CHAPTER TWO

Kei

"I don't do sports, if that's what can make you give up on recruiting me to be your manager. Goodnight." As soon as Aella closed her door, the boys felt defeated. They already know that it would take so much time for them to persuade her.

Hiroshi and Kenji, loosened their grip on Kei. He was reckless earlier. Who would challenge a lady? The girl with a rose gold hair, politely declined them. It was nothing they can do, because they showed up unexpectedly.

"Are you crazy? Challenging her into sports? Do you want to get in trouble?" Akira smacked Kei's head, twice. Kei didn't bother to answer the captain's question. He was only trying to help her.

"If we challenged her in volleyball and we won, we can ask her or order her to be our manager." Kenji said, like he had a light bulb above his head.

The third years shook their head and walked first, then the first years followed. The four, second year students followed then Kenji, Hiroshi and Kei walked last. They went to the dining hall of their dorm to have their supper.

"I wonder if she already had her dinner." Hiroshi said in low voice. Kei looked at him confusingly. "Why?"

"Why would you bother if she already had her dinner?" Kei asked. Hiroshi stopped walking, so did Kei and Kenji.

"Well, she doesn't have anyone. Of course, she won't bother going here in the dining hall because she'll be a total loner." Hiroshi explained. Kenji nodded on the words that Hiroshi said.

"If she wasn't stubborn, she's already having her dinner with us." Kei answered. He turned his back on his friends, then started walking. "Plus, she said that she already had her dinner. Suit herself."

At the dining hall, it was sure swamped by dozens of students having their dinner. Well, the boys volleyball club had their reserved area because they are varsity students.

As they approach their seat, they can see that the upperclassmen, batch mates, and the underclassmen are already eating. They didn't wait for the three slowpokes that talked in the hallway about their 'future manager's well–being'.

"We can persuade her in another way, not in challenging her." Their captain said. They all nodded and continued eating their meal.

Kenji, Hiroshi and Kei walked up to the old ladies serving their food. They took their tray and the old ladies added foods that they are serving. They also put a blueberry cheesecake for the student's dessert.

They sat on their reserved table. Kenji and Hiroshi sat beside the first year student, and in front of them was the silent human being, Kei. He's a rude person, so the team prefers him to be silent.

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They separated ways as they enter their respective dorm rooms. Kei's room is above Aella's room. Exactly just above.

He looked like he wanted to persuade the girl, but deep inside him – he wanted to stop the group. It's better to decline the group with an honest answer instead accepting the role but taking the responsibility halfheartedly.

As he enter his room, he took of his volleyball shoes and dropped his bag near the shoe rack. He wore his slipper and jump on the couch in his living room. He stared at the ceiling, that made him sleepy.

He stood up to take a shower, since he reeks of sweat after hours of warming up but cancels the practice match because of the meeting on taming the untameable. He heaved a deep sigh remembering the assignment that was given to them and the deadline was the very next day.

Kei finishes his shower, so he wrapped his towel on his waist and stood in front of the sink to brush his teeth. As he does that, he also admires the beauty of his.

His good looking stern face, his dark olive sharp eyes, his dark olive-brown messy wet hair, the dripping water from his hair to his body, his well-built masculine body, and lastly his abs.

He finishes brushing his teeth, that made him leave the bathroom. He grabbed a fitted white t-shirt, and a basketball shorts to make him comfortable.

"To be honest, basketball shorts are way more comfortable than my volleyball shorts." He snorted at his thought. Since volleyball shorts are only up to his thighs, it makes uncomfortable and sexy to look at if he asks a girl's perspective. But basketball shorts, lengths up to above his knee, he can easily move around.

He sat on a chair, facing his study table. He looked at his organizational chart to know which of his assignments are half way done, and if he can put through his assignments that are supposed to be collected the next day. He picked up his bag, near the shoe rack and put it on the cabinet, next to his study table and started doing his assignments.

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It was already 11 in the evening, when he finished all his assignments and reading through the next lesson so he is prepared. He looked at his laptop and searched for volleyball videos, then something caught his attention.

Mizuki? He never heard of her name. He didn't mind the video and continued searching for videos that does service and spikes using their left hands since he is left handed.

He is called a 'Lefty' since the balls rotation are different from those who use their right hands. Also, he had some advantage since left handed volleyball player's spikes and service are very hard to control. One wrong move, and it would be the opponent's error.

Kei watched several videos then finally, he thought that he was done for the day. He turned his laptop off, then charged his phone. He entered his room, and it didn't take 5 minutes to make him sound asleep.

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"Damn, I'm so late for our morning training!" Kei fixed his necktie and wear this white blazer. He took his duffel bag with all his school stuffs and his extra clothes with his volleyball shoes with him and exited his dorm.

As he run down to the stairs, he accidentally slipped down causing a collision with a girl. He didn't expect that it would be the stubborn lady.

The lady that has purple eyes, but when you stare at it you would enter a different universe. The lady with a rose gold hair. She has this 'hime' cut with her, but at the ends of her hair it was wavy or curly. The lady has slight pink eye shadow on her eyes, and light pink lip tint to make her more elegant to look at. She is using a sparkly diamond headband and that made her look like a goddess.

"I'm sorry." He stood up first then offered his hands as a sign of apology and he didn't really mean causing a collision with this stubborn girl.

The girl accepted his hands, and stood her up. Kei took her bad and handed it to her.

"It's alright." She said in a low feminine voice, but when she looked at her face to make sure that she was really alright, she still has that stoic facial expression.

It kinda pissed him since she didn't show any emotions of being hurt or thankful face. The girl lowered her head a little bit as a sign of 'she doesn't have anything to talk about with him, so he better leave now' and he did lowered his head as well and slowly walked down to the first floor and to jog towards the gymnasium.

When he arrived, the boys are still not complete. Even the coach and the assisting teacher of the team was not there yet. He made a deep  inhale and exhale because he did oversleep and thought that he was late.

He changed into a white tshirt and volleyball shorts. The team jogged in the gym, had a small practice against each other then cooled off. Because it was already 7:30 in the morning, and class starts at 8am.

When they were sure they had enough rest, they took a shower. The tshirt and shorts that they used were wet so they dump it into the laundry basket and left it.

After that, all of them went to their respective classes and had a boring class. They even had Physical Education as their last subject.

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It was already their last subject, and he was a bit restless. Hiroshi and Kenji noticed his uneasiness but they just shrugged their shoulders and waited their PE teacher with the irregular student who'll attend their PE which is archery.

The students are already wearing their (kyudogi) training wear which is a white clothe with (muneate) chestguard, their (hakama) lower clothe and (tabi) socks. They are also using their gloves, as their proper training outfit for their archery class.

Their PE Teacher which was Midorikawa-sensei with their irregular classmate.

That student was already wearing their proper training outfit. It was a girl. Her hair is dutch braided revealing the ombre rose gold hair. Her bangs wasn't tied which made her look elegant. The amethyst eyes with different shades of purple locked gaze with everyone. Those who knew her, was stilled that because of her stoic expression.

On the other hand, Hiroshi and Kenji was delighted. They had their future manager included in their archery class. They can befriends with the stoic faced lady. Kei however was still looking at her eyes.

"Nice to meet you. Kasugano Aella." She introduced herself. She didn't even mention of 'becoming friends with everyone'. She's really a cold hearted person.

"I thought she doesn't do sports?" Kei asked himself. Hiroshi, however heard his question.

"Coach explained yesterday that not doing sports dragged her grades lower. That's why she was transferred in our class doing archery as our Physical Education." Hiroshi answered his question. Kei furrowed his eyebrows as he looked at the tall lady walking towards them.

When she noticed the three gentlemen, she nodded. The three young men did likewise.

"I thought you don't do sports?" Kei said. Hiroshi and Kenji looked at him with a glare but Kei didn't mind the reaction of his buddies.

"I dont." She paused. "But ..." She looked at Kei and stared at his dark olive eyes. He was complete captivated with her eyes. "Mind your own business." She said.

Hiroshi and Kenji covered their mouth to avoid laughing. She was able to say those words without even changing her expression. Her face was complete stoic, but her eyes were expressionless. Like her eyes wasn't giving out life.

"I challenge you." Kei said. Hiroshi smacked his head, while Kenji spanked Kei's back. Kei glared his buddies.

"Stop it with that challenge!" Kenji said raising slightly his voice.

"Y-Yeah Kei. You don't even know her!" Hiroshi said.

"I know her, she said her name was Kasugano Aella. Coach told us that we should persuade her to be our manager." Kei snorted and gave an obvious answer to his friends. Hiroshi and Kenji face palmed themselves giving up on Kei's attitude. "Would you accept my challenge?"

"Whatever." She answered without even looking at him. He was a bit irritated with the attitude Aella gave him, but he can't do anything.

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After their Physical Education, it was already the dismissal of their class. Kei and the others changed their outfits. From the proper training outfit for archery into their extra shirt and shorts because they have training after.

While they are walking from changing rooms of the archery designated class, they noticed that Aella haven't change its outfit.

She was holding the (yumi) bow with her right hand. The (tsuru) string was being pulled with the (ya) arrow in her left hand.

"She's left handed?" Kenji blurted as they watch the young lady positioned herself into shooting the arrow.

She pulled more to make the two-meter tall arrow bend a little, then after few inhale exhale to make her more concentrated, she released the arrow.

"She had this different look when she's concentrating." Kei blurted out of nowhere. She really looked amazing concentrating in archery. Even if she doesn't do sports, her poise is amazing.

The arrow hits the target, on the middle. It was a bullseye. She looked beginner in this sport but she easily was able to hit the bullseye.

"How did she?" Kenji and Hiroshi asked themselves. Even Kei wasn't able to move his gaze to this lady. She is amazing. Too amazing to do release an arrow, and piercing the target with a bullseye.

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Aella

Bullseye. It was her first time yet she was able to pull it off. She thought that it would take her longer to get use to it since she's left handed. She read several articles about being left handed in archery will be harder to get used to but seeing herself do it for the first time. What an achievement!

Aella went to take more arrows when she noticed three males watching her from aware. She remained her stoic expression even though she was surprised to see someone there.

She decided to shoot more arrows, and most of them are bullseye. She did that until she was satisfied and it took 30 minutes. She went to the changing room. She showered and and wore her uniform once again.

As she exit the archery designated room, her steps led her to the gymnasium of the boys volleyball team. She sat outside and listened to their conversation.

"Who washed and folded these?" The coach asked the team.

"We don't know. We dumped it at the laundry basket and left earlier. We had no idea." A stern voice answered.

"Did you lock the gymnasium?" The coach asked again. There was explainable silence between the team.

It was so obvious that the team forgot to lock the gymnasium. That's why she was able to wash the clothes of the team. She put the clothes of the players in the washing machine separating the colored ones to white ones. She washed first the white ones, then the colored ones. While the colored ones are being washed, she put the white ones in the dryer and the rotation continued until she was done with the laundry.

Of course, she's not going to admit that she did those. She bluntly said that she disagrees on being the manager of the team, so there's no way she'll do those.

She stood up and walked back to her dorm. When she arrived at her dorm, she dumped her uniform in her laundry basket. She knows how to wash and fold clothes, but since her dorm doesn't have washing machine, she calls her nanny from their home to wash her uniform every Friday after school then her nanny will bring her uniform, ironed already, every Sunday.

She changed into a over sized panda shirt, and wore black dolphin shorts under it. She put her bag on the solo couch, and took out her assignments to do it. While doing it, she's listening to some music. She can't do things like assignments or projects without music.

She did all her assignments within one hour only. She looked at her phone and it was only 4:30 in the afternoon. Aella fixed her stuffs and put it all in her bag. She turned the lights off in her living room and went inside her room and had a nice nap.

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Her phone buzzed several times that made her wake up. Aella's hands reached the bedside table to check her phone. There was a message in Vibe and it was an unregistered number.

She checked the message and it was weird because the only message was 'U up'?

"Uhhh~ up?" She furrowed her eyebrows on the message and after staring it for several minutes she was able to understand the message as 'You up'.

She was debating whether she'll respond to it but she hissed that idea. Maybe it was a scammer she thought.

She sat on her bed and noticed that it was already 7 in the evening. She combed her hair and fixed herself. She didn't have an energy to prepare her food since she was still groggy.

She took one last look at herself, and she was really white as hell. Its like she was born from snow.

She put on light pink lip tint on her lips. She took her ID, phone and airpods so she won't hear people gossiping about her especially in the dining hall. Since she's usually alone, she would hear random people talking about her or giving her different and weird stares.

She went to the old ladies serving foods, and the ladies smiled at her as they put your food on your plate. The last lady, gave cake and it was strawberry cheesecake.

She looked around, and as well everyone was looking at her. It made her feel anxious but she didn't express it. She walked until she saw a vacant table. There was no 'reserved' placed on the table so she sat there.

She put the airpods on her ears and played music while she was having her dinner. No one dared to sit with her on that table, and she was alone there.

'Nothing changed.' She thought in her mind. Her mind was uneasy. 'Whether I eat here or in my dorm, I'm still alone.' Her thought added. She heaved a heavy sigh and continued eating.

Little did she know, the boys volleyball club, walked towards her and sat on that table. It wasn't their designated table where they should seat, but since they knew her with her rose gold hair, they decided to eat with her.

As she eat a little slower, random people placed their tray on the table. The table can handle at least 18 people, so it was enough for the bunch of guys, who were fresh from the bath and had their duffel bag with them.

"Volleyball." Was the only thing she was able to say. It was the volleyball club that seated with her on the long and lonely table.

"Yeah. We're the boys volleyball team." A guy that has his hair tied spoke. She remembered him. He was with the others last night who knocked in her dorm. "I'm the captain, Takishima Akira. 

3rd year. Sorry for barging without your consent last night." He smiled at him.

"It's alright." She replied. She doesn't know how to keep the conversation going so she continued eating her food.

"Are you always silent?" A guy with a neat cut, black hair. He got a very nice build. "I'm Hayata Karasuma. 3rd year"

"I just don't know how to keep the conversation on going. That's all." She replied.

"You must be a nerd." A tall young man with a mustard hair. He had a small mole below his lips that made him attractive but he was kinda rude. "I'm Mabuchi Shou. 1st year." He sat next to Karasuma.

She nodded as the arrogant first year student.

"That's not how you approach a lady, Shou-kun." A guy with a grayish black hair approached them and sat between her. "I'm Uesugi Ouji. 3rd year."

And everyone introduced themselves. It wasn't hard to memorize since they were unique from each other. She already finished eating her food, but it she would look rude if she left already.

"I'm Tsubasa Kei." A man said. She looked up to him and it was the man she gave a rude attitude earlier.

It was the guy with dark olive-brown hair with matching dark olive eyes. He has impressively sharp glare are said to be his most prominent physical characteristics. He often emits an intimidating aura, which is heightened by the almost permanent scowl on his face. Has large, muscular yet lean build and is fairly tall.

"Yeah. I know you." She answered.

She examined the young man as he sit beside Hiroshi and Kenji, who were also with him earlier in the class. She was silent but she was listening on how they argue earlier. Not really argue, but tease each other.

While the boys are eating, some are basically telling each other how their day went. What activities they did. Some were teasing each other, and others are silent like the guy with the dark olive eyes.

"Aella-chan, how did you spend your day? Did you have fun?" Uesugi looked at her and everyone did. Waiting for her to answer.

"It was fine. And does it have to be fun? You're just spending your day at school." She answered honestly. Some of them gave an awkward smile while Uesugi laughed at her response.

"You're interesting." He said.

She kept silent. She wants to leave her seat already.

Karasuma-san started placing their plates in the middle of the table and the members did follow his example. They stacked the plates, and Uesugi included hers. Then they stacked their used glasses, and utensils so that the the dining hall staffs won't having problem stacking and cleaning the table.

"I'm still wondering who cleaned our clothes. Maybe someone entered the gym, after we left." Akira started the conversation. Aella started feeling uneasy about their topic because she might blurt out that she was the one who did it

"Yeah, but our clothes do feel comfy." She smiled slightly. It was because she used vinegar and the clothes soap so that it would feel comfy and when they sweat it won't really feel sticky.

"It's getting late. I'll go ahead. Goodnight" I lowered my head to pay respect to them and left. I didn't looked back and went back to my dorm.

As she arrive in her room, she turned the music off from her airpods. She inserted the airpods in the case and put her phone on the bedside table and charged it.

She went to the bathroom to brush her teeth and do her skincare. She stared at her face and tried thinking happy thoughts, her eyes seemed softer but still stoic; she tried having excited feelings; her eyes seemed lively but still stoic.

"You'll have a lively expression ... soon." She said to herself. She did wet the mirror in her bathroom, and wiped it. "How stupid." She whispered.

She wiped her face and went to her bed. She scrolled to her tablet the photos of her when she was lively and she was satisfied with everything she has.

"I kinda regretted looking at my old photos." She turned off the tablet and slept soundly. A lot of things happened, and the boys volleyball team even spoke to her. It was all new to her.

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• Yumi (japanese bow) is exceptionally tall (standing over two metres), surpassing the height of the archer.

• Ya shafts are traditionally made of bamboo, with either eagle or hawk feathers.

• Tsuru the string of the bow.

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Authors Note:

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