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On the spring of his seventeenth year, Yaku Morisuke saw a weird stranger tripping awkwardly and falling on his face, right on his doorstep. The man was pressed in pressed black suits and an apparently crooked tie, which revealed itself once he rolled on his side. Yaku was tired from practice and he desperately wanted to pretend that nothing happened so he could just take that long, nice bath and lie on his bed. But he was Yaku Morisuke, and he couldn’t leave people who couldn’t take care of themselves alone.
“Excuse me. Are you alright?”
“…Yaku-san?!”
How did he—
“Ah! It’s really Yaku-san! You’re so tiny here too!”
“Yaku-san?”
Yaku Morisuke couldn’t leave people who couldn’t take care of themselves alone, but he could make an exception for assholes who call him short and all variations of it.
“Wait, Yaku-san— ow!”
Yaku couldn’t believe this man. Who would trip over when trying to get up on his feet after tripping?
“I don’t know how you know my name, but please watch your step. Now excuse me—“
The clumsy giant just lunged forward and pulled Yaku into a hug. If his muscles weren’t sore enough thanks to practice, he would have hurt this creepy stranger. This would count as harassment right?
“Waah! Yaku-san, I missed you!”
“What? Get off me you— creepy person!”
Did the man just sniffled? What do you do when an overgrown man just appeared in front of you, hugged you, and cried? What even is going on?
“Uh… hey you.”
“Lev.”
“Okay, Mr. Lev—“
“You used to call me just Lev.”
“Okay, Lev, what is going on here?”
“Ah! Sorry, Yaku-san, I forgot that this is not there. I mean, you’re not my Yaku-san, but you’re Yaku-san? Uh… I’m confused now.”
“I’m even more confused here.”
“It’s just— my Yaku-san is in a coma, and Kuroo-san said I need to go look for him inside the shared cons— conshu—“
“Consciousness.”
“Yes! You’re so smart, Yaku-san!”
‘”Wait, you said Kuroo? Kuroo Tetsurou?”
“Yes! Kuroo-san told me to go inside the… thing. And find Yaku-san. And then try to pull Yaku-san to our consci— uh…”
“…I must be watching too much sci-fi lately.”
“But I think I got lost. I was supposed to find my Yaku-san but I end up in this other world?”
“Huh? So what now?”
“I think Kuroo-san will come to get me. Usually Yaku-san does that but now it’s my turn to save him! Oh, I know! Can you keep me company until Kuroo-san gets here? He’ll be happy to see another tiny Yaku-san—“
Yaku no longer cared if this is some stranger that could be dangerous. His leg landed on the back of Lev’s knees, making him fall for the third time that day. As dangerous as this man might be, nobody gets away with calling Yaku tiny. Nobody.
“Ow… You’re the same! Are all Yaku-sans like that? But wait. If all Yaku-sans are the same, does this mean that you like me too?”
“I don’t like you and I’m going home. Now.”
With that, Yaku went inside his lawn and locked Lev outside the gate. Lev though, didn’t give up easily. Aces don’t give up! Well, that would be what he would say in another world. He climbed over Yaku’s fences—curse his long legs—and landed not so smoothly, face down, next to Yaku’s mom’s bonsai plants.
“You can either climb back out or I’m calling the police.”
“Waah! Not the police!”
“Seriously, if this is some weird-ass prank Kuroo made you do, I’m going to kill him.”
“Wait! Don’t kill Kuroo-san! Hmm… Ah! I’ll build you a pillow fort. Cramped spaces make you feel good right? This world’s Yaku-san?”
What? How could this guy know he felt safe in smaller spaces? And no, it still didn’t mean that pillow fort was a good deal.
“No. I don’t know how you know those things about me, but I’m not letting you mess up my house.”
“As I said, my Yaku-san—“
“If you’re going to explain, do it in a language I can understand.”
“Okay!!”
And that was how Yaku ended up with an annoyingly tall stranger in his living room. Good thing his parents weren’t home yet. Kids shouldn’t allow strangers into their homes. But something about this man made Yaku think that he’s not a random stranger. His story made no sense but Yaku found himself absorbed in it. Lev told stories about the existence of his world, a parallel world to the one they were at at that moment. He spoke about how worlds are connected through dreams, and that people in his world had discovered a way to induce artificial dreams, allowing people to travel to different worlds he call consciousness. That there were limits to these artificial dreams, and one could easily got lost in it. It seemed that that was what happened to his Yaku. Lev’s face darkened when he talked about it, and Yaku, half out of curiosity and half out of discomfort at Lev’s expression, diverted the conversation a little.
“So, wanna tell me about your, uh, version of me?”
“Oh! He’s sho—“
Yaku glared.
“He looks like you! And he’s very smart and strong too! He taught me a lot of things but he kicks me a lot too. But he always made sure that I’m okay. I love him a lot!”
“Ah? I… see?” Yaku felt awkward. It was as if he was simultaneously loved and not loved by this man.
“Um. You said Kuroo? About him…”
“Ah, Kuroo-san is strong too! But he can be mean to me. He takes good care of everyone though. Especially Kenma-san!”
“That sounds like our Kuroo too. You have Kenma over there too huh? Is he very smart?”
“He is! We can always count on him to make our operations work great. But he relies on us too. It’s hard to explain, I can’t do it like Kuroo-san, but everyone is just nice!”
“Hm. My team is nice too. Kuroo can be an asshole but he’s not appointed a captain for nothing. I don’t know about the first years who will be coming though. Hope nobody too troublesome appears.”
“Ooh! You’re in this world’s Kuroo-san’s team too? How cool! Ah but it’s different. Yours must be a school team or something.”
“What kind of team were you thinking?”
“Sorry! I can’t tell! Yaku-san will kill me for that.”
“I could already tell from your story that it’s something dangerous if the other me can fall into a coma. Anyway, what are you—“
Yaku heard the front door clicked open and he dreaded the arrival of his parents. He got up from his seat to greet them while gesturing for Lev to go up to his room.
“But, Yaku-san, there’s no way your parents can come unless you want them to. This is our dream.”
“Huh?”
“Aah, dammit Lev, there you are. And another Yaku eh? Figures.”
“Kuroo…? Wait, you’re not Kuroo?”
There stood a person who looked like a more mature version of his teammate, Kuroo, complete with the grin although more suspicious-looking. By now, if Lev’s story was true, Yaku could have deducted that it’s the alternate Kuroo.
“Kuroo-san! Are you going to take me back already? Can’t I talk with Yaku-san a little bit more?”
“Alright now, time’s up. Gotta go, Lev. Good night, Yaku.”
The last thing Yaku remembered was Lev’s shouting “make sure to remember me, okay, Yaku-san?!” and Kuroo’s punching him hard on the gut. He woke up with a jerk, disoriented, and with a phantom pain on his gut. So it was a dream after all. A fucking weird one though. Yaku contemplated punching Kuroo when he got to see him at practice. How could he be that annoying even in a dream?
He did punch Kuroo that afternoon in the changing room, regretfully not near as hard as the one he felt in his dream. Kuroo laughed incredulously at his account on his dream, but listened all the way to the end anyway. Yaku had strategically edited out the part where he said Kuroo was a good captain for good measure. He didn’t need Kuroo to boast about it on his face. The two of them came out soon after, to meet the new line-up. Yaku noted one seemingly promising libero and Kuroo set his eyes on a tall middle blocker. A few minutes into the introduction, the gym door opened for a tall, familiar-looking figure to step in, suddenly announcing that he’d be the ace. Yaku stared long and hard, and took a deep breath. It was going to be a long year.