No one knew how anyone else had slept that night, but Shiratorizawa's players slept incredibly well, completely carefree.
Early the next morning, everyone was up. Coach Washijō had told them to wake up at seven, but some were already up at six, and a few had even gotten up at five. Every one of them was trying to outdo the others, getting up before dawn.
At that hour, the only people in the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium were staff members setting up equipment. When they saw a few people in training clothes running inside the venue, they wondered if they had woken up too early and started hallucinating. There were people awake at around five?
By the time Ryosuke and Ushijima came back from their run, they were drenched in sweat. They found time to take a shower, changed into their team uniforms, and by the time they headed out to gather, it was already seven.
Everyone assembled in the lounge inside the auxiliary gym.
The group looked at one another. Not a single person looked sleepy. Every one of them was full of energy. At a glance, it was obvious they had all gotten up early to do something else.
Yamagata stood in front of Ushijima and Ryosuke, protesting indignantly.
"You two secretly went running this morning! I saw you! And you didn't even bring me!"
"Exactly, exactly."
Tsutomu Goshiki stood behind Yamagata, fanning the flames while grinning and watching the show.
Facing Yamagata's accusation, Ryosuke only laughed with a guilty little "hehe" and said nothing.
Ushijima's mind worked unusually fast at that moment. He looked at Yamagata thoughtfully, then asked,
"How did you know?"
"Uh... I saw you when I went to the bathroom," Yamagata said, sounding a little guilty.
Ryosuke immediately delivered the follow-up blow.
"But the bathroom is in the hotel hallway. Ushijima-senpai and I were running in the auxiliary gym."
In an instant, everyone's gazes turned sharp as knives and landed on Yamagata.
You little brat. So you were secretly training too, huh?
Seeing that he had been exposed, Yamagata gave an awkward cough and guiltily looked away.
Tsutomu Goshiki was not having it. He planted his hands on his hips and pointed at the three of them.
"So all of you went running this morning and didn't bring me?"
Ryosuke rubbed his nose. "You didn't say you wanted to go."
Tsutomu Goshiki was even more indignant.
"But Coach said we weren't allowed to!"
Then he looked around angrily, trying to get someone to speak up for him. But when he turned, everyone was stammering.
"Actually, I trained too." Tendo gave a "hehe" laugh.
"Me too."
"I did too..."
"Yeah..."
One by one, everyone admitted it. In the end, even Reon couldn't keep pretending. His face turned a little red, and he nodded sheepishly at Tsutomu Goshiki.
"You guessed right. I got up early to train too."
Tsutomu Goshiki: "..."
Tsutomu Goshiki's silence was deafening.
Unbelievable. So the entire volleyball team had secretly trained, and he was the only one they hadn't brought along!
Tsutomu Goshiki had completely shut down. He hid in a little corner, looking pitifully wronged. He swore that he would absolutely never stay on the same team as this bunch of backstabbers again.
Coach Washijō strolled in right then. Unsurprisingly, he saw that everyone had already gathered there.
In truth, Coach Washijō had also gone out for a walk early that morning. On his way back, when he passed by the auxiliary gym, he had seen Ushijima and Ryosuke running there. He had originally planned to go over and scold them, but then he became curious. Exactly how many people had ignored his orders and gone running so early in the morning? So he stayed by the door under the auxiliary gym's stands and secretly waited.
Coach Washijō was actually willing to turn a blind eye to everyone disobeying him and sneaking in extra training. He simply wanted to see how many of them had gone against his instructions.
As Coach Washijō watched from that little doorway, he saw Shiratorizawa's players pass by one after another. Some came in pairs or threes, and some even came alone. In any case, none of them had come together. Every single one of them was secretly doing extra training behind everyone else's back.
Only Tsutomu Goshiki...
Coach Washijō glanced at Tsutomu Goshiki, who was crouched in the little corner looking so wronged he was practically losing his shape. His expression turned complicated. This kid really was honest to a fault. Whatever he told him, he did exactly that. And now everyone else had betrayed him.
For some reason, Coach Washijō even felt a little like laughing. Fortunately, he had a poker face, so no one could read his expression.
"Ahem..." Coach Washijō cleared his throat.
As soon as everyone heard him, they all fell silent in perfect understanding.
Coach Washijō walked through the middle of the group with his hands behind his back, came to a stop at the center, faced everyone, and began speaking about the "Devil's Third Day."
"Today is the third day since IH began. Among those who participate in IH, it's commonly known as the Devil's Third Day. On the third day, aside from the teams that have already been eliminated or the very small number of schools whose strength isn't enough, most schools will basically have two matches in one day.
"Some teams play one match in the morning and one in the afternoon. Others have two matches scheduled back-to-back. That places a huge burden on the players' stamina, which is why most players call this day the Black Third Day."
After he finished, Coach Washijō looked around at everyone's expressions. When he saw that no one looked afraid, he nodded in satisfaction. That was more like it. That kind of attitude was Shiratorizawa's style.
"Back to business. Shiratorizawa has a match at nine this morning against Kaichi Academy from Kanagawa. As for the afternoon match, we'll reportedly play the team that wins Inarizaki's match this morning. Whoever wins will be Shiratorizawa's opponent this afternoon.
"That said, I'd say there's an eighty percent chance it'll be Inarizaki. There are dark horses in IH, but they don't show up every day. Be prepared."
After hearing Coach Washijō's words, everyone understood what he meant.
They knew Inarizaki's strength well enough. They made it into the Final Four every year, so this time, they would almost certainly become Shiratorizawa's opponent.
The question was what kind of team this Kaichi Academy that Coach Washijō mentioned actually was.
Everyone turned to look at Ryosuke in perfect unison. This was where having a little intelligence-gathering expert on the team really showed its value.
Ryosuke felt a little embarrassed under everyone's stare. He was already used to being watched, but it still made him uncomfortable.
"Ahem..."
He cleared his throat awkwardly.
Before coming to IH, Ryosuke had done his homework. He had looked through all the teams that had participated in IH over the years. Aside from the few schools that had suddenly appeared out of nowhere, he actually did have an impression of Kaichi Academy.
"Kaichi Academy has always had a flexible playing style. They've been like that for several years. What left the deepest impression on me is their Setter. He's a little nasty... cunning, I mean."
Based on his experience going to National Youth with Ryosuke, Ushijima could tell that Ryosuke had definitely been about to say "nasty" just now. But the word reached his lips, and he suddenly changed it.
"The Middle Blocker, Ryota Arai, is a third-year, 1.9 meters tall. He's especially good at serving and spiking. His Line Shots are excellent and almost never hit the net. There's also a first-year named Taisei Kitano, and he's very good too. I saw their match yesterday at the auxiliary gym.
"Taisei Kitano is a Libero. He defended against a lot of the other school's attacks by himself. He's also pretty hard to deal with."
The more Reon looked at Ryosuke, the more alarmed he became. Ever since the last Tokyo training camp, they had all known Ryosuke was very good at collecting this kind of information. But the real question was, where did he even get his sources? How did he know everything?
Coach Washijō nodded. He wasn't surprised at all that Ryosuke knew this. After all, Ryosuke had done his homework before coming to IH, and Keigo Atobe had investigated every one of those schools to help Ryosuke get more familiar with IH. With Keigo Atobe's money and connections, finding out a few things was ridiculously easy.
"Mm. That's about right. In this match, the only things you need to watch out for are their little tricks and that 1.9-meter Middle Blocker's spikes. This morning's match is one we must win. Losing is not an option. If you lose, you'll pay for it when we get back!"
"Yes, sir!"
Even without Coach Washijō saying it, everyone knew this was a match they couldn't lose. After all, their goal was the IH championship.
After saying all that, Coach Washijō didn't add anything else. He knew they understood. If they couldn't even handle the round of sixteen into eight, then there was no point talking about the matches after that. No one understood Shiratorizawa's strength better than Coach Washijō.
Once Coach Washijō left, the atmosphere became lively again. Tsutomu Goshiki, who had been sulking the whole time, grew excited too. He kept circling around Reon.
"Reon-senpai! Do you think I'll get to play today? Reon-senpai!"
Reon was getting a terrible headache from all his noise. To calm the overly excited Tsutomu Goshiki down, he had no choice but to nod.
"You'll definitely get to play. Didn't Coach Washijō say so yesterday? So you'll definitely get on court today."
Reon wasn't just brushing him off. He truly did think Coach Washijō would let Tsutomu Goshiki play. The third-years were about to graduate, and the second-years were already able to shoulder the team.
At this IH, aside from Yunohama, who was still growing, the other first-years would probably all be put on court. If Tsutomu Goshiki didn't play in this match, then it would be the next one.
As for whether he would play in the semifinals or finals, Reon couldn't say. He felt that Coach Washijō would probably arrange for Ryosuke to play in the later matches. After all, Ryosuke's overall strength seemed a little stronger than all of theirs right now.
Ryosuke heard the commotion from Tsutomu Goshiki's side and walked over with a grin, throwing an arm around Tsutomu Goshiki's shoulders.
"Relax. You'll definitely get to play today."
Tsutomu Goshiki immediately turned his head.
"Really? Really?!"
"Of course. My intuition is always accurate."
At first, Tsutomu Goshiki didn't believe it. He felt like everyone was probably just humoring him, but he still wanted to hear them say it. But now, looking into Ryosuke's incredibly serious eyes, Tsutomu Goshiki was willing to believe that Ryosuke was telling the truth.
"Stop chatting. Use this hour to train and find your feel. Otherwise, if you go on court later and have no touch, we'll be in trouble."
Reon looked around, then suddenly said that.
Once everyone heard him, they obediently went to train. Tsutomu Goshiki was especially fired up. He trained with everything he had, as if he wanted to make up for the extra training everyone else had secretly done that morning.
Ushijima watched him and kept shaking his head. In the end, he really couldn't keep watching and stopped Tsutomu Goshiki from tormenting his own body. Under Tsutomu Goshiki's gaze, which seemed to say, Why are you stopping me from training?, Ushijima explained,
"Training like this could strain your muscles."
Then he looked at Tendo, who was paired with Tsutomu Goshiki, with a reproachful gaze, as if blaming him for not stopping Tsutomu Goshiki.
Tendo spread his hands helplessly.
"Don't look at me. I did explain it to him. He just didn't believe me."
Ushijima froze for a moment, then said to Tendo, "Sorry."
Then he pressed down Tsutomu Goshiki's hand as he tried to spike again, turned his shoulders toward him, and looked at him with a very serious expression. Tsutomu Goshiki had only ever seen that expression when Ushijima was about to lecture someone. He shrank his neck, thinking he was about to be scolded.
But Ushijima only told him seriously that he couldn't train like this. He showed no intention of scolding him at all.
"Coach Washijō having us train now isn't for the sake of achieving some result in a short period of time. It's a short warm-up, to keep our physical condition steady. That way, we can perform better once we're on court."
Ushijima paused, then continued.
"We all ran this morning to warm up. You haven't warmed up yet, and you're training like this. It's easy to strain something or even get a fracture."
Tsutomu Goshiki was stunned. He had been at Shiratorizawa for so long, and this was the first time he had ever heard Ushijima say this much. For a second, he almost thought his captain had been possessed.
Seeing Tsutomu Goshiki standing there in a daze, Ushijima shook his shoulder and asked again,
"Do you understand?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah."
This was the first time Tsutomu Goshiki had ever been shown this kind of concern by Ushijima. Whether what he said was right or not, Tsutomu Goshiki was definitely going to listen.
Only then did Ushijima withdraw his hand in satisfaction and return to training, leaving Tsutomu Goshiki standing there, still hoping for more of Ushijima's concern.
Tsutomu Goshiki stared blankly at Ushijima as he walked away. His Senpai's affection had come quickly and left just as quickly.
Seeing that Tsutomu Goshiki looked as if he had taken a blow, Yamagata kindly came over to explain.
"Ushijima used to have an opponent. You could also call him a friend. During Spring High, that person overtrained before a match, and his leg cramped up once he got on court.
"But he didn't say anything. He insisted on pushing through and kept training. As a result, his leg cramped during the match, and he collapsed directly on the court. That's why Ushijima-senpai is very strict about this sort of thing.
"And over the years, there have been plenty of players who strained themselves because they overtrained before a match. That's why coaches from every school forbid everyone from training before matches."
After Yamagata explained it all, Tsutomu Goshiki finally understood where Ushijima's sudden concern had come from.
After thinking for a while, Tsutomu Goshiki felt that Ushijima was right, so he obediently prepared to warm up first.
Before warming up, he smiled apologetically at Tendo.
"Sorry, Tendo-senpai. I shouldn't have ignored what you said earlier." Tsutomu Goshiki's apology was completely sincere. He had finally understood why Tendo had tried to stop him from training earlier.
Tendo waved it off.
"As long as you understand. Your body is yours. You need to treat it properly."
Tsutomu Goshiki nodded very seriously.
Reon watched this scene from the side and shook his head with emotion. Incredible. He had finally raised this group of kids... No, wait. Everyone had matured.
After more than half an hour of training ended, everyone went back to change. There was only one hour left before the match started, so they planned to change, then head straight to the waiting area and wait to enter.
When Shiratorizawa's players set off for the waiting area, they realized there were already many people outside. The moment they appeared in the corridor wearing their team uniforms, they caused quite a stir.
The people walking back and forth in the corridor kept turning to look at Shiratorizawa. Ushijima and the others had long since gotten used to those stares, but Shirabu still wasn't used to it even now. He didn't understand why those people looked at them one by one as if they were some rare animals. Back when Shirabu was a first-year, it had made him especially hate other people's gazes.
...
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