Chapter 1

keep dragging my bones

“Kuroo?” Daichi raises an eyebrow, cocks his head. Tsukishima sees the crow-like nature of it.

“Nekoma’s captain Kuroo?”

Tsukishima nods curtly. His hands itch to grasp the hem of his shirt, but he resits.

Daichi’s eyes squint and Tsukishima swears he can see the beginnings of crows feet forming in the

corners, tiny crinkles far too deep for someone of Daichi’s age. “Why do you need his phone

number?”

“Tch.” Tsukishima clicks his tongue and turns on his heel to walk away, but he’s met by the face

of one Sugawara far too close for comfort.

The sickly sweet smile painted on Suga’s face is supposed to be placating, Tsukishima is sure, but

right now all it does is make the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. “Kuroo-san? Does this

have something to do with that private training he gave you at the summer training camp?” The

way he emphasizes ‘private’ makes the little mark forever seared into Tsukishima’s collarbone

tingle.

He hates it.

“Forget it,” Tuskishima spits. He brushes past Sugawara, their shoulders bumping with more force

than necessary and for a second Tsukishima feels a little bad about disrespecting his senpai like

that — especially someone as genuine as Suga. But he’s had a hell of a day and wants nothing

more than to change out of his sweaty practice clothes and ignore Tadashi’s never ending chatter

on the walk home.

He hears Daichi growl out his name, no doubt readying for a lecture on how ‘that’s no way to treat

your vice captain,’ but Suga’s soft voice shushes him. His voice is so quiet that Tsukishima

struggles to decipher his words on the short trek to the locker room, but he does his best to appear

nonchalant.

“It’s my fault. I provoked him when he’s obviously in a mood.”

Mood doesn’t begin to describe it.

He wakes up to the sound of his phone buzzing once, twice, three times in a row. Groaning, he

rolls onto his side to check who could possibly be texting him — triple texting, no less — when the

sun has just started to creep above the horizon.

Tadashi, of course.

Sighing, Tsukishima clicks on the notification icon to open their conversation. Besides the three

new messages, two from the night before remain unread.

\[00:01\] \>\> Happy birthday!

\[00:03\] \>\> I know you’re asleep because you’re ~responsible~ but if you happened to have stayed

up to watch your mark appear… ::eyes::

\[05:15\] \>\> Good morning Tsukki! ::sun::

\[05:15\] \>\> Happy birthday Tsukki!!!

\[05:15\] \>\> Mark?

He sits up and runs a hand through his hair, reaching blindly for his glasses folded neatly atop his

nightstand. He types out a message once he can see again.

\[05:16\] << gm

\[05:16\] << how do you survive on 5 hours of sleep

Stretching his arms above his head, he stands and glances at the mirror leaning against the wall. He

tosses his phone on his bed, the thing already vibrating with more messages from Tadashi. The

mirror taunts him as he walks up to it.

There’s nothing visible on his arms, nothing on his legs that peek out from his ragged sleep shorts.

He lets out a breath of relief. Whatever this damned soulmark is, at least it’ll easily be hidden by

his regular clothing.

And his volleyball gear — a blessing beyond his wildest dreams.

This also means it’ll be harder for his soulmate to find him. No potential coffee shop meet cute, no

bumping into a stranger at a konbini who outwardly bares their proof of love, no embarrassing

outing in the middle of class.

Another blessing.

But now, staring at the reflection of himself in the mirror, Tsukishima isn’t sure he wants to know

where or what it is.

That heavy feeling like dropping a bowling ball fills his belly, just like it had that day in the

summer.

Summer.

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***