Ushijima Wakatoshi walked back to the student dorms of Shiratorizawa Academy after his night jog that he started earlier in the evening. As he walked the school grounds, Wakatoshi realized that once tomorrow morning came, it would be his final year of high school. It would be his last time wearing the Shiratorizawa uniform this year and playing with his team before going off to university. There would be no more Tendou and the team; no more dormitory life or Washijo-sensei at all. Change was coming and Wakatoshi needed to be ready as his future was quickly approaching.

As the Super Ace made it into his building and entered the elevator, he could feel the exhaustion of his jog ready to hit him. Wakatoshi craved his bed and hoped to get a good night's sleep before Tendou woke him up tomorrow morning before the opening ceremony. The elevator doors were about to close but they suddenly retracted as a dark-haired girl quickly slid in to get inside at the last moment. The girl fell to the ground as her body hit the wall and the weight of her bag fell on top of her.

"You've got to be kidding me." The girl said as she groaned in pain from the force of her fall. Wakatoshi offered the girl his hand to help her up and she blushed in embarrassment when she realized her fall was caught by him. She took his hand and he picked her up as she rearranged herself and her belongings. Wakatoshi pressed the button to his floor and the girl's when she told him what floor she stayed on. As the elevator rose slowly to their respective floors, Wakatoshi observed the girl next to him.

The most defining feature of the girl was her height. She was tall, even beating Yamagata in height who was the shortest out of all the third-years now. Her long, dark-brown hair that was tied into a high ponytail, but it seemed to be a bit wet. She was slightly pale, but she had bright silver eyes and wore a purple tracksuit with accents that covered her slim, yet curvy body. Feeling his stare on her, the girl's silver eyes met Wakatoshi's olive ones.

"I apologize if my staring made you uncomfortable." Wakatoshi said, hoping his words calmed the girl.

The girl smiled lightly, as she acknowledged the Super Ace. "I don't find your stares uncomfortable, Ushijima-kun." Wakatoshi's eyes widened at the girl's bold words and it seemed that she understood as a blush instantly appeared on her face, even the tip of her ears turned bright red.

"I mean, it's not like I found it unwelcoming." The girl must've realized the wrong meaning of her words and attempted to recover. "I mean your eyes are nice, so you could continue to stare at me all you want. That would be quite perverted of you, so – "

Wakatoshi's eyes widened comically, even his mouth opened slightly in shock. The girl was just a blushing mess as she held her head in embarrassment.

"Just kill me now, please." The girl finally said in resignation.

"That's a request I would have to decline." Wakatoshi spoke as his stoic façade returned. "Killing you would be quite messy and wouldn't work out for either of us."

The girl just stared at him in shock before a laugh erupted from her mouth. She was laughing so hard, he was surprised that he didn't hear complaints from other students as the elevator passed through various floors of the dormitory.

"You might be the Great Ace, but you're quite funny, Ushijima-kun." The girl said. The elevator dinged open and the girl quickly made her way out. She turned around and offered Wakatoshi a smile as a way of saying goodnight. Wakatoshi nodded as a reply and the elevator doors closed. As it made its way to his floor, Wakatoshi allowed himself a smile to the events that occurred in the elevator, enjoying how his night took a different turn for the first time, despite his strict schedule.

The elevator opened and Wakatoshi quickly made his way to his room as he unlocked the door and went inside to finally get ready for bed. He quickly took his shower and went to bed, but the thought of the girl lingered in the back of his mind once he fell asleep.

The next morning. . .

Wakatoshi woke up to the sound of voices and noise outside his door. Getting out of bed, he quickly got himself ready for the day as he did his usual morning routine. As he finished putting his jacket on, the sound of banging against his door suddenly filled the room, but the Ace already knew who it was behind the door.

Wakatoshi opened his door to see a smirking Tendou Satori outside with his hand raised in the air, poised to bang on the Super Ace's door once again. Wakatoshi simply shook his head before he locked his door and looked at the other figures behind Tendou to see Semi rolling his eyes and Reon smiling at the middle blocker's antics. Wakatoshi nodded in greeting before he led the group down the stairs and towards the cafeteria on the main floor for breakfast. They needed to eat before the opening ceremony, after all, it was their last year of high school. Wakatoshi turned his head slightly to hear the conversation of Tendou and the others, tuning out the other voices of students that were around them headed in the same direction.

"We're third years now, can you believe it!?" Tendou shouted, his excitement evident from the eager tone of his voice. "It's our last year together and this is when I'll leave my mark for everyone to know that I survived three years at Shiratorizawa."

"I'm surprised you've made it this far." Semi said, doubt clearly laced in his words. "I was actually surprised you passed the Foreign Languages exam. Didn't you bomb almost all of the tests and rarely did the homework?"

"He did it on purpose, didn't you figure that out?" Reon asked the setter, wondering how Semi didn't catch on to Tendou's schemes during their second year. "Tendou purposely failed his exams to get Ichinose-san to tutor him in English last year. They went out on a few dates and then he broke up with her."

"Eh!?" Wakatoshi frowned, remembering the dark-haired girl who dated his friend for at least a month until their untimely breakup. It was right before the Interhigh and Tendou's whining angered the coaches to the point that Tendou was banned from coming to practice just to spare everyone a migraine. The only reason Wakatoshi clearly remembered that month was the black eye Tendou received from his ex-girlfriend which affected his play, riling up Aoba Josai's middle blockers to taunt his friend and almost cause a fight on the court. The amount of screaming both coaches did still give him a headache whenever he thought about last year.

"For someone so smart, you're pretty slow to the game Semisemi." Tendou said, purposefully riling up the hotheaded setter so early in the morning. "I passed and I'm still here."

"Unfortunately." Semi growled, eager to smack the middle blocker over the head. If only he didn't have to reach up to do that, it would spare him the humiliation.

"Let's just calm down. . ." Reon spoke, not wanting the two players to be at each other's throats before practice started in the afternoon. Wakatoshi silently thanked Reon for speaking up, not having the energy to deal with his friends before the day officially began.

Wakatoshi and the others eventually made their way to the cafeteria within the dormitory. Everything about Shiratorizawa was top-knotch: the facilities, the food, the uniforms. Everything. The large cafeteria was filled with students who sat at the various tables eating breakfast as quickly as possible while others simply waited to reunite with friends they didn't see over vacation. Pictures of student activities lined the wall while the school motto, Intense Force, was painted in a purple script that lined the walls.

"it's Yamagata and Soekawa!" Tendou suddenly shouted. The four volleyball players turned to see their fellow third years and teammates sitting at a table talking. The libero and vice-captain looked up when hearing their names called and shook their heads, not surprised at the redhead who would attract attention to the volleyball players.

Before Tendou could say or do anything else, the scent of various foods wafted in the air, causing the four of them to focus on their original purpose for coming to the dining hall. When the four of them got their food, they joined their friends at their table, immediately sitting down and taking a bite of their chosen dishes. As they ate, Semi brought up Tendou's terrible dating habits once again.

"I still can't believe you did all of that just for a date with Ichinose." Semi and the rest of them knew that if they kept count of all the girls that Tendou dated, they would be sitting in the cafeteria for the rest of their lives. "Why didn't you just ask her out like a normal human being?"

Tendou was about to open his mouth, but Yamagata quickly cut the middle blocker off. "That would imply Tendou would have to be normal." His comment earned laughter from the boy's sans Wakatoshi who frowned at Tendou's actions from last year.

Tendou stuck his tongue out at the libero but Yamagata just sent a cocky smirk in return. "Well excuse me for trying to explore the beautiful sea of women that Shiratorizawa offers." Tendo said, caring less of what his dating habits did to his reputation. "We should care less for my dating and onto Wakatoshi's!"

The boys turned to Wakatoshi who simply raised an eyebrow, wondering why his friend was always obsessed with the idea of him in a romantic relationship.

Shiratorizawa Academy was one of the many top schools in Japan where many future graduates succeeded in their chosen fields. It had a strict curriculum and rules that were expected to be followed as most of the students that graduated always went to university, got job offers immediately after high school, or played sports professionally. The only way to get into the school was to pass the entrance exam that was always difficult. Even if one passed it, you needed to have some connections that would solidify your attendance at Shiratorizawa. The school has numerous sponsors that supplied the various clubs and organizations with heavy amounts of money that seemed to get larger each passing year. Almost all the clubs went to their national competitions, placing in the Top 10. Most of the students that went to Shiratorizawa were either brilliant in their academics, absurdly strong in sports, or ridiculously wealthy.

Wakatoshi fell into all three categories and he devoted his time to his academics and sports very seriously. The Super Ace was aiming to make it on Japan's National Volleyball Team and that was a goal from childhood he took to heart.

"Why are you bringing up this topic again, Tendou?" Wakatoshi asked, wondering if his friend would ever leave him alone on the idea of him dating. "You already know how I feel about dating in school."

As usual, Tendou didn't care enough to stop pestering Wakatoshi for details about his non-existent love life. "Have you ever talked to a girl that wasn't on the Girls' Volleyball Team or a classmate?"

Knowing that the middle blocker would harass him until he got some answer, Wakatoshi recalled the events that happened last night in the elevator and the dark brunette who left quite the impression.

"I talked to a girl last night, we were in the elevator and she said some interesting things."

Wakatoshi's words caused the others to look up at him in shock. The five of them knew Wakatoshi was a stoic volleyball idiot whose personal life was still an enigma to his friends and teammates, but they've never assumed he would go out of his way to talk and create a conversation with anyone that wasn't themselves. Especially with some girl they didn't know about!

"Who is she!?" Tendou shouted. He stood up, causing his chair to hit a nearby girl that unfortunately crossed paths with the hyper middle blocker. She gasped in shock before moving with her friends that followed her quickly, cursing Tendou under their breath.

"Tendou, you're drawing attention to the six of us!" Semi reprimanded him, but Tendou didn't care. He sat down, but his entire body was shaking with anticipation. His best friend was finally going to start dating!

"Wakatoshi, do you know the girl's name?" Soekawa asked, his curiosity was clearly shown, but he wasn't as eccentric like Tendou.

"No." Wakatoshi said. "I didn't get the chance to ask her name." Wakatoshi knew that his friends wouldn't let this go, especially Tendou.

"Well if she was in this building, it means she's a third year!" Yamagata said. The libero usually wasn't one to meddle unless something truly peaked his interest, and it seemed that the possible chance of Wakatoshi getting a girlfriend interested him.

"We can search for your true love, Wakatoshi-kun!" Tendou exclaimed, his body was wiggling in a creepy way to those who didn't know the middle blocker, but to the others, he was just being Tendou. "Was she pretty?"

Was she pretty? Wakatoshi wasn't a vain person who believed a person's looks was the only thing that mattered, but the girl did leave an impression on him. The girl's height was a noticeable factor of course, but silver eyes and long dark brown waves that stood out against her creamy skin seemed to stick out in his mind. Well, yes then, she was pretty.

"There are two other dormitories that are used for housing third years, so it doesn't mean she necessarily lives in this one." Soekawa argued, trying to think of his Captain's mystery girl from all sides. "She could be using her friend's ID and gotten access to the building."

As the boys argued on Wakatoshi's mystery girl, the Ace himself just sat and ate the rest of his breakfast as his friends attempted to make reason of the entire situation at hand. Although he cared for his friends and enjoyed their company, Wakatoshi didn't like the way that his friends, especially Tendou, attempted to convince him that this girl was his possible soulmate.

"I don't have time to date, I'm focused on volleyball." Wakatoshi said, earning frowns from his friends. Tendou was about to protest but the firm look Wakatoshi gave them made him shut up. When finished with breakfast, everyone got up along with the rest of the students in the dorms cafeteria, making the trek across the school grounds to attend their last opening ceremony of their high school careers.