"..."

"..?"

A man and a woman stood in front of each other at the side of a street. The woman was holding a camera right in front of his face.

"...good morning?" Yuma took the initiative to say something first. But the woman only nodded.

"Is it already starting?" He says, only to get a nod once again.

He was a bit awkward in the presence of a camera, so he tried his best to look away and ignore it. He scratched his nape.

"Uh... so I guess this is what I do everyday. I walk to school with Shuuya—"

"Stupid!" Shuuya almost dropped the camera. "Don't say that I'm walking with you everyday!"

"Oh..." Yuma blinked, before clearing his throat to start once again.

"I walk to school everyday..."

***

Inarizaki High was livelier today.

A lot of first years were tailing third years with cameras in their hands. The school even allowed some of the first years to film their interviewee while they were taking classes.

"Damn, why has nobody asked me out," Soma looked around and saw almost everyone in his class has a kouhai filming them.

"I want to know the answer too," Yuji sighs as he looks over his friends Yuma and Yuichi having cute female kouhais filming beside them.

Feeling bored, Soma scooted closer to his brother's table to enter the vision of Shuuya's camera.

"Hey~" he greets, but gets no response from Shuuya. Not even from his own brother.

This made his smile falter a bit in embarassment, before he masked it with a laugh.

"So, you following us to the school's gym?"

"Gym?" Shuuya finally opens her mouth to speak.

Her response made the other a bit giddy. "Just so you know, we have volleyball practice at the end of school,"

"Oh, right." she almost forgot that Yuma was a part of the school's athletes.

"Watch closely. Then tell me who played the best." He winks at her, but she only stared at him blankly. Even Yuma stared at him with an unamused look.

This made him quietly retract back to his seat, and Yuji gives him a comforting pat on the back.

***

"So here we are. Pretty spacious, huh?" Soma proudly presents their lair.

Light seeped through the dark court after the door opened. Even if only a portion was visible, Shuuya knew that it was big. She couldn't help but gawk once the lights were finally turned on.

"This space... it's all for the volleyball club?" She had never stepped in this place before. When they have PE it's always done in the open space of the school's track and field. When it's raining, the school would just cancel PE classes altogether.

Who knew there's this huge gym that we could use! How unfair! She was upset at the fact that they had to sweat bullets everytime under the sun.

"It's not. Sometimes it's used by the basketball club and the judo club." Soma answers.

Shuuya thought about it for a moment. "Fair enough."

Only now did she remember that she should've been documenting Yuma, and not his twin. She followed Yuma to a door, but bumped her nose to his back once he abruptly stopped.

"Hey—" she looks up, and she sees him looking down at her with an uncomfortable face.

"Shuuya...are you going to film me while I change clothes too?"

"..." She blinks, puts the camera down, and almost immediately runs to the benches farthest from the changing room. She sat beside the tall, silent girl who was filming Yuichi.

It didn't take long for the rest of the team to get changed. The first years, also known as the new recruits, wore a casual white shirt. The second and third years all wore similar black and white jerseys and shorts, but each had a different aura to them. For example, when Yuji played, he was too energetic and rough. Soma was fast, and was very attentive to the ball like how an eagle is to their prey. And his brother on the other hand...

Yuma was also fast, but very fluid. With his long legs and limbs, it was very easy for him to run around the court and move.

Yuma jumped up high. Time seemed to slow down, and Shuuya held her breath.

Shuuya doesn't know anything about sports, but what she does know, is that the gap between her and Yuma was so huge.

She always doesn't notice. Usually she's either annoyed, nonchalant, or weirded out by him. The senpai that was with her was always so simple and acts like a dog. But he can actually be charismatic like this... He was like a beautiful swan with its wings stretched out, ready to fly.

Bam. The ball hit the other side of the court with a loud thud. Yuma falls back to his feet.

Even his teammates were shocked.

"Y-Yuma!!" They all shouted in glee after recovering from the impact, and surrounded him.

"That was a powerful serve,"

"Holy hell? If I was on the other side I'd be quaking by now,"

"Keep this up until training camp, let's see if anyone dares to smear Inarizaki's name,"

The smile in his face is small, but when he raised his head and met Shuuya's eyes, his eyes softened and he gave her a huge grin.

What's going on with you, really... Shuuya was flustered, but more than anything, she was concerned about him. Which was a surprise.

Was he really okay with her? He was always hanging around her. Shuuya wasn't one to pay attention on social status, especially in high school. But now, thinking about how he was always standing beside her, isn't it embarrassing?

She was embarrassed for him. He should be hanging around his friends, with the people that has the same popularity as him. And yet he choose to hang out with her, a mediocre kouhai.

She inwardly cringed. Other than Mitsumune-senpai, she was sure that a lot of other people were probably thinking how dare she hang around a popular male senpai, and how dare she even ask him to be her interviewee. She was just thankful that there wasn't anyone who dared to bully her yet.

"Did...did you get that?" Yuma huffs as he jogged 'till he was in front of her. He was referring to the powerful serve he did earlier.

"...I forgot to turn on the camera," Shuuya says regretfully. She was so immersed in their rally that she forgot to film.

I really missed an hour's footage, Shuuya silently cried.

"..."

"A-Anyway, I guess it's time to go home." she quickly put on her backpack and went ahead to wait in the gym's doors. The men in the court watched her scamper off, and Shotaro even laughed.

"Cute. She's like a scared cat,"

"Stop." Yuma gave his friend a dark look, to which the other flinched at.

"Hey, I'm just saying man." He raised his hands in defeat. "And it's not like you like her, right?"

"..." Yuma only went ahead to the changing room, leaving Shotaro to scratch his nape in confusion.

"Maybe you're forgetting that he ditched us and leaves practice early just to send that girl to and from home," Yuichi casually comments before following after Yuma. It was only after did Shotaro realize.

"Holy— so he really—"

***

The group left the school together. They only split up when they arrived at a street that has three roads stretching opposite each other.

"We're going to the arcade," Soma informs the others, pertaining to himself, Yuji, Shotaro, and the other first and second years of the volleyball club.

"I'll go home. You coming with me or will you end the filming here?" Yuichi asks the kouhai who was filming him.

"If it's not a bother," the girl says quietly.

"Then we'll also get going." Yuma answers before pulling Shuuya towards the street that lead to their usual path to home.

"He really can't wait until he gets her all to himself," Soma shakes his head in disbelief, which made the others laugh.

"Is senior year taking a toll on you?" Shuuya immediately asked another question once they were walking side by side. Her camera was slightly shaking, as they were currently walking at a rocky road.

"Hmm, not so much." Yuma answers, casually glancing at her feet in caution of her slipping or tripping. "I mean, I don't think it will. Not this time."

"..." she doesn't know if she should dive into what he said or would it be too personal of a question. In the end, she just decided to ask another question.

"Do you plan on going to university?"

"Definitely." He says casually.

"Do you want to tell the reason why?"

"I want to make a lot of money."

Haha. Shuuya could understand him. This world is run by money, afterall. Even she wanted to be swimming in cash someday.

Time seemed to fly so fast when there's something to do. Before, it'd feel as if it took a whole century before she finally seperates herself from this guy. But now she didn't even notice that they're at the street where they usually seperate to go on their own way.

"...so, what do you plan to do next?" Shuuya asks her final question just for formality.

"I'll leave for home... And then I'll look forward to walking with you tomorrow."

Shuuya widened her eyes. She raised her eyes from the camera's monitor, and settled on his face.

He squinted his cherry blossom eyes as he smiled, and there was a hint of gentleness in that look. His fluffy black hair swayed with the wind, and went back to framing his handsome face once again.

Even after Yuma was out of sight as he turned to a corner, Shuuya was still rooted at her spot. His last words still echoed in her head.

That's funny. For some reason, the beating of her heart started picking up its pace.