AN1: I intended not to post this chapter until summer was in the storyline. Buuut it's summer now. So.

AN2: ALSOOO. Smocks' appearance is up to the reader lol. Just know that she has hair, is average in weight and size for a Japanese girl, and seldom smiles.

Chapter 34: In Which Switch Nearly Kills a Volleyball Player

It was summer—one of Smocks's least favorite season. The air was humid, the sunrays were piercing, and the heat was intense. There was nothing more that she would like to do than to camp inside the local library's quiet enclosures with its ultra-cooling air conditioning and strangely tasty tap water. As much as she liked to hide away in her house, not even her room was safe from the sticky warmth of summer.

Yet she was neither at the library nor her house. She was outside subjected to this ungodly heat all because it was apparently required to do some club activity outside of school. Well, that was what Switch had told her, but when she had showed up, he had cheerfully typed that he had lied and that he had just wanted to show Sket Dance his sweet new invention. Smocks inwardly cursed at her totally dutiful and accountable nature. She was going to ignore Tsubaki's next instructions for sure to make up for it.

Perspiration amassed at the crown of her head and the back of her neck. Smocks swiped at her dampening skin, disgusted by how greasy she felt. If room temperature weather was seasonal all year, that would be wonderful.

She glanced over at Switch who was oddly unaffected despite wearing a sweater vest. They were on vacation—why would he wear such a thing? Unless sweater vests were all that he owned? At least he had enough sense to put on shorts, but it didn't look so great with the vest.

He was working on a device what looked like a game controller, which apparently controlled the garbage machine that was sitting before them. Smocks considered it garbage because it looked like garbage. It was effectively a two-foot tall tank with stick-like robo-arms and an animatronic head of the girl from that anime that Switch liked to watch so much. If there was one thing that Smocks hated more than monkeys, it was silicone human heads.

"The power love will save everyone!" the head said, speaking one of its random programmed sentences. It blinked coyly and sang, "Love Love Power activate!"

"Switch, how long until you get the controller fixed?" Bossun asked.

"Almost done," Switch said. "Just need a few tweaks here and there."

"Ya know, you should've had it done before you decided to call us over," Himeko griped.

Smocks silently agreed. She wouldn't spend thirty minutes sweating buckets otherwise.

She imagined them doing this in the winter. It wouldn't snow heavily in the beginning, but the air would be frigid, the winds would be biting, and coldness would be unbearable. Winter was her other most despised season of all time, but if there was one thing that winter had over summer it would be that she wouldn't be so sweaty and smelly then.

If Switch were to call them over for this over the winter, she would probably be numb from the cold by now. But she couldn't get numb from the heat. She just boiled instead.

"Smooocks," Bossun groaned, "can ya be a good kohai and get us some drinks?"

"You have two functioning legs," Smocks replied flatly.

"Smooocks." He turned his puppy gaze at her.

"Fine," she sighed. "But pay for my drink too."

"Get me something too," Himiko said. "I want Pocari Sweat."

"Same here."

"Ice coffee, please," Switch pitched in.

"I love you!" the robot chimed.

After gathering the money, Smocks headed out for the nearest convenience store. Inside, the air was cool, causing Smocks to sigh in relief. She idly strolled towards one of the fridges to get the drinks. As she reached out, another hand happened to be aiming for the same drink that she was getting.

"Oh, sorry," she said, retracting her arm.

"It's you!" a familiar voice gasped.

Smocks stiffened before turning around and lifting her eyes up and up and up…until she recognized the face that matched the voice. It was the lamppost.

"The mole—I mean, that girl!" he exclaimed, rudely pointing at her.

He corrected himself. He didn't call her a molester. While she was grateful that he didn't call her that, especially in public, his manners still needed work. His upperclassmen had a lot to do working with this one.

"I guess so." Smocks pulled out two Pocari Sweats before moving away to the next fridge to get Switch's coffee and her water bottle. Behind her, she heard two other boys speak to the lamppost in supposedly hushed yet perfectly clear voices.

"So that's her? The one who beat up Yaku-san?"

"She doesn't look like she could knock someone unconscious."

"What? No, no! She's the friend. The one who beat up Yaku-san was much scarier—and blonde! She was scary and blonde and looked like a total delinquent! But she was also really pretty, so it was weird."

"Yamamoto-san kept saying about that—about how pretty she was."

Smocks went to make her purchase. Afterwards, she slipped the change into her pocket and strode outside with her bag in hand. Yet, to her displeasure, the lamppost and his two pals had trailed behind her. She walked purposefully, hoping that they would go to the other direction, but they instead didn't miss a beat matching the footsteps that she left.

She stopped and faced them. "Are you following me?" she wryly asked.

The three boys froze. She hadn't gotten a good look at the other two until now. One was freckled and skinny; he was tall—taller than average, but certainly not as tall as the lamppost. Next to him was his significantly shorter companion; he had big eyes and fluffy hair.

The lamppost didn't say anything; he just stupidly stared at her with his jaw hanging. Meanwhile, the freckled one sputtered and denied this, insisting that they happened to be going in the same direction as her. The shrimp blushed profusely and made the same excuses.

It wasn't that Smocks didn't believe them, but it wasn't as if she had seen them on her way to the store either. She didn't really know what to make out of this situation or how to properly handle it. One thing she was certain, though, was that this was a needlessly time-consuming social interaction that she could do without. Ignoring the fact that she had technically interacted with them first, Smocks decided to end this swiftly.

"Whatever," was her finishing blow. Genius. "If you're hoping to see Himeko, I advise that you don't try." Okay, maybe she was layering it on a bit too thick. She meant to deter them from following her, but she didn't mean to make it as though Himeko was some menacing force of nature. Not that Himeko wasn't, but still.

"Hey, wait a minute!" the lamppost exclaimed before Smocks could fully turn away. "We weren't trying to meet the scary girl. We were just returning back to my school for our summer training."

Summer training? What was that? Why would these boys need to go to school for training? What was this training for? Realizing that her face was scrunched up in confusion, Smocks fixed her expression into indifference. "Okay."

"We really weren't trying to follow you," he continued, perhaps egged on by her first expression.

"I believe you." Was that convincing enough?

"I'm being serious!"

Argh, he thought she was being sarcastic! Bossun had warned her that droning tone tended to give people the wrong idea (even though she also used that same tone to make sardonic remarks). Feeling a bit desperate to persuade the lamppost of her sincerity (to stop him from further talking to her), she nodded and gave a somber look. "Me too," she said with feeling.

"Gah!" the lamppost cried, throwing his arms in the air. Smocks wanted to do the same thing.

"Um, maybe we just go," the freckled one said, appearing uncomfortable.

"Hey, guys!" shouted a newcomer. He had a two-toned hairdo and a jolly grin plastered on his face. Something about him screamed "FRIENDLINESS" and "EXCITEMENT"; the mere sight of him sent Smocks immediate waves of exhaustion. Not even the despicable Enigman could compare to the monster that was approaching them this instant. "Akashi told me that you guys might need some help. I got nothing better to do until practice begins again, so your gracious senpai is here!"

"Bokuto-san!" the three exclaimed in surprise.

"Also, I changed my mind about what I wanted to drink." He shifted his stare onto her. "Huh? Who's this?"

Smocks debated whether she should take on the freckled one's suggestion and leave without saying anything or she should just stay put. It wasn't as if she cared about courtesy by this point; however, if she just up and left, then the lamppost might try to actually follow her in his insistence that they weren't. But it was clear that her attempt in getting him to believe her that she believed him didn't work, so she was at a lost as to what she should do…

Over Bokuto's shoulder, Smocks noticed something strange.

"B-Bokuto-san, watch out…!"

Unfortunately, the shrimp's warning came a touch too late. Zipping towards them was Switch's garbage machine with its stick arms flailing and its head spinning. It crashed into Bokuto, knocking him down on his face. But instead of passing by him, it somehow managed to snag onto his shirt, towing him in its fervent race down the streets. Bokuto's screeches could be heard despite the considerable distance.

"Bokuto-san!" the three screamed in horror. They dropped their drinks and chased after him.

"Evil shall fall and good shall prevail!" the garbage machine declared.

Smocks stood there, staring blankly after the diminishing figures of the boys. She then pulled out her phone and dialed Switch's number.

"Hello?"

"Uh, did you happen to lose your robot?"

"I did, in fact. Bossun, Himeko, and I split up to search for it. Did you happen to see it?"

"Yeah. It just passed by me."

"Are you near the convenience store?"

"Yeah."

"I'll be there. I'll also notify Bossun and Himeko."

"Alright. I'll be waiting." Smocks paused before adding, "You might want to work on the robot itself rather than the controller, Switch."

"Did something happen?"

"Well…"