Perfectionist ✺ Sakusa Kiyoomi

1

𝐂𝐡 𝟏 —— 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐕𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐇𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐤

Konishi Chiharu grit his teeth and marched against the frostbiting wind.

His ear-length hair violently thrashed behind him, as if struggling to keep up. Instead of the usual soft wave-like strands, it was now a tsunami. Despite the lack of sunlight, his hair was so vibrantly auburn that it shone pink.

The sky was gray. Winter was in full swing. It created a desaturated backdrop for Chiharu's brightly colored form. The wind was merciless and the clouds were one harsher gust away from snowfall. Chiharu's gloves rendered useless as his hands went numb. He rubbed his hands together in a lame attempt to produce any kind of heat.

Mujinazaka's volleyball team was one of high demand. While other high school students slept in and got a healthy eight hours, Chiharu hauled his body up a pair of slipery, cold stairs to head to the Volleyball Clubroom at six in the morning. He shivered and adjusted his heavy coat to pull the collars impossibly higher. Underneath the thick winter coat was a plain orange shirt poorly matching a clashing blue pair of shorts. Other than the tiresome schedule, the team was also blessed with an atrocious color palette.

Chiharu hugged his volleyball dufflebag closer to his body, as he took one last streneous step. He used up the remaining strength in his hands— which had gone blue by now— to dramatically shove open the Clubroom door. Then, he strutted through the door with great purpose, like the star of his own reality show.

Warm air conditioning immediately wrapped its arms around him, dusting the icy bitterness off his skin. Chiharu raked an unfeeling hand through his pink hair, before ripping off his gloves. He let the tingly warmth travel into his fingertips before shrugging off his coat.

"Good morning." He droned with the usual greeting on instinct before really comprehending the rest of the cast inside the Clubroom.

He walked past the setter, Usuri. The boy had a pencil in hand, furiously scribbling in a notebook. He wore a terrifyingly concentrated expression that definitely never showed up when he was doing math problems. Chiharu concluded Usuri must have been jotting down new plays he could try. God forbid Usuri ever got into any serious relationship, because he was a master of manipulation on the court.

Behind Usuri sat the second year Libero, Bishin. Due to Chiharu also playing the same position, as well as having higher accuracy, Bishin was a frequent visitor of the bench during games. What earned him Chiharu's respect was how he was forever a good sport about it. He would most likely inherit the starting position once Chiharu graduated this year.

Bishin was a frisky player, often pulling off insane stunts from his amazing athletic ability alone. His personality was energetic and all over the place. Yet he was currently sitting uncharacteristically still as his teammate quite literally used him as a pillow.

The sleeping one in question was Subaru, second year outside hitter. His eyes were peacefully closed as he squished his head against Bishin's shoulder, likely attempting to catch up on sleep he didn't get last night. Chiharu didn't bother him, as he understood how important sleep was for the growing body. Not that he would know because he was forever stuck at 179 centimeters, a rather average height for a volleyball player in a sea of giants. Subaru could hold his own quite well on the court, but was definitely in need of more experience. In fact, after this year, Subaru would officially take on the title of 'Ace' after the current ace graduated.

Speaking of the current ace...

"Good morning, Captain!" Chiharu saluted politely. Too politely.

"Oh, no." He heard Kiryu mumble under his breath. Kiryu paused in the middle of mixing powdered protein into his water. His eyes danced frantically before he simply sat back and accepted his fate. Chiharu was a lovable person and an even better libero, but he definitely relished in Wakatsu Kiryu's torment sometimes. The captain pushed his thoughts away and awaited whatever stunt was to come today.