Before officially meeting Tsuruta Akane, Sugawara Koushi had seen her three times in total, and each time, she was crying.
The first time was at a spicy food challenge.
Sugawara saw a girl stuffing mapo tofu into her mouth while tears and snot streamed down her face. He was amazed. It was that spicy, and she still wasn't giving up?
The most unbelievable part was that the girl went on to win.
The second time was at the national junior high volleyball tournament.
Besides a junior high student who could jump incredibly high and Kitagawa Daiichi's genius setter, what stuck in his mind from that match was the girl.
She stood in the stands close to him, gripping the railing tightly and repeatedly murmuring "Idiot Hinata" in a tearful voice.
When Sugawara looked over curiously, he saw that her eyes were still red. Had she been crying again?
The third time they met was at a school debate tournament.
Sugawara saw the girl again in the front row at the debate finals and learned her name from the name card in front of her: Tsuruta Akane, a quiet and gentle-sounding name.
But in the competition that followed, Tsuruta showed a side of herself completely at odds with her name. Her attacks were fierce and relentless, giving her opponent no chance to catch their breath. Her voice, however, was as bright as her name suggested.
Even so, Sugawara, sitting in the front row, noticed that her eyes were red, as if she could burst into tears at any moment.
The fourth time they met was when they officially got to know each other.
Hinata brought Tsuruta to the volleyball gym. Like a rabbit, she hunched her head and hid behind Hinata, occasionally peeking out to look around.
Sugawara walked up with a smile and held out his hand. "Hello, Tsuruta. I'm Sugawara Koushi. It's nice to meet you."
Theme: Dare to love.
