If there was one thing Akemi hadn't seen coming, it was her best friend's innocent crush on the guys' volleyball team captain. They had been friends for years now, and while they met at the volleyball club in middle school, the year's gap between them had never frayed their bond. And the fact that Inarizaki combines middle and high school had allowed them to continue seeing each other the year before.

Much more than her, Ritsuka had always shown a strong interest in the sport that had brought them together. And where Akemi had stopped when she entered her first year of high school, her former teammate had continued, passionate. Reserved about her feelings but not about her play, sometimes just watching her on the court could almost make the younger girl want to play again.

So in itself, the fact that she was interested in someone who also loved and played volleyball didn't really surprise her. What did surprise her, to tell the truth, was the fact that she had never suspected anything, nor had she ever heard of any link between them. But obviously, the doubt was surely not allowed. Because if Ritsuka had just denied several times, the tension of her face as well as her cheeks of a too eloquent red spoke for her.

"But since when? And why I didn't know about it?!"

"Shh, stop screaming like that!" Ritsuka implored, a finger on her lips to mimic her onomatopoeia.

"Haaa, you're so cute," Akemi whined, which only made her friend feel worse.

"It hasn't been very long...," Ritsuka replied, ignoring what must have been a compliment - she wasn't sure. "Just a few weeks."

"A few weeks isn't very long for you?"

In reality falsely offended, Akemi pretended to catch her sandwich to bite into it with a sulky air. One thing was sure, this revelation had made her totally forget the bump on her head, which she remembers however sometimes, when she moved her head too much and that her bun followed the movement.

"And so, how did it happen?"

"I'm not sure..." Ritsuka sighed. "Last time, the gym they use for training wasn't available, so they asked if they could train with us."

If there was one thing Akemi liked to do, it was teasing her best friend. And at this moment, she obviously had a lot of way to do so; yet she couldn't bring herself to do it. Her elusive jade gaze, her reddened cheekbones, as delicate as a twilight, her lips trembling with shame - she knew her well enough to be able to say that it was something stronger than embarrassment, that painted her face. Everything called for compassion, much more than mockery.

"And why didn't you tell me about it? I thought we'd told each other everything! There are even times when I wish I had a crush like that just to tell you about it!"

A slight laugh escaped Ritsuka's lips, before she answered calmly. "I'm just waiting for it to pass, as quickly as it came."

"Wah- that's a lousy way to look at it," Akemi said with an arched eyebrow. "Go talk to him instead, right?"

"Talk better to your senpai," her friend smiled. "And that's so impossible... He's inaccessible. Besides... it's November, the last term will begin."

Ritsuka didn't need to say more for the message to be deciphered. While they still had one and two years left in high school respectively, Kita had only a few months left, partly occupied by the end of the second and third trimesters, and the university entrance exams, as well as his last tournament at the nationals.

Not much time for anything else, basically.

But nothing ventured, nothing gained, after all.

"Don't be so defeatist, you can't tell without trying!"

As a blessing, a blow of the fate to come to compensate with her bad karma of the day before, the captain's silhouette cut out in the embrasure of the cafeteria, by Aran Ojiro's side, one of his teammates. With the discretion similar to that of an elephant, Ritsuka let her pupils slide with his steps on the whole room he crossed, filled with a fascination that was impossible to miss.

"Be careful, you're drooling."

"Nonsense," her best friend frowned, reluctantly taking her eyes off Kita.

"You've already spoken to him, no?"

"A little, yes..."

"Then do it again. You can go get us some napkins at the counter, we don't have any."

Ristuka wrinkled her nose suspiciously, as the first-year teen hurriedly hid the napkins she had in advance under the table - if her gaze had been able to cast lightning bolts, Akemi would probably have died right there. Yet, against all odds, she stood up, strode across the cafeteria, before suddenly turning around, deflated and ready to return to her seat.

Tell me I'm dreaming.

Akemi pointed at the volleyball team captain without paying attention to the other students, a hard look on her face, and she saw her best friend puffing up her cheeks despite the distance between them. However, when she decided once again to turn around, it was with Aran's torso that her face came into contact, to the surprise of both of them. And in front of the scene for the least surrealist, Akemi preferred to close her eyes.

Ritsuka was confused in excuses and spoke briefly, but not with the person she was supposed to do so. A quick wave of the hand as a greeting - after all, they had to know each other quickly, if one considered that the two teams had already trained together - and already the second year was coming back to sit down, without napkins.

"I don't even want to hear anything," she sighed, ready to slump down on the table.

Well, they still had a long way to go.

During the eight months she had been in Inarizaki high school, Akemi had rarely had the opportunity to go up to the classrooms on the second and third year floors. She had rarely come to see her sister, and even less often to see Ritsuka; they usually met in the common areas.

However, this afternoon, following the revelation she had received during the lunch break, Akemi had strangely felt very impatient to find her best friend to ask her the thousand and one questions she had been thinking about, during her math class – she had to admit that math was still the best source of inspiration for everything but mathematics.

It may have been childish and unnecessary, and interclass was definitely not the best time to talk about Kita Shinsuke, yet she felt light-hearted as she hurried up the stairs. A few elders gave her questioning glances which she didn't pay any attention to, until she stood in front of the door numbered "2-1".

Although she was not particularly shy or introverted, the girl backed away as soon as she saw the silhouettes of her best friend's classmates, to hide behind the wall. She wrinkled her forehead, dubious as to the spontaneity of her reflex, before putting her head through the doorway. And she hadn't been dreaming: a few seats away from the door, Suna Rintarou was watching her with a puzzled look, slumped on his table and eyes half closed. The room was almost deserted, however Akemi could see Ritsuka at the side of friends of hers, grouped at the bottom of the class, while the volleyball player seemed to take advantage of the interclass and use it to take a nap.

Now that she thought about it, she did remember that she already knew it: Ritsuka was in the same class as Suna Rintarou and Miya Osamu. They had already had this conversation several times - what could be more normal than her talking about classmates who shared her passion for a sport, after all. However, this little detail, not so insignificant as that, appeared to her clearly, like an important memory forgotten and found again.

A chain of coincidences of which she had to take advantage of.

After all, what better way to bring her best friend closer to the volleyball captain, than to have one of his teammates?

And then, after having half knocked her out like that, he owed her at least that.

The piercing and intrigued look he was giving her, still cheek to cheek, brought the high school girl back to reality. With the greatest discretion she had, and posted against the door so that Ritsuka could not see her, she waved her hand to Suna to come and join her, before putting a finger on her lips to instruct him to do it quietly. The teenager arched an eyebrow, turned around as if to make sure that it was indeed to him that she was addressing, and let himself fall the head against the desk by realizing that it was.

The laziness of which he showed made Akemi sigh by remembering his nonchalance when he had accompanied her to her home, the day before. However, against all expectations, he ended up noisily sliding his chair to get up. And if she rolled her eyes, she did not miss the discreet and intrigued glance that one of his comrades at Ritsuka's side threw him.

"Discretion isn't your main strength, senpai," she naturally said when he put a foot in the corridor.

He did not answer, as he kept looking with insistence at the bun which always dressed awkwardly the right side of her skull. Insignificant detail which however took its importance when she saw the corner of his lips to be split of an almost mocking smile. He knew. In a glance, he had understood what this badly made bun was used for.

"What're you doing on this floor?"

The end of his sentence went down in the high notes when he realized that he didn't even know her name.

"Don't worry, I wasn't coming to get revenge," she said with an exaggerated shrug. "I came to see Ricchan, but she seems busy."

"Ricchan?" Suna repeated, puzzled.

"Nagano Ritsuka," Akemi answered as if it were obvious.

Suna squinted at the reflection of his doubtfulness. How was he supposed to know such a familiar nickname for a classmate to whom he didn't spoke lots?

He had no idea what this girl wanted, but she was obviously ready to take away the small about of energy that class had leave to him.

Hello! I hope you liked this chapter :3 I really like writing her with both Ritsuka and Suna ahah~
Don't hesitate to fav/follow, and to leave a review, it would mean a loooot for me :3