"Where...am I?" she asks herself.

Darkness enveloped her as she desperately looked for some light or better yet, an exit. The darkness scared her and she ran endlessly. She saw a figure of a man with his back against her. Hope sparked inside her as she saw him and ran towards him.

"Dad!" she called, running towards him. The figure slowly turned and she stopped when she saw his face.

Instead of her father's usual kind expression, his mouth was agape and his eyes were hollow and emotionless. She barely recognized it's features if it weren't for his violet eyes that reflected her own scared expression.

"D-Dad?"

There's a hole on his chest and blood slowly leaked out and soaked his clothes. She looked down and she nearly fell when she saw a puddle of blood around them.

She couldn't stop shaking.

She wanted to scream.

She wanted to get out of this dream.

Something cold grabbed her feet and she nervously turned his attention to it. It was a man who grabbed her feet and she screamed and kicked him to remove his cold hand. She backed away and the man was pulled back to the dark and gave a horrible scream that made her blood turn cold.

"I-I'm s-scared...Someone...please..." she whispered hoarsely.

She looked at her father and saw him slowly being swallowed by darkness. She was about to reach out to him when she saw the blood on her hands. The words echoed in her mind as she stared at the blood with shock.

"You can't escape your past"

***

Ayame's eyes flew open as she looked up from her desk. She was confused for a moment until she realized that she's inside their classroom. She probably fell asleep in class and had another nightmare. Her breathing was a little ragged and she placed her hand on her head.

"Again..."

She didn't admit it to her mother or to Daichi but, after they started to live again in Miyagi, her nightmares started to become more and more active in her head. Her psychiatrist once told her it's her "night terrors", nightmares from trauma or incidents that would show in her head when she's unconscious. Almost every night, she always dreamed it unwillingly. And every morning, she would always wake up in a cold sweat and a tear stained face.

She didn't tell her mother because she didn't want her to worry to her and they might transfer back to Tokyo. She already loved the town and Karasuno and the volleyball club and she didn't want to leave...so keeping it a secret is her only option.

"Did you have a bad dream?" a voice asked. She turned and she saw Yamaguchi looking at her worriedly. She smiled a little and looked down.

"Y-yes...but it was nothing..." she said, rubbing her head.

Again...I'm lying again...

"Is that so..." the freckled teen said, looking at her curiously. She didn't look at him in the eye, because she felt that he could see right through her.

"W-well, if you have a problem, I'm here to listen, Ayame. I-I'll help you" he told her.

Why are you so willing to help me?

Again...

"Sure" she smiled "Thank you, Tadashi-kun"

"There she goes again. She's hiding behind that smile..." Yamaguchi thought "Why? What is she hiding? I want to know..."

"Excuse me" Shimizu said, entering the room. Once she saw Ayame, she gestured her to go to her.

"Excuse me, Tadashi-kun..." Ayame told him, standing up. For once, she's thankful for the interruption. She approached the manager "What is it, Shimizu-san?"

"Ayame-chan, you're good at sketching, right?" Shimizu asked her. The violet eyed girl smiled sheepishly and fiddled with her hair.

"I'm not really confident to say that I'm good at those but I can sketch" she replied.

The third year manager smiled "Looks like Sawamura was right. Actually, I would like to ask you a favor"

"What is it? I'm willing to help, Shimizu-san"

"Etto...since you are good at sketching, could you draw a poster about the volleyball club? I would like to ask other first years to join the club using those posters to find extra members"

"I see..." she nodded "I'll help you, Shimizu-san! I'll give the posters to you if they're done"

"Thank you, Ayame-chan" the manager smiled gratefully.

"Anything for a senpai and for the club" she grinningly said "I'll also try to ask other first years to join to help you"

"That will be a great help, Ayame-chan. Thank you. See you later"

*Club Activities**Players doing a running*

"Man, that was tiring..." Tanaka slumped down as he caught his breath. Yamaguchi leaned on the rail as he took a rest.

"It wouldn't be tiring if you just normally ran and stopped screaming" Ennoshita told him. They saw the tall blonde running towards them and the second year greeted him "Hey, good job, Tsukishima"

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!"

Forgetting that they should only reach the halfway mark, Hinata and Kageyama raced against each other and passed them.

"Hey! Where are you guys going?!" Tanaka yelled after them.

"Pretty sure we can just let them go" Tsukishima said.

"We can't do that. Daichi-san will get mad when he knows that those two raced against each other again" Ennoshita told him "I'm going after them before they get lost. Tanaka, help me find them"

"Osu" he nodded "What about you two?"

"Ano...I'm going to take a rest for a while..." Yamaguchi said.

"It's annoying looking for those two idiots" Tsukishima said.

The second years ran after the two and called their names. Yamaguchi stared at the view of their town and breathed deeply. When he closed his eyes, Ayame's smile appeared for a moment. However, it's not one of those smiles that he liked to see on her. It's a smile that hides a secret.

"Why? What is she hiding?" he thought "As much as Yaku-san promised me to never ask her that, I want to know. I want to help her..."

Even if you know it, what can you do to help her, then?, a voice whispered in the back of his head.

You didn't do anything to help her. You'll only protect her if your friend or anyone is with you. You can't protect her alone, idiot. Remember the practice match against Seijoh when the Great King cupped her cheeks and called her that nickname? You didn't do a single thing. You just stood there, frozen stiff. You didn't even swat his hand aside or something.

"I know that...but-"

How about the second day of the Inter-High Preliminaries? When the Great King made a deal to her? You could've stopped her from accepting if you know that she could easily give in when volleyball is mentioned but you didn't. So, what can you do to help her, then?

"I...I don't know..." he thought "I don't know...damn it...how lame"

"What's wrong with Ayame earlier?" Tsukishima asked, pulling him out from his train of thoughts. The freckled teen flinched and sighed.

"She's hiding..." Yamaguchi replied "She's hiding something..."

"...So?"

"That's the problem, Tsukki! She's hiding something from me! She didn't want me to know! It's something painful, I know it's something like that but..." he stopped and looked down "I want to know what it is. I want to help her but I don't know how I can help her..."

"Then...why don't you ask her?"

"I made a promise to Yaku-san that I shouldn't ask her about that" he said, looking down to his shoes "Even if it kills me in not knowing it, I won't ask her because it might be painful for her. The same goes for him"

*Tokyo*

"Achoo!"

"Yaku-san, are you all right?! Did you catch a cold?" Yamamoto asked him.

"Oi, Yaku, you can't afford to be sick right before a tournament" Kuroo told him.

"I have a medicine in my bag" Kenma murmured.

"Nah, I'm fine..." Yaku replied, waving it off.

***

"So..." the megane raised an eyebrow at him "You're not going to ask her, then? Are you sure you want her to suffer while keeping whatever painful secrets she has?"

"Of course not" he answered "I just...I just didn't know how to ask her properly or if it's actually right to ask her something personal. I don't want to hurt her, Tsukki. I just want to see her smile and be happy but...I don't know how...Lame, right?"

"Hmph" the megane answered "Ayame is not a kind of person who liked to share her past experiences with others. But I think, if you can give her a little push, I think she can tell you"

"Why?"

"Because aside from Daichi-san, you're the next person she could trust and rely on. She's way more comfortable with you than the other members" he said "From what I see, anyway"

"How do you know stuffs like that?"

"Observations" he shrugged "Still, when are you going to confess your feelings to her?"

"When...I have the courage to do it, I guess..." he replied, clearly embarrassed at the topic "But then, maybe I shouldn't just tell her..."

"Are you afraid of her rejection?"

"...I don't know...N-not really...but...I'm having a hard time believing that she'll accept it. What do you think, Tsukki?"

"That's for you to find out by yourself" Tsukishima smirked, pushing his glasses upwards.

"Eh?"

*Outside the gymnasium*

"Ah...ah...ACHOO!" the violet eyed girl sneezed, dropping the papers in the process "Ugh...I'm probably having a cold...I'm sneezing a lot lately..."

"Ah! The posters!" she hastily picked it up and placed it in her bag and ran inside.