Tsukishima couldn't hear his surroundings at all for the simple reason he had his headphones on. It will just be a little while until the next class starts and everyone was already cramming for the upcoming quiz. He flipped over the pages of his notebook, scanning through his notes for the History quiz. However, he had to take his headphones off when Yamaguchi came running towards his desk with his own notebook on-hand. "Tsuki! Have you memorized all the Asian countries? Let's review for a while before the teacher arrives." The freckled boy suggested. Tsukishima eyed Yamaguchi for a while before continuing on with his studying. The latter just smiled at him happily.

The blonde glanced at the seat behind the one beside him. Mashumaro was sound asleep yet again, ignoring the fact that everyone around her is reciting what they know and yet, she values rest more. He winced, his face wrinkling in annoyance. He couldn't seem to understand why it seemed as if she was always escaping. Escaping the facts that she can't fly, can't write the future, and she can't pass the quiz if she was being lazy again.

"Why do you care so much about her?"

Yamaguchi's voice made Tsukishima's heart skip a beat in surprise. "Crap. He noticed." The blonde thought when he looked at Yamaguchi and saw the freckled boy following his gaze to the sleeping girl. Tsukishima looked back at his notebook. "I don't. Shut up, Yamaguchi." He answered. She was the most delusional and annoying person Tsukishima has ever met and she isn't even bothered by it. Suddenly, a bag dropped on the desk beside him, making him look up once again. Yamaguchi, too, looked behind him to see Hirari putting her slightly wet hair up in a ponytail. She looked at both of the boys and waved. "Good morning!"

She smiled as if nothing happened the other day. This action pissed off Tsukishima.

The girl then used her finger to poke the sleeping Mashumaro. "Hey…" She tried shaking her shoulder to wake her up. "Maro…" She called, releasing Mashumaro's shoulders from her grip. Mashumaro finally looked up from her arms and yawned. "Maro, what's the capital of Azerbaijan?" Hirari asked impulsively.

"Baku."

The other students stared in shock at the duo. "S-She answered it despite being just woken up from her sleep?" One of the boys commented. Even Tsukishima and Yamaguchi had blank, priceless reactions. "Then, what's the capital of Syria?" A random girl shouted the question to Mashumaro. "Damascus." The latter answered with a yawn. Suddenly, some students decided to test it out for themselves, too.

"Afghanistan?"

"Kabul."

"Cyprus?"

"Nicosia."

"Qatar?"

"Doha."

The questioning went on for a while until half of the Asian countries were mentioned. The fact that Mashumaro's eyes still looked tired made the students cringe when she answered all of their questions. "…No wonder she was transferred here." One student looked at Minori, slightly embarrassing her. Minori gritted her teeth and stomped away from them with a 'hmp'. Mashumaro looked around, stopping when she made eye contact with Tsukishima. The two stared at each other for a while, before Tsukishima broke the stare and continued on with his reading. Every single time the two girls are here, they start making a lot of noise and it's incredibly distracting for Tsukishima.

"You know, ever since you hardly attend club, I've been doing all your work! I bet you don't even know the collab our president wants us to do? You're supposed to write about the volleyball club, you know!" Hirari was now scolding her friend who was just laughing at her face. "Um… you girls are covering the volleyball club?" Yamaguchi couldn't help but ask when he heard their conversation. "Yeah! I've been in that club, trying to look for my video camera and trying to gather information for days already inside a crow! That guy Kageyama even—oh."

Tsukishima once again looked at them, irritated at how they could get his attention rather easily. "So you really are that girl in the crow mascot stalking us every practice?" He asked with a slightly offending tone. Hirari suddenly covered her mouth. She is busted. "I'm sorry, but… have you even met Kageyama outside of the mascot? I don't think he's still aware that it's a person he's talking to when you're there." Yamaguchi pointed out, making Hirari blush deeper. Mashumaro didn't know what has been happening to club in the past few days so she had no idea what they were talking about. "I-I, well, I didn't want to show my face in there alone! If Maro was with me, I'll be a lot braver! So, anyway… I finally got my video camera from a teacher called… Hayashi-sensei, I think?" Hirari continued her story, her eyes darting to Mashumaro at the end of her statement. The latter just chuckled teasingly.

"Okay, okay. I'll be attending club later." Mashumaro reassured. She didn't want to tell Hirari that she's been skipping club because she had been visiting a certain bridge everyday, thinking of ways to fly. "I won't be satisfied with just that! Don't be unfair!" Hirari complained. "T-Then, what do you want me to do?" The other girl held out her hands in defense. A mischievous smirk appeared on Hirari's face, making Mashumaro's sweat drop. "I want you to wear a costume, too!"

Meanwhile, Tsukishima already had both hands messing up his curly blonde hair in frustration. Yamaguchi was trying to calm him down. "T-Tsuki!" He exclaimed. Tsukishima stopped the action, and finally snapped at them. "… Either you want to fail the test and are just involving us with your noise or you want to pass and make everyone else fail by making noise, it doesn't matter to me. However… I'm going to have to make a bet to stop this nonsense once and for all…" He looked at Mashumaro and the girl just smiled beamingly at him.

"… Super-writer girl will have to write about me failing the quiz now. If I did, I'll believe her story of being a fortuneteller and I'll let you make all the noise you want to make everyday." His face looked smug with his threatening smirk, obviously mocking the girl, determined to prove her wrong. "But if I pass the test, then that means she hasn't proven her story and you two should do everyone a favor and actually act like you belong in this class."

This was ending now or never, Tsukishima thought.

Hirari slammed her hand on his table angrily. "You're so mean! But that's—"

"A nice idea!" Mashumaro agreed, smiling and without question, earning a flabbergasted reaction from Hirari.


"I'll be requiring you all to pass a Media Journal every last day of the week."

Discouraged groans could be heard among the Media Club members when the president announced a new rule. "Don't give me those long faces. Passing a Media Journal that documents all your activities regarding your assignments every last day of the week is much more easier than giving me reports every day." The president, Saruhiko Anna, announced. She took off her glasses and briefly looked at Mashumaro, whose eyes widened in anxiety. "Especially to those people who do not attend club meetings every day." She ended.

One of the club members raised his hand. "Yes, Hayazaki?" She gestured for him to continue. "Um… so the media journal will serve as evidence if we're active club members and are doing our job properly?" The boy asked. Saruhiko smiled deviously, making all of the members sit up straight. She put on her glasses after wiping the lenses clean before continuing. "Precisely. So the only difference between our old system and new system is that you are all obligated to gather information every day and at least be able to pass a proper journal entry every week so I could record your progress. Then if the information we have is finally enough to create a draft, that's when you all will start working on the month's issue. Understood?"

"Yes, ma'am!"

Mashumaro munched on a piece of basil bread she prepared at home for her lunch but didn't get to eat earlier. She awaited Hirari's explanation before she commented. Hirari dug out her video camera from her bag and placed it on the table. "Okay… so… we're assigned to the volleyball team. I'll be recording their plays with my video camera and then you'll—" Hirari paused, remembering that if she took out her video camera and stuck it to the mascot's wing, Kageyama will immediately find out her secret identity. She wasn't prepared for that and she knew she'll only get really flustered if he does find out.

He knows her past now and she's not ready for a 'partial' stranger to know it. Except Tsukishima, since it's a given that he is Akiteru's brother.

"On second thought… I think I'm not going to use my camera for now." Hirari said. Mashumaro's eyebrows were lifted, disappearing into her bangs out of amusement. "That's rare. You usually use your camera for everything." She commented in a barely audible voice, her mouth full of bread. "I-I can't use my video camera while I'm inside a mascot costume, you know!" The other girl tried reasoning, but Mashumaro just tilted her head at her. "You can just go there without wearing a costume." The writer suggested, leaving a blush on Hirari's face. The nervous girl covered her entire face with her hands, imagining what could happen if she went there as a girl and not a crow.

She wasn't close to Kageyama personally and she knew it'll only turn awkward if she went there knowing that Kageyama already has an idea about what happened to her. Plus, she didn't want to see a volleyball game as Ishikawa Hirari.

She didn't want to see how many bench players were there, waiting for their turn, only to graduate with nothing. She didn't want to witness that as Ishikawa Hirari. Being a mascot is so much easier. Being a mascot is her form of escape besides recording the events with a video camera despite of seeing it personally. She always didn't want to see things in her own eyes and she'll just end up forgetting, anyway.

Just like when she was unable to describe what the murderers looked like.

"If you're worried about the volleyball and the bench players, then stop it. I'll be there with you this time. The reason why Saruhiko assigned this to me was because she knew that I can make everyone shine no matter what their position is. Don't underestimate me." Mashumaro reassured. Although she looked calm and happy as ever, her words were enough to cheer Hirari up. "But… that's not going to change my mind about making you wear a costume. You made me go there alone for days wearing a hard-to-move-in costume, you know!" Hirari pointed at her accusingly. Mashumaro stood up and ran towards the door to escape, but Hirari tackled her to the ground. "I have especially bought a nice one for you! At least appreciate me wasting my money just to embarrass you with me!" They wrestled against each other, and they ended up getting scolded by the president.

When they finally calmed their spirits down, Hirari looked into her video camera, checking if Kageyama did any kind of damage on it. To her surprise, his sweaty fingerprints stained the lenses. "By the way, Maro," She said, still wiping off Kageyama's fingerprints off her camera.

"Did Tsukishima pass that quiz?"


"One more!"

The spikers called out to Kageyama and Sugawara, awaiting their tosses. Sugawara tossed to Azumane, and the ace spiked it as strong as he can to the other side, accidentally hitting Hinata on the face and getting sent back to the former side due to the impact. "Ah! I'm sorry!" Azumane started to freak out while Kageyama kept showering Hinata with angry insults for the latter's failure to receive the ball with his hands. "C-Cover!" Tanaka called out, immediately passing the ball back to the Sugawara who tossed it to Daichi. The captain smashed the ball to the other side of the court, but again, the pesky libero saved it. "Again!" Hinata shouted from the other side of the net. Kageyama tossed the ball to none other than the small crow and it landed a point.

"YES!"

The oddball duo celebrated. "Alright, let's do some normal qui—" Kageyama stopped talking and his eyes averted from Hinata. "…Huh? What? Do some what?" Hinata, confused, started jumping around Kageyama until he saw for himself what distracted the setter.

A crow… and a dinosaur.

"W-We came to, um, uh… we're from the Media Club!" Mashumaro was more than anxious when she saw what Hirari was talking about. Large men. Beautiful managers. A delinquent-looking coach. She inhaled a large amount of air when everyone, every single one of them, went near her. "She's so cute!" Nishinoya, Tanaka, and Hinata all reacted upon seeing a tiny girl wearing an over-sized dinosaur hoodie. The hoodie was so over-sized that it only left an inch of her skirt that can be seen and her whole arms and hands were covered by the sleeves. The sleeves even had plush claws stuck on the ends and felt cloth teeth lining the hood. "What's with all the girls in costumes visiting us regularly?" Tsukishima scoffed, but Yamaguchi just chuckled. "But, Tsuki, you like dinosaurs, right? That small blush on your face says—" "Shut up, Yamaguchi."

The two girls in costumes froze in their places, not breathing. "Why is it that I have to show my face to them and you don't?" Mashumaro whispered to Hirari. The latter did not say another word. "Ah, yes! I remember now! The Media Club president asked for my permission earlier if her assigned club members could visit our practices so they could cover us in the next month's issue." Takeda explained. A loud "oooohhhh" was heard from the boys. "H-Hey! Stop scaring them! Let's continue practice!" Daichi tried scolding them but no one was listening. "Hey, dinosaur girl! Give us a roar! Rawr!" Hinata demonstrated it by forming his hands into a claw-like form and roared. "Oi, are you a dinosaur or a vacuum cleaner?" Kageyama said before returning to court. "Why is everyone so bothered by a normal girl in hoodie but aren't batting an eye at the huge crow mascot?" He complained inside his mind secretly, unable to accept why he's the only one who always seems so bothered by the crow. "Oh! We have a dinosaur vacuum cleaner at home, come to think of it!" Mashumaro's nervousness was gone when she heard Kageyama's words. Hirari flapped her wings to get her attention, trying to talk Mashumaro into letting them continue practice instead of continuing the conversation so they could just get to work. "Hey! Hey!" She tried calling Mashumaro again.

"Come on! Rawr!" This time, both Hinata and Nishinoya were convincing her. When Tanaka did the action, she got scared so the Sugawara had to pull Tanaka away from the scene. Azumane tried talking to them too, but both of the costumed girls shrieked when he was only a meter away. "R-Rawr." Mashumaro repeated the action in a slightly more awkward manner. Hirari started laughing.

From far away, Tsukishima blushed, fixed his glasses coolly to cover his recoil, and walked away, leaving a confused Yamaguchi on the side of the court.

"THAT'S SO CUTE!"

"GO BACK TO PRACTICE!"

Everything returned to normal instantly when Daichi finally lost it.

The whistle was blown by Ukai once again to signal both Shimizu and Yachi. The two girls nodded and threw the ball just slightly above the setters' heads. "Spiking practice, start!" Ukai commanded. At the same time, both setters tossed to the spikers who were first in line – Tanaka and Daichi. At the other side of the court, Nishinoya and Ennoshita were practicing to receive the spikes. This continued on for a while, until it was Hinata's turn to spike.

"That little guy can spike?" Mashumaro asked ignorantly. Hirari wobbled around. "I don't know. I don't watch them spike. I leave when spiking practice starts." She answered. Hinata ran to the net at the same time the ball was thrown towards Kageyama. "Is it because you remember Akiteru-san when you see someone spike?" Mashumaro asked with a laugh. Kageyama exhaled as the ball looked as if it was in slow motion as it came towards his hands.

"…Hinata, if one day, you got hurt because of volleyball, and a series of unfortunate events followed just from that pain, what would you do?"

"Volleyball is something that we do! If we get hurt or lose, it simply means we're not strong enough!"

The ball was tossed up in the air quickly and Hinata jumped.

Both Hirari's and Mashumaro's eyes widened.

Bam. The ball was slammed on the gym floor before they knew it.

"Nice kill!" Practice continued on normally, but the two girls were still processing the event in their minds. It was fast. It was too fast for them to understand. "No." Hirari answered. "That was completely different from the spike we both know." She followed, not realizing a smile on her face. No one would have noticed it either way, since she chose to cover her face beneath the mascot's head yet again. "…That setter's Kageyama, right? The boy you always talk to?" Mashumaro asked again.

Hirari took a while before she could respond. She watched as Hinata yell for one more. The toss was set up high for the small crow and he hit flawlessly. "Yeah… but he doesn't know me."

Mashumaro ended up laughing again like she always does. They were so absorbed in Hinata's play and their conversation that they didn't notice how Kageyama went to the bench for a while to grab a towel. When his hand reached for one, he accidentally toppled over a bag beside Yachi. "Ah! That's Ms. Crow Mascot's bag!" Yachi explained, panicking a bit. "Ah, sorry. I'll get it." Kageyama slung the towel over his neck and bent to pick the bag up. As he rashly grabbed it from the floor, something fell out.

"You think you're finally strong enough to face volleyball now?" Mashumaro asked again, her eyes gazing at the other players. That's when she noticed that Kageyama wasn't on the court anymore. Hirari let out a chuckle. "Probably."

Meanwhile, Kageyama was staring at the video camera on the floor, his eyes widening as he looked at the crow mascot from across the court.