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Y/N deeply exhaled, wiping a bead of sweat from his forehead. He took a sip of water as Coach Jushiken approached him. "Fifty seconds flat." The man stares at him with crossed arms. "You're gettin' slow, Shimizu."
Harshly, he bites his inner cheek, trying to keep the frustration off his face. After missing one meet and slacking off on practice, Shimizu asked Jushiken-sensei if he could help him, and he agreed.
He expected to be off his game, but a three-second difference from his personal best frustrated him more than he thought. Shimizu isn't stupid; he knows he has to practice to regain his abilities, but his irresponsibility makes him angrier.
"Relax, high speed." Jushiken-sensei pats his back (rather aggressively, but that was due to the obscene muscle he had for a man in his late fifties). "You need to get back into your routine or make a new one since you're turning in the slip for volleyball manager tomorrow, right?"
Shimizu nods.
Coach takes a seat on the nearby bench and sighs. "All these extracurriculars, you sure you won't stress yourself out? You don't want to mess up your precious hair with gray strands. Miss Shimizu's goin' to kill me."
The absurdity of the statement causes the boy to chuckle. "...m-my sister w-would do n-no such t-thing."
Jushiken-sensei raises his eyebrow. "Remember when you sprained your ankle trying out for hurdles, and your mom had to come to pick you up? The death glare Miss Shimizu gave almost made me consider quittin'."
"Your sister's a sweetheart, truly, but for a seventeen-year-old, she's scary."
The man stands and flicks Shimizu's forehead. "Alright, high-speed, let's take a few rounds on the treadmill, stretch for a bit, and time you before you go to your little volleyball friend."
Instantly, a blush rushes to Y/N's cheeks as he whips his head back. "...e-excuse me?"
Light grey eyes stare at him suspiciously. "What? Some brown-haired kid has been stoppin' by every other hour askin' 'bout you. Sometimes he's with other people, but I'm assumin' you know each other, and he's not some random stalker."
A warm feeling spreads through his heart as he stares at the floor. How did Yuu know he was here? The libero told him they were practicing throughout the week since tournament season was around the corner, but Y/N didn't tell him anything about coming to practice.
Did Kiyoko tell him?
'It isn't weird for partners to check up on each other, right?' He thought to himself, absentmindedly picking his cuticle.
"Keep thinkin' so hard your legs will cramp. Come on high-speed, we've got things to do."
