Assumptions

The following day after Mahiru's big show of power during their reveal of their relationship, the news of them had now reached the mouths of everyone at school.

It was after school the next day and Haruto, Kageyama and Hinata were making their way towards the gym to have after school practice to prepare for the tournament.

"Who would have thought…"

"But I had a feeling it would eventually happen from the rumors from last time."

"But still..

"Our angel…"

Haruto was able to hear the hushed voices as they walked through the hallways and he couldn't help but glance towards the person who whispered something about Mahiru.

The person noticed his glance and flinched before bowing his head down, feeling the subtle look Haruto was giving him.

"Stay strong."

"It will probably die down in a few days just like what happened last time."

"It's fine. I just find it tiring with how we seem to be animals in a zoo with the way people keep looking at us."

After getting pats on the back from the two, Haruto gave a tired sigh as so far his entire day he felt multiple gazes land on him and Mahiru since the reveal.

This made more people even more curious about their relationship and he honestly felt that people were too interested in their personal life.

"Well I least you have practice to help you relax."

"True, I'm going to have the time of my life hitting and serving this time. Hinata you better get ready alright."

"What's that even supposed to mean??"

"He means that you're supposed to pass the ball with your forearms and not with your face when you receive the ball from him. Since you suck at passing."

"There was no need for you to even say that last part…"

Hinata began to grumble after hearing Kageyama's words, making him scream words at him that mainly consisted of 'idiot' or 'stupid'.

They reached the gym a few minutes later due to the fact that Haruto tried his best to stop their bickering and saw that they were the last ones to arrive.

"So who's fault was it now?"

""It was him!!""

Daichi gave a blank look seeing the two troublemakers point at each other before he looked at Haruto to see why they were acting like that. He just shook his head and told him it was the usual and Daichi nodded, accepting his answer.

Haruto placed his things away and did some stretches to warm up when he noticed Mahiru come in his direction.

"Did anything out of the ordinary happen today?"

"If you don't count the increase of people surrounding my desk during breaks then I guess not."

Mahiru giggled a bit before passing him a foam roller that he usually uses to stretch his quads and hips. She continued to talk with him about her day while she watched him do his warm ups.

"Many people also said I mellowed out a bit compared to the past."

"Mellowed out?"

"Hmm, they say that I feel more approachable somehow. I don't feel my expression is any different though."

She began to squish her face making some expressions that Haruto found funny that he had to stop himself from laughing in the middle of his stretches.

"It's true Mahiru!"

Yachi, who was near them helping Hinata stretch by pushing his back, spoke out loud catching the attention of the couple.

"Before we used to talk you always seemed to be behind a glass wall. But now other than us from the volleyball club, you seem more open to talk with other people."

Yachi spoke happily about her impression on Mahiru before, while also telling her about what she had heard from other people.

Mahiru curiously asked Yachi more on the topic while Haruto just looked at her fondly. He felt happy that she was able to present herself without putting her angelic mask on and can now show others a bit of her true self.

However he felt a bit conflicted that others were now able to see her adorable expressions that he felt the need to pull onto her soft face.

"What are you doing?..."

"Nothing, I just felt like suddenly doing this."

Mahiru gave him a puzzled look while she rubbed onto the spot he pulled, thinking of reasons for his actions.

"Alright is everyone ready to start!"

Ukai yelled out as he noticed all of them were finished stretching and pulled everyone together to start to practice.

***

"Hinata make sure to close the gap between your blocks!"

"Y-Yes!"

Hinata gave a flustered response as he tried to block the spike that came from Ennoshita on the other side of the court. He was unable to close the gap between him and Tanaka causing the ball to go past him.

Lucky Daichi was in place to pass the ball high in the air to give Kageyama something he could use.

'I need to watch out for Haruto who's at the front..'

He thought in his head as he glanced at Haruto who was on the opposite side due to Ukai making different teams for scrimmage.

He looked at his team and saw Hinata try to run up for a regular quick and decided to use him but place the ball.a bit farther away from Haruto.

"Move in deeper on your side."

"Make sure to shut off the other cross on your side."

Tsukishima replied to Haruto who spoke to him and they moved together based on what they noticed to try and block Hinata's quick.

"These guys really like to bully him that much."

Ukai who was watching gave a small smile as he saw two of their skilled blockers try to block Hinata by creating a large umbrella to cover him.

Hinata who was in the air noticed the paths where he could hit significantly decreased and watched how large arms started to hover over the net.

Looking carefully he saw how some parts of their fingertips seemed to be alright to hit at and as the ball reached his peak, he swung the ball high, hitting it off Haruto's hands.

"I hate getting my blocks intentionally hit."

Haruto clicked his tongue and followed where the ball flew off to but stopped after seeing that Yamaguchi was able to push the ball towards Sugawara, as he was in place to catch the wipe from Hinata.

"Watch out for the left side!"

Kageyama yelled out as he shifted his foot early in Haruto's direction feeling like he would get a set. As if reading his thoughts, he saw the ball go towards Haruto's direction and aimed to block off line since he knows he likes to shoot down there.

'Too bad there's still a bit of space left.'

Haruto smiled seeing Kageyama try his best to block the line. but watching the small gap open, he accurately shot it down brushing past his block and landed close to the sideline.

"Tsk, I felt it brush past the side of my arms."

"Too bad you gotta be quicker than that."

Hearing Haruto's words, Kageyama frowned and thought that when it came to his time to serve, he would relentlessly aim it at Haruto each time.

"He really likes to tease them."

Seeing the smirk Haruto was giving on the other side of the net, Mahiru felt a bit helpless seeing his childish actions of annoying Kageyama.

"Mahiru, can you hand these documents to Takeda in the faculty office."

Pulling her eyes away from the court, she saw Kiyoko who was surrounded by a bundle of papers, call out to her.

"Sure, do you need help with anything else?"

"Nope, we're pretty much finished since we wrote off all the papers during lunchtime."

Kiyoko responded to Mahiru and stretched her arms in the air, feeling happy that all the papers that they needed to complete were finally done. Mahiru also felt happy with their progress and quickly grabbed the papers to finish the task given to her.

Walking out of the gym she reached the hallways and noted that there seemed to be a few students still roaming around.

Majority of them were part of clubs that had after school activities like the volleyball team and their eyes quickly landed on Mahiru who was walking past them.

She placed the angel persona on her face and gave a standard smile to everyone who greeted her. Getting close to the faculty room, a guy came out of her homeroom who looked to be her classmate.

She politely greeted him and attempted to walk past him but was called out. If Haruto was to see his face he would recognize him as the person who was calling Mahiru their 'angel' during the time he was making his way to the gym earlier.

"Umm Shiina-san, is it actually true you're in a relationship…"

"Yes it is true. I believe you have heard it already as it seems to be quite the topic."

The guy had already heard all about it during class but still found it hard to hear when it came directly from the source. He thought back to when he saw Haruto walk past him earlier and let his true thoughts slip out.

"Are you sure he's not fooling around with you..."

"What."

He was shocked to see that Mahiru seemed to have heard his mumbling and swallowed nervously seeing her stare at him with a calm expression.

He suddenly felt courageous knowing that he had caught her attention and continued to blabber what was on his mind.

"Well he's pretty popular right, a-and I see many girls try to get his attention. Plus he looks like a playboy so he might be fooling around with you and other girls…."

At first he felt confident with his answer on his thoughts about Haruto but he began to falter seeing the cold and slightly angry gaze Mahiru was giving him.

"Is your answer based on facts or is it just assumptions that you made."

"U-Uhh…"

Mahiru who was listening to her classmate speak, tried to put on a calm face but inside she felt angry hearing someone she hardly knows bad mouth the person she loves.

"He is charming. I can agree with that but I can guarantee you that he is not the type of person to be superficial and play with a person's heart like that."

"But…"

"Plus if you're only talking about his appearance, have you tried talking with him to get to know his personality? Since from what I've heard by others way before we started dating, he is very respectful when it comes to interpersonal relationships he has with others."

"...."

Hearing the words come out of her mouth, the guy felt a bit guilty about the choice of words he said out of a fit of jealousy. Seeing the person in front of her turn quiet, Mahiru fixed her expression and calmed herself down.

"I'm sorry for my rant but I just don't like it when people make baseless assumptions to the people I'm closely connected with."

"I'm sorry for my words too…"

Mahiru gave a small smile after hearing his apology and fixed the papers in her hands to quickly end the conversation she was having with her classmate.

"Thank you for your concern but I genuinely love Haruto with all my heart and I know Haruto feels the same way. So I hope you don't let assumptions cloud what you see."

"I understand."

"I'll finish up my club activities now. I hope you have a nice day."

After saying her bit, Mahiru bowed her head slightly and made her way into the faculty room. The guy watched her leave and had a guilty conscience when he thought back to how their conversation went.

'I guess I was in the wrong..'

He thought in his head as he remembered the beautiful glint in Mahiru's eyes when she talked about Haruto.

'I wonder what he's like then.'

He made his way down the hallway and wondered in his head thinking about the kind of person Haruto really is.

Days continued to pass and eventually the morning of the first premiliaries of the Summer Tournament came to life.

Walking onto the bus that will take them to the gymnasium, Haruto and the rest of Karasuno flashed a serious flicker in their eyes. Ready to do whatever it takes to reach nationals this time around.

***

Fontaine update really is coming soon. I hope you enjoyed it. Peacu.