"Ugh..." Ayame sniffled under her blanket. She weakly picked the phone from her table and checked the time. She sighed "I'm late...I hate being sick...I should've brought my umbrella yesterday..."

"Aya-chan" her mother's gentle voice rang in her ears. The woman sat on the edge of her bed and wiped a cool cloth on her daughter's head "Are you feeling slightly better? I'll call a doctor if you need something"

"There's no need to call a doctor, mom" she weakly mumbled "I just need some rest and drink some medicine. I'll be fine"

"Don't worry, Aya-chan. I took a day-off from my office to take care of you" she ruffled the girl's hair "You'll get better soon. So, rest here in bed, okay? I'll go downstairs to prepare some soup"

The hairs on Ayame's back stood as she envisioned the result "M-mom, I-I don't think it's necessary"

"Nonsense. I don't want you to starve here. I'll prepare some soup for you to eat" the woman left, leaving her daughter dreading for the result of her food. Sighing, she pulled her blanket closer to her face and sneezed.

"I hope it doesn't taste that bad..." she clutched her blanket tightly and closed her eyes "I wonder if he's mad at me..."

***

"So she's absent today..." Yamaguchi thought, staring at Ayame's empty seat. He sighed and slumped on his desk when he heard Hinata asking the megane for help.

"We agreed on just before and after club, right?" Tsukishima raised an eyebrow "Right?"

Kageyama was looking away while the shorter teen did the talking "Well, the English teacher, Yoshida-sensei, was gone, so..."

He ignored them and slid his headphones on his ears "Please come back during business hours~"

The two gritted their teeth and stormed out, grumbling about how stingy the blonde is. Yamaguchi pitied them and thought of a way to at least help them. If Ayame's here, she'll probably scold the blonde for ignoring them and convince/blackmail him to help them. Or probably, she'll volunteer to help since she's the best in English.

If only she's here...

"Hinata!" the freckled teen chased after them.

"You're gonna teach us, Yamaguchi?" Hinata asked in a hopeful and excited voice.

"Sorry, I suck at English" he apologized, clasping his hands together. The two slumped when he said that.

"Remember that girl who came yesterday as a manager candidate?" he told them "She said she was in Class 5, so she might be good at studying"

"That's right" Hinata nodded "Class 4 and 5 are advanced. Thank you, Yamaguchi!"

"Hehehe...it's nothing really" he rubbed his neck sheepishly.

"Wait a minute, where's Ayame? I haven't seen her in your class earlier" Kageyama suddenly asked.

"Yeah, that's right!! Maybe we should ask her for help instead!!" Hinata hopefully said.

*At the Mizuki household*

"Achoo!!"

"Aya-chan, is your cold getting worse?" her mother asked, giving her another sheet of blanket.

"N-No...I'm fine..."

***

"Yeah, well...she's absent today"

"Is that so? I would like to ask her opinion about this formation I constructed last night" Kageyama muttered "Hey, can you give this to her when comes back?"

"Huh? Uh, sure"

"Later, Yamaguchi!" Hinata waved his hand and the oddball combo went to the next class. The freckled teen went back to his room and sat on his deck in a slightly better mood.

"You helped them?" Tsukishima asked him.

"Not exactly. I just told them to ask help from that girl in Class 5 since I suck at English" he shrugged.

"Anyway, I received Ayame's email earlier. She said that she'll probably be back after a few days" Tsukishima informed him. Yamaguchi felt his chest constrict. How come she only emailed Tsukishima and not him? He felt hurt.

"Gah! Stop being jealous, me!!" he mentally messed his hair in frustration.

"What's this?" Tsukishima smirked after noticing the air around him "Jealous that she emailed me instead of you?"

"No..." he paused and looked away "Well...maybe...a little..."

"Liar... you're totally jealous" Tsukishima mentally smirked.

Yamaguchi was silent for a few minutes until he said "Um... hey, Tsukki, I-I'm thinking about...visiting her..."

"Worried much?"

"N-Not really. I-I want to clear a few things with her..."

"So yesterday's event was really a love quarrel" he smirked.

"It's not a love quarrel, Tsukki!!"

"Yeah, whatever"

"A-Anyway, Tsukki, are you coming?"

"No, I have an errand to run later" he replied "If you're going to see her, bring her at least some flowers to cheer her up"

***

"Crap...why do I suddenly feel nervous?!"

Yamaguchi stood in front of the Mizuki household; his hands were sweaty as he tightened his grip on the small bouquet of flowers on his left hand. He passed by a flower shop and decided to bring her some flowers, like what Tsukishima suggested.

"Will she be happy or mad when she sees me?" he asks his self "It would make sense that she's mad since she only emailed Tsukki and not me. Was it actually right for me to see her? Should I turn back?"

"Oh? Tadashi, is that you?" Kazumi said, opening their gate.

"Oh crap, no turning back now"

"Uhm...yeah, it's me, Kazumi-san. Please pardon my intrusion" he bowed.

"No, no, it's not a problem. Please come in" she ushered him inside "I'm surprised you arrived here first than Daichi"

"Ah, well, club activities were done early since Daichi-san and the other third years had to finish their requirements for college and stuff"

"Is that so? Well, Aya-chan's upstairs if you want to see her. Follow me please" she smiled kindly "I'm thankful you have time to visit Aya-chan"

"N-No, i-it's nothing, really..." he took off his shoes "I mean, Ayame is my friend"

"Really~?" she gave a sideways grin to him. He felt that she's sort of teasing him and decided not to say anymore that might give her ideas. The woman opened the girl's room and he saw her lying on her bed with a thick blanket on her.

"Aya-chan, Tadashi's here to see you~" her mother cooed. By the mention of the teen's name, the violet eyed girl flinched and slowly nodded her head "And he brought you flowers, isn't that nice, Aya-chan?"

She said nothing while covering her face with a blanket.

"Well, I'll be leaving you two here. I need to finish cleaning the kitchen" and with that, Kazumi closed the door, leaving Ayame and Yamaguchi alone. The air around them was awkward and silent until he broke the ice.

"Uhm...Hi" he awkwardly said "Etto...are you feeling a little better?"

"Way to go! That was really stupid for me to say! She's sick, for crying out loud!!" he mentally kicked his self.

To his relief, Ayame nodded slightly.

"I-I brought you some flowers. Can I put it here inside your vase?"

She nodded and he carefully placed the bouquet inside and sat on the stool next to her bed. She's not meeting his eyes and he felt hurt, again.

"Etto...I copied the reports and notes sensei gave us earlier. I'll place it here on your table if you wanted some notes and stuff"

She only nodded and her eyelids were half closed. It was silent. However, it's not the awkward and comfortable silence that they are both comfortable with. It is something that made them both feel uneasy and very deafening for them.

Yamaguchi didn't like it.

He couldn't stand the earsplitting silence around them and he clenched his fists, blurting out the question that has been bothering him.

"Are you...are you mad at me?" he managed to ask. Her eyes shot open and she looked at him. His expression had the word hurt written on it and she felt guilty.

"No...I'm not..." she whispered. His ears perked up and he looked at her curiously.

"Then...why were you avoiding me after our first group study? And after yesterday...you're avoiding me...like you don't want to see me..."

"T-That's not it!" she raised her voice and grabbed his hand. She blinked and quickly removed her hand "I-I'm sorry. You see, after I-I touched your hair...I just didn't know how to face you. I feel...embarrassed...after I touched your hair without permission...I know it's really stupid and...yeah, that's it..."

"Is that so?" he sighed in relief, running his fingers on his dark green hair "I thought you were mad at me"

"Sorry for making you feel that way" she fiddled with her hair in embarrassment "I don't really like holding a grudge against someone, that's all. Sorry"

"No, I'm glad you clarified it..." he made a small smile but it soon faded to a sad one "A-And about yesterday, when I yelled at you...I'm sorry about that..."

She looked at him for a moment and looked down "Don't apologize, Tadashi-kun. You were actually right..." she whispered. Even though he sensed that she's hiding something again, he didn't try to pry deeper into it. He'll wait for her to talk if she wants to.

"So...we're good, I guess?"

"I guess you could say that" she smiled at him, her genuine one and he liked it "And thank you for the flowers and for the notes. I feel a little better thanks to you"

Thanks to you...

"I-It's nothing, really..." he rubbed his neck when he remembered the setter's words "Ah, before I forget, Kageyama asked me to ask you about your opinion for the formation he made last night"

He gave her the paper and she examined it. Even though she's sick, her violet eyes were actively looking at the formation, the scene being mentally formed in her head. She gave a slow nod and wrote her opinion on the side and gave it back to the freckled teen.

"What can you say about it?" he asked.

"It's a good one. Although slightly complicated but it's good. But I can't recommend this to Ukai-san"

"Why?"

"It's risky to draw it out in the Spring High Tournament here in Miyagi. It's an amazing plan and I suggest we use it against our match in Shiratorizawa or in the Nationals"

"As expected from our genius strategist!" he grinned.

"Thanks" she smiled at the compliment "Oh, I almost forgot"

She searched through the stacks of books on the table beside her and picked a small pile of paper. She arranged it by subject and gave it to him.

"Ne, Tadashi-kun, can you give this to Kageyama-kun and Shoyo-kun? I summarized all the lessons in all subjects so it will be easier for them to understand"

He placed them inside his bag and nodded.

"And, here..." she gave him his towel "T-Thank you for the towel...I-It was warm and soft..."

Yamaguchi's face burned crimson red and he looked away slightly while rubbing his neck.

"Y-Yeah...s-sure, Ayame"

He willed his self to stop being embarrassed and red faced. She gave him another paper and he looked at her confusingly.

"That's for you" she said "I noticed that you're struggling in English so I decided to gave you a summary of the whole subject so you'll be able to understand it"

"Thank you very much!" he accepted her notes and bowed gratefully. It suddenly struck him that she probably did an all-nighter and he asked her worriedly "But, were you able to get a decent sleep after all those summaries you did!?"

She gave a tired smile and she tried to mask it with her cheerfulness "Of course! Don't worry!"

"Ayame" he said seriously, staring at her intently. She gulped at the intensity of his stare and sighed, realizing the he didn't like it when she's lying.

"I...uh...I didn't...sorry I lied..." she rubbed her head and smiled awkwardly.

"I think you should take a sleep for a while, Ayame" he advised her.

"Yeah, I guess...I think you can go home now, Tadashi-kun. You must be busy..."

"I'll stay here" he said but he quickly added "I-If it's okay...that is..."

"Sure, I don't mind a little company..." she laid her head on the pillow and relaxed "Thank you..."

She pulled her blanket closer and closed her eyes. Minutes later, her breathing slowed down and she is soon snoring softly. Her lips were slightly parted and he can't help imagine how soft they are and...

He shook his head and focused on her hair instead. Some strands covered her face and he tucked it behind her ear and started stroking her hair. He smiled to his self while doing so and he didn't realize that she's awake until he heard her speak.

"So it's you" she said. He flinched and drew back his hand.

"I-I'm sorry to wake you up!"

"No..." she held his hand and placed it on her head "Can you do it again? I like it"

His face was red and so was hers, but that was probably because of her current condition. He stroked her hair and he saw her smiling softly.

"So it was really you" she said "You were the one who stroked my hair during the Golden Week training camp. I thought it was a dream but it felt like it was real. I like it. It was really gentle and comforting"

"Really?"

"Yeah...please keep doing that..."

"Okay...if you wish"

"Say, how's our manager candidate, Yachi-san? Is she doing okay?"

"Hmm...she seemed to be doing okay, though she's a little nervous when she's around us. I don't know if she'll be comfortable with us tall guys but she's good at teaching Hinata and Kageyama earlier. Hinata was really happy when he got a passing score in his English quiz" he told her while stroking her hair.

"Is that so?" she smiled "I think she'll do great. Shoyo-kun seemed to like her. I wish I could help her fit in but Shimizu-san said that she'll handle it. That makes me feel at ease"

He looked at her violet eyes and felt his heart beating faster. He wanted to tell her how he feels about her but he can't. He gulped and his cheeks turned red as he stuttered.

"A-Ano...A-Ayame, I-"

The sound of the door opening and a familiar deep voice stopped him.

"Ayame-chan, I came to visit you-oh?" The captain entered and saw Yamaguchi's hand stroking her hair "Yamaguchi?"

"D-D-Daichi-san!" he pulled away his hand "S-Sorry, Ayame, I have to go home now. I hope you'll get better soon"

"Sure" she sat up and nodded "Thank you for everything. Take care"

"Yeah, I-I'll visit you if you want to so I can give you a copy of lessons and reports to keep you updated in class"

"Thanks, Tadashi-kun" she smiled and touched her hair. The captain noticed the blush on her cheeks and the happy smile plastered on her face and wondered what the heck happened here.

"Daichi-san, I'm going first" he bowed in front of the captain and left the room. Daichi swore he saw his face turn red and felt really curious.

"What was he trying to say to you?" he asked.

"I don't know" she smiled and felt her face turn warm "But all I can say is, he's really gentle..."