JSWGAS Chapter 74

74.

“There are some pretty interesting guys among this year’s freshmen.”

“Oh, you mean Oikawa who came up from Kitagawa Daiichi? He won the Best Setter award last year, I thought he would go to Shiratorizawa.”

“You know about the bad blood between Kitagawa Daiichi and Shiratorizawa, just like us and Shiratorizawa’s high school division—there’s also a spiker who got a scholarship with him, pretty threatening, and gets along with Oikawa very well.”

“There are also some experienced ones…uh.”

The upperclassman holding the membership application suddenly stalled. The classmate opposite him raised his head in confusion and glanced at him, “Arao, what’s wrong?”

“…There’s a freshman with excellent physical qualities, whose sports experience is in tennis and basketball… His volleyball experience is zero.” He rubbed his eyes, looking incredulous.

It wasn’t uncommon for freshmen with zero experience to join the club—especially since the volleyball club was a popular club at Aobajohsai. However, almost all of these people couldn’t last a few days and would withdraw from the club because they couldn’t handle the training.

If that was the case, it would be fine. Arao Masato, the third-year captain of the Aobajohsai volleyball club, groaned weakly, “Saijo, what was the name of that player who won the national basketball tournament last year, the one who achieved a three-peat?”

Saijo said inexplicably, “Last year? Basketball? — Uh, Kujo or Kokonoe? I only remember that guy didn’t accept interviews, but the photo was still hanging on the magazine cover, and it wasn’t taken down for several days. My sister even used my pocket money to buy magazines that she usually doesn’t even flip through, just to collect those magazine covers–”

Arao Masato turned the application form over and held it in front of Saijo, “Is this the face?”

Saijo: “Huh? It seems like it’s him–”

He quickly understood why Arao had such an indescribable expression. The two looked at each other silently for a moment, and couldn’t help but question.

“Did this guy really not fill out the wrong club application?!”

–

Not long after submitting the application form, an upperclassman found the classroom door after class and notified Kokonoe Taka to gather at the third gymnasium after class.

Kokonoe Taka nodded, looked at the upperclassman’s somewhat strange expression, and suddenly asked, “Is there anything else you want to say, senpai?”

Saijo: “…Is it that obvious?”

He himself obviously realized that he had asked a stupid question, cleared his throat twice, “Um… I saw that you filled in Teiko Middle School in Tokyo for your middle school…? Isn’t that school a famous basketball powerhouse, the school that won three consecutive championships last year?”

He struggled for a long time, but still couldn’t help but ask curiously, “Why didn’t you go to the basketball club, but instead came to play volleyball that you’ve never been exposed to before? Did you fill in the wrong club application?”

Although it wasn’t uncommon for people to join a new club starting from high school, the number was extremely small, and most of them were because they were unsuccessful in the previous club and wanted to try a new direction.

–The person in front of him won three consecutive championships, how could it possibly be this kind of situation.

Saijo speculated wildly in his heart, “Ah, you don’t have to answer if it’s inconvenient… I’m just curious.”

The tall teenager in front of him was silent for a moment, “It’s not a question that can’t be answered.” He said, “It’s just that I want to play volleyball more now.”

Before he could finish speaking, Saijo keenly sensed that the next part was the main point—sure enough, he heard Kokonoe Taka’s voice was clearly slightly hoarse and deep, but it was sonorous and powerful, almost drowning out the noise coming from all around after class.

“Also, I want to know why people find volleyball interesting.”

Private high schools generally have sufficient funding. Aobajohsai, as one of the leading high schools in Miyagi Prefecture, naturally wouldn’t lag behind. There were three gymnasiums alone. Fortunately, they were conspicuous, so it wasn’t so easy to find the wrong one.

When they arrived at the gymnasium, a row of freshmen was already standing at the door, about six or seven people. After the four of them stood at the end of the line, the upperclassman standing at the front introduced himself, “I’m Furuie Kazuya, a second-year. My position in the team is libero. I look forward to working with you.”

Oikawa Tōru and Hanamaki Takahiro standing behind Kokonoe Taka sighed in frustration at the same time: these two were too boring, they were just whispering about which position this upperclassman played, and the loser had to be responsible for the winner’s breakfast. Hanamaki Takahiro gestured at the other party’s physique and concluded that the upperclassman played the middle blocker position; while Oikawa was relatively cautious and cast a vote for the defensive specialist/setter.

As a result, Furuie Kazuya was neither a middle blocker nor a defensive specialist/setter, but a libero, which had the lowest height requirement–

“However, the libero and the defensive specialist are both responsible for receiving, so rounding it up, I guessed correctly–” Oikawa Tōru defended himself and urged Hanamaki, “Losers keep their promises, I want to eat milk bread tomorrow.”

“What kind of keeping your promise is that! Don’t start ordering as if you’ve already won, okay!”

Furuie didn’t notice the small commotion at the end of the line, “Everyone’s here, I’ll call the roll. Answer when your name is called.”

As he read down the application form one by one, he thought to himself that several of the talents they had scouted from middle school had gone to Shiratorizawa. But–

He paused slightly when he read a certain name, “Oikawa Tōru–”

“Here.”

Oikawa Tōru answered cheerfully and smiled particularly kindly at his senpai, showing no signs that he was just arguing with Hanamaki about who should pay for breakfast.

Furuie glanced at him quickly. Aobajohsai’s only official setter was a third-year student who was unfortunately injured in a game last year and is currently recuperating. After his injury, a group of spikers could only maintain their daily training with terrible tosses, and even the libero was dragged along to cram the techniques of a setter.

Although this guy smiled very frivolously—but this is a setter! How long has it been since they’ve played with a proper setter’s toss!

Furuie maintained the composure of a senpai on his face and continued to call the roll. After calling the last name, he closed the booklet and beckoned the freshmen to follow him, “You all visited the volleyball club during the recruitment and have a general understanding, so I won’t introduce it to you anymore.”

The sound of hitting the ball and short exchanges echoed in the gymnasium. The upperclassmen were training in an orderly manner.

Several people standing on the side of the court noticed them and turned their heads to walk over, “Furuie? Is everyone here?”

“Yes.”

The leader, who looked upright and honest, seemed like a nice guy, “I’m the captain of the boys’ volleyball team, Arao Masato, a third-year student, and my position is outside hitter. Freshmen can warm up and then team up freely to practice and get to know each other. The coach and supervisor will arrange the specific training matters when they come.”

Kokonoe Taka skillfully half-slung his arm around Iwaizumi Hajime’s shoulders and quickly occupied a corner of the court. Oikawa Tōru, who was abandoned, didn’t care and teamed up with Hanamaki Takahiro.

–

“–You want to ask why Taka has been doing basic bumping and setting practice?”

Hanamaki Takahiro was startled by the sudden voice in his ear. He turned his head holding the volleyball and saw Oikawa Tōru observing him with great interest, “Oops, did I scare you? Sorry, I didn’t expect you to be so engrossed in watching.”

Hanamaki twitched the corner of his mouth, thinking: Are you taking revenge for me saying you were hard to deal with before?

“How should I say it,” he glanced at the other corner again, where Iwaizumi Hajime was demonstrating the movements, while correcting Kokonoe Taka’s mistakes, “I feel like Kokonoe is the kind of character who looks very powerful at first glance. I was originally prepared to be completely blown away by him in terms of skills, but it’s surprisingly clumsy…?”

“Ah, it feels like a beginner who just started playing volleyball not long ago.”

As he spoke, he began to practice double-person bumping with Oikawa Tōru. The latter perfectly bumped the ball over and smiled meaningfully, “Because it’s just like what you said–Taka is a beginner, and he’s only been touching volleyball for more than a week.”

Hanamaki’s hand slipped, and he almost flew the ball away—Oikawa Tōru perfectly saved the ball, “Focus.” He complained.

“How could I possibly slip if you didn’t suddenly say something like that…” Hanamaki complained with squinting eyes, unable to resist his curiosity, “But I saw that Kokonoe was very skilled during the warm-up? And his muscles, they wouldn’t look so good if he hadn’t trained, right?”

“Hmph, that’s because he had no vision before and went to play basketball.” Oikawa Tōru couldn’t help but squeeze out a few syllables from his throat.

Basketball?

Hanamaki was stunned.

On the other side, Iwaizumi Hajime glanced at Oikawa Tōru who was talking eloquently, “I bet Oikawa is definitely making fun of you again.”

Kokonoe Taka: “I think so too, so the bet is invalid.”

After chatting casually for a few sentences, Iwaizumi Hajime continued the previous teaching, “Your wrist is not pressed deep enough, and your arm is not turned over to form a hitting surface.”

“Like this?”

Iwaizumi Hajime simply stepped forward to correct him, “The fingers should overlap and hold each other with the palms together, and the thumbs should be parallel and forward—yes, straighten your arms a little more and press your wrists down.” He compared the distance, “The forearm here should form a hitting surface.”

He took a step back, threw a ball, and signaled Kokonoe Taka to start bumping, “And the movements! Don’t be so stiff!” He glared at Kokonoe Taka, “Do you have glue under your feet?”

Kokonoe Taka: “…I thought you knew, Iwaizumi, my movements will become messy when I move.”

He has been trying his best to change the habits he developed when playing basketball before. But sometimes as long as he relaxes a little, his movements will be deformed.

Iwaizumi Hajime frowned, “What are you afraid of.” He said forcefully, “If you make a mistake, just change it again.” While saying that, he hit a slightly shorter ball, forcing him to move to receive it.

Kokonoe Taka was helpless, and the disassembled action essentials quickly flashed through his mind, staring at the ball and stepping forward, while raising his arms. His coordination was excellent, and Iwaizumi Hajime deliberately threw the ball slowly and slightly high. So in the end, Kokonoe Taka received the ball more easily than he imagined.

Iwaizumi Hajime reached out and caught the ball, “Didn’t you succeed?”

Kokonoe Taka stared at his arm—slightly painful, and the muscles were a little sore due to prolonged tension. But at the same time, a sense of amazement continued to climb upward.

He put down his hand and asked with a spirit of exploration: “Then why can’t I bump Toru’s hits?”

Iwaizumi Hajime: “…How did he teach you before?”

Kokonoe Taka: “…He served the ball on the other side of the court and asked me to stand still and receive it? But I can only accidentally receive the ball.” He narrowed his eyes, “And he would laugh at me whenever the ball was bumped away.”

Iwaizumi Hajime: “…Ignore him, it’s all his fault.”

No wonder he found that Oikawa Tōru’s jump serve technique had improved yesterday. Was he using you as a target?

Hanamaki Takahiro: “Oikawa.”

Oikawa Tōru: “Hmm? What’s wrong?”

“Iwaizumi is glaring at you with a super terrifying look.”

“…”!