"Ahh, Amaya!" The call of a classmate caused Amaya to stop and look at who beckoned her. It was her friend, Hanako Ueda. She continued on as she waved at Amaya, "What are you doing for summer break? If you aren't doing anything we could arrange some things and hang out!"

Amaya gave an apologetic bow to her friend, "It sounds fun, but I'm going to be with my aunt and uncle this summer. Sorry about that, maybe the break?"

Hanako nodded and Amaya walked throughout the school, until she was cut off by another friend. This time by a player in the boys' volleyball club. She stared at the taller figure in front of her, curious about what the spiker even wanted, "What is it now, Yamamoto?"

"Well I know that you're going to a relative's house over the summer.. But could you maybe sub in for a team manager for us?" The dyed haired boy anxiously questioned.

Amaya sighed and rolled her eyes, "Is that all? Why not ask any other girl to do it, or even, why not ask any of the other girls in the girls' volleyball club since you're asking me."

"I want to compete against our rival team's managers! I think you're cute enough to compete against them!"

"Might as well ask me out while you're at it," she deadpanned.

"No I'm serious, Mizu-chan please-"

"Fine, fine," she rolled her eyes again, "Is there at least something in it for me?"

"Not much, but.." he grinned with glee, "You can always practice with us whenever the practice matches are over."

"Practice matches? Oh wait, that's right the summer training camp you guys have.."

"Is that a yes or a no?"

"Sure. Is there at least anything else I should know?"

"Just come over to practice later today."

Amaya nodded and left Yamamoto in the hall. Honestly, she didn't even know why she agreed to helping the male spiker in the first place. Guess she'll just go along with it for now.

---

Amaya cautiously peered into the gym that the boys' team practices in. The door quietly creaked, but it was enough to signal to some of the boys that someone had entered the gym. Their tall, white haired first year was the one who brought it up, which soon alerted Yamamoto.

"Ey! You actually showed up!" The blond exclaimed, drawing even more attention to the dark haired girl.

Amaya looked discomforted at all the sudden eyes now on her. She really doesn't know anyone on the boys' volleyball team, even though she felt like she should've. The only two that Amaya knew were the loud mouth Yamamoto and Coach Nekomata. Even though it's been a while since the two had seen each other—at least 2 years—the two had remembered what they looked like. Amaya had attended one of the volleyball classes held by the couch sometime after she moved to Tokyo from Miyagi. She greeted the coach, practically ignoring everyone else there, "Coach Nekomata, it's great to see you again."

"Same to you, Mizutani, was it?" Nekomata gave a subtle nod, soon being interrupted by Yamamoto.

"You know the coach?" The spiker shook his head and focused on the topic at hand, "No matter! You agreed to what I offered?"

"Oh? What did you offer to this poor, small classmate of yours?" Kuroo couldn't help but tease at Amaya's height. She had to restrain herself from physically assaulting the rooster haired man.

"It's nothing much and nothing important to you," Amaya let out a snide response, "All you need to know is that I want to try out being your club's manager for a bit since I'm going to be off of the girl's club due to injury this season."

She hated to admit it, but it was true. During a practice match near the beginning of the season, Amaya ended up badly spraining her ankle while trying to receive an incoming spike from the opposing team. Of course, she was too caught up with adrenaline to notice the pain but during the break, that's when it happened. That's how Amaya's off the club until she fully heals, meaning she can't do anything too stupidly risky like she would with her normal plays or else she'll end up making her injury a lot worse.

Yamamoto beamed with glee while some of the other members anxiously muttered to each other, causing uncertainty to arise within Amaya. She began to wonder if she said the right things. Her mind was thankfully taken off from that as the assistant coach, Naoi, gave Amaya the club fill out sheet and told her what to do. As Amaya and the coaches stood off to the side, Nekomata rounded up the boys and ushered them to warm up as Naoi left the two to go help with practice. Amaya held onto the paper, carefully reading the form before her attention was taken by Nekomata.

As the boys were practicing in the background, Nekomata had that iconic grin of his on his face, "You're not actually here to test the waters of being this club's manager. If I remember you well, I should know that you wouldn't last with these boys for no more than a month with your personality. You most likely don't even know how to be a manager."

Amaya froze. Busted. "It was Yamamoto's deal! From what I heard, the place that the summer camp takes place is actually near my relative's house. Near where Shinzen High is? I decided that since my parents are going to drop me off there over the weekend, might as well? I mean, it sounded great in my head but now that I'm saying it, it sounds dumb-"

"You just want to practice with the boys after the practice matches, don't you?"

"..Yeah.."

Nekomata half heartedly chuckled at Amaya's response, "I see! I'll allow it as long as you keep your injury in mind. You do want to play next season, don't you?"

"Of course! I'll always consider every injury when I practice! Thank you so much!" Amaya quickly bowed to show her gratitude for the coach.

As the practice went on, Amaya seemed to focus on the spikes that the boys landed. Oh how she wished she could try to recieve them. It wasn't long before the session ended and Amaya ended up walking home. Seems like it was a quick one, only lasting an hour. It also seemed like the girl's club finished around that time so there'll be nothing suspicious to her parents about being home an hour later than normal. After arriving back in her house, Amaya announced her presence and quickly went upstairs to finish packing for the next week or so. Her aunt and uncle would be more understanding than her parents, so Amaya considered only telling them about what she's actually going to do rather than tell her parents directly about it. Amaya smiled, seeing absolutely nothing wrong with it.

{ eheh, here we go~
this took me a bit too long to write even though it's just 1,100 words. it sucks, but that's ok. hopefully the other chapters will be longer~ }
{ 11/6/21: added proper punctuation to some dialogues, re-reading this without it caused me pain. i also made sure it said "coach" instead of "couch." two completely different things. }