#Crows should wear neckties more

[phantazmikfoo]

"Two strangers suddenly appear from out of the neon portal in front of you. Draped in mysterious attire, they examine you silently." A very quick AU render. Stanley is the one in the coat and The Narrator is the crow. :D

[twst-campos13]

Could you do a Dire Crowley x Male teacher reader scenario nfsw please? I’m just in the mood now..

I dont take nsfw scenarios, only headcanons!! I’m sorry!! That’s probably my fault because I haven’t fixed the link for the rules ヾ(￣0￣;ﾉ I made this as a (kind of) general nsfw hcs but your relationship with Crowley is more of a fwb type!!

I hope this satisfies you still  ٩(*•͈ ꇴ •͈*)و ̑̑❀

Warnings: NSFW UNDERCUT!! MINORS DNI Tags: semi-public, light restraints (mention), mild degradation, praise kink, male!reader

"...now, don't forget to turn in your essays on Thursday next week. Take note: it is a two-page, essay!"

You sighed at how eager your students left the classroom, knowing well that they couldn't wait for you to dismiss them anyway. Not that you mind. You're well aware that your students are tired for the day so you rewarded them with an early dismissal.

"No pushing and running out the door now! Show some respect for your subject teacher. Goodness!"

Ah, yes, the early dismissal was for another thing, too.

The Headmaster dropped by (literally) to provide "extra motivation" for students after classes. It was rather thoughtful of him to do so...if you weren't well aware of his other endeavors to have him flock to you after classes.

"What a kind sir you are, rewarding your students greatly!" Headmaster Crowley chuckled almost akin to a crow. You stacked your teaching books neatly to one side before turning around to meet the headmaster. Both of you nearly bumped noses with each other. Well, in this case, you nearly poked yourself in the eye with the beak of his mask. You smiled when Crowley composed himself but did not set a distance.

"And I suppose you would want a reward too?"

The sudden stiffness of his posture is enough of an answer.

You tilt your head at him, a smile that only Crowley can decipher. "Alright. Who am I to deny my gracious headmaster?"

➸ To make things clear between the both of you: you're more than friends but less than lovers. The students don't really know if you guys are dating or not. The juniors try to make it their business but failed to get any straight answers.

➸ The Headmaster is a switch, definitely, but leaning more towards being a power bottom. It's in his entire vibe. He may exude mysterious daddy vibes that can bend you over his office table and pound your ass but think about it--only bottoms TALK SO DAMN MUCH-

➸ Look me in the eyes and tell me this man doesn't release bratty power bottom energy.

➸ He's got a mix of praise and degrading kink. With praise, he is willing to give it as he likes receiving it. You can see imaginary feathers ruffle up when he drinks in your honey praises. He loves it when you tell him what a good boy he is while you're stroking his hair. At the same time, he loves being called a rotten, perverted man as you tightly grip his hair.

➸ You actually didn't think he would have a degrading kink. You thought he'd be so into that but you observed with your sessions together that he deserves more praises than insults. You tried to balance the two but you realized that degrading him when he starts getting bratty then easing into praises is a better way to make him more pliable.

➸ Though, when Crowley praises you, he really sings them. He becomes a bumbling fool when he's under you, taking your cock (or his cock when you wanna ride him) eagerly and stammering praises of how good you feel and how amazing you are. He can make you blush by the eloquence of his compliments.

➸ Having sex naked is for rare and more intimate moments. Most of the time (and Crowley wordlessly insists) you both get frisky with only half your clothes off. You already know why ;)

➸ "There's something sexy about neckties, yknow? So sharp and elegant." | "Dire, if you have any particular interest in light bondage you can tell me."

➸ He's not wrong is he? Impromptu and light bondage is his preference. Even though he wants it to be done to him mostly, he'd still ask you if you're fine with a bit of restraints! If you are then get ready for a lot of flirting that involves tie pulling and tie bondage LMAO

➸ Another kink of his: he likes to gift you pieces of jewelry that you graciously wear yourself. He doesn't want you to take them off especially when you fuck.

➸ Fucking....crows.....

➸ He's a raven actually but-

➸ HE ALSO MAKES USE OF YOUR TITLE AS A TEACHER. HE CALLS YOU SIR. In every!! way!! he gets to!! You know he's a brat needing your attention when his sir sounds a little more than professional.

➸ You wonder where this man's decency is because he always wants to do it with you after classes or at his office. You indulge him anyways; grinding your arousal with each other, an intense and heated make-out session against the desk, until you pull away and tell him that you both should take it elsewhere lest your students walk in with. They do not need to be traumatized.

➸ Quickies and semi-public sex with Crowley hit differently when you two take it to bed, though. When you're out doing frivolous activities at school like two rowdy teenagers, there's this almost rebellious atmosphere, the thrill of doing the act. However, in private that atmosphere completely shifts and you'd find yourself wondering if there's any meaning to your intimate dance

➸ And when aftercare happens that warm feeling just grows. He always insists on taking care of you after sex. He does the equivalent of preening (from what you noticed) which is stroking your head and nuzzling your neck. He cleans you up from your neck down to your feet then bundles you in blankets. This level of comfort doesn't happen when you fuck at school but he makes it up by fixing your uniform and buying you food.

➸ You scold him when he takes too long cleaning around your dick though.

➸ Could you be more than friends that are not less than lovers? That's a conversation for both of you to tackle next time.  

[darbydoo22]

My fic for @grishaversebigbang mini bang!

Materialki: @queenofchaosandwords

Art: https://www.instagram.com/p/COk2plwsYm1/?igshid=pysvoxjyugz4

Summary: Kaz and Jesper attend a masquerade ball to get the layout of a place they plan to rob. When Jesper gets distracted by a cute boy, Kaz is left to find the information on his own. When Kaz finally manages to get to the room with the safe, he finds a distraction of his own, in the form of one of the acrobats performing at the ball.

One thing that never ceased to amaze Kaz was the stupidity of the rich. It seemed that the more money they had, the less they cared about protecting it. Case it point, he and Jesper were attending a ball at one of Ketterdamn’s richest estates, as part of their recon for a heist. A masked ball.

Kaz shook his head. he understood the need to show off, that was something he was no stranger to. But as they walked straight up to the mansion’s front gates, the kind woman at the door happily waved the two of them through. She hadn’t asked for a name, for them to take of their masks, nothing. Gods people were dumb, he thought, not for the first time.

Once inside, Kaz took a look around. The layout was as he’d expected, based on the limited information they had already managed to gather. One big room, filled with masked guests. At the very back of the room, stood a stage, where it looked like the night’s entertainment was just beginning. But most important, off to Kaz’s right, was a staircase that led to a balcony overlooking the room.

 Guests were allowed up there, by the look of it, which was even more stupid on the mercher’s part. Any of them could slip away and poke around the rest of the floor unnoticed. A fancy outfit and a mask were not mutually exclusive of being a thief.

He and Jesper were in their finest suits, all black except for the blood red neckties. The masks they were wearing were solid black as well, the fabric covered in black feathers that tickled Kaz’s nose in what was starting to be an annoying way. Jesper had, jokingly suggested the two of them wear crows’ inspired masks, as one extra ‘screw you’ to the host. Kaz had simply grinned and gone along with the idea. But he was already starting to regret the decision, and the night had only just begun.

“How are people seriously this lax with security?” Jesper asked, shaking Kaz out of his thoughts. Kaz just smiled at him and shook his head. He had been asking himself that since he had heard about this ball. Especially since the night’s entertainment, some Suli acrobats he’d never heard of, would be masked.

“Try to mingle a bit. It won’t do to have the two of us be seen poking around upstairs as soon as we get here” Kaz reminded him. Jesper may have been wearing a mask, but Kaz still saw him roll his eyes. Jesper mumbled a ‘yes mom’, and Kaz had to stop himself from doing something he would regret.

 Instead, he watched as Jesper grinned and seamlessly blended into the crowd. He could see Jesper talking to a girl in what had to be the biggest dress in the room. She laughed at something Jesper had said, and Kaz just rolled his eyes. Kaz, himself, made his way to the back of the room, to where the acrobats were performing. The a few of the acrobats were in the center of the stage, wearing plain black outfits and plain black masks. The rest of the crowd didn’t seem to notice, but one of the performers off to the far right of the stage slipped into the crowd. She moved almost as silently as a ghost, her long braid almost trailing behind her. Kaz wanted to follow where she was going, but the crowd was clapping and cheering as one of the other acrobats did a flip.

The three at the center of the stage continued to tumble around for a bit longer. Eventually, the three of them stood and took a bow. Kaz clapped politely along with the rest of the party goers, but his eyes were scanning the crowd for the girl that had seemingly disappeared. Only a bit disappointed, he turned his attention back to the performers, who were gesturing to some point above them and a bit to the right. Kaz looked up with the rest of the crowd and almost gasped at what he saw.

The acrobat that had disappeared into the crowd was standing on the ledge of the balcony, above the stage. In front of her, was a wire, that ran above the stage, from one end of the room to the other. She smiled, bowed well over the balcony, and set her right foot on the wire. Kaz looked away for a split second and saw that none of the performers on the stage had put up a net. Gods, Kaz thought as he looked back up at her, if she fell, it would be to her death.
Kaz held his breath as she walked, no, danced, across the wire. It was a beautiful sight to see, as she moved with such graceful purpose. She would have made a great spider, he thought, only briefly.

The closer she got to the end, the louder the applause became. The crowd completely lost it when she stepped onto the balcony on the other side of the room and bowed again. Kaz let out a breath of relief. Why was he relieved? He didn’t know the girl. If she was stupid enough to fall to her death because she didn’t think she needed a net, it wouldn’t impact him. Well, it would have stopped the party, he supposed. It was a relief that he could continue on his recon without the interruption of the stadwatch showing up because of a dead acrobat.

Kaz shook his head. The crowd were all still looking up at her in aw, and Kaz used it as his chance to slip away unnoticed. He found Jesper in the middle of the dance floor. He was dancing and laughing with a mercher, which was no surprise. The fact that his dance partner was male only surprised Kaz because the merchers tended to frown upon that. But, he supposed, the mask was giving the young mercher confidence that made Kaz roll his eyes. Even with a mask, he was the only one at the party with hair so bright red and unkept. Kaz had recognized Wylan Van Eck instantly, he was sure the others had too.

Whatever happened to the mercher was not Kaz’s problem, but Jesper, who was distracted by him, was. Kaz tried to wave to get Jesper’s attention, but he seemed far too enthralled with his dance partner to notice, or care about the actual reason they were there. Kaz sighed and made the decision to go upstairs without him. If Jesper did remember that they were here to find a safe and not to dance, he could find Kaz there.

He made his way up the stairs without any issue. Guests were allowed to be up there, and not for the first time, Kaz shook his head at how stupid the rich could be. He pretended to look down at the dancers and spend a bit of time just waiting around before slowly slipping into another hallway. He tried a few different doors along the hall, but when he got to the locked door, he grinned. Too easy, he though, as he slipped his lockpick out of the cuff of his sleeve. He made quick work of the lock and pushed the door open.

One look inside made Kaz freeze. Because sitting on the desk, going through what was presumable the owner of the estate’s papers, was the acrobat that had crossed the wire. She seemed to be weary of him too, as she watched him step into the room and close the door behind him.

“How did you get in here? The door was locked.” He asked her, he held up his lockpick, as if it were proof. She shrugged and hoped off the desk.

“The door was locked. The window was not” she answered as she put the papers back in place. Kaz smiled at her words. She was a spider after all.
She walked over towards him, and Kaz became aware of how much shorter she was than him. It was almost a foot of difference, but she squared her shoulders and didn’t back down.

“Find anything interesting?” he asked. He had no idea why she was going through some mercher’s papers. Again, she shrugged. She opened her mouth to speak, but before she could, the door opened behind them again. Kaz got a better grip on his cane in case he needed to use it as a weapon. The acrobat must have noticed because she shook her head. They turned to face whoever had interrupted them. When Kaz saw his face, masked or not, he almost swore. It was the owner of the estate, stringing along some woman that was definitely not his wife.

“This room is off limits” the man said. Even under the mask Kaz saw his face scrunch up in annoyance.

“In fact, the door should have been locked. How did you get in?” he asked. Hundreds of ideas and excuses came to Kaz’s mind instantly, but before he could use any of them, the acrobat next to him spoke.

“The door was not locked. This kind gentleman was checking to see if I was okay after the performance” she said. “He was very worried, so we found a room to have a… private conversation” she said. Kaz noticed the connotation behind her words, and if the blush on the mercher’s face was anything to go by, so did he. He ushered the two of them out before closing and locking the door behind them. Kaz let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding.

“Thank you for the save” He said, then frowned as he considered something else.

“What, exactly will it cost me to keep you quiet about me being there?” he asked her. She smiled and reached out to him. Kaz flinched away from the contact, and she withdrew her hand right away.

“It will cost you a dance” she told him. He looked at her, assessing how serious she was. Despite the brilliant smile on her face, he could tell that she was completely serious. Kaz only sighed and held his arm out for her. She grabbed it, and let him lead her down the stairs, all the way to the dance floor.

She led him to the middle, her hands still clutching his arm. They passed by Jesper, who was still dancing with Wylan Van Eck, and Kaz wasn’t sure what to make of that. He’d definitely though Jesper would get bored of the mercher quickly, but the two of them were still holding each other close.

His attention was immediately drawn back to his own dance partner when her hands shifted from his arm to his shoulders. This was getting dangerously close to skin-on-skin contact, and Kaz was getting antsy about it. As he placed his gloved hands on her waist, she started moving along with the music. He let her set the pace, and they soon fell into a rhythm that was easy enough.

They danced silently for what felt like hours but couldn’t have been more than minutes. The acrobat giggled when Kaz spun her around, and Kaz had to stop himself from smiling at her. And gods, her laugh was beautiful. Don’t get attached, he kept repeating in his mind. But he was already enthralled by the Suli acrobat whose name he still didn’t know.

When the music slowly faded, and the song ended, the acrobat smiled and thanked him.

“I’m Inej, by the way. Inej Ghafa” she told him.

“Kaz…Kaz Rietveld” he answered. He had no idea why he had given her his actual name, he thought, as she disappeared into the crowd. But it had felt right. Like it was a secret only he, and Inej Ghafa, the acrobat and spider, would ever know.

[seiin-translations]

2.43 S1 Chapter 2.2 - Dracula and Princess Briar Rose

2. DRACKY

Where’s Yorimichi’s moped

Previous || Index || Next

Let’s go back a little. It happened last September after summer vacation, so was that already nine months ago? It was at a time when I lived in a much more stubborn, headstrong and serious way than I did now.

The real boundary line between middle school and high school was unmistakably the summer vacation of the first year of high school. That was what I was convinced of after looking over the girls in my class, who were slightly more refined and stylish compared to the first semester. Starting with the sudden increase in the number of girls who shortened their skirts—which had been in line with school rules during the first semester—they pierced their ears, hairstyles were no longer only unsophisticated bobs or long hair, but, I’m not sure, somehow the cut of their hair ends was stylish and their bangs fell diagonally across their face, and I kept hearing them talk about stuff like going to the pool with their boyfriends or their first times, whether I liked or not.

On the other hand, as for me and my teammate Ayano, we were immersed in club activities almost everyday during summer vacation, so we had nothing to do with those kinds of flighty summer experiences. Therefore, our topics after summer vacation were…

“By the way, did you go cheer for the middle school prefecturals?”

And other such dull subjects.

“Mm, no.”

“You didn’t go with the other kids from your middle school? For us, it’s like a duty for the previous graduates to bring refreshments for us.”

“We’re not that friendly with our advisor.”

I answered, while opening the cleaning locker with a mop in one hand. A step ahead, Ayano, who had finished cleaning the hallway, was carrying baggage for two people and waiting. I carried my school bag and enamel sports bag separately, but Ayano packed all of her stuff into her polka-dotted backpack.

“I only heard the results. They lost in the first round.”

My alma mater, the Monshiro Middle girls’ volleyball team, had advanced to the Hokushin’etsu Tournament for two years in a row since the year before last, but I heard that this year, they were miserably defeated in the first match. Well, I wouldn’t say that the strength of last year and the year before was because of me, but I was tooting my own horn on the inside.

“Ibara-chan, the boys at your school are strong this year.”

“Our boys? They aren’t any good, though? I mean, are there even enough members for an official game?”

“I don’t know, but they’re fourth this year.”

“Fourth!? You’re kidding, right!?”

I wildly threw the mop into the locker without thinking and a high-pitched sound pierced the steel walls. Ayano, ducked her head as she said with her cheeks puffing out, “I’m not lying! A girl from my middle school went to the boys’ game.” I was even more shocked that there were girls who turned out to the boys’ game venue.

“Apparently, they have an incredible setter. I heard he was a third-year, so he should be there last year, but do you know him? If there was such a great player, you would think that they could have done better last year too.”

“Wha…I really don’t know. Did we have someone like that?”

This year’s third years were a grade lower than me, but was there an excellent setter there? I had zero impressions of that. I was pretty sure there weren’t any outstandingly tall boys. I remembered that the Kuroba house’s Bon was a bit big in that year, but he wasn’t skilled at all.

“Well, boys can get good all of a sudden.”

Ayano murmured with an absentminded look on her face. I didn’t know why, but…I didn’t like that remark and said, “The cleaning’s done. Let’s go,” and snatched my things from Ayano’s hands a little too roughly.

“Ibara-chan, you’re heading to practice now?”

“Do your best!”

A pair of girls from the neighbouring class called out to me when I went out into the hallway. Both of them were around one-fifty centimeters tall and compact. Their club must be some cultural club.

“Thanks. Take care on your way home.”

After I patted their heads and passed them, they squealed with joy and jumped up and down with their hands joined together (A little bit, really, not even five centimeters off the floor).

“Ibara-chan, you’re naturally scattering pheromones again doing that… They say that the percentage of boy-girl couples in our grade is low because of you.”

Ayano said with a wry smile.

I had been on the taller side since elementary school, so I had always been treated as the “handsome” type of girl rather than “cute.” I was the ace of the volleyball team from my second to third year of middle school, and on February fourteenth, the bag I used for club activities would be filled with chocolates in cute wrapping. I had been wearing my hair short for a long time now. After a long holiday in my first year of middle school, it grew out a little, I was innocently told by the smallest and frailest kid in class at the time, “Long hair doesn’t suit Ibara-chan. You look more handsome when it’s shorter.” I cut my hair in my room that day with a pair of scissors. It was then that I realized clearly the character I was looking for, and since then I had come to discover my identity as a “cool and handsome” girl.

When I joined the Seiin girls’ volleyball team with a lot of fanfare as an ace candidate, I was 173 centimeters. It was a height comparable to the average boy. However, right now I still wasn’t even on the bench because there were so many second- and third-years.

What I wanted most right now was a bench member uniform, a height of 180 centimeters, legs for jumping even just a centimeter higher than other people, not pierced ears or a haircut with a bit of work on the ends. Breasts were a hindrance, so smaller ones were better. I honestly wanted to stop having periods because I didn’t want to have kids in the future.

⋆﹥━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━﹤⋆

The two-story row house beside the fence of the first sports ground was the club room building for the sports clubs. The first floor was mainly for the clubs that used the outdoors, and the second floor was for the clubs that used the indoors. The girls’ volleyball team’s club room was up the outside stairs and second from the front.

In front of the club rooms for the baseball and soccer clubs that were next to each other on the first floor, the first-year boys who had been locked out by their senpais were sluggishly changing their clothes. It was a common sight, so we passed by without paying attention to it. Half naked or in just their boxers, the physiques of the first-years still weren’t that much different from those of middle school kids.

“I can see your undies!”

Ayano teased, peeking through the gaps in the steps as we climbed the outer stairs.

“Go away, pervert!”

Saying stuff like that, the boys wiggled around and laughed.

“We let you see them for free, so show us your panties back!”

“Sorry, but I’m wearing shorts.”

Ayano purposely picked up her uniform skirt between her fingers towards the idiot boys who gathered under the stairs while half-dressed in their pants. I left Ayano behind without following her lead.

There was some booing. “What, shorts are the devil!” “What the hell do you think a man’s romance is?” But I could also hear some of them whispering, “Did you see? Suemori’s not wearing shorts.” “They were white, white!”

I was so indignant about the stupid boys who were crowing about something so ridiculous that I stomped up the stairs like I was trying to step through the steel steps and drop kick those empty heads, if luck was on my side.

“Excuse me,” I said, forcefully opening the door to the room.

It was the girls’ volleyball team’s custom to have the first years change first after school and then go and set up, and then the second and third-years would change more slowly afterwards. So, right now, there would only be first-year girls changing in the room—at least, that was what I thought.

There was a foreign element. There was a single different creature standing in the middle of the room, surrounded by female team members.

“…Why is Kanno here?”

I said in a sharp voice. From behind, Ayano impulsively peeked inside.

“Oh, Dracky got abducted!” She cackled.

Kanno’s enamel bag was at his feet, as though it had been roughly thrown in. The female members had all changed into the summer-like practice clothes of T-shirts and shorts, but Kanno was still in his uniform. The Seiin High School uniforms had black blazers and reddish neckties for both boys and girls, but due to the season, we were of course wearing the summer uniforms, the boys wore shirts without jackets, and the girls just wore blouses. However, only Kanno was wearing a long-sleeved hoodie on top of his shirt, his hood worn deep over his eyes and the zipper zipped all the way up to his chin, and what’s more, his hands were completely tucked into his sleeves. It was a getup that screamed unseasonable.

“Okay, we captured Dracky!”

“I think it makes sense that since you’re practicing with girls’ volleyball, you should change in the girls’ club room.”

“If you don’t hurry up and change, our senpais will come.”

“Or maybe you wanna change with our senpais? You’re surprisingly gloomy.”

Surrounded by jeering voices, Kanno shook his head with his head still hanging down. “Then hurry up and change,” one of them said and reached her hand out for his hoodie before he said “Stop” in a voice that was as tiny as the sound of a mosquito buzzing. He tried to shake them off, his long sleeves cutting through the air. This feeble attempt at resistance was amusing everyone more and more. He desperately pulled back his hoodie that was being tugged in all directions and curled his back.

His face, peeking out from behind his hood, was morbidly pale, but only his lips were exceedingly red. Together with the thinly scattered freckles on his cheeks, his vaguely Western features gave him the appearance of a vampire who was afraid of sunlight, so his nickname was undeniably right on the mark.

Glaring at the racket with my eyes half-closed, I stepped in and loudly tossed my things into my locker on purpose.

“You’re cutting into your practice time, so why don’t you change as soon as possible? I’m not interested in watching you change, and I don’t care if I’m seen either. If the rest of the girls are done changing, why don’t you all get going?”

I said in a stern tone, not only to Kanno but also to the girls surrounding him, and the girls obeyed me with embarrassed faces while saying, “Yes—” and “We’re no match for Ibara.”

I turned towards my locker again and quickly changed. I undid my necktie and unbuttoned my blouse, exposing my back. “I’ll change too,” Ayano said brightly, then slipped under my armpit and shoved her backpack into her own locker.

Feeling eyes on me, I looked over my shoulder and saw Kanno jump before turning around and starting to change his clothes. He took off his hoodie that he had been preciously wearing like a turtle’s shell and squirmed out of his shirt. When he curled his back and pulled off his T-shirt from his head, I was surprised. Huh…wasn’t his body thicker than it had been before summer vacation? On his upper body, which was so weak and thin that it could be called a washboard, there was a thin but definite layer of muscle added, it looked like… He changed into a black long-sleeved T-shirt from his white short-sleeved T-shirt (so there’s ultimately not much difference from the hoodie…), undid his belt and took off his pants. I saw his boxers peeking out beneath the bottom of his T-shirt,

…Ah.

Snapping myself out of it, I turned my face back to my locker. I was staring at Kanno changing while saying I had no interest in him. Weirdly flustered, I pulled up my shorts beneath my skirt while…I should have worn a T-shirt…before that… I think I felt Kanno’s gaze on my back again when I was only wearing my sports bra. I casually looked sideways, but Kanno had his back turned and was about to put one foot into his long pants. He also seemed to have gained a hint of muscle on his thighs.

With no place to look, when I let my gaze wander, I caught sight of Ayano’s cleavage as she was humming and changing clothes. It had gotten a lot deeper in the short time we didn’t see each other, and the bra that encased her breasts that were growing heavy were now made of the same smooth and shining material like those worn by adult women, with larger cups. It appeared that Ayano had also stepped over that “boundary line” during summer vacation, leaving only me behind.

***

I should add some things about Kanno.

Kanno Akito was a member of the boys’ volleyball team who practiced with the girls’ team for half of the week. …I know that didn’t make sense, but there’s nothing I can do about that. Due to health reasons, he couldn’t exercise for a long time outdoors, so he was allowed the special treatment of joining the girls’ team practice in the gym. This measure had been in effect since the Monshiro Middle School volleyball team days, and I, who was from the same middle school, had been “half” teammates with Kanno since our first year of middle school.

For example, if Kanno was an easily flattered idiot boy who was quick to say dirty things, or if he was an incredibly masculine muscular man, the way he would have been treated in girls’ volleyball would probably different. But you could tell from a glance that the actual Kanno was weak with a gloomy and withdrawn personality, a boy who couldn’t stand up to being made fun of with a firm attitude, so he had been a suitable toy for the female members since middle school. I think he was less than 170 centimeters tall when we entered high school. He wasn’t big for a male volleyball player, but more than that, he was too thin.

Getting club chores forced on him was cute—in middle school, he was pretty much lynched by getting balls thrown at him by a group in the name of individual practice. In high school, in place of the disappearance of this kind of physical bullying, being made the target of sexual teasing like today had increased.

There was one baffling thing—even though he was being subjected to things where normally it wouldn’t strange if he quit, but rather than quitting, Kanno never missed a practice unless for good reason. He had school-approved circumstances, and I think it was okay to show up to the boys’ team practice as much as possible without having to seriously participate in the girls’ team practice, but…

⋆﹥━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━﹤⋆

“Um, Ibara-chan, thanks for earlier.”

Kanno said in a small voice during passing practice. Passing practice was basically done in groups of two, but when Kanno practiced with the girls’ team for the first time in our first year of middle school, I invited him to join me after I couldn’t stand watching him standing there by himself as a leftover. So even now, three years later, Kanno still happily joined the pair I was in. Ever since I became friends with Ayano in high school, it had always been me, Ayano, and Kanno as a three-person group.

“I don’t want your thanks. I just wanted to change my clothes, I wasn’t looking to stand up for you.”

I wasn’t one of the members who bullied Kanno, but I wasn’t necessarily nice to him. In fact, I’ve never gone out of my way to stand up for him. Even if I happened to be present at situations like before, I would leave it alone as long as it wasn’t blocking my way. And yet somehow, he had been strangely attached to me since middle school.

Thanks for always helping me, Ibara-chan. Ibara-chan, you’re so cool… I wanna be like Ibara-chan too… With his pale face dusted red and some kind of enraptured look in his eyes, he had said stuff like that dozens of times until now.

When I was in middle school, I wasn’t uncomfortable with being branded as “Ibara-chan.” I was called that on the team, so Kanno just naturally came to call me by the same way. However, what about a high school boy adding “-chan” to a girl’s first name…? As for me, when I suddenly realized how embarrassing it was to call him by “Akkun,” my old nickname for him, I changed how I called his name.

“Ibara-chan is Dracky’s knight, eh?”

I gave a side-eye glare at and silenced Ayano, who had been smirking and teasing me. On the edge of the opposite side of my vision, Kanno was nodding repeatedly, looking shy. Wasn’t it usually the other way around? Why was he being so happy and bashful when a girl acted as his knight…

The ball passed between the triangle we made. We passed it around with overhand passes and underhand passes for a few moments, and then spikes were added, and we rotated the setter, spiker, and receiver roles in order.

Every time Kanno spiked to me, the swing of his arm would stop for a moment before he hit the ball. There was a break like he was looking at my face before smacking the ball.

This late summer heat was relentless, and even worse, the windows had to be closed because the badminton club was in the next court over today. Even though the gym had turned into a steam bath, Kanno, who was the only one out of place of a long-sleeved T-shirt and long pants, looked unruffled. I felt hot and dizzy just looking at him.

Everyone had somehow been told that Kanno’s “health condition” was that he must not be exposed to sunlight or something like that. Not only outdoors, but he also persisted with dressing to cover his exposed skin as much as possible indoors as well, so Kanno’s bare skin was a rare occurrence which also became a thing. There was even a time when some girls got fired up about the “mission to take a picture of Dracky’s bare skin.”

“Hey, putting that aside, do you know about the middle school prefecturals thing? Did our boys really get fourth place?”

“Oh, yeah. I went to watch it. They really got fourth.”

“Who’s that incredible setter? Did we have a kid like that?”

“Oh, that’s the transfer student who came during the third semester. I’ve never met him so I don’t know though…sorry.”

While feeling a bit irritated at Kanno meaninglessly being sorry, I was convinced, thinking, So that’s how it is. If it was the third semester, then our grade would have retired a long time ago, so it was no wonder I didn’t know.

“Heh, he’s pretty amazing. It’d be nice if he came to us next year.”

Ayano carefreely cut in, and Kanno nodded with a “Yeah.” I frankly didn’t care about the assets and talents of our high school boys’ team, but I couldn’t help but be intrigued by that setter dragged that weak and puny Monshiro Middle boys’ team all the way to fourth place in the prefecture.

When Kanno was active, the Monshiro Middle boys’ team had a chronic lack of members, so they couldn’t participate in official games, putting unofficial competitions like inter-city friendly matches aside. Since the boys’ team wasn’t going to compete anyways, the girls from the girls’ team put him in the girls’ uniform and tried to drag him to the girls’ competition, but the advisor got angry as expected. But even if it had happened, the other team unexpectedly might not have found out. However, we probably wouldn’t have been allowed to participate even if our advisor hadn’t stopped us. The reason was plain and simple. Before the problem of gender, he was not up to the level of the regulars. Even in the girls’ team, Kanno was on the small side and he didn’t have the power.

This was a story from middle school. If the current Kanno dressed like a girl, he would definitely be found out immediately.

What about…his level then…?

My receive was deflected high up in the air, and Kanno jumped and knocked down the ball with one hand. It looked like his arms grew by about 1.5 times. I caught a glimpse of his navel from beneath the hem of his t-shirt that rose. The “rare bare skin.”

With a “Hoy,” Ayano sidestepped and went into cover. I couldn’t help but notice that her chest swayed with each action. Not just her chest, but she had also put on some meat on her upper arms and waist as well over the summer break. Ayano seemed to be the type to get fat easily, and when you took your eyes her for a second, she got rounder.

While Ayano was doing her best to chase after the ball with her short limbs, every single one of Kanno’s movements were relaxed and he seemed to be able to pull them off with ease. Since a while ago, I’ve been accumulating a noisy, scratchy something inside my body, something I didn’t even know what it was.

“Hey, hey, Ibara-chan, let’s put the middle school prefecturals aside. Dracky, I heard you were chosen as a starting member for Akitai?”

“What!?”

Even I was shocked at how loud my voice was reacting to the topic Ayano brought up. Kanno’s overhand serve slipped and he got a ball to his face. “Sorry!” Uselessly apologizing once again while pressing down his nose, he went to pick up the ball that had rolled away.

Akitai, a.k.a. the Autumn Tournament, was a prefectural tournament in early August, right in the middle of summer break even though it had “autumn” in its name. It was a one-off tournament, so the ticket to Nationals wasn’t hanging in the balance or anything, but it would be a big official summer game.

As mentioned before, the Monshiro Middle boy’s team was a tiny team that couldn’t participate in official matches properly. For Kanno, the days where he practiced with the girls’ team were probably more fulfilling than with his original boys’ team. Even without being in outside games, he acquired game experience from joining intra-team games (it goes without saying that the boys’ team didn’t even have enough people for intra-team games). In other words, Kanno was finally able to make his official game debut when he became a high school student.

I was going to congratulate him with a “Heh, congrats,” but,

“…Why didn’t you tell me?”

For some reason, what came out of my mouth was a biting and low voice.

“I’m, I’m sorry. There’s not a lot of people on the boys’ team…”

“Why are you making excuses for that?”

“I’m sorry…”

Kanno’s voice got smaller and smaller. He hung his head down so low that his forehead was touching the ball he was holding in front of his chest and peeked upwards to see my face. “Did, did I bring up an awkward topic?” Ayano’s face grew tight.

“Hey, I don’t want an apology. I’m asking you why you didn’t tell me. Don’t tell me you were trying to be considerate of me?”

The girls also had regular games in June and August, but I wasn’t even on the bench, much less a starting member. The girls’ team was a large group with thirty members, so it wasn’t surprising that the first-years couldn’t make the bench, since the second and third-years could fully cover the bench. However—at the August tournament, a first-year from another middle school was selected to be a bench member, which hurt my pride exceedingly. In middle school, I had participated in the Hokushin’etsu Tournament twice, so I was supposed to be the one who joined the team as the head of the rookies.

Beep, the manager senpai blew her whistle. Spiking practice was after passing practice. The team divided into two groups and scattered to both ends of the court.

“Oh, we have to move. Let’s go, Dracky, Ibara-chan.”

Ayano said, as if to mediate, then twined her arm around mine and pushed Kanno on the back. It grated on my nerves that Kanno blatantly let out a sigh of relief, but our senpai was glaring at our group who had stopped passing practice before the whistle blew, so we ran to the end of the line.

One by one, the first person in line passed the ball to the setter to have it set to them, and then ran in to spike it. After I ended one turn, I stared at Kanno’s form as he spiked after me while I returned to the back of the line again.

It wasn’t like he jumped very high, or that he had a lot of power. I just realized it again when I observed him. He wasn’t using his full power at all. The set was too low for Kanno, so he couldn’t swing his arm with all his strength. He could play at the boys’ height in an official game, so he should be able to jump even higher if he wanted to.

The height difference between the men’s and women’s nets was nineteen centimeters. While watching Ayano hit the ball next, I imagined another nineteen-centimeters of netting on top of the current net. Ayano’s butt, which had increased in mass than before summer vacation, swayed and dragged her body downwards. In my imagination, Ayano’s spike was completely blocked by the net.

Previous || Index || Next