A/N: Hi everyone! Thank you for all the reviews, new follows and favourites while I'm away. I was tied up with new projects at work and all changes in both personal and professional life. It was crazy handling changes and adapting because of the virus. Hopefully you all are taking care of yourself during this time too.

I skipped a few episodes from the anime, and this is an original chapter to just add a relationship development. The anime is awesome, but it's hard to develop romance if I just follow each episode since there is not enough interactions between the players and their managers.

Thank you for your patience and hope you enjoy this chapter!

Iridescence

Chapter 12 – Summer Festival Part 1

Following their coaches' instructions, Kageyama spent his day off doing summer holiday's homework

After winning their two preliminary matches, the coaches had given them a rest over the weekend, hoping that they would make us of the time to do their main duty as a student: studying. In other words, the adults hoped that the "idiot quartet" would do their summer homework properly. Their teacher had warned them that if their study was affected by their club activities, the vice-principal might send them for yet another remedial lessons. Their captain similarly told – read, threatened – the four that they better completed their summer homework.

So, reluctantly, the setter decided to work on his homework. He was pretty sure that Hinata was doing the same.

They would do anything to play volleyball.

The only problem was that he had way too many questions which he had left blank. He might as well not do his homework. Some of the topics were yet to be taught in class. The teachers intentionally did so to make the students read the materials in advance before the new semester began. However, some students, like Kageyama, couldn't quite bring themselves to pick up on things by themselves. He knew he would need some help to answer those questions.

Which was the reason he ended up knocking the door of Asami's house.

Carrying his homework and writing materials, the black-haired setter rapped on the door and waited. He heard the sounds of footsteps faintly and the clicking sound of the door lock being opened. His eyes widened a bit in surprise when he realized it was not Asami who opened the door. Instead of a young girl, there was a woman who looked like she was in her early to mid-forties. The lady was shorter than he was, but taller than Asami. She was wearing a v-neck dark green t-shirt and a pair of jeans. Her black hair tied into a low ponytail. A pair of dark blue eyes hidden behind a pair of square-rimmed glasses. With similar facial features and same hair and eyes color, he could almost immediately tell that she was Asami's mother.

"Oh, hello there! How can I help you?" She greeted in a chirpy voice, a bright smile on her lips.

Surprised, Kageyama remained silent. Despite the resemblance in looks, the mother and daughter's characters were quite different. He had never heard and couldn't imagine Asami talking in such an excited voice. Except for that one occasion when she freaked out because of frogs, she always sounded calm. Her expressions of her emotions were quite muted most of the time. Her mother, in contrast, seemed to be more open in showing her feelings. He briefly wondered whether Asami's reserved nature came from her father.

A sound of a soft clap brought him out of his daze. His grey-blue eyes met sparkling dark blue ones. Without him noticing, the lady had leaned closer to his face. She was positively beaming while he was in slight discomfort at the close proximity. Automatically, he leaned back a bit while the older woman continued to stare at him.

Finally, after scrutinizing him, she asked, "Are you our Fuji's friend?"

He nodded dumbly. The woman smiled, looking even happier. She backed away from him and opened the door wider, ushering him in. "Oh my! This is the first time I meet Fuji's friend! Come in, come in!"

The setter excused himself quietly as he entered the house. He was feeling slightly nervous although it was not his first time there. He had come over several times for their study session, but it was his first time meeting the owner of the house. The black-haired girl mentioned in a passing comment that her mother often worked until late and her father sometimes worked overseas. Thus, the reason why he had never met her parents before despite visiting occasionally.

"Fuji-chan, someone's here to see you!" Kageyama heard the older woman called Asami over as he took off his shoes and wore the indoor slippers. There was a beat of silence, and then he saw a familiar raven head coming out from the living room, wearing a plain white top and equally plain dark gray shorts. "Kageyama-kun? What are you doing here?"

He could tell she was surprised by his sudden appearance at her house from the slight changes to her usually stoic expression. Her eyes widened slightly, and her voice sounded just a tiny bit higher than usual. He usually would have called or messaged her if they were meeting each other, so he understood why the girl was somewhat confused at his unannounced appearance.

The guy showed her his almost-blank homework. "…Can you help me?"

Blinking, Asami glanced at the papers on his hand and shrugged. "Sure."

Following her back into the living room – her mother had disappeared into the kitchen then – Kageyama took a seat on the floor mat. Unlike Yachi's one, Asami's coffee table was rectangular shaped. They would sit next to each other on the longer side of the table. It was more comfortable for them that way since she could read from the same direction as he did as she explained some questions to him.

Only when he had placed all his stuff on the table, he finally noticed what the manager was doing before he came. Weirdly enough, it seemed that she wasn't doing her summer homework. On the coffee table was an opened notebook with rough sketches of a volleyball court and scribbles noting the players' positions. His eyes landed on the television which was showing a paused video of Karasuno's latest match. The setter looked at her. "Were you watching our match's recording?"

"Yeah," she replied as she switched off the screen. As always, she got rid of any distraction when they were studying. "I can continue with that later. Now, what questions do you have?"

"Why were you watching the video?"

"Shimizu-senpai suggested that I watch the recording to record the team performance."

"Oh. But how about your homework?"

"I've finished all my homework."

"What? But how?"

"I have been doing it bit by bit consistently since the start of the break. Will you please stop getting distracted?"

"Oh, right. Sorry."

…

"…Your questions, Kageyama-kun."

He fumbled a bit, realizing he hadn't said anything. "Right, so this part here-"

"Am I interrupting something?"

Both teens looked up to see Asami's mother standing while holding a tray with two glasses of juices and a plate filled with some snacks. She was smiling broadly. Seeing the teasing grin, Kageyama suddenly noticed how close they were to each other. Without thinking, he had leaned towards her when he showed her his homework. The raven-haired girl had also shifted nearer to him. Their shoulders were touching. Faces inches away from each other.

He reflexively flinched away, not wanting her mother to misunderstand them. The girl seemed to handle the situation more calmly than he did. "You're interrupting nothing, Mum," she answered as the older lady placed the drinks and snacks on the table. Instead of leaving, the adult took a seat and stared at him. The setter squirmed slightly under the scrutiny.

"Sooooooo are you Kageyama-kun?"

He nodded.

The bespectacled lady's grin widened. Her eyes sparkled. "Nice to finally meet you! I'm Asami Tsubaki, Fuji's mother. You can call me Tsubaki-ba-san."

Again, he simply nodded, internally wondering what she meant by 'finally.'

"I've heard Fuji-chan mentioned you several times. She said you're quiet, tall-"

"Mum…"

"-and good at volleyball."

"Mum."

"Although I think she must have missed out to tell me that you're quite good-lo-"

"MUM!"

Before the older lady could complete her sentence, Asami literally had flown across the table to cover her mother's mouth. It was rare to see the manager getting that panicked, her cheeks flushed lightly, teeth gritted. Maybe she wasn't handling it as well as he thought.

Tsubaki allowed herself to be pushed by her daughter out of the room, the sound of light laughter trailing behind her. Her mother seemed to enjoy pushing her daughter's buttons. When Asami turned back to face him, she had managed to put back her poker face. All traces of panic disappeared, even though her cheeks were still slightly pink. She hastily sat back on her original spot next to him, very consciously putting on a space between them. Both said nothing.

Unlike their usually comfortable silence, this time, the silence was ridiculously awkward.

A huge sigh coming from her was the thing which finally broke the awkward silence. "Sorry about that. My mum sometimes talks without thinking things through first."

Kageyama looked at her, dismissing her comments. "It's okay. She didn't say anything…particularly weird."

The girl nodded, looking relieved. She was quick to change the topic back to their studying. He let her. He understood that there were topics which one simply wasn't so willing to talk about. If he pushed too hard, Asami might close up even more. The black-haired guy didn't want to make her feel uncomfortable. Even though inwardly, he was dying with curiosity to know what the manager had told her mother about him.

Asami knew that her mother had always been a way too friendly and open person. Her mum had no qualm whatsoever to speak out her mind. That personality of hers had sometimes gotten her into embarrassing situations. Well, at least according to her perspective, it's embarrassing. Her mother didn't see anything wrong with sharing her thoughts with others openly. In contrast, both Asami and her father were the quieter and more private people.

She had to threaten/whisper to her mother not to divulge anything from their conversation even as she ushered her out of the room. There was no reason why Kageyama should know that she talked about him to her mother. It was not as if she talked only about him. She brought up others as well whenever she talked about her school life and club activities. The setter was just so happened to be the one she mentioned the most, thus the one her mum remembered.

As the boy was finishing the last bit of his homework, Asami heard her phone vibrated and flipped it open, seeing that she had a new mail from Yachi.

[Fuji-chan, are you free today? Do you want to go to a summer festival? Shimizu-senpai is inviting everyone to come to a festival nearby.]

The girl recalled that just few days ago, her mother also told her about the festival, encouraging her to go out and have fun during the summer break. Her mother had pouted and complained that her daughter only left their house for club activities and doing errands. Which, admittedly, was true. All the things she did could be done at home: doing her homework, writing, listening to music while reading, or watching videos of volleyball matches.

While Asami was still considering the offer, she heard Kageyama's phone rang. He excused himself to take the call, moving away from her to one of the corners of the room. Thanks to his rather loud voice, she overheard some parts of his conversation.

"What's it? …festival? Everyone…tonight? …Fine…I won't get lost, boke!"

With an annoyed shout, Kageyama hung up the call. The girl stared at him as he returned to his seat next to her. From the words she heard, she guessed that Hinata probably had relayed the invitation from the seniors to Kageyama. She decided to ask him to confirm about it regardless. "Did Hinata-kun ask you to go to the festival?"

He turned to her in a slight surprise. "How do you know?"

The girl shrugged. "Well, he's the only one you call 'boke.' Also, Yachi told me that Shimizu-senpai is inviting everyone, so I guess you will be invited as well."

"'As well?' Does that mean you are invited too?"

She nodded.

"…Are you going?" He asked after a beat of silence.

Asami tilted her head upwards until it touched the sofa behind her, staring at the ceiling as she considered whether to go. There would be a lot of people in the festival, which wasn't something she enjoyed. Being in a crowd for too long exhausted her. And it would be hot. It's the peak of summer. But she liked the idea of meeting up with Yachi. She hasn't quite hung out with her close friend outside school. The entertainment which the volleyball club members provided was just an added bonus. She closed her eyes. Could she handle the heat and the crowd for her friends?

…

Well, she supposed she could.

"Yeah," The girl answered, lifting her head as she finally made her decision. She quickly composed a short message and pressed the sent button, replying to her friend's mail. "Do you want to go there together?"

He nodded, gladly agreed to her idea. It might be just her imagination, but the guy looked somehow happier. There was a light in his eyes which wasn't there before. She wondered whether he liked festival that much. Or maybe he was just looking forward spending time with the volleyball club members. Or with Hinata. They got along well swimmingly after all.

They finished the last bit of his homework before the black-haired guy started packing up his stuff. He wanted to go home and change before meeting up with her again. As Asami sent the setter off, she received another message from her classmate.

[See you, Fuji-chan! ^_^ By the way, Shimizu-senpai tells us to wear our yukata.]

Asami frowned. She had never really bothered to wear a yukata whenever she went to a summer festival. It was too much of a hassle for her. When the raven-haired girl was small, her parents would make her wear a jinbei. As she grew older, she either didn't go at all or just wore her casual clothes when she did go to a festival. This time though, her senior had requested that they wear their yukata. It was a bit troublesome, but she guessed it would make a good memory if everyone wore yukata together. She went to the kitchen to find her mother, who was reading a magazine while drinking a cup of tea.

"Mum, where do you keep my yukata?"

When her mum squealed in delight, Asami knew she was in trouble.

It was a blunder on her part. Forgetting temporarily how excited her mother could be for a chance to doll up her daughter. The adult helped the teenage girl to put on her white yukata – light purple, pale blue, and baby pink morning glory pattern on it. Asami originally planned to just simply put on her yukata. Her mother, however, had a different plan. The older female styled the younger's black hair into a half-up-side-braid, secured at the back of her head and decorated with a small flower kanzashi which matched her yukata. A light makeup on her face.

The girl fidgeted uncomfortably as she waited for Kageyama in front of the train station. She felt slightly self-conscious wearing something she rarely wore. As she stood there, she noticed a few guys who walked into the station glancing and pointing at her. Why, the black-haired girl didn't understand, but she knew she disliked the attention. She probably stood out like a sore thumb in the crowd of people who were wearing casual clothes. Asami wished that the raven-haired setter would quickly come.

When he finally came, wearing a greyish-blue checkered yukata, she was both relieved and nervous. Relieved because with his arrival, the stares she earned dissipated. Nervous because, she had never dressed up when meeting him before. She was just a tiny bit worried that he might think that she looked weird. It didn't help that her neighbor just stood there in front of her wordlessly. Mouth slightly ajar. Steel-blue eyes fixed on her unblinkingly. Did she look that bad that he was stunned to silence? Maybe it was a mistake to dress up after all.

Clearing her throat and ignoring the nagging voice, she greeted him. "Hi."

He didn't reply.

"Kageyama-kun?"

Still nothing

"Kageyama-kun? Are you okay?"

The taller of the two finally blinked when she started waving her hand in front of his face. Their eyes met for a second before he turned away briskly. Asami side-stepped slightly and tried to look at Kageyama's face. The guy looked like he was in a war with himself. He was mumbling something to himself in a very low voice. His hands twitching weirdly in front of him. The tip of his ears had slightly reddened. After a moment or two, he nodded to himself and turned back to face her, somehow managed to school his expression back into its neutral, slightly stern one.

"Let's go." He turned and walked into the station. She followed closely behind, feeling slightly confused by his reactions. Did she look that bad that he couldn't even look at her? The black-haired girl couldn't help but muse about it as they onboarded the train. Asami looked at her reflection on the train's window, checking on her yukata and hair and wondering what's wrong with her get-up.

She was unaware that Kageyama, who was standing next to her, was stealing glances at her, trying his best not to blush.

"Fuji-chan, over here!"

Asami's blue eyes met Yachi's brown ones as the latter waved at her excitedly. The girl naturally moved closer to the other two managers while Hinata greeted his partner and began talking excitedly. From the corner of her eyes, she noticed Tsukishima and Yamaguchi also talking to their fellow first years. All four of them were in yukata. Hinata was wearing a light khaki yukata, Yamaguchi in striped blue one, and the bespectacled blonde wore a plain dark blue one. The male seniors were also dressed in dark-colored simple yukata, although Nishinoya-senpai opted for a lighter shade one.

In contrast, the managers' yukata had more elaborate design. Her classmate was wearing a pale-yellow striped yukata with white and coral orange goldfish pattern. A cute, small flower hairpin pinned on her pale brown hair. Her beautiful senior looked even more gorgeous than usual in her black yukata, decorated with intricate dark red peony flowers. Her sleek black hair pulled into a neat, braided bun.

"Hello, Shimizu-senpai, Hitoka-chan," Asami greeted with a small bow.

Yachi smiled at her friend. "You look so cute, Fuji-chan!"

The black-haired first year gave a small smile. "So do you, Hitoka-chan." She turned to her senior, "Shimizu-senpai, you look even more beautiful today."

The third-year manager smiled, tucking a stray strand of her hair behind her ear elegantly. "Thank you, Fuji-chan. Both of you look really nice today."

Their conversation was interrupted by the loud wail coming from the second-year duo. Tanaka-senpai and Nishinoya-senpai quite literally cried, using their hands to cover their eyes at the sight of the three girls standing next to one another, wearing yukata.

"S-so blinding!"

"Ryu, we need to forever commemorate this moment!"

Both of them whipped out their phones and took several pictures from several angles speedily. Their captain and vice-captain scolded and stopped them from being too loud and gathering unneeded attention. (Behind their back, the third years were asking for the photos from both Tanaka-senpai and Nishinoya-senpai). Shimizu-senpai and Asami stared at them impassively while Yachi let out a small, nervous chuckle. Asami was actually surprised that the two second years haven't prostrated themselves on the ground at the sight of the third-year manager in yukata.

As if they could hear her thoughts, both guys went down on one knee in front of the bespectacled beauty and offered her their loyalty and praises to the third-year manager.

Shimizu-senpai coolly ignored them.

With Narita-senpai arriving last, they entered the festival district together. The three girls stuck to one another, Yachi looping each of her arms on her classmate and her senior. The cute gesture made Asami chuckle as they looked at the different food stalls and games booths, unaware that some of the volleyball club members were sending glares and surrounded the three protectively, effectively scaring interested passerby. The guys purposefully walked slightly behind the girls so they could see whenever any person trying to approach their managers.

What was even more amazing was that how quickly the murderous aura disappeared once the girls turned to look at them.

"What are you guys doing?" Asami heard Shimizu-senpai asked when they stopped in front of a goldfish-scooping booth. The two younger girls looked back over their shoulders to meet the guys smiling casually, killing intent gone without a trace.

Accidentally, her blue orbs met Kageyama's ones and he immediately looked away with a scowl. She couldn't help but frown at his reaction. Her senior and friend had established that her clothes and makeup were fine, but the setter couldn't even bear to look at her for longer than a second. What's wrong with him? Was there something she wore that he disliked? Was it lip gloss? Or maybe the unusual hairstyle threw him off?

And why did she care so much about his reactions?

A/N: Well, this is more like pre-summer festival event, but well, it still counts!

Next chapter is on its way. I have already planned out the idea in my head and just need to find the time to really flesh it out properly. Hopefully I can get it out soon!

Until then, take care and see you!