July

Training camp day two came and went in a flash. It was really, excruciatingly hot outside, so the boys were really feeling the pain of their constant penalties. All I could really do was make sure they were stocked up on food and water to keep going.

The Tokyo night air brought a different kind of relief to everyone, and stirred a good few of the boys on to have more energy to keep practising. Whilst the official practise matches were over, there were plenty of spare gyms they could continue to hone their skills in.

I was walking towards the canteen to grab some food, my head in my phone. A girl from Seijoh had decided to tweet something ridiculous about me, and I couldn't help but check all the replies. I physically tried to restrain myself but something just wouldn't let me. I could feel the tears seeping to my eyes as I stood outside of the gyms, a light breeze pushing my hair into my face.

"You alright?" I head a voice from the gymnasium to my left.

I became startled, quickly looking up and moving my hair out of my face to check who it was, "O-Oh yeah, Bokuto. I'm fine."

"You sure?" he asked, unsatisfied with my answer. His attention towards me brought the other boys out of the gym too. He was with Akaashi, Hinata, Tsukishima, and of course...Kuroo.

"Yeah, totally. I'm fine," I replied, trying my best to muster up a smile.

"(Y/N), why don't you play with us? We can have a three on three if you join!" Hinata asked.

I was about to decline the offer, mostly because I didn't want to play with some of the best players in the country, that was before I heard a familiar like hyena laugh, "Are you trying to tell me that tiny here knows how to play?!"

"Yeah! She played in junior high, right, (Y/N)?" Hinata said, wondering why Kuroo was laughing so hard.

He continued cackling as everyone else just stared, aside from Bokuto who couldn't help but let out a little laugh, "What's so funny?" I questioned them.

Bokuto covered for him, "I think he's laughing because you're small."

"I'm sure I recall you saying yesterday that you don't play, what changed?" Kuroo asked after he had calmed down.

I sighed deeply, facing up toward the sky with my eyes closed. I took a second to breathe the cool night air in, before unzipping my sweater, "If that's how it's going to be then fine. I'll play a bit."

They seemed shocked at my answer, aside from Hinata who was buzzing. "Yay! Can you be in my team, (Y/N)?!"

Tsukishima piped up, "I think that would put your team at an overwhelming disadvantage," he said, pinching his thumb and pointer finger together.

"Whatever, Tsukishima. Well, we need another spiker, so why don't you play with Tsukishima and Kuroo?" Said Bokuto.

I winced at the idea of playing with the guy who teased me relentlessly the other day, and the other guy who hardly even looked at me. "Sounds like a great idea," Kuroo smirked, "Show me what you can do."

I headed into the gym, changing my shoes quickly and discarding my jumper at the side of the court. We all got into formation with myself on the backline and the other two up front. On Hinata's side, himself and Akaashi were up front, whilst Bokuto was at the back.

We tossed a coin and Bokuto ended up getting to serve first.

"I'll not do it too hard, since you're on the backline, (Y/N)," he winked and hit a normal serve instead of a jump serve, which I received easily. He silently cursed himself for not showing off. Tsukishima set the ball for Kuroo, who hit it with force, but it was surprisingly returned by Hinata, which definitely ticked him off a bit.

The ball swung towards Akaashi, who set for Bokuto on the backline, with a super high serve. Bokuto smiled as he witnessed the set, and made a run and jump for it.

He was expecting to hear the familiar sound of the ball slamming against the court floor, but instead he turned around to see that the ball was still in play. I had received it with my whole body, the force knocking me to the ground. They all stared at me in shock as I recovered from the hit, "Follow through, idiots!" I barked at them and they switched back into game mode.

Kuroo smirked at my yelling, opting to set the ball to me, "This shall be interesting."

His set was pretty good, especially for a back line one. I jumped as high as I could remember how to and swung full-throttle. I never expected it to land, but it quickly escaped Bokuto's grasp.

Bokuto stammered at the event that had just taken place, "I-I-I-I couldn't react!" he screamed, ruffling his hands through his spikey hair, "It was all a shock to me!" I giggled at him, seeing him in such distress.

"You did react," Akaashi deadpanned, "Just not well enough."

"Are you some type of super-libero, (Y/N)?! You managed to receive one of Bokuto's spikes!" Hinata jumps up and down with stars in his eyes.

I placed my hand behind my head, feeling pretty shy from the attention, "Um, no. I was a wing spiker when I used to play."

Tsukishima nodded, "Makes sense why you can jump just as high as that freak, then, shorty."

I growled at him as Kuroo walked over to me, "Damn, you're pretty impressive, tiny. Wasn't expecting that."

I glared at the two, "Shorty? Tiny? Can you guys give it a rest? Damn!"

They laughed at me and we continued on with our game. For every point we scored, Bokuto's team would just score one right back. We were having a lot of fun with it, though. And it seemed we had garnered a bit of a crowd. I looked over to the gym entrance where Nishinoya, Tanaka, Asahi and Suga stood, as well as a couple of other students I didn't know the name of. 

Bokuto kept edging Tsukishima on about his blocking ability, "Those massive glasses on your head and you still can't see my spikes? Damn, must suck to suck, Tsukki."

That was the final straw for Tsukishima, who put his all into his next block, which I was joined in with. However, he might have put a bit too much in, as his whole body knocked mine over mid-air and sent me hurtling towards the ground. It probably wouldn't have been that serious, but I didn't react quickly enough and landed using my wrist, letting out a massive yelp.

Everyone in the gym stared at me in shock whilst I had tears stinging in my eyes. Hinata quickly ran over to check on me, "(Y/N)! Are you okay?! Did Tsukishima's block kill you?!"

I tried my best to let out a laugh but all I could do was whimper in response. I felt a strong arm pulling me up from my waist, turning around to see Kuroo.

"I'll take you to the nurse, are you okay walking?" he asked sternly, looking me up and down to look for any other problems.

"Yeah, I should be fine," I said as he put his hand on the small of my back and directed me towards the infirmary. I held my sore wrist in my other hand, trying extremely hard to bite back the tears. Those that were watching told me to feel better and that they hoped I was okay, which I thanked them for.

Our walk to the nurse was pretty quiet and uneventful, I just tried to focus on not crying in front of a guy I'd just met. The nurse sat us down in a small room.

"So what happened?" she asked, eyeing over my wrist.

"Well, we were playing volleyball and as we were jumping, I got knocked into and I fell using my wrist to break the fall," I said, embarrassed.

"I see," she continued, "Do you have any prior issues with this wrist?"

I hesitantly nodded, "Yeah, it was broken a few months ago."

Kuroo looked at me in confusion, but didn't say anything. The nurse continued touching my wrist and arm at certain points asking if it hurt. She had concluded that it wasn't broken and that it was just fragile from the previous fracture. "I can give you a small cast, mostly as a reminder to be careful with that arm. It may swell for a few days, but you should go back to normal soon. Just put no pressure on it whatsoever, okay?"

I nodded as she left the room. "Why'd you break your wrist before, (Y/N)?" Kuroo asked.

I didn't want to tell him the real reason, "I am a dumbass..?"

He laughed, but certainly wasn't convinced, "Tell me. I'm not a dumbass like you."

I felt as though in this adventure of me moving to Karasuno, trying to become a better person and generally trying to better my life, that lying was probably not the right answer. And Kuroo seemed like a nice guy, even if he liked to tease me.

"To be honest, it wasn't really me. I had a few people who didn't like me in my last school, especially the girls at bar, so I guess they thought it would be fitting to break my wrist so I couldn't compete."

He looked at me in shock, probably surprised that I'd been so honest, "What? What is bar? Why would they do that to you? Surely you didn't do anything that bad to them, right?"

I sighed, "I meant bar gymnastics. It really is a long story, and the nurse will be back any minute."

As if on queue, the nurse entered the room again with the cast, placing it on my arm. I thanked her and left with Kuroo.

"What about that long story? I've got time now," Kuroo pondered.

I giggled at his curiosity, "Before you guys roped me in to practise and ultimately ended up messing me up, I was planning to get some food. Are you coming?"

He smiled lightly, taking the hint that I really didn't want to talk about it, "Yeah, let's go."

---

Kuroo, Bokuto, Tsukishima, Akaashi, Hinata and I were the last ones remaining in the cafeteria. They had waited for me to return to check on me.

"(Y/N), are you okay?" Tsukishima asked quickly, eyeing my cast.

I looked up to him, his face seemed contorted with concern, "Yeah, I'll be fine. Don't worry about it, I probably shouldn't have been volleyball with guys of your stature," I laughed.

No one else laughed, though. Especially not Kuroo.

"She's previously broken that wrist before, idiot. How about going easy when there's a girl around, yeah?" Kuroo spat. Tsukishima looked like he wanted to argue, but when he looked at me he bit his tongue.

"I know, I'm really sorry, (Y/N)," he said as he headed off. He did look like he felt genuinely guilty.

"That guy wouldn't know how to treat a girl if his life depended on it," Bokuto sighed, sitting next to Akaashi who was stuffing his face with food.

I sat down to join them in their meal, "Shit happens, wrists get broken, you move on."

They all looked to me in amusement, "Can I make that my yearbook quote?" Akaashi asked and we all burst out laughing, aside from Akaashi who wasn't even aware he'd said something comedic.

"That's the first thing you say all day?!" Bokuto shouted as Akaashi nodded his head and continued eating.

We all finished up our meals and everyone retreated back to their rooms, aside from Kuroo and I because we had started eating later than all of them. I didn't know what it was, but I felt almost shy when I was around him. I couldn't deny his attractiveness, and the fact that he had been the first one to come to my aid had made me happy.

The voice in my head however, was telling me to shut up, as I'd only officially met him yesterday.

I had an internal battle with myself, thoughts flying. Kuroo clearly noticed my mood and decided to speak, "Did you hit your head as well, tiny?"

I grumbled at him, placing my empty plates to the side, "No. I wish I did though."

He laughed and hit me on the back, "What's with the morbidity? Is life really that bad?"

I sighed, feigning a laugh and looking over to my phone that was aglow with many notifications.

"Say, are you like, the most popular girl ever? Your phone kept buzzing when we were with the nurse."

I turned my phone over so that it was facing downwards, "I'm a wanted woman," I joked.

"Oh yeah? By whom?"

"Every Oikawa Tooru Fan Girl that attends Aoba Joshai," I sighed, picking up the phone and heading to the door.

"What does that mean?" Kuroo asked in confusion.

I looked back at him sitting on the small bench, "Nothing. I'll see you tomorrow. Thanks for your help today, night Kuroo."

He waved as I walked away, his head still spinning from the conversation.

"Oikawa Tooru? Who's that again?"