When you pick up a new game, you start at level one.

The hardest thing at the start is leveling up.

~~~

Chiyuri's grey eyes followed the volleyball as her teammate spiked it to Fukurodani's side. Number 7 received it in the back, though she fumbled with it as it bounced too far to the side.

"Cover me!" The girl called as Number 2 rushed forward, reaching one hand out just enough to bump it to her teammate. The wing spiker, number 4, jumped high and smacked the ball down as two blockers, Sako Wakatsuki and Arisu Yamada, from the Nekoma team jumped just in time to graze the ball.

"One touch!" They both called out as they landed and immediately got back into position. From behind, a new first year, Ume Yoshino stumbled over herself trying to get into position for the ball. She fell just short of it as it bounced onto the floor. The Fukurodani girls cheered as they got another point, their morale slowly rising after having lost 10 points in a row to the strong Nekoma team.

"Don't mind!" The captain, Rika Amisaki, said as the first year picked herself up. Ume still looked down about missing the ball, especially since it had been the third time it happened, so the captain looked towards the silent girl wearing a number 6 jersey.

"Chi-Chan, say something to her please." Chiyuri raised an eyebrow, but made her way to the girl nonetheless. Chiyuri knew why Rika was making her talk to the first year. The normally quiet second-year's words were more powerful than anything because Chiyuri rarely, if not never, said things she didn't mean.

"Don't mind," Chiyuri said just above a whisper. "The entire team is behind you. Have confidence in yourself like we have in you."

Despite the girl's words being quiet and simple, the Ume's eyes widened slightly as she listened to her senpai's words. Intelligent grey eyes held her gaze, and she quickly pushed down her insecurities. For Chiyuri, the quiet senpai, to give a vote of confidence, it meant that the black haired girl truly believed in them.

"Yes!" A new determination flooded her eyes as Chiyuri gave her a nod and turned back to her position as vanguard in front of the first year. Her gaze flicked to the scoreboard for their second set, the numbers showing 24-11 in favor of Nekoma.

"Nice serve!" Rika called as Ume threw the ball into the air, smacking the ball hard and sending it flying over the net. Although welcomed but not intended, Ume had managed to send the ball straight to Fukurodani's weakest receiver, another first year that Chiyuri assumed to have just joined the club. The girl received it, but it went too far to the left and the others barely got it back over the net to the Nekoma team. Chiyuri let a small smirk appear on her face, not that anyone but her close friend Rika saw. Rika's eyes widened and her own confident smile made it's way to her face. They would end the game this time.

"Nice receive!" the Nekoma team called as their libero, Ano Kanbayashi, hit the ball high for Rika, their setter. Rika jumped, her eyes flicking to the left where Arisu was preparing to run toward the net. The blockers on the other team noticed the movement and two of them moved to stand in front of the team while the third stayed in front of Rika in case the setter decided to dump the ball over the net. The brown-haired setter smirked as her hands touched the ball and she launched it to the right.

"Chi!" She called. Chiyuri ran forward, her legs propelling her as she jumped as high as she could. Reaching right before the net, she swung her arm forward, the familiar feeling of her palm making contact with the volleyball making itself known through small stings throughout her hand due to the force of her hit.

"The Phantom!" The Fukurodani girls gritted their teeth as they realized that they had forgotten about her again. They had given her a wide open area to spike the ball. The name 'Phantom' suit her well as her presence was so small that they had completely left themselves vulnerable.

Chiyuri's grey eyes locked onto the middle blocker who was standing in front of Rika. Everything was moving so quickly that the girl didn't even have time to try to block her hit. No one on the other team could react fast enough. Chiyuri's gaze was locked confidently to the girl's, as if saying 'Look at me. Don't forget that I'm here.' Instead of a look of surprise or even confusion, Chiyuri was met with malice and anger. With a small exhale, the grey-eyed girl looked away. It seemed that good sportsmanship would never be a concept that her opponents would ever understand. It would be something that would be forever out of her reach.

The black-haired girl spiked the ball hard over the net, the Fukurodani girls not having moved at all, even when Chiyuri landed on her feet and watched the ball roll off the court. The entire gym was filled with silence as the benched members on both teams as well as their coaches stared. Then, a whistle blew as the referee raised his hand to the side of the Nekoma. Rika screamed in joy, her hand latching onto Chiyuri as she pulled the girl to a group hug while completely ignoring her friend's small complaints. The point they just scored was their match point.

As the girl was being surrounded by her team members, her gaze flickered over to the other team. Had it been anyone else, they would've walked off the court with smiles and encouraging words. Instead, they all stood at the same place they were, their glares tearing into the girl. With a sigh, she turned away and focused on her own excited teammates.

Tomorrow, she had to make sure she didn't forget her earphones...

~~~

Sure enough, Chiyuri found herself walking amidst glares and complaints through the halls. The grey-eyed second year couldn't begin to understand why in the world her schoolmates felt it necessary to say the things that they did, especially since it had just been a practice match against Fukurodani, but she supposed it was about time she got used to their harsh words.

"She always steals the last hit but she doesn't do anything in the rest of the match."

"Who does she think she is to get the praise for the work of her team?"

"Why do they put her on the court? She barely contributes. They should just bench her."

The whispers that filled the air were unavoidable as she walked down the hallway. Her grey-eyes were dull and her expression was carefully controlled, giving off a facade that told everyone else that she didn't care. Her grey eyes that flicked over the crowd made people shudder slightly as more whispers began.

"I bet she can look into your soul with those dead eyes."

"How can she be so cold? It gives me shivers."

Her grip on her school bag's straps tightened, before she detached her hand and unzipped the bag, digging into it for her familiar white earphones. She wasn't wearing them earlier since her teammates were around her. No one dared to insult her when the rest of the Nekoma girl's team was around. They respected and even praised everyone else on the team, just not her. Chiyuri tuned out the whispers as she plugged the white line into her phone and pressed play. She turned up the volume just enough to drown out the whispers around her, but it didn't stop them from echoing in her head.

Get used to it already, she thought to herself. At first, Chiyuri wondered if they ever got tired of the gossip and the slander, but she then took it as a no when the whispering continued even after a whole year of her being on the volleyball team. It was like this after every match, practice or official. The whispers would last for a day until everyone forgot about her again. Then, it would repeat after the next match. She wasn't sure how it started or why she was the target of their hatred. It wasn't like the grey-eyed girl had ever done anything to receive all this hatred. In fact, she tried her best to not get on anyone's bad side since she had a hard time making friends in the first place with her quiet nature.

A boy with dyed-blonde hair and dark roots glanced up slightly from his seat, his PSP in his lap and under his desk. The chattering class quieted into whispers as the door slid open and the female volleyball player walked in. Her attention was focused on her phone, completely ignoring everyone, as she scrolled for a song. The silence that the skipping caused made her sigh and stop on the next song, letting the melody play and block out all the quiet whispers. She kept her head straight, not even glancing at the other boy whose gaze followed her until she sat down at her desk by the window. His eyes lingered for a second, then he brought his attention back to his game, quickly pressing a few buttons to prevent himself from dying as his character lost a lot more health than he had thought he would while he was watching the girl in his class. He could never understand how she held up against all the judgement. If it were him, he doubted he'd want to return to school.

~~~

Chiyuri slipped into the gym, the keys to the facility rattling in her hand slightly as she dropped her school bag next to the sports bag and placed the keys on top. Being one of the top students, the teacher had granted permission for her to have access to the gym despite the time since the girl was trustworthy enough. They all knew about the slander she dealt with, yet none of them seemed to be able to do anything for the poor girl.

Her steps echoed across the empty gym as she flicked on the light switch by the wall. The sound of the lights coming on sounded through the gym as she made her way back to her bags. She reached for her volleyball bag, beginning to unzip it to get out her shoes, when something on the floor behind the bench caught her eye. It was a gaming device.

She reached down, carefully picking it up while avoiding any buttons since she saw that the screen was flashing with the words 'Game Over' at the center. She didn't even know who this belonged to, nor what game they were playing, so she didn't want to be the one to make the owner lose all their progress in the game.

Chiyuri gently set it onto the bench by her stuff before she began to pull out her shoes, water and a towel. If the owner of the device didn't come back to school to get it, she would put it into the gym lost and found when she cleaned up. The thought crossed her mind to hand it to the lost and found in the teacher's office, but decided against it since she would feel bad if whoever owned the device got in trouble for bringing a gaming device to school. At least the coaches never checked the gym lost and found. At most, the captains of the teams would take a look every so often, but they were all students so they would understand.

Setting up an entire volleyball court by herself was more tiresome than anything else in Chiyuri's opinion, but she was used to it after almost an entire year of practicing by herself at night. She had to practice. Maybe if she practiced enough, if she improved enough, those whispers around her would stop. They would recognize her ability and they would count her as a member of the Nekoma Girls' VBC that the school was so proud of.

With the net strung up and the basket of balls at the sidelines beside her, Chiyuri took a deep breath to focus herself. Pulling her long black hair into a loose ponytail, the girl set her eyes on her goal and picked up a ball, throwing it high in the air before serving it across the court. It bounced right at the edge of the court, but still within bounds; it was exactly where she had aimed. Without even another glance at the ball rolling away, she turned to the basket, picking up another ball and repeating.

~~~

Kenma frowned, digging into his school bag before pulling his hands out and patting all of the pockets on his uniform. His third year friend, Tetsurou Kuroo, glanced down at the second year when the pudding-haired boy let out a deflated sigh.

"Kuroo, I think I left my PSP in the gym..." Kenma said as he found no trace of the device anywhere on him. If he remembered correctly, he put it at the top of his bag during practice before Kuroo dragged him away to make him participate in the practice. He didn't have enough time to zip up his bag before getting pulled away, so Kenma could only assume that it had fallen out sometime then.

"We're already in front of your house and you want to go back to school to get it?" Kuroo asked in confusion. He knew his friend was addicted to his games, but he didn't expect Kenma to nod at his question. "Just get it tomorrow, Kenma."

"I wanted to clear the game tonight. The sequel is coming out tomorrow and I want to try it right away." Kenma pulled his bag off his shoulder, reaching in to fish out a pair of house keys. Unlocking his front door, he was met with silence, as he always did. It wasn't a surprise to him, so Kenma barely bat an eye as he threw his bag to the side, closing the door and locking it back up.

"You're really going back to school to get your PSP? The gym is locked right now."

"I'll ask the teacher for a key."

Before Kuroo could protest anymore, Kenma was already off. Not to anyone's surprise, the boy was walking instead of running since the pudding-haired boy hated doing anything physically exerting. Despite that, Kuroo could tell that Kenma was walking faster than normal. With a sigh, the black haired male turned away and began the short walk to his own house.

By the time the shorter boy reached the school, his breathing was ever so slightly heavier. In an attempt to make it to the school before the teachers left, he had run a bit, even if he really hated having to do so. The short run wasn't enough to completely wear him out thankfully. Even if he did hate running during conditioning, he wasn't that out of shape considering he still did play a sport.

The sky was dark as the boy made his way through the empty school property. He passed by the gym on the way to the teachers office to get the key, only to stop in confusion when he saw that the gym lights were on. The boy's VBC was the last to use the gym and he was certain they turned off the lights. Was there someone already there?

Quietly, Kenma walked up to the gym, noting that the door was open and he could hear the sounds of someone practicing. He leaned in slightly, making sure to stay out of sight of whoever was in the gym as his eyes scanned the bleachers for his PSP. He found it in no time as it was resting on the bench next to a bag with white letters spelling 'NEKOMA GIRLS VBC' on the side.

The smack of a ball caught Kenma's attention as he pulled it away from his gaming device and onto the girl standing alone in the gym. Her long black hair fluttered around her as she landed on her feet, watching the ball soar across the net and hit the ground right next to the side line. With her back still facing Kenma, she reached down for her hair tie that had fallen off when she jumped before tying her hair back to avoid it sticking to her face due to how much she was sweating. Her bangs were too short to be tied, so she let out a huff of air to try to blow the strands away from her eyes. Kenma's sharp eyes noticed how her palm was a bright pink color, indicating that she had been practicing for a while. Her hand was shaking slightly, but she quickly shook it, as if forcing herself to continue.

Considering that her breathing was considerably strained, Kenma thought that she would stop her practice. He figured he'd just slip in right when she was putting away the things into storage and grab his PSP and go. To his shock, she turned back to the basket, apparently still not aware of Kenma's presence, and picked up another ball. Throwing it high in the air, she performed a jump serve, smacking the ball hard across the court. Again, it hit at the edge of the court within the white boundaries. Again. Again. Again.

Kenma's eyes widened as he realized that her shots were aimed perfectly at those locations. She had so much control over the ball that her serves were hitting exactly where she was aiming and not a centimeter to the right or left. He supposed it was a habit he picked up while playing as the setter of the boys VBC, but he started analyzing her as she practiced. Her serves were powerful and would be terrifying to receive, but they were lacking power still. He could see that right before her hand hit the ball, she would hesitate, bringing her momentum down and decreasing the force that she hit the ball with. When she landed after her jump serves, she landed heavier on her left side, which told Kenma that either she had been practicing way too long or that she had injured or sprained her right foot somehow.

The pudding haired boy half wished that she would just finish her practice so he could get his PSP without having to make his presence known, but she kept going until the basket was empty. He watched as she walked to the other side of the court, pulling the cart with her, and began throwing the balls in. When she picked up the last ball, he expected her to throw it into the basket, but instead she threw it up for another serve. As she jumped up, Kenma flinched as her eyes made contact with his. Her grey eyes widened as she missed her serve. The girl landed on both her feet, letting out a small hiss as her right foot touched the ground. Kenma noticed how she tried to discreetly pick it off the floor and stand more on her right side, which caused the boy to frown. Her right foot was hurt. The ball fell down right on top of her head, and the boy had to stifle a laugh as it hit her, the girl letting out a small yelp as her hands went up to where the ball had hit.

"Kozume-Kun?" Chiyuri asked, her tone showing her confusion while she stared at Kenma with her usual flat expression. Her voice was gentle and soft, which Kenma found quite nice. It was a sound he wouldn't mind hearing, especially considering he had to deal with loudmouths such as Yamamoto. It took a second before he finally processed that she had seen him, and he quickly ducked his head.

"Tsukishima-San," he greeted quietly. Chiyuri continued to look at him, her grey eyes dull as she silently wondered why he was here. He looked at her, his heart hammering at how her eyes were locked on him. He was scared of what she was thinking of him. He hated how concerned he was over how other people thought of him, but he couldn't help it. Chiyuri noticed his discomfort, a piercing feeling in her heart as she looked away, using her bangs to shield her grey eyes from his golden ones. People were scared of her eyes for some reason. It wasn't that she was trying to judge them. Being as quiet as she was meant that she had to analyze people around her to get her answers. She had to time herself perfectly to be heard half the time and she had to read the emotions of others so that she didn't get on anyone's bad side. At least, that was the case before people started blatantly ignoring her and their gazes turned into hatred. She was even quieter this year than the last.

"Is the PSP your's?" she asked. Kenma nodded, his gaze turned away from her so he missed the sad gleam in her eyes that another person was unwilling to talk to her or even look at her now. The sound of her steps filled the silence as she picked up the PSP and brought it to Kenma at the door. He said a quiet thank you, subconsciously noting how she was just a bit shorter than him. When there was nothing more to be said, she nodded, turning around to resume her practice. Kenma's brows furrowed as he watched her walk back toward the court instead of packing up her bags. He debated between keeping his silence and speaking up, but then decided on the latter with the reason being that she had returned his PSP to him.

"Tsukishima-San, you shouldn't push yourself too hard and take a break. You're going to injure yourself more if you keep doing your powerful serves..." Kenma's voice was quiet, but the sound echoed slightly in the wide gym still. Chiyuri had turned around when he called to her, her grey eyes wide. He wondered why she seemed so shocked, but he didn't mention it as she gave him a ghost of a smile. It was a smile that settled uncomfortably with Kenma as he noticed how forced the smile was.

"Thank you, Kozume-Kun. I'll keep that in mind."

She said that, but he watched as she still returned to her practice. He didn't understand what was making her so desperate to practice, but he remained silent this time, turning away with his PSP in hand.

~~~

"Hey, Kuroo," Kenma started as the two of them walked to school the next day. His gaze was still locked on his PSP as the pudding-haired boy quickly spammed the buttons, finishing the monster off with a combo. Kuroo hummed to tell the boy that he was listening. "Do you know anything about the girl's volleyball club?" Kuroo glanced down at his friend slightly, confusion clear in his expression since Kenma never cared about them before. Nevertheless, the black-haired captain answered.

"Amisaki's team? What do you want to know about?"

"Amisaki?" Kenma echoed, his eyes narrowing on his character as it died yet again. He let out a frustrated sigh. The problem with new games that Kenma always found frustrating was that in addition to new controls to learn, the character was low level and always died too easily for Kenma's liking.

"Rika Amisaki. She's in my class and the captain of the girls team. Amisaki is always talking about how her friend Chiyuri or something is the star of their team."

"Won't she get mad if she hears you calling her informally?" Kenma asked offhandedly. Kenma's hands mindless played his game, but the fact that Chiyuri's team didn't know of the treatment she received was repeating over and over in his mind.

"Amisaki? Nah," Kuroo brushed off, a confident smirk on his face. "That short-stack can't do anything against me."

A yelp sounded from Kuroo as Kenma felt a rush of wind beside him. He lifted his head from his gaming console to see a tomboyish girl, assumably a third year, with brown hair pulled back in a high ponytail. Her dark brown eyes gleamed in amusement as she watched Kuroo fall forward and hit the ground.

"Don't call me short stack, rooster-head!" She put her finger under her eye and pulled down, sticking out her tongue at the third year. Kenma blinked, confused yet slightly horrified that she had literally just kicked Kuroo down. Kuroo pulled himself off the floor, immediately turning to glare at the girl who didn't seem fazed at all.

"Are you lacking in docosahexaenoic acid, shrimp? What kind of person kicks down a random person in the middle of the road.

"I'm 175 centimeters! Who are you calling a shrimp?!" She growled at him, her glare equally as terrifying as Kuroos as Kenma stood between the two.

"Uhm..." Kenma started. The girl turned to look at him as if noticing his presence for the first time. Immediately, her expression changed and Kenma flinched as she cheerfully hopped in front of him and introduced herself.

"My name is Rika Amisaki, class 3-5. You're Kenma right? I've seen a lot of your games." Kenma nodded, blinking as he tried to process her outgoing personality.

"What are you doing here, Amisaki?" Kuroo asked, holding his head as if he was getting a headache.

"I'm going to school, dummy. Who's lacking in doco-whatever acid now, hm?"

"Docosahexaenoic acid," Kuroo corrected. "Clearly you are if you can't even say docosahexaenoic acid correctly. Don't you usually walk with that Chiyuri-Chan you're always talking about?"

"Ah, Chi-Chan?" The three of them began to walk again, Kuroo between the two of them as Kenma glanced up for a second at the mention of Chiyuri's name before going back to his game. "Chi-Chan said she hit her foot on something so she left her house before I got there to buy herself an ankle brace. She said she'd meet me at school."

Kenma frowned at the information slightly. She clearly didn't take his warning to let herself rest. She probably shouldn't be walking on that ankle, but if she said she was getting an ankle brace, Kenma could assume she was still going to the girls' volleyball practice after school.

The rest of the walk was filled with chatter from Amisaki and Kuroo while Kenma tagged along. The two of them were mostly discussing things related to volleyball or their various courses together, so Kenma didn't have much to contribute to the conversation, not that he was really planing to speak up anyways. When they got to school, the two third years parted ways with Kenma, leaving the pudding-haired boy to head to his own classes alone. When he got to the classroom, there was a familiar black haired girl sitting at her desk, ignoring the world. His eyes flickered down to the black brace wrapped around her right ankle. Kenma had half a mind to talk to her and even scold her for not heeding his advice, but he bit his tongue and sat down in his seat.

Whatever she did was up to her. Why should he care?

~~~

"Ready, Kenma?" Kuroo asked as he swung his sports bag over his shoulder and picked up his bag. Practice had just ended and the two boys were the last to finish changing. Kenma nodded, grabbing his bag and following Kuroo out the door. He had confirmed this time that his PSP was in his bag before leaving the gym.

As the two of them passed by the large building they called the gym, Kenma noticed a faint light coming from the gaps in the door. It was slightly dark out, making the light more prominent, but Kuroo didn't seem to notice at all as he kept walking.

"Hey, Kuroo," Kenma called. The captain turned around, humming slightly in acknowledgement. Kenma opened his mouth to mention that they might have forgotten to turn off the lights since they were the last ones in the gym, but then his mind went back to Chiyuri last night and he hesitated. She had been practicing until late last night, could she be there again? Then again, on top of the black haired girl having injured her ankle, the girls volleyball team had practice today too. She would probably be too tired to practice more, right? But on the off chance it was her, would she think he's weird for showing up to the gym the second night in a row?

"Kenma, you're spacing out," Kuroo called, leaning down slightly to Kenma's height and waiving his hand in front of his friend's face. Kenma snapped out of his thoughts.

"O-oh, sorry." Kenma glanced down at his shoes. For some reason, he got the feeling that Chiyuri didn't want anyone to know she was practicing so late. "I think I forgot my phone in the gym. I'll go grab it and I'll meet you at the gate."

"First your PSP yesterday and now your phone? What's with the forgetfulness lately?" Kuroo said with a smirk. Kenma only glared at him.

"There's a certain someone who always pulls me away before I can zip up my bag, so things fall out easily. I wonder who that is..." Despite Kenma's quiet nature, Kuroo knew that the smaller boy was still a force to be reckoned with. The taller male raised his hands in surrender and smiled sheepishly as he agreed to wait by the gate. Kenma nodded, stalking off toward the gym.

As Kenma approached, he could hear the faint sounds of shoes again, then the thud of a ball hitting the floor. He cracked open the door slightly, just enough to see that Chiyuri was once again practicing in her red jersey and shorts. Her black brace was still wrapped around her ankle and Kenma noticed that she was careful not to perform any jump serves today or put too much pressure on her foot. It took a second before he shook himself out of his thoughts. Why did he care so much about her slight injury? Why did he even come check in the first place?

As he was about to turn around, Chiyuri glanced at the door and made eye-contact with the boy. He flinched as she caught the ball she threw instead of serving it across the court and turned to look at him. Her face was expressionless as always.

"Kozume-Kun?" she asked. Her voice was quiet and soft, the pitch a soothing sound for Kenma. "Did you forget something again?"

"Ah... no," Kenma replied quickly. "I saw the light on and thought that we forgot to turn off the light...." Kenma's voice trailed off. He had suspected that she was there as he walked up, but he had no idea what he was going to do if she actually was.

"Oh." She blinked. "Sorry to make you come back."

"It's alright." Kenma and her stood in silence for a few moments before Kenma decided it was too awkward. With a very quiet goodbye, the boy turned around.

"Good night, Kozume-Kun." He heard it right before he shut the door. Not too long after, he heard the sound of her resuming practice. His mind wandered slightly as he wondered why she was practicing so hard. Was it the rumors getting to her? Kenma frowned slightly at that thought. This was why he hated being at the center of attention. He was extremely aware of what others thought of him and hated being judged with contempt or negativity. Kenma thought that since she ignored it well in class, she had nerves of steel, unlike him, but it seemed to affect her more than everyone else thought.

Kenma had to think back to the first time he ever really saw her. The coach had made them watch the girl's team once, claiming it was to study another team. At first they didn't understand since they've all watched plenty of tournaments and observed other teams in their own. Why would they need to go out of their way to watch the girls' match?

That was the first time that he found out his classmate, Chiyuri Tsukishima, was on the Nekoma girl's volleyball team. From what he observed, she was a wing spiker. She was a bit shorter than all the other girls, standing at 160 centimeters while everyone else was either 166 cm or somewhere around there. Kenma always felt awkward standing near the girl's volleyball team just because he wasn't used to have basically every girl nearby be the same height as him. But her height wasn't what intrigued the pudding-haired boy. What was curious to him was how the other team always seemed to underestimate her, or simply ignore her in some cases. They would focus their blocks on the other wing spiker, but the Nekoma setter would toss the ball to Chiyuri, giving her a clear spike. Even though the girl's team didn't change their tactic, it seemed like their opponents never caught onto it somehow. Kenma scoffed internally. If they had played against the girl's team, he would've easily counter played their strategy. To him, volleyball matches were like games and he hated to lose in his games. He hated it especially if the enemies were using the same, simple attacks, yet he kept getting damage from it. He didn't know how the other team kept failing to the same tricks over and over.

That is, until he heard the whispers.

Chiyuri Tsukishima, the 'Phantom'. While the rest of the girls' Volleyball Team were admired and cheered for, Chiyuri was scorned and scolded. He overheard various conversations about how her presence was so small, that people often just forgot about her. She rarely spoke, only choosing to do so minimally for the sake of team communication. When she slipped out of someone's vision, people just seemed to forget about her, which made it easier for her to score. They always thought that she was cheating some how, or that she only received the easy tosses. Then spread all the various rumors that doubted her skills.

Kenma could see from day one that she genuinely had talent. She utilized her small presence perfectly to benefit her team and she had skills to dominate the court even if the blockers did tag her. He didn't understand why they all insisted on shutting her out, but she took it all silently. It made Kenma clench his fists seeing her practice and push herself to the limit amidst the chatter before relaxing his hands in slight confusion. Why did he care so much?

Turning away from the gym, Kenma began his way back to Kuroo who was still waiting for him. He didn't want to linger any longer. The longer he stayed, the more he thought about her and her circumstances and the more he would worry. He didn't have time for that right now. After all, he had just bought a new game to play and the first hurdle he needed to get over was leveling up.

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Question of the Chapter: What is/are your favorite anime(s)?

Originally Posted: 12/07/2020
Edited Version Posted: 03/31/2021