"So Shiori's not home tonight?" Taiki wheezed between sets. "Sleepover with Maki?"

  Jin's serve whooshed past his head, making Taiki duck reflexively. Practice had somehow evolved into what felt like a twisted game of dodge-the-volleyball, with Taiki as the unwilling target.

  "Yeah," Sato called from across the court, spinning a ball in his hands. "Something about a girls' night or whatever."

  Hiro and Jin exchanged looks that made Taiki nervous. Those grins never meant anything good.

  "You know what that means?" Jin's grin widened as he clapped Sato on the shoulder. "You and Taiki are gonna be all alone tonight."

  "Boys' night at Sato's!" Hiro announced, pumping his fist in the air. "We can order pizza and-"

  "Wait, who invited you two?" Taiki muttered, but they were already planning.

  "I'll bring my gaming console," Jin declared.

  "I've got snacks covered," Hiro added, already typing on his phone.

  Sato beamed at them all. "This is perfect! We can work on team bonding!"

  Taiki slumped against the wall, wondering how he'd gone from a quiet evening alone to an impromptu boys' night in the span of thirty seconds.

  Maki practically ripped Shiori's arm off when she opened her parents' front door. "Get in here before someone sees you having emotions in public," she hissed, yanking the basketball star inside.

  "I'm not having-" Shiori's protest died as she took in Maki's living room. It looked like a comfort station had exploded. Blankets and pillows covered every surface, creating a nest-like formation around a massive TV. Snack bags formed architectural structures on the coffee table - a chip bag castle with candy bar towers.

  "Welcome to the Emergency Crush Crisis Center," Maki announced, gesturing dramatically at her setup. "We've got rom-coms queued up, enough sugar to put us in a coma, and these incredibly soft pajamas my mom bought me." She tossed a pair of pink flannel PJs at Shiori's face.

  Shiori caught them reflexively. "This is... excessive."

  "Excuse you, this is exactly what you need." Maki bounced onto the pillow pile, sending a few flying. "Now change, grab some snacks, and prepare to talk about your feelings until we both want to die."

  "I don't want to talk about my feelings," Shiori mumbled, but she was already heading to the bathroom with the pajamas.

  "That's what the chocolate's for!" Maki called after her, already ripping open a bag of chips. When Shiori returned, Maki had arranged everything into perfect reaching distance from their pillow nest. "Okay, spill. Start from the beginning - and don't skip the part where you realized you were staring at his bedhead every morning."

  Shiori buried her face in a pillow, muffling a groan. "I wasn't staring at his bedhead. I just... noticed it. Sometimes. When he'd stumble into the kitchen looking like he'd been electrocuted."

  "Uh-huh." Maki shoved a chocolate bar into Shiori's hands. "And I'm sure you 'just noticed' how he remembers exactly how you like your coffee too."

  "That's just being observant!" Shiori protested, but her cheeks flushed as she unwrapped the chocolate. "He's... considerate. To everyone. It doesn't mean anything."

  "Right, because all roommates memorize each other's drink preferences" Maki rolled her eyes, cramming chips into her mouth. "Face it, Shii. You've got it bad for the volleyball disaster."

  "He's not a disaster," Shiori said automatically, then winced when Maki's grin turned triumphant. "I mean-"

  "You're defending him! That's like, crush level five!" Maki bounced in place, sending snacks flying. "Remember when Jin called him uncoordinated last week and you gave him that death glare?"

  "I did not-"

  "You totally did! Even Sato noticed, and he's about as observant as a brick." Maki leaned forward, eyes sparkling. "So when are you gonna tell him?"

  The mere thought made Shiori's stomach drop. "I'm not. Ever. We live together, Maki. If it goes wrong..."

  "If what goes wrong?" Maki waggled her eyebrows. "The kissing? The hand-holding? The dramatic confessions of love over morning coffee?"

  "Stop!" Shiori lobbed a pillow at Maki's face. "This isn't one of your romance mangas. This is real life, where things get complicated and messy and-"

  "And sometimes really, really good," Maki finished softly, lowering the pillow. "Come on, Shii. I've never seen you this worked up over anyone before."

  Shiori stared at her hands, trying to find the right words. "I just... I've never felt like this before. Not with anyone." She picked at a loose thread on her borrowed pajamas. "And it's Taiki of all people. The one who makes terrible jokes at breakfast and gets way too excited about convenience store sales."

  A small smile crept onto her face. "He's just... real. No pretense, no agenda. He doesn't treat me like 'Shiori the basketball star.' I'm just his roommate."

  "But enough about my crisis," Shiori said, grabbing a handful of chips. "Let's talk about you and Sato."

  Maki choked on her chocolate. "What about me and Sato?"

  "Oh, I don't know." Shiori's smile turned devious. "Maybe the way you've stopped complaining about his morning pep talks? Or how you actually laugh at his terrible volleyball jokes now?"

  "That's- I'm just being nice!" Maki's face flushed red. "He's my roommate. Like you said, we have to get along."

  "Uh-huh." Shiori mimicked Maki's earlier tone perfectly. "And I'm sure you 'just happened' to start wearing that volleyball team jacket he lent you everywhere."

  "It's comfortable!" Maki hugged a pillow to her chest defensively. "And it was cold that one time, and he offered, and-"

  "And you haven't given it back for two weeks."

  "The washing machine was broken!"

  "Sure it was." Shiori popped another chip in her mouth, watching Maki squirm. "Face it, you're not as subtle as you think you are. Even during practice matches, you're always watching his spikes."

  "I'm studying volleyball techniques!" Maki protested weakly.

  "Really? Because last time I checked, you were supposed to be practicing layups, not staring at Sato's form."

  Maki groaned and face-planted into the pillow pile. "Is it that obvious?"

  "Only to anyone with eyes," Shiori laughed, patting Maki's back. "Though probably not to Sato. He's about as observant as..."

  "A brick." Maki's voice came muffled through the pillows. "Yeah, you can say that again. Yesterday he asked if I was sick because my face was red. After he'd just taken off his shirt to change jerseys!"

  Both girls dissolved into giggles, the tension about their respective crushes breaking. Maki sat up, still hugging the pillow but now wearing an indignant expression.

  "It's totally different," she insisted, picking up a stray chocolate bar. "I mean, look at you! You can barely function around Taiki anymore. Yesterday you walked into a door because he smiled at you."

  "That was because the sun was in my eyes," Shiori protested.

  "It was cloudy!" Maki unwrapped the chocolate with unnecessary force. "Meanwhile, I'm completely fine around Sato. Sure, he's nice to look at when he's practicing, and maybe his stupid morning enthusiasm is kind of growing on me, but I'm not writing poetry about his serves or anything."

  "No, you're just wearing his jacket everywhere and pretending to need help with volleyball terms so he'll explain things to you."

  "That's just... practical research!" Maki's face flushed deeper. "And unlike some people, I can still form complete sentences around my roommate. I'm not the one sending keyboard smash texts at 3 AM because someone made coffee for me."

  Shiori smacked her with a pillow. "Those texts were perfectly coherent!"

  "Your last one was literally just 'AAAAAAHHHHH' followed by seventeen crying emojis," Maki dodged another pillow swing. "Face it, you're in deep. I just think Sato's neat."

  Maki suddenly sat up straight, her eyes widening. "Oh yeah, I totally forgot to mention - the guys are having their own little hangout at our apartment tonight."

  Shiori froze mid-bite into her chocolate bar. "What."

  "Yeah, Jin and Hiro invited themselves over when they heard we were doing a sleepover. They're bringing their gaming stuff and everything." Maki shrugged, then caught sight of Shiori's horrified expression. "What's wrong?"

  "What's wrong?" Shiori's voice rose an octave. "Jin and Hiro are there. With Taiki. And Sato. Those two are literally walking disasters when it comes to keeping secrets!"

  "Oh come on, they're not that-" Maki stopped, remembering how Jin had accidentally revealed the volleyball team's surprise birthday party for their coach by literally shouting it in the hallway. "Okay, maybe they're a little..."

  "Jin told the entire cafeteria about Roku's crush on the library assistant!" Shiori buried her face in her hands. "And Hiro - Hiro once announced his sister's secret boyfriend over the school PA system because he thought it was funny!"

  "Oh god," Maki whispered, the reality of the situation hitting her. "They're probably interrogating Taiki right now."

  "And Sato's there too," Shiori groaned. "He can't lie to save his life"

  Maki waved her hands in what she hoped was a calming gesture. "Okay, let's not panic. Maybe they have no idea about any of this. I mean, how would they even know?"

  Shiori fixed her with a desperate look. "Maki, the entire volleyball team watches me like I'm their favorite drama show. Jin literally keeps a notebook of 'suspicious interactions' between me and Taiki!"

  "He what?" Maki choked back a laugh, then quickly sobered at Shiori's glare. "Sorry, sorry. But look, even if they do suspect something about you two, I'm sure they're not..." She trailed off as her phone buzzed.

  A text from Sato lit up her screen: 'Jin's trying to get Taiki drunk on energy drinks to spill tea about Shiori lololol'

  "Oh no," Maki muttered.

  "What? What is it?" Shiori tried to grab the phone, but Maki yanked it away.

  "Nothing! Just, uh, Sato being Sato. You know how he is, always texting random..." Another buzz interrupted her.

  'Hiro's doing dramatic reenactments of Shiori staring at Taiki during practice. It's pretty spot on tbh'

  Maki couldn't help but snort, then quickly tried to cover it with a cough when Shiori narrowed her eyes.

  "At least they're only focused on you two," Maki said, patting Shiori's shoulder. "I mean, there's no way they'd notice anything about-"

  Her phone buzzed again.

  'PS: Jin says you're not subtle about watching my spikes during practice ?? Want to learn ?'

  Maki's face went nuclear. "I take it back. We're both doomed."

  Taiki sprawled on Sato's couch, surrounded by a fortress of empty energy drink cans and snack wrappers. Jin had insisted on "properly hydrating" him, which apparently meant forcing him to drink enough caffeine to power a small city.

  "Dude, you're literally vibrating," Hiro laughed, watching Taiki's leg bounce uncontrollably.

  "I can see sounds," Taiki muttered, staring at the ceiling. "Is that normal?"

  Sato emerged from the kitchen with another armful of snacks, dumping them onto the coffee table. "Maybe ease up on the drinks, yeah? We still need him functional for morning practice."

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  "Morning practice is a myth invented by sadistic coaches," Taiki declared, reaching for a bag of chips anyway. His hand was shaking so much he knocked over three empty cans in the process.

  Jin, who'd been destroying everyone at Mario Kart for the past hour, finally set down his controller. "Speaking of practice, you're actually getting decent at setting. Like, your balls go forward now instead of hitting people in the face."

  "Thanks for the overwhelming vote of confidence," Taiki rolled his eyes. "Though I still think Shiori's advice about visualization helped more than Sato's 'just feel the ball' philosophy."

  "Hey, feeling the ball is important!" Sato protested through a mouthful of pizza.

  "You say that about everything," Hiro pointed out. "'Feel the receive!' 'Feel the serve!' 'Feel the bench!'"

  "The bench feels pretty good right now," Taiki mumbled, sinking deeper into the couch cushions as the sugar crash started hitting. "Why is your apartment so much messier than mine and Shiori's?"

  "Because Shiori's actually organized," Jin snorted. "Meanwhile, these two probably haven't seen their kitchen table in weeks under all the sports magazines."

  "Not true!" Sato said. "Maki cleared it off yesterday to do homework. We definitely have a table under there somewhere."

  Taiki's eyes were getting heavy, the caffeine crash hitting him hard. "At least your roommate situation worked out better than expected, huh?"

  "Yeah," Sato grinned, already setting up another round of Mario Kart. "Maki's pretty cool. Makes great snacks too."

  Jin and Hiro exchanged knowing looks that made Taiki wish he wasn't so caffeinated - his brain was picking up way too many social cues right now.

  "Oh yeah? Tell us more about how 'cool' Maki is," Jin drawled, abandoning his controller completely. "Especially since you spend so much time watching her practice from the volleyball side."

  Sato's ears turned red. "I mean, she works really hard. And she's funny. And she always has the best snacks, like these weird strawberry-flavored chips that shouldn't work but somehow do-"

  "Bro, you're literally listing her qualities like you're writing a dating profile," Hiro cut in, grinning. "What else? Does she have a great personality too?"

  "She does!" Sato said defensively, then immediately looked like he regretted speaking. "I mean, you know, as a friend. A roommate-friend. Who's good at finding snacks."

  Taiki watched Sato stumble over his words with a mix of sympathy and amusement.

  "You sure spend a lot of time talking about her snacks," Jin teased. "Is that what the kids are calling it these days?"

  Sato's face lit up with sudden inspiration. "Hey, you know who else has been acting weird lately? Shiori and Taiki!"

  Taiki's caffeine-addled brain took a moment to process that statement. "Wait, what?"

  "Oh man, you want to talk about obvious?" Jin latched onto the new target with predatory glee. "Shiori practically short-circuits every time Taiki says something nice to her."

  "I... what?" Taiki pushed himself up on his elbows, blinking rapidly.

  Hiro nodded sagely. "Dude, she dropped an entire water bottle when you told her hair looked nice last week. Just straight up forgot how to hold things."

  Sato started making frantic cutting motions with his hands behind Taiki's back, realising he went too far. But Jin and Hiro were too invested to notice.

  Jin and Hiro exchanged another one of those looks that made Taiki's caffeine-soaked brain hurt. He really needed to start paying attention to what those meant.

  "So..." Jin dragged out the word. "You and Shiori seem pretty comfortable living together now."

  "Yeah?" Taiki shrugged, picking at a loose thread on his sleeve. "She's super nice. Even helps me with volleyball stuff sometimes."

  Hiro leaned forward, grinning. "Nice? That's all you got? The school's basketball star, who half the guys would sacrifice their firstborn just to talk to, and she's... nice?"

  "I mean, she is," Taiki said, genuinely confused by their intensity. "Why wouldn't she be? She puts up with me burning toast at midnight and everything."

  Jin groaned, flopping back dramatically. "Dude, are you seriously this dense? Have you seen the way she looks at you?"

  "Like she's wondering how I managed to set a ball backward three times in one practice?" Taiki snorted. "Look, I know where this is going, but you guys are way off. Half the school would literally kill to get five minutes with her."

  "And?" Hiro prompted.

  "And I'm just... me?" Taiki gestured vaguely at himself. "The guy who couldn't do a proper serve until last week? Who still sometimes forgets which way to face during receives? Pretty sure Shiori has better things to worry about than her disaster roommate who's barely mastered the art of not hitting himself in the face with a volleyball."

  Jin leaned forward, his eyes gleaming with the intensity of someone about to crack a case. "Okay, but forget about what you think she thinks. Do you like her?"

  Taiki's caffeine-addled brain struggled to process the question. "I... what?"

  "Simple question," Hiro chimed in, sliding closer on the couch. "Shiori. You. Feelings. Yes or no?"

  Meanwhile, Sato had mysteriously vanished to the bathroom, his phone buzzing frantically in his hands as he typed:

  Sato: EMERGENCY UPDATE

  Sato: They're grilling Taiki about Shiori

  Sato: He keeps saying she's "too good for him"

  Sato: Like actually believes it's impossible she'd like him

  "I mean, she's amazing," Taiki mumbled, running a hand through his hair. "But that's exactly the point? She's SHIORI. And I'm just... me"

  "That's not an answer," Jin pressed, poking Taiki's shoulder. "Do you LIKE her?"

  Taiki stared at his hands, his heart racing from either anxiety or the energy drinks – probably both. "Does it matter? Even if I did – which I'm not saying! – it's not like... I mean, come on. She's got actual fan clubs. Multiple ones! I've seen them fight over meeting spots!"

  Sato: He won't give a straight answer

  Sato: But he's definitely hung up on this "she's too good for me" thing

  Sato: At least we know why he's so oblivious now

  Sato: He literally can't process the possibility

  "You're dodging the question," Hiro sing-songed, but Taiki had already buried his face in a couch cushion, refusing to emerge.

  Maki's chocolate bar tumbled from her slack jaw, landing with a soft thud on her pajama-covered lap. Her eyes were glued to her phone screen, rereading Sato's frantic messages for the third time.

  "Holy... actual... progress," she whispered, fumbling to grab her phone properly. Next to her, Shiori was braiding small sections of her hair, completely oblivious to the bombshell that had just dropped on Maki's phone.

  "Shiori!" Maki practically shoved the phone in her friend's face. "Look at this! Look what your disaster boy is saying!"

  Shiori's fingers froze mid-braid. Her eyes widened as she scanned the messages, her cheeks growing progressively pinker with each line.

  "He... thinks I'm too good for him?" Shiori's voice came out squeaky. She grabbed one of Maki's pillows and buried her face in it. "That's why he hasn't noticed? Because he thinks it's impossible?"

  "This is actually perfect!" Maki bounced on the bed, sending snack wrappers flying. "He likes you! He's just being a total idiot about it!"

  "But-" Shiori peeked out from behind the pillow, her face now completely red. "How do you know he likes me? He didn't actually say-"

  "Oh my god, you're as bad as he is," Maki groaned, flopping backward onto her bed.

  Maki sat up abruptly, her hair a mess from rolling around. "Okay, let me break this down for your romantically challenged brain. You're Shiori Fujisawa. The Shiori Fujisawa."

  "I know my name," Shiori mumbled into the pillow.

  "No, you clearly don't. Put yourself in Taiki's shoes for like, five minutes." Maki started counting on her fingers. "Day one: gets paired with the school's basketball star as a roommate. Day two: discovers said roommate has multiple fan clubs. Day three: realizes everyone's staring at him because he lives with you."

  Shiori lowered the pillow slightly. "But that's just-"

  "People literally fight over who gets to sit next to you at lunch," Maki steamrolled on. "Remember last week when that second-year almost cried because you complimented his math notes?"

  "That wasn't-"

  "SHIORI!" Maki grabbed her friend's shoulders. "Three-quarters of the school would sacrifice their firstborn child just to get you to notice them! And here's Taiki, who can barely set a volleyball straight, living with you and thinking 'Wow, she's actually nice to me, must be because she feels sorry for her disaster roommate.'"

  Understanding slowly dawned in Shiori's eyes. "Oh."

  "Yeah, 'oh.' The possibility of you liking him probably didn't even cross his mind because in his head, it's about as likely as... as... me becoming the next Olympic basketball champion!"

  "You're getting better though," Shiori offered weakly.

  "Not the point!" Maki threw her hands up. "The point is, your crush is just as much of a disaster as you are, just in the opposite direction. He's not rejecting you - he literally can't compute the possibility that you'd ever see him that way."

  Shiori stared at her hands, processing Maki's words. Everything suddenly made sense - Taiki's awkward retreats when she complimented him, his constant self-deprecating jokes about being the world's worst setter.

  "So what do I do?" Shiori asked, her voice small. "If he can't even imagine the possibility..."

  Maki's phone buzzed again. She glanced at it and let out a snort. "Jin's trying to convince Taiki that Shiori is secretly impressed by his 'dramatic character development arc' in volleyball. Apparently, Taiki just threw a controller at him."

  "Is that... good?"

  "It means he's flustered," Maki said, typing rapidly. "Which means Jin's hitting close to home. Oh- wait, Sato says Taiki's now listing all the reasons why you definitely don't like him. Starting with, and I quote, 'She probably thinks I'm just a weird guy who's learning volleyball.'"

  Shiori groaned and flopped face-first onto Maki's bed. "This is hopeless. He's literally talking himself out of even considering it."

  Maki's phone buzzed one more time. She let out a grunt that sounded like a dying whale.

  "That's it." Maki bit into her chocolate with determination. "You're both lost causes. Complete disasters. The most emotionally constipated people I've ever met."

  Sato glanced at his phone, trying not to make it obvious while Taiki was still listing reasons why Shiori definitely thought he was just a weird volleyball newbie.

  Jin and Hiro shared a look that screamed "help us" while Sato read Maki's message. His eyebrows shot up at her colorful description of their friends' mutual obliviousness.

  "Dude," Hiro cut in, "you've been talking about why Shiori doesn't like you for twenty minutes. That's kind of suspicious."

  "It's not suspicious!" Taiki's voice cracked. "I'm just explaining why-"

  "Why you've thought about this so much?" Jin smirked.

  While Taiki sputtered denials, Sato typed back to Maki: "Operation Get These Idiots Together?"

  Her response came instantly: "YES. They're both too stupid to figure this out themselves. Meet me tomorrow morning before practice?"

  "Copy that. Bringing coffee. We're gonna need it."

  Maki yawned, clutching her coffee like it was life support as she leaned against the gym's outer wall. "You sure they're coming?"

  "Shiori always arrives exactly seven minutes before practice," Sato said, checking his phone. "And Taiki usually stumbles in looking half-dead around-"

  "Hey guys." Shiori appeared, gym bag slung over her shoulder, but conspicuously alone.

  "Where the hell is Taiki?" Maki blurted. Her coffee sloshed as Sato's elbow caught her ribs. He pointed wordlessly toward the gym doors.

  Through the window, they could see Taiki already inside, repeatedly tossing a volleyball against the wall. His form was still awful, but he'd been at it long enough that sweat darkened the back of his t-shirt.

  "He got up at 4 AM," Shiori said, fidgeting with her water bottle. "Said something about needing to work on his sets before anyone showed up to see him fail."

  Maki dragged her hands down her face with a groan. "You've got to be kidding me. The one time we actually need him to be late..."

  "We'll figure something out," Sato said "Maybe we can-"

  "Never mind," Maki cut him off, waving a hand. "Mission aborted."

  Taiki wiped his sweaty palms on his shorts, trying to shake off the weird nervous energy thrumming through his body. Something felt different today. His early morning practice had left his muscles warm and loose instead of their usual cement-block heaviness.

  When Jin called for a set, Taiki's hands moved before his brain could overthink it. The ball left his fingers in a clean arc, landing perfectly in Jin's strike zone.

  Wait, what?

  "Nice!" Jin's spike slammed down on the other side of the court. "Do that again!"

  Taiki blinked at his hands like they belonged to someone else. The next set was even better - high enough for Hiro to execute a perfect quick attack.

  "When did you get good?" Roku demanded during their water break, while Taiki was still staring at his fingers in confusion.

  "I... didn't?" Taiki said, but even his serves were making it over the net now. Not powerfully, but consistently. The ball actually went where he wanted it to go, instead of flying off in random directions like a drunk pigeon.

  "Dude, you've done like twenty sets without launching one backwards," Daichi said. "That's definitely new."

  Taiki's heart nearly stopped when Sato gathered everyone into a huddle after practice. The familiar mischievous grin on his face usually meant trouble.

  "Alright team, we've got another practice match this weekend!" Sato announced, practically bouncing. "And this time-"

  "Everyone shut up for a minute," Coach interrupted, clipboard in hand. Jin elbowed Hiro who was still whispering something about his new serving technique.

  Practice matches meant sitting on the bench, watching everyone else play. At least he'd gotten better at keeping track of the rotation order while-

  "Starting lineup," Coach said, cutting through Taiki's thoughts. "Setter position: Tsumugi."

  Taiki nodded absently, waiting to hear when he'd be subbed in for practice serves or-

  Wait.

  His head snapped up. That was his name. His actual name. In the starting lineup. As setter.

  "The wing spikers will rotate between Igarashi, Kurozawa, Rentaki, and Tomisaka throughout the match," Coach continued, but Taiki could barely hear him over the blood rushing in his ears.

  "I'm what?" Taiki squeaked.

  "Starting setter," Coach repeated, not looking up from his clipboard. "Don't make me regret it."

  Daichi's hand crashed down on Taiki's shoulder with enough force to make his knees buckle. "Look who's officially part of the rotation!"

  "There's got to be some mistake," Taiki muttered, but Jin was already ruffling his hair while Hiro launched into an elaborate explanation of their quick attack signals.

  "No mistake," Sato grinned. "You earned it."

  Taiki burst out of the gym doors, his legs still wobbly from practice but powered by pure adrenaline. He spotted Shiori and Maki walking ahead, their gym bags swinging as they chatted.

  "Hey!" he called out, voice cracking embarrassingly. His feet tangled as he rushed forward, nearly face-planting into Maki's back. "You'll never- I mean- I just-"

  "Breathe, disaster boy," Maki said, steadying him. "Complete sentences would be nice."

  "I made first lineup!" The words exploded out of him. "For this weekend's match! As starting setter!"

  "What?" Maki's shriek echoed across the courtyard. "No way!"

  "Coach just announced it," Taiki said, still buzzing with disbelief. His hands wouldn't stop shaking. "I'm actually going to play. Like, for real play. The whole match!"

  "That's amazing!" Shiori's face lit up with a brilliant smile that made Taiki's stomach do a weird flip. "I knew you could do it!"

  "I mean, I'll probably mess everything up," Taiki backpedaled, suddenly aware of how close he was standing to Shiori. "But at least I haven't sent a ball backwards in practice for three whole days, so that's something, right?"

  Maki smacked the back of Taiki's head, making him yelp. "Shut up, dumbass. You'll do fine. We saw your sets today. They were perfectly fine."

  "You were watching?" Taiki rubbed his head, shooting her a betrayed look.

  "Well, we saw everything," Maki declared. "And you didn't hit a single face. That's definitely progress."

  "Such high standards you have for me," Taiki said dryly.

  "Hey, two months ago you couldn't tell the difference between a set and a serve," Maki pointed out. "Now you're making plays that actually look like volleyball. Take the win, volleyball boy."

  Taiki opened his mouth to argue, but Maki raised her hand threateningly. "I will smack you again. Don't test me."

  "Fine, fine!" Taiki held up his hands in surrender. "I guess I didn't completely suck today. Happy?"

  "Ecstatic," Maki said, rolling her eyes. "Now can we please go get food? I'm starving and you owe me curry bread for that perfect set you did to Jin."

  "I don't remember agreeing to that."

  "Too bad. I'm collecting anyway."

  Shiori watched Maki and Taiki's animated debate about curry bread prices echo down the path ahead. Their constant back-and-forth reminded her of siblings squabbling over the last cookie.

  "They're kind of adorable, aren't they?" Sato fell into step beside her, his gym bag bouncing against his hip. "In an extremely chaotic way."

  "Like watching two puppies trying to figure out how stairs work," Shiori agreed, laughing as Maki attempted to put Taiki in a headlock. He ducked away, nearly tripping over his own feet in the process.

  "You know," Sato said, keeping his voice low, "I've never seen him this excited about anything before. Usually he's all..." Sato hunched his shoulders and adopted Taiki's signature world-weary expression. "'Everything is terrible and I'm definitely going to fail.'"

  Shiori's chest warmed at Taiki's genuine smile as he dodged another of Maki's attacks. "He's been working really hard. Even if he doesn't believe in himself yet."

  "I will throw you in the fountain!" Taiki threatened.

  "You'd have to catch me first, noodle arms!"

  Sato snickered as they watched Maki take off running, Taiki scrambling after her with significantly less coordination. "Ten bucks says he trips before he catches her."

  "I'm not taking that bet," Shiori said, shaking her head fondly. "I've seen him try to run."