JSWGAS Chapter 123

Chapter 123

Chapter 123

123.

It is said that the cafeteria of Rikkaidai has hired chefs who can cook food that makes people burst their clothes, and they are responsible for several fixed windows. Therefore, every time it comes to the restaurant, there will be a chaotic scene of people rushing, fully demonstrating the long-term vision of Rikkaidai’s principal – letting hungry teenagers participate in the latest Hakone Ekiden may bring back a ranking.

“It’s really delicious.” Tomi’s first-year student, Daisho Yu, quickly took a fried shrimp from his teammate’s plate while the teammate next to him was distracted. “Wow, when will Tomi’s cafeteria reach this level…”

“Daisho! You bastard!” The teammate was furious, and the two started a war with their trays. Across from them, Senzaki Izumi bit his tableware and admired the two’s melee, and quickly noticed the figure walking into the cafeteria door.

“Ah, Aoba Johsai’s here.”

“Troublesome guy.” Daisho Yu peeked over, quickly protected his plate, and stuffed the last bite of rice into his mouth. “They’re pretty late today.”

“You clearly went to cultivate relationships with him during individual training, and then you turn around and say he’s a troublesome guy?”

Daisho was not provoked by his teammate at all. “The two don’t conflict.”

“Everyone from Aoba Johsai is quite troublesome.” Senzaki Izumi shrugged. “I heard that four of their official team members are first-years. I thought it was a rumor. Who knew it was true… And no matter how you look at it, that level is overpowered, right?”

“So you think you’re inferior to them? How lame.”

“After all, I’m just an ordinary person who plays volleyball.” Senzaki gave Daisho a fake smile. “It’s normal to not be able to compare to volleyball maniacs who train to death every day from morning till night.”

Another teammate, who had been glaring at Daisho for a while, reluctantly continued to eat his rice, and said casually, “But Senzaki, didn’t you go see Aoba Johsai’s Oikawa not long ago? Yesterday too, you were the last one to return to the dorm.”

Senzaki, “…”

“You really like to lie, Senzaki?” Daisho gave a strange smile. “Well, I don’t hate it though.”

Senzaki avoided his teammate’s gaze, and his eyes were fixed on the tall teenager not far away. “Speaking of which, Aoba Johsai’s floor seemed very lively last night.” He changed the subject. “Today too, only Kokonoe came to the cafeteria at this hour…”

Daisho didn’t pursue the matter, and continued his words: “It was indeed very noisy, and it seems like the coach was attracted in the end.”

Senzaki breathed a sigh of relief, and quickly finished his meal. When he got up, he bumped into Kokonoe, who was holding a tray and looking at him with an unhappy expression, so he silently made way for him.

“Thanks.”

“… You’re welcome.”

Unexpectedly polite, but the tone and expression made Senzaki feel that if he didn’t move, he would be sunk into the sea of ​​Kanagawa by him.

But soon he knew why Kokonoe had such a low pressure all morning.

“Warm-up is the same as before, jog five laps, and then come back to stretch.” The coach said slowly at the front of the team after everyone had gathered, “But Aoba Johsai has to run ten laps.”

“Ten laps?!”

The team suddenly exploded.

At first glance, it doesn’t seem like too much, it’s just twice their number of laps. But one lap actually refers to one lap around the campus of Rikkaidai University – Rikkaidai is really big, and usually jogging five laps can make them so tired that they are about to crawl into the gymnasium. It is conceivable how torturous this journey is.

Various speculations emerged one after another.

“Could it be that they accidentally spiked the volleyball on the coach’s face?”

“Or did they run into the coach’s embarrassing scene of getting drunk at a dinner party? Like hugging a telephone pole and crying.”

“Tell your story.”

“Does it count as running into a teacher crying drunk before and then being given a week’s worth of homework by the angry teacher?”

Seeing that the guesses were getting more and more outrageous, the coach coughed lightly and threatened without showing any expression, “It seems that everyone thinks five laps are too few and wants to run ten laps?”

As soon as the words fell, there was a flash in front of his eyes, and when he looked again, there was no one in front of him, only a large group of backs.

In the past, the first echelon was mixed with students from various schools, but today, Kokonoe Taka, who is at the head, is far ahead.

“He has to run ten laps and he’s running so fast?” Ikaru Naoki complained, “Isn’t this guy afraid of not being able to run halfway?”

“Who knows, Kokonoe has always been running very fast.” Namashikawa’s Domiya evened out his breath. “Don’t let him lead you astray.”

Tomi’s Ueda took a step back and asked Aoba Johsai, “Hey, so why did the coach give you five more laps?”

As soon as these words came out, ears were perked up from all directions.

Oikawa Toru actually felt quite wronged, and he refused to admit that everything last night was caused by him. But before he could quibble, Matsukawa on the other side said weakly, “We were originally watching Oikawa play Hanamaki’s game, and then Kokonoe and Iwaizumi came to find him, but Oikawa provoked them to sit down and play two games.”

Oikawa Toru protested, “I didn’t provoke them! They wanted to play themselves!”

“Just admit what you did!”

Matsukawa and Oikawa started arguing, and Iwaizumi quickly joined the battle. In the end, Hanamaki, who was also panting, could only continue to say, “The game requires you to capture various characters, princes, assassins, knights…”

Daisho interrupted him and questioned, “Wait, what game are you playing?”

“Otome game.” Hanamaki sighed. “Laughing while running will make you lose your breath.”

He was a little late, and the sound of suppressed laughter was endless.

After forcing himself to ignore the too obvious laughter, Hanamaki continued to tell, “Oikawa played almost all the Bad Ends he could play; Iwaizumi was even better than Oikawa, but he inexplicably turned all the capture targets into bros who could be called brothers… Just when I thought it couldn’t be more outrageous,” he paused, his tone complicated, “Kokonoe let me know that this game can actually counter-kill the capture target, and then the good capture game became a fugitive simulator.”

“Pfft… Hahahahaha!”

“What the hell hahahaha! Counter-kill?”

“Cough cough cough!”

Kokonoe Taka heard a few undisguised snorts of laughter coming from behind him. He didn’t really want to turn his head to find out the cause of the laughter, so he buried his head and rushed faster.

Hanamaki’s narration continued behind him, and he had a bit of talent for telling stories, “Then we watched for half an hour how Kokonoe was running rampant on the map, came out of the vampire’s castle and turned around to call the police, met a knight who came to save him and lied to him to trick him into the castle and then ran away himself, researched the bug with a very investigative spirit to make the character twitch and dance… And every time a new capture target appeared on the way, he could equally kill everyone like before…” He added the last sentence factually, “To be honest, it was quite wonderful.”

“What ah hahahahaha what kind of game is this? It makes me want to try it too.”

“Cough cough cough I lost my breath help——”

“It’s not over yet.”

“There’s more?!”

Hanamaki sighed resentfully, “I wish it had ended there———Anyway, because we were making too much noise, we attracted Miyano-senpai and the others.”

Miyano, who was rarely mixed in the back today, showed a guilty expression when he heard the words.

“Miyano-senpai said that you don’t know how to play games, so he rolled up his sleeves and rushed over to take over. But he quickly fell into the painful hell of not having enough values ​​to trigger any plot.”

“I wanted to say it yesterday! Why are there built-in questions in the game?!” Miyano shouted at the top of his voice.

Iwaizumi pointed out calmly, “You said that yesterday too.”

“Ah, did I say that? No, that’s not the point——”

“Miyano-senpai attracted the people in the same dormitory, and then they attracted Guen-senpai from next door…” Hanamaki looked like a Bodhisattva. “In the end, the coach was also attracted. The problem is that no one noticed that the coach stood behind and watched for a while before walking over with a smile and saying, ‘Is it fun? So energetic?’ At that time, Oikawa happened to be taking over the game again, complaining that it was not fun at all, and casually asked the coach if he wanted to try it, and then he handed out the game console very naturally———and then, it became like this.”

“How miserable… Pfft.”

“I’m sorry, although it’s miserable, it’s so funny hahahahaha!”

“Cough cough cough who stepped on my foot!”

——The consequence of listening to stories on the road is that almost more than half of the people lost their breath, struggling like zombies in the second half of the journey.

Sure enough, they were scolded by the coach when they returned to the gymnasium. On the other hand, the honest Aoba Johsai was generously let in.

Ikaru Naoki came to his senses, “You did it on purpose?”

“How can you say that.” Miyano cleared his throat, “You gained happiness, we gained someone to be scolded with us, why not——”

Ueda was furious: “Wait for me in today’s game!”

“Come on! Who’s afraid of you!” Ueda’s appearance was a bit fierce, Miyano admitted that he couldn’t compare to him, and he pulled Kokonoe, who was passing by, over in a moment of desperation.

The latter was listless because he stayed up late the night before and was scolded, and because of the ten laps of jogging that he was far ahead, his expression was a bit tired. After he was too lazy to manage his expression, he stood in front of Ueda, perfectly suppressing his aura.

“…”

Ueda and Kokonoe looked at each other, and subconsciously recalled the horror of being blocked by him when he spiked.

“You’re ruthless!” He stomped his feet and walked away angrily.

“… Miyano-senpai.”

Miyano chuckled twice, “Hahaha you did a great job, Kokonoe! Ah, I heard someone calling me, I’ll go first.”

“…” Find a better reason to run away.

He stood there speechless for a moment, and someone was calling his name in the court not far away, “Kokonoe, are you coming to practice blocking?”

“Coming.”

…

During the training camp, Coach Irigaki talked with Kokonoe Taka and said that what Aoba Johsai currently lacks is a weapon that can help the team tear open gaps.

“Currently, the strongest attacker on our team is Iwaizumi.” Coach Irigaki said sincerely, “He is a good spiker, but to be honest, his attack power is weaker compared to the aces of other high schools… Or rather, he is the kind of player who is stable in all aspects. It’s not that this is not good, but it is destined that he cannot become the one who decides the outcome.”

“In fact, the requirements for positions in high school volleyball are relatively vague. For example, Ushijima of Shiratorizawa. Although the position he plays is called ‘opposite’ in professional games, he is taking the orthodox route of a left-wing attacker. You also noticed it when you were blocking, right? His attack can continue to establish an advantage because many attacks are overhand attacks and straight balls aimed at the timing. If it weren’t for Saijo and you, and it were another team, maybe the game would be over in three sets. As for the others… what do you think of Aoba Johsai now?”

“… Stable.”

Kokonoe Taka looked up at a spot of dirt on the ceiling, his tone calm and rational.

“Too stable, all aspects are developing very balanced, the atmosphere in the team is very good, and everyone has their own thoughts when playing.”

“What else? What do you think of the other attackers?”

“… Miyano is very smooth, can talk to anyone, doesn’t have the airs of a captain, and his style when playing is the same; Guen focuses on ground defense, can catch most of the balls, and is very reliable, but his attention is easily distracted; Katori’s spikes, blocks, and receives are neither good nor bad, and it is difficult to make a powerful blow. Are you planning to let Matsukawa fill the position after Saijo left?”

“I have this idea. Did you notice it?”

“Matsukawa… his blocking is very tricky. Unlike me, he has the feeling of manipulating the opponent’s spiking route.”

“That’s indeed the case.” Irigaki nodded. “Matsukawa’s style is a bit similar to VC Kanagawa’s Tachibana player. During this time, he has also been practicing this technique with the people from Rikkaidai.”

“It will be very difficult to deal with if he practices well.”

“Haha, you haven’t said anything about Oikawa and Iwaizumi.”

“Toru assumes the responsibility of connecting the team in the team, and how to make a tight and effective attack with ordinary hands is his top priority.” Kokonoe Taka paused, “Iwaizumi assumes most of the protection and support, and he has a lot of power… but his attack ability is not enough.”

He thought for a while and improved the statement, “According to the current situation, Iwaizumi’s position is a strong attacker. His attack power is considered to be very high in the team, and he can also make strong and effective attacks… but compared to other schools, especially teams that are centered around aces, his offense is not enough. The others are the same.”

“This is also the fundamental difference between our tactics and those of other schools.” Coach Irigaki sighed slightly. “Volleyball… In this sport, physical fitness can almost filter out more than half of the players. I can say for sure that Iwaizumi is no worse than any other school’s attackers. But physical limitations give him fewer choices than others. Before finding you, I also talked to him, and he is also aware of it himself.”

“But Iwaizumi won’t give up.”

“Oh, how do you know he answered the same way?” Coach Irigaki couldn’t help but laugh, and the atmosphere was a bit more relaxed at this moment. “You haven’t said anything about yourself.”

“Me? There’s nothing to say.” He replied, “There is only one answer that we all know, isn’t it?”

The same calm tone as when they were talking just now, but what he said was an incomparably arrogant sentence.

“I will become Aoba Johsai’s spear that tears everything apart.”

But this does not mean that Kokonoe Taka will give up his efforts in blocking. On the contrary, during this training camp, he never refused invitations from other schools to have him block. He knew very well where his weaknesses were, which was nothing more than seeing too little and understanding too little. Different spikes have different techniques, and blocking changes accordingly with the evolution of the former. How will they avoid their blocks? What kind of spiking method is suitable for them?

——Go observe.

Number one, Ikaru Naoki of Rikkaidai, is good at cross-court shots and likes to leave himself time to adjust in the air, so he pauses for a moment after jumping;

Number two, Aida, the ace of the same school as Ikaru Naoki, is good at both straight shots and cross-court shots. A bit similar to Ushijima, orthodox attacker playing style. But because he is right-handed, it is easier to block than Ushijima;

…

Number five, Domiya of Namashikawa, plays very trickily, has many choices for spiking routes, and is not particularly good at or weak in anything, and is also very strong in blocking. When playing 3v3 with him, you don’t need to consider the timing, and you can block most of the spikes by filling in the gaps;

Number six, Kora of Namashikawa, is very good at serving, and he learned a little bit of technique from him. But the spikes are easy to block, and the blocking relies purely on physical fitness;

…

Number nine, Ueda of Tomi, has mediocre spiking skills. But there are many feints, and he likes to use details to confuse the block;

Number ten, Daisho of Tomi, is a standard example of playing with his brain. He likes to put pressure on his opponents during the game, his level of provocation is good, and his spiking level is mediocre;

…

The names on the list continue to increase.

The arena was in full swing. After completing a set of training, Kokonoe Taka rested on the sidelines, wiping sweat with a towel while keeping his eyes fixed on the players who were still practicing in the arena.

“Hiss… Is the air conditioner temperature too low? Why is it so cold?”

“It’s a bit cold indeed.”

Daisho Yu of Tomi happened to pass by him and looked at the court in the direction of his gaze, “It’s rare to see you resting, volleyball maniac?”

Kokonoe Taka retracted his gaze and glanced at him.

“I heard people say that Rikkaidai seems to be built on a cemetery.”

Daisho Yu froze, and quickly relaxed, “Is that so? Who said that?”

“A student from this school.”

“…… Haha, it should be a joke, right?”

“……”

“… What are you looking at?”

“Looking at the way you play, I thought you were a smart person.” Kokonoe Taka sighed. Daisho saw his own shadow in those light gray pupils. The other blinked, and the shadow suddenly turned into two, and a chill ran down his back. “What I’m looking at? Probably the ghosts wandering around here——”

“Daisho…?”

The screams instantly drowned out the various crackling noises in the gymnasium. Senzaki Izumi, who was in the same school as Daisho, kept the posture of reaching out to pat his teammate’s shoulder in confusion, and met Kokonoe’s eyes with raised eyebrows.

“What did I do?”

He asked puzzled.

Kokonoe Taka, on behalf of Daisho Yu, who jumped three meters away and was still in shock, replied, “Maybe the sound of your footsteps was too soft and hurt Daisho’s fragile heart?”

The rest is over, he put away his towel and walked towards the court.

The two people from Tomi who came back to their senses looked at each other. Daisho finally pressed down all the goosebumps on his arms, and gritted his teeth and said, “He must be remembering the grudge of me provoking his teammates in the morning game…”

Senzaki recalled his words for a moment, “Oh… you mean the sentence ‘attacks are soft’?”

Daisho, “… Are there many more sentences?”

“Yes, didn’t you also say that their setter has a frivolous face, is not serious at all, and is more suitable to be a vase in the drama club,” Senzaki recalled, “and then the other party retorted – ‘Although it is true that someone invited Oikawa-senpai, if he doesn’t come to the volleyball club, wouldn’t it be too bad to not see you as my defeated general’.”

“… Why do you remember so clearly.”

“Because this is a rare scene where you were choked back.” Senzaki mocked him, “Don’t tell me you have no impression yourself?”

“Do you remember how many slices of bread you’ve eaten?”

“At least I remember that I only ate two slices of bread this morning, spread with strawberry jam.”

Kokonoe Taka, who had returned to the court, did not join the blocking team, but walked to the spiking side.

It happened to be Rikkaidai’s ace, Aida, who was blocking, and he smiled wickedly, “Senpai, my blocking skills are also very good, okay? Don’t say I’m bullying you if you get blocked to death.”

Kokonoe Taka gave him a fake smile, turned his head and said to Rikkaidai’s setter, “Please senpai.”

Rikkaidai’s setter almost lost himself in his humble smile. Especially after comparing it with his own ace’s grinning expression, he decisively defected, “No problem, no problem.”

Rikkaidai’s setter’s technique is very good, and the ball he sets is a high ball within the range of most attackers. But it is not as easy to use as Oikawa Toru’s setting, but it is a very good challenge goal now.

Let yourself cooperate with the setting? Or let the setting cooperate with you?

The former is lost in the crowd, and the latter is an annoying strength.

Thoughts fluttered, palms rubbed over the volleyball, applying rotation, while pressing the wrist to hit the ball. Test the highest force the ball can withstand, and test the highest limit you can apply. And the frequent blocking allowed Kokonoe Taka to understand the intentions of the opposing block, and in turn use the understanding of the block to break through the opponent.

“Pa!”

Aida’s fingers were slightly red, but his expression was triumphant.

“You’re still far away, kid. You’re not just good at blocking, are you?”

Rikkaidai’s setter quickly stopped him, “Hey! If you want your juniors to respect you, you have to act like a senior! … Sorry, Kokonoe. Want to try another ball? Are you used to the setting?”

“Can it be higher?”

“Okay, try again.”

It was okay that the second and third balls were not hit over. But when the tenth ball failed to successfully break through the block, Aida himself even began to doubt whether his block was really that good.

He stared at his palm suspiciously for a long time, and then looked at Kokonoe, who was not moved by the fact that almost all of the spikes were blocked, “Is this a hidden skill?”

“Sorry.” Kokonoe Taka looked calmly at Rikkaidai’s setter, “Can you try again?”

Why can’t he hit it over? Rikkaidai’s setter frowned. He was more upset than the attacker himself, who failed to break through the block. Aida couldn’t possibly suddenly explode his bloodline. Doesn’t he know the level of his own teammate? So why?

“You can definitely do it this time!” He said firmly to Kokonoe Taka.

“Yeah.”

Oikawa Toru was not far away in the next court, and he had a good view. He had been observing the various courts for a while. Iwaizumi Hajime had just finished two sets of receiving practice and walked over, and Oikawa Toru threw a towel to him without even looking at him, “Good job.”

“What are you looking at?”

“Spiking practice, Taka and Nara-senpai’s.”

“Oh, how’s it going?”

“It’s currently the thirteenth… Ah, he didn’t hit it over again.”

“Again? Is it because they’re not in sync? What’s going on?”

“I can’t say they’re not in sync.” Oikawa Toru said casually, “Taka is in great shape.”

The setter always has a strange intuition about the attacker he is cooperating with. Rikkaidai’s setter is also caught in this intuition now – Kokonoe is in good shape, but he just can’t kill this ball.

Holding his breath, he had already figured out the position of Kokonoe’s highest hit point. But he also found that the figure had no intention of compromising at all. A vague guess floated in his mind: he wants the best ball? He wants the ball that suits him best? … That’s right, that’s it.

Rikkaidai’s setter suddenly realized the uncomfortable strength and the coercion of not being willing to lower the requirements.

But he gave him the ball that suited him? Isn’t that enough?

With this in mind, Rikkaidai’s setter observed Kokonoe more attentively.

Was he jumping this high last time? The timing of the hit is also slightly different, and the force of the wrist press is greater. Could it be that this kid is constantly trying the limits of what he can do? So every set is out of sync because of slight differences.

I’m here.

Every move of Kokonoe’s expresses this unwavering strong meaning.

Rikkaidai’s setter’s scalp tingled, and he felt that he and Kokonoe were more like unrelenting enemies than the blockers on the other side.

Speed, power, spin, angle, every aspect needs to be handled perfectly. Finally, a setting with a tricky arc and amazing height was set by him.

Aida whistled in surprise. This was a good set.

Kokonoe, who had been silent in these dozens of balls, began to act. After three steps of running, he bent his knees and pushed off the ground, and his body suddenly soared into the air. The volleyball appeared in front of his eyes seamlessly. In the field of vision on the other side, Aida’s block followed closely behind.

The palm is full, and the spin is applied at the moment of hitting the ball, pouring all the limit power into the volleyball——

Then, it crashed down violently!

Rikkaidai’s setter quietly watched the volleyball break through Aida, unwilling but helplessly admitting.

——In this silent contest, it was he who handed over the initiative.

Alas, what a difficult opponent.

The troublesome opponent raised his eyebrows at Aida, who was shaking his hands quickly, no matter how you looked at him. He didn’t say anything, but it made Aida feel that he was being ridiculed by him, “Ahhhhh what are you smug about, kid! This is only the first spike you broke through, what’s there to be proud of!”

“You can’t block the balls after that either.”

“What did you say——Watch me block you until you cry and call me senpai——”

Rikkaidai’s setter’s emotional emotions quickly disappeared. He deeply felt that he had assumed the responsibilities of a nanny and took a step forward with a tired heart.

“Okay, okay, stop arguing… Friendship first, friendship first, ha!”