VOLLEYBALL, JUST LIKE EVERYTHING IN THIS PLANET, IS A GAME OF THRONES. The constant strive for power, dominion over the weak, the goals to aim for the highest position ever. And time is the most dangerous of enemies. Thrones can be taken in seconds, minutes and in the case of Karasuno High School, consecutive years.

But it is a game of thrones in the end, and as time passes, the rulers change and those who have fallen will rise and those who dominated will fall. Karasuno High School. Once fallen, rises ten times better. Mana thinks that 'fallen powerhouse, flightless crows' is not fitting to describe the brilliance of the Karasuno High School volleyball team.

They are striving in this game of thrones, dominating, strengthening.

And he is one of the key players for this house. With hair the bearing the mesmerizing shade of the obsidian sky and the feathers of crows everyone thought broke and lay in the ground, lifeless.

The King of the Court. The bad king. The dictator.

Mana never believed those things. She thinks that Kageyama Tobio is in fact the sweetest boy she knows. He is no king of ashes and anger. Kageyama Tobio is pure and Mana thinks that he is kind, and misunderstood. He may have the constant temper flares but he was still adorable.

Mana likes that boy. He used to see him practice volleyball until night in the expansive gymnasium of Kitagawa Daiichi, the way he looks at the ball like a friend he will cherish forever, the way the flames of passion ignite in his eyes at the reminder of the sport he loved.

And even now, watching him fumble on the vending machine, perplexed as to what he will choose to buy, Mana thinks that the boy is a pure cinnamon bun.

He is alike Oikawa in a way. The Oikawa she used to cherish.

She's just supposed to buy a couple of drinks for the soccer team on their break. The break is still minutes from the current time but Rie insists that if she ever becomes lost, there will be allowance. She stands still, watches the scene through grey eyes that have never looked so cheerful.

Kageyama Tobio makes her happy.

"Mana-senpai, did you see Oikawa-senpai?" the boy asks, the glimmer of innocence sparking in his eyes as he clutched the green and red volleyball in his hands.

"Ara, Kageyama, I'm afraid he left," she says with a cordial smile. "I'm just waiting for Iwaizumi."

He frowns. "I was going to ask him to teach me how to do a jump serve too."

Mana chuckles. "Don't worry. I'll make sure Oikawa helps you tomorrow."

He is like a child who has been given the greatest gift of all. "Really?"

"Now don't look to hopeful," she says with an awkward chuckle. "I'll feel bad if I don't deliver."

It was strange when he hugged her, but she pats his head. He's like family. The brother she always wanted; something she cannot have.

Oikawa was watching.

And the memory turns to bitter flashbacks. Yelling, fingers pointed, tears held back, fists clenched.

It was raining that time. She vaguely remembers the fat droplets of rain plummeting to the ground, creating pools of water that reflects the grey clouds covering the sky like clumps of pillows. The sound of rain tapping on windows, roofs, gutters and rills.

"He's trying to steal you too!"

Mana shakes her head, eyes oozing with an unfathomable emotion. "You know that's not true."

"You like him too, don't you?" he accuses and she takes a sharp intake of oxygen. He looks pathetic, to put it simply. Eyes rimmed with red and tears pooling on the corner of his eyes. His hair is a disheveled mess, the dark bags under the corner of his eyes very evident.

Mana looks disappointed now. She's the epitome of patient, she always has been. But this sort of pettiness, she expects better from him. "He's just a kid!" she bites back. "I know you're frustrated because it's your last year and you can't beat Ushijima but this is just too shallow. You can't blame everything on a poor freshman who idolizes you."

That was true, but she shouldn't have said it. It was a low blow.

"Shut up," he says icily.

"Fine," she says exasperated. She doesn't miss the tears pooling on the corner of his eyes. "Get over this Oikawa. You're better than this."

When she's back in reality, Kageyama is talking to a short orange haired boy. Arguing.

She decides that it's time to buy the drinks. So she strides to the machine and of course, her former junior notices her.

"Mana-senpai, is that you?" Kageyama asks.

"Oi Kageyama! Don't ignore me!"

She gives a smile, and she's surprised that it's sincere and sweet. This boy can do wonders to her. "It's been a while, Tobio-kun."

"It really is you senpai!" he says and he smiles that same smile she always found adorable. "So you went to Seijoh too?"

He noticed the PE attire.

"Yeah, figured I'd go with familiar people to high school." Familiar people... was it that hard to even say his name?

"Oh..." he says. "You're still dating Oikawa-senpai?"

She winces at the name, but tries to cover up with a smile that does not reach her eyes.

The orange haired boy next to Tobio yells (he's spinning and jumping so fast that Mana is almost dizzy), "You're dating the Grand King?!" Apparently he liked shouting.

Grand King?

"Tooru is kind of gaudy, but seriously, I don't think he's that grand," she admits and the shorter boy's mouth is hung open.

"You're an angel!" he bellows. "Dating someone even worse than Stingyshima!"

Stingyshima?

"So you're still dating?" Kageyama asks, although there's a part of him that has probably arrived at a certain conclusion.

Mana nods.

"Oh..." he says.

"Eh~?! So it is true!" the orange haired says-yells more like it. There's that fire in his eyes too, that one that flared whenever volleyball was involved. "Damn that Grand King!"

"Shut up, Hinata!"

"Hinata?" Mana asks. "So your name is Hinata, huh? I'm Mana. Akatsuki Mana. I'm a third year in Aoba Johsai." She extends her right arm for a handshake and the boy- Hinata, goes rigid and red as he shakes her hand.

"I'm Hinata Shoyo, first year! It's a pleasure to meet you, Mana-senpai!"

Mana smiles at him. He's so bubbly and energetic that it's infecting her with the same mood.

She almost forgets to buy the drinks when the two boys depart for practice. She places the cans in a paper bag Rie handed her on her way to the vending machine. When it's time to leave, Mana runs. She spent ample time on talking to the first year boys.

She's lucky to arrive a few seconds before the break. The girls mutter their thanks, even the one Mana had an argument with before.

When the match restarts, she sits next to Rie who's scribbling notes on her notepad. The girl who had an argument with her before, the one with pretty red curls and striking green eyes is no longer a viper in the field. She's a beast, quick and agile and strong. She kicks the ball with such strength that the net almost tears apart, the others cannot keep up with her speed and she passes her opponents with ease.

Mana is intimidated.

"Arashikage is as good as ever," the coach hums, referring to the girl. It's fairly obvious since she's the only one doing well in the team. Or maybe the team is doing well and the girl is just perfect.

"Mayuri's the ace," Rie says. "She's supposed to train twice as hard as the other, but she's stubborn. She trains thrice as hard."

"Admiring qualities."

Another goal from Mayuri.

And the game ends. The team cheers, but no one congratulates the beast that won the match. They hug each other but they ignore the girl with red hair and the darkest green eyes.

"You did well," Mana says and offers an encouraging smile to one of the girls. She remembers her as the goal keeper.

"Yeah..." the girl hums, but there's that thing screaming in her eyes. The bitter bitter frustration. She was probably disappointed at herself, she expects better.

"We don't need her," it's Rie who says it when the girl is gone. She hands Mana canned coffee, although it's strangely cold for coffee.

"Rie?" she questions, perplexed.

The girl shoots her a sweet smile. "That's what the team wants to say to Mayuri. 'We don't need her.' They're trying so hard to make that a fact yet in the end, they need Mayu. She's the strongest player in the field, their ace. The one who brings them victory. They hate her, everything about her yet... they stay because they want to win. More than anything else, even their egos."

Mana nods slowly. It's so familiar that she almost releases a chuckle.

She stays with him, because she believes. Foolishly, hopelessly, desperately. She believes that in this transient world, this planet full of impermanence, Oikawa is a constant. He will never leave her; that like her he's clinging to some stupid stupid fact.

She believes that it's better. It's better to be hurt than to be left behind.

It's okay to break her heart over and over again. It's all right. She'll heal, those wounds will close and even broken things can be mended.

But Mana believes that people who leave will never come back.

Just like her mother. Her father. Her sister.

They never come back.

Break her heart. Mana doesn't know if it's still there, inside her ribcage, pumping, beating as a constant reminder that she's alive. She thinks that it's okay for her heart to break, for Oikawa to break it.

Better broken than left behind.

"Let's go back, Mana," it's Rie who says it. "Thank you for your help today."

Mana waves the girl off with a casual smile, eyes hollow as ever. Even now she can't stop thinking about Oikawa Tooru. The boy born of stardust and all things possessing incredible celestial beauty. The boy who looked like anything but a disaster. The boy that wrecked the fragile fragile organ which is her heart to smithereens that it's almost humorous.

The boy who broke her heart but still made all her remaining pieces cling to the torture that is life.

You see, Mana knows how to prioritize. She knows how to choose 'needs' over 'wants'.

She doesn't want Oikawa, nor like him. That sentiment is long past, belonging to a girl with storms of silver for eyes and hair the color of sweet sweet chocolate. The past. Was.

She needs him. Like how humans need oxygen, like how plants need water and soil. She needs him.

And everything she does now is just for the sake of survival. The survival of a dead girl, with dead vortices for eyes and strands of loneliness and bitterness for hair.

Love, let me live.

* * *

e n d.
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[ Supermarket Flowers ]

'sometimes, it's just better to let go.'

[ a u t h o r ' s c o r n e r. ]

late af and unedited xD

++ it's filler hahahaha.