When Aihara Mei walked into the South gym, the sounds of after-school sports practice lowered a few decibels as students momentarily stopped their activities to turn around and stare at the beautiful raven-haired girl. The girls of Aihara Academy nudged or quietly whispered to each other that the student council president was here in the gym.

Mei was in the South gym today because the student council was visiting all the school clubs this week in preparation for the next student activities budget. Per usual, several of the clubs, especially the most influential ones, had turned in proposals for a bigger allocation of the student activities budget or requests for more practice space. On the docket today was the volleyball club.

After observing the volleyball courts for a few moments, Vice President Momokino Himeko turned to Mei and said, "They're still in the middle of practice; I guess we must have come early."

"You're right. I suppose we'll just have to wait then," said Mei, without turning to look at Himeko. Her eyes were on the volleyball court where a practice game was being played.

"Aihara Yuzu!" exclaimed Himeko. "What is she doing here practicing with the volleyball club?" The girl knit her eyebrows in a scowl, which was her usual physical reaction to seeing the blonde.

"She's trying out the club. She started practicing with them a few weeks ago," Mei said quietly. The girl recalls the dinner conversation where their mother grilled Yuzu about why she wasn't getting involved in her new school. Mei being the student council president was a stark contrast to Yuzu's lack of any student affiliation, and Ume essentially told her older daughter that she should try out some clubs. After much hemming and hawing, Yuzu had decided a few days later that she would try the volleyball club, as she had played for a couple of years in her old school.

Mei's eyes hadn't left Yuzu as soon as she spotted the girl playing on the court. Mei drank in the sight of her stepsister's lean body in her volleyball uniform… her stepsister's decidedly very sexy body. The volleyball uniform clung to every delicious curve of Yuzu's body, the body that Mei slept next to every night. The body that she had to restrain herself from touching and pressing herself against when she lay in bed after Yuzu had fallen asleep.

Mei bit her lip when Yuzu got in the ready position, arms parallel in front of her, knees slightly bent and head up. This position highlighted Yuzu's perfectly round butt, which was clearly visible, thanks to the fabric of the volleyball shorts that were so form-fitting they looked painted on. The sight of the curve of the underside of Yuzu's butt mesmerized Mei, this particular body part previously unseen to her.

"Those shorts are certainly very short, aren't they?" remarked Himeko. "They certainly show a lot of skin."

"Uh-huh, they are," said Mei noncommittally. It took a conscious effort of will to drag her eyes away from the Yuzu's shapely ass.

Mei settled her eyes on the player behind Yuzu. Kurosawa Yurine went up to serve, tossing the ball above her head and executing a flawless jump serve. The ball cut through the air with punishing speed, and the girls on the opposite team almost failed to volley the ball. A murmur of admiration for the athlete rose from the spectators on the bleachers behind Mei.

Mei regarded Kurosawa Yurine as the two teams rallied. Yurine was one of Aihara Academy's star athletes and was number two in the 10th-grade class rankings, behind Mei. Rounding out Yurine's school idol status was her short hair and androgynous style. Her pretty face and tomboy swagger made her a very popular crush in her class and even for the upperclassmen. Mei had never spared Yurine more than a fleeting thought before, but suddenly the girl was thrown into sharp relief when her hand connected with Yuzu's left asscheek.

The congratulatory butt slap that Yurine planted on Yuzu stunned Mei for a few moments, eclipsing the fact that Yuzu had just spiked the ball over the net and onto the floor, winning the set. Then she felt the familiar heat that welled up in her chest whenever she witnessed any other girl intimately touch her stepsister. Her eyes registered with laser focus Yurine's slightly cupped hand when it caressed Yuzu's butt. She resisted the strong urge to stomp towards Yurine, jab a finger in her chest and demand that you should be aware that you are in school and that behavior is not appropriate so you better check yourself!, but the players were already walking off the court.

The manager for the volleyball club, an 11th grader named Nikaido Moe, walked over to the student council members with a clipboard in hand. She noticed that the beautiful raven-haired student council president looked a little irked. Worrying that the volleyball club's request for more training space would be refused because of Aihara Mei's sour mood, Moe resolved to razzle dazzle the student council by showcasing the club's best asset: their most talented athletes. And by that, she meant the 10th grade 'prince,' Kurosawa Yurine.

"Good afternoon," Moe said with a bright smile. "Thank you for coming to see our training space during practice. This way please, so you can see where the club holds its training exercises."

Mei, Himeko, and Kayo followed Moe to one of the large multipurpose rooms in the back of the gym. As soon as she entered the room, Mei saw Yuzu stand up from a bench she was sitting on and walk towards her.

"Hi Mei," Yuzu said, smiling shyly. "Did you see how I scored with that spike?" Yuzu's face looked so eager and hopeful that Mei couldn't imagine saying no to anything that the older girl asked from her right now.

"Yes, I did. That was a great shot," Mei said, nodding.

"I suppose you didn't look completely clueless out there, Aihara Yuzu," huffed Himeko.

"Ah, thank you Momokino-san. Coming from you, that's the highest praise," Yuzu said, laughing off Himeko's backhanded compliment. Mei watched Yuzu and Himeko continue to bicker back and forth, but what she was really doing was admiring Yuzu's sexy arms in her sleeveless volleyball uniform. She stealthily drank in Yuzu's toned arms, especially her defined deltoid muscles, which were peeking out of her uniform's sleeves. Mei found this particular body part unbearably sexy on Yuzu, and she imagined tracing the cut of the muscle on Yuzu's upper arm with her finger. Kayo noticed Mei tapping her forefinger against her skirt, in a move that she took to be impatience.

Noe cleared her throat and said, "So this is the room where the club does its stretching exercises. You'll see when the girls get started that it gets awfully crowded in here." She announced to the club members to get into rows in the open space in the middle of the room so they could start. Yuzu tossed a last smile to Mei and walked over to the front left corner of the room. Mei observed with a slight frown that Kurosawa Yurine appeared next to Yuzu and put a hand on her shoulder and started talking to her. Yurine ran her other hand over her short, stylish hair and leveled a flirtatious smile at the blonde, and Mei felt like rolling her eyes so hard they would get stuck to the back of her head.

Noe spotted Kurosawa Yurine in the corner and ushered the student council over to the benches right in front of her. Here's some eye candy for you, you're welcome, thought Noe, pleased at her scheme.

As the training exercises went on, Mei became more and more agitated. Many of the exercises were done in pairs, and Yurine had claimed Yuzu as her partner even before they began. Mei was fuming during the assisted butterfly stretch, sucking in a breath as she watched Yurine press the front of her torso against Yuzu's back, pushing the blonde's chest lower towards the floor. At the same time Yurine's hands were on the side of Yuzu's folded knees, pushing them open. The sight put Mei's teeth on edge. Are you seriously holding open her legs right now you little -

By the time they got to the partner hamstring stretch, Mei was ready to scream. Yuzu was lying on her back on the floor, and Yurine was kneeling on one knee between the blonde's legs. When Yurine hooked her palms under Yuzu's left knee and then raised it towards the ceiling, Mei's vision started to darken. Once Yuzu's leg was at a ninety-degree angle to her torso, Yurine leaned forward into the back of the raised leg, inching closer and closer towards Yuzu, their crotches almost flush against each other, and that's when the roaring started in Mei's ears. At this point, she was thoroughly incensed.

In her mind, she was reaching towards Yurine, fisting her short hair in her hands, and lifting her off of her Yuzu and saying, if anyone is going to be grinding on top of Yuzu, it's not going to be you, you insufferable, puffed-up jock…

Noe jumped a little when the student council president abruptly stood up and turned away from the volleyball girls in the room, facing her. "I think I've seen enough. We're done here," said Mei in a slow, neutral voice.

"Oh, what? Ummm...," Noe stammered. "But you haven't seen us in the weightlifting room yet! That's actually the place where we need more room because the gymnastics club stores all their junk in there, not to mention we have to share the equipment with the basketball club, and…".

Mei sighed and thought, so if it's the weightlifting room that you wanted us to see, why did I have to sit through this stretching nonsense and watch this bitch paw my stepsister for the last 20 minutes! A headache was starting to bloom behind her eyes, but Noe looked so pitifully anxious that she waved her hand in defeat and said, "We'll just have to come back tomorrow then. Please let us know what time to come for the weight training part of the practice." And not the ass-grabbing shenanigans and stretching bullshit.

Kayo and Himeko ran after the Mei who was already out the door, intent on finding some heavy duty painkillers for her splitting headache.

Notes:

Shout out to those of you who recognized the the names of the two characters from Kiss and White Lily for My Dear Girl. For those of you who have not read this manga, I highly recommend it if you like Citrus. It's also set in an all-girls high school, but there are a ton more characters and the different story arcs are for each pairing. Excellent character development, always sweet, and definitely lighter than Citrus..there is nothing in Kiss and White Lily that approaches the melodrama that is Chapter 36!

Kurosawa Yurine is the protagonist in Kiss and White Lily, and she's essentially a prodigy - a genius and a star athlete. She steals the top spot in their high school class from Ayaka, who she falls in love with. I thought it was pretty cool to set Yurine up as being number 2 to Mei, because the rivalry of the class top spot is the main driver of Yurine and Ayaka's relationship.

Nikaido Moe is the team manager of the track team, who also happens to be the girlfriend of Ayaka's cousin, Mizuki.