Chapter 52: Days Before School Starts
While Yukigaoka's seven-member group was conducting their intense four-senior-three-underclassman training during the holiday, one of them secretly pulled out his phone, excused himself to use the bathroom, and snuck into the stairwell to make a call.
"Hello, hello. This is xxxx."
"Yes, we've only been exchanging text messages before. This is our first phone conversation."
"Right, although I'm not entirely sure about the accuracy of this information, if it really happens, doing what we discussed before would still be a good situation."
"Not at all, it's just that my family has been very supportive, so I've been exposed to volleyball since childhood and know a bit more than others."
"Alright, then we'll see each other when school starts."
"Yes, yes, byebye."
Ichise Guren's face emerged from the shadows behind the fire door in the stairwell, an atmosphere of conspiracy spreading around him.
Hinata Shoyo, who had also come to use the bathroom, was startled by the cold smile on Ichise Guren's face. Feeling like he'd encountered a villain, Hinata quickly hid around the corner. Only after Ichise Guren entered the restroom did he cautiously peek his head around the corner wall twice, then let out a long breath and muttered to himself.
"What's going on? Guren has felt like he's hiding something from us these past few days, but nothing has actually happened. Something feels off."
Hinata Shoyo's beast-like intuition was indeed accurate - Ichise Guren was indeed hiding something from them.
Just as the little monkey was scratching his head wondering why his teammate was acting this way, discussions about the little monkey's teammate were coincidentally occurring among Miyagi Prefecture's high school volleyball powerhouses.
At Aoba Johsai, in their elegantly decorated cafeteria.
Oikawa Toru and Iwaizumi Hajime were eating ramen together. After swallowing his noodles, Iwaizumi, the longtime best friend of the great king, casually mentioned:
"Trashykawa, do you know there was a super rookie from Miyagi Prefecture in this year's middle school tournament?"
Oikawa nonchalantly sipped his soup, then picked up on a topic that completely missed the point of Iwaizumi's words.
"Change the nickname, Iwa-chan."
"Bastard Oikawa."
"Isn't that just changing from a nickname to the full name?"
Oikawa's retort stopped very timely when he saw Iwaizumi's darkened face. He then straightened up and answered Iwaizumi's question seriously.
"Ah, Ichise Guren from Yukigaoka. I saw him in Volleyball Monthly."
"'Greatest Individual Performance,' right?"
"Just hearing it is annoying. I bet he's another one of those detestable genius types."
The first two sentences were spoken in Oikawa's relatively normal tone, but the last one was delivered in a falsely casual tone that actually carried some disgust.
Looking at his childhood friend who he'd played with since they were small, Iwaizumi pulled out a tissue to wipe his mouth. Rather than picking up the topic of 'genius,' he voiced a certain concern.
"A powerful player who showed attack power at the middle school level comparable to volleyball prodigy Ushijima Wakatoshi - he'll probably be detected by Coach Washijo's radar for strong players and get a special admission to Shiratorizawa."
"We might have to face a Shiratorizawa with two Ushiwaka's at IH and Spring High."
Crumpling the tissue into a ball and tossing it into a nearby trash can, Iwaizumi looked at Oikawa without speaking, waiting for his response.
"Relax, relax. This year Kitagawa also has two pretty good newcomers coming to Seijoh, and there's a third-year middle schooler who's already almost 189cm tall!"
"Our team's strength has improved quite a bit too. Just wait and watch me beat Shiratorizawa and Ushiwaka into the ground at IH and get my revenge!"
Seeing Oikawa, who seemed fine and was even preparing to lift his bowl to drink the soup, Iwaizumi just raised an eyebrow and didn't continue the topic.
"It's rare for you, bastard, to think so positively about things."
"Oh my, what are you saying? I'm always this positive~"
After saying this, Oikawa began lifting his ramen bowl to drink the soup, but his face hidden behind the bowl was filled with fury.
'Damn Ushiwaka!'
'No sportsmanship!'
'Actually getting help!'
'How shameless!'
'Bah!'
After internally cursing Shiratorizawa for a while, having vented his frustration, Oikawa finished the soup in his bowl and smiled at Iwaizumi.
"Let's rest a bit, then go to the gym and practice 200 jump serves?"
"Yeah."
At Shiratorizawa, in the luxuriously appointed student dormitory.
"Hey!"
Tendou Satori threw open the door to Ushijima Wakatoshi's shared dorm room.
"Wakatoshi-kun, have you seen the latest Volleyball Monthly?"
"Yes, I have."
After getting the answer he wanted, Tendou began asking his next question.
"Did you see that guy with the terrifyingly high contact point?"
"Yes, Ichise Guren. He's from our prefecture. He recently rejected Coach Washijo's recruitment."
"What?!"
Tendou was somewhat surprised. In his view, Shiratorizawa was the perfect monster gathering place for Ichise Guren. He had originally thought they'd have another spring-loaded monster underclassman after school started, never expecting that Ichise Guren would actually reject old man Washijo's invitation.
Seeing his friend's surprise, Ushijima told him what Ichise Guren had said to Coach Washijo at the time.
"The assistant coach told me later that when the old man came back, he said in a very calm tone that the kid wanted to defeat our Shiratorizawa, so he rejected my invitation."
"Really?"
Tendou was even more surprised, his eyes widening.
What kind of bold statement was that? In his two years at Shiratorizawa, he'd never seen anyone dare to speak to Coach Washijo like that.
"It should be true. I was just repeating what the assistant coach said. No matter what he wants to do, if he really makes it to face us, we'll just play a serious match with him."
Ushijima's completely unconcerned expression made Tendou think internally, 'That's Ushijima for you - even facing an aggressive newcomer, he doesn't take it to heart at all.'
While the two strongest high schools in Miyagi Prefecture were hotly discussing Ichise Guren, Tsukishima Akiteru, who worked in the Ichise Group's purchasing department, was standing at Tsukishima's door with a beautifully packaged nutritional supplement.
'The young master of the Ichise family wouldn't lie to me, right?'
He recalled the scene from when Ichise Guren was small and he had just started working, when they played volleyball together in the Ichise Group's volleyball team training facility.
'He's loved playing since childhood, and his family is so wealthy. Having this kind of nutritional supplement is normal, right?'
'Besides, who casually mentions something and then sends a whole truck of supplements?'
Two days ago, on his way home, Ichise Guren had encountered Tsukishima Akiteru, who was also driving home. The two, who hadn't seen each other in a while, rolled down their windows and chatted briefly.
Tsukishima Akiteru had only noticed the beautifully packaged drink in Ichise Guren's hand, thinking it was a new product from some beverage brand acquired by the Ichise Group, so he casually asked about it.
After getting Ichise Guren's reply, a somewhat surprised Tsukishima Akiteru had casually mentioned that he had a younger brother at home who was also growing and seemed to be playing volleyball too.
Ichise Guren had asked what flavor his brother liked, and today, a truck had arrived and stopped in front of the Tsukishima house. Two movers had carried several large boxes of supplements into the Tsukishima home, saying it was an order from the Ichise Group and the bill would be paid through corporate accounts.
Looking at the supplement in his hand - strawberry flavored - Tsukishima Akiteru was somewhat troubled. There was too much. If they drank it, his younger brother might not want to. If they didn't drink it, it was a whole truck's worth taking up space, and throwing it away might result in getting fired the next day for stepping through the door with his left foot first. Very troublesome.
In the end, Tsukishima Akiteru still knocked on the door.
Tsukishima Kei's flat voice came from behind the tightly closed door.
"Who is it? What's the matter?"
"Ah, ah! It's me, big brother."
"Oh, what is it?"
"That... that... Mom said to buy you some vitamin supplements that promote adolescent development and stuff. I brought you a bottle to see if you like the taste. Haha, hahahaha."
Through the door, Tsukishima Akiteru scratched his head with an awkward laugh.
Inside the room, a somewhat puzzled Tsukishima Kei, tilting his head, still let his big brother in.
Then he turned his chair around to look at his somewhat nervous and embarrassed brother.
"Doesn't Mom always think I'm getting a bit too tall?"
"Why would she have you buy growth-promoting stuff?"
After a long silence, looking at his brother who couldn't think of what lie to fabricate for a moment, Tsukishima Kei's glasses flashed with a gleam.
"Whatever, just give it to me. I'll see if it tastes good."
He then extended his hand toward Tsukishima Akiteru, opening his palm for him to hand over the supplement.
Tsukishima Akiteru wore an expression of [being let off the hook] and hurriedly handed over the supplement in his hand.
Then, finding an excuse, he fled from Tsukishima Kei's room.
Shaking the nutritional supplement in his hand, Tsukishima Kei first looked at the characters displaying [Strawberry Flavor]. Then, with an expression of [not believing in his brother's intelligence], he traced the production license and patent number on the bottle packaging back to the Ichise Group.
Thinking that his brother worked in the Ichise Group's purchasing department and figuring it might be something his brother brought him, after confirming the production qualifications and expiration date were fine, he drank it on his own.
As he drank, his eyebrows raised slightly.
'Not bad.'
With the mindset that it quite suited his taste, Tsukishima Kei drank it throughout the entire holiday.
It wasn't until school started that he discovered his brother's claim about promoting growth and development was true, and the effects were quite good.
It made up for much of the growth nutrition that Tsukishima Kei had lost due to his small appetite, resulting in his height shooting up to 189 centimeters.
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