One of the most important aspects of gaining experience is to improve your stats.

If your stats aren't high enough, you'll still have trouble continuing the game.

~~~

It had been a week since Kenma had told Kuroo off for calling Chiyuri by the name Phantom. Currently, he and the said girl were laying on the floor of the gym, their heads next to each other as their bodies were laying at different angles. He had his PSP held above their heads, playing the game that he had introduced her to before. A few days ago, they found themselves too tired at that moment to practice and so Chiyuri had suggested that he played some games. Kenma had been the slightest bit hesitant since he knew it was a bit rude toward her, but the hesitation washed away the second he saw that her eyes were gleaming as they flickered to the PSP. It appeared that she wanted to watch.

So, whenever the two of them didn't feel like practicing (it was more often Kenma that didn't feel like practicing and Chiyuri agreeing since she felt bad that he always practiced with her), they would pull out either Kenma's PSP or one of their smartphones to play some games. Kenma had introduced Chiyuri to a few phone games ranging from RPGs to cookie clickers. She had been thankful that her smartphone had enough storage to download all of them and still have tons of space for photos and videos. Her camera roll had a few new amusing photos of Kenma's shocked face whenever he accidentally dropped the phone and it almost hit him or, even funnier, when it did actually hit him. Kenma had tried to get her to delete it, but she was smart enough to just lock her phone and smile at him since he couldn't delete it himself.

Kenma glanced at her out of the corner of his eyes, seeing how focused she was on his character. She liked games more than she had initially let on and she picked up on the controls fairly quickly. If Kenma had to guess, he could give her a few tips for playing FPS games and she'd be able to keep up with him fairly easily in no time at all. The pudding-haired boy made a mental note to introduce a few FPS games to her so they could play together.

However, at the moment, his mind wasn't on the game the two of them were crowded over. Kenma kept thinking about how he told Kuroo off, yet he didn't even know how Chiyuri herself felt about the name. What if she liked the name and he told his friend off for nothing? Was he wrong in reading her emotions? Kenma sighed, causing Chiyuri to turn her head and look at him.

"Kenma, are you okay?" Chiyuri asked as she rolled onto her stomach. Her body was now perpendicular to Kenma's as she grabbed a nearby volleyball and propped her chin on it. Kenma lowered his PSP, rolling onto his stomach as well and looked at Chiyuri.

"Yuri, I have a question..." Kenma trailed off as he turned off his PSP. He pulled his legs under him, shifting into a sitting position with his legs crossed and his hands in his lap. His PSP laid on the gym floor between the two of them. Chiyuri frowned, noticing how Kenma was a bit fidgety and seemingly anxious about something. She sat up, both of her legs in front of her as she placed the volleyball between her thighs and her chest. His slightly anxious expression was making her a bit worried. Chiyuri really hoped that whatever he needed to ask about wasn't going to ruin their friendship. They had only been really spending time like this for a few weeks, but she felt like they had gotten closer faster than ever. She didn't know about how the pudding-haired boy felt, but she prayed that it was something similar to how she felt about how their friendship was progressing.

"Go ahead," she said as she hugged the volleyball. He stared at the ball for a moment, then raised his golden eyes to meet her grey ones.

"How do you feel about the name 'Phantom?'" Kenma felt bad for asking when he saw her flinch slightly, but he had to confirm.

"The Phantom?" she echoed. Kenma watched her posture, noting how she seemed to withdraw into herself. Her grey eyes were clouded slightly as she wrapped her arms tighter around the ball, drawing her knees tighter to herself. The smile dropped from her face and her expression turned back to the cold mask that Kenma had gotten past. She seemed to just pull away from him. Kenma knew he had to be careful with what he said now that the subject was brought up.

"If you don't feel comfortable..." Kenma trailed off, not sure what to say to remove the awkward pressure he felt from the subject. She shook her head, taking a deep breath and placing the ball to the side before starting to talk. Kenma made sure that he was listening to the girl since he didn't want to make her repeat anything if he happened to miss it.

"The name Phantom has both a positive and negative connotation. For the team, it's a good thing. I can use my low presence to essentially make easy scores on the other team. It's praise worthy because it is useful to the team. They are almost forced to remember my presence because otherwise, they're missing a member. But on the other hand, for everyone else, it simply means that I'm easily forgettable..." Her tone had a hint of self-hatred and loneliness spread through it as she tightened her arms around herself. "For opposing teams, it's like someone leaving the court and then suddenly coming back right for the strike. For audience members, it's like someone leaves their team alone and steals the final strike. It's unforgivable for someone to do either of those things..."

"What do you think about the name, though?" Kenma asked, noticing how she never mentioned herself. She was silent.

"It doesn't matter what I think about the name. The meaning of the name is defined by what the larger majority believes." She eyed Kenma warily. "What do you think of the name?"

Kenma stayed silent for a moment, which added a whole lot to her anxiety. Her biggest fear was hearing someone confirm that she wasn't good enough and that she didn't belong. It was a huge reason that she masked herself so well to others and practiced so hard on her own. She knew it would hurt even more if it was someone she considered a friend that said those words. So when Kenma opened his mouth to speak, she held her breath.

"I only believe what I can confirm for myself, and I know for a fact that the Chiyuri Tsukishima I know isn't the Phantom." Kenma's voice was quiet, yet his tone portrayed that he meant every word. He didn't look at her eyes, a bit scared for her reaction as to what he thought of her. She was deadly silent and Kenma thought he had said something wrong, but then he heard what sounded like sniffling. The pudding-haired boy quickly looked up, panicking a bit as he saw that she was wiping away tears.

"Uhm..." He leaned forward toward her a bit, landing on his knees and one of his hands as he reached to her side for a tissue from her gym bag. He handed the tissue to her, his golden eyes a bit panicked. "Did I say something wrong? I'm sorry if I -"

"You didn't say anything wrong," she reassured as she wiped at her cheek and dabbed at her eyes. "Sorry, I'm just..." She trailed off as another wave of tears caused her bottom lip to tremble and cover her face. She started to say something, but her words were completely incomprehensible as she cried.

"Ah, it's okay, just calm down." Kenma was still a bit panicked that Chiyuri had started crying sort of out of nowhere. He used his hands to push himself back so that he was sitting with his legs crossed again. He wasn't quite sure what to say to her while she cried, so he just decided to give her some space while still being there for her. He picked up his PSP from the floor, quietly starting the game up and started running his character in circles while glancing at her out of the corner of his eye every once in a while.

It took maybe a whole ten minutes before Chiyuri was able to stop her tears. Her face was flushed as she curled into herself, hiding her face between her arms as she pulled her knees up tighter to hide herself from embarrassment as her hiccups began. She couldn't believe that she just burst into tears from hearing what he said. Kenma didn't seem to mind as his golden eyes were focused on his PSP as he continued to make his character run in random shapes and write out different words by running in specific patterns.

"Sorry," she said, still hiccuping slightly. Thankfully, her hiccups seemed to be dying down quickly.

"Are you okay? I'm sorry if I said something wrong..." Kenma took one of his hands off his PSP and twirled a golden strand of hair between his thumb and index finger. He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, then went back to staring at his character before she could catch his glance

"No I just... Not even Rika has told me that I'm not the Phantom... It was nice to hear that. " Kenma furrowed his brows, surprise finding it's way to his eyes. Rika was her best friend, wasn't she? How could she not tell how badly Chiyuri disliked the name 'Phantom?' "I said that it doesn't matter what I think earlier, but to be honest, I really hate that name." She lifted her head from her hands and hugged her legs. "Aside from all the different things that people see the Phantom as, the bottom line is that the Phantom only exists at the end point when it matters. Even when I serve, they seem to only notice where the ball is and not the fact that I'm the one serving. No matter how hard I play, it doesn't matter until I score a point and that is usually met with negativity. I keep practicing hoping that maybe if I improve more, they'll finally recognize my effort through the rest of the game..."

Kenma stayed quiet, listening but absentmindedly still moving his character in circles.

"Ah, sorry. The conversation is a little heavy..." She forced a small smile as her grey eyes locked onto his golden orbs. "It's easy to talk to you, so I just ended up saying what was on my mind, but we've only actually been talking for a few weeks..."

"I don't mind," Kenma said quickly before she could apologize again. "I find it easy to talk to you too." Chiyuri blinked before a genuine smile came over her. She hummed and looked to her lap shyly. She was glad that it wasn't just her that felt comfortable.

A comfortable silence settled between the two. Chiyuri was just sitting and thinking about how lucky she was to have met Kenma and befriended him. If it wasn't for Kenma, she probably wouldn't know how nice it felt to simply sit and relax. Her mind would've been filled only on how to improve and all the negativity of the words around her.

"You know, Kenma," she started, breaking the silence. He hummed. "I'm really glad that you lost your PSP that day."

"You mean the first time we talked?" He jokingly glared at her. "I was too anxious. I didn't want you to know I was there."

"Really? You didn't look like you were trying very hard to stay out of sight. I remember dropping a ball on my head because I was so shocked to see someone standing in the doorway."

"Yea, that was funny." Kenma gave her a teasing smile as she lightly pushed at his shoulder in complaint. "I didn't want to be seen, but I'm sort of glad I was caught."

"Wow," Chiyuri blinked as she tilted her head, her hair falling to the side of her and revealing her slender, pale neck. "You know, I think that if you really tried, you could have a lot of girls falling for you."

"What, where did that come from?" Kenma asked as he raised his eyebrow. She shrugged, causing him to roll his eyes. "You're so weird."

Leaning her head on her knees her grey eyes held his golden orbs as her lips pulled into a smile before she used her hand to cover her mouth as she let out a laugh. Kenma felt himself catch his breath slightly and his heart beat a little faster, though he wasn't quite sure why. Her grey eyes were bright as she stared at him with her hands wrapped around her legs and her hair pulled over her far shoulder, allowing Kenma to get a full view of her face. He never noticed until now but she had really long eyelashes. He barely processed her next words, his mind oddly focused on how she looked sitting there.

"Yea, I'm weird, but you love it."

~~~

"By the way, Kenma, I'll be gone all of next week for training camp." Kenma looked up from petting Hiro in surprise. He had walked Chiyuri home again, and the calico kitten had rushed out to him, nuzzling his head on Kenma's leg. Chiyuri had pouted for a while, whining about how Hiro loved Kenma more than he loved his actual owner. She childishly tried to hug Hiro and pull the kitten away from Kenma, but the kitten had simply slid out like the liquid that cats were and ran back to Kenma. Chiyuri sighed and gave up, knowing that Hiro would rush back to her once he was hungry.

"This early?" Kenma echoed, subconsciously stroking Hiro's head as he stared at Chiyuri. The two of them were crouched beside the cat who was enjoying the attention for the moment. Chiyuri giggled at his expression.

"I think Fukurodani is hosting this year's training camp and they wanted to host it before the boys team have your training camp..." Kenma nodded. It was a weird feeling, knowing that she wasn't going to be at school for an entire week. He felt oddly sad, but he didn't say anything. Chiyuri's grey eyes were focused on Hiro, so she missed the glance that Kenma took. The pudding-haired boy turned his attention back to the calico kitten.

"I'll get a set of notes for you, Yuri."

"Are you going to miss me?" Chiyuri teased. Her playful personality had really come out after their conversation in the gym. It seemed that she was extremely relieved to hear Kenma say what he did and he was glad to find out that she trusted him completely and had completely dropped her walls around him.

"No, I'm going to miss Hiro," Kenma replied flatly, even though he knew it was a lie. Even if it was for a week, he was going to miss their almost daily practices after school and when they'd just lay on the gym floor and play games.

"Ah, speaking of Hiro..." Chiyuri reached into her bag, pulling out a key and holding it out in both her hands to Kenma. She bowed her head slightly from her crouched position. "Can you please take care of Hiro for me while I'm at the training camp? He really just needs water and food and maybe some attention while you're here."

Kenma nodded, reaching for the key and grasping it gently.

"Are you sure you should be giving me a key to your house though?" Kenma asked as he stared at it.

"Ah, I had a copy made, so don't worry about if I don't have a key or not."

"No, not that." Kenma sighed and tucked the key away. "Don't give out your key to just anyone."

"I'm not that stupid," Chiyuri puffed her cheeks, causing Kenma to stifle a laugh at how much she looked like a chipmunk. "I trust you with the key, so just keep it. I might as you to take care of Hiro if anything comes up. This cat likes you more than me, so I'm sure Hiro would be glad for you to come over just for him."

"I do come over just for Hiro already," Kenma joked, rubbing the kitten's stomach as Hiro rolled over onto his back.

"Oh, shut up," Chiyuri said as she stuck her tongue out childishly. Kenma only smirked slightly, but he didn't say anything in reply. Hiro allowed Kenma to pet him for a few more seconds before the kitten rolled back over and slipped back into the house. Sighing, Kenma stood up, brushing off his clothes before reaching a hand down for Chiyuri to get up. She took it, pulling herself off the ground and standing to face Kenma.

"Anyways, as always, thanks for walking me home." Chiyuri smiled as she reached over to Kenma's bag and patted it a few times to get some cat hair off of it. "Get home safely."

"Thanks," Kenma replied a bit absentmindedly. For some reason, he had been oddly focused on her for their entire walk home and since she had smiled at him so brightly in the gym. He didn't quite understand why, but he wasn't as focused on his game as usual on the walk to her house. Instead, he had paid attention to how she had a habit of running her hand through her hair and blowing at her bangs to keep them out of her eyes. He also noticed that she did this weird thing where she would hold her hands together in front of her mouth, her fingers intertwined, and would tap lightly at her lips with her thumbs.

Kenma quickly snapped out of his thoughts, forcing himself to look away from her before she figured out that something was off.

"I'll get going now." Kenma gave a small wave to the black-haired girl before heading down the path. He turned around once to make sure that she had gone back inside instead of seeing him to the end of the street like she did the first couple times. When he saw the empty porch, he turned back to focus on walking back, but instead of pulling out his PSP or his phone, he found himself drifting back to Chiyuri again.

He really wanted to see that smile again.

~~~

It was the week of the training camp for the Nekoma girl's VBC. Chiyuri had packed Sunday night since they were heading out early on Monday morning. Rika had told them to meet at the school gates at around 5AM so they could get on the road by 5:30.

If Chiyuri could complain, she would. She didn't mind so much staying up late, but waking up early was something else. It wasn't that she couldn't, but more like she didn't want to. Especially considering that mornings were sometimes colder, Chiyuri preferred staying under her warm covers by a long shot.

The grey-eyed girl rolled out of bed, picking up her phone and unplugging it from the charger. She unlocked it and clicked onto Kenma's contact. He had asked that she text him before she left her house. She felt oddly overjoyed knowing that he was worried for her, especially since she'd be walking to school while it was still dark out.

Good morning, Kenma! I'm heading out soon to go to the training camp. If you reply to this text before 7, I'm going to hide your new PSP game.

Chiyuri giggled at her text, putting the phone down as she headed to the bathroom to get ready. More often than he probably would've liked to admit, Kenma had told her that he stayed up the entire night for his games. Like herself, Kenma wasn't really one to wake up early, so she knew that if he was up at this time, it meant that he had stayed up. At least, he told her he didn't wake up early anymore to play games. He apparently used to do that when his parents would get on his case about staying up all night so he said he figured that if he got up early, there shouldn't be an issue. However, now that his parents were barely home, it didn't matter whether he stayed up all night or not, so sometimes he just lost track of time playing games.

Once she finished preparing herself, she quickly changed and grabbed her keys and bags. She was thankful her genetics were good since she didn't have to wear make up and her face didn't break out very easily. As she exited her house, locking the door behind her, a notification sound from her phone caught her attention. Chiyuri pulled it out, thinking it was Rika reminding them of the time as she always did. Instead, it was a message from the pudding-haired boy.

What can you do? You're going to a camp for an entire week, so your threat doesn't really work.

Chiyuri rolled her eyes at his text, adjusting her strap so she could more easily text with both hands.

Gosh, Kenma. You're going to be exhausted in school later. I thought you said you were going to get notes for me.

Yea, but I didn't say they would be my notes, did I?

Chiyuri blinked in surprise, then a light giggle sounded. He certainly didn't say they would be his notes.

You have a point. You should still get some sleep though. Practice will be difficult if you're exhausted.

Kenma didn't reply after that, but Chiyuri had a feeling it wasn't because he was asleep. She tucked the phone back into her pocket, continuing her way to the school. When she got there, she saw Rika and Sako standing there, their bags piled on the ground.

"Chi-Chan!" Rika waved, her long brown hair pulled into it's usual ponytail. Chiyuri wondered sometimes how the third-year didn't get a headache from having her hair tied up all the time.

"Morning Rika, Morning Sako." Chiyuri greeted. Sako, another second year and their middle blocker, nodded, yawning behind her hand as she rubbed her eyes.

"It's too early, Rika-Senpai. Why would anyone in their right mind want to head out so early." Sako complained slightly. "Our first practice match isn't even until later."

"Hey," Rika scolded, lightly hitting Sako on her head. "You can sleep on the bus, Sako."

"Chiyuri, you agree with me right? It's way too early to be out." Chiyuri looked up at Sako, then yawned, causing the other second year to yawn. She wasn't quite as comfortable around the team as she was with Kenma, but they were still her teammates and closer to being friends than simple acquaintances. "See. Chiyuri yawned. It's way too early, Rika-Senpai."

While the two of them bickered, Chiyuri pulled out her phone, noticing that there was another text from Kenma.

If I sleep now, I won't wake up in time for school. I'll take a nap at lunch or something.

By something, do you mean sleeping through class?

Kenma replied to her last text with a smiley face, making Chiyuri shake her head in amusement. Rika happened to glance over to see the minute smile on Chiyuri's face. The third year stared for a second in shock since Chiyuri rarely smiled, but the currently expression on the black-haired girl's face was genuine joy.

"Chi-Chan, what's got you so happy?" Rika walked over, slinging an arm over the second year girl who quickly closed her phone.

"Nothing."

"It's definitely not nothing. I've never seen such a soft smile on your face before." Rika stared her down, making Chiyuri shrink her under friend's gaze.

"I made a new friend..."

"Woah, what?"

"What's going on?" Ume, their new first year wing spiker, asked as she approached the group. Behind her was Arisu, a first year middle blocker, and Ano, the second year libero, both sluggishly trailing behind her.

"Morning, Ume, Arisu, Ano." Chiyuri greeted. Ano walked right up to the grey-eyed girl, putting her head on Chiyuri's shoulder as she whined.

"It's too early, who in their right mind gets up this early." Chiyuri patted Ano's back lightly as the libero tiredly nuzzled her head into the other girl's shoulder.

"Take a number and wait in line if you want to complain about the time," Sako said from behind them. Arisu raised an eyebrow.

"How many people are in line?"

"Just about everyone here except for Rika-Senpai." Sako replied.

The rest of them chatted for a bit while they waited for the remaining members to show up. It didn't take long for the other 6 members, including their vice captain, Sumi Sakakibara and their Ace, Hizuru Ueshiba, to show up. A few of them voiced their complaints, to which Rika only replied with a chop onto their heads to shut them up. Chiyuri stood by and stayed out of the bickering, though she didn't text Kenma again out of fear that Rika would get on her case again.

With all the members arrived, Rika ushered them all onto the Nekoma bus. Surprisingly enough, the school had agreed to buy them a bus separate from the boys' team so the two VBC buses sat side by side in the parking lot.

It didn't take long for most of the group to fall asleep as they headed off. Apparently they were heading to practice at Fukurodani for the week. Aside from Nekoma and Fukurodani, the schools Ubugawa and Shinzen also were attending the training camp. As expected, this was the Fukurodani Academy Group. All the teams in their group were strong to say the least. Both boys and girls teams in the Fukurodani Academy Group were known for the same things: Ubugawa for their serves, Shinzen for their combos, Fukurodani for their sheer power on the court and Nekoma for their connection and strategy.

Chiyuri pulled out her phone again, deciding that it was safe to text Kenma since Rika, who had decided to sit next to her by the aisle, had fallen asleep. Chiyuri, being the nice friend she was, pulled Rika so that the captain's head rested on her shoulder before reading the text from the pudding-haired boy.

You're heading to Fukurodani, right? If you hear anything about The Phantom, just ignore it.

Chiyuri smiled at his text and quickly replied.

Don't worry about me, Kenma. I think you should be more concerned on what your captain's going to do when you fall asleep during practice.

I don't want to think about it. Kuroo might make me run more with the excuse that it's supposed to wake me up.

Chiyuri could almost hear the groan in the text.

Well you better get your sleep in during class. Go to the nurse's office and say you have a headache. That always works. And whoever you're getting the notes from better have decent handwriting or I'm really taking your PSP game.

Yeah, I'll do that. Thanks. Why're you threatening me from a bus heading away from school?

Shut up, Kenma. Go get your sleep before Kuroo-Senpai finds out and makes your practice even harder. Sleep well.

With that, Chiyuri turned off her phone, putting it away into her pocket as she leaned her head on the window. She should get some rest too. Even though she was just a ghost to everyone else most of the time on the court, she would still give it her all. There was still some hope in her that maybe one day they would finally recognize her on the court as a worthy opponent.

~~~

As expected, Chiyuri was met with whispers the entire week she was at the camp. She withdrew into herself, as she always did at these camps. Rika was too busy dealing with the antics of the rest of the team to recognize that Chiyuri was closing herself off again. The only time she really looked forward to was at night before they slept since she could text Kenma at that time. The pudding-haired boy tried his best to take her mind off all the words being said around her, though he wasn't quite sure how he did. The only thing he was sure of was that Chiyuri was trying her best at the camp.

The days in the week went by as slow as a snail, but the nights passed in the blink of an eye. Chiyuri dreaded waking up in the morning, but the camp, no matter how tedious, was still good practice and would help her and the team improve immensely. It was why the four schools joined together to form the Fukurodani Academy Group after all. Despite staying up late some nights to play multiplayer RPGs with Kenma or simply texting about their day, Chiyuri was somehow able to drag herself up every morning, practice through the whispers and repeat.

By the end of the week, her grey eyes were cold and closed off. She was exhausted mentally and physically, but she didn't want to let it show. No one on her team knew about the negative side about the rumors, and Chiyuri preferred it that way so that they weren't affected negatively like she was whenever someone said the word 'phantom.' Instead, the team seemed to be overjoyed whenever they realized their wing spiker was once again an invisible chess piece to play.

The Nekoma VBC bus returned Friday afternoon right after school ended. The schools usually gathered for a large barbecue after their training camps, but since the camp had been held earlier than usual, they changed the last day to a breakfast feast and sent everyone home by noon. Chiyuri and Rika had been debating whether or not it was just an excuse by the coaches to be able to drink to their hearts content later tonight and not have to worry about taking a bus full of high schoolers back.

When the bus arrived and pulled into the parking lot, the girls clamored off, chatting and discussing what they wanted to do for the rest of the day. Most of them wanted to either go home or get a late lunch/early dinner together. Chiyuri declined their invitation to go eat and told them to have a great time before slipping away quietly.

Rika watched in curiosity as the second year slipped off. She couldn't quite understand, but the captain had started to realize that something was wrong with their second year spiker. As the camp went on, Chiyuri seemed to get quieter and quieter, though Rika had assumed it to be simply her being tired. It wasn't until Chiyuri mentioned that she wouldn't be going home right away that Rika thought something was off. Before the third year could pursue it, Ume and Arisu quickly pulled their captain away toward the school gate for food.

Chiyuri's steps slowed as she approached the gym. The boys volleyball team were allowed to occupy both gyms since the girls had been at camp all week, but judging by the fact that the lights were off in the gym the girls normally used, the boys must've stayed in just one gym today. To be honest, while Chiyuri was off at her training camp, she couldn't help but miss the late night volleyball practices with Kenma or those times when the two of them were too tired to practice so instead he taught her how to play some games on the floor of the Nekoma gym. Texting him was nice of course, but it wasn't the same. A thought crossed her mind that she hoped Kenma felt the same way about missing their time together, but she quickly shook the thought away.

Calming herself, she gently pushed the gym doors open and poked her head in. Much to her relief and dismay both, the boys happened to be on break.

"WOAH! IS THAT A GIRL?!" Chiyuri flinched as a guy with a blonde streak of hair down the middle of his head leaped up from his seat and pointed at her. Just her luck, he happened to be sitting with a full view of the door.

The entire team spun to face her, except for Kenma who was more focused on his game. He didn't care much for the commotion.

"Yamamoto, stop screaming." A tall black haired male scolded. Chiyuri recognized him as Tetsurou Kuroo, a third year and the captain. He was also the one that she had run into when she was talking to Kenma after their demonstration match for the junior high. She shivered, hoping that he didn't recognize her.

"Are we finally going to get our own female manager?!" Yamamoto continued yelling, throwing his hands in the air as he excitedly stared at her. A bit scared, Chiyuri felt the urge to retreat.

"Shut your mouth, Yamamoto!" Kuroo scolded again. "Can't you see she's wearing the Nekoma Girls VBC jacket?"

At Kuroo's words, Kenma finally glanced up from his console. His eyes landed on the familiar black haired, grey eyed girl and he quickly saved his game and turned off the screen. For the week that she had been gone, he had felt a bit lonely and, while he had much more time at night to game, it didn't settle right with him when his only contact with her was through some words on a screen. It felt weird not going to the gym after practice basically every day. Even Kuroo had picked up on his weird mood this week, though the shorter boy refused to tell his older friend why exactly.

"Ah. It's Yuri." Everyone's head snapped towards Kenma as he stood up off the bench and walked toward the girl. Their eyes followed as he greeted her quietly and apologized for his team members while she returned the greeting and quickly assured him that everything was fine while also apologizing that she interrupted their break. Despite everyone on the team being shocked into silence, their conversation was too quiet for the team to hear. All they saw was Kenma's back and her emotionless face before it lit up with a smile. Some of the boys blushed slightly at the sight while Kuroo just rolled his eyes at the rest of his team.

"Yuri, I thought training camps didn't end until late at night." Kenma watched her carefully, noting how her grey eyes seemed clouded over and her walls were high up. He knew it was the effect that the training camp had on her. Even if he tried to assure her that she wasn't the Phantom, it was his word against four teams. There was only so much he could say.

"Ah, we returned early since they basically just hosted a banquet breakfast and then sent us back." As she spoke to him, she seemed to slowly snap out of it, the gleam in her eyes coming back as she opened up to Kenma again.

"If you can wait, I'll walk you home and you can tell me about your camp."

"I don't want to bother you if you'd rather play your games, Kenma. I heard that the sequel to the one you just finished came out. They have good reviews." Kenma shook his head, a warm feeling inside of him at the fact that she had remembered how much he liked the game. He had mentioned in their texts that he finally managed to clear the entire game the past week and had immediately headed out to buy the sequel.

"You said that your training camp was fun, right? I'd like to hear about it." Chiyuri blinked. It took a couple more seconds, but then Kenma noticed how her eyes lost the coldness to them completely and she was back to the Chiyuri that he had gotten to know.

"I wouldn't say fun, but I learned a lot... Oh! How about we get some food after your practice. It'll be my treat!" Kenma nodded, causing Chiyuri to smile brightly. She opened her mouth about to ask him what he wanted to eat when her eyes landed on the boys staring at her. Slightly intimidated and flustered, she blushed too and cast her gaze downward. She had forgotten that the entire boy's VBC was still there. Kenma caught onto it and turned his head slightly to give a terrifying glare to his teammates. They all flinched.

"Text me when you're done with practice, Kenma." She said as she shyly brushed a hair behind her ear. With a smile and a wave to him, she turned to the group, hesitatingly bowing slightly toward them as a goodbye, and then disappeared out the door.

Kenma turned to walk back to his shell shocked team. He looked at them as if everything was normal. As if he didn't just have a casual conversation with a girl that everyone was seeing for the first time. He acted like this was a daily occurrence. As Kenma passed his tall childhood friend, Kuroo looped an arm around his shoulder, smirking as the pudding-haired boy let out a sigh of annoyance.

"Now, now. When were you going to tell us you talked to such a pretty girl?" Kuroo asked teasingly as his friend glared at him. "It has something to do with your late night gym visits doesn't it. She is in volleyball so it would make sense if you stayed back to help her."

"Stop jumping to conclusions," Kenma brushed off, trying to ignore the fact that Kuroo had just hit the nail on the head.

"You didn't deny it." Kuroo retorted with a wide smirk. "You like her, don't you?"

"No, I don't," Kenma replied with a glare. He didn't know why he felt weird denying it, but it didn't seem right to him. He didn't have time to ponder as Kuroo talked back.

"Yes, you do."

"No."

"Yes."

"No." Kenma didn't really know what to say to convince Kuroo so he simply sat down and picked up his PSP again, only to have it snatched away by Kuroo.

"You can't dodge this one, Kenma. Tell us about her."

Kenma internally groaned in annoyance, but knew Kuroo wouldn't give back his PSP until he spilled. Mentally saying an apology to Chiyuri, he started speaking.

"She's Chiyuri Tsukishima. Class 2-3. Wing Spiker of the Girl's VBC, And for the last time, I don't like her like that." Kenma rattled off quickly, then reached his hand out for his PSP.

"She's the one at that demonstration match we had for the middle school team!" Yamamoto exclaimed. Recognition flashed through Kuroo's eyes.

"You mean the one that was talking to you behind the gym afterwards? And you told me I wasn't interrupting anything, Kenma. I would've left you two if only you told me." Kuroo smirked as Kenma glared at him.

"Shut up, we really were just talking. Stop insinuating things. I can have other friends, can't I" He reached for the PSP again, only for Kuroo to pull it even farther out of his reach.

"Yeah, but it's weird. You're Kenma!" Kenma glared at Kuroo who only smirked. "It's rare for you to talk to others so casually."

"Wait. Chiyuri Tsukishima? She's the Phantom!"

Kenma's hand froze mid reach for his PSP and he turned his glare to Yaku, the one who uttered the name 'Phantom.'

"Don't call her that. It's not a good nickname." With that said, he turned back to grab his PSP successfully from the shocked Kuroo. Kenma wasn't really one to speak up for someone he didn't know well, so she must've been quite a good friend of his. Then again, it was shocking that he had made a new friend under all their noses. It was Kenma after all.

"What? But it's cool!" Lev yelled, getting in Kenma's face. The second year clicked his tongue, annoyance flooding through him from hearing the name.

"It's a bad reminder to her, so don't call her that."

They all stared at the pudding-haired boy, seemingly in shock. His didn't say anything and simply turned on his console, thankful that Kuroo hadn't accidentally pressed anything when he grabbed it so quickly. The rest of the boys continued staring, then as a group, turned their heads to the door where Chiyuri had just left before they went back to Kenma. The boy focused on his game, completely oblivious to the small smile and the light blush that graced his cheeks as his mind wandered to the early dinner he was going to eat with Chiyuri soon.

Despite flying right over his own head, the rest of the team caught his expression, their shock turning into understanding then a smirk. Kuroo laughed, throwing a hand over the boy's shoulder as the other teammates smirked at the oblivious boy and patted his back, much to his confusion. They all knew that no matter how much he denied it, he had it bad for the girl and he was in deep.

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Question of the Chapter: Subbed or Dubbed?

Originally Posted: 12/25/2020
Edited Version Posted: 03/31/2021