𝐏𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐋. hq

《pre-game》: dark chocolate

you might need to read "azure" in order to understand certain events in pastel (lemon chiffon)

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月島 蛍
k e i t s u k i s h i m a
— year 1 class 4 —

The first time I saw her was in our school's infirmary when the school nurse directed me toward what seemed like an unoccupied cubicle.

I hadn't been feeling well earlier that morning, and the last thing that would've helped was seeing a crying girl in the space next to mine. The gap between the curtain showcased a girl who was having a breakdown. Her eyes were brimming with tears and she was sobbing as silently as a person could do so. The girl was crawled into a ball, frantically wiping the tears off her face as she looked on the floor, as if doing so would make her unrecognizable of some sort. Lucky for her, I had absolutely no idea about who she was, and I was too preoccupied with my migraine that I barely cared about what she was even doing.

The first time I saw her was a moment when she had tear-stained eyes and a look anyone would find hard to forget.

I remembered lying down on the infirmary bed, contemplating on whether I should tell her that whatever she's going through would pass or if I should tell her that even if she wasn't seen by me, she would have been, no doubt, witnessed by another. She was small, petite. She might as well have been as short as our very own libero.

The first time I saw her was the last time I saw her cry in front of me.

If only I had realized what a great mistake it was to leave her alone in her own world, sending her off to fend from the monsters in her closet and the demons under her bed. Sending her off to the excruciating pain she felt deep in her heart, as she became engulfed in her emotions. If only I had realized that it was the rarest sight I would have seen.

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The next time I saw her, I didn't give it much thought. She was barely recognizable the first time I saw her, and now seeing her again I couldn't help but wonder why she seemed so familiar. Then again, it wasn't as if I've met her with her boisterous personality.

"Mayuuu!" Nishinoya-san and Tanaka-san ran over to her as soon as she slid the gymnasium door open.

"Hey! Ryu! Yuu!" she greeted them cheerfully, seemingly as wild as our very own libero.

"Ah, Yanase. It's nice to see you" the other third years greeted her simultaneously.

"Osu!" she returned the gesture and saluted, looking around as if she was in search of someone.

She was a tornado of some sort. The type of person who catches everything in her way. The type of person to brew up a storm.

"Yanase Mayu, she's a second year, the same class as Ennoshita, was it? Anyways, she's a member of the girls volleyball club and she used to watch us practice back when Coach Ukai was still helping out with the team" I overheard Shimizu-san explained to Hoshino when the girl turned to her to ask.

"Also, she gets along with our second years well, you could say, she's one of them?" Sugawara-san added as we watched her high-five both Nishinoya-san and Tanaka-san.

"So, what are you doing here? Do you plan to watch practice?" Sawamura-san wondered what the girl could have possibly came for.

"No" she shook her head. "I wanted to talk to someone. But I couldn't catch them at all".

"Hm, who?" Ennoshita-san asked, to which the girl answered.

"Hoshino Nao" she pointed and walked towards her target's direction.

I snickered as I noticed how Hoshino probably wanted to retreat as soon as she heard her name.

"Uh...um...What do you need from me?" the same girl asked.

"I came here to recruit you!" she cheered, earning surprised expressions from the rest of us.

"Whaaaaat?!" everyone else on the team chorused.

"If you want her, you gotta go through me!" Nishinoya-san stood between them, blocking her defensively, as if his friend would take away his precious little princess.

"You hear that?! Nao-chan is our precious manager!" Tanaka-san agreed with him.

"That's right! That's right!" the airhead, Hinata, chorused in the background.

"That's no fair!" the so-called Yanase Mayu, on the other hand, whined like child without her candy.

"What do you mean, senpai?" the manager asked her calmly, peering from behind the libero. "I can't even play volleyball. I don't see any reason why you'd like to have me in the girls volleyball club".

"You don't need to play. You see, we need a manager. You already have three you can spare us one right?" She tilted her head, as if to think about whether she should spill her other reasons.

"Also, I'm after her talent," she added, "and we'll only be able to use that with Maeda Yuna—that's my main goal."

"If you join us, Hoshino-chan, there's a great chance your best friend would join too right?" she told her, and almost immediately the atmosphere changed after that.

"I'm sorry. I don't know what your talking about, that girl doesn't play volleyball" Hoshino says flatly.

"What's with that?" She placed her hands on her hips. "You said the same thing she tells me everytime. It's such a waste of talent you know. That girl was amazing. I'd love to have a genius like her to play one of my sets".

"Like I said, maybe you're mistaking her as someone else." Their conversation was turning one sided.

"But—"

"I have no clue about what your saying" Hoshino repeated, continuously denying whatever the second year was blabbering about.

"That's impossible! I watched her last game you know. Two years ago, the spring preliminaries" she argued.

And so, for the first time, the entire club hears Hoshino Nao shout.

"Then you should know why she can't play!"

At first I was merely interested in a girl who could make someone react that way. At first I was merely wondering what in the world they could have been arguing about. At first I was merely there as an underclassman who had zero fucks to give. But to think all of that would change.