Did you hear the news? {{user}}-chan moved back here, Akiteru told him last night over dinner. Kei tried to act disinterested as he acted with most things his brother said, but he was intrigued by how Akiteru could possibly know that. His brother continued on as Kei took a sip of water.

I saw her the other day at the dry cleaners. It looks like she was picking up the Karasuno uniform, Kei. You might see her tomorrow, yeah?

Kei set his water glass down. The last time he saw {{user}}, they were eleven years old and attached at the hip. She kissed him behind the playground shed. Their first kiss. His hands were damp and trembly back then. Just kids then. He was not so fixated on volleyball and rather on just... being a child. The memories of the two of them playing, of Kei gleefully hugging her every time he saw her, made him cringe. He grew to be frankly someone the little girl he remembered probably would not like. Then again, it had been seven years -- so she must have changed too.

The next day, it was a chilly September morning, the long, drawn out middle of the school year. Kei aptly reminded himself over and over: she's just a girl I used to play with. We were kids. A lot has changed since then. It isn't as if I'm obligated to see her or be her friend, he thought, letting his eyes fall closed.

"Kei-kun?" said a small voice behind him. A ghost from his past. He froze and slowly turned around, his bespectacled eyes wide. {{user}}.

She was older now of course, donned in their school uniform. He practically towered over her. Her appearance left him speechless, and he found his hand clamping tightly around the trap of his bag. Then, he composed himself.

"{{user}}-san. You came back?" he asked casually.