he next morning was normal, Kaoru went for a morning run, showered and went to school. She was happily enjoying lunch with her friends outside in the sun, enjoying their company.

What she didn't know was that inside her classroom, a confused Sawamura Eijun was asking for advice from Kuramochi and Miyuki.

"Kuramochi-senpai, what do you do if you see a girl crying?" asked the first year. His question caused Miyuki to look up from his scorebook with a questioning gaze.

Another first year student, Kominato Haruichi, sat beside Eijun, looking at his friend in surprise, "Eijun-kun, you saw someone crying?"

Eijun nodded sharply. "Yes, and she was a true damsel in distress. But she ran away before I could say anything," he said in a disappointed tone.

Kuramochi looked at Miyuki before replying to their kouhai, "Sawamura, when did you see a girl crying?"

Eijun's eyes went wide with guilt before looking away from the two senpai's. "Eijun-kun…" whispered a disappointed Haruichi "While I was running last night," Eijun responded.

Kuramochi smacked his kouhai in the head, "was this after we told you to stop doing that!?" Once again Eijun would not make eye contact with his seniors.

"I didn't get to run anyways because I saw that girl crying! I tried to chase her but she went to the softball dorms," Eijun responded indignantly.

Haruichi nearly facepalmed, his friends' stupidity often caused him secondhand embarrassment. Miyuki was looking at Eijun thoughtfully, "what did she look like?"

Kuramochi looked at his friend curiously, when Miyuki clarified his question, "the girl crying that ran to the softball dorms, did she have light brown hair?" Eijun perked up at the question.

Nodding enthusiastically, he replied, "yes she did! And her hoodie said #23 but I didn't see that number on the roster when I looked," he tailed off.

Kuramochi's eyes were downcast and even Miyuki looked visibly saddened by what the younger player had said. "Just forget what you saw, okay Sawamura?" Miyuki said.

There was an awkward silence at the table before Haruichi surprisingly spoke up, "do you know who she is?"

Kuramochi nodded, "she's in our grade. She was a first year starter for the softball team last year but got in a collision with the other team's catcher when scoring the winning run that sent her team to Koshien."

He could still hear the scream when the dust had cleared. It broke his heart to see someone he considered a friend in so much pain, it took a long time for her to act normally after the surgery as well.

"And now she can't play anymore. Her coach allowed her to stay in the dorms with her teammates though," he continued.

Sawamura and Haruichi looked at each other awkwardly, there was definitely a lot more to the story than Kuramochi was telling them.

"Sawamoran, I want you to pretend you never saw her last night, got that?" said Miyuki seriously. Eijun blinked at his upperclassman, nodding hesitantly, a question on the tip of his tongue.

Miyuki stood from the desk, "you'll figure it out later, okay? Just for now be quiet," he added before walking out of the classroom.

It's not like Miyuki had been friends with her before the injury, and he really wouldn't consider Kaoru to be his friend now. But he remembered seeing her after the incident.

Her eyes always looked like she had just cried, and the smile she wore looked fake. He watched as she pushed herself to help those around her even before she was given the opportunity to help his team.

When Coach Kataoka proposed the idea of her as a tutor and possible hitting analyst, there was little hesitation from Captain Yuuki and the rest of the starters.

They had been there when she was injured, they saw her fight for her team. He hadn't been opposed to the idea, but Miyuki is sure he would have said no had it not been for Coach's confidence in her ability.

Spotting Kaoru outside with her friends, Miyuki figured that he should give her a heads up about Sawamura.

Kaoru was laughing at something Chiyo had said when she heard her name being called. Her smile immediately turned into a frown when she saw who had called for her attention.

"Sorry guys, I'll be right back," she said to her friends, getting up and walking towards Miyuki she smiled at him, "can I help you with something? Or are you going to sic your fans on me again?"

Miyuki couldn't help but laugh at that, "no nothing like that," he said with a wave of hand. "But my troublesome Kouhai said he saw you out past curfew last night~" he said with a teasing tone.

He didn't need to tell her that they knew she was crying, he could use this opportunity to get under her skin and warn her all at once.

"Miyuki Kazuya, are you trying to blackmail me?" she deadpanned, "I went for a run to clear my head after dealing with you idiots, I don't think anyone would blame me for that," she added with a smirk.

Taking a step closer to him, she looked up through her lashes and for the first time Miyuki understood why some of the guys had a crush on her.

Her dark blonde hair was blowing in the wind and her gray eyes were sparkling with mischief, "I would think before you do something like that," she said with a smirk.

Leaning back a bit she donned a fake smile, "don't think you're the only one with a nasty personality, okay?" she said.

Miyuki blinked in surprise and before he could respond she was turning away, "see ya tomorrow!" she called out as she jogged back to her friends. He let out a chuckle, 'oh man, this is too fun,' he thought.

If he hadn't known from Eijun that she had been out crying, he would have found her story perfectly believable. He hadn't suspected that she would confront him so boldly, nearly daring him to call her bluff.

Once she was out of his line of sight, Kaoru faced the wall, her face red with embarrassment. 'Why did I say that?' She wanted to throttle herself.

She was caught off guard that the kid she saw last night had reported it to Miyuki, and that Miyuki came to call her out on it, 'what a jerk.'

Miyuki was always teasing people, including her, so her guard immediately went up when he brought up last night. 'But was he trying to pick a fight?' she wondered.

Shaking her head, she decided that leveling the playing field by telling him she could be equally nasty probably wasn't a bad thing. 'Afterall, if I have to see him everyday he should know I'm not a pushover.'

Making her way back over to her friends, she was disheartened to hear the lunch bell ring signaling the end of their break. Helping her friends clean up, she prayed that no one would ask about Miyuki Kazuya.

"So, why did Mr. Popular Miyuki Kazuya want to see you?" asked Chiyo, a sly grin on her face as she saw the look Kaoru sent her way.

The rest of the girls stopped what they were doing, the team captain Hasagawa Ayano had a mischievous look on her face. "I think that is the second time he's approached you at lunch, is something going on?"

Kaoru groaned at their teasing, "please, you all know there is nothing going on," the group made their way back into the school as she continued, "he only wanted to warn me about a first-year that can be difficult to deal with."

Her friends all looked at each other before giggling, "okay, sure, but I think you're protesting too much," said Ayano as she parted ways with them to head towards the third year's hall.

Chiyo was the last to say goodbye, looking at her best friend, she reached out and grabbed her hand, "hey, we're just messing with you," she said, a sincere look on her face.

"But I do find it interesting that Mr. Nasty Personality took the time out of his day to go and warn you about some first year," she added with a squeeze of Kaoru's hands.

Kaoru smiled at her friend, Chiyo was always looking out for her. "I thought so too truthfully, this kid must be a lot of work!" Kaoru said with a reassuring smile.

"Good, I heard he can be pretty cold to girls sometimes, so be careful," she said before running off to her own classroom. Kaoru watched her friend leave, 'they read into things too much,'' she thought to herself.

The thought of him not liking her didn't make her heart ache, which meant she wasn't in any danger of being hurt, 'good, you never know with guys like him,' she nearly laughed to herself out loud.

Settling into her seat, she looked at the board, 'good, English class makes much more sense than boys,' she thought as she opened her notebook.

Glancing to her left, she saw Miyuki paying attention to the teacher as he usually did and Kaoru allowed herself to stare at him for a while longer while his attention was elsewhere.

She watched him mouth along with the english words on the board, 'cute,' she thought. Her eyes widened at the realization of her actions, whipping her head back to face the teacher again.

Did she really just spend time staring at Miyuki? Placing a hand on her forehead, she felt for a fever, 'maybe I need more sleep,' she thought to herself. There was no way she was checking him out.

There was even less of a chance of her ever admitting that he's cute with a handsome face and nice cheekbones and a cute nose. 'Oh my god, I think he's cute!' her brain was short circuiting.

Since when? He's always just been there, but never noticeable to her. 'He's not the first guy that's been nice to me,' she was too busy drowning in her own thoughts to hear the teacher call for her.

"Bokuto-san, would you like to tell the class what you're thinking about?" Her teacher's voice cut through her swirling thoughts as Kaoru stood quickly from her chair, hitting her knee on the desk.

"Sensei! Sorry, no I am fine. Can you repeat the question?" she asked, her face was red at being caught day-dreaming. Thankfully, her teacher only smiled before repeating his question.

'Thank the heavens for being a teacher's pet,' she thought after answering his question in flawless English. Heaving a sigh, she sat back down, Kuramochi turned around in his seat in front of her with a worried look.

"Kaoru, what was that about? You never space out in class," he said, brows furrowed in worry. Kaoru could only shrug with a pained grin, she had really hit her leg hard on the desks edge.

Biting her lip a little, she leaned forward to answer Kuramochi quietly, "I just have a lot on my plate and I nearly let myself get distracted, sorry to worry you," she said with a smile.

Nodding, Kuramochi turned back around in his chair. Kaoru was determined to not think or speak to Miyuki for the rest of the day. She needed to talk to Chiyo and figure out how this happened out of the blue.

Miyuki watched her talk with Kuramochi before returning her attention to the teacher. 'What was going on with her?' Kaoru never zoned out in class, 'maybe her shoulder is bothering her,' he thought.

He had seen her massaging it throughout the day, so maybe it was bringing back bad memories, 'that would explain her crying last night too,' he rationalized.

Kaoru felt better as the day came to an end, she hadn't thought or spoken to Miyuki and didn't feel the least bit flustered when he came to talk with Kuramochi after the final bell rang.

Spotting Chiyo, she ran to her friend, interlocking their arms gently. "Chiyo-chan, I embarrassed myself in class today," she said with fake tears.

Chiyo laughed, "oh no, what did you do?" Just thinking about it made Kaoru embarrassed to tell her, "on second thought," she said with a laugh, "I don't want to tell you."

Looking at her friend with big eyes, Chiyo joked, "oh so it was that bad huh? What, were you daydreaming about kissing Miyuki?"

Kaoru's face turned several shades of red as she yelled out "I wasn't daydreaming about kissing him!" garnering the attention of the other students walking to the dorms.

Chiyo was giving her friend a wide eyed look, "wait was I kind of right though?" she asked in surprise, her voice quiet so no one would overhear.

Kaoru looked away guiltily, "kind of? I just happened to notice in class today that he's good looking," she said awkwardly. "But! I wasn't daydreaming about him, just got lost in my confused thoughts and got called out by the teacher for not listening," Kaoru explained.

With a teasing grin, Chiyo tightened her grip on her friend's arm, "don't think too much about it, you'll exhaust yourself," she said.

"And besides, acknowledging his attractiveness is not the same as being attracted to him, and being attracted to him doesn't mean you like, have a crush on him or anything," Chiyo explained reassuringly.

Nodding, Kaoru felt better already. "I guess you're right, I just got confused because of your and Ayano-san's teasing!"

The two girls enjoyed the rest of their conversation in the dorm while Chiyo prepared to head to the softball field. "Oh!" she called out before closing the door, "your brother added me on instagram today, so thank you!" she said before leaving.

Kaoru sat there confused, she hadn't even told her brother anything about Chiyo yet. 'Wait a minute,' going to her own instagram, she checked her most recent story post from lunch.

Her hypothesis was confirmed when she saw the selfie picture of her and Chiyo smiling brightly in the sun, "I tagged her, and then he followed her…" she said quietly.

"Oh my gosh maybe she really will become Mrs. Bokuto!" Kaoru yelled out in surprise as she looked around the empty room. Her excitement and surprise halting.

Sighing, she sat down, "I almost forgot I'm completely alone for the next 3 hours." Grabbing her notebook, she decided to get ready to help the first years with their homework questions.

"What a pain," she muttered.