Miwa Kageyama was eight years old when she decided she was going to be the boss of her very serious, very squishy baby brother.

“Boss sounds better than sister” she informed her mom. “Bosses get respect!”

At age one, Tobio mostly responded to her leadership attempts by drooling and clinging to her arm, but miwa had a mission.

It was called: Teach Tobio How to Be Cool!

Unfortunately, Tobio’s idea of “cool” included things like:

Stealing Miwa’s hair clips and hiding them in the toilet.

Shoving his face into a slice of birthday cake because “the frosting tastes better this way”

“Tobio, NO!”

“Tobio, GIVE THAT BACK!”

“TOBIO, THAT’S NOT OUR DOG!!”

It was exhausting being the boss.

But still, miwa stood firm, hands on her hips like a superhero, every chaotic day ended the same way, with her little brother falling asleep on her like she was the safest place in the world.

She blinked and somehow that clingy little troublemaker of a boy grew up.

Tobio Kageyama, professional volleyball player, tall and sharp and serious as ever… but still the same tobio who once thought chicken nuggets were currency and tried to pay for a juice box with one.

Miwa stood at the edge of the crowd, hands shoved in her jacket pockets, trying so hard not to cry while he signed autographs for a bunch of kids.

“Don’t cry, don’t cry, you’ll embarrass yourself,” she muttered under her breath.

A minute later, Tobio was walking over, frown already evident.

“What are you doing over here?” he mumbled, crossing his arms. “You’re being weird…”

Miwa coughed into her sleeve, waving him off. “I’m not being weird! I’m just…supporting you from a respectful distance…!”

“Looks creepy.” Kageyama mumbled.

“You look creepy.”

“Yeah, well, you cry ugly.”

“EXCUSE ME?!”

Somewhere behind them, a few kids giggled, pointing at the two grown adults squabbling like they were still little kids.

Miwa groaned and shoved Tobio’s shoulder. “Stop being so grown up now. You used to eat dirt for fun.”

“Once. And it wasn’t fun.”

“Yeah? You didn’t look too upset when you grabbed seconds.” Miwa laughed.

Later that evening, after tobio had signed what felt like a thousand autographs and miwa had stolen half of his post game snacks.

Miwa scrolled through her phone for a second, smirking devilishly. “Hey, guess what I found last night.”

Tobio eyed her suspiciously. “What.”

Miwa grinned wide. “An old video of you planning how to kill Santa Claus.”

Tobio nearly choked. “Didn’t I burn that?!”

Miwa just wiggled her eyebrows. “I have connections.”

Tobio dragged his hands down his face in horror while Miwa cackled.

After a few minutes of her teasing and his groaning, she finally nudged his arm, a little gentler this time.

“You know,” she said, voice quieter now “I’m proud of you.”

Tobio blinked, startled, as if no one had ever said that to him quite like that before.

Miwa smiled, tilting her head back to look at the stars.

“It feels like it was only yesterday when I first laid eyes on you…drooling all over a volleyball. We couldn’t pry it from you.” Miwa laughed.

Tobio let out a small, embarrassed sigh.

Yeah, sure, it was exhausting being the boss of Tobio Kageyama.

Chasing after him, cleaning up the chaos he left behind, dragging him out of trouble he didn’t even realize he was in.

Bobata Kazuma insists on holding your hand everywhere crosswalks, hallways, even when you’re just walking from the couch to the kitchen because “What if I lose you to the void?”

Bobata Kazuma writes little notes in your notebooks when you’re not looking; sometimes it’s doodles of your favorite animal, sometimes it’s just “Hi :)” but it always makes your day.

Bobata Kazuma genuinely believes dates can be anywhere with snacks and you, which is why he once called eating instant ramen on a fire escape a five star evening.

Bobata Kazuma will dramatically announce his love for you every time you do something mildly impressive, like opening a jar or answering a tough question with “THAT’S MY BABY!!” Loudly, you immediately get embarrassed.

Bobata Kazuma has a secret playlist titled “they’re gonna marry me” and it’s just songs that remind him of you, including the really sappy and embarrassing ones he’ll deny ever adding.

Bobata Kazuma keeps a running list in his phone called “things to tell them later” because he always thinks of funny stuff when you’re not around and wants to make sure he doesn’t forget to make you laugh.

Bobata Kazuma randomly blurts out “I’m so in love with you” in the middle of completely unrelated conversations, like while you’re brushing your teeth or watching movies together.

Bobata Kazuma always takes photos of random stuff throughout his day just to send them to you with captions like “this reminded me of you, no reason.”

Bobata Kazuma would never take off anything you made for him, claims it’s because it’s his “good luck charm” and he proudly shows it off everytime someone even remotely asks about it.

Tanaka had been… weirdly quiet for twenty solid minutes. For anyone else, this would be normal. But for Tanaka Ryunosuke? it was concerning. Nishinoya noticed immediately.

“You’re doing that thing where you think too hard” he said, poking Tanaka with a pencil.

Tanaka didn’t even blink. “Do you know what day it is?”

Noya raised an eyebrow and slowly checked his phone. “Uh…. Tuesday?”

“No, no. Not the day day. The countdown day!” He leaned in, whispering to noya. “Kiyoko’s birthday is in three days.”

Noya dropped his pencil and gasped dramatically. “WHAT?! Are you sure?! Did she say something?!”

“No, I overheard suga-san say it last week to the others!”He grabbed Noya’s shoulders. “We have no gift, NO PLAN, we can’t show up empty handed! Not for her!”

Noya was already on his feet. “We need Intel!” He proclaimed, he was determined now. “We gotta ask people. Interrogate!”

Tanaka nodded, also very determined. “We go to the top!”

First Stop: The Third Years.

“What’s her favorite color?” Tanaka demanded, sliding into the seat across from Daichi.

“Good afternoon to you too…?” Daichi said flatly.

“We’re running outta time!” Noya slapped the desk. “Do you know how hard it is to get a birthday gift for an angel when you don’t know what kind of gifts angels even like?!”

Daichi blinked. “I mean, she likes… calm stuff? Books, maybe?”

“She reads?” Tanaka’s pen was already out. “What genre?”

Daichi shrugged. “I don’t know, nonfiction?”

“Nonfiction?!” Noya yelled.

“I think she reads crochet patterns?” Sugawara briefly pointed out.

Tanaka’s pen scratched rapidly. “Crochet. Got it. Is that the one with the sticks?”

“No… that’s knitting…” Suga said.

“Wait, what’s the difference?” Noya grimaced, getting ready to look it up on his phone.

Asahi timidly spoke up. “Um… she organizes the storage closet on her own time? That’s kind of a hobby?”

Tanaka stared at him. “We’re not giving her a shelf, asahi!”

“I just thought maybe like… storage bins?”

“Do you want a bin for your birthday?” Noya said.

“I like bins…” asahi mumbled.

Next Target: Yachi

She dropped her lunchbox when they cornered her behind the gym. “W-Why are you looming?! Are you about to fight me?!”

“It’s about kiyoko!” Tanaka said quickly.

Yachi instantly looked terrified. “What happened?! Is she okay?! Did I do something?!”

“No! Her birthday’s in like three days and we need to get her something!” Noya explained frantically.

Yachi’s face morphed into pure dread. “Her birthday’s in three days?!”

“Wait, you didn’t know?!” Tanaka squawked. “You’re her right hand woman!”

“I THOUGHT IT WAS NEXT MONTH!” she wailed. “I was gonna draw something for her but now I don’t even know if i can finish it in time!”

Tanaka patted her back, they were all going through it. “Okay. Lets all calm down, we’ll figure out the perfect gift.”

“I need to rethink what to get her!” Yachi cried, ruffling her own hair.

Noya sighed. it was hopeless, but they weren’t gonna give up so easily.

Final Hope: The freak duo

They didn’t even mean to ask Hinata and Kageyama. But desperation forced them into asking.

Kageyama raised a brow. “Why are you following us?”

Hinata narrowed his eyes. “Are you trying to copy our practice routines?”

“What? No, We need answers!” Noya practically yelled. “Do you guys know what Kiyoko-san likes?”

There was a long pause.

“…Yarn?” Kageyama said calmly.

Tanaka blinked. “You mean that crochet thing?”

“She told me she lost a skein of that sparkly blue yarn she got in Kyoto last year,” Kageyama said. “Said it was rare and soft and she was gonna use it to make a gift.”

“I told her I’d look for it online!” Hinata chimed in. “It’s called like… moon something. It was super expensive though. I found a seller that can ship it but–“

Tanaka and Noya both looked at eachother before looking back at the others.

Hinata stopped mid sentence. “…why are you both looking at me like that–“

“Give me that link!” Tanaka gripped hinata’s shoulders, shaking him.

“Hinata. Please,” Noya said, in pure desperation. “We’ll do anything!”

“W-why are you guys so scary today?!” Hinata asked with genuine concern.

Tanaka had Kageyama by the shoulders now too. “You’ll get an unlimited meatbun fund. We’ll sponsor you!”

“A meatbun a day,” Noya added, eyes wide, desperate. “For the rest of your life!”

Hinata and kageyama blinked, and looked at eachother.

Kiyoko’s birthday.

After some trial and error… and promising Hinata and kageyama unlimited meatbuns in exchange, they finally had the perfect gift.

Kiyoko was just finishing up putting the remaining volleyballs into the bin when Noya and Tanaka marched over, box in hand, trying not to look like he was shaking.

“For you, Kiyoko-san!” Noya said, bowing so hard.

Tanaka held the box out with both hands like it was a peace offering. “Happy birthday!”

She opened it. Paused. Her fingers brushed over the soft skein inside. Her lips parted, stunned.

“This is…” She looked up. “You remembered this?”

“You mentioned it once. Last fall. Briefly. Maybe in passing,” Tanaka coughed.

“It wasn’t creepy. I promise,” Noya added. “We found it online!”

Kiyoko smiled. a real, genuine smile. “Thank you. This is really thoughtful.”

She didn’t say anything else as tanaka and nishinoya stood there in a daze, as she turned and left to go home.

The moment she disappeared around the corner, Tanaka collapsed to the floor.

“We did it,” he whispered. “She smiled. She smiled.”

Noya was already crying into his hands. “She thanked us. She didn’t even look mildly disturbed. She liked it!”

The third years found them fifteen minutes later, both crying on the gym floor under the net…

Daichi sighed. “Should we even ask?”