"SORRY! DID YOU WAIT LONG?!"...

     "no, not really", sakusa blandly answered.

     "lovely!! so here's your water", shiyumi stated, handing the foam cup to the disgusted outside hitter, as she just swung back and forth on the soles of her feet.

sakusa was about to take off his mask, until he had felt someone's stare burning into his face — that someone being shiyumi.

"can I help you?", he snarled, wondering why the hell shiyumi was looking at him like that.

"o-oh, sorry!! I was just thinking that you...looked like someone...", shiyumi muttered, scratching the back of her head, as sakusa raised a brow in curiosity.

"who?"

shiyumi glanced around, as she slowly inched towards the wavy-haired male.

"are you sure you want to know? what if you get offended?", shiyumi asked.

now sakusa was even more perplexed.

"I won't", he lied.

shiyumi then took a deep breath in, as she signaled for sakusa to lean down a bit.

the dark-haired boy hesitantly dipped his body to the left, still worried that he might contract some disease from the orange-haired girl.

"you kinda look like the famous american singer michael jackson", shiyumi whispered.

sakusa suddenly flinched, as he internally wished to drown shiyumi in a tub of windex.

komori suddenly felt a shiver run down his spine, as he disengaged in the current conversation to go look for sakusa.

sakusa suddenly lowered his mask, giving shiyumi a good view of his face.

"look at me", he demanded.

"do I, sakusa kiyoomi, look like michael jackson to you?!", he lowly questioned, causing the girl to freeze, as she could feel the menacing aura radiating off of sakusa.

"h-hey!! you ready to head out, kiyoomi??", komori asked, attempting to ease shiyumi out of the situation.

     "actually, I'd like to stay a little longer. there's something that I'd like to clear up before I leave", sakusa bitterly responded, glaring at the orange-haired girl.

     "I-I...I didn't mean it in a rude way, omi-san! I just...I...I..."

"kiyoomi, let the boy breathe a little! it's his birthda—"

     "I JUST THINK YOU'RE REALLY COOL AND I WANTED TO BE FRIENDS WITH YOU!", shiyumi blurted out, to which those around her had snapped their heads around in shock.

     "shit", shiyumi cursed, as she awkwardly chuckled, slightly waving to everyone.

     'just smile and wave, smile and wave'.

     "ehhhh?? shōyō-kun, don't you want to be my friend?", tendō asked, breaking the silence, as shiyumi's embarrassed expression had slowly melted into a soft gasp.

"can I?! can I be the guess monster's friend?!", shiyumi asked, her eyes lighting up like the stars in the night sky.

"OF COURSE!! shōyō-kun, did you forget that we were on the same team earlier? and did you forget the song that I taught you?", tendō asked.

"no way! I still remember!", shiyumi proclaimed.

"oh yeah? what are the lyrics then?", tendō challenged.

"baki baki ni ore, nani wo? kokoro wo da yo~ konagona ni kudake, nani wo? seishin wo da yo~"

tendō clapped, as sugawara found it hilarious how shiyumi had remembered the redhead's wacky song.

everyone around them had also loosened up, forgetting about the sakusa situation, as they all started singing tendō's song.

"BAKI BAKI NI ORE, NANI WO? KOKORO WO DA YO~"

those who were more on the quiet side — or just simply thought that the song was idiotic and too good for their high standards — had helped the managers clean up.

     sakusa cringed, as he haughtily left, leaving the gym without alerting anyone but his cousin.

     "hitoka!! were you taking pictures this whole time??", shiyumi asked, panting, as she had been skipping around all night.

     "yep!! would you like to see them? I'm gonna go help sugawara-san clean up", yachi stated, handing shiyumi the camera.

     "thank you!", the girl shouted, clicking through the pictures, as a smile had unconsciously crawled its way onto her face.

     "I should really invest in a better camera", a voice suddenly said, causing shiyumi to squeak, as she whipped her body around.

     "s-suna-san!! you scared me!", shiyumi sighed.

     "did I?", the tired male nonchalantly asked, taking a seat beside shiyumi against the wall.

"anyways, did you have fun at the party?", shiyumi asked, still clicking through some of the pictures, as she mentally noted to ask yachi to send some of them to her mother.

"mhm. did you?"

"for sure!! I had so much fun playing volleyball with everybody! if I could, I'd like to stay in this moment for a while", shiyumi smiled.

"not forever?", suna asked.

"well nothing lasts forever does it?", shiyumi retorted.

a moment of silence was then introduced, before it was ruined by suna's grainy-sounding voice.

"can I have a look at the pictures?", he asked.

"yeah sure!", shiyumi smiled, handing the camera over, as she tilted her head to the right so that she could see as well.

as suna surveyed through the pictures, he grinned, noticing that yachi had a talent at capturing the most memorable moments.

'I need to save this'.

just as suna was about to pull out his phone, he felt a weight drop onto his left shoulder.

freezing, his golden eyes shifted towards the thing — or rather person — that had given him additional pressure.

shiyumi must've been super tired out, as she had immediately passed out with no need of kozume being nearby to comfort her.

after all, she did play multiple matches against teams that would've taken a lot out of anyone. and plus she insisted on not resting in between so that she could play with everyone before midnight hit.

suna first gently set the camera and his phone on the ground. he then attempted to lift shiyumi's head, so when he removed himself from the vicinity, her head wouldn't just smack straight onto the wooden floorboards.

however, as soon as his hand snuggled between his shoulder and shiyumi's face, the girl had incidentally trapped the male by wrapping her arms around his neck.

atsumu and osamu — who were walking by to head back to their dorms — had paused in their steps, as they wickedly smiled.

"huh? well if it isn't suna!", atsumu exclaimed.

"ya look like yer in a pickle, hm?", osamu chimed in.

"can you two stop gawking and just help me?", suna grumbled, not pleased to be found in this situation.

"eh? sorry, but once shōyō-kun's asleep, he's asleep. we can't afford to wake him up", atsumu stated.

"and plus, he clings onto kenma like that too, so ya won't be able to escape. ya might as well give up", atsumu added on.

hearing the mentioning of his name, kozume had snapped his head around, slightly squinting his eyes, as he bitterly glared at suna.

suna grimaced, as he scrunched up his face when he saw one of the twins take out their phones and snap a quick picture of them.

     "anyways, good luck and see ya tomorrow mornin'!", atsumu waved, meanwhile osamu just dipped his head and left.

     suna internally cursed the twins, as he swore that he would leak all their ugly photos to their fangirls once he got back.

the dark-haired boy then sighed, exerting all the negative energy, as he gently hoisted shiyumi up, carrying her with one arm as he grabbed the phone and dangled the camera's strap on his other shoulder.

'surprisingly light...does he even eat??'

suna then awaited for the elevator, managing to pry open his dorm room, as his roommates gave him a questioning stare.

"what do you have there, suna?"