Author's Note: Hi readers! Thank you everyone for reading :) Please review.


F O U R


"When you make a mistake, there are only three things you should ever do about it: admit it, learn from it, and don't repeat it."

-Paul Bear Bryant


-Kuro Tetsuro-

Kuro assumed it would be a possibility that Shiori would attend Nekoma High School, after all, her father still worked and lived in the area. Why wouldn't she go to Nekoma? School was over for the day and practice was starting in the next ten minutes, but he went to the front of the school to search for Shiori. He wanted to see her with his own eyes. It had to be her though, the way Yamamoto had described her during lunch sounded exactly like Shiori.

At the front of the school, clusters of students were changing their shoes and heading toward the front gates or grabbing their bicycles. Kuro leaned against a support beam, scanning the entire area for her. The bell had just rung less than five minutes ago, she couldn't have already left. He licked his lips and shook his head. What did it truly matter if she was there in front of him? He didn't even know what to say to her or worse he may not have said anything again like he had a couple of days ago.

Maybe they could start over? He'd probably have to apologize for that to happen. And would do it, after all, it was the right thing to do. Kenma hit the nail on the head before. She didn't leave without reason; she had a good one. Her father's alcoholism got out of control and it wasn't safe for her to live with him. It was just unfortunate that Shiori's mom lived on the other side of the world. Regardless of that, Shiori could have gone to live with her aunt and uncle in Shimabara, at least then they could have seen each other during breaks.

The crowd of students cleared out, but Shiori never showed. Kuro sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. At least now he had a little more time to figure out what to say. When he apologized, he wanted it to be right. Kuro pushed off the post and made his way across the school to the gymnasium.

If Shiori had gone to live with her aunt and uncle in Shimabara, he wondered how different things would have been. Even though it was still in Japan, the trip from Tokyo down to there was almost sixteen hours. At that kind of distance, she may as well have lived on the other side of the world. He shook his head, dragging his feet along. Kuro would have gone to visit her. She was one of his best friends and he cared about her a lot. He had a funny way of showing it though by ignoring her for two whole years. Deep down, it wasn't just the fact that he was angry at her—he was hurt.

"It's unlike you to be late," Kenma said, pulling Kuro out of his thoughts.

"Got distracted is all," Kuro replied and smiled as he walked into the changing room. "Be out there in a minute."

"You heard, didn't you?"

Kuro stuffed his bag into his locker, avoiding Kenma's eyes. "Yeah."

Kenma didn't say anything else, he simply left Kuro alone in the changing room.

After Kuro got dressed, he ambled over to the gym. The sharp chirps of the coaches whistles ringing in the large building. Volleyballs being spiked and slamming on the ground echoed from the open doors. Kuro took off his school shoes and slipped on his gym shoes before stepping onto the polished floor.

Kenma stood by the net with Lev, who was asking him for some tosses. And as expected, Kenma sighed and looked dejected. Lev had an innate talent, but he was also all over the place. The coaches saw potential in him and told the team to help him as much as they possibly could. They complied with the request, but Kenma had grown frustrated after the last few practices.

Yaku over to Kenma's side and glared at Lev. "You need to work on your receives more than your spikes. Let's go."

"But to be the ace I need to work on my spikes!" Lev threw his long, lanky arms into the air.

Yaku scowled. "How can you be an ace if you can't receive a single ball correctly?"

"But Yaku-san!"

"If you can get five successful receives I'll leave you alone."

Lev opened his mouth, but then closed it and nodded. Kenma had made his escape by that point, heading off to the other side of the court and hiding behind some of the first years who were just chattering about. That's when Kuro noticed the coaches weren't even around.

"Hey! Start practicing some dives!" Kai shouted at the first years. "One lap around the court, let's go!"

Kuro nodded as he crossed the court to join Kai. "Where are the coaches?"

Kai nodded toward the back entrance of the gym. Tora and Inuoka were both trying to peek outside. Kuro walked over quietly and stood behind the two, who were eavesdropping on the coaches. He reached for the collars of their shirts and yanked them back.

"Kuro-san!" Tora and Inuoka exclaimed at the same time when he shoved them toward the rest of the practicing team members.

"What the hell are you two doing?" Kuro placed a hand on his hip and tilted his head.

"Yamamoto-san brought the new girl here," Inuoka replied.

"What?" Kuro's brow furrowed. Chest tightening.

"She asked me if I could take her to Coach Nekomata after class. So I did and they're out there talking." Tora pointed to the door, his face a bright red.

Kuro looked across the court to Kenma, who stood by some of the baskets of volleyballs. At lunch, Kenma must have spoken to Shiori about joining the team. Or maybe Shiori had come to the decision on her own. When they were younger she always liked to play with them and she would watch matches with Kuro all the time. All that aside, Kuro never expected her to ask to join the team.

"Captain? You okay?" Inuoka asked with a slight frown.

Kuro nodded and waved for them to join the others. The second they ran off the door came open and Coach Nekomata entered with Coach Naoi close behind and finally, Shiori walked in. She stopped the second her eyes landed on him. When she looked away, she brushed her hair behind her ear.

"Ah, Kuro," Coach Nekomata said with a bright smile, which made him appear younger than he actually was. "This young lady has offered to be the team's manager. Maybe now, Yamamoto will focus, eh?" The old timer laughed and wandered over to his chair near the net.

"He'll probably be more unfocused," Coach Naoi muttered then smiled at Shiori. "So would you like to stay today to get an idea of how things work or would you prefer to start tomorrow officially, Hiraoka-san?"

Kuro stared at Shiori. He was torn on what he wanted, but his wants didn't matter. She must have felt him staring because she looked at him. A fire blazed in her eyes; whether it was a good or bad thing remained to be seen. When she looked at Coach Naoi she smiled, saying she would be happy to stay and observe the practice to acquaint herself with the facility and the members.

"Great," Coach Naoi said and placed a hand on Kuro's shoulder. "Why don't you make the announcement to the team that Hiraoka-san is to be our new manager?"

Kuro's stomach tied into several knots. It was like everyone knew about his and Shiori's estranged friendship and were trying to make him as uncomfortable as possible. He wanted to protest. Then he looked at Shiori, who walked away without saying a word. Kuro and Coach Naoi both gave her quizzical stares as she approached the cluster of volleyball players preparing to work on their blocks.

"Excuse me, if I can just interrupt for a moment!" Shiori announced as she climbed on the stand at the net.

"Or she can introduce herself," Coach Naoi chuckled.

"My name is Hiraoka Shiori and I will be the new manager for the team. I look forward to working with you!" Shiori gave a small bow and when she straightened she smiled at everyone.


-Kozume Kenma-

Kuro was dragging his feet in the changing room not that Kenma minded as he was in the middle of an important level of his game. His fingers mashed down on the buttons his eyes darting to his health and stamina bars. The enemy struck his character twice and game over flashed on the screen. Kenma scowled and gazed up at the awning he sat under.

"You guys have a good team." Shiori stood in front of him, holding onto her bag. "Haiba-san will become a good player in time. Yaku-san is an impressive libero, and Yamamoto-san seems very passionate."

Kenma looked up from his game and nodded. "I think we're strong."

"Maybe it'll be like old times."

"That would be nice." Kenma smiled.

The door to the changing room opened and Yamamoto and Yaku came out with Lev following them. The newbie bombarded them with questions about volleyball and becoming the ace of the team. Yamamoto snarled, claiming he was the ace of the team and Lev could never be unless he got better at receiving and blocking. Yaku didn't respond to either, his eyes glanced over at Kenma and Shiori.

"Hiraoka-san, you're brave to come and join the team after just coming to Nekoma," Yaku said, walking over to her. "Do you know anything about volleyball?"

Kenma wanted to defend Shiori and explain that she used to help him and Kuro back when they were in junior high. In a way, Shiori was a perfect person to help the team improve. Her eyes never missed things. She may have even been quicker in catching people's quirks and habits than Kenma as she got to watch the whole court. Not only would she see opponents she would see the teams play style.

"She knows plenty about volleyball," Kuro stated from behind the group. "Shiori used to be the manager of mine and Kenma's volleyball team in junior high."

Yaku's eyes widened and he bowed his head to her. "I see. Well then, I'm definitely more excited to work with you, Hiraoka-san."

Lev started asking Shiori if she could help him while Yaku scolded Lev for not talking help from his seniors that have been trying to help him. Meanwhile, Yamamoto blushed as he nervously stared at Shiori, twiddling his thumbs. Kenma turned his attention to Kuro, who remained with the group but didn't say anything more.

Kenma had known Kuro for a long time, seeing him silent and not provoking people wasn't normal. Had the return of Shiori really impacted him so much? Then again, Shiori didn't seem to really be talking to Kuro either. She had hardly glanced his way since the start of practice. It stressed Kenma out! Before things had gotten bad with her father, Shiori and Kuro chatted nonstop. And it wasn't always about volleyball. In fact, they would talk about everything and anything that caught their interest. Kenma wanted it to be like that again. Things took time, of course, so he would have to be patient. One of them would crack first and try to mend things.

"Why don't you come with us to get some snacks at the convenience store down the street?" Lev suggested when they reached the front entrance of the school.

"Oh, I have a lot of assignments that I need to work on and have done by the end of the week," Shiori explained with a wave of her hand. "I better not, but thank you for inviting me."

"Too bad, but we'll see you tomorrow at practice?" Lev asked, eyes filled with excitement.

Shiori nodded. "Absolutely. Have a good evening."

Lev and Yaku waved goodbye to her as she left them, heading in the opposite direction. When she rounded the street corner, Lev and Yaku headed for the convenience store while Kenma and Kuro remained at the school's entrance. From the look on his face, Kenma assumed Kuro was debating if he should go after her. He took a step forward, but stopped when Lev shouted their names, asking if they were coming.

Kenma sighed, Lev had the worst timing in every aspect. "We'll catch up! Just go!" He waved the two off. Thankfully, neither one questioned it and continued on to the corner store. Kenma put his game into the side pocket of his bag and nudged Kuro with his elbow. "Go talk to her. Say your sorry and she'll forgive you."

Kuro looked down at Kenma and then rubbed the back of his neck. "I feel like sorry isn't going to cut it."

"Staring at her won't either."

Kuro frowned. "We were friends for so long and for some reason I feel like I'm trying to meet her for the first time."

"She's the same person, you know. I talked to her during lunch today."

"Did you ask her to join the team as a manager?"

"No," Kenma replied, shaking his head. "We didn't even talk about volleyball. We just caught up."

"About?"

"Ask her yourself." Kenma turned on his heels, heading in the direction of the corner store. Lev and Yaku were probably done getting their snacks. When he didn't hear Kuro walking alongside him, Kenma glanced over his shoulder and smiled as Kuro raced after Shiori.