Once you get past a certain level, beginner maps make it harder to level up faster.

It might be challenging, but changing to a new map can help you level up faster.

~~~

When practice finished, Kenma quickly texted Chiyuri to meet him at the back of the gym so the rest of his team didn't get on their case. Well, it was more that they didn't get on her case since Kenma had to deal with their smirks and teasing comments. They were all met with an icy glare from the pudding-haired boy. However, it wasn't like that stopped them since it was a rare chance for them to really tease Kenma.

After they all got changed, Kenma basically threw his bag over his shoulder and escaped the room. Both his upperclassmen and his underclassmen were teasing him to no end, Kuroo being the worse. His childhood friend kept giving him that stupid grin that sent shivers down Kenma's spine. The third year hadn't stopped pestering Kenma since Chiyuri left, unfortunately.

"Kenma," Chiyuri greeted as she saw him round the corner. She pushed herself off the wall that she was leaning on and hiked her bag higher up on her shoulder.

"Yuri. Sorry, did you wait long?" Kenma increased his step size just a bit to make it to her. When he stop, he was surprised that in the week she had been at training camp, he had forgotten how she was shorter than him. It wasn't by much, but enough to be noticeable.

"No, don't worry." Chiyuri smiled and held up her phone screen to Kenma for him to see that she had a game pulled up on it. "I finally finished that gathering quest on the outskirts of the town. It was a lot of running around the map."

"You could've told me you were doing that quest. I could've given you some of my extra supplies."

"Oh, no its okay!" Chiyuri saved her game and then stuffed her phone into her pocket. "I got a lot of good experience running around. I think I found the best way to avoid all the monsters." Kenma let out a small puff of laughter as she proudly beamed at him. It would've been more assuring if her eyes had portrayed the same emotion, but the grey orbs were still a little cloudy and sad. It was minimal, but Kenma still caught it. "Anyways. Where do you want to go eat?"

"Can we go somewhere with apple pie?" Kenma pulled out his phone, opening an app to show a dessert shop not too far from school. Chiyuri shuffled next to him, brushing her black hair behind her ear as Kenma moved the phone between them. "I saw some reviews about how this place has really good apple pies."

"Sure. Apple pies sound delicious."

Kenma pulled up directions on his phone, memorizing the path before putting it back into his pocket. It was only about a five minute walk away, so the two of them began the short journey there. The pudding haired boy kept his phone and his PSP tucked away as Chiyuri filled him in on her time at the training camp. As he had expected, she avoided talking about how everyone there judged her as the Phantom and completely forgot that she was just another teammate. Kenma felt his heart ache a bit every time she stopped mid-sentence when recalling their practice matches, as if remembering the other teams' glares and comments before shaking herself off and smiling. He really didn't understand how she could deal with it all. It seemed like the girls volleyball teams were more vicious and didn't care too much about sportsmanship. If anything, he'd rather have Chiyuri come join the boys team where she wouldn't have to deal with any of that at all.

Chiyuri saw the little bakery first, the crowded interior making her glance to Kenma. It wasn't that either of them claustrophobic, but they both weren't too fond of crowded areas like this.

"Hey, Kenma." He hummed in acknowledgement. "Do you just want to order our food to go and bring it back to my house to eat? I'm sure Hiro would like you to come over again."

Kenma blinked, then looked inside and saw how crowded it was. Without another moment of hesitation, he nodded. Chiyuri smiled and lined up, picking up a paper menu from a stand not too far from where they were standing.

"Yuri, what do you want?" Chiyuri scanned the menu, her eyes landing on a few items.

"I don't know... The apple pie looks really good but I also really want to try the strawberry crepe..."

Kenma glanced at the image of the strawberry crepe, admitting that it did look appetizing. He wouldn't give up apple pie for it, but it didn't mean he didn't want a little bit.

"We can share. We can get an apple pie and a strawberry crepe."

Chiyuri's eyes sparkled as she nodded. Folding the menu, she stuffed the paper into her bag, zipping it closed and pulling the strap onto her shoulder. When they got up to the front, there was a small, quiet fight about who would be paying for the food before Kenma won by handing the money to the lady as he used his other hand to pull Chiyuri back by her bag.

"You should just let your boyfriend pay for you on your date, little miss!" The lady that took their order was laughing slightly at their small fight. Both Kenma and Chiyuri looked at her, blinking slightly.

"Oh! We're not dating..."

Chiyuri's expression was blank, but Kenma could tell she was confused. He was too. Why would the lady just assume they were dating? Couldn't two friends go out and not be dating? Kenma nodded in agreement to Chiyuri's statement as the lady quickly apologized for assuming. She handed back his change as well as the two desserts before wishing them a good day. Kenma took the bag and the change from the counter, holding it in his right hand as the two of them headed to her house. As they walked, Kenma silently moved Chiyuri to his left so that he was walking by the road instead.

The walk back was quiet with minimal chatter. The conversations that did pop up were mostly about the games that Kenma had introduced her to. The most recent game she started was a FPS game on her desktop, though she sheepishly admitted that her death rate was too higher than she'd like to acknowledge, even for a beginner.

As expected, when Chiyuri unlocked her door, Hiro made a beeline straight for Kenma, not caring at all that the pudding-haired boy was holding a box of pie in his hands. Chiyuri glared at her kitten a bit for not greeting her first, but huffed and turned away when Kenma gave her an amused look.

"You can bring the food to my room. It's the second door to the right upstairs." Chiyuri motioned her hand to the staircase not too far from the front door. "The rest of the house just feels a bit cold since it's just me here, so if you don't mind, we can just stay in my room."

Kenma nodded, slipping his shoes off and lightly nudging them to the side with his feet. He didn't know whether or not he should be awkward just walking into someone else's room, but she had given him permission so he turned the knob and pushed the door open.

As she had said, compared to the rest of the house, the room was a lot more welcoming and homey. The first thing that Kenma noticed about the room was that there was a bay window with a comfortable seat and fluffy pillows. The blinds were opened, so the sunlight streamed in nicely and seemed to make the room brighter. Everything else Kenma thought was pretty standard but it suited her well. A twin sized bed with baby blue sheets and what Kenma thought was a ridiculous amount of pillows and plushies sat in the corner. At the foot of the bed was an L-shaped desk facing the corner of her room which had her laptop and a few textbooks and assignments scattered on it. In the center was a low table with a fluffy white rug underneath. To finish things off, across from her bed on the other side of the table was a short bookcase with a wall-mounted TV.

Kenma set down the pie on the table, his eyes wandering a bit around her room as he waited for the grey-eyed girl to get up here. Her bookshelf under the TV was filled with all sorts of books though most of it appeared to be mangas. There were a few books in English, though, but they all seemed pretty advanced to Kenma.

"You can go ahead and sit anywhere," Chiyuri said as she walked in with a couple plates and forks. Hanging from her forearm was the bag that contained the crepe. "I'll be back with the drinks."

Kenma nodded, taking the plates out of her hand and putting them on the table for her as she pulled the crepe bag off her arm. As she exited the room again, he sat down on the soft rug with his back resting on her bed. He was feeling a little restless, though he wasn't sure why he was. Perhaps it was just because he hadn't really been to anyone else's house aside from Kuroo's. Shaking himself off, he discarded the layers of clothing he had on to ward off the slightly chilly temperatures of late Spring before pulling out his PSP.

Chiyuri walked in not too long after with a large pitcher of iced tea and two glass cups, setting it down on the table as she took a seat next to Kenma and poured the two of them a glass before cutting them both a slice of pie and half of the crepe and putting it on the plate. Kenma gave her a thanks, though his attention was mostly on the PSP game. Chiyuri didn't mind one bit as she leaned her back on her bed, scooting over as Kenma also adjusted himself so she could see the screen. The desserts and the tea remained forgotten for a while as the two of them became immersed in Kenma's game. It wasn't until Chiyuri's phone rang that Kenma finally got his attention off the PSP and took his first bite of the pie.

"Sorry, can I take this? It's my cousin," Chiyuri asked, giving Kenma an apologetic look. The boy nodded, not minding in the slightest even though he knew she would be berating herself mentally about being a bad host. She gave him a million thanks before picking up the phone on the last ring.

"Kei!" Chiyuri picked up the phone, putting it on speaker as she took a sip of her tea. Hiro also padded in right at that time, crawling in between Kenma and Chiyuri to get attention from both of them. Chiyuri subconsciously rubbed his back as Kenma scratched the kitten's ears.

"Who are you?" Kei asked suspiciously. "Chiyuri never greets me so happily."

"Oh hush, Kei. Call me Nee-San like you used to! I missed how cute you were!"

"Oh. It is you." Kenma stifled a laugh at her cousin's tone, which earned him a pillow thrown at him. She had reached for one of the seemingly endless amounts of fluffy pillows on her bed and tugged it off before whacking the pudding-haired boy with it. Instead of throwing it back, he simply took the pillow and hugged it in his arms as he continued to play on his PSP. She stuck out her tongue childishly at him, causing him to smirk and repeat the childish action. He normally wouldn't have, but he didn't want to let Chiyuri have the last word (or gesture) in their little scuffle. Thankfully for him, Chiyuri couldn't retaliate as Kei started speaking again."Who was it that was willing to spend enough time with your dumb self to change you so much?"

"Oi, Kei! Don't use that sharp tongue with me, young man."

The two of them continued to bicker back and forth, slowly yet discreetly getting details on how the other had been faring. Kenma, despite trying not too hard to listen, couldn't help but be curious about who her cousin was. It wasn't until volleyball was mentioned that Kenma glanced back up at her.

"How's volleyball going?" Chiyuri asked. The first time Kei had told her that he was joining volleyball was a surprise. Afterwards, during the brief phone calls they shared, he still showed little to no signs of enjoying the sport, so the older girl felt the need to keep checking in and making sure he was doing okay mentally. She didn't want him to be forcing himself after all. After what happened with Akiteru, Chiyuri thought Kei wouldn't have wanted anything to do with it at all..

"Like I told you last time, there are a whole bunch of idiots on this team. In fact, there's even more idiots. Some of the Senpais here are really questionable. Like, what in the world is 'rolling thunder?'" Chiyuri frowned slightly as Kei let out a puff of disdain over the phone.

"No, Kei. I meant for you." There was a moment of hesitation over the phone, which made Chiyuri sit up straigher, setting down her tea. "Kei. As much as both Akiteru-San and I are glad that you have an interest in volleyball, we don't want to see you do it so half-heartedly. If you don't want to play volleyball, we won't be disappointed. But if you do, give it your all. You're never going to get the same experiences as you do now."

"Mendokusai. Chi, you've gotten a lot nosier since your mood improved." There was a slight shuffling on the other side, then Kei spoke again. "I'm hanging up."

Without even waiting for Chiyuri to say anything, the call ended, causing the girl to let out a defeated sigh. Kenma glanced over at her briefly, but kept his attention mostly on his PSP so she didn't feel pressured to tell him what was going on. It sounded too personal for him to ask directly as well.

"Are you okay, Yuri?" Kenma finally asked after she puffed her cheeks out of frustration and leaned back, her head tilted backwards onto the bed. She let out another sigh before turning to face Kenma and nodding.

"Yea. It was just my cousin being how he usually is. He's on the Karasuno team in Miyagi Prefecture, but his older brother and I are worried that he's pushing himself or putting himself down."

Kenma nodded, not quite sure what to say since he didn't know her cousin very well. Chiyuri let out a huff, adjusting herself so that she was sitting on her knees with her legs to either side of her. She grabbed her phone again, quickly typing something out before putting the device face down onto the square table.

"C'mon Kenma. Lets finish the pie and then can you teach me how to clear the new map?"

~~~

Chiyuri nervously followed Kenma to the main gym where the boys were having their practice. Yuka Kusumoto, the team's backup Libero, had told her during class that the Rika had cancelled practice. Chiyuri was a bit confused on why Rika hadn't told her directly, but as long as someone told her, it all worked out fine. Kenma happened to be nearby when he overheard, and so he invited her to the boys' practice. Not only had they all been pestering him about how he became friends with a pretty girl on the volleyball team, but he also had a feeling that it would do Chiyuri some good to meet the team. He was confident the team would see her as Chiyuri and not as the Phantom, unlike how he felt about some of the girls on the volleyball team. It left him an uncomfortable feeling sometimes seeing how aside from a few members, most of the girls still seemed to just forget Chiyuri.

As soon as Kenma slid open the gym door, Chiyuri immediately was overwhelmed. She made sure to stand directly behind Kenma, who thankfully was just barely taller than her so he could still hide her. He noticed how she purposely hid behind him, but he didn't say anything as he walked in with his attention still on his PSP.

"Oi, Kenma! You're late!" Kuroo called before turning back to Lev. Chiyuri poked her head out from behind him and watched as he took the volleyball in his hand and chucked it straight at the first year as hard as he could. "Lev! Stop trying to sneak away! You need to work on your receives!"

"I want to spike!" Lev whined, rubbing the back of his head where Kuroo's ball had hit. Kuroo didn't seem to care as he dragged the silver haired boy over to Yaku. Her grey eyes took in the scene, scanning the gym as if coldly analyzing the entire club. When her eyes met another pair, she froze.

"Kenma brought a girl!"

Chiyuri flinched a little as the boy with the blonde streak bounced toward her. She quickly ducked back behind Kenma who looked up from his console.

"Tora, stop it." Kenma scolded. Yamamoto paused mid leap, sadly deflating as Kuroo quickly came over and dragged him back by the collar.

"Sorry about that, Tsukishima-san," Kuroo apologized for his underclassman. "Kenma didn't tell us you'd be tagging along."

"I hope I'm not bothering your practice, Kuroo-Senpai..." Chiyuri's voice was quiet and she was a bit scared to meet the third year's eyes. Despite normally being cold, she wanted to try her best to open up to all of Kenma's team. He assured her before bringing her that they were different from everyone else and would've ever ignore her or call her the Phantom. She could forget about the nickname while spending time with the boys' volleyball team. She trusted Kenma's word.

"Not at all! We're just a little surprised that Kenma brought someone. Aren't you in volleyball as well? What happened to your practice. I thought Amisaki was cracking down on practice for those first years?"

"You know Rika?" Chiyuri's grey eyes finally met Kuroo's, to which the third year gave her a smirk.

"Of course! Your captain is my classmate. I'm surprised that abusive ape can manage an entire team when all she does is kick me." Chiyuri let out a small 'pft' sound as she turned her head to hide her amusement. Kuroo grinned successfully at making her laugh while Kenma just rolled his eyes. He couldn't deny that Rika was a little scary. The first time Kenma had seen her, she had literally kicked Kuroo down in the middle of the sidewalk. "Anyways, Tsukishima-san, since you don't seem to have practice today, feel free to practice with us."

~~~

Although she was still a bit uncomfortable, practicing with the boys certainly allowed her to get a better understanding of the team. She sat out for the first couple matches, watching and observing how they flowed and how smooth their connections were. When she finally joined the game, things got a bit more serious as she utterly destroyed half the team. It was fun, even more than her usual practices. The girl, usually depraved of praise for her efforts, received more than enough today, with Yamamoto and Lev both jumping around her to ask for advice. Kenma could tell that she was a bit hesitant to open up her heart to the team in fear of it being just a temporary thing, but she was really trying her best.

When they split off to practice individually, Chiyuri was pulled around by different members of the team, from Yaku wanting her to spike to him to Lev wanting her to teach him how to do a cross hit to Inuoka wanting to practice his blocks. At long last, Kenma decided to save her from the chaos after seeing her helpless glances at him and pulled her to him so that she could spike his sets.

With the last twenty minutes of practice, Kuroo called for everyone to gather on the bench. Chiyuri was absolutely exhausted, especially after Lev had run over to her in the middle of the practice, pulling her away from Kenma to use her as a human body shield from Yaku. The silver-haired boy had apparently not wanted to practice receives with the libero anymore and was begging Chiyuri to save him. The black-haired girl was lost, but at the same time, she was extremely happy, albeit hiding it, that they never seemed to forget her presence. It was a nice change from when Rika would basically be the only one to pay attention to her for more than ten minutes at a time.

She was sitting on the bench between Kenma and Shibayama, the first year backup libero. He was certainly calmer than most of the rest of the team, thankfully. While Kuroo discussed a couple last minute things with the coach, Kenma pushed his phone in between them as she leaned over to see and showed her a couple new tricks that he learned in the new update of the RPG he introduced her to. As she watched, Kenma noticed that she started to nod off. She was probably exhausted, mentally and physically, but Kenma knew she had a great time by the sparkle that had been in her eyes for a while now. He didn't say anything as she closed her eyes for a bit, her head leaning slightly on him.

~~~

"A practice match in Miyagi?" Chiyuri drowsily lifted her head up. She hadn't even known she had dozed off. She glanced around slightly, seeing that she had been leaning on Kenma's shoulder. She whispered a quiet thank you to him as she rubbed her eyes.

"How long was I asleep?" Chiyuri asked under her breath as she covered her yawn with her sleeve.

"Only like, five minutes," Kenma said without looking up from his phone. She nodded, turning her attention back to Kuroo.

"Coach Nekomata accepted a request from the Karasuno team. Apparently the crows have changed and want a match with us." Kuroo smirked. Chiyuri perked up slightly at the name. Kei attended Karasuno high. "We'll be going to Tsukinokizawa High School to have the match, so we'll also have a quick match against them since they're letting us use their gym."

"Hey, do you think they have a female manager?" Yamamoto asked Fukunaga and Inuoka. Kuroo let out an annoyed sigh, chopping him on the head to shut him up before he could start whining about how they didn't have a female manager.

"Anyways, Lev." Kuroo turned to look at the tall first year. Chiyuri still wasn't too used to the half-Russian kid despite being dragged around by him half the practice. His height and sharp eyes scared her a little bit if she had to be honest, so she had a bit more difficulty opening up to him. Personality-wise, he was a bit all over the place, but she could tell he meant well. "You're going to be staying here."

"What?! But I want to go too!" Lev's eyes widened and he sprung up from the bench. Kuroo didn't seem fazed at all as he tried to explain why Lev couldn't go, but the silver-haired boy was not listening at all. Chiyuri felt a little bad for Kuroo as he was visibly getting frustrated by the first year. She reached over from her seat, tugging slightly on the end of his practice jersey.

"Uhm. Haiba-San?" Lev turned around, silencing immediately as he met the second-year's gaze. She was quiet, that was for sure, but it only meant that they had to make sure they could hear her. That's all there was to it.

"You're going to tell Kuroo-Senpai I can go right?" Lev pleaded, squatting down in front of Chiyuri. She gave him an apologetic look.

"Sorry, Haiba-San, but I have to agree with Kuroo. You just started volleyball this year so you need to focus on your basics first. If you attend an official practice match right away, you'll get too caught up in trying to mimic the plays before your basics are solid. You might get overwhelmed..."

Lev deflated as the rest of the team stared at her in silence. Only Kenma remained fairly disinterested as he nodded in agreement. Lev was hard enough to deal with as it was. He didn't want to have to set to the first year if he was going to be asking to do crazy quicks or something.

"Uhm.. Sorry... Did I say too much?" Chiyuri shrank into herself a little bit, scooting a little closer to Kenma as she felt uncomfortable under their stares. Kenma noticed the movement and looked up, but recognized that his team wasn't doing it out of malice so he simply let them be.

"Spoken like a manager." Yaku finally broke the silence. Chiyuri blinked, a little confused.

"This is why we need a manager!" Yamamoto complained. He went right up to Chiyuri and bowed his head. "Please become our manager!"

"Oi! Yamamoto! She's already part of the girls volleyball club. Stop trying to ask her to be our manager!" Kuroo dragged the second year boy back away from her as the first years laughed a bit at him. The blonde-streaked boy turned, almost breathing fire as he yelled at them to stop laughing, though it didn't do anything other than make them laugh harder.

"Uhm, if you guys don't mind," Chiyuri interjected softly as she raised her hand, "I can go to your practice in Miyagi as the manager substitute..." Kuroo blinked at her, which caused her to panic and start stumbling over her words. She quickly waved her hands in front of her as if to brush off her statement. "I mean, only if you're okay with it, Kuroo-Senpai! I just thought that maybe it would help if you had someone to take care of the water and the meals and all that so you could focus on training... I can do a manager's job pretty well since I help out with all that on my own team when the team and manager are too busy..." Chiyuri's voice trailed off as she looked to her lap, the blush still flaming on her cheeks. She shouldn't have said anything. They probably thought she was weird for saying something like that...

The grey eyes girl flinched as arms wrapped around her in a hug. Glancing to the side, she saw that it was Yamamoto who had latched onto her. He was crying again, this time saying something about how thankful he was to have a girl like her hang around them.

"Oi, for the last time, stop it!" Yaku scolded as he yanked the boy off of Chiyuri. He didn't want their ace being beaten half to death by their setter who was emitting a terrifying aura from beside Chiyuri despite not looking up. His glare aimed down at his phone screen was enough to put Yamamoto six feet under. "You can't just hug a girl like that, Yamamoto!"

"It's okay, Yaku-Senpai," Chiyuri brushed off despite her obvious stiffness from the attack. She knew they all meant well, so she was trying her hardest to open up as fast as possible. It was definitely more forced than with Kenma, but they were all definitely a better crowd than some of the girls. She wasn't the Phantom around them. She was just Chiyuri.

"Tsukishima-Chan, are you sure you want to go?" Kuroo raised an eyebrow. "You know you're going to be stuck with those idiots." Kuroo pointed a thumb at Yamamoto, Fukunaga and Inuoka who were now arguing whether or not Karasuno had female managers. Yamamoto sure had recovered quickly. She tilted her head and forced a small smile.

"Yeah, I can handle it."

Kuroo nodded, writing her name down on the paper that he would hand over to Coach Nekomta and Coach Naoi later. Kenma leaned over slightly, his eyes not leaving the device in his hands.

"Isn't your cousin in Miyagi? Actually, isn't he in Karasuno?" Chiyuri blinked, then nodded.

"Yeah, it's one of the reasons I offered to go. I haven't seen Kei in a while... I'm surprised you remembered."

Kenma simply shrugged, not giving her a verbal reply. It wasn't like he was just going to forget something about her, was he? He found it easy to remember things about the black haired girl, even things he often found bothersome.

"You're going to have to get permission from your coach before we can officially invite you, though." Chiyuri brought her attention back to Kuroo, nodding at his statement. She was sure she'd be able to get permission. It wasn't like most of the members were going to miss her if she missed practice, right? They wouldn't be missing a team member, but rather a tool.

Before her mood could get any lower, she quickly put on a small smile, albeit the smile was as fake as ever.

"I'll go get that permission now, Kuroo-Senpai. I'll be back before you start cleaning up."

Leaving her bags, the grey-eyed girl quickly exited the gym, heading to the teacher's office where her coach would be. Kenma, glancing up from his phone, frowned at her retreating figure. She was like an open book to him.

"I'll go with her," Kenma said, stuffing his phone in his pocket before standing up from the bench and heading toward the door. Kuroo raised an eyebrow, smirking mischievously after the pudding-haired boy. Kuroo could already tell that his childhood friend was catching feelings for the girl, not that Kenma would ever agree to it. Shaking his head, Kuroo turned back to his team, calling for them to do individual practice for the last ten minutes of their practice.

~~~

Chiyuri kicked a small pebble from her path as she dragged her feet toward the staff room. Now that she had brought up the thought of her team viewing her more as a tool, it wouldn't leave and it was giving her a headache. It wasn't like she was wrong. The only person who really seemed to value her as a member of the team was Rika and Ano, their Libero. Most of the other members were friendly at the very least, but they didn't really associate with her unless necessary. Some of the newer members didn't really talk to her at all, almost as if they just ignored her presence.

Shaking the thoughts off as best she could, she picked up her speed to the staff room. She knew it wouldn't take long and there really was no reason for the coach to reject her absence, but she wanted to get back so she could help clean up. As she walked up to the door, she heard faint voices. It didn't bother her until she almost reached the handle and she heard her name. Chiyuri froze, not sure if she should be walking in or not.

"Why is Tsukishima still on this team if she isn't doing anything? She even skipped practice today."

Chiyuri felt her heart drop. She wasn't sure who said it, but she couldn't believe what she was hearing. Plus, didn't Yuka say there wasn't practice today?

"Oi, Yuka!" Chiyuri recognized Rika's voice. "Don't say that about Chi. She's a valuable member of the team."

"Yeah, but only as the phantom! She doesn't do anything else. Her serves aren't memorable or anything! Coach, I'm only saying this so we can get in a team member who actually cares about the club!"

"Kusumoto-san, we can't just remove a team member without proper reasoning." The coach's voice was calm, yet troubled. The entire girls' volleyball club was in the staff room at the moment, arguing about the one member who wasn't there.

"Isn't the fact that she's not putting her all into the club enough reasoning?" Yuka retaliated.

Kenma finally caught up to the girl, seeing her leaning on the wall next to the door. He approached slowly, not sure what was going on, but he could immediately tell something was wrong by how her hair was shadowing over her face

"I mean, I've never seen Tsukishima-Senpai practice. At least, I don't remember seeing her practice..." It was the first year Haru, Matsuno, the pinch server, that spoke.

"You are being too harsh on her," Sumi, their vice captain and middle blocker voiced. "Even if Tsukishima-San doesn't perform as well the rest of us, we can make use of her small presence to get past the other team and score points. Isn't that all there is to it? We just need points to win."

"Sumi!" Rika shrieked. "Chiyuri is our team member and our friend! How can you say that?!"

"C'mon Rika. Don't be blind just because you feel bad for her. That's really the only redeeming factor about Tsukishima-san, isn't it? In the past two years, I can't remember her doing much except spiking past the blockers."

Kenma felt his blood boil as he overheard their words. He glanced down at Chiyuri, noticing how her eyes were blank and emotionless.

"Yuri..." Chiyuri flinched and quickly looked up to Kenma.

"Oh, Kenma. I didn't see you there. I was just waiting since I think there are people in there..." Chiyuri felt her throat close up, as she spoke, but she quickly cleared it and pushed her emotions back down. It wasn't like she had warmed up to the whole team, but she still trusted them. It hurt that this was what had resulted. She thought they knew her better than that.

Before Kenma could say anything else, Chiyuri pushed herself off the wall and gave him a smile that didn't reach her eyes.

"I'll go talk to the coach and we can head back to help clean up." Kenma couldn't say anything as she knocked on the door, sliding it open as the voices immediately silenced.

"Chiyuri..." Rika seemed surprised to see her, worry flooding through her in fear that she had overheard anything. Thankfully for Chiyuri, Rika wasn't quite as good as Kenma in reading her, so she managed a wave and hid how she was feeling behind her usual emotionless mask.

"Oh, Rika. I needed to talk to you and the coach."

"Yeah?" Rika and the Coach shared a hesitant glance, then returned their attention back to Chiyuri.

"Kuroo-Senpai from the boys' volleyball team invited me to their practice match this weekend in Miyagi. I wanted to ask permission to go."

Rika and the Coach visibly relaxed as they both nodded.

"Sure, only the first years, Sumi and I are practicing this weekend, so you can go to the practice match." Rika smiled at the girl, relieved that she didn't seem to have heard anything. Rika wanted to solve this whole issue before it reached her ears. This situation was going to cause a rift in the team and she didn't want Chiyuri to get caught up in it. At least, not like this.

Chiyuri nodded, thanking the two of them before bowing and walking out of the room. The rest of the team had been dead silent as if they were holding their breaths the whole time she was in the room. Before the sliding door to the staff room closed, Kenma poked his head in. His golden eyes seemed to glare at all of them, giving most of them shivers as he stood at the doorway.

Rika felt her heart drop at Kenma's next words.

"If you guys don't want Chiyuri on your team, say it straight to her. Don't start slandering someone behind their back, you cowards. If you're really going to ignore her, give her to me. The boys' team would be more than happy to take her from you."

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Question of the Chapter: Anime or Manga?

Originally Posted: 01/08/2021
Edited Version Posted: 03/31/2021