The Shy Empress

Prologue; Meeting

Prologue

"Sorry for the intrusion!" A brunette girl said as she peeked through the doors of Karasuno's gymnasium. The volleyball team was currently practicing and as they heard her soft voice, everyone turned toward her to get to know from where the voice came. There she stood, shy and also a little nervous, holding a bag in her hands while her own was dangling off her shoulder. She blushed slightly at the attention she was getting, her brown eyes not wanting to meet anyone's gaze.

"I-Is Asahi here?" She asked shyly and immediately everyone's eyes darted toward the brunet ace. He walked toward the shy first year and said "Thanks, Ka-chan." He took the bag from her hands and in a hushed voice he asked her something, to which she nodded. Asahi began to smile wide and then wrapped his arm around the girls shoulders. Then he turned with her and began to walk toward the group.

The girl walked over to Coach Ukai and quietly talked to him. After a few minutes then, Ukai called "Gather around!" Quickly the volleyball team gathered around their coach and manager. Everyone stared at the brown haired girl who kept her gaze to the floor. "Everyone, from now on we will have a new manager, next to Kiyoko-san." Coach Ukai said and looked at the young first year next to him.

It took her a lot of courage, when she then looked up to meet the gaze of the boys, saying "I-I'm Azumane K-Kashiya, c-class 1-3! Nice to m-meet you!" She bowed in a 90 degrees angle, almost falling forward in the process. Everyone seemed surprised and turned toward their ace, except the third years and Ennoshita, Narita and Kinoshita. Tanaka and Nishinoya would've known too, if they would've listened. But now that she had mentioned it, everybody could see the clear resemblance between those two.

They were both shy and nervous, they also looked very alike. When Kashiya looked up again, the boys were smiling kindly, except for Tanaka, who looked like he wanted to intimidate her even more with scary faces. He had success, Kashiya immediately hid behind Kiyoko. "Tanaka, you idiot! Don't do that!" Daichi said and hit Tanaka's head. Then he looked over to the young Azumane "I'm sorry, he's always like this."

Kashiya carefully peeked from behind Kiyoko and said "O-okay..." Kiyoko gently laid a hand on her arm and smiled at her comfortingly. Then Daichi said "Well then, I believe that we should introduce ourselves. I'll start, I'm Sawamura Daichi, Captain of this team!" And with that, they went on and on, some enthusiastic, while others were not. As an example, the tall, blond Middle Blocker, who Kashiya had seen as she had entered before.

He just mumbled a "Tsukishima Kei." Not even glancing at Kashiya. But the young brunette didn't bother, she hated it when people stared. After they then had finished their round of introduction, Coach Ukai said "Well then guys, let's get back to training? Azumane-chan," he turned to the young Azumane "What do you know about volleyball?"

Kashiya exchanged a short, nervous glance with her brother, before she said "V-Very much, I played volleyball in junior high." "To which school did you go?" Nishinoya all of a sudden asked beside her, making Kashiya jump. "Ryoko Junior High." Immediately almost everyone stared at her again. "Isn't that the school where the Empress went to?" "That's the school the Shy Empress is from!" "Do you know the Empress? You do, don't you?"

She was bombarded with questions and got smaller and smaller with every second. That's when her brother stepped in front of her and said "You guys, please stop bombarding her like this..." The boys slowly quieted down, as someone asked "Who is this Shy Empress?"

They turned their gaze to Hinata. "You don't know who that is?" Tanaka asked surprised and Hinata nodded. Then Tanaka said "There's this legend about the girls volleyball team from Ryoko Junior High, there was a girl who could observe anything. The tactics of her opponent, as an example. She could come up with the best tactics for her team and they even made it to the Nationals!" A 'Whoa' came from Hinata.

"But in her second year she had injured herself in a match, not being able to play for the rest of her Junior High time. After that injury, the team seemed to break down, backing away from the 'powerhouse' name and becoming ordinary again, like we are or something like that."

"Ne, Kashiya-chan, do you know what happened to her?" Nishinoya asked and again she could feel everyone's gaze. Quickly she shook her head "N-No, I'm afraid not. Sorry." The boys nodded and then Tanaka asked "Would you like to play a round of volleyball with us?"

Instantly Kashiya said "No, I'm sorry, b-but I would like to head home for now b-because I've got so much homework on right now..." Daichi and Sugawara looked at each other, knowing that there was something foul. Tanaka and Nishinoya sighed disappointed and then, after saying her goodbyes, she left the gymnasium and headed home.

"Asahi-san! Your sister is so cute!" Nishinoya exclaimed and Asahi chuckled nervously, scratching the back of his neck "Yeah...but please hold back with the questions. She's very uneasy around strangers at the beginning."

The short libero grinned "I'll try!"