A/N: Hello, readers! Welcome to another chapter! Enjoy!

edited on july 26th, 2021 @ 6:26am

════ ∘◦ᵒ 𓅓 ᵒ◦∘ ════

CHAPTER FIFTEEN - ILLUSIONARY HERO

"I'M HEADING OUT." Takashi heard Tsukishima called out to Daichi and Sugawara. "Okay." Daichi replied. "Good work." Sugawara added.

"Hey, Tsukishima! We're gonna practice the synchronized attack, so help us out for a sec." Tanaka told him as Tsukishima gave him a look.

"I can still go, too." Ennoshita informed, stepping into the gym. "There'll be three wing spikers, but that's okay, isn't it? I wanna get the timing down."

"Wait... You aren't trying to become a regular, are you?" Tanaka asked.

Ennoshita had a fiery look in his eyes. "Don't think I'm gonna be warming that bench forever." He responded.

"Oho? If you're not careful Tanaka, Ennoshita here might take your spot as a regular." Takashi teased.

"Like hell I'll let that happen! Bring it on!" Tanaka challenged, making Takashi snicker as he high fives Ennoshita.

"Daichi-san, let's hurry up and do this."

"Let me rest for a bit."

"Daichi-san! I can't afford to take this so lightly!"

Takashi's eyes followed Tsukishima as he left the gymnasium.

"Coach, do you mind helping us out?"

Takashi snapped his attention back to Daichi. "Ah, sorry Daichi. There's something I need to do. Good luck with the synchronized attack." He replied.

"Right!"

Takashi left the gymnasium, looking around for Tsukishima. He really needed to talk to him.

"Kageyama-san."

Takashi turned around to spot Tsukishima looking at him. "Oh, Kei. I was just looking for you." He said.

"I have a question for you."

"Ask away."

"Why do you love volleyball so much?"

Takashi was taken aback by the question. "My older brother described you as "the scary setter from Kitagawa Daiichi" back when he went to Karasuno." Tsukishima explained.

Takashi chuckled. "I very much think I gave off that first impression. Even though I didn't really mean to." He said. "Why such a question though?"

"It's just a club, right?"

Takashi sighed, knowing that what Akiteru did made his younger brother have this mindset. "It's not just a club, Kei. For some people, it's their lifeline. Take me for example, I don't know who I would be without volleyball. I worked my ass off trying to get where I'm at today, and a damn knee injury had to put me on pause." He explained.

"And nine years from now, I may never be able to play again because of it." Takashi finished before looking at the night sky. "Which is why I'm grateful for Tobio. He can carry on my legacy."

Takashi then turned to Tsukishima. "I somewhat understand from Teru's point of view. We both have younger brothers the same age, and he knows I would do anything for Tobio, and that includes lying to him about my position if I was never made a regular." He continued.

"I guess what I'm trying to say is, don't let Teru's actions stop you from improving your skills. If you don't improve, guys like Ennoshita will take your place, and I don't want that to happen to you. I'm not just speaking as your brother's best friend. I'm speaking as your coach too." Takashi finished, making Tsukishima get taken aback.

"Think about what I said. Goodnight Kei."

Takashi then remembered the match that Tsukishima had attended. They were playing an unknown high school. It was also the first time he argued with Akiteru.

"Huh? Isn't that Teru's younger brother?" Takashi wondered, looking up to see the younger Tsukishima along with two other kids about his age. "So he hasn't told him? He said he would."

Takashi watched as the volleyball headed towards him as his boyfriend got ready to jump and the crowd cheered.

"Go for it, Ten!" Takashi shouted, tossing the ball to their ace as Tenma jumped up and spiked it, easily getting past the opposing team's blockers and getting Karasuno a point.

"That's awesome! #10 did it again!" A player from Aoba Johsai exclaimed. "He's only around 170cm, too!"

"Not to mention their setter is pretty amazing." His teammate added. "They're both only second-years, right?"

"See?" Kei's classmate waved the paper around. "The one of the left is the third-year, Kawada-kun, near the net is the second-year setter, who's known as The Emperor, and on the other side is the second-year ace who they call the Little Giant. For about a year now!"

"We get it!" A younger Yamaguchi told him. "We can see that..."

"My brother's also a third-year and hasn't been in any matches."

On the court, Takashi noticed Kei look from across the court to where he saw Akiteru cheering for them.

After the match was done and Karasuno came out victorious, Takashi stomped over to Akiteru.

"Kageyama-senpai, what are you—" Their first-year libero, Kobayashi Ryouta, began. He almost screeched when he saw Takashi grab onto Akiteru's collar and threw him to the ground.

"You fucking dumbass!" Takashi exclaimed. "You could've avoided this whole mess if you just told your younger brother the truth instead of being a coward!"

"Taka—"

"Stop talking, damn it! I'm not finished!" Takashi interrupted. "You shouldn't have lied to him about being the ace! Because in reality, you were just jealous of Ten, huh? Newsflash, Tsukishima! Ten will always be ten times better than you!"

"Too far, Kags!" Nagata told him.

"Kashi, calm down. You don't want to make Coach Ukai or the captain angry." Tenma tried to calm down his boyfriend.

"Tch!" Takashi let out. "You better remember the look on your brother's face for a long time, Akiteru. Because if he ends up hating volleyball in the future, it'll be your fault."

Takashi let out a long sigh. "This all could've been avoided if Teru just told him the truth from the beginning." He thought.

He re-entered the gym as Sugawara had a worried look on his face. "Get that worried look off your face, Suga." Takashi informed.

"Coach?"

"I believe..." Takashi began. "We don't have anything to worry about him."

════ ∘◦ᵒ 𓅓 ᵒ◦∘ ════

"Number 4!" Tanaka exclaimed as Hinata and Tobio jump up to block Bokuto, but Bokuto got past them and scored a point. It was the next day and Karasuno was currently playing against Fukurōdani.

"Eek! That #4 is really intense again today." Yachi commented.

"Sensei." Keishin began as Takeda looked at him.

"All right!" Fukurōdani announced. Takashi sighed and looked at the scoreboard.

Fukurōdani

11

Karasuno

06

TWEEEET!

Karasuno hurried along to surround Keishin and Takashi as they were drinking from their water bottles.

"Even if your not able to stop Number 4's spikes, at least try to touch it." Keishin informed as everyone nodded.

"Right!"

"We don't have to stop it?"

Everyone jumped a little as Tsukishima spoke up. They all turned to face him.

"Well... If you're able to actually shut the ball out, there's nothing better." Keishin replied with a smile. Takashi smirked a little at Tsukishima.

"I wonder if I got through to him last night." He thought.

TWEEET!

They went back to playing Fukurōdani gets another point making them now have 14 points with Karasuno having 8.

"All right!" Fukurōdani cheered for their point.

"Nice receive!" Bokuto praised as he called for a toss, charging forward, Daichi and Tsukishima quickly followed Bokuto.

"Left! Number 4, Number 4!" Daichi announced.

Takashi glanced over at Tsukishima, interested to see what he was going to do.

He watched as Daichi and Tsukishima to block and was surprised to see that he blocked differently. Takashi could tell Bokuto was also surprised by this as he quickly performed a feint.

"A feint!" Tanaka announced as Nishinoya dived down to save it but he was too late.

"Damn it!" He growled.

"Wow, I totally thought they were going to come with a full-on attack there. To think it was actually a feint... I guess that's what you get with an ace that went to nationals." Takeda exclaimed.

Takashi looked over towards Keishin who just smirked at this.

"Bokuto-san, you fled from the competition." Akaashi stated bluntly as Bokuto froze before he started to shout and wave his arm about.

"I didn't flee! I dodged it! With skill, I dodged it!"

One of Bokuto's teammates came over and stared at the captain.

"Caught off guard..."

"Oh, fine! Yeah, yeah, sorry about that!"

"Well, now..." Nekomata began, getting Naoki and Matsuda's attention. "Perhaps the troublesome little baby bird is starting to come out of his shell."

Takashi watched as Tsukishima walks away from the net as him and Bokuto watched with smirk on their faces.

"Would you look at that..." Takashi thought as he saw Tsukishima and Hinata have a stare down before Tsukishima walked away.

"The sun versus the moon... How interesting..."

════ ∘◦ᵒ 𓅓 ᵒ◦∘ ════

A/N: I apologize for the short chapter! Most of it was Tsukishima's backstory, so I couldn't really add much. Thanks for reading!

Word Count: 1487 words.