Published 2003 by Margaret Comics ISBN 4-08-847643-3

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All translations done by Crystal. Please do not copy unless I give you persmission to. Thank you!

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Part 1 ~Are You HERO?~

Nobara is a 15-year-old girl that LOVES to play volleyball. She's always mistaken as a boy because of her short hair and because she dresses like a boy as well.

Her mother is against Nobara joining the volleyball team because it will interrupt her lessons on becoming a hostess for the Japanese cuisine restaraunt their family owns called Seiryu. Nobara does not want to work in the family business and refuses to be the hostess of Seiryu. (She wishes that her little sister, Souka, can do the job instead because Souka is more cute and is good at everything she does, but it's tradition for the first daughter to take after the business).

Nobara starts her first year of high school and the first thing that happens to her when she gets there, she is mistaken for a boy when she walks into the girls' restroom. A guy is about to beat Nobara up, but Nobara tells him that she's a girl. The guy doesn't believe her, but he touches her chest to confirm. Nobara gets mad and punches him.

Later on, in the men's locker room, the guy, Yuushin, starts complaining about Nobara. His teammate, Haibuki, tells him that he's the one who's wrong because she looks like a girl anyway. Yuushin thinks he's crazy.  Haibuki goes on to tell him that the girl is Nobara Sumiyoshi and that she played in one of the volleyball tournaments. Her team was weak, but her skills were strong.

Meanwhile, Nobara is excited to join the volleyball team because she heard that the high school aims for national tournaments...but her aunt, who's the school nurse, gives her the shocking news that the girls' volleyball team was dropped. Nobara cannot believe this! So, she goes to the boys' volleyball team (where she sees Yuushin and Haibuki, but doesn't really notice them) and asks the captain if she can join their team since there isn't a girls' team anymore. The captain tells her that she's crazy and there's no way she can join.

Nobara is depressed and tries to talk to the teachers into bringing back the girls' volleyball team. One of the teachers tell her that she can bring it back as long as there are enough girls that want to play. Another teacher tells her that the reason why the girls' volleyball team got cancelled in the first place was because the owner of Seiryu (Nobara's mom), who donates a lot of money to the school, asked to have the "unnecessary" sports dropped. Nobara is very mad after she hears this. She goes back home and does as her mother wishes and dresses as a hostess. Afterwards, she tells her mother that she will never do this again and that she's going to leave the house if her mother won't let her play volleyball. Her mother tries to stop her, but Nobara complains about the business and her mother slaps her. Nobara can't take it anymore and leaves the house.

She goes to her aunt's place and asks if she can stay with her aunt, but her aunt tells her that Nobara cannot live with her. Instead, she takes Nobara to the boys' volleyball team's dormitory and tells her that if she works here, she can live in the dorms as well....the only problem is that Nobara hates boys...

Part 2

Nobara reluctantly agrees to work in the dorm where the men's volleyball team live. To Nobara's shock, Yuushin lives there! Nobara meets the rest of the team members, except for one, and her aunt shows her around the place and gives instructions on what duties need to be accomplished (cooking, cleaning, etc.).

Before Nobara's aunt leaves, Nobara is concerned about her aunt getting in trouble with her living in the dorms with the men. Her aunt assures her that it'll be okay and that if she accomplishes getting a women's volleyball team together, she deserves to live in the dorm too. As her aunt leaves, Nobara is glad that she has some friends that believe in her.

Nobara has a flashback/dream about her childhood and about this little boy that used to always giver her compliments on her skills at playing volleyball. She remembered him being very cute and another one of those few that believed in her.

In the morning, Nobara is all pumped up and cooks breakfast for everyone and wakes everyone up. She enters the last room, the boy she didn't meet yet, and is about to wake him up, but he is already awake and she accidentally slams the door into his head. She introduces herself and leaves as Haibuki says nothing.

As the boys begin eating, each one comments on their likes and dislikes. Nobara is stupefied by their spoildness and begins to tell them that she has

no time to cook everyone different meals. Yuushin interrupts her by saying that it is her job to make the boys happy. Nobara can't stand Yuushin!

After school, Nobara finds her sister, Souka, in front of the dorms. Souka asks Nobara to come back to the house, but Nobara refuses. Souka offends her by saying that Nobara shouldn't be working as a maid just because of the volleyball matter. Nobara gets upset and tells Souka to leave and to never come back again.

When the boys get home from practice, Ichiba finds his shirt shrunk because Nobara didn't wash it right. As Nobara is apologizing, the dinner she is preparing starts to burn and the food is ruined. The boys are tired and upset and decide to go out and eat. Nobara is feeling down, but tells herself that she has to do this so she can play volleyball!

Later on that night, Haibuki finds Nobara asleep at the table. He notices a paper ad that she's been working on to recruit girls to join the volleyball team.

In the morning, Nobara wakes up in her bed and realizes that she woke up late for making everyone's breakfast. She hurries to the kitchen and finds everyone cooking their breakfast already. She feels bad and says she's sorry as she walks over to Yuushin and starts to take away the pot he's handling. Yuushin tells her to let go and that he can do it on his own, but Nobara insists that she will do it. As they are both fighting for the pot, the hot water spills on Yuushin's arm! Nobara starts to panick and puts his arm under water to cool it. Yuushin watches how instense Nobara is.

Part 3 ~ Someone's Prince~

Nobara cannot believe she did this to Yuushin's arm. Yuushin pushes Nobara out of the way as he puts ice on his arm. Nobara feels terrible for doing this.

At school, Nobara's aunt, Momoko, looks at Yuushin's arm and tells him that he will not be able to play volleyball for awhile. Yuushin is in disbelief. Then he starts complaining about Nobara and how she can't cook, do the laundry, etc. Momoko explains that Nobara has never done any of those things because she's lived in a pretty rich environment...she's almost like a princess. Yuushin can't believe his ears. Nobara a princess!? Momoko goes on to explain Nobara's situation about how she left the house because her mother is against her playing volleyball. She concludes in saying that she only wants to play volleyball like the boys do. Yuushin softens up a bit and thinks back to how intense Nobara was trying to heal his wound.

When he leaves the nurse's office, he finds Nobara waiting for him in the hallway. Nobara asks how his arm is, but he ignores her and just walks away.

At practice, Yuushin's coach yells at him for not being careful. Yuushin takes full responsibility and promises that he'll make his arm better in less than 2 weeks.

Back at the dorms, Nobara gives Yuushin some medicine and a bag she made for him to put around his arm when he takes a bath so he won't get his arm wet. Yuushin ignores her and starts to leave the room. Nobara grabs him and tells him to just say something if he's mad at her. Yuushin yells that he is mad at her, but there is no good in that because it's not as if his arm will get better anyway. Nobara feels bad again and lets him leave. One of the boys asks her, in a cold tone, "Wasn't there anywhere else you could have gone to?". Nobara starts to feel really depressed now and she has flashbacks of all the bad things that have been happening to her lately. She shakes the bad thoughts away and tells herself that she can get through this.

Later on in the night, Yuushin finds the medicine Nobara tried to give him earlier by his door.

In the morning, to the boys' surpise, they all have their breakfast made and ready for them, just the way they like it. He feels a little bad.

At school, Nobara hands out flyers to get the girls to join the volleyball team, but none of the girls seem to be interested. Yuushin watches Nobara from afar. As he starts to go to practice, he hears someone shrieking and sees that Nobara has collapsed to the ground!

Back at the dorms, the boys try to calm Nobara's fever down, but nothing works. Yuushin tries to call Momoko, but can't reach her. Then he sees Nobara getting up. She tells him that she has to make them something to eat. Yuushin gets mad at her and tries to stop her when Nobara's mother comes in and tells her that she's come to take Nobara home. Haibuki tells her mother that Nobara is not feeling well, but her mother does not listen. She tells Sugi (her helper?) to carry Nobara to the car. Nobara runs to her bag and clings to it. Her mother gets annoyed and tells Sugi to hurry. Yuushin sees how desperate Nobara is and tells her mother that she does not want to go. Nobara's mother yells, "Nobara, don't embarass me anymore than this!". Yuushin snaps when he hears this and grabs Nobara. He tells her mother that there's no reason why she should be embarassed becaue Nobara has been trying her hardest. Nobara starts to cry and whimpers, "Mom, I just want to play volleyball". With that, her mother leaves.

Before Nobara's mother gets into the car, Haibuki stops her and asks her if she's ever seen Nobara play volleyball and if she hadn't, she should because Nobara shines when she plays.

Inside, Nobara cries and is happy that she finally has some friends that understand her and will push her back.

Part 4 ~Let's Play Volleyball~

A few days later, Nobara gets a package from her mother and sister with some of her things. Her mother writes her a letter stating that she will wait for Nobara to come home. Nobara gets the feeling that her mother finally understands her a little.

The boys start to realize that Nobara has no delicacy; she hangs her underwear outside in the open, she walks right into the bathroom when someone is taking a bath, etc. The boys confront her on this and asks if she has any notion of herself being a girl. Nobara tells them that looking at a guy naked is like looking at her dad naked. The boys cannot believe what they're hearing! Ichiba guesses that Nobara has never been in love with anyone...then, out of nowhere, Haibuki tells everyone that he used to be in love with Nobara in elementary school! Everyone is shocked. Nobara has no idea what he's talking about and starts to think back...then she realizes that he's that cute little boy that always complimented her on her volleyball skills when she was a kid!

Later on that night, as the guys are brushing their teeth, they discuss how they didn't know Haibuki was into girls like Nobara. Ichiba, who knew Haibuki in junior high school, tells them that Haibuki used to date a lot of girls from the volleyball team. They never knew he was such a player! Just then, Haibuki comes in the room too. Yuushin tells him that he has bad taste. Haibuki responds, "You think? I thought you kinda had some interest in her." Yuushin asks him why he thinks this and Haibuki tells him because he helped out Nobara when her mother came. Yuushin thinks about it a little, but tells Haibuki that he only did that because she was crying. Yuushin asks Haibuki if he's still in love with Nobara and Haibuki tells him he doesn't know and walks away. Yuushin can't stand Haibuki's personality.

At school, Nobara tries to persuade Suzushiro, the former captain of the girls' volleyball team, to play volleyball again, but Suzushiro wants nothing to do with it and walks away. Nobara goes to other former volleyball team players, but none are interested except for one: Mochida. Mochida tells Nobara a little about the former girls' volleyball team. They were a weak team and the guys volleyball team used to always put them down. Her and Suzushiro were the only ones that took volleyball seriously.

Suzushiro walks past the bulletin board and sees that someone (most likely someone from the men's volleyball team) crossed out "women's" on the flyer Nobara made and wrote in "losers" in place of it. This brings back painful memories for Suzushiro.  Just then, Nobara calls out Suzushiro's name and Suzushiro tries to hide the flyer, but Nobara sees it and gets pissed. Nobara starts to walk towards the men's volleyball team's captain and Suzushiro tries to stop her, but Nobara tells her and Mochida to stop getting used to them being called losers already. Suzushiro is a little touched by Nobara's courage. As she makes her way towards the captain, she runs into Yuushin, but doesn't say anything to him because she feels a little weird. Yuushin gets mad and wonders what she's up to.  Ichiba notices that she's on her way to the seniors' classrooms. Nobara goes up to the captain, slams down the flyer and asks for a match to prove that girls' volleyball team are not losers.

Meanwhile, on the rooftop, Haibuki is talking to a beautiful girl. He tells her about the one he loves as she hugs him from behind. Haibuki asks her to play volleyball again. She tells him that he goes too far, but that's what she likes about him...and they kiss.

[END OF Beniiro Hero - VOLUME 1]