"WE HAVE A PRACTICE MATCH...

today, right?!", oikawa excitedly asked, to which iwaizumi had nodded.

"you seem extra happy about it, why?", the spiky-haired boy asked, setting up the net with kindaichi.

     "because maybe she will be here today", oikawa dreamily sighed.

"she? who?", matsukawa chimed in.

"huh? captain, you got a girlfriend now? did you finally move on from your middle school heartbre—"

matsukawa then gently elbowed hanamaki in the stomach to shut him up.

"no, she's not my girlfriend. I just invited her to one of our practice games because then she'll be able to see how cool I am", the captain self-praised, spinning a ball with the tip of his pointer finger.

"oi!! don't bring anymore of your fangirls to our practices!!", iwaizumi reprimanded.

     "but she's not a fangirl, iwa-chan!! and you act like I force those other girls to come. when you become as charming as me, maybe you'll understand then", oikawa playfully teased.

     iwaizumi took a deep breath in and out.

     "god, if you're real, please help me get through this practice peacefully".

ʚ♡⃛ɞ

     the nekoma team lined up against karasuno — a practice game that hasn't happened in five years.

"huh? kozume-senpai..."

kozume adverted shiyumi's curious gaze, as she had given him a little wave.

     "HUH?! THIS IS SO UNFAIR!! WHY DO THEY GET A CUTE AND PRETTY MANAGER MEANWHILE WE DON'T HAVE ONE AT ALL?!", yamamoto — the wing spiker of nekoma — complained.

     "HEYYY! KEEP YOUR DISTANCE FROM THEM, CITY BOY!", tanaka huffed, matching the energy that was given, as nishinoya also circled around yamamoto like a chihuahua.

     tsukishima snorted.

     "he said 'shitty boy'".

"OI! QUIT LOITERING AROUND AND START THE GAME!!", ukai demanded, to which both teams had hastily entered the gym, beginning their stretches and warmup first.

shiyumi looked over at yachi, who had prepared a camera for recording.

the girl was hoping to save a recording of every match she plays so that when shōyō awoke, she'd be able to show him.

     "KENMA, NICE SERVE!", kuroo complimented, as azumane messily received it.

while kozume set to yamamoto, nishinoya received it as shiyumi made it seem like she was attempting to perform another quick attack when in reality kageyama was setting to their ace.

     although yaku failed to continuously keep the ball up in the air, the game quickly went south for karasuno, as the first set ended with nekoma earning a three point difference.

     "time to end this game by winning one more set", kuroo grinned, to which sawamura had huffed.

     "we won't be making it easy".

     "we never said we wanted easy", kuroo replied, as all of nekoma stared down at the crows — to which even shiyumi had felt like she was about to get pounced on like a crow that has overstepped the cat's territory in the back alleyway.

     the second match was just as intense as the first, perhaps even a bit more extreme, as karasuno didn't wish to lose — at least not this quickly.

     "YAKU!!"

     "GO IT!", nekoma's libero shouted back, as once the ball came back to nekoma's side of the court, kenma had tried to confuse shiyumi by passing the ball over to her.

luckily, shiyumi received with her chest, which had somewhat hurt, but she was used to it with the bandages that she wrapped around her bosom, so she sucked it up.

within the next few minutes after tsukishima's stern block, the game had ended with nekoma barely sweeping by: 25-23.

"that was a good game, but I'm looking forward to when karasuno flies again; a true battle at the garbage dump!", nekomata exclaimed.

"then let's play again!!", shiyumi suggested.

although she was certainly not used to playing for such a long time, she could feel the adrenaline pumping through her.

it was fun having good teammates and playing against a good team.

she understood why people liked playing volleyball now.

nekomata chuckled.

"I like your idea! this is a practice match after all. play as many times as you all like then!"

"YES SIR!!"

ʚ♡⃛ɞ

     "ONCE MORE PLEASE!!", shiyumi asked, having to have lost to nekoma once again.

     "is your stamina limitless?!", nekomata asked, absolutely baffled.

     "I just—"

     "need to calm down and play another time", ukai finished for shiyumi.

     "sorry about him. he's just a little...enthusiastic", ukai snorted, as shiyumi sighed, making eye contact with kozume as she left the coaches to chat amongst themselves.

     "kozume-senpai!! did you enjoy the game?", shiyumi huffed, as kozume handed her a towel to wipe away her sweat.

     "thanks!"

     "it was fine", kozume answered. "and no need to call me 'kozume-senpai'. it's too formal..."

     "ja~ kenma! I've got something for you", shiyumi stated, rummaging through her bag, as she pulled out two red bobby-pins.

     "I have extras with me because my hair gets in the way sometimes. I noticed yours does too, so here!", shiyumi explained, boldly placing the two clips in kozume's hair — giving him a closeup of her.

     'long lashes...pretty...'

     kozume suddenly flinched at his own thoughts, causing shiyumi to worry.

     "oh sorry! did I hurt you??"

     "no, you're goo—"

     "oho? what's this? did you make a new friend, kenma?"

     "kuroo-senpai! thank you for the game", shiyumi bowed.

     "ah, it was nothing~ what's with the clips in your hair, hm? I thought you said you liked your bangs dow—"

     "it's so I can see better, kuroo".

     kuroo raised a brow, clearly remembering kozume telling him that he keeps his hair down because it gets too overwhelming when he sees too much at a time.

     "would you like some clips as well, kuroo-senpai? your hairstyle makes you look cool and all, but—"

"he's fine. anyways, I think your captain's calling for you", kozume interrupted, to which kuroo was even more suspicious now.

"oh okay! well, until next time then!", shiyumi waved, as both teams' captains shook hands before departing.

"STAY SAFE!!"

"WILL DO!!"

shiyumi then sighed, as she felt a hand gently ruffling her hair.

     "don't worry. we'll see them soon enough, and plus, we gotta work on your other skills for the interhigh prelims", ukai said.

     "interhigh prelims?"

     "indeed. it's one of the most important competitions that we'll be entering, so we've got to be prepared", ukai stated.

     "I see...I'll be working extra hard then!", shiyumi smiled.