The minute I told Yui what I'd be doing on Mondays after school, she had a slight fangirl meltdown. "Oh my gosh, he really does like you. Like really really like you. Like oh my god, if I didn't like Sawamura-san so much, I'd be all over that. You are so lucky. You are gonna date, and get married, and have adorable, volleyball playing babies-"

"Yui-chan, calm down," I tell her, cutting off her rant. "I don't even like him like that. We are just friends, and I'm helping him out."

"How can you not like him?" Yui gasps at me as we eat lunch in our classroom. "From what you've told me, he's been nothing less than a perfect prince charming to you."

"I just..." I trail off, trying to collect my thoughts on the brunette server. I do feel like I feel something for him, but it's always clouded by my feelings for Daichi.

"If you really don't like him like that, you'd better stop leading him on," she reprimands. "He seems like he really does like you and it's not fair to him."

"Yeah, I get it," I sigh.

"Good, now back to what I was saying. You'd better make me the godmother to your first child," she continues.

I sigh again, but smile at my friend, "Yui..."

***

I make my way down a different street from my normal route home. Oikawa and I agreed to meet at a different park that is closer to the gym before we head over there. It's a fifteen minute walk from my school since Oikawa and Takeru live a bit farther away.

"Azumane-san!" I hear a young voice yell my name out and turn to see Takeru at the top of a slide. Oikawa is sitting on a bench off to the side, and stands up to greet me, a smile forming on his face.

"Hey," I say to him.

"Yahoo, Asu-chan!" he replies, brightly, walking up to me while slinging an extra bag, apart from his and Takeru's school bags, over his shoulder. I assume it has his volleyball gear in it. "You ready to go?"

"Yeah," I tell him. "Do you want me to take one of those bags? It looks uncomfortable to carry all three."

"No, you're okay," he says as we start to head out of the park, Takeru walking in front of us. "But I know a strong little man who can carry his own backpack."

Takeru groans as he walks over, taking his bag from his uncle.

"So, Asu-chan, are you gonna be teaching volleyball in your school uniform?" Oikawa teases me, eyeing my clothing.

"I have a change of clothes and my knee pads just in case in my bag," I tell him.

"You know, I'm gonna hate to see that uniform go," he tells me nonchalantly, glancing at me out of the corner of his eye. A wicked grin makes it's way onto his face. "You look so cute in it."

"Shut up, perv!" I exclaim. My stomach churns again at his compliment, but Yui's words ring in my ears.

"If you really don't like him like that, you'd better stop leading him on."

I really need to figure out my feelings, or I'm going to hurt someone or myself. It's just every time I think about liking someone, my mind instinctively jumps to Daichi. He's always been there. A calm, kind guy with a sweet smile and a good head on his shoulders. He always knows the right things to say when someone needs advice. I've liked him since we were in the same class together in our first year of high school.

I sigh out loud.

"What's wrong?" Oikawa asks from next to me.

"Nothing," I tell him with a weak smile. "Just thinking about stuff."

***

We arrive at the gym and I head into the women's locker room, changing into some black athletic shorts and and orange Karasuno volleyball shirt. I put on my volleyball shoes as well and head out to find the boys waiting for me. We head into the gym to see a group made up of two boys and a girl all looking around Takeru's age. Two women looking about in their late twenties stand with them. Probably the mothers.

Oikawa introduces me to everyone and the mothers say goodbye to their children. The one girl from the group tugs on the hem of my shirt. "Yes, sweetie?"

"Can you help me with bumping the ball?" The girl stares up at me with big hazel eyes. Her hair is tied up in two pigtails and she wears a shirt with a popular cartoon character on it. "My brother, Ibuki, makes fun of me cause he's better than me."

"Now we can't let him think that," I tell her. "What's your name?"

"Itsumi," she says.

"That's a pretty name," I tell her. "I'll tell you what. By the end of the day, I'll make sure you can show off to your brother." I grin and give her a wink. She smiles back and giggles.

"You'll be in good hands, Itsumi-chan. Asu-chan is a libero so she's the best at receiving on her team" I hear Oikawa say. "You'd better watch out, Ibuki-kun. Your sister might be better than you after today."

"No she won't!" One of the boys, I'm assuming Ibuki, jumps on Oikawa.

"Ack!" The setter is dragged to the floor as the two other boys join in jumping on top of him, laughing.

"Let's leave these crazy boys to whatever they're doing and get started, huh?" I ask Itsumi.

She giggles and nods. As we walk away she asks, "is Oikawa-san your boyfriend?"

"What? Oh, no he isn't," I tell her, a bit flustered at her question.

"But Takeru-kun said that Oikawa-san and you like each other," she explains making me blush even more.

"We like each other as friends," I correct her quickly.

Damn, what is with grade schoolers these days?

I helped Itsumi and another boy, Kakeru, with bumping, setting, and just keeping the ball up and in control. Oikawa was a bit away helping Takeru and Ibuki with their serves.

"Oikawa-san! Can you show us your fast serve?" Ibuki asks him after a while. "Takeru told me about it when he went to see your game!"

"I don't know. I'm still working on it," he tells them. The whines of protest start, and he sighs. "Okay, fine."

I grin at the opportunity. I saw his serve at the last semifinals. It was crazy, but Nishinoya and Daichi got the hang of it after a few. "Let me see how much better it's gotten. It should be difficult to receive then."

"Don't receive it, Asu-chan, I don't wanna hurt you." His voice has a hint of worry as he starts setting up to serve it at the end of the court.

"Oh, come on. Are you afraid that I'm gonna be able to receive it easily?" I tease him, but he doesn't smile back. "Oikawa, I'm not a weakling. I've practiced with my brother who's an ace. I even took one of his spikes to the head once. Let me tell you, that was not fun." I let out a laugh trying to get him to lighten up.

"I mean if you're sure," he says, bouncing the ball. "But don't say I didn't warn you."

I give him a wicked grin and jog over to the other side of the court. I face him, my knees bent and arms in front of me, ready to receive. "Bring it, Trashykawa," I declare, using his friend's nickname for him.

"Hey, now that's no fair, Asu-chan," he exclaims with a pout. "No trash talking, and only Iwa-chan is allowed to call me that."

I roll my eyes at his childish behavior, a smirk on my face.

I then see Oikawa narrow his eyes in concentration as he bounces the ball a few more times. He then tosses it up in the air, leaps, and hits it with a very powerful swing. I leap into action and attempt to receive the ball, but I'm too slow. the ball bounces against my forearms with a stinging pain and flies off to the side of the court, hitting the wall.

"Ouch, damn," I mutter rubbing my arms, trying calm the pain.

"Are you okay?" He jogs over to me, a worried look on his face. "I told you that you shouldn't try. I didn't want to hurt you."

"Oikawa, I'm fine," I tell him with a smile. "I'm used to spikes that powerful, but wow! That was some intense serve. That was like a spike! How in the world did you do that?"

He looks at me in confusion.

"You really thought I get hurt by something like that?" I ask him. I let out a small giggle. "That feels almost insulting."

"Well I- um..." He glances away. "Sorry, I underestimated you."

"I underestimated you too," I tell him. "I could barely touch it, let alone get a good receive. I didn't see you do anything like that during the semifinals. Your serves were pretty scary then, I'm impressed you've progressed this much is so little time."

His cheeks turn a slight pinkish color as he continues not to make eye contact, scratching the back of his head. "I'm actually surprised I got it in bounds on the first try today though. I don't have good control over it yet. It's rare that it's actually that good," he says, modestly.

"Stop it," I tell him poking his cheek playfully. "Its weird seeing you act humble."

"Hey!" he complains. "Are you and Iwa-chan related or something, because you both are so mean to me."

I giggle at him. "Come on, Trashykawa. Let's continue helping the kids," I say, grabbing his arm and dragging him back to the group of elementary schoolers who's expressions screamed admiration.

***