Chapter 65: Training Camp Day 28

Michiko waved for her team to head back to the dorms first, while everyone from Shiratorizawa remained absorbed in animated discussion about Mujinazaka.
No one had any motivation left to train, so they simply sat together, chattering nonstop.

Reon sighed. “Good thing Coach Washijō isn’t around. Otherwise, we’d all be getting punished.”

Hearing that, Ryosuke’s heart skipped a beat. Come to think of it, that really was true. Ever since the training camp began, aside from assigning daily practice tasks, Coach Washijō had been nowhere to be seen.
Don’t tell me he went out drinking? The thought immediately perked Ryosuke up. Before leaving, Coach Washijō’s wife had even reminded him—

Hmph! Coach Washijō was definitely trying to tie him down with all this training.

In a sense, Ryosuke had hit the truth.
Recently, Washijō had been bouncing around looking for people to drink with, while also consulting others about setting up a youth-style training camp at his own school after IH. He was scouting promising players and experienced coaches at the same time.
It was stressful enough to make his hair fall out.

Ryosuke thought about sneaking out at night to look for Coach Washijō, but he was worried he wouldn’t even find him…
They were still in Tokyo anyway. Once the camp ended, he could always go back to the main house and check.

“What are you afraid of? Is there any punishment worse than washing socks?”
Tendō’s words snapped Ryosuke out of his wandering thoughts.

Way to hit a sore spot. Shirabu shot Tendō a vicious glare.

Semi leaned against the railing, spinning a volleyball in his hand. “Have you guys seen Kiryu’s little sister? I saw her once last year. She doesn’t look anything like him, but she’s really pretty.”

Yamagata grinned at him. “I heard Wakatsu’s a hardcore siscon. You’d better not get any weird ideas.”

Semi choked, grabbed the volleyball, and hurled it at him.
“What nonsense are you talking about? His sister’s only in elementary school. Do I look like that kind of guy?”

“You are!”

Shirabu and Yamagata nodded in perfect sync.
It really was strange—Semi had terrible fashion sense, yet he was the only one at Shiratorizawa who changed girlfriends regularly. Everyone else had been single forever.

Semi rolled his eyes hard. He decided to cut ties with these idiots for a full hour.

“By the way, doesn’t Mujinazaka have no new first-years this year?” Reon asked thoughtfully.

“They do. They didn’t come.”
Ushijima, standing off to the side like a pillar, suddenly spoke up.

“Eh—Wakatoshi, how do you know that?” Tendō clung to Ushijima like an octopus.

Ushijima frowned, trying to pry him off.
“I have Kiryu’s LINE. Their first-years aren’t polished enough yet. With the tournament coming up, they decided to let the second- and third-years take point.”

He was still locked in battle with Tendō.

Kawanishi stood beside Yunohama and patted his shoulder. “Guys, do your best in the practice matches. Let Mujinazaka see Shiratorizawa’s fresh blood.”

Goshiki puffed out his chest. “Of course! I’m going to be the ace!”

“Oh! Goshiki wants to be the ace?!”
Bokuto came running over after his match, eyes sparkling as he looked at Goshiki.
“I’m an ace too!”

“Bokuto-senpai, no ace needs to be comforted.”

Akaashi walked over carrying Bokuto’s jacket, nodding in greeting.

“Hahahaha, Bokuto still needs someone to comfort him?”
Kuroo’s loud, cocky laughter drifted over from the gym.

Bokuto dropped his head, mumbling unhappily.
“Then I’ll be the ace who needs comforting.”

Washio reached out and ruffled Bokuto’s hair. “It’s fine. Akaashi will comfort you.”

After packing up, Kuroo brought the Nekoma team over to join the commotion.

“Who won?” Ushijima asked.

Kuroo clicked his tongue.
“Fukurōdani. We won one set.” He sighed again. “We seriously underestimated Bokuto’s stamina.”
He pinched the bridge of his nose, looking worn out.

“Oh right—were those just now from Mujinazaka?”

“Yeah.”
Ushijima answered curtly.

Kenma stuffed his game console into his pocket and shuffled over to Ryosuke.
“Want to play games together tonight?”

Your cat friend has sent you an invitation.

Ryosuke nodded without hesitation.

Akaashi, folding Bokuto’s clothes without a second’s rest, spoke up.
“We’ll see them soon. The coaches will probably arrange practice matches in a bit.”

“Oh! Really?! Then I can finally go head-to-head with Wakatsu! Ryosuke, you have to single-block him at least once today!”

Bokuto shouted excitedly, calling Ryosuke affectionately.

Ryosuke pressed his lips together in a smile and nodded.

For some reason, Bokuto especially liked hanging around Ryosuke. To him, Ryosuke felt a bit like a house cat—usually laid-back and indifferent, but quick to snap if annoyed.

Even so, Bokuto, being Bokuto, couldn’t resist poking at him whenever he got the chance.

Maybe it was just his instinct to latch onto interesting people.

Kenma poked Ryosuke. “When did you two get this close?”

Ryosuke replied quietly, “After one match.”
After a pause, he added,
“He’s too enthusiastic.”

Kenma nodded in deep agreement. It really did feel like staring straight into the sun—too bright to handle.

Konoha stood beside Yamagata, subtly fishing for details about their recent training. Everyone was jumping ridiculously high; if Ryosuke jumped any higher, he’d probably clear the net entirely.

Yamagata wiggled his eyebrows. “Secret.”

Konoha pouted, tugging at Yamagata’s sleeve. “Tell me. Come on, tell me!”

Yamagata laughed and dragged him aside, whispering conspiratorially.

Students from three different schools gathered together without training, and the scene quickly grew noisy. Everyone was waiting for Mujinazaka’s team to arrive.

The three captains chatted together while Kuroo crossed his arms and kept gossiping.
“That region is basically a death bracket too—just like Miyagi. Only one slot to advance, so they’re fighting tooth and nail.”
There was a hint of lament in his voice.
“Tokyo really has it easy.”

Fukurōdani and Itachiyama were locked in their long-standing rivalry for first and second, while Nekoma was eternally stuck in third place.

Ushijima nodded. “It’s fine. In the face of real strength, everything else is meaningless. If someone pushes Shiratorizawa out, it just means we weren’t strong enough.”

His tone was completely calm. Sports were competition—there was no such thing as mercy or holding back.
Ushijima even thought it would be nice if Miyagi had two more slots.

Otherwise, every regional tournament felt like a brutal gauntlet. Batch after batch of teams got eliminated, never reaching Nationals, crushed in the semifinals. There were countless teams stuck at top four.

While they were talking, Coach Michiko walked in with her team. Coach Takeyuki followed behind, smiling as he motioned for the advisors to call back the people from the other gym.

Kuroo and Bokuto stepped forward to greet them. As old acquaintances from major tournaments, everyone knew each other well, so there was no awkwardness.

Itachiyama and Kamomedai returned.

Ryosuke took the chance to move closer to Sakusa.. Once the camp ended, the next time they met would be at the tournament. He was already thinking about finding time during the break to hang out with Sakusa.

Coach Takeyuki picked up the microphone and stepped onto the stage, just like on the first day of camp.

“Alright, all the schools are here. Starting this afternoon, the training camp officially enters its countdown. So there’s only one thing left on the schedule—practice matches.”

The atmosphere below instantly ignited.

“You’re all tournament regulars. Each school gets two matches a day. Arrange them yourselves. Even if you schedule more, I won’t complain.”

Coach Takeyuki chuckled. Much easier this way—let the kids put pressure on themselves.

“There’ll be no matches on the final afternoon. After more than half a month of hard work, take it easy that last day. Barbecue, party—do whatever you want. This camp is coming to an end. I hope the teams gathered here will meet again at the tournament. I wish you all great results.”

The speech was met with thunderous applause.

Ryosuke stood beside Sakusa and said quietly, “After the camp ends, we probably won’t see each other until the tournament…”

“I’ll be there,” Sakusa replied.

After clinging together for a bit, with lunchtime still a ways off, Ryosuke ran back to training.

The matches would start in the afternoon. He had to make the most of the time.
Even though Ryosuke usually looked calm and expressionless,
a cat’s fierce competitiveness burned inside him. He bared his claws, honing his weapons throughout the camp.

Ryosuke wanted to stand on the highest stage in the world.