Chapter Text
Students were lined up in the gymnasium, the first gymnasium, as it was the largest one in Karasuno High school. Everyone─most students had their attention on the stage and at their principal as he gave his speech for the start of the new term. Some of the students were whispering to each other and their interest dwindled away. Kageyama Tobio was one of those students as his attention had fallen on the bondmark of the person in front of him. The bondmark had a unique design. Actually, all bondmarks even with polybonds each mark was unique. The bondmark of his classmate was on their neck for everyone to see and white, meaning they had yet to meet their soulmate.
Soulmates and soulbond marks were definitely a mystery. It was still unfounded on why they appear. It seemed just like it does and one doesn't always have to know the reason for it, and yet there were people whose lives were invested on learning about the bondmarks and soulmates or even to find one's soulmate.
"Kageyama, do you also have a soulbond mark?" His classmate, their seat was in front of him, said.
"I do." He said.
"Did you meet them already?" His classmate's eyes were shining in curiosity as they leaned towards him.
"I don't know."
His response had his classmate frown with his eyebrows scrunching together before realization came to them and his eyes widened, "Oh, are they...are they, ah, gone?"
The question was left unanswered with their homeroom teacher entering the room.
Soulmates was a common topic, often time it's been used for as a topic for small talk just like with the weather. Kageyama didn't find the charm everyone seems to fall for with soulmates and soulbond marks. That was, of course, a lie. He had an inkling of an interest of it before. But did it have to be a big deal? They were marks that appear on your birthday, but that was it.
Class was over for the day and while it did mean students can go home it also meant that clubs would be about recruiting new blood to add to their roster. He didn't give the other clubs any attention as he walked through the busy hallway in his P.E. uniform. His destination was the second gymnasium.
It wasn't big like the gymnasium there were at for the opening ceremony. The gym during the opening ceremony had both a basketball court and a volleyball court. This one could only house one court and it was solely for the boy's volleyball club. It was just him inside and it might be a while before his senpai would show up. He decided he should use his time to practice.
He stepped towards the storage room at the front of the gym near the stage and came back out from the room pushing a cart of volleyballs up to the side of the net. He took the ball sitting at the top of the pile and went to the end of the court with just a few steps back from the endline.
He dribbled the ball to the floor smiling at the familiar slap of the ball against the wooden planks of the floor. The ball was in good condition. He exhaled imagining in his head he was serving during a match. The whistle blew signaling him for him to serve. He sent the ball flying into the air and one-two-three steps he launched himself off the floor. The ball reached its apex and at its descent the hand that would send it over the net never came and a shout echoed in the gym announcing the presence of another student.
Interrupted by the shout, the image in his head was gone at a blink and his feet were back on the floor, "Ouch!"
The ball he had thrown in the air bounced off his head before it dropped to the floor. His eyes were on the loud orange head by the door rudely pointing at him.
"Why are you here?!"
A challenge, a flying wig and a few more things lead to another and Kageyama was forced to team up with Hinata Shoyo.
"He wasted his athletic ability. He didn't improve from when I played against him in middle school. He had one year." Kageyama complained while he and Miwa were having dinner, curry, his favorite. Their father was still at the hospital in the middle of an operation with his co-workers.
"Tobio, just because you don't see the improvement they made doesn't mean they didn't do anything." Miwa said on listening to his complaints about his unskilled teammate while they were having dinner, "You shouldn't write off what they did when you didn't know their circumstances."
"But neesan, he received with his face." He said scrunching his nose, "if he was any better receiving maybe we wouldn't have sent the principal's wig flying and kicked out of the gym."
"You sent your principal's wig flying?" Miwa's jaw fell before laughter bubbled out from her clapping her hands at the events of Kageyama's first day in Karasuno. Once her laughter died down she said, "Choosing to go to Karasuno has to be a god sent. Nothing as interesting as that has happened to you in middle school!"
Kageyama didn't believe in a god, but maybe this god did send the idea of Karasuno to him. Though the events that transpired to allow him the idea was may have been extreme. He had been plunged under cold water with no ability to swim did the name sprung up to him. He had seen his life flash before him then fragmented images of the school appeared before everything had turned black.Though that matter had led him to Karasuno, the deciding factor for going to Karasuno was the rumor of Coach Ukai coming out of retirement.
The siblings divided the chores between them usually Miwa would do the cooking while Kageyama does the dishes. Miwa was also the first of them to take a bath and Kageyama would be in the living room watching a volleyball game on TV. It just happened to be a day where there was no game, and he went to his room instead.
On entering his room, he walked over to his desk where his phone sat. The indicator for a message was blinking. He opened his phone and on the screen was a message from Suna Rintarou.
He opened the message with an attached picture. It was a photo of the twins Suna had mentioned in his messages and they were in the middle of a fight in a gym. Another message followed and this time it was a text message.
04/01 7:43 PM
From: Suna Rintarou
Subject: First day
Our captain showed up to break
up the fight. He gave the twins
a beat down. Too bad I didn't
get to capture it. How was your day?
04/01 8:03 PM
To: Suna Rintarou
Subject: Re: First Day
It was eventful.
Even before a minute passed, he already received a response from him.
04/01 8:03 PM
From: Suna Rintarou
Sub: Re: First day
Elaborate on what you
mean as eventful.
He told Suna about his first day minus the flying wig incident. He met Suna Rintarou at Hyogo while he and his family were there for a 3-day vacation. He got lost in the street and the guy was considerate enough to help him get to the restaurant his family would be waiting for him. That didn't mean he should tell everything to the guy despite having exchanged a few messages for the past two weeks. He knew almost nothing of the guy aside from his appearance and being older than him since he's a highschool student.
04/01 8:13 PM
From: Suna Rintarou
Sub: Re: First Day
Wait. You, play volleyball?
You didn't mention that.
He blinked on reading the message. He hasn't? He tried to recall the messages they had sent each other and Suna was right. It never came up. He did get the idea Suna played volleyball from the pictures of the twins that often fought in their gym. He didn't really go out of his way to ask if Suna also played volleyball.
04/01 8:13 PM
To: Suna Rintarou
Sub: Volleyball
You didn't say you play
volleyball either.
04/01 8:13 PM
From: Suna Rintarou
Sub: Re: Volleyball
That's true, but you must have
noticed from the pictures
I send you.
It struck Kageyama if he had been wrong not to mention it. He knew when it came to socializing he wasn't any good at it. But thinking about it why did Suna-san want to exchange emails with him before they separated ways?
04/01 8:14 PM
To: Suna Rintarou
Sub: Re: Volleyball
I did. I'm sorry. Should I
have mentioned it?
04/01 8:14 PM
From: Suna Rintarou
Sub: Re: Volleyball
Maybe? You could have.
04/01 8:15 PM
To: Suna Rintarou
Sub: Re: Volleyball
Sorry. I'm not really good
at this─this getting to
know someone. becoming
friends? Volleyball is easier
to me than talking.
Was he even becoming friends with this guy from Hyogo? It was mostly Suna that messaged him and he would respond, but only with short responses. It didn't look like they were even having a conversation from the messages with how short they were. This was probably the longest conversation they had.
04/01 8:17 PM
From: Suna Rintarou
Sub: Re: Volleyball
Well, a ball can't exactly talk
so you have a point if it's with
talking to someone. Yet you're
talking to me right now.
04/01 8:18 PM
To: Suna Rintarou
Sub: Re: Volleyball
We're texting. That's
not exactly talking.
It was moments later his phone began to ring in his hand with Suna's name flashing on the screen. Suna Rintarou was calling him. He was about to press answer, but the knock on his door pulled his attention from his phone.
"Tobio, you can take a bath now." Miwa's muffled voice came from behind the door and the sound of a door opening and closing let him know his sister entered her room.
The call ended without Kageyama answering and there was a new message from Suna.
04/01 8:19 PM
From: Suna Rintarou
Sub: Re: Volleyball
Hey, answer your phone.
It was his turn to take a bath, so he had to cut their conversation for the night.
04/01 8:19 PM
To: Suna Rintarou
Sub: Re: Volleyball
Sorry. I have to go take a
bath. Good night.
Kageyama sent his reply and left his room to take his bath. Not knowing that all the way over in Hyogo Suna Rintarou read the message wondering if Kageyama was that socially awkward that he doesn't like to answer phone calls or that he was being ignored.