Thirteen Months

Team

TW // cyber-bullying

"Your receives are legendary!" Michimiya grinned at the shorter girl. "Please, you have to play for us!" Mizuko had been putting off answering the older girl for almost two weeks now. There was no way she could keep this up. It was exhausting, having to say no to the enthusiastic captain over and over again. "Pretty please?" Michimiya clasped her hands together in a pleading gesture. "I'll buy you boba tea every Friday for the rest of the school year!" Mizuko pondered this arrangement. "And one of those canned coffees you like every Monday?" Mizuko closed her eyes and sighed. It wasn't a bad deal.

Deal. She signed.

"What does that mean?" Michimiya asked, her eyes shining with hope.

"In," Mizuko managed to mumble.

"In? Wait, you mean...you'll do it?" Mizuko nodded. "YES! THANK YOU SO MUCH!" Michimiya jumped on Mizuko and strangled the surprised girl with a hug. Mizuko stifled her grin the best she could, but she couldn't hide the shine of laughter from her eyes. Maybe this wouldn't be such a bad idea. Michimiya had always been nice to her. And she did love playing volleyball.

Mizuko couldn't help but let her mind drift to happier times, times in which she was able to laugh and cheer along with her teammates as they scored point after point. Times after practice where they would gossip with each other over ice cream. Those long bus rides in which they'd have karaoke sessions to pass the time. Those were happier, simpler times. A time before...everything went wrong.

***

Unfortunately, Mizuko quickly discovered this wasn't going to be like her old team. The other girls refused to understand her selective mutism. In fact, it was something that they always seemed to hold over her head. Almost as if to say, "Yeah, you may be good enough to be a starter, but you're not that great."

"If you can talk, why don't you just talk?" A teammate had asked.

"Yeah, just speak, it's not that hard," another had added.

"Or are you just trying to get attention?" This comment had been spoken by Ichika, the former starting libero...that was until Mizuko took her place. The fact of the matter was that Mizuko was just more agile and more precise when it came to receiving and blocked-ball retrieval. Ichika had only been put in the position due to the need for someone to fill the role. The girls' team was more about keeping people interested in playing rather than a competitive mindset. Mizuko's addition to the team changed that. The girls suddenly found themselves pushing each other to be better. They actually managed to win a few games. Other students at Karasuno High were starting to notice. They even had fans come to the games. And it was all because of Mizuko.

However, the thing that seemed to irritate the other girls most was that there was no reason to dislike Mizuko. She was just...there. She wasn't mean. She wasn't lazy; she was probably the team's hardest worker. She wasn't arrogant-- she never bragged because she simply couldn't. Therefore, the only thing the other girls could really pick on was the fact that she still hadn't spoken to anyone on the team but Michimiya-- and that had only been twice.

"Listen," Ichika said, getting in Mizuko's face. "I don't care if you're good. You're pathetic. If I were the captain, I would never have even let you try out."

Mizuko shrugged as if to say, but you're not.

Ichika growled, seeming to understand Mizuko's silent retort. "Why you little--"

"Okay ladies, time to stretch!" Michimiya called, clapping her hands for everyone's attention. Even as she led the team through stretches and the warm up, she couldn't help but notice the deflated way in which Mizuko seemed to carry herself. Her playing was still good, she just seemed...out of it. "I'll ask her about it later," Michimiya muttered to herself before turning a cheerful gaze to her team. "Alright ladies, spiking drills, let's go!" The girls cheered and hurried into formation.

***

Mizuko scrolled through the number of messages she kept receiving. For some reason, she had been added to a group chat with Ichika and two other girls from the team who were second-string players. Every time she tried to block the chat, they would just add her to another chat and start the whole thing over again. She couldn't just block the numbers, these were her teammates. They were in the same team group chat. They'd probably report her to Michimiya if she blocked them. And then she'd be in trouble with Michimiya. No. She just had to take it. She had always been good at that, enduring the pain. She could handle it. Besides, they were just words. These girls didn't even know her. Mizuko had faced much worse than a bunch of jealous teenage girls. Words were just words.  Right?