Could this practice possibly get any worse? Yamaguchi sighed, defeated and frustrated. He was always trying so hard, and sometimes he impressed himself with his jump float serves, but most of the time he couldn't understand why he even bothered. Out of frustration and growing anger at himself, he threw the volleyball at the nearest wall and walked out of the gym.

"Ah, is Yamaguchi-kun okay? He looks more frustrated than usual," Yachi asked, a concerned look plastered on her face.

"Probably, but it's none of my concern right now. I have my own things I need to work on. I'll talk to him after practice," Tsukishima said.

Yachi nodded and walked away, getting the empty bottles from her teammates so she could refill them. A concerned Sugawara couldn't help but overhear their conversation as he looked towards the door he saw Yamaguchi storm out of.

"Hey, Daichi-san, I'll be right back, okay?" Already jogging toward the other side of the gym, Sugawara didn't wait for Daichi to reply.

"Oh, uh, okay! Don't be gone too long though!" Daichi, didn't think Sugawara had heard him, but replied just in case anyway.

Sugawara stopped running as he exited the gym and looked around for any sign of Yamaguchi. Where did he go? There's no way he left practice. Sugawara was about to go back and try to talk to Yamaguchi tomorrow when he heard a noise coming from the club room. Worried, he made his way to their club room and slowly opened the door, not wanting to startle Yamaguchi.

"Hey, Yama-kun? Are you okay?" Sugawara asked as he entered the room. Upon looking around he noticed Yamaguchi was slumped against the wall. His face was buried in his hands, trying hard to keep himself from crying. "Y-Yama-kun! What's wrong?" Sugawara rushed over to where Yamaguchi sat, slowly sitting down next to him.

"I-I'm okay, I think." Yamaguchi looked up and smiled at his senpai. Tears had started to form and he was trying hard to keep them from falling. "I'm just frustrated is all. I can't seem to do my serve at all these past few practices," his smiled faltered some, hoping Sugawara didn't notice. "You can go back to the gym if you want, I'll be there in a second. I wanna calm down first," Yamaguchi looked down at the floor as he felt more tears appear, hoping like hell Sugawara would leave.

"I can wait, I told Daichi-san I was going to be gone," Sugawara glanced at his kouhai, smiling softly and patting his shoulder. "It's okay to be upset, y'know. Especially when you can't do something you thought you were good at. N-Not that you're not good at the jump float serve, 'cause you are, it's just I know that you're feeling stuck since you haven't been able to get it right during the last couple practices we've had, and it's something you really pride yourself on being able to do, or at least it should be 'cause you're the only one on the team who can do it, as far as I know at least…" Sugawara's speech came to a halt as he realized he was rambling. A light blush came to his cheek as he tried to laugh off his attempt to console the younger player.

"I-it's okay, I guess. I just feel stuck is all. I feel like every successful serve I've done has been a fluke," Yamaguchi gave his senpai a somber smile before turning away again. He was getting awfully familiar with the part of the floor he was looking at.

Sugawara sighed and looked at the ceiling, "What I'm trying to say is, don't beat yourself over this, alright? As a valuable member of this team, we can't have our pinch server doubt his abilities. Abilities that have won us games. Abilities that aren't flukes," Sugawara's disposition changed as he spoke to Yamaguchi. "You might not think you're an important part of this team, but you are. You're just as important as anyone else is, even if you're not a regular," he placed his hand on Yamaguchi's shoulder once more.

Yamaguchi had looked at Sugawara while he spoke, in fear of coming off as rude or indifferent to his senpai's words. Unknown to him, a blush had made it's way to his face when he smiled, "T-thanks, Sugawara-san. We should probably get back now, though," Yamaguchi sprung up with renewed energy. He couldn't wait to get back to the gym to hit serve after serve. Serves that would get over the net this time.

Sugawara chuckled as he saw his kouhai spring back to life. He stood up and hugged Yamaguchi tightly, "Glad to see you're feeling better now, Yama-kun."

The first year's face grew brighter as he was enveloped by the third year. His heart beat faster as the hug went from one second, to two, to three seconds before he pulled himself away in embarrassment. "Thank you, I-I'm gonna go back, see you there," Yamaguchi quickly left the club room and headed back to the gym, his mind in a foggy haze. Why'd I react like that? It's just Sugawara-san. It was just a silly hug, not like it was a kiss or some- he stopped himself from finishing that thought. The hug caught him off guard is all. It's not like he liked his senpai or anything.

Sugawara smiled and shook his head as Yamaguchi left the club room. He sure is cute sometimes. He made his way back to the gym as well, stopping mid step at his thought. Did I just- did I just think Yamaguchi-kun is cute? Well, I guess he sorta is. His freckles and smile definitely are, especially when he blushes like that, and- Suga shook his head as if it would rid his mind of thoughts of his kouhai.

By the time he made it back to the gym, Yamaguchi had started to practice again, this time successfully making his serves. Sugawara smiled once again and nodded to himself, he's definitely cute. And I definitely have a crush.