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It hadn’t taken a rocket scientist to figure out that Miya Atsumu, starting setter for the MSBY Black Jackals, had a twin brother in the food industry. He was well-acquainted with several other players in the league, too, and detailed accounts of his relationship with each of them through the years were all over Tumblr and Reddit. A significant portion of his life has become something like public knowledge over time. Or at the very least, up for public speculation.
After high school, Osamu left a void in Atsumu’s routine that he thought he would have to work around for the rest of his life. “It ain’t twin telepathy,” he remembered answering an interviewer once, “but it’s kinda like when your teacher tells ya to partner up for a project and both you and your friend are failin’ the class but ya partner up anyway ‘cause it just makes sense.”
“It ain’t like ‘Samu’s that irreplaceable,” he told another. “I’m the best setter in Japan, so what if my brother wants to spend all of his life savings on his dumb restaurant? D’ya know how many spikers there are that would kill for one of my tosses? And I love volleyball, but some of my favorite people don’t got a thing to do with it.”
Be that as it may, spikers come and go in waves. Partnerships are built. The year that Sakusa Kiyoomi graduated from the University of Tokyo and Hinata Shouyou came back to Japan to take its professional volleyball scene by storm, Atsumu had the most fun he’d ever had on court.
He was selected for the national team shortly after their team secured the V.League championships.
Mainstream media loved to play up the idea of the monster generation, but most of them could be doing this at fifteen or at fifty and all that would really matter was that it was still volleyball. “I fell in love with volleyball when I was ten years old. My brother always says that I fell in love fast, hard, and never looked back,” Atsumu told Japan Times, a finger running along the chain resting right under the collar of his shirt. He chuckled and turned to smile at the camera. “He was right, of course.”
When he was in high school, Atsumu learned to hold the world in his fist and keep it there. Standing at the Olympic stage, five whole steps behind the crisp white line of the court, he curled his fingers around the brass band normally hanging on his neck. It weighed heavier in his palm than any medal ever would.
Not many people know this about him, but win or lose, Miya Atsumu was already the happiest he had ever been.
Kageyama Tobio’s coming out stayed on Twitter’s trending page for a whole week, but Hinata Shouyou’s proposal at the Olympic semi-finals started trending a mere five minutes after it happened.
“Did you know about it, Miya-senshu?” a reporter asked Atsumu the next day.
He let out a laugh before offering her a shrug. “You could say that. I think we all knew that it was going to happen eventually, it was just a matter of who and when. Between you and me, Iwaizumi-san made a lot of money from the betting pool but Yaku-san thinks it’s unfair ‘cause he’s known Tobio-kun since middle school.”
“What about you? What do you look for in a partner?”
He rolled his eyes. He assumed that this was how the interview would go, and he usually sidestepped those sorts of questions by talking about his on-court partnership with Kiyoomi. It was amazing how much the public knew about him without knowing him at all. “I don’t,” he said. “I mean, I don’t look. My partner and I are very happy.”
The reporter’s eyes went wide. “Your partner?”
“Yep,” he answered, not missing a beat. He looked over to where Tobio and Shouyou were beng interviewed before grinning at the reporter. “But I wouldn’t wanna steal their moment so I won’t say too much about it.”
“Can I ask a few questions, at least?”
“Well, sure, but they’re gonna be watchin’ this so make sure ya don’t make me look like a bad boyfriend. I didn’t delete their jazz playlist seven years ago, I swear it was a bug on my phone!”
“Seven years ago?”
Atsumu nodded. “We met in high school. They made fun of my accent during English even though I helped them lug their trombone to the fifth floor. Uhh...” He pulled the chain out of his shirt and let the brass band rest over his chest for the world to see. “They don’t use it anymore, so we got matching rings made out of it when we graduated. I can’t really wear it on court, though.”
“Do we know who it is? Is there a reason you’ve kept it a secret for so long?”
“It was never really a secret,” he explained. “They’re not part of the league or anything, so I’m gonna stop any speculation right there. All my teammates have met them though. I think he gets along with Omi-omi better than I do sometimes.”
“Probably because they don’t call him Omi-omi,” the reporter suggested.
Atsumu laughed. “Probably.”
“What’s your favorite thing about your partner?”
“Their hands,” was Atsumu’s instinctive answer. “I mean—Is this video live? Uhm. I actually remember back when we were sixteen, I was too nervous to ask if I could hold their hand so I grabbed their hand awkwardly and told ‘em they got good hands for volleyball. They laughed at me for a while, but then we got to hold hands walkin’ home from school and the embarrassment was worth it.”
“That’s awfully sweet. You and Kageyama-senshu both have such a big presence on court that sometimes it’s hard to imagine what you’re like off of it. I’m surprised you don’t talk about your partner more often.”
“I do,” he admitted. “Maybe no one else has noticed, but they definitely have.”
“Oh, I see. You seemed like the type to pull something like Hinata-senshu did, is all.”
“Well, I’d proclaim it to the world, but…” He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “The sappy answer is that they are my world. They didn’t want to be in the limelight and I didn’t feel the need to prove my love to anyone else but them. Like I said, my partner and I are very happy.”
She smiled at him. “I never knew you had such a way with words, Miya-senshu.”
“I have my moments,” he said with a laugh. “Now, make sure ya mention the ring on your article ‘cause we’ve had ‘em since 2014 and we’re gettin’ married as soon as it’s legal in Japan.”
She bowed. “Thank you for your time. I’ll do my best.”
Miya Atsumu was twenty-six years old when he came home from his first Olympic Games with a silver medal buried deep into his suitcase and a ring proudly shining on his left hand.
His partner held him flush against the wall as soon as he walked into the living room. “Saw your interview.”
“Ya see all my interviews, babe,” Atsumu pointed out. He tilted his head to the side before leaning over to give them a kiss. “Didja like it? I know we talked about it before, but—”
“Well, ignoring the fact that you wanted to steal Kageyama and Hinata’s spotlight…” they laugh, taking Atsumu’s hand in theirs to press kisses to the inside of his wrists. “I love you, too, you big baby.”
“Baby?” he repeated, smiling. “I thought you hated pet names.”
“You should be grateful I didn’t have the band play the Jaws theme whenever you were up for a serve. Suna would’ve loved that.”
“Oi, I haven’t seen you in three weeks. Stop talkin’ about another man in my house."
They rolled their eyes. "I can't believe I'm marryin' ya someday."
Someday, Atsumu thought, heartbeat steady as a kick drum.