YUMI WAS SOON greeted by a familiar blonde waving from the sidelines, beckoning for her to join them. a warm smile set on her face as she spots yachi's welcoming grin, the girl pulling her in for a quick hug.

"it's great to see you again, yumi. how's tokyo been for you?"

"it's so damn hot! i swear, this is why i could never live here. take me to alaska, please." she exasperated to her friend, her exaggerated features causing the manager in training to giggle.

"it's not that bad here, though. it's a bit cooler." yachi pats her back, turning her attention back to the game in front of her. they both continue to watch the game in silence with yachi scribbling in her notepad to take notes once in a while.

yumi shifts her attention to the other side of the net, fukurodani. she unconsciously smiles when seeing a few of her city friends concentrated on the game in front of them. as her eyes roam around their side of the court, she catches sight of a sulking bokuto to the side.

yumi tugs on yachi's sleeve without taking her eyes off of her dear friend, "what's wrong with bokuto?"

"hm, number 4? i dunno, he missed a few spikes earlier but it's nothing to be upset over. mistakes happen, y'know?" yumi nodded at her response, watching as akaashi performed a setter dump.

yumi claps softly, she looks up at the score board. fukurodani in the lead with 23 while karasuno was behind a point. she continued to remain neutral throughout the rest of the match, cheering for both sides of the court.

yumi furrows her brows at the sight of one of her best friend's and her beloved crush talking to one another. have they made up already? she thought. her thoughts soon interrupted by the abrupt sound of the whistle signaling the match was over.

yachi soon shuts her agape mouth, "wah, so close!" she uttered, her eyes shining with interest, watching the two teams rejoice.

"aw, i missed the winning shot!" yumi whines, her bottom lip jutting out with her hands thrown up in the air. yachi laughs at the girl's childish actions, throwing an arm around her shoulders.

"you'll see all of them play again soon, yumi," yachi consoles the moping female. "besides, i'm sure you're as excited as me to see kageyama and hinata's new quick in action."

"that's right, i've been meaning to ask. have they made up already?" yumi asks, unconsciously disregarding what her blonde friend had said about their new quick attack.

yachi nods, "i believe they just made up today, i think," yumi hums, deep in her thoughts.

"i think you should join them, yachi." she motions towards the karasuno team gathering in a bunch.

yachi nibbles on her bottom lip, watching the coach pull the team together for a talk. the blonde nods, slipping her arms away from her shoulders but not before muttering a soft goodbye from under her breath.

"yumi!"

the girl turns around to find the source of the voice, catching the welcoming smile of the ace of fukurodani and her so called boyfriend. a grin gracing her lips as she neared her friends.

"bokuto, keiji." she greets, rocking back and forth on her heels. keiji rolls his eyes playfully while bokuto pulls her in for a tight embrace.

"i'm still waiting for that onigiri." keiji says as soon as bokuto and yumi pulled away from the hug. her cheeks go red in embarrassment as his repayment completely slipped her mind.

she throws her hands up in defense, "i'll make sure to remember next time." she drops her arms to her sides, cracking a smile at the two.

keiji pauses before giving her a close lipped smile, nodding. "alright, fine.

they continued to catch up with one another, discussing everything that's happened while yumi was busy with her training. she listened intently to the stories of what happened during individual training with the salty dinosaur as well as the living orange.

"actually, can i talk to keiji alone, bokuto? it's kind of personal." she asked sheepishly, rubbing her nape whilst staring at the ground. bokuto stares at his setter with confusion dripping in them, keiji just shrugs his head. the owl-like teenager nodded and reluctantly left the two alone.

"what's wrong?" keiji asked, taking a step closer to the brown-eyed girl, worried.

"remember the time when i asked you if you could pretend to be my boyfriend?" the boy soon steps back, his eyes squinting with suspicion lingering in them as he nodded. "well, i'm telling kageyama i like him today."

keiji's face erupts into a proud smile, "the karasuno guy? that's great. though, you didn't have to tell me." yumi pouts, he ruffles her hair while he told her off for bringing him the stupid idea in the first place.

she soon feels her shoulder jerk forward, "are you deaf?"

yumi turns at the sound of kenma's voice, watching as the sweat from his cheek fell onto the floor, "what're you doing?" his voice interrupting her thoughts, the tips of his ears turning red when catching the girl staring at him. he didn't let any of that emotion show onto his face, of course.

"i'm talking to keiji, obviously." she says bluntly, stepping closer to bokuto's side.

"whatever," kenma's attention shifted from her to the taller student. "we should go, they're cooking meat out there."

keiji and yumi turn to look at each other then back at kenma, nodding simultaneously. yumi's eyes widen at the delicious word that escaped her friend's mouth, realizing how hungry she really was.

the bicolor haired boy watches as her tongue swipes over her lips hungrily. he begins to walk away from her, calling out to her from a distance. "are you coming?"

she shakes herself out of her trance, chasing after him with a shy smile. she places her hands behind her back, matching his pace. no words were exchanged between them as they walked onto the grassy fields next to the gym.

the whole area smelled of delicious meat, yumi's eyes begin to sparkle with anticipation, eyeing the grills with meat sat atop it. she soon feels her companion tug on her wrist, pulling her towards the crowd gathering around coach nekomata.

she lets him guide her through the crowd, stopping his tracks as he nears kuroo. coach nekomata began his speech but honestly, nobody was truly paying attention; they were all focused on the meat displayed in front of them.

yumi chews on her lip, brows furrowing as she tried to gather her thoughts. after eating, she had to tell kageyama everything. she tried to calm down her nerves after drumming up the thought of kageyama completely ghosting her once she told her. she spots his figure at the front, a paper plate on one hand and his chopstick in the other.

a smile dances their way on her lips, watching as he grinned when the coach finally concluded his surprisingly short speech. the teenage boys had gone on a rampage, scrambling to the grills to stuff their faces with meat causing yumi to lose kenma in the crowd.

she whips her head back, but there was no sign of kenma. or anybody she found familiar, to be honest. well, there was ennoshita and narita, but she wasn't too close to them.

"hey, you okay?" someone asks, placing an arm on yumi's shoulder for comfort. her eyes flared up, panicking at the sight of someone unfamiliar to her.

"h-haha, i'm all good! nothing to worry about!" she called out, slapping a hand over her mouth because she spoke too loudly. the same person cocked a brow before stalking away slowly, shrugging to his friends.

she mentally facepalms herself, her usual confidence had deterred and was replace with unexpected timidness nobody would've guessed she had. she stood to the side of action, trying to keep an eye out for a bright orange fluff or a glimpse of blond hair.

no luck.

her appetite soon faded away. she sat on the side of the grassy hill with her thighs pressed against her chest and her chin resting on her knees. the girl had caught a glimpse of her raven-haired crush choking on a piece of meat until keiji handed him a cup of water he gratefully drunk down.

he continued to splutter before going to thank his savior. his eyes narrowed as he stared at the pretty setter, recognizing who he was. keiji blinked, bewildered as to why the boy was staring him down with a killer scowl.

"i'm assuming yumi hasn't told you yet." keiji muttered under his breath, turning to look away from the 1st year's suffocating stare.

"yumi hasn't told me what?" he growled, his anger boiling at the thought of yumi badmouthing him. she wouldn't do that, would she? he thought. he shakes off his thoughts, awaiting the older one's response but it never came. he continued to analyze him, staring at his eyes. blue, not brown. was she lying to me about him this whole time? his left hand curls into a fist at the thought of yumi lying to him about something as stupid as a boyfriend.

kageyama rolls his eyes, his grip on the paper plate tightens causing it to crinkle at the end of where he was holding it. he stomped away to the other side of the grill, his joyful mood quickly fell soon after that conversation; snapping at a few people who came across him.

yumi couldn't have gotten all of that from staring from afar, though. she had only seen that keiji had saved him and that they had exchanged a few words. nothing less, nothing more.

"yuuumi!" shoyo dragged, running towards her with kenma and lev trailing behind him. he soon tackles her onto the grassy fields, engulfing her in a hug.

"sorry we didn't come sooner. i thought you were sad and wanted to come over earlier," he pulls away from the hug first but kept an arm around her shoulders. "but kenma said we should give you space since you were probably gathering your thoughts."

"i'm okay, promise." she reassured her friends, lev taking a seat next to kenma.

"want my melon?" shoyo asked, sticking out his half-eaten watermelon.  yumi furrows her brows in disgust at the sight of the fruit then back at shoyo but nevertheless takes it anyways.

"mm, it's good!" yumi smiles, leaning closer into the circle they had formed. she continued to listen in on the conversation with shoyo leading. once in a while lev would interrupt to share his input on the topic which caused kenma to throw a few dirty looks at him. yumi simply chuckled at the sight.

"so, when're you're doing it?" shoyo asked the girl, straying from the topic they were talking about. yumi and lev tilted their heads in confusion, oblivious as to what shoyo was talking about.

"hm?" they say in unison, staring at each other in shock before bursting into laughter. shoyo and kenma share a look, nodding to each other.

"when're you telling kageyama?"

their giggles stop abruptly at the sound of his name, yumi's smile dropping as quickly as she avoided her friends' eyes. "i don't know." she mumbled under breath, a wave of hesitancy hitting her.

"wait, wait, wait, kageyama? the setter from karasuno? you're interested in him?" lev questioned, his eyes as wide as volleyballs. kenma nudged his knee, signaling for him to cut it out. his questions quickly came to a stop after that, guilt overwhelming him.

"i'll tell him when you guys are about to leave," she looks up from her lap, pure determination in her eyes. she finds all their faces smiling back at her.

━━

EVERYBODY GATHERED AT the front of shinzen high school, waving goodbyes to the karasuno gang. kuroo and daichi exchanged a few encouraging words to one another, a hearty smile painted on their faces.

"i'll be back soon and hopefully still on the softball team." yumi told kenma jokingly, engulfing him into a tight squeeze. kenma looked around his surroundings before he returned the same tight embrace. he inhaled the smell of her hair before burying his face into the soft bundle. they stayed in that position for a good 30 seconds before yumi plucked herself away from him.

"let me know what happens, okay?" his monotone voice held some affection in it as he spoke to her. she nods, sensing a tiny bit of sadness in his voice.

she casts him one last glance. as she walked over to shoyo's side, she noticed that the very boy she was going to confess her feelings to was on the other side of shoyo, his head held high and the scowl prominent on his face.

the walk down the stairs was a very awkward one. yumi practically clinging to shoyo's side while kageyama tried to show no attention to the girl beside his partner. the taller player was still a bit irritated after his encounter with yumi's boyfriend. he was still unsure whether keiji truly held that title or not.

shoyo grumbled all the way down the silent trip to the bus, mumbling curses under his breath at the current dilemma he was in. he had one girl clinging onto his arm and a boy that would sneakily try to sneak glances at the stupid girl. shoyo was irritated at how dense his two friends could be.

once he was finally freed from the prison he called love, he pried his arm away from yumi's and dashed to nishinoya and tanaka; leaving the oblivious girl and the volleyball player to talk.

"i need to tell you something." she finally says, avoiding his face by staring straight ahead, watching the sun set.

he didn't bother replying, hoping he'd had enough time to get this conversation out of the way and then he'd ask her to confirm his hunches. little did he know his suspicions would be answered anyways.

"i really, really like you." she said firmly, her eyes concentrated on the yellowish-red sky. before he could get a word in, yumi cut him off. "but i also lied to you. i don't have a boyfriend. keiji is not my boyfriend, just a friend."

kageyama's brows pinched together in confusion and anger as one question overtook his mind. "but why?"

she looked up at him, finding that his eyes were filled with confusion as he fiddled with the straps of his bag. "it's stupid, really. but i only said that because i was afraid you wouldn't return my feelings. and then things went overboard when i forgot about it and tried to you know.. make my move." she explained, shame seeping from her voice.

"you're right. it is stupid." he stated bluntly, trying to keep his voice void of annoyance though on the inside he was livid. sure, he was happy that the girl he admired liked her back but that wasn't on his mind at the moment. how dumb did someone have to be to go to that extent? just to conceal their feelings? "so you brought akaashi into it?"

yumi stared down at her shoes, "yeah, i shouldn't have brought someone into my personal matters."

"yeah, you shouldn't have." he interjected once again, folding his arms across his chest. yumi finally looks up at the male, shooting him a dark look.

"whatever." she muttered, ripping her eyes away from him. the guilt inside her eating away at a rapid pace as the two continued to stand in silence, watching the sunset.

"i really am sorry." she croaked, breaking the silence between them. she stuffs her hands into her pockets, basking in the quietness of the atmosphere around them.

the two slowly but surely inched their way towards the other, unaware of the audience that was watching them through the window.

"it's not okay." he pauses, thinking of his words carefully. his anger had dissipated a bit but he couldn't lie and say he wasn't displeased at her antics.

yumi exhales, her heart at the bottom of her stomach at his words but she completely understood why he felt that way.

kageyama takes a step closer to her, building up the courage for what he was about to do next. turning his body to face her, letting out a breath. he snakes both his arms around her waist, yumi immediately stiffening up at the contact he initiated. the raven-haired awkwardly pulls her in closer, lightly pushing her head against his chest.

yumi's breath hitches, her heart hammering violently against her chest. her arms lay on her sides stiffly, unaware if she should return the gesture.

"i'm still irritated." he states, resting his chin on the top of her head. the brunette's brows quirk up at his words, her cheeks flushing a bright red. after a few more seconds, he lets go of his embrace on her.

kageyama stares at the girl in front of him, a slight pink tint dusted on the apples of his cheeks. yumi avoids his eyes, staring at the ground as an attempt to hide her face. the raven-haired dipped down to her height, pressing a chaste kiss to her right crimson red cheek. "i'll see you later, sweetheart." he whispered, rushing into the rumbling bus filled with his teammates.

yumi presses her palm onto the side of the face his lips had graced, a lopsided grin etching its way onto her face. the duo was completely unaware of the audience in the bus, trying to decipher what their conversation was going to lead to.

yumi continued to stand there, waving goodbye to the karasuno students in the bus. she began to do a little jump once they drove away, recalling the previous events that happened.

little did she know that there was a familiar blond observing their conversation from atop the stairs.

a/n: it's all coming to an end soon :(