JSWGAS Chapter 82

Kunimi Akira felt that perhaps even in two years, he still wouldn’t understand this group of boisterous seniors.

Kindaichi… Kindaichi had already been tricked into making passionate bets.

“Currently, Iwaizumi’s chances are the highest.” Furue spoke eloquently, much like a salesman knocking on doors to sell insurance, and before long, he successfully persuaded a junior several grades below him to hand over the comic books he had secretly brought, further enriching the variety of prizes.

Kunimi Akira: …Forget it, this person has already been convinced by the seniors with malicious intentions, there’s no saving him.

He turned his head and began searching for allies: Only at times like this would he feel that Kageyama Tobio’s personality had its benefits, at least he wouldn’t join the crowd—

“Kokonoe-san and Iwaizumi-senpai’s spikes,” but he discovered that Kageyama Tobio had quickly integrated into the group, and was seriously and meticulously analyzing to the smiling Saijo beside him, “I think Iwaizumi-senpai’s is more powerful.”

“He used the intimate ‘brother’ for Kokonoe, but the honorific ‘senpai’ for Iwaizumi?” Saijo stroked his chin and asked back, “Even so, you still think Iwaizumi is more powerful than Kokonoe?”

Kageyama Tobio spoke objectively, perfectly dodging the two palpable gazes cast by the two people sitting on either side of the middle table: “I only think so in terms of the power of the spike.”

Saijo, never one to shy away from excitement, raised his voice: “—Did you hear that? That’s what he said.”

Kokonoe Taka sat on one side of the table, without changing his expression, slapped Oikawa Tōru, who was next to him laughing the loudest, and pushed his face away to avoid annoyance, sighing melancholically: “Is that so? I’ll be sad if Little Kageyama doesn’t think highly of me.”

Iwaizumi Hajime nodded at Kageyama with satisfaction: “Thanks for the compliment.”

Kageyama Tobio tilted his head, “Ah… yes.”

Oikawa Tōru climbed up tenaciously, raising a cheerful smile: “I announce—” The people in the room heard his cry and quietly waited in support. Oikawa Tōru looked around at the people looking up at him with satisfaction, and continued, “The first Aobajōsai High School volleyball team arm wrestling competition—the finals, Iwaizumi versus Taka, officially begins!”

“Oh—!”

A burst of warm applause was mixed with various discussions.

“I think Iwaizumi will win after all?”

“No, no, no, have you forgotten Kokonoe’s running spike from before? Hisss, that power, your arm would definitely break.”

“But Iwaizumi has already defeated us…”

“What do you know? If Iwaizumi loses too, it’ll make our losses less embarrassing. So I’m betting on Kokonoe.”

The two people at the center of the chaos were quite at ease.

Kokonoe Taka’s hand was slightly larger than Iwaizumi’s, and because he had just come back from outside, his hand was slightly cooler. As for Iwaizumi, because he had just defeated a bunch of useless teammates, not only were his hands surprisingly hot, but his skin was faintly red from the sudden exertion.

Iwaizumi Hajime: “I won’t lose.”

Kokonoe Taka: “I should be the one saying that.”

“Alright, save the energy for provocation for the arm wrestling?” Oikawa Tōru placed his hand on top of their clasped hands, turning a blind eye to the whispers coming from the side (“Eh, Oikawa isn’t egging them on anymore?”).

After adjusting the two people’s postures, he gave an order: “Ready———go!”

The crowd held their breath, nervously watching the two people’s duel.

In the arm wrestling competition before Kokonoe Taka came back, every arm wrestling match was accompanied by all kinds of ghostly howls or hoarse, meaningless shouts—here, special mention must be made of Hanamaki and Iwaizumi’s match. Almost as soon as it was announced to start, Hanamaki screamed, his face flushed red, saying all kinds of meaningless fragments, and quickly lost to the calm-faced Iwaizumi after three seconds.

The latter, except for when he couldn’t help but curse at Oikawa Tōru during his arm wrestling match with Oikawa, maintained his steadfastness in all other matches, and would only make a triumphant comment or two after winning—which was also ridiculed by Oikawa Tōru as deliberately showing off.

In Kokonoe Taka and Iwaizumi Hajime’s duel, both of them were holding their breath, staring at each other without saying a word. The lines of both people’s arms were taut, the muscles on their upper arms bulged into beautiful lines, and the veins protruded on their wrists, which was enough to show their seriousness.

The place where their fingertips clasped was also white from the force, and the knuckles below were flushed red. Kokonoe’s skin was white, which made it look more obvious, and even his face had begun to turn red at an alarming rate.

The onlookers couldn’t help but shout: “So strong———Go, Kokonoe! Don’t lose to Iwaizumi!”

“Go, Iwaizumi! Use your strength to tell everyone that you are the arm wrestling champion—”

Besides cheering, there were also those who dubbed the two of them.

“Ora ora ora ora!”

“Ughhhhh! Hold your breath!”

“Pfft—”

There were even those who were chanting beside them: “Milk bread, grilled meat, rice balls, popsicles, homework, comics, drinks… as long as you win, you can get them all—”

The duration of this contest was beyond everyone’s expectations, and seeing that they couldn’t decide the winner in a short time, the crowd simply started another betting pool.

“I bet they’ll decide the winner in three minutes.”

“One minute.”

“I bet five minutes—”

The two parties involved listened to the various inflammatory remarks coming from their ears, one twitching the corner of his mouth, and the other gritting his teeth. They were the clearest that it would probably take a long time to decide the winner, and Iwaizumi Hajime was at a slight disadvantage—he had already accepted the challenge of several teammates before Kokonoe Taka came back, and it was inevitable that he would suffer some losses under the wheel battle.

Seeing that the separate betting pool was getting more and more excessive, Iwaizumi Hajime coughed lightly, and in the midst of the clamorous shouts, said quickly in a volume that only Kokonoe Taka could hear: “Did the guy in the washing room leave the door open for you?”

When he said this, he rarely showed a bit of candid and straightforward cunning, frankly and simply putting the overt scheme on the surface for everyone to see. Kokonoe Taka’s palms had already lost the slight coolness blown out by the evening breeze during this period and had become warm and hot. He finally couldn’t help it, and when a broken laugh slipped out of his throat, most of his strength was released.

Iwaizumi Hajime immediately took the opportunity to exert his strength, “Bang!” The back of Kokonoe Taka’s hand touched the table, and the outcome was decided.

“Awesome, Iwaizumi!”

“So strong!”

“Incredible, Iwaizumi!”

“Kokonoe, you still need to practice more, hahahahahaha!”

Hanamaki Takahiro, who had just been fiddling with something with Matsukawa in the corner, walked over at this time, with a serious and earnest tone: “Come and receive your crown, Iwaizumi.”

He conjured a paper crown from behind him like a magician, and solemnly walked forward. Kokonoe Taka endured his laughter and applauded, pushing Iwaizumi Hajime forward. The latter stared helplessly at the simple and childish little crown, and finally resigned himself to bowing his head to accept the coronation.

“Don’t laugh.” He wore the crown, turned his head and glared at Kokonoe Taka, who was holding back his laughter until he lost control of his expression, and sighed deeply, “If I had known, I would have just given up…”

“A-I, you would never give up.” Kokonoe Taka’s expression twisted for a while, and finally barely maintained the last decency of an ikemen hottie, “I am sincerely convinced.”

Iwaizumi Hajime wanted to sigh again, but halfway through the sigh, he was coaxed by several classmates around him, and finally couldn’t help but laugh and scold them for their poor craftsmanship.

Oikawa Tōru was still shouting: “Damn it———I bet on Iwaizumi losing! And I added a month’s worth of milk bread——”

Kokonoe Taka reached out and scooped up Oikawa Tōru, who was trying to secretly take away Iwaizumi Hajime’s crown, and messed up his hair randomly, “It’s just right to break your milk bread addiction. Don’t you think it’s really weird to eat milk bread for a whole month?”

Oikawa Tōru struggled to break free: “That’s not good———I’m saying, Taka, you didn’t throw the match, did you!”

Kokonoe Taka pretended to be stupid: “Hmm? No, A-I’s strength is really great, I can’t beat him.”

Oikawa Tōru stared at him suspiciously: “I don’t believe it!”

——This farce of a party for everyone finally ended when Coach Mizoguchi, with captain Arao in tow, angrily flung open the door and ordered them all to go to sleep.

The next morning, when Kokonoe Taka woke up on time according to his biological clock, the room was quiet. He dressed neatly, folded his quilt, got up and went around Hanamaki and Matsukawa, who were sleeping in disarray. When he passed the sleeping Oikawa Tōru, he put him in a mummy pose with a peaceful death before he left to go for a morning run with satisfaction.

When Iwaizumi Hajime came to the cafeteria, laughing at the annoyed Oikawa Tōru, Kokonoe Taka had just finished the last mouthful of milk. Oikawa Tōru sat down next to him, placed the plate he was carrying heavily on the table, and turned his head to question: “Did you do it?!”

Kokonoe Taka and Iwaizumi Hajime exchanged a look, raised their eyebrows, and asked Oikawa in return: “What?”

“Trash-kawa is talking about this.” Iwaizumi Hajime handed over his phone in a timely manner. He woke up earlier than Oikawa Tōru, and just happened to see Oikawa Tōru’s peaceful sleeping posture when he got up. So, with the mentality that he must never let go of any of Oikawa Tōru’s dark history, he quickly took a picture as a souvenir.

Oikawa Tōru was shocked: “Didn’t I just delete it?!”

“I have a backup.”

“Little Iwa you?!”

Before he could settle the score with Iwaizumi, Kokonoe Taka and the latter shared Oikawa’s anger in a tacit understanding, “It was me.” He gave a fake smile under Oikawa Tōru’s grief-stricken gaze, “Who told you to sleep so soundly.”

Iwaizumi Hajime interrupted Oikawa Tōru’s explosion: “The posture is a bit rigid,” he commented, “Try harder next time.”

“Understood.”

Oikawa Tōru: “…You two are going too far!!! I’m angry!!!”

In today’s training, Oikawa Tōru performed particularly excitedly, in extremely good condition. In comparison, the person receiving the ball opposite him complained incessantly: “It hurts———Oikawa! Don’t be serious! Are you going through menopause! So irritable!”

Oikawa Tōru retorted loudly: “That’s not true! Furue-senpai, don’t even think about slacking off!”

Hanamaki, from the neighboring field, picked up a volleyball and empathized, “It looks so painful… But Oikawa’s serve is really amazing, although his error rate is also quite high.”

“That, actually, there’s a trick to it.” Kokonoe Taka said slowly. Hanamaki and Matsukawa immediately perked up their ears, waiting anxiously for him to reveal the truth, “Imagine the person you hate the most standing on the other side of the net, and then serve the ball at him.”

Following his words, another extremely loud serve came from the other side, but unfortunately, the power was too great, resulting in it going out of bounds.

Matsukawa watched Oikawa Tōru serve the ball out of bounds with his own eyes, he quickly turned his head back, and after a moment of silence, “Kokonoe, it looked like Oikawa was glaring at you just now.”

Kokonoe Taka looked back, and sure enough, he met Oikawa Tōru’s gaze.

He turned to the other two as if nothing had happened, “It doesn’t matter,” he said casually, “Anyway, he won’t really smash the ball at me.”

Hanamaki and Matsukawa immediately remembered the ruckus that Oikawa and Iwaizumi had caused in the morning because of a photo. Now it seemed that they had found the culprit behind the mess.

The two of them: “…”

So it was you, we aren’t even surprised!