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Satori picked up his bag and slung it over his shoulder, counting to one hundred before he walked out of the gym. He liked to give the rest of the team time to get ahead of him. It made things less uncomfortable, for him and for them. They didn’t have to put in the effort to look mad, or even scared, that he was near them. And he didn’t have to hear their mean comments about his looks.
About the way he talked.
About the way he played volleyball.
About everything to do with him really.
It was better if he waited for them to get way, way ahead before he started on his way home. Besides, it didn’t matter if he was a little late getting back. His mom wouldn’t be there anyway. She had to work to pay their bills, to pay for Satori’s school. He didn’t blame her for that, but it was lonely, going home to an empty house after an even emptier day of school. Maybe he could stop at the convenience store on the way home. If he was real quiet, the saleswoman might not even notice he was reading Jump in between the aisles.
Yeah, that was a good plan.
Satori finally reached one hundred and took a step towards the door, only for the world to start spinning around him. Everything went pink and purple and red and blue, all of those colors swirled together. He couldn’t see anything but the colors, couldn’t feel anything but his bag on his shoulder, not even the gym floor under his feet.
Satori didn’t know what was happening, but he thought it was kind of cool. All until the colors began to fade and he found himself still standing inside the gym. Except this didn’t look like his elementary school gym anymore. This one was much bigger, and nicer, and all of the banners were the wrong color.
They were a pretty shade of purple instead of the usual bland blue.
Where was he? Had he just traveled to an alternate dimension where he went to some fancy, expensive school instead? Did that mean he had to wear a stuffy uniform instead of his favorite T-shirts?
Gross.
Satori was about to go have a look around when voices suddenly came from near one of the doors, adult voices. Without thinking, Satori scurried behind a nearby full ball cart and knelt on the ground, peeking around it to watch as a group of much older boys entered the gym. All of them were super tall and dressed in white and purple volleyball uniforms, but they weren’t adults. They were teenagers.
So maybe this wasn’t an alternate dimension. Maybe Satori had just teleported into a high school?
“I-I really appreciate you both coming to practice with me this morning. I know you don’t really have time for it,” one of the guys said. He had a bowl cut, just like Satori, but more messy and with darker hair. Satori was going to call him ‘messy bowl cut’ from now on. He hoped he got the opportunity to say the name to his face. That would probably be really funny.
“It is no trouble. Playing volleyball one last time in this gym as a student is something I wished to do regardless,” the tallest of the guys said. He had a serious face that matched his serious voice. It kind of made Satori want to poke his cheeks until he smiled. Maybe he’d give that a try once he figured out what was going on. For now, he dubbed that guy, ‘Mr. Serious’.
“What Toshi means to say is that we wouldn’t miss this chance to play volleyball with you for the entire world, Tomu!” the final guy shouted, grabbing messy bowl cut in a tight hug before he ruffled his hair, making it even messier. This guy was a redhead, just like Satori, but his hair was spiked up into a big mountain at the top of his head. It looked really cool, and the guy’s crinkly eyed grin looked really familiar too.
He almost looked like-
“Satori,” Mr. Serious said, making Satori jump. How had they found him? How did they know his name? He was about to reveal himself when he realized none of them were looking at him, all of their eyes still on each other. “Your statement is incorrect. We would have had to miss playing with Tsutomu had he wished to play during our graduation later, but as we have several hours before that, I would like to take advantage of this opportunity to play volleyball, and to spend this time with the both of you.”
“Awe, Toshi! You charmer,” the redhead said before he pressed a small kiss to Mr. Serious’s cheek. “I guess we should set up those nets then!”
With that, they walked off towards a door at the end of the room. Satori could only gape after them. Too stunned to call out and get their attention. That redheaded guy didn’t only have the same hair and smile as him, his name was Satori too. Which could only mean one thing. Satori hadn’t traveled to a different dimension or teleported to another school.
He had time traveled, and he was now witnessing his older self.
But not only that, he had friends, actual friends, one of whom he’d just kissed.
Tendou Satori had friends in the future, even if he didn’t have any in the present.
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Tsutomu said goodbye to his team and headed out the door. It had been a great practice, he’d hit nearly half of their team’s points in the little match they’d played. It had been lots of fun and everyone, the coaches and the other kids too, had told him how great he did.
Tsutomu was really talented at volleyball. He was an amazing player, everyone thought so.
But for some reason, the other boys hadn’t invited him to go to the arcade with them.
He’d been right there when they’d started talking about it. And he’d waited for them to say, “Hey Tomu, want to come with?” but they never had.
And they never had before either.
Maybe they were just scared he’d beat them at all the games? Or that he’d take all of their high scores and prizes? Winning those games couldn’t be that much harder than winning at volleyball. Tsutomu had never gone to an arcade before though, so he wouldn’t know. But if that was the case he’d let them win some, he’d even just watch if they were scared he'd beat them!
He’d do anything for them to invite him to go with. Well, anything except ask them if he could go.
He couldn’t bring himself to do that.
What if they said no? That would be really embarrassing, that would be really hurtful. Besides, he shouldn’t have to ask. His teammates liked him enough during volleyball games, so why didn’t they like him outside of them too?
He didn’t know, but they were all long gone now. And he needed to get home anyway. If he wasn’t home at his usual time, his parents might get worried. If they noticed he was gone. Or if they even knew the usual time he made it home.
Now that he stopped to think about it, they might not.
Tsutomu felt tears start to well up in his eyes. He blinked them away rapidly, trying to clear his vision, but it didn’t help. In fact, it only seemed to make things worse. Colors started to swirl around him along with his tears. His eyes were filled with moisture, but also pink and purple and red and blue, all of it mixing together. He stumbled backwards, feeling dizzy and unable to see, only for his feet to suddenly not to feel the ground under them anymore.
He was about to start crying even harder when everything suddenly became clear again. Except he wasn’t outside anymore; the sidewalk and the sky and the grass were all gone. Instead, he was in a tiny, bland little room. The only things in it, besides himself, were a bunkbed and a huge stack of boxes off to one side.
What was going on? How had he ended up here?
His tears of sadness from just a moment ago turned into tears of fear. He could feel a whine building in his throat and the first bit of wetness sliding down his cheek when he suddenly heard the sound of a key in the door. The person who lived in this room was about to come back, and Tsutomu was about to be in loads of trouble for being there.
He hated getting in trouble.
Without thinking, Tsutomu dropped to the floor and wiggled underneath the bottom bunk, crawling far enough under it that he couldn’t be seen, but that he could still see out, just in time for the door to open.
For a few teenagers to walk in.
“Nothing like Toshi’s serves pounding our arms into mochi to get us in the graduation spirit, eh, Tsutomu?”
Tsutomu squeaked at the sound of his name. How had they found him so fast? They were barely in the room, and Tsutomu was amazing at hide and seek, practically a champion, so there was no way they’d spotted him already.
The redhead who’d spoken stepped out of his view suddenly and revealed another teenager. This one with dark, messy hair in the same style as his. The person also had a pout, and big brown eyes, and cheeks full of what his grandma liked to call, ‘baby fat’.
Tsutomu, he mouthed quietly as he gazed up at an older version of himself, because that was him, right? It had to be. How could there possibly be another person who looked that much like him? Unless he had a long lost brother who he didn’t know about. But that was even more unlikely than him time traveling. His parents had barely stayed in the same room long enough to make him, much less another kid.
But how had he time traveled? And how would he get home? Should he reveal himself to his older self and this other guy? Would they be able to help him get back?
Before he could make his decision, another voice spoke, this one deeper and more serious. “Your arms are not mochi. You both will be just fine.” Tsutomu peeked out and watched as a super tall, frowny guy walked past his big self and the redhead, his hand running across his big self’s arms gently as he went by.
Why had he touched him like that? No one ever touched Tsutomu so casually. His team never even tried to give him high fives; he always had to ask for them. Maybe these two guys gave his older self high fives all the time. Because they were all in the same uniforms, so that meant they were teammates, but they were also together even after practice and in a room too.
A room that only had two beds, which meant it could only be the room of two of them at the most.
Were these his older self’s friends? Did he play volleyball in the future with really good, really cool friends?
Tsutomu felt tears gathering in his eyes once more at the thought. He slowly reached a hand up to cover his mouth, not wanting any of his sniffles to give him away.
Goshiki Tsutomu had friends in the future; he had teammates who actually liked him.
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Wakatoshi sat on the locker room bench as he observed the other children. Their practice had recently ended and now everyone was expected to return to their dorms. Many still lingered though, talking, whispering, and laughing. All around him, his teammates were discussing things animatedly.
They mentioned phone calls home to their parents.
They spoke of outings with friends.
They complained about homework they still needed to complete.
Wakatoshi wondered how they talked so much. How they knew when to speak and when to listen. How they decided what to say. How their faces said so many things while their words did the same.
It confused him and it intrigued him. He wanted to learn to do things like that too. He wanted to learn to communicate in the very same way. But learning required study, it required practice and instruction, and no one ever spoke to him outside of the court. Without being taught, without the experience his peers all seemed to have, he did not know how to be the first one to speak.
So he always waited here, sitting alone on one of the benches as they all trudged out one by one, hoping that he might be invited to participate in one of their conversations.
He was not.
Wakatoshi watched as the last few boys left, the door swinging shut behind them, leaving him alone and unsuccessful once again. It was disheartening, but he could try again tomorrow he supposed. For now, he would retire to his dorm room.
The dorm room his mother had specifically asked for, had paid extra for so he did not have a roommate. All so he could focus on his sports and his studies.
All so he would be alone.
The only one who was alone.
Wakatoshi walked slowly out of the locker room, taking his time as he traversed the length of the gym. He could see the doors to the outside right in front of him, but he didn’t want to leave. He did not want to return to his single room. He did not have phone calls from his parents to take. He did not have outings with friends to plan. All of his homework had already been completed.
Would his coach be angry if he stayed in the gym? If he stayed a bit longer to practice his serves?
Since he couldn’t practice anything else by himself.
Wakatoshi turned around, planning to go retrieve a ball from the storage room, when the world suddenly lurched around him. His vision was assaulted by a myriad of colors, by pink and purple and red and blue, but he closed his eyes, shutting them all out. Breathing in deeply, he tried to take a step forward, but he found he couldn’t move his feet.
What was happening?
He felt himself beginning to panic, but was soon relieved to feel sensation returning to his feet, the gym floor once again solid underneath him.
Except that it didn’t feel like the gym floor. Even through the quality material of his shoes, he could sense the change in texture. Wakatoshi carefully opened his eyes, only to blink them rapidly when he realized where he was.
Outside.
But not outside at his elementary school. He was standing along a familiar path near a large, open field; one filled with benches and blankets. It might be his school, but it was still somewhere he;d been before, on several occasions actually, since both his father and mother were respected alumni.
He was in the outdoor commons area of Shiratorizawa Academy. Which was nowhere near his elementary school.
How had he gotten there?
Wakatoshi did not have time to think on that further. He was distracted by a new group of students suddenly entering his view. They were coming through the doorway from what he knew was the cafeteria, each of them carrying a bento and heading towards a tree not far from him.
They were tall. One with fiery, red hair, another with dark black, and the last had the same olive brown that he and his mother shared. And they were all laughing to various degrees, playfully nudging each other as they sat down only a few feet from him, their attention on only themselves.
The olive haired guy was rather large. He had a strong jaw and muscular arms, his face far more serious than the other two. But that didn’t seem to deter them. They kept saying things, and then giggling and laughing, while the big teen just sat mostly in silence..
He reminded Wakatoshi of himself, except the big guy was smiling, and he would occasionally say something back when one of the other two spoke to him.
People were speaking to him.
And he was speaking back.
Wakatoshi was enthralled. Without his permission, his legs moved him a few paces closer, leading him to a tree near the group that he ducked behind, putting him easily within hearing range.
“Are you going to be alright dealing with Kenjirou once we’re gone, Tomu?” the redhead asked the one with black hair. “If he gives you a hard time, you just tell Wakatoshi-kun, okay? He’ll call and set him straight for you.”
Wakatoshi-kun?
Why had the redhead just said his name?
“Will you, W-wakatoshi-san?” the black haired one stuttered out, his eyes shy as he stared at the big one. At the one who looked a lot like him and apparently had the same name as well.
“I will do what I can,” the guy who looked like him said, nodding to both of the others with a confidence that Wakatoshi had in volleyball, but not in communication.
Could this really be an older version of himself?
What were the chances of someone so similar to him going to the high school he was destined to attend? What were the chances of them sharing his appearance? What were the chances of them sharing his exact same name?
Wakatoshi was not sure, but he assumed the chances were very, very low.
Had that strange experience he’d gone through somehow put him in the future? Was it this his future self that he was currently witnessing? His future self that was surrounded by friends, being talked to by friends, talking back so easily with friends.
It had to be.
Ushijima Wakatoshi had friends in the future, people who spoke to him; people who he could speak with in return.