Dr. Ito sat in his office responding to emails. Thanks to his dual screens, he was able to do his work and watch the World Volleyball Championships on the other. The old professor was never one for sports. Although, after hearing his students so excited over volleyball, he decided to watch yet another match. It was unfortunate that he found himself getting quite enthusiastic about the sport. This match was also catching his attention more than the inbox full of emails he needed to respond to.

Japan was currently playing against Serbia in the quarterfinals. They were in a time-out during the fourth set. Japan already had two sets under their belts. It was a miracle they did. The broadcasters were showing some of the notable plays from the last few rallies.

Dr. Ito's eyes were redirected to his second screen when footage of Mitsumi doing a flying dive caught his eye. It looked like it hurt. Now it made sense why she was looking so bruised all the time. 

We have #16, Mitsumi, diving for that incredible serve from Serbia's #30. Look at her speed. The ball gets up in front of Akira, the setter we haven't seen much of this season, and Saki is right there to break through that triple block! Look at that incredible play. It will be an adventure to watch these JNT rookies go head to head in the Japanese Spring Nationals again this year.

Dr. Ito had lost track of time as the game started again. He heard a knock on the office door and flinched as he scrambled to turn the volume down. "Come in." He called out.

It was just Mei. She had a large crate of music from the main offices that she was told to bring by. "I brought the items you requested. Where do you want them?"

"Just place them on the upright bench. I'll take care of that later." He pulled the bench he was talking about out for her.

Mei noticed the game on his screen. "Eh, Dr. Ito actually is watching Mitsumi's match?" She was rather surprised by the sight. "What's the score right now?"

"24-23, Japan is in the lead. I don't know what that 4 is in the middle though." He awkwardly admitted.

"Oh, that's the set number. If Japan keeps it up, we might be in the semifinals." Mei was hoping that was the case. "These games are five sets, the first team to win three wins the game." She explained to the unknowing music professor. She watched as Tetsuya blocked out Serbia's ace single-handedly. "Dang, that was a good read." She blushed to realize that she was getting distracted. "Anyways, have a good rest of your day, Dr. Ito." She bowed to her teacher.

He nodded and watched her scurry off. Mei had left right before Japan scored the winning game point. "Yes!" Dr. Ito found himself celebrating.

...

"Guys! We're going to the semifinals!" Mitsumi squealed in delight over the phone. She was on a group call with her family, Suga, and Kuroo. Apparently, Bokuto was on another date with Makoto. So, he was excused. "The girls and I have been crying since the game ended."

Her eyes were still puffy and red from all the tears. Kuroo fixed his earbuds and squinted a bit. "Congratulations! When was the last time JNT got this far?"

"25 years ago," Mitsumi stated.

Megumi's eyes widened, "25 years ago?! That's insane!"

"Dang, Chie, you guys are really turning up the heat!" Suga grinned as he sat on the couch.

Noriko nodded in agreement. "That save you had at the end of the fourth set looked like it hurt." She was honestly a bit worried that she watched her daughter fly halfway across the court and practically tumble to save a ball.

Mitsumi put a finger in the air right in the camera frame. "What kind of libero is worth their salt if they can't handle a tumble like that? Tis but a scratch!" In all honesty, the tumble left only a small bruise on her back. It was a good thing she had properly fitting elbow and knee pads.

"Let's see what your chiropractor has to say when you see him again." Her father rubbed his head.

"Oh, Dad, are you coming down here for work?" Mitsumi changed the topic. She was hoping to see him.

He shook his head and sighed, "No, I have to film the Inter-Highs over in Hyogo. I was originally supposed to go to Osaka, but one of my coworkers is now in the hospital." Her father was a bit disappointed with the sudden change. But, it happened.

Mitsumi shrugged it off like it was nothing. "You better watch my game tomorrow then!"

"I'm sure he is going to watch it, Sparks." Suga chimed in. His girlfriend could be quite demanding at times.

The "family call" was always a chaotic tournament update call. Somehow Kuroo found a way to get the group to share their best Dad jokes. The head of the Mitsumi household told him to never use them as pickup lines. The eldest child laughed off the stress of the day with the help of all the lame jokes. She wiped a tear from her eye as she got her breathing back to normal. It was the small moments like this when she was away from everyone that kept her going. 

Saki returned from their bathroom in her pajamas. She made her way into the video call frame with a smirk. "Tsumi and I are going to be filming some fun videos-"

"What videos?" Mitsumi interjected before her friend could finish her statement. "You've been scheming and I am not going to make a fool of myself." She angrily puffed her cheeks out in frustration. The last time Saki pulled a card on her like this was when they were on the All-Japan Youth Team. Mitsumi had found herself on the side of the streets of Paris puking her guts out after her devilish counterpart had made her eat some sort of weird food concoction. It left her miserable and living on the toilet for days. 

Unfortunately, Saki found great joy in torturing her childhood friend. And ever since they had both made the decision to go to different universities, she felt insanely deprived of the opportunity to cause a bit of a ruckus. Deprived was probably the wrong word to describe the intense desire Saki felt. It was more of a chaotic desperation. 

Noriko could see the mischievous glint in the girl's eye and shook her head. This wasn't her first rodeo either. "Don't leave her living in hotel bathrooms, Saki." She warned.

"I take it that you found a weird food again." Kuroo could resist laughing at the disgusted reaction Mitsumi's face immediately contorted into. "Something wrong with that, Tsumi?" He raised an eyebrow tauntingly. 

Mitsumi could taste the awful acidity of bile in her mouth at the memory.  "Make me eat something bad again and I'll tell Coach that we will need to ship a casket back to Japan." She glared at Saki, causing the room's temperature to drop significantly. 

...

Mei was sitting in her office laughing at a video she was watching on her phone. She assumed that all of the music faculty was out for a faculty meeting by how silent the office was. Her laugh echoed through the reception area as she watched Mitsumi run errands for Saki around the city they were visiting. The libero was sent on a scavenger hunt to find oddly specific items as a punishment for losing a drill they had done earlier in the video. The catch was that she didn't speak the country's language. So, she was desperately trying to find someone that spoke English.

"What has you laughing so hard, Mei?" Dr. Ito waltzed into the office with Oyami in tow. The professor-student duo was going to pay a visit to Dr. Tanaguchi's massive music collection. 

Mei scrambled to straighten herself out. "Oh, Mitsumi got dragged into a video with one of her teammates." She faked a dry cough to get herself to calm down. 

Oyami bit his lip as he tried to hold back his own laughter. "I saw part of it earlier. Suga sent it to me." 

The professor was now intrigued by the missing student's wanderings. Mei disconnected her earbud and allowed the video to play from her phone for a bit. Dr. Ito was a bit confused as to why Mitsumi looked so panicked as her teammate egged her on. He decided to investigate for himself once he had some downtime. But listening to his two students laugh along to their friend's antics was somewhat enjoyable. Although he still couldn't fully understand why the younger generation was so easily entertained, and why he found this entertaining as well.

And sure enough, the unimaginable happened. Before anyone could realize it, the stickler professor began to chuckle. Then his chuckle became a light laugh that erupted. Mei paused the video before she and Oyami stared at the professor in disbelief. The phone practically dropped out of her hand. 

Ito.exe stopped working.