(A/N: Chapter prompt: "that was impressive")

"You can do this, Shiho!" Ann yelled. Hifumi stood next to her, watching as Ryuji spiked ball after ball at Shiho. She knew Ryuji used to be an athlete, as well as that he did his best to keep in shape. Knowing it, however, was a nowhere near actually seeing it. While she tried to ignore the part of her that was become aroused by watching him, she also couldn't help but notice the things the two of them were yelling at each other.

"You call that a block!?" Ryuji yelled at Shiho. "Even Mishima could block something better than that!"

"Maybe if you actually spiked the ball halfway decent, I could give a halfway decent block!" she yelled back, blocking a spike.

"If you're going to waste my time like this, I'm going to just leave you here!" he yelled, spiking another ball at her. She blocked it easily.

"Screw you, Ryuji!"

"Are they...always like this?" Hifumi asked, causing Ann to turn toward her.

"No." she said, shaking her head. "Shiho...sometimes..." she trailed off, sighing. "Her moods can change sometimes. Most days, she's able to play normally. Sometimes, though, she can't. Her anger and fear builds up because of what volleyball represents, and she locks up. The first time that happened during practice, she told Ryuji to start screaming at her."

"So this was her idea?" Hifumi asked, pointing to the two athletes yelling insults at each other.

"I'm guessing Kamoshida was right about you, huh!" Ryuji yelled, spiking another ball.

"No he wasn't!" Shiho yelled back, hitting the ball harder. Even Hifumi could tell that she was starting to lose her rhythm at the mention of their former gym teacher.

"No, I think he was right!" Ryuji yelled, grabbing another volleyball to spike.

"Yep." Ann said, smiling for a moment. "You should have seen Ryuji the first time. The moment he pushed her too far he broke down apologizing. We honestly thought he was going to give himself a concussion from the number of times he kept hitting his head on the floor begging forgiveness. Now he just buys us dinner and spends most of the walk there apologizing."

"It...seems like it comes naturally to him." she said softly, turning back to look at her boyfriend. She knew he could be impulsive at times, as well as had heard that he used to be very rough around the edges. Still, to see him throwing insults and slurs like it was nothing...

...for the first time since she had met him, she felt a fleeting feeling of fear.

"Honestly...Shiho hates having to make him do this." Ann said softly. "We both know he doesn't like having to act like that asshole. I'm pretty sure if it were anyone other than Shiho asking him to do this, he would have told them no. His mother mentioned that he breaks down after getting home on training nights like these. I'm actually surprised you managed to convince him to let you join us."

"I'm beginning to wonder why he allowed this also." she said, watching the two.

"I don't know what Kamoshida was thinking putting you as a starter!" Ryuji yelled, spiking another ball and quickly grabbing another one. "You'll never make a reserve team, let alone anything of note!"

"Yes I will!" she yelled, blocking the shot. "I'll show that bastard that I'm better than him!" she continued yelling. Hifumi was able to tell they weren't even thinking about what they were yelling anymore.

"No you won't, Shiho!" he yelled, spiking the ball.

"Yes I will, damn it!" she yelled back, blocking the ball.

"You'll never become anything beyond the little girl Kamoshida took advantage of!" he yelled.

"That's not who I am!" she yelled. "I'm better than that!"

"Not from what I've seen!" Ryuji yelled, grabbing another ball. "All I see is Kamoshida's toy!" he yelled, moving to spike the ball.

"I'm not his toy!" she screamed at him. As he spiked the ball, she jumped up and returned the spike, hitting him square in the face. The trance the two of them entered immediately broke as Ryuji recoiled in pain, holding his face. "Oh my God, Ryuji!" she yelled, ducking under the net.

"Ryuji!" Hifumi yelled, running forward, Ann right beside her. They reached the two of them as Shiho pulled Ryuji's hand away from his face, only to reveal a bloody nose. She quickly pulled a packet of tissues from her pocket and handed them to him. He put them back up to his nose and started to apply pressure. "Are you okay?"

"Well, upside..." he said, applying different amounts of pressure to his nose for a moment. "My nose isn't broken, at least."

"Yeah, now you just look like your normal harem anime protagonist." Ann said, smirking at him. "Thinking about how lucky you are to be alone with you girlfriend, a fashion model, and an athlete?"

"Sorry, Ann." Ryuji said, smirking through the pain. "As nice as you an Shiho look, my eyes are only drawn to the radiant beauty that Hifumi shines in the darkness that was my life post-Phantom Thieves."

"That has to be the cutest thing you've ever said, Ryuji." she said, her smirk growing. "I can't wait to share that with the rest of the group.

"I'm so sorry, Ryuji." Shiho said, looking close to tears.

"I'm sorry, too, Shiho." he said, smiling at her. "I went too far there at the end."

"No you didn't." she said, shaking her head.

"Yeah, I kinda did." he said, stilling smiling. "Besides, that return spike you gave...that was impressive! All you need to do is work on the aim a bit and you'd be unstoppable!"

"It was, Shiho." Ann said, throwing her arm around her. "You'll manage to use that move and get to the Olympics! You'll make that asshole's one gold medal look like nothing when you win!"

"The Olympics!?" Shiho said quickly. "No, no...no...I'm not that good." she said, starting to close in on herself.

"Yeah, you are." Ryuji said, drawing her attention. "Shiho, listen to me. Kamoshida stole a lot from you. I know you were never a member of the Phantom Thieves, but the whole reason we formed was because of you. We formed to get revenge for you, to get justice for you. That effin' asshole will spend the rest of his life in jail, so we managed to get justice for you, and even managed to get some form of revenge for you as well. But as it stands right now, he's still winning."

"He's not winning." she said, her voice hardening.

"Yes, he is." Ryuji shot back. "Every time you say the Olympics are out of your reach, that you're not good enough to go to play at the Olympics, you are allowing him to win. You were our beginning, Shiho. Just because you never were an official member of the Phantom Thieves, you were always there with us in spirit. So believe me when I tell you that you can go to the Olympics. You can win. You can steal back what he stole from you.

"I hate having to yell those lies at you on days like today." he continued. "Yeah, it's true that you're nothing like Kamoshida, but he's not better than you. You're a better player than he was. Were you anyone else asking me to do this, I'd tell you to eff off. But I agreed to help you by doing this because I don't believe you can go to the Olympics and win. You have to believe it, but I don't. I don't believe you can go and win because I fully believe that you will go and win. If that means you need to me scream at you on days like today, then I will."

Hifumi watched as Shiho stepped away from Ann and approached Ryuji before hesitantly wrapping her arms around him. She noticed his shocked expression before he slowly lifted his arms and put them around her gently. She watched Shiho tense slightly before relaxing into the embrace. She noticed tears starting to fall from Shiho's eyes.

"This is the first time since..." Shiho started, trailing off. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "...since Kamoshida raped me...that I've been able to embrace a guy."

"I don't know if I should be honored or insulted." he said with a smirk, getting her to let out a small laugh.

"I'll believe it, Ryuji." she said, resting her head against his chest. "I'll go to the Olympics and take back what he stole from me."