Kuroko’s Volleyball

[This story is undergoing a thorough edit. Check the table of contents for chapters marked “Edited.”]

[Major changes have been made to some early chapters, so scattered comments are to be expected.]

● New story underway: Hinata at Inarizaki [AtsuHina/volleyball/Inarizaki what-if]

● Coming soon: Kuroko’s Ten Shadows Technique [no pairing/jujutsu/FGO]

● Coming soon: Shiratorizawa’s setter, Toru Oikawa [no pairing/Shiratorizawa what-if]

Toru Oikawa discovered a genius setter at a basketball game next door.

His passes were sharp, his placements precise, and his movements decisive. He reacted incredibly fast, though you could easily lose sight of him if you weren’t paying attention.

That wasn’t much of a problem for Oikawa. After all, he wasn’t there to watch basketball. He was there to see the underclassman he was about to lure over to his side.

#

Everyone at Teiko thought Kuroko had merely fallen out with them and stopped coming to the basketball club. They couldn’t find him anywhere except in class, and then, during the final semester of their third year of middle school, he simply vanished. They couldn’t even reach him by phone.

It wasn’t until they saw a familiar shadow at the volleyball court next door that they realized they might have lost someone forever.

Still, a few of them had no intention of giving up, especially one yellow-haired guy, who chased him all the way to Sendai!

#

Kuroko Tetsuya felt that he was lucky.

When he was at his most helpless and in the most pain, someone reached out to him and helped him leave his old life and the source of his suffering behind.

So he would repay the senpais who had given him a new life.

Then... he would start by making it to Nationals.

Content warnings:

1. This story is quite old-school. Please make sure you’re okay with that before reading.

1.5 [If you have doubts about the basic premise, please do us both a favor and give this story a pass.]

Fanfiction can never surpass the original. I only want to explore another possible what-if timeline; at its core, this is a crossover dream project.

Please don’t question whether this story should exist, and don’t attack me personally over it...

2. Oikawa is the established pairing. Some characters have one-sided feelings, but romance doesn’t take up much of the story. There are no secondary pairings.

3. Slow burn!!! Long story!!!

[Chapters 1–15] Teiko arc. (If you have a weak heart, don’t read this part. Seriously.)

[Chapter 16] Switches sports, [Chapter 32] Starts high school, [Chapter 72] Interhigh preliminaries, [Chapter 113] Interhigh tournament, [Chapter 156] National Sports Festival, [Chapter 200] Spring High preliminaries, [Chapter 231] Spring High tournament. For chapter 265 onward, please use the timeline labels as a guide.

4. Aoba Johsai will make it to Nationals. Kuroko wears number 17 in his first year, number 5 in his second, and number 1 in his third.

Interhigh: libero → switches to setter/opposite for Spring High → setter in his third year → libero on the pro circuit.

5. This story spans a long timeline, more than a decade.

The characters may not be very mature at first. Character growth is the main focus of the story.

6. Character bashers, stay away from me. Don’t make extreme comments about the characters or be excessively disruptive. Arguments over unrelated opinions are also unwelcome.

[You can criticize me, but don’t target the characters or other readers...]

7. No supernatural abilities. Superpowered basketball and the like are a no-go.

8. The main story only involves Kuroko’s Basketball and volleyball. Other series only make cameo appearances as Easter eggs, usually just a few passing mentions, and have nothing to do with the main plot, so feel free to ignore them.

Theme: Talent will eventually blossom.