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Here's what you've all been waiting for ;)

Second Year- the day after the break up.

"You good, Tsukki?"

He jerked his head up and glared at his best friend. "Fine."

Yamaguchi frowned, crossing his arms. "You sure? You've been pissed off all day. Like, more than usual."

"Aw, Saltishima's in a bad mood?" Hinata taunted as he skipped by, a volleyball under each arm. Tsukishima glared at him, but the orange-haired boy seemed undeterred. He dashed away to the volleyball cart and tossed the contents of his arms inside.

"I think I'd know if I wasn't fine," Tsukishima said with a snort, rolling his eyes and grabbing his backpack. "Are we leaving or not?"

"Leaving," Yamaguchi assured him, grabbing his own backpack.

They left the gym in silence, with the rest of the team packing up behind them. Most of them had vanished into the change rooms, but Kageyama and Hinata were still serving across the gym. Tsukishima caught Kageyama's eye and glared at him; the King glared right back at him. Tsukishima turned away and matched stride with Yamaguchi, determined to get home.

Thankfully, Yamaguchi didn't question him any further. Not like he would've mentioned he and Mikaela breaking up, anyways- it had only happened yesterday. If Mikaela hadn't told him, then there was no way that Yamaguchi would know.

"Hey! Tsukishima!"

He paused and turned, then stifled a groan. "What'd you want, your Majesty?" Tsukishima snapped, stopping in his tracks.

Yamaguchi paused next to him, and Tsukishima noticed him stiffen out of the corner of his eye. Kageyama stopped his run, coming to a rest only a few feet away from him. He looked pissed, and Tsukishima had a pretty good idea of what it was about. "I think you know," Kageyama said coldly.

Hell, I'm not dealing with this now. "No, I don't," he lied, clicking his tongue. "Why don't you go back to-"

Kageyama lunged forwards and seized the front of his jacket. Tsukishima barely had time to jerk his head back as Kageyama swung his other hand out. The setter's fist grazed his chin, and Tsukishima's head snapped back. "Kageyama!" Yamaguchi cried out, rushing to his defense.

"You made her cry!" Kageyama snapped, his grip tightening on Tsukishima's collar. He didn't try to swing again, but his eyes screamed bloody murder. "You said- you said you wouldn't hurt her!"

"Kageyama!" Yamaguchi shouted, and he pulled at Kageyama's shoulders. "Stop it!"

Tsukishima couldn't even bring himself to shove Kageyama away. His jaw ached from the hit. All he did was glare at Kageyama, matching his cold blue glare and trying not to think about how his eyes were identical to hers. Finally, he brought his hands up to grab Kageyama's wrist and pulled him off. Combined with a final tug from Yamaguchi, Kageyama finally let go.

"Kageyama! What's gotten into you?" the pinch server cried out, stepping between Tsukishima and Kageyama. "Calm down!"

With a furious glare on his face, Kageyama pointed at Tsukishima. "She doesn't find out about this," he warned, his voice cold. "She doesn't need to know."

The setter turned and jogged back to the gym.

Tsukishima and Yamaguchi stood on the path, frozen in place, and Tsukishima brought his hand up to touch his jaw. The nerve. The King had actually hit him. It wasn't even his fault- she was the one who insinuated it, she was the one who ignored him. Why the hell was he at fault? Did she- did she spin the story and make him out to be the bad guy? Tsukishima disregarded the thought almost immediately- no, Kageyama would've come at him regardless of what she told him.

Hey, look at the irony of that. She was talking to Kageyama again.

"Tsukki."

He looked up.

Yamaguchi had a strange expression on his face, but when he spoke, his voice was firm. "If you don't tell me what happened," he said, unwavering, "then I'm walking home by myself. And don't even think you can convince me that nothing happened. Kageyama attacked you, Tsukki. You've been pissed off all day, and you haven't said a word since Kageyama punched you. What's going on?"

Good grief. Tsukishima grit his teeth together. "It's..." The words died on his tongue. It's none of your business. He couldn't say that.

"None of my business, right?"

"I didn't know you were a mind reader, Yamaguchi," he said, trying to stop his voice from wavering.

Yamaguchi didn't even flinch- he actually glared at him, which Tsukishima could easily say was a first. At least, since the incident at the training camp last year. "Fine, Tsukki," Yamaguchi snapped. "Fine."

He stormed off without looking back.

Tsukishima fumed to himself, grinding his teeth together so hard that he thought he might break something in his jaw, then picked up his feet and took himself home. He needed to put ice on his jaw- the last thing he needed was a bruise for the games tomorrow.

"You two broke up."

Tsukishima snorted, taking a deep gulp from his water bottle. "So she's telling everyone now," he said, his lips pinching into a frown.

Yamaguchi sat down next to him on the bench as they waited for the court to be cleared off. They had their semi final game in fifteen minutes, and some of the team were lazily tossing a ball around while others were using the break to their advantage. "I ran into her when I went to refill the water bottles," he clarified, his eyes locked on Kageyama, who was practicing with Hinata. "She didn't try to bring it up. I dug it out of her."

Wouldn't she have been in the middle of a game? He closed his eyes, banishing the thought. Not his problem anymore.

"How could you not tell me?" Yamaguchi said, and Tsukishima was surprised to hear the hurt in his voice. "Tsukki, you're my best friend."

Tsukishima's fingers clamped tighter around the water bottle. "It's not like it happened long ago," he said, an edge in his tone. "I brought up that she was obsessed with volleyball. She took it badly. We broke up." He turned to look at his best friend. "You can't tell me that I'm wrong. You've said the same thing."

"I know, but..." he sighed, crossing his arms and letting them rest on his knees. "Tsukki, you can't tell me you're not hurting."

He didn't reply. Yamaguchi wouldn't have believed him anyways, even if he had tried to say he wasn't.

"Kaisha is... She's bull-headed, sometimes, and yes, I agree that she's spent a lot of time on volleyball and we haven't seen her at all outside of it, but... Does that really warrant breaking up with her?"

"It was mutual," Tsukishima grumbled, pulling his goggles off of his face.

Yamaguchi sighed again. "Heat of the moment argument? You both came out of it regretting it?"

He didn't reply.

"Oh, god damn it, Tsukki!" Yamaguchi snapped, and Tsukishima stiffened in surprise. Yamaguchi rarely cursed- and on the rare occasion that he did, he never yelled it. "How am I supposed to help you if you won't talk to me?"

"I don't need help."

"Bullshit!"

Tsukishima raised his eyebrows. "That's a filthy mouth you've got there, Yamaguchi."

His best friend's lips twitched, like he was forcing down a smile. "You're allowed to talk to me, you know," he said angrily, any hint of a smile gone from his face. "You're one of my best friends, and so is Kaisha. She's hurt, and so are you. If you two want to work things out, then-"

"We're won't," he said firmly, cutting him off. "We're not getting back together."

"Seriously?"

He shrugged, but his shoulders felt heavy. "It doesn't matter if she says it'll never happen again, you and I both know it will. How am I supposed to trust her after that?" The words felt like they were clogging his throat, and there was pressure building up in his head. "She didn't even try and understand while we were dating. She was self-centered. Now that she finally does, it's supposed to be fine?" He scoffed. "I'm going to the bathroom."

"Tsukki," Yamaguchi said, but the blond was already on his feet and moving to the gymnasium doors. He didn't hear footsteps, so he assumed that Yamaguchi wasn't following him. Good.

How the hell could he be with her again after this? Because even if he wouldn't ever admit it to anyone, this hurt.

He couldn't go through that again- watching her slip away without realizing that she was. Letting her ignore his warnings and neglect his feelings like he didn't matter. He put a lot out there for her, and she disregarded it. All of it.

And the only way to ensure that it never happened again was to avoid her.

Even if it hurt now. Because it would stop a lot of hurt in the future.

Tsukishima stuck his head under the sink, trying to relieve the pressure in his head. He tried to push all thoughts of her out of his mind; they had another game to play, and it was Aoba Johsai. He couldn't afford to be distracted.

God, I miss her.

He scowled and smacked himself in the forehead.

This was going to be harder than he thought.

Their game was in twenty minutes. This was it, the finals. Win this, and they'd go to nationals for the second year in a row. Tsukishima sighed to himself, already dreading how exhausting this game was going to be. It was a five set game, and their odds of doing it in three- hell, even four- were low. This was probably going to go to full sets.

Ridiculous, Tsukishima mused to himself as he trailed after the rest of the Karasuno team. The girls had already gotten to their court, and Ukai was leading them to theirs. Suddenly, Tsukishima ran into someone- Kageyama. He'd stopped in the middle of the hallway. "King, if you could learn how to use your legs-" Tsukishima snapped.

Then, he paused. He saw why Kageyama had stopped.

"Iwaizumi-san," Kageyama said.

Tsukishima saw the former Aoba Johsai student and internally groaned. What the hell was he doing here? "Kageyama," Iwaizumi said politely, nodding to his junior. To Tsukishima's chagrin, the ace's eyes landed on him. "Don't tell Mikaela I'm here," he added. "I was in the area and I figured I'd come see the finals."

"I won't mention it," the setter promised, nodding in return.

Tsukishima's lips pinched; Iwaizumi wouldn't stop staring at him. Shit. "Tsukishima?" Iwaizumi asked. "A word?"

The rest of the Karasuno boys were already filing into the gym, and Tsukishima sighed, wishing he didn't know exactly what Mikaela's senpai wanted. "Can't this wait until after the game?" he said bitterly, watching the rest of his team leave. "Kageyama already gave me shit for it."

"No, I'm going to be taking off before this is all over." He raised an eyebrow. "I'm not here to beat you up."

Tsukishima smirked. "Like you could," he mocked.

Iwaizumi's eyebrows knit together. "I'm going to pretend you didn't say that," he grumbled. "Look. I wanted to say that I get it."

"What's there to get?" Tsukishima said with a snort.

"You were her keeper," Iwaizumi said shortly, and he stiffened. "She was losing herself in the game. She could've lost herself to injury, and she wouldn't have cared, she just would've kept playing. She spent all her time on the court. Every time you hung out, it was volleyball related. Am I wrong?"

Tsukishima didn't reply. He glared at him instead.

The older man crossed his arms. "Oikawa was like that. I think he rubbed off on her a bit." He sighed. "That's all I wanted to say. I get it."

He didn't reply.

Iwaizumi nodded to him, then brushed past him, heading for the girls' gym.

Tsukishima stood in the hallway, staring at the spot where Iwaizumi had been. Finally, he put one foot in front of the other and headed into the gym, wondering if that counted as a near-death experience.

She was laughing.

It was one of the most beautiful things that Tsukishima had seen in a while, but just seeing it made his chest ache. They had punched their ticket to nationals, and so had the girls- one of the first times in history that the same school could send two teams to nationals, one for each gender.

God, it wasn't like he wanted her to be upset. He wasn't trying to punish her.

But Kageyama had said she cried. Yamaguchi had said she was hurt. It doesn't look like it. She was grinning and laughing and hugging her cousin, then Hinata was jumping on her, and the boys were all congratulating her, and-

She's going to nationals. She's allowed to be happy.

Was she even upset? Did she even care?

Shut the hell up, Kei.

So when he found himself face to face with her and the words slipped out of his mouth, "I hope it was worth it," and he saw the hurt flash across her face, he regretted it immediately. He was stupid- of course she was upset. He turned away from her almost immediately, because knew that the longer he looked at her, the more he was going to regret it, and the more he regretted it, the worse he'd feel.

He felt the pressure building up in his head again.

Not worth it.

There was a knock at his door. "Kei."

He sighed, pulling his headphones off of his ears and spinning around in his desk chair. "What?" he asked flatly, glaring at his brother.

Akiteru raised an eyebrow. "You busy?"

"Yes."

"Actually?"

Tsukishima turned and stared at his math homework, puzzling over it for a moment, until he sighed. "No," he admitted, turning back around. "But I do have stuff to get through. What do you want?"

Akiteru stepped into his room and closed the door behind him. He navigated around Tsukishima's desk and chair and sat down on his bed, making himself at home. He raised an eyebrow at him, and Tsukishima sighed, setting his headphones on his desk and spinning around in his chair. He had to make it look like he was giving Akiteru his attention, at least. "Kei," he said firmly. "How are you?"

Tsukishima frowned at him. "Fine."

"Seriously."

He knit his eyebrows together. "Am I supposed to be anything other than fine?"

His older brother sighed. "About Kaisha."

Tsukishima stiffened and immediately spun back around in his chair. "I'm fine," he said curtly, knowing his brother would see right through him. He grabbed his pencil and brought it up to his paper, ready to go back to math.

"Tsukishima Kei, don't you dare ignore me," Akiteru threatened. "You and I both know you're not fine. It's been a week now, right? And you're closing yourself off." The blond refused to reply, glaring at his math homework. "You're in love with her," Akiteru added.

With a sigh, Tsukishima spun back around in his chair. "Are you here to play therapist?" he snapped.

Akiteru crossed his arms. "If I have to."

"You don't."

"Really? Because you're shutting yourself down again." Tsukishima was about to object, but Akiteru raised his arms up in a set of diagonal crosses, making an 'X'. "No. No more denial. Because Mom's noticed, and that's not fair of you to project your misery onto her."

"I'm not miserable," was the only thing Tsukishima could come up with to say.

His brother sighed, letting his elbows fall onto his knees as he leaned forwards. "You can talk to me," Akiteru pleaded. "Kei, it hurts seeing you like this. I know you shut down like this when you... you found out I wasn't actually on the Karasuno team." Addressing the problem point blank like that made Tsukishima frown. "I know that was different from what you're going through now. But someone you cared about betrayed your trust. Right?"

Tsukishima didn't reply. He pinched his lips together and waited.

"Talk to me," he urged, lacing his fingers together. "Please. Kei. I want to be there for you."

After a long, drawn out silence, Tsukishima sighed and dropped the pencil. He crossed his arms and frowned at his brother. "Fine," he said curtly, adjusting his glasses. "What do you want me to say?"

Akiteru's shoulders visibly relaxed. "How're you feeling?"

"Pissed off."

"I mean, about the break up."

"Yeah. Pissed off."

"Why'd it happen?"

"We got angry. We fought. She said maybe we shouldn't be together, so I took that as a hint and left." Tsukishima shrugged, trying to act nonchalant, but judging by the look on his brother's face, he wasn't fooling him. "All she wanted to do was volleyball," he muttered, sinking into his chair. "Volleyball this, volleyball that. Every time we hung out, we watched volleyball videos. We practiced together. All she did was train. It was annoying."

Akiteru snorted. "It was more than annoying if you two broke up because of it." Tsukishima didn't reply, and his face softened. "Sorry. Kei, you were dating a girl who was- is- willing to risk it all if it means she gets to play a bit of volleyball. You knew that."

"I know," he grumbled. "I just..."

"Didn't like being ignored?" Akiteru finished, trying to guess at it. "Didn't like how you weren't the priority? Didn't think she'd get that deep into it?" His lips twitched in a weak smile. "All of the above?"

Tsukishima narrowed his eyes. He didn't reply.

"Kei, do you think she could change if she was given the time?"

"No," he said immediately. Akiteru frowned at him, but Tsukishima didn't back down. "People don't change, Akiteru. They say they do, but they don't."

"So? You did."

"What? No."

"When you and Yamaguchi brought her here," Akiteru said firmly, his voice steady, "after her father passed away, did you honestly imagine you'd fall for her?" Tsukishima didn't reply. "Did you think she'd fall for you?"

He opted to stay silent, but Akiteru waited. After a silent stand off, Tsukishima finally sighed. "No," he admitted begrudgingly.

Akiteru pursed his lips, but Tsukishima could see that he was fighting a smile of victory. "I know you, Kei," he said. "And I know Kaisha too. Not as well, obviously, but still. And I know this is hurting you more than you're letting on. So... talk to me, okay? Whenever you need it."

He kept quiet. Akiteru smiled weakly and reached a hand out to squeeze his shoulder lightly before he stood up from his bed and left the room, closing the door behind him.

Tsukishima stared at the door blankly for a minute before he slammed his pencil on the desk and pressed his palms to his forehead.

Seeing Miya Atsumu wrap an arm around her shoulders made something in his chest roar.

He'd liked her, hadn't he? He'd asked for her number last year. Tsukishima had seen the whole thing happen, and yes, she had turned him down, but what if it was only because she had been dating him? There was no way Miya still liked her- or that she liked him. Obviously not.

But the chemistry between them was undeniable. She talked to him so easily, and she was smiling- smiling- and Miya looked engaged in what she was saying to him. If looks could kill, Tsukishima was sure he could've drilled a hole into the side of Miya's head. Maybe that way he could fry out the few brain cells left in the setter's body. She liked intelligence, and Miya was a few tools short of a full kit, so-

"Tsukki."

He jerked out of his thoughts, turning to Yamaguchi. "What?" he snapped.

Yamaguchi's lips twitched. "Jealousy doesn't look good on you."

Jealous? Him? "I'm not-" Tsukishima groaned. "Shut up, Yamaguchi."

"Sorry, Tsukki."

He wasn't jealous.

He was quiet at dinner that night, carefully picking up his food with his chopsticks. The table was alive with chatter- both teams had passed through day one in straight sets. She was sitting four seats down from him on the other side of the table, and she looked like she was intentionally avoiding him. She wasn't looking at him- or towards him- at all.

"Excuse me," he heard her say as she got up from the table, excusing herself for the night. As soon as she was gone, the girls burst into chatters and whispers.

"I'm so jealous," one of the first year girls whispered, nudging her friend next to her. "I wish I was her."

The Karasuno girls' captain- Sudou?- frowned at the first year. "Let's not gossip," she said with a frown.

"But captain," the girl whined, "she's going on a date with Miya Atsumu! That's huge!"

Snap.

Tsukishima glanced down and nearly groaned. He'd broken the wooden chopstick from pressing it too hard against the plate. The wood had splintered, but not completely fallen apart. He glanced towards the girls again, but it didn't look like anyone had noticed.

Well, Yamaguchi did.

"Cheap chopsticks," Tsukishima grumbled in excuse.

"Like I said," his best friend murmured, raising his eyebrows knowingly. "Jealous."

He resisted the urge to snap the other chopstick.

Tsukishima was exhausted. They'd won, but it had been a long and tiring game and it felt like his legs were going to melt out from underneath him. He grabbed his water bottle from beside the bench and turned to glance at the stands. Then, he froze.

She was standing just outside the court, only separated by the advertisement barrier. She was talking to Kageyama, and then they hugged. He got a glimpse of what she was wearing- black jeans, a black shirt, and her jean jacket. She looked dressed up- well, more so than she usually was.

It clicked in his head. The girls had been gossiping about it last night. She was going out with Miya.

She didn't wear anything like that for our first date. He thought back to their museum trip, where she'd worn a hoodie and sweats. I guess that wasn't as important to her.

He groaned and slapped himself in the forehead. Dumbass. Get it together.

He must've been staring, because she looked around the court and locked eyes with him. Tsukishima wanted to break eye contact, but he didn't know how; he just stared at her blankly, wondering if she could see every single thought in his brain. Did she know? Did she know how much frustration she was causing him, how mad she made him?

She turned and went back into the depths of the stands, and she didn't look back.

Hm, Tsukishima thought to himself. I guess not.

The game against Inarizaki was awful.

Not for anyone else- just for him, it seemed.

It wasn't that they were playing badly: not in any way, shape or form. Kageyama and Hinata were running at full speed, and Nishinoya was picking up absolutely everything that came his way, including Miya's serves. Speaking of Miya- that was probably why Tsukishima was having such an awful game.

He wasn't playing badly. That wasn't it.

It was the fact that Miya kept staring at him. And every time they made eye contact, he'd smirk. Tsukishima knew exactly what this was about, but it was exactly the opposite of what he wanted to think about. Every time he looked at Miya, her face popped into his mind. He knew better than to say anything about it, but from the look in Yamaguchi's eyes, he could tell it bothered him.

When they won the first set, 29 - 27, Yamaguchi handed him a water bottle. "Tsukki, you good?" he asked tentatively.

Tsukishima scowled. "Of course not, I'm exhausted already," he complained.

"That's fine, Tsukishima!" Hinata said, bouncing around him. "We've got at least one more full set to go! And then another game later today!"

"Stamina freak," Tanaka said with a shake of his head.

"Save your stamina, you moron," the blond said with a snap. "Or you're going to crash and burn."

Tanaka and Hinata broke into conversation, and Yamaguchi turned back to Tsukishima. "You know that's not what I was referring to," his best friend said with a frown. "You're always tired, that's a given."

Tsukishima shot him a long, cold look, then sighed. "Shut up, Yamaguchi."

Yamaguchi pursed his lips in response.

The second set ended up being even more exhausting than the first- go figure. Usually, Tsukishima enjoyed his moments in the back row, when he got to sub out with Nishinoya. Now, it just left him open to a quick interrogation from Yamaguchi, who could tell that Miya was bothering him. Tsukishima was an expert at deflecting questions, but Yamaguchi was getting better at knowing what buttons to push.

The score was 25 - 25 when Tsukishima found himself, once again, directly across from Miya. "Seems like I'm getting under your skin without even trying," the Inarizaki setter gloated, smirking.

Don't rise to the bait, you idiot. Don't you dare. Tsukishima narrowed his eyes at him, but didn't say a word.

Inarizaki took the next point, and then the point after that, winning them the second set, 27 - 25. The blond sighed, the idea of a third set making his bones feel heavy. "You know," he heard Miya trill softly, "I'm grateful you gave her up." Don't bite, don't- "She's a pretty good kisser."

Tsukishima saw red.

He wasn't sure what he was trying to accomplish, but he whirled on Miya, suddenly wishing there wasn't a net between them so he could punch the smirk straight off of his face. The setter's grin only widened when he saw how frustrated Tsukishima was. "Damn, that one worked," he said with a laugh.

He started forward, but a hand clamped on his shoulder and tugged him back. Tsukishima turned and saw Kageyama. "Don't," the Karasuno setter said lowly, glaring at the Inarizaki setter. It almost looked like Kageyama was just as frustrated with Miya as he was.

"I wasn't going to," Tsukishima snapped, brushing off Kageyama's hand and marching towards their bench.

He tried his best not to hate people. Sure, he got annoyed easily. A lot of people were dumb and didn't have enough brain cells to carry intelligent conversation. There were a lot of people he was irritated with, sure, but Miya Atsumu made Tsukishima want to run him over with a truck.

It made their loss that much worse.

So it was official. They were dating.

They were in a magazine. A gossip magazine. With a nice headline that read, "Unintentionally Viral Teenagers, Despite Fighting On Video, Are Dating In Real Life!". It was accompanied by a brief article detailing the video, who they were, their status in the volleyball world, and a picture of them at some sort of shop- Tsukishima couldn't tell where, but judging by her outfit, it was from their date on the second day of nationals.

Did she enjoy all of the attention? Last he checked, she hated it. But she'd posted that comment on his social media and people had swarmed.

Huh. Guess she really wasn't who she thought he was.

Tsukishima sort of wished he had the physical copy of the article, not on his phone, so that he could burn it.

That condescending, brainless twat knew exactly what he was doing when he strolled into the Karasuno boys' practice.

"Ah, my bad," Miya had said, grinning at them. "Lookin' for the girls' gym."

Yamaguchi was quick to give him directions and send him off, which was for the best, because if he had hung around any longer Tsukishima would've broken something. Kageyama looked equally displeased, which was his only saving grace at the moment- the King seemed to hate Miya almost as much as Tsukishima did.

The irony in that. He and the King finally agreed on something.

He'd offered to walk home with her. She'd agreed.

What, like he'd expected her to say no?

But he could see it in her eyes. That article bothered her, even if she wouldn't let on. She used to complain all the time about social media, and how much she hated it. For a while, he'd thought she'd gotten over it: she was dating Miya Atsumu, after all. They were an annoyingly common topic of conversation in both the classroom and on the court, and it always made Tsukishima want to tear his hair out.

You couldn't enjoy social media if you didn't have thick skin. It was as easy as that.

She looked like she might cry. Somewhere in the back of Tsukishima's desperate mind, he wanted to be the one she leaned on if she did. Maybe that's why he offered to walk home with her.

Of course, she was stronger than that. Of course she was.

As she walked up her driveway, a newfound determination in her eyes, Tsukishima felt his will crumbling. He couldn't do this. He couldn't ignore her, pretend she didn't exist, when all he wanted to do was be with her.

No, he could. He could do this. Just... no more offers to walk home. No more hanging out. Keep conversation casual and don't let anything drag on.

He could do this. He was so, so close- just one more push.

He was in his room, doing his homework, when his phone rang.

Tsukishima groaned, glancing across the room to his bed, where his phone was resting. Who the hell was calling him now? He was busy. The phone rang a second time. With a groan, he pushed the chair away from the desk and stood up, taking the headphones off of his head. Whoever this was better have a good reason for calling him.

He saw the caller identification and froze.

"What the fuck?"

Why the hell was she calling him?

In surprise, he let the phone ring a third time. Tsukishima picked it up carefully, debating whether or not he should answer. Why was she calling him? What did she want? The phone rang for a fourth time and he picked it up, staring at it. "What the hell," he said faintly.

It stopped. Voicemail.

Tsukishima surprised himself with how fast he turned his phone and flipped to the call. If she was leaving a voicemail, he could hear what she was saying, as long as he joined the call- he just had to make sure she didn't know.

With shaking fingers, he clicked two buttons and held the phone up to his ear.

"Oh, shit," he heard, and Tsukishima nearly laughed and blew his cover right there. "Can you delete voicemails? Yeah, you can."

That was it, then. She hadn't meant to call him.

...So why didn't she just hang up?

"I'm going to delete this after," he heard her say, and Tsukishima pinched his lips together and squeezed his eyes shut. "So I guess it doesn't matter what I say. In all honesty, I didn't mean to call you." He sighed to himself, trying to focus on what she was saying. Any hint as to why she was still talking when she could've easily hung up. "I was just... on my way back, I was just with Atsumu, but... Oh, god. We had a fight."

Tsukishima was almost embarrassed at how he was clinging onto her every word. "He wanted to make this more serious. I don't know what I want. But then it got heated, and he reached out..." A sigh. "Oh, god, Tsukishima," she said quietly, and hearing his name from her mouth made his skin crawl. "I didn't think he was going to hit me, of course I didn't. He'd never do that. But I still flinched, and... you should've seen him, he looked devastated."

Oh, he could imagine. If he'd done that to her, he didn't know if he would've been able to forgive himself.

"And the entire time," she said quietly, so softly that Tsukishima almost missed it, "well, it wouldn't have happened if it was you. That was all I could think about."

He waited. Waited for her to say something else, anything else. Then, the phone buzzed. The voicemail was over. Tsukishima brought the phone in front of him and clicked over to his voicemail, wondering if he could replay it.

It wasn't there. She deleted it.

"I can't," he said aloud, shaking his head. He couldn't fall into the rabbit hole again, he couldn't fall for her again. It would only make it harder in the end. They'd end up breaking up again, and that would be it for him. He wouldn't be able to recover from that.

He couldn't. Not if he wanted to avoid getting hurt again.

Tsukishima went back to doing homework, trying to pretend that her call hadn't made something in his chest roar. I'm over her, he chanted to himself, pushing aside every single last one of his emotions. She doesn't mean anything to me anymore.

I don't like her. Not anymore.

His quick-beating heart spoke a different story, but that was something Tsukishima was willing to ignore.

He and Yamaguchi had been hanging out and playing video games when Yamaguchi's phone rang. Tsukishima glanced at it and stiffened when he saw the caller ID- her. Yamaguchi picked it up and turned to Tsukishima. "This is urgent, I need to take this," he said, his gaze off somewhere far away. "I'll be back in a second."

Tsukishima pursed his lips and paused the game as his friend left the room, closing the door behind him.

Should he listen?

He immediately abandoned the thought. Of course he shouldn't; their call was private business. Between Yamaguchi and her. He didn't need to listen, he didn't need to know. Especially since Yamaguchi had considered it urgent. That was a clear sign that he had no part in their conversation. He didn't need to know.

Tsukishima didn't know how long it was before Yamaguchi came back, but his best friend looked strangely upset. He groaned and plunked himself down in his chair. "What was that about?" Tsukishima asked, trying to sound casual.

Yamaguchi sighed. "Kaisha broke up with Miya."

It was like a bomb had went off in his head. Tsukishima stared blankly at Yamaguchi, trying to keep himself neutral, and said, "oh. Is she okay?"

"Not really," he admitted. "You okay if I leave a bit early to go and check on her?"

Tsukishima shrugged, trying to show that he didn't care either way, but he was running through scenarios in his head. Why would she break up with him? Was it because of the call from last week, when she said she'd flinched in their argument? Would she really break up with Miya over something like that?

No. It's not my business.

Regardless, he couldn't stop himself from caring.

They were in class. Their teacher was going over calculus on the board, and it was something Tsukishima had seen already. Easy enough to follow along with, so he was sort of zoning out. He had a weird urge to stare at her, but she sat a row back. Tsukishima squeezed his hand into a fist, trying to force his thoughts of her to leave his head.

"I'll be back in a minute," their sensei said, setting the chalk down. "Do the practice problems while I'll gone."

Naturally, as soon as the teacher left the class, people burst into chatter. Tsukishima glanced at Yamaguchi, who was glaring at the problem he was working on. "Multiply by two," Tsukishima said, tapping his pen against the page. Yamaguchi hummed in thanks, backtracking to fix up the part of the process that he'd missed.

Most of the people in class were choosing to chat with one another, but what drew Tsukishima's attention was the group of girls that kept whispering and glancing up to look at- well, the same person he'd been trying not to stare at all day. She had her head down, working on one of the calculus problems, blissfully ignorant. Tsukishima narrowed his eyes at the group. They were giggling and pointing at her, and eventually, one of them tried to get her attention.

This isn't going to end well, he thought to himself. "Yamaguchi," he murmured.

"What?"

"Look."

Yamaguchi glanced up and his eyes widened in understanding. He shifted, looking like he was ready to jump in and defend her the second he needed to. One of the girls tapped her pencil on the corner of the captain's desk, and eventually, she looked up. "Mikaela-chan," the girl said, her eyes wide with curiosity, "is it true? That you broke up with Miya Atsumu?"

"That's none of your business," she replied immediately, her tone flat.

"We're just asking," the girl protested, leaning back in her seat. The three girls around her all nodded in agreement and Tsukishima rolled his eyes. Gossipy airheads. "The tabloids said that you two split up and it was probably you that initiated it."

"I bet that he broke up with her," one of the girls chimed in. Tsukishima recognized her- Yuka, the girl that she'd punched in their first year. "She's just too embarrassed to say so. She's probably horribly humiliated that he broke up with her."

Tsukishima carefully cocked his head so he could peek at her. She looked like she was debating whether it was worth punching Yuka again. "Yuka, were you born this stupid, or did you take lessons?" she snapped. Yamaguchi started snickering, and Tsukishima couldn't help himself from smirking. She hadn't lost any of her old wit, at least.

Several others in class were turning to listen, and Yuka's face was getting red. "Or did he realize how much of an unlovable bitch you are?" she taunted.

The 'unlovable' bit struck a chord with Tsukishima, and when he glanced at her, it looked like it bothered her too. "My relationships are none of your concern," she said firmly, keeping her tone level. "Unless you're interested in him? Want me to pass him along to you? Because I won't. He's a much better person that you'd ever be."

Hearing her defend Atsumu made something pinch in Tsukishima's chest. "I'm not interested in anyone who thinks you're a good person to date," Yuka said with a snort. "He obviously has no taste."

"Ouch," Tsukishima said aloud, resting his chin into his palm.

Everyone seemed to swivel to look at him, and Tsukishima regretted saying anything until he glanced at her and saw the visible surprise and relief in her eyes. "Tsukishima-kun," Kahano said quickly- ah, she was the one who confessed to him first year- as she put a hand on Yuka's shoulder. "Sorry, I'm sure Yu-chan didn't mean to include you in that."

"Besides, I thought you hated her," Yuka said dumbly.

Tsukishima rolled his eyes. "It's much better to let people think you're stupid than to open your mouth and prove it, Yuka-san," he said politely, smirking.

He heard her laugh. It was the best thing he'd heard all day.

Yuka glared at him, then glared back at her target again. "You can't hide how much of a bitch you are forever, Mikaela," she snapped. "You're delusional if you think that you can go your whole life without people calling you out on it. You can insult me all you want."

"Oh, come on, Yuka," she shot back. "If you're going to be an idiot, it's within my rights to at least point it out."

Tsukishima couldn't help but grin. Yuka was prepared to fire back, but their teacher strolled back into the room and everyone immediately shut up. Yuka glared at her one last time before she turned around in her seat and started whispering to her friends, all of them shooting glares back at their target, who seemed mostly unbothered.

He looked at her. She locked eyes with him, smiling, and mouthed 'thank you'.

Tsukishima smirked and turned back around, and glared at Yamaguchi when he saw the shit-eating grin flash across his friend's face. "Shut up," he muttered, trying to wash the image of her smiling from his brain.

Oh, god damn it.

He was still in love with her.

Tsukishima hated skating.

It was pointless, really. Skating aimlessly around a rink for an hour? For team bonding? Ridiculous. Yamaguchi had to go through his mother to get him to go. His mother. That was a low blow on Yamaguchi's part, and now Tsukishima was expected to go and enjoy himself. This was pointless, absolutely pointless.

At least, that was what he thought. Until he found out one thing: she couldn't skate.

She couldn't skate.

And here she was, clinging onto his arm like a koala to a tree, shaking like a leaf. He kept tossing her back and forth, teasing her, and she kept panicking and grabbing onto him. He would never actually leave her on her own, obviously, but he kind of enjoyed how much she was holding onto him. How much she needed him.

Tsukishima decided to change his mind. He loved skating.

She'd walked into the net at practice today.

Seeing her embarrassed and flustered and trying to laugh it off had been the most endearing thing he'd seen in a long time. She was, in all honestly, the most beautiful person Tsukishima had ever seen, and he was starting to notice it more and more in what she did. How she played off embarrassing situations, how she handled herself, how she talked to people.

And it was really annoying.

So irritating, in fact, that he was thinking about her even now, after he was done his homework and he was supposed to be relaxing. Or maybe studying for something else. Anything but thinking of her. Tsukishima sighed to himself and opened up the contacts on his phone, his eyes hovering over her number. She'd called him months ago- just a week and a half before she broke up with Miya- and he'd never addressed it. Could he call her? Would that be too much?

He hesitated, his thumb about to press the call button. Then, he jerked his hand sideways and plunked his phone on his desk with a sigh. No, he couldn't. He was luring himself into a trap again, trapped in his thoughts and ideals. I'm only going to get hurt if I pursue this, Tsukishima thought in a desperate attempt to convince himself that he shouldn't call her. And so's she.

His phone rang, and he nearly jumped. His phone was set to buzz, why was it ringing?

He picked it up and cursed in surprise. He'd accidentally pressed the call button, and he was calling her now. "Shit!" Tsukishima hissed under his breath, about to press the button to hang up.

The blond was already starting to formulate excuses he could give if she texted him when he heard, "Hello? Who is this?"

In his panic, all he could think of to say was, "what, you can't read a caller ID?"

I'm screwed. I'm so, totally screwed.

"Ow!" he heard her cry over the phone, with a thunk preceding her shout. Tsukishima raised his eyebrows and quipped something back- well, he had to make sure she was okay, right?- and she replied, "Tsukishima. Sorry, I was just surprised. I had my hands full and didn't see who was calling."

End the conversation. End it. Now.

Instead, he said, "you're busy?"

God dammit, Kei, you're an idiot.

"No! Not at all," she defended quickly, "ow. Dropped a box on my foot."

When the reply flowed easily off of Tsukishima's tongue, he knew he was royally fucked. He couldn't end it, he couldn't stop the conversation for no reason. He wanted to talk to her, even though he shouldn't, because the feelings he was desperately trying to lock away were resurfacing. He didn't want to get hurt, he didn't want to hurt her: it was better for everyone if he hung this up now.

But he couldn't.

Tsukishima talked to her for at least an hour and some, and was surprised to find afterwards that he didn't regret it one bit.

Day one was long. Even though they hadn't played a game, the sheer amount of people and volume of the crowd had made his head hurt. Tsukishima was tired and ready to go to bed- he wasn't sure how he was supposed to make it through a week of this nonsense. At least their rooms were nice. The beds were some of the softest he'd ever seen. He wanted, very much so, to be in one of those beds right now.

So why the hell did Kageyama want to talk to him?

"After everyone's gone to bed," the King had told him, and he hadn't even given Tsukishima a choice in the matter. What the hell was he supposed to do about that? It wasn't exactly like he could ignore him. Guaranteed, the idiot would just find him in his bedroom, which was definitely worse.

That was why Tsukishima was sitting on the couch in the common room, glaring at every single person who looked at him so that they would leave, he could have this stupid conversation, and then he could go to bed. Finally, finally, the last of the Karasuno girls went to their rooms, giggling. Kageyama wove around the tables and sat in the chair across from Tsukishima, and the blond wondered how long this was going to take.

"You still like her."

It wasn't a question, it was statement.

Tsukishima leaned back into the couch, tilting his chin down to glare at Kageyama. The King was frowning at him, but to his surprise, he didn't look particularly mad. There was more intrigue on his face than anger. Tsukishima wasn't sure what he'd get in more trouble for: being truthful or lying.

"What exactly do you want me to say to that?" he replied with a scoff, crossing his arms. "This is what you kept me up for?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Unless you wanted others to overhear?"

"There's plenty of other way we could've got privacy, you moron."

"This was easiest." Kageyama's frown deepened. "You didn't answer my question."

Tsukishima scowled. "That wasn't a question, that was a statement. What is this, an interrogation? I just want to go to sleep, because I'm sure tomorrow's game is going to be exhausting."

"She likes you too, you know."

That made him pause. The question lingered on his tongue but he had too much pride to ask it.

Weirdly enough, Kageyama seemed to sense what he wanted to ask. "No, she didn't tell me that," he said, leaning forwards in his seat. "I call tell, though. And I bet you can too. I want to know why you haven't done anything about it yet."

Tsukishima almost found himself at a loss for what to say, but he managed to pull himself together. "Why should I be the one to do something?" Tsukishima said, raising a hand to adjust his glasses. "I'm sorry if this is difficult for you to wrap your head around, your Highness, but your cousin is far from perfect. When we split up? Yeah, there were things we both could've done different, but she was selfish. And the damage was done, there's no way you can guarantee that something like that won't happen again. Because, Kageyama," he said, leaning forwards, "this may be news to you, but I have feelings too. And I'm not going to get back into something if it's going to have the same result."

Okay, why the hell was he spilling his feelings to Kageyama? I said too much, Christ.

"You can't guarantee anything," Kageyama said quietly.

Tsukishima narrowed his eyes. "Yes, that's what I said, moron."

"You can't guarantee that something like that won't happen again," the setter continued, "just like you can't guarantee that we'll win our game tomorrow. We can't guarantee that her prosthetic is going to hold out all game, and we can't guarantee that this hotel won't burn down in the middle of the night."

He snorted. "That's morbid."

Kageyama rolled his eyes. "But what you can guarantee," he said, his voice soft, "is that you both will do your best to prevent and adapt from situations like that. And you can't guarantee that she'll still be available if you're going to keep being a pussy about it."

His jaw slipped open. "A what, sorry?"

"You heard me."

Tsukishima had so many insults at the tip of his tongue, none of which would help the situation he was in right now. "Why," he said lowly, "are you preaching all this crap to me? Last I checked, we weren't friends."

Kageyama's face turned sour. "I don't like you," he agreed, "but I like you more than Miya."

"Something we agree on."

He rolled his eyes again. "That, and..." It almost looked like Kageyama was trying to force words out.

Tsukishima grinned, propping his elbows up on his knees. "Oh? Go on."

"Asshole. You make her happy," Kageyama snapped. "No idea how, but you do. And there's only so much I can do sometimes."

They were both quiet as Tsukishima digested this information, but neither of them made any move to leave. Tsukishima was glad that Mikaela had someone like Kageyama in her life; it was clear that he cared about her and he was always looking out for her best interests. Not that he'd ever tell the King that- he didn't need to give the setter a bigger head than he already had.

Tsukishima met Kageyama's eyes. "She's going to cry."

Kageyama raised an eyebrow, confused.

"She's going to cry, and it's going to be because of me," he continued, lacing his fingers together. "And one day, it'll be because of you. Another day, it'll be because of volleyball. Another day, it'll be because of the fact she has half a leg and is missing out on way too many things that she should be able to do." Tsukishima pinched his lips together before continuing. "All I can do is be there for her when she does. I'm not a god, Kageyama, I'm not going to make every single one of her problems vanish instantly."

The King was quiet for a while. "No," he agreed, "but I think you'll help. And that's all I can ask for."

They didn't talk for much longer after that- just a few clipped words and insults- and Tsukishima made his way to bed soon after. Yamaguchi was still up, waiting for Tsukishima to make sure he was fine, but the blond just crashed as soon as he got back. His conversation with Kageyama was making his head spin- that certainly wasn't how he planned on spending his night.

He and Kageyama weren't friends. Nowhere near.

But they bonded over someone they both cared about, and Tsukishima supposed that he was okay with that.

He hated her.

She was simultaneously the best and worst person Tsukishima had ever met. She could change the temperature in a room just by smiling, and despite being in a giant stadium and watching their game from the stands, Tsukishima could feel heat behind his skin when she smiled as she talked to her team on the court. It was just one of those stupid effects she had on him, he supposed.

Tsukishima wondered when this madness started.

He shouldn't. He really, really shouldn't. There were so many reasons for him not to, but every time he looked at her, those reasons seemed to fade away. It would be so much easier not to be in love with her; it would save him a world of pain in the end.

"Hey."

He cocked his head, looking to Yamaguchi. "What?"

"You're staring."

"At the game? Yes."

Yamaguchi rolled his eyes. "You know that's not what I meant."

"You were vague, Yamaguchi. That means I get to interpret as I will."

He sighed, leaning back into the seat. They watched the game in silence, watching as she nailed one of her serves hard enough that some of the first year boys in front of them winced. She was celebrating, high-fiving some of her teammates and grinning wildly. "She's really something, isn't she," Yamaguchi said softly.

Tsukishima nodded. "Yeah."

That was a good word for her. Something.

"Tsukki."

He looked up.

"You going to do anything about it?" Yamaguchi asked.

Tsukishima paused. He'd weighed the pros and cons in his head, over and over again, knowing that it was a risk if he did and painful if he didn't- even more painful if he did and it didn't work. There were so many factors, so many variables, and she was unpredictable and dangerous and risky and perfect and-

"You know what?" his best friend said, dragging Tsukishima out of his thoughts. "Just the fact you hesitated is answer enough to me."

The blond's mouth opened, then closed. "...Shut up, Yamaguchi."

He smirked. "Sorry, Tsukki."

Ah, Mikaela Kaisha. If only she could see what she did to him.

I hope I lived up to your expectations with this chapter! I tried my best to do it justice, feel free to let me know what you thought!

livelovedance920: Aw thank you! Thank you so much for your review! :)

CavaKel: Thank you so much! I'm so glad you're liking it, thank you so much for your review! :D

KrystalCookies5: I hoped you liked this chapter! I'm definitely planning on including more Kuroo in the future, I love his personality and he's so fun to write! Leg hype indeed! Thank you so much for your review! :)

Yeeavv: AHHH I'M SO GLAD! Thank you so much for your review! :D

ScarletSea: I hope you liked it! Thank you so much for your review! :)

SoccerSarah01: THANK YOU! Thank you so so much! I'm actually kind of surprised that so many people are adamantly against Yumina- I thought there'd be people that thought she was in line, but I guess not. I'm so glad you liked all the little tidbits and such! Thank you so much for joining the live, it was so good to talk to you! Thank you so so much for your review! :D

luvielle: THANK YOU! So many people loved Kuroo coming back, that makes me so happy! I'm so glad you enjoyed the last chapter, I hope you're staying safe! Thank you so much for your review! :)

channingayle02: THANK YOU! Ahh the skating scene gave me so much serotonin, it really was such a flash back to the simpler times of first year. I'm so happy you liked it, thank you so much for your review! :D

Anseo: Ah that makes me so happy, thank you so much! Your compliments are so kind, thank you T^T I hope you're staying safe and healthy! Thank you for the birthday wishes and thank you for the review! :)

strawjoonie: I'm actually kind of surprised by the amount of people that thought Mikaela was justified in her outburst! I'm trying my best not to be biased, as she is my character and I'm behind her to the end of the line, but Mikaela's a wee bit arrogant sometimes. I think Yumina was understandable (people are pretty jealous of how talented she is, who she's friends with, who she's dated), but I think Mikaela was understandable too. It's the fact she's a captain that made it a problem- it's supposed to be a team sport, not a commander leading an army sort of thing. Thank you for your opinion and for your review! :)

Averi-nova: Thank you so much! Ahh I'm glad you liked the skating scene, I had so much fun writing it XD You'll have to wait and see- he's made a lot of mini first moves but we all know Tsukishima's pretty chicken when it comes to the real thing XD Just wait! Next chapter! ;) Thank you so much for your kind review! :D

Aster Sipping Waterfalls: THANK YOU SO MUCH! Aw, thank you so much! I'm glad you like Tsukishima and Mikaela ;) Thank you so much for your review! :)

haikyuurarepairs: I'm projecting my love for Kuroo into this story because he's been terribly absent in the manga and I miss him T^T Thank you so much for the birthday wishes! I hope you liked this chapter, I had a lot of fun writing it! You'll have to wait and see what happens next chapter! ;) Thank you so much for your review! :D

Sayori1412: A lot of the stories I've seen have Kuroo in biology or chemistry, and I totally agree with him being in the STEM field- I just took my own twist on it. Let's just pretend he's a chemistry master. ;) Don't worry, you'll see a bit of Atsumu next chapter! I'm sure it'll be fine :D Thank you so much for the birthday wishes and for your kind review! :D

Oboe1125: Aw, thank you so much! Thank you for the birthday wishes and for your kind review! :)

Daffodil: Your opinion is totally valid! I'm a bit biased so I think Mikaela's outburst was justified, but thinking from a team point of view: she's the captain, she can't do stuff like that. I'm so glad you liked the chapter and I hoped you enjoyed this one too! Thank you so much for your review! :D

Guest: Thank you so much! Things are getting better for her, but it's not over yet ;) I hoped you like the Tsukishima point of view this chapter! Thank you so much for your kindness and your review! :)

Inola: THANK YOU! Thank you so much for your kind words, I'm so glad you liked the chapter! Thank you so much for your review! :D

Monxu Aki: Thank you so much! :D There's so many characters I want to include! I wanted to fit Motoya and Sakusa in there somewhere, but there's already so many characters I've been trying to fit in. I think I can probably make space for them (and maybe Akaashi!) later. Thank you so much for your review! :)

Sal00D18: I don't think I've seen that one! Which is weird, because I spend way too much time on that app XD Thank you for taking the time to review! :D

yangri: AHHH IT WAS SO GOOD TALKING TO YOU ON THE LIVE STREAM! As for your review, thank you so much! Yeah, sometimes I forget I need to reinforce the team dynamics sometimes- that's what this is all about, after all. I hope you liked this chapter! A bit hard to write but it came out good, I think. I hope work went okay and that this chapter reached you at a semi-decent time! Thank you so much for your review! :)

somberset: AHA MAYBE I feel the need to release some of it T^T AHHHHH I'm so glad you liked it! I had a lot of trouble trying to exploit the captain side of Mikaela and I'm so glad people liked it! And I'm so glad you liked the skating, that was so much fun to write! Thank you for all of your support for Mikaela- I sometimes forget how far she's already come, like nationals is a huge deal! I'm starting to be more like her- only focused on the top XD Thank you so much for your kind review! :D

Sabishii 'Shii' Suta: I miss Atsumu too T^T I'm heavily debating... don't tempt me, aha XD Thank you for your review! :)

Choopi: I'm so glad you liked it! Slow burn is my specialty, aha XD IT'S SO HARD TO REMEMBER TO INCORPORATE THEM ALL, I'M SO HAPPY YOU'RE LIKING IT! Thank you so much for the birthday wishes and your enthusiastic review! :D

Kuroonavirus: Thank you so much for the birthday wishes! Ahh that makes me so happy, I'm so happy you like it! Thank you so much for your review! :)

ILOVEYOURWORK: THANK YOU SO MUCH! I'M SO HAPPY YOU'RE ENJOYING IT AND I HOPED YOU ENJOYED THIS CHAPTER JUST AS MUCH AS THE PAST FEW! Thank you so much for your review! :D

Kawaki. -. chan: Aw thank you so much! I still can't believe how far I've made it with this story! I'm so glad you like it so much- those sarcasm battles between Tsukishima and Mikaela are some of my favorite to write. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, thank you so much for your review! :)

SupMyDudez: I hadn't even thought about that! Thank you for pointing that out, that's definitely something I want to incorporate. Thank you so much for your review! :D

WhiteArcobaleno: Ahh thank you! You're much too kind T^T Breaking her up with Atsumu hurt me too, aha. Thank you so much for your kind words, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Thank you so much for your review! :)

ktbelle1313: Heck yeah! I hope you liked this chapter! :) Thank you so much for your review! :D

caiuscassiuss: HE IS! I'm desperately awaiting his return in the manga and I'm half afraid that Furudate's going to kill him off or something?! Thank you so much for your review! :)

RoLouA: Aww that's so sweet, thank you so much! I'm so glad you're enjoying it XD Thank you so much for the birthday wishes and your kind words! Thank you so much for your review! :D

Renegade882: IT'S HERE! Thank you for your review! :)

StarlightNALU: I wanted to flush out Hiba's character a bit more, rather than have her be 'just the vice captain', so I'm glad people appreciate it! OKAY BUT FOR REAL THAT DYNAMIC IS SOOOOOO GOOD AS LONG AS IT'S MUTUAL XD If you're pining on one end, and they're not, well... let's not go there. I'm so glad you liked the chapter and thank you so much for your review! :D

Saki: Eight whole emotions?! A new record XD Ah I'm glad you liked it! The triceratops line was my favorite XD Thank you so much for the birthday wishes, I hope you liked this chapter! Thank you so much for your review! :)

AkaMizu-chan: OH MY GOD ACTUALLY?! Thank you so much for binging and I'm so glad you loved it! Thank you so much for reading and for your review! :D

masoxrista: I'm sorrrry T^T I hope you liked this chapter then! More nationals (and definitely more Tsukki!) next chapter! :) Thank you so much for your review! :)

Guest: Aw thank you! I debated having Tsukishima offer up his house again but that's a huge step that only happened thanks to extenuating circumstances last time, and they're at an awkward place right now :/ Thank you so much for your kind review! :D

DarkHero762: Aw! When I started it, I had no idea it would grow so big- I just wanted readers to know they were appreciated. Now, it takes so much time to reply, but I don't regret it at all. Thank you so much for your review! :)

bbymojo: We are nearing the end! I'm ballparking around... seventy chapters? Maybe? I'm still unsure of how the manga's going to finish off and what I have to work with. Nationals will go until chapter 65 for sure, and we'll just have to see from there. Thank you so much for your review! :D

THANK YOU SO MUCH TO EVERYONE WHO CAME TO THE LIVE STREAM! I had so much fun talking to you and it put me in such a good mood for the rest of the day! I really love you all from the bottom of my heart, thank you so much! :D