Hitomi was currently enjoying her dinner, featuring crawfish just as she requested. Her meal was interrupted by a short tune emanating from her phone. It was a text from Weirdo.

Unknowingly smiling to herself, she exchanged her fork and knife for a cloth napkin to dab at her lips. Her finger swiped across her phone's screen.

From: Weirdo

Subject: Our Crawfish!

Text: Hitomi-chan, look! My family is having the crawfish we caught today for dinner! They're delicious! But look what one of them did to my finger! The little guy must have been angry at me because he pinched me! I'm okay though, so don't worry!

Hitomi scrolled down to see his attached picture, suppressing a laugh behind her hand. Nishinoya was happily holding a still live crawfish in his hand, the crustacean quite obviously wriggling between his fingers with the image being blurry around it.

The boy's other hand was held up in a peace sign, as if in victory. The pad of his index finger had a slight red swelling to it, and Hitomi assumed that was where the crawfish had pinched him. She held back another short laugh.

The servants stationed in the dining hall glanced at her inquisitively but made sure not to be too obvious. Some of them had heard that the young lady had been in good spirits from the head maid, Chiyo, but had yet to see it for themselves. Finally witnessing it, they gave discreet smiles to one another.

The young lady's elevated mood had been a hot topic, as of late, for all of them. Most of them cared for her a great deal – even if she didn't know or refused to believe it – and they wished that she would be able to return to her former days where she smiled unabashedly.

Even the staff that were not as fond of her didn't hate her because she had never treated any of them unfairly. At most, they were just apathetic, understanding that Hitomi was certainly not the worst that they could have been assigned to care for.

The girl switched to photo mode, snapping a picture of her own meal for him to see. She received a reply in mere seconds, his excitement clear in his messages. She smiled, reading his comments on how extravagant and delicious her dinner looked. His next message, however, caused her smile to drop instantly.

This weekend is the Spring High Preliminaries! Once we win our two matches, then we get to play for the qualifier matches in October! You should come to see me play!

Hitomi read the last line over and over again.

You should come to see me play!

She sighed softly, causing the attentive servants around her to jolt up. They glanced at each other apprehensively, unsure of their actions. One of them bravely took a step toward the young girl. "Is anything unsatisfactory, Hitomi-sama?"

She looked up at the servant, silently flipping her phone over on the table. "No, everything is fine. Please give my compliments to the chef after." She methodically responded. The servant nodded and bowed, returning to their station.

Hitomi resumed eating, but those words were still floating around in her head. She chose not to respond for now, her eyes bouncing towards her phone every so often.

It would be a lie to say that she was surprised by his invitation. Despite her foresight, she was no less troubled by it. At this point, knowing him, a request like that was a given. Hitomi just hadn't thought about how she would reply – or rather, what she really wanted to do.

She was certain now that his friendship was something she highly valued. She also knew that he didn't have any ulterior motives and was just genuinely a positive, innocent person.

Of course, she couldn't say the same about anybody else.

While it should have been easy for just anybody to accept and support their friend, Hitomi wasn't just anybody. Even if she wanted to go, there were so many things she had to consider.

No…She knew she wanted to go. It was all of these unwanted thoughts that were holding her back.

If she went, she would surely have to deal with some unwelcome attention. She'd be going to watch a boys' volleyball tournament. The gender ratio would most definitely be heavily skewed. Not to mention that these were high school boys who were certainly less than entirely mature she'd be dealing with. There was no doubt that she would run into trouble if she wasn't careful.

Even aside from that, would she have to meet his teammates? She remembered that he had mentioned her to his teammates before, along with that group selfie he sent her from his training camp.

They knew about her, but she didn't really know them.

Hitomi was no longer so wary of Nishinoya, but that sentiment did not extend to his friends. After all, just because someone was a good person didn't mean their friends were too.

The rest of her dinner went by in a flash as her head was being swarmed with these thoughts, her tongue barely even registering any taste.

She moved to her study, picking up a book to read, as per usual. After reading the same paragraph for the seventh time and still not processing it, Hitomi sighed heavily. She closed the book, her fingers lingering on the cover.

Just the night before, she was so engrossed in the story that she nearly finished it in one sitting. Now, with only a few pages left, she couldn't even concentrate enough to see its conclusion.

Sighing once more, she got up and returned to her bedroom. She flopped down on the mattress, her hair splaying over the covers. Flipping to her side, she swiped her finger across her phone's screen to bring up his message again.

You should come to see me play!

Hitomi stared at the message in contemplation when the text tone rang again. She flinched, her hands fumbling to maintain a safe grip on her phone. This time, she sighed in relief when her hold on her phone was secure.

Her heart tightened at the new message from Nishinoya.

It's okay if you don't want to but I really want you to see me play, Hitomi-chan!

She stared at the new text, once again reading the last part over and over again. He really wanted her to see him play…

She really wanted to see him play too.

Hitomi jolted up, sitting upright on her bed with a firm grasp on her phone. She'd dealt with unruly boys and men basically her whole life. Surely, she'd be able to deal with them for another day. Especially if it meant being able to support her dear friend!

The young girl got up and walked towards her wardrobe with a newfound conviction, leaving her phone on the bed, open on her last reply while she figured out her outfit for tomorrow.

Ok. Tell me where and when.

Hitomi stopped at the front gates of Kaji High School where the preliminaries were being held. She took a slow, deep breath to try to calm her beating heart.

It was so strange. Why was her heart beating like this? She shouldn't need to be nervous. It's not like she was the one about to play in a volleyball tournament.

She looked down at herself, checking her outfit for the nth time. It was August, so the end of summer was near, but it was still quite hot. One thing she hated about the summer: it left her with far fewer options in clothing, unless she wanted to sweat.

Just to be safe, Hitomi chose an outfit that wasn't too revealing while still being breathable in this weather. Today, she wore slim, black joggers to cover up her legs. She paired a plain, white t-shirt with a muted, blue hoodie vest. If she really needed to, she could pull up the hood to cover most of her face.

With this, she shouldn't have to worry too much about attracting unwanted attention. So far, everybody was minding their own business. Most likely too concerned about their own impending matches to be concerned about others. At this rate, it seemed like Hitomi was worrying for nothing.

"…cute and pretty, sexy even!"

Or maybe not. Hitomi promptly tugged the hood over her head.

"You're so right! The best thing about Karasuno is definitely their manager!" The boys continued on. Hitomi blanched at that, realizing they weren't talking about her. Her next realization was that they were talking about Nishinoya's school.

Hitomi followed their line of sight, her eyes landing on a girl in all black. She was wearing glasses and her black hair was pulled up into a ponytail.

Even from a small distance, Hitomi could tell that the girl was indeed beautiful.

So that was the manager of Nishinoya's volleyball team…It was a wonder why he harbored feelings for her when his manager was so pretty.

Before Hitomi could think on that though, she was bumped into from behind. A group of boys in their volleyball uniforms were rushing past her, and a few turned around to give a sharp look at the idiot who was just standing around in the middle of the hallway. As soon as they saw her face, however, their stern looks immediately dissipated into ones of blushing awe.

The young girl rolled her eyes and tried pulling down her hood further. Those other boys weren't talking about her before, but she had a feeling that keeping the hood on would probably be for the best.

Hitomi sighed as she headed towards the gymnasium, sympathizing with Karasuno's manager and wondering if they could become friends over bonding about how disgusting boys could be.

Upon entering, she looked up and around to see Karasuno's black banner hanging from the railings. She weaved through the crowd, silently leaning on the wall behind a young, blonde girl who was wearing the same all-black outfit as the manager from earlier.

Hitomi nearly sank into herself and into the wall, starting to feel quite uncomfortable and out of place. She had never been to any of her school's sporting events nor any others.

Just as she was beginning to fidget in place, she heard very distinct shouting from below. Lo and behold, it was the boy that she had come here to see.

"Chikara! Just let me make one call!" Nishinoya begged, desperately trying to reach for his phone.

"You've been looking at your phone since before we even got here! We're about to start warm-ups! Come on!" Ennoshita chided him, placing his phone back into his bag.

"But I need to make sure Hitomi-chan got here safely! What if she got lost!?" The libero anxiously shouted.

"That again!? She's not a kid. She can read the signs. Now stop worrying!" Ennoshita shot back.

Hitomi grimaced, realizing that she hadn't texted or called him to let him know that she had arrived. She reached into her pocket for her phone, only to pause and remember that the other boy, Chikara, had already taken away Nishinoya's phone.

She sighed, coming across a new dilemma. She really didn't want him to be worried about her right before his match, but she didn't want to call out to him either because then that would surely bring too much attention to her. That was the last thing she needed after mustering up the courage to even come to cheer him on.

While she was stuck hesitating, Nishinoya frantically looked up and around at the second-level balcony. Somehow, he was able to almost instantly pinpoint Hitomi leaning against the wall right behind Yachi.

His furrowed brows rose up in joy along with the tilt of his lips. His eyes shined with mirth as he bounced up and down, waving both arms over his head.

Both Hitomi and Yachi flinched. The former because of her shock at the fact that he was able to find her so easily, and the latter because she was surprised that the libero could possibly be waving to her, wholly unaware of Hitomi's presence behind her.

Just as she was about to raise her hand to nervously wave back, Yachi stopped herself to make sure she was seeing things correctly. Bashfully turning around, she saw Hitomi giving Nishinoya a tentative wave back.

The blonde shrieked in embarrassment as she briefly met Hitomi's eyes, quickly turning back around and ducking down behind the Karasuno banner to hide her scarlet face. Hitomi watched her with sympathy, feeling some second-hand embarrassment and mentally apologizing to the poor girl.

He really did give Hitomi a fright though. How could he have seen her out of all these people, while she had her hood on, and while she was standing at the back?

Hitomi's hand came up to gently pat at her chest above her heart, hoping to calm it down. She convinced herself that it was racing because she hadn't expected him to find her so quickly. As she thought so, her eyes remained glued to Nishinoya's form.

She smiled to herself, amused at his bright orange uniform and its stark contrast with the rest of his teammates.

"It suits him." She thought, what with his boisterous personality and energetic nature. It really made him stand out, and she figured he loved that.

It also made him much easier to follow on and off the court.

Nishinoya turned to his teammates with a wide smile and a twinkle in his eyes. "Guys! I'm feeling really good, so don't worry if you mess up! I'll get every single ball today!" He grandly declared, puffing out his chest and jabbing his thumb towards himself.

This statement of his was met with varied reactions, ranging from excitement all the way to apathy.

"Uoooohhh! Noya-san, you're so cool!" Tanaka exclaimed, Hinata nodding fervently.

Kageyama also thought his senpai was quite cool in saying that, but he had to get his own opinions out there. "Thank you, but I won't mess up." He stated in a deadpan way.

Sugawara laughed. "Ever the confident one aren't you, Kageyama!" He teased. He then turned to the libero. "And you too, huh? I'm guessing it has something to do with that girl you were waving to up there?" He asked, his hand coming up to his forehead palm down as he squinted up at the second-level balcony.

"Why's she wearing a hood indoors?" Ennoshita questioned as he also looked up.

"She's probably just shy!" Nishinoya laughed, causing his more sensible teammates to sheepishly smile at him.

"If I came here as your friend, I'd probably want to hide my face as well." Tsukishima sneered, Yamaguchi softly chuckling behind him.

"WHAT'D YOU SAY!? COME BACK AND SAY THAT TO MY FACE TSUKISHIMAAAAA!" The shorter boy growled, lunging at him.

One of the referees looked in their direction with a warning, prompting Daichi to take action. "Nishinoya! Be quiet!"

Up on the second-level balcony, Hitomi was shaking. One hand clutched at her stomach and the other covered her mouth as she was slightly bent over in laughter.

What a bunch of unruly crows.