Chapter Text
"Ah, home sweet home..." mumbled a tall dark-haired woman, while entering her office with a big capatios and brandy bag in her hands. Her other free hand reached for the light switch and the dark room got shiny white and modern, with luxurious chairs and few plants in different corners of the small office, she had been working at. The woman headed directly to a glass desk, leaning and carefully putting her bag beside the desk chair, right in front of it and pulling off her long, peach-colored, cahmere coat to hang into the little wardrobe. It was once again the case of her appearing in the workplace way too early. The city outside the high building far away from the centre was still sleeping with its tightest dream. The woman took a step closer closer have a better view. She saw her own reflection in the window and fixed the naughty little hairs that got messy and ruined her perfect pinned up hairstyle. It was beautiful... The way she looked and the way that reflected onto the night Tokyo, that kept shining bright even through the night. Shibuja district, she had the view at, never seemed to sleep at all.
As the woman enjoyed the peaceful but colorful street outside, her phone let out a beeping sound, disturbing that silent moment of reflection, she had while thinking about everything at once. The woman sighed, picking up her phone and opening a chat. KODZUKEN: [You asleep, Miws?] The guy had a terrible sleep schedule and that was something the woman could relate to way too easily. All the flights had messed up her understanding of time completely. MIWS: [Nope... Just got into the office.] She replied and feeling the tip of her mouth going up. 'Miws'... that was the nickname, she played with at the online game back in the days. It was supposed to say "Miwa", just like her name but then misspelled it and felt too lazy to change that.
"Bzz- Bzz"- The phone beeped again as Miwa sat at the desk, unlocking the phone again. KODZUKEN: [You are a crazy workaholic...] [Have some chill, woman]. The woman chortled to herself while reading that and immediately tapped the screen to reply. MIWS: [Says the guy who is texting me at the middle of the night *eyeroll] [You have been pulling a stream late again?]
KODZUKEN: [Have you seen it?] [One of my best streams, def]
MIWS: [Disappointed but not surprised] [I didn't watch it because I'm a grown woman and I have stuff to do]
KODZUKEN: [You are lame] [Just admit it] That last one made Miwa let out a chuckle. She tapped the screen to show her keyboard and tapped right in:
MIWS: [Never!] It was fun and all, but there was definitely a reason, the guy she had worked for was reaching out to her and the woman was curious to know that as fast as possible. [Why did you write to me btw?] She typed in and hit 'send'.
It took him a second but soon Miwa saw: KODZUKEN: [Have a job for you] [But you are not going to like it] Reading that, made the woman tense her shoulders. She reached to turn on the fancy computer and sighed before typing in another message.
MIWS: [FaceTime?] That was short and precise. Miwa knew, she would be much more comfortable speaking to him, even despite the late hour... or early hour as the clock on the screen of her cellphone showed 4:36. The second, he liked her message, Avery hit the call button and soon saw a man with middle length haircut, put up in a messy bun, sitting in the gamer chair with big headphones on his head. He hit few buttons too and she heard him speak.
"I know, you said, no sports-" the guy started his explanation, only heard her tired sigh even through the screen. He stopped, leaning back and, clearly, barely holding his eyes open.
The woman leaned onto her desk, rubbing her forehead with two fingers, from a sudden ache that appeared there. "Kenma... I'm not good at that." Miwa tried to put it as laconically as she could. She knew, exactly, Kenma had other people to work for sports department. The company was huge enough to cover a lot of different branches of marketing and development and there was no specific need for her to be focusing on sports... Miwa hated sports since her early childhood, when she got smacked in the face with a ball during a game of Ball tag. It just wasn't her cup of tea and just the thought of that irritated her. That was also why she couldn't get on well with Kuroo... to her, the guy was simply obsessed.
She then heard Kenma's voice again. "Volleyball... Miwa, I know you don't do sports." The gamer spoke up again, knowing precisely, she won't be able to resign from a direct order. "I know that." He nodded and reached for something from behind the screen. "It's necessary for you to take this one, though-" Kenma sat back in his chair and took a sip of some brand energy drink.
Miwa sighed. "You shouldn't be drinking that crap..." She mumbled and Kenma nodded once again but didn't move to put it back. That's how she knew his intentions were serious. The dark-haired woman crossed her fingers, taking the consideration about the compulsory offer and after realizing, there was no way, she could escape it, simply asked. "What do you want me to do?"
Kenma's eyes sparkled and he put away the energy drink. "Work with Kuroo's Volleyball association." He stated and chortled to her eyeroll. "They got funds for promoting a volleyball team, my good friend will be joining soon." Smile appeared on the gamers face and he seemed quite invested in the topic.
Miwa squinted his eyes. "Your friend?" She leaned her head curiously to the side, trying to think about everything at once. "That's weird to hear that from you, sorry." She smiled, returning to reality and finally focusing on his words fully. It was her job and there was no way, the woman was prepared to fail.
The gamer tapped his keyboard and the woman immediately got a notification with a photo. She opened it and saw a red-headed man, who showed a whole ocean of positivity just through the screen. "Hinata Shoyo." The woman heard Kenma's explanation. "He is a remarkable player and I want people to remember him." He smiled again and Miwa couldn't help herself, as the guy rarely showed any interest in anything except for his games and followers.
She fired straightforwardly: "He is interesting to you, isn't he?" The woman smirked, seeing sudden little blush on his face and giggled to the way he got embarrassed for being caught like that. "Caught your attention?" She asked once again, showing him that there was no way, he could avoid answering her.
Kenma smirked. "Hinata is a nice guy." He stated, streching his back and sighed before adding. "I want to help him."
Miwa took another second for consideration and nodded. "Fine..." She stated calmly before opening her mouth again. "but I'm not working with Kuroo." The woman tried to persuade him and so frowned to show her serious intentions.
To that sudden statemen, Kenma only irritattingly shook his head. "Yes, you are." He stated seriously before putting his explanation too. "I won't be funding the whole team but they asked me to find a good creative director." The guy smirked, knowing how much the woman on the other side of the screen loved praise. "And who is better creative director than the one I hired personally to work for Bouncing Ball Corp?" He asked curiously, knowing precisely, that had work in the best way possible. Her cheeks blushed a bit and Miwa hid her sight, leaning her head to the front.
"Tsk-" She shrugged, finally realizing what she had to deal with. Kuroo and her had some tension and that irritated the woman enough to be willing, never to speak to the guy again. Her job gave her lots of freedom before, however, apparently, that time was not the case. Miwa felt appearing in the cage with Kenma's hands around it just observing her desperate tries to escape. He was freaking good at manipulation... way too good.
The guy sighed. "Don't tsk- me." He stated calmly, only building a bigger cage for the woman. "You are doing that whether you like that or not. I'm sending you the contacts and all the links." His hand reached for the mouse and Miwa heard some clicks, before she received a filled up email with links and documents.
She immediately opened the first one, that took her to Volleyball association website and the woman didn't even notice how clicked to show the head of the association. "I will look through them and work with information I have." The woman couldn't help but sigh, seeing the proud face of the tall dark-haired man, crossing his hands on his chest and smiling to the camera. Miwa shrugged to see his face. "I'd need some time to research." She would need the time to prepare mentally...
Kenma nodded to that. "No rush with that, yet..." the guy then added: "Miwa?" He sighed, making woman turn her attention to a little box on the screen, where the gamer curiously observed the changes on her face. "Try putting your dislike towards one another past yourselves." He stated and she felt her cheeks turning red. Kenma knew exactly what link she opened first. "I will be pulling you to other projects in volleyball too if you suceed, so you better get used to it." The guy smirked, making Miwa feel shivers down her spine.
She asked with a bit of shaky voice and reached to rub the back of her head "Should I learn the rules then?" The woman, clearly didn't even want to think of all the terrors that would be waiting for her along the way.
Kenma squinted his eyes and paused for a second. "How did you say it earlier?" He sighed with a bit of irritation taht kept appearing for some reason over and over again. "Disappointed but not surprised." The guy tapped the keyboard, making Miwa realize, he had probably got another message from someone and because was good at multitasking, answered that without disturbing their conversation. "Write me when you get the info." He then looked back into the camera and the woman felt the same seriousness of the situation again.
Miwa nodded. "Will do." She hid her sight from the webcamera built in at the top of her computer and ended the call. Her first urge was to let out a big tired sigh and so she did. For the following thing, Miwa opened the other project she was working on, trying to distract herself from all the thoughts that kept appearing in her mind one by one. That distracted her enough and she only returned to the reality noticing the screen showing 9 am.
The working day had started about two hours ago and so she heard the conversations of the other employees outside her office. The woman stood up, heading directly to the door and getting outside towards the coffee machine in the hallway. Just as she had predicted, people rushed into different directions much like the ants, trying to get their job done. Kenma was a terribly manipulative person but a great boss. His skills of being a CEO had brought company many benefits, so with little time, he was rich enough to never actually work fully again. All his job required, was done by a whole team of people but Miwa never blamed the guy. He earned that with many efforts and dedication, just like she did with her position in the firm. The woman took much pleasure, working with various people even though, they often described her as strict or stubborn. "Morning." She noticed an employee closing in on her, while Miwa waited for her hot beverage to be prepared. Other employees of the company usually didn't even possess names for Miwa as she didn't care much enough to remember all of them. "I saw your last project." Some guy spoke with much enthusiasm, as before. "That was magnificent, what you did with that line of energy drinks." He referred to her last project and Miwa felt some headache appearing in the left side of her skull.
Those drinks weren't healthy, but the cooperation with the firm could bring Bouncing Ball a lot of money, so Kenma suggested, she took that project, putting all the efforts onto the advertising. "Thank you." The woman nodded, still remembering all the half-truths, she had to bring to the audiences. "I was satisfied with the result as well." Lie. It was significant part of her job, no matter how intensively she tried to avoid it. Miwa wasn't proud to cover her honest perspective but did ear a lot of cash with the projects and her bosses seemed to be satisfied with it, even when Kenma doubted the decisions.
Miwa didn't say anything else to the guy that approached her. She felt there was no need for that. Another thing that caught her attention, made her much more curious, however. "Good morning... I'm here to meet miss Sano." Some little girl asked a floor manager as he tried to make a call through the wireless earphone. "I- I want to apply for internship." The blonde girl bowed respectfully, trying to catch the man's attention but he ignored her completely, rushing into his office instead.
Miwa had no intention to talk to her sleazy co-worker any longer and so, headed directly to the lost girl. She was short... much shorter then the woman... curiously, she smiled kindly, with a little bow. "Nice to meet you. My name is Miwa Sano." The woman then straightened up and reached her hand for a polite handshake.
The blondie was wearing some classical white linen shirt, tucked into her brownish skirt and same color jacket in her hands, along with a bright red document folder. She reached her hand as well, after a proper bow. "Hitoka Yachi, Miss."- The girl stated. Her brown eyes sparkled and Miwa even felt a bit bad about what she was going to tell her next. It was the company rule to greet visitors politely. The woman headed back to her office with a warm drink in her hands, making a little hand-wave to the girl, so that she would follow her. "I'm a graduate of Karasuno high school in Sendai city and 3rd year student at the University of Tokyo." Yachi explained, while trying to keep up with the steps of the dark-haired woman, wearing her slouch heeled and over knee-length light brownish boots and wheat-colored sweater dress.
Miwa nodded, taking a sip from her cup before opening the doors to her office again. "So you like to aim for bigger, I see?" She smirked, letting the girl inside. "What are you studying?" The woman asked, sitting at her desk and putting the cup aside. She expected the girl to present her qualifications but had to tap the table to let her know about that.
Yachi put the folder onto the woman's desk. "Design and Editing." She said calmly before sitting down in front of the woman. "I had an internship earlier this year too. It taught me so much I just really wanted to try it again" the girl smiled, leaning her head to the side with curiosity, thinking she managed to interest the famous Creative Director of the Bouncing Corp.
The dark haired woman carefully flipped the pages of the portfolio. "Really?" She asked, focusing on various works one by one. It wasn't terrible but there was definitely a room for improvement. "You did paid internship there?" Miwa asked, raising her sight for a second and having the same smirk on her face.
Blondie felt the woman's trick question crawling under her skin. "N-no..." She stated, knowing that question probably, didn't even have a right answer.
The woman let out a breath and leaned her head back. "Then I guess, all your internship taught you was how to bring coffee." She chuckled sincerely, noticing some good works and patterns that showed that kid's creative touch. It wasn't as bad as she thought first. When she finished, Miwa closed the portfolio just as carefully, thinking about how that bright red folder was completely destroying the aesthetic, Yachi tried to build with her works. "Alright." The woman sighed. "Give me your application, kid." She showed her palm and the blonde girl immediately handed her some paper. "Do you have any recommendation letters?" Miwa asked again, taking a quick look at whether the application was filled in correctly. Unfortunately for her, it was...
Yachi knew, her documentation was perfect. She had spent much time on preparing for this moment, knowing what a nervous and shaky jelly she was during any interviews. "Here." The documents appeared on Miwa's table. "I am very excited to be able to work with you!" The girl couldn't help herself and let out a tiny excited giggle.
Miwa finally let out a sigh, knowing, the time had come to uncover the truths. "I didn't say, you'd get the place, did I?" She tucked the documents together very thoughtfully, trying not to ruin any of her work. "It's tough this year, I'm not going to lie. I will take your application but I can't promise you anything."
Yachi got lost for a second there. "So that's a no?"
The woman shrugged her shoulders to that. "Most probably." She mumbled, handing her back the documents and taking inly application form. "Thank you for applying. I will take a look at your works online too, Yachi. I promise." Miwa tried to be polite, even though, realized that the chance of her actually doing that was close to zero. She didn't want to babysit anyone even for a short period, especially with a pain in the ass of the project, waiting for her around the corner.
The girl stood up and bowed politely. "Thank you for you time..." She was clearly upset but that didn't really bother Miwa. The woman had gone through whole pile of rejections even to gain a chance to work at some big companies. It was because of her hard path, she was behaving, what most people could describe as a complete "douche".
Sano put aside the document, immediately after Yachi closed the door after herself. Miwa reached for her cup and took a long sip, opening the link, Kenma sent her earlier. She lost much time working on the other project that morning but knew, she had to start somewhere with current one as well. "Huugh-" She groaned, opening a website of the volleyball team. It was black and gold colors, with a bit of white too. The logo showed a jackal and logo stated: MSBY Black Jackals. "I guess it's my time to make some research..." The woman mumbled to herself, trying to understand anything that was stated: 'Division 1 team'- no idea... 'V league'? Even less understanding for that one. Their motto: "Connecting people together through their hard work", however caught her attention... She didn't know what that meant for volleyball but could relate to that with her personal understanding.
Miwa kept looking through the page, reading about players and history one by one, not really noticing how much time passed. Their coach Samson Foster had short, light colored hair and thick eyebrows. On the photo, he appeared wearing sporty clothes and MSBY's brand jacket. That man looked serious but in the same way, extremely trustworthy... for some unknown reason. "Hello, Miwa." She shrugged at how unexpectedly the tall figure entered her office. It was a handsome dark-haired man in grey classic costume, white shirt, red tie and sporty shoes. "How was your last project?" He smiled with a little bow, greeting the woman at the desk.
She answered that with a big nod. "I brought the company money. A whole load of money. Again." Miwa's words felt cut in the middle. Like she tried to say just a little bit more bit some unknown power held her back. "Isn't that what it's about?" She pointed at her chair and galnced at the screen. The clock showed 11.35... "Hello to you too, Kuroo." Realizing, she had wasted much time again, Miwa sighed. "Why are you here?"
It was a second she finished her words, the woman noticed the tip of the man's mouth going up. "I came because of our cooperation."
***