Sure, it wasn't like Asahi was dead or anything.

But it was still the worst end of year Nishinoya'd ever had.

He'd known it was coming, but...

At this time last year, he had looked down at his wrist and felt a feeling of dread. Why did he feel the same way now?

Eventually, first term rolled around and Chikara was the new captain, to the surprise of no one. Yachi handed him the club sign up forms for this year. There were five.

Name: Ayumu Haruki

"Hi, my- uh, my name is Haruki Ayumu! Thank you for having me!" An apprehensive blond-headed boy, Haruki truly reminded everyone on the team of Asahi. It wasn't a good thing.

"I was a middle blocker in middle school, and I saw you guys at nationals and decided to go to Karasuno!"

I'm sure we'll get a lot of those.

Name: Hikaru Kaede

"My name is Kaede Hikaru! I was a wing spiker in middle school, and I look forward to playing this year!" He had curly brown hair, and honey-toned eyes that shone with excitement. "I can't wait to get to know all of my teammates!"

Name: Katsu Satami

A dirty blonde boy walked up to them. "My name is Satami Katsu. In middle school, I played the libero position,"

Nishinoya perked up.

"A-And I think you guys are really cool and I wanted to play volleyball with you all!"

Cute.

Name: Ren Ryota

"My name is Ryota Ren. I played setter and I think it'll be really fun to play with you guys." The green-haired boy bowed and walked back to the other first years.

Name: Yuzuki Satami

This time, it was a brown-haired girl who approached them. "M-my name is Satami Yuzuki, and I was wondering if I could b-be a manager on this team because my brother is here?"

Yachi handled this one. "Of course! Come on, I'll show you the girl's changing room." Nishinoya couldn't help but notice how much the shy blonde had come out of her shell. I bet Kiyoko helped with that a lot.

It's too bad everyone isn't here right now.

He had felt this in his second year, too, of course, but no one there had been his soulmate. He hadn't become very close with the third years during his first year anyway, so he was sad to see them go, but not devastated as he was now. As practice began and the new first years began to introduce themselves to everyone, Tanaka sidled up to him. "That Kaede really reminds you of Asahi, doesn't he." "Yeah," Noya admitted, "He does. He totally does." "It's fine dude," Tanaka slapped him on the back, "Don't be looking gloomy in front of our first years! You gotta make a good impression, bruh!" Nishinoya found himself laughing. "Okay, okay, I will, but only if you stop ignoring Ennoshita."

"What the hell, dude? You gotta bring that up here?!"

"Well you two barely talk!"

"Uh huh, AND?!"

He grabbed Tanaka's wrist and they both burst into laughter. "Make a move, dude! Make a damn move!" Noya exclaimed, tearing up from laughing too hard. "Now let's go meet our first years!"

Ennoshita and Yachi handed forms to each member of the team. "On this sheet is a form for your parents to fill out allowing a team building exercise we were planning. We're all gonna go to a child-friendly karaoke bar and spend an evening there." Everyone took the forms, then ran home.

Nishinoya has logged on
Asahi has logged on

Bby, how r u?

Good, are you done with school?

Yeah. How's the big college thing working out for you?

It's fine. I miss u tho.

   Me too

I have a kinda big test in three days time, so wish me luck

Luck wished

Gn

Asahi has logged off
Nishinoya has logged off

Noya stared at his phone screen for a few minutes. "Oh well," he muttered, and went to sleep early, because the trip was tomorrow.

251 miles away, and it felt like each one got a little longer every time they said a goodbye.