Aight here we go! This chapter might seem like part of the prologue but I felt like I needed to put this here to introduce the context in terms of the timeline I'm going for. Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 1

Kuroo and Kenma were walking down the hallway heading to the nearest vending machine during their lunch break. Kenma was tapping away on his game, it seemed like he was about to enter a boss battle.

"We could've won a chance to go to nationals if they didn't bench you." Kuroo said irritated.

He was talking about their recent spring tournament match. The 3rd years had selfishly benched Kenma despite him being the superior setter on the team. Kuroo couldn't say much against them as he was a 2nd year himself.

"You don't know that, anything can happen during a match," Kenma replied nonchalantly.

"Yeah well when I become captain next year, I'm not going to let seniority get in the way of anyone who has the skills to stand on the court."

"At least the female volleyball team made it to nationals, apparently this is the first time they've made it that far."

"Yeah but I also heard that their ace got injured recently. I wonder how they'll do in nationals without-"

Kuroo got cut off as he rounded a corner and bumped into someone. A hard thump and clattering were heard. Kuroo was about to go off on whoever it was when he realized that he had bumped into an injured girl. Her crutches lay on the floor beside her and she was biting her lip as if holding back a yelp of pain. Kuroo quickly got up and offered a hand to help her up.

"Sorry I wasn't looking where I was going and-" Kuroo stopped as he noticed that she had completely ignored his help.

She gathered her crutches and slowly stood up using the wall as support. Her bangs were covering her eyes so he couldn't take a good look at her face. She was about to walk off when he noticed a white envelope on the floor.

"Hey wait!" Kuroo called. "You forgot this."

She turned and looked at Kuroo's outstretched arm. He held a white envelope that said 'Resignation Letter' on it. She quietly grabbed it and gave him a small nod before walking towards the teacher's lounge.

"Man I wonder if she's resigning from her club due to that injury." Kuroo pondered out loud to no one in particular.

Kenma thought about how dumb Kuroo was for not putting two and two together but decided not to comment on it as he focused on his boss battle.

"Are you sure about this?" the teacher asked as she looked at the girl in crutches handing her a white envelope.

She gave a small nod. The teacher gave a sigh.

"You know, the team and I wouldn't have minded if you stayed. We understand that you can't play competitively anymore but the doctor said playing casually every now and then is fine too. In fact, you can help train others."

The girl didn't say anything. The teacher gave out another sigh.

"Just know that we'll welcome you back anytime and you can come visit whenever. Don't close yourself off like this, everyone's worried about you, Miyamoto-san."

Sakura thought that she had already cried enough but her vision started to blur, and this was the last place she wanted to breakdown. The teacher noticed her lip started to quiver and knew better than to press on.

"Take care, Miyamoto-san."

Sakura gave a small nod before leaving the teacher's lounge. As she slid the door shut her tears overflowed and started streaming down her cheeks.

'I have to leave.' She thought to herself.

She wiped her tears and headed towards her classroom to gather her things. She couldn't stand being around people right now, she's not ready to be confronted by her teammates in this state.

No, ex-teammates. She's no longer a part of the team.

As Sakura walked into her classroom, she could feel the gaze of her peers.

'Move faster. Leave before anyone confronts you.' She thought to herself.

"Sakura-san!" A voice called as she was about to leave the classroom.

Sakura knew who it was and she is the last person she wants to see right now. Knowing just how emotional this person can be, Sakura couldn't bear the thought of this person seeing her breakdown. She tried to scurry off as quickly as she could but that person managed to catch up to her.

"Sakura-san please, don't shut me out like this." The person pleaded.

Sakura turned towards the voice and it was none other than her best friend, Mei. She had a worried look on her face. Sakura's facade had started to crumble.

"Please, I-"

"Where do you think you're going?"

Mei turned around and saw the school nurse walking towards them. Sakura took this chance and left as quickly as she could. Mei heard the clacking noise of the crutches and was about to call out to Sakura again.

"Takahashi-kun, get back to class, the bell's about to ring." The nurse said.

"But sensei-"

"It's okay, I'll handle it." He said in a definitive tone.

Mei stood still for a bit before she reluctantly went back into her classroom. The nurse watched as Sakura kept walking further from him. He knew what happened and Sakura's father had already briefed him on her condition. He knew whatever he would say to her would fall on deaf ears.

The bell rung signalling the start of class. The nurse gave out a frustrated sigh.

"Guess I'll say she's not feeling well and I gave her permission to go home."

There you have it~ Kinda short yeah but as I said I wanted to add this in for a little bit of context. Also, thank you so much to those that followed and favourited! I truly appreciate it :) Seeing the notification saying that some people are actually intrigued by the prologue made me even more excited to work on this story! I'm aiming for weekly updates so expect chapters to come out sometime on Fridays!

As always, let me know what you think!