~Quick Set~

            The sounds of sneakers squeaking on the gym floor, the impact of a hand connecting with a ball, the shouts from the team members ring out as they scramble to keep it in the air and toss it over the net for a point.

            Volleyball.

            This is Tzuyu's sport.

            She's at the epitome of her game and she does nothing but thrive in this type of environment. After all she has one of the greatest liberos she's ever played with covering for her and she couldn't feel any more confident with that knowledge backing her up.

            The volleyball is served right back to their side again as the opponents start up the next play. Tzuyu knows what's going to happen next, she feels it in the way her eyes follow after the flying ball. Momo receives it first but the ball is sent slightly askew.

            "Cover!" shouts out Momo as the ball rebounds back into the air.

            It's not a problem though. While their opponents are watching with bated breath, the Twice volleyball team is calm and in control of this game. They're already at match point, so they're ready to end this in one swift move.

            Tzuyu can feel every pulse of her heart, the adrenaline is coursing through her body and it's almost like she can see things go down in slow motion. She's just waiting for that call from the back row, that yell of her name that signals her to jump at just the right time because their libero, Dahyun, always knows how to set the ball to Tzuyu better than even their own setter.

            Dahyun sets the ball easily just as it descends as if it was meant for her all along rather than from a faulty receive. She aims her toss straight towards the team's ace, "Tzuyu!"

            Without a moment's hesitation everything is set in motion again, Tzuyu sees the ball overhead and jumps, swinging her arm forward. The blockers on the other team jump too in an attempt to stop her but it's already futile because Tzuyu has already seen the hole in their defensive block. She easily aims for the spot between their arms, as her hand makes contact with the volleyball she slams it forward. A satisfied smile on her face as she sees the ball fly past the blockers and hears the ball hit the other side of the court with a loud smack right before the whistle sounds, indicating the win for her team.

            Tzuyu hears the cheering erupting from her teammates at the victory. It's just a practice match with a neighboring high school but a win is a win and with each win they gain the stronger they become as they prepare for the inter-high competition and hopefully the nationals.

            A smaller body runs right into Tzuyu as she turns around to join in on the celebration with her teammates.

            "That's our one and only ace!" Dahyun hugs her tightly while grinning brightly at the younger.

            There's a similar rush that Tzuyu feels as she returns Dahyun's hug just as tightly. A rush similar to the one she gets when she lands a perfectly aimed spike on the court, one that has her heart beating and adrenaline pumping. The type of feeling that only Dahyun can give her. But she pushes the thought aside as nothing more than the after effects of a match since both, Dahyun and herself, are ecstatic with their win and teamwork.

            "Our ace is the absolute best around! The same goes for our libero too!" agrees Nayeon as she throws her arms around the two younger members in a quick congratulatory hug before stepping back and patting them both on the head affectionately.

            Tzuyu and Dahyun release each other from their embrace. Pride and admiration lights up both their faces at such a high praise from the oldest. The two were about to complement the other too for all her amazing game play on the court but the coach interrupts them in order to tell them to bid farewell to their opponents and begin the gym clean up. The coach makes one last announcement about another practice match scheduled for later this month before letting them get their duties finished.

            "Tzuyu!" Dahyun calls out to the younger immediately when the couch steps out.  When Tzuyu turns her head towards Dahyun, the shorter holds up a volleyball with excitement. "Let's do some duo practice in the fields like always!"

            Tzuyu nods eagerly. Practice sessions with Dahyun is always something that Tzuyu looked forward to no matter what day or how tired she was after team activities because after their practice session they get the chance to walk home together and more often than not Dahyun treats the both of them to tasty sweets from a near by convenience store.

            "Don’t practice until you both drop from exhaustion," warns their captain, Jihyo.

            "We won't," chime Tzuyu and Dahyun in unison already used to the usual warnings of not to overwork themselves.

            "Good because we can't have our top two players out for the count with the inter-high so close," adds in Sana before whispering quietly to the two, "Plus you really don't want me to substitute you guys on the court, I guarantee you we won't make it past the first set. There's a reason I'm benched for the games, I think I'm more suited for cheering you guys on at the sidelines."

            Tzuyu and Dahyun nod quickly with nervous laughs. "We know, we remember the tryouts incident very well."

            Mina stops in her steps at hearing a sudden mention of the incident. She turns her head quickly in the trio's direction. "Everyone on the team remembers the tryouts incident. Don't bring it up."

            Sana smiles sheepishly while making a saluting gesture towards her girlfriend, "Wouldn't dream of it. Just going to go mop up the gym floors now. Dahyun could you help me get the mops please?"

            Dahyun agrees quickly as she feels the intimidating aura radiating off of Mina, "Sure! Tzuyu, if one of us finishes first let's meet up at the volleyball team's club room and then we can head to the fields for more practice since the basketball team is going to use the gym."

            "Okay," replies Tzuyu as Dahyun follows after Sana. Tzuyu's attention is then mostly shifted to Mina, who was grumbling under her breath about something and Tzuyu swears she heard the word 'spalding' mentioned. Ouch, that tryouts incident will surely be ingrained into their minds for a long time but for Mina it might have left quite a distinct mark. So to break Mina out of her grumbling state Tzuyu starts off with a question, "Mina, should we start with putting the net away?"

            "Huh? Oh, right. Yeah, could you please untie the other end of the net Tzuyu? I'll get this side," answers Mina as she shifts her attention back to their current task. "The quicker we clean up, the quicker we can get to the club room," Mina grins, "You and Dahyun want to start your practice session as soon as possible right?"

            "We do!" Tzuyu smiles unknowingly as her fingers continue to work at the knots holding the volleyball net up. "Dahyun's tosses are always great! It's like they're all perfectly aimed for just the right spike for me. Even though captain Jihyo is the official setter of the team, Dahyun's tosses seem to fit with me better. Also practicing receives with her is a lot of fun too, Dahyun is really fast and has such great reflexes even when I sometimes receive the ball incorrectly or it rebounds badly she still manages to get it a majority of the time. It's no wonder she's the libero of the team. I want to keep practicing with Dahyun for as long as I can!" Tzuyu finishes the last of the knot, letting her side of the volleyball net fall to the ground.

            Mina giggles, enjoying the sight of an excited Tzuyu. "So much enthusiasm."

            Tzuyu stops abruptly and blushes, "Ah, was I talking too much? I'm just really happy to be playing volleyball with Dahyun. And the team too of course!"

            "Don’t worry about it, it's good that you're so fired up. Your love for volleyball is amazing Tzuyu. It's like there's a competition going on, sometimes I can't tell which you love more, volleyball or Dahyun," jokes Mina good-naturedly as she finishes untying the last knot of her side of the volleyball net.

            It's the last three words that catch Tzuyu completely off guard. There's an odd hesitant sensation in her chest and suddenly Tzuyu feels like she's sometimes too oblivious for her own good, especially when it comes to things like this, things that don't revolve around volleyball.

            If someone was to ask her the question, 'volleyball or Dahyun? Pick only one' like Mina similarly did, she's not sure what she would choose in this very moment if she was to be honest with herself and that troubles her a lot more than it honestly should in her opinion.

…                                …                                …

            Tzuyu finds herself at an odd standstill. The question still bounces around in her head, nagging at her, making her constantly wonder about it's possible answer. Usually this type of question wouldn't be a problem for her in the slightest because her love for the sport triumphs over almost practically everything.

            Volleyball or music? Volleyball.

            Volleyball or candy? Volleyball.

            Volleyball or puppies? Volleyball.

            Volleyball or any of her other hobbies? Volleyball.

            But… Volleyball or Dahyun? Tzuyu couldn't even reach an answer despite thinking it over for a week. Given certain circumstances, the obvious, of course, would be that she would choose her close friend over the sport but when Mina asked her the question she referred to love as well and it confuses her. Maybe she should ask Dahyun herself, after all their enthusiasm for volleyball practically rivals each other so maybe the older can relate to her dilemma a bit more.

            "Tzuyuuuuu~"

            Ah, just the person Tzuyu was hoping to go see. Tzuyu looks up from her desk to see Dahyun peeking her head into the classroom and waving excitedly at her.

            "Let's go practice on the fields again, what are you waiting for? School has already ended and we unfortunately don't have practice today but-" Dahyun reaches back and holds up her bag that's bulging to the brim, "I have the volleyball with me~"

            Tzuyu's classmates have never seen the tall girl move so fast before as she practically shoves all the supplies that she has on her desk right into her bag and practically flies out the door with Dahyun right beside her. She's smiling widely, her deep troubling thoughts leaving her as Dahyun challenges her to a race to the fields. A challenge she never turns down even if they're racing through the hallways because the faster they get to the fields the faster they can enjoy their time together.

            The short distance they cover in their run isn't enough to put them out of breath due to their high stamina. Which also means they have plenty of breath to argue over who won the race.

            "I definitely won this time! Now the score is tied," announces Dahyun as she puts her bag down besides Tzuyu's near the base of the tree.

            "No, I was at least a full step ahead of you. I win this time too," counters Tzuyu.

            Dahyun puffs up her cheeks as she pulls out the volleyball from her bag, "Nuh-uh, I was ahead of you. My hand touched the tree first."

            "But my arms are longer, we ended up touching the tree at the same time," insists Tzuyu.

            Dahyun pouts, "Let's settle this with volleyball practice." A grin makes it's way to Dahyun's lips, "We'll do receiving and passing practice. Whoever let's the ball drop or doesn't receive it will have to admit defeat."

            Tzuyu purses her lips, "Doesn't that work for your advantage? You're the libero, your receive skills are the highest on the team."

            "But you're the ace of the team, no one can match your skills Tzuyu," replies Dahyun truthfully.

            Tzuyu blinks for a moment as the praise slowly causes her cheeks to heat slightly while she tries to deny that and insist that she still has much more to practice on even as the ace of the team. Dahyun giggles as she sees Tzuyu become cutely flustered by her complement. The shorter of the two was ready to officially start their practice session when she remembered an important detail, "Oh! Shorts check! You have shorts on under your school skirt right?" They'd usually go to change out of their uniform to their gym clothes before practice but today the upperclassmen on their team had after school studies to attend to and couldn't unlock the clubroom door for them to change.

            Tzuyu nods quickly, "I always have them on at school since we're always doing volleyball practice. How about you?"

            "Yup, always wearing mine too. Can never be too careful." Dahyun gives Tzuyu a thumbs up before getting into position, signaling Tzuyu to do the same. Dahyun sets the ball to Tzuyu perfectly and the younger receives it just as well sending it back to Dahyun, who's already in a crouch with her hands cupped together in preparation of sending the ball back to Tzuyu. A rally starts going between them as they send the ball back and forth between each other, as they get into a rhythm Dahyun starts up a conversation.

            "Tzuyu, what do you want to get at the convenience store today? My treat again." Dahyun never minds paying for Tzuyu, she always insists on it because she's the older one of the two despite being quite a bit shorter than the younger. To her, it never matters about money or time so long as they're both enjoying doing what they're doing that's all that matters and when she's with Tzuyu she finds that everything she enjoys doing is even better. Tzuyu is precious to her.

            The younger sticks her tongue out slightly as she thinks over her choices while her eyes stay locked to the ball. Tzuyu has long given up on insisting that she treats Dahyun too or at the very least pay for her own share since Dahyun can be pretty stubborn about it but since Dahyun finally relented into letting her at least pay on their weekend meet ups she doesn't mind too much anymore. "Mmm, ice cream… Or maybe juice… Or a pudding bun. One of those three, probably."

            Dahyun hums in consideration, "Sounds good, let's get all three and share. We'll be working up an appetite after we finish practicing anyways."

            "We still have to go home and eat dinner too," reminds Tzuyu.

            "Which is why I said we should share~ Can't spoil dinner for us," replies Dahyun.

            "Okay," agrees Tzuyu as she takes a few steps back in order to receive the high ball Dahyun hit but as she gets into position there's a shout coming from the other side of the school gates that breaks her concentration. The volleyball flies over Tzuyu's head and as Tzuyu looks up to see where it went she sees that it landed in the fork of the tree branches above her.

            "Oops, sorry!" There's four voices yelling now.

            Tzuyu and Dahyun look over towards the school gates to see Momo, Nayeon, Mina, and Sana lined along the gates waving towards them. They wave back with grins, happy to see their teammates as they approached them in order to hear what they were saying better.

            Momo smiles sheepishly once the two younger members are in better hearing distance, "We were passing by and we happened to see you two practicing. Sorry again about making you miss that high ball Tzuyu."

            Tzuyu shakes her head, not minding in the slightest, "It's okay."

            "We just wanted to tell you two that practice is going to be a half hour earlier tomorrow morning, we saw Jihyo earlier and she said she already notified Chaeyoung and Jungyeon but wasn't sure if you two got the message since you both usually respond instantly when it comes to things like practice," states Mina.

            "Oh, our phones were in our bags so we didn't hear them go off while we were practicing," replies Dahyun.

            Nayeon chuckles, "That's what we figured too. Make sure you both head home early today and get plenty of rest though."

            "We'll see you two at practice tomorrow~" adds on Sana as the four of them wave goodbye to the younger two.

            When Momo, Nayeon, Mina, and Sana walk away, Tzuyu and Dahyun share a look.

            "Should we end our practice session now?" There's a hint of disappointment laced in Tzuyu's tone. Normally they would practice until sunset before heading to the convenience store but since they have practice even earlier tomorrow it looks like their one on one practice will have to be brought to an abrupt end.

            Dahyun grabs Tzuyu's hand and pulls the slightly sulking younger back to the tree where all their stuff is while saying, "It's okay, early practice will make up for the practice we didn't get a chance to do now and we can always extend our practices over the weekend too."

            Tzuyu lights up at the mention of weekend practice and gives Dahyun's hand a squeeze, smiling sweetly at the shorter. "I'll look forward to the weekend practice too."

            Dahyun smiles as she sees Tzuyu happy, "Great, now let's get that volleyball stuck in the tree back down and we can head out to the convenience store."

            "I'll get it. I can probably reach it better." Tzuyu lets go of Dahyun's hand and stands on the very tips of her toes, arms outstretched in an attempt to get the volleyball but it's no good, even if she jumps only the tips of her fingers barely grazes the surface of the trapped volleyball.

            Dahyun watches on in amusement before making an attempt herself. "Let me give it a try."

            Tzuyu turns and gives Dahyun a blank puppy like look at the request.

            "Why are you giving me that look?"

            "What look?" replies Tzuyu innocently.

            "That look. The one where you don't believe I can r