Lusus Naturae. Freaks. Kei felt he was surrounded by suffocating hands, the world trying to grip him around the throat and squeeze the life out. High spirits and smiles became the fuel for his silent rage, and it didn't help that he ended up going to his brother's old school. Every single person in this fucking school was a monster. The energy they showed towards every little the thing they did, the false joy they put into their stupid little clubs and all their friend groups was despicable.

How could everything be so fake?

Tsukishima Kei was living in an artificial world and he felt he was the only one who had his eyes open. He was the only one who could see the truth, the truth that nobody was truly alive. Life was a lie and he desperately wished everyone around him would just stop pretending.

He was tired.

So tired.

"Tsukki, you're making that scary look on your face again," Kei could hear Yamaguchi speak to him but he had his headphones over his ears. Even if no music was playing, headphones meant he wasn't interested in a conversation.

Which is why he almost always wore them.

Nevertheless, the pulled them off his head and placed them around his neck.

"This is my natural face, Yamaguchi," he spoke apathetically, sitting back in his seat. Yamaguchi hummed in though.

"No, I don't think so. You've been all... edgy looking since school began," Kei sighed at his friend's words.

Was Yamaguchi real?

Well, he was closer to being real than anyone Kei had ever come across.

"This is my brother's old school. Don't expect me to be happy," he answered with a sneer and pulled his headphones on, this time actually playing music. Yamaguchi hummed in thought and turned forward in his seat.

Let's pick the truth that we believe in

Like a bad religion

Tell me all your original sins

So many questionable choices

We love the sound that our voice makes

Man, this echo chamber's getting loud

If Kei could live outside of his own mind, he would. Unfortunately, that didn't seem to be an option. He would be his own doomsday.

"Stingyshima! You aimed that at me on purpose!" Hinata complained loudly during that Friday afternoon's training session, the team split up in two as they played against each other. The two middle blockers were on opposite sides of the net.

"Perhaps if you could actually keep your eyes open during a spike then you could aim too," Kei countered with a cocky expression, pushing up his glasses. The ginger was fuming.

"Hinata boke!" Kageyama pulled Hinata off before practice was truly disrupted. Kei appreciated Sugawara's laidback sets much more Kageyama's high precision tosses. Kei didn't want to have to work for some stupid ball, he just needed it to be in front of him when he needed it to be.

Kageyama had yet to figure out that he wasn't the only one on the court with a brain, if he even had one.

Or rather, the King's brain, in Kei's opinion, had only a few selective topics it could process: volleyball, milk and Hinata. Actually, remove Hinata from that list. Kageyama was sometimes an absolute mess around the ginger.

That was another thing: there was no way everyone on the team was straight. There was just no way. Yamaguchi would play the 'shipping' game and tell Kei about everyone he thought would look good together. Kei couldn't handle the thought. The day couples began popping up within the team is the day he left volleyball for good.

This wasn't because he was against the gays or whatever – in fact, he didn't give a single fuck where people wanted to put their bits and pieces. Kei just hated relationships. Lovesick fools ruled the world and brought it to the ground. There was absolutely no reason for anyone to feel so strongly about another person and then, on top of that, have to share their lives with each other?

It sounded so intrusive. Just take care of yourself and leave other people out of it.

Kei didn't need anybody in his life. He didn't want love.

Love can only hurt.

"Golden week is next week so I want everyone to drop their things off at morning practice Monday then I'll take it over to the building we'll be staying at. Do remember you all still have class that day so be smart and don't pack your learning essentials in the same bag," Coach Ukai said as they finished up for the day, everyone quickly packing up so that they could go have a weekend.

Seven days until the Nekoma game.

"Hey Tsukki, the captain said he'll get everyone some dumplings. Do you want to come with?" Yamaguchi approached him just as he was swinging his bag over this shoulder, the first one ready to leave.

"We'll be seeing their faces the entire week starting Monday. I'll rather enjoy my time separate from them while I can," and left, Yamaguchi remaining with a look on his face. He was slightly disappointed, but not surprised.

"I don't understand how you can stand being friends with him," Kageyama piped up.

"Tsukki is someone you'll only really get to understand the longer you stay with him," Yamaguchi replied.

"Well, you've been with him for years, right? So you probably know everything about him," Nishinoya chipped in. Yamaguchi hummed in thought at this.

"Well, even then, there's just some things about him that don't make sense to me," and if even Yamaguchi couldn't make complete sense of Kei, then it stood to reason that there was no one on this planet that could. The first and second years looked onward at Yamaguchi with great question in their minds.

How did they become friends? How could someone like Tsukishima attract someone like Tadashi?

Or perhaps, maybe it wasn't that Kei had appeal, maybe it was that Yamagushi had strength.

Daichi wasn't worried about the silent middle blocker and Sugawara just thought the first year just needed more time to adapt to the new environment.

Asahi had no comment on Kei.

Six days to the Nekoma match.

Kei wasn't using his Saturday to practice like the rest of the team probably did and instead, he spent it in the only way he knew how: with his nose in the books and his music deafening him.

We'll be the proud remainders

Here 'til the morning breaks us

We run away from real life thoughts tonight

Kei was the happiest he could possibly be - in this familiar space of his. Left alone, his door closed and his room the spotless perfection he kept it as. Organised, alphabetised and colour coded. He was a college prep student and rightfully so. He didn't work hard for his good grades, he worked smart and efficient and relied off his natural intelligence. That was how he wanted to live his entire life.

Why put in useless effort when it is unnecessary? There are no rules to the game called life so if he found a cheat code; he was going to use it.

"Hey Kei, want to toss a ball around with me?" his older brother, Akiteru, popped in that evening into his room, violating the comfortable bubble he had settled himself into. Kei was constantly on edge around people and even the slightest hindrance would get him to start hating all over again.

No, I definitely do not want to play fucking ball. Especially not with you.

"No," he said plainly, not bothering to hide how less he could care about his brother's request.

"You sure? Mom's been worried about how your first month at high school's went. Says you've been even more irritable than usual," Kei gave him a nasty eye.

"And that's apparently enough reason for you to come visit here again? You have an apartment for a reason. Just get over it already,"

"Get over what? My family?" Akiteru tried not to sound hurt.

"I'm fine. You should be looking after yourself," and didn't refuse to look at Akiteru anymore. The older brother sighed and left silently to go report back to the mother hen.

Four days to the Nekoma match.

Moring practice, school, afternoon practice. During all this time, Hinata had been a thorn in his side as his enthusiasm for Golden Week was too extreme. Actually, all of them made him sick. Coach Ukai, who told them that even if they were puking their guts out, had to pick up the ball and continue.

Even adults weren't sensible.

The facility they were staying at, which was used by Karasuko during extracurriculars, was sparse but still had the ginger riled up.

"Calm down a bit, will you?" Kageyama was complaining to hinata.

"But I've never been to a training camp before!"

"What's so fun about spending a day around this filthy bunch?" Kei countered.

"Oi, Tsukishima! You bastard, so long as Kiyoko-san is within a 500m radius, there's no way this place will stink!" the hyper second years came to the rescue, before Sugawara ruined their dreams by mentioning she lived nearby.

He couldn't do this, he really couldn't. He couldn't possibly stay in the same building as these idiots for entire week. Tanaka and Nishinoya's chasing of their manager was just sad to look at.

Why Kiyoko even had an interest in volleyball, he couldn't understand. She seemed sensible at least, and knew how to deal with the boys.

If there was anyone on the team that was the most like Kei, it was Kiyoko. She was silent.

Then again, they were silent for different reasons.

And with that, he never thought about her again.

One day to the Nekoma match.

"You need to eat more, Tsukishima!" Tanaka was complaining, throwing even more food onto his plate. Kei nearly got nauseous from just looking at it all and he thought it was just him, but Yamaguchi was displeased by the amount as well.

Kei's appetite was non-existent. Eating? Was more than the bare minimum even needed? If you knew you were going to use a certain amount of energy in one day, then it's not necessary to load up on more. That's just over preparation. Besides, he was tall. He didn't need any unnecessary mass on him. Then he'll just get slower and the team would force him to work harder and faster. That wasn't a pleasant thought.

Eating for fun wasn't something he did – with one exception. There was a sugar treat he could never pass up.

Sometimes his brother would hold it against him, but that was just dirty.

"I don't think eating unnecessary calories is going to help anyone,"

"Oh come on, you can't tell me you aren't excited about tomorrow's match! You need to fuel up for it! Now we've got our uniforms and everything prepped!" Tanaka stood up, flexing an arm to show how pumped up and ready for action he was.

"Clothes are just clothes,"

"There's a sense of unity, Stingyshima,"

"Hn," Yamaguchi chuckled at Kei's uninterested state.

Unity? We were all born as individuals; so let us stay as individuals.

A growling sound broke the atmosphere, all eyes turning to peer at the animal that demanded attention. In the windowsill sat a pitch-black cat, its eyes trained on the players enjoying their meals. Fangs were on display, its eyes reflecting that it wanted more. It wanted more and even more and was craving to take a bigger bite of something or someone.

"Why is there a cat here?"

"I thought this place was implementing a 'no pets' rule,"

"Yamaguchi, we can't just kick Hinata out,"

"TSUKISHIMA!"

May 6th, 8:50 AM – Karasuno Sugou Sport's Park, ball game grounds.

Nekoma had already been waiting for only a few minutes by the time Kutasuno arrived. Daichi was the first to spot the opposite team lining up at the bottom of the stairs.

"Line up!" he called to his team, everyone in black tracksuits rushing up to stand in front of the Nekoma players. Well, Kei wasn't rushing. He was just casually strutting up with an uninterested look on his face. The two teams stared at each other, excitement and a sense of rivalry starting to blow up in their chests.

"GWAH!" Hinata made a gurgling sound, Kei sending him a nasty glare as he brought attention to himself.

"Great your opponents!" Daichi called, both reams bowing at each other.

"Let's have a good game!"

Hinata immediately ran after a Nekoma player, yelling "Kenma!" as he chased him. Kei was not interested in the slightest how the ginger knew the pudding head and instead entered into the gym alongside Yamaguchi. He did, however, hear Tanaka take on a Nekoma ruffian to defend Hinata's honour and chuckled at how he called him 'City boy'.

Tanaka needed to practice his English pronunciation.

"We'll be starting warm ups on this side of the net! Everyone, get running!" Daichi called, the crows starting their sprinting around the half court as they warmed up their legs. The teams took turns with spike and receive warm ups, Kurasuno taking to the court the first time.

On Nekoma's side, a certain Brain had his eyes trained on the crows.

"See something you like, Kenma?" Kuroo came up to his side, eyes also watching their enemies. He spotted the ginger. "That's the guy you ran into?" Kenma nodded in affirmation.

"Yeah," Kenma hummed. "He's a middle blocker,"

"What, seriously? With that height?" Kuroo voiced his surprise.

"We'll just have to see what he's capable of, but in terms of middle blockers, I think the tall one is the one we'll have to look at,"

"What, who?" Kenma nodded towards the side of the court where he stood.

"The one with glasses," Kuroo looked, and maybe he shouldn't have. The tall blonde looked unbothered and was standing lazily with his hand on his hip, and that made it even worse. He looked like he came straight out of a model catalogue. Kuroo hummed in interest and had his eyes trailing over his figure, his sight especially analysing the curves highlighting the man's leg muscles.

He licked his lips.

Kenma groaned.

"God, not again," Kuroo turned to his friend with a slack jaw.

"What do you mean?" Kenma scrunched up his face.

"We're here to make war, not love. Play the game, not the player," Kuroo placed a hand over his heart in mock offense.

"Do you really think that I would lose my cool, just because someone pretty is on the opposite side of the net?"

"Yes," Yaku chipped in, having walked past as he heard Kuroo's words. "You were a disaster last time we played Fukurōdani,"

"Kōtarō had gotten new knee pads! They went up to his thighs! And that was right before Keiji cut his hair again and had to pin it up! It wasn't my fault that they were deliberately trying to seduce me," he tried to defend himself.

Yaku knew about the relationship now, having walked in on them getting a bit too handsy with each other at the last training camp of the previous academic year.

It explained a lot, but Yaku will never be able to look at them in the same way again.

"Just like Kurasuno is trying to seduce you?" Kenma groaned in annoyance.

"Okay, to be fair," Kuroo's eyes looked across the court at their opponents, a smirk painted onto his lips. "Their entire team isn't bad on the eyes," from Yamaguchi's adorable freckles to Asahi's man-bun hippy aesthetic and Sugawara's comforting eyes; the entire team was an art piece.

"You are so gay," Kuroo sneered back at Yaku.

"Please. You can't tell me you haven't been spending extra time with that new first year of ours,"

"Lev sucks at volleyball! I'm merely helping him for the sake of the team!" Kuroo hummed, unconvinced.

"Ah, so you're his personal tutor then~"

"Oh piss off," Kuroo chuckled like a hyena. Nekoma went out for their warmups, and then both teams huddled up for a little motivation building.

"We are the body's blood; flow smoothly and circulate oxygen so the Brain functions normally,"

"Frankly, our current combination is one we just assembled. We're mismatched and tough around the edges, and on top of that, today is this line-up's first match. Our opponent is an unfamiliar team, so we don't know how things will turn our and we might end up slamming against the wall. But, when that happen, it'll be out chance to surpass it. Let's do this!" Daichi riled up his team, Kurasuno – minus one – cheering loudly as they stepped up to start playing. Kei stepped off court, Nishinoya currently playing as Nekoma was serving first.

"I said that I think my team is strong but it's not because of me, but because of everyone," Kenma told Hinata, Kuroo smirking at his friend's action. He was quite happy to see him go out of his way to talk to someone new.

Kenma started out the game with the first serve, Kei mentally huffing at the weak power behind the action but took note of the good arc the projectile made. Kei mentally banked that information on the chance he was on the court while the uninterested cat served.

Hinata and Kageyama performed their quick attack, Nekoma having a bit of a surprise. Kenma didn't waver and continued to examine his enemies. Hinata went up to serve, Kei substituting into the vanguard. Hinata's ball turned into a chance ball for them and at the end, the point was gained with a feint from Kei.

Kuroo's eyes narrowed at the tall middle blocker. His very first point was made from deception. He grinned to himself, the excitement building up within him. When even Kenma was taking it more serious than normal, then he knew it was going to be a good game.

Nekoma had to shift to deal with Kageyama and Hinata, and Kenma had to deal with Kei's watchful eyes. He was a good read blocker, but Kenma was better at feints. The entire game turned into a longwinded fight for power. Hinata was getting constantly blocked and needed to overcome that, Kei had to try and get into the mind of Kenma and Kageyama needed to adjust to the new line up and playing with Asahi and Nishinoya.

It was even worse when Kuroo rotated into the front line because he liked to make comments. They weren't necessarily insults, but that made it even worse. He complemented Hinata for being able to hold his own against Inouka, even if there was a 20cm difference between the two. The look he gave Kageyama absolutely infuriated the setter at times.

When Kei rotated into the front lines, Kuroo couldn't keep himself quiet.

"You're pretty tall, you know?" Kei shot an uninterested look Nekoma's captain. "And you're smart. Quick. You can even hold your own with our little Brain over here," he said, nodding his head towards Kenma. "So then tell me, why does it seem as if all you are is wasted potential? Do you even really want to play?" Kei narrowed his eyes, his body slightly tensing up but said nothing. "You could be great, you know?"

"Okay," Kei shot at him with a striking voice, effectively cutting down everything he said with a single word. Kuroo was surprised, unsure if he crossed a line or if he generally just didn't care.

Either way, Kei was on edge for the rest of the game and even when Kurasuno lost, he still didn't show any motion that it bothered him.

The two teams ended up playing an additional two more games, Kurasuno winning only one set out of the six. The teams made a pact to meet on a national stage for a battle at the trash yard, the mere sportsmanship riling up some of the members.

Then, it was time to pack up.

Yamamoto cornered Tanaka in the supply room to talk about Kiyoko. Kageyama kept sending nasty glances at Kenma, the poor silent setter growing ever more nervous because of it. Inouka caught Hinata, both of them talking in a different kind of language full of nothing but quick words and sound effects. Kei could only stare at them, confusion etched into his brows.

"That's not the sort of conversation you'd get from high schoolers," Kuroo spoke, stepping up to Kei's side. He shot the cat an irritated glance and adjusted into standing his hip, hand lazily on his side. "Still, you'd seem more like a high schooler if you were a bit rowdier," Kuroo smirked.

"I dislike that sort of behaviour," Kei answered, turning to look away and hide his scowl.

"Hmm... you sound like an old man,"

"Maybe some adults have it figured out. Maybe some people just don't want to deal with all the bullshit," he shot a strict eye towards the calm Nekoma captain before walking off, displeased with the entire day.

"And? What was that about?" Kenma asked Kuroo after he saw him coming from a short conversation with Kei. "Should I be adding another member to your household? Does he know about Trampoline yet?" Kuroo shot his friend a glance.

"Why do you automatically assume that I want to date any guy I find remotely good looking? Besides, I don't think he's my type and even if he was, he definitely won't be Keiji's," Kuroo answered but Kenma wasn't convinced.

"You have a type?" Kuroo rolled his eyes. "I don't think you should speak for Akaashi. I mean, after all, he's dating both you and Bokuto and I don't know how he tamed you monsters," Kuroo shot him a glare and sighed.

"I don't know this guy, so I can't assume anything. He plays volleyball like it's draining his life force and he's closed off, making himself unapproachable. Whatever shit life has thrown at him, put quite a dent on him. I can't say he's someone that I'm in-..." he trailed off, turning his head to find the man in question. Kei was across the gym, speaking to Yamaguchi. Kuroo sighed. "Kurasuno and Nekoma are probably going to have more practice matches from now on. I think this one was too much of a success to be the last. I'm not going to force myself into the life of someone random that clearly doesn't welcome the company, but if the paths align that I can help him out a bit, then I would love to see how far he can go, especially as a middle blocker," he turned to Kenma, serious look on his face. "The fact that I want his thighs to crush my face is just an added bonus,"

"God, Kuroo,"

"Captain, can I ask you something?" Kei hesitantly approached Daichi, Sugawara's eyes growing wide as he quickly moved away to let the two talk privately.

Kei wanted to talk? This was unheard of.

"Uh, sure, Tsukishima. What's up?" Daichi tried not to look surprised at being approached.

"Nekoma's team..." Kei looked across the court to where the cats were readying to leave. "Their captain. You talked with him earlier?" Daichi hummed as he looked to the man in question.

"Ahh, I also just met him today. Saw you guys were talking earlier. Anything interesting?" Kei sneered at this.

"He annoys me. Who is he?"

"Oh yeah. That's Kuroo Tetsurō,"