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It was love at first sight.
Washio had told her about a new girl group that was going to debut that day, and that she might like them. Bokuto wasn’t sure, as she didn’t care that much about music groups in general.
“Give them a chance, my younger cousin is in it.”
“Your cousin? Isn’t she that tall and scary girl?”
That could be used to describe any of her cousins. Washio frowned, she knew that having a scary face ran on the family, but having a friend say it so openly was a bit shocking.
“Yeah, it’s Wataru. She has been a trainee for three years now and she is finally debuting. Make sure to check out their song.”
“Sure! I had no idea she left volleyball because of that, I just thought she stopped liking the sport.”
“She still likes to play volleyball, she just doesn’t have the time anymore. If I’m not wrong some of the other girls in her group also play. Or used to, at least.”
“Really? Then I’ll make sure to check them out, don’t worry.”
And that was how Bokuto ended up falling in love at first sight. In her defence, the girl had everything one could ask for. First it was her hair, which looked softer than clouds and was darker than the night. Then Bokuto made eye contact with her. Even though it was only a music video, and the screen was keeping them apart, she knew that that was what being looked by an angel felt like.
Owlsation’s song was incredibly catchy, and the five girls managed to leave a good impression on her. Bokuto was surprised at how much Onaga had changed since the last time they had played together in middle school. It was hilarious looking her next to some of her groupmates, as she was at least a head taller than one of the other girls.
But then there was the girl that caught Bokuto’s attention. She had an amazing voice, her dancing was flawless and she had the cuter face Bokuto had ever seen. It wasn’t long until she decided that she would become her fan #1, and nothing was going to stop her.
Bokuto started to read the comments, even if common sense usually said that one should never read Youtube’s comment section. There she found what she was looking for, the name of her black haired goddess. One of the comments said the names of the members and their first appearance in the video, so that people could recognise them.
Akaashi Keiji
Akaashi was the name of her new crush, of the new love of her life. She quickly added a message saying ‘IM IN LOVE!!’ to the team’s group chat and then decided to let everyone on the comment section know about her love too.
Soon replies started to come. Some were around the lines of ‘I find them all cute’, others were more ‘really? I thought that Konoha was cuter’ and then some were a bit meaner. Not to Bokuto, at least not directly, but at Akaashi.
‘her voice is good, but it doesn’t have much emotion’
‘imo the others are better’
‘I heard that she is a bit cold’
‘wasn’t she supposed to be a bit mean?’
‘do you really like the ice queen?’
The Ice Queen. It was a nickname that people liked and started to spread around. A few hours after the release of the video, they were already unofficial profiles that put it on the ‘alternative names’ section.
Bokuto didn’t agree. After binge watching all of their predebut videos she could safely say that Akaashi wasn’t an Ice Queen. She didn’t talk as much as the other members, her humour was as dry as you could get and she wasn’t as touchy as the rest of the group. But she wasn’t an Ice Queen. Bokuto would describe her as a Snow Princess, but not as an Ice Queen.
Then, on a whim more than anything, she decided to check her phone. She was surprised by the high number of notifications, mostly from the group chat. She then remembered that she had actually posted about her now being in love, without any context or explanation.
The first years were dying to know who it was, the second years were curious about why she felt compelled to announce it to everyone, and the third years just wrote variations of ‘shut up captain’. She looked online for the best picture of Akaashi she could find, and then posted it with #newbae as the caption.
Seconds later, Bokuto heard her phone go off with a message from Washio. The girl sent a straightforward ‘seems like you liked them’ which reminded Bokuto that her original mission was to see Onaga.
‘they are fantastic!’
‘apart from akaashi, what did you like about the video’
‘onaga is taller now! we should get together for a match sometime’
‘i’ll tell her, but i dont think she has much time’
‘but she can find some time for her senpai!!’
‘i think it is her manager who decides what she has time for, actually’
‘ :( ’
‘but they will have a fanmeeting soon, it’s after practice’
‘yasss, count me in’
Washio sent her the directions, and said they could go together after practice. Bokuto loved the idea, and went back to watching videos of Owlsation. They had recorded multiple videos when they were still training, and in one of the oldest ones she managed to see Onaga in her volleyball uniform. It was probably from her second year of middle school, before she left the club to focus on her training.
When she mentioned it to Washio the next day, she told her that she had left the team at the beginning of her third year, as dance and vocal practice became more time consuming due to the approaching debut.
“I am glad you liked the group, but why are you saying you love Akaashi now?”
“Have you seen her? She is so nice, and so funny! You should watch the video where they are trying to teach Komi to speak English, it’s hilarious!”
“Who is Komi?”
“The short one. But back to Akaashi, have you seen her smile? She doesn’t smile much, but I have screenshots of when she does it, and it’s the best!”
“Screenshots? By how much you have talked about her, I expected you to have gifted it at least.”
“Oh my god, that’s such a good idea. I’ll do it this afternoon, I could post them online.”
Washio shook her head, she had no idea of why she was friends with Bokuto of all people. Maybe because of being six years on the same team. Just maybe.
When they arrived to the fanmeeting, there weren’t that many people. On the first place, they had just debuted and weren’t from one of the big companies. Then there was also the issue that it was a Friday afterschool, and most people had other plans.
They sat near the front, the ground was a bit cold, but it was bearable. There were a bunch of girls with expensive looking cameras, ready to immortalise every minute. Bokuto thought that it was a good idea, and took out her phone. It wasn’t as those huge cameras with high definition, but it was better than nothing.
The event was fun, the fans cheered and laughed. Owlsation ended up by thanking all of them for coming and asked the fans for their love and support. The audience assured them that they would follow them wherever they took them, and Owlsation finished it by singing their debut song.
Bokuto was in heaven. She could not believe that she was so close to the girl she had fallen for the day before. Her phone’s camera, although it wasn’t the best, managed to capture enough of Akaashi in order to leave Bokuto happy for the rest of her life.
When she returned home, she decided to create a fansite for Akaashi. She decided to call it Snow Princess, in contrast with the more popular nickname of Ice Queen. Bokuto loved snow, it was fluffy and you could use it to play with.
She uploaded her pictures, and soon there were people commenting on them. Most were thanking her for the pictures, as the other fansites only took pictures of the other members. The comments were nice, many commenting on how cute Akaashi looked.
‘our princess is the cutest’ Bokuto agreed, which lead to the rest to adopt the habit of calling Akaashi their princess. Then another fan added that they now were like Akaashi’s court, which they all loved and started to use as their unofficial name.
Bokuto borrowed her sister’s computer as she had Photoshop installed, and started to gif the smiles of her princess. She only managed to do some before she had to go to bed, but she managed to publish them before going to sleep.
When she woke up for morning practice, she checked and saw that there were many new comments. The fansite had created a small community of courtiers who loved talking about their princess. The comment section looked more like a forum than a comment section.
“Are you free this afternoon?” Washio asked her when she arrived to the gym. Both third years were always the first ones to be there.
“Yeah, why?”
“Owlsation is having their first live tonight, and Wataru managed to get me two tickets.”
“Really! This is so cool, tell Onaga she is my favourite kohai now.”
“She is not your kohai anymore.”
“Once a kohai, always a kohai.”
Washio rolled her eyes, but smiled a little. Some of the alumni still came from time to time to the school to help out with practice. She knew she would never stop thinking of them as her senpais, and she was pretty sure they still thought of her as their kohai.
After afternoon practice both girls were drenched in sweat. They took a quick shower and changed back to their school uniform. If they wanted to get good places, they would have to arrive as early as they could. That meant there was no time to pass home for a change of clothes.
On the way to the hall, Bokuto managed to text her mother that she was going to stay out late. To her sister she sent a text asking her to record the music show on TV, as she wanted to gif and screenshot Akaashi when she got home.
They got good places, and Bokuto was thankful that they allowed pictures to be taken. She needed to bring more images to the court. She also needed to find some co-admins, as she spent most of her time in practice and wouldn’t be able to update the site that much.
The rest of the groups were good, and Bokuto was sure she had heard some of the first years sing some of their songs before. When Owlsation came up, she was surprised by how amazing Akaashi looked. The girls were using sport uniforms as their outfits, and Akaashi was wearing a volleyball uniform.
If it wasn’t because she still needed to upload new pictures, she could have died on the spot. It was beyond cute. It was beyond hot. It was perfection. Or at least that was how it looked for Bokuto. And then, to make everything worse, she managed to make eye contact with her. She felt like she was in heaven, she felt like the most special girl in the huge hall. The second their eyes were directed to each other, it was like she had found all the answers of the universe.
But before she knew it the second had passed, and they were again separated by people and the stage. Still, it had been enough. Bokuto felt the adoration only fans could feel towards their idols. Even though she had never talked with her, she knew that she would do anything for her. And if in that moment it was to take pictures to increase her popularity, so would it be.
When she returned home, her body was still high due to all the energy from the concert hall. Her ears were buzzing and her heart was beating as fast as if she was in the middle of a match. She had gone to heaven and now she was back in earth to share her experience with the rest of mortals.
Bokuto uploaded the pictures that ended up looking good. Many were a bit blurry or the light was off. But some were good, so she shared them with her fellow courtiers. They loved them, the court wasn’t as big as the fanbases for the other members, who already had several fansites. Bokuto was the only taking pictures exclusively of their princess, and they loved her for that.
‘you are like our knight on a shining armour’ wrote one of the fans.
‘I would fight 1000 dragons for our princess!’ she answered.
Bokuto still had to find some co-admins. She decided to ask two people, as that way it would be easier for everyone. One of the options was quite easy, a fan by the name of a_pie had been a godsend when gifs were involved. She had sent Bokuto nice high definition gifs on Akaashi from older videos. She also asked Bokuto to upload videos if she took any.
a_pie was the obvious choice, and Bokuto didn’t wait much until she sent her a message to ask if they could chat on kakao or line. ‘same name for both’ was the only answer she received, and said and done she managed to find her on both with her name. Her profile pictures for both were of a little cat. Bokuto was sure that it was the cutest cat she had ever seen and promised herself to ask a_pie for more pictures of the small furred friend once they knew each other a bit better.
She asked her to help her with the fansite, which a_pie accepted. She told her that she wasn’t able to go to concert or fan events, so she wouldn’t bring new content. Bokuto reassured her that it was okay, she needed someone to keep the fansite updated with information which could be found online. And the high quality gifs a_pie made wouldn’t hurt.
When that was done, she still needed a second co-admin. All the people she had met so far were really nice. Most complained about living far and not being able to fully support their princess. She had managed to learn a bunch of the names of the most frequent posters.
One of them was particularly nice. set5 would usually comment of the pictures themselves rather than on Akaashi. She, Bokuto assumed it was a she, would compliment Bokuto on how she took the pictures. ‘the light looks really nice here’, ‘the framing is excellent in this picture’. She would also give her suggestions on how to improve. She sent Bokuto some of the pictures edited, with a change in contrast and colours, in order to make them clearer. Bokuto didn’t thought of editing at the beginning, as she was terrible with Photoshop, but set5 managed to make art with it.
At the end she went with her instinct. She asked set5 for a way of communicating, and received an answer half an hour later. It looked like a brand new account, as the picture was still one of the stock images you get at the start. Bokuto felt happy that someone bothered to create an account only to talk with her.
‘hey i’m snowy_fan, i was wondering if u wanted to become a co-admin. u’re good with ps so I thought u would be good’
‘I would not be able to go to any event though.’
‘it’s okay, u could help edit the pics as u are so much better’
‘I could help with that. Sure, I can be a co-admin. I won’t be able to be online sometimes, but I will try to update the site as much as I can.’
‘thanks! u’re a godsend!!’
‘Does that mean that I am allowed to edit the pictures you take and upload them to the site?’
‘of course :D’
Bokuto then added both a_pie and set5 as her new co-admins. They exchanged emails in order to be able to send documents to each other, and then she made sure to introduce them to each other.
And like that time passed. Bokuto kept on going to every event she could, as long as it didn’t interfered with practice. Her teammates asked her if it wasn’t a problem with her studies, but she reminded them that she had a solid pass in every class. Also, she had been offered several sports scholarships from multiple universities in the country, and one even from abroad.
a_pie was a magician with gifs. Her work became famous not only with the members of the court, but with all of the fandom. One day she eventually managed to attend one of the smaller events, as she didn’t really liked being surrounded by people. Bokuto would never forget her face when she saw Akaashi for the first time. It was the same mix of awe and joy that Bokuto always felt when she was close to her idol.
set5 managed to make Bokuto’s pictures masterpieces. Bokuto still used her phone camera, and there was a clear difference in quality between her and the other fansites. But set5 knew how to solve every problem. Bokuto would always send her the pictures to her, and after a few hours she saw how they looked 100% better.
set5 also had a special sense of when Owlsation was going to update their official accounts. She would usually be the first one to pass the pictures to the fansite. Fans loved them for that, as sometimes it was hard to be up to date with the multiple platforms the band used.
But the best about her was how nice she was. She didn’t have much free time, a weird contradiction with how it looked like she was always on twitter, the fancafe and the official blog to keep the fansite constantly updated; but the little free time she had she used to text Bokuto.
It all started with conversation mostly centred on the fansite and the pictures. Then, it started to be about more mundane topics, to the point where Bokuto would liveblog volleyball matches for set5, as she didn’t had enough time to watch them herself.
Volleyball was one of the topics they had in common. It came up when Bokuto mentioned how her favourite outfit had been the volleyball uniform, and it followed a natural flow into the point where set5 would ask her about how her team’s practice had gone.
Bokuto loved it. She loved talking, and found that set5 was a good listener. Or reader, as they were texting rather than actually speaking to each other. set5 would usually remember things about prior conversation, and ask about them. She would ask about her matches, and about how the first years were going. She was more interested in Bokuto’s life than any of her real life friends.
set5 was more reserved. She gave very little information about her life. Bokuto knew that she lived in dorms where she was in charge of cooking, she knew that set5 hated waking up early, but that her job usually forced her out of bed early in the morning, she knew that set5 loved photography, both taking photos and editing them. There were things she knew about her, but not nearly as many as set5 knew about Bokuto.
Before she knew it, the promotions for Owlsation’s debut had ended, and the events were fewer and farther in between. Bokuto was sad because she didn’t have that many opportunities to see her princess up close, but at the same time she was glad as her volleyball tournament was near and she had to spend more time practicing.
Soon, her life cycled between practice, the fansite and talking with set5. The fansite had grown a lot since the beginning, and was now one of the most popular in the fandom, even with people who were not part of the court. Her camera hadn’t been upgraded, but she had improved considerably in her technique of taking pictures.
Almost all of her pictures were of Akaashi, the few that weren’t were of Onaga and she sent them to her or to Washio. Her kohai had started to talk again with her when she noticed how she became one of the regulars on the fan events. Once she told set5 about the story of why she ended up checking the band out.
‘I’m glad’
‘u’re glad of what? that i know the cousin of Onaga?’
‘No, that she made you watch the video. I am really happy for that.’
‘why?’
‘Because I wouldn’t know you otherwise.’
That sent Bokuto into the third heaven. She knew that set5 probably had no idea of how much comments like that affected her. It was too much for her weak heart. set5 was the dream girl all the cheesy songs sang about.
‘By the way, are you going to tomorrow’s event?’ asked set5, not giving time to Bokuto to recover from her trance in which she was muttering “she is so cute…” to the walls of her room.
‘yes, why?’
‘Just wanted to know if you were going to send me something, I will have a bit of time tomorrow afternoon.’
‘that is so great! u can catch up with all the shows you wanted to watch ;D’
‘Not that much time, but enough for some editing.’
Bokuto smiled. She would try to take the best pictures she could, so that set5 could be happy editing. She always tried to capture Akaashi’s smile, but it was a bit difficult as she would usually freeze to admire it, rather than taking the picture. She had noticed that Akaashi had been looking more towards her, which was probably a way the gods were rewarding for having helped that old lady to cross the street. a_pie mentioned that it was more likely that the princess had noticed she was the one taking pictures for her fansite. Idols would usually try to look in the direction of people who took pictures of them, after all.
“Hey, Bokuto.” Washio told her when they were in morning practice. “Are you going to today’s?”
“Yeah, of course!”
“Good, I heard that they will sign albums, so make sure to take yours with you.”
“Really? Oh my god that is great! I have two copies of the album in my bag, so it will be fine.”
“Why do you have two copies with you?”
“If someone hasn’t heard of them; so they can borrow it, fall in love and then go and buy it.”
“Has that ever actually happened?”
Bokuto grinned. “Two girls in my class, half of the first years of the team and one of my neighbours. It is a very effective technique to create fans, you should try it.”
Washio rolled her eyes, but took a note of always carrying a copy of the album. She wasn’t a crazy fan like Bokuto was, but she still wanted to support her younger cousin.
After a long day of classes and practice, they finally got to the event. There was a much larger crowd than on the first one they had gone together to a fan event. Akaashi had a much larger amount of fans now, but her fanbase was still the smallest out of the members. Variety shows had helped the rest to become better liked, but Akaashi was still a bit camera shy and deadpan for everyone’s taste.
When Bokuto got face to face with her, she started to recite how much she liked her voice, how her dance was always on point and how she thought she was the funniest, even if not everyone thought so. Akaashi smiled, and Bokuto regretted not having her camera with her, as that was the prettiest smile Akaashi had given so far.
“Thank you very much for your constant support. It is really nice to see familiar faces.” Bokuto was dead. There was no way that she wasn’t in heaven. She was still in shock when she was seated next to Washio on the audience.
“Are you okay?”
“I have been blessed by an angel.”
“What?”
“Akaashi talked to me. Talked to me! Can you believe it? Everyone will be so jealous tonight!”
“I am surprised you haven’t talked with her before, you are basically her fan #1.”
“Meet and greets are usually held when we have practice, so today was the first time I actually talked to her. Mark this day on your dairy, it is now more important that New Year and my birthday combined.”
Bokuto then looked at her album, she asked Washio for a pen and was going to write down the date on the top, when she decided to open the photobook and write it where Akaashi had signed. But then she noticed something was odd. What was on top of Akaashi’s picture was not her signature, but a message.
‘Wait after everyone is gone.’
The rest of the fan event Bokuto’s mind was a repeat of those five words. She had every single possible scenario running through her mind, but even then she was utterly confused at what it could be. Her pictures ended up being a bit below average, as she was too distracted by the message to think straight. She was disappointed at herself, as she had promised to take good pictures for set5.
When the event finished, she told Washio to leave without her. She had errands to run, she used as an excuse. Washio just told her to be careful when she was going back home, and to send her a text when she got to her house.
It wasn’t long until the rest of the people had left. Everyone wanted to return home when there was still light outside.
“Hey.” Said a voice from behind her. When she turned she saw that it was Akaashi. Her biggest idol was in front of her, talking to her.
“H-Hello! I saw your message.”
“Thank you for waiting. You are one of the girls behind Snow Princess, right?”
“Yes! Kenma, I mean, a_pie has come to two events, but she was standing far so you probably didn’t saw her. And the other girl, set5, she can’t come to the events.”
“Was a_pie a small girl with dyed blonde hair?”
“Yes, that’s her!”
“I think I remember her. What I wanted to say is that I am really grateful for all the work you have done. This is for you and all the people who follow Snow Princess. Could you please tell them that I am grateful for every single one of them?”
“Yes, of course!” Then Bokuto was confused when Akaashi gave her a packet. It was a box that was wrapped with plain present wrap. That was probably what she wanted to give the fans at Snow Princess.
Akaashi left before she managed to ask more things. Bokuto saw how she entered a car where the rest of the members were waiting for her. They looked as confused as Bokuto, but Onaga managed to wave at her before they left.
When she got home, she instantly sent a message to Washio telling her she was okay, one to a_pie telling her that Akaashi said she remembered her, and one to set5 which was a mix of both emoticons and exclamation marks, as she had no idea what to say.
She then started to write her fan-account of what happened during the meeting. The court loved them, and they usually meant that set5 would publish the edited pictures in the near future.
When she published about her experience, it wasn’t long until the comment section was overflown with ‘WHAT WAS IN THE BOX?!?!’
Bokuto was still too shocked to actually open the box, so she uploaded a picture of the box with ‘new trivia fact: she is really good at wrapping’ as the caption. The comment section exploded again, everyone asking her to open the box. There were many hypothesis, ranging from ‘a signed picture of herself’ to ‘a cake!!’ to creepier options like ‘a dead/alive cat, which will only be proven one of those options when the box is opened’. But nothing could prepare Bokuto to what she actually found on the box.
It was a camera.
A nice camera.
There was also a letter, which she read as soon as she could.
‘Dear members of the court (that is what you call yourself, if I am not wrong),
Thank you very much for all of your support. You are the best fans I could wish for and I love every single one of you. What you have done for me is amazing and I wouldn’t be able to give back to you that even if I had five lifetimes. I wanted to give you something, but I couldn’t think of anything. That is one of my cameras, but now I need to use the group camera so I wasn’t using it that much. I would like to take the pictures myself, but I can’t, so I gave it to the nice fanmaster who takes them. The fanmasters have done an incredible job keeping this site, and I am also incredibly indebt with you.
Thank you to all the courtiers,
Akaashi, the idol with the nicest fans. (and the snow princess, I guess)’
Bokuto took a picture of the letter and uploaded it, next to a picture of the new camera. Soon, the comments were overflowing with emotion. Fans from all of the fandom joined in the communal ‘SHE IS SO NICEEEE’.
The letter and the camera created a huge influx of fans to the court. They had finally understood how Akaashi was more than just an Ice Queen. Bokuto couldn’t be happier, her dream of making her princess happy was reached.
Kenma wrote her asking about the details of how she mentioned her, as on the fan account it was only written that ‘our cute princess then said that she remembered a_pie from when she went, after I described her to her’. Bokuto told her about every single detail she could remember of the conversation, and then got confused when Kenma stopped answering.
Half an hour later she just sent a ‘can’t talk, too many emotions’.
Bokuto was confused by the lack of answer from set5, but she assumed it was another emotion overload. Akaashi had sent all of her fans into a mushy mushy state and no one was making sense.
Hours later set5 would write a simple ‘I am out of words, I don’t know what to say, too many emotions. Could you send the pictures you took, please’.
‘yeah of course, sorry I forgot after what happened. sorry they are not the best, my head was on the message during most of the time’
‘It is okay. I am really happy for you, you now will have what to gloat about to your first years.’
‘tru!! they will be so jealous ;D’
If she had to choose between all the good things Owlsation had given her, she would not be sure what to choose. On the one side there was Akaashi herself, which still managed to make her heart rate raise. Then there was the lovely community that had grown around Snow Princess. Finally, there was set5. Sweet set5 who was nice and funny, who cared about her and understood her.
The answer at the end was quite simple, it was set5. An unnamed girl, a faceless person to whom she told everything, from the silliest things she thought to her biggest insecurities.
Days passed, her volleyball tournament was a success, and she couldn’t feel more proud than when she sent a selfie to set5 of her with the trophy. Everyone sent her congratulations, Onaga even managed to get her group to send Washio a picture of them with a large paper that said ‘Volleyball Champions’. She then sent Bokuto a picture of Akaashi with a paper that said ‘for the best captain ever’ which sent Bokuto into a mess. The dream of her life was completed, and she wasn’t able to tell everyone as Onaga asked them to keep the pictures private, manager orders.
Everything went better from then, set5 started to have a little more of time. However, she did explained that it wouldn’t be long until her workload increased again. As she had more time, she started to teach Bokuto how to take pictures with the new camera, which was way more complex than her phone’s camera, and how to do basic editing.
Her conversations with set5 became longer, and it started to hurt Bokuto not being able to say how much the girl meant to her. The only person she told about her crush that was growing day by day was Washio, but the girl was not much help as she was more interested on seeing paint dry than on Bokuto’s love life.
Still, she managed to keep it under control. She would have to occasionally squeak into her pillow, but she could control most of it. Until set5 sent that message.
‘If you had to choose between Akaashi and me, who would you choose?’
‘don’t be mean! this is such a tough question, it’s like choosing between your mum and your dad : ( i guess that you’
‘Really?’
‘yeah, i love our princess, but at the end of the day i love her as a fan. with u it’s different, if you weren’t straight i would def try to ask you out’
‘Do you really mean it?’
‘yeah! you are the coolest person i know!!’
There was a long pause, in which Bokuto assumed she had failed. She probably had screwed up their friendship, and it would be awkward from then on. Bokuto sighted and threw her phone to a corner of her room, and face planted on her bed. Minutes later, she heard her phone buzz, showing that there was a new message. Bokuto was scared to see what set5 had written, but at the end she stood up and went for her phone. She couldn’t escape her future that long.
‘I am not straight.’
Bokuto’s world started turning again. She felt the same euphoria she felt the same time she saw Akaashi in real life, the same feeling of being alive.
‘then let me look up some pick up line!!’
‘Please don’t.’
‘found one!’
‘…’
‘i’m not a photographer, but i can picture u and me together’
‘Technically you are a photographer.’
‘come on, don’t be such a party pooper’
‘If my memory is not failing, you said that if I wasn’t straight you would try to ask me out.’
‘ :D’
‘And my memory is really good.’
‘would you date me? i know we probably wont be able to see each other much, or at all. but please?’
‘Yes, I thought you would never ask.’
And like that Bokuto managed to get a girlfriend. She was more than happy. set5 was right that her workload would pick up again, but they still managed to get time to talk. When she left for training camp, set5 asked to keep her up-to-date with the results of each match.
It was fun, Bokuto would complain about how tired she was and set5 would complain about her co-workers. She never said that much about them, but they used code words to refer to each one of them. Or at least the ones she worked the most with. They were: tall, short, smiley and annoying. When Bokuto asked her about Annoying, set5 just told her that she was her roommate and was in charge of waking her up. And there was nothing set5 hated more than waking up.
After summer holidays and training camp, Bokuto was back to school. But she wasn’t the only one that was back. Owlsation announced a comeback in two weeks, which made the fandom go crazy.
‘hey there is an event tomorrow, will you be able to edit?’
‘No, sorry. But I have taught you enough, you will survive. I will be able to start editing again in five days more or less.’
‘it’s okay. good luck with work!’
The event went amazing, and the new songs were even cooler than the first ones. Bokuto managed to get everyone on her middle school team to sign a volleyball and they sent it to Onaga, who was incredibly surprised. Days later the group uploaded a video in which the older members were passing the ball between each other, and making Onaga run for it as she tried to recover it. It looked hilarious as Onaga was considerably taller than the rest, but their control was too good for Onaga to catch it.
It was a bit of a well-known fact that most of the girls had played volleyball sometime on their lives, with Onaga being on one of the best teams of the country during most of her middle school.
As promotions happened, the courtiers thanked Bokuto for the improvement in the pictures, although it was mostly due to the better camera provided by the princess.
One day, the coach asked the team to come together and listen to her. They all looked confused, there wasn’t any special event coming and they haven’t been performing neither worse nor better than usual.
“Girls, you may have already heard of a band called Owlsation. If I am not wrong Washio’s cousin is on it.” The team nodded, although most wanted to mention that it would be easier to recognise it as the captain’s obsession.
“Well, their manager had called us and they wanted to know if we could have a match with them. We would create two mixed teams with our members and theirs, and it would be used for a variety show. If you want to take part you need to sign-up, those who are still underage will need to get their parents’ consent.”
Bokuto turned to Washio, who was looking as confused as her. Onaga had not told them about that, and she usually would rely information which they needed.
The coach continued talking, giving details about the times and places. It would be a real match, with two or three sets depending on the results. There would be long pauses between the sets in order to reallocate the cameras and make mini interviews.
“And I think this is pretty obvious, but it is strictly confidential information. No one apart from you and your parents can know about this. You are completely forbidden from posting about it online, or telling you friends. I know it is a bit extreme, but the company wants it to be a surprise, and they could sue us if we reveal it to the public.”
All the girls nodded, it was expected that they were going to be secretive about all of that. It wouldn’t be their first time on TV, as the finals of tournaments were usually broadcasted, but it was the first time people would actually watch them.
“Are you doing it?” Bokuto turned to Washio, when they were walking home. She was surprised that her friend had to ask, as her fame as an Owlsation fan had reached even neighbouring high schools.
“Of course! Not only it’s a match, which I would never miss. It is also a match with my favourite idols.”
“Do you think they will be good?”
“Onaga was good back in the day, and I am pretty sure the others will be at least decent.”
Washio nodded. She really wanted to play with her cousin one more time, but at the same time she wanted to be on the opposite team and win against her. She also wanted to try blocking Bokuto’s spike, as she almost never got the chance to do it on matches.
“It’s a shame you can’t tell your, what were you called, courtiers?”
“Yeah, we are the courtiers. Members of the court of the cutest princess out there.” Then Bokuto realised something. She was going to play with Akaashi. Akaashi was going to be in the same room than her, and they might even speak.
“Are you okay? You look a bit pale?”
“I will speak with Akaashi!”
“Well, you might end up on the same team, so yeah.”
“I, Bokuto Koutarou, might be on the same team than Akaashi. Oh my god, oh my god!”
Washio started cackling, her captain was about to explode just by the small possibility that she might end up on the same team that her bias.
“You know, you will need to control yourself before the match. You are the captain, so you are probably going to be expected to say something.”
That was what finally sent Bokuto into hysterics. Washio ended up having to take her away to a park, as people were starting to stare at them on the streets. When she finally calmed down, they went to their own homes.
Once in the safety of her own room, Bokuto was going to text set5. Then she remembered that she was not allowed to talk about it with other people, apart from her parents that had already signed the permission.
‘hey! i am really happy today :D :D’
‘That is really good. Why are you happy?’
‘surprise :p you’ll know later. how was your day? did you managed to sleep the extra hour Annoying promised you?’
‘No. She woke me up at the same time. And when I asked her why, she just told me that the cake was a lie.’
‘ D: that is so annoying! i hope you get a break soon!!’
‘Same. I think I will have a break soon, so I can recover all the sleep I’ve lost. How was your day, apart from the thing that made you really happy?’
Bokuto then started to tell her about the hilarious thing that happened in PE, and the horrible joke her maths teacher made and no one laughed about, leaving him sad the rest of the class. Before she knew it, she had completely forgotten about the match and was trying to get set5 to laugh.
When the day finally arrived, Bokuto had managed to mentally prepare herself. It wouldn’t be the first time she saw them, her fansite being full of pictures of them being the proof. It wouldn’t be the first time she talked with them, as she had gone to multiple meet and greets events after that first one. It wouldn’t be the first time she played in front of cameras and would be on TV, as the finals of the regionals and all of the nationals were broadcasted.
Furthermore, it wouldn’t be the first time she played with someone famous, as she had played against girls that had ended up on the national team. Also she had played with Onaga before, and now she was really famous. Everything was going to be fine.
Or so Bokuto tried to convince herself.
When Owlsation arrived, they didn’t look like they were there to play a match. Their makeup was better than anything Bokuto could ever make, and their clothes fitted all of them perfectly.
The cameras started recording as soon as the group entered the gym, and they managed to capture the face of awe of many of the team members. Then, before anyone could say anything, multiple girls were surrounding Onaga. Many of them had played with her in middle school, and it was the first time they saw her since entering high school.
Bokuto eventually asked them to leave Onaga a bit of space to breath, and she could see the look of relief on her face once she didn’t have so many people chirping around her.
Bokuto then turned to the rest of the members and introduced herself as the captain of the team. She also introduced Washio as Onaga’s cousin.
“They look so similar!” Exclaimed Sarukui, her characteristic smile on her face.
“Tall and scary?”
Bokuto started laughing, Akaashi’s dry comments weren’t liked by that many people, but they were hilarious for her.
“Our sweet Onaga’s height is perfect for blocking,” she answered her “and her face will never be as scary as Washio’s before a match, so she is perfectly fine.”
“Thanks captain.”
The members of Owlsation went to change in their changing room while the team explained how volleyball worked. Most things would be edited out, but images of each of the key techniques would end up on the final version. Bokuto’s spike was one of the things that made it to TV, and people ended up thinking it was one of the best parts of the show.
When Owlsation was back, they were all dressed in a uniform with their group colours. Bokuto regretted not having her camera with her, but promised herself to ask Akaashi for a photo at the end of the match. Her phone worked well enough to maintain a fansite for a long time, so it would be good enough for a selfie.
The teams were made, and Wahio ended up on the opposite team of her cousin. Some of the first years that had been on the same team with Onaga started making bets on who would be better. Onaga was taller, but Washio had been playing for a lot longer.
Bokuto ended up thanking all the gods she could think of as she ended up on the same team than Akaashi. The girl smiled at her, which sent Bokuto into overdrive.
“Hi. I have seen you before, right?”
“Yeah! I am Bokuto, I’m one of the admins of Snow Princess.”
“Then I need to thank you for all the hard work you have done.”
“No, thank you for being so cool! Your voice is amazing and your dance even better.”
“Let’s hope my setting is as good, then.”
“You are a setter?”
“Yes, I used to play with my school before joining the company. I has been a long time since I have played, so I am not sure how it will go.”
Bokuto couldn’t be happier. The person she admired the most was going to be setting for her. It was her biggest dream come true. Or at least one of them. Her biggest dream at the moment was meeting set5, and the second would be to be selected to represent the country. But it was definitely her third biggest dream!
The match started without much delay. All of Owlsation ended up being better than expected. Maybe not in the level of the actual team, as they were one of the best in the country and they were constantly training, but they were still good enough to be able to keep up.
Akaashi’s sets were better than expected, and Bokuto managed to mark multiple points with her spikes Onaga’s blocks were good, her height was an excellent attribute in volleyball after all, but she wasn’t close to how good Washio was.
When Onaga failed her serve for the third time, Bokuto turned to one of the second years who had been the captain on her third year of middle school.
“I told you to make her work on her serves when I left.”
“I did! It’s probably all the dancing around that made her forget how to serve.”
“If she was still on the team she would be doing so many serve drills…”
Akaashi then got into the conversation, surprising both girls. “If she spent practicing her serves all the times we have to repeat a dance because she makes a mistake in practice, she would be the pitch server for the national team.”
Both girls laughed, and Akaashi was sure that Onaga would get offended when she heard it. But it was the truth, Onaga was by far the worst dancer of the group, even if her vocals were one of the best.
They ended up winning the first set, but it was too close for them to say that there was a big difference in skill between the teams. There was going to be a large pause before the second set, as it was a show after all, not a match.
Bokuto left in order to go the changing rooms to check her phone, Kenma had promised her to send her pictures her friend got of Akaashi when they had a concert out of town the day before.
The last thing she saw before she left was how Konoha tried to tackle Akaashi because she said that “as long as Konoha loses everything will be fine”.
‘hey, do you have the pictures?’
‘Yes, I’ll send them to your email. My friend also took videos, should I upload them now or after set5 uploads the pics??’
‘she might have work tonight, so i would do it now. i can edit some of them and uploaded them myself if she is busy’
‘Ok. Can you ask her?’
‘sure’
Bokuto then opened her conversation with set5. The last message was her ‘good morning’ she sent her girlfriend every day. She knew that she turned off her phone at night, so it wouldn’t wake her up. Also she knew that set5 liked the messages, as once when she overslept it was her phone’s buzzing with ‘Are you okay? Is everything fine?’ that saved her from being late to practice.
She sent a message asking her if she would be able to edit that night. She then added that a_pie’s friend had gone to yesterday’s concert and took pictures. When she finally clicked the send button, she heard a small sound in the locker.
Bokuto ignored it, as it wasn’t unusual that some of the girls left their phones turned on in their bags. She then sent another message explaining that she could edit the pictures if set5 wasn’t able to do it herself.
The sound happened again. Bokuto noticed that it was a characteristic hoot.
She assumed it was a coincidence, but sent another message with a random letter. The phone went off again. Bokuto approached the bag, sending message after message in order to locate it. At the end it was on one of the bags she didn’t recognise.
It was someone from Owlsation.
set5 had heard her fangirl nonstop for months about the band she was part off. She felt betrayed, she felt confused, but most importantly she felt guilty. The poor girl had probably heard her go on and on about Akaashi for months. Suddenly the ‘If you had to choose between Akaashi and me, who would you choose?’ question made much more sense.
It was the equivalent of talking about your crush to their sibling, and then starting to date them. All of that without you knowing that they were siblings.
Bokuto heard a sound from behind her, and she saw that Akaashi was standing under the door. She looked surprised, but Bokuto sent another text to set5 and when the phone went off her face turned a mixture of panic and fear.
“You all knew, didn’t you? You were only making fun of me?”
“No! Of course not.”
“Then who is it? I hope it’s not Onaga, she is three years younger than me! And it would make stuff a bit awkward with Washio…”
“It’s not her.”
“Komi? I am pretty sure I made fun of her height once, I regret it so much.”
“Not her either.”
“Then who? Konoha? I think I once criticised her for making fun of you. That must have been so weird for her!”
“No.”
“Sarukui? Her idol persona is completely different then, it must be weird for her having to change so much for the camera.”
“No, it’s not her. I am pretty sure she has a secret boyfriend or something.”
“But who is left? Oh no please don’t tell me it’s the manager! She is twice my age!”
Akaashi shook her head. Bokuto was confused, maybe one of the cameraman. She didn’t saw them getting any bags inside the changing room, but it was always a possibility.
“I am sorry.”
“What? Why?”
“I am sorry for not telling you.”
“What?”
“I first entered Snow Princess because it was the first fansite dedicated to me. It was weird reading how much people said they liked me, but it was really nice. I started commenting and when you asked me to be an admin I thought it would be interesting. It was weird editing so many pictures of myself, but I quickly learnt to recognise you in the crowd. It was fun.”
Bokuto was speechless. She had never ever imagined that set5 would be Akaashi herself, but as her mind started to accept the fact, she started to remember every time she had fangirl to set5 about her.
“When a_pie went, I got a bit jealous. It was the first time you stayed in the back, and you only spoke with her. Then you told me about it online, and I was glad that it was only a_pie, but it was when I started realising that I liked you more than as a fan.”
“But wasn’t it weird that I talked about you so much?”
“Imagine someone complimenting you all the time, without them knowing it’s you. It feels really good.”
“And when you asked about whether I preferred you or… you?”
“I realised that you still only saw me like an idol. But I actually liked you, so I asked. It was strange, but it was my way of knowing whether you liked me more like a person or as an idol.”
“This is so weird…”
“I am sorry. I knew we were having a match, but I didn’t knew it was against your team. I am glad I finally know the people I’ve been reading about so much.”
“Wait! So when you talked about your co-workers, you were talking about the girls?”
Akaashi nodded, and Bokuto questioned her past self. It was so obvious now. Onaga was tall, Komi was short, Sarukui looked like she was always smiling and Konoha was in charge of waking Akaashi up. Also, whenever Akaashi’s work picked up, it was around the same time they were having their shows, concerts or preparing their comeback.
“I understand that you feel betrayed, and that you might not want to talk with me again. I apologise for all the trouble.”
“Are you kidding? You have no idea how much I’ve wanted to meet set5, I mean, you. Okay, this is confusing.”
“Call her, I mean, me, Keiji if you want. And refer to the idol as Akaashi, it will be easier like that.”
“Good idea. Now I am hearing people calling us back to the game. I need to go play with Akaashi, but if you don’t mind we can talk about all of this after the match.”
“Fair enough. We need to win then, or it will end up going into three sets and it will be too late afterwards.”
“It’s a date then!”