SUGAWARA HALTED IN HIS TRACKS...

     as he spotted a certain orange-haired girl practicing during lunchtime right outside the academic building.

excusing himself from the other third-years, sugawara snuck up behind shiyumi, nearly scaring the crap out of her.

"HEAAK—sugawara-senpai?"

"sorry for scaring you. still practicing even though it's lunchtime?", sugawara asked, finishing up his drink and tossing it in the waste bin.

"yeah...kageyama says that I need the extra practice. I'm trying to improve faster since he still refuses to toss to me for some reason", shiyumi admitted.

"well if you'd like, I could set to you. I am a setter after all", sugawara offered.

"REALLY?!"

"of course! I can help you practice so when kageyama does decide to toss to you, you'll at least have an idea what it feels like", the gray-haired male stated.

"tch! I don't know if mr. perfect will ever set to me", shiyumi grumbled, tossing the volleyball over to sugawara.

"he will. I can assure you that. and you and mr. perfect are on the same team, so consider that an advantage".

shiyumi then scratched the back of her head, sighing, as she steered her mind towards a more positive road.

"I suppose..."

"okay, you ready now?", sugawara asked, to which as soon as he had earned a nod from shiyumi, the gray-haired male had lightly set the ball up into the air — having it arch towards the orange-haired girl.

shiyumi gained some acceleration by skipping a few steps, as she jumped high up; too high.

the ball tickled the side of shiyumi's wrist, as it gravitated back down towards the ground.

     shiyumi's feet also swiftly planted onto the dirt, as she stared at her hand that had missed the ball.

     "eh?"

     sugawara had to smack a hand over his mouth to contain himself from laughing, as he crouched down facing away from shiyumi.

     "SUGAWARA-SENPAI!! DON'T LAUGH! I'LL GET BETTER I SWEAR!", shiyumi huffed, grabbing the ball and stuffing it into sugawara's arms, as she awaited for him to stand back up and set for her.

     the girl once again missed the ball, except this time, she had jumped too low.

     "AGAIN!!", she hollered.

     "AGAIN!", shiyumi demanded.

     "AGAIN, AGAIN, AGAIN!!"

"last one, hinata!", sugawara huffed, wiping away his forehead sweat, as he didn't expect to be all smelly during lunchtime.

shiyumi nodded, as her eyes were more focused on the ball than ever.

her gaze studied how high the ball flew, causing her to jump just before the ball had made its usual arch.

and just like that: WHAM!

"SUGAWARA-SENPAI!! I HIT THE BALL! I HIT THE BALL!! DID YOU SEE—"

"BE CAREFUL!!", sugawara shouted, to which shiyumi's jaw had dropped like her heart when she witnessed the ball smack right into the vice principal's face, instantly knocking off his toupee.

shiyumi and sugawara froze.

'oh. my. god. if I get expelled....at least I can still attend under the name shiyumi right...?'

"who...WHO'S SPIKING VOLLEYBALLS IN THE CENTER OF THE SCHOOL DURING LUNCHTIME?! WHO?!"

"s-s-sir, w-we're terribly s-s-sorry!! here's your toup—hair! it's very...uhm...nice", shiyumi said, handing the toupee to their vice principal, as she had to hold in the urge to cry of laughter.

"you...", the bald man sneered, hastily adjusting the wig onto his bald head, as he made sure that no one else saw.

"I'll let you two off with a warning, but if anyone else finds out..."

"NO ONE WILL FIND OUT! THANK YOU SIR AND HAVE A NICE DAY!", shiyumi and sugawara bowed, watching the lower half of the vice principal's feet storm off, as the two dropped down onto the floor, chortling like there's no tomorrow.

"tomorrow, same time?", sugawara asked, finally getting a break from the lack of breathing.

shiyumi widely smiled.

"HAI!"

ʚ♡⃛ɞ

     "sorry for the long wait, hitoka", shiyumi apologized.

     "oh, no worries!! I was just finishing up some homework so it all worked out perfectly", yachi smiled.

     "anyways, should we talk over dessert like we used to", shiyumi suggested, to which yachi had happily agreed.

the two girls were now at this traditional shop where the owner had practically watched them grow up, since they used to always bother him and his wife.

"uncle ruki, how've you been?!", shiyumi greeted.

"well if it isn't shiyumi and hitoka! it's been a while. how've you two been?", the middle-aged man asked, preparing two purins (custards) for the girls.

     "pretty good, how about you and auntie kiki?", shiyumi asked, thanking the man for the lovely dessert.

"we're doing great! we're actually due in about three months!", ruki happily announced.

"really?! has it been that long since we've seen you guys?!", yachi gasped.

ruki sighed with a small smile.

"sure has. by the way, how's shōyō doing?"

yachi could physically see shiyumi tense up, as once again, not many people knew of the situation.

"he's doing good. I have a feeling that he'll recover soon", shiyumi truthfully answered.

"that's always promising to hear. well when he does recover, you three should all come back together! I've been working on a new dessert", ruki grinned.

"what is it?!", yachi asked.

"surprise", the man smiled. "now enjoy!"

the two girls nodded, digging in, as shiyumi started talking.

"so how've you been? are you in any club activities?"

"I've been good! and no....ever since theater in elementary, I haven't really tried anything...", the girl shamefully answered.

"how about you?"

"oh, well I joined the boys' volleyball team", shiyumi nonchalantly answered.

"aw, that's great! maybe I could come see you at one of your gam—WAIT! BOYS?!"

"yeah, boys", shiyumi repeated.

"w-what do you mean you joined the boys' volleyball team?", yachi questioned.

'maybe yumi's finally lost it....oh no, oh no, OH NO!!'

"I...well technically I'm enrolled into karasuno as shōyō right now", shiyumi softly mumbled, looking down at her plate of jiggly flan-like dessert, as yachi's expression softened.

"why though?"

"because shōyō once told me that he wanted to be the next little giant", shiyumi replied, cupping a small piece of custard with her spoon, as she hesitated eating more.

"I thought that if I played volleyball...he'd wake up and see himself in me....stupid, right?", shiyumi bitterly smiled.

though that was only partially why — she wasn't ready to explain the rest yet.

"yumi...I'm sure shōyō would want you to be yourself, but if that's what you wish to do, then I support you. you know I'm not really good at any of this stuff, but if you ever need any help, I'm here!!", the blonde girl passionately promised.

shiyumi met yachi's determined gaze with sparkles in her eyes.

"thanks. I really appreciate that, hitoka".

"of course!! so, when can I come to one of your games?", yachi asked.

"this saturday".