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Yuutarou Kindaichi sprinted out of the classroom the moment the end-of-day bell sounded. He zipped through the halls of Kitagawa Middle School like a 6th-grade version of the Flash, apologizing when he nearly knocked over one student. Making it to the school entrance with barely enough oxygen to survive, he gasped in front of his friend since elementary school, Akira Kunimi. Kunimi, changing shoes to walk home, stared perplexed at the heaving boy before him.
“Kunimi! You’ll never guess what happened!”
Akira Kunimi, also a first year at this junior high, didn’t venture to guess what would make this boy literally run himself to exhaustion.
“Koshirou spoke to me!” Kindaichi squealed.
Koshirou was the one of the “cool kids,” the type who constantly had a pair of minions at his side and girls squealing from afar. Also, he was the type who never deigned to talk to “unpopular” kids like Kindaichi or Kunimi. They were benchwarmers on a middle school volleyball team, with most of the attention going to their third-year captain Tooru Oikawa. Kindaichi and Kunimi were nobodies who should be off Koshirou’s radar.
“I don’t believe you,” Kunimi said flatly, making Kindaichi’s jaw drop.
“That’s so mean, but he did!” Kindaichi insisted.
“What did he say?”
“He says he wants me to hang out with them! I’m going to go see him now!” Kindaichi threw open his arms, their width proportional to his excitement level at this opportunity to get in with the big boys.
“Uh-huh.”
“Don’t believe me. You’ll see. I’m gonna go talk to him, and then I’ll come back, and we’ll walk home.”
With the opportunity to recover his stamina, Kindaichi disappeared as quickly as he had appeared. Kunimi sighed and mentally prepped to wait for his friend to come back.
Kindaichi skipped across the playground to the corner where Koshirou had asked Kindaichi to meet him and his two-boy posse. He found the infamous Koshirou wearing a sleeveless jacket and slanted beanie, coolly leaning against the wall, flicking a coin into the air and catching it to pass the time. His entourage imitated their leader in their languidness, one also leaning against the wall and the other crouched down with a cocked head.
Koshirou smirked and caught the coin swiftly in a fist.
“Sweet. You came, Yuuta.”
“M-my name’s Kindaichi,” the boy stammered. Koshirou waltzed up and threw an arm over the back of Kindaichi’s neck.
“That name’s not cool! You want to hang out with us, you gotta have a cooler tag, Yuuta.”
Yuuta…. Kindaichi pondered the moniker. He rather liked it.
Koshirou ambled away. “We’re goin’ to the arcade tonight. Come along.”
“Yeah, Koshirou always wins,” one of the lackeys winked, as if to imply beating the boss would be a sin. The two followers mimicked their boss’s swaying departure.
“Sure thing! I’ll meet you there after I walk my friend home.”
Unanimously, the trio froze. Koshirou tilted his head back.
“Oh, that’s right. You see, if you want to hang out with us, you gotta drop that uncool, deadweight friend of yours—Kuni-whatever.”
Kindaichi shivered.
“I…I can’t do that.”
“OK,” Koshirou shrugged. “We’ll go by ourselves then.” He and his entourage wasted no time in continuing on their way. Panic filled Kindaichi’s veins. He was this close to being accepted among the cool kids—to becoming a somebody in the volatile period of middle school.
“Wait!” Kindaichi called urgently. “I…I’ll come with you.”
“Sweet. Keep up or get lost.” With that, Koshirou got a running start to the school gates.
“Hey, no fair!” one of his goons cried, and the two went after their leader.
“H-Hey, wait up!” Kindaichi called, giving chase.
As he neared the exit from the schoolgrounds, he peered at the school guiltily, his thoughts on Kunimi awaiting his return.
If he were honest, the arcade visit was more than a tad uncomfortable. Koshirou got irritated when Kindaichi almost outscored him, forcing the newcomer to throw the game at the last second. Then, when Koshirou lost to a stranger, he proceeded to physically beat up his opponent and got the four kicked out. His entourage parroted their boss when the latter declared the place stupid, and then they policed the streets for the evening. Kindaichi found the business of being “cool” to be actually quite boring.
He got home well after dark. Kunimi had sent the text “I’m leaving” 30 minutes after Kindaichi left. He wrestled with himself about Koshirou’s ultimatum: how could he simply stop hanging out with Kunimi? Beyond volleyball practice, Kindaichi had spent lunch and walked to and from school with Kunimi every day for the past couple of years. He couldn’t fathom cutting him off. He resolved to keep hanging out with Kunimi in secret. He just hoped that Kunimi would understand.
“So, I see you left me behind,” Kunimi said dryly the next morning the moment Kindaichi walked up with a stiff smile. Kindaichi’s smile dropped, and the sinking feeling returned to his stomach. “When were you gonna tell me?”
Kindaichi grimaced. “We, uh, were in a hurry yesterday.”
“We? So Koshirou and his goons really let you in?”
“They’re not goons,” Kindaichi protested, although he actually couldn’t refute the description. “They’re my friends.”
“Friends, huh?” Kunimi skeptically asked, shutting his locker. “I don’t think that guy knows what friendship is. You know his reputation, right?”
“Those people don’t know him,” Kindaichi huffed, but he really couldn’t say he knew him himself.
“And you do?” Kunimi’s sharp eye was a bit aggravating.
“They invited me in. That counts for something.”
“I can see you’re already becoming like them. But, nah, it’s fine. I get it. My sister has free ice-cream at her shop today. Want to grab some?”
“Oh. Uh, yeah, so…” Kindaichi mumbled, rubbing the back of his head. “Koshirou invited me to hang out again tonight. B-But we can totally hang out at school. Like, in class and club and stuff.”
“In class?” Kunimi said, raising an eyebrow.
“Yeah. You know….”
“You’re acting weird.”
Kindaichi blushed. He couldn’t tell Kunimi about the ultimatum. He didn’t want to stop hanging out with Kunimi. “I just…want to be a good friend to Koshirou is all,” he beamed widely.
The fake smile on Kindaichi’s face belied a man who was hiding something.
“Oh, I get it,” Kunimi said abrasively. “You know, if you don’t want to hang out with me because your new friend is all that, just say so.”
Kindaichi flinched. Kunimi shut his locker and started to walk away without another word.
“Kunimi, wait,” Kindaichi called, but he had no follow-up. Kunimi kept walking.
Kunimi didn’t greet Kindaichi at practice. Kindaichi pretended nothing was wrong, while Kunimi sourly blocked balls. He could see Kunimi was messing up as well, but they didn’t speak about it anymore.
The more times Kindaichi hung out with Koshirou, the more uncomfortable he felt. The group pressured him to stay out past his curfew, sometimes engaged in misdemeanor crimes, and crudely ogled other students their age to a disrespectful degree.
Days passed, and Kindaichi found himself pining more and more for the ease and comfort he felt around Kunimi. Kunimi had become a loner since their spat, and Kindaichi nervously sought out moments to talk but lost his nerve every time. Sometimes, Kunimi would catch sight of him, stare as if daring Kindaichi to make a move, and then walk away when no action was forthcoming.
Kindaichi couldn’t hide his unease from Oikawa. The third-year devoted a little more attention to him during practice. Oikawa was well-liked by everyone in school (except, notably, Koshirou). Looking back, Kindaichi would realize Koshirou was envious, but that didn’t occur to Kindaichi now. All that mattered was Kindaichi spotting Koshirou peeking into the gym during one practice session looking rather sour and walking away.
“Hmph,” Oikawa pouted. “Those types are just lousy.” Years later, Kindaichi would also realize Koshirou’s distaste for Oikawa was mutual. “Kindaichi, don’t ever get mixed up with people like him,” Oikawa continued. “He’s the type of guy who’d make you hurt your friends and abandon everything you like.”
Kindaichi couldn’t tell if Oikawa saw him flinch. The setter smiled graciously and trotted away to help another first-year. Kindaichi’s heart pounded, fearful his captain was fully aware of Kindaichi’s predicament.
Even so, there was one thing different. Koshirou hadn’t made Kindaichi “abandon everything he liked.”
“Yo, we were about to leave ya,” Koshirou said that evening. He always greeted Kindaichi with some variation of this statement after volleyball practice, although tonight it sounded extra petulant. “All right. Lezgo.”
“Sorry,” Kindaichi apologized, even though Koshirou already seemed past it. “Practice ran late.”
Koshirou halted suddenly, and his pair of followers did the same. It made Kindaichi uneasy.
“Oh, yeah,” Koshirou said. “You need to quit that club there.”
“Huh?” was all Kindaichi could say after comprehending the statement.
“It’s a waste of time, all the people on the team ain’t cool, like that captain and that kid you used to hang out with.”
The words stung. Kindaichi’s fist balled up.
“So, yeah. You need to drop those deadweights, and then we can have fun.”
“They are not deadweights—especially not Kunimi.” Kindaichi couldn’t believe the words that came out of his mouth and neither could Koshirou.
“What did you just say?” the older boy menaced. He swaggered up to Kindaichi. Even though they were the same height, Koshirou’s aura made him feel twice as tall.
“I said, I’m not quitting volleyball,” Kindaichi mumbled. He tried to steel his resolve but kept his head down, afraid he’d lose his nerve if he looked Koshirou in the eye. He couldn’t believe Oikawa’s words were coming true, but he wasn’t willing to lose volleyball—or Kunimi.
“Oh, that right?” Koshirou said. “What is it you guys do in the game? Hit the ball into the ground?”
Koshirou slapped Kindaichi across the cheek. Kindaichi stumbled, and Koshirou for added measure shoved the boy to the floor.
“Like that, right?” Koshirou concluded with eyes daring Kindaichi to fight back. Koshirou’s buddies laughed themselves silly at their leader’s joke.
Kindaichi couldn’t bring himself to say anything. His eyes teared up in humiliation, his cheek still stinging from the slap. Koshirou and his gang walked away, laughing to themselves.
Kindaichi pulled his knees up to his face and buried his head in them, trying to hide his tears. When he opened his eyes, someone quietly held out a handkerchief.
He didn’t know what to think when he recognized the person as Kunimi.
He felt too embarrassed to make eye contact and blushed while taking the cloth.
“He got you good,” Kunimi said, which made Kindaichi feel lousier.
“He said bad things…about you.” He added the last part hesitantly, unsure how Kunimi would react.
“I heard,” Kunimi said simply. He reached out a hand to help Kindaichi stand, which Kindaichi took.
“My mom is making stir-fry tonight,” Kunimi said. “Want to come?”
Kindaichi blushed again. “Are you sure?” His body shrank, feeling uncomfortable at the suggestion of being forgiven so easily.
“Keep blushing like that, and she won’t ask about that bruise on your cheek.”
Kindaichi’s blush somehow got deeper, which made Kunimi chuckle—a rare sight.
“I’m so sorry,” Kindaichi bowed. “Please forgive me.”
“Sure. Forgive me too,” he added. “For treating you so coldly.”
“I deserved it.”
“Yeah, you did,” Kunimi shrugged. “But it’s so hard at practice without talking to you. Kageyama is so irritating.”
Kindaichi giggled a little. “But we’re teammates. I bet we’ll get along and be acting like a team in no time!” he said with a sparkle of hopefulness.
“I hope you’re right,” Kunimi shrugged, and the two left the schoolyard under the setting sun.