"My brother, Naruse Kakeru, a third year, was faced against Kitagawa Daiichi. This was when Oikawa was a first year, so you wouldn't have known about this Kageyama.

"The game was close,very close, but in the end, Daiichi won 3 out of 5 sets. It was setter against setter, and even though he was 2 years older, he still lost.

"He was devastated, and my mother wasn't pleased. When he went to high school, he skipped a week before going in as a transfer student, and joined the soccer club instead.

"During that period, my mother's health was slowly deteriorating, and was getting weaker and weaker. My brother told her to go to a hospital, and the two planned to meet after school so that my brother could take her there. However, they never met. My brother had gone somewhere with his friends, being selfish so that he'd be accepted into his school.

"She decided to go by herself, but she suddenly collapsed on her way due to a heart attack, and died at the hospital. My brother blamed himself for her death, and I could tell that all of that blame was bringing him down. His fake smiles did nothing to lie to me, even though his friends took the bait.

"He killed himself by biking in front of a truck, previously trying to kill himself by hanging himself with a towel in his bedroom.

"With no other close relatives, I lived with my grandmother until I was old enough to live by my own. I had stopped with my scouting agent duties until I was in my second year of middle school, where I slowly started to pick it back up.

"In those final two years, I had managed to make a name of myself, picking up my mother's old title.

"Kakeru's friends visit my place whenever it's his birthday, bringing small gifts and such to place on the small altar I've made for him, and we chat quite a lot. Not to mention that I'm their babysitter as well." Yui finished, mumbling the last part to herself.

"Nowadays, when I do my duties, I make extra sure that no conflict happens between any team members or their parents. I don't want the same thing happening all over again."

Everyone was silent, processing all the information that she had given them. Luckily, Takeda-sensei couldn't hear what she had said.

"I... I can't believe..." Yamaguchi whispered in shock.

"You can't believe that happened, right? I can't either." she said, grabbing her bag and rising from her seat. "Anyways, sorry for dampening the mood. We're back at school, so let's get going. We've got a gym to clean." Walking down the bus's walkway, she was about to get out when she looked behind her. "Ignore everything I said, alright?" She hopped out and went straight towards the gym, starting on their duty.

Everyone seemed to avoid Yui during that time, and she accepted it, knowing that they just had been told something huge about someone that they've only known for a week.

But what they didn't know was that she was broken too.


After finishing their job, the team split ways, and Yui went home alone, ready for a restless night. Entering her empty home, she dropped her bag off at her room, went into the kitchen, and made some instant ramen for dinner. As she was eating, her phone suddenly buzzed, and she grabbed it from the table, looking at what what it was.

'Yui-chan! Sorry to bother you, but could you babysit Kakeru for us on Monday? I know you have school, but it's our anniversary on that day, and we decided that we want a bit of time together without having to stress about him. We'll drop him off at 8 and pick him up at 7. Don't forget that we're here for you, okay? Love, Naho.'

Giving a sigh, she typed her answer and sent it to her sister-like figure, Takamiya Naho.

'Of course. I'll tell the school that I'll be away on that day. I can't wait to see Kakeru again!'

A few seconds later, her phone buzzed again.

'Great! Thank you so much for taking time off school for us! I'll bring all of the things you need as per usual, and I'm sure you have some things left over from when we stocked you up. Kakeru will be delighted to see his favourite babysitter.'

With a smile, Yui threw away her ramen cup, did her normal duties, and went to bed.


"Obaa-san, do you know where okaa-san's photos are?"

"They should be in the closet in my room, at the very top shelf in a cardboard box Kakeru."

"Thanks."

A ten year old Yui Naruse watched her brother from the corner of her eyes. She watched as he went into their grandma's room, grab a box, and walk into his room, where he looked through it.

Then he started to cry.

Yui was confused, but when her brother left without a word, she followed right behind.

Running as fast as she could, she was just in time to see her brother's tear stained face with a smile on it as he spotted her before the truck crashed into him.

"ONII-SAN!"


She harshly rose from her bed, a cold sweat blanketing her as tears fell from her eyes.

It had been a long time since she had that dream.

She didn't know what to do. She felt so helpless, like she was back in her 10 year old body again. Sleep would only make that memory replay over and over again, so the only choice was for her to stay awake.

It had only been two hours when she had fallen asleep at 11:30, so she had 6 hours to kill.

Wonderful.

Getting out of bed, she pulled on a sweater and went to her kitchen, where she made some milk tea to calm herself down. Settling at her desk, she grabbed her laptop from her bag and opened it up, being greeted by a bright screen. Squinting her eyes, she lowered the brightness down and started to get to work, where she decided to watch the videos that she had recorded earlier on.

With her notes open, she studied Seijou well, taking notes on their players and how good their abilities were.

Hours passed, and after doodling, snacking, working, and watching videos of random shit, it was finally time for school.

Changing into her uniform, Yui pulled her hair into a ponytail and shoved her laptop inside her bag, got her bento ready, and headed out with drowsy eyes.

Arriving at the school, instead of heading to the gym for morning practice, she went to the office.

"Come in."

Opening the door, Yui walked up to the secretary. "I'll be away on Monday. Some family issues came up, so I have to skip school." she said, partly lying about her reason.

"Alright. Thank you for telling us. Your absence will be noted."

Nodding, Yui left the office and went to the gym, where everyone was deep into practice. "Yui! We were worried that you weren't coming." Sugawara said, and she simply smiled.

"I just had to tell the office something."

"I see. Anyways, you're free to give us any advice and such whenever you want. Just call out and we'll take your comments in mind." Sugawara said, and she nodded. Sitting on one of the benches, where she could easily see everyone with a quick glance. Taking out her laptop, she opened up to her notes and examined her team.

"Hinata, work on your receives and serves! Make sure you can at least get a decent serve over the net."

"Kageyama, try setting to different people! You can't always set to Hinata and Tanaka-senpai, so make sure that you can meet everyone's different needs."

"Yamaguchi, I recommend that you practice serving. I feel like you'll make a great pinch server."

"Tanaka-senpai, try angling your spikes in areas that don't have any players close by to ensure an easy kill."

"E-Eto, I don't really have anything else to say for the other players because you guys are already really good..." Yui mumbled, and they chuckled.

"It's okay Yui-san. You don't always have to give advice. Just do it whenever you have the information, okay?" Sugawara said, and she nodded happily.

Morning practice went smoothly, and classes were quite neutral, leaving Yui with a good amount of energy for after school practice.

She, Hinata, and Kageyama were in the gym a bit earlier than the others, as the duo wanted to work on their skills. Yui was working on adding more information onto Seijou's team members as they did so.

The sound of Hinata's receive and Kageyama yelling, snapped her out of her weary trance of typing. As Hinata went to get the ball from the bleachers, Kageyama tried again, but this time, someone else intercepted his ball.

The receive was perfect, landing right where the presumed position of the setter would be. He was quite short, and Yui guessed that he was a part of the team.

Just then, the doors burst open, revealing Tanaka, Sugawara, and Daichi. As Tanaka spotted the short person, he ran over to him.

"Oi! Noya!"

"Yo, Ryuu!"

Sugawara and Daichi had elated faces, and went to greet the boy as well. "Hinata, Kageyama, meet Nishinoya, a second year." Daichi said to the two boys, not seeming to notice Yui.

She made a new file for this Nishinoya person and typed in a few quick notes from the single receive she saw. Quickly plugging in her laptop in the nearby outlet, she placed it on the floor, next to her phone, and walked over to the group.

"Eto, Nishinoya-senpai, was it?"

Nishinoya looked over to see Yui close by, and he flashed a smile. "That's me!"

"I'm Naruse Yui, the club's scouting agent. It'll be a pleasure to work with you." she said, bowing to him with a smile on her face. "I presume that you are a libero, correct?"

"That's right! You seem to know a lot about volleyball." he commented, and she nodded.

"They don't call me the Empress for nothing."

A shocked expression appeared on his face and he took a step backward. "You're the Empress?! You're so pretty! Are you a third year?"

"Nope. Second year born on December 15, a few days older than Ennoshita-san. I didn't call you senpai for no reason, Nishinoya-senpai."

Nishinoya seemed amazed that someone called him a senpai, and sparkles surrounded him.

"So, did Asahi-san come back?"

'Asahi?'

"...No." Sugawara mumbled.

Nishinoya gritted his teeth, his expression going dark in an instant. "That coward...!"

"Oi, Noya! Don't go talking like that about our ace!" Tanaka yelled.

"Urusai! A coward's a coward!"

"Noya! Wait just a minute!"

"I've already told you! If Asahi-san isn't coming back, then I won't either!"

With that outburst, Nishinoya angrily opened the door and slammed it shut, going to who knows where.

"An ace... Asahi is it? School files can help me with this." Yui mumbled to herself as she walked back to her laptop and settled on the ground comfortably. Searching up a few things, she added a file named 'Asahi Azumane' into the Karasuno team folder and typed up a few suspicions she had about this Asahi.

'wing spiker

ace?

some sort of falling out with libero

maybe a match of some sort that they lost?'

Practice resumed with Nishinoya only going to help with teaching receives, and Yui took that opportunity to get some more notes about him. But as practice went on, she became drowsier and drowsier.

It had only been an hour or so since they had started, but soon enough, she had fallen asleep.

At first, no one recognized that she was sleeping because they had simply thought that she was just hard at work. But when they realized that she wasn't calling out advice like she normally did, they looked over at the girl to see her head leaning against the wall, her glasses at the tip of her nose.

"Do you think she got any sleep?" Yamaguchi commented, and Daichi shook his head.

"I think she stayed up all night looking over her footage of our match yesterday with Aoba Jousai to get information about the players. She works hard, but sometimes I think it's a bit too much, don't you think?"

"Then again, she is the Empress. She's a dedicated scouting agent that makes her team the best." Sugawara added, and they all nodded.

"So do we wake her up?..." Hinata trailed off, unsure on what to do with the sleeping girl.

"Let her rest. She needs it."

With that, the team continued their practice.


"Alright! Thanks for your help everyone!"

They had finished up with practice and cleaning up the gym, and now were about to go home. "I'll go wake up Yui-san. It seems like she's still asleep." Sugawara said, and Daichi nodded. Walking over, Sugawara packed her things into her bag neatly and placed them next to her.

"Yui-san? It's the end of practice. You should wake up and get home."

"...Just a few more minutes..."

"As soon as you get home, you can sleep as much as you want."

"Shut up Kakeru..."

Sugawara froze up. Though everyone had followed Yui's words and acted like they knew nothing about her past, it was still a sensitive topic. "I guess it can't be avoided." Sugawara mumbled, and he took out Yui's phone.

Turning it on, he was greeted with a lock screen. "A password? Kakeru?" he asked himself as he inputed the name in, and sure enough, that was it. "Of course."

Scrolling through, he found her maps app and tapped on the directions button. A blue path made it's way from the school to her house, and with that information, Sugawara called Daichi over.

"It doesn't seem like she'll be waking up any time soon, so we'll have to carry her over. I've gotten into her phone and have directions." Sugawara explained, and Daichi nodded.

"Alright. Shall I carry her, or..."

"I think you're more suited to do that job. You are stronger than me."

"Okay then."

With the help of Sugawara, they safely got Yui onto Daichi's back, and were off to her house. "You guys go ahead without us. We need to take care of Yui-san first." Sugawara called out to the team, and they nodded.

As the two third years walked off with Yui, Tanaka secretly took out his phone and snapped a picture of them. "It's mom and dad with their kid!" Tanaka whispered, showing the group his photo, and they all sniggered.

Of course, mom and dad- I mean, Sugawara and Daichi were complete oblivious to the blackmail that just happened, and went on their way.

As they walked to Yui's house using the directions on her phone, they had a bit of small talk, about school, volleyball, and just random things that they were interested. Time passed quickly, and soon enough, they were at her house.

Looking around in her bag, Sugawara found Yui's keys and unlocked the door, letting themselves inside. Flicking the light switch on, they located her room and carefully slid Yui off of Daichi's back and onto her bed. Sugawara set her bag next to her desk, and after writing a quick note, left her house.

As the door closed, Yui smiled.

She had woken up while they were on their way to her house, but decided to feign sleep so that they didn't go this way for nothing.

She was glad that they had cared.