Chapter Text
CHUO UNIVERSITY GROUNDS.
The campus of their university seemed so much more friendlier and less stressing to walk in. The day being a holiday and all probably had a deciding factor as to how Atsumu’s steps seemed so light this afternoon.
After a whole morning of training, in which everyone seemed to be doing their best in their drills and the 3-on-3 they had done with the college seniors, Atsumu, along with Hinata, Sakusa and Bokuto had decided (read: Atsumu, Hinata and Bokuto dragging a very pissed Sakusa to human-infested locations with gusto) to spend the rest of their holiday off in the Tokyo streets.
They were in their final year of university, after which Hinata planned to leave for Brazil to indulge in beach volleyball, and Sakusa, Atsumu and Bokuto to officially move to Osaka and work on their debut as pro volleyball players of the MSBY Black Jackals, the Division One male representative of Osaka in the Japanese volleyball league.
Sakusa seemed pretty eager (read: unworried and chill as fuck) about the move to Osaka, his girlfriend already living in Osaka where she pursued her own career, graduating early from her university. Bokuto was literally bouncing off the walls, his dormitory room a calendar in which he crossed the days down to their bullet train ride to Osaka.
Atsumu was pretty excited for his own debut into the professional adults’ volleyball world with direct entry into a division one team, and one topping the charts (mostly) of the league, proud that his skills had been enough to o lead him into the MSBY Black Jackals as a fresh uni graduate.
(He couldn’t wait to play against the Nicollas Romero, a flipping legend in the volleyball world.)
And well… Osamu had recently opened his first ever restaurant, its signature dish being onigiri. He was doing well, surprisingly well, and the loss of the college degree (health sciences) had at least given him a chance to pursue what was his passion. He wouldn’t ever tell this to anyone else at all , but … he was proud of Osamu.
“Awww, so we aren’t driving to the bazaar?” Bokuto Koutarou’s voice sounded rather dejected, his spiky, salt-and-pepper hair setting down a little as his shoulders slumped along with them, lips forming a ‘3’ shape as he deflatededly padded out of the university grounds and onto the sidewalk. “I wanted us to do carpool karaoke in my car….”
“No.” Sakusa’s face contorted into a look of intense disgust at Bokuto’s words, pulling his mask further up his nose when Bokuto’s bowed head came dangerously close to touching the back of his jacket. “Singing … in that awfully cramped car of yours? So many particles bound to get me sick being released into the air… my ears …”
“H-hey! What’d you mean by that ?” Bokuto exclaimed, looking betrayed as he jumped back, staring at the back of his teammate’s head in horror. “I’m perfectly healthy! And my singing is just fine !”
Atsumu scoffed.
“Bokkun,” Hinata piped up, oblivious to the spectacular eyeroll Sakusa performed at Bokuto’s exclamation, “I’m sure your singing will be perfectly fine! All you have to do is to follow the way of the ace!”
Bokuto perked up at Hinata’s words, fist pumping into the air. “Yeah! The way of the ace!”
No matter how much Bokuto had matured over the past few years on the court, his emo-modes slowly fading away until it completely disappeared, the Bokuto outside of court would forever remain a devastatingly childish manchild. Hinata did nothing but to ensure that Bokuto’s mental age would forever remain at the age of four.
“The walk to the bazaar isn’t that far, though, Shoyo-kun, Bokkun,” Atsumu said breezily, his Kansai dialect heavy and a big contrast from the normal tones of the Standard Japanese Dialect most provinces spoke in. “I’m sure that ye’re athletic enough to walk a kilometre or two, right?”
“Right!”
At Atsumu’s words, the hyperactive duo nodded determinedly, and the quartet lapsed into a comfortable silence as they walked to the bazaar. It was easy, finding the bazaar once they’d walked the distance, with the barriers marking the closed road and the flashy, bright stalls of the bazaar. The aroma of delicious food graced their presence, and Atsumu couldnt help but eagerly join in the discussion of food available in the day festival.
They walked into the bazaar, rounding the corner of the yellow barrier separating the closed street from the rest of the road. There was quite a big crowd in the bazaar, all buzzing excitedly with the energy of adults and children alike high for the break from the normal, boring routine their lives led.
“Oi! Watch it!”
A tall, broad-shouldered man with golden hair a similar shade of Atsumu’s, but longer and tied up into a short ponytail had bumped into Sakusa, the latter hissing violently at the man, who murmured a quick and flippant ‘sorry’ to the pissed wing spiker, in his hands clutching a tan, white-trimmed satchel with silver buckles that seemed to be broken.
Before anyone could act upon what the blonde man was holding — a satchel, its white fringed design more suited for a female wearer than a male, that person just holding it in his hand — he sped off, long legs and height giving him the advantage of speed. He covered distance fast, and soon rounded a corner and disappeared.
“Weirdo,” Sakusa muttered, producing a small spray from the pocket of his jacket. He pressed on the nozzle of the spray, and the detergent-like smell of the cleaning agent mixed terribly with the scent of fried food in thebazaar.
Bokuto brushed the weird scene off easily, pointing over at a stall where a group of teenage boys and girls were holding sticks of dango. “Look! They sell dango here! Let’s go!”
Sakusa stared warily at the rather crowded spot near the stall, sniffing in disapproval when Bokuto and Hinata began to advance eagerly upon the stall.
Atsumu, too, began to make his way over to the crowded spot, deciding that the slightly secluded area under the shade of some trees would be decent enough for Sakusa to stay at. He pulled out his wallet, counting the notes in the leather material.
In the same breezy tone, he called out to the dual-toned man running beside the orange-haired boy, “don’t forget the balanced diet Meian-san told us to keep to!” Before making his own way toward the stall —
“HOLD IT!”
Pain exploded before his eyes as a fist sunk into his stomach, causing the setter to lose his footing and fall onto the gravel hard , tailbone adding even more pain to what he was feeling now.
To add insult to the injury, when he looked up with watery eyes to see who his attacker was, he saw a completely pissed young woman around the height of Hinata, fist raised in fury.
“ What the fuckity fuck? ”
His words didn’t seem to placate the woman. As a matter of fact, it riled her up even more. She strode towards him in angry steps, and kicked him there .
“Oh please, piss-blonde, return me my bag!”