Chapter I: It's a curse!

He was scary.

He'd glare at the other students, throw around cruel slurs, and violence was something she was sure he excelled at.

His name was Kyoutani, Kentaro…and he sat beside her through a majority of her classes.

"You're cursed and you know it Hanachi!" her friend spoke up while trying to hold back her laughter at the face Hana made.

"Shut up. Shut up!" Hana spoke up while glaring slightly at her loud mouthed friend, Yukari, seemed to be gaining more than just a bit of attention in the cafeteria. This always happened, every time she laughed, all eyes were pulled to them, and why exactly was that? Well, it was because Yukari laughed louder than a football stadium full of crazed fans could scream. It was embarrassing and it always, always made Hana blush more than just a bit.

"Even you have to admit you're cursed. How else could you end up with Kyoutani-san as a seat partner in all, but two classes? I'll pray for your safety every day," she spoke up with something of a sly grin pulling at her lips. Hana had no response for her though and instead eyed a portion of her curry bread before she used her free hand to gently pinch a piece of it apart and then flick it at her friend. "Aw, Hanachi, don't be like that!" she spoke up and watched as Hana simply turned her head away pretending as if she wasn't listening to her friend. "Hanachi~" her friend spoke up once more in a somewhat sly voice which caused Hana to peek over at the woman only for a second. Hana knew that voice of hers. It always spelled trouble…even if she had a sound idea it would end badly. "You know the boys volleyball team is going to be getting a new player today and I knowyou love those shorts~" Yukari said after somewhat cupping her hands around her mouth as if she were giving away some highly classified secret. Hana slowly looked over at her, but regretted her actions when she saw the smug smirk spread across her friend's lips.

"Just…just shut up…" Hana finally replied before taking a bite of her curry bread with a bright red blush spread across her cheeks.

"Hanachi! You're so cute all red like that!" Yukari said while giggling softly before jumping lightly at the sound of the bell. Lunch was ending which also meant that her time with teasing Hana was also coming to a close. Yukari quietly gathered her things up while Hana did the same after having wrapped up her left over curry bread and putting the rest into her bag. "Have fun with you know who~!" Yukari spoke up loudly before disappearing into the wave of students ignoring the way Hana's cheeks lit up and her green eyes settled into a glare on the woman's backside.

The rest of the day was rather uneventful for Hana…or as uneventful as it could be when one was sitting next to Kyoutani. He never spoke a word to her, barely knew she existed, but that never stopped her from being hyper-aware of his existence…as was the rest of the class. She sighed lightly, her last class was one of the two she had without him and it felt great to not have to be worried about stepping on his toes or upsetting him in some kind of way. Hell, she sometimes worried about breathing too loudly around him. Was it wrong of her too be so afraid when he hadn't ever done anything to her? Probably, but who could really blame her? She, just as several other people, were afraid of him and maybe if he tried to not look so…unapproachable he could have been more popular.

"Hanachi!" a feminine voice spoke up from the front of her classroom soon after the last bell rang. Yukari stood at the door, right arm waving frantically at the brown haired female, and her left arm gripped tightly to her school bag. Hana smiled softly over toward her before gathering up her belongings and trotting over toward the overly excited female. "Come on, come on! I'm super excited to see the new addition to the team!" she spoke up happily now using her right hand to grab her friend's wrist and drag her enthusiastically through the halls. It wasn't long before the two girls arrived at the gym, but of course they were both rather early and had beaten the team there.

"Oh! Yukari! Good to see you see here so early. Can you get started on-," the head coach; Nobuteru Irihata, spoke up before pausing upon seeing Hana. He raised a brow at the young female before giving Yukari a questioning gaze. "I hope this isn't one of Oikawa's fangirls. You know we can't have the players distracted during practice," the older male said before frowning lightly at the puppy face Yukari put on. "She's not a fangirl, I swear! She's my best friend and she'll be as quiet as a mouse, right Hana?" Yukari spoke up before skipping behind her friend and pushing her forward.

"Y-Yes!" Hana spoke up stuttering lightly under the somewhat upset expression on the coach's face before she bowed quickly to him. The older man sighed lightly before scratching at the back of his head eyes turning toward Yukari once more who was still pleading with him. He had allowed her to be the one and only manager for the team since she was one of the few applicants that hadn't applied for the spot in hopes of getting closer to Oikawa. She played throughout all of middle school, but due to a knee injury she had to step down. He really did trust her, but… "I don't know Yukari. You know how Oikawa can get sometimes…" he spoke up before eyeing Hana still bowed figure. Oikawa was always a handful when it came to females and it wasn't so much that he didn't trust Yukari and her friend as it was he didn't trust the skirt chasing third year.

"I can promise you she won't be phased by Oikawachi at all. She's a true fan of Volleyball and even played as the Libero with me back in Middle school," Yukari said trying her best to plead her friends case, but this little statement only caused the young Hana to quickly shoot up straight, eyes locking on her friend and wondering why she would give away that little detail.

"Oh? A Libero, huh? I'll allow her to stick around then, but only on the condition that she help us in a game today," the coach said and now watched as both girls stared at him with wide, questioning eyes.

"I…wasn't aware we had a practice game today. Is there something wrong with Watarichi?" Yukari asked raising a questioning brow when the coach shook his head 'no'.

"No, I was thinking about splitting up the teams for a practice game today so we can see if our new player will be an asset or a…liability to us. However, we don't exactly have a spare Libero around to make the teams fair," the coach explained and watched as Yukari's eyes lit up as she slapped her right hand into her friends back repeatedly and excitedly.

"Then Hanachi is your girl! Be easy on her though coach she hasn't played in an actual match for a while!" Yukari spoke while still slapping into Hana's back. The young brunette gritted her teeth and bared with it until the coach smiled a bit and said he'd 'leave it to Yukari then'.

"Stop with your slapping already! It freaking hurts!" Hana shouted while Yukari laughed happily at her friend's aggravation.