Day 13

The sun was a blinding orange across a midnight blue sky.

The ground was layered with a crisp sheet of snow and the paths were separated by glass domes. Within a few minutes, they would each light up in colours of blue, purple, pink, and green. Ornaments hung from the trees, low enough that they had to duck underneath them.

Ishida and Maeda were holding hands with two girls from the girls' volleyball team. There was a skip in their steps as they laughed and giggled childishly, leading the way into the heart of the festival.

Komori, Mirae, and Himari walked behind them at a slower pace. Aside from the laughter ahead, they basked in the sound of snow crunching under their boots and the occasional sniffle.

"How cute!" Himari gushed. She knelt and pointed to a lopsided snowman. "He's so tiny, I have to take a picture."

"They gave him sticks for arms too." Komori tugged the black beanie off his head and knelt beside her. He fitted his cap on the snowman. "Alright, take the picture."

Himari blinked, a look of surprise on her face.

Komori glanced at her, the corners of his lips lifting.

Something had just been set off between the two of them and Mirae knew that she was infringing on an intimate moment.

She turned around and bit her lip. This must have been the same dawning realization she had the first time she looked at Tsukishima beyond his physical appearance. The understanding that he was gentle in anxiety inducing situations, that he listened empathetically, and he was dependable and honest to a fault.

"Mirae, you coming?"

She glanced up. Komori had shaken the snow off his beanie and was wearing it again. Himari stood at his side, a blush colouring her cheeks that was definitely not caused by the winter cold.

"Yeah."

The pathway was now lit with the gentle pastel colours. The carts and shops adorned their signs and tables with flickering lamps and glittering beads. It smelled of sweet pastries and fried foods. Friends, families, and couples huddled close as they enjoyed the festivities.

Ishida, Maeda, and the girls, Sara and Yui were, waving to them from a small store selling handmade gifts and winter wear accessories.

Komori raised his hand and they disappeared.

"I'm going to check out the sweets," Himari pointed to their left, "I want cotton candy and candy apples."

"Cavities," Mirae shuddered.

"I knew you'd say that," she grinned, "I'll meet up with you guys later."

"Wait," Komori grabbed her hand. "Can I come with you?"

Himari's eyes widened at their interlocked fingers.

"I think that's a great idea," Mirae answered for her. "I'm going to find a tea shop. Text the group when you guys are done, and we'll meet up again."

Leaving no room for argument, she turned around and briskly walked down the path they just came from. She reached into her pocket and turned on her phone. It was 6:28pm and he would still be at practice.

Mirae needed to hear his voice.

Sakusa glared at the child who was staring at him with eyes wide enough that they could pop out of the sockets. This was one of the reasons he despised crowds. People stood too close to him, brushed against him when they walked, and children stared at him like he had grown a pair of horns on his head.

"Coffee for Sakusa?"

He wrapped both hands around the large cup of hot coffee and thanked the barista. Sending the harshest glare he could to the kid, he turned around and went to find a table to sit at.

His preferred table at the corner of the room was occupied but Sakusa turned back around when he realized that it was Mirae sitting there. She was holding her phone in her hands, staring at it with a broken look on her face.

He walked up to her. "Hey."

She blinked once and then looked up. "Hi Sakusa."

"Do you mind if I sit with you?"

"Of course not," she tried to smile. "I didn't think you were coming to the festival."

"I'm just here for coffee."

"Komori said you have your own coffee maker."

He resisted the urge to smile. "I also like watching people."

"Really?" her brows furrowed.

"It passes the time. Plus, people are stupid so I judge them on just how stupid they can be."

"I don't think there's a limit to that," she grinned. "Couldn't you have watched people at the festival?"

He took a sip from his drink and hummed. "No. I'd be required to socialize and participate in the festival. Motoya would make sure of it. See I have a rule. It's to never go anywhere with Motoya."

"The relationship of an introvert and an extrovert." She glanced back down at her phone. "I can relate."

It was true that people watching was an entertaining pastime for him, but Sakusa also enjoyed the little stories he could conjure up about people based on their facial expressions and the tone of their voices. He didn't expect to be right or wrong. He didn't care.

Now though, as his dark gaze scrutinized each worry line creasing Mirae's face, he peered into the sombre look in her steel eyes, he wanted to unveil all of her secrets.

"You're not like your sister," he blurted.

She dropped her phone and wrapped her hands around the cup of tea. "You've got no idea."

"Why though?"

"Why we're not alike?"

"Why is she the way she is and why are you," he paused, "you?"

The corners of her lips lifted as she hid behind the cup of tea. After a moment of deliberation, she set it back on the table.

"When my parents got divorced, Rina went with my dad, and I went with my mom. I don't remember much about him, but I know he spoiled her with gifts and whatever else she wanted because he was working fulltime. Add that onto the fact that she's a talented wing spiker who won a national tournament at the age of eight and has been constantly bombarded with interviews and sponsorships and, well, you've got Rina."

"So, she's a wannabe celebrity."

"I think so."

"I didn't know who you were," Sakusa confessed, "before. Motoya mentioned you were Rina's twin sister, that you also played volleyball but I had never heard of you."

"I don't play anymore."

"Why not? I saw the recording of Yokohama versus Nagoya."

She opened her mouth and then stopped. He watched as she pondered and almost seemed to be weighing the next few words before she spoke them.

"I had a fight with my Junior High team and ever since then, I can't bring myself to play competitively. Rina has tried countless times, I know just how much she wants to play on a team together again, but the thought of it makes me sick to my stomach."

"Anxiety is a normal part of playing in front of a crowd."

"It's not just anxiety though. It's like my senses are on overdrive and everything is ten times louder and faster than it should be."

She was wringing her fingers on the table. Those same hands that set pinpoint perfect tosses, the ones that loomed over the net to assist with the blocks, the ones that were clenched into fists at the tail end of the tournament, were now brushing against frostbitten knuckles.

Sakusa had watched the last two minutes of the Yokohama vs. Nagoya video in an attempt to decipher what it was that went down between the twin sisters. While the rest of their team shouted in glee, jumping into a group hug with tears streaming down their blissful faces, Mirae and Rina faced each other on the court, side profiles to the camera.

Despite having played four sets that went well into the thirty-point range, Rina's shoulders were tensed, and her lips were curled in a snarl. She was prepared to do something; what it was? Sakusa was trying to figure that out.

For someone who was diligent and calm when a receive was butchered, her face was beat red. He noticed that Mirae kept clenching and unclenching her jaw, as if holding back whatever words she was prepared to spit out.

Their team had won but it was apparent that something was very wrong between the twin sisters.

"I know what you must be thinking," Mirae said. "In that under 10 tournaments, I played well despite any anxiety. It's true that in the moment I can push through it, but the aftermath is the problem. When I'm alone and the exhaustion really starts to settle in. I feel the weight of it all in my bones. I don't want to torture myself that way."

"You shouldn't," Sakusa replied. His eyes glanced down to where her fingers were tapping on the back of her hand.

"Of course, then there was the popularity of it all. We couldn't go anywhere without being stopped and people asking for a picture. When we left the city team to join our middle school teams, some people were intimidated, and others thought we were entitled. We had to be careful of who we befriended. Very quickly, Rina became Yokohama's sweetheart; she's confident and let's her talent speak on her behalf. She doesn't try to appease people and I guess that's alluring for most."

"I don't care about Rina," Sakusa shrugged, holding her gaze. "How did you deal with the fame?"

"I guess you could say I was a goody-two shoes. I smiled for the cameras and laughed even if the jokes made no sense. Why do you ask?"

"I'd like to keep playing volleyball, but my brother and sister have said that with how everything is right now, it's only a while before people expect more from me. I'm a private person so the idea of being famous and recognized is off setting. Still, I love volleyball. Even if I go to university, I want to continue playing. There aren't that many people in our age group whose advice I trust when it comes to this spotlight."

"So you asked me?" she shook her head, the ghost of a smile playing on her lips. "I'm not sure I can be of much help."

"Well, I'm not asking your sister."

"Rina knows what she's doing and if I'm being honest, she's dealt with this whole situation way better than I have. At least she can tell the difference between an honest person wanting to learn from her and a manipulator who wants to use her and tear her down."

"Is she even approachable though?" he asked.

"Yeah, you'd be surprised. She can be charming when she wants to be."

"I highly doubt that."

"Then you haven't met my sister."

"No, I have," he scrunched his nose, "and if I didn't have to meet her again, I would not complain."

"That's a little mean," she grinned, "just what did she do to you?"

"I don't want to relive a nightmare." Sakusa shook his head.

"Well, everyone is different. I guess that is why team sports are so interesting. It's amazing how a group of people with different personalities and unique dynamics can come together and work in unison to win against another team who is equally as different. Like, every time I think about my time with Karasuno and the friends I've made here, I think about how lucky I am."

"How so?"

"How can I explain this? Well, Karasuno is a loud team. Some of them are so childish, like I have to chase them after practice with water bottles, so they rest and not go to hit more spikes. Others look for open windows of opportunity to rile each other up. And then we have the quiet ones who can be just as sneaky and manipulative, but they throw in their compliments to trick you. I've never had friends like them."

"Change can be surprising," Sakusa agreed, "but I still prefer routine and familiarity."

"Oh, don't get me wrong, I do too. But I think it's a waste to love this sport so much, to dedicate so much time and energy into improving yourself, just to hold yourself to one team because its familiar. You're a wing spiker so humour me," she leaned closer, resting her chin on the palm of her hand, "what kind of a setter do you want?"

Sakusa's eyes widened by a fraction. With his talent, the question was always what do you need? What he wanted though? Something he could indulge in without having to explain himself?

"I've always felt the need to trust my setter. To know that they are dependable and diligent. But if your asking what type of setter I want then," he paused, "I want an ambitious setter."

Mirae's smile widened, "explain yourself please."

Sakusa felt himself mirror her expression for no reason. His chest felt lighter than ever and even his lips moved without deliberation.

"Kiyoomi Sakusa is a top three wing spiker, the ace of his team at a powerhouse school. His teammates are talented and dependable and play so that he is the focus of the court. But if it's my choice, then I want a setter who shares that spotlight with me. Who can show off my talents as well as their own. They fight just as hard as I do, they play tricks, and I can challenge myself to keep up with them. That's the kind of setter I want."

For a moment, he wondered if he had said too much. In the magic of the moment, where it was just the two of them in the dimly lit coffee shop, he confessed more than he realized.

Her eyes softened and she dropped her hands onto the table.

"We setters are mostly one and the same; give us any team and we'll give each of our players one hundred and ten percent. But in that rare moment when we find one wing spiker or one middle blocker who pushes us past our limits, who shows just what they're capable of and pulls us to meet their talents, we devote ourselves to them. You'll find a setter like that and for both your sakes, I hope you hold onto each other."

He wanted to question the certainty in the tone of her voice and if it were anyone else, he would have. So, what was it that made him trust her so blindly?

In the past twelve days, he had watched her from the backgrounds. She was an honest and reliable manager. She was patient with their coach who had never even heard of Twitter and when updated their social media pages, she spent two evenings giving him step by step instructions on how to use it most effectively.

She was patient and kind with the immature first years. She was honest and instructive with the hopeful second years.

He had seen her go from confident to flustered, from nervous to calm.

It was beyond his comfort zone. It was foolish because she would be boarding the train back to Miyagi tomorrow morning. He could see her again at the national tournament in two weeks but the likelihood that he would see her again beyond that was low.

Sakusa reached for her hands and froze.

Mirae was holding her phone to her chest. She was biting her bottom lip and glancing out the window with a giddy expression and a sparkle in her steel eyes.

His heart dropped in his stomach as he realized why it was that he could trust her; Mirae Ando had left her heart back in Miyagi.

|Note|

So that was Mirae's ending!

We understand that this chapter may not have been as entertaining as the other ones nor does this ending for Sakusa and Mirae seem fulfilling. And honestly that's because of the type of characters they are. Both are introverted who are not able to interact or connect with other people as easily. Mirae was at Itachiyama for about two weeks, but that was still not enough time for the two of them to build a relationship.

Now, don't worry, this is not the end for Mirae and Sakusa, we have much much more planned for the two of them. Also, for any manga readers! Does the setter that Sakusa talks about remind you of anyone? For the anime watchers, here is a mini spoiler, that description is very important for Sakusa's future.

Next week, we are coming back with a very dramatic reunion between the boys at Karasuno and Mirae and Emiko! Do expect some crazy Uncle Keishin moments, Yaotome's true colours as he plans and executes his revenge, and maybe an interaction or two for Karasuno pairings.

That's all for this week, thank you for reading and please don't forget to vote! Take care of yourselves.

|End Note|