JSWGAS Chapter 87

“——Please give me a milk bread.”

“We don’t have that.”

“……Then Mr. Oikawa wants to eat foie gras——”

“We don’t have that either.”

“You don’t have this, you don’t have that, then what do you have! ——Ah, that hurts.”

The cafeteria server silently sized up the person standing at the window. He had been wondering why the window that rarely saw any customers on weekdays suddenly became popular today. It seemed the answer was right in front of him——

A handsome boy with slightly upturned hair was making trouble by asking a series of deliberately difficult questions. But before the server could react, all the questions were quickly answered by the person behind the handsome boy, ending with a decisive smack on the fluffy head.

“Sorry.”

After pressing down the head in front of him, the server finally saw the whole picture of the classmate with the calm tone. He was just as handsome as the troublemaker, but in a different style: “Please give me two orders of signature grilled meat rice.”

The server noticed another string of people passing by, staring intently at the two in front, and then quickly lining up at the end of the queue, repeating this pattern: “……Okay.”

The one who was pushed down stubbornly raised his head, protesting: “I want teriyaki chicken rice——”

“Then one order of signature grilled meat rice and one order of teriyaki chicken rice.” Kokonoe Taka didn’t even twitch an eyebrow, threatening Oikawa Tōru, who was still trying to push his luck: “If you say another word, I’ll make you watch me finish mine before you can eat yours.”

Oikawa Tōru feigned surprise: “Eh? But Taka wouldn’t do that, right? You definitely wouldn’t treat me like that, would you?”

Kokonoe Taka gave the server an apologetic smile, the words that came out of his mouth cold and ruthless: “You can try.”

Oikawa Tōru didn’t want to bet his lunch on it. He carried his tray, following behind Kokonoe Taka.

“Why do you have more meat than me?”

“Do I?”

“Definitely!”

Kokonoe Taka didn’t continue this endless and meaningless small talk. He found his target: Iwaizumi Hajime was sitting at a table with the others from Aoba Johsai. There was a seat left next to him, and an empty seat across from them. Kokonoe Taka almost without hesitation decided to sit next to Iwaizumi: “I have to say.”

As Oikawa Tōru complained and sat down across from them, Kokonoe Taka poked at the meat patty on his plate, saying to Iwaizumi Hajime: “Koiwa, you’ve really worked hard all these years.”

“I wish I could have been freed sooner.” Iwaizumi Hajime immediately knew what he was referring to. The two tacitly ignored Oikawa Tōru, who had realized what they were talking about and started to make a fuss, and the conversation continued: “But at least now I’m not the only one being tormented.”

Matsukawa: “I find it hard to judge who’s tormenting who.”

Hanamaki: “Agreed, Oikawa’s sarcastic remarks and Iwaizumi’s iron fist, and Kokonoe’s ruthless taunts… hiss, it’s hard to say which is more powerful.”

Oikawa Tōru indignantly said: “Of course the violent Koiwa is more terrifying, right.” The spoon hit the edge of the plate, making a crisp sound. “Now that Taka is colluding with you, Koiwa must be secretly laughing in his heart, right?”

Iwaizumi Hajime calmly said: “I don’t want Ushiwaka to see a dead setter when Shiratorizawa comes over this afternoon. Or Taka, can you fill in as setter this afternoon?”

Kokonoe Taka: “I can do anything.”

Hanamaki, Matsukawa: “Pfft.”

Oikawa Tōru didn’t admit that he was being threatened, although he did quiet down because of it.

………………

Shiratorizawa, the strongest high school in the prefecture, had made it to the national tournament several times in recent years, and had achieved good results. In addition to Ushijima Wakatoshi, who had been called a ‘monster’ since middle school and was a highly anticipated super ace spiker, this year’s freshman class was said to have recruited several outstanding talents.

Semi Eita, also a well-known setter since middle school; Ōhira Reon, the ace of Kōzen Junior High School in the previous year, a spiker with both power and technique; Yamagata Hayato, not as strong as the previous two. But he was also ranked among the top liberos in the prefecture.

“Hiss, I still find it a bit unreal.” Matsukawa said with emotion after learning the opponent’s roster, “So many amazing people one after another. Semi was apparently a candidate for another best setter at the time?”

Several pairs of eyes looked at the person who won the Best Setter award. Oikawa Tōru clicked his tongue: “Semi… his playing style is just like Ushiwaka, annoying as hell.”

“Maybe in their eyes you’re even more annoying.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”

Time passed by in the gradually tightening air. When the door was pushed open, everyone felt a sense of relief like ‘they’re finally here.’ Coach Irihata took the lead in welcoming them, exchanging a few simple greetings with Coach Washijo of Shiratorizawa, who had a stern expression———while Oikawa Tōru bent down to pick up a volleyball near his feet, squinting at a certain expressionless spiker in the Shiratorizawa team, and then slammed the volleyball fiercely into the ball basket.

Kokonoe Taka passed by and steadied the swaying ball basket: “Venting your anger?”

Oikawa Tōru: “I’m not.” He changed his gaze in annoyance, “What kind of image do I have in your heart?”

Iwaizumi Hajime, who was passing by at the same time, heard this and didn’t hesitate: “Scumbag, trash.”

Oikawa Tōru: “……I was clearly asking Taka, why are you answering for him!”

Iwaizumi Hajime was too lazy to bother with him, and left with the ball in his arms. The reason why Oikawa couldn’t continue was because Ushijima Wakatoshi had accurately locked onto him during this time, and had now walked up to him: “Long time no see, Oikawa.”

Oikawa Tōru muttered something, and a warm smile reappeared on his face: “Yeah———we meet again. Although it’s not in a formal match, I’m still looking forward to showing you the strength of Aoba Johsai in the practice match———don’t cry when you lose to us, okay?”

Ushijima Wakatoshi seemed to not notice the faint gunpowder smell in Oikawa’s tone at all, calmly replying: “Aoba Johsai is not the best place for you to unleash your full potential.”

He firmly continued to Oikawa, whose face quickly darkened: “Shiratorizawa is the most suitable for you, Oikawa. You should come to Shiratorizawa.”

If there was anyone in this world who both understood and hated Ushijima Wakatoshi, it would probably be Oikawa Tōru. They had been rivals for three years, and it looked like this ill-fated relationship was going to continue. And what Oikawa Tōru hated the most was Ushijima Wakatoshi’s matter-of-fact and understated attitude every time. It was like an oxidizing agent coming into contact with an organic peroxide, ultimately only leading to an explosion.

Hanamaki poked Kokonoe Taka: “……The atmosphere between those two is terrible, is it okay?”

Matsukawa also had an indescribable expression: “Is Ushijima saying that on purpose? Honestly, my fists are getting a little itchy.”

Kokonoe Taka made a drawn-out, ambiguous reply. He didn’t take any further action as Hanamaki and Matsukawa had expected, but instead stared intently at the two with the bad atmosphere. “Let’s watch a bit more.”

“That’s just what Little Ushiwaka thinks, right? Being too self-centered will cost you points.” Oikawa Tōru retorted with a fake smile, “I don’t think Shiratorizawa would suit me———and.” He childishly, exaggeratedly made a face at Ushijima Wakatoshi, “Underestimating us comes at a price!”

If you ignore the sound of him grinding his teeth, that threat was actually somewhat decent———but other than that, the person being threatened was particularly clueless. Ushijima Wakatoshi tilted his head in confusion, maybe he wanted to say ‘I’m not underestimating you.’ But the coach’s call for them to gather interrupted their conversation. As he was about to return to the Shiratorizawa team, Ushijima Wakatoshi remembered something and replied to Oikawa Tōru’s initial provocation.

“Only Shiratorizawa will win.” After a pause, he added confusedly, “So Oikawa, do you cry when you lose a match?”

——In a perfectly serious way.

From the beginning, faint, stifled laughter was heard from the crowd observing here, almost burning away Oikawa Tōru’s sanity. Before he could rush up and murder the Shiratorizawa ace, Kokonoe Taka seized the opportunity, strode forward, grabbed Oikawa Tōru’s collar.

“Let go of me!” Oikawa Tōru struggled, his eyes flashing fiercely: “Anyway, the match hasn’t started yet, I’ll take advantage of this time to get rid of Little Ushiwaka who I hate so much…Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!”

Kokonoe Taka decisively changed his posture, putting his arm around Oikawa Tōru’s shoulders, and used his other hand to pinch his cheeks to stop him from saying anything dangerous, and then with an unchanged expression nodded to Ushijima Wakatoshi, who paused in his steps, “Long time no see, Ushijima-kun.” After a slight pause, after confirming that Ushijima Wakatoshi remembered him, he slowly added, “Aoba Johsai will win.”

Ushijima Wakatoshi stared at him for a long time. “It’s you.” With a serious face, he was just about to continue rebutting, “The winner will be Shira…” when he was pushed back into his school’s team by Ōhira Reon, who rushed out from Shiratorizawa’s side.

Smiling apologetically, then nodding again. Ōhira Reon, who had been given the important task of bringing his classmate back from the overly concentrated area of Aoba Johsai, was very clear that such declarations of war would only be repeated back and forth, so his actions were particularly quick.

Oikawa Tōru watched helplessly as the two wearing Shiratorizawa uniforms quickly disappeared. Taking advantage of Kokonoe Taka’s relaxed grip, he struggled free, and the first thing he did was turn his head and question: “You know Ushiwaka?” His tone was full of disbelief and heartache. “Why?!”

The others couldn’t help but be curious, itching to know: “I want to ask too. Kokonoe, weren’t you in Tokyo all this time?”

“Didn’t I tell you before?” Kokonoe Taka was instead surprised by Oikawa Tōru’s ignorance. “I applied to Shiratorizawa just to see Ushijima-kun, didn’t you pick me up that day?”

Oikawa Tōru was even more shocked: “When did that happen——” No, on closer thought, there seemed to be such a past. But at the time, Oikawa Tōru thought that this person had only looked at Ushijima from afar. Now it seemed that this ‘meeting’ was probably mutual. A thousand words ultimately converged into a pale wail: “Why!?”

……

…………

“Wakatoshi——”

Tendō Satori, with his flamboyant red hair, rubbed against Ushijima Wakatoshi’s side. He was subconsciously hunching his back, his expression somewhat lazy, but his eyes were turning slyly, creating a stark contrast with Ushijima, who was standing straight. “Did you just go to make a threat?”

Ushijima Wakatoshi seriously replied: “I was greeting someone I knew, the setter I told you about before.”

Tendō Satori clenched his right fist and knocked it against his open left hand in sudden realization, adding a “Bingo!” sound effect to himself. “The setter who rejected Wakatoshi-kun?——” Noticing Semi Eita turning his head, he playfully winked at him, “Being wishy-washy will make Eita sad, you know?” Semi Eita only turned his head when he heard the part he was interested in, and twitched the corner of his mouth slightly upon hearing the words: “Who’s that fragile?” It wasn’t a secret within the Shiratorizawa team that Ushijima had always been very attached to his opponent, Oikawa Tōru. “Is it Oikawa?” he asked.

Short answer: “Yeah.”

Ōhira Reon stroked his chin: “Was the one who stopped Oikawa Iwaizumi?” Because of the competition groupings, Ōhira Reon had not played against Kitagawa Daiichi during middle school, and only knew a little about Kitagawa Daiichi’s setter and ace.

“It’s not Iwaizumi.” Ushijima Wakatoshi denied, “I’ve seen that person at Shiratorizawa. Tendō has seen him too.”

“Eh?”

The others were stunned, and Tendō Satori quickly stuck his head out from the side of the team, peering sharply around, and finally shrunk back under Coach Washijo’s burning gaze. “Ah, I didn’t expect he’d actually go to Aoba Johsai?”

“Yeah.”

“His eyes have become even scarier, it feels like I’m going to be eaten up, eh?” Tendō Satori spread his hands with a grin, but his eyes were full of eagerness to try.

“Stop using the encrypted channel,” Semi Eita said weakly. “Since he’s been seen at Shiratorizawa, shouldn’t he be a Shiratorizawa student? Why is he at Aoba Johsai now?”

–

The door connected to the Shiratorizawa regular exam was only open to smart people with high deviation values, and everyone hoped that they were that smart person. So the school was packed on the day the results were released, and even those who were holed up in the gymnasium could hear the noisy sounds outside.

Tendō Satori slipped out for a walk during the break: looking at the results, looking for teachers, asking about classes, getting familiar with the environment… endless streams of people, noisy and clamorous. He had been recommended to Shiratorizawa by Coach Washijo, and had checked into the Shiratorizawa dormitory weeks earlier. But after curiously watching for a while, he quickly felt bored again, so he returned to the gymnasium.

With his flamboyant red hair and nonchalant smile, no one who wanted to ask for directions dared to approach him along the way. But this peace was broken just as he was about to reach the gymnasium, “Excuse me, which direction is the volleyball club’s gymnasium?”

“Oya?”

The person asking for directions was wearing a dark jacket and work pants, stepping on a pair of black and red running shoes. The styles were simple and generous, but when worn on him, he looked like the lead singer of an underground band tearing up the streets. However, the lead singer Tendō Satori had seen had a few less sharp edges and a few more affected mannerisms than the one in front of him. Not only that, the two were quite far apart in terms of appearance.

These few glances only took three or four seconds. Tendō Satori shook his head and asked with interest: “Freshman? Coming to visit the volleyball club?” He originally wanted to act like a senior, and had already thought about what he would say if the other party confirmed, but he heard the other party deny it. “Looking for someone.”

Those clear and sharp gray eyes looked over, gazes crossed, the words were certain. “You’re in the volleyball club.”

“Eh?” He was really surprised this time. “How did you know?”

“Just guessing.” The perfunctoriness was almost blatantly displayed in front of him. Another person might have been angered, but Tendō Satori strangely felt a peculiar aura from the other person.

He always acted as he pleased, so he changed the question again. “Then this ice-faced classmate———who are you looking for? Maybe I know them?”

His premonitions were always accurate, and as expected, the person in front of him said a familiar name.

“Ushijima, Ushijima Wakatoshi.”

They were starting from a place very close to the gymnasium, just a few steps away after turning a corner. Along the way, Tendō Satori chatted with the other person casually, the topics being selectively answered, but avoiding the reason for coming here to find Ushijima Wakatoshi. Anyway, you’ll show your true colors after seeing Wakatoshi, right? Tendō Satori thought so, and wasn’t in a hurry, ignoring Coach Washijo’s rule that outsiders were not allowed to enter the training ground.

Ushijima Wakatoshi was practicing serving alone when they came in, and the reason was inseparable from the runaway Tendō Satori. “You haven’t finished your training.”

“Sorry, Wakatoshi-kun.”

These two sentences sounded one after the other. Until Tendō Satori guaranteed that he would obediently complete his training and toss fifty more balls to Ushijima, Ushijima Wakatoshi’s oppressive gaze finally changed its object of observation.

Tendō Satori was adding sound effects to himself in his mouth: “Da-da-da———this classmate has come to see you, Wakatoshi-kun?” With a flash, he let the person he brought in make a brilliant debut. The latter had been silent since entering the gymnasium, compared to which was the undisguised scrutiny and evaluation. It was not until Tendō cleared the way that he narrowed his eyes and withdrew his offensive gaze, which had stepped into another person’s territory.

But what he did next was something no one expected. Throwing his backpack, rolling up his sleeves, and walking slowly and deliberately into the court, he actually broke the illusion of peace between monsters. Ushijima Wakatoshi frowned, staring at the floor that the other person had stepped on, wanting to say something, but suddenly stopped after hearing the person’s next sentence.

“I’m quite curious about the level of a nationally renowned left-handed spiker.” Tendō Satori heard the person he brought in say this provocative statement to Ushijima Wakatoshi, yes, it was a provocation. “After all, there are countless idiots who have been beaten to a pulp, it shouldn’t make a difference if I’m added to the list. I’m just afraid that the rumors aren’t true, don’t you think, Ushijima-kun?”

By the way, blocking Ushijima Wakatoshi’s words: “As for the floor, I can help clean it up later.”

Tendō Satori couldn’t help but laugh.

Compared to the arrogant words, the war that unfolded between the two was chaotic. The people reporting to the Shiratorizawa volleyball club had not yet arrived, and there were only Ushijima and Tendō idle. So the method of comparison was only spiking and receiving. Tendō Satori volunteered to temporarily play the setter, forcing the issue with his passing, which couldn’t be called comfortable and could only be called terrible, and acting as the referee of the match.

Ushijima and Tendō were on one side, the uninvited guest was on the other; Tendō set the ball and Ushijima spiked, if the other party failed to receive the ball, it was considered a loss, and vice versa, Ushijima lost.

It was hard to say whether the gray-eyed boy’s strange receiving skills were better or Tendō Satori’s terrible setting was even better. Ushijima did consciously adjust the angle of his spikes to be as comfortable as possible, but most of them still couldn’t be saved. Surprisingly, every ball was received by the other side———although the posture of receiving the ball was more like the shooting posture of the neighboring basketball club, the cunning thing was that the other party touched the ball and left, not giving anyone a chance to catch a foul.

Occasionally, a few balls with both weight and rotation were simply kicked forward with his legs. Until Tendō Satori played exceptionally well, tossing a comfortable ball, the outstretched arms of the person receiving the ball were violently knocked open by this ball, instantly turning red.

“You’ve never played volleyball.”

The match was over, he had accepted his loss, but neither of them dwelled on this. Ushijima Wakatoshi took the lead in asking, while the other person looked down and pressed the red area on his arm, then put down his sleeve to cover the mark. “Yeah, I haven’t played.” The fairly candid answer made Tendō Satori feel even more curious.

But he clearly had no intention of resolving the confusion for the two of them. “Sure enough, you’re amazing.” Unadulterated praise. “I understand why someone would want to defeat you so much.”

Tendō Satori couldn’t wait, he instinctively felt that this was the key to everything: “Who? Who wants to defeat Wakatoshi?”

“An idiot.”

The sharp assessment faintly carried an unavoidable indulgence, which only left Tendō Satori with the dissatisfaction of an unsolved mystery in his ears: “Eh, so cunning.”

Neither of the remaining two people paid any attention to him, a sharp sense of danger that no one could interfere with was quietly permeating the air.

“When we meet again, let me try to pull you down from the clouds, Ushijima-kun.”

“……I accept anyone’s challenge.”

Tendō Satori’s voice was mixed in with the imminent scene of danger.

“This interesting classmate,” he said sincerely, “don’t you think that’s a terrible way of putting it?”

“……?”

“……”

One person didn’t understand, one person understood but pretended not to understand.

It wasn’t until the uninvited guest left the Shiratorizawa gymnasium that Tendō Satori leaned against the ball basket, watching Ushijima Wakatoshi standing on the outside line again, preparing to serve.

“Speaking of which, Wakatoshi-kun.”

“?”

“I didn’t expect you to accept a random provocationah——”

It was really strange for the random Tendō Satori to say the word random. But Ushijima Wakatoshi just quietly lowered his eyes and thought about it. “That guy.” He raised his eyes. “He was very serious.”

Whether it was speaking provocatively, or receiving the ball in a strange position, or the final declaration of war, it was full of nonsense and inexplicability, almost giving people the illusion of ‘what did this guy come for’———but Ushijima Wakatoshi keenly smelled an aura similar to his own through those chaotic surfaces.

——A crushing desire that made people stir and couldn’t help but laugh.

Tendō Satori stared at Ushijima Wakatoshi’s unconsciously widened eyes, which were vaguely similar to those of a beast, for a long time before tilting his head: “Is that so…”

“But that guy came into Shiratorizawa, maybe he’s going to study here?”

“……”

“Forget it, I don’t want to think about it———anyway, we can always meet again later, right? Although I still don’t know his name…”

Neither of them were able to meet this inexplicably appearing person again, only to hear from the classmates around them during class breaks that there was a guy this year at Shiratorizawa who passed the normal enrollment exam, ranked second on the list, but ultimately gave up enrolling at Shiratorizawa.

“Tendō? Are you interested in this?” The classmate was a little strange, but still answered him.

“Hmm,… As for the name, it seems to be Kokonoe.”

“——Kokonoe Taka.”

–

Across the net, Tendō Satori thought with some regret.

“A white eagle and an eagle… aren’t they quite a match?”