JSWGAS Chapter 59

Chapter 59

From October onwards, Tokyo was hit by several days of heavy rain. Dark clouds pressed down on the narrow sky between buildings from morning till night, and the sun occasionally struggled to leak out a strange ray of light.

Kokonoe Taka came out of the gymnasium at half past seven. The sky was dark, the wind howled through the trembling treetops, and fallen leaves were swept into the air, soon forced to follow the cold wind around the teaching building and disappear into the horizon.

A faint smell of earthiness permeated the air, and the faint moisture brought an irritating stuffiness. Kokonoe Taka locked the door before hurrying towards the gate. If it weren’t for forgetting to bring an umbrella when he went out today and having made an appointment, he would definitely have stayed until eight or nine o’clock as usual.

Fortunately, although dark clouds loomed, the heavy rain had not yet parked above his head. The distance from Teiko Middle School to the Kokonoe family’s house was not too far. Although there was a complicated section of road in the middle, Kokonoe was already familiar with it.

However, Kokonoe Taka stopped when he reached the door of his house.

Below the nameplate that read ‘Kokonoe’ crouched an unfamiliar boy.

Kokonoe Taka could only see the other party’s fluffy head and an unfamiliar school uniform. – Not entirely unfamiliar, he seemed to have seen similar styles during practice matches.

Kokonoe Taka squatted down. After squatting down, he realized that the boy in front of him was more slender than he had imagined. The way he tried to curl himself up resembled a cat without a sense of security.

Thinking of this, his movements became gentler: “Hey?” He gently touched the other person’s shoulder, “Are you okay?”

It wasn’t until he nudged him three or five times that the boy raised his head with a low air pressure. His brownish-yellow eyes glared at Kokonoe who was disturbing him, and his eyes were also very much like a cat’s.

This bit of hostility was neither painful nor itchy to Kokonoe Taka, and it even amused him enough to raise half an eyebrow.

“Don’t bother me…” the boy said in a low voice. Even during adolescence, his voice shouldn’t be as hoarse as it was now. The boy himself seemed to be startled by his strange voice, and his pupils shrank almost subconsciously.

He tilted his head slightly, glancing at Kokonoe’s movements out of the corner of his eye, avoiding his gaze. Please, stay away from me. He silently conveyed the unwelcome signal, but the person in front of him didn’t notice it at all and looked even more earnestly.

“You…”

The boy was forced to look over at his voice, reluctantly focusing his dissolving attention on Kokonoe.

Kokonoe Taka paused, and his originally vague guess became clear.

“–You have a fever.”

Whether it was from his slightly red cheeks and heavy breathing, or from shrinking himself up, leaving only his wrists and ankles pitifully exposed to the cold wind. Kokonoe Taka reached out and forcefully touched the boy’s forehead, and the latter immediately wanted to shrink back – “Don’t move.” He frowned, and pressed his other hand on the boy’s shoulder.

This action could be called offensive in the eyes of someone who valued etiquette, and his strength was great. The boy only struggled slightly a few times, and when he realized that the other person was unyielding, he weakly unloaded his strength and half-closed his eyes in self-abandonment. After only a blur of light and chaotic figures remained in his vision, the unfamiliar body temperature became more obvious. The rough palm pressed tightly against his forehead, and the boy couldn’t help but tremble, making the gaps between skin and skin even smaller.

So cold… no, so hot… no, not right…

His head was a mess, his limbs were sore, and his body felt icy. Where am I now? Is that Kuroo?

He tried hard to open his eyes, but all he saw was a dazzling array of light spots. In reality, his eyelids only trembled slightly. The hand placed on his forehead had not yet been withdrawn. Kuroo’s hands were not like this. – These hands were rougher, without the smoothness that skin should have.

So uncomfortable.

He closed his eyes.

…

…………

Kokonoe Taka was struggling to kick the door with his foot.

When his grandmother hurriedly ran out to open the door, she was immediately startled by her grandson at the door – “Where did you pick up a child?” She looked curiously at her grandson’s awkward posture.

Kokonoe Taka helplessly dragged out his voice: “It’s not…”

He didn’t dare to make any slightly larger movements, for fear of accidentally throwing off the person who was clinging to him like a koala bear: “This child was squatting at our door. I found out he had a fever, and the weather is so bad, it would be bad if something happened — so I brought him back…”

“Eh?” Kokonoe Yū hurriedly lent a hand, supporting the boy whose half of his arm was limp and drooping, and then reached out to touch his forehead, “Really, he has a fever. …Taka, put him in your room first?”

She took the two backpacks that Kokonoe Taka was carrying with one hand, so that he could free up his hands to pick up the boy, and then ran towards the living room: “Nao, where’s our medicine box?”

“On top of the cabinet in the kitchen — what’s wrong?”

“Taka found a child with a fever at the door…”

After freeing up his hands, Kokonoe Taka was finally able to carefully transfer the boy from his body to his arms. He protected the other person’s shoulder blades with his left hand, and supported the bend of his legs with his right hand — so light.

He belatedly exclaimed as he picked up the sick person horizontally.

He subconsciously bounced him twice, and the sick person immediately grunted uncomfortably, scaring him into honestly hurrying upstairs.

Kokonoe Taka finally breathed a sigh of relief when he bent over and placed the boy on the bed. He carefully covered him with the quilt, and then tested the temperature of his cheeks.

Kokonoe Yū pushed the door in at this time. She was holding a thermometer: “Let’s take his temperature first?” She handed over the item, “I don’t seem to have seen this child in the neighborhood, is he lost?”

Kokonoe Taka recalled the complicated road near his house, and considering the person’s condition, he probably went astray because he was delirious from the fever, and finally accidentally stopped at his door and was discovered by him.

“38.1 degrees.” He said, decisively deciding, “Let’s send him to the hospital?”

Almost as soon as the word ‘hospital’ was uttered, his hem was grabbed. Kokonoe Taka and his grandmother looked over together. The sick person had stretched out his hand at some point, grabbed the hem of Kokonoe Taka’s clothes, squinted his eyes, and protested reluctantly: “Don’t go to the hospital…”

Kokonoe Taka sat by the bed, trying to reason with him: “This temperature is considered high, what if it gets worse and burns out your brain?”

But the sick person just wouldn’t cooperate. He muttered “Don’t want…” in a low voice, and looked past Kokonoe Taka to his grandmother behind him. His eyes softened, and a nasal sound came out. This uninvited guest keenly discovered who held the decision-making power.

“I’ve had this happen before…” he muttered in a low voice, “It’ll be fine after taking medicine and sleeping… Kuroo, don’t go to the hospital.”

“Kuroo?”

Kokonoe Taka was stunned: Was he still not awake? He and his grandmother looked at each other, and both saw the difficulty in each other’s eyes. In the end, Kokonoe Yū proposed a compromise: “Let’s try to bring down the fever first, and let him take the antipyretic. If the situation doesn’t improve, then we’ll send him to the hospital.”

The sick person immediately nodded his head like a chick pecking at rice.

After solving one thing, he had to worry about how to contact the sick person’s family. Kokonoe Taka carried a bowl of rice porridge, and also brought the boy’s backpack up with him. The room was dim, the bed was bulging like a small mountain, and there was another slightly heavy breathing. He walked over, turned on the night light, and adjusted the position of the ice pack placed on the boy’s forehead.

When he moved his hand away, a pair of brownish-yellow eyes that had opened at some point were revealed. Kokonoe Taka paused, “Awake?”

“Yeah.”

The latter seemed to have finally woken up, blinked his eyes, and observed his surroundings, thinking his movements were very small. Kokonoe Taka helped him up, let him lean against the soft pillow, “Fill your stomach a little?” He handed over the rice porridge, although it was a sentence of negotiation, his tone was strong.

“What’s your name?” He rested his chin on his hand, watching the boy who was drinking the porridge in small sips.

“Kozume…” the black-haired boy avoided his gaze, “Kozume Kenma.”

“I’m Kokonoe.” He continued to ask, “Do you remember your family’s contact information?”

By the time the Kozume couple hurriedly arrived, Kozume Kenma’s fever had already gone down, and he was hugging a bolster and shrinking next to Kokonoe Taka, watching him play video games. As soon as they arrived, Kozume Kenma straightened his back as if startled, and Kokonoe Taka looked over with his movements.

“Hello, uncle and aunt.” Kokonoe Taka quickly stood up, “Kozume-kun’s fever has already gone down, but as a precaution,” he continued to say, disregarding the look of disgust on the boy’s face behind him, “you can take him to the hospital for another check-up.”

“Sorry for disturbing you so late…” the Kozume couple repeatedly thanked him, “We’ve really troubled you. This child didn’t come home so late, and we’ve been looking for him for a long time.”

Kozume Kenma slowly moved next to his parents, lowered his eyes, and listened to the conversation coming from his ears.

The place they lived was not actually that close to the Kokonoe family’s house. They didn’t know how Kozume Kenma had turned onto a road that was completely opposite to his home, and finally sat dazedly in front of the Kokonoe’s house.

The two families exchanged a few more pleasantries. The Kozume couple were too embarrassed to continue disturbing them so late, so they offered to leave. Before leaving, Mrs. Kozume pushed her son, signaling him to say goodbye. Kozume Kenma lowered his head listlessly, “Thank you…” he said in a low voice, “And, goodbye.”

A warm hand touched his head.

“Goodbye, Kozume-kun.” Kokonoe Taka patted his head like he was stroking a small animal, “Don’t just fall down in front of other people’s houses next time, okay? It would be bad if it was a bad person, right?”

“…Yeah.”

Kozume Kenma shook his head uncomfortably, trying to shake that hand off, but to no avail. Kokonoe Taka didn’t notice his small movements, and patted him again before withdrawing his hand, and looked down at Kozume, who was a head shorter than him, “Remember other people’s names too — I’m not that Kuroo.”

On the way home, Mrs. Kozume asked her son softly with concern. As she spoke, she couldn’t help but laugh: “Kenma, did you recognize that Kokonoe-kun as Tetsurō?”

Kozume Kenma avoided her gaze: “…Because they both have black hair.”

“But their hairstyles aren’t the same, right?” Mr. Kozume noticed the blind spot, “That Kuroo kid’s hair is so messy, it’s completely different from Kokonoe’s.”

“What does it matter…” Kozume Kenma said.

Mrs. Kozume said unhurriedly: “But, Kenma also has black hair, but Kenma is Kenma. You wouldn’t be happy if someone mistook you for someone else, would you?”

Kozume Kenma: “…”

He turned his head unhappily.

…

…………

At the Kokonoe family’s house, after seeing off the guests, Kokonoe Yū held her face: “Ah, Kozume-kun is really cute, he feels like a fluffy little animal…” She glanced at her grandson deliberately, “He looks even more like one when he stands with Taka.” To be specific, it should be like a tall falcon and a kitten that is still in its infancy, which can be picked up by the falcon with one paw.

Kokonoe Taka helplessly twitched the corners of his mouth. He gestured at his height, “It’s probably because Kozume-kun is shorter than me.” “Speaking of height,” Kokonoe Nao shook his newspaper, revealing a pair of eyes, “Taka, have you grown taller again?”

“Have I?”

Kokonoe Yū took a few steps back, “It seems like it… Taka, your pants are short again.”

Kokonoe Taka looked down, raised his foot and shook it. The trouser legs pitifully crept above his ankles, “I just noticed.” He straightened his legs and shrugged.

“He’s almost taller than the old man.” His grandmother laughed. His grandfather glared at the two of them unhappily, threw down the newspaper and stood up, “This kid is far from it.” He grumbled, looking quite smugly at his grandson who was half a head shorter than him.

As he walked back to his room, it started to rain outside the window.

The rain curtain came from far to near, splashing up water droplets when it fell on the window sill. Some hit the glass window, drawing a winding, ugly trace of water, distorting the gray eyes behind the window looking into the distance. He quickly walked away from the window, drew the curtains, and sat in front of the lit screen.

He put on his headphones and heard voices from thousands of miles away. Oikawa Tōru was listlessly complaining about being bored, and Iwaizumi Hajime occasionally chimed in, his tone as numb as if he was a robot responding. The game character on the screen began to perform standby actions because no one was controlling it. Next to the black-clothed trickster, the girl character wearing a princess dress was bumping left and right, and finally simply started dancing next to the trickster.

“I said, why hasn’t Taka come back yet?” He seemed to have taken off his headphones, and his voice was a little blurry, “And he just muted my mic!”

During the time he was waiting for the Kozume couple to come over, Kokonoe Taka simply turned on the game console to pass the time, ‘just happened’ to run into Oikawa Tōru, who had also logged into the game, and the two of them teamed up. Kozume Kenma was originally just watching from the side, but later, when they were battered and bruised and died in front of the boss again, he couldn’t help but offer advice.

Kokonoe Taka simply gave up his seat to let Kozume show off his skills. It’s just that Oikawa Tōru didn’t stop talking even when he was playing the game, babbling non-stop, which made his head hurt. Kokonoe Taka used to just take off his headphones and let him talk to the air — but Kozume Kenma still wanted to hear the sound effects in the game, so he simply muted Oikawa Tōru’s mic.

He couldn’t put this blame on himself.

Kokonoe Taka’s game character moved, and a lazy voice came, “I didn’t mute it. I wasn’t the one playing just now either.”

“You’re back? — Then who was it just now?”

“Guest.” Kokonoe Taka’s answer was concise.

“…How suspicious.”

Kokonoe Taka asked back: “Who did you think it was?”

“Trash River thinks you secretly got a girlfriend.” Iwaizumi Hajime exposed Oikawa Tōru’s stuttering, “His head has been filled with these things recently —”

“I didn’t!” Oikawa Tōru argued on the basis of reason, and fought back, “I didn’t say that! Iwa-chan said it! Iwa-chan is the one who’s not right!”

Kokonoe Taka listened to the argument for a while. Although he couldn’t see the expressions of these two, he could imagine what the two of them looked like at this time from the tone and pitch of their voices, as well as the various chaotic fighting sounds that came over.

He suddenly spoke: “Tōru, you haven’t forgotten what we agreed on before, right?”

“…”

There was a brief silence on the other side.

“I haven’t forgotten.” Oikawa Tōru said slowly, “—See you at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium, right?”

But his tone was no longer as firm as it was at the beginning. Miyagi Prefecture had been the prefectural representative to the All-Japan Junior High School Tournament for two consecutive years, with Shiratorizawa Academy’s elementary school advancing. Kitagawa Daiichi, where Oikawa Tōru and Iwaizumi Hajime were, had been suppressed.

Whether it was Oikawa Tōru or Iwaizumi Hajime, they didn’t mention related matters much when they contacted him, not exposing a trace of weakness, claiming that everything was fine. This didn’t mean that Kokonoe Taka wouldn’t actively pay attention to them — including this point, it was relative.

Oikawa Tōru was silent for a long time. The princess character on the screen stopped dancing, standing silently next to the trickster, her expression returning to dignity.

Kokonoe Taka waited patiently.

“Ushijima…” Oikawa Tōru said in a low voice, “He’s so strong.”

Oikawa Tōru stared at the screen. Behind him, Iwaizumi Hajime silently flipped through a book, loyally becoming a mute. The boy who always wore a frivolous smile no longer smiled. He turned his head to look out the window — a lush mimosa tree blocked most of the view in front of the window. It was the overgrown branches of the house next door. Because no one took care of it, it probed into the Oikawa’s yard.

Come to think of it, it had been almost a year since he had last seen his friends in Tokyo.

He squeezed out a smile, just wanting to muddle through, when he heard his friend’s low voice. Kokonoe Taka’s voice had never changed much, slightly hoarse, like the sound of rough sand hitting the waves.

He said: “Are you going to give up?”

No.

Oikawa Tōru almost immediately answered this question in his heart. But then he realized that he had actually been shamefully moved for a moment. This was more unbearable to him than anything else.

Kokonoe Taka was as if he had heard his inner voice. This person was always so sharp sometimes —

“I’ve been waiting for you here for a year.” The other person was unmoved. He was right. Oikawa Tōru lowered his head and glanced at the side of the game controller. There was a pile of volleyball magazines thrown there — but the one pressed underneath was a “Monthly Basketball” magazine.

“We agreed to meet here, right? Although strictly speaking, one of us is basketball and one is volleyball, it’s not related…” Kokonoe Taka changed his posture, tilting his head to look at the bookshelf.

He was not in a hurry, remembering many years ago, he had once stood up Oikawa, and was scolded by his mother — from that time on, he remembered that sentence: “–You must do well what you promised others.”

“…Annoying.” Oikawa Tōru choked in a low voice.

In the end, he couldn’t help it: “How does it feel to win the championship?”

Kokonoe Taka laughed softly: “It’s very good. If you’re too envious, it’s not impossible for me to let you touch my trophy.”

“I don’t want to.”

Other than that, there was no need to say anything more. The two played two more games online and then said goodbye. After Oikawa Tōru turned off the game console, he turned his head to look at Iwaizumi, who hadn’t said much all along — “Iwa-chan, whose idea was this?”

Iwaizumi Hajime turned another page of his book unpretentiously: “What are you talking about?”

Oikawa Tōru stared at him with penetrating gaze for a long time before shrugging his shoulders in a gesture of giving up, and turning his head away: “Hmph, if you don’t want to say it, then don’t say it. I’m not interested in knowing the secrets of two idiots.”

Iwaizumi Hajime: “…I think you’re just looking for a beating.”

…

…………

[From: Iwaizumi]

[We lost to Shiratorizawa again in the preliminary round]

[Trash River’s mentality hasn’t been very good lately, he doesn’t have much energy]

“…”

The phone screen slowly went out, hiding the rest of the conversation in a darkness.

Kokonoe Taka slowly leaned back in his chair, relaxed his body, and smiled lightly.

They’re all idiots.