“Serve!”

The ball flew over the net and YongGuk received it easily. YoungJae, being in the automatic setter’s position, ran for the second ball and set the ball over to outside where DaeHyun was already prepared to hit. With no block, the excited hitter had nothing obstructing his straight hit across the court and into the corner behind all the defenders. DaeHyun whooped in happiness, high-fiving YoungJae for the “awesome set” and YongGuk for the “awesome pass.” YongGuk chuckled at the seemingly easily excitable younger player while YoungJae merely shook his head at his friend. A chorus of groans echoed through as the three players got off the court, replaced by three new challengers.

“Of course he’s a ing setter,” MiHyun heard Kira grumble angrily. “His form is all off though. And way to carry that ball. I totally saw that.”

“Hmm…” HyeJu hummed curiously, a playful smirk gracing her face as she watched Kira fire insults like a machine gun at YoungJae. “You sure are paying very close attention to that baby-faced 2^nd year, Kira~ Are you interested?”

“Yes. I’m interested in watching him get murdered by HimChanie’s serve~” Kira smiled brightly despite the menacing aura she was emitting.

“Eh~ Did you tell HimChan-oppa to aim at YoungJae? So mean, Kira~” MiHyun whined teasingly, earning her a glare from Kira.

“Just shut up and get on the court, MiHyun,” Kira grumbled in irritation.

“Oh, the group before me lost already?” pouted MiHyun. She got on the court in the middle position as she waited for the server, who happened to be HimChan, to start the round. The girl looked to her left to find a really tall boy that she remembered HaNa attacking.

“You’re about to see our star libero do what she does best~” HyeJu chimed happily as HimChan served the ball, aiming specifically at YoungJae.

It annoyed Kira that YoungJae passed it fairly well to the setter position, though it was a bit low for YongGuk to set the ball with his hands. Despite the low pass, YongGuk managed to bump-set the ball high to the outside for DaeHyun. When DaeHyun got ready to pound the ball again, he was surprised to find HimChan, blocking him. Turning his body, DaeHyun ran up to the ball and hit the ball to the right of HimChan’s block, effectively going down the line rather than cutting across like he did the first two balls. His eyes widened in shock as the ball was easily received by MiHyun, who had left her spot in the middle to defend the line. HimChan turned immediately when the ball came over and set the ball outside for the tall 1^st year. He took a big leap and spiked the ball in front of the 10 foot line.

“Yeah! Way to go, JunHongie!” cheered one of his friends from the lines. With a shy smile, JunHong cheered back before running onto the winning side of the court.

“How did she pass that? I thought it was a kill for sure,” DaeHyun spoke in awe as he got off the court the same side as YoungJae. His friend merely shrugged. How was he supposed to know when he was on the other side of the court?

“It’s because your body is easy to read,” Kira informed with a shake of his head as the three players got in line. “Don’t underestimate us just because we’re girls. We have much better technique than you. All you idiots do is pound the ball as hard as possible.”

Just as YoungJae was about to retort, Kira turned to serve. The person in front of her had missed his serve, so she prepared herself to serve. She purposefully aimed at JunHong since he was probably a middle blocker and wasn’t the best at passing. Her assumption was justified when the younger player shanked the ball, hitting just the side of his arm, but much too high for a good pass and shot sideways in no particularly useful direction. MiHyun dove to try and get a second touch on it, but it was no use.

“Kira! Don’t pick on 1^st years!” MiHyun whined as she got off and Kira took her spot on the winner’s side, flashing her tongue out like a rascal (even saying, “Merong~”) as MiHyun passed by. HyeJu walked onto the court on the left side while waiting for the serve to go over. Kira ran across to stay in her right position, ending up right in front of HyeJu. The two smirked at each other before the server announced the serve was going over.

“I’m going to smash it into your face, Kira.”

“I’d like to see you try, Eomma~”

“STOP CALLING ME THAT, YOU LITTLE-”

“Serve!”

The ball was received by the middle player on Kira’s side. The pass was less than perfect, shooting to the side and behind Kira.

“Free ball!” called out the right player on HyeJu’s side, indicating that he was moving up to set rather than staying back to defend.

“Don’t underestimate her!” HyeJu growled out as Kira ran back, pivoted on her right, and set the ball perfectly to the middle player for a back row attack. With their right player gone, the whole right corner was open, which is exactly where the hitter aimed it. HyeJu thought the ball was going to drop for sure but their middle player darted for the ball, passing the ball up so the default setter managed to set it to HyeJu. She jumped, eyes glancing for a split second to see where the block was before hitting the ball down the line, away from the block.

Kira was prepared for it, passing the ball to the blocker, who set the ball outside for another unobscured hit. HyeJu really wanted to hit their right player on the head. What was the idiot thinking? She was pleasantly surprised by the performance of her middle player, who dug the ball perfectly to the setter, giving her another chance to attack. She jumped again, glancing again at the block before turning her hand at the last minute to dump the ball in front of the 10 foot line, not touching the ball at all.

“You wimp! Cheap shot! Fight me properly like a man!” Kira called out in anger as she got off the court to get back in line. HyeJu merely shrugged, running across to assume her position. Eventually, HyeJu’s make-shift team also got kicked off. A few more rounds went by as none of the teams managed to stay on the winning side for more than three rotations.

 “Alright, let’s start playing for real. The team that manages to stay on the winning side for 5 rounds doesn’t have to run laps. Ah, minus the girls, of course, since it’s not your practice although you’re welcome to run with us~” HimChan announced, grinning at girls, though the gesture was rewarded with a smack on the head from SunHwa, telling him not to be a disgusting flirt.

“Those two first years are pretty good,” YongGuk told HimChan as the two stood off to the side to watch the players more closely.

“The tall one and the one that HyeJu has been playing with?” HimChan clarified as he looked at the roster. “Choi JunHong and Moon JongUp.”

“We’ll keep an eye on them.”

“Well then, shall we get back in line?” HimChan grinned as YongGuk shrugged with a smile as well.

“Keep an eye out for a setter, too,” YongGuk added.

“Of course~” As they got in line, the two wandered into a conversation between the two transfer 2^nd years in front of them.

 “I see now why they’re called the Triple Threat,” YoungJae commented to DaeHyun as he watched HyeJu smash the ball onto the other side with great accuracy. “The three of them make a perfect team. They have each position covered and are definitely very experienced.”

“Even Kira?” DaeHyun leered mischievously, earning him an immediate disapproving look from YoungJae. “Are you admitting that Kira is a good setter?”

“Why don’t you work on your hitting instead of staring at me like that? Your timing is all off. How long were you out of practice for? I don’t remember you being this bad,” YoungJae criticized. DaeHyun pouted at the younger boy, but said no more since all of his comments were true (he just didn’t need to hear it out loud).

“That’s a good observation, YoungJae, was it?” HimChan commented, receiving a confirming nod from YoungJae. The 3^rd year smirked. “It’s true. MiHyunie is the starting libero, Kira is the starting setter, and HyeJu is the starting outside. But that’s not why they’re called the Triple Threat. It would be fine if they were just experienced in their positions.”

“Oh?”

“Don’t worry. You’ll witness it very soon. It’ll only be a matter of time before the three of them will be on the same team,” HimChan laughed, enjoying the puzzled look on YoungJae and DaeHyun’s faces.

Just as HimChan finished talking, HyeJu was waiting on the left while MiHyun waited in the middle as Kira prepared to serve.

“Hey, Gukie~ If the girls win, that means all the guys have to be punished, right?” Kira cackled as she served the ball over to the other side. Not expecting a float serve, the inexperienced receiver on the winning side mi the ball and shanked it off the court, too quickly for anyone else to get another touch on it. Kira cheered as the three of them ran to the other side, preparing to defend their territory.

“Oh ho~ that was a bit too easy for them…” HimChan chuckled as the aura from the three girls suddenly changed from playful banters to immense concentration.

“That just means we should keep them from doing what they do best, right?” JongUp said softly as he served the ball hard at Kira, forcing her to take the first ball so she can’t set. The pass went perfectly to the setter position where MiHyun was already prepared after seeing Kira take the first ball. Facing the opposite direction to where HyeJu was, MiHyun could only backset the ball to outside for HyeJu, who didn’t have any troubles pounding the ball down. JongUp dove forward and managed to keep the ball up, but it went over on his first hit, giving the girls another chance to attack. MiHyun easily passed the first ball to Kira, who set it to HyeJu. But the set was faster than the regular ones she had been giving everyone, staying at the level of the net the whole time as it traveled to HyeJu. The hitter was ready for it as she had approached before the ball even reached Kira’s hands.

“SHOOT!” JongUp called out as he ran back into his defensive position. There was nothing he could do about it since HyeJu aimed for the other side of the court and none of the other players were prepared for the fast play.

“…what was that?” DaeHyun stared in surprise.

“I…didn’t see Kira or HyeJu call for a shoot set…” YoungJae commented.

“That’s one for us, right?” HyeJu announced as Kira and MiHyun high-fived each other.

Another play started as JunHong was on the left side, preparing to hit. He didn’t have any blockers so he aimed straight down to hit the 10 foot line again. The tall 1^st year gasped in surprise when HyeJu was there, hitting the ball up for Kira to get. Although it was a bit off, Kira set it over to MiHyun to hit from the back row. MiHyun jumped straight over the 10 foot line and slammed the ball right back at JunHong, who wasn’t able to return it.

“Wow, that was dangerous…” HyeJu gasped out as she shook her hands. “To think that 1^st year can hit within the 10 foot line fairly consistently. They sure are scary…”

“Too bad, that’s two for us, huh?” MiHyun laughed as she high-fived HyeJu. “Nice dig, Unnie~!”

“You three are so irritating, you know that?” HimChan called out as he got on the court on the left.

“HimChanie-oppa! Even me?” MiHyun whined playfully with a pout.

HimChan chuckled, “Not usually, but you hang around those two bad influences so much and Oppa will get irritated, too~!”

“Stop flirting with our MiHyunie, you lecherous player!” HyeJu demanded as Kira stomped her foot in anger.

“Serve!”

HimChan prepared himself, knowing that exchange just now would have them targeting him. He knew those two were very protective of MiHyun, so he would at least have a chance if they were going to hit to him. His assumptions were correct as HyeJu hit cross at the line he was covering. Knowing she would hit so aggressively, he didn’t even bother lining up the corner to defend and covered the line to prevent her from scoring. He passed it straight to the setter and called for the ball to hit. He had played with them enough times to know their movements and went up to hit the ball with a full approach, only to stop at the top and tip the ball over the net. He scoffed in frustration when HyeJu manage to get her hand on it, though it went shooting to MiHyun, who wasn’t able to do much except hit it up for Kira. Despite the scrappy play, Kira got a good hit on it, right down the line at HimChan, who put his hands up to block the ball from injuring his precious face. The ball flew back over the net, giving the girls a chance to reset and hit again though this time they hit it away from HimChan and scored.

“What’s the point if you’re not going to challenge me directly, HyeJu?” HimChan demanded in frustration.

“You can challenge Kira all you want, Kim HimChan. But I’m not gonna fall for your ploy~ I think with more than my pride,” HyeJu taunted with a smile as HimChan got off.

“Three~! Two more!” MiHyun cheered.

“Oh, we have a dangerous opponent now~” Kira said in excitement as YongGuk took the middle position on the other team.

“I’m surprised you weren’t on the same team as HimChan,” HyeJu commented as the serve came over.

“We intended to, but the line didn’t go as planned,” YongGuk explained while watching HyeJu pass the ball to Kira, who set the ball for MiHyun to hit over. Despite being a back row hit, YongGuk still went up to block, even getting a touch on the ball, making it easier to receive.

“Blocking girls. That’s low, Bang YongGuk!” Kira cried out as the setter set YongGuk. She charged forward and jumped up as YongGuk jumped to hit the ball. To everyone’s surprise, she managed to get a hand on the ball, soft blocking it so it was easier for MiHyun to receive. Kira turned around immediately and set the ball to HyeJu, who was met with YongGuk with another block. Knowing she couldn’t win a one vs. one against YongGuk, she tipped it over YongGuk’s hands. YongGuk was quick to react and turned to pass the ball so someone could attack it back over. When they saw that YongGuk wasn’t the one hitting, they went back to defend instead of blocking. Once the ball came over, HyeJu passed the ball to MiHyun. YongGuk ran over to block HyeJu since it would have been an easy set to HyeJu from there. But MiHyun backset to Kira, who attacked cross, earning them the point.

“Yeah! Good set, MiHyunie!” Kira cheered, high-fiving MiHyun. HyeJu, who jumped to fake YongGuk out, stood in front of him with a smirk.

“You lost completely. That’s why you shouldn’t block girls, YongGukie~” HyeJu taunted as YongGuk just shook his head with a defeated smile.

“If I didn’t block you girls, the whole court would be yours.”

“One more and it’s our complete victory~” Kira sneered evilly at the boys. “Do we get to pick the punishment, too?”

“Like we’ll let you do that,” YoungJae jeered as he stepped in the middle of the court with DaeHyun on his left.

“Oh~ you’re not setting? Perhaps you feel threatened in your position?” Kira provoked.

“I finally understand why you guys are called the Triple Threat,” YoungJae stated. “When it’s the three of you, your coordination is on point regardless of the scrappiness of the play. All three of you can play any positions, huh?”

“So, we decided to change it up a bit to see if we can throw you girls off. After all, I’m a bit scared of what kind of punishment you might put us through,” DaeHyun added with a shiver. YoungJae grinned confidently at them.

“Now, are you ready for our comeback?”

JunHong served the ball at Kira, who passed it easily to MiHyun to set. JunHong immediately went up to mark HyeJu with a block, so MiHyun set the ball to Kira instead. Just as she was about to hit, her eyes widened at the fact that DaeHyun was blocking her, so she tipped the ball over him. YoungJae was there immediately, passing it to DaeHyun next. DaeHyun set the ball to JunHong, who attacked with full strength. What was supposed to be a clean hit, rebounded off HyeJu’s hands towards their own court. DaeHyun chased after it, saving the ball before it could hit the ground. YoungJae took the second ball and backset it to JunHong, who attacked again, hitting around HyeJu’s block this time. Kira was there to prevent him from scoring, digging the ball up to HyeJu to set MiHyun. Instead of the usual back row hit, MiHyun came forwards for a middle. JunHong went up to block MiHyun, who turned her hand to dump the ball to the side. She was surprised to find DaeHyun saving the ball, hitting it up for YoungJae to set.

“Now!”

DaeHyun ran in a circle to approach before YoungJae touched the ball.

“It’s a quick!” MiHyun read the play, but Kira kept her eyes on YoungJae and noticed him look backwards.

“No, it’s to JunHong!”

DaeHyun jumped, but the ball didn’t come to him. JunHong was shocked to find both HyeJu and Kira blocking him. He didn’t have any time to adjust and hit it straight into the block. Since they were playing on a men’s net, the girls could only soft block it so MiHyun could pick it up. HyeJu and Kira exchanged glances for a second. JunHong expected Kira to set the ball, so he was prepared to mark HyeJu. He was surprised to find HyeJu setting to Kira, who had already run back to the right side, ready to approach. JunHong left HyeJu to mark Kira. When HyeJu realized she was freed, she jumped, as if she was setting, then dumped the ball swiftly with her right hand.

What should have been the point was picked up by DaeHyun (with a pancake nonetheless). When did he get there?

“Seriously?!” Kira yelled in frustration as YoungJae took the second ball.

“JunHong!” he yelled out.

The younger one nodded in understanding, quickly running behind YoungJae.

“It’s a slide!” MiHyun called out, but again Kira watched YoungJae carefully.

“No…it’s outside!” Kira corrected as JunHong jumped for the ball. YoungJae grunted in irritation as he set the ball to DaeHyun as Kira predicted. How was she doing that?! Kira jumped up with all her might, hoping to get a hand on DaeHyun’s hit to stop the power. The outside hitter glanced at Kira before changing his posture and pushing the ball with his hands to the back corner.

MiHyun was prepared for the surprise attacked and took the ball with her hands, passing it to HyeJu since Kira wasn’t prepared yet from blocking.

“HyeJu!” Kira called out. HyeJu shot the ball to the right side and Kira slammed it cross court at JunHong with a quick swing. JunHong got a good pass out of it but it was too close to the net and HyeJu was prepared for the over pass. She went up with two hands and threw the ball down to the side, out of DaeHyun’s reach, hitting the floor and ending the point.

“WHOO~! THAT’S FIVE FOR US!” HyeJu celebrated as the three girls huddled for a victory cheer.

“Damn it!” YoungJae cursed.

“Amazing…” DaeHyun chuckled as he panted heavily.

“Ahhh~! I’m sorry, Hyung!” JunHong apologized at his last pass, but YoungJae just smiled, patting the younger one on the shoulder.

“You did your best. That was a great pass. There’s only so much you can do when your opponent has good chemistry,” chuckled YoungJae.

“JunHong-ah! How do you hit within the 10 foot line like that? It’s amazing!” DaeHyun praised.

“Not as amazing as Hyung’s saves! You were almost as good as JongUpie-hyung!” JunHong praised back.

“Hey, boys! Why don’t you go Indian run a hill as punishment?” Kira cackled, receiving a collective groan from the boys.

“Kira!” HimChan whined.

“We won fair and square~ Don’t argue with us, Kim HimChan!” HyeJu retorted.

The group of boys begrudgingly got up and ran outside in a single file line to the hill outside. With a sigh, the girls took a break, laughing and talking about the fun they had playing with the boys.

~

“Seriously…those girls sure are like a tornado…coming and going…” HimChan sighed, fanning himself in exhaustion.

“The Triple Threat really live up to their name…” JongUp praised with a gentle smile, looking fairly energized despite the conditioning they went through.

YoungJae threw his water bottle after taking a sip in frustration. “How was she reading all my moves?!”

“That’s Kira’s specialty. Other than being able to get to almost any ball, she can read the other setter fairly well and knows what kind of play they’re going through. She probably felt you didn’t quite trust your hitters enough to actually go through with any plays, so you would play it safe and using the other hitter as a decoy. You prefer to play it safe, right?” YongGuk explained, but smiled. “I was really impressed by your movements though. We’re actually in need of a setter since ours graduated last year. Would you be interested?”

YoungJae stared in shock, but nodded in excitement, thanking YongGuk.

“Amazing…” DaeHyun stated as he watched the girls pack up their things. “Hey, hey, what’s their libero’s name? MiHyun, was it?”

“Why, did you fall in love?” Chan. DaeHyun blushed in response and stuttered about just being very impressed by her movements.

“Yo, Child. Not bad today,” Kira greeted, her bag slung over her shoulder.

“Even your praise sounds insulting,” YoungJae grumbled between her teeth.

“We were really surprised by how well you three played together,” MiHyun commented while looking at DaeHyun. “You move surprisingly fast for an outside hitter…did you play libero at one point?”

“Ah…well, at this one volleyball camp that I went to, I did practice a bit of that…but that was a while ago,” DaeHyun answered with an awkward laugh.

“Ah! I remember now!” MiHyun exclaimed suddenly, pointing at DaeHyun. “Busan! I went to that volleyball camp too! No wonder you look so familiar!”

DaeHyun blinked in surprise before his eyes widened in realization. “Oh! Hyunie! No way! That’s two volleyball friends I’ve been reunited with! Let’s catch up! Want to go for ice cream?”

“Can I ever say no to ice cream?!” laughed MiHyun as the two talked animatedly, leaving the rest behind.

“Yah! Stay away from MiHyun, you pretty boy!” Kira called out, chasing after them. HyeJu laughed at their antics when suddenly she felt a tug on her sleeve.

“Umm…HyeJu-sunbaenim? Can I ask you a favor?” a soft voice called out.

“Oh…sure…umm…Moon JongUp, was it?” HyeJu tried to recall. She sighed in relief that she got it right when the boy’s eyes lit up, glad that she remembered his name.

“Would you be willing to help me with some passing? You have a lot better control than the guys…so I was wondering…if you could…actually…never mind…that was a weird request, right?” the boy mumbled, looking down, refusing to meet HyeJu’s eyes. She was briefly reminded of a shy, little puppy for some reason and all she wanted to do was to hug him and squeeze him to death and take him home.

But she restrained herself.

“Of course, JongUp. I’d be happy to help you, but it’s been a long day, so how about tomorrow?” HyeJu suggested with a smile. JongUp’s face lit up with a bright smile as he nodded his head enthusiastically. Despite his excited expression, the cheer he let out didn’t quite mirror his passion, soft and almost sarcastic sounding to HyeJu’s ears.

YongGuk watched as the members left one by one with a smile.

“It’s going to be an interesting year, huh?”

“JiEun…”

“Let’s have a lot of fun, neh?” she proposed, holding her hand out for him. He took it gratefully and smiled down at her.

“Yeah, it’s going to be a lot of fun.”

=====================================================================

DONE.

I’M SORRY IT’S SO BORING.

;A;

ALL THESE SCENES ARE SO EXCITING IN MY HEAD BUT NOT ON PAPER. TT^TT

OTL

Oh, I also realize I put a lot of terms in here that most people who don’t play volleyball wouldn’t know, so if you need an explanation of anything, please leave me a comment and I’ll gladly explain to you!

/too lazy to put them here/

~Kira :3