Chapter Text
Akaashi Keiji [赤葦 京治]
He sighed as he looked at the recommendation letters he received from Fukurōdani Academy and Suzumeoka. Not that he doesn't like both schools, heck he was feeling surreal for receiving those, but he was tired of his mother pestering him about which high school he would attend. He could not blame her though, February is almost at its end and he got 1 month left before he goes to high school.
He is currently the setter of his volleyball team at Mori Middle School. Though the school and his volleyball team weren't very known to all, he got recommendations from both high schools where one is known as the powerhouse of volleyball in Tokyo, which excite him, at the least, since he could not really feel his team's passion for volleyball in his current team.
He scanned once more the brochures he received from both schools and decided to personally visit them tomorrow to see which school was right for him. "Mom, I'll be going home later than usual tomorrow. I'll visit Suzumeoka and Fukurōdani Academy after school."
He walked through the school grounds of Fukurōdani Academy with a visitor pass in his hand. He sighed as he saw another bruise on his wrist, it was the fourth this week. 'What the hell is this person doing?' he thought but shook his head, removing the thoughts about his soulmate.
After visiting Suzumeoka, he felt neutral about it and tried not to have high hopes in Fukurōdani. He glanced at a rather serene academy and decided to go straight to the volleyball gym, it was past school hours anyway and he was hoping to see the volleyball team of the school.
He was told by some of his friends that Fukurōdani Volleyball Team has one of the rising top aces of Japan and he admits to himself he wants to see the ace play in person.
Squeaks of shoes and shouts from players could be heard outside the gym. He hesitantly walked inside the gym and he was astonished by the gym's interior. He could say this gym is three times bigger than Mori and the bleachers are way more plenty. He was fascinated to see the volleyball court in the gym and he could say the school supports the Volleyball Team very well, unlike his.
"Hey hey hey!" His thoughts were disrupted as he heard a shout, rather a howl, from the middle of the court which made him look in that direction. There he saw a guy with spikey greyish-whitish hair with black streaks (he doesn't know what is the proper description for it) with both arms raised. He saw the guy cheered for himself and spiked the ball in a straight line over the net and scored. "Did you see that Konoha?" The loud guy asked the dirty-blonde haired guy beside him who is rolling his eyes but nodding.
He continued watching and he could say he is amazed, or something more than that. He could see how passionate Bokuto plays that made him smile while watching the loud boy spike.
The loud guy then turned to look at the gym's entrance where he is standing and he could say that the loud guy looks like an owl, 'if that is even possible', he thought. He felt weird as the owl guy stared at him with his golden eyes but in a good way weird, which kind of scared him.
He could see the owl guy was about to speak, but a dirty-blonde haired guy, who he presumed was named Konoha, called his attention. "Hey! Bokuto, what the hell are you looking at?" The dirty blonde-haired looked in the direction where Bokuto was looking and was about to speak as well when the referee blew his whistle and called their attention since they were still playing.
Bokuto, whose name he had heard from the latter guy, stared at him longer and grinned before continuing to play again. He felt flustered and decided to step out of the gym before he embarrassed himself more. He continued exploring the school and went home with a decision in his mind on where he would attend high school in April.
"Don't expect that I won't ask you questions about the recommendations, Keiji." His mother said with a smile as they ate dinner. He knows his mother is excited for him, especially when she saw the recommendations. She would always say that she will support his dreams (as long as they were harmless) no matter what which made him smile and more determined to attend one of the recommended schools.
Ever since his parents got divorced when he was 8, he stopped believing in things such as soulmates and dreams. As a kid, it was his dream to find his soulmate and learn to love the person with his all. He dreamed of falling in love and being loved by his soulmate, but all was flushed down the drain when he saw his father with another woman in his parents' bedroom. It was kind of traumatic for him and he knows it is more traumatic to his mother who saw it as well.
He and his mother decided to move to Tokyo where his grandparents wholeheartedly took them in. When he was 12, his mother was able to rent a house for the two of them near his grandparents' house. Now that he's 15, he visits them every other day and were proud when they know about the recommendations he received from the two schools.
"I'm telling you, you should go to Fukurōdani, Kei-kun." His grandmother told him when he visited them the day before yesterday. His grandfather nodded in agreement and smiled. "We graduated there and that's where I met my soulmate, your grandmother." He stopped the urge to groan whenever his grandparents reminisce about their past, but he is happy for them and grateful they are his grandparents.
"I remembered how I knew your grandmother is my soulmate. I was part of the varsity in basketball back then and we were playing against Nekoma High. Things were great until a cheeky bastard intentionally bumped me hard when I was screening which made a big impact on my chest and made me twist my ankle which caused a large bruise."
Akaashi frowned as this was the first time he heard about the prior events of his grandparents' love story. He didn't even know his grandfather was a varsity player until now.
"Your grandfather was just careless at that time, you know him. Anyways, he was brought to the infirmary and I was with him because I was their team manager. Since the nurse was not present, I tend to his swollen bruised ankle. He was crying because of the pain, by the way." He saw how his grandfather glared at his grandmother playfully with the memory.
"He was too shy to be tended by their team manager and we argued a little bit until I decided to give up on tending your stubborn grandfather. I was actually nervous and worried back then because I liked your grandfather when he entered the team. I was about to leave the infirmary when your grandfather suddenly called me when he noticed the bruise on my ankle located on the same ankle he has."
"I asked her where did she get that. Okay, you can't blame me, I was attracted to your grandmother when we became friends and I was hella worried when I saw her injury. I didn't even think of the soulmates thing at that time. She frowned at me and told me why would she have a bruise if she didn't trip but she felt a little pain on it. And something clicked in me and asked her to check her chest if she has a big bruise."
"I thought your grandfather was a pervert for telling me that like come on, your guy friend telling you to check your chest out of the blue. I was about to hit him when he removed his shirt and I saw his fresh bruise on his chest. I decided to check mine in the restroom if I had the bruise as well and then poof, we have the same 'soulmark' on our right foot. And the bruises did give me pain a bit that's why starting that day, I always scolded him to take care of his body more."
His grandfather laughed which made his grandmother glare playfully but laugh as well. "Good thing that small bruises didn't hurt at all but left marks. If those bruises stung, I would really kill you. Lucky for you for having that unique sunflower mark." She said jokingly.
"Even without the soulmates thing, I would continue to love you, honey. And I would pray for my next life to find and love you again and again." He saw how his grandfather took her grandmother's hand and kissed it.
He just heard the whole story of his grandparents' love story now but even if he did not believe in those things anymore, he felt happy for them. "And maybe you might find yours there as well, Kei-kun. You're bound to meet the person anyways." His grandmother teased him, and that made him groan.
"Well?" His mother's voice interrupted his memory about the conversation he had with his grandparents and gave a half-smile at his mother. "Gyms in Fukurōdani are way better than Suzumeoka."