JSWGAS Chapter 94

94.

“Iwaizumi——”

“What?”

Iwaizumi Hajime’s tone wasn’t very good, his eyes like knives stabbing into Oikawa Tōru’s fragile heart. He sighed pitifully, stretched out his long legs, and rested his chin on the volleyball he was holding. “Why are you always so cold to me, Iwaizumi… Also! I was the one who met you first, but you and Taka get along better…”

Iwaizumi almost thought he wasn’t in the volleyball club’s gymnasium, but at some weird women’s support group. But he relied on his intuition to accurately retort, “You should reflect on yourself first.”

Oikawa was speechless, but he quickly regained his composure. “What do I need to reflect on…” After a couple of seconds, he started sighing loudly, clearly needing someone with tact to pick up the conversation. Iwaizumi was doing push-ups, but the sighs were so annoying he couldn’t help but wish he could use a volleyball to knock some sense into the other.

“Spit it out.”

“It’s about that…” He really gave Oikawa a stage to ramble on, but now the latter was hesitating, “I just want to say… um…” Oikawa let go, abandoning the poor volleyball, “What do you think of Taka’s volleyball skills, Iwaizumi?”

“What kind of weird question is that?” Iwaizumi switched from push-ups to a plank, maintaining the position as he looked up at Oikawa, saying affirmatively, “You noticed something, didn’t you?”

Although he thought the question was nonsensical, he knew the troublesome guy well enough to think it wasn’t as simple as it seemed. Oikawa had shown amazing insight since he was very young. He seemed to easily discover the truth hidden in evasive eyes, under beautiful exteriors, and in silent actions.

Being forced to be tied to Oikawa made Iwaizumi understand more than anyone what a jerk Oikawa was, self-centered, annoyingly talkative, narcissistic to the point of wanting to beat that face into the ground so he’d cry… and many other labels. But behind those annoying flaws, there were also trustworthy merits.

Oikawa looked up sharply, suspicious. “Were you just cursing me in your head?”

Iwaizumi was impatient. “…Are you going to say it or not?”

Oikawa pouted as the volleyball started spinning on his fingertip.

“After Taka said he was returning to Miyagi to attend Aoba Johsai High, I contacted Mrs. Oikawa Sumiko.” He used that sentence as a beginning, and then became fluent. “Although he said words that even Mr. Oikawa would find corny… and didn’t lie about the reason for coming back, there should be another reason, right?”

Iwaizumi raised an eyebrow, nimbly climbing up from the ground. “…You found that reason?”

“Because it’s too sudden no matter how you look at it.” Oikawa explained, not looking at Iwaizumi, but continuing to stare at the volleyball spinning quickly on his fingertip. “I knew a long time ago that he was the kind of person who was stubborn, purely selfish, and only knew how to move forward. To be honest, I thought about having him play volleyball with us before… only once.” He shrugged as the volleyball stopped, “That was the time we lost to Ushiwaka in fifth grade. We lost, right? So I couldn’t tell him, and I didn’t have the chance to invite him again.”

“You even thought about that?”

“…Because volleyball is really fun.” Oikawa said, righteously. “Sharing with friends isn’t something incomprehensible, right? — Your expression is like you’re saying ‘Are you running a fever?’ I’m being serious, okay!”

Iwaizumi barely managed to withdraw his disgusted expression. “And then?”

“Then he went to Tokyo.” Oikawa skipped over that part unhappily. “It’s not like you didn’t see his matches at that time… Compared to the way we used to see him play tennis, basketball clearly won his heart more. …He played so well.” Oikawa repeated, “I thought he would deliberately show off with the trophy, provoke us; thought he would say nonchalantly ‘I’ve been waiting for you guys for a long time’ after we finally got into the nationals… but I never thought he would come back — give up basketball, and start over.”

Oikawa’s brown eyes were covered in a thin layer of mist at that moment. “He turned back. You know what Miyagi means to him, right? Even if only he is left in that house now, the scars that remain will always exist — he had already opened up a new path, why did he have to come back?”

Iwaizumi extracted the key points from this pile of words, his eyebrows furrowing tightly, leaving a deep line in the center of his forehead. “You’re saying…”

“The only thing that can cover a scar is another new scar.” Oikawa said, deeply exhaling. He felt Iwaizumi’s suddenly heavy breathing.

Oikawa didn’t continue. The gymnasium was quiet. The main character of their conversation had returned to Tokyo this weekend to visit his grandparents, and was probably already at his destination.

Oikawa rarely recalled the time when he threw a tantrum after losing the match. But now, he inexplicably remembered two boys sitting very close together on a long bench in a certain corridor of the Sendai City Gymnasium.

His consciousness returned.

“Aunt Sumiko told me the answer.” Oikawa said, “When he won the triple crown, weren’t there a lot of reports? Those magazines said something right… Taka during middle school was almost like a person from a different world compared to his contemporaries. He was too strong, he was desperately moving forward, and didn’t understand what his talent would bring. At that time – well, let’s call that guy his friend for now–”

“That guy wanted to keep up with his pace, tried very hard, and got injured as a result… Ha. Maybe it was the loneliness and anxiety of being left behind, and the more teammates who couldn’t stand shoulder-to-shoulder with him showed they cared about him, the more painful he felt — anyway, he said things that couldn’t be taken back, making Taka feel that focusing solely on his own pure desire to pursue something was wrong. There was no road ahead of him.”

The wound healed and scabbed over, but the remaining scars were still there. But he couldn’t just face that dead end, right? He couldn’t spend his whole life on it, right? — So he turned back, he wanted to find the answer here.

Iwaizumi interrupted him. “But Taka looks… not as…” He tried to find a descriptive word, “affected by this?”

“You’re really a blockhead, Iwaizumi.” Oikawa drawled, sighing like he was hopeless. “Some things are actually hard for even the person involved to notice.”

“Hidden pain, understand? You only feel it occasionally. Well, Godzilla Iwaizumi definitely can’t understand… That hurts!”

Iwaizumi expertly picked up a volleyball from the ground and accurately hit Oikawa, who leaned back from the impact, having to scramble to find his center of gravity, wobbling like a tumbler before glaring at Iwaizumi.

“Get to the point.” Iwaizumi threatened.

Oikawa muttered a few “jerk,” “no wonder you have such bad luck with girls,” “violent Godzilla” — and then cleared his throat before Iwaizumi hit him a second time, getting back to the point.

“Having said so much, let’s go back to the original question.” He raised a finger and shook it. “How is Taka’s volleyball playing?”

He only paused for a few seconds, answering himself, “Very good, improving quickly, otherwise he wouldn’t have made it onto the official roster for this time… But what else? Did you notice that most of Taka’s training is focused on basic training and physical training, he’s suppressing his desire for volleyball, so he rarely actively pursues it.”

Including his sets — Oikawa noticed that Kokonoe Taka’s setting error rate was higher when he was cooperating with others. He was being too careful. He was afraid of repeating the same mistakes, so he subconsciously blended into being ‘normal’.

The setting sun plunged into the deep sea.

“This is such a headache.” Oikawa swung his toes, complaining very childishly. “I still prefer a bird that flies.”

Iwaizumi glanced sideways at him. “What, what do you want to do again?”

“What do you mean ‘again’…”

The complaints were swallowed between his lips and teeth as he met his partner’s knowing gaze, filled with the unspoken meaning of ‘You definitely want to do something again.’ That’s prejudice! He wanted to shout at Iwaizumi like that, but ultimately felt a sense of speechlessness at being called out.

He was right, Oikawa did have something he wanted to do.

……

…………

Tokyo hadn’t changed much. High-rise buildings, power lines, crowds of people, plus a bit of hurried footsteps, made up a repetitive melody. Kokonoe Taka was mixed in with the crowd, struggling to squeeze his way to the exit. The sweltering air dissipated, and he walked along the road, where Kokonoe Zhíyě’s car was parked below the bus stop sign.

Kokonoe Taka lightened his footsteps, and when he got closer, his grandfather was smoking, not having noticed him. It wasn’t until he reached out and snatched the cigarette away that Kokonoe Zhíyě reacted, turning his head to look at him.

“Does Grandma know you’re secretly smoking?”

“…”

Kokonoe Zhíyě’s delighted smile at seeing his grandson disappeared.

Kokonoe Taka didn’t speak, and stretched out his hand.

Under the gaze of the public, Kokonoe Zhíyě meekly handed over the newly opened pack of cigarettes. “You’re becoming less and less cute, kid.” He complained softly, and then watched helplessly as his grandson went to the trash can not far away to dispose of his evidence.

“How’s it going in Miyagi? Are you happy at school? Do you need me and Yū to come over?”

“It’s alright, my teammates are interesting, and it’s not necessary.” Kokonoe Taka said, “Your recent thesis still isn’t finished, if you forget to eat and sleep, it’s hard to say who will be taking care of who.”

“…”

This kind of conversation was replayed after he got home. Kokonoe Taka patiently answered all the questions that his grandmother asked, and again rejected her suggestion to go with him to Miyagi. After lunch, Kokonoe Taka said goodbye to his grandparents and left.

“I’m going out.”

“Have fun, dear.”

It took five minutes to walk along the dense, crisscrossing roads to get to the bus stop. Ten minutes later, the bus carrying him stopped at an outdoor basketball court, where a heated game was being played in the fenced-in area. Several colorful heads rose and fell in the court, and on the bench next to the court, a red-haired boy with a straight back sat.

“Yo, little captain.”

On the bullet train to Tokyo, Kokonoe Taka swiped through the reports of Teiko Middle School’s unstoppable momentum this year. The boy in front of him had pushed open the door in the twilight, standing on the smooth floor of the basketball court, lightly calling him “senior.” It seemed like it had happened not long ago, but in the blink of an eye, he had become the steady and meticulous captain in the reports.

“Kokonoe-senpai.” Seijūrō Akashi’s eyes finally moved away from the competition on the court, softly saying the usual name, before realizing that the syllables had become unfamiliar. “Long time no see.”

“Aren’t you going to play?”

“I’ve already played two games.” Akashi replied, with a faint smile. “I can’t let Momoi watch alone from the sidelines… But the rules of the game have also been changed slightly. Now, only the balls scored by Momoi and Kuroko count.”

Setting Momoi aside, Kuroko’s zero-for-ten record wouldn’t even make it onto the leaderboard of vying, competitive teenage boys. Kokonoe Taka couldn’t help but laugh. “That’s interesting, whose idea was that?”

Akashi laughed along with him.

“How is life in Miyagi?”

“It’s quite comfortable.” Kokonoe Taka said, “You’re the third person to ask me that question today.”

“Maybe there will be more later.”

After a few casual chats.

“Does Kokonoe-senpai still have contact with Habashira-senpai?”

“Yeah, but we haven’t met recently… Are you wondering why I invited you guys out to play, but didn’t look for Suzume?” Kokonoe Taka spread out his hands. “He got caught and forced to go to cram school. After consistently getting low grades for two months in a row, he finally crashed this time, and is probably furiously writing in the classroom right now, right?”

Akashi nodded. He hesitated for a moment before softly asking, “Senpai is playing volleyball now… Are you happy?”

The real answer was he didn’t know, but he couldn’t show weakness in front of his junior. Kokonoe Taka tried to connect with his innermost self, but only a little residual warmth could prove the torment of his thoughts. But even the little heat that was leaked could prove the addictive craze.

…Although, it ultimately turned into a stopping silence.

Kokonoe Taka curved his eyelashes, answering softly.

“Probably happy, I guess.”

Time didn’t give Seijūrō Akashi a chance to ask further. The sweaty boys finally noticed the face that had been here for a long time, laughing and greeting him, and itching to give the senior a chance to be defeated. Kokonoe Taka raised his eyebrows at Aomine’s declaration of war, and with a slightly contemptuous tone, agreed to step onto the battlefield.

“Alright, don’t cry if you lose, okay?”

“Who would!”

Holding the basketball in his hands, it felt like a lifetime ago, and he even felt a dazed sense of strangeness. Dribbling, backing off, feinting, shooting, he became more and more skilled, and the feeling of his body was recovering. His old friend was fighting side-by-side with him. But without a doubt, he could no longer feel the fulfillment he had once felt.

He subconsciously flexed his wrist when he shot, but the ball still went into the basket. Looking up, he heard Kise sigh in frustration, and Kokonoe Taka quipped, “Is this all you’ve got?”

“Uwaa, so cocky! We really shouldn’t have let Kuroko and Kokonoe-senpai team up…”

Kokonoe Taka reached out and put his arm around Tetsuya Kuroko’s shoulder. “Can’t be helped, sometimes luck is part of skill.”

The movement concealed the subconscious activity of his right wrist. He knew clearly that he didn’t need that wrist flex technique for basketball.

…Never mind, don’t think about it.

…I wonder what Tōru and Iwaizumi are doing now!