The Owl Who Plays Volleyball

· The title may change, and the blurb may be lightly revised. Not sure whether this will be pure romance or no pairing. The whole cast gets attention.

*

A life like dog shit gnaws away at Amanai Ryu's days.

He goes to school during the day and works until dusk. Only when he returns alone late at night to the shabby apartment his late parents left behind does he belong to himself.

Since he was thirteen, Amanai Ryu has been like moss growing in a narrow corner of Tokyo, a wild climbing vine. He doesn't need water or care. He can get by just fine on his own.

All he needs is a little sunshine.

That's what fifteen-year-old Amanai Ryu thinks.

Until an owl-shaped sun appears in his world, shining down on him from every angle, all 360 degrees.

"If Amanai isn't happy," he ponders, then his eyes light up. "Why don't you try playing volleyball!"

Amanai finishes copying the last passage of his homework and looks up coldly. "You just want me to set for you... Give me two million and I'll join the volleyball team."

Bokuto is shocked. "That's a lot! Can I pay you back later?"

Amanai: "No."

Bokuto falls silent.

The next day, Bokuto stops Amanai as he rushes off to work.

The sun that has landed beside Amanai opens his palm, revealing a slightly crumpled piece of paper with his name written on it in messy handwriting.

"A future volleyball superstar is giving you his very first autograph. It'll be worth a lot someday!" the sun says, and Amanai squints against the light. "But there's another option that's so, so, so much better..."

His voice stumbles a little, clearly because he only thought of this at the last minute.

But Amanai doesn't interrupt.

"...Will you come with me?"

*

"Amanai, not long ago MSBY's Bokuto said that Tsukishima of FRPSS was his volleyball mentor, and also revealed that he was the one who first led you to volleyball. Is that true?"

"Nope." The man known as the wildest player in the V.League scoffs. "That guy still owes me two million. If anything, we're creditor and debtor."

"...Then why did you take up volleyball in the first place?"

This question was also asked back then by the owl from Fukurodani Academy, who doubled as a beast trainer.

"I just decided," the fifteen-year-old and the twenty-five-year-old say the same words, "that I'd survive that howling dog first, then come back and accept my fate."

"Survive that howling dog first, then come back and accept my fate.", From Mountains and Rivers in a Kasaya by Mr. Li Xiuwen

Content warnings:

1. The story takes place at Fukurodani. Bokuto is so, wonderful that I want the whole world to know!

2. The protagonist has a somewhat complicated background, with both parents dead from the start. So this will probably lean toward realism, rather than being a traditional hot-blooded sports story.

3. The friendship-overflowing-into-something-more is off the charts.

4. The protagonist is a city boy.

5. I haven't thought of a fifth, but I want to make it five.

Core idea: What will yesterday's failures become today?