Apparently on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays Mitsuha has practice with the volleyball club. Not exactly his sport of choice (Taki would've preferred basketball), but he figures it'd be kind of nice to learn a new sport. After class, he heads down to the gym and quickly changes into some gym clothes.
It seems that there had been a bit of a fight among the club members. And "among" apparently means everyone else against Rio. The other girls came to practice but hardly cared, while Rio put her all into creating a training regimen in the hopes that maybe their team could compete. But instead, the other members grew disillusioned and ended up ditching practice for a group date. And Rio, of course, got upset. And then the other team members got upset. And left.
So Taki finds himself practicing volleyball with Rio in an empty gym. As he sets himself to return Rio's serve, he can feel someone's gaze boring through him.
"That's it, always keep your knees in mind," Rio coaches him. Before she can serve the ball again, she notices someone at the gym door. "Kenji. . .what do you want?"
Taki vaguely recognizes the boy from Mitsuha's class, but he could care less what he wants with Rio. Rather than stand around and wait for them to finish talking, he takes the opportunity to run a lap or two around the gym. Once he sees Kenji leave, he returns to Rio's side.
"Oh, sorry. . .I ended up loafing around," she apologizes.
"It's nothing. You get along with him?"
Rio frowns. "I guess. . .we're childhood friends. I've known him since preschool. . .he's like a younger brother to me," she says before adding defensively, "That's all."
Rio takes a few steps away to start the training exercise again, but pauses. "Sorry, it isn't much of a practice with just two people," she mumbles.
"They'll come back. Maybe," Taki says.
Judging by Rio's reaction, maybe he should've left out the 'maybe.' "It's like. . .I don't want to pretend nothing happened, and I'm not going to say this is my fault. . . .I know that I need to be more mature about this, but. . ." Rio trails off.
"Forget about it," Taki assures her. "It's not their business. They shouldn't have joined the club if they weren't going to commit to the team."
"Yeah," Rio agrees, but she still seems vexed. "Do you have someone you like?"
"Nope."
"I-is that so. . ." Rio seems a bit relieved by that answer. "Anyways, let's get back to practice. Oh, by the way. . .I almost smacked him for saying something, but are you not wearing a bra today. . . ? Kenji, uh. . .couldn't help but notice."
"Oh, that? Whatever," Taki brushes it off.
A few days later, Taki opens up his phone to check on Mitsuha's latest report.
What's wrong with you?! You aren't wearing a bra?! These things are basics for a girl! Guys will stare! Is that why is Kenji telling a bunch of his friends that the girls' volleyball practice is pretty nice to watch while glancing in my direction?!
Ah, crap.
He really did mess up, didn't he?