JSWGAS Chapter 83

“Yeah! Another victory for Oikawa-sama!”

“Hey, Oikawa, don’t bully the juniors.”

“We were going to win anyway.” Oikawa Tōru playfully stuck his tongue out at Kageyama Tobio on the other end. “Stupid Tobio-chan—stupid—”

“Is this guy really a high schooler?” Hanamaki exclaimed. “He’s even more childish than a middle schooler.”

In fact, such scenes happened frequently ever since Oikawa Tōru and Kageyama Tobio met. From daily basic training to specialized training, even when going to the cafeteria for lunch, Oikawa Tōru would deliberately circle in front of Kageyama Tobio in the queue twice before strutting back with his head held high.

Now that the training match organized by the coach was temporarily over, he was even more unrestrained. Even when Iwaizumi Hajime dragged him away from the net with a fierce look, he desperately turned back to provoke.

“More than that,” Kokonoe Taka said, walking to the side of the court with the others, bending down to pick up his water bottle. “Tomorrow is the last day, right? Didn’t Coach Irihata say there would be two practice matches after the training camp?”

“Ah, with Date Tech and Shiratorizawa.”

Arao showed a painful expression. “Date Tech, huh…” He was probably the one who knew how troublesome they were the most. “Their defense is probably the best in the prefecture, super annoying for spikers!”

Saijō, the team’s best blocker, spoke up: “Their commit block is very strong. They act after seeing the setter’s toss direction. If they see through you, you’ll likely be blocked to death. Plus, they’re all very tall… Truly a ‘steel wall.’ I remember last year Arao was blocked by their current captain until he doubted his life. He almost couldn’t resist ambushing him after the match…”

Arao frantically interrupted him: “Hey!”

Fortunately, the most troublesome and meddlesome junior was still being disciplined by someone else. Those who heard his embarrassing history were sensible enough to look away and pretend they didn’t hear anything. Arao coughed lightly, “Although they’re troublesome, it’s not like we’re helpless. Just stick to our usual pace.”

And after Date Tech—

“Shiratorizawa, huh…”

When showering at night, Hanamaki Takahiro didn’t see Oikawa Tōru’s figure, only catching Kokonoe Taka who was done washing up and ready to go back. “I didn’t expect them to come and play a practice match with us.”

Kokonoe Taka narrowed his eyes. “Isn’t it good to take this opportunity to see how strong they really are?”

“…The way you say that is kind of scary.” Hanamaki rubbed his arms. “I haven’t played against Ushijima before, I’ve only watched a few matches—wow, that power, it makes you think you definitely can’t receive it or block it. Thinking about it like that…” He paused for a moment. “Oikawa and Iwaizumi, who have been fighting against Ushijima for three years, are really amazing.”

What he didn’t say was that they would probably have to continue fighting.

This was almost an unspoken fact, and perhaps it also confirmed the reason for the inexplicably tense atmosphere recently. For Iwaizumi, it was the silently increased strength training. For Oikawa, it was the increasingly annoying words and actions these days. And the others also had subtle changes. The sparse number of people reporting to the shower room tonight could explain a lot.

Compared to the undercurrents, the person next to him was inexplicably calm these days. Hanamaki Takahiro thought aimlessly. He didn’t hear a response from the other party for a long time, only the steady sound of footsteps landing on the ground accompanied him in the wind.

Like the first few notes that represented the beginning of a piece of music, revealing the calm before the storm—Hanamaki inexplicably thought of this. Following his intuition, he glanced to the side.

The dark clouds above the sky covered the slanting moonlight and starlight. But it failed to turn into a solid black cloth to cover some invisible things. Logically speaking, the dim environment should create hazy and blurry, gentle things. But what Hanamaki saw was only the sharpness that pierced through the night.

In that instant, he instinctively paused.

The owner of those eyes noticed that his footsteps had stopped and looked at him, turning his gaze lightly like a silent beast lurking in the night. He could be quiet, he could be calm, he could harmlessly stop and express goodwill to you. But you could never treat him the way you would treat a puppy, a kitten, or a little bird.

“What’s wrong?”

“…Nothing.”

……

…………

When Kageyama Tobio finished talking with Kokonoe Taka and returned to his classmates, he heard Kindaichi’s sincere question.

“Kageyama.”

“?”

“Don’t you think Kokonoe-senpai is… a little scary today?”

The seven-day training camp ended, and the Kitagawa Daiichi students packed their things, ready to return to their territory—while Aoba Johsai would start practice matches with other high schools non-stop after they left. Date Tech in the morning and Shiratorizawa in the afternoon.

“Not really,” Kageyama Tobio said, somewhat puzzled. “He feels pretty much the same as usual.”

There was a difference between single-celled and single-celled organisms.

Kunimi Akira took over and asked Kindaichi: “Why do you think so?”

It was difficult for him to give a definite reason. Kindaichi stammered, and before the two lost their patience, he finally said: “I feel like the atmosphere is a little different from usual?”

Seeing the two still looking confused, Kindaichi shrugged in resignation. “Never mind, it must be my imagination.”

—’Imagination’ can take many forms. In simple terms, it is an incorrect and distorted perception of objective things: the phone rang, someone knocked on the door, she (he) likes me, these three things top the list.

“Tōru, are you listening?”

Called back to his senses by the familiar voice, Oikawa Tōru raised a smile and put the inexplicable thoughts he had just had out of his mind: “I’m listening.”

“The three-point attack starts, then the setter moves from the back row to the front row to set…” It was a tactic in which the setter stood in position one and served first, ensuring that there were three attack points available at the start, which required a lot from the setter.

After repeating the tactical arrangement, he raised his eyes to look at the person in front of him, seeming to jokingly ask: “Hmm, we’re about to play a relatively formal practice match, but you don’t seem nervous at all.”

Coach Irihata’s arrangement was very bold: spikers Arao, Miyano and Iwaizumi, blockers Saijō and Kokonoe, libero Furue, setter Oikawa. In addition to the original high-level regulars, there were as many as three first-year starters.

Most sports clubs have extremely fierce competition, and only a small number of excellent first-year students can become main members right away. If the selection of players is not handled well, it can lead to resentment among the upperclassmen, which will eventually have a terrible impact on the team. Teacher Guchi was originally worried that putting three first-year students in the lineup at once would cause public anger—

However, after the player list was announced, the worrying situation did not occur.

“Not to mention Oikawa, who is usually cynical, but when he stands on the court, he is more reliable than ever.” The upperclassmen mentioned when they were chatting together: “Iwaizumi is so reliable that sometimes you get the illusion that ‘is he the senior?’ His coordination with Oikawa is also so tacit that it’s beyond words. He was a very strong ace in middle school.”

“The most important thing is that he can control Oikawa.”

“That’s right, that’s very important! Too important!”

“And Kokonoe… He basically does extra training every night, and he’s been improving rapidly recently. Putting aside skills, if we only talk about athletic ability, he’s the most outstanding among us, right?”

Someone said in a deep voice: “No, you’re wrong—don’t underestimate Kokonoe’s serves and spikes. It feels like his serves have been getting harder and harder to receive lately… And his spikes, his coordination with Oikawa is really scary. It’s like he suddenly changed from a docile Samoyed to a tiger.”

“…What a terrible analogy.”

—The parties involved were not aware of this conversation, nor did they know how the seniors evaluated them.

Oikawa Tōru was still smiling as he waited for Kokonoe Taka’s answer.

Controlling his teammates’ condition had become as natural as breathing for him. But Oikawa Tōru wouldn’t use the standards he used for others to measure Kokonoe Taka’s state. He knew that if those things were applied to the person in front of him, they would only be completely overturned.

And Kokonoe Taka seemed to sense something and looked into his eyes.

“Nervous?” He repeated Oikawa Tōru’s words, unexpectedly asking: “Are you nervous? —I mean, about Shiratorizawa.”

“It’s just Ushiwaka.” Oikawa Tōru snorted, not at all surprised. “I want to see what he’s become after half a year.”

“Since you’re not nervous, why should I be?” Kokonoe Taka said lightly. “If anything, I’m more excited.”

Oikawa Tōru stopped looking at him.

When the students wearing Date Tech volleyball club uniforms appeared at the entrance of the gymnasium, the last ball in Oikawa Tōru’s hand was being tossed into the air for the spiker. He deliberately tossed the ball a little higher than usual, trying to get the answer he wanted to know.

And the spiker practicing spiking didn’t seem to notice that the height of this ball was higher than usual at all. His movements had become smooth from the initial clumsy stumbling, pushing off the ground, jumping up, chest out, abdomen extended, and his arms naturally drew a beautiful arc.

It was as if the ball should appear in that position, at that height.

Swing, hit the ball.

Was it an illusion?

Oikawa Tōru brought up that question again, but his mouth praised without any abnormality, “Nice hit—” the ending note light and rising.

It wasn’t until the members of the two teams changed their clothes and stood on the court, bowing to each other, that the smile that had been hanging on Oikawa Tōru’s mouth slowly straightened.

—The match begins!