[Haikyuu!!/Kuroo X Tsukishima] Summer of '93

The little restaurant buzzed with voices, its walls blackened and yellowed by cooking fumes. Smoked pork stir-fried with bamboo shoots, pork belly blanched with cabbage, a medley of dishes from all corners of the land: amid the lively chatter and clinking glasses, Tsukishima had no idea that years later, when his doctoral thesis was republished, its expanded afterword would include these words:

In my youth, I often prided myself on being an observer. In truth, I was caught up in it all, with no way to escape. No one can hold the storm in their hands. Even to describe it requires both the perspective to stand outside it and the courage to step inside. I owe thanks to my teacher, my older brother, my friends, and my beloved. In the summer of 1993, you, or all of you, showed me the way there and the way back.

Theme: Graduate student by day, at night