(April 5th, 2016)
It had already been a few days since Shiho had visited the shrine with Ann, and her schedule had returned to the same grueling ordeal she had grown used to over the past school year.
Because she was on the Shujin Academy Volleyball team, she was required to attend practices year-round, and thus, despite having only a few days left of spring break, was obligated to spend them in the stuffy school gym being pushed to her absolute physical limit.
And pushed to her limit, she was, as today, Suguru Kamoshida, the honored coach of the prestigious prep school's volleyball team, was in a particularly bad mood.
Standing on a small stool, the giant of a man glowered at Shiho's male teammates as his face contorted into a demonic snarl.
"If you pathetic welps can't even receive a single smash from a washed-up athlete like me, then how in the hell do you expect to be able to even react to the balls you're going to have to receive from the nation's best, huh?!!! Do you even want to be a part of this team?!!!!"
The athletes in question were all collapsed on the ground, sporting bruised arms and faces- with some of their faces so swollen from blunt force impacts that their features were unrecognizable.
Despite his current status as a high school coach, Kamoshida had once struck gold on the biggest stage in the world.
Even if he was currently retired, the Olympian was still in excellent shape- possessing a filled out 7 foot frame.
Any smash sourced from his hands was backed by power so strong that the rubber volleyball may as well have been a steel cannonball- and the trajectory was so utterly unpredictable that guessing was the only viable option for the athletes.
No high schooler in the nation would be able to consistently block his full-power hits, and even if they could, with the suddenness and frequency of the shots, they would be overwhelmed in moments.
The so-called training that he was putting them through was downright abusive- yet instead of crying out for some sort of justice, all of the athletes held their heads low- seemingly ashamed of their 'pisspoor' performance.
"You see- THIS is the reason we got FUCKING SECOND PLACE at the Spring tournament!!!! If you MISERABLE DISGRACES had even AN OUNCE of actual talent in your bodies, then we would be celebrating our 20th national victory in a row- but despite all the effort I put into turning you all into competent players, YOU PUT IT ALL TO WASTE!!!!!"
Sensing the utter anger in his voice, the athletes scattered across the ground instinctively covered their vitals with their arms and legs, preparing themselves for another onslaught of volleyballs.
Unfortunately, this only seemed to anger Kamoshida more.
Grabbing a few balls from the basket at his side, the Olympian loosed a volley of shots at the prone students, exacerbating their already rough injuries.
Some were even knocked unconscious, but that didn't really seem to worry Kamoshida.
In fact, the coach grimaced in genuine disgust.
"Hah~ Someone get these losers off my court and give 'em some ice."
Witnessing the events that just transpired, Shiho and the other athletes, who were currently running laps around the gym, didn't even blink, with a few even breaking free of the pack to follow the orders the coach had just issued.
Slicking back his hair, Kamoshida exhaled deeply and regarded his other athletes.
"All of you keep in mind, your seniors aren't here to pick up your slack anymore. You all need to carry your weight, or I'll have no qualms booting you from this team."
"Remember: being on this team, being coached by me- They're fucking privileges. If I ever feel like any of you start falling behind, I'll just replace you with one of the dozen prospects trying to transfer over from another team."
Despite sounding rather narcissistic, his statements were by no means unsubstantiated.
Out of the minuscule pool of athletes that had managed to take home a gold in the world's foremost international multi-sport event, an even tinier portion of those athletes actually become coaches- and even fewer high school coaches.
With how expensive private coaching can be, many prospective athletes simply can't afford the best training out there, but with a high school coach, the only thing that an athlete had to do was pay the tuition fee and get on the team they were advising.
While Shujin was a middle to upper-class prep school- just having the option to get coaching from an Olympian was an amazing opportunity, and the way it would reflect on your athletic career would be even more amazing.
If you could stay on the team for the duration of your high school career, practically any college team would be frothing at the mouth to have you on their roster, and even the ones with more prestigious backgrounds wouldn't be out of the picture if you could get your coach to leverage their connections.
Being under Kamoshida was a guaranteed future, and even if the training was rough, everyone under his abusive tutelage was there because they chose to be there.
They chose to endure because they were more scared of an uncertain future than the physical and mental abuse of a world-class athlete.
Shiho was no different.
"The following people are to immediately report to court A for defensive drills: Hana Takaki, Suzuya Sato, Shiho Suzui..."
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A few more hours had gone by, and now, practice was winding down.
Despite the intensity of the training, Shiho had managed to last till the very end and made it to the locker room to change with a few of her fellow survivors.
While it was mostly silent, save for the almost frantic gasps for air, a few of the underclassmen, who had been allowed to leave a little earlier due to their age, still had the energy for conversation.
One of them, Shoko Watanabe, skipped over towards Shiho as she was walking over to her locker.
"Ah! There you are, Shiho!"
Sporting a rather nasty-looking black eye, the girl gave Shiho a bright smile.
Though feeling incredibly tired, Shiho responded with a smile of her own.
"Oh, Shoko... Did you need something?"
The underclassmen nodded vigorously without a change in expression.
"Mhm! You remember that Shrine I was asking for you to check out?"
Shiho nodded.
"Well, guess what! One of my friends just had their wish granted! Apparently, they wished for this super expensive gaming console that their parents weren't willing to pay for, and it ended up appearing on their desk the morning after they visited the shrine!"
Despite not usually being a skeptic, Shiho couldn't help but raise an eyebrow.
"Really...?"
"Yep! There was a receipt on top of the box and everything! It was totally legit!"
Seeing how enthusiastic her junior was, Shiho couldn't help but let out a chuckle, though it seemed like that weak laugh was all she could bring herself to muster in response.
Undeterred, Shoko continued on as Shiho began fumbling with her locker combination.
"Oooh Oooh! Shiho, you said you visited the shrine, right? You made a wish, right???"
"Mhm."
Taking off her sweat-soaked top, Shiho absentmindedly glanced at her bruised and battered body while offhandedly responding to the energetic underclassmen.
"Well- Was it granted?? C'mon, tell me! I've been meaning to go there for a while now- because, well, frankly, I need some new shoes- but I don't really wanna waste the trip if it's just a hoax."
Shiho let out a brief hum as she tossed her dirtied clothes into a disposable bag.
"You don't trust your friend? I thought you were already set on going."
Shoko scoffed.
"Well, I do trust them... Sorta, but it's always nice to have a few more opinions, y'know? I don't wanna use one of my only free afternoons this year on some sham."
Shiho nodded as she wiped her body down with a towel, wincing slightly as she gingerly patted down the bruises on her stomach and forearms.
"Mm, considering how many people are claiming it's real, there's probably a pretty high chance you'll get something out of it at least."
"So you think it's worth a shot?"
"Well, that's for you to decide."
The underclassmen playfully rolled her eyes.
"C'mon, Shiho! Gimme a serious answer!"
Shiho paused for a moment before letting out a sigh.
"I'm probably not the best person to ask. The wish I made was wholly unrealistic. I doubt it's even possible to grant."
The girl pouted.
"Laaaaaaaame!"
Shiho shrugged as she pulled a set of spare clothes out of her locker.
"You asked for a serious answer, didn't you?"
"Yeah, but... I was expecting a bit more- Huh? What's that?"
As Shiho began putting on her clothes, a small box fell out of one of the pockets.
At Shoko's comment, Shiho glanced down curiously and picked the box up, noticing a small sticky note plastered on top, obscuring the label of whatever was inside.
As she ripped the sticky note off, Shoko, who had been looking over Shiho's shoulder curiously, let out a small gasp of disbelief as she quickly identified what it was she was holding.
"Holy shit! Isn't that the crazy expensive bruise cream that's been sold out everywhere???"
Another girl, overhearing Shoko's comment, turned over with her jaw agape.
"Wait for real?? Are you talking about that Korean one??? I've been trying to get my hands on it for ages!"
"Yeah, for real!!! And it's the ultra premium option too!"
"Hah?! Isn't that shit like 30,000 yen???"
A few girls, noticing the small commotion, began crowding around Shiho, but she was too preoccupied reading the contents of the sticky note to even notice.
A disbelieving expression spread across Shiho's features as she accidentally spoke the words aloud.
"Stay... Strong?"
Fortunately, no one seemed to have heard her slip of the tongue.
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(April 6th, 2016)
Staring at the notice on her phone, a genuine look of bewilderment spread across Shiho's face.
"Practice is canceled...?"
She and a bunch of other students had already arrived at the gym, only to receive a message from the principal that apparently they had all come here for nothing.
A student next to her nodded with an equally disbelieving expression.
"Yeah... Apparently, Mr. Kamoshida failed to show up today..."
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Approximately 10 miles from Shujin Academy, at a luxury apartment complex, Suguru Kamoshida was currently staring down a flight of stairs with sweat pouring down his face.
He was having an extremely bizarre day.
First, his car had randomly just disappeared...
Then, he had opened a package containing 20 pounds of exotic animal feces- which, by the way, had stunk up his entire apartment...
And to top it off, he had forgotten to charge his phone the night before and had somehow managed to lose his keys seconds after he had just locked his door...
But that wasn't even the worst of it.
The elevator of his apartment complex, a property that he was literally paying hundreds of thousands of yen to stay in every month, was undergoing maintenance, which practically never happened.
As a result, he had to go down the 15 flights of stairs required to reach the 1st floor.
'Fine, whatever.' He thought
'Just a quick warm-up before work.' He said
But...
Oddly enough-
Every single time he made it to the bottom of the first flight of stairs, Kamoshida would suddenly find himself back where he started- as if all the work he had done to get to the bottom had all been a figment of his imagination.
At first, Kamoshida merely dismissed this temporal lapse as a result of overworking himself, but after 4 attempts, after he had begun to sweat like a monkey from the continuous cardio, he was absolutely positive that he wasn't actually going crazy.
Something or someone was fucking with him.
And he had absolutely no idea how.
Cupping his face with his hands, a genuine scream built in his throat.
"OOOOOOHU MAI GAAAAAHDOOOOOOO!!!!!!!"
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(A/N: Heh.)