A practice match was organized before the Inter High tournament started. Takeda-sensei had called up Nekomata if they could go to Tokyo with their team. They took the train this time around and thankfully, the train wasn't as crowded as usual since they decided to leave during off-peak hours.

Yachi had fallen asleep on Tsukishima's shoulder during the ride. She had told Tsukishima that she had been working on her literature paper the night before and had completely forgot to prepare for their practice match in Tokyo until it was later in the night. Tsukishima positioned his arm around her shoulders, trying to place her in a more comfortable position. Her head now rested on his chest as she continued to snooze.

"I still can't believe that they're dating," whispered Hinata.

"Yeah, I don't think I can get used to it," Kageyama muttered back.

"You two aren't very good at whispering are you?" said Tsukishima.

When they arrived near their destination, Yachi woke up, still a bit drowsy. When she noticed that she had fallen asleep on Tsukishima, she apologized repeatedly with a blushing face.

"It's fine," said Tsukishima. "I'm your boyfriend, aren't I?"

Yachi continued to blush over the word 'boyfriend.' The first time she had associated the word boyfriend with Tsukishima was around when Hinata had asked her about her secret boyfriend. But this time, he really was her boyfriend.

As they left the train, Tsukishima smiled to himself, knowing that his comment had placed a giddy grin on her face.

At the Nekoma High gym, Yamamoto was excited for their practice match with Karasuno. He commented to the team about how they were going to crush those crows.

"I wonder how Hinata is doing without their third years," said Kenma. He was glad that Fukunaga was captain and not him. His teammates had strongly considered him, but he had adamantly said no.

"Oh yeah," added Yamamoto with tears streaming from his eyes. "I forgot that Shimizu-senpai won't be there anymore." He suddenly found some newfound energy when he remembered the petite blond. "But they still have their other cute manager on their team!"

The Karasuno team entered their gym and Kenma closely watched them. After something caught his eye, he told Yamamoto, "Actually, you probably shouldn't say anything about that." He continued to watch their opponents and saw Yachi and Tsukishima walking in side-by-side. He overheard Yachi being nervous about keeping score for the game.

"You'll be fine," said Tsukishima. "You practised a lot with the recordings of our previous matches."

"But I can't pause the game like in the video," she replied. As she sighed, Kenma saw Tsukishima smiling at her expression.

Kenma also sighed, wishing that Yaku was still here. He didn't want to deal with Yamamoto causing trouble. He then decided that he just shouldn't bother and just leave it to Fukunaga to deal with.

"Hey, Kenma- Gah!" Hinata started to greet him. "Why is Kuroo here?" he said as he pointed a finger at their former teammate.

Kuroo just laughed at him. "I just wanted to visit my lovely kouhais," he replied with a grin. "I also wanted to see how you kids have changed too."

"Of course we're going to beat them," taunted Hinata as he stuck out his tongue at him.

When Lev joined their conversation, Hinata mentioned that he was amazed that Kenma was now a third year.

"Nothing really changed," replied Kenma. "I'm only months older than when you saw me last. You are too."

"I grew even taller though!" Lev said proudly and Hinata gushed with jealousy.

"I'm glad your team didn't change too much," said Yamamoto. "Your cute manager is still here." He then stood straight up as if he felt a shiver down his spine. He instinctively turned his head to swiftly scan the area to find the source of the ominous feeling.

"Oya?" said Kuroo with a grin. "I think I see something interesting."

When the match started, Kenma noticed that Tsukishima would sometimes smile at Yachi in between points. But even with this distraction, he was still able to clearly analyze what was going on in the match.

"Tora," Kenma gestured to call him over. When Yamamoto was close enough, he whispered, "It seems like Tsukishima is playing well because he has a crush on Yachi."

"What?" he exclaimed with surprise. "Are you serious?" Of course, this pumped him up because he wanted to show off to Yachi too and yelled out a battle scream.

"Why is he acting like that?" asked Kinoshita.

"I have no idea," answered Ennoshita.

"Bring it on!" Tanaka shouted back.

Noticing that Yamamoto was trying to stare him down, Tsukishima just wondered what his problem was.

As the game went on, Tsukishima left the court to switch with Nishinoya after he lost his serve. He decided to take a seat on the bench beside Yachi instead of standing on the sidelines with the rest of his teammates.

"You were great!" Yachi smiled at him.

"So you were watching me?" he asked with a smirk.

"Of course!" she smiled back. Tsukishima leaned over to take a peek at her score sheet. But he noticed that Yamamoto kept glancing at their direction. He smirked at him, then placed his arm around Yachi to intentionally provoke him.

"What do you think you're doing?!" yelled out Yamamoto in the middle of the match as he held a pointed finger towards Tsukishima. "You can't just put your arm around a girl so casually like that!"

"Oh?" Tsukishima said with a taunting grin. "Why not?"

"You're taking advantage of a cute and sweet girl like Yachi!" he scolded.

"What is he talking about?" Yachi quietly asked Tsukishima with a bit of a blush since his arm was still around her. He just shrugged as if he didn't know.

"I never thought that Tsukishima would be the type to show public displays of affection," said Ennoshita.

"Knowing him, he's probably just trying to piss someone off," said Kageyama.

"Oy, Tora," Tanaka quietly warned him. "You should stop and leave them alone. You're just embarrassing yourself."

While Yamamoto was still confused, Tobikomi could be heard growling in the background.

"It's okay, it's not your fault," Hinata said to Yamamoto to reassure him. "Most people wouldn't think that they're dating."

While Tsukishima glared at Hinata, Tora froze in shock and then wilted because he was trying to show off for no reason. Kenma commented to himself that he had miscalculated. Kuroo just laughed his head off like a hyena at the whole scene.

*****

Over the next few weeks of dating, Yachi found out that Tsukishima liked to tease her often. He would do it in class, during practice, and when he'd walk her home. He liked making her blush or flustered especially when it was on the topic of being his girlfriend. Yachi didn't mind. She liked the attention from him and it made him smile. But because he did it so often, there were times when she couldn't tell if he was serious or not - especially since he had a good poker face.

The day before the tournament, Tsukishima casually rummaged through his bag and pulled out an object. "Could you wear this at the tournament?" he asked Yachi.

She opened it up, examined it, and then froze. "W- Why would you want me to wear this?"

"So that I won't have to worry about you during the tournament," he replied. "It'll help me concentrate."

She stared at it again, with a blush creeping in as she imagined herself wearing it. She looked back at Tsukishima with a look full of doubt. "I don't believe you," she replied.

He just shrugged in response. "It'll help me not cause a scene," he said with a smirk.

"Not cause a scene?" she asked. "I'll probably cause a scene. Everyone will be looking at me weird. And then the referee won't like me for causing a disturbance, and then I'll be kicked out of the gym and then I won't be able to help the team, and what if you lose because of me, and then-"

"It'll be fine," said Tsukishima. "There are full stands of people cheering on the second floor. The referees will be perfectly fine with that." When Yachi still wasn't convinced, he added, "It'll also help the team calm down before the first match." With a glint in his eye, he asked, "You like me, right?"

Yachi pouted for a moment before she replied, "Maybe." Tsukishima chuckled at her response. "Okay, fine. I'll wear it. But only because it's true."

So the day of the tournament came, and the team still got nervous as usual. It seemed like nothing had changed from last year's reaction. Yachi tried to encourage them, saying that all the other teams were probably scared of them because they had gone to the nationals. Hinata nervously reminded himself that everyone was expecting them to win now. Ennoshita couldn't believe that he had to captain for an official game, and he didn't remember what he was supposed to do. Yamaguchi was nervous too and remembered all of the times he messed up his serve.

"Yachi, you should put it on," Tsukishima told her. When Yachi still looked at him with a doubtful stare, he added, "Just trust me."

So when Yachi wore the thing that Tsukishima instructed her to wear, the team took a look at it and started laughing out loud.

"What the heck is that?"

"We all know you two like each other but really?"

Yachi felt her cheeks warm up, but smiled since the guys were able to calm down. She was relieved and started to not mind wearing the headband as much.

As the teams warmed up for their first set of games, Yachi walked across the gym to grab the first aid kit from the van. She overhead a conversation from the other court that was beside her.

"Oy, their cute manager is back. I'm going to try to get her attention."

"Are you kidding me?" asked Kindaichi. "You're seriously going to try again?"

"She's defenseless this time," replied Yahaba. "Her team is too busy practising their serves."

Yachi turned towards them to see a volleyball rolling towards her. She bent down to pick up the ball and Yahaba thanked her for getting it for him. But when she looked up at him with a smile, he froze in his place. Yachi was confused for a moment, wondering why he had flinched like that. But then she remembered what her headband said. "I love Tsukishima Kei. Go away."

By this point, the whole Karasuno team had finished their warm up and laughed at the whole scene. Tsukishima walked over beside Yachi and gave Yahaba a look before he fled to his team, hoping that none of them saw that.

"See it worked," commented Tsukishima. "I didn't have to worry about you because you were wearing that."

Yachi pouted a bit in response. "It's still a bit embarrassing," she said with a blush. "I still can't tell if you're serious or if you're just teasing me."

"Why not both?" he gave her a smirk.

After they had won their first match, Sawamura, Sugawara, Azumane and Shimizu waited for them in the hallway. They were all happy to see them as they caught up on the past few months.

'You've grown, Hinata," commented Sugawara with a smile.

"Did I get that much better?" he asked.

"Oh, I actually meant your height."

"Really?" Hinata said with stars in his eyes.

"Uh... Yacchan," said Azumane. "W- Why are you wearing that?"

Yachi, realizing that she was still wearing the headband, promptly removed it from her head.

"It's a repellant," Tsukishima answered for her and the team burst out into laughter.

"Oy, Daichi," Sugawara whispered to Sawamura with concern, "Is the team treating Yachi okay? Do you know what's going on?"

Tanaka, overhearing Sugawara's comment explained, "Don't worry. Tsukishima is just dating Yachi."

"EHHHHH?" their three senpais said in shock.

"Tsukishima," Sawamura said his name sternly as he crossed his arms. "Are you taking her on regular dates? Do you pay for the meals? Do you walk her home afterwards?"

"Yes."

Sawamura blinked a couple of times, expecting a different reaction. If Tsukishima was treating her well, none of them could complain about it. They were still curious about how it even happened. But as they watched Tsukishima and Yachi chat, tease and banter with each other, they thought they were pretty cute together.

"What?! You're dating Yachi?!" Akiteru yelled out from down the hallway as a few bystanders stared at him.

"You didn't tell him?" asked Yachi. Tsukishima just responded with a shrug.

*****

The next Monday after the tournament, Yachi tried to do something she wouldn't usually do. Tsukishima teased her all the time so shouldn't she be able to do it too? But as she waited for him to come to practice, Yachi's legs shook. She was dreading Tsukishima's reaction.

"Mei... I think Tsukishima's going to hate me!"

"Pfft. I doubt it. That guy likes you too much," laughed Mei.

"But what if he doesn't like it?" Yachi whimpered. "What if he breaks up with me?"

"Oy," Hinata snickered to Nishinoya. "Did you see Tsukishima?"

"That was hilarious," he replied. "It would have been funny if it was there the whole day. The whole school probably saw it. Do you think he noticed by now?"

Suddenly, Tsukishima opened the gym door yelling, "Which one of you idiots put this on my back?" Behind him were Tanaka and Yamaguchi snickering at the sheet of paper that he held. It said, "I blush around Yachi Hitoka."

Yachi flinched and jumped behind Mei as Tsukishima angrily questioned each of his teammates. When Tsukishima finally again asked who put that paper on his back, Yachi slowly put her hand up to admit that she did it. "I- I... Umm... Because you made me wear that headband, I thought it was... fair?" When Tsukishima still didn't say anything, she added, "I'm sorry! Please don't break up with me!"

Tsukishima burst out into laughter, amused that his cute girlfriend had decided to prank him. He walked up to her and crouched down to her eye level, and Yachi shyly turned her head away. "So you wanted to get revenge for that?" he asked her with a smirk. "I thought you enjoyed wearing that headband," he teased.

"I-," Yachi turned to face him as she started to reply, but she was cut off by Tsukishima, who gave her a quick kiss on the lips. He then rubbed the hair on her head and walked onto the court. Yachi blushed profusely, wondering how she was going to survive being his girlfriend.

*****

Bonus

When realization hit, Tsukishima blushed as he stood on the court. He couldn't stop a stupid grin from forming so he covered his face with his hands.

"Look! Look! Tsukishima is blushing!" Tanaka said as he probed Tsukishima.

"Yachi's sign was right! He does blush around her!" laughed Nishinoya.

"Shut up," Tsukishima said as he turned away while still hiding his face in his hands

*****

That's the end of the story! I write more on Tumblr now so you can check me out there. You can find the link on my profile. :)