- Chapter 10 -

Although exams week was over, students were still required to come to the school one more week, particularly for the celebration of the School's Sports Festival; a series of competitions between classes and students, and even teachers to close the first term of school and to also welcome the Summer Holiday. This year, the school committee had listed some of the games for the day, that included; relay races, obstacle courses, kibasen, tug of war and other games. Masami-sensei had already provided the details of the game, and then now it came down to the students to participate.

"Tsukishima-kun, you should do kibasen." Ayame said out loud.

"Uh, no thanks."

"Yes yes. Definitely. Everyone's going to have trouble reaching your head. We will win, for sure." She ignored him, already getting approval from several other students. "Suzuki-chan, what do you think? Am I right?"

Suzuki nodded along. "Yeah, I agree."

He rolled his eyes. "No. I'm not going to be anything. I am already taking part in the tug of war. That's enough."

"Heh, that one goes without saying. All the boys do that." Suzuki encountered him. "Ayame, write his name down. It's fine."

"Hai."

"What an ass." Tsukishima glared at both Ayame and Suzuki, who were already giggling by themselves. He shook his head. "At least not as the top-man."

"Deal." Suzuki approved. "Well, that's the boys' kibasen–"

"Then you should be playing the girls." Tsukishima retorted quickly. "Everyone's gonna have trouble reaching your head."

"Nice try. But I can't do that. I'm already in the relay race." She defended.

"We can switch members. Definitely." Ayame remarked, looking through her list. "Or you can just do both of them."

"No."

"Yes!"

"No way. That's—"

"Too late, Suzuki-chan. I already wrote your name." Ayame sang out loud, and the other girl grumpily shook her head. Briefly she could see the satisfied smirk from the boy.

Ayame went on to take a list of names for the participants, calling out random names she thought would be a great addition to the team. Suzuki did not have much of a choice other than to let her. Ayame wanted to coordinate the event for Class 4, which she found funny because that whiny girl was one of the very few to actively participate in Physical Ed Courses. Perhaps it was a smart move on Ayame's part; already being coordinator meant she didn't have to physically do anything, and just simply called out names she deemed fit to represent their class and submitted it to the school committee.

The closing of the class discussion signaled the end of the day. And Tsukishima wasn't so sure on what he could do to spend the rest of the day. Going home was the easiest option, yet he felt it was ineffective. Doing chores, if his mom hadn't done anything, and laying low after that felt pointless. From a distance he spotted Kageyama and Yachi practicing on their own again by the parking lot, something about a new tossing technique. That was pointless too, he sneered to himself.

"Tsukishima, do you have a moment?" The second-year middle blocker approached him. "Would you like to practice the sync attack with us?"

Tsukishima could actually do that, to come and join the second-years practicing synchronized attack with the girls' team, a move they learned from the last Tokyo away match. But he too felt they were already too crowded. "Narita-san, gomen. I think I'm going home early and have a rest."

"Are you okay?"

"A bit lightheaded actually." Not really, but… he had decided.

"Oh, then you should get going and take a good rest. Are you going to play on anything tomorrow?"

"Yes, unfortunately."

"Heh, cheer up Tsukishima. Tomorrow's gonna be fun." Narita patted his shoulder. "Yeah, anyway see you tomorrow, I guess."

"Hai."

There was the option to come and watch Yamaguchi and Shimada; he had done that a couple of times, watching his friend attempting jump float serves, and Shimada actually helping them polishing both of their receive and spike techniques. Tsukishima paused his track, should he do that? Nah. That was too much trouble to even think about it.

Reluctantly he cranked up the volume of his song and walked on.

"…Tsukishima-kun! Hey Tsukishima… wow this guy." Ayame grumbled from the side of the bus stop. "Is he blind and deaf or something? Didn't he see us? I'm waving."

"No, just his headphones." Another girl, Tashi, chuckled. "He's never going anywhere with that, huh? Not once have I seen him without it. Even inside of the class."

"Apparently so." Ayame replied. "What if he's wearing it the whole day tomorrow?"

Tashi raised an eyebrow. "You mean while playing kibasen?

"I was thinking of a way to win that. We should just use his headphones instead of a hat. He will be frantically protecting that thing and then we will win."

"Now that's a laugh." Suzuki snorted, watching the boy walk further away.

On that note, came the Karasuno High School Sports Festival.

All students and teachers had all gathered around to celebrate the start of the Summer Holiday, multicolored t-shirts and jerseys and other accessories decorated the soccer field, as well as class flags and banners. The opening ceremony had just begun with the sing-along to The National Anthem, Kimigayo, and the raising of the national flag, followed by a heartfelt speech by the principal and his wiggly wig. And then there was the game.

"Class 4! Let's go girls!" Ayame shrieked, clapping the thunder sticks. "Everyone, let's cheer up for our girls! Go Kyotami-chan! Go Suzuki-chan! Go Mega-chan! Go Mitsune-chan! Gogogo!"

"Yosh!" Kyotami, in-charge as the relay race captain nodded. "Come on we're going to win this! Mitsune, come on, you're going to be the first runner—you too, Suzuki-chan. Up, up!" Kyotami said, already pulling the girl from her seat on the ground. Evidently, Suzuki groaned and moved her legs to raise herself up.

"Good luck, Suzuki!" Yamaguchi called out, giving her a thumb-up. She returned him with a thankful smile.

"Don't trip on your own foot." while Tsukishima only snickered at her. She just rolled eyes at him.

Coming into the starting line, the first thing Suzuki noticed was Aoki actually participated too, representing Class 2, and she was their third runner. When both girls caught eyes, they made similarly mocking faces, before lining up to their order.

The whistle had blown and Mitsune had run off with the baton, she flinched. Suzuki was actually nervous. It was a long time ago she had to do a one-lap full-sprint around the track, not to mention in a race. Mega then took her turn, with Kyotami already setting up on her line and so did Aoki, with her usual pigtails bouncing as she warmed up. When the third runner had started, Suzuki took a deep breath to calm the nerves. It's just a fun race. Don't need to overthink things… and don't drop the baton either… you're the last lap so don't fuck this up! She glanced around and quickly caught Tsukishima by the side, already standing up. He didn't do anything much yet he brought a certain peace of mind when she saw him.

You got this. Class 3 was actually in a lead on the third run, but Kyotami was only a few meters behind. Suzuki had taken her stance, one arm already waiting to receive. You got this, Suzuki, he brought her that.

"Suzuki-chan, run!" Her fingertips touched the wood and her hand instinctively curled up hard on the baton, as she sprinted.

Come on, Suzuki… Tsukishima watched her race, her long legs definitely gave advantage to catch up the first position. Come on, you're so close. She was really tailing behind the Class 3 girl. It was so close that the grip on his water bottle tightened. Watching her really focus on the lane made him tense up too.

Despite the physical advantage, The Class 3 girl was actually a legit track athlete with advanced stamina and cardio endurance, which Suzuki very much despised. At last, Suzuki came second with mere distance between them. Panting, she returned to her team who went in for a group hug. "That was fun, wasn't it?" Kyotami said and all of them laughed. Perhaps, being second was not so bad after all.

"Suzuki, you were zooming! That was so close, though." Ayame said once she had returned to her classmates. The coordinator handed over her drinking bottle. "Here. Pocari."

"Thanks." Suzuki drank. "By the way, I am not going to play Kibasen after this, Ayame-chan. That's just too much." She announced.

"Yeah. I already asked Kima to switch up with you. She said it's fine." Ayame nodded. "Now let's see if the boys' relay is as good as the girls!"

Suzuki shared a comforting smile to Yamaguchi, who would be running next, and glanced down at the other sitting pair who had that indifferent look of unsmiling all the time. Tsukishima had his knees up and she took the chance to sit in front of him. "Don't move, Tsukishima." She said, effortlessly leaning back on his shins. This caught the boy off guard by this additional weight on his legs. "Get off me." He said, moving his legs away. The sudden jerk startled her, and before she could maintain her posture, she had already toppled backwards and laid on the ground in front of him.

"Sheesh, damn it you." She muttered, already getting up. He just smiled down devilishly at her.

- Chapter 10 -

With the several games done, it was time for lunch break. Unlike the usual type of lunch in the classroom, students and teachers were all gathered inside the newly renovated gym and scattered around to eat with other classmates.

Suzuki, in particular, decided to find Aoki and Mirai, who were also looking around for a spot between the crowds. They spotted Hinata's bright orange hair in the middle, talking animatedly to his friend, already with a mouthful. Suzuki also saw Yamaguchi and Tsukishima who looked like they were in the same situation. She caught him waving. In the end, they decided to group up by the corner of the gym.

"Tsukishima, didn't I hear it wrong? Are you playing kibasen next?" Mirai blurted. "What are the chances?"

"Beats me." He shrugged. "Blame your friend for that." He said, glancing at Suzuki.

The brown-haired girl only raised her hands, deflecting. "I'm only doing this for the better of the competition." She said, "I'd say you're going to win it."

"Yeah, whatever." He took a bite of his chicken. "Who am I going to face? Is the King playing again?" He asked, referring to Kageyama who had performed in the boys' obstacle game.

"He wished but our Head Class said no. Funny, he was actually willingly wanting to participate in every game but of course not. That idiot." Mirai snickered at her own classmates. "Oh yeah, is it true Hinata and Kageyama are fighting?"

"Wait, are they really?" Aoki reconfirmed the question.

Tsukishima looked as bored as usual, but something about that question tensed him up. Yamaguchi nodded eventually. "Sort of. I mean, they had an argument during the Tokyo match last week and haven't come into terms after that." He answered. "You should've come into our practices. It was so awkward as heck."

"So I've heard. I mean usually Hinata would just call him out for practice. I only realized he didn't do that anymore." Mirai said.

The dark-haired boy went on. "Well, sometimes they practice separately. Kageyama now often spends time alone or with the help of Yachi. Hinata sometimes goes home early to practice with Coach Ukai's grandfather."

"Don't you do something about them?"

"Dunno. I guess we should just let them cool down a bit. At least that's what Suga-senpai told me."

As if the universe tried to give them a sign of peace, they all spotted Hinata and Kageyama approaching. They definitely saw each other, and when they walked passed them without any notion whatsoever; Hinata had sat back down to his friends and Kageyama was going out of the gym. Suzuki could've swore she felt so heavy just watching them.

"Hmm, anyway Tsukishima, what's number 11 mean?" Aoki asked, noticing the number on his class jersey. A change of topic was very well needed. "Did you just match the volleyball uniform?"

"No. That's just a coincidence." He said, seemed to have just realized it as well. "Eleven is always my go to number."

"Tell us about it, then."

He snickered. "Try to guess it, then!"

Mirai and Aoki went on to the list of possibilities and Suzuki just snorted in amusement. "That wasn't your birth date, right? No. Can you give me any clue?" She heard Aoki reasoned.

"Here, the clue is the alphabet." Yamaguchi laughed. "In English. You two are good in English, right? Can you guess it now?"

"Eleven? Alphabet… A, B, C… K."

"K? Letter K?" Mirai tried to connect the dots. "Oh. Kei. Tsukishima Kei. That makes sense." She nodded. "So Kei—"

"That doesn't mean we're on a first-name basis, Shorty." He snickered, stopping her.

Aoki made a face. "You know, Aoki is already my first name. You've been calling me that. So that doesn't work on me, Kei."

"Yeah but that's just how you introduce yourself." Tsukishima snapped back.

"Oh wow, I forgot what a super smartass you are." Mirai retorted back.

Suzuki found the conversation rather fun and deja vu, sort of. She remembered asking about the same question, and then responded to him with the same idea as Mirai, calling him by his first-name. His response was a mere groan and… "Whatever you say, Taomi." That sounded so off, after months of calling each other's family name but… She had to admit it rang nice when he called.

Taomi, she had come to learn it meant channel or path, derived from Chinese description. Unsure of how it got into her name, she knew her mother's parents had Chinese descent, but that was about it. Kei, on the other hand, had a simple ring to it. Blessed, respected, joyous, it meant a lot more. But he settled with firefly, which was somewhat relaxing.

"Suzuki? Hey." Suzuki blinked when she felt a light tap on her arm. Yamaguchi was calling. "You're lost in thoughts. What's up?"

"Just tired." She replied, slouching against Mirai's shoulder.

"Heh, you're tired all the time." Mirai commented, but let her. "We still have a few events left."

Suzuki just shrugged and took a sip of her yogurt drink, her eyes then caught on the curious golden eyes under the rimmed glasses.

Stomach filled, the next one was kibasen.

The idea of this traditional, a bit dangerous, game was to make a one layer pyramid with the 'top-man' or the attacker placed on the top to snatch other attackers' hats. Losing the hat meant the team was out, and so far Class 4 had an interesting strategy to keep their hat on. Instead of immediately charging, Enma and his team waited for the perfect moment to join the crowd, unlike Hinata's Class 1 team who just plainly started hunting other teams - that was so much Hinata's rather blunt strat.

The first-years round was done, resulting in Class 4 and Class 1 as the top two standing teams. They would again participate in the final, against the top two winners from the second and third-years; much to Tsukishima's great concern. One round of pushing, pulling and dodging was already tiresome enough. Surely he didn't need one more. But when Hinata was actually being super aggressive and loud as usual, calling their team the winner, that aggravated him even more so.

"You got this, everyone. One more round to go!" Ayame once again cheered on. "Enma-kun! Hito-kun! Daisuke-kun! Tsukkei-kun!"

Tsukishima clicked his tongue at the terrible nickname. "Shut up Ayame." He grunted, getting up.

"Good luck!" Suzuki raised her water bottle at him as a toast. "You're going to need it."

"Hm yeah. I don't think so." he shrugged, smirking.

Funnily enough, apparently everyone decided to follow the same strategy of waiting for the first attack. No one was making any move, even Tanaka-san who had been yelling all round their first match became very quiet. Suddenly, he had an idea. "Tanaka-san," Tsukishima called. "Let's team up to take Hinata down."

"H-hey, chotto Tsukishima—"

Tanaka laughed. "Oooh! Yeah we can do that! Fujita! Let's go for the orange hair kid. You guys flanked them."

Enma seemed to agree with the affiliation, and then the second-year and the first-year started to push Hinata's team into a corner. With one move of Fujita, he managed to snatch Hinata's hat. However, just as quickly, Enma had already had eyes on Fujita's own hat. And then suddenly it became a domino effect where the rest of the team had joined in and snatched everyone's hats.

Perhaps betrayal never really worked well and karma did exist to some extent. Oh well, what the hell.

"That looked so chaotic. Everyone just moved all over the place." Yamaguchi commented. "I'm kind of happy I didn't get to be part of that. How was it for you, Tsukki?"

"Tiresome." Tsukishima said, stretching his arms and shoulders. "You owe me a lot, Ayame-san."

"So you do like to play!" Ayame yelped. "You know we almost switched you up with Renji-kun but Suzuki said don't."

"Why not?"

"She said you can take us to victory, despite everything." Ayame shrugged.

Tsukishima raised his eyebrow at the Head Class.

"Hey at least we won third place. That was not so bad after all, right?" She reckoned. "Admit it, Tsukishima-kun~ that was fun."

"Yeah, I guess, that was alright."

Ayame chirped. "Perfect. Then, get a bit of rest and be prepared for the last one. Tug of war!"

"Oh god. I forgot about that." The blonde-haired boy mumbled coldly, glaring at Suzuki who was just smiling innocently at him.

- Chapter 10 -

The concept of tug of war was to pit two teams against each other in the showcase of strength. Aside from the rhythm of the pull was just as important, it was the raw muscle power and strength that maintained their own grip and footing. Suzuki mused at their first opponent: sure the number of boys in her team was three heads more but not only were they third-years, their boys were huge compared to her team. And not only that, Tomoru and his dumb smile already mocked her right in the face.

"Wueek!"

"Shuddup niisan." Suzuki pushed his face away. "Don't underestimate my class. You'll regret it."

"Oh I'm sure they'll all be fine." He said, scratching her hair out of place, getting another slap from the sister. "Hey, Spikey, Lanky! You're going to win this, aren't you?"

"Ignore him, that idiot." Suzuki said, already pulling Tsukishima and Yamaguchi away. "Come on, let's get ready. Get the gloves and all."

Tsukishima was placed about in the middle of the rope, Yamaguchi in front of him and others. This about to hurt, he tried to pull and grimaced at the rough rope material, even with the gloves between the friction. Wiping some sweat and nervousness away, he turned to Suzuki who was still keeping an eye on the positions.

"Suzuki, take my glasses off." He ordered.

"Are you sure?" When he nodded, she gently pulled it out of his face. "Can you even see without this?"

"No but, like, it doesn't really matter. All I need to do is pull back."

Eventually she nodded. "Just don't trip on your own foot." She added a call-back to his own words.

He smirked. "Hmph. Touche."

There was a specific strategy that one of their teammates, Kaito, came up with. He said it was a common strategy and perhaps the senior class would use it too, but never hurt to try; to brace hard on the first tug until the opponent had lost their footing, and then they began pulling back, fighting back.

"San. Ni. Ichi!"

Maybe it was not his smartest move to not wear glasses because he could not see anything and he certainly tripped over his own foot. But he held on, feeling the burn on the palm of his hands. "Pull!" He heard and he did as so, with the rest of the boys. "Let's go, pull! Pull! Pull!" The noises cheered on. All the boys from the first-years and the third-years all groaned in pain and in excitement as neither one of them let go yet.

Come on boys. Suzuki watched in anticipation, as they held on, her own hands gripping tightly on her own t-shirt. She eyed her team, then her brother's team, and then the marked center of the rope, in a cycle. This looked like a hard fought match, no one even nudged the rope position, as if it didn't move at all. "One-two! One-two! One-two!" She heard Kaito counted loudly and the girls followed to accompany their rhythm. She instinctively went back to her original standing, watching the two volleyball players. Yamaguchi was yelling, frustrated. Faintly visible biceps shaped across Tsukishima's arms, his face scrunched, struggling.

It was only a one minute match, yet it felt like hours for all of them. And after a miraculous performance, and a slight setback on Tomoru's team, Kaito and his team made one last pull to take back their rope. "Yeah—owowow!" The celebratory gesture was put on hold when the boys were frantically removing their gloves and tried to wave the pain on their hands away.

"Here! Damp your hands!" Suzuki along with other girls quickly handed over cold wet towels to them. "Yamaguchi, Tsukishima. Here."

Automatically Tsukishima wrapped his hands around the towel and he flinched. Yep, definitely hurts. The cold subdued the rope burn, at the least, and he tried to take his mind off it to ease up the pain. The first thing he saw was, well, Suzuki, wandering around to check on the condition of her team players. One thing he noticed was that she still had his glasses, wearing them securely on top of her head. That was admirably interesting, he thoughtfully said to himself.

"Tsukishima, are your hands alright?" Ayame came to him.

"Slight rope burn, like most."

"Does it hurt too much though?" She ensured. "We were supposed to have the next match against the second-year Class 5. But if your hands are still hurting, we can drop down the number of people and so will they."

"What about the others?"

"Well, Nobio-kun and Takeshi-kun will skip. Their hands hurt pretty badly. So?"

Glancing at Suzuki, he paused. "Yeah, I guess I'm alright." He nodded. "I'll play."

"Sweet! Alright then, I'll inform the teacher. Ganbatte ne!"

Suzuki was already standing where Ayame once stood, raising an eyebrow at him. "Did I just hear you right? You are still playing?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You, whose words usually consists of declining people, you offer to help? Even Yamaguchi called it off. He said he twisted his wrist a little."

"At your service." He mocked. "Gimme back my glasses."

"Wait!" She stopped him and raised a hand. "Can you see this?"

"Bad eyesight doesn't mean I'm blind, duh. Now, glasses, please." He said, slapping her two fingers away.

"I still can't comprehend your glasses. I felt dizzy wearing it." Suzuki inwardly slipped on his glasses which she immediately took off due to the sudden discomfort on her normal sight.

Tsukishima snatched it away. "Of course you feel dizzy, idiot."

"Ouch." She snickered, but shrugged nonetheless.

Despite that exchange, Tsukishima had once again his glasses to her, and while he was preparing for the second round, he saw her toying his glasses again, dumbfoundedly wearing it on and off her, while no one was looking. Of course he looked, and despite a bit of blurry vision, he could easily conclude that she was both dumb and cute at the same time.

That being said, Tsukishima was less enthusiastic during the second round. Of course eventually Class 4 lost, which actually brought slight joy to them since they didn't need to endure more pain.

"Well that's a wrap." Yamaguchi said, taking a bite of his ice cream. "Isn't it? Right?"

"The actual game is finished, yes." Suzuki told him. "Then the next agenda is break time and student performance, and after that the announcement of the winner. And then we all go home." She nodded, taking a spoonful of pudding. "I kinda hope we are running late though."

"Why?"

"A good reason to call off practice."

The green-haired boy countered. "Wait? You have practice? Right after this?"

"Yeah but not here. We have booked the public court for practice this afternoon. Hiruzen-sensei's doing." Suzuki inwardly nodded, as the said teacher appeared in her view, animatedly talking amongst other teachers. "We don't do Tokyo camp, unlike you lot, we decided to make the last of the practice day. Besides, some of our players are going out of town for holiday. Consider it as a closing meeting or something like that."

"I see. We're very lucky to have this one-week camp. I take that as my holiday activities, I guess… ano, do you plan anything during the school break?"

"Hm no." She thought out loud. "Maybe visit some relatives and stay there for a bit." She told them. "Anyway, so what are you going to do this afternoon?"

"Well we don't have any more practice. But I'm having practice with Shimada-senpai." Yamaguchi said, rather excitedly.

"Is your wrist alright though?"

"It didn't hurt at all actually. Just a bit of a muscle shock, that's all."

"Nice. What about you, Tsukishima?"

"Go home, go to sleep." He quickly responded.

She eye-rolled and clicked her tongue. "Sure you do."

- Chapter 10 -

Already with them Mirai, Aoki, and the other girls' basketball team, Tsukishima followed the group down the street. He couldn't help but feel slightly overwhelmed with the presence of females mostly he didn't recognize. Now that he was thinking, the only team members he knew from the girls' basketball team were the trio and not the other seniors, when apparently Suzuki had already learned the names of his senpais.

It was only mere coincidence when they all shared the same road, as Suzuki further explained that the public court was in the same area of their neighborhood, actually very close to his house. He knew of the public sports facilities nearby. When younger, he and his brother often played with the neighbors there, basketball, soccer, volleyball, or simply running around the track field. Good old days.

After bidding goodbyes, Tsukishima made his way to the turn to his house, with one last glance at Suzuki who was always walking at the back of the group. Her ponytail bounced as she went.

"Kei, I didn't hear you coming." His mother greeted him from the living room. "You're home early. How was Sports Day?"

"Hai. It was alright. We won a couple of class events." He replied curtly. "What are you doing, okaasan?" He asked, leaning into the couch.

"I found this recipe for honey garlic chicken. I wanna try that." She said, flipping through the food magazine. "Do you wanna try that for dinner?"

"Sure. Sounds great." He looked around for a bit. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"I already take care of the laundry. I suppose you can throw out the bin, I think it's almost full." She briefly turned to him. "Well, you don't have any volleyball practice do you?"

"No. Coach Ukai gave us a rest, with the next Tokyo Camp going on next week. I'll be staying in Tokyo for a full week. I have told you that, right ma?"

"Yes, I remember. Good thing you have this sort of field trip with your friends. Why don't you invite Tadashi over to do homework, if any? Or, I dunno, just kill time. It's the start of Summer holiday, Kei. Be eventful!"

Tsukishima had already taken out the trash bag from the kitchen. "Actually Tadashi is visiting his senpai. So, yeah."

"Oh well if that's the case… you don't need to do anything else, really. Go get clean up and rest, darling. You can help me up with dinner later."

"Hai." He nodded. "Actually, Mom," he paused at the front door. "Can I go to the sports center real quick?"

"Hai?"

"There's um, my friends are having practice there. Can I, like, w-watch?" He found himself suddenly stuttering.

"Y-yes of course." His mother had ignored the food book and had a read on his son instead. "I thought you said it's been called off?"

"Oh, no, not volleyball. It's um, basketball club." He looked away. "You remember the girls from the basketball team? They came to study."

"Oooh right. What're their names; Aoki, Suzuki and uh, who's the tallest one? Mikari? Makagi? Mairi?"

"You mean Mirai? No, Mirai is the shortest one actually. The tallest one is Suzuki."

"Oh of course. Yes, I remember them."

"Right. So, err, yeah anyway, I'll be home at six maybe?"

"Take the time all you want. It's fine. Just don't be late for dinner."

"Hai, thanks Mom."

And now Tsukishima found himself sitting by the bench on the far end of the court, watching a basketball practice.

Has he ever watched her practice? Practice matches, yes, but he didn't think he had watched her regular practice that often. Oddly enough, he thought their basketball drill was not as aggressive as he would have thought. Compared to his usual volleyball practice, where they would often serve spikes and receive from different angles or different directions or different speed, Suzuki and her team took things slow. Walking over cones, dodging away from cones, jumping into cones, all while dribbling a ball throughout the track. And at the end, they threw it into the basket.

"Hey, aren't you Takeda's student?" Hiruzen-sensei had approached him.

"Hai. I'm from the volleyball team." The boy answered, already sitting up straighter. "Tsukishima Kei-des."

"That's why you look familiar. Perfect. Anyway, why don't you help out a little? I need extra hands. Come, come."

"Oh my. Suzuki!" Aoki quickly exclaimed. "Suzuki, come here. Look!"

The tall girl quickly finished her drink and turned around to see Tsukishima, hesitantly walking behind Hiruzen. Suddenly, she felt giddy, and made a B-line to him. "What are you even doing here? Sensei, what is he doing here?"

Tsukishima shook his head and rolled his eyes. "You don't sound too happy."

"No no, I mean. I'm just surprised, that's all." She pursed her lips at him. "I thought you said go home and go sleep? Why the sudden change of heart?"

Before he could come up with an answer, Hiruzen had stepped in again. "He's helping out. We're doing a close-out drill next. Girls, get in position. Tsukishima-kun, here's what I want you to do…" Perhaps it was best that the teacher interrupted him; because he could not answer that; why the sudden change of heart? - because I want to see you… practice - but of course he wouldn't say that to her.

On that note, he saw her practice, or rather joined in one. What Hiruzen-sensei had asked for was fairly simple. Tsukishima would be standing near the Paint line with a ball in a shooting position where the girls would take turns in contesting his shot, only that he didn't actually throw it into the basket, nor need to jump, and just held it there above his head as the standard height, with the fact that he was already taller than most. Even so, it was actually nerve-racking when he was being charged by aggressive players trying to steal the ball from him. Not to forget that these were basketball players, also known for a height advantage.

Especially when Suzuki's turn was next.

"Can you jump high enough?" Suzuki asked, preparing herself.

Tsukishima couldn't help but smirk. "Are you challenging me, huh?"

"Maybe." She shrugged, smiling back.

She ran to the first cone, the second cone, the third cone. She was actually fast. He concluded, watching the girl already dashing to the direction of the Paint, to him. "Challenge accepted." He murmured as he bent down and tensed his quads, and she was doing the same. He took off with both of his arms reaching out holding the ball high, and her hand appeared in his tunnel vision. She managed to touch the ball mid-air, and when they landed it took them a moment to realize that their body was very close to each other. He suddenly flushed, feeling very insecure about this position, but Suzuki was already moving back into the line with Mirai already getting ready on the next queue.

"Tsukishima, don't jump on me. Just stand still." Mirai barked.

He sneered. "Are you scared, Lil' Bits?"

"I'm not! Don't call me that." Mirai barked, ignoring Suzuki and Aoki's laugh on the side. "I'm just being logical. Zip it!"

At the end of the practice, Tsukishima found himself actually panting and sweating, already taking his hoodie off. He sat down, watching the girls and Hiruzen-sensei all circled up for the closing briefing. Once that was done and they came back to the seating to pack up, Tsukishima offered Suzuki a water bottle, which she gladly took.

Walking back on the paved walkway, she began. "Seriously, though, why are you here?"

"I dunno. Bored, I guess." He shrugged casually. "Yamaguchi is busy and I have nothing else to do. And this place isn't that far. Besides, it's a sunny day for an afternoon walk."

"Who are you and what are you doing to Tsukishima?"

"Shut up." He rolled his eyes at her jokes. He reached into his pocket. "Want some?"

"Oh of course." she exclaimed, taking a piece of the candy gum. "Can I take one more?"

Ultimately, Tsukishima stared at her, his mouth began chewing. And then he made a bubble out of his gum and popped it. "No."

"Ha! Now that's ironic." She laughed, rather lively too. "Tsukkei-kun."

He glared at her. "Stop with the names!"

"I can't. It's very catchy. Tsuk-Kei."

"I'm going to kill Ayame for that."

"Stone cold, Tsukkei-kun."

"Whatever you say… Suzuta? Suzumi?" He tried working on her name. "No, that doesn't work. That only sounds like another usual name."

"I'm not complaining about either of that. Don't try to press on, Tsukishima. Just accept that I have cooler nicknames than you."

"Yeah, I guess I gotta stick back with Gummy, Gummy."

She let out a snort. "You know what, I'm getting used to it by now."

It wasn't long until they reached out a wooden double door and a wall carved with 'Tsukishima' on the side. She couldn't help but to look around. "So this is where you live. Nice house."

"Um, thanks."

"Alright. I'm going to catch up with the girls, yeah." She said, prompting her bag. "Hey, that was a great session, wasn't it? With you joining in as well."

He found himself nodded. "Yeah. That was pretty fun… maybe we should do this again sometime. In reverse though, I'll block you next time."

"Oh really now?" She tilted her head, curious and taunting. "I guess I'll look forward to that. See you around, Tsukishima."

"Hey Suzuki—have a great holiday."

Suzuki stared into his eyes and for once it wasn't about cynicism or any sort of contemptuous act behind the words. It was genuine and she couldn't help but grin at him. "You too, Tsukishima!"

Tsukishima watched one last time as the brown-haired girl made a jog to the other basketball team who was already ahead. And he found a smile in himself.