_______»×•-‖≡∞≡‖-•×«_______

The second and the third day of the tournament with proceeded with Inarizaki winning straight sets. This streak continued till the rest of the tournament, easily gaining a spot on the Inter-High nationals like the calm breeze of the spring. When Fuyuko managed to grasp ahold of her time, spring had come to pass and summer had come with its blazing heat.

Well that went from zero to a hundred fast.

Their manager mused to herself, watching the dumber and dumbest struggle with their studies. Suna and Fuyuko had a hard time trying to get literally anything except volleyball and food into their heads. 

In the end, Suna just straight up gave up on them, and decided to scroll through his phone. Fuyuko too soon reached her limits. She stood up to get some fresh air from the two's dumbness. With an— "I'll be back with some snacks." —she left the room.

Osamu let out a loud groan, leaning back on his hands to look around the room. The boy observed the lightly messy room with keen eyes, getting slightly weirded out when his eyes fell on her balcony's huge window. Why won't he when there were over hundreds of A6 paper sized photographs of anime guys hanging by strings from the ceiling. The hard papers barely moved in the air-conditioned room, bringing out a loud silence when no one was talking.

His eyes landed on a box like study table with medium sized music system placed on the roof of it. Next to the table was a shelf which was filled to brim by nothing but manga. Overall, the room was much cleaner in terms of anime merch and messier than he thought it would be.

The bed was messy with multiple fluffy blankets and pillows. Clothes were seen sticking out of the drawers, giving him the idea that they were carelessly showed into them and would explode the moment it's opened.

For the girl's calm personality that seemed mature, the room sure did have this childish vibe to it. Especially with the amount of small stuffed animals and anime guys seen scattered literally everywhere in the room.

He expected a clean room with many anime merch, but he was greeted with the exact opposite. Osamu had to admit, he very much liked the color scheme, consisting mostly white with grey and lavender highlights. In his opinion, it seemed to be the only thing that matched her personality.

"There isn't much Anime related stuff in 'ere." Atsumu commented, thinking along the same like as his twin next to him.

Suna snorted. "Please, she keeps all her Anime posters in a huge boxed hidden under her bed." His comment had both Atsumu and Osamu peaking underneath the bed, and true enough, there was a box much larger than they imagined down there, barely fitting in the space.

Suna didn't stop there though. "And if you open her main closet, all her Anime hoodies and other clothes will be neatly in hangers. While the rest are messily shoved into the drawers." Atsumu opened the main closet and true enough, they saw anime printed clothes enough to fill the huge space.

"Oh my god, she's a hardcore otaku." Atsumu commented.

"I suggest you should take a look at those pictures from the balcony." The twins exchanged glances. They were honestly a bit scared to see what it was, but the urge called curiosity took over. They carefully slipped through the narrow space between the hanging photos and the wide glass window of the balcony. Careful to not touch the photo's in fear of an Otaku's wrath.

When they safely made it outside via the sliding doors, they gasped to catch their breath. Having held them when they crossed the narrow space, which was obviously—only made for the girl to pass through. While they were busy with that though, a light wind passed though, making the picture's move along with it.

"Shoot!" Osamu was quick to slam the door shut, backing off and staring at the papers as it slowly calmed down.

"Woah, this's not a bad view." Atsumu exclaimed, gaining Osamu's attention. The said boy leaned his front against the concrete wall and folded his arms on top to stare at the setting sun—disappearing behind the buildings.

It painted the sky with collective rare shades of warm hues. Hues the bright sun couldn't display when it was at its best. When you think about it, it's a bit sad. Considering one can't see how the sun exactly looks when it's shining at its brightest—as it easily blinds anyone who looks at it.

Osamu felt relaxed from all of the stress on his shoulders from their study double date. He felt at ease. Until he glanced back to the glass door that is. The words visible through the glass had the male tensing instantly for no reason. Atsumu caught his brother's actions from a corner of his eye.

"Samu? What-" Just like that the blond felt himself stuck in the same predicament.

"千ㄖ尺ᘜ乇ㄒㄒ|几ᘜ |丂 ㄥ|Ҝ乇 卂 山ㄖㄩ几ᗪ. ㄒ卄乇 山ㄖㄩ几ᗪ 爪卂ㄚ 卄乇卂ㄥ, 乃ㄩㄒ |ㄒ 卄卂丂 卂ㄥ尺乇卂ᗪㄚ ㄥ乇千ㄒ 卂 丂匚卂尺."

It was made up of gibberish Japanese, with random other symbols mixed in. They didn't understand it one bit, because the thing in front of them didn't make any sense for them.

Yet despite that—for some unknown reason, the writing in front of them made their hearts swell and stomachs churn with a certain negativity. A negativity they couldn't explain through words. As if those words were the true form of embodied grief.

_______»×•-‖≡∞≡‖-•×«_______

Suna raised a brow at the two who silently took their previous seat. "Why do you two looks like you've seen a ghost?" The fox eyed boy asked with a raised brow.

He was answered with a question of his own by a hesitant Atsumu. "Suna... Do ya... Do ya know what's written in there?" The boy felt a bead of sweat roll down his temple, eyes staring straight into Suna's, who held his stare.

The dark-haired boy averted his eyes to open his phone before casually holding it up for the twins. They saw the same view witnessed moments ago in the form of a photo. "I discovered it not too long ago by myself. I've been trying to know what it means."

Osamu stared at the screen. "Ya still don' know what it means." The boy's question came out as a statement to which Suna nodded to, whilst turning the phone to stare at the photo himself.

"It used to be something else in place of this." The boy revealed, searching for something before turning it for them to see the same view, except with other words written clearly in English. "Music For Life." Suna read out with a heavy accent. "人生のための音楽。 I'm thinking this has something to do with her quitting music." Suna voiced, sounding like a detective.

Osamu's eyes widened. "Music?"

"Wassup with music?" Atsumu questioned, gaining a stare from Suna.

The latter silently got up, putting his phone away. "Follow me." He called out before calmly walking out of the girl's room. The Miya twins exchanged glances before silently following Suna out into the hallway only to see Suna in front of the door right across Fuyuko's room.

"Oi Suna, should we be doin' this?" Osamu called out, only to be ignored when Suna opened the door, giving a final look back to the twins.

"You guys want to know more about her, don't you? I know you want to, because despite being close to her, you guys know nothing about who she really it." The boy stated bluntly, before walking in.

The brothers took a moment to let those words sink in, fully knowing the truth behind those words.

It's true... She just suddenly appeared in our lives outta nowhere...

We don' know much bout 'er, jus' bits and pieces 'ere and there...

Osamu glanced to the blond nest to him. "I'm goin' in."

Atsumu only sent a smirk back in response. "Ya aren't the only one."

With that, the two entered the mystery room, stopping on both of Suna's sides, only for their jaws to drop with awe. On both walls of the room to their left and right were huge shelves and shelves of trophies and showcased certificates of achievements—displayed behind the glass sliding doors. The setting sun provided little to no glow in to the room, but they could make out the Fuyuko's name on the achievements.

On the wall they were facing, they saw multiple frames of photographs surrounding the curtained window. In every single of them was the girl they grew close to, brightly smiling like they've never seen before—either by herself or with others.

Osamu glanced behind him, only to see the wall filled with framed photographs as well, arranged neatly. The boys gaze fell on a particular picture of a younger Fuyuko, flashing a huge toothy grin at the camera. She held up a trophy above her head with a huge grand piano seen in the background.

That smile... I never knew she could smile like that.

"What's this?" Atsumu's voice gaining the other two's attention, only to see him placing a hand on something large covered by a white piece of cloth.

"That's a grand piano. And this is the room she used to spend most of her free time in. She always played away, looking happier than she ever did." Suna explained, his expression bland except for the look of reminisce passing through his eyes.

"Played?" Osamu repeated, noting the past tense used by the male.

"She used to play, before she stopped playing altogether." Suna explained, taking the twins by surprise.

"Huh? Why'd she stop?" Atsumu asked curiously while Osamu felt a bad feeling swirl in his chest.

Suna glanced at the two. "Rumors say that she completely messed up during her last competition. But those are just rumors. Even I don't know what exactly happened after the accident she got herself into. Only a few knows of it, and most of the few are tight lipped about it." Suna's explanation was followed by a silence.

"Fuyuko... She loved music... didn' she?" Osamu asked, looking back to the photograph he was staring at moments ago.

Suna looked away, opting to walk out of the room filled with a lot of happy memories—now looking dull and abandoned. "She did. I don't know if she does anymore."

Atsumu and Osamu reluctantly followed, the blond carefully closing the door with one last look back. Suna came to a stop, turning back to the two. "Keep this a secret. Don't let her know you know about this alright?"

Atsumu's brows furrowed. "Why? I wanna help 'er out."

Suna narrowed his eyes. "Let her tell you about it herself you idiot. Knowing her, she'll open up to you two soon enough."

They were just about to step back into Fuyuko's room when a scream reached their ears. The three boys came to a full halt, glancing at each other with wide eyes. "That was Fuyuko-Chan's voice..." That was all it took for the twins to run downstairs. Bursting through the living room with Osamu and Atsumu shouting her name.

"Fuyuko!" Osamu's eyes darted everywhere, not seeing her in the living room.

"Fuyuko-Chan!" Atsumu followed, rushing into the kitchen only to come to a stop. "What're ya..."

Osamu followed after his brother with Suna by him, only to see the girl holding a completely wet phone that dripped water, ruining the floor.

"How the heck did ya get yer phone wet?" Osamu questioned in bewilderment while Suna stepped forward to take the phone from her hand. The dark head immediately opened a lower drawer before un-lidding the rice container to bury the phone in it.

The fox-eyed boy stood up, moving his eyes to the sink where the tap was still running to the newly washed plates. "Did you just wash your phone?"

His question was followed by silence, only to have the girl averting her gaze to the nearest wall. "No..." Her voice was smaller than usual, making the twins eyes wide while Suna deadpanned.

"No way..." Atsumu whispered. "Pff- AHAHAHAHAA!"

Osamu too raised a hand to his mouth before turning his back to the girl, but one could clearly tell from the trembling of his body that he was laughing as well.

"I wasn't really paying attention to what I was doing okay." Fuyuko commented with a huff, turning off the tap with furrowed brows.

"That still doesn't explain how you mistake a phone to a plate Fuyuko." Suna commented in disbelief while the twins crackled even more.

The girl deadpanned. "If you both keep on laughing, I'm not sharing any cake with you." Her comment was followed by instant silence, the twins straightening up to slowly turn to the girl. One in pure horror while the other in excitement.

"Cake?" Osamu asked, visibly perking up. Fuyuko sweat dropped at the sight of the boy's excitement filled eyes contradicting the rest of his face.

He's that excited for cake?

"'s that why ya took so long?" Atsumu asked, crouching down to see the chocolate cake mix in the oven.

It actually looks normal...

"Yeah, but till then, let's get back to studying." Fuyuko suggested, gaining three groans in response. "You guys do want to go to that training camp, don't you?" Her nonchalant threat had the twins slouching.

"We'll get the books." Atsumu groaned, walking up the stairs with Osamu following after him.

Suna glanced back to the girl. " Fuyuko, you'll be going with us? You know you're missing another tournament."

Fuyuko spared him a single glance, before walking out of the kitchen and towards the living room. "I'm not going back to the music club any time soon, Tarō-chin." Her response was blunt, leaving Suna to sigh.

_______»×•-‖≡∞≡‖-•×«_______

Osamu and Fuyuko sat side by side, with the girl explaining English terms to the food lover. Honestly it was tiring to teach the two, but Fuyuko could tolerating the grey head because of the sole reason of him actually trying to study. Unlike Atsumu who gets distracted every five minutes.

"Read these three sentences and figure out which blank 'Kindness' would fit." Fuyuko slid over his note book, where three sentences were written down in English with her neat handwriting.

As usual, 'er handwritin' is pretty...

Osamu discreetly glanced to the girl wearing a white long-sleeved button up and grey comfy lose shorts. Her long hair was free from any bounds, leaving it cascading down her small back and shoulders to pool on the floor. The girl was unaware of the male's attention as she conversed away with Suna, her voice non-existent to him at the moment.

Pretty, jus' like the girl 'erself...

The boy shook his head, getting rid of his thoughts to focus back on his book. Blind to the way Atsumu sweat dropped seeing his brothers very much obvious actions, the blond glanced at Suna who made eye contact with him only to shrug with a light smirk.

Samu's too obvious...

Fuyuko quietly turned back to her own book, struggling with the damn thing she called algebra. The girl imagined going into a battle field filled with monsters made out of the questions, a sniper gun in hand. However, imitating the assassination classroom in her mind wasn't helping one bit.

Damn! How does the anime people manage this?!

Suna stared at the concentrated furrowed brows of the girl, before snickering. "How is that you're good at English, Japanese language and Arts while you barely pass in everything else including P.E and Home Economics?"

Of course, she'll ace art, music is included in it after all...

The girl narrowed her eyes at the male. "You're the one to talk. You're only good at Social Studies and Science while you're basically average on everything else including P.E because apparently you're lazy." The girl monotonously pointed out, making Suna smirk.

"Touché."

The blond perked up. "I'm actually surprised both of yer in class 1, I know people with lower scores in class 2." Atsumu pointed out.

"One of 'em being ya." His brother pointed out, gaining a glare from the blond.

"It's cuz I'm smarter than ya."

"Says who?"

"Say's me course."

Suna hummed, thinking back to Atsumu's words. "Maybe it's because both Fuyuko and I were scouted into the school?" His gaze flickered to the girl who placed a hand on her chin with contemplate.

"Yeah, might be the case." She murmured.

"Wait, wait, wait! Both of yer scouted?!" Atsumu exclaimed in shock.

Osamu too was taken aback. "I knew Suna was scouted cuz of Volleyball but ya too?" He stared straight into the girl's soul, making her avert her gaze.

Atsumu's head snapped towards his brother. "You knew?!" His head than snapped towards the girl to point a finger. "Come to think of it, ya don' have the Kansai dialect either!"

The girl calmly glanced to a side to make eye contact with the grey head. "I'm originally from Tokyo. I was scouted because of Music."

Suna followed after her. "I'm from Aichi Prefecture, scouted because of Volleyball." The boy briefly made eye contact with the girl. "She and I were introduced to each other during the transfer procedure in our first year."

Fuyuko softly smiled in return. "You were my first friend in Inarizaki, with us ending up in the same class and all."

Osamu from his seat, narrowed his eyes at their interaction, stomach churning uncomfortably. "No wonder ya two seem close."

Atsumu snickered with a sly smirk. "Someone's jelly~"

Osamu glared, kicked his brother's shin from underneath, gaining a hiss from in response followed by the glare of his own. They were soon interrupted when they heard a timer go off, making Fuyuko immediately move to stand up. "Looks like the cake is done."

Atsumu stared at the girl disappearing to the kitchen, face paling. The boy leaned towards the fox eyed boy. "Oi Suna, what're we gonna do? We're gonna die!" The boy whisper shouted into the boy's ear, gaining a raised brow from the male. "Don' give me that look! Don'tcha remember our last home ec class?!" The boy exclaimed, forgetting to whisper.

"What happened in our last home ec class?" His twin asked, making his brother freeze and slowly turn to stone.

"I don' wanna eat anything made by 'er, ever a-again." The boy's voice cracked

_______›»FLASH BACK«‹_______

Atsumu and Fuyuko were paired for their Home Economics class. It was unfortunate, but class one and two have mixed classes when it comes to both Physical Educational and Home Economics. To make it worse for Osamu, his brother was paired up with the girl he was currently interested in.

Interest is what he calls is, but he's sure he was slowly falling deeper and deeper into that hole called affectional devotion. Love was complex after all, and he wasn't stupid enough to not realize his feelings. What he didn't know was the girl's own half of it when he was involved. She was just too hard to figure out, and as frustrating as it sounds, he enjoys figuring her out. He wanted to break down her walls on his own, and he won't stop until he succeeds.

"Onigiri Boi, pay attention to the pot." Alice reminded him, jabbing her elbow to his rib which effectively knocked the wind out of him. Not that he can do anything against the girl though. Osamu merely sent a painfilled glance towards the red head before returning back to his task.

He had to admit, Alice was a great cook. He couldn't hope for a better partner if not for her roughness. He was once again reminded of Fuyuko's calm actions, preferring it much better.

It didn't take long for the class to end with the bell for lunch break. Fuyuko, as their class rep was assigned to get new towels from storage and Osamu tagged along in order to get away from the She-Devil, leaving Atsumu alone with Alice and Suna, to wrap everything up.

Suna volunteered to wash up their plates, deliberately leaving Atsumu to deal with the She-Devil who continued to pester Atsumu with her food. The blond would never admit it out loud, but Alice's food was second to his brothers, which was saying something. Alice knows it well; she also knows that the male enjoys her food even if he would insult it despite finishing off the whole thing.

"By the way, I still haven' tasted Fuyuko's food..." Atsumu trailed off, escaping from the red head to glance at the long-haired girl's pot.

Alice's eyed widened, her face losing a bit of its color as she extended a hand to the male who wrapped his fingers around the handle of the lid. "Tsun-chan, wait!"

She was too late though, because Atsumu had already taken off the lid, only to close his eyes as his face was met with a sweet aroma of steam. "Woah..."

"Tsun-chan, I d-don't think that's a good idea." Alice muttered out hesitantly, watching the blond pour some of the ordinary looking soup into a clean bowl

"Huh what's not a good idea?" Atsumu wondered out, closing the lid back.

Alice gulped. "That c-could be poisonous..."

Atsumu's brows furrowed, observing Alice's nervous smile and twitching brows. There were beads of nervous sweat on her temple, looking like she saw one of her biggest fears. In a way, that was the complete truth. Not that the boy knew of course.

"What's with ya all of a sudden?" The blond asked, casually raising a spoon to have a taste of the soup.

Let's just say... he had never regretted something that soon, in his entire life.

"Wha- what t-the-" His eyes rolled to the back of his head and blacked out within mere seconds.

"TSUN-CHAN!" Alice shouted in pure grief, falling to the floor to hold the boy's upper body up with dramatical crocodile tears streaming down her cheeks. "No! You can't leave me yet! Atsumu!" Yes, she did just use his real name.

"Oh shi- She's comin' back!" One of the class one students called out.

Another one perked up. "Hurry! Get rid of it before anyone else falls victim to it!"

Suna didn't hesitate to dumb the whole soup into the sink. "Done." He returned the pot back to place just as the front door opened. In coming the root of the disaster and the victim's brother. Casually talking among themselves like the girl's soup didn't just kill someone.

"The hell happened 'ere?" Osamu questioned, weirdly staring at the bawling Alice and the unconscious Atsumu.

"Huh? Where did all of my soup go?" The girl representative of class one wondered out loud, making almost all of the class flinch.

"A-Ah that! Ya see, it was so delicious that I couldn' help myself hehe..." One of the girl's simps voiced, nervously fidgeting on his spot.

"Yeah! Ya make delicious soup Fuyuko-san!" A girl exclaimed with a bright smile; hands clutched tightly behind her.

Osamu looked through the weirdly acting students with furrowed brows, silently stepping forward to take one of Fuyuko's wrist. "It's fine, I can taste it next time. For now, come 'n taste mine. I don' mind sharin'." His statement had his entire class with loose jaws of bewilderment.

"Who are ya 'n what did ya do to Osamu-san?!" One of the girls exclaimed in shock.

"The Osamu I knew never shares his food!" A boy exclaimed, dramatically pointing a finger towards the grey head who sent him an irritated glance.

"Shut up."

Meanwhile Fuyuko glanced at the two with confused lidded eyes. "What do you mean? Osa-chin shares his food a lot..." The girl trailed off when Osamu's classmates slowly turned to stone.

"WHAT'S GOIN' ON?!"

_______›»FLASH BACK END«‹____

Without another word, the three males watched as Fuyuko brought in the chocolate cake, smelling extremely appetizing. The melted chocolate spread over the cake slowly dripped down the sides, still boiling hot; yet to dry. "I didn't have the time to decorate it, but I'll assure you it'll taste good." The girl muttered out, half lidded eyes glinting with a small smile, looking quite confident with herself.

Suna let out a lazy smile. "I bet it does." Gaining a strained look from Atsumu in response.

Osamu on the other hand, took a single look at her face and decided to try it out despite the horrifying story told by his brother. I mean, there's no way he can back out after seeing that kind of expression on her face. "It better be good. I'll be judgin' the taste." The grey head voiced, sending her a look.

Fuyuko's eyes lightly widened, before flashing a small close eyed smile with a thumbs up. "I won't disappoint you."

Meanwhile from in front of the grey head, Atsumu stared at his brother like he suddenly got his head cut off. Looking a bit pale. "I- I've to go home soon so-" The instant his eyes flickered to the girl, he flinched.

The blond visibly shivered at the dark aura surrounding the girl despite the calm smile on her face. "You'll have to try it out. Atsu-chin."

"B-Bu-"

"You'll have to try it." The girl repeated, putting more emphasis on 'have', silently letting him know there was no escape. Atsumu felt like he'd lost a few years of his life as he rapidly nods his head.

"Y-yes, I-I'll try..."

"Good." Fuyuko muttered, patting his head as she walked back to the kitchen to gather some paper plates. Leaving the boys staring at her back. Atsumu shivered.

To think Alice is scary... She's way worse

The girl returned back with paper plates, a knife and a bottle of coke, hands full as she carried them. Osamu was quick to get up and help her place the things on the table, taking the knife to cut the cake afterwards. The boy placed a slice on his own plate while Suna moved to take one as well, leaving Atsumu flabbergasted with how unbothered his team mates were.

"Are... Are ya guys se-"

Atsumu cut himself off as he watched Osamu take a bite with closed eyes. The grey head carefully tested the taste, feeling the delicacy smoothly melt and burst in his mouth. He was so overpowered with the delicious sweetness that he let out a content hum as he swallowed, a smile slipping on his features. "Huh not bad, not bad at all Fuyuko." The grey head made eye contact with Fuyuko who lightly smiled in return.

Suna too smiled from his spot, devouring the cake with a content aura around him. "As usual, no one can beat you when it comes to pastries."

"You bet. I'm confident in my skills as a baker." The girl dawdled out with half lidded eyes, slowly pumping a fist into the air.

Atsumu watched in disbelief. "What? How?"

Suna snorted, amused of Atsumu's fear. "Fuyuko sucks at making real dishes, but her baking skills are top notch."

Osamu raised a brow. "So Tsumu was tellin' the truth bout 'er horrible cookin'?" The grey head asked, gaining a nod from Suns while the girl in question frowned.

"I'm not that bad." She muttered to herself, trying to open the coke bottle.

Atsumu deadpanned. "Yer that bad."

"Am not."

"Are too!" Atsumu exclaimed, taking a slice to himself as well.

Fuyuko narrowed her eyes at the blond, only to get distracted when she felt the bottle leave her hands. She blinked, before turning towards Osamu who effortlessly opened the cap before starting to pour the liquid into the paper cups.

Her small smile returned right back. "Thanks."

"Don' mention it."

_______»×•-‖≡∞≡‖-•×«_______

"Hey Fuyuko?"

"Hmm?"

"Are ya free tomorrow mornin'?"

"... yeah, why?"

"Wanna go on a date with me?"

From a distance, a blond choked on his coke while his friend patted his back. Eventually the boy gained back his breath, taking the water cup from the same friend's hand.

"... sure, why not."

The blond choked yet again.

Through summer heat of exhaustion,

they strive to move forward again and again...

Through hardships to acknowledgements,

learns to illustrious and accept the feelings...

_______»×•-‖≡∞≡‖-•×«_______

Yo! I think you've noticed something different about the book yeah? I didn't really want people coming after me being like, I'm 5'7 and shit y'know cause I obviously can't make the character relate to every single reader there is.

So I went ahead and changed (y/n) (l/n) into Fuyuko Rairakku. Hope ya all don't mind lol. Even if you did, too bad cause I'm keeping this change.