Chapter 1

Kimiko

With a groan, my body folded upwards, and I looked at the wall on my left with all the polaroid pictures of the old me. I stood and went directly toward the bathroom. After brushing my teeth, hair, and taking a shower, I dressed in my uniform.

He probably has a new girlfriend already. My mind made me think of him again. Today could change everything, though. Today I’d not only be going to a new high school but I am also going to be joining a volleyball team. I pulled my hair into a tight ponytail and left to start the new chapter of my life. I may be in my second year, but I can start now if I try hard enough.

“You have such great skill that, of course, has room for improvement. But we just don’t have any space for you. If you’re comfortable with it, you could join the boys’ team. You know, whip 'em’ into shape?” I nodded, even though I hated the idea. I could tell that Yui Michimiya, the girls’ volleyball captain, was someone I could trust. Of course, now I have a bunch of guys to deal with. Fun. First, I went to the bathroom to change.

I pushed open the gym’s doors to see two boys doing a stare down. Ignoring them, I plopped my bag onto the floor and began my stretches.

“Man, who would have thunk that Kitigawa’s star setter would come to join us, right?” Someone to my left said. I looked to see three new boys walking in with smiles. Oh great, people who smile, wonderful.

“Oh, stop trying to be intimidating.” The one in the middle rolled his eyes. I knew exactly who each of them were. Daichi Sawamura. He is the actual captain of Karasuno, he plays as an opposite hitter, and he specializes in receiving and passing the ball. Koushi Sugawara. He is the vice-captain, and the substitute setter, he has a calm attitude, and he is nice to everybody on the team, and is like the mastermind behind Karasuno’s plays. Ryunosuke Tanaka. He is a wing spiker, they described him as “Yankee like” because he is always looking for fight and confrontation. He is the only one that works better when the team is under pressure. The three of them bother me. Mainly Tanaka. He’s overly flirty.

“Oh, hey! Are you in the wrong gym?” Sugawara asked me in the sweetest way possible. He’s so nice. Beyond amazing, at least that’s what the girls say.

“Nope.”

“Oh, then why are you here?” Sawamura tilted his head like a little puppy.

“I signed up?” This entire confrontation was getting on my nerves, greatly. Tanaka looked at me and smirked. I glanced away from him.

“Oh! Yeah! There're a girls’ team. You have the wrong gym.” Sawamura rubbed his neck. Then he smiled again.

“I was just there, and they told me to come here because there is no more space for me on their team. There wasn’t even enough room for me to sit on the damn bench! So, I am joining this team. I don’t even care if I can’t play. I want to be on the team.” My voice didn’t sound as nice as I was trying to make it sound. They all stood there and looked at me as Sawamura tried to think of something to say.

“I’ll get back to you if we don’t have enough players.” He finally spoke. No.

“I worked my ass off just to get into this school. I was the only girl who wanted to start a team in middle school. So I joined the guys’ team. At least they gave me a chance, unlike you brats! They may have made fun of me, sure, but they gave me a chance. Look. I will give everything up to join this team. I’m too short to do anything else. Volleyball is just something I can do. I need to. Sure, you could say no, but my brother finds out that I gave up everything to join a volleyball team, he might kill me.” My voice broke, thinking of my brother. Silence filled the gum for a while. I nodded and grabbed my duffel bag. After taking one last look at the gym, I walked out the door.

The second I got home, I remembered, my brother was working late. I pulled my ponytail tighter and left a note for him on the table. The water bottle was cold in my hand while I locked the door.

My knees ached, but a good kind. The blood dripped into my shoes, staining my socks. I could see the bruises starting already. Damn it, not again. By the time I got home, my brother was standing at the front of the building, waiting for me. I walked right by him and unlocked the door for us. His anger was louder than the echo of the door to 805 B opening. I could tell he saw my bloody socks. He slammed the door and pushed me into a chair.

“Kimiko, you need to stop doing this to yourself. I can't see you hurt like this anymore.” Asahi walked back and forth, saying how he has to look after me and how I need to get over this break up. I stood and walked by him to get a drink. He put his hands on my shoulder and looked into my eyes. I didn’t speak. I just looked at the floor. Letting my hair fall onto my shoulders. His muscular arms pulled me into a hug. We stood there for a while. I had been ready for hours to break down, like four months again.

I was returning from what I thought was going to be a date. To be honest, I trust Asahi more than I trust my parents. Both of them never really paid any attention to me. When you think about it, going to a father-daughter dance with your older brother, really isn’t that bad. He made sure that I didn’t stop smiling, and that I had fun. We didn’t stop dancing. Not even for dinner.

“I need to get my knees cleaned up.” I muttered. He pushed me back into the chair and left to get the first-aid kit. Once he returned, he sat on the floor to patch up my wounds. It stung, a lot more than usual. He’s only a year older than me but he acts like he’s 10 years older. It never really changed much, though. He could always make me feel better, but you can help as much as you hope doing someone’s first break up, right?

He pulled the wrap tighter around my legs and smacked both of them. I let out a shriek.

“What the hell was that for, Asahi?”

“Staying out late.” He stood and put the kit away. I rolled my eyes as I, too, stood. Making my way to my room, he handed me a plate with eggs and a small bowl of ramen. I smiled and sat on the end of my bed, beginning to chow down.

~

He put his arm around me as we cuddled close together. This was a once in a lifetime chance.; Asahi was working late and he could come over to help me with the storm. He always knew how much I hated them.

“Does he like me?” He asked with his eyes darting everywhere but mine.

“I hope.” I chuckled, and he laughed. My lips touched his softly, and he hugged me tightly.

“Need any help with science homework?”

~

It would pain me whenever Asahi would ask me about him. I would always brush him off and tell him to leave me alone. He was doing good big brother stuff but I hate it all the time. He hugged me and gave my duffle bag to me. I didn’t tell him I was playing volleyball for the school, but he knew I wanted to play it at some point. He told me he would help me with training if he could. He might kill me if he finds out that I joined the boys’ team. I got into class early that day. Asahi was proud of me for that. Sawamura met up with me in the hallway and told me I could start practicing with the team. He didn’t have a conclusive answer because he needed to talk to the vice principal about me being on the team. So that’s what I did.

I walked into the gym and stood with Sugawara by the door while Daichi yelled at the two first-years that were causing a bit of a war. Shoyo Hinata and Tobio Kageyama. I saw them play against each other. They were still in middle school but they played pretty well. I left shortly after the game ended. The three of us idiots walked down the street laughing at how I cheered on Hinata’s team even though we knew they would lose. I told them that everyone deserves hope.

A slam brought me back to Earth. Sawamura had kicked the two out and told them to work as a team instead of enemies. This made me laugh. Kageyama was a great player in middle school, but he wanted to do the entire game by himself. That, obviously, you can't do. Hinata was inexperienced and didn’t really know how to play fully. He had a lot of energy too. He could jump and he was crazy fast. Still, that hasn’t changed, even now.