Under the Stars

Prologue: The Future is Bulletproof

Tsukishima Kei was never one to socialize or be overly friendly. As a very reserved person, he never felt the want or need to have friends.

That is, until he met Yamaguchi Tadashi.

In primary school, he had observed a fellow student being belittled and pushed around by a group of children while walking home from school. He didn't have the intention of saving the poor boy, nor did he want the scene to continue. Passing by with the simple remark of 'that's so lame' to the bullies, he caught all three of their attention. Feeling challenged, they approached Tsukishima, only to back down immediately after seeing that they did not have an advantage. See, Tsukishima had always stood above average height, making him seem a lot more threatening than he really was. He continued along the path, paying no mind to the small boy whose bullies had been scared off. Little did he know, he had just changed everything for him.

Yamaguchi Tadashi had been very shy as a child. While he was pleasant and friendly, he had difficulty making friends. Bullies targeted him, teasing him about his freckles and his general scrawniness. Always outnumbered, Yamaguchi could never fight back, despite his desperate attempts to stick up for himself. However, on one usual day of being picked on, he heard somebody call out 'that's so lame' in his direction. It caught the bullies' attention and they stalked towards the individual who had insulted them. It didn't take long for the boys to run away, and Yamaguchi caught a glimpse of who had scared them off.

He was tall and pale, with moderately neat, short blonde hair and black glasses. He continued on his way, presumably home, while Yamaguchi stared at him in awe, thinking to himself...

I want to be as cool as him one day.

A year later, following in his older brother's footsteps, Tsukishima joined his school's volleyball club. At first it wasn't very exciting, but after a while he started to enjoy the activity. Plus, practicing receives with his brother allowed them to bond, which he appreciated. One day while walking into practice, he saw an unfamiliar boy peeking into the gym. He was slightly smaller, with short olive-coloured hair. He paid him no attention as he walked into the gymnasium.

"Wait!" a voice cried out.

Tsukishima turned around to see the smaller boy looking at him.

He bowed deeply, "My name's Yamaguchi Tadashi, thank you for the other day," he expressed with gratitude.

Puzzled, Tsukishima responded, "Do I know you?"

A look of surprise, followed by sadness, flashed across his face. "Ye-yeah, well, no-not really. W-we met at the park and-"

"Oooh, okay. I'm Tsukishima Kei," Tsukishima cut him off, "what are you doing here?" he asks.

Yamaguchi stood up straight once more, but his posture still made him seem nervous, almost intimidated.

"Well, I-I wanted to join a sports team, but the guys on the soccer and baseball teams look big and scary so I thought it would be okay here," he looked at the ground as he spoke, fiddling with his fingers. His demeanor took a sudden turn, "Woah! Your shoes are really cool!" he exclaimed while pointing to Tsukishima's shoes.

He looked down at his feet to see the old pair of his older brother's volleyball shoes. He thought nothing of them, however they seemed to have grabbed the eye of the other boy.

Tsukishima shifts awkwardly, "Oh, well, they are my brother's old volleyball shoes. They don't fit him anymore, so he gave them to me. My brother's actually the ace of Karasuno High's volleyball team," he couldn't help but take a little bit of pride in the statement, and smiled at Yamaguchi.

Yamaguchi's eyes widened, "Your brother's the ace of Karasuno High School? That's so cool!" He was practically buzzing with excitement. Tsukishima had instantly gotten so much cooler in his eyes, and they soon became friends.

As the years went by, they had stuck together as friends, best friends even. Going to the same middle school and playing volleyball together there too. Then when high school came along, Tsukishima didn't really want to join the volleyball team, as his passion for the sport had fizzled out over the years, but he joined anyway, mostly for Yamaguchi's sake.

Over time, Tsukishima became more closed off toward others, almost cold. He pushed away his older brother, Akiteru, after learning that he had been lying to him for years about being the ace of Karasuno High. He had become a little bit of a bully himself, actually. Acting smug and insensitive when teasing others. Yamaguchi, on the other hand, hadn't really changed much. He was still a shy but friendly boy with a strong loyalty to Tsukishima. However, he built some confidence since they first met.

High school was where everything changed...