The teams were refreshed and reset after the holiday break. Everyone was extra full of energy as they went through their morning conditioning. Today was all about footwork, decoys, and synchronized attacking for the ladies. Their court was lined with neon yellow cones and different markers. The ladies were zig-zagging through the cones, passing volleyballs to each other in pairs. At different checkpoints, one of the managers would make one of them dive for the ball and receive it or set it back to them. The goal was to not knock any of the cones over.

Takahashi was paired with Ishida, who out of everyone, had the clumsiest footwork out of all of them. She was much more coordinated than her partner. They were in the first row while Mitsumi and Nomiya were in the second row. Their height difference was almost two feet. Mitsumi had long legs for her height, but that meant nothing when she was working with the team's resident giant. She couldn't keep up as well as she usually could. However, her footwork was still super clean. Everyone was positive that those watching were having a good laugh.

"You kept up well, Shorty." Nomiya held her hand out for a high five. "Or maybe we should call you Twinkle Toes." She winked and grabbed her water bottle from the wall.

"Neither would be best." Mitsumi sipped on her sports drink.

Shimura finished her round with Makoto and wiped her face with her towel. "How are you so good at this?" She hated footwork drills.

Mitsumi finally had to let the cat out of the bag. "I was in ballet until High School." She shrugged and tossed her empty plastic bottle against the wall. She held onto one foot and stretched her quads out. She was starting to feel sore from everything.

"So you really have Twinkle Toes." Makoto had overheard Nomiya's statement. "What made you come to volleyball?"

"Kuroo made me try it after my dance studio shut down." Mitsumi leaned her back on the wall and crossed her arms. It didn't bother her so much because at least she had Kuroo to give her a sports crash course. "The other studio was way too expensive, and I had played volleyball casually with Kuroo growing up. So, I decided to give it a shot and fell into this blackhole." Everyone could tell there was something missing from the story. Although it was entirely believable.

Shimura fixed her bun that was falling out. She took the bobby pin she was holding in between her teeth and shoved it into her hair. "That explains your insane flexibility and light feet." She glanced over at the libero quickly. "You're a force to be reckoned with, you mixed bag."

The libero nodded and placed her hands on her hips. She watched the rest of her teammates go through the drill quietly. Something was off about her captain and she couldn't figure it out. Was she hearing spite in her voice? Or was she overthinking Shimura's actions again. Coach Yamata kept making Takahashi and Ishida go through until they stopped knocking the cones. Everyone else cooled down on the other court so they could go to lunch.

"Hey, Captain, can we talk for a sec?" Mitsumi took a deep breath. She caught Shimura right before she exited the gym's lobby. "I promise it won't be long." Whatever was going on, Mitsumi wanted to make sure it wasn't her actions causing something she wasn't aware of. She learned from her fight with Koushi that these things were better sorted out before they blew up.

Shimura nodded and looked down at her junior. Her face was fixed in an unusually focused expression. The creases in her forehead were deep, and her eyes seemed to be calculating everything that was going on in her brain. "Did something happen, Mitsumi?"

"I was just wondering if you are doing alright." Mitsumi could feel the tension build in the room. She hated it when things like this happened. Even if it wasn't her doing. "I just want to make sure I haven't offended you by accident, or anything." Her voice trailed off into the now empty lobby.

The captain let out a deep breath and let her shoulders drop. "I don't get it. You have this gift and you are just good at everything naturally." Shimura decided to let her brain filter go. "You come here and suddenly all of the attention is on you. You have your whole life put together in this pretty package that was just handed to you. And you are just so kind to everyone. You just get along so easily with people. How do you do it? "

Mitsumi's eyes widened. It wasn't like that at all. Now she could understand why Shimura looked so annoyed during morning practice. She was jealous. The freshman just listened for a moment. Hearing what she had to say honestly really hurt. Mitsumi saw her captain as a friend and ally. Not some rival. She chuckled at Shimura's last statement. "Honestly, Shimura, I ask myself that everyday." She said finally speaking up. "And, I don't have raw talent as most people do. I practice more than everyone else so I can keep up with all of you. My life is actually on the brink of falling apart all of the time because it's all so difficult to balance."

"What do you mean?" Shimura cocked an eyebrow.

"Remember the one day when I said I wasn't going to be at practice?" Mitsumi paused for a moment and watched her captain nod slowly. "I had fallen into a major depressive episode after a major anxiety attack and made myself sick because things had gotten so out of hand in my life. I am just trying to do what I love." She could feel her muscles tense up as she spoke. "I have to fight to do what I love, or else I will lose it forever. So, don't think I have it easy. Because nobody does."

Shimura had nothing to say. They stood in silence staring each other down. After a while, the captain clenched her fist realizing she had been wrong this whole time. "I am too... You better take care of yourself. Now that I know the truth, I'll be pounding on your door to check-in." She smiled her usual smile and was back to normal. It was as if nothing had happened.

"If you ever need a listening ear, Cap, I'm always here. Just know I've been through my fair share of ordeals too." Mitsumi put her hands in her coat pockets and made her way toward the cafeteria.

...

"Hey! Hey! Hey!" Bokuto's new extra powerful cross-shot spike ricocheted off of Mitsumi's arms, leaving her with a blaring red mark where the ball had made its impact. He held his arms up in a victory pose. "That felt EPIC! Kuroo, did you see that one? It actually worked!"

"Nice kill, Bokuto!" Kuroo gave Bokuto a congratulatory high five.

Ichiyama winced from the sidelines, "I would hate to be on the receiving end of that." He was surprised that Mitsumi's arms weren't blasted off.

The two teams were playing a full match against each other to test some new skills they all picked up. And so far, the men were winning. Their spikes had become a lot more powerful and scarily accurate. The ladies were having an insanely difficult time trying to read them. They were well into the second set, and the men had already one the first one. Their coach had given them all the tools to spot decoys and tighten their defenses that morning. He had even drilled them in all of the possible scenarios that he could come up with. But, of course Coach Ueno had to take the rouge path and began to get experimental.

Mitsumi shook the stinging pain from her arms as she was rotated off the court. "What the literal heck, Bokuto. Your spikes can kill a man." She watched the score go up by a point. They were losing 19-16. It wasn't exactly the best spot to be in. Apparently, Coach Ueno and Coach Yamata had placed a bet before the game that the losing coach had to pay for the night's drinks. The men had heard about it from a conversation Takuma overheard between Riza and Watanabe. And they were willing to do what they could to ensure their beloved coach could get his free drinks.

Matsuki patted her young libero on the back. "Men are so simple-minded." She noticed the harsh marks on Mitsumi's arm. "Dayum, Bokuto really left a mark. At least you tried to dig it! I would have frozen in place! Do you need an ice pack?"

"I'll be fine. Thanks for the concern." She waved her hand to the side. The pain had already subsided and left the impact site a little bit tender. It wasn't anything she wasn't already used to. Mitsumi watched the current rally go on. Her eyes were fixated on Suga as he positioned himself to set the ball. But, his eyes gave his moves away. "It's a dump!" She called out randomly.

Makoto was the closest to Mitsumi and heard her call. Part of her was a bit hesitant, but she glanced at the silver-haired setter and noticed he was looking at a spot in front of their side of the net where nobody was currently standing. She sprinted from the back row and dove to keep the ball in play. She managed to get the dig and got up onto her feet. "Chance ball!"

"Nice receive, Makoto!" All the ladies called out.

Coach Yamata was on his feet for this rally, "CONNECT IT, LADIES! CONNECT!"

Yuki dashed over and was quick to toss a high set. Nomiya, Shimura, and Takahashi charged after the ball. Takahashi zipped past Yuki in the opposite direction of the ball as Nomiya acted as if she was going to spike. Psyche! Shimura slammed the ball right onto the ten-foot line. The successful synchronized attack made the ladies erupt into cheers. They finally caught up, the points were an even 20-20.

"Koushi has gotten sneakier. And I don't like it." Mitsumi mumbled under her breath. Her lips were fixed into a cute pout as her cheeks puffed out and she crossed her arm.

Ishida pinched Mitsumi's cheek gently. She looked like a kid when she was in a grumbly mood. "Settle down, kid. Your digs are smoother than his words. So stop fretting." She smooshed Mitsumi's cheeks in her hands and forced her lips into a fishy face.

The match ended with the men winning. Coach Yamata was spewing curses at the fact that he had to pay for a night out drinking with a heavy drinker. His wallet was probably going to be destroyed. "Ladies, you can't let the shock of some crazy moves affect you on the court. Nationals are coming up in just a few short days. We don't know what will turn up there. Connect and adjust!"

"Right!" They took their scolding with a determined nod. Since they lost, they had to clean up the gym.

Coach Yamata ran his fingers through his slicked-back black hair. "Tighten up your act before tomorrow afternoon. Expect extra training tomorrow." He sighed and dismissed the ladies to go clean up.

...

Bokuto returned to his apartment with a first aid kit he purchased at the pharmacy. Koushi, his resident organizational expert, was over helping him put together his things for Nationals. He had looked at the list that Mitsumi and Kuroo had texted him. He was pretty sure he had everything now. Chie was sitting at the coffee table with her crafting supplies scattered across the surface. She was tasked by Watanabe and Riza to make the luggage tag inserts for everyone. Kuroo was helping out by cutting the cardstock tag inserts out.

The television was playing whatever was on in the background. Mix that with Bokuto speaking his thoughts out loud and you had an ambient apartment atmosphere. "Hey, Mitsumi, can I borrow the black marker really quick?" The owl boy was placing pieces of masking tape on each of the individual containers that would be going into his bags.

"As long as you promise you won't ruin anything, Bo." Chie finished writing and placed the cap back onto the permanent marker. She absent-mindedly tossed the marker towards Bokuto and reached for her spare black marker.

Suga had his back turned. The marker hit him in the back of the head, which made him flinch from the surprise. "Can't we pass things like normal human beings?" Everyone could have sworn that an irk mark appeared on his forehead.

"Technically, she did pass it. It just got blocked." Kuroo finished cutting out the last sheet and threw the scraps into the recycling bin. He tidied the stack of rectangular tags and proceeded to lay back on the floor. The Salonpas patch he had placed on his shoulder blade had worn off. The dull pain of his tight muscles was returning.

Suga handed the marker to Bokuto with a sigh. "Is there anything I can help with over there?"

"I'm just writing everyone's name and the university contact information on the inserts." Mitsumi had a stack of completed ones next to her right hand. "You can put these in the actual tags. The men will have the silver ones. The ladies have the baby blue tags. There should be three for each person." She gave him his instructions and scooted over to make space for him. The leather tags had the University's logo on the center back. Suga got to work slipping the cardstock into the tags.

"Does anyone know what these go to?" Bokuto had finished writing his name on everything. He held up a stack of gold stickers of the 25th-anniversary pin Chie wore on her volleyball jacket. "I know for a fact these aren't mine."

Everyone turned around from their work. Mitsumi waved him over and looked at the stickers. "I think those are for these." She looked at the instructions the managers had given her. "Those will go on the back of the blue tags on the bottom right corner." The instructions were oddly specific, but Mitsumi figured it was better that way. "Want to put them on?"

"Heck yeah!" Bokuto was feeling useful again. "There's this one kid in my group at work who literally has a sticker obsession. I almost got covered in those colored dots the other day." He started to chatter away.

It was honestly really cute how passionate Bokuto was about the kids he oversaw. Plus letting him stick stickers on tags made him feel useful. Something he didn't feel too often. Kuroo helped to wrap everything up in the end. "Aight, I'm hopping in the shower. Is there anything else that needs to be done?"

Mitsumi shoved the plastic grocery bags in her backpack. "Not right now! I'll let you know if there is!" She shrugged her backpack on and waited for Koushi to stand up.

"See you guys later!" Suga followed Mitsumi out the door. They were off to deliver the completed items to Riza. Then they could finally have a well-deserved date.

...

Riza wasn't home. But, she told them just to drop the bags off on her doorstep. Mitsumi took the opportunity to run home really quick and swap her backpack out for her crossbody purse.

"We've got three days until we step on the orange court. How are you feeling?" Suga swung their arms as they passed through the front gates of the school. He was starting to feel the weight of the team on his shoulders.

Mitsumi had to skip a little bit to keep up with his long strides. "It doesn't matter how many times I play in tournaments or matches like this, I still end up super nervous until it's all over." She had traveled all over the world playing with other talented teams. But for her, there was nothing more unsettling than playing in her home country with everyone watching her.

"What do you do to help your nerves?" He was genuinely curious. He hadn't felt this nervous for a tournament this far in advance before. It was one of the only things on his mind.

The girl laughed nervously. There was nothing she could do about her nerves. "Don't worry about me, Koushi." She rubbed her neck. "I'm just worried that I won't hold up."

The sharp sound of knuckles cracking echoed in the quick silence. Sugawara Koushi was a bit out of practice with his little ritual. However, desperate times called for desperate measures. He wound his arm across his chest. "Negativity..." Koushi chopped Mitsumi's side with a decent force, but not enough to hurt her. "BE GONE!"

"Ow!" Mitsumi kicked his shin in response to his actions. "What the heck was that?!" She coughed a little bit. A bit of wind had been knocked out of her from the lovely chop.

He squealed an unusual sound as the pain from her kick shot up his leg. He was now hopping up and down on one foot holding his leg. "See! You'll hold up fine if you can kick me like that!" He didn't see that coming at all.

Their pains subsided after a minute and they both puffed their cheeks at each other for their actions. They ultimately laughed it off. There was no way they could be angry over it.

"You know, Chie, sometimes it's good to do things differently." He returned his arm around her. "Or even to be different."

Mitsumi found his comment to be random. She blinked a few times and snuggled back into the safety of his side. "You say the strangest things sometimes." The statement struck a chord with her for some reason. Being different wasn't a bad thing, it was just hard. And she knew that well.

They settled into a booth at the cafe they frequented. Everything and anything came up in conversation. Campus events, team gossip, the classes they would be taking the next semester, shopping deals, etc. The conversation had no fixed topic and just danced around. Although, it all took a turn when they started talking about their teams' practices.

"I can't believe Bokuto almost blasted my arms into outer space," Mitsumi whined as the waitress dropped off their orders. "That quick you guys pulled was nasty."

"Not as nasty as Hinata and Kageyama." The setter tacked on. "Bokuto was the last to sync up with my sets on the team. He was all like 'I miss Akaashi! He has the best sets!' and all. He finally synced this week." He sighed heavily. They were lucky that the spiker had managed to get a grip on his new setter. It was obvious that the change was hard on him.

Mitsumi's arms had a good bruise that went up to her forearms. It was going to hurt a ton to play with it. But, what would athletics be without a little pain? She whipped her phone out and took a picture of their food. The sweet treats and sandwiches looked too perfect. She licked her lips and chomped down on her veggie sandwich. He had his phone out to do the same thing. Except he pointed it at her and snuck a photo in. Her eyes were squinted shut and her cheeks were all puffed out like a chipmunk.

"This place still has the best veggie sandwich." Mitsumi's words were all conformed and mushed together as she spoke with her mouth full. As her mother put it, when she was starving, she ate like a man.

Suga sipped on his warm cheddar soup and watched her movements. She really had no shame. He paid for the meal and took the bag of leftover sweets. Mitsumi was her bubbly self at the moment. She wouldn't stop talking about nonsense. It was way different than her nervous chatter. But, he didn't mind. She wasn't feeling confined. The spark in her eye was brighter. Maybe part of it was that she had taken her medication right after eating? Who knows? But, this was the Mitsumi he loved.

They were now walking through his Aunt's neighborhood. The sun was beginning to set and the winter chill was getting colder. The wind howled through the narrow streets.

"I've probably been talking too much." She realized how quiet the setter had gotten. Mitsumi fiddled with a piece of her snowflake dusted hair and glanced down at her feet. The last thing she wanted to be was annoying.

The setter stopped walking and looked down at his human marshmallow. "Chie, do you think you are annoying?" Suga plopped his gloved hand on her head to get her attention. He genuinely wanted to know what was going through her mind. Her thick walls were slowly crumbling, but it was clear some were still there.

She didn't respond. Her eyes were fixed on her icy boots. "Am I annoying you? I'm sorry if I am." Mitsumi's heart was about to shatter into a million pieces. She had been told she was too loud her entire life. It was easier to be quiet and hide in the background.

"You aren't at all. I like hearing your stories." He watched her eyes open wide like saucers. He ran his hand down her ponytail and pecked her forehead. "So, don't stop. I'm listening."

Her spirits were lifted again. Mitsumi had that cheesy grin on her face as if she were a kid at the candy shop. He was the only person outside of Kuroo and Watanabe who could see through her. But, he did it perfectly. She continued rambling about this musical instrument museum in Nagoya she had heard about. And about how bad she wanted to go there if she was ever in that city.

...

She was at it again in the gym with the ladies. Their self-practice time had turned into a 3 vs. 3 practice. Mitsumi had a bunch of newfound energy after her date that she needed to let out. The girls were trying to figure out how to smooth out their two-touch move and still get it over the triple block.

Nomiya, Uehara, and Takahashi were on the opposite side of the net. The three of them were their tallest players. Shimura was just barely shorter than Takahashi. But, she was with Yuki and Mitsumi. The goal was for Mitsumi to set a ball for a setter spike or a back attack from the back row at a height and speed that can break past the tallest blockers. The second part was what was causing her issues.

Mitsumi could set a volleyball in her sleep now. However, her setups needed to make the tallest blockers cry. Yes, she was able to pull the move off during the Inter-Collegiate Tournament. However, she noticed that the spikers were having to work a little bit harder to make up for the lack of height in her set.

"Gah! So close!" Shimura's spike was too low and got shut out. "You guys are really annoying blockers."

Nomiya had a creepy grin on her face. "Why thank you!"

"Compliment accepted." Uehara dusted her hands off on her shirt.

Mitsumi couldn't get a feel for the spikes. She had never been a spiker, ever. Nor had she ever been a setter. Even at the National Training Camp, she had only played as a spiker once. It was horrible. The fact that what she was doing wasn't working anymore was grating on the perfectionist's nerves. She grabbed the roots of her hair and shook her head frantically, "I even jumped higher that time!"

"Hey, Mitsumi, why don't you let Yuki toss you a few sets?" Takahashi suggested it out of the blue.

Nomiya blinked rapidly and gave her teammate a blank stare. "Eh..."

"Yeah! It'll give you a feel of what happens at the front!" Shimura beamed. It was a good idea.

"Just because I am a good server doesn't mean I'm a good spiker." Mitsumi didn't want to embarrass herself.

The Captain raised an eyebrow. "Look, we gotta sort this out and we don't have much time left." She couldn't have anyone giving up. "We gotta do things differently every so often. I thought you knew that."

Mitsumi snorted, of course, she knew that. She ran her fingers through her bangs. "Fine, I'll give it a shot." She muttered and rolled the ball under the net for Uehara to serve.

Shimura received the ball and smoothly sent it to the setter. Yuki got the ball up high to give Mitsumi enough time to dash for it. The libero, who was now spiking, jumped into the air and hit the ball. It wasn't anything spectacular. In fact, her poor spike was shut out.

Nomiya bit her lip as she tried her best not to laugh. "You weren't lying when you said you couldn't spike, Freshie."

Mitsumi landed on her feet, toes first gracefully. Her teammate's comment warranted her an "I told you so" glare. But, instead of getting salty about it, Mitsumi pinched the bridge of her nose for a moment to process what happened. "Freak. That ball has to go really high up there." She had never had to experience something like that before.

Yuki smirked a bit. She picked up the volleyball that had rolled over to her foot and rested it on her hip. Her arm lazily kept it in place while her other hand twirled the end of one of her pigtail braids. "Now that you feel what it's like to be closer to the net, want to try setting it up again?"

And so, they tried again. Mitsumi was trying to find ways to make up for her weaknesses. Her sets were becoming faster and more precise now. This resulted in Yuki and Shimura both being able to get some solid kills in. It had all clicked. She just needed to understand how it felt to be shut down by the three insanely tall blockers. Instead of approaching the front of the ball, she needed to approach the set from the side. It required her to pivot on the ball of her foot smoothly. Which was a lot more difficult in court shoes and on a volleyball court than Mitsumi thought. Her pivot was more of a one-foot hop, but it would smooth out as time passed.

"HECK YEAH! This is feeling flippin' FANTASTIC!" Shimura shouted out in enthusiasm. "Let's keep it up!"

Everyone nodded in agreement and continued. They went on for another hour of self-practice. The feeling of accomplishing something different was addicting. Mitsumi was excited to try this new move of her's in a match. Hopefully, it would work.