JSWGAS Chapter 30

Chapter 30

Until Oikawa Tōru officially took over as the captain of the volleyball club, Kokonoe Taka hadn’t figured out how to tell him about it.

After quitting the tennis club, the focus of his life had almost entirely shifted to studying. He had also participated in several academic competitions suggested by his homeroom teacher. With the end-of-term exams approaching, he was busier than ever. Except for the usual lunch breaks when he would appear on the rooftop, he was nowhere to be found most of the time.

Every time Oikawa Tōru pretended to be casually passing by the entrance of his class, the familiar seat was either empty or surrounded by a crowd of classmates asking for advice and chatting, the level of protection was comparable to a celebrity on the street.

Back in his own class, while chatting with the girls, he learned that Kokonoe from the next class wasn’t as unapproachable as he seemed. On the court, he was handsome and distant, but off the court, he became gentle and polite.

God knows how shocked Oikawa Tōru was to hear the female classmates describe him as ‘welcoming as a spring breeze,’ ‘greeting people gently,’ ‘comforting classmates,’ and so on. Was that kind of smile ‘welcoming as a spring breeze’?! That was clearly the expression he had when he was up to no good, right?

It was said that Kokonoe ‘greeted people gently’—but why, when he ran into him on the way out in the morning, did he raise an eyebrow and tease him—”Are you mute Oikawa again today?”

Also, Iwaizumi Hajime believed that it was entirely Oikawa Tōru’s fault for acting weird, becoming silent, and pretending to be mute whenever he saw Kokonoe Taka. But that didn’t stop him from continuing to complain to their mutual friend—

And that day in the gymnasium! No matter how you looked at it, what Kokonoe said at that time wasn’t purely comforting! He was clearly a big idiot who could twist comforting words in a roundabout way, and sometimes even piss people off!

Only the last complaint received Iwaizumi Hajime’s approval.

“So, why hasn’t he come to make up with Oikawa-sama yet?”

One evening, Oikawa Tōru and Iwaizumi Hajime squeezed in front of the game console to play the latest online RPG game. Iwaizumi domineeringly snatched the burly and handsome warrior character, and Oikawa Tōru had to grudgingly control the beautiful princess in a pure white long dress on the screen.

After he died for the fourth time due to being distracted, and also dragged the desperately resisting Iwaizumi back to the respawn point, Iwaizumi couldn’t bear it anymore: “Give me a break and play the game properly! This is the latest release, limited to only a thousand copies! Other people can’t even play it if they want to!”

Oikawa Tōru shouted loudly: “But why do I have to play this princess! She can’t do anything, she can’t make food to restore HP and MP; she has to have a familiar pull her cart when exploring the map; she’s so fragile when fighting, and she can’t even disarm traps!—”

He slammed the controller down, annoyed, “That’s a basic skill that all characters have, right?! Why doesn’t she have it?!”

“Then change your character!” Iwaizumi’s voice was even louder than his, “Thief, archer, mage, trickster—any of them are fine! Didn’t you choose this yourself! What are you being so weird about?!”

Oikawa Tōru shouted back, unwilling to be outdone: “But the warrior that Koiwa chose and my princess have a combination skill!”

“Then what are you complaining about!”

Oikawa Tōru ignored him and continued to shout: “And—the combination skill of the warrior, princess, and trickster is the most powerful skill in this game, right?!”

Iwaizumi’s blood pressure, which had been raised by his noob teammate, dropped back down. He suddenly felt powerless, looked speechless, and already guessed what this person was going to say next.

He couldn’t help but say: “Stop thinking about it, there are only two of us. If you still want to play properly, give me a better character.”

Oikawa Tōru clamored: “Koiwa is so ruthless!”

This word had been used by another childhood friend not long ago, which could only be said that these two people sometimes had surprisingly similar thought patterns.

Oikawa Tōru was already about to roll onto the floor under his ruthless gaze: “We can play online with three people!”

Iwaizumi silently picked up the controller, desperately blocking the beam of desire sent by Oikawa Tōru.

Finally, Oikawa Tōru, who had rolled onto the floor and was kicking the pillow, said listlessly and a little aggrieved:

“—So, why hasn’t he come to make up with Oikawa-sama yet?”

At the beginning, it was indeed Oikawa Tōru who had thrown a tantrum first—he still didn’t think he had done anything wrong.

Mrs. Oikawa smiled happily when Oikawa Tōru wiltedly changed out of his Little Red Riding Hood outfit, and accidentally let slip: this outfit was actually recommended by Kokonoe Taka. At that time, Tsurumi Sumiko had taken a fancy to the Big Bad Wolf outfit next to it and wanted Kokonoe Taka to try it on. Although the latter agreed, he also said that the Little Red Riding Hood was very gorgeous and beautiful, and Oikawa Tōru would definitely like it.

Mrs. Oikawa thought, it was quite interesting, mainly because she also wanted to see her own jerk son embarrassed, so she happily adopted his suggestion—

This was the truth about Oikawa Tōru being forced to play Little Red Riding Hood.

“That’s women’s clothing?!” Oikawa Tōru complained to Iwaizumi afterwards, “Shouldn’t I be angry?!”

Iwaizumi thought that you would be even more angry if you knew that guy sent me your photo in women’s clothing. But he didn’t want to provoke the angry Oikawa Tōru, so he hummed and hawed and glossed it over.

Time returned to the present. Oikawa kicked the pillow twice again, looking like a half-dead brown rabbit: “I want to use that combination skill…” he wailed.

Iwaizumi was forced to take on the heavy responsibility of leading the beautiful and useless princess who was hanging up to clear the boss: “You could have said it more directly.”

Oikawa Tōru stubbornly said: “I just want to use that combination skill!”

But to use the combination skill, you had to gather three people to play online together, and he could no longer pretend to be stupid because Iwaizumi couldn’t become Santa Claus and conjure what he wanted. He was sure that Oikawa also knew this, but he just wanted to lie on the ground and sulk, completely ignoring that the person he really wanted to complain and act cute to was not in this room.

Iwaizumi turned a blind eye to Oikawa Tōru in this state. This trick had been very effective in the past, and Oikawa, who couldn’t find any fun, would often stop himself after a while. But this time it failed. Oikawa Tōru completely collapsed, sat up after a while, stared at the screen, and pressed his controller when Iwaizumi was about to defeat the boss and clear the game—

The useless princess suddenly danced wildly on the screen, attracting the boss’s aggro and affecting the warrior who was conscientiously tanking the damage. The warrior was the first to fall, and before Oikawa Tōru could throw away the controller, Iwaizumi’s face twisted as much as the useless princess’s weird dance in front of the boss.

“Do you want to die, Trash River?”

He almost squeezed these words out from between his teeth. Only then did Oikawa Tōru feel the threat, his body trembling non-stop, his eyes full of horror, but he still had to pretend to be strong, “I, I don’t want to.”

But his voice was also a little trembling. It was not his fault, only that Iwaizumi’s face at this time, even if eight million gods saw it, they would only regard him as a ghost and eliminate him.

“Is that so?”

The calm before the volcanic eruption.

Oikawa Tōru didn’t dare to breathe loudly, and finally began to regret in his heart: This is Koiwa! It’s the fierce Godzilla!

Iwaizumi glared at him gloomily, reached out and grabbed Oikawa Tōru’s collar, and gave him a headbutt. When this long-lost pain hit him, Oikawa Tōru actually felt a strange sense of security.

He couldn’t help but feel grief: I would actually feel safe because Koiwa beat me?

It’s just that Iwaizumi used a little more strength this time, and the collision knocked Oikawa Tōru’s nosebleed out, but he himself only had a slightly red forehead, and could even roar refreshed: “Stop acting up, damn Oikawa!”

“It hurts!”

Iwaizumi ignored his wailing, and pointed out the window with great courage: “There’s someone next door! If you want to play combination skills, go call them yourself!”

When the doorbell rang, Kokonoe Taka opened the door with wet hair, and saw Iwaizumi squeezing at the door with an unwilling Oikawa Tōru, still arguing in a low voice.

The porch light of the Kokonoe’s house fell on the two of them, not very bright. But it illuminated the tissue that Oikawa Tōru had stuffed into his nose to stop the nosebleed. Iwaizumi let go of his hand, helplessly allowing Oikawa Tōru to hide behind him, and looked at Kokonoe who opened the door.

“Why didn’t you dry your hair?”

Seeing that Oikawa Tōru refused to speak, and Kokonoe Taka was happily observing the two of them, he simply interrupted the brief silence.

Kokonoe Taka scratched the broken hair in front of his forehead and shrugged: “I just came out after taking a shower and heard someone knocking on the door.”

Iwaizumi decisively pushed him into the house: “Then go dry your hair first.”

Pushing Kokonoe Taka in front, and glaring at Oikawa who wanted to slip away behind: “Don’t run, come in.”

Oikawa Tōru really wanted to run, but thinking of the nosebleed he had just suffered from being beaten, he could only obediently and quietly sneak in.

After entering the Kokonoe’s house, everyone couldn’t help but lighten their footsteps: “Is your aunt not here?” Iwaizumi asked softly.

“Mom went to bed.” Kokonoe Taka wiped his hair while leading the two to his room, “Well, grandpa and grandma went back to Tokyo first, and my grandparents also went back to Hyōgo to deal with other things.”

He pushed the two people into the room, and went downstairs to the kitchen to get a handful of food, basically including the snacks that Oikawa and Iwaizumi loved to eat. When he entered the door, Oikawa Tōru twisted his head and stared at the blank wall, as if there was something that made him particularly interested; Iwaizumi took the things, and ordered him to dry his hair quickly.

“Why did you two suddenly come over?”

Iwaizumi only pretended that he couldn’t see the wink that Oikawa was desperately giving him: “This guy wants to play online games with three people.” He pointed to the brown head who looked like he was meditating, “He’s missing someone, he’s too embarrassed to come and call you.”

Kokonoe Taka understood instantly.

“Tomorrow is Saturday, don’t you two have to go to club activities?”

Iwaizumi curled his lips: “…Because the final exams are coming up, the club activities have been suspended. Otherwise, this guy wouldn’t have dragged me over to play games at night.”

Kokonoe Taka touched his chin and thought for a while, then glanced at Oikawa. The latter was calm in the face of danger, didn’t say a word, and vowed to play the dumb to the end.

He had deliberately left Oikawa Tōru alone for a period of time recently. One was because he was too busy, and the other was that he wanted to see how long this person could remain silent and taciturn in front of him.

The way he wanted to speak but held back was really interesting.

He agreed with a smile: “Then let’s go now.”

The group then stealthily returned to Oikawa’s house. Mrs. Oikawa and Mr. Oikawa went to another place to attend the birth banquet of a relative’s child, leaving Oikawa Tōru alone at home, giving them a pleasant environment to play games.

Oikawa Tōru walked in the front, and rushed into the room to occupy the place where Iwaizumi was originally staying and his controller, declaring that he wanted to play the warrior; Iwaizumi gritted his teeth and randomly grabbed a bag from the snacks that Kokonoe Taka was holding and smashed it on his head.

Oikawa Tōru was knocked forward, but he just wouldn’t let go. Iwaizumi couldn’t do anything to him. After sitting down, he hadn’t asked Kokonoe Taka what he wanted to play, and Oikawa said in a muffled voice from the side: “Oikawa-sama wants to play the strongest combination skill.”

Kokonoe Taka, “…” Pfft.

Iwaizumi, “…” Forehead full of vein tendons.

In order to prevent the two from fighting again, Kokonoe Taka signaled Iwaizumi to be calm: “What combination skill?”

Iwaizumi glanced at Oikawa unhappily, and sat down resignedly, “The combination skill of the warrior, princess, and trickster.”

“Then I’ll play the princess,” Kokonoe Taka wasn’t picky, and neatly distributed the remaining controller, “It seems quite interesting. Iwaizumi, can you play the trickster?”

“Okay.”

The two people next to them quickly finished allocating, and Oikawa Tōru squatted aside and began to feel sour in his heart again: That princess character is very difficult to play, the skills are strange, and there are many negative restrictions; and how could Koiwa play the most difficult trickster well, he’s more like playing a gorilla—

But the game progressed very smoothly.

Although there was a reason that Oikawa Tōru didn’t cause any trouble, his warrior seemed to be the superfluous third party in the team—on the screen, the warrior hadn’t even drawn his sword, and the princess and trickster behind him had already used a combination skill to blow up a large group of monsters.

Oikawa Tōru mournfully raised his head when the cheerful victory music of the game sounded, and stared at the two people next to him.

The two initiators were talking in harmony, full of what seemed to him fake praise.

“The release timing just now was very good, Iwaizumi.”

“No, I didn’t expect that this princess is actually quite strong, she wasn’t originally a vase character.”

Oikawa Tōru, “…” What do you mean, Koiwa are you saying that I played too badly!!! And the princess actually has a combination skill with the trickster?! Why didn’t he know!

Iwaizumi’s exclusive Oikawa’s trouble radar was beeping. He turned his head vigilantly to look at Oikawa, who was sitting on the other side of him, “Give me a break and play properly!” He poked him, and warned unkindly, “If you deliberately mess around again, I’ll sink you into Sendai Port today.”

Oikawa Tōru: “Woo…”

Damn it! Wouldn’t that make me look like an idiot!

But he didn’t dare to provoke Iwaizumi anymore, so he sulked and poked the controller.

The game continued to advance, and soon the three-person team encountered the demon king boss in the plot. Oikawa Tōru stared at the screen, and muttered in his heart that the boss was not designed to be handsome at all, and even left the warrior alone in front of him, and sent the other two teammates to the outside slyly.

Looking at the lonely and miserable warrior on the screen, Oikawa shed tears of empathy in his heart.

The warrior seemed so weak in front of the demon king, and Oikawa Tōru gradually became immersed in the plot. But no matter how he operated, he couldn’t let the warrior escape from the demon king’s clutches. When the warrior’s health bar was only a little left, the demon king unexpectedly stopped, and then a dialogue appeared.

“Hmph, poor warrior, even your companions have abandoned you and left here”

“A warrior without companions is really vulnerable! This feeling of being abandoned is not good, right?”

Oikawa Tōru nodded subconsciously, and the warrior on the screen also fell into silence, typing a string of “…”

The demon king continued, “Actually, we don’t need to be enemies. Warrior, before I became the demon king, someone called me that too…”

The demon king’s villain expression sank, “But when I was abandoned by my companions, I abandoned this title—after not having hypocritical companions, I gained unparalleled power, and no one in this world can defeat me!”

The demon king walked over to the warrior who was kneeling on the ground covered in wounds, “I sympathize with you, I understand you, so I give you the opportunity to choose”

The warrior raised his head and asked, “…What opportunity?”

“The opportunity to become the strongest person in this world”

The demon king showed an enchanting smile, “You only need to drop the weapon in your hand forged by the order of the princess and sent by the trickster, and you can transform from a weak self into the strongest great king in this world—”

Oikawa Tōru was dumbfounded by the sudden unfolding of the plot. He didn’t even notice that the conversation between Kokonoe and Iwaizumi hadn’t come for a while.

An option popped up in front of him.

“Agree, drop the long sword”

“Disagree, declare that you will never give up your companions, the demon king will enter a berserk state”

Oikawa Tōru’s cursor had already clicked on the first option. He looked at the embarrassed warrior arching his body on the screen, and suddenly felt aggrieved in his heart—he remembered Kokonoe Taka’s avoidance and Iwaizumi’s biased attitude towards the other party during this period, and unconsciously pursed his lips.

Damn it! he thought viciously, playing games is so harmonious, and no one comes to coax Oikawa-sama, the two of them are playing so happily—then it is also very reasonable for him to choose the first one! Anyway, it’s a game! And the first one gets more than the second one no matter how you look at it!

Koiwa who likes to see jokes and mean A Taka! It was clearly Oikawa-sama who suggested playing the game, but the game for three people seems to have no place for him everywhere! Why treat Oikawa-sama as air!

So it’s also easy to understand that Oikawa-sama chose “Agree”!

He pressed the cursor fiercely—

He chose the “Disagree” option.

The warrior on the screen raised his head, revealing a firm look, “They are my companions,” he said, “I will never give up my companions!”

The demon king became angry, “Why! They have already left here and returned to the princess’s country hand in hand! You are the one who was abandoned, what is there to insist on?!”

The brave man said stubbornly, “No matter what, I will never give them up”

The demon king laughed strangely, “Okay! Stupid warrior! Then, like all the abandoned people, sleep here forever!”

…Sure enough, it went berserk.

Oikawa Tōru looked weakly at the screen that turned blood red in an instant, with prompt entries flashing, but he had no intention of seeing clearly: Anyway, it was a prompt that the warrior was killed, right?

…I really don’t know why I chose to disagree in the end.

Someone called him: “Hey, what are you dazing for.”

Oikawa Tōru said weakly: “My character is about to die…”

Kokonoe Taka said with a smile: “You will really die if you don’t operate.”

Iwaizumi slapped him: “Stop spacing out, press Confirm quickly.”

Oikawa Tōru pressed Confirm confusedly—but found that the blood red on the screen faded rapidly, revealing the demon king whose chest was pierced by the princess’s staff.

“H-how could this be–” The demon king shouted unwillingly, “I clearly locked you all up!”

The screen flashed a white light, and the princess and the trickster in gorgeous clothes came out of the white light, their expressions sonorous and their voices powerful, “Because we never gave up on him, and he never gave up on us”

Outside the screen, Kokonoe Taka’s lazy voice rang out one step later: “Surprise? Oikawa warrior?”

Iwaizumi complained: “Looking at his expression, he hasn’t reacted yet.”

Kokonoe Taka looked at it for a moment: “Really.”

Only then did Oikawa Tōru stutter, and even his brain was a little overloaded: “Th-this…why?”

Kokonoe Taka spread his hands: “Haven’t you researched this three-person combination skill? This requires triggering conditions.”

Iwaizumi pressed the controller, the trickster flashed a few times, and instantly rescued the brave man. He then replied, “In the process of clearing the game, you have to use the combination skill of the trickster and the princess ten times, and you can’t use the combination skill of the warrior and these two characters. After meeting the conditions, you can play this hidden plot and unlock the three-person combination skill.”

He paused, and mocked: “You said you wanted to play the three-person combination skill, but you didn’t even understand the triggering conditions, Trash River?”

Oikawa Tōru, “…”

He gritted his teeth.

Kokonoe Taka stretched out his arm, and flicked Oikawa’s forehead through Iwaizumi, “Stop spacing out, we’ll accompany you no matter how many times you want to play the three-person combination skill, okay?”

Oikawa Tōru covered his head and glared at Kokonoe Taka: “I’m still angry—”

Before he could finish speaking, Iwaizumi urged: “Are you still playing? If you’re not playing, I’ll continue to push the plot.”

Oikawa Tōru immediately picked up the controller again.

“You said that!” he shouted, “No matter how many times you play, you have to accompany me!”

He recovered his usual high spirits and shouted, “Let’s play a hundred times first!”

The two complained: “…A hundred times is a bit too much.”

…Although in the end, the two still accompanied Oikawa Tōru to play the three-person combination skill a full hundred times!