Things Unspoken

Chapter 1: Day 1

There's a curious thing that happens when two people meet.

Tsukishima understands it well.

Well, at least, in theory.

If he had to explain it, he'd need to go back a decade or two when the entire mess started. The emergence of superpowers, the consequences that came with these new powers that humanity was given—it was all a big pain if he was being honest.

It was nothing like the superhero movies had depicted it, for one. Sure, there were powers that did exceed the imagination of human capabilities—super strength, super speed, super hearing—they were there, but they were limited and had their own individual restrictions. Tsukishima figured it was because it hadn't been long since powers have emerged. He was sure that people in the future would bring about humanity's demise with the evolution of overpowered abilities.

Because people were stupid like that, of course.

Maybe that's why some higher power (as many theorize) had decided to introduce an extra element in addition to the abilities specific to each person—the existence of soulmates.

When people meet their soulmate, their power gets switched for a good week. You and your soulmate swap superpowers and you get stuck with a stranger's weird abilities for 168 hours. That's enough time to ruin whatever life you've built up or even end up killed. Tsukishima knows. He's done the math.

Like in Mario Kart, the more powerful people get, the less leeway they're given to exert that power. Tsukishima figured that the soulmate system was an extension of that belief.

Maybe that was why he was determined to never encounter his soulmate. He's heard the stories—people whose powers didn't match up even if their souls did. He's heard of couples who have ended up killing each other in a fit of panic because they weren't sure how to control the abilities they were granted for a small fraction of their life. It was never pretty.

Besides, Tsukishima liked his power a lot. It wasn't anything fancy, but he was positive he didn't want to give it away to someone he had never met even if it was only for a single week.

It was his power and he sure as hell wasn't going to share it that easily.

Not even with his soulmate.

In sports, most superpowers were prohibited. There was a time in an official basketball game where an entire stadium went up in flames and after that, there have been strict rules against using one's abilities for competitive activities.

But, that didn't mean things didn't slip under the radar.

The most dangerous players tended to be those whose powers could not be proven to the referee. Those players are kept under close watch however, and players with outright manipulation abilities aren't allowed to play.

Fortunately for Tsukishima, his ability barely managed to pass the restrictions.

It was satisfying, to be completely honest. Watching the people who got off goading and playing with other people's emotions on court reduced to a puddle of confusion and anger once they faced off against Tsukishima.

He hadn't started volleyball for this, but heck could he revel in the absolute sense of superiority he got when an opposing player tried to rile him up, only to be rendered speechless by Tsukishima's powers—literally.

Heck, even Hinata got a full helping of his abilities if he got too loud or annoying. Unfortunately, it was always done whenever they were out of earshot of the captain, but it was always satisfying whenever he had the chance to do so.