JSWGAS Chapter 5

Oikawa Tōru imperceptibly breathed a sigh of relief when the volleyball club coach called him away at noon – a fact Iwaizumi Hajime noticed. He went alone to the next classroom, picked up his lunchbox, called out Kokonoe Taka, and the two of them went to the rooftop together.

The autumn wind excitedly rushed back and forth on the empty rooftop, and several leaves were swept into the air, drifting over their heads like drifting with the current. From late spring to midsummer, Kokonoe Taka had been rushing headlong down a road with an unclear direction. It was not until early autumn that he was able to exhale this breath, allowing him to enjoy the afternoon with his friend after a long absence.

Iwaizumi Hajime found a place, and the two of them sat down together. After opening the lunchbox, Iwaizumi Hajime’s lunch was neatly arranged, with vegetables and rice neatly occupying one side, and the other half filled with meat that was both delicious and visually appealing.

Full and rich, and paying attention to nutrition, this is a common feature of lunchboxes for teenagers participating in sports clubs. Iwaizumi Hajime put his hands together and whispered, “I’m going to eat.”

Half a beat slower than his voice was Kokonoe Taka’s lazy sentence next to him, “I’m going to eat—”

He sometimes liked to drag out his voice on weekdays, which was different from Oikawa Tōru’s occasional deliberate coquetry, and sounded listless.

“You and Oikawa had a fight.”

Iwaizumi Hajime stated the conclusion he had observed.

Kokonoe Taka raised his head with a shrimp dumpling in his mouth, and said vaguely: “I guess so.”

“‘I guess so’?”

Iwaizumi Hajime was surprised to hear the statement that even the person involved was not sure about, and asked: “Don’t you even know the reason?”

“I don’t know, I’m not Tōru’s roundworm in his stomach, how can I know what he’s thinking?” Kokonoe Taka replied, “That guy can get angry over such boring things as who received more love letters.”

What he said made sense. Iwaizumi Hajime was speechless.

Because Oikawa Tōru could really do such a thing.

When the three of them were in kindergarten, Kokonoe Taka was the most popular child. That face gave him enough preferential treatment, and even the children in the next class clamored to marry him when they grew up.

Kokonoe Taka did not agree to anyone’s courtship. He openly placed his ‘marriage’ on the table, claiming that a box of fruit hard candy could buy him the qualification of ‘wife’, and two boxes of chocolate could turn him into a ‘wife’ and marry the other party.

If you don’t have that much property, it doesn’t matter, you can exchange five candies for his fingerprint on the ‘marriage contract’.

In the week that followed, Kokonoe Taka became the ‘wife’ or ‘husband’ of several people, and every day after school, he had to put the overflowing candy into the schoolbags of Iwaizumi Hajime or Oikawa Tōru.

After a few days, Oikawa Tōru finally couldn’t stand this insult and angrily challenged Kokonoe: he didn’t look bad either, he had a cute and slightly baby-fat face that was very popular with women, and he was a popular marriage partner in kindergarten.

And compared to Kokonoe Taka’s high prices, his asking price was much lower—

So Iwaizumi Hajime had to help the two of them carry the candies that couldn’t fit.

This deformed competition was terminated when the two mothers discovered that their sons had tooth decay. Kokonoe-fujin found Kokonoe Taka’s amazing granary and severely reprimanded him. The same scene was also being staged in the Oikawa family next door. The difference was that Oikawa Tōru pushed all the blame on Kokonoe Taka and started a cold war with the instigator for as long as half a month after being exposed by his mother.

Oikawa Tōru refused to admit this after entering elementary school.

But if he didn’t bring up old scores, he would get angry with Kokonoe Taka for various inexplicable reasons every time.

Kokonoe Taka believed that this form of venting emotions was more like he was acting spoiled. After pointing this out, the furious Oikawa Tōru started a new round of cold war reincarnation with him.

Iwaizumi Hajime twitched the corner of his mouth, “That guy…”

He sighed and said resignedly: “What happened? It was fine before I left yesterday, right?”

A few floors down from the rooftop, Oikawa Tōru, who was standing in the office listening to the coach about wanting him to play as the official setter in the next game, was absent-minded and also recalling what happened yesterday.

……

…………

Although the three of them specialized in different sports, the basic warm-up routine was still the same. Iwaizumi Hajime went home early because he had something to do at home, leaving only Oikawa Tōru and Kokonoe Taka running side by side on the track.

Oikawa Tōru had already started to pant a little, but the person in front of him still maintained a terrifying and steady breathing rate. What lap is this now? The fifth lap, right? Is this guy an alien?

He glared angrily at the figure in front of him — by the seventh lap, he had gone from running side by side with Kokonoe to falling behind.

“Tōru, are you okay?”

Kokonoe Taka tilted his head slightly and asked, slowing down his pace. Oikawa Tōru gritted his teeth and strode forward, closely following behind him.

“Nonsense! How could the great Oikawa be unable to do it!”

“Although you say that, your face looks terrible.”

“Damn it!”

Can’t good words really be said from this mouth?!

Oikawa Tōru, who seemed more like he was getting angry out of embarrassment, couldn’t help but feel angry at Kokonoe Taka’s innocent eyes. What’s more, the way this person looked at him was like saying – “It’s okay to give up, this has exceeded the number of laps you usually run for warm-up, right?”

The slightly clear and puzzled voice voiced Oikawa Tōru’s mental dubbing for him. Although he guessed what the other party was going to say, it made him even more angry.

“Why do you talk! So unpleasant?!”

Oikawa Tōru shouted.

Unfortunately, he had not yet developed the thick skin to be able to unflinchingly retort, and at this time he could only work his legs hard, wanting to leave Kokonoe Taka behind.

But Kokonoe Taka obviously hadn’t reached his limit yet, and chased after him leisurely. Oikawa Tōru turned his head in grief, “Are you doing this on purpose?!”

“Huh? What are you talking about? I don’t know what you mean.”

—Kokonoe Taka, one of Oikawa Tōru’s childhood friends whom he extremely unwilling to admit, and only Oikawa Tōru had discovered the extremely hateful bad taste hidden beneath the skin, who was very bad-hearted.

Oikawa Tōru was completely exhausted by the tenth lap. Unlike his panting appearance, Kokonoe Taka, who was following behind him, only had slightly disordered breathing.

He shouted: “Are you a gorilla?! Aren’t you tired after so many laps?!”

“I am.” Kokonoe Taka admitted very readily this time, and he easily overtook him, blocking him in front, “Stop, Tōru, don’t push yourself.”

Oikawa Tōru muttered and slowed down following his force.

He glanced sideways at Kokonoe Taka walking next to him: “Don’t you have to practice?”

“It doesn’t matter.” Kokonoe Taka replied, “There aren’t any opponents to be wary of in this competition.”

“Ah ah, you idiot Hawk who underestimates others, be careful of being swallowed by a beast!”

“If there could be such a person, that would be best.”

Oikawa Tōru keenly noticed the dejection in the other party’s tone — dejection? He couldn’t help but wonder if he had misjudged, would this guy also be dejected?!

However, thinking of his previous thoughts about him, Oikawa Tōru couldn’t help but ask: “Ha, do you think no one can beat you, so you say such things?”

Kokonoe Taka was silent for a moment: “Because there aren’t any decent opponents… it’s very boring.” He opened his palm, staring thoughtfully at the thin layer of calluses on the inside of his thumb and the lower side of his palm, and then clenched his fist fiercely.

Oikawa Tōru frowned: “No matter what, there will still be people who are better than you. It’s just that you haven’t met them yet, how dare you say such big words?” He mocked, “Don’t tell me you’re going to say such a funny thing as ‘no one can beat me’ now? People who say this kind of thing in Weekly Shonen Jump are usually villains!”

Kokonoe Taka listened quietly and sighed: “I don’t mean to become arrogant because of this or think that I am invincible… Speaking of which, isn’t it Tōru who has had this kind of thought?” He retorted, “Wasn’t it you who almost drowned when you went swimming before because you were too proud and ran to the deep water area?”

“Don’t talk about completely irrelevant topics?!” Oikawa Tōru glared at him, “Forget it! Forget it!”

“I forgot, I already forgot.”

“…” Oikawa Tōru snorted, “So, what do you want to say?”

Kokonoe Taka frowned, and after making this expression, his face became fierce, “I remember you said I was a ‘liar’ before?”

“How long ago was that, why are you bringing this up suddenly… You wouldn’t hold a grudge until now, would you?”

“No. What kind of grudge is this? —So why did Tōru say such a thing back then?”

“Let me think…”

Oikawa Tōru fell into contemplation. He remembered that when he said this, Kokonoe Taka broke his promise because of tennis training. That day, he seemed to have run to the other party’s room late at night and roared angrily: “Taka is a liar! Obviously he doesn’t like…”

“—Obviously he doesn’t like tennis.”

The voices of himself in his memory and himself now overlapped, and he said exactly the same words. Oikawa Tōru raised his head and spread his hands: “That’s it, ‘obviously he doesn’t like tennis’, but he still works so hard and diligently, and broke his promise with me because of it. It’s only natural that I don’t understand, right?”

“…Don’t like?”

“Don’t tell me you didn’t notice!” Oikawa Tōru crossed his arms and raised his chin, “Who can act like they’re obeying orders when doing what they like? And doesn’t your current thinking prove this point?”

“‘It’s very boring because there are no decent opponents’ – how could you have this kind of thinking if you really liked it.”

He said harshly: “Orders, tasks, habits… even the reasons for taking action are these, can you say that you like tennis?”

“…”

“But other than the great Oikawa, no one has discovered that Hawk is such a bastard who even deceives himself!” Oikawa Tōru became angry as he spoke, “Obviously he’s a bastard in his bones! Why are there still so many people who like him!”

He complained indignantly: “He even had twenty-three more votes than me in the school hunk election!”

“…Tōru, are you an idiot?”

“Ah ah ah, I don’t want to be told that by you!”

……

…………

Iwaizumi Hajime was complicated after hearing the story: “Just because of this?”

Kokonoe Taka: “Yes.”

Iwaizumi Hajime: “You two guys…” He gritted his teeth, “Are you both idiots?!”