"KAGEYAMAAAAA~"...

kageyama groaned, as his paradise was destroyed.

apparently floating around the sea on a tube while sunbathing was not something that was a part of kageyama's agenda, because a little tangerine was obnoxiously hollering his name for everybody to hear.

"SHUT UP, BOKE!! WHY CAN'T YOU JUST LET ME FLOAT IN PEACE?!"

"I HAVE A PROPOSITION FOR YOU!!", shiyumi grinned.

"a what?"

the orange-haired girl sighed.

"man, it sure is hard being the only one that has a brain among—"

"explain before I toss you into the sea", kageyama threatened, gripping insanely hard onto shiyumi's head, as the girl thought that her skull was about to be crushed like a walnut.

"okay, okay!! sheesh! someone's in a bad mood today..."

"talk", kageyama demanded, his patience running thin.

"I have a match at 2:30 with some bullies and I need a setter. you're joining", shiyumi stated, not even asking for the boy's opinion.

"wait, what?! what bullies?! why're we having a match? and why me?"

"what do you mean why you? you're always my setter, so of course it's you!", shiyumi answered.

"huh? first of all, I'm no one's setter! and second of all, why don't you go find that miya twin or the one from nekoma? I'm sure they'll love to set for you", kageyama bitterly grumbled.

shiyumi raised a brow, as she took a deep breath in and out.

'time to bring out the big guns'.

     "BUT YOU'RE MY BESTIE! YOU'RE MY KING! YOU'RE MY PARTNER, MY BUDDY, MY MOST VALUED TEAMMATE! YOU'RE MY SETTER AND MY—"

     "OKAY, SHUT UP!! YOU'RE SO ANNOYING!", kageyama huffed.

     "is that a yes I hear?", shiyumi asked, rapidly batting her eyelashes, as kageyama rolled his eyes.

"yeah sure, whatever. who else is on the team?"

"tanaka-senpai and noya-senpai from karasuno. then we have satori-kun and rin", shiyumi answered.

"you got all of them to agree?", kageyama suspiciously asked.

     "of course! my persuasion's on point today!", shiyumi snickered.

     "so have you tried jumping on sand? I played with the captains of fukurōdani and nekoma earlier, and it's actually kind of hard, especially with the wind and stuff", kageyama mentioned.

     shiyumi — who was about to go snack on some chuupets with suna — had stiffly turned around.

     "I-I'm sorry...what?"

     "I asked if you've tried to jump on sand yet. it's pretty rough considering—OI! WHERE ARE YOU GOING?!", kageyama asked, watching the orange-haired girl sporadically skip around.

"I'LL BE BACK REAL QUICK!!", she yelled, unintentionally bumping into hirugami.

     "oh, are you okay?", the brown-haired volleyball player asked.

"a-ah, yeah! sorry I wasn't looking where I was going. by the way, you're hirugami-san, right?"

     "mhm! and you're hinata shōyō. practically everyone knows your name by now", hirugami softly chuckled.

"I'll take that as a compliment and move on, but anyways, have you seen hoshiumi-senpai? I'm in urgent need of seeing him", shiyumi stated.

"ah, he's by the shoreline right now. I actually bought him some of his favorite snacks. you can take it to him if you want, but—"

"THANK YOU! I'LL SURELY REPAY YOU, HIRUGAMI-SAN!"

     "...I don't think kōrai-kun's in a good mood right now...", hirugami muttered, finishing the sentence to himself, as he watched shiyumi skip away with his bag of snacks.

     "HOSHIUMI-SENPAI!!"

     the orange-haired girl finally halted in her tracks, as she saw the back of her idol, who was standing in the shallow part of the ocean surrounded by seagulls.

     "hoshiumi-senpai! I brought your snac—"

hoshiumi leisurely turned around, his face devoid of any emotion.

"why're you here? where's sachirō?", hoshiumi calmly asked, as a seagull had promptly landed on the boy's head.

"u-umm...I...he had something to do, so he sent me here?", shiyumi unsurely answered.

"so anyways, I was wondering if you could—"

"go away. I'm not in the mood to talk right now", hoshiumi commanded.

     shiyumi hummed, as she diverted her attention to the clear foam that occasionally threatened to kiss the tip of her toes.

     hoshiumi closed his eyes once more, as he allowed the breeze to marinate with his pessimism.

     that is, until he heard the crinkling of a paper bag and the plastic opening of another. a pair of feet had stomped into the waters like an ogre, shifting closer and closer to him by the second.

     an unwanted company was right beside him, causing him to snap open his eyes in rage, as he pivoted to the side.

     though the company was closer than he had excepted, as shiyumi's face was only inches away from his.

     "they say you're not you when you're hungry", shiyumi grinned, catching hoshiumi by the waist before he had fallen backwards into the ocean, as she smoothly stuck a shrimp chip in the boy's mouth.

     "w-WHAT ARE YOU STILL DOING HERE?! I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU TO LEAVE!", hoshiumi shouted, standing upright, as he aggressively munched on his favorite snack: kappa ebisen — plum flavored.

"oh, I see you're still hungry. here, have some more", shiyumi smiled, stuffing more of the shrimp chips into hoshiumi's mouth, as the boy internally fumed.

'IS HE DEAF?! DID I NOT MAKE MYSELF CLEAR ENOUGH?! the chips are really good though...BUT I'M STILL PISSED!'

"why're you still here anyways?! I thought you were afraid of the ocean!", hoshiumi stated, rudely snatching the bag away from shiyumi.

"oh, well I learned that as long as someone's with me, I'm not too scared of it", shiyumi answered.

hoshiumi raised a brow, grunting.

"but seriously, what're you still doing here? you already delivered the snacks. you can go now", hoshiumi said, strongly attempting to chase shiyumi away.

"so what's bothering you? is it girl problems?", shiyumi genuinely asked, passive aggressively swishing around the waters with her right foot.

"HUH?! WHY WOULD YOU ASSUME THAT? JUST SO YOU KNOW, GIRLS AREN'T MY PRIORITY, OKAY?!"

     shiyumi's pressed lips slightly stuck outwards, creating a doubtful expression.

"mhmm~"

"OI! WHAT'S THAT TONE, HUH?! I'M VERY POPULAR WITH THE GIRLS, OKAY?!", hoshiumi defended.

     "that I do believe".

     "I DON'T WANT TO HEAR—wait...what?"

     "I said that I believe that statement", shiyumi repeated, her voice filled with sincerity.

     hoshiumi suddenly felt his soul calm down a bit, as he turned back around, facing the vast ocean of endless secrets.

     "I lied", hoshiumi mumbled.

     "hm?"

     "what I said wasn't true...I'm not very popular with the girls...especially not with this height".

shiyumi noticed hoshiumi's immediate change in mood; height was a sensitive topic for the white-haired boy, something shiyumi had picked up on during practices.

"well...do ya like boys?", shiyumi asked, peeking over hoshiumi's shoulder, as she reached forward to steal a chip.

"HUH?! WHAT TYPE OF QUESTION IS THAT?! OBVIOUSLY NOT!", hoshiumi replied, removing the bag of chips from shiyumi's reach, as the orange-haired girl just laughed.

shiyumi's laughter had somehow struck a cord in hoshiumi's mind, as his brows furrowed with embarrassment from how casual the girl was being with him.

"hoshiumi-senpai, you know there's girls shorter than you, right? and plus, some tall girls like short guys. but what's most important is that you like your height", shiyumi stated, grabbing hoshiumi's hand, as she dragged him out of the sea.

     "HOSHIU—actually, can I just call you kōrai-kun? your last name's realllly long", shiyumi chuckled.

     "yeah sure. w-wait, where are we going?!"

     when shiyumi had finally stopped jogging, the girl had basically forced hoshiumi onto a hammock that tsukishima had brought, but did not use, because he was taller than he had remembered.

     "what is this fo—"

     shiyumi then squished next to the white-haired boy, laying right beside him, as the two of them were hogging a hammock that belonged to neither of them.

     "short people get to enjoy things that tall people can't, like the comfort of this hammock. the world seems larger, and the adventures are even bigger — broader — more challenging", shiyumi said, staring straight up, as hoshiumi's eyes had followed.

     the palm trees above them waved, tilting the shade to the left then right, then back to its original position.

     "it's funny, don't you think?", shiyumi asked.

     "what is?"

     "it's like we're polar opposites, yet so similar at the same time. we're both birds in the sky, demanding to break the limit with our wings that we're constantly building to make stronger.

     except your wings are white, and mine are black".

     hoshiumi thought it was odd how shiyumi compared them. he was sure that she was a bit loose in the head.

     the orange-haired girl then turned her head to face hoshiumi, who could feel her breath fanning his own.

     "I'm certainly not as good as you yet, but I aspire to be like you...I aspire to be better, because of you".

     hoshiumi's eyes ever so slightly widened, feeling his heart erratically pump with excitement, as he had found himself a new opponent.

     this very moment marked the start of not only a new rivalry, but a new friendship.