First Meeting

Hayato got up early, dug out his sportswear, got dressed, and went out to exercise. After working out along the roads for an hour, he returned home and made himself toast with jam, bacon, and a fried egg. He had barely finished eating when the doorbell rang.

It seemed Kiyoko had come to pick him up. He swallowed the remaining food in one bite, put the plate in the sink, grabbed his schoolbag and the documents he had prepared, then opened the front door.

Kiyoko, dressed in her school uniform and carrying her bag, stood waiting outside. Hayato quickly walked over and opened the door.

"Sorry, Kiyoko-senpai. Did I keep you waiting?"

"Not at all. Did you bring all the necessary documents?"

"Yeah. Let's go."

It was the season for summer uniforms: a beige sleeveless sweater, a red ribbon, and black tights. Kiyoko's refined beauty was on full display.

On their way to school, Hayato rested a hand on his chin as he looked Kiyoko over.

"Kiyoko-senpai, you look really pretty in that."

"Was that a compliment?"

"Of course."

Kiyoko saw Hayato as a younger brother, so his compliment did not make her blush. Instead, she smiled at him. After receiving his affirmative answer, she happily gave his upper arm a light pat.

"What a smooth talker. You must have charmed plenty of girls in Tokyo."

"How could I? I've never even had a girlfriend. Back at my school in Tokyo, I spent all my time in the basketball club. I mean, with my height..."

Hayato truly had never had a girlfriend in his memories. Some girls had confessed to him because of his looks, but back then, all he had cared about was basketball.

As he said that, Hayato gestured to indicate his height.

"Come to think of it, how tall are you now, Hayato?"

"Exactly 191 centimeters. I measured recently."

"You really are tall. Tsukishima-kun, the tallest on our team, is only 188 centimeters. But Date Tech High School has a player named Aone Takanobu who's also 191 centimeters—actually, 191.8."

"Wow, so he's even taller than me. How has our Volleyball Club done against Date Tech?"

Hayato had already known everything Kiyoko mentioned, but he could not exactly say that, so he simply followed along and asked.

Through their conversation, he also got a grasp of the current timeline. It had been quite a while since Karasuno's narrow loss to Aoba Johsai in the summer high school tournament. Everyone was now working hard toward Spring High, while the other manager, Yachi Hitoka, had only joined a few days ago.

After learning that, Hayato guessed that it was currently before final exams. Once the exams were over, everyone would head to Tokyo for training camp. Hinata and Kageyama, those two rivals, would soon fail their exams and only make it to Tokyo thanks to Tanaka's sister.

The two chatted idly as they walked, unaware of just how eye-catching the handsome boy and beautiful girl made together. Hayato's towering height in particular made him stand out from the crowd, and plenty of girls secretly watched him on the way to school.

They soon arrived at school. With Kiyoko's help, Hayato handed all his prepared documents to the teacher. After saying goodbye to Kiyoko, he followed the teacher to the storage room, carried a desk and chair, and brought them to his class, Class 2-1.

After setting the desk and chair down at the doorway, Hayato had barely entered the classroom when he heard the hushed discussions all around him.

"He's so tall." "He has to be over 190, right?" "There's bandaging on his forehead. Did he get that from fighting?" "Wait, is he a delinquent? That's scary." "But his face is really handsome."

Ignoring his classmates' stares and whispers without expression, Hayato waited until the teacher introduced his name and asked him to say a few words. Then he smiled and introduced himself.

"My name is Kuroba Hayato. I used to live around here, then moved away. Now I'm back because of my father's job. This injury on my head wasn't from a fight. I got into a car accident before coming back and spent half a month in the hospital, but I'm mostly better now. I hope we can all get along."

Pointing to the gauze taped to the right side of his forehead, Hayato explained gently. Since he was nearly healed, he had not wrapped his head in layers of bandages that morning. He had only covered the almost-healed wound with a small piece of gauze.

Seeing how easygoing Hayato was, everyone relaxed. Delinquents were just too frightening, after all.

After moving his desk and chair to the spot assigned by the teacher, Hayato had just sat down when the classmate to his right spoke to him. He turned around and found himself looking at an acquaintance—Tanaka Ryunosuke.

"Yo, nice to meet you. I'm Tanaka Ryunosuke."

"Nice to meet you, Tanaka-kun. I'm Kuroba Hayato."

"Just call me Tanaka. You're really tall. How tall are you? Oh, and are you interested in volleyball?"

The naturally friendly Tanaka saw such excellent material before him and desperately wanted to recruit Hayato into the club to strengthen their lineup.

"Exactly 191 centimeters. Volleyball... I played for a year in middle school, so I'm fairly interested in it. So you're also a member of the Karasuno Volleyball Club Kiyoko-senpai mentioned?"

Hayato mischievously brought up Kiyoko, and as expected, Tanaka immediately shouted.

"Kiyoko-senpai!?"

Hearing Hayato call Kiyoko so intimately, along with his mention of the Karasuno Volleyball Club, Tanaka immediately began guessing at their relationship. After the teacher scolded him and told him to behave during the class meeting, Tanaka lowered his voice and asked with an unpleasant expression.

"K-Kuroba, you... you and Kiyoko... Kiyoko-san, what... what kind of relationship do you have?"

After stammering out the question, Tanaka's entire body trembled. He looked completely shocked by this sudden revelation.

"Oh, Kiyoko-senpai? Hmm... We've been together since kindergarten, so I guess we're childhood friends?"

Tilting his head as he answered Tanaka's question, Hayato watched Tanaka tremble even more violently.

"Childhood friends... Damn it, he's childhood friends with Kiyoko-senpai, and he even calls her Kiyoko-senpai so intimately."

Morning classes ended quickly. Tanaka muttered to himself throughout the entire morning, while Hayato, who had endured a barrage of questions from his classmates during the breaks, lay limply across his desk.

After messaging Kiyoko to tell her that he had transferred into Class 1, Hayato felt a little sorry for Tanaka. Just as he was about to say something, he saw Kiyoko standing at the classroom door, looking inside.

"Hayato, are you here?"

Even sitting down, Hayato was more conspicuous than most people, and Kiyoko spotted him at once. Carrying two cloth lunch bags, she walked over while speaking. "You just got back, so you probably didn't make a bento, right? Here, I made an extra one for you this morning. Take it."

When Kiyoko reached Hayato, she handed him the larger of the two lunch bags. Then she noticed that Tanaka had gone pale.

"Oh my, Tanaka, you're here too. So Hayato is in your class. Hayato is my childhood friend, and he's like a younger brother to me. Since you're classmates, please look after him."

Because Hayato was sitting down, Kiyoko easily placed a hand on his head and ruffled his hair, just as she had when they were children. At the same time, she showed a rare smile, instantly reviving Tanaka, who had nearly crumbled into dust.

"Leave it to me, Tanaka Ryunosuke!"

Fully revived and brimming with energy, Tanaka thumped his chest and promised Kiyoko that he would take good care of Hayato.

After Kiyoko left, Hayato looked at the bento on his desk and prepared to open it and eat. Tanaka immediately stopped him.

"This is a bento Kiyoko-senpai made with her own hands. How can you eat it without properly giving thanks first?"

It seemed Hayato had still underestimated Kiyoko's place in Tanaka's heart. He thought for a moment.

"How about I share some side dishes with you?"

"Really!? Oh, oh, oh! My friend! From today onward, we're best friends!"

Watching the utterly moved Tanaka, Hayato shook his head. Once Tanaka took out his own bento, the two of them shared their lunches.