Author's Note: This is a new story I've been working on for a while and I've finally found some time to complete the first chapter! Kyoutani is a very interesting character, and I'm so excited to write something for him! Well, I hope you enjoy!

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The Sight That Changed Everything

"Hey girl! You can take over classroom cleaning duty for us, right?"

"Um…well…actually…" You stammer, looking around nervously. The girl's eyes, as well as those of the group of girls behind her, are directly on you, and no matter how hard you try you can't bring yourself to look up.

"Great! Thank you so much, you're a lifesaver!" The girl smiles brightly as she all but runs out of the classroom, her friends laughing happily at their freedom as they follow.

"I didn't! Actually…say…yes…." You trail off, and sigh loudly.

Well, it looked like you were staying late again tonight.

You put your head in your hands, giving a small frustrated groan, before you walk towards the classroom closest, where you find the broom. You try and sweep the classroom as quickly as possible, while still being careful to thoroughly sweep up everything (you don't want the girl and her friends who left to get yelled at for doing a sloppy job, since they'd probably then turn around and yell at you).

You're a lifesaver!

You're the best!

You're so kind!

You heard all of it, and it never failed to make you feel your stomach twist guiltily. You just wanted to say 'no, I'm not kind at all! I just hate confrontation!', or 'letting you take advantage of me isn't kindness!'. But, as always, you kept quiet, and just…did as you were asked.

You tried not to think about it too much. Whenever you did, your throat got dry and painful and you had to struggle not to start crying. You wished things would change, but you knew it wasn't that simple…or easy.

It takes quite a while doing the job on your own (someone has been leaving snack wrappers on the floor and kicking them into hard to see places) but, finally, you completely finish cleaning. You give a small smile of pride at how nice the classroom looks…even though you know you're not the one who will get the credit for it. You put the cleaning supplies away, grab your bag, and leave the classroom as fast as possible.

Humming cheerfully, you head to your locker to grab the last of your things. If you ran home quickly, you would only end up missing the first five minutes of your favourite show! Skipping happily, you did a little twirl in the empty hallways before a loud voice made you jump three feet in the air. You look around fanatically, hoping no one had seen you, before realising the voice had come from the gym door, which you were only a few feet away from. The strong voices of whatever team was practicing could be heard even in the hallway.

"Hmmmm? They're practicing late…" You murmur to yourself curiously. Slowly, you step forwards, quietly making your way to the door. The windows are high, but when you stand up on the tips of your toes you can clearly see in.

And it's what you see that changes everything…

—-

You'd never really watched a lot of volleyball. If someone on your family turned it on, usually during the Olympics, you would sit with them and watch a bit of it too. It was an interesting sport, and you knew a little about it, but you'd never been really fascinated by it. Until now.

It's a blonde boy that catches your eye. He runs forwards on long, muscular legs, with his arms flung out behind him. He jumps high into the air, curving his body back, with one arm stretched forward and the other pulled back…and then snaps forward, hitting the ball with a terrifying power you'd never have imagined possible.

You felt the world around you turn hazy…dull…like the only thing you could see clearly, with a startling brilliance, was this boy, who had just put everything he had, all the force of his body, into that spike.

"Amazing…"

You don't even realise the soft whisper escaped from your mouth until it reaches your ears.

He seems to fall in slow motion; his muscular arm still pushed forward, and his body now slightly curved frontwards. You can just hear the sound of his large body landing as his feet hit the ground.

There's a short moment of silence, as the boy straightens up. He's not just well built, but tall. And he's not completely blonde either. You note that he has two horizontal black stripes in his hair. You feel your face heat up a bit as your heart beats faster…you've never seen anyone like him.

And then he turns to a boy just as tall, with light brown fluffy hair that falls over his forehead and a large number six on his jersey, who was standing nearby…and starts to yell at him. Just likes his serve, his voice is incredibly powerful, and you can hear the boy with stripes in his hair clearly from behind the gym door.

"What the hell kind of setting was that?! Fuck, if I wasn't so damn good I wouldn't have been able to hit it!"

…So the boy with the fluffy hair was the setter. You vaguely recalled the term, and you knew it had something to do with tossing the ball to the spikers. So then Stripey-san didn't like how Fluffy-san had tossed the ball to him…and he was making this fact known loudly.

Fluffy-san, looking irritated, rolls his eyes and replies back, although his voice is more subdued so you can't hear it. Stripey-san gets even angrier, his face twisting into a vicious snarl.

"Don't give me your shitty excuses! Just stop fucking around and play seriously!"

At this point, the rest of the players are paying attention, and some of them, the older looking ones, intervene. Stripey-san twists his head away in disgust, and this brings his gaze towards the door…towards you.

For a moment, your eyes lock. At first his eyes are still burning with anger from his argument, yet in a moment the fire cools and his eyes, like yours, are wide with surprise.

Then they narrow, staring at you with an odd, almost animalistic curiosity…like a predator seeing something for the first time and trying to figure out quite what it was.

Unfortunately, you didn't have time to see if he'd decided you were predator or prey, since you quickly turned around and ran from the door. You didn't stop until you were well outside the school.

Finally, you pause, stopping on the sidewalk and bending forwards to put your hands on your knees as you catch your breath and breathe deeply for a few minutes. Once you were ready, you straightened up and slowly began to walk home.

The memory of that boy just wouldn't leave your head. You couldn't forget the way his body moved, the way he hit the ball with that incredible power…and the way he confronted his teammate.

You'd never have the courage to speak to someone like that in a million years, much less yell it. And judging by the team's reaction, this wasn't unusual for the striped striker. He was definitely an interesting person….someone who wasn't afraid of confrontation. Who spoke his mind no matter what. Someone who would stand up for what he believed…

You look up at the sky, already slowly turning dark, as you think deeply. You take a deep breath of the cool late evening air, trying to clear your head from the jumble of images and thoughts running through it.

"I wonder…if I could ever be like that…"You murmur softly to yourself.

As you walk home, this is the question that you thoughts keep returning too…