Chapter 55: Practice Match - Guess Who We're Playing Against
"Uh..."
Hinata Shoyo, who had originally wanted to propose a decisive battle with the senpai to determine whether he and Kageyama Tobio should be officially allowed to join the volleyball club, was now quite shocked by Sawamura Daichi's proposal.
His whole body trembling slightly, his voice unconsciously carried a quiver.
"Me and the 'King' against Ichise Guren and Hyakuzawa Yudai???"
"Really??"
Kageyama Tobio looked at Hinata Shoyo with disgust, then stepped forward and said:
"No problem! If we win, let me join the volleyball club as the setter!!"
"Hey! Don't make decisions for others without permission!! You bastard!"
Hinata Shoyo angrily jumped up and grabbed Kageyama Tobio's collar.
"Do you know how strong those two are when they work together?!"
Kageyama Tobio didn't indulge Hinata Shoyo either, backhanding him and throwing him away.
"Don't be stupid, waste. Do you think you'll never encounter people this strong again?"
"If you really think that, then why are you even playing volleyball?!!"
Kageyama Tobio glared angrily at Hinata Shoyo while saying what he thought was obvious.
Hinata Shoyo, who had nimbly flipped back to his feet, stood up to Kageyama Tobio without backing down and retorted bluntly:
"You don't think I'm scared, do you? It's precisely because I clearly know how strong those two are that I'm trembling with excitement!"
Sweeping his left hand backward across his chest, Hinata Shoyo's face was already rising with thick fighting spirit.
"Ahem~~"
Sawamura Daichi coughed, and after both looked at him, he said what he wanted to say.
"You two must recognize the power of teamwork and treat each other as teammates to join the volleyball club."
"If we put Ichise Guren, Hyakuzawa Yudai, and Hoshino Masaru on your team, it would be meaningless, wouldn't it?"
"They were already your teammates from middle school. Even if Kageyama Tobio just acts as a tool setter, you wouldn't fear any team."
"We need to break your dependence on your former teammates!"
"On the day of the practice match, look clearly - everyone standing on this side of the net is your teammate!"
"It's decided!"
"The new member Tsukishima will team up with Ichise, Hyakuzawa, and Hoshino."
"Yamaguchi, who's also a beginner, will join you, plus we'll add second-year Tanaka to your team too."
Bang!
The volleyball club's metal door slammed shut.
No matter how much the two outside argued, Sawamura Daichi showed no intention of paying attention, instead quietly chatting with Ichise Guren.
"Although I don't know why you wanted Tsukishima on your team to face off against Kageyama and Hinata, I still trust your judgment."
"During this holiday, thanks to your training knowledge, I feel our volleyball technique has improved much faster than before."
Ichise Guren smiled slightly.
"It's nothing, Daichi-senpai. Your fundamentals were already solid. I just provided some more functional and advanced training methods."
"Without your previous accumulated effort in training, these methods wouldn't have had much effect."
"Execution, accumulation, and dedication - these are things you already possessed. You just lacked a key."
After listening, Sawamura Daichi was thoughtful. Having lacked coaching guidance since entering school, they had relied on their own efforts and constant thinking to explore stronger volleyball techniques.
Three years of accumulation had given him confidence in his receiving that was no less than others', but he always felt his volleyball technique could reach another level - he just couldn't grasp that key.
"Well, regardless, thank you for the trouble."
"By the way, I was originally planning to have Tsukishima, Yamaguchi, and myself face Kageyama, Hinata, and Tanaka."
"If you hadn't said that with Hinata's current technique plus Kageyama Tobio, their strength could overpower those two new students, I might have really done that."
Ichise Guren shook his head, glancing at the two who had already walked away outside the window, and said slowly:
"Not really. If we just wanted Kageyama Tobio and Hinata Shoyo to cooperate, it really wouldn't be difficult. During his third year of middle school, Shoyo was trained by those teammates with inconsistent setter skills, so he can basically cooperate with any setter now."
"But our goal isn't just to make them cooperate. If we want the King of Kitagawa Daiichi to integrate into the team, we need to apply high pressure and force them to grow."
"We need to make them realize that adding teammates' strengths together is definitely not the optimal solution, and six strong people is definitely not just about putting six strong individuals on a team."
_____
The two who were still practicing their coordination at night encountered Tsukishima Kei's provocation and mockery as usual.
This time, when facing Tsukishima Kei's comments about going easy on them, Hinata Shoyo - perhaps from hearing too much of Ichise Guren's trash talk - this time the little sun tried to imitate that smile of Ichise Guren's with maxed-out sarcasm talent points.
"Oh? Going easy?"
"Please don't do that. I trouble you to fight with 200% of your strength until the very last moment, then get crushed by us easily and happily."
Then he made a face and ran away.
This left Tsukishima Kei feeling like he'd been mocked by a monkey, absolutely furious. Usually, he was the one making others angry - when had he ever been made this angry by someone else?
And the most outrageous part was that after trash-talking, Hinata Shoyo just ran away, giving Tsukishima Kei no chance to retaliate.
"Where did this wild monkey come from?"
Hash marks slowly grew larger on Tsukishima Kei's forehead.
"You really want to win? Then I definitely won't let you win!"
Watching Hinata Shoyo who had run away after mocking and Tsukishima Kei who had been angered into competitiveness, Yamaguchi Tadashi felt quite uncomfortable.
'What was that short orange thinking? What good does it do to anger Tsuki who's 185, no 189cm tall?'
'I'm the one who has to face Tsuki together with them. I'm probably going to get dragged into this.'
_____
Soon it was the day of the practice match.
Although he was mentally prepared, seeing three guys on the opposite side with an average height over 190cm still gave Hinata Shoyo a headache.
"Hm?"
Suddenly, as if discovering a new continent, Hinata Shoyo started asking about his two middle school teammates' height across the net.
"Guren! Yudai! Did you two grow taller again?"
Hyakuzawa Yudai responded in a flat tone to the resentful-looking Hinata Shoyo.
"Yeah, I grew to 201cm."
Ichise Guren immediately followed his junior with another needle prick.
"Ah, I also grew 4cm. Should be around 187 now."
The petrified Hinata Shoyo, filled with unwillingness, collapsed powerlessly onto the ground.
'Damn! Damn! Damn! Two meters! Two meters!'
'Yudai is one thing, but why did even Guren grow 4cm too!!!'
Seeing the dejected Hinata Shoyo, Ichise Guren felt sympathetic.
"You probably grew taller too, right?"
He asked in a comforting tone.
And indeed, Hinata Shoyo sprang up like a zombie resurrecting on the spot.
"Yes!"
"Reporting, squad leader!"
"I also grew three centimeters!"
"I'm now 168 centimeters!!!"
Chest out and stomach in, Hinata Shoyo had an expression of 'please praise my height', looking nothing like a crow but exactly like a puppy.
"Very good, very good. You grew well, keep it up."
Ichise Guren's polite praise made Hinata Shoyo unable to suppress the upward curve of his mouth.
"Keep going, keep going! Just 2cm more to break 170~"
Hoshino Masaru's timely sarcasm rang out from behind Hyakuzawa Yudai, interrupting this height growth speed competition. His sharp words were like a blade:
"You're not even 170 yet"
It pierced into Hinata Shoyo's body.
And Tsukishima's finishing blow made things even worse for Hinata Shoyo.
"Amazing. I only grew a mere 4cm to just 189cm. I'm almost 190."
Stab~that was a heart-piercingly cold hit.
***
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