JSWGAS Chapter 24

Saying so, Oikawa Tōru couldn’t really bring himself to throw a complete novice onto the court without any instruction. Besides, this guy had an enviable talent for sports, and when he asked for help with receiving the ball earlier, he picked it up quickly.

He’d teach him how to set the ball and then use him as a tool for setting for the Great Oikawa! He had decided to become a setter like José Blanco. But he wouldn’t give up any methods related to offense either!

Oikawa Tōru decided.

“Even though you’re just temporarily helping out the Great Oikawa, you can’t slack off, okay?” Oikawa Tōru’s tone was light and airy, a far cry from his usual image, causing Kokonoe Taka to look at him in surprise.

“What kind of look is that?”

“No, it’s…a little surprising. I didn’t expect you to be so serious about volleyball.”

“Are you looking down on me? That’s too much!” Oikawa complained indignantly, shouting, “I’m not some frivolous person, okay?”

Iwaizumi Hajime, who had been quietly practicing receiving and serving the ball next to them, said coolly, “If you don’t want people to think you’re frivolous, then don’t always do things that lead to misunderstandings.”

“Damn it!”

“Just looking at his face, he really does seem frivolous,” Kokonoe Taka said, receiving Oikawa’s resentful gaze. He paused and added, “Tōru is very popular.”

“Hmph—take back the previous sentence and I’ll forgive you.”

“I won’t, hurry up and teach me.”

“Then beg me.”

“…”

“Why did you suddenly hit me with the ball! It almost hit me!” Oikawa Tōru quickly dodged the sudden attack, and Iwaizumi Hajime next to him laughed gleefully at the sight.

“If you don’t teach me, I’m going back to drink my juice,” Kokonoe Taka pretended to leave.

For the sake of his little scheme, Oikawa Tōru had no choice but to stop him. “Okay—I get it! I get it! Ā Yīng, can’t you be a little patient!”

After a burst of commotion, Oikawa Tōru’s teaching plan finally got on track.

“First, the hand shape.” Oikawa Tōru reached out and let him carefully observe his finger movements. “The hand shape of both hands forms a hemisphere, with the index and middle fingers and thumb of the left and right hands pointing upwards to support the ball, and the remaining fingers assisting in the force, controlling the direction of the pass.”

“Or like this, overlap the palms and straighten your hands, retract your shoulders backwards, and hit the ball upwards.”

Kokonoe Taka imitated his movements, and was tapped lightly. “Don’t stretch your palms so straight, and don’t bend your fingers so hard like you’re gripping something—” He adjusted Kokonoe Taka’s gestures hand-by-hand, and nodded in satisfaction.

“No matter which method you use to set the ball, what controls the direction of the ball is the inner side of two-thirds of the end joint of your ring finger.”

“Koiwa’s hitting point is a bit high, but no matter what kind of bad ball you set, Koiwa can probably barely send it over,” Oikawa Tōru said lightly, not caring about Iwaizumi Hajime’s glare, “He’s still very reliable in that regard—although not as good as me.”

“Want me to punch you to wake you up, Trash River?”

The two started arguing across Kokonoe Taka. Kokonoe Taka skillfully blocked out the noise and awkwardly received the ball a couple of times. Although it was a bit stiff, it was actually quite impressive.

Oikawa Tōru let out a surprised “Wow.”

Kokonoe Taka explained, “When I was hospitalized before, an old man in the same room was a volleyball coach, and his grandson was a pretty interesting volleyball fanatic, so I learned a little bit about it.”

He awkwardly set the ball a few more times: “Hmm…it feels so awkward, directly touching the ball with my hands.”

“Because you’ve been using a racket to hit tennis balls before,” Oikawa Tōru dutifully corrected a few more mistakes, never mincing words, “Koiwa couldn’t control the strength of his fingers at all when he tried it before—you’re not going to be dumber than Idiot Koiwa, are you?”

Iwaizumi Hajime: “Eagle, at this time you should use the volleyball in your hand to hit his annoying face.”

“It’s the truth, Koiwa! What are you getting angry about?!”

“Calling you Trash River is not an exaggeration at all!”

Kokonoe Taka grabbed Oikawa Tōru by the collar and pulled him back. “Aren’t you tired? Tōru, can you be quiet for a while, you’re hurting my ears.” He said this to Oikawa without any mercy, and then turned to Iwaizumi against the background noise of the latter’s “That’s too much!”

“Want to try? Just so you know, I don’t have any feel for it.”

“It’s okay.” Iwaizumi nodded and took a few steps back to prepare.

The unfamiliar touch, the surface is smooth and round, and the color is different from the ball that Kageyama Tobio always holds, using a yellow and blue two-color spliced ​​spherical surface, and the leather wrapped on it feels very soft.

It’s heavier than a tennis ball, but about the same weight as a tennis racket.

The first ball was indeed set badly. It could be felt from the moment he released the ball that he was using a lot less strength, only barely reaching a height level with the net. The position was also wrong, too far from the net, making it impossible to hit.

Iwaizumi Hajime took two steps forward and received the volleyball. “Don’t worry,” he comforted, “Take your time, try again with the next ball.”

Oikawa Tōru rarely said anything that would make people angry, he squatted next to them, his eyes fixed on the court, seemingly really resting due to physical exhaustion.

The second ball, too much force, tossed too high.

The third ball, skewed a lot, wrong angle.

The fourth ball…

The fifth…

…

The twenty-first ball, relax the body, fingers over the eyebrows, controlling the strength of the index, middle finger and thumb, not too light or too heavy, brief contact, instantaneous force.

The ball flew high.

Oikawa Tōru murmured, “The movement is a bit out of shape…but…”

But, within Iwaizumi Hajime’s attack range.

And Iwaizumi Hajime had been patiently waiting for this ball for a long time.

A three-step approach, shoulders naturally relaxed, arms swinging from in front of the body through the sides to below the rear, upper body leaning forward, center of gravity shifting forward.

Knees bent, then suddenly stretched out, jumping upwards—“Thud!”

After the muffled sound of pushing off the ground, the whole person leaped high.

The body stretched out in mid-air, chest out and abdomen extended, like a drawn bow. In Iwaizumi Hajime’s eyes, there was only that volleyball at this time, he focused on staring at it, slightly adjusting the angle.

The contact time between the skin of the palm and the ball may only be a brief zero point zero one seconds, but it’s enough to infuse the power into it.

“Bang!”

“Feels good.” After landing, Iwaizumi Hajime praised without hesitation.

Kokonoe Taka looked thoughtfully at his palm, but said, “No, just now that ball was because Ā I’s coordination was good.”

“It’s already very good.” This was the truth.

“Then try again?”

“Come on.”

After a few more balls, Kokonoe Taka’s set was getting closer and closer to Iwaizumi Hajime’s hitting point.

But what followed was the soreness of constantly raising his arms, and his fingers were also a little stiff. Kokonoe Taka’s expression remained unchanged, and he moved his fingers slightly in the gaps.

He set the ball indifferently once again. Which one was this? He couldn’t remember clearly, and Ā I’s appearance of running up didn’t seem forced. After the previous failed sets, at least he had figured out which area was most suitable for his so-called ‘hitting point’.

And the brain also eliminated the redundant and cluttered emotions in the continuous failures and continuous thinking. If at the beginning he was just curious about what these two people wanted to do, then now he was in a focused and immersed state of excitement.

With no distracting thoughts.

Use the ring finger to adjust the direction of the ball, support the ball.

This ball will work.

……

……A very beautiful ball.

Iwaizumi Hajime thought so.

He looked at the volleyball being set high, MIKASA, this was a brand and model that Oikawa preferred more. The yellow and blue ball stayed in the air, as if shouting at him ‘I’m here!’ ‘Come quickly!’

Then, jump. After a muffled loud sound, the wooden floor receded behind him—

Looking at this ball, Iwaizumi Hajime only felt admiration for Ā Yīng. How should he put it, although he knew that this person was very good at sports in the past, he was still surprised that he could set a ball that perfectly matched his range in such a short period of time.

You guy are really amazing.

He concentrated and held his breath, and hit a beautiful straight shot happily.

……

It’s Ā I’s good at straight shots, did he realize that he hits these kinds of shots more smoothly?

Oikawa Tōru stared intently at the court.

Only outside the court could he see more of the subtle details.

This was the seventy-third ball.

The posture had become more standard after a brief deformation, his arms had begun to tremble, and it could be seen that he was forcing himself. But being able to set the most perfect one of these seventy-three balls in this state, from the bad ball at the beginning to this good ball, his speed of improvement was really terrifying, Eagle.

Oikawa Tōru stared at Kokonoe, and saw his focused eyes as if materialized. Oikawa Tōru felt that the most terrifying thing about this childhood friend who had grown up with him was the god-like concentration he showed when he immersed himself wholeheartedly in what he was trying to accomplish.

He would regroup and continue to try after each failure. Until he succeeded in doing what he wanted to do.

Looking at his figure, an enviable figure.

In fact, these undulating thoughts all appeared in Oikawa Tōru’s mind in an instant. He turned his head and gave the girls who had been attracted to Kokonoe Taka (he didn’t think Iwaizumi was attractive) a handsome and hearty smile, and continued to think casually.

…Who would have thought that this person had no passion for what he was trying to accomplish?

Just like drinking water, eating, and breathing, he just wanted to do the best he could with what was in front of him.

—But he never thought about what he really wanted.

Oikawa Tōru raised a smile that was no different from usual, and clapped his hands, “Okay, you two gorillas, aren’t you tired?”

Iwaizumi hadn’t recovered from the comfort of a refreshing spike, and casually said “Huh?” Oikawa Tōru walked to Kokonoe Taka’s side, and while smiling heartily, he mercilessly pressed down on the other party’s forearm.

“Hiss—”

Kokonoe Taka gasped in pain, “Do you have a grudge against me, Tōru, why are you pinching so hard?”

Oikawa Tōru replied with tears in his eyes: “So that’s how you see me? I’m so sad.”

Iwaizumi Hajime: “…Sorry, I didn’t notice.”

Kokonoe Taka: “It’s okay, I had a lot of fun. —Ā I is really amazing.”

“It’s because Ā Yīng was too reckless, and kept not saying to stop,” Oikawa Tōru let go of his fingers that were pressing on him, “You have to do it to your limit—you held it up for too long, just take a break.”

He was about to pick up the ball when he suddenly noticed a small patch of blue and purple on Kokonoe Taka’s forearm, and grabbed the other party’s arm again: “What’s going on here? Did someone hit you?”

Iwaizumi Hajime leaned over: “What?…A bruise?”

…No one could remain unmoved under Iwaizumi Hajime’s gaze.

Kokonoe Taka glared at Oikawa, recalling how he had vented by running to the tennis court and competing with the ball machine, and couldn’t help but feel guilty. In the end, he stammered, “Uh…that, this was accidentally caused when I was playing tennis…”

“I think this looks like it was hit by a tennis ball,” Oikawa Tōru lightly added fuel to the fire, “And someone didn’t even think of dodging.”

Kokonoe Taka: “…Tōru, stop talking. And Ā I, this was really an accident! I was accidentally hit!”

Iwaizumi Hajime glared at Kokonoe Taka, who was calm on the surface but actually sweating on the inside, and then gave Oikawa Tōru, who was still trying to stir up trouble, a headbutt. “Stop watching the fun! You bastard!”

“?! Why did you hit me again?! Koiwa, your anger came out of nowhere?!”

“Shut up! Have you rested enough, you good-for-nothing! Set the ball for me!”