Ayako yawned as she walked her way towards the Gym. It was 4 am when she woke up to her alarm. Apparently she had set the time wrong, making her whine.

Ayako heard two people running behind her, turning around and stopping in her tracks. Before she could see who it was, a blur of orange and dark blue ran past her and towards the gym.

Ayako sighed before yawning again, wondering how they have so much energy at 4:58 am.

When she finally got there, she noticed that the lights were off and Shoyo trying to get in.

"Maybe we should sneak in through the window."

"Idiot no! We'll get into even more trouble if we were to be found!"

Ayako yawned and pulled her sleeves down, her hands cold. She rubbed her hands together and turned around when she heard someone yawn.

"Aisshhh, 5 am is a bit much, don't ya think?"

Tanaka said, holding his hand up to cover his mouth while he yawned. In his other hand, he was twirling the keys around on his index finger.

Both Kageyama and Shoyo's faces lit up, happy to see their senpai come and help them with practice.

Ayako smiled, trotting over to stand behind Shoyo, gripping his sleeve again.

"Waahhh You're so amazing Tanaka!"

"That's right! Call me Senpai!"

"Tanaka~Senpai!!"

The duo shouted, Tanaka laughing before telling them to say that again, the duo obliging happily.

"Alright, practice starts at 7 so you guys have 2 hours until we have to clean up."

Tanaka unlocked and opened the door, stepping in and turning on the light. Ayako followed behind, tugging on his jacket.

He looked down at her, a bit confused but thankful that she was comfortable enough to approach him.

She's adorable when she looks down at her shoes..

He thought before listening to her.

"T-Thank you T-Tanaka~senpai."

Ayako looked up and saw that he was passing out, falling. Ayako went behind him and caught him, gently putting him down on the ground.

She poked his cheeks, afraid that he had a heart attack or something.

"S-Shoyo~kun, is Tanaka~senpai d-dead?"

Ayako looked over to Shoyo and sweatdropped as she watched Shoyo and Kageyama fight about who enters the gym first.

I hope they get along by the time the game comes around, otherwise, Kageyama~kun won't be able to be the setter at all..

Ayako pouted, shaking Tanaka gently, managing to wake him up.

~
Ayako's face scrunched up as she heard Kageyama yell. She saw Shoyo and Kageyama have a little heated argument before the doors opened, revealing Suga~kun.

"I knew something was up when you asked about the starting time for practice."

Tanaka chuckled awkwardly before stopping. Shoyo and Kageyama tensed as they saw their upperclassman standing there.

"Kinda weird that you asked for the gym keys when you're always almost late to practice everytime."

Suga gave Ayako a gentle smile, who also smiled back, warming up to the 3rd year. He looked over at the troublemaker duo and chuckled a bit.

"Don't worry, your secret is safe with me."

Shoyo and Kageyama let out a big sigh of relief.

Suga stood up after putting his volleyball shoes on, stretching a bit.

"Secret training huh? Sounds fun and exciting to me."

Ayako nodded in agreement, sitting down on the bench and watched as Kageyama and Tanaka practiced spiking.

She looked over at Shoyo and saw that he was practicing his receives with Suga.  She noticed that he wasn't paying attention half the time, seemed to be staring at Kageyama with confusion and resentment.

Ayako yawned before resting her chin on the top of both her hands, as her elbows rested on her thighs. She tilted her head a bit to the side, fluttering her eyes before finally falling asleep.

~

Kageyama was getting irritated, hearing Hinata complain about not being tossed at. He turned around and scowled at the orange haired boy.

"Come on! Just one? Please? I'll be done asking-"

Kageyama, out of annoyance, Tossed up the ball and spiked it towards Hinata, who received it terribly.

Hinata's eyes widen as he saw the ball head straight for Ayako, who was asleep and unaware of the danger coming towards her.

Kageyama had his back turned away, picking up another Volleyball on the ground.

"All that talk for nothing. I'll be tossing to Tanaka only, so try your best to not hold us ba-"

He turned to face the shorty, his scowl disappearing as he saw Hinata perfectly receive the ball infront of the sleeping Ayako, sending it back to Kageyama.

Kageyama quickly dropped the ball he was holding and caught the one coming towards him, his eyes widening a bit.

Shit, I almost hit her.. She's kinda cute when she's asleep.. Stop thinking that way idiot-

Kageyama shook his head. He looked over to Hinata, who was looking down at the ground.

"So, if I work on my receives, you'll toss some to me, right?"

"I'll set to whoever I need to in order to win."

Hinata's scowl deepened a little after hearing that.
Kageyama turned to face Hinata.

"I just don't think you're good enough."

Hinata's eyes widened before narrowing down, his scowl deepening even more. He looked down at the floor as he gritted his teeth.

"Dude, that's nasty!"

"How's he ever going to learn if you don't practice with him?"

Tanaka and Suga stated. Ayako woke up to her watch beeping. She rubbed her eyes and checked the time.

6:50

She looked up and noticed that they were talking, not knowing that it was almost time for the actual team to practice.

"S-Suga~senpai..."

He looked over to Ayako, his heart skipping a beat after hearing her cute voice say his name. She pointed at her watch, signaling them that they should clean up.

His eyes widened as he scrambled to find a mop.

"G-guys, we should clean up soon, its 6:53!"

Ayako shook her head, noticing the tension between the first years. She sighed before yawning again.

~

Ayako was almost late to class, but she thankfully remembered where the classroom was. She opened the door and slowly made her way to her seat, Yamaguchi looking at her in concern.

He nudged Tsukishima, and whispered something to him, before pulling away. Tsukishima's face contorted in annoyance before looking concerned at the small girl.

She was asleep in her seat, her head down. One arm cushioned her forehead while the other one was still holding her bag. Her brown hair was lazily braided into two dutch braids, her bangs pressed against her forehead.

Tsukishima poked her cheek.

No response.

He the poked her side, in which she moved away from the poke and raised her head. She looked behind her shoulder, one eye open.

She yawned, closing both her eyes before fluttering them open, looking at Tsukishima. He gave her a concerned look, in which she groggily waved it off and put her head back down, falling asleep.

Thankfully, the teacher decided that it was a free day due to some difficulty with the printer in the office.

~

Ayako was sitting against a tree, watching Kageyama and Shoyo practice. Ayako yelped as she saw the ball head for her at lightning speed, before getting stuck in the tree behind her.

"Sorry Ayako~chan!"

Shoyo called out, running towards her. He asked if she was okay, her nodding in response. Shoyo climbed up the tree, going to get the ball, while Kageyama held out a stick.

Ayako checked her phone, noticing the time.

6:00 pm..

I should head home, or else father will get worried..

Shoyo jumped down from the tree, muttering something rude that was directed towards Kageyama.

He felt a tug on his sleeve and turned towards Ayako. She pointed at her watch and waved goodbye.

He nodded and hugged her goodbye before walking back over to Kageyama.

Ayako waved goodbye to Kageyama. He waved back, mentally noting on how adorable her wave was due to her sweater paws.

~

Ayako opened the front door, walked in and locked it.

"F-Father? I'm home."

Ayako said, taking off her shoes and slipping on some house slippers. She walked upstairs to her bedroom and closed it, changing out of her uniform and into a pajama set.

She pulled out her braids and put them into two low pigtails, her hair curly from the dutch braids. She left her bangs alone, letting a few long front strands of hair out of the pigtails.

Ayako then went into her bathroom and took out one green colored contact out of her left eye, revealing a Greenish Blue eye.

She didn't like her eyes, it always gave her unwanted attention. Her mother had the same condition, except hers were more noticeable, having one full blue eye and one green eye.

Ayako sat in her chair, pulling out her homework and working on it, turning on the desk lamp.

~

She sighed, finally finishing her homework. She looked over at her clock, seeing that it was only 7:00 pm.  She stretched in her chair, looking out her window.

That's a pretty sunset...

She looked over at the camera on her desk, picking it up.

She sat back down into her chair and rolled it over to her window. Ayako opened her window, enjoying the sea breeze.

She held her camera up to her face, lightly pressing down on the 'Capture' button, making the camera focus. After seeing the square turn green, she pressed down firmly on the button, hearing the satisfying snap.

She pulled the camera away from her face and looked at the photo, satisfied.

(I took the photo btw, credits to me lol.)

~ Hope you enjoy the photo WriterSKR ~

Ayako smiled, putting the camera down on the desk and walking downstairs, looking for her father. She looked on the fridge and noticed a note.

"Hey Ayako. Sorry about the late notice, but I'm going to be on a 6 month business trip. I'm sure you'll do fine by yourself. While I'm gone, I'll be sending you allowance for food and any supplies you might need. Spend it well my gorgeous girl. Remember I always love you."

Love, Dad.

Ayako sighed, putting the note on the kitchen counter before walking back up to her room.
She looked at the Nekoma Volleyball poster that her mother had given to Ayako on her 14th birthday.

Mother.. I miss you..

Ayako plopped on her bed, her face on her pillow as she hugged her teddy bear.

She closed her eyes, hearing the waves crash in the background. Slowly, sleep consumed her.