Karasuno's Mangers: Little Ukai and The Runaway

26: Mirae Ando the Runaway

After the practice game, the girls walked down the street to the sit-in frozen yogurt shop. Saki and Emiko pushed past the other customers in the store to start taste testing all 32 flavours. They were like chubby-children at the Chocolate Factory.

Hoshi sighed. "I'll keep an eye on 'em. You two want vanilla, right?"

Rina and Mirae nodded. The sisters found a small booth at the corner of the store and sat down. "Dad wanted to come and see ya, but he got called into work."

"It's fine," Mirae lied. "Besides, I came to see you."

"Right, well, we still need to talk about what'll happen from here on out. Dad went to court last week but the judge wasn't convinced. Apparently, mom and her lawyer showed that she's been sober for these past four months. Dad filed for an appeal; he's goin' to try again."

Mirae had only met her father a handful of times and she frowned, trying to understand why it was so important for him to have sole custody of her now.

"You made it to the quarter-finals last year at nationals, right?" she changed the subject. "This year, you've got to make it to the semi-finals."

Rina rolled her eyes. Her sister had a way with words but she should have known better than to manipulate her. "We'd dominate nationals if ya were our setter."

"Your setter now is pretty good."

"Yeah but she plays by the books. Like I get it, give an accurate toss and the spiker handles the rest but she needs to be a bit more dangerous on the court."

"I was your setter for only one year," Mirae grinned. "We were kids."

"That's when I started to gain attention as a spiker. I'm not one to boast-"

"Oh really now?"

"but-" Rina glared playfully, "my popularity and recognition is thanks to you. Listen, Mirae, I've played with ten different setters and practiced with dozens more. They're all talented and good, but none of 'em could hold their own against ya. I think I'm allowed to say it, ya know, being a top-three Ace and everything."

Hoshi approached their table with a cup of frozen yogurt in each hand. "We'll sit over there," she motioned to the opposite side of the room. Emiko and Saki were currently trying to clean spilled yogurt off the table.

Mirae grabbed a stack of napkins off their table and gave it to Hoshi.

"Coming to live here is one thing. Playing volleyball on a team is another. I don't think I'm ready for that."

Rina stirred the chocolate chip flakes into her yogurt. "Ya say that now but the second you're on the court I guarantee it'll change. Look, I know what happened in your last year of junior high was bad. But from here on out ya can play on different teams with different kinds of players. Players who want to push themselves and each other to new heights. You're the type of setter that can make that possible."

"I'm starting to think you want me here just so I can set for you."

Rina shrugged. "I'm your sister, remember? We've got the same hallmark personality traits."

One and the same. Although the Ando sisters were twins, it was rare for someone to confuse them. Rina basked in the spotlight and took daring leaps. Mirae preferred to make her mark from behind the scenes.

Rina could make friends in the blink of an eye and enemies even quicker. Mirae preferred to keep everyone at arm's length.

"Doesn't seem like it's just about playin' on a team again," Rina said. She pointed her spoon at her sister. "This is about managin' Karasuno, isn't it?"