Day 9

It was just after 8 pm. In the Inarizaki gymnasium. Seven people stayed behind for individual practice. Osamu was helping two first years with spiking practice. Suna had collapsed on the stage and was scrolling on his phone. Atsumu and Riseki were practicing serve-receives against a second-year libero.

When Emiko had asked if they needed anything, Atsumu wondered if she could stay still for target practice.

She scampered onto the stage and hid behind her phone.

"I can't believe I didn't find this loophole earlier," she berated herself. A couple seconds later, the facetime app was ringing.

"Hello!"

"Why?" Mirae narrowed her eyes. She was snuggled in her Karasuno volleyball jacket but the tip of her nose was pink. "Why are you calling me when you have homework to do?"

"Are you sick?"

"No," she sniffled.

"I'm going to pretend you didn't lie to me. And I did my homework. I am a responsible student."

"You're a failure."

"That's rude," Emiko rolled her eyes. "You should be crying tears of joy! We're seeing each other for the first time in eight days!"

"Eight days are too short."

"You're a lot meaner than I remember, Mirae. Who is making you mad? Come on, tell me, I'll yell at them."

"You can't even deal with the people who annoy you," she grinned much to Emiko's annoyance. "Do I need to remind you what happened with Akira?"

"Ew," she flinched, "do not bring up that creature's name. She is dead to me."

Mirae flopped to the floor and sat against the wall. She sighed heavily. "Why can't I be dead to you?"

"Okay, I'm hanging up." Emiko blinked because Mirae had the audacity to hang up first. "No!" she screamed.

A volleyball came flying in her direction. "Shut it!"

Emiko quickly called back and a few seconds later, Mirae answered.

"I'm sorry," she apologized, "I won't threaten you again. But shouldn't you apologize for forgetting my birthday?"

Mirae blinked. "You're going to eat those words, Emiko."

"Liar! You're just trying to save yourself and distract me! Jokes on you, my birthday is always forgotten so it doesn't hurt that much- Rintaro stop looking at me like that!"

"Stop being so depressing."

"I bought you dumplings! Be nice to me!"

"Who's that?" Mirae asked.

"Someone irrelevant."

"You're irrelevant."

"Am not!"

"I'm hanging up."

"No! Talk to me, please Mirae I'm begging you. Ask me how it's going."

"How is it going, Emiko? How's Inarizaki?"

"Oh, they're terrible." Emiko brought the phone close to her face and looked around suspiciously. "The Captain is the worst of it, Mirae. You would not believe me. Inarizaki must've been desperate because I have no idea how they decided on Atsumu Miya as captain and Osamu Miya as vice-captain."

"How bad are they?"

"It'd be like if Takita became captain and there was no Coach Ukai or Takeda Sensei or you to control him. Oh, and multiply it by three thousand."

Mirae's eyes widened. "What?"

"Just like these losers, he's always mumbling and grumbling, and he's so lazy. Honestly, I'm over it."

"Takita practices," Mirae snapped, "he works really hard. His health logs are starting to show improvement, he's getting ten gold stars."

"Mirae," Emiko deadpanned, "look me in the eyes and tell me that Takita Maeda is captain material."

"He can be!"

"No, he can't! That's what's so bad about this situation!" Emiko continued. "The Miyas are aggressive with their baby first years who only want love and attention. It's like if Narita and Kinnoshita and Tanaka kept threatening to punch and kick Yaotome and Shoji and Takita."

"What?"

"And they're so dumb! Just the other day, Osamu and Rintaro were debating what the nucleus does. Osamu said, and I quote, it gets things going, ya know? and Rintaro responded with, and again I quote, no, you idiot, the nucleus is a bomb. Mirae what the-" Emiko cursed.

"Oh my god," she looked visibly disgusted, "it's like that time Hinata and Kageyama tried to debate chocolate milk coming from brown cows. Emiko, you've found another Hinata and Kageyama."

"No way. These two in Hyogo are way more stupid."

"I think I'm lucky enough that there are no stupid people at Itachiyama. We have study dates."

"How lucky," Emiko mocked, "we have terrorize the new manager day, every day. Out of the entire team, there are four who do not participate. The coaches are two of them. Oh, by the way, the one coach will not stop talking about his dog. I feel bad for him."

"What's wrong with his dog?"

"Apparently no one else in his family respects him."

"Oh."

"Yeah, oh."

"Well the coach here is really nice. He's professional and we spend a lot of time talking about what it's like to be the coach for a powerhouse school. He's given me a lot of expert advice."

"That's great." Emiko rolled onto her stomach and propped her chin on the palm of her hand. "So you think you might want to be a volleyball coach in the future?"

"Maybe. It's definitely an interesting career path."

"Well unlike you," she fell onto her back and raised the camera, "this is torture and I never want to do it again. Tell me about Itachiyama's captain, by the way. What's he like?"

"Kyoomi Sakusa is considered the number one ace in all of Japan."

"No way," Emiko smirked, "Shoji and Hinata are way better."

Mirae grinned. "You're just saying that because we've seen our spikers play competitively."

"Speaking of competitive, Inarizaki had a practice match a couple of days ago and they're insane. Our team is going to have to come up with a lot of counter-attack measures and bulk up our defence. Say, is it possible to borrow those two middle schoolers. What were their names?"

"Yudai and Eito. No Emiko, they're not students at our school yet so our team would be disqualified if the referees found out."

"Who makes these rules?" she gasped, "We can give them Karasuno uniforms. No one would know. Wait, you said if they find out. If is good. I have a plan."

"No plan. I veto it."

"And who are you to veto my plan?"

Mirae raised an eyebrow. "Do you want to put it to a vote with our team?"

"Nope." She answered immediately. "I'm good. We do need to worry about our defence though. I saw the Miya twins do a quick attack more deadly than Tobio and Hinata's. And I thought our boys had reached the peak of quick-attack perfection."

"Kageyama's working on a different style of setting as is and Hinata's practicing receives. They are busy already; we can't do much with nationals just weeks away. Besides, Rina said the Miyas are nothing to worry about. I trust her judgement."

"But Hoshi and Saki said they're the team to watch out for. Don't you trust them? As your friends?"

Mirae narrowed her eyes. "I don't have to answer to you."

Emiko gasped dramatically. "I am your co-manager!"

"No that's Yachi. You're the water and laundry girl."

"Rude," she snapped, "don't forget it's me who helps with those nutritional recipes and meal plans. Me. Not Yachi. Our boys would not be able to eat the things they eat without me Mirae."

"Water and laundry girl."

"Fake nutritionist."

The facetime call ended again.

"Why!?" Emiko growled, tapping the call back button. It rang twice before being disconnected.

"Oi, Suzuki," Suna lazed out, "who are you calling?"

"A diva."

"Who?"

"My friend."

"Which friend?"

"Mirae."

"Ando?" Atsumu sprinted over and jumped onto the stage. Emiko screamed, throwing her phone at him. He fumbled with it and ultimately caught it. "Really, Suzuki? Really?"

"You ran at me and took a fighting stance! How was I supposed to react?"

"Let's chase her," Osamu piped in. "That way ya can react properly."

"No," Emiko growled back. "If you do that, I'm telling Mrs. Suna."

The twins looked at Suna. He narrowed his eyes and shook his head.

"Fine," Atsumu nudged her, "we'll lay off ya but you've gotta introduce us ta Ando."

"No?"

"Yeah," Osamu agreed. He walked up to them and held his hand out for the phone.

Emiko snatched it from Atsumu and held it to her chest. "Someone at Itachiyama is making her upset and she's taking that frustration out on me. If I put you two on the phone, her bad day will become terrible and just like I predicted months ago, she will kill herself. How do you expect me to answer to the whole Karasuno team?"

"Ando," Atsumu repeated. "Introduce us."

"No."

"Suzuki," he warned.

"Miya, I said no. Leave me alone, I've got to find a way to make her pick up my facetime."

"Text her that ya fell off the stage and broke yer back," Osamu suggested.

"She would reply with good."

"She a funny one-"

Atsumu's voice was interrupted when the phone rang. Mirae had facetimed her.

"Emiko, I forgot to tell you-"

Emiko's phone was ripped out of her hands.

"Ando? Oh my God, it's Ando!"

Mirae ended the call.

"You idiots!"

"She ended the call?"

"Well yeah, have ya seen yer face?"

"Shut-up! We haf the same face!" Atsumu narrowed his eyes at Emiko. "If she calls again, you gotta tell me."

"Yeah, no."

"I ain't kidding Suzuki."

The Miya twins returned to practice. Emiko sighed and dropped onto the floor again. Her fingers ran across the phone screen as she dialled Mirae's number. This time, she did not put it on speaker.

"Hey, the weirdest thing just happened. I called your phone and a guy picked up."

"Yeah, that was a fanboy, or as I like to call him, a deranged psychopath."

"A deranged psychopath?"

"Nothing. What did you want to tell me?"

"Oh, Kuroo and Bokuto found this online game and they want us to play with them. Since you blocked Kuroo, he asked me to tell you."

She groaned.

"Don't worry, I already accepted on your behalf. Also, turn on your camera."

Cautiously, she tapped the facetime button. "You literally suck."

"I need Kunimi to teach you some humility."

"No, you need him to bully me with you."

"Humility."

"Speaking of Kunimi, do you know why he's spamming me with emojis instead of words?"

She blinked. "No clue."

"He's literally a child."

"So are you."

"Why are you being so mean to me?"

"I'm not" Mirae sighed. "I just need a distraction."

Emiko sat up straight. "Why?"

"You can't tell any of the Karasuno boys, especially not Shoji."

"Oh, secrets? Yes!"

"I'm serious Emiko."

"Me too. Now tell me."

"There was a stalker at Itachiyama," she said in a hushed voice, "he followed me for a few days and then ended up proposing to me in front of everyone."

"Oh? Oh- I guessed it right. I knew it. Something at Itachiyama happened and that's why you were taking out your frustrations on me."

"Is that what you took from this?"

"Sorry, are you okay?"

"Yeah, just a little creeped out. I feel bad because the Coach ended up apologizing for it."

"Wait that reminds me- You know how I texted you the other day about obtaining proof?"

"Yeah."

"Well there is a bunch of Akira's at Inarizaki and they had pictures of the volleyball boys in, um, weird positions. I accidentally told Mrs. Suna about it and she talked to the principal, and then he made an announcement about it. Then, the girls had the audacity to lie about it in front of everyone."

"Wait actually?"

"Yeah, it was crazy."

Mirae huffed. She zipped her jacket up to her chin. "I miss Miyagi."

At that moment, Emiko realized that a figure was lurking behind Mirae. She squinted her eyes. "Don't look now, but I'm pretty sure there is a demon behind you. Or a ghost, I can't tell."

Mirae slowly turned around and jumped from where she was sitting. Then, she glared at her phone. "Emiko you idiot. He's not a demon, that's Sakusa. He's the team captain." She ushered him over. "Hey, this is Emiko, my co-manager."

"'Sup my guy," she held up a peace sign.

His lips tightened. "I'm not your guy." Then, he turned to whisper into Mirae's ear, "Now I know why you get along with Komori. You're friends with the female version of him."

"Well aren't you a friendly little thing."

"He's a full foot taller than you."

"Yeah and so is everyone else." Emiko rolled her eyes. "So what's up?"

Sakusa glared.

"Okay then." She straightened her posture. "I hope you guys are being nice to my best friend."

Mirae cleared her throat. "Komori isn't here right now, but he's been really kind towards me. He helped me fight off the stalker."

"Komori's an idiot and you know it."

"Don't be mean."

Emiko stared at the two. "Wait, wait, wait, are you the one who carries hand sanitizer?"

Sakusa blinked.

"Okay I know I'm not talking to a wall."

Sakusa did not move. Mirae stifled a laugh.

"What is wrong with you?" she shrieked, throwing her hands in the air. "How are you captain if you won't even talk? What is wrong with the captains of powerhouse schools? You guys are all idiots!"

"Oi!" Atsumu jumped on the stage, volleyball sitting on his hip and a playful smirk on his lips. "Ya talkin' crap, Suzuki?"

"And why do you have selective hearing?" she pointed a finger at him. "You literally turn deaf when I try to give you your water bottle but now suddenly- no, magically you can hear me from down there?"

"So that's a yes to the crap-talkin'." He raised the volleyball threateningly and aimed it at her.

"Who are you talking to?"

Atsumu stopped. He dropped the volleyball and jumped at Emiko, ripping her phone out of her hands and running away to put distance between them.

"Ando!" he screamed.

"Atsumu give it back!"

He raised the phone higher, still running. "I'm Atsumu Miya, setter and Captain of Inarizaki. Wow, yer right there. Wow, just, oh my god, wow. Yer awesome! Me and my brother used to watch yer games."

Emiko leaned over her knees, struggling to catch her breath. She could only hope that Mirae could protect herself.

Mirae awkwardly laughed but before she could respond, Sakusa moved into the frame.

"Go away Miya."

"Omi-kun," his voice sang out. "How nice it is to see ya."

"I can't say the same about you."

"Still prickly as ever."

"That's not a funny joke."

"That's cuz yer the punchline."

"Speaking of punching, where's your brother? He needs to punch you again."

Emiko straightened her back and crept up to where Atsumu was standing. Then, she jumped at him and reached for her phone.

"I should thank you," Sakusa's voice grumbled, "because you wanted the other one, we got Ando."

Atsumu grit his teeth as he used one hand to shove Emiko's face away. "Ya don't know what yer missin' out on Omi-kun. Our social media numbers are through the roof. Ya should check the followin' on Instagram and Twitter."

Emiko stopped struggling She looked away, mumbling. "I've barely started on that."

"I don't see how that is going to help you make it to nationals."

"Yer thinkin' too small Omi-kun." He dropped onto the ground. "With the followers I'm gettin', I'll be scouted for international teams. Tell 'em, Manager Suzuki who needs a good score on her final assessment, ain't that right?"

Her jaw dropped. Still, she had no choice but to sit beside him and obediently nod. "That's exactly how it works. Atsumu is going to get recruited for the British team!"

He turned to her. "They suck."

"Fine, then the Canadian one."

"They suck too."

"For the love of God- You'll make it better okay?"

"Think realistically Miya. Like how Itachiyama is going to defeat you at Nationals."

"No! Inarizaki is going to win and defeat ya. 'N everyone else too. Now, go away so I can talk to Ando."

Sakusa's stare flickered. "She doesn't want to talk to you."

"Wait, Mirae's still beside you?" Emiko pulled the phone to her face. "Mirae! This is the fanboy."

"Yes I can see that," she answered off screen.

"Ando, please accept my follow request on Instagram!"

"Sorry, I only accept follows from people I know."

"Ya just met me."

"I mean personally."

"But ya know Omi-kun and Suzuki, and they know me."

She apologized again. The entire time, Sakusa's face remained on screen. His smirk grew with each rejection.

"If you want what's best for you, don't add him. He's one stubborn weed who won't leave you alone if you give him his way."

"Omi-kun, do not ruin this for me."

"Ando, this germ is quite persistent. Give me those Lysol wipes, we'll try to clean it off."

Atsumu gasped. "How dare you demote me to a germ! I am better than that!"

Sakusa ignored him. "We might have to burn your phone."

"I can't afford to buy another one."

"What was your friend's name?"

"But you searched her up?"

"No I didn't."

"Komori was on your phone and he saw your recent searches."

Sakusa called into the phone. "Make sure you self isolate when you get home. I hear that germs spread quickly; you don't want to get infected."

"Wait what?"

There was panic in Emiko's voice. Mirae ran her hands down her face and didn't bother reaching for her phone. "I have to go," she said between the bantering. "I'll text you and we can facetime another day where it's just us two."

Then, she tapped the end-call button and turned to face Sakusa. "You could be a little nicer."

"It's Miya," he deadpanned, "being nice is impossible."

Mirae sighed and stood up, grabbing her bag she slung it over her shoulder. "I'll see you at morning practice."

It had been eight days since she had seen Emiko, and although the conversation between them was short and interrupted, it was refreshing to see her friend's face. 

They had just made it home from individual practice. Emiko walked to the kitchen to grab snacks and Suna went to the living room and dropped into a seat. He picked up the remote and went through the channels to see what was playing.

After a few seconds, he huffed in annoyance.

"Suzuki, what do you want to watch?"

Emiko placed the snacks onto the coffee table and fell into the seat next to him.

"Any movies playing right now?"

"Horror, comedy, action. Take your pick."

"Action."

Switching to the channel that played the movie, Suna placed the remote down and grabbed the bowl of popcorn from her lap.

It took five minutes before Emiko started making her comments.

"No offence," she swallowed, "but this movie sucks."

"Have you seen it before?"

"Nope, but it still sucks. I mean what's the plot even about?"

"We started watching from the middle."

"Still sucks."

Emiko reached for the potato chips and just as she opened the bag, Suna snatched it from her.

She blinked and punched his shoulder. He pushed her head away.

"Fine take it. You're so selfish, geez. I'll just take the popcorn-"

He quickly grabbed the bowl and used his body to shield her away from it.

"You suck. Rintaro you literally suck."

Suna responded by shoving another handful of food into his mouth and smirked.

Another hour went by and they both stopped paying attention to the movie. While Suna busied himself with his phone, Emiko was texting the groupchat she was in with Koganegawa and Kyotani.

Then, out of nowhere, she grabbed his phone and threw it across the living room.

"Pay attention! My friends said a cool scene is about to come up." She stared at the screen with wide eyes and shoved a handful of food into her mouth.

Suna grabbed the bag of chips and threw a handful at her. "Don't touch my phone."

"Why?! Literally why?!"

"Don't touch my phone-"

Emiko smacked his hand away. He threw more food at her. They repeated this a few more times before Mrs. Suna's voice interrupted them.

"Hello you two!"

They froze and slowly turned around.

"Ma?"

"Mrs. Suna is here! Welcome!"

"Ma, why are you guys back so early?"

"Traffic wasn't so busy, so we got home sooner than expected."

Realization hit Emiko and she dropped to her knees, furiously cleaning off the table. "I'm so sorry about the mess Mrs. Suna. I can assure you that Rintaro is to blame for this."

"Really? You're going to blame this on me?"

"I can't blame you for something you did."

"Yeah? And who insisted on opening three different flavoured bags of chips."

"Okay, but who ate all three bags of chips."

Emiko smirked. Suna narrowed his eyes. He grabbed the bowl of popcorn and dumped it on her head.

"Rintaro," Mrs. Suna called before anyone could retaliate. "Aren't you proud of Tomiko? She won silver at her skating competition." 

"Yeah, that's cool. Good job."

"Oh Emiko, this is my daughter. I told you about her, remember?"

Mrs. Suna moved out of the way to show off her daughter. Emiko couldn't believe how similar the siblings were. 

Her eyes widened and she nodded her head. "I remember! Congrats on winning silver!" She leaned down and pushed her hand out. "Nice to meet you, Tomiko, I'm Emiko. I can tell you're nothing like Rintaro because he's a loser and I can tell that you're not."

"So are you."

"Shut it!"

Tomiko glared at the outreached hand and pushed it away.

"I hate you!" She stormed up the stairs and slammed her bedroom door. Mrs. Suna chased after her.

"Yeah, I didn't miss that." Suna shuddered, hearing a yell from his sister.

"I'm sure she just had a bad-"

"Nope, this is normal."

They stood there awkwardly for another few seconds, listening to the argument that was taking place above them. Cringing at the yells, Emiko decided it would be best if they left for a bit so Suna's sister could calm down. She reached for her coat that was hanging near the door.

"Maybe we should-"

"I hate her!"

"Tomiko, she is a guest!"

"I don't care!"

Suna nodded his head. He grabbed his coat and shoved Emiko out of the door. "Yeah, let's go."

|Note| 

Hey guys! Sorry for another late upload. With the end of our classes and exams coming up, it's been crazy. We hope you guys had a safe break and a Happy Easter if you celebrate it!

Next week, we're bringing an Among Us chapter where Kuroo, Kenma, Bokuto, Akaashi, the Miya Twins, Sakusa, Komori, Mirae and Emiko play together. There's just a lot of sus behaviour in the next one XD

That's all for this upload, please don't forget to vote!

See you all next week😊

|End Note|