𝗲𝗽𝗵𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗹 | 𝙨𝙚𝙢𝙞𝙨𝙝𝙞𝙧𝙖

𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝟭𝟮: "𝗿𝗲𝘂𝗻𝗶𝗼𝗻"

[白布 賢二郎] Kenjirō Shirabu

It was early in the morning, and since we had no school that day, Chiya dragged me out of there so we could hang out with Semi.

Like I would want to.

"You go get him," she insisted as she pushed me up the stairs—ignoring my protests.

She waited outside the building.

I knocked on the door, and a man with dark skin answered. He looked nice.

"Hello?"

"Um, is this Semi's dorm? Eita Semi?"

He squinted to look at me and I swear he was wondering if I was some spy from a mafia or something. His eyes suddenly sparked.

"Kenjirō Shirabu!"

I nodded slowly. How. Did. He. Know. My. Name?

He smiled. "My name is Kai. Yes, this is Semi's dorm, and no, I'm not Semi's roommate."

Oh my God is he some mind reader?

"I know you because I used to watch Shiratorizawa's games. Nice to meet you."

I struggled to say something.

"Not much of a talker, I know. It's fine. I'll ask Eita if he would like to go."

Wait, go? How the heck did he know?

He walked away and I heard some talking. Then I heard much softer steps, which could be easily told apart from Kai's.

Semi soon walked into sight. He looked so calm and kind. He was, though. What about me made him have to hate me?

Oh yeah, I hated him.

His expression turned dark immediately. "The hell do you want?"

"Asshat," I murmured under my breath. Then I raised my voice. "Say no to whatever I'm going to say next."

He raised a brow.

"Want to come to hang out with Chiya and me?"

He rubbed his temples and shut the door on me.

Rude.

I heard some weird noises.

About five seconds from when he very disrespectfully shut the door on my face, the door opened. Semi was fully dressed and Kai was shoving him out.

"Ow, ow—OW WHAT THE HELL!"

I was pretty confused, but I guess Kai heard the conversation and made him come out. How not wonderful at all. I was going to have to deal with him.

Kai shut the door, and Semi and I were alone.

"Where are we going?"

"I don't know. Ask Chiya."

Semi huffed, which was sort of cute...cute?

I took a quick look at him. He was pretty. How did I not notice before? Maybe I did. I felt a tingle of admiration.

I did maybe look up to him for a few months when I joined, but that was before I easily took his spot.

Weakling, I thought.

He quickly went down the stairs like he had run down those stairs for six millennia.

I opened the door and saw Chiya asking Semi some questions. What I caught was—

"—playing setter?"

My heart was about to bulge out of my chest. Did she tell him what I said at the café? That he didn't like me because I took his part?

Semi laughed a little, and it sounded genuine.

"Guess so," he said.

While we were walking and Semi was in the front, I pulled Chiya back. "What did you tell him?"

She looked puzzled until a lightbulb appeared at the top of her head. "Oh, more like what I asked him. I only asked if it was fun playing setter."

I talked mainly with Chiya until we bumped into someone I despised: him.

The setter who took my position.

Loser. If he dared to take my position, at least stay in the school. From the story-view, it seemed like he just joined the school to snatch my life and then left because he succeeded.

He was with a friend.

"Ah, heyo, Kenjirō," he said.

Semi looked at him and then continued to walk.

Chiya started to gleam. "You know Shira? ShiraShira? How??"

I swear he was going to smirk if it wasn't for everyone watching. "Volleyball team. I replaced him as setter."

Suddenly, Semi stopped. He turned around, and he had a shocked look on his face. He backed up and then took a close look.

"I recognize you," he said, trying to cover up hate. Why would he even hate him? Semi didn't even meet this guy.

Suddenly, Chiya backed up. And so did his friend.

I knew why.

People on the streets even stopped to look at us. I also knew why.

They recognized us from Shiratorizawa, but even more than that:

There were three generations of setters, standing merely centimetres apart.