First Meeting

Having woken up early, Hayato first dug out his gym clothes, then got dressed and headed out for exercise. After jogging along the road for an hour, he returned home, made himself some toast with jam, bacon, and fried eggs, and was just finishing his quick meal when the doorbell rang.

It seemed Kiyoko had come to pick him up. Downing the last bite of food in one go and tossing his plate into the sink, Hayato grabbed his schoolbag and the prepared documents, then opened the front door.

There stood Kiyoko in her uniform, holding her bag and waiting for him. Hayato walked over quickly and opened the door.

"Sorry, Kiyoko-nee, kept you waiting."

"Not at all. Do you have all the documents you need?"

"Yeah, let's go."

It was the season for summer uniforms—a beige sleeveless sweater paired with a red ribbon and black tights. Kiyoko's intellectual beauty was on full display.

As they walked to school together, Hayato rested his chin on his hand and eyed Kiyoko's outfit.

"Kiyoko-nee, that look really suits you."

"Is that a compliment?"

"Of course."

Treating Hayato like a younger brother, Kiyoko didn't blush at his praise. Instead, she smiled at him, and after getting his affirmation, she cheerfully tapped his forearm.

"Such a smooth talker. You must've charmed plenty of girls in Tokyo."

"Not at all, I've never had a girlfriend. Back in Tokyo, my school life was all basketball club—given my height, you know."

In Hayato's memory, he really had never had a girlfriend. There had been girls who confessed to him because of his looks, but back then, his mind was entirely on basketball.

After saying this, Hayato gestured to his height.

"Speaking of which, Hayato, how tall are you now?"

"Mm, exactly 191. I just measured recently."

"Really tall, huh. Our club's tallest, Tsukishima-kun, is only 188. But Date Tech High has a player named Aone Takanobu who's also 191—191.8, actually."

"Wow, that's taller than me. How's our volleyball club's record against Date Tech?"

Though Hayato already knew everything Kiyoko was saying, he couldn't exactly reveal that, so he went along with her question.

Through their chat, he also learned the current timeline. It had been a while since their narrow loss to Aoba Johsai in the summer inter-high preliminaries, and now everyone was pushing hard toward Spring High. The other manager, Yachi Hitoka, had only joined a few days ago.

With this information, Hayato deduced it was probably just before finals. After exams, everyone would head to Tokyo for training camp, and that pair of rivals, Hinata and Kageyama, would fail their tests soon after—only getting to Tokyo thanks to Tanaka's sister.

They chatted idly like this, unaware of how eye-catching the handsome guy and beautiful girl made as a pair. Especially Hayato, standing out like a crane among chickens—many girls on the way to school were sneaking glances at him.

Soon they reached school. With Kiyoko's help, Hayato handed all his prepared documents to the teacher, said goodbye to Kiyoko, and followed the teacher to the supply room to grab a desk and chair, carrying them to his class, Class 2-1.

Setting the desk and chair by the door, the moment he stepped into the classroom, Hayato heard hushed discussions from his classmates.

"So tall." "Must be over 190, right?" "There's gauze on his forehead—did he get in a fight?" "Hey, a delinquent? Scary." "But his face is pretty handsome."

Expressionless, ignoring the pointing and whispering, Hayato waited for the teacher to introduce his name. When told to say a few words, he smiled and introduced himself.

"I'm Kuroba Hayato. I used to live around here, then moved away. Now I'm back because of my father's work. This injury on my head isn't from a fight—I got into a car accident before coming back and was hospitalized for half a month. It's much better now. Please take care of me from now on."

Pointing to the gauze stuck to his right temple, Hayato explained gently. Since it was almost healed, he hadn't wrapped his head in bandages this morning—just covered the nearly-recovered wound with a small piece of gauze.

Seeing Hayato so easygoing, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Delinquents were too scary, after all.

After moving his desk and chair to the spot the teacher assigned, Hayato had just sat down when the classmate to his right struck up a conversation. Turning his head, he saw it was a familiar face—Tanaka Ryunosuke.

"Yo, hey there! I'm Tanaka Ryunosuke."

"Hey, Tanaka-kun. I'm Kuroba Hayato."

"Just call me Tanaka. You're super tall—how tall are you? Hey, you interested in volleyball?"

The naturally gregarious Tanaka, seeing such good material, was eager to recruit him into the club to bolster their strength.

"Exactly 191. Volleyball, huh? I played for a year in middle school. I'm pretty interested. So, are you one of the members of the Karasuno Volleyball Club that Kiyoko-nee mentioned?"

Hayato deliberately brought up Kiyoko with malicious amusement, and sure enough, Tanaka immediately shouted.

"Kiyoko-nee!???"

Hearing Hayato address Kiyoko so intimately, combined with his mention of the Karasuno Volleyball Club, Tanaka instantly started guessing their relationship. After getting scolded by the teacher to behave during homeroom, Tanaka lowered his voice and asked with a grim expression.

"Ku...Kuroba, what... what's your relationship with... with Kiyoko... Kiyoko-san?"

Stammering out the question, Tanaka was trembling all over, apparently shocked by this sudden revelation.

"Huh? Kiyoko-nee? Mm~ We've been together since kindergarten. You could say... childhood friends?"

Tilting his head as he answered Tanaka's question, Hayato watched Tanaka's trembling intensify.

"Childhood friends... Damn it, to be with Kiyoko-senpai, and calling her Kiyoko-nee so intimately..."

Morning classes ended quickly. Tanaka spent the entire morning muttering to himself, while Hayato, having endured a barrage of questions from his classmates during breaks, lay weakly on his desk.

After sending Kiyoko a message saying he'd transferred to Class 1, Hayato looked at Tanaka's state and almost felt a pang of sympathy. Just as he was about to say something, he saw Kiyoko standing at the classroom door, peering inside.

"Hayato, you there?"

Kiyoko spotted Hayato immediately—even sitting down, he stood out more than the average person. She walked over carrying two cloth-wrapped bundles, saying as she approached, "You just got back, so you probably didn't make a bento, right? Here, I made an extra one this morning. Take it."

Reaching Hayato, she handed him the larger of the two bundles. Then she noticed Tanaka, who had turned completely white.

"Oh my, Tanaka, you're here too. Hayato's in the same class as you. He's my childhood friend, like a little brother to me. Since you're in the same class, look after him a bit, okay."

Because she was seated, Kiyoko easily placed her palm on top of Hayato's head, ruffling it just like when they were kids, while showing a rare smile—this instantly revived Tanaka, who had nearly crumbled to dust.

"Leave it to me, Tanaka Ryunosuke."

Revived and full of energy, Tanaka thumped his chest and promised Kiyoko that he would definitely take good care of Hayato.

After Kiyoko finished her instructions and left, Hayato looked at the bento on his desk and was about to open it and eat, but Tanaka immediately stopped him.

"This is a bento made by Kiyoko-senpai herself. How can you eat it without giving proper thanks first?"

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

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

"Really! Ooh ooh ooh! My friend, from today on, we're sworn brothers."

Watching Tanaka, who was moved to a mess, Hayato shook his head. Once Tanaka took out his own bento, the two of them shared and ate together.