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“Oi, Noya-san! Hurry up, or I’ll leave without you!”
Tanaka stood at the door to Noya’s classroom and grinned mischievously. Noya put the last of his books in his bag and stood up.
“As if I’d let you get there before me! I heard that there’s a foxy second-year working as the team manager, and I’m gonna meet her first,” Noya said as he walked towards the door.
“Just another reason to leave you behind,” Tanaka replied as Noya pushed past him and gave him a playful jab on the arm. If anyone else had done that, Tanaka would’ve punched them right in the face, but Nishinoya was like a brother to him. They met in middle school at a volleyball match, and a mutual respect for each other’s skills and a love for volleyball marked the beginning of a wild and lively friendship.
The two began walking towards Karasuno’s gym, where the volleyball team’s first practice of the year would begin shortly.
“Ha! What are you gonna do when you meet her? Confess your undying love for her and beg her to Transform your Soul Mark?” Noya quipped.
“N-No fair, Noya-san! There’s no way she’d agree to that!” Tanaka exclaimed while flushing a deep shade of red. “It’s not in a convenient place like yours,” he sulked.
Noya laughed. “I still can’t believe you were unlucky enough to end up with yours on your ass che-“
“NOYA!” Tanaka shoved Noya in half-hearted indignation. Nishinoya lorded this fact over Ryuu often ever since Saeko had been kind enough to inform him of it.
Tanaka sighed and shook his head. “You really do have it easy though, Noya-san. You don’t have to go through the whole “guessing stage” of the relationship- you can just ask someone to touch your Soul Mark and save yourself the trouble if it doesn’t Transform.”
“That’s true, but I wouldn’t ask just anyone to try to Transform it. Since it only happens once, I wouldn’t want to do it on a whim and almost miss it. At least with yours, you can be sure that it won’t Transform just from someone brushing against your shoulder in the hallway,” Noya said with a serious expression. His features softened as he added, “I mean, you wouldn’t let just anyone touch your ass, right, Ryuu? Hahaha!”
Tanaka stopped as they entered the gym.
“I would let her smack my ass.”
Noya looked ahead and saw a goddess. She was stunningly beautiful with cold blue eyes and jet black hair. She had a beauty mark at the corner of her mouth and a pair of squared glasses that framed her cool gaze. As far as Noya was concerned, she wasn’t foxy, but ethereal, and he was ready to worship her as soon as he found out her name.
Seeing the duo enter the gym, she approached them and addressed them politely:
“Ah, you two must be first-years. I’m Shimizu Kiyoko, Karasuno’s manager. Practice will start soon, so you’d better head to the club room to change,” Kiyoko said, pointing at the gym’s other entrance. “It’s out that door and up the stairs to your right, so you can’t miss it.”
Noya and Tanaka looked at each other in disbelief, and Noya could see tears welling up in Tanaka’s eyes.
She spoke to us..!
That thought was on both of their minds as they turned back to Kiyoko and said in unison, “THANK YOU VERY MUCH, KIYOKO-SAN!”
Kiyoko appeared to be overwhelmed by their sudden enthusiasm but didn’t have time to respond as the pair dashed for the club room.
“DID YOU SEE HER, NOYA-SAN? SHE WAS SO BEAUTIFUL!”
“I DID, RYUU—AND SHE TALKED TO US! WE MUST BE THE LUCKIEST MEN ALIVE!”
Noya and Tanaka gushed about their newfound crush as they entered the club room and began to change.
“Looks like the first-years met Shimizu,” a voice laughed.
“Yeah,” another voice responded. “But I hope they’ll focus more on volleyball than on getting their senpai’s attention,” the voice said sternly.
Noya turned and saw two students grinning at him. One had silver hair and a beauty mark much like Kiyoko’s at the corner of one of his light brown eyes. He seemed friendly, and Noya’s first impression of him was a positive one. The other boy had dark hair and dark brown eyes and seemed much more serious than his friend. Noya assumed he was the team’s captain and addressed him as such.
The dark-haired boy seemed taken aback by this, and the silver-haired boy snickered and waved a hand. “Oh, Daichi here isn’t the captain- at least, not yet. The two of us are only second-years. I’m Sugawara, by the way, but you can call me Suga.” Noya was a little embarrassed by his mistake, but felt relieved that his seniors didn’t seem to mind it.
“And what can we call you two?” Daichi asked.
Tanaka and Noya looked at each other, then Tanaka started:
“I’m Tanaka Ryuunosuke! I played wing spiker in middle school! It’s nice to meet you!”
He bowed slightly as Nishinoya gestured to his chest confidently with his thumb and proclaimed loudly:
“I’m Nishinoya Yuu! I was the libero at Chidoriyama Middle! Nice to meet you!”
Noya heard the door open behind him and a voice said, “Oh, you’re the one who received the ‘Best Libero Award’ last year, right?”
Noya turned around and looked up. A large figure who was at least a head taller than Noya stood in front of him. At first glance, he seemed intimidating, but as Noya studied his features, he became less so. He had long brown hair pulled back into a messy bun and large, round brown eyes. He also had a short beard on his chin, and under his right eye was a strip of bandage covering a portion of his cheek. Judging by his appearance, he looked like the type of guy who was tough and got into a lot of fights, but Noya’s intuition told him otherwise.
“Yup!” Noya responded proudly. The figure gave him a gentle smile and replied sincerely:
“That’s amazing! I’m glad to have someone with your skill on our team!”
For some reason, this simple admission made Noya’s chest tighten, albeit only slightly. He beamed with satisfaction and decided that he liked this person.
“Asahiiii, you’re late!” Suga scolded the taller boy. “If you don’t hurry up, the captain will be mad~”
“Wahh!” Asahi visibly paled and closed the door behind him. Noya and Tanaka watched as he stumbled about in an effort to change quickly. They stifled their giggles as Asahi panicked, and Noya concluded that this “Asahi” must be a second-year as well.
Although they all finished before him, everyone waited for Asahi to change, and the five of them walked over to the gym as a group. Along the way, Noya and Tanaka got a more formal introduction from each of their senpais and learned a little bit more about their personalities.
Sawamura Daichi, wing spiker who specialized in receiving. Daichi said that it was his hope that Karasuno would return to nationals soon, although he didn’t think they would make it this year.
“Huh?” Tanaka said, confused. “Why not?”
“The captain, Kurokawa-san, said it himself to us second-years. It’s not that we’re not going to try our hardest and work on improving our skills, but I think that there’s no way we can move forward if we don’t believe we can.”
Daichi spoke plainly and with authority, and Noya remembered what Suga said before.
“Then you’ll just have to take us there next year when you’re captain, Daichi-san!” Noya offered confidently.
Suga and Asahi were openly impressed by the boldness of their kouhai but Daichi maintained his composure. He looked Noya straight in the eye and said, “Yes!” with a wide grin on his face. Even though he had just met them and they hadn’t seen him play yet, Noya seemed to have earned the respect of his senpais with his straightforward attitude.
Next was Sugawara Koushi, Karasuno’s official setter. Since his first year in the volleyball club, he had been Karasuno’s only setter, so he gained a lot of experience in a short amount of time.
“Suga is our reliable setter!” Daichi said proudly. “With his amazing toss, we will definitely make it to nationals!”
Suga looked embarrassed and replied, “Daiiichii~ Aren’t you laying it on a bit thick there?”
“Not at all!” Daichi said, smirking, and the corners of Suga’s mouth turned down in a pout. Asahi laughed, but realized his mistake as Suga glared at him mischievously.
Suga patted Asahi on the back (a little too hard on purpose as Asahi groaned and mumbled a low “Owwww…”) and said, “This is Azumane Asahi, wing spiker, and Karasuno’s ace. The ace will break past the opponent’s blocks and score a ton of points for us, won’t you, aceee~?”
“Ahhh..! I c-can’t break past them every time…” Asahi was visibly shaken, and Noya wondered why someone who was acknowledged as the ace would be so weak-willed.
“Don’t worry, Asahi-san!” Noya offered in an encouraging tone. “I’m Karasuno’s libero now, so I’ll make sure that you’ll have plenty of chances to decide the toss!”
Asahi was surprised by Noya’s confidence, but felt reassured all the same.
“Yeah—I’m counting on you.”
The group arrived at the gym, and Kurokawa facilitated the first years’ introductions. Noya felt weird repeating himself, but took the opportunity to learn more about his fellow first-years. Aside from Ryuu and himself, there were five other first-years, two of whom lacked presence and were, for lack of a better word, forgettable, and whom Noya could not remember much about even right after they spoke. The other three were Ennoshita Chikara, Kinoshita Hisashi, and Narita Kazuhito—wing spiker, wing spiker, and middle blocker, respectively.
Practice began with twenty laps around the court, twenty diving drills, and spike/receive drills. Since Noya was now Karasuno’s official libero, Kurokawa wanted to test his skills; he asked Noya to be on the receiving end while the other players spiked Suga’s tosses in succession. Noya was a well-known player called “Chidoriyama’s genius”, and he did not disappoint; not missing a beat, he received every spike that came his way and returned the ball to the setter’s position, save for one.
“Azumane, the last ball is yours—make it a good one!”
“Yes!”
Suga tossed the ball carefully—a high toss, slightly away from the net. Asahi built up speed and jumped. Noya knew that Asahi was the ace, so he knew that this spike would be a powerful one, and yet-
Boom!
Asahi’s hand hit the ball with incredible force. Noya watched it and prepared to receive it. He had seen a million spikes like this one, and all he had to do was bend his knees, stretch out his forearms, and-
“Ugh!”
Noya grunted as the ball bounced off his arms and to the side of the court. He watched it roll past the sideline, then moved his gaze to Asahi. The spiker stood confidently on the other side of the net, and from Noya’s perspective, he seemed to be ten feet tall. In that moment, Noya looked up to Asahi and gained immense respect for him. His chest tightened again, but he didn’t pay it much mind.
“Azumane, Nishinoya—come here. Everyone else, start practicing serves,” Kurokawa said with authority.
“Yes!” was the echoed response.
Noya and Asahi walked over to their captain, the former still eyeing the latter in awe.
“Okay, since Nishinoya can’t do serves, I need someone to spike for him. Since your spike was the only one he couldn’t get, I want that someone to be you, Azumane. Do twenty-five spikes; by the time you finish, we’ll have a water break. Got it?”
“Yes!” Asahi replied emphatically.
Kurokawa handed Asahi a volleyball, then walked over to the rest of the team. Asahi spun it in his hands and turned to Nishinoya. Before he could say anything, however, his kouhai spoke up:
“Asahi-san, that was such a powerful spike! It was so cool!”
“Ah, it was?” Asahi replied hesitantly. “Thanks- it’s nice to hear you say that after seeing you receive all the other ones. I thought you were going to get mine easily as well, haha~”
Noya raised an eyebrow and said, “But you’re the ace, Asahi-san; shouldn’t you expect your spikes to be stronger than your teammates’?”
Asahi’s eyes widened and Noya, feeling as though he might’ve been too blunt, started to correct himself:
“What I mean is-“
Asahi shook his head. “No, I think you’re right, Nishinoya. I guess I should take a little more pride in my spikes if I’m going to let them call me ‘ace’.”
Noya smirked and put a reasonable distance between himself and Asahi.
“Okay then, ace—let’s see if you can get another point from me!”
“Heh~”
Asahi threw the ball up in the air and spiked it on its way down.
“I’ll be honest, Asahi-san, that was a little underwhelming.”
Asahi took a small sip from his water bottle, then spoke in a resigned tone:
“I-It’s a lot easier when Suga’s tossing to me and I can run up to the ball! Besides, it’s like I said before- you got them all easily like I thought you would.”
Noya frowned. “Asahi-san, you sound discouraged already!” He took a large gulp from his water bottle and continued, “This just means that you need to practice more!”
Asahi sighed. “Tell me something I don’t know.”
“One day in and a first-year is already coaching you, Azumane?” a third-year sneered. “Better watch out, or we’ll give the title of ‘ace’ to that first-year baldy over there,” he continued, pointing at Tanaka.
“…Oh?” Tanaka said in an irritated tone. “And just WHO IS THIS GUY THAT THINKS HE’S SO TOUGH???”
Tanaka rolled up his sleeves (on his white T-shirt) and was attempting to intimidate his senpai.
“Hey, Tanaka!”
“Stop it right now!”
Noya could hear Daichi and Kurokawa trying to get Tanaka to calm down, but his thoughts were stuck on what that third-year had said. That was twice already that Nishinoya had said something cheeky to Asahi, his senpai, and realizing this, he apologized.
Asahi chuckled. “Oh, it’s all right, and you’re right anyway.”
Noya wanted to interrupt, but concluding that interrupting also fell under the category of “cheeky”, he stopped himself.
“You’re just stating what’s on your mind, right? I don’t mind that at all.”
Asahi smiled, and the bandage on his cheek crinkled; he seemed to be self-conscious of the bandage and raised a hand to smooth it out. Noya felt his chest tighten again, this time more noticeably.
All of a sudden, a thought came across his mind, as if it had been there for a while and had been waiting for the right time to surface. Before he knew what was happening, the words were already coming out of his mouth:
“Asahi-san, if you wouldn’t mind, I think it would be good for us to practice together some time outside of-“
“Yes, I’d like that a lot,” Asahi said before Noya could finish. At once, Noya became aware of his breathing and the fact that he wasn’t at the moment. The two stood in silence for an instant.
“So, would 1:00 next Saturday at the park be good for you, Nishinoya?”
“Yeah, that works,” Noya replied.
As if being brought back to reality, Noya jolted as he heard Kurokawa say in a booming voice:
“THAT’S IT! PRACTICE IS OVER FOR EVERYONE EXCEPT FOR THESE TWO!” He pointed at the third-year and Tanaka, whom Daichi was restraining, and continued in a calmer tone, “We’ll continue tomorrow when our members aren’t feeling so hot-headed.”
“Ha! See you tomorrow, Ryuu!” Noya laughed.
“N-Noya-san, help me…” Tanaka said pitifully as Kurokawa yelled, “THIRTY DIVING DRILLS, GO!” behind him. Tanaka suffered, loudly, and as much as Noya would’ve liked to help him, there was no saving him now.
Noya turned to Asahi.
“See you tomorrow, Asahi-san!” he said cheerfully.
“You’re not going to change back into your uniform?”
“Nope! I’ll just grab my things from the club room and go home~”
“Ah, ok. Then I’ll see you—take care getting home, ok?”
“Yup, I will!”
With that, Noya went on his way.
As the two weeks went by, Tanaka and Noya fell into a routine. They would meet up at Noya’s classroom after school, then head over to the club room and greet Daichi and Suga, who always got there before them. Asahi would arrive shortly after them and would be the last to get ready; when he was finished, the five of them would head over to the gym. Tanaka and Noya would emphatically greet the lovely Kiyoko, who would promptly ignore the duo (although they didn’t seem to mind, and Tanaka would say, “It really gets me going when she ignores us like that~”). Practice would begin with twenty laps around the court, twenty diving drills, and spike/receive drills.
Noya succeeded in receiving Asahi’s spike on the first Wednesday, but it still wasn’t a clean receive. As such, Kurokawa regularly paired them up for spike/receive practice. This would be the only time during practice where Noya and Asahi could talk alone, and though they never said it, they both looked forward to it.
Between spikes, they would hold casual conversations and would joke with each other as if they were old friends who had just recently been reacquainted. They talked about a lot of things—food, movies, music, why they came to Karasuno, when their birthdays were and how they celebrated them (and they were surprised to find out that they had opposite birthdays! what were the chances?), what their families were like, what they liked most about volleyball— and even talking about the most personal things felt natural.
Noya learned that despite his looks, Asahi was actually very sensitive—there were a lot of things that he worried about, and his tough appearance caused a lot of problems for him.
“Well, I can kinda understand that, Asahi-san. You do look like a thug, especially with that bandage on your face, haha!”
“But I can’t just take it off…” Asahi huffed.
“Huh? Why not?” Noya asked, then added thoughtfully, “Actually, you’re probably right—if it’s a big bruise on your face, walking around with it showing would just scream ‘bad guy’.”
Asahi looked pensive for a moment, as if he were choosing his words carefully. He opened his mouth to speak, then closed it again, like he decided on something then thought better of it. They were both quiet, and it was the first time since they had met that Noya felt awkward around Asahi.
“Asahi-san?”
“AZUMANE! SPIKE!”
Kurokawa yelled and glared at the two from across the room, preventing Asahi from continuing.
“Eeee! Y-YES!” Asahi responded, shaken. “Ready, Nishinoya?”
Noya stared at Asahi for a moment before replying.
“Yeah.”
On the second Wednesday, it finally happened.
Boom!
Pow!
The ball travelled on an arc through the air before landing in the setter’s position on Nishinoya’s side of the net.
The gym was silent for a moment before Asahi and Noya began to cheer.
“YYYEESSSSSS!” “AALLL RIGHTTT!”
Daichi and Suga clapped in the background, and Tanaka was getting emotional.
“Nice receive, Nishinoya!” Kurokawa praised. “All right, everyone! Time for serving practice!”
“Yes!” the team responded.
Asahi grabbed a volleyball and walked over to Nishinoya as per usual. He was about to spike when Kurokawa stopped him.
“Oh, you too, Azumane—you haven’t practiced your serves as much lately, and Nishinoya just received your spike, so I’ll have someone switch off with you now.”
Noya felt disappointed, but tried not to show it. Of course Asahi wasn’t his set practice partner or anything—they were just two members of an entire team—but Noya really, really liked talking to him. It wasn’t that his other senpais like Daichi, Suga, or Kurokawa were particularly unpleasant- in fact, they were all very nice and Noya respected them a great deal. It was just that Asahi was particularly pleasant to be around; something about his senpai made Noya feel safe, like he could say whatever was on his mind and Asahi would listen to him.
Noya’s chest felt tight again and he absentmindedly reached for his shoulder where his Soul Mark was.
Letting his hand fall from his shoulder, Noya glanced over at Asahi and wanted to believe that he felt the same. Asahi looked crestfallen and made no attempt at hiding it.
“Right… Here, Nishinoya.”
Asahi handed Nishinoya the volleyball he was holding and jogged over to where Daichi and Suga were.
“Ennoshita! Come here and spike to Nishinoya!” Kurokawa said. “I’ll leave you to it, then.”
Ennoshita walked over and Kurokawa joined Tanaka on the other side of the gym.
Ennoshita was very polite; he and Noya talked about the weather, their classes, and what they thought of their senpais. Noya genuinely enjoyed Ennoshita’s company, but at the same time, he knew that it wasn’t remotely close to what he had with Asahi.
Finally, the second Friday came. Tanaka and Noya followed their routine as usual, but when they arrived at the gym with their senpais, they found that they were the only first-years there.
“Where’s everybody else?” Tanaka asked.
“Ennoshita said he’s sick, so he won’t be coming. I’m not sure where Kinoshita and Narita are, and the other two guys quit,” Kurokawa responded. “That means that today, you and Nishinoya will be working together for spike/receive practice.”
Tanaka and Nishinoya shared a mischievous look, and Kurokawa pointed at Tanaka and added:
“BUT I don’t want any trouble from you! The minute I see you pick a fight or get too noisy, I’m splitting you two up, got it?”
“O-Okay…” Tanaka replied sheepishly and Noya giggled to himself.
Practice went on as usual, and when the time came for them to be paired up, Tanaka’s fight with the third-year was the first topic of conversation.
“I don’t like that guy, Noya-san,” Tanaka said in a rough tone. “He just rubs me the wrong way, like he’s trying to get on my nerves or something.”
“You don’t like anyone at first, Ryuu! And I think you’re just upset that he called you ‘baldy’,” Noya retorted.
“I AM NOT BALD! I-” Tanaka stopped as he felt a pair of eyes glaring at him from behind. He turned to see Daichi looming threateningly in the distance and thought that maybe it would be best to change the subject.
“Well, not everyone can get along like you and Asahi; I’ve known you for three years, and it seems like Asahi has, too,” Tanaka said plainly. “I mean, you just met the guy, and you’ve already hit it off. Who knows, Noya-san—maybe he’s your soulmate, haha!”
Noya stared blankly at Tanaka.
“Uhh, Noya-san? You know I was kidding, right?”
All things considered, it occurred to Noya that he wouldn’t mind Asahi being his soulmate at all; in fact, he would really like it.
Noya lifted the sleeve of his T-shirt to reveal the opaque white heart underneath, his soulmate’s soul.
“WAAHH, NOYA-SAN!!!” Tanaka exclaimed. “YOU’RE NOT REALLY THINKING..!”
“TA-NA-KAAAAA! YOU’RE BEING WAY TOO LOUD!”
Kurokawa started stomping towards Tanaka; Tanaka put his hands together as if he were about to say a prayer and bowed towards Nishinoya.
“Sawamura! Come practice with Nishinoya! Tanaka, come here!”
“Crap. Goodbye, Noya-san.”
Daichi came over to Noya, and Tanaka hung his head as he walked over to Kurokawa.
No, I’m not, Noya thought to himself. I can’t ask Asahi-san for something like that.
He lowered his sleeve and continued to practice.
Saturday morning came. Even though they weren’t going to meet up until 1:00, Noya woke up at 7. He had always been a morning person, and he was in an especially good mood this morning. He brushed his teeth, took a shower, got dressed, did his hair, and ate breakfast; by the time he was finished, it was 8:30, so he decided that it was a good time to text Asahi:
Sent: 8:36 am
To: Asahi-san~
Good morning, Asahi-san!!! :D
We’re still meeting at 1:00, right? Should I bring my volleyball, or will you bring yours?? :O
Noya’s phone didn’t go off for a while. He had thought that it was just because Asahi was sleeping, but he started to get skeptical at around 11:00. He was about to send a follow-up text when his phone suddenly buzzed on the table beside him:
Received: 11:08 am
From: Asahi-san~
Ah, good morning, Nishinoya!
Sorry, I just woke up- yes, 1:00 is fine. Uh, I’ll bring my volleyball, so don’t worry about it. See you there!
Nishinoya smiled at the text and read it over several times before leaving.
12:45.
Noya left his house early because he wanted to be on time, but now he was just sitting in the park with nothing to do. He tried stretching and walking around earlier to warm up for their practice, but quickly got bored of it. He was about to call Ryuu to talk and pass the time (and ask if he survived the captain’s wrath) when his phone buzzed in his pocket:
Received: 12:53 pm
From: Asahi-san~
Look to your left!
Noya had just finished reading the text when a shadow cast over him.
“Asahi-san!”
Noya got up from where he was sitting and looked at his senpai. Although he was wearing different clothes from the ones he usually came to practice in, Asahi’s hair was pulled back in its usual bun, and he still wore a bandage on his cheek.
“Hey! Ready to practice?” Asahi said while spinning his volleyball in his hands. “There’s a net just over there.”
“Yes!” Noya said, the excitement in his voice evident.
It was a hot day, and though their practice wasn’t particularly strenuous, Noya and Asahi became tired after only a little while. Neither one of them wanted to stop, however, and they kept practicing until they were both exhausted. Noya, being proud as he is, would not be the first to “give up” when it came to volleyball (and often said things like, “I can still go for ten more rounds!”), so Asahi was the one to suggest a water break to which Noya gladly agreed. The duo sat down under a nearby tree and rested against its trunk.
“Aahh, I’m really glad that I put ice in my water bottle today,” Asahi said. He picked his up and poured water all over his face. “That feels much better~”
Noya noticed that the top corners of Asahi’s bandage were beginning to peel off. Underneath it, he saw a black mark that looked like a line; he wasn’t sure what it could be, but it didn’t look like a bruise to him.
“Asahi-san, do you have an extra bandage?”
Asahi turned suddenly and looked Nishinoya in the eye. His eyebrows furrowed and his mouth hung slightly open; he looked extremely concerned, as if he had gotten hurt himself.
“Did you get an injury from playing? You’re not bleeding or anything, are you?”
Noya didn’t answer for a moment, surprised by Asahi’s reaction.
“Uh, no,” he replied, a little embarrassed for making his senpai worry. “I’m ok. It’s just that your bandage is coming off, so I thought you might want to replace it.”
“Oh,” Asahi said, relieved. “That’s good.” He relaxed and added, “I think that if it’s just us, I don’t need to wear it for now.”
Asahi raised a hand to his cheek. At first, it looked like he was going to smooth out the bandage, but instead, he peeled it off slowly in one smooth motion.
Noya wasn’t sure what to think when he read the kanji for “Guardian Deity” printed on Asahi’s face. The skin from where the bandage was pulled off was reddened, but Noya was pretty sure that Asahi was blushing as well.
“Asahi-san… is that your..?”
“Yeah, this is my Soul Mark. People kept thinking it was a tattoo and getting scared of me because they thought I was a gang member, so I started covering it with a bandage when I got to high school,” Asahi paused, then added thoughtfully, “Although I don’t think it did much good; it just made people start rumors about me getting into fights…”
Noya tried really hard not to laugh, but he just couldn’t help himself.
Asahi looked disheartened. “Hey! It’s not like I chose it…”
“I-it’s not that, Asahi-s-san, pffttt- hahaha!“ Noya said through his laughter. “I’m just t-trying to imagine y-you- hahaha- as a gang member!”
Asahi cracked a smile and found that Noya’s laughter was contagious. He laughed heartily and said, “Hahaha! I guess it is kind of funny~”
They laughed together for a while, and Noya got up and started doing impressions of Asahi as a gangster. He rolled up the sleeves of his T-shirt and started stalking about with his hands balled up in fists and his chest puffed out.
“I wouldn’t- pftt- do that, Nishinoya!”
“Are you kidding, Asahi-san? You totally would! Hahaha!”
“N-Noya! Haha!” Asahi giggled and covered his mouth with his hand.
Noya stopped impersonating Asahi and smiled fondly at his senpai. For a moment, everything else around him faded, and all Noya saw was Asahi, smiling and laughing just like that. Noya felt like he was looking at something really special, but he chose the wrong time to become oblivious to his surroundings as he didn’t hear the young man call, “HEADS!” behind him.
“AAH! Noya!”
Before Noya knew what was happening, Asahi grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him to the side. The two hit the ground, and the soccer ball hit the tree with a loud thunk! and bounced off just as quickly. The tree shook and leaves fell around them, but Noya was still in a daze. Asahi stood up and waved to the young man in the distance who yelled, “Sorry about that!”, and Noya glanced at his shoulder.
An opaque white heart.
Noya stared at it for a moment, then closed his eyes. He knew that he shouldn’t feel this sting of disappointment, that it made sense because there was no way that Asahi could be his-
“Nishinoya, are you ok?” Asahi asked, the worry in his voice unmistakable.
“Yeah, I’m… fine,” Noya said without opening his eyes.
“But your shoulder…”
“Yes, Asahi-san, that’s my Soul Mark. A plain white heart that’s just-”
“Huh? That’s not a plain white heart.”
Noya opened his eyes and saw a clear, multifaceted crystal heart. It appeared to be shimmering, and Noya couldn’t believe his eyes.
“It Transformed…”
Asahi gasped, then nodded.
“And I missed it..?”
Asahi nodded again.
“But it Transformed?”
“Yeah,” Asahi replied, still staring at the mark in amazement. “Nishinoya, you’re my- I’m your- we’re-“
Noya’s eyes sparkled and he bounced up and down in excitement.
“ASAHI-SAN! WE’RE SOULMATES! SOULMATES, ASAHI-SANNNNN! HAHAHA!”
Noya had a wide grin on his face, and his cheeks hurt from smiling.
Asahi began to cry. “Yeah, we are..!” He wiped away tears and laughed and cried all at once. “I never thought I’d meet my soulmate so soon..! I’m so-”
“ASAHI-SAN!” Noya ran into Asahi, almost knocking him over. Asahi took a few steps backwards with his arms around Noya, and Noya hugged him tight. They stayed like that for a few minutes, then Noya pulled away.
“Asahi-san, can I Transform your Soul Mark?”
Asahi beamed.
“Yeah!”
Noya reached up and cupped Asahi’s cheek; the skin was still reddened from the bandage, so Noya made sure that his touch was gentle.
At once, the black kanji began to turn gold, and the phrase changed to “My Guardian Deity”. The gold was a nice contrast to Asahi’s tanned skin, and Noya thought it looked beautiful.
“Wow… I don’t think you’ll need to put a bandage over this anymore, Asahi-san.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it,” Asahi said.
The two sat down and talked about many important things, including what they thought Transformation would be like, what “soulmate” meant to them, and what their dreams for the future were.
“You know, Nishinoya, I would always look at my Soul Mark and think, ‘What could Guardian Deity mean? What type of person is my soulmate?’ Now that I know, I’m glad it’s you,” Asahi said with a contented look on his face.
Noya felt his chest tighten.
Ah, so this is why, he thought to himself. He’s the reason I-
Realizing what he had been feeling ever since he met Asahi, Noya’s face flushed in embarrassment.
“W-what’s with that all of a sudden? I wouldn’t have pegged you for a “gentle heart” kind of guy, Asahi-san.” Noya looked away and pressed his lips in a tight line, trying to hide his blushing.
Asahi smirked. “Hmm? Are you embarrassed, Nishinoya?”
“Not at all!” Noya said, his voice cracking at the last syllable.
“Haha, okay~” Asahi laughed. “And you say that, yet you have my heart right there on your shoulder,” Asahi said plainly. “Nothing surprising about it.”
At this, Noya became more embarrassed and hid his face in his hands.
“Asahi-saannn~”
“Hahaha!”
Asahi teased Noya for a little bit (partly to get back at him for the impersonations, partly because he thought Noya’s reactions were cute), and the two continued to talk for a long time. When they were finished talking, they sat in a relaxed silence, with Noya resting his head against Asahi’s arm.
They didn’t know it yet, but there were going to be a lot of times in the future where they would sit comfortably, just like this, and they would feel the same sense of peace every single time.