Ryan Saito was someone who liked to acknowledge his own quirks. These differences included the birthmark on his shoulder, his part European ethnicity, and the fact that he was only an inch tall.
Ryan’s life was one shrouded in mystery, the source of his small stature couldn’t be determined as both his parents were average in height and had no recall of any strange happenings before his birth. The stress of taking care of a child is one thing, but Ryan had to be constantly watched to prevent him from getting into danger. Eventually the stress drove both of his parents apart, and Ryan’s father was left to take care of him alone.
Looking for a change to better their life’s, Ryan’s father Akio moved them back to his home in Miyagi when Ryan was six years old. Coming back to his homeland, Akio reconnected with his old friend Hinata Hikari. Meeting for the first time in a while they brought their kids with them. However, Ryan was extremely shy as he had not interacted with any kids his age before. Despite this, meeting and befriending Hinata Shōyō was one of the best things in his life.
The young ball of sunshine looked in awe at the tiny boy his age, sitting in his father’s cupped palms. Assuring Akio he would take care of his son, Hinata held his hands out still as if made of stone, when Akio placed Ryan into the smaller palms. While the parents talked, Hinata tried to talk to Ryan. Keyword “tried”.
“So What you like to do!?”
“......”
“Is this your first time in japan?”
“......”
“Ryan. That name sounds so cool!”
“......”
“Hey, are you ok?”
Ryan brought his gaze up from the peach colored hand holding him to the concerned face of Hinata. “Aren’t you.....weirded out by my size?”, he timidity asked. Hinata’s face morphed into confusion and Ryan brought his head down preparing for the worst.
“Why would I?”
Looking up in surprise, Ryan found Hinata brightly smiling down at him. “I think it’s cool! I’ve never met someone like you, I think your size makes you unique!”
Ryan for the first time in a while, smiled in happiness.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The friendship between Ryan and Shōyō stuck all the way to high school. There wasn’t a day when Shōyō’s happiness wasn’t contagious. Despite his high energy, Shōyō was always careful and gentle whenever he carried or hung around Ryan. Shōyō expressed his interest in volleyball and desire to join a team and while Ryan couldn’t help Shōyō prepare properly, he could help him in his own way. This included making a net from sticks and a leave, and Ryan passing a ball of string for Shōyō’s finger to serve.
They had fun doing this sort of game, even if Shōyō kept accidentally smashing the net.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Low and behold, Shōyō made the volleyball team and Ryan was happy for his friend. However, with this achievement came a problem. Shōyō had always brought Ryan home, and had he not been an inch tall he may have been able to go alone. It didn’t help that Akio’s job went a few hours over the school schedule, and Ryan had to wait in the office the whole time intill his father arrived.
Unknown to Ryan, Shōyō had stressed the issue to his captain asking if he could help in any way. Eventually a solution was reached and Ryan was surprised when Shoyo told him he could stay with him at practice!
And so Ryan sat in Shōyō’s palm as he entered the gym, though he covered the tiny with his other hand as he was nervous of how his team would react. He didn’t exactly explain the full details of Ryan’s situation, most notably that he was so small.
“Oh Hinata you’re here!”
“Ah! Yeah!”
A teen with a large built approached Shōyō, and Ryan could feel the hand holding him begin to tremble nervously.
“So when is your friend going to arrive?”
“He...is already...here.”
The teen looked confused at Shōyō’s answer. Before he could question him further, Shōyō uncovered his hand and held up Ryan for his captain to see.
Ryan blinked, adjusting to the change in lighting. Looking up he saw the shocked face of Shōyō’s captain staring down at him. Attempting to ease the tension, Ryan stood up and bowed. “Hello my name is Ry-Saito Ryan”, he internally cured at his improper introduction. “Thank you for allowing me to stay.”
“Oh yeah, no problem”, the captain began to bring his hand down for Ryan to shake but quickly pointed his finger instead. “I’m the team captain Sawamura Daichi and no problem, Hinata talks about you a lot”, Ryan shook Daichi’s finger and the both of them soon smiled.
After their meeting, Daichi called over the team to introduce Ryan. Upon meeting them, he received mixed reactions. One bald guy and black and blond guy dramatically yelled, a grey haired boy looked in curiosity, and a blond boy with glasses stared uninterested.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The practice went on without any incidents, minus a stray ball hitting the bleachers near Ryan and Shōyō full of panic yelling if he was alright.
Ryan continued staying after school and enjoyed watching the team practice and do matches. Over time he got to know the other boys, and developed certain relationships with them.
Daichi - The captain always ensured Ryan was safe whenever they practiced and like Shōyō seem to fret even if the smallest thing happened. If he was every teased by other students Daichi would appear behind Ryan like a wrathful titan to terrify the bullies. He also got a text from Ryan one night showing him sitting on a volleyball, saying “Don’t worry Shōyō’s with me.”. It left a sweet feeling in his stomach.
Mom-I mean Kōshi - The boy seem to have the essence of a caring mother embedded in him. He always helped Ryan and even brought him treats at times. He always encouraged the tiny whenever he felt down. Ryan felt like he can see holy light whenever Kōshi gives him a gentle hug.
Tobio - Despite the heated arguments he got into with Shōyō, Ryan and him got along quite well. He would carry Ryan around if he needed something, it also helped that Ryan didn’t know of his “king” title. Though Ryan did note Tobio acted a little tsundere-ish.
Ryūnosuke - The bald hothead after getting over the shock of seeing Ryan, became friendly with him. Though this friendship led to what can only be described as manly bonding. Ryūnosuke often spent his time placing Ryan in between his muscles, telling him to “admire your senior!” It didn’t help when he was called senpai, and happily squeezed Ryan between his pecs.
Kei - The blond beanstalk didn’t spare Ryan from his teasing, one of the first things he said being “congratulations Hinata, you’re not the tiniest anymore.”. Most his teasing involved him hovering his foot over Ryan and stomping down, missing him by a few inches. Although he claimed he didn’t see him, Ryan couldn’t believe him when he said it with a smirk.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Today Ryan waited in the living room with his father. The team had an event today and he was invited as well. Soon they both heard the bell and Akio got up to answer the door. Soon Shōyō walked in.
Based on his clothing, the event was confirmed as a......
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