"When's papa coming home?" asked a little girl, tugging on her mother's sleeve as she yawned cutely, her eyes fluttering in attempt to stay awake.

The mother merely sighed and watched her daughter succumb to exhaustion, as she tenderly ran her fingers through her silky black hair. Despite her mind being in a state of sheer fatigue, she persevered in wait of her husband.

As if on cue, the sounds of a door being shut and keys jingling could be heard throughout the apartment.

Hibarida Fuki was certainly not expecting to see the the faces of his wife and daughter as he entered the kitchen.

After all, it was 3am on a Saturday night.

Guilt ate away at his conscience, as it was not the first time he had arrived home to a table full of home cooked food with a full stomach after eating out.

As he parted his lips to announce he was going straight to bed, his wife spoke up.

"Are you not going to eat?" She inquired. He examined the face of his drained wife and passed out daughter, as his guilt increased by a tenfold.

His eyes flickered over her features in melancholy. She was as beautiful as ever, though the fatigue was evident in her features.

"Sorry Mitsuki, there was another celebratory meal out at work today. You know how it is." Fuki sighed as he headed towards the door.

Mitsuki stood up swiftly, knocking her chair over in the process, and slammed her hands on the table. Breathing heavily, she attempted to regain her composure.

"You damn workaholic." She bitterly mumbled under her breath.

"How much more irresponsible can you get? Would it kill you to at least call in advance if you've got plans at work? We've talked about this before, can you not even spare a text message?" she cried.

"Did you even know that today, sorry, yesterday was our daughter's elementary school graduation? Perhaps if you'd dedicated at least an ounce of your energy towards this family you would've known she was waiting for hours to show you the pictures from one of the biggest days of her life that you were too busy for?!" Tears were streaming down her face as her husband was dumbstruck, eyes aghast.

"This shouldn't come as a shock to you" she spoke, bottom lip quivering, as she tossed him some paperwork from the table.

Divorce papers.

Fuki fell to the floor, crumpling the papers in his hand. "Mitsuki, honey I-"

"Enough." She whispered defeatedly. "I really did love you, but this divorce didn't appear out of thin air. In all honesty it's been long overdue."

Her worn out eyes made brief contact with his tearful ones, before she averted her eyes and massaged her temple that throbbed dully.

The now ex-couple ironically spent the rest of the night communicating and sorting out the details of their divorce, unaware of the fact that sweet little Aoi Hibarida had been awake since her mother's outburst and had tears silently streaming down her face.

However, that fateful day was merely the beginning of the trials Aoi's tender heart would have to go through.

2 years later

Aoi had been peacefully living in Miyagi with her mom since her parents separated and would visit her dad in Tokyo once a month. Though she only saw her dad infrequently, his attention was solely hers during those precious days.

She continued to pursue her love for volleyball at Chidoriyama Junior high despite her mother's slight resentment for the sport, as it drove her ex husband towards workaholism.

Aoi had a natural flair for volleyball and her talents were recognised by many. She was a Libero for the girls volleyball team, where she was also discovered by one of the coaches for the All-Japan youth training camp. Despite not yet reaching high school age and being a year younger than most of the other girls at the camp, her skills and technique did not go unnoticed.

After regaining her footing from the separation of her parents and her recent fortune with volleyball, Aoi finally felt like she was winning at life.

Fate, however, had other ideas in store.

Aoi was at home on a Saturday evening watching the latest episode of her favourite anime while her mom walked to the supermarket to buy groceries for dinner. Normally she would drive to make a quick stop at the store, but the sun was shining despite it currently being mid Autumn and she couldn't help but want to go on a walk.

She was taking a lot longer than usual, but Aoi brushed off the nagging feeling and merely presumed it was because the trip took longer by walk.

She tore her attention away from the TV, as the landline phone started ringing. Aoi picked up the call and winced upon hearing her aunt shouting into the phone.

But once she processed her aunt's words and the despair in her voice, her grip on the phone released and she collapsed to her knees

a month later

A hit and run, they said.

Aoi clenched her teeth, wondering how someone could be so cruel as to flee the scene after hitting her mom with a car.

She wouldn't be standing at her mom's grave on her one month death anniversary if her mother's killer was a decent human with morals and had called an ambulance.

Or wasn't intoxicated.

Or wasn't on the road.

Or didn't exist...

Though the driver had been caught within days and justice was served, it did not ease her heart at all. He could be roaming around freely and she wouldn't care less.

Because her mom would still be gone regardless.

She had been living with her mother's sister and her family for the past month as she didn't wish to be in Tokyo, which was even further away from her mom and a city that had caused her great distress. Her aunt's family were wonderful to her, especially her cousin Shimizu Kiyoko who she'd easily consider to be as close as a sister.

The rest of her middle school second year was a haze. Aoi had lost her way when she lost her mom, as well as her desire to play volleyball.

After all, her mom never liked the sport.

Her appetite diminished and she almost ceased to smile. Only her grades were high as studying would prevent her mind from wandering thus numbing her from feeling anything.

Talking to her dad and Kiyoko comforted her to an extent, yet her only real coping mechanism was to submerge herself in her studies, which was extremely unhealthy at times.

After a few months had passed, one day she accompanied her teammates to watch a practice match between the Chidoriyama boys volleyball team and another school.

She wasn't quite able to bring herself to play volleyball, but had mustered up the strength to watch a match because of Kiyoko's encouragement and her friends' pleas.

Her focus was particularly on the teams libero, partially because she was a libero herself, but mostly because of the strong impression he left on her.

He was a free spirit, a force to be reckoned with.

Aoi was never really interested in the boys team, as they practiced in separate gyms, but the boy on the court had her undivided attention.

Judging by appearances, he probably stood as the same height as her. His form was stunning and the way he moved seemed to wild and free to Aoi. His skill and agility was far superior than hers and she found herself staring in awe. Even his shouts of encouragement to his teammates made her heart race from all the way on the court, his voice was totally unfair.

Aoi thought he was stunning, but didn't understand why her heart clenched the way it did. Although he stole her breath away, she wasn't one to fall in love at first sight.

As she continued to observe the match, engrossed with the libero's enthralling receives, her leg began to rapidly bounce up and down. She found herself cheering and squealing and occasionally holding her breath in anticipation, it was the liveliest she'd been since her mother's death

"Ah. I get it now." she whispered to no one in particular.

The reason as to why her heart throbbed was because seeing the libero play with such ferocious intensity made her remember why she loved being on the court. Why she loved volleyball.

Claiming that her mother despised the sport was merely an excuse she had used in order to mourn, as Mitsuki had always been supportive of Aoi.

She wanted to get back on the court; to feel happiness again. To shine as bright as that libero.

After the match she learned that the spellbinding libero's name was Nishinoya Yuu, a third year regular on the boys team. Turns out he was quite famous in the middle school volleyball scene, considered to be a genius of sorts.

From that day onwards she joined an all age volleyball club at her local gymnasium, as she felt undeserving of her spot as one of the regulars on her school team. At least not while she was healing.

Though the process was slow and agonising, Aoi's pain gradually began to alleviate. She accepted the fact that she'd never truly be okay again, and that she was fortunate to have her dad and Kiyoko fortifying her.

Occasionally she found her aunt crying when she thought no one could see and had recurring nightmares, both of which reminded her of her harsh reality. But she truly was living better days.

Aoi regularly visited the boys team's practices as she was constantly inspired by Nishinoya and would find strength overflowing within herself seeing his plays, though she never made her presence apparent to him.

Alongside her admiration, she had developed a pesky crush on the third year.

She happened to overhear that he was going to Karasuno high school in spring, something about the uniforms being up his alley? Aoi internally thanked the universe upon hearing the news. Since Karasuno was the school that Kiyoko attended, she could enrol there without seeming totally weird.

A year Later

Aoi graduated from Chidoriyama, and decided to move into her own small apartment as she was about to enter high school. As much as she loved Kiyoko and her family, she couldn't help but feel intrusive and like a constant reminder of her mom to her Aunt.

Her dad was still bound to Tokyo because of his job, but Aoi didn't mind as she couldn't really imagine her dynamic with her father any other way. He was extremely reluctant to let his precious daughter live alone, but eventually gave in after months of incessant pestering from Aoi.

She was eager to join Karasuno as soon as possible, but encountered a slight problem after talking to Kiyoko.

Karasuno does not have a girls volleyball team.

Aoi, wanting to play on the same team as Nishinoya no matter what, cooked up a master plan with help from Kiyoko.

It was seemingly foolproof, but reckless as hell.

As the first day of school arrived, Aoi stood at the gates of Karasuno High School with short messily cut hair, a boys uniform and her breasts thoroughly secured by a chest wrap. She took a deep breath (feeling her chest quite literally tighten) and walked towards her high school life along a path scattered with cherry blossoms.

And so she began paving her own flower road.

Hi readers!

Yes this was inspired based on OHSHC!! Haikyuu and OHSHC are two of my all time faves they mean the world to me!

I hope the short hair and the name Aoi make more sense now, since she dresses up as a boy and Aoi is (conveniently) a unisex name.

Please do stick around for the rest of this story if you enjoyed this chapter

-Katsukinoya <33

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