— — — — — —
Three days and two nights of playing babysitter turned out to be a lot easier than Oikawa had expected.
When they first arrived at Chiba Village, he'd honestly braced himself to be treated like free labor.
But looking back… most of the time had been spent sightseeing and messing around.
Of course, there was a bit of fatigue. But hey, even normal trips leave you tired, right? And this time, he hadn't spent a single yen.
Yeah. Expenses: 0 yen.
What a win.
...
..
On the ride back to the city, the cheerful energy from the trip out was gone.
Less than half an hour after they set off, everyone in the back had already passed out. All of them. Even Yukino Yukinoshita.
Luckily, most of them were girls. Even though they were exhausted, no one was snoring.
Otherwise, this trip would've been torture.
Especially for Shizuka Hiratsuka, who was driving—it would've been torture on top of torture.
Maybe because he'd gotten plenty of sleep these past couple of days, Oikawa felt a bit tired, but nowhere near sleepy.
"Oikawa, want to know your test results?"
"Nope."
His dear Shizuka-sensei suddenly throwing that out there? Definitely not with good intentions.
"Pretty cautious, aren't you?"
She looked like she was about to pull out a cigarette, but after catching sight of the sleeping girls and Hachiman in the rearview mirror, her hand paused midair before returning to the steering wheel.
"You didn't help that kid… because you thought she was in the wrong too, didn't you?"
"I was there when she talked about isolating her friend. I saw the look on your face. You don't like her, do you?"
Shizuka kept her eyes on the road, occasionally glancing at Oikawa from the corner of her eye.
"…Something like that."
Oikawa paused, then added, "Besides, things worked out fine in the end, didn't they? Whether I got involved or not wouldn't have made much difference."
He didn't feel like digging into that topic. He turned his head and looked out the window instead.
The scenery sped by—empty, featureless.
Shizuka let out a quiet sigh, swallowing whatever she had originally planned to say.
The return trip was much faster than the journey there.
A little over three hours later, Shizuka had brought them back to Sōbu High.
She originally planned to drive each of them home one by one.
But after Oikawa talked her out of it—he'd already noticed the exhaustion on her face—she gave up on the idea.
Click.
Women seemed to have an instinctive radar for cameras.
The moment Oikawa snapped a photo of their sleeping faces, both Yui and Yukino in the front seats opened their eyes at the same time.
"You're awake!"
"We're here—time to go home!"
Before they could process anything, Oikawa quickly changed the subject.
"We're back in Chiba City already…?"
Yui rubbed her eyes and looked out the window.
Yukino, on the other hand, fixed her gaze on Oikawa, like she wanted to say something—but in the end, she stayed silent.
The others in the back, including Kawasaki, gradually woke up too.
The moment Oikawa stepped out of the car, a wave of summer heat hit him.
Compared to the cool mountain air, it was like night and day.
Even though they'd only left a few hours ago, he already missed the forest full of towering trees—and the crystal-clear streams.
...
Everyone got out of the car, and Shizuka looked at them with satisfaction.
"Good work, everyone."
"Until you get home, this still counts as training camp. Stay safe on your way back."
"Dismissed!"
Oikawa was pretty sure she'd rehearsed that line beforehand—and probably borrowed it from some sports anime.
After all, she'd mentioned more than once on the way that there was a character in a certain sports anime who had the exact same name as him.
Yeah… definitely Haikyuu!!
Seriously—
Did this old lady actually think that sounded cool?
…Okay, it was kind of cool.
Oikawa felt a bit conflicted. This round, he had to admit—she pulled it off.
"Oikawa, how are you getting home?"
Kawasaki walked over, then added, "Or just come tutor me. I've already missed a bunch of classes."
"I refuse."
Oikawa made a clear "nope" gesture.
Right now, all he wanted was to get home as fast as possible, drink every last bottle of Coca-Cola in the fridge, and then crash into a blissful sleep.
"Zero ambition. Are you even a man?"
Kawasaki shot back.
"..." Oikawa briefly considered taking her down with a Mortal Kombat combo he'd recently learned.
---
After some chatting, everyone quickly figured out how they were heading home.
Then—
A red Porsche pulled up in front of them, its engine roaring.
Moments later, an elegant-looking woman stepped out.
She bore about a sixty to seventy percent resemblance to Yukino—but… the difference in certain proportions was night and day.
"…Sister? What are you doing here?"
Sister?
So this woman in front of them… was the infamous, sharp-tongued Haruno Yukinoshita?
Just as Oikawa looked at her, Haruno removed her sunglasses and met his gaze.
Their eyes locked.
And in that instant, He knew.
She was the kind of woman who played the long game—definitely a schemer.
.
.
.