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He can’t remember the first time they started giving each other small messages, but one thing’s for sure - his soulmate was very talkative. He wondered where his soulmate would write his next message this morning, but he could see nothing new or outstanding on his skin. From conversations they had had between each other, Asahi knew that his soulmate’s name was Nishinoya Yuu, and he was born ten months after himself. They had both agreed that neither would try and arrange to meet the other, and to just let things happen naturally - there were many tales that tell of soulmates that had fallen out of love because they met each other before their time. They both agreed to let fate bring them together as it should be.
Asahi picked up a pen from his desk and wrote a small message on the inside of his arm - somewhere where they can both hide it from teachers. He grimaced as his usual scrawl looked even worse when he had just woken up.
Good morning!
He saw a reply forming on his arm almost instantly.
Good morning Asahi-San! Sorry for not writing to you earlier, I woke up late. The message was accompanied by a cute little shrugging face.
You’ll still be able to catch your bus, right?
Yeah, I’m waiting for it now. Don’t worry about me!
That’s good. Have a nice day today.
You too, Asahi-San.
Honestly, Asahi loved the small conversations they had in the mornings
I’ll be moving into high school in a couple of months. What’s it like?
It’s fun. Definitely a step up though, but I think it’s an easy hurdle to jump with the right attitude.
I see…
Asahi woke up and headed straight to the shower. It was the holidays now, and so generally neither he or Nishinoya woke up until late morning. To his surprise, however, he woke up with a load of circles over his arms, legs and ribs. Without stepping in, Asahi shut off the stream of water and went back to his room to grab a pen.
Why are there loads of circles everywhere?? He asked. He didn’t get a reply for another hour and a half, his greasy hair starting to irritate him a little.
Sorry! I was at a sleepover last night at a friend’s house and he drew circles all over me haha.
Oh right haha that’s pretty random of him
He’s circled all of the bruises that I got from playing volleyball
Asahi winced All from volleyball? That’s a lot!
Yeah! I’m a libero!
That’s why there’s so many then! I’m gonna take a shower now.
He waits for a response to make sure that Nishinoya had seen it before he steps into the shower to wash away their conversation.
Pulling his hair up into a bun, Asahi caught a glimpse of black ink forming on his arm. It’s my first day today! Wish me luck! It read.
After making sure his bun was in place, Asahi grabbed a blue pen and scribbled back Yeah! Make it a good one!
I will!
A week later, Asahi was writing to him while he was studying.
What clubs are you thinking of joining? He wrote on his arm.
Volleyball, definitely. The reply was fast, and looked quite rushed in comparison to other times that they had talked.
It’s moments like these where Asahi wants to ask what team he’s joining, to see how good they are, to see how close he is to his soulmate, but they had both agreed that they wouldn’t tell each other anything about where they lived or where they were going.
Is it a good team? He asked.
I think so. They went to nationals a few years ago, but they haven’t been since. So it was like his own team. It’s unlikely they go to the same school, though. Many schools get to the finals at least once.
Maybe you can take your team to nationals one day then. He wrote optimistically.
That’s the dream!
He’d missed the introduction of the new first years because he was on classroom cleanup duty, but managed to make it in time for the start of the matches. He was on a team with Daichi, Sugawara, and a couple of the new kids, as well as a third year.
The new kids looked a little different, one of them was bald, while the other had spiked black hair, which looked like it added to his not very large height. The bald kid was just above the average height for first years, and he looked more… Intimidating, he concluded.
Asahi thought about how Nishinoya had written on his thigh this morning saying that this was his first practice session today, and that he didn’t want to have their conversation on show during practice - it’s something private between them, afterall. After a few spikes, Asahi had quite easily figured out the weaknesses between the new kids on both his side and the other side of the court. The bald kid was a good spiker, but wasn’t necessarily that great at being completely aware of the court. The spiky black haired kid looked to specialise in defence, and made no moves to try and play offense. The black haired kid on the other side of the court was kind of slow and he couldn’t jump very high, but other than that, he was quite a well rounded player.
Asahi and the other players quickly synchronized together and found that where one was lacking, another would make up for it. Five points to each team later, Asahi found his team doing incredibly well. Suga and the third year were both being setters interchangeably, and the third year mainly concentrated his tosses to the bald first year.
It came as a surprise when Suga feinted a toss to him, actually setting it to be spiked by the first year, and he lost his balance midair, falling right back onto something soft. He immediately jumped up, and turned around to face who he had just landed on. It was the spiky black haired first year.
“I’m sorry!” He apologised.
“It’s alright!” The black haired boy replied. “This kind of stuff happens!”
Asahi offered him a hand to help him back up, which he took gratefully.
“Hey, your ankle’s going red.” The bald guy commented, pointing to the spiky haired boy. “You might want to get that checked out.” The black haired boy looked down and tested his weight between his feet before looking back at him.
“It’s fine - it’s only a little twinge. I’ve had worse before.”
Asahi raises his eyebrow a little. “Are you sure you’re alright? I mean, no one’s gonna say anything if you sit the rest of this set out.”
“I said I’m fine - can we please get on with the match again?” He requested.
Asahi kept an eye on him for the rest of the match. Their team won by two points, but it was quite obvious that the teams were equally matched to each other. They had a ten minute break before they were back on the court with the teams switched up. He and the spiky black haired guy were on the same team again with another black haired guy and three third years.
They hadn’t even been five points into their new match when the short black haired boy had dived for the ball but ended up falling face first from setting off at a funny angle. His ankle had properly swollen up now, bright red and oddly large compared to his other one. There was a moment of silence on their court before people started rushing over and saying that he needs to go and see the school nurse. Asahi was the strongest person they had in the gymnasium at that moment, and so was told to carry the small boy to the infirmary.
“God, this is so embarrassing!” He muttered to himself as Asahi carried him. “I can’t believe that something like this would happen on my first practice!”
“It doesn’t hurt too much does it?” Asahi asked.
“It’s bearable.” He grumbled, obviously displeased. Asahi didn’t really know what to do at this point. He’s carrying a disgruntled first year to the nurse’s office because of a probably sprained ankle. The silence between the two became very awkward to the brunet, and he felt like he needed to say something.
“So, um… I was on cleanup duty so I missed the introductions. What’s your name?” He asked.
“Nishinoya Yuu.” He muttered.
Asahi stopped dead in his tracks. Did he just hear him right? Nishinoya Yuu?
“No way…” He murmured. “You’re Nishinoya Yuu?”
“What?” He asked, obviously confused and oblivious to Asahi’s thought process.
“I… I’m Azumane Asahi.” He heard Nishinoya gasp and then groan.
“Oh my god, I can’t believe that we met like this .”
“You wrote on your thigh this morning didn't you?” He asked. There’s got to be some kind of mistake here - there’s no way they were meant to meet like this. He fell ontop of him and hurt him!
“Yeah. Yeah, I did.” He gasped, and then slung his arms around his neck. “We finally met, huh?”
“We did.” For some reason, he was so overwhelmingly happy that he ended up bursting out laughing on the spot. “We really did.”
“Are you gonna carry me like this more often, then?” He asked slyly.
“Only if you want me to.” Asahi Azumane currently considered himself the happiest person on earth in that moment, and nothing could have changed that for him.