soles of her feet and smacked the ball over to the other side.

though suna was able to easily receive it, most were impressed by how much the girl had improved just in one day.

as the ball started to fall towards the red team's side, atsumu had caught it perfectly and tried to set it to shiyumi.

though just as shiyumi had confidently hit the ball with her palm, tendō cockily blocked it, causing the ball to shoot straight towards the red team's floorboards.

luckily, atsumu had served it upwards, giving them another chance, as the ball ended up being sandwiched between the hands of tsukishima and tendō.

unfortunately, tendō was a little stronger, pushing the ball over to the other side, as the two blockers had a brief stare off.

with suna serving next, shiyumi did not end up receiving it properly, causing the blue team to gain another point.

     "SORRY!", shiyumi apologized, as atsumu just patted her back.

     "no worries, shōyō-kun. when it's my turn to serve, they won't stand a chance", atsumu darkly muttered.

     shiyumi just nodded, as the two teams continued to fight for points.

     "looks like shōyō-kun's doing fine just without ya, kageyama", atsumu teased.

     "funny you say that when he's yet to spike across the court without being blocked", kageyama replied.

     atsumu suddenly frowned, as he watched the ball fly up into the air.

     the first set had been going on for almost forty minutes and none of the teams were backing down or even close to reaching 25 points.

     tsukishima had to call for a timeout, as the blonde was beyond exhausted from constantly jumping in attempts to block suna, tendō, and even kageyama's spikes.

     "tired already, tsukishima?", atsumu lightly chuckled, as he too was starting to feel the intensity of this one set.

    "sorry, but I'm not a machine or a monster like hinata", tsukishima grumbled, taking a large swig of water.

     "oi, shōyō-kun, are ya—"

     atsumu paused mid sentence, as he noticed shiyumi skipping over towards him.

     "YOU'RE AMAZING, 'TSUMU!! AND YOU TOO, TSUKKI! LET'S HURRY UP AND BEAT KAGEYAMA!!", shiyumi exclaimed.

     atsumu could visibly see the stars twinkling in shiyumi's passionate eyes, to which that had caused him to unconsciously rest his hand on the girl's head.

     "right. let's go crush 'em!", atsumu smiled.

     tendō then continued poking fun at tsukishima, who didn't seem to be affected in the least bit — since he was already used to dealing with bokuto and kuroo provoking him.

     "well if it isn't mr. normal~", tendō laughed.

though just as kageyama had set to tendō, the ball was harshly blocked by tsukishima.

     "huh?"

     "hi. I'm mr. normal. the time lag attack might've fooled our wild beast over there, but it doesn't work on me. pleasure to meet you", tsukishima fake smiled.

"I knew some of the karasuno first-years pissed me off, but you take the cake!", tendō gritted.

"ah, why thank you!!"

without another moment, shiyumi had finally gotten used to suna's serves, as she got smacked in the face by the ball, forcing her to fall onto her bum.

     "'TSUMU! TOSS TO ME!!", shiyumi yelled, jumping back up into a standing position, as she sprinted towards the net.

     the girl then unconsciously licked her lips like the ball was her predator. atsumu noticed the hunger in her eyes, the thirst; how intense she was about spiking this ball across the net.

     "ONLY FOR YA, SHŌYŌ!"

     the orange-haired girl then prepared to take flight, propelling against the floor like she had grown a pair of ebony wings.

     everyone watched in awe, as hoshiumi started grinding his teeth, beyond annoyed.

     tendō then grinned as he jumped up to block the ball, only for shiyumi to widely smile.

     thinking that she was going to spike it hard, the redhead nearly choked on his saliva, as he watched shiyumi gently tip the ball to the other side of the net.

"sorry, but guesses mean that there's a possibility of them being wrong", the orange-haired girl smirked.

     kageyama and suna's eyes widened in shock, as the girl had just executed a feint, earning the red team the last point that they needed.

atsumu cheered as he ran up to shiyumi, enveloping her into a proud hug.

shiyumi laughed, as she hugged the blonde setter back, too excited to even care that it was just a single practice set.

"where'd ya learn to do a feint like that, hm?", atsumu asked.

"I watched bokuto-senpai do it!! so I thought I'd give it a try too!"

bokuto immediately clapped, as he felt accomplished that he was being watched while playing.

"DID YOU SEE THAT, KITA-SAN?! DID YOU?!", shiyumi questioned — like a puppy wanting to be pet.

"I did. you did very good, shōyō".

if shiyumi were a puppy, she'd be wagging her tail by now.

"that was tiring", suna sighed, taking a drink from his water bottle, as shiyumi walked over to the dark-haired boy.

"nice game, suna-san! but I hope to actually play against you next time!", shiyumi smiled, extending her hand out for him to shake.

hesitantly, suna accepted her handshake, to which it was accompanied by a slight feeling of temptation.

"thanks", the brown-haired boy muttered.

she had almost made him wish that he took the game a bit more seriously.