JSWGAS Chapter 79

“——That’s Aoba Johsai we’re talking about!”

The bus ambled along the road leading to Aoba Johsai. The coach sat at the very front, seemingly oblivious to the chattering behind him. The third-year students were enthusiastically discussing the latest superhero movie release, while the first-year students quietly asked, “Is Aoba Johsai really that strong?”

“One of our amazing former seniors is at Aoba Johsai. He was the best receiver in the prefecture last year! And Aoba Johsai has always been in the top four in the prefecture. With Oikawa-senpai there, they might even beat Shiratorizawa this year…” Kindaichi enthusiastically answered the first-year student’s question, then turned his head. He was speaking to both his junior and Kageyama Tobio, who was sitting next to him, lost in thought. This was the first time he said this sentence, “That’s Aoba Johsai we’re talking about!”

Kageyama Tobio was still lost in his own world. His mind was filled with the question of why his jump serve, which he had been diligently practicing, kept failing. Kindaichi’s voice turned the one hundred and thirteen reasons he had listed for his failure into a blurry cloud of smoke, completely scattering them from his mind.

He blinked and subconsciously replied, “Oh.”

Clearly, that response completely shut down any possible conversation. Kindaichi’s interest in chatting vanished. He silently stared at Kageyama Tobio for a moment, while Kageyama Tobio, completely unaware of any issue, calmly stared back.

First-year student: “…Kunimi-senpai, why are Kindaichi-senpai and Kageyama-senpai glaring at each other…?”

Kunimi Akira: “…”

How would I know with their single-celled brains.

He really didn’t want to get involved in the strange atmosphere between the two, but just letting it hang in the air wasn’t a good idea either…

“Even though it’s a training camp, the high school and middle school groups might be separate,” Kunimi Akira said plainly, interrupting. “Maybe we won’t even see the high schoolers all week—”

The strange atmosphere dissipated. Kindaichi pursed his lips slightly and muttered, “How is that possible? The training camp will definitely arrange some practice matches with Oikawa-senpai and the others… Otherwise, why would they have us go to Aoba Johsai?”

Kunimi Akira gave an indifferent response. It was just a topic he had randomly brought up.

Kindaichi beside him started enthusiastically explaining the glorious achievements of the strong volleyball schools in the prefecture to the first-year junior who had just entered middle school, with Kunimi occasionally adding a few words. Kageyama Tobio was deliberately or unintentionally being ignored. If it were someone else, it might have caused some trouble.

But Kageyama Tobio never paid attention to such things. Although he felt a little strange, that faint thought was quickly overshadowed by another.

He turned his head to look out the window. The window wasn’t very clean. A thin layer of dust covered the signs along the road, blurring the scenery into a dirty, gray mess. But in Kageyama Tobio’s eyes, the glass surface became a familiar volleyball court, and the darker patches of dust became the net.

Is the jump serve failing because of a mistake in the motion? Or is the rhythm off? Kageyama Tobio simply treated the window as a narrow court, grimly analyzing where he was going wrong—he had clearly been diligently following that person’s movements.

…I wonder what Oikawa-senpai’s jump serve looks like now.

When the bus arrived at the entrance of Aoba Johsai, Kageyama Tobio followed the others and squeezed out of the door. After escaping the stuffy bus, he subconsciously took a deep breath, his expression showing a hint of barely perceptible eagerness.

The coach of Aoba Johsai, along with the captain and vice-captain, greeted them. The coaches of the two schools walked away side-by-side, entrusting the dozen or so students from Kitagawa Daiichi to the kind-faced captain before they left. This senpai, who for some reason had a buzz cut, answered the middle school students’ questions without reservation, leading them towards the gymnasium like a mother hen.

“You’ll be training with us this week, but the training menu will be a bit lighter,” he said. “Aoba Johsai’s gym is very big, so don’t worry about there not being enough space. As for food and lodging, your coach should have told you. Just in case, I’ll say it again—the school has a cafeteria, and the accommodation isn’t far from here. It’s with us too.”

The middle school students were very supportive, and their repeated calls of “senpai” quickly made Arawashi Masato lose himself in the moment—he took the opportunity to turn to Saijō beside him. “I thought I wouldn’t have so many cute and normal juniors until I graduated… Thank you, Coach Mizoguchi, for making my wish come true.”

Saijō strongly agreed. “After all, all we have below us is a bunch of weird and terrible juniors—” He winked meaningfully, making Arawashi quickly recall his own cool juniors, frivolous juniors, and irritable juniors. With these three around, even the cutest of the remaining members couldn’t stop the lens from shattering.

Thinking of this, Arawashi’s expression became even more amiable.

When Arawashi and Saijō led the swarm of middle school students into the gymnasium, Aoba Johsai’s training had already begun and was proceeding in an orderly manner. The sound of spiking echoed through the hall, mixed with short exchanges between teammates. Apart from basic training, the three-on-three practice match taking place on one court immediately caught the attention of the Kitagawa Daiichi students.

“Nice serve!”

The appearance of spectators on the sidelines didn’t attract the attention of Oikawa Tōru, who was standing outside the service line. He was just focused on the court opposite him.

The whistle blew. Toss, approach, push off, jump—

Stretch, gather strength, swing.

“Bang!”

A beautiful jump serve.

Someone gasped quietly, “His arm will break, right?”

This painful jump serve was unexpectedly received—”Bring it on, Trashykawa!”

Iwaizumi Hajime didn’t know how many of Oikawa Tōru’s jump serves he had received over the years. Although he received it, he didn’t control the direction well, and the ball was pushed over the net.

Kindaichi was surprised. “Oikawa-senpai and Iwaizumi-senpai have been split up?”

His surprise wasn’t without reason. At Kitagawa Daiichi, Oikawa Tōru and Iwaizumi Hajime were almost always together. Although the coach would occasionally split them up for training, he mainly focused on training their teamwork.

Oikawa Tōru: “You said that so coolly, but you still gave us the chance to attack, didn’t you? —Taka!”

The yellow and blue volleyball landed on Oikawa Tōru’s fingertips, and he decisively pushed it out. After leaving his hand, the ball drew a perfect arc, almost perfectly matching the palm of the person who jumped up.

After the ball left his hand, a fleeting smile crossed Oikawa Tōru’s face. In Kageyama Tobio’s eyes, he was a somewhat strange, mean-spirited senpai who liked to tease him. One-third of Kageyama Tobio’s memory of him was his exquisite skills, another third had to be divided in half to hold the memories of being teased by the other party, leaving only a pitiful amount of memory for his impression of the person himself—

He had never seen Oikawa Tōru smile like that before. He rummaged through all the adjectives he could find in his brain, and in the end, he could only sum it up with a dry “pure satisfaction.”

His gaze naturally fell on the ball that Oikawa Tōru had set, and the hitter who received it.

What came into view wasn’t the hitter himself, but a heavy, dark shadow. The outstretched arms didn’t look like human limbs, but like the wings of a bird displaying dominance. Every feather was filled with sharp murderous intent, and there was even a feeling of not daring to look directly at it.

And Kageyama Tobio just thought—

The lights are so bright.

This nonsensical thought was still in his subconscious when the other party spiked. The volleyball broke through the block with an extremely strong aggressiveness, but it was once again received by the prepared Iwaizumi Hajime. The once-reliable senpai’s figure overlapped with the past at this moment. Iwaizumi shouted, “Saionji!”

The person he called was a middle blocker in his first year. Because Aoba Johsai cherished its receivers extremely, everyone knew a little bit about receiving out of necessity. The opportunity was fleeting, and Saionji didn’t have time to worry about Iwaizumi Hajime’s way of addressing him, so he quickly took his position. “Don’t lose to me, Iwaizumi!”

Iwaizumi Hajime didn’t reply. When he jumped up, he saw Kokonoe Taka jumping up at the same time through the net. The two pairs of eyes met, neither giving way, and then the volleyball was brutally struck by Iwaizumi Hajime into the gap between Kokonoe Taka’s arms at a tricky angle.

He didn’t hold back. After celebrating with his teammates, he turned his head and asked through the net, “Is your arm okay?”

Kokonoe Taka rubbed the skin on his left arm, which was red from the friction. “Thanks for your concern, but I can still block you.”

Iwaizumi Hajime snorted and chuckled. “Keep talking big.”

The intensity of the match was far beyond the middle school students’ imaginations. During the first half of the game, there was still some faint whispering around them, but by the last few balls, it was completely silent. Until Iwaizumi Hajime, panting, said, “The loser has to do a round of dives.” He urged, “Hurry up, don’t dawdle.”

“Thanks to Iwaizumi, we won.” The people on Iwaizumi’s team said, “Being able to receive Oikawa’s jump serve is already amazing, and you even managed to win in the end—”

Saionji joked, “It’ll make me think my receive has already surpassed Oikawa’s.”

Oikawa Tōru, with sharp ears, heard the last sentence and immediately yelled, “How is that possible—Oikawa-san is the most amazing num—” He suddenly stopped.

Kokonoe Taka had already prepared to dive when he suddenly heard the voice that was being used as background noise disappear. “Tōru?” he turned his head and called out, his eyebrows twitching uncontrollably after seeing the scene behind him.

Oikawa Tōru was standing in front of a first-year junior middle schooler, as if facing a great enemy. “I must be dreaming—why am I seeing Little Tobio’s face?!”

Kageyama Tobio blinked and greeted Oikawa Tōru with a blank expression. “Oikawa-senpai, hello.”

“I don’t—”

His voice was cut off again, but this time it was intentionally interrupted. Kokonoe Taka ruthlessly hit Oikawa Tōru on the back of the head, grabbed him by the collar, and dragged him to the sideline. “Isn’t today the day the training camp starts? Did you forget? And don’t think you can escape the dives like that.”

“How is that possible!!” Oikawa Tōru struggled dissatisfiedly. “Isn’t the training camp tomorrow!”

“It’s today.”

After Kokonoe Taka corrected Oikawa Tōru again, he finally had time to look at Kageyama Tobio. Clearly, the latter’s surprised and somewhat bewildered expression greatly pleased him. “…Kokonoe… Bro?”

He couldn’t help but laugh.

“Long time no see, Little Kageyama.”