JSWGAS Chapter 75

Chapter 75 75.

Chapter 75 75.

75.

In any sports club, the training outside of competitions is often monotonous and arduous. Aoba Johsai’s morning practice is usually scheduled for 7:00 AM, with a 15-minute morning run and warm-up, followed by basic receiving and digging practice from 7:30 to 8:30 AM.

After school in the afternoon, they start with 30 minutes of physical training, followed by specialized practice in serving, digging, setting, spiking, and blocking. After the specialized practice, the coach usually arranges shuffled 3v3 training matches.

The remaining time is left for the members to do targeted self-training according to their own situation, usually in groups of two—Oikawa Tōru was rejected by his two childhood friends for his outrageous behavior (referring to his fooling Kokonoe Taka into receiving his serves, which was actually practicing digs).

After being rejected, he agilely dodged Iwaizumi Hajime’s iron fist of punishment, and trotted off to find Hanamaki Takahiro. Hanamaki, at this time, still naively felt sympathy for the pitiful Oikawa Tōru and agreed. But before the two had been partners for long, he quickly found a new partner at breakneck speed—

Hanamaki’s new partner was called Matsukawa Issei, who was a casual guy who usually had droopy eyes and didn’t seem very energetic. The two quickly became familiar with each other in a few words. “Do you know what Oikawa does during training?”

Matsukawa: “What?”

Hanamaki complained: “That guy deliberately serves in a very ostentatious way. I wouldn’t believe that he wasn’t deliberately aiming at Kokonoe and Iwaizumi with that accuracy—and if he doesn’t hit his toss well, he’ll smile and point out why he didn’t hit the ball,” he shuddered. “I didn’t even know there were so many reasons why I didn’t hit the ball! He knows more than I do!”

Matsukawa Issei patted him on the shoulder with sympathy: “That sounds rough. I also felt that way during the team’s 3v3 practice, like I was being seen through.” He glanced at Oikawa, who was again provoking Kokonoe, only to be rewarded with a volleyball to the face by Iwaizumi. The latter even managed to bravely get up under Iwaizumi’s merciless force. “No matter how you look at it, Oikawa is terrifying.”

Oikawa Tōru, who had been labeled ‘terrifying’ by his classmates, was actually doing quite well in the volleyball club—his tosses were so beautiful and comfortable that even the most critical person would have a hard time finding fault with them. Anyone who had spiked a ball he set would feel incredibly refreshed.

However, on the way home, such Oikawa Tōru asked a sincere question that he couldn’t understand.

“—So, why aren’t you very interested in spiking?”

“Me?”

“If it’s not you, then is it Koiwa?” Oikawa Tōru said grumpily, not caring about Iwaizumi Hajime’s dark face. “Koiwa can always spike happily, that single-celled organism is just like that—Ugh!”

“What did you say?”

Iwaizumi Hajime skillfully kicked Oikawa Tōru sideways, causing the latter to stagger, and then grabbed him by the collar. “I haven’t settled the score with you yet—I told you to teach him, not to use Ā Yīng as a target to practice jump serves!”

Oikawa Tōru tried to rescue his collar from Iwaizumi’s powerful hands: “I’m just letting him get familiar with the moves he’ll face in the future!” He shouted, “And Ā Yīng has gone from being stiff at the beginning to knowing how to cushion the force now! You should be thanking me! Why are you angry, Koiwa!”

He showed no sign of remorse.

Iwaizumi Hajime gritted his teeth. “Shut up, you trash!”

Kokonoe Taka had grown accustomed to experiencing the scene of ‘Oikawa being beaten by Iwaizumi’ every day. He stood to the side, looking at his phone screen without even raising his head, occasionally offering a comforting smile to the innocent passersby who looked shocked.

“…Ā Yīng.” Oikawa Tōru, who was pinned to the ground and passively taking a beating from Iwaizumi Hajime, saw this scene during a break in dodging, and his tone was pure confusion: “Why are you smiling like a pervert who just killed someone?”

Kokonoe Taka: “…”

Kokonoe Taka: “You want to know?”

He turned off his phone screen, stuffed it into his pocket, and walked a few steps closer to Oikawa Tōru: “That’s because the person I want to kill isn’t dead yet—”

“Uwa! It hurts! My neck is going to break! It really will break!”

…Oikawa Tōru’s neck didn’t break as he had claimed. But by the time he finally got up from the ground, he was covered in dust and dirt, and he was still complaining, “Seriously, you guys messed up my hair.”

Iwaizumi Hajime: “Are you a female celebrity?”

Kokonoe Taka: “You could shave your head, so you don’t have to worry about it.”

Oikawa Tōru: “…This is bullying!”

He stomped forward angrily, deliberately walking quickly to leave Kokonoe Taka and Iwaizumi Hajime behind. But when he secretly turned his head, he found that these two were still leisurely and didn’t care if he really left, so he had no choice but to slink back.

“Ahem.” He cleared his throat.

The two gave him a ‘say what you need to say’ look.

“It’s still the question from just now.” Oikawa Tōru said, “Why does Ā Yīng seem to not like spiking very much? You do a lot of other training, but spiking is less.”

The ‘less’ he was referring to was actually relatively ‘less’. Almost no one else would care about this slight difference—but Oikawa Tōru noticed it. “And you also don’t seem very happy when you spike, although you’ve always had that ice-cold face.”

Kokonoe Taka was too lazy to argue about his exaggerated description again. “Volleyball isn’t like basketball, where you can win just by throwing the ball in.”

He said calmly, and he really thought so: “All attacks are to make the ball land—conversely, as long as the ball doesn’t land, we won’t lose.”

Iwaizumi Hajime: “Basic skills are very important.”

Oikawa Tōru almost couldn’t help but say, ‘Why do you look so gratified, Koiwa, like Ā Yīng’s mom?’ But considering that he might really be beaten to death by Iwaizumi Hajime if he said that, he finally held back.

He kicked a small stone. “There’s nothing wrong with that idea.” He glanced at the side of the other person’s face. “But the balls I toss to you are always hit out so lightly, I’ll also be frustrated! The angle, the timing, everything is great! But the spiker doesn’t react much—it’s too annoying!”

Iwaizumi Hajime: “Only you would make such a fuss.”

Oikawa Tōru simply acted shamelessly and shouted loudly: “What’s wrong with that! It’s all because this person isn’t cooperating with me! If you hit my toss, you have to honestly express your true feelings—’Wow, that’s amazing!’ or ‘Oikawa-sama’s toss is really good’! Instead of urging me to continue tossing non-stop, and giving me a look that says ‘Is that all you’ve got?’ if I’m even a little slow—”

Kokonoe Taka: “…”

Iwaizumi Hajime: “…”

No, only you think that.

Oikawa Tōru snorted. “Next time, I’m definitely going to toss the perfect toss that you can’t help but hit, make you submit to my brilliant skills, and then beg Oikawa-sama to practice with you—”

“Instead of that,” Kokonoe Taka said after a moment of silence, “Tōru, don’t you really know why I’ve been practicing digging so much?”

Oikawa Tōru: “?”

Oikawa Tōru heard his childhood friend’s voice, so cold that it could drop ice, echo: “—Of course, it’s so I can perfectly receive your serves. But now that I think about it, it seems more refreshing to practice jump serves myself and use you as a target.”

Oikawa Tōru: “Ugh…! Okay, I was wrong! I shouldn’t have deliberately used you as a target! Please forgive me!”

…

…………

Aoba Johsai’s 3v3 training matches are usually decided by random drawing. After the basic receiving and serving practice, captain Arao Masato walked over with a small box and had everyone draw lots.

“How about asking Arao-senpai for a little behind-the-scenes help next time?” Oikawa Tōru said, holding the slip of paper and staring at Arao’s back with extreme longing after Arao walked away—and the box he was holding.

“Why?” Kokonoe Taka asked casually, unfolding his own slip of paper.

“Because in this week’s random practice, either Ā Yīng, you get assigned to another group, or you’re on the opposite side of Oikawa-sama.” Oikawa Tōru turned his head to complain, “Our club’s official setter—that senpai is still recovering, and the level of the other people playing setter can only barely be considered passable, no one is using you to the fullest.”

He would occasionally utter some very bad words that revealed part of his true nature, and he said ‘utilizing’ to the person concerned in a free and casual way, and still wanted to get Kokonoe’s approval. “You think so too, right? You jump high and you’re fast, and your skills aren’t as bad as they were at the beginning after cramming the basics, but you just perform mediocrely.”

Kokonoe Taka perfunctorily “Mm”ed, the slip of paper in his hand read ‘Group A’—Group A usually plays 3v3 against Group B.

“It’s too wasteful.” Oikawa Tōru didn’t care, his warm-colored pupils strangely coated with a layer of sharp light. “And I’m really impressed that you can put up with it—”

Iwaizumi Hajime passed by from the side—he was in Group D. Seeing Oikawa Tōru, he knew that his bad habit had struck again. “What are you dawdling for? So much nonsense, are you looking for a beating!”

Oikawa Tōru was interrupted, and he pouted. “Koiwa is getting more and more impolite to me.” He muttered, unfolded the slip of paper randomly, and asked Kokonoe Taka next to him, “What group are you in?”

“Group A.”

Kokonoe Taka’s bland voice and the conspicuous ‘A’ on the slip of paper in his hand were captured by his brain at the same time. Oikawa Tōru almost tore the slip of paper. “Could it be that Arao-senpai has already arranged behind-the-scenes help for me?” He murmured, “I’m sorry, I’ll never secretly complain to Hanamaki about Arao-senpai’s hairstyle being too rigid again…”

Kokonoe Taka twitched his lips. He found that the number of times he felt helpless had increased sharply since he returned to Miyagi. “It’s just a coincidence, right… and there’s nothing wrong with Arao-senpai’s hairstyle, it’s very refreshing.”

Oikawa Tōru perked up at once, arguing with reason: “Arao-senpai’s face can’t support that hairstyle—changing his hairstyle would definitely make him more popular!” He listed several examples like a treasure, and started talking about clothingMatch from hairstyle—

Suddenly, a voice echoed faintly from behind: “Oikawa, good suggestion, I’ll keep it in mind.”

“Eek!!!”

Oikawa Tōru was so frightened that he flashed behind the tall teenager next to him, using Kokonoe Taka as a shield to protect himself.

Kokonoe Taka: “…Arao-senpai.” He helplessly greeted the third-year captain, and reached out to pull Oikawa Tōru out from behind him.

Arao Masato: “Why are you so scared, Oikawa? I won’t eat people.”

Oikawa Tōru laughed dryly: But your face is faintly turning black—just like when Koiwa is about to beat someone!

Fortunately, Arao just glared at Oikawa with some grief and indignation, and didn’t pursue the matter.

“The match is about to start! Don’t stand still!”

Oikawa Tōru raised his hand: “Eh? Is Arao-senpai our opponent?”

“I, Furoe, and Hanamaki are all in Group B.” Arao Masato said, “Group A is you, Kokonoe, and Saijō—” He finally couldn’t hold back his resentment, and smiled gloomily twice, especially glaring at Oikawa Tōru. “Be prepared to be blown away by your senpai!”

Oikawa Tōru, who knew that he had attracted hatred, touched the back of his head in distress. “Oh, it seems a little bad…”

Saijō, who came over, said sincerely: “Being able to ignite Arao’s fighting spirit and say that kind of ‘blow away’ declaration to the juniors… Oikawa, in some ways you’re really amazing.”

Kokonoe Taka glanced at him with a suppressed smile. “Don’t actually get blown away, Mr. Oikawa.”

Oikawa Tōru wore a strong smile: “…Well, let’s not talk about that!” He quickly changed the subject. “Arao-senpai is the main spiker, and the balls he hits have a lot of power, but the changes aren’t that great; Furoe-senpai is the libero, but in 3v3, he’ll still participate in the offense.”

Saijō continued: “Furoe used to be a setter who switched to libero. So don’t relax your vigilance just because of his position.”

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“For our side—”

“For team A, isn’t the biggest threat Saijō-senpai after all?” On the other side, team B was also having a simple pre-match discussion.

“It’s hard to say,” Arao didn’t affirm Furoe’s guess. “Saijō plays as a middle blocker, so he’s more interested in blocking. In matches, he usually relies on blocking to score—” He touched his chin. “How should I put it, that guy is the type who ‘might work hard if you push him, but will quickly get discouraged again’.”

“But wasn’t Oikawa practicing well with Saijō-senpai before?” Hanamaki Takahiro glanced at the other side of the court, and happened to meet Kokonoe’s gaze. “He spikes very decisively, and you can’t see any reluctance.”

Arao chuckled: “Mm—you guys haven’t played in official matches yet, so you haven’t seen Saijō in official matches. He’s fine when he’s training, but once it comes to a match, he only cares about watching the other side’s ace or spiker and blocking them to death.”

“We can only see if Oikawa can mobilize him.” Furoe said, “What about Kokonoe?”

Hanamaki was busy countering Kokonoe’s distant throat-slitting gesture. He grinned and turned his head. “Oikawa said before that Kokonoe’s fundamentals aren’t very good. But when that guy is training, I’ve noticed that he jumps pretty high—but his blocking isn’t very good, he hasn’t specifically trained that part.”

Furoe pondered: “I haven’t seen him spike a very outstanding good ball during practice either…”

Arao made a final decision: “Then let’s be wary of Saijō and Oikawa first. Oikawa won’t give up on Saijō as an offensive point.” He emphasized the surname ‘Oikawa’—”That guy is really annoying sometimes—blowing him away would be a little more comfortable.”

Although the other two didn’t know why Arao ground his teeth at the mention of Oikawa, they still didn’t mind joining in on the fun: “Oh! Show them who’s boss!”