The rain poured rather violently, immediately giving those who did not bring their umbrellas to school or work a bad start. The cars sped up as soon as the spotlight turned green, splashing water to the sidewalk and angering the people running along. They struggled to be dry, but are now wet thanks to the cars. It was a gloomy morning. Especially to a certain girl.

"…She's late. Where is she?" She impatiently tapped her foot, shivering due to the cold. "'Oh, hey. Let's go on a tour to our new school tomorrow, Marshmallow! You still owe me with the 'Kageyama Tobio' incident so don't refuse!' saying that and arriving late…" The brunette complained. She may love tormenting her friend, but she also has the right to get annoyed.

"MARSHMALLOW! Over here!" A familiar voice yelled out, causing a vein to pop on 'Marshmallow's', called Shorty before, forehead. "Can you not call me 'Marshmallow' in front of everyone?" She placed a finger in front of her nose, bearing with the embarrassment after she noticed a few by-standers staring at her. "But it's cute, isn't it? Besides, your name is 'Marshmallow', anyway." Hirari squealed at the cute nickname, clasping her hands in delight. "W-Without further ado, let's go!" 'Marshmallow' hid her face with her messy, uncombed auburn hair and dragged her friend outside the convenience store without opening an umbrella. Wrong move.

"I-It's raining, Marshmallow!"

"No, it's extremely sunny today – of course, I know it's raining!"

"Didn't you bring an umbrella?"

"No. I don't use umbrellas… I just keep forgetting them somewhere."

"Look! Let's ride that bus, Marshmallow!"

Without waiting for a reply, Hirari dashed towards the first sign of shelter she saw – a bus. Although her companion was obviously against it, there was no other choice but to chase after the rash girl. As soon as they got on, 'Marshmallow' immediately laughed. "I thought you were supposed to be indecisive." She commented on the sudden decision of Hirari to get on the bus. "Well, I, uhh… it was raining." They sat down on the nearest available seat to the door. "Well, you were the one who dragged me outside the store, Maro-chan." Hirari continued her statement, trying hard to make it seem as if it made sense. "Wow, finally calling me by a real nickname, eh, Hira-chan?"

Hirari shrugged her shoulders, staring at her friend's identification card which was taken out of her bag. Kaji Mashumaro. "What? Do we need an ID to get in the school? But our first day of classes is tomorrow. Aren't those useless right now? But—" "You have a bad habit of worrying too much." She was cut off by Mashumaro, laughing at the redhead's strange behavior. "You're one to talk, Marshmallow."

Mashumaro flinched at the nickname. Scratch that, she always flinched whenever Hirari calls her that. Ever since they were doing a random research about name meanings in the computer lab at their old school and found out that 'Mashumaro' is actually the Japanese pronunciation, when written in kanji, of marshmallow, Hirari would always call her that just because it's 'cute'. Did she look like a white fluffy cylindrical confection to Hirari?

Hirari, who was by the window seat, stared intently at the droplets of water against the window. As one droplet started making its way down, it combines with the others and becomes larger before finally disappearing to the bottom of the window. "Stop daydreaming about Kageyama Tobio." Her thoughts were interrupted by Mashumaro and her face turned from a calm and serene one to a 'wow-just-wow' one. "Can you not? Why are you shipping two people who just met because of your doing?" She snapped back gently.

Mashumaro giggled as she pressed her head back against the seat, her eyes slowly closing. Giving in to her drowsiness, she yawned. "It's because it's my doing." She said before finally closing her eyes.


"Maro-chan."

She shifted her head to the left, ignoring the call.

"Hey, Maro-chan… wake up."

Her eyelids twitched.

"MARO-CHAN, WE'RE LOST."

She bolted upright out of shock, thinking it was a bad dream. Oh, right, she was in a bus so she hit her head on the seat in front of her, startling the old lady asleep on it. She was pretty sure that the bus they took wasn't a camping bus so why is everyone asleep?

"Pff—" Stifled laughter caught her attention. She turned to Hirari, who had her hands on her mouth. Raising an eyebrow, she looked outside the window. "… This isn't our school…" She calmly said. Surprised, Hirari tilted her head in confusion. "… Aren't you supposed to be angry?" Mashumaro gave herself a few seconds to register what was happening before responding. "… Oh, right. HEY, HIRARI! I'M ANGRY! Why did we take this bus?"

Hirari opened her mouth to say something, when the bus started moving again. "No, wait! Sir, we're getting off!" She stood up, accidentally hitting Mashumaro's cheek with her left hand. "S-Sorry!" They said in unison. The redhead looked at her friend in confusion. "… Why did you apologize?" She asked. Mashumaro stood up and simply said "Oh… I did?"

"Are you girls getting off or what?" The bus driver called out. "Ah, yes, sir!"

As soon as they got off the bus, it took a while before they noticed that it was still raining. "Gah! Why is our reaction time so slow!?" Mashumaro yelled as they jumped randomly in puddles, trying to avoid getting wet by placing their hands on their heads. "Why are we jumping in puddles if we don't want to get wet?" Hirari said, reaching the school gate first. They quickly ran into the school along with the other students who were late for classes. They were dripping wet from head to toe, causing the other students to look at them with a strange look on their faces. "… I don't want to go to school tomorrow and have my face be remembered by these guys." Mashumaro whispered. Hirari nodded in agreement. They put their confident(?) expression up and walked the school, thinking nobody would notice them, which is the exact opposite of what was happening.

They made their way to the freshmen corridor, completely forgetting that this was not their school. "Um… why does it seem like our uniforms are different from these guys?" Hirari silently said. Mashumaro glanced at every door, noticing that there were so many people staring at them. "…Hey, those girls are from Aoba Johsai, right?" She heard someone say.

"Y-Yeah. They're probably skipping classes and went here to beat someone up."

"Scary."

"Scary, right? They look like delinquents, too. Look at how wet they are from running in the rain."

Hirari's eyebrows furrowed. "People here are judgmental. Are we really going to attend this school?" she asked. Mashumaro gulped, a bit nervous of Hirari's loud voice as if she was trying to pick a fight with the students. "Well… this isn't our new school." She reminded, realizing it on her own. Hirari's eyes widened. She smacked her own face out of humiliation. "I wish I didn't say that out loud…"

This caused Mashumaro to laugh out loud, surprising the students in the corridor. "I think I read the sign earlier. Karasuno, was it?" She was giggling in the midst of her statement. "Wow… I didn't know you could be attentive sometimes, too, Maro-chan." Her red-haired companion said, with no intention of being sarcastic or insulting. "W-What's that supposed to mean?" Mashumaro quickened her pace, disturbed by the unwanted attention. Hirari started walking quickly, too, trying to catch up. "I-I didn't mean it like that, you know!" She retorted back, failing to watch where she was going. "Well, it wasn't me who was daydreaming about KAGEYAMA TOBIO THE DELIVERY BOY in the bus earlier!"

As soon as Mashumaro said that, she glanced in front of her and abruptly stopped in her tracks. Hirari, on the other hand, failed to notice that there was a huge wall in front of her and she collided with it rather painfully. "Ouch!" A male's voice and Hirari's voice yelped in unison. She clutched her head in pain. What was with that firm thing she collided with? The 'wall' yelped. It yelped.

She looked up, and was beyond shocked. They're freaking huge, she stared at the group of boys in front of her. There was a short one with orange hair, tugging at a really tall blonde guy's uniform. There was also a freckled boy beside the blonde one… and then there's an extremely familiar face. The familiar black-haired guy was trying to reach his back with a painful expression. "Wooooaaaah, ginger. I knew you were hard-headed, but I didn't know you were that hard-headed." Again, someone just had to interrupt a moment. Mashumaro was smirking behind her, watching the scene; amused.

"I-I'm sorry!" Hirari bowed to apologize, causing Mashumaro to actually see who she collided with. "'Kageyama Tobio the delivery boy'?" The short guy with orange hair let go of the blonde guy's shirt and looked up at the black-haired one who still had his hand on his back. The blonde guy and the freckled guy covered their mouths with their hands while snickering. Crap, they heard me. Mashumaro sweat-dropped. "You know him?" The orange-haired guy turned his attention to Mashumaro, who bit her lip. Sure, she was a master of mischief and irony, but she was always nervous when meeting new people. "Well, I, uhh, yeah?" She managed to reply. "He, well, he was the delivery boy who came to my friend's house the other day."

"W-W-Woah! You work part-time, Kageyama? I didn't know!" The smaller guy smacked Kageyama's back in excitement, making it hurt more. "Oh, it seems Hinata wasn't there when it happened, Tsuki." The freckled boy was only talking to the blonde guy, and the blonde guy chuckled in an arrogant fashion. "He was late for practice when he was called into the office because of a bad test result. Even I would have a hard time running to the gym with such short legs." The blonde guy mocked, a silly smirk still on his face. "S-Shut up, Tsukishima!" The short guy argued.

At this point on, Mashumaro and Hirari looked at them, blinking innocently. "… Is that…?" Hirari whispered, taking advantage of the fact that the boys were too busy arguing to look at them. "Your soulmate, Kageyama Tobio? Yes, it is." Mashumaro whispered back, not knowing that when it comes to his name, Kageyama's attention would easily shift. He looked at them, making both girls leap and back away out of astonishment. "… Hi?" Hirari said without thinking, causing Mashumaro to look at her in surprise and a look that says 'No, don't do it if you want to live.'

But Kageyama, too, was also surprised at the greeting. He looked down at his feet awkwardly and gritted his teeth. "Hey!" His voice did not even sound like he's greeting. He sounded like a soldier talking to an army general. His loud 'hey' caught everyone's attention. He also straightened up his body and had a tinge of pink on his face. "Your superhero's not used to interacting with people." Mashumaro was still able to tease Hirari even in a 'critical' moment, not even bothering to wonder if they heard her or not. "Hi!" The orange-haired guy greeted enthusiastically in contrast to Kageyama's awkward one. "I'm Hinata Shouyo! I'm sorry about this scary guy, he hates people." The one called Hinata pointed at Kageyama.

Kageyama looked down and smacked Hinata's hand away. "I DO NOT!" he yelled. "Oh, you don't? Here I thought all tyrant kings hate their loyal subjects." The blonde guy mocked again, followed by the small chuckle of the freckled guy. "Tsukishima, shut up, dammit!"

Mashumaro prevented herself from laughing. "He's easily-angered." She told Hirari. The other girl gulped. "Maro, can you just… stop? Stop observing every detail!" she hushed, her voice shaking a bit. "We have other stuff to do. No time to 'shut up' or even deal with you guys outside the classroom. Bye." Tsukishima shot a look of torment at the pair of boys outside before going inside the classroom with his freckled friend.

"What are your names? What school did you come from?" Hinata asked, still enthusiastic even after all of that. "Uh, I'm Ishikawa Hirari and this is Kaji Mashumaro… and we come from Aoba Johsai… I guess." Hirari sheepishly answered, glancing at Mashumaro as if to say 'this is your fault'. Mashumaro glanced back with a small smile of happiness with a mix of mockery that says 'how is this my fault'. "…You guess? And Aoba Johsai? Woah! You must know who the Great King is, don't you?" Hinata stepped forward, as Hirari backed away with her hands in front of her. "Huh? Great King? What… Um… no." She shyly answered, wondering where this guy got his burst of energy from. His wild hair color, maybe?

Mashumaro looked up at Kageyama, noticing how his eyes widened at her friend's answer. Is it strange not to know someone from Aoba Johsai? And what is with this Great King thing-a-ma-bob? Her face wrinkled, looking closely at Kageyama's expressions, as he stared at Hirari with a look of confusion.

Just then, the conversation between Hirari and Hinata got disrupted by the bell. "Ah! We're gonna be late for homeroom! See you, Ishikawa-san! Kaji-san!" Hinata waved. Kageyama, on the other hand, just bowed slightly before following Hinata to their room. The girls bowed, and stared at their disappearing backs.

"Hirari?"

"Yep?"

"… Have you ever seen someone with orange hair before?"

"Just now. You?"

"Same."


"Hinata."

"Yep?"

"So there are girls from Aoba Johsai who aren't his fans."

"… Ha?"