The Fifth Year of Dreaming About Miya Atsumu

My name is Shijo Rina. Ever since I was twelve, I've dreamed of someone.

But I don't know his name or where he lives. All I know is that he speaks with a Kansai accent, has a twin brother, and loves volleyball more than life itself.

When my cousin Maki, my cousin Teito, and my childhood friends Yuushi and Kenya found out, they all tried to help me find him. But no matter how hard they searched, they couldn't find a single trace of him, as if he didn't exist in this world.

So I drew his image into manga, imagining every expression and repeatedly sketching the profile that appeared only in my dreams, trying to dredge up more details from my memories.

I drew him setting the ball, the moment he landed, the bold expression he wore on the court, and the awkward tenderness he sometimes showed off the court, so different from that familiar silhouette. I hid the flutter in my heart in every panel.

In the end, the shoujo manga I titled Love Begins in a Dream became a huge hit and marked my shift to a new genre.

Readers thought I was in love, and my editor praised the heartfelt emotions and fresh plot. But only I knew it was all drawn from my own experiences and the vision of him in my dreams.

Little by little, I created more manga based on him: If We Meet in a Dream, Then Take My Hand; Every Time I Draw You, I Fall Deeper in Love; The Right to Serve the Heart; A Parabola Aimed at a Dream; and Every Stroke Turns the Court into Yours. I studied everything I could about volleyball.

Before I knew it, five years had passed. My readers had grown accustomed to it, firmly convinced that I was in love and that the protagonist's real-life model was my boyfriend.

I never explained. There was no way to explain something like that. I only shared a few personal thoughts in the afterword when each manga ended, to comfort myself.

After five years of his company in my dreams, I had accepted that he didn't exist in this world.

Then, unexpectedly, one day he appeared before me at a signing event in Tokyo, his eyes and brows as bold and sharp as they were in my dreams.

I was stunned, but he seemed not to notice. Leaning on the table, he said his first words to me: "You've been drawing me for five years. How about paying me for the rights to my likeness?"

*

My name is Miya Atsumu, and I'm Inarizaki's setter. I have a twin brother named Miya Osamu.

Before high school, I never thought shoujo manga had anything to do with me.

After I started high school, I still didn't think shoujo manga had anything to do with me.

Then one day during a break, Suna pulled out a manga, pointed at the male lead, and said, "Atsumu, that's you, right?" That's when I learned that someone had been drawing me for five years without my ever noticing.

I didn't even know who the artist was.

The character in the manga wasn't exactly like me, but he was close enough. And the setting and spiking moves, not to mention things only people close to me would know...

"Who is she?" I asked with a frown.

Suna said, "She's a shoujo manga artist named Shiomi Yuu. She's famous. They say the male lead is based on her boyfriend. Lots of people love her manga. The one I showed you is my little sister's."

"I don't know her," I denied without thinking. The boyfriend thing was ridiculous.

But Suna nodded as if it were obvious. "If you had a girlfriend, you'd have told us. Besides, that was only part of the rumor. Shiomi Yuu said early on that the male lead was a boy from her dreams who doesn't exist in this world. So, Atsumu, you don't need to worry about it."

Me: ...What do you mean, he doesn't exist in this world?

And Osamu, what are you laughing at?

[Reader's Guide]

1. The blurb is in first person; the main text is in third person.

2. An alternate-universe story based on The Inarizaki Setter Has Something to Say. It features Kaguya-sama: Love Is War, Haikyuu!!, Ace of Diamond, The Prince of Tennis, and a little of Kuroko's Basketball. The timeline is mainly based on Haikyuu!!, with slight adjustments to the timelines of Kaguya-sama: Love Is War, Ace of Diamond, The Prince of Tennis, and Kuroko's Basketball.

3. Starts in the first year of high school. The school is Shuchiin Academy.

Theme: Never give up, and miracles will happen